Game Nurse

Oh, my character is SERIOUSLY important to me. Especially lovely outfits. I spend a considerable amount of time looking at armour, outfitting my toon, and getting the right look in the first place. In fact, sometimes I will pick armour with lower stats just because it is beautiful !!

Aion is amazing for this, the way the armour glistens in the light, the details of the stitching and metal work, and the incredible variety in clothes...it is great!

I will still play games where the characters are ugly (like LotRO), but I do get a lot of enjoyment out of a lovely avatar.

I have to say though, it does amuse me to hear men over vent talk about their pretty dress or their great hairstyle when they have a female toon!!! Very cute.

I would give the game an 8 ot of 10.

ONLY because I have found a fantastic Legion to join and we have tons and tons of fun. This game is not one that is fun without good friends. It is too grindy and too group dependent. PUGs can be a real nightmare. Mainly because if you wipe, it is expensive, and that can be really frustrating.

However, as for the game itself, the crafting is great fun, the graphics are incredible, the classes are well balanced and fun to play. The sigma system allows for a little flexibility (but not enough), and the PvP is very fun (an dI am NOT normally a PvP player at all). Going through a rift into enemy territory is VERY VERY VERY fun. Grab a bunch of friends, hop through a rift and not only explore the very different terrain of the opposite side, but also kill everything you see. Good Times!!

Where is it lacking? The questlines are rather trivial, the text can be sometimes pointless although there are hidden amusing gems in some of them, and the first ten levels are super annoying in order to get to a new class. Doing the same 10 levels over and over again for each alt is tiresome. However, by the 4th time you can speed right through them...

You are absolutely right Jess...GW2 has got it right.

That was the best trailer ever! However, I do admire the fact that Turbine ONLY used in game footage and did not try to dress it up with computer graphics...

And Mr. Angry - you are totally entitled to your opinion and I respect what you have to say here, but I DO have disagree with you comment on the pricing strucutre. LotRO is the cheapest out there at only $9.99 per month.

And I am looking forward to Dragon Age...gotta go pick it up this weekend!

Archmage -

*shrug*

Maybe it is not lore perfect. But it makes me want to live in that world and experience the game. And it speaks to the love of the genre. No one who plays LotRO can possibly say there is not a team of true Tolkien enthusiasts on staff. It resonates throughout the entire game.

I truly hope for many more years for this company and this MMO. It is one of the few that has quality.

Beautiful. Just beautifully done. Captures the sense of loss and bitterness that the Necro King now feels. Anyone who has read the books and loves the genre cannot help but be completely entranced by both the footage and the voice acting.

Well done Turbine...

So does this mean that the few women who DO play will get blatantly harrassed since they will not have the 'cover' of millions of female characters running about???

Nice. *shudder*


I can imagine the number of women who play now will drop dramatically if this rule comes into play in China.
Then again, I wonder how many women actually do play in that country, seeing as they are such the lower class citizen, they should be making babies and cooking dinner and washing their men's feet, not playing a game. *sigh*

What a thorough guide Daegulus!

I am finding myself enjoying the game more and more. Between the crafting, the PvP (and I normally HATE PvP), the quests, even the occassional grinding with guildees...it is VERY fun.

However, this game is NOT good for the solo player who does not enjoy grinding, or the person who does not have a good group of friends to play with. Last night I went to a rift for the first time with some fellow guildees (ok, legion-ees, but that just does not sound right!) and it was SO fun!!!! We got completely wiped out, but it was really, REALLY fun...a rift is a 'tear' in the world or whatever..lore aside, it is basically a swirly tunnel you go into and pop out somewhere on the opposite faction's side. You do not know what level or where until you cross over.

So you grab a bunch of friends and jump through....VERY fun. You run around trying to avoid the monsters, trying to find real players to kill...it is all good sport... and yes, we ganked a few lower levels, and yes, we got ganked ourselves, but really, this is a GAME, and that is just part of it. You just hit the respawn button and away you go!

Highly recommend experiencing that with a good group of friends before you write the game off....

Have yet to try the Abyss, but for me, the rifts are a serious win.

Nice. You managed to insult both Koreans AND women in your post.

I have not had an issue with money whatsoever. The game is obviously designed to get people to PLAY it, that means farming, crafting, and creating alts to play it.

Do any of these things, and money problems are solved.

AS for levelling...well clerics are indeed painful. But the other classes seem to move right along.

Look, this is a game that wants to make money. Letting people level to cap within a few weeks is obviously counterproductive to the game.

I am impressed with the quality of the game. Is it the best I have ever played? Well, how do you define 'best'?

Sorry you do not like it. Plenty of others do....

This is a game that I was not really prepared to like. The hype turned me off, NCsoft essentially dumping GW turned me off, and the fact that it is primarily PvP really turned me off.

However, I am absolutely LOVING the game. The attention to detail is amazing. I wander around finding little easter eggs everywhere...like little squirrels that smack flies out of the air and stomp on them, dinosaurs in the oddest spots, NPCs 'hiding' behind rocks, beautiful armour, really nice story lines, fun skills with great animations, I could go on and on.

Yes, the xp amounts are rather daunting as you go up in levels. But I find myself a bunch of friends and play and laugh together and we end up forcing ourselves to quit for the night waaaay past any of our bedtimes.

I would say the trick is to find yourself an excellent Legion (Guild or Kin) and make some friends and just enjoy the experience. It is a VERY fun, well thought out game. I am very pleasantly surprised....

Yes, I will play MMOs, and yes, I am eager to see what other games are around the corner, but I can see myself playing Aion for a very long time.

Well, I am having a LOT of fun playing the game. The animations are stunning. Even the little animals do amusing things (such as swat a fly out of the air then stomp on it).

Is it the best thing out there?? I dunno.

But I really enjoy it, the community seems great on my server anyways. The combat system is really, really fun. The crafting is rewarding, challenging, and a complete mini game in itself. The skills are effective and meaningful. The graphics are out of this world. The dialogue is often amusing and interesting to read. The auction house is another mini game...getting green drops, listing them, then getting your cash. The macro system is fantastic. I wish every game had it. Easy to use, helpful tips and a walk through if you need it. The classes each get better and better the higher you go.

I think it is well done. And I have not had to wait even once to get on - no server ques in sight.

Botting? Meh, do not notice.

Spammers? Well, they are bloody annoying and blocking them in the first few minutes of log-in is yet another mini game in itself lol

I strongly advise everyone to at least try this game and stop being a hater without having any personal experience with it.