Article critical of Aion

[Morreion]

Anti-Aionsed: This time I put the joke of the title before the colon pt. 2

Aion is the vanilla of MMOs. It does things right but it doesn't do them spectacularly. It targets everyone, but it simultaneously targets no one. It doesn't take risks. It's fun, but it's not endearing or memorable. It simply is.

She may have a point, I expected more flames in the comments section than she got and I didn't find myself strongly disagreeing with her

But perhaps that's Jaded MMORPG Syndrome speaking- how many games really grab you after you've played a dozen of them?

From my viewpoint, Aion seems to do the solo-quest-filled class-and-level-based cattle-chute amusement park type of game well. The problem is, it is still an amusement park where everyone is lined up to go on the same rides. A huge online world with much more to do than combat 24/7 that is non-linear would be a welcome change of pace to me...

[EchoVamper]

We're now a couple of weeks into the game and I now have a character in Sanctum. Though I can't pass any final judgment on Aion, I can make a few comments:

Lumiel was a little shaky last night, but other than that the game has run smoothly. The launcher works well.

Graphically, this is a handsome and polished game. The mobs are a bit whimsical for my taste, but then I can't say that I've seen the Abyss... so the jury is out on mob design.

The Chat System and the emotes are dismal. It makes even "role play lite" quite difficult.

I haven't seen a lot of grouping yet, and that concerns me a bit. Most unknown players have been congenial, but at the same time the solo mindset seems to be prevalent. We'll see what happens.

I'm not sure that a vibrant "community" will develop here. Perhaps that speaks a bit to the "no soul" argument in the article; perhaps it's just a little too early to tell. Our little band of people are known to each other and will do fine. But some of the larger elements of "community" that I value in a game must come from more than just one group, one legion etc. They are born of common vision and common purpose that somehow weaves itself into the experience.

I am having fun getting started. I really am. But right now I can't escape the sense that something is missing here. I hope I am proven wrong.

Perhaps Morreion is correct when he says:

From my viewpoint, Aion seems to do the solo-quest-filled class-and-level-based cattle-chute amusement park type of game well. The problem is, it is still an amusement park where everyone is lined up to go on the same rides. A huge online world with much more to do than combat 24/7 that is non-linear would be a welcome change of pace to me...

Despite a still optimistic attitude, at some deep level part of me suspects that Aion is not the game that we all long for in our wildest dreams. That game may never happen. So I guess we'll see if Aion is enough to satisfy us for a while.

P.S. - I must also add that I am growing weary of long queues. Although I love gaming, I have a finite amount of time I can devote to it. I don't consistently have 30 or 40 minutes to spend waiting to log in. I find myself aborting the sign in all too often due to other resposibilities cropping up.