Every so often, an addictive game comes along and swallows us whole. For some, it's Call of Duty: World at War's zombie mode. For others, it's Wii Sports Resort, and for the few, the proud, and the nerdy, its a little ol' genre known as MMOs.
These games come and go by the droves. They range from sci-fi to fantasy; from free to play to $15 a month; from casual to hardcore; and from a full $50 entry cost to browser based affairs. But all of them have one thing in common: they're timesinks. For the socially sane, MMOs are squeezed in after work, and before dinner with the kids, or after the wife goes to sleep (cough, cough). Should you choose to take the road less traveled and let an MMO dominate your life, say goodbye to your significant other, your social life, and your job.
So who is the new kid in town? What devilish fiend is attempting to lure you into his van with candy, and take you on a vacation that never ends? This month, its NCSoft's Aion.
What is Aion?
Aion: The Tower of Eternity is a new fantasy based massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMO), made with the CryEngine (Far Cry), and published by NCSoft, who has managed a myriad of hit or miss games, ranging from the heralded City of Heroes to the dead and buried Tabula Rasa.
NCSoft is currently charging $50 for the game, and $14.99 per month to play, with discounts offered if you commit to three, six, or twelve months.
What are your choices for your personal avatar?
Well, unlike typical role playing games, you're not going to get a whole lot of choices when it comes to your race. You can either be the angelic Elyos, or the demonic Asmodians. So basically, you can pick the flamboyant pansies (win), or the complete and total badass death bringing devils. Whenever you meet an opposing faction member, you will always be able to kill them, and every enemy level shows up as a "??" on your HUD.
Where Aion fails in racial diversity, it succeeds in customization. Want to make Barack Obama? You can! Want to make yourself? Provided you have the self confidence, you can do that too! If you happen to be me, you can live out your fantasy of looking like a J-Rocker.
Just like Bethesda's Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, every cosmetic facet is fully customizable, from your chin size, to whether or not your ears are elf-worthy. For once, I actually think I succeeded in making four completely different looking characters.
Class-wise, Aion has just about everything you could want, sans hybrids. You can play your typical damage soaking tank, damage dealing warrior, arrow shooting ranger, elusive assassin, nuke heavy sorceror, pet-based spiritmaster, the always popular healer, or the black sheep of the pack: the Chanter (the supportive bard).
How does the game look, and how impressive is the overall design?
Without reservation, I consider Aion to be the best looking MMO I've ever seen. The set pieces are absolutely gorgeous, and every area has a unique feel to it.
The CryEngine really does wonders for the MMO genre. Rather than talk about how amazing it looks, I'd rather just serve you up some screenshots, fresh off the burner.
Get to the point, man! What's the gimmick?
Sadly, all MMOs released in the shadow of World of Warcraft need some sort of marketing gimmick: something unique to differentiate themselves from the pack. Well, Aion has flight, and ladies and gentlemen, Howard Hughes would be proud.
I've heard complaints from outside audiences that the flight system doesn't look authentic. Here's a video that I believe will speak for itself.
To be frank, I've never had as much fun in an MMO as Aion, and a large part of that is due to the flight system. Sometimes I'll find myself on a gigantic hill, with my objective some five hundred feet below. In a standard MMO, I'd have to hoof it, but in Aion its no problem, as you can glide indefinitely! Instead of lazily taking the elevator, I always opt to take flight (it's there, why not use it!).
Small note: the initial starting areas are light on areas where you can engage in full flight, and right when you earn your wings, you can fly for a limited time of sixty seconds, which is off putting. Through upgrades, which are essentially "mount" purchases, you can upgrade your flight time, and later areas offer more flight opportunities, but Abyss pvp always offers full flight.
Is it fun: or better yet, is the combat system involved?
Simply put, combat in Aion is much more involved than your standard MMO. To use World of Warcraft as an example, I would use two, maybe three abilities to level from 1-70 (forgive me, I quit before Wrath of the Lich King's 80 cap). Aion is a bit more robust, as I already had eight viable abilities very early on in the game playing a spiritmaster, partially because the game requires you to to make pet commands manually rather than put them on an auto-cast system. Plus, every character gets a limit break ability that can be used every so often, just to mix things up a bit.
Aion also benefits from a "combo system", that encourages you to use lower abilities to "activate" stronger, more useful abilities. For instance, if I were to use the first ability-based sword attack as a warrior, I'd have the option to use a more ferocious strike for a few seconds, while the opponent is reeling.
