Curse.com founder's open Aion letter to NCsoft Korea

The oddest thing I found in AION having created a few characters on a few servers, as I sat back and watched the chat chanels scroll by, was how many of the 'Wow kids' (You know what I mean) seemed to love the fact that it was actually looking as though it was going to be a long haul to level. And not just one or two as well, overall they really seemed impressed at the grind.

So many of these games are running after the 'casual players' I think there has to be room for people not afraid to put a little work in it. But then I always thought that casual players were already quiet happy playing maps on Call of Duty on the Xbox (and dam good those maps are too!) so maybe I'm prejudiced. I get the feeling that the Asian market as a whole isn't afraid to actually challenge people, which might well do them a lot of good it the long run. Just my thought.

Lag in PvP games is instant fail though. You can't give people the reason to complain once that PvP rage set in :)

First, I want to say, that if the Aion developers actually listen to the types of cretins that post comments on these boards, the game will end up in the garbage bin, just like Warhammer. The truth is, these idiots and brainless goons don't know what they want, and they're certainly NOT gamers. These are the stay-at-home mom types. The retired golfer types. Don't let these empty brain-pans dictate a game's difficulty.

Second (as ironic as it may seem, especially after reading my first point). The bots should be #1 priority. The leveling curve is fine. Yes, there are some issues with encouraging grouping. Yes, lower level instances would be a nice distraction from regular questing. That said, however, the bots should be completely eliminated from the game. Remove them. Don't let them back in. They are ruining your game, its atmosphere, and its future potential.

Thanks for reading,
I don't care if you reply to this, I won't be reading it. The people around here down-rate anything they don't like reading, are stuck up fools with terrible sense for gaming in general, and to all of you, I ask, "Don't you have a tee time to go to, or a quilt to sew?"

Bots,fortress fight crashing and group xp are real issues to be taken care of.
Reality check is that most of the people complaining about the grind,its too this,it's too that,are the cancer of the MMORPG genre.

The are like locusts which fly to the next field and destroys everything then moves to the next greenfield.This type of player is the "casual video gamer" not the MMO(rpg) one.They are MMO hoppers(yeah locusts & grass hoppers) never satisfied no matter what,they are the "minimum input but want maximum output type".

The problem is lots of MMO will fail if they cater to this particular type because they are not the core players.if by any chance NCsoft "wowifies" their game,the core players will simply move away. May be the game will be successful as long as no other big MMO hit the market but as soon as a new so called AAA mmo hits the market,they will jump ship plain and simple and will do what they do best " whine,rant and QQ".

I choose to play Aion because of its challenges and progression.NCsoft has been crystal clear about how their game gonna be...so no excuses.I have RL issues and responsibilities like everyone else and I manage to have 3 to 4 hours session per day when I can.I'm not the highest level but is enjoying the game.

I have seen a lot of people referring to themselves as "westerners" and criticising the Asian play style.One thing I have learned with Asians(friends and business partners) is that they are dedicated to anything they do compared to the "I want it now" westerners generation.

As for Netcurse ( Curse network) I have stopped believing in Santa Claus.Curse network is no Mother Theresa,they are here to make money.

If you can spare some time please read this post

http://www.aionsource.com/forum/1612852-post484.html

/Rant off

It's funny he makes a dire claim that the game will go from 1m potential to 300k in six months. And then he promotes small, incremental changes which won't really address the core of his major issue. It doesn't sound like he's offering a solution to get to 1m. It sounds like he's offering a solution to get to 350k.

The only challenge in Aion is do you have the time...

Wow, it is amazing how a game so lauded by Massively and the press as "going to be the smoothest release evar" with huge presales and so eagerly looked forward to by a huge portion of the MMO playing population has fallen from grace so fast.

Yes, there are fanboys amongst the cries of "Arggghhhhh" but the change in people's opinions is clear... Aion isn't what it could have been and people are starting to vote with their non-renewals.

Thats why i quit Aion is because i was given two options somewhere around lvl 18: Group with a group of no less than 6 people, or grind NPCs, not for a quest, just to kill them for XP. I would still be playing if i didn't have to grind or wasn't forced to group.
Also, is it too much to ask for a flight path to impetusium?

Dear Mr. N. C. Soft,

Hi. Children are starving in Africa, a swine flu pandemic is sweeping the globe, global warming is melting our ice caps, and the devaluation of the dollar combined with record deficits are going to bankrupt the United States. Terrorists continue to plot against developed nations around the world, as Iran and North Korea work to advance their nuclear programs. AIDS and cancer remain uncured, and the world's supply of easily obtainable oil is dwindling. Racial and religious prejudices continue to fuel violence and hatred, and a large meteor could destroy all life at any moment.

Oh, and the chat in Aion isn't very user friendly.

I've never understood the MMO players who equate tedium/repetition with challenge/difficulty. Grinding mobs challenges my patience... not my ability.

I don't want fast leveling. I want leveling that is fun and keeps me entertained. If it takes me 6 months to hit max level, all the better.

I don't think Aion is getting "warhammered" for the simple fact that it's not a new game; however Netcurse nails a lot of the current issues, which will cause Aion to be a low-population niche MMO in the West.

The crysystem.dll crash issue is, to me, the most urgent problem that needs to be both addressed and fixed; Ayase posting that they're collecting issues to assess the problem is bull, NCsoft already has a truckload of crash logs that attest there's an issue.

The crash issue affects the very core of the game: PvP in the Abyss. While you can delay/avoid crashing by using shift+f12, it is not a good-enough solution to me, and NCsoft needs to fix pronto if they want to avoid shooting themselves in the foot.

One thing I don't particularly agree with Netcurse is the need to lessen the grind and boost quest/mob XP; I'm not a hardcore player, I'm still just lv25, but I also don't care at all if it takes me 6 months to hit lv50.

What a joke of an article.

If Aion wants to have that 1 million players in the west, instead of 300K...

What does this dude think. That this Korean copycat will ever grow bigger than 200 K after its 3 month launch?

Sucky at best

14NA/18EU servers is the only high point that game will have in the west.

It is already losing 30% of its manipulated b-playerbase on Xfire.

I am stunned by the lack of knowledge by this player base.

Aion simply is far from a Blizzard product.

It lacks already about 99% of wow's features in the first place.

This is exactly what happened to Granado Espada, which could have been million+ participant world class game. Since the same problems happen over and over again, I'm surprised they aren't being addressed in development. It's almost like Developers have adopted the mentality of making as much money as possible off the initial hype while they make their plans to move on to their next big project.

Game publishers are equally at fault for not understanding how these problems erode their customer base in the long run. Botters, RMTers, gold-sellers, etc. always have strong arguments describing themselves as "hardcore" players or the "majority" who won't stick around unless they can cheat the grind system. When game publishers buy into these arguments and allow the problems to grow, it's not long before the parasites really are the majority: all the customers who would have bothered to follow the ToS have left. Then the "hardcore" players turn out to be not so loyal: parasites need victims, so they will follow the legit players to the next promising games.

Ps. I wish Massively would have covered the decline of Granado Espada with the same attention and care they give to Aion. :(

Quote[
"Today must be our lucky day because Netcurse, founder of Curse.com wrote just such a letter to NCsoft Korea"
Endquote]

Whomever netcurse or curse.com is. (nope didnt even look at it). or is that quote sarcasm?

"need to be addressed or this game will end up being a 300k subscriber game within 6 months"

Too late! Just go look at the shelves at any software vendor. "Grindtastic" = fail.