I've been spending quite a lot of time with my new MMORPG Aion Online Tower of Eternity. The game went live to everyone with a pre-order on September 20th at around 2PM EST. The game has two factions Elyos the Angelic Looking folks with emo-looks and white wings and the Asmodians the black winged dark skinned folks that are less emo, but still a little. I was working during the first couple of days of the game being live and I tried to catch up but I have to admit I'm not anywhere near the level I should be by this point.
My first character was a Gladiator who is pretty much like a Fury Talented Warrior from World of Warcraft. I use this comparison so that all you folks out there who are playing World of Warcraft and are bored know what you are getting into. All my characters are Asmodian as the longer I played with the character customization tool with each faction the more I realized that the Asmodians were much prettier than the Elyos which seemed strange to me at first as I did play an Elyos throughout the beta.
The game as a whole is excellent as MMORPGs go. Some of the quests in the game are grind heavy; but World of Warcraft as a comparison is probably a little easier to get from level 1-20. This shouldn't keep the average hardcore World of Warcraft player from giving Aion a try. The diversity in experiences in Aion is pretty incredible everything from full scale player versus player to player versus environment. The game can throw a lot at the player before the player might be ready; but just as in World of Warcraft the player simply needs to dial it back and grind in the lower level zones. Grinding in Aion is a more viable course than in games like World of Warcraft. Quest rewards in Aion are high but not as high World of Warcraft or similar non-grind focused MMORPGs.
Aion on the surface seems to be more simplistic than most other modern MMORPGs. However, the game has better graphics than just about any other out there. The game currently is so popular that the ques to get in were, at one point, a 5 hour wait. Since then, they have added servers and the ques have gone down to nothing. The game is pretty addictive. Much more so than World of Warcraft or any other MMORPG I've played recently. So far I think the game is going to be a big hit and I can't wait to crack into the higher levels of Aion where I can begin doing PVP and Instances.
Certainly just like any other MMORPG the value of the game is based on the community's dedication and enjoyment of the game. This is the exciting thing about MMORPGs and also the sad part of those MMORPGs that don't work out. There are perhaps some issues with balance but then there all ways are in PVP based games. Currently however, nothing appears to be unbalanced. It certainly isn't as simple as the rock, paper, scissors balance of some MMORPGs. Aion is excellent in this way. All the class seem wonderfully balanced. We will see how all this plays out in a few months when thousands of people are high level characters rather than currently where 60-80 percent of the populations on servers are between 1-20.
Some advice to new players...
Just because you THINK you know how a class plays based on its description doesn't mean you do. You may want to try all the classes until level 11. So that the grind you have is the grind you want; not one you feel obligated to based on the time you have all ready invested.
Campaign quests(gold quests) as you move through levels are usually for groups of people not solo players. They normally don't say this, so once you hit level 12-14 make sure you don't run head long into a situation where there are so many enemies you will be dead before you can even get the lay of the land.
The regular quests (blue quests) are mostly for solo players but there were occasions where I needed to team up with folks. All quests are pretty optional except for one or two so if you REALLY hate one skip it. However, just remember that in most cases the killing of the enemies for these quests and the quest reward XP together are probably MUCH greater than any amount of grinding you could do in the same period of time.
I did quit World of Warcraft for Aion. So thanks NCSOFT for having all those wonderful video podcasts to get me to think about playing again and thanks Valve for providing such an easy and safe way to download the client. However to any new players I would suggest grabbing the physical version of the collectiors edition at your local Fry's Electronics its a better value.
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