Combat can take place either in flight or on the ground, but either way, its a blast. At its heart, its still an MMO, which means you're going to be standing in place a lot, but if you have simplicity reservations, expect to push a lot of different buttons.
Is it grindy? Also known as "is it fun to level?"
Is it fun to actually level up? Well, yes, but I say this hesitantly, because at times, it can get monotonous. I was extremely pleased to find out that Aion was very much grind-free until level 22 or so, but I'll get to that in a second.
From level 1-10, all of your time will be spent becoming accustomed to the fantastic world of Atreia, and earning your wings. There are an abundance of quests, and not just "kill 10 boars" (Southpark anyone?) and other such derivatives. In fact, you may find that when it comes time to ascend (earn your wings, and subsequently become a true citizen of Aion) that you have a ton of extra quests left over.
Aion also benefits from the "story quest system": a trait that it shares with fellow competitor Lord of the Rings Online. Unique to very few MMOs, Aion actually makes an attempt to weave a cohesive story, and it simply works. You'll learn the inner workings of rebellious organizations, and become connected to the plot at large. As time goes on, harder quests that require balanced groups will arise, and you'll need to (gasp!) cooperate with other human players to move on.
So what's the problem with later levels? Once you hit level 22, the game stops holding your hand. Quest hubs become more obscure, and only a few story quests are available until level 25. Once you hit the glorious two-five, however, Abyss-Arena PVP, dungeon instances, and a whole heap of other options open up to you. To make up for it, you get experience for gathering materials, and for PVP, which is always a plus.
Bottom line: you have been warned! While I was able to get my third character from 1-10 in two hours, level 22-23 stole 8 hours of my life that I cannot take back!
Is there end-game content?
Here's the meat and potatoes question! Frankly, this is all I look for in a serious MMO. I didn't really start playing World of Warcraft until The Burning Crusade was out, and end-game raid content was a top priority. Just like Vanilla World of Warcraft, Aion is a bit light on the end-game content side, with only a few raid-size dungeons to offer, which may turn off some.
Max level in Aion is 50, and early reports are coming in that it would take around 10 days of straight play to reach this milestone. To give you something to compare it to, in World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (which has a maximum level of 70), I reached 70 on my third character in 6 days knowing what I was doing, and with little dilly dallying.
On the pvp side of things, rifts are a really unique addition to Aion that really help spice up gameplay. Upon receiving a message that a gateway has opened up, the entire area will go into a sudden state of panic, as your opposing faction now has access to your land.
"Rift parties", consisting of any number of members will start forming, and all hell breaks loose. The biggest reason why I enjoy rifts is because it forces world pvp, and considering you get experience and gear points for it, its definitely worthwhile. But, if you're the type who finds world pvp too taxing, and enjoy some good old fashioned arena based action, Aion also allows you to enter the Abyss: a giant battleground used entirely for player versus player combat.
The question you don't want to ask after buying it: will it end up in the MMO graveyard?
NCSoft has had its ups and downs, but if reports of 3.5 million Asian subscribers are anything to go by with the earlier released Asian client, Aion is an early success.
I hope to see you in Atreia!
All of the preceding pictures have been personal in-game screenshots
Aion has been out in korea since November 2008 and china and taiwan since april and june respectively. It has quite a bit of time to rack up the asian subscribers. So, it hasnt really been an early success. Since it has been in Korea nearly a year now (gaming addiction capital of the world lol). But 3.5 million is still quite good :O Seeing most boast having 1mil in comparison to WoW lol
I am a WoW player, but Aion does tempt me :) Even the missus wants to have a crack at it lol I just dont want to because I A) Have hated alot of Ncsoft MMO's (guild wars sucked) and B) Tried a few different MMO's when my interest in WoW was dwindling (Lotro, Warhammer and Conan) and they all sucked lol
I need an MMO to have LIFE, all others seemed to lack that compared to WoW. But Aion seems different...Seems very vibrant. I am eagerly waiting on a trial client :)
Also, 'Story quests' are huge in the wrath of the lich king content. There are huge chains these days that end up making the whole terrain change and the events actually have an affect on everything, and the environment. It's blizzards terrain morphing tech. If you roll a death knight and play their starting area, you will really see it. But alot of BIG things happen in northrend that changes everything. Cataclysm is going to introduce it into the low level areas too, when it all gets redone.
@Hriki
Yep! I didn't want to confuse anyone by expanding on the fact that it has been out in Asia.
