Info for people who haven't been following the game...

[Volition]

I have not been following Aion at all. When I look through these threads, I see a lot of info that would most likely be beneficial to people who at least know something about the game. I have been getting bored of FFXI and WoW lately, and am looking for a new MMO.

At first, I wasn't even going to consider this game until I saw some videos of it.

I was wondering if anyone would be able to post some "Selling points" of the game? Something that someone who knows nothing about it may find interesting. With it coming out in just a few weeks (at least what I heard) I want to know if it is something I should spend the money on or not. I have been burned before (AoC and WAR) which is why I'm not just going to go out and buy this as soon as it is released.

People who have been playing the beta might be able to help the most. What is the atmosphere like in the game? How is the music? Pictures don't really do it justice. Is it just like WoW? How do you level up? Etc. etc...

I hope this isn't a "one of those threads again" thread, but I haven't really been able to find a good source of info about the game from people who AREN'T going to make money from its release. If anyone has any info to help persuade or dissuade me from getting the game, please post here. I'm sure I'm not the only one who is interested.

Thanks.

One other thing - is there variety?

[Syntex]

I have not been following Aion at all. When I look through these threads, I see a lot of info that would most likely be beneficial to people who at least know something about the game. I have been getting bored of FFXI and WoW lately, and am looking for a new MMO.

Just keep reading, you can find a lot of info about the game.

Most of us here, myself in particular knew NOTHING about the game other then the name, then after reading about 20 pages of the 60+ page post I got to know a lot more information and just kept reading.

Aion is PERFECT for people who are tired of WoWs lackluster PvP and don't like their PvE or just bored with its casual and easy approach. Those who have been playing FFXI are probably bored of FFXI from playing it so many years and need something new to play.

I have played both to endgame and I can say without a doubt I will enjoy canceling my subscriptions to these 2 games for this game :D

At first, I wasn't even going to consider this game until I saw some videos of it.

I was wondering if anyone would be able to post some "Selling points" of the game? Something that someone who knows nothing about it may find interesting. With it coming out in just a few weeks (at least what I heard) I want to know if it is something I should spend the money on or not. I have been burned before (AoC and WAR) which is why I'm not just going to go out and buy this as soon as it is released.

I agree, I played WAR when it came out and it seemed okay but it flopped, the game was underdeveloped and they fixed basic things in following patches instead of working on balancing the game because of rushing it to compete with WoW.

I can say without a doubt this game is the most polished, complete, and professional game I have seen to date. This is because the game has traits similar to FFXI by being out in Asia for about a year allowing them to polish it to a mirror shine, on top of that the company is known for making games like Lineage I&II, Guild Wars, City of Heros, City of Villans, and a few other games which are ALL successful where as Mythic has not, and it really shows.

People who have been playing the beta might be able to help the most. What is the atmosphere like in the game? How is the music? Pictures don't really do it justice. Is it just like WoW? How do you level up? Etc. etc...

Atmosphere is like any other game, some people are cool, some are dicks, some help, some ignore you but you will find that in any game, overall most people are helpful and will group for quests and whatnot.

Music it has like 400+ tracks and has a brilliant score of classical mixed into some rock and some techno all where appropriate and it fits the mood of the battle/envirnment perfectly.

The controls are similar to WoW, WASD to move, left mouse to rotate camera, right click to move camera+character facing, ect ect but its not like WoW took that from EQ or anything...

You level up just like any other MMO with some grinding some questing, its a mix between wows 1-80 all questing and FFXI's 1-75 all grinding which IMO is a nice balance as it goes fast enough that it never seems like your 'stuck' somewhere.

I hope this isn't a "one of those threads again" thread, but I haven't really been able to find a good source of info about the game from people who AREN'T going to make money from its release. If anyone has any info to help persuade or dissuade me from getting the game, please post here. I'm sure I'm not the only one who is interested.

Thanks.

One other thing - is there variety?

You can check my sig, it has a link to my blog with an intro for people like yourself who might not know much about the game.

On the question of variety, what do you mean?

Classes? There is 8 of them...

Can't think of much else unless you specify...

[Krenna]

I had a question about castle sieges if anyone happens to have an answer. First off is it completely open? Like, if a castle becomes siege-able, can anyone go and fight it? I've seen a couple of videos online of some sieges, and more then a handful started out with everyone standing on a platform that has a large picture of their legion emblem on it. Secondly, does anyone know if the castle bosses drop items? I'm hoping they do not.

[Syntex]

I had a question about castle sieges if anyone happens to have an answer. First off is it completely open? Like, if a castle becomes siege-able, can anyone go and fight it? I've seen a couple of videos online of some sieges, and more then a handful started out with everyone standing on a platform that has a large picture of their legion emblem on it. Secondly, does anyone know if the castle bosses drop items? I'm hoping they do not.

I can't answer either question but I think that you do get medals for doing them atleast.

All of the 50 abyss gear requires them, and a lot at that.

Items? Possibly..

