Aion Online

[Scraggles]

I had to preorder it. It looks astounding and has extreme potential. I hope to god I can get my friends from playing WoW any longer to give this a fair chance. What do you guys think? How many of you are putting WoW on hold to give this a shot?

I haven't read too much on it, but it looks phenominal, however, as WoW has shown, graphics mean jack... WoW is like playing a disney game. The community is whats holding it together at the moment.

[(Spork)]

the game looks good but its no wow killer ..... ive dropped wow about 6 months ago and im not going back any time soon

[trag3dy]

Me and a friend pre-ordered our copies of the CE. Had to get all the extra goodies. If you pre-order from Gamestop (US) you can get some extra goodies beyond what the CE gives, as well.

[Scraggles]

I wonder what it will take to get rid of wow. I'm so sick of it. It wasn't ever that great to begin with.

[trag3dy]

I don't know. I really don't understand why a lot of people consider WoW the be all and end all of mmo's these days. I've played it off and on and the game never appealed to me that much. When it came down to it I spent more time messing with UI mods than playing and I don't need to pay to do that.

I think this game has a real chance at displaceing a lot of players from WoW though. The closed beta/preview event, whatever they decided to call it they did last week was really impressive. Thousands of people playing and next to 0 lag issues.

[Scraggles]

I really can't wait until thursday to play. How long do you think this beta event will last? It's a bust weekend for me so I won't get to play much.

[trag3dy]

Hmmm I remember reading the exact time frame for it this weekend on the beta forums but we can't access that right now. It's going at least until monday I'm pretty sure.

I think though they're giving us more time to play this beta this weekend but on the other hand it's only for asmodean and levels 1-10 in the starter area. *shrug*

Edit -- just found this and it's not in any way official:

THOSE DATES ARENT FIX; THEY CAN CHANGE during the process

3-5 july beta test asmodians, lvl limit increased

17-19july closed beta test in abyss

14-17august first open beta

19-23 august 2nd open beta

Edit 2:

This is from an official NCsoft rep about this weekend..

Starting Time: Friday, June 19th (9:00 PM CEST, 8:00 PM BST, noon PT)

Ending Time: Monday, June 22nd (9:00 PM CEST, 8:00 PM BST, noon PT)

Edited June 16, 2009 by trag3dy

[Scraggles]

awesome. Thanks trag3dy. Want to hook up in game during the beta this weekend? I need fellow nerds!

[synol]

Based on the screenshots, this game looks pretty good. I'd give it a 9/10

[Scraggles]

I'll make a gameplay vid this weekend. What should I use to record it?

I should be able to max out the graphics on my computer without any issues.

[trag3dy]

I wish I could play but sadly this weekend is no good for me. If I can play at all it will be friday night.

As for recording...gamecam maybe? Or fraps? I know the trial of fraps limits you to 30 seconds of video. On another note they just removed their NDA or whatever it's called, so I think it's now okay to post videos and stuff.

[Scraggles]

Awesome. I'm going to definitely tease you guys with some full res images and vids. It'll be my first time playing. I just preordered on Monday.

[twist]

i'm sure it will do as well as ncsoft's last mmorpg.

[obiwong]

I wonder what it will take to get rid of wow. I'm so sick of it. It wasn't ever that great to begin with.

never going to happen

it's simply the best MMO there. yes, it's not perfect.... but the good qualities of the games are SO good that when you're playing you don't even care about the bad qualities. Blizzard has the magic formula that satisfies the hardcore raiders, the casuals and the PvPers all in a single game.

Tycho from penny arcade says it perfectly:

The reality is that it wouldn't matter if the game were completely incredible. The game could be as good as World of Warcraft, and even this would be insufficient. It would have to be better than WoW to succeed, now. I'm exceedingly curious about both Warhammer and Age of Conan, and both have chosen on multiple occasions to apply another coat of paint. With a head start, years of steady improvements, premium upgrades, world-class art and design, and hundreds of millions of dollars, Blizzard is an entrenched foe. They have a "next generation MMO" in the pipeline, but my guess would be that it's a graphical update to the existing world. There's ten million people playing it. You don't make a sequel to that game. You exult in it.

WoW is still - as we suggested more than three years ago, rescinded, and then ultimately reasserted - the apex of the genre. It does this by leveraging the Diablo template, making a game that is essentially a mechanism to obscure the loot table. It is the most humane game of its type, which is to say that it can still be ridiculously cruel.

[M1h4iL]

I wonder what it will take to get rid of wow. I'm so sick of it. It wasn't ever that great to begin with.

What I hate about WoW, even though I have never played it, is that it steals so many players from playing other games.

[Scraggles]

I'll admit, I bought wow. I played it for no more than a month at any one time. The cartoon graphics were the biggest deterrant for me. The only two mmorpgs j ever got hooked in was final fantasy and lineage 2.

[Joseph B]

I was quite excited about the game.

Until I noticed "Winged flight PvP"...

I think thats a horrible idea, and will probably make people throw up from vertigo... The target system will be so odd for that. I can't see any way it wouldn't be.

I had lost hopes for most fantasy MMOs, until I saw SE was going to be cranking out FFXIV Online. I was an avid FFXI player, and I cannot wait to see more information released about it.

[Scraggles]

That's another one I'm extremely anxious for. Final fantasy.

[trag3dy]

nvm

[ylcard]

I'll admit, I bought wow. I played it for no more than a month at any one time. The cartoon graphics were the biggest deterrant for me. The only two mmorpgs j ever got hooked in was final fantasy and lineage 2.

This is better than WoW's graphics, in your opinion ?

[Scraggles]

At the time that final fantasy online was first released WoW wasn't even around. That's the time I was referring to.

Either way, very few people I know think wows graphics are noteworthy. Seriously, for the money they bring in there is absolutely no reason why they can't seriously revamp the graphics. The updates and expansions have been pretty much a joke. They are sitting on billions of dollars of profit on the game, and it still looks like garbage. It's still practically the same as the day it was released. Recently I played on a few various free servers and even for free I couldn't get into the game.

With all the next gen consoles out there and the potential for amazing graphics, I think aion is going to dominate at first glance and if they get the gameplay down pat, then blizzard is in for a serious wake up call.

[Spookie]

With all the next gen consoles out there and the potential for amazing graphics, I think aion is going to dominate at first glance and if they get the gameplay down pat, then blizzard is in for a serious wake up call.

Same way Warhammer was going to take all of WoW's PvP subs?

[Scraggles]

Let's face it... It's going to happen eventually. Wow can't go forever. Especially since the content is the same as the day it came out.

Most of my friends that play wow don't want to stop because the time they've invested in it. I think that's the case with probably half the subscribers.

[spacer]

Aion looks like it'll be good. But it's made by NCSoft, and their track record isn't that encouraging.

And, I'm sorry but FFXI was one of the dumbest and most boring MMOs I've ever played. I am not looking forward to FFXIV at all.

[Scraggles]

They did Lineage 2 which did alright here and amazing in Korea, and didn't they do guild wars?