To respond to your statements: I used to be an avid WoW player. I had a 70 Enhancement Shaman, 70 Shadow Priest, and alts of every other class. I didn't start until Burning Crusade, and honestly, I'm glad.
Vanilla WoW took a long time to push out Molten Core, Onyxia, and Black Wing Lair, and even then, thats not a whole lot of raid content. Aion is a bit similar, as a I told unangbangkay, but at least its starting off with four to choose from. Raids aren't really a priority yet, but if NCSoft's promises of updates are anything to go by, there'll be more.
Also, I agree that NCSoft MMOs generally are of low quality. I really hated Guild Wars, and couldn't really get into Lineage 1/2. WaR and Conan also sucked: I'm just glad I was able to leech off my friend's account and figure that out!
In terms of trying out Northrend's story quests: yep! When my wife was away on a weekend trip recently, I installed the 10-day Lich King trial, and made a Death Knight. I thought the entire experience was ok as a whole (it really only got good at the end), but the actual 68-80 Northrend quests were well done. I suppose what I'm getting at is that in Aion, your quest log makes a point to differentiate campaign quests from normal quests, whereas World of Warcraft doesn't.
For now, I'll non-WoW based MMOs, but mark my words: I want to come back for Cataclysm, if only for the nostalgia!
Yeah i Aion does look great and i forgot to say Great write up! Really enjoyed it :) Makes me want to play it more lol But i better wait for a trial because i dont wanna spend the cash just in case. Plus if i did buy it, the gf would prob just steal my computer and play it all the time lol
When I was fucking around in the character creator back in press beta, this is what hitting "random" got me.
When I have time, I'm going to sit down and actually play this now that it's out. I enjoyed the beta a lot -- whether it will be enough to distinguish itself from WoW remains to be seen.
See here's the thing about MMOs for me. No matter how intriguing or interesting they are, like this one, ultimately I can't pass the hurdle of constantly paying for a subscription fee on a monthly basis. The act of paying for the game originally should entitle me not to pay for it continually. I can see if the game was free and then they want to charge/micro charge. But as I see it the originally cost of the game is just to expensive of a "key" for essentially an incomplete game.
It's not because I can't afford it, cause I blow money on games all the time like a madman, its the principle of it, like paying for online on a certain console. Funny thing is paying for DLC I see nothing wrong with it. Maybe it's because I know they're putting their all into it to make it as appealing to get as humanly possible (or there of ) . But handing them money before you even know if they're adding something worthwhile has always been puzzling to me.
A shame because from your write up this looks to be one of the more interesting MMOs... enough to crack my anti-MMO bias anyway.
"Aion is a bit light on the end-game content side, with only a few raid-size dungeons to offer, which may turn off some."
If there is content that doesn't require a full "raid" party to complete, then I'd be interested. Unless it can be PUGed in an open world (DAoC RvR/Trials/Artifacts), I have no interest in participating. Scheduling around an MMO to access loot is BS and it's still one of the biggest reasons I never want to return to WoW.
"The biggest reason why I enjoy rifts is because it forces world pvp, and considering you get experience and gear points for it, its definitely worthwhile."
This is much more like it! I loved DAoC's RvR system because it was open world combat that could represent end-game in-and-of-itself. WoW's Arena arguably ruined the PvP in that game. Casual BGs are great fun, but putting an importance and incentive behind world PvP is an excellent plan, and I'm glad Aion is doing it.
"I can see if the game was free and then they want to charge/micro charge."
See, that's where you and I differ. While the constant cost may not appeal to some, making a game free to play is an easy way to ruin its integrity.
Dungeons and Dragons Online is a perfect example. For starters, its a terrible game. With the recent free to play model, its even worse. You have to pay for certain dungeons, and certain items. For many other free to play MMOs, rather than having to earn anything, you can just pay for it, which completely undercuts the entire principle of a role playing game, in my opinion, which is utter rubbish.
The community also takes a nosedive if the game is free, because its hard to pay $15 a month for a game and not take it somewhat seriously. With free to play MMOs, you get all of the griefers/young kids who stop at nothing to ruin your experience. Sure, you get that with pay to play MMOs as well, but a fee helps weed them out.
Free to play MMOs are generally very light on content as well. With World of Warcraft, I spent around 20 days (480 hours) on my secondary character, and around 50 on my main (1200 hours): that's not including any of my other alts. I have to point out that my soon to be wife was out of the country during this time: shhh!