[Pooky]

I had a question about castle sieges if anyone happens to have an answer. First off is it completely open? Like, if a castle becomes siege-able, can anyone go and fight it? I've seen a couple of videos online of some sieges, and more then a handful started out with everyone standing on a platform that has a large picture of their legion emblem on it. Secondly, does anyone know if the castle bosses drop items? I'm hoping they do not.

To my knowledge anyone can take part in a castle siege, and castle bosses don't drop items. You are however awarded medals (via Mail from your main city iirc) for your participation, along with abyss points; so there's no capping a fort and hoping you won a gold bag (ala WAR).

I'm not sure how it works totally, but also from what I've heard the legion that captures a fort is given bonus medals and a cash reward for their effort. (could be wrong, don't take for granite ect ect)

[Warudo Ecksu]

selling point = aion is pretty

in all seriousness, aion is the only game that's really caught my attention since WoW. the closed betas were a lot of fun for my friends and me. with the open beta coming up I def think you should try it out.

I think I initially became interested in the game when someone told me you get wings at lv.10. Then I found out about advanced jobs and the pvpve and just got sucked in from there.

[Halion]

@Music it's awesome.
YouTube - dartanubis777's Channel

For some STRANGE REASON though it doesn't have the voices right at the beginning on the actual OST so this is what I listen to for The Tower of Eternity instead.
YouTube - Aion main screen theme
This is what plays when you start the game , I swear I feel 10x less nerdy and 50x more epic just from hearing that tune.

[Volition]

Ok I have another question, but first I'd like to clarify what I mean by "variety". FFXI has a few different faces, each with 2 hair colours. It also reuses armor a lot. Not only that, but EVERYONE eventually has the same cookie-cutter gear setup.

Lately, WoW has been reusing all their armor... even tier gear is copied for epic drops. I guess this is due to them getting rid of their good artists and placing them on the new MMO in development.

Lineage 2 had many similarities between characters. Guild Wars, while they had different faces, looked the exact same pretty much.
How does Aion attack this problem?

My other question is if this game's world is "explorable". The best example I can give is Vanguard. The world is massive. It is so big that the entire world probably hasn't been completely explored by the players yet (albeit there aren't enough players to explore it anyways, but thats a different issue). World of Warcraft has SOME room for exploration, but it doesn't really feel like an adventure. Basically what I'm getting at, is this game more sandbox or more theme park? I don't mind either, but I'd prefer sandbox as the world just feels awe inspiring. Please don't say "its a little bit of both" as that doesn't really help, it has to be leaning more towards one or the other.

Thanks

I'd like to edit in: FFXI Uses the same animation for almost every job ability in the game. Is it like this in Aion?

[Priran]

Aion character creation has a ton of customization: YouTube - Aion - 1.5 New Character builder (Elyos)

Aion armor is pretty varied. Additionally, most armor in the game (except abyss gear mainly) can be reskinned with the model of something else, or dyed a different color.

The zones aren't vast empty sandboxes, there are definite paths defined by mountainous terrain and aside from various methods of MGSing outside the map it's pretty much a theme park. However, this actually works well, since the game is based largely on world PvP.

Some of the classes get big flashy character animations (i.e. Gladiators) and others get flashy spell effects (i.e. Sorcerers), and there's a lot of variation. There's nothing like how FFXI used the same JA animation for 95% of skills, or the same casting animation for all magic of a certain kind.

[SilverBreeze]

That's one thing I really did enjoy about this game. Males and females have their own distinct attack and casting animations, and depending on weapon or spell you have a lot of different animations to go with different spells. It's not like FFXI where you did the nuke animation or the heal animation, two different nuke spells can have completely different animations and it looks really cool to me. Here's some examples from older pictures I took.

Spoiler: show

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...a/Aion0069.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...a/Aion0030.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...a/Aion0036.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...a/Aion0025.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...a/Aion0028.jpg

Aion has the best characters I've seen in a MMO, armor and generator wise. While game like City of Heroes have epic generators that top even Aion, the armor in game itself after you make your character is nearly non existant. I agree the detail on armor in WoW is completely shit now. Aion has an amazing character generator, and there's many great looking armor sets from what I've seen, and if you like a set well enough, outside of abyss sets, you can keep it.

[Krenna]

http://aion.mmosite.com/guide/suit.shtml

That link has a huge amount, if not possible all the armors pre-1.5. You can view their looks and stats if you're curious on the variety of armor styles.

As someone else has pointed out too, there is multiple ways to change the look of you're armor individually. First you can dye the armor different colors, this goes for shields too, no weapons though unfortunately. Secondly you can actually copy one armor's look onto another to kind of combine them. Say you have a level 30 piece that no longer is useful, and a new level 40 piece you just got. You can combine them, so it looks like the level 30, but has the level 40's level and stats, so you can basically create you're own look at level 50 by mixing everything from previous levels, and dying them how you see fit. Its a pretty sick system.

[SilverBreeze]

I wish they would add the feature to the Abyss gear though so everyone doesn't look exactly alike in end game...

[Krenna]

Yea, I was sad when I couldn't dye my 30 stuff in the beta saved that Red Dye up for it too.

[Priran]

lol everyone at the end of the beta looked like a power ranger