NCsoft announces Aion has gone gold, now being manufactured

"This comes after Aion has topped Steam's weekly sales chart and the Collector's Edition has almost sold out in the UK."

Wow... people never learn... to wait till a game is release and see of the marketing match the game...

Anyway if the rumors are true of WoW Cataclysm will be a brand new game where the old world become the new world and all levels 1 to 80 will can see some new content! And Aion get kicked right below the belt!

"You think something like Bioware's Old Republic doesn't stand a chance? The number of Star Wars and Bioware fans are pretty staggering.

Many of my buddies who play WoW currently, tell me they're sure to drop their sub when SWtOR comes out."

a) There's been a Star Wars MMO out for years and yet still people play WoW in preference to it.

b) You could say the same thing about LoTRO. After all, the amount of LoTR fans must dwarf pretty much anything else, but which game is doing best - LoTRO or WoW?

Mr. Smite really.... you did not see anything yet... do not waist you time comment on rumors till you see the trailer...

Well, I think there's a difference. There's Aion grind and WoW grind. Most of the WoW haters believe WoW is now too easy. Too easy to accomplish things and not enough of a grind to get it. At least that is what I come away with.

The defense of Aion is that Aion's grind makes you "earn" it by being a much longer grind. For example. From level 44 to level 45 is 70 million xp. Yes, mobs and quests give a lot of xp for completion, but you will "feel" that grind as opposed to grinding in other MMOs (like WoW or LotRO). Especially when you have to fend off PvP attackers (and do not get much XP in PvP and risk Abyss Points...which is almost like WoW's older honor grind).

WoW was pretty grindy to the point where you "felt" it early in it's lifetime. The playerbase complained. Now it's too easy and all of a sudden, Aion's grind is better. It's mind boggling. Players don't know what they want. =P

As for Patch 1.5, the jury is out on how much is eased the grind. It's just barely hit the Korean servers. However, they also increased the level cap to 50 so who knows.

Myself, I got to level 25 in the closed beta for Aion and I felt the grind around level 17. Of course, that was the old patch...so who knows. We shall see.

All MMOs are grindy. However, some "feel" more grindy that others. I believe that's what seperates them. IMO, people will "feel" Aion's grind before its free month is up.

Oh yes, to add, WoW's old grinds and hopefully Aion's actually include others (a.k.a. MMOrpg). Instead of being the solely-fest that is WoW now.

Pretty pathetic when a game like WoW gets to the point where you actually prefer to be alone while doing dailies so others don't use up the mobs/items/spawns.

That is not how to design a game within a genre that is based around community.

+ 1 Sale for Aion. You know what, the game like every other mmo comes with 1 months free play. If you are not sure by the standard edition and leave. I for one can afford to buy a game and only play it for a month. Hell i buy FPS games at full price and get maybe 10 -15 hours out of them. MMO's regardless give me 40 + hours minimum and the 40 hour minimum would only be like that if i got really really bored.

Now i keep hearing that Aion will be linear blah blah blah. Well so are most games and people pay full price for them. I personally will give this game a shot as it looks really good and most of the people beta testing it seem to have positive comments.

Everyone carries on about simple quests. Ok think about it? what do you want out of a quest? most games are simple when you think about it. Heck most rpg's have your run of the mill quests. What are people expecting? attack Henry Von Pickleburger using only a wooden spoon and smack him across the head 100 times before pouring milk down his pants and dragging him around town for 4 in game hours then taking his wife as your own producing a horde of children all in the space of 30 minutes..... Its a game and the reality is in game quests thus far are 'generally' of the simple nature.

The beauty of MMO's is not so much the quests it's the chance to play with large amounts of people on an epic scale. It's the ability to do the run of the mill quests or the pvp or the dungeons and boses. It's the awesome armour and the crazy rpg'ers who bring a smile to your face when they carry on like its 1752.

WoW is old and it's a game that is doing well. I've played it and most of my mates have played it. But the key word is 'played' and i doubt any number of expansion's will bring me back. WoW has set the mmo benchmarks like doom did for the FPS back in the 90's and will therefore be used as a comparrison for many years to come. However, WoW isn't the only game and people should perhaps look at playing something else. If Aion uses the WoW formula then good on it as that formula works. If you complain that Aion is a WoW clone and then go back to WoW then you must be thick! Why? because if Aion plays like WoW but is a different setting then you should essentially fall in love with it as it contains all that you know and love.

Fight the Power Motherlickers!

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Susan

http://onlinemariogames.net

I can understand people who think Aion = Lineage II, after playing L2 I had the same concerns. But after I've tried the beta I must say I like it pretty much.