You pay $15 per month, but you get what you pay for, at least with World of Warcraft. Every few months, Blizzard will add a new dungeon that will take weeks to master, or brand new quests/tweaks that change the way you play the game. Essentially, think of it as really good DLC.
My reasoning with MMOs is that when you pay $15 a month to play, you're getting a TON of replay value, and essentially forgoing any purchases as each month progresses. When I was playing WoW, I did not buy Bioshock at the peak of its popularity, for example. Man, I wanted it, but WoW was really all I needed when it came down to it. I took the hit at the time, but some months after quitting WoW, Bioshock was waiting for me just the same (non meme spoilers intact, somehow!)
I'll break down my costs for you in an attempt to alleviate some gold ol' Jimbo MMO bias.
Money spent during my entire WoW career:
World of Warcraft and Burning Crusade in a double pack - $30
Monthly fees added up in total for the year I played - $180
----
So in total, I payed $210 for a years worth of digital entertainment. Hours spent playing - around 2,000+.
Compare that to this year using myself as an example:
Buying Resident Evil 5 - $60 - 60 hours of fun for me (pushing it for others)
Buying Valkryia Chronicles - $40 - 40 hours
Buying Call of Duty 4 - $40 - 100+ hours for the hardcore, but you pay for map packs
Buying Call of Duty: World at War - $40 - 100+ hours for the hardcore, but you pay for map packs
Buying GTA IV - $40 - 40+ hours
----
Total - $220 - hours played (at a maximum for me): 240
Right there, even at discount prices for some games, and only offering part of my purchases this year, I've surpassed that amount.
MMOs are not for everyone: you're absolutely right about that! At the very least however, I can give you some solace by telling you that Blizzard keeps your World of Warcraft character for life, so at any point, you can plop $15 to get back into action with him, which is a pretty nifty selling point.
Overall, you make some very points against subscription based MMOs, but its all about sacrifice (especially with FFXI: forget about life!).
I really want to try this out. Everything about it looks really interesting, just don't want to be addicted to it or the fact that it might be a WOW clone.
@Magnalon: Wow, that is the best argument for pay-to-play MMOs I've ever read. I've long felt that the free/microtransaction model has been ruining MMOs that'd be really awesome otherwise, but to see that feeling transcribed into actual words is very nice. I love MMOs, and I've played 'em all. The best ones have been the ones I've paid for. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of money these days, but I'll gladly spend a little to spend some more time in one of them one of these days. Free-to-plays just never seem to quell my thirst, whether it be caused by quality issues or just the horrible set of peers it gives me to play with.
I've really been enjoying my time in Atreia so far. I've only just started trying to level my crafting, and most of my experience so far has been solo in nature, but the game is beautiful.
Agreed w/ Ashley - I never considered the subscription based benefits you detailed. Unfortunately, if I'm gonna stick my toes into the MMO waters it will be for The Old Republic. Great post/comments!
I'm really liking Aion too. From the selling points, it sounded really bad to me, but a friend made me make a character and showed me combat, and that hooked me.
The game definitely looks pretty and I have a feeling I get addicted by the game play, but the reason I can't get into MMO's is the $ factor. I don't earn enough money to justify spending an extra $15 a month to play a game. It's a shame though, you made Aion sound pretty damn fun.
This doesn't look too bad, I actually heard about this when I heard about what engine the game was based on, and how much of a role flight plays in the game. Far Cry was interesting, so seeing how that game's engine going into an MMO will be interesting. And flight? Well, I've always been captivated by the ability to fly, so that immediately catches my attention.
The only problem is that my older bro was going to try this game out when he gets the chance, and whenever he has a lot of spare time, he would constantly hassle me to play WoW] with him. And he loves MMOs to death. I just know that if he finds this more appealing than WoW, I'll never hear the end of his pleas to play with him. :(
@ Magnalon: My wife was bitching about WoW the other day and how, apparently, if you quit playing for 6 months you'll have your character deleted. I don't know if this is in effect now or maybe will start later, but I'm pretty sure that's what she was trying to tell me.
I ignore a lot of what she says so I cannot be sure.
@All the people who complimented the article/are enjoying Aion
Thanks for commenting! For those that are playing, I hope that you're really enjoying the game, as you can probably tell that I am.
@Jack
WoW is incredibly fun if you play it with real life friends. The only reason I started playing in Burning Crusade was because my friends were bugging me since launch to play.
