Aion Reminiscing

So, Aion: The Tower of Eternity. I did that for a while, when I was still convinced I could break my horrible World of Warcraft addiction. While I'm thinking about it (en route to EPL from Stormwind), I figure I might as well talk about it.

I have an odd fetish for winged humanoids. It's a probably unhealthy fascination, what can I say.

That's why I ended up buying Aion, that and the fact that half of my old guild was seriously considering wandering off there, and then did so (only none of them could agree on a server/faction combo).

On top of that, the story was fairly well-written, translated, and localized into English. In fact, even during the Closed Beta I don't recall seeing any Engrish, really, and there were cutscenes everywhere so even the literacy-impaired could get an idea as to what's going on, and what they were supposed to do (quests were often introduced with a cutscene).

So why am I not still playing it? It was a solid MMO, not entirely different from WoW actually. This is partly because, it seems like, all MMOs are EverQuest clones, just prettier. And oh, Aion was beautiful. One of the more recent patches for World of Warcraft improved that game's graphics to the point where it reached 'on par for minimum settings Aion.' At maximum settings. However, this beauty made Aion a graphics hog, and given that it's a PVP-heavy murder-fest (fortress battles going up to about 100 people a side), in real combat it's rare to be able to have your graphics max'd and still be able to move. Like, at all. Minimum settings for Aion also included turning off everyones' character models. (Shift + F12, if I recall correctly?)

So there's been an expansion (for free, unless you care overmuch about purchase-exclusive minipets) called Assault on Balaurea. It bumps the level cap from 50 to 55, and, I gather, is supposed to try to help resolve the game's other issues (I wouldn't know, I never tried the expansion).

What were those other issues, anyway?

Well. Last time I played, anyway, it was a grind-fest. (Predictable enough for an Korean MMO.) Given what I know of FFXI, Aion isn't as bad as it could be, but the grind is painful, with few (mostly repeatable, kill-some-mobs-and-take-their-stuff) quests.Well no, that's not true. The early levels offered an ease familiar to WoW. 1-10 is set up so that just questing is sufficient to level you, 11-20 can be done with minimal grinding in the interim. It's only after level 20 (out of 50) that the curve starts becoming more of a drag. Quests started thinning out at 20, becoming incredibly rare around 30, when you could start entering dungeons. I made it to 44 - within a month or two of the endgame, I swear! - and quit.

Beyond that, well, I'm not much for being ganked while grinding. Especially when you lose experience for dying in PVE, and the PVPers will do their level best to make sure you suffer a PVE death - and you lose honor points for dying to the PVPers, as well. Any time I'm forced to just lose my time and effort because someone at level 50 feels like being an (expletive removed), well ... the only good news, such as it is, was that you couldn't level down, and could buy your EXP back. At generally-speaking, exorbitant prices.

Maybe I've been babied by WoW. But I'll take a totally revamped, super-speedy leveling experience over standing around in the same zone - the same fifty feet of the same zone - for five hours and making 2/20 (with five separate +EXP gain buffs) bars because there are no quests and no one needs a 'ssin. Thank you.