Aion is not in anyway groundbreaking MMO, just very stable & polished. It doesn't offer anything you haven't seen before (even flying) but... wasn't WoW all the same 5 years ago?

I am not saying it's a WoW killer but it's definitely has potential.

Personally, I look forward to the world pvp. I hope never to see again instanced pvp aka battlegrounds

Like other posters above, I can't see why people get so excited about grinding a bunch of quests. Leveling up through WOTLK, which everybody says is so omfg amazing for quest content, was really just another xp slog that I did while I listened to TTC Great Lectures. Yes, I read the storylines, but I'm just not terribly amused by another "We need supplies of X widgets for our camp" quest. In fact I barely remember any of the solo content from leveling up in WoW. What I do remember is PvPing with friends, cool group questlines like Onyxia key, and raiding MC. Even getting attuned to Karazhan was something I enjoyed. The only really memorable experiences I had in Lich King was the PUG that made me say "screw it" and go back to playing Civ and waiting for Aion.

Give me a space of world to smack down three hundred goblins, some good character animations, and an iTunes full of good MP3s, and I'll be happy grinding gamer.

@ Sibe

"I'm not trying to say at all that I know how Aion works, I'm just saying that from what I've heard the system kicks the shit out of WoW's grind system that completely and utterly fails. Aion by all means is grindy while leveling, the main reason why I didn't really play on CBT5-6, but endgame wise? If Aion is like old-style freedom of WoW world PVP while having rewards attached, then how at all can it be judged as grindy?"

It's grindy just like WoW. You grind Abyss Points (which you can lose). You grind fortresses to open PvE areas where you can gain Abyss Points without even PvPing and then you grind those dungeons down. I guess you could say its grindy like Warhammer is in that respect. See how successful that game is? It has its own little niche. Just like Aion will get. Which is cool.

You think the grind is different at end game in Aion? What happens when you do the exact same thing you claim to in WoW? You get the gear you want, you've grinded the instances over and over and over. PvPing gets old. Then what? You'll be saying the same things about Aion you're saying about WoW.

It's new and shiny. I get that. It'll be fun. I get that. Completely different and all of a sudden much more fun and free of the grind unlike WoW? Going by my impressions and end game friends of K-Aion? Not so much.

guys .. who said the game was meant to replace WoW.. these are games remember x_X no need to get in heated arguments about how in depth a game is vs another one and just for "all you crazy fanboys" WoW is by no means THE best mmo ... and really i dont care how you respond .. grasping to any excuse to make your self believe that WoW is they best mmo ever.. and quit saying everything is a rip off of Wow like sure its a mmo that you do quests in and fight other people and there's races and classes ..but other then that there isn't much the same lol which sounds odd because there isn't all that much more in a game and for those of you who say its a grind fest... I've seen others say and you all should agree with them and rethink your post because how many mmo's have you played that you don't grind for stuff in.... it doesn't have to be a grind, you could go and do something else and come back to it later pro longing it but not making it suck "a miserable grind" but say you don't? does that ruin the game? hardly for any of you people out there that are saying mean things about the game and saying WoW is better .. go post it on a WoW fan site because im sure most of the people that are going to look at this are going to want to know what is nice and not so nice about the game in question .. Aion not how much it sucks compared to WoW and sure you have to compare games to other games... but just because blizzard made it and it has 14 million people playing it ... think about how many of those million are bored out of their minds wanting something new to do and how WoW is suck an epic grind its self which i'm not saying you wont see in this game or future games and from alot of people opinions Aion has taken the best from prior games and edited to make it more exciting user friendly etc ..i havent seen anyone mention anything about the massive amounts of pvp that goes on in Aion or the amazing 100+ man seige wars that happen in the China retail.. which is 1.2 by the way here is a link to a video which shows one it doesnt have the best of music for sure but you should watch it and see the crazy pvp in there which you will never incounter in WoW for sure the only mmo i have played that even comes close is RFOnline which was a failure due to lack of detail WoWs pve experience isn't very great either sure there is instances and bosses but in Aion you have pvpve which in my opinion is going to be quite fun and challenging i am looking forward to this game being launched and hope people who are interested in playing it will not look at the many WoW praising comments because it isn't really that awsome of a game..... if any of you disagree with me instead of flaming me in this comment sectiong lol email me :) be creative with your words :) if anyone would like to hear more about my (MY) opinion on Aion... not wow.......... email me as well here is my address :) zacmelanson@live.ca hope to get some colorful emails and some with serious questions


from..

a 16 year old kid who has to much spare time [ Me :0]

xD yes i should have but was a bit pressed for time so i just put one large chunk in.

as for every game being a grind... soooo true but there is more the a different suit and name between two games the play style amounts of pvp, what time period the game takes place in and what all you can do in it :P is what sets games apart for me