I still remember going to Target, picking the game up with my best friend, who was also coaxed into buying it, and subsequently playing it the entire day. Him and I ended up joining the same end-game raiding guild, luckily enough! The uncanny part is that I was introduced to the guild itself (and theorycrafting as a whole) by someone I met at work, who I only started talking to because I heard he played WoW a lot.
Magnalon, this is a great cblog. I was actually talking to a guild mate yesterday about how I was thinking of trying out Aion.
I also just wanted to let you know that I just decided to stop working on one of the cblogs I was working on with the intetion of going on Dtoid after I read your response to Yojimbo about why pay-for-play is actually pretty good and free is not. You pretty much just put down my view in better words than I could possibly do myself.
Great read! Aion certainly has potential and it's great that it has had a strong start. I could see how it would tempting to pick it up after reading your FAQ.
I can't honestly shake off that 'been there, done that' feeling I got when I played through the closed and open beta for Aion. It's a beautiful, open world and that's one of it's biggest appeals, but it felt like style over substance to me. Granted, one doesn't usually play a MMO for a deep storyline, yet it felt Aion could've made more effort. Yes, I shouldn't judge the game completely from playing through its beta - there just wasn't enough to get me to place a preorder down for Aion. I doubt if I ever picked up a copy in the future that it would keep my interest for long. It's a shame. I really wanted Aion to enthrall me with its otherworldly colorful setting and back story - it just never happened.
As for the free-to-play MMO vs. paying subscription, I agree wholeheartedly. There's a reason why so many FTP MMOs have come from the woodwork - they make playing the game without the pay options a real pain to inaccessible. You really want to get ahead in that free MMO? Either you enjoy the limited nature of being a freebie or plunk down the cash to help give yourself that 'boost'. Granted, it's a good way to try out a game without putting any money down, but the game's quality will never match those who enforce a monthly fee.
I ended up buying it :) It is VERY enjoyable! I do not believe it will ever capture me like WoW. It lacks the life of WoW. But that is not a bad thing! It replaces it with amazing visuals! As far as other mmos go it's amazing. UI lag can be a pain but it's fine. I think I might have to start paying for 2 MMOs lol
@magnalon
Your argument for payed mmos is my EXACT feelings on the matter! Why pay $70 a week for 20 hours worth of gameplay. When $15 a month for so
many hours! 100s even :)
This is probably the most useful commentary that I've read about the game so far. And while I dread AFK shops polluting the towns, I may just give this game a try in the near future.
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about me
I figured a little introduction was in order in case people were curious. My name is Chris, and I have been enjoying Destructoid avidly since late 2008. I finally decided to make an account and start blogging in January of 2009.
I'm in my 20s, I'm newlywed, and I've been playing games since I was 4. I still remember buying my own NES system at Sears and going home and playing Mario/Duck Hunt. Fast forward to the present, my wife and I now own a PS3 and 360, and in the winter of 2009, we bought a Wii simply so we could play New Super Mario Brothers Wii. If I had to choose a system I had the "best times" with, it would be a two way tie between the Sega Dreamcast and Sony Playstation 2.
There are too many good games out to count now, but recently I've been itching to play my backlog of old PS2 action games. I'll play anything and everything action-adventure, so if you have a game in mind, drop me a line!
Tenchu 2
Lunar 1 and 2 (too hard to decide)
Disgaea 3
Skies of Arcadia
Devil May Cry 3
Resident Evil 5
Phantasy Star Online
Metal Gear Solid 4
Assassin's Creed
Ape Escape 1
Rockman and Forte (Megaman and Bass)
Odin Sphere
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
God Hand
Mass Effect
Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2
Jet Set Radio Future
Ikaruga
Donkey Kong Country
Dragon Age: Origins
Bonus (to be added in when I think of 30): Onimusha 3
Demon's Souls
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Ninja Gaiden (Xbox)
Power Stone 2
Destructoid is an independently-run publication forged by our love of video games and the gaming community's need of accountable enthusiast press living the dream since March 16, 2006
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"Simply put, combat in Aion is much more involved than your standard MMO."
Wha? You crazy.
Been wanting to get into Aion for a while now, and I haven't really gotten into an MMO for a little over a year now. I'm overdue.
I really want to play this!
Sounds good, especially the whole "pretty people with wings" part. Are there things like public quests or large group PvE/PvP affairs?
@unangbangkay
I'll add in a section about "rifts": random world PVP events that involve a mass pouring of Elyos/Asmodian PVP invasions.
