Aion Grindy? Questing? What?

[Katlan]

Seriously, if you played FFXI, leveling is a joke in Aion. FFXI is much more a grind festival than Aion. Just the simple fact of not needing anyone but yourself trumphs FFXI. Even level sync can't compare. Not to mention that in Aion there are new mobs and areas to EXP in with ease for all level ranges. In FFXI, you have the same old tired mob to exp on for years for efficient EXP.

It's true that it gets longer or level up after the mid-30s. However, people need to stop the bitching. It's not that bad. If you don't want to take the time to push to level 50, then quit and go play WoW. You save yourself money. Realize that MMOs are designed to be time sinks. If you don't have the time, don't do the crime.

Keep talking out of ur ass... Aion is a GRINDY game. Yes, FFXI was a grind, but it was a regulated grind so that things evened out. In dunes u weren't making chains... then later on you were able to take on slightly higher mobs that gave more xp and make some chains, until you could chain endlessly. So yeah, w/ a good/average grp you could get a lv in 4-5hrs (max)... this is even 70-75. In the long run FFXI was a grind, but lv's never felt to take that "much" longer due to the way the party system worked. Aion doesn't scale well and it's made to take a long time to lv. Mobs don't give more xp per lv, mobs usually give less until you can tackle the next tier of mobs. And no matter how awesome ur grp is, ect... you will still be grinding for 10hrs+ a lv, then the next lv will take you longer, ect...

[Mabubeezareel]

Keep talking out of ur ass... Aion is a GRINDY game. Yes, FFXI was a grind, but it was a regulated grind so that things evened out. In dunes u weren't making chains... then later on you were able to take on slightly higher mobs that gave more xp and make some chains, until you could chain endlessly. So yeah, w/ a good/average grp you could get a lv in 4-5hrs (max)... this is even 70-75. In the long run FFXI was a grind, but lv's never felt to take that "much" longer due to the way the party system worked. Aion doesn't scale well and it's made to take a long time to lv. Mobs don't give more xp per lv, mobs usually give less until you can tackle the next tier of mobs. And no matter how awesome ur grp is, ect... you will still be grinding for 10hrs+ a lv, then the next lv will take you longer, ect...

You either didn't level a job in FFXI around NA release, or you've been clouded by ToAU exp. Leveling a job in FFXI to 75 ~5-6 years ago is probably equal to leveling a class in Aion to 50 today. Back then, TNLs were higher, and 4K/hr was the average. Not everyone had the luxury of joining an arrow burn in sky or MNK party in KRT. Levels in the high 60s and 70s were pretty much ~10 hours each.

[Katlan]

I started FFXI right before CoP, so I had bibiki bay and stuff that evened out a lot of those lv's. But yeah, I wasn't considering pre-ToUa.

[Alderaan]

Leveling my first job in FFXI to 75 in 2004 - 8 months

Leveling to 50 in Aion - 2 months

It's the trade off for being able to solo to max level, it's faster, but it's fucking boring. Leveling is part of the RPG element to me. When did this turn into getting max level in a week so you can do "end game", e-sport nonsense? Rhetorical question.

To each their own. As long as i'm playing with friends, it doesn't matter.

[Trichocyst]

Took me 2 years to get THF to 75 starting from 2 months after launch. Aion has been a breeze in comparison. The grind was beyond oppressive and I couldn't get a party to do any quests or missions.

[Inactive]

aion's grind is long and boring. old school ffxi's grind was long and boring, but a different kind of boring. wow is "ezmode". ezmode = fun. You can stop making threads arguing over this same shit every other day.

[Franzer]

considering double exp weekend make aion easy mode for kids in the 40's now, 49~50 can be done in basically 65m exp

[niwaar]

You either didn't level a job in FFXI around NA release, or you've been clouded by ToAU exp. Leveling a job in FFXI to 75 ~5-6 years ago is probably equal to leveling a class in Aion to 50 today. Back then, TNLs were higher, and 4K/hr was the average. Not everyone had the luxury of joining an arrow burn in sky or MNK party in KRT. Levels in the high 60s and 70s were pretty much ~10 hours each.

I however, did level a job to 75 during this time. Back when the XP curve 55+ was incredibly steep. When the most you got on crabs, flies and crawlers in Boyahda was 4k an hour. Before mage/smn burn bone parties in KRT became the rage and way before Monk or Arrow parties. Hell before merits even existed in FFXI.

The fact of the matter is, Aion's grind is an extremely boring one. Killing monsters in a group of like minded people in XI versus killing monsters in a solo, duo or even a full group of people in Aion, I would choose an XI party everytime. Sure, we had crabs for 75 levels but at least those crabs had some unique abilities to crabs. Aion gives us a veritable smorgasbord of different monsters to kill over the course of our 50 levels. However, one thing is always true, the abilities from monster to monster change very little. Every mage has Magic Missle, every melee has Powerful Knockdown and a Wide Area.

