Aion - General Discussion
- Thread starter Lydon
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shadowfox
Anime Junkie
Lol sia see you already posted on the eu websiteconcerned about of characters get moved over with the same name hehe
I can wait - I need my internets before the patch goes live or I won't be able to play.
Regardless - it's a huge concern - what happens when two players have the same char-names - better yet, if its an inactive player. My usual main name - Lumiere - can't be used because when I moved to Kahrun from Gorgos it was already taken - by a bloke who hasn't played for at least 4 months. What if I get forced to change my name because of a silly situation like that. I'll be pissed.
Because of the amount of work that goes into any one char - and I'll admit that the grind in Aion can get a bit ridiculous sometimes - as I've noted on the Aiononline forums, they're a little bit like my own kids, names and all. Forming that kind of attachment might seem like a bit of a waste (if not a little strange - sue me
) - but there it is.Anyways, I've gotten some vague replies and theories from other forumites, but no feedback from anyone involved in development.
Another issue - rumours have it that Kalil and Kahrun are likely to be merged. Great, except for the fact that I have a Elyos Ranger named Yasuna on Kahrun, and an Asmo Spiritmaster named, also, Yasuna, on Kalil. Not only a name, but a race clash as well.
And no, I don't want complimentary name-change tickets. I like my names - I want to keep them. Since the beginning I thought that NCSoft was a little daft for not implementing the same naming system ArenaNet used for Guildwars, and which I hope they keep for GW2. At least my favourite name is safe there.
shadowfox
Anime Junkie
Yeah ... I'm temporarily off Aion for the time being, until I can get a copy of the client somewhere. One of my legion members does have it - but it's an hour drive
Som, for the time being - back to GuildWars
Until this weekend maybe - I've paid the subs after all - so its a waste not to play.
shadowfox
Anime Junkie
Which is why I like Guild Wars so much. Unlike most F2P MMOs, you don't need to spend tons of cash in order to maintain some sort of advantage - you'll buy special content mostly (like with recent costume releases for the War in Kryta content - nothing forces you to buy it) - they regularly perform (small) updates - every week in fact - and skill balancing - and you can take a month break without feeling like you are wasting money.
NCSoft could really learn a few things from ArenaNet.
Which is hilarious since ArenaNet is part of NCSoft
shadowfox
Anime Junkie
True to a point ... but I'm guessing that NCSoft acts more as a publisher for ArenaNet's content. I think.
Be that as it may - there were quite a few things that had much better implementation in Guild Wars than in Aion - GW, funnily enough - just has a much more polished feel to it. Fair enough - it's 4 years older, but still ...
Which is understandable. GW has had more response from players, thus ArenaNet has had a lot more time to fix the game and get everything working well. Aion will reach such a point given enought time. Same goes for WoW when compared to other similar MMO's, like Warhammer. That also makes it difficult for a new game to dethrone them.
shadowfox
Anime Junkie
But keep in mind that GW is Free-to-play - while WoW and Aion are not. If you're paying for something (especially on a monthly basis) you're probably quite entitled to expect some sort of response to the issues you raise.
I'm going to do a little comparison between GW and Aion here (can't comment on WoW since I've never touched it) -
* Guildwars has weekly events - some of the events tie in with real-world holidays (Canthan New Year/Chinese New Year; Wintersday/Christmas etc) or otherwise they have rewards that make it kinda worth it to play during the weekend (Faction, Title points, drops, increased drop rate etc). Aion on the other hand, had something forgettable for Halloween, Christmas went by unnoticed (with a highly crappy event) - St Patrick's Day was an epic fail (server crashed ffs), and the best they've been able to come with since is double xp weekends every 2nd week because they still haven't balanced XP issues.
* Guildwars is completely instanced, which kinda counts against it - but at the same time you're protected from the drivel that populates the server-wide chats on Aion (and from what I've heard Barrens chat on WoW. I fail to understand this, but for some reason people on GW just seem more well-behaved. Go figure.
* PvP in GW doesn't interfere with your PvE experience. It's completely seperate. In Aion however, I have a whole slew of missions I haven't completed and can't complete because I invariably run into a level 50 who's looking for trouble and takes roughly 5 - 10 seconds to completely pwn my ass. Level 40 vs Level 50 isn't much of a competition - and skill counts for less than having good gear. In Guildwars its about the build (skills) and how you use it - which involves timing, skill, strategy - and your gear forms a part, but not a primary component, of the whole. The PvP also balances things out ... so a level 7 can technically compete with a level 20 in the PvP arena.
* Guildwars staff perform continuous updates, based on what they hear from players and experience themselves. Yes, it seems like the GW staffers actually play the game. So, once a week, usually Thursday, minor patches (a few hundred kb) are applied, which fixes bugs, balances skills, and, last but not least, actually brings new content into the game (War in Kryta & GW beyond being good examples). And if the patch is applied while you're playing, it downloads quietly in the background - and very very rarely are you asked to restart your game. Aion's patch releases are few and far between - the smallest I've seen so far being 5MB - and you have to apply it before you can play. Now, there's a 3.2GB patch, which finally addresses some of the player concerns - which effectively stops me from playing, since I don't have the bandwidth to download it. And that's apart from the issues which stop people from patching properly.
I just think the overall response and reaction from NCSoft to date have been rather disappointing, and I have been getting a little disillusioned of late. ANet on the other hand have continiously shown a pro-active attitude, actively supporting a game, which in all honesty is starting to wind down with the coming of GW2. And they're not stopping - support continues after GW2 release. Frankly, NCSoft shouldn't be borrowing pages from ANet's book, they should be stealing the entire damn manual.
That being said - I'll hop back to Aion as soon as I have a copy of the updated client - but if 1.9 was a 3.2GB patch, you can be assured that 2.0 is going to be HUGE!!!. And probably not worth the effort.
shadowfox
Anime Junkie
Yeah ... the changes seem mostly aimed at the higher levels - although I'll be honest - having the extra flight-points are awesome ways to save time - if not kinah. Although, to that effect, the cost of travelling has been reduced, as has the cost of soul-healing - but dying after level 40 still hurts. I've noticed some extra missions floating around as well that weren't there before.
@TimstaH - Server crashes hardly ever happen anymore - as a matter of fact, the last server crash I experienced personally was on St Patrick's day. Lag spikes still happen - but I can at least attend a fortress battle without disconnecting.
Also, from what I've seen, NCSoft have already implemented a lot of the changes for 2.0 already - they just haven't been made live yet. This includes some of the new content, areas and skills - so I believe version 2 will be a lot smaller than I initially expected.
There's a lot of complaining about the new remove shock skill that has been added in for the level 40+ characters - although admittedly a lot of this comes from the chanters and the sins who have very little in the way of holding opponents still so they can reach them.
Also, it seems NCSoft undid something they did earlier, because the gold-sellers are back in force - or maybe they came back because they sensed a renewal of oppurtunity. A lot of new chars cropping up as well - some of them actually seem to be new subscribers.