As for PVE, there are a number of instances, and group (5 person) quests to do, but no more than a few in terms of big raids, though.
Aion has been out in korea since November 2008 and china and taiwan since april and june respectively. It has quite a bit of time to rack up the asian subscribers. So, it hasnt really been an early success. Since it has been in Korea nearly a year now (gaming addiction capital of the world lol). But 3.5 million is still quite good :O Seeing most boast having 1mil in comparison to WoW lol
I am a WoW player, but Aion does tempt me :) Even the missus wants to have a crack at it lol I just dont want to because I A) Have hated alot of Ncsoft MMO's (guild wars sucked) and B) Tried a few different MMO's when my interest in WoW was dwindling (Lotro, Warhammer and Conan) and they all sucked lol
I need an MMO to have LIFE, all others seemed to lack that compared to WoW. But Aion seems different...Seems very vibrant. I am eagerly waiting on a trial client :)
Also, 'Story quests' are huge in the wrath of the lich king content. There are huge chains these days that end up making the whole terrain change and the events actually have an affect on everything, and the environment. It's blizzards terrain morphing tech. If you roll a death knight and play their starting area, you will really see it. But alot of BIG things happen in northrend that changes everything. Cataclysm is going to introduce it into the low level areas too, when it all gets redone.
@Hriki
Yep! I didn't want to confuse anyone by expanding on the fact that it has been out in Asia.
To respond to your statements: I used to be an avid WoW player. I had a 70 Enhancement Shaman, 70 Shadow Priest, and alts of every other class. I didn't start until Burning Crusade, and honestly, I'm glad.
Vanilla WoW took a long time to push out Molten Core, Onyxia, and Black Wing Lair, and even then, thats not a whole lot of raid content. Aion is a bit similar, as a I told unangbangkay, but at least its starting off with four to choose from. Raids aren't really a priority yet, but if NCSoft's promises of updates are anything to go by, there'll be more.
Also, I agree that NCSoft MMOs generally are of low quality. I really hated Guild Wars, and couldn't really get into Lineage 1/2. WaR and Conan also sucked: I'm just glad I was able to leech off my friend's account and figure that out!
In terms of trying out Northrend's story quests: yep! When my wife was away on a weekend trip recently, I installed the 10-day Lich King trial, and made a Death Knight. I thought the entire experience was ok as a whole (it really only got good at the end), but the actual 68-80 Northrend quests were well done. I suppose what I'm getting at is that in Aion, your quest log makes a point to differentiate campaign quests from normal quests, whereas World of Warcraft doesn't.
For now, I'll non-WoW based MMOs, but mark my words: I want to come back for Cataclysm, if only for the nostalgia!
For now, I'll be dabbling in non-WoW based MMOs*
Yeah i Aion does look great and i forgot to say Great write up! Really enjoyed it :) Makes me want to play it more lol But i better wait for a trial because i dont wanna spend the cash just in case. Plus if i did buy it, the gf would prob just steal my computer and play it all the time lol
When I was fucking around in the character creator back in press beta, this is what hitting "random" got me.
When I have time, I'm going to sit down and actually play this now that it's out. I enjoyed the beta a lot -- whether it will be enough to distinguish itself from WoW remains to be seen.
See here's the thing about MMOs for me. No matter how intriguing or interesting they are, like this one, ultimately I can't pass the hurdle of constantly paying for a subscription fee on a monthly basis. The act of paying for the game originally should entitle me not to pay for it continually. I can see if the game was free and then they want to charge/micro charge. But as I see it the originally cost of the game is just to expensive of a "key" for essentially an incomplete game.
It's not because I can't afford it, cause I blow money on games all the time like a madman, its the principle of it, like paying for online on a certain console. Funny thing is paying for DLC I see nothing wrong with it. Maybe it's because I know they're putting their all into it to make it as appealing to get as humanly possible (or there of ) . But handing them money before you even know if they're adding something worthwhile has always been puzzling to me.
A shame because from your write up this looks to be one of the more interesting MMOs... enough to crack my anti-MMO bias anyway.
sounds great... and I'm rather glad it has a monthly cost, otherwise I would be tempted! :)
(though I wonder what happened to the "partnership" that NCSoft and Sony announced 2 years ago at E3... we have yet to see anything by NCSoft!)
"Aion is a bit light on the end-game content side, with only a few raid-size dungeons to offer, which may turn off some."