I would take the slow and meticulous and well thoughtout grind of FFXI versus Aion's horribly arranged, lolquest/mission system and its extreme grind mentality any day. I may be waxing nostalgically about FFXI, but in the end there is a lot of us who spent day in and day out in that game for 3-6 years on these boards. There was a real reason we did that. Why we stayed well after WoW and other far different MMOs were released.

It took me 3 months to hit 65 at NA release of FFXI. It took me another few months of waiting for friends to hit 75. Was I bored sitting at 75? Not in the least, with the games other aspects to keep me entertained, I had no complaints. Can you say that about Aion? If you can you are full of crap.

[Alderaan]

Yes Aion's leveling is a lot more boring, but i can do it whenever i have time. Having spent up to 8 hours trying to find parties on my useless DRK back then was not fun. Shouting for teleports to run all the way out to VOS as a replacement, only to have the party break when you get there, was not fun.

I like leveling whenever i want, but i also enjoy the group dynamic. That wasn't possible until level sync, which was a blast.

[Saga]

Seriously, if you played FFXI, leveling is a joke in Aion. FFXI is much more a grind festival than Aion. Just the simple fact of not needing anyone but yourself trumphs FFXI. Even level sync can't compare. Not to mention that in Aion there are new mobs and areas to EXP in with ease for all level ranges. In FFXI, you have the same old tired mob to exp on for years for efficient EXP.

It's true that it gets longer or level up after the mid-30s. However, people need to stop the bitching. It's not that bad. If you don't want to take the time to push to level 50, then quit and go play WoW. You save yourself money. Realize that MMOs are designed to be time sinks. If you don't have the time, don't do the crime.

Are you retarded? Years ago, when CoP first came out (before leveling got even easier than it is now with all the expansions) linkshells could power level new jobs with their statics from 1-75 in a week's time. What makes FFXI so much more of a grindfest than Aion? Because you have to pull the mobs first before you fight them?

Also, new mobs? EXP with ease? What the fuck are you smoking? FFXI and Aion have the same re-skinned shit. If anything, you're EXPing on the same mobs for [/b]much longer[/b] in Aion than you are in FFXI because leveling physically just takes longer.

No one wants to push to 50 when it's mind-numbingly boring along the way. . Quit acting like your experience is "unique," because it's not. "People just need to stop bitching" is about the shittiest answer you can give when someone says "make the grind less boring and I'd play."

[Sta]

I've been in KHQ for 5 hours now and have got 6/20 exp bars. i'm only lvl 39. 5 hours in FFXI will get you 74-75 twice

[Katlan]

I've been in KHQ for 5 hours now and have got 6/20 exp bars. i'm only lvl 39. 5 hours in FFXI will get you 74-75 twice

Thats just a bad grp then.. game is grindy but u get more xp then that

[Sta]

Thats just a bad grp then.. game is grindy but u get more xp then that

Yeah it wasn't a great group, but still... it wasn't bad

[Trichocyst]

I still think it's unfair to compare the grind of Aion to the grind of modern day FFXI that has had six years to get to the point that getting exp is a breeze. It took me weeks to get 74-75 the first time. I couldn't quest, I couldn't solo, I couldn't do anything but throw up a flag and wait for a 3-4k an hour party fighting the shittiest of mobs.

[vrumpt]

I still think it's unfair to compare the grind of Aion to the grind of modern day FFXI that has had six years to get to the point that getting exp is a breeze. It took me weeks to get 74-75 the first time. I couldn't quest, I couldn't solo, I couldn't do anything but throw up a flag and wait for a 3-4k an hour party fighting the shittiest of mobs.

a filmmaker entering the business isn't gonna start making movies in black and white and slowly build his way up to the blockbusters we see today.

As such, Aion shouldn't be set up the way it is. Its boring gameplay mixed in with a long grind to get to an endgame that doesn't exist. It would be acceptable if Aion was only just released but its been out in the east for a year now.

what the FUCK has NCSoft been doing the past year???

The fact that NCSoft has released multiple online titles and Aion was still plagued with a complete lack of good anti-botting and anti-RMT measures in place is just utter bullshit. it took months to get the /autohuntingreport to actually work and only after everybody was fed up with Aion did they start banning. AND they make a big deal about it.

WHO CARES?! Don't announce your bot bans like its a goddamn lottery winner or something, they should have been doing that stuff from the start and it shouldn't be a big deal because it should be happening all the time.