If there is content that doesn't require a full "raid" party to complete, then I'd be interested. Unless it can be PUGed in an open world (DAoC RvR/Trials/Artifacts), I have no interest in participating. Scheduling around an MMO to access loot is BS and it's still one of the biggest reasons I never want to return to WoW.
"The biggest reason why I enjoy rifts is because it forces world pvp, and considering you get experience and gear points for it, its definitely worthwhile."
This is much more like it! I loved DAoC's RvR system because it was open world combat that could represent end-game in-and-of-itself. WoW's Arena arguably ruined the PvP in that game. Casual BGs are great fun, but putting an importance and incentive behind world PvP is an excellent plan, and I'm glad Aion is doing it.
@Y0j1mb0
"I can see if the game was free and then they want to charge/micro charge."
See, that's where you and I differ. While the constant cost may not appeal to some, making a game free to play is an easy way to ruin its integrity.
Dungeons and Dragons Online is a perfect example. For starters, its a terrible game. With the recent free to play model, its even worse. You have to pay for certain dungeons, and certain items. For many other free to play MMOs, rather than having to earn anything, you can just pay for it, which completely undercuts the entire principle of a role playing game, in my opinion, which is utter rubbish.
The community also takes a nosedive if the game is free, because its hard to pay $15 a month for a game and not take it somewhat seriously. With free to play MMOs, you get all of the griefers/young kids who stop at nothing to ruin your experience. Sure, you get that with pay to play MMOs as well, but a fee helps weed them out.
Free to play MMOs are generally very light on content as well. With World of Warcraft, I spent around 20 days (480 hours) on my secondary character, and around 50 on my main (1200 hours): that's not including any of my other alts. I have to point out that my soon to be wife was out of the country during this time: shhh!
You pay $15 per month, but you get what you pay for, at least with World of Warcraft. Every few months, Blizzard will add a new dungeon that will take weeks to master, or brand new quests/tweaks that change the way you play the game. Essentially, think of it as really good DLC.
My reasoning with MMOs is that when you pay $15 a month to play, you're getting a TON of replay value, and essentially forgoing any purchases as each month progresses. When I was playing WoW, I did not buy Bioshock at the peak of its popularity, for example. Man, I wanted it, but WoW was really all I needed when it came down to it. I took the hit at the time, but some months after quitting WoW, Bioshock was waiting for me just the same (non meme spoilers intact, somehow!)
I'll break down my costs for you in an attempt to alleviate some gold ol' Jimbo MMO bias.
Money spent during my entire WoW career:
World of Warcraft and Burning Crusade in a double pack - $30
Monthly fees added up in total for the year I played - $180
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So in total, I payed $210 for a years worth of digital entertainment. Hours spent playing - around 2,000+.
Compare that to this year using myself as an example:
Buying Resident Evil 5 - $60 - 60 hours of fun for me (pushing it for others)
Buying Valkryia Chronicles - $40 - 40 hours
Buying Call of Duty 4 - $40 - 100+ hours for the hardcore, but you pay for map packs
Buying Call of Duty: World at War - $40 - 100+ hours for the hardcore, but you pay for map packs
Buying GTA IV - $40 - 40+ hours
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Total - $220 - hours played (at a maximum for me): 240
Right there, even at discount prices for some games, and only offering part of my purchases this year, I've surpassed that amount.
MMOs are not for everyone: you're absolutely right about that! At the very least however, I can give you some solace by telling you that Blizzard keeps your World of Warcraft character for life, so at any point, you can plop $15 to get back into action with him, which is a pretty nifty selling point.
Overall, you make some very points against subscription based MMOs, but its all about sacrifice (especially with FFXI: forget about life!).
I really want to try this out. Everything about it looks really interesting, just don't want to be addicted to it or the fact that it might be a WOW clone.
@Magnalon: Wow, that is the best argument for pay-to-play MMOs I've ever read. I've long felt that the free/microtransaction model has been ruining MMOs that'd be really awesome otherwise, but to see that feeling transcribed into actual words is very nice. I love MMOs, and I've played 'em all. The best ones have been the ones I've paid for. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of money these days, but I'll gladly spend a little to spend some more time in one of them one of these days. Free-to-plays just never seem to quell my thirst, whether it be caused by quality issues or just the horrible set of peers it gives me to play with.
I've really been enjoying my time in Atreia so far. I've only just started trying to level my crafting, and most of my experience so far has been solo in nature, but the game is beautiful.