And Aion isn't gonna get better than what it is now. They aren't gonna go back and fix the gameplay elements, they aren't gonna fix bugs, and they aren't gonna add any new content that makes the game any more enjoyable than it already is. NCSoft from what i can see simply feeds off of new MMO releases. Instead of trying to make 1 game good they put money into multiple to keep drawing in crowds, eat the release money and a month or two of subscriptions and move on with the next half assed MMO they have in production (NCSoft has at least 2 on the way as of now). good MMO's aren't cheap to produce.

Some stay because they are foolish enough to think its gonna get better. It isn't. I predict everything in the "Vision" trailer is what they plan on adding over the course of the next year to year and a half. I bet none of that is gonna be revisions to past content that fails massively.

Justifying bad content or gameplay because the game is young is a poor excuse. If its bad its bad. There's no fooling anybody with that.

[carve]

Well I'm sure some people actually like the grind. I've heard Koreans do, and I know I do too.

I don't care if it takes me a whole week to get my level, I love the fact that any mob could drop an item worth millions and I also like the fact that I'll get exp no matter what I do.

In FFXI if I wanted to level I had to seek a party for an hour or more and then exp for a few more hours.

In Aion even if I'm just farming, doing events, clearing quests, duoing with a friend or even crafting, I'll get some (good) exp. On the opposite side, even if I join a group to exp only I'm also getting (decent) money from the drops.

Also in FFXI you had to level 3-4 subs to 37 depending on your main job, and going back to the dunes 5 times is nothing fun.

I guess it's different for everyone but I find Aion's grind much better than FFXI's. It's so easy that I can get to max level in only a few months without joining any exp group, only enjoying the game.

[Trichocyst]

There's a huge gap of expectations between what the American and Korean audiences want, and it's going to take time to adjust the game for the different cultures. If the game is so bad, don't play. I've had a blast mid level running around with my best friend just doing random quests. I'm getting plenty of exp without having to grind and I'm not really in a rush to 50 anyway. I don't particularly think the content is all that bad. Does it need to be improved? Yeah. Does that mean it should be written off at it's infancy? Not in my book. Aion's grind has been a joke compared to what I had to deal with in FFXI and I'm back to playing with my best friends.

And some blockbusters are still filmed in black and white. And not all of the lessons of the past are heeded correctly in the first place. Aion is it's own game and needs to develop in it's own way. The game is more akin to something organic than something that is static.

NCSoft has been good with customer service and really fierce about RMT and third party tools. In fact, the economy was so blown out of proportion at the massive bot/rmt bans that it is still struggling to recover. The only way to have a game without RMT is to not have anything of value to trade or sell which eliminates the majority of goals that most people play a game like this have. If you just want PVP there's an unlimited amount of FPS to play.

[Kerberoz]

Modern FFXI is a joke because it takes like a week to get 75 if you're trying hard, 3 weeks if you're not... most of the population nowadays plays qufim->colibri->colibri->75->add new job to gear whoring list even though you're only gonna play melee to events. Not everyone thinks the multiple-job system is a good thing. It wasn't so bad back when hitting 75 took effort and people actually learned to play before worrying about max level.

I only solo grinded 49-50 in Aion... rest was all just quests or instances. The grind is only bad if you're torturing yourself soloing to 50 as fast as you can, like you're going to get a cookie once you arrive there. My main complaint with Aion is the lack of content when you actually hit 50; the process of getting there isn't so bad at all.

[sruon]

I think that the "speed" factor is overlooked, that's actually what tires me most when it comes to grinding, in FFXI you'd be hitting engage, TP set macro, WS macro (extremly simplified but it's not far from that.), rinse and repeat, however Aion is a whole lot different since you're hitting like 5 buttons every 3 seconds and that is extremly tiring for most people who considers grinding terrible. It's something I like to call grind stamina; my guild mate can keep going for hours soloing in Theo, I can't.

For the record, I logged today (2/20 bubbles) not expecting to get much EXP and after a quadrio SR with legion mates and trying to get done Indratu Legion mission (shitty cleric.) I was already in my last 3 bubbles.

The grind is only bad if you're torturing yourself soloing to 50 as fast as you can, like you're going to get a cookie once you arrive there.

Basically this.

Take your time to level, there isn't enough content at 50 to keep you interested for very long and that may take a few months to get added.

[Elites]

Solo grinding made the game for me, I really enjoyed that fact and making money is also much more fair while both solo/groups. FFXI was absolutely ridiculous to make a single dime, the game was way too dependent on other people to accomplish things. Frankly alot of people got sick of just being poor in that game to do jack shit and decided to quit.

2 months before I quit ffxi, I decided to finish my maat's cap and it did get very easy after the level sync was added as well all the colibri camps but money was still an issue, I swear you could be farming or camping shit for 12 hours and come out with nothing where as Aion will net you at least a few mil in that time span if your very unlucky.

Still in favor for a multiple job system, looking forward to that again in XIV.