Agreed w/ Ashley - I never considered the subscription based benefits you detailed. Unfortunately, if I'm gonna stick my toes into the MMO waters it will be for The Old Republic. Great post/comments!
I'm really liking Aion too. From the selling points, it sounded really bad to me, but a friend made me make a character and showed me combat, and that hooked me.
The game definitely looks pretty and I have a feeling I get addicted by the game play, but the reason I can't get into MMO's is the $ factor. I don't earn enough money to justify spending an extra $15 a month to play a game. It's a shame though, you made Aion sound pretty damn fun.
This doesn't look too bad, I actually heard about this when I heard about what engine the game was based on, and how much of a role flight plays in the game. Far Cry was interesting, so seeing how that game's engine going into an MMO will be interesting. And flight? Well, I've always been captivated by the ability to fly, so that immediately catches my attention.
The only problem is that my older bro was going to try this game out when he gets the chance, and whenever he has a lot of spare time, he would constantly hassle me to play WoW] with him. And he loves MMOs to death. I just know that if he finds this more appealing than WoW, I'll never hear the end of his pleas to play with him. :(
@ Magnalon: My wife was bitching about WoW the other day and how, apparently, if you quit playing for 6 months you'll have your character deleted. I don't know if this is in effect now or maybe will start later, but I'm pretty sure that's what she was trying to tell me.
I ignore a lot of what she says so I cannot be sure.
@All the people who complimented the article/are enjoying Aion
Thanks for commenting! For those that are playing, I hope that you're really enjoying the game, as you can probably tell that I am.
@EDS
Blue post on the Blizzard forums: "I just wanted to address the point of characters and accounts being deleted - this really isn't something that we do because it's counter intuitive to how we like to encourage players to come back and play at any time."
@Jack
WoW is incredibly fun if you play it with real life friends. The only reason I started playing in Burning Crusade was because my friends were bugging me since launch to play.
I still remember going to Target, picking the game up with my best friend, who was also coaxed into buying it, and subsequently playing it the entire day. Him and I ended up joining the same end-game raiding guild, luckily enough! The uncanny part is that I was introduced to the guild itself (and theorycrafting as a whole) by someone I met at work, who I only started talking to because I heard he played WoW a lot.
Magnalon, this is a great cblog. I was actually talking to a guild mate yesterday about how I was thinking of trying out Aion.
I also just wanted to let you know that I just decided to stop working on one of the cblogs I was working on with the intetion of going on Dtoid after I read your response to Yojimbo about why pay-for-play is actually pretty good and free is not. You pretty much just put down my view in better words than I could possibly do myself.
Great read! Aion certainly has potential and it's great that it has had a strong start. I could see how it would tempting to pick it up after reading your FAQ.
I can't honestly shake off that 'been there, done that' feeling I got when I played through the closed and open beta for Aion. It's a beautiful, open world and that's one of it's biggest appeals, but it felt like style over substance to me. Granted, one doesn't usually play a MMO for a deep storyline, yet it felt Aion could've made more effort. Yes, I shouldn't judge the game completely from playing through its beta - there just wasn't enough to get me to place a preorder down for Aion. I doubt if I ever picked up a copy in the future that it would keep my interest for long. It's a shame. I really wanted Aion to enthrall me with its otherworldly colorful setting and back story - it just never happened.
As for the free-to-play MMO vs. paying subscription, I agree wholeheartedly. There's a reason why so many FTP MMOs have come from the woodwork - they make playing the game without the pay options a real pain to inaccessible. You really want to get ahead in that free MMO? Either you enjoy the limited nature of being a freebie or plunk down the cash to help give yourself that 'boost'. Granted, it's a good way to try out a game without putting any money down, but the game's quality will never match those who enforce a monthly fee.
I ended up buying it :) It is VERY enjoyable! I do not believe it will ever capture me like WoW. It lacks the life of WoW. But that is not a bad thing! It replaces it with amazing visuals! As far as other mmos go it's amazing. UI lag can be a pain but it's fine. I think I might have to start paying for 2 MMOs lol
@magnalon
Your argument for payed mmos is my EXACT feelings on the matter! Why pay $70 a week for 20 hours worth of gameplay. When $15 a month for so
many hours! 100s even :)
@All who are interested in instances
Check out this video from about 2 minutes on.
I would be interested in just flying around for the while and looking at the world... but not 50$ + 15$/month + 10 days of playtime interested :(
This is probably the most useful commentary that I've read about the game so far. And while I dread AFK shops polluting the towns, I may just give this game a try in the near future.