Aion Beta

[Garylisk]

Anyone else in here playing the Aion closed beta? (Closed is a term used loosely here, you can go pay $5 at gamestop to reserve the game and get a beta key.)

So far, my judgement is: Maybe best MMO evar.

Playing WoW after this is going to be... hard... And this is just the beta.



Pretty game is pretty...

[dwchang]

Wow that screenshot basically looks like Guild Wars. The HP and Mana bars on the bottom left are actually identical. Given I believe the game is also by NCSoft so no surprise.

I'm not going to get into another MMO, but I know the top Korean Guild in Guild Wars was invited to play this so I imagine it has promises. My former guildmates said the PvP is basically just battlegrounds and battlegrounds is just bad so no sell for me.

[Garylisk]

My former guildmates said the PvP is basically just battlegrounds and battlegrounds is just bad so no sell for me.

I have heard nothing like that. PvP is integrated into the game. From what I've seen, it's just open world PvP. In fact, I am pretty sure I had heard someone saying there weren't any battlegrounds, at least not yet. One other person complained that if they do introduce battlegrounds he would hate it. So, from what I read, battlegrounds sounds like a no. For now.

[dwchang]

My former guildmates said the PvP is basically just battlegrounds and battlegrounds is just bad so no sell for me.

I have heard nothing like that. PvP is integrated into the game. From what I've seen, it's just open world PvP. In fact, I am pretty sure I had heard someone saying there weren't any battlegrounds, at least not yet. One other person complained that if they do introduce battlegrounds he would hate it. So, from what I read, battlegrounds sounds like a no. For now.

I'll talk to him later, but open PvP is also not that attractive to me. I like organized PvP and have not found a game that has the same options as Guild Wars in terms of both organization and support from the community (until later which is why many left).

[The Origonal Head Hunter]

open PvP is also not that attractive to me. I like organized PvP

Alright, this is gonna need some explanation with your "battlegrounds are a no sell for me" comment. How else would you get organized PVP except through battlegrounds? Of all the MMOs I've played its been either open or BG oriented, or both to a degree in the case of Dark Ages of Camelot, so what qualifies as "organized PVP" to you? Granted I've not spent much time in Guild Wars, as the whole thing confused the fuck out of me anyway, so if it differs in someway, please let me know how.

[Beowulf]

MMO's killed AMVs.

[BasharOfTheAges]

I had a friend show me the previews for this over a year ago - is it all they said it'd be?

[dwchang]

open PvP is also not that attractive to me. I like organized PvP

Alright, this is gonna need some explanation with your "battlegrounds are a no sell for me" comment. How else would you get organized PVP except through battlegrounds? Of all the MMOs I've played its been either open or BG oriented, or both to a degree in the case of Dark Ages of Camelot, so what qualifies as "organized PVP" to you? Granted I've not spent much time in Guild Wars, as the whole thing confused the fuck out of me anyway, so if it differs in someway, please let me know how.

In Guild Wars, Guilds organize into teams of 8 of various classes (i.e. DPS, Support, Healing, etc.) and then do battle with other Guilds. It is not OPEN PvP in that you only play those of equal rating and you have objectives such as capturing a flag for morale and ultimately killing the other teams Guild Lord (who is inside one's Guild Hall with other NPCs protecting the base) This usually revolves meeting each other at said flag stand, fighting until one team folds and then going into their base and killing their NPCs and Lord. Players res (every 2 minutes) and thus between two equally skilled Guilds, it's back and forth.

This type of PvP opens up many types of build choices such as Splitting (i.e. sending a team into their base off the bat, thus dividing their forces at the stand). The reason most folks enjoyed it was b/c of the limitless character AND team builds. What can you do with only 8 skills? What can you do with only 8 players with 8 skills? So on and so forth.

My understanding of Aion (and many other MMO's) PvP is that it's PvP in that you basically just kill other players and it's very loose. That is not the case in Guild Wars. I have yet to find another MMO that has equal PvP or even something close to it. All of them are "go kill each other!" with no actual organized objectives and whatnot.

There are also other PvP types in Guild Wars such as Relic Running (protect your relic, run their relic to your base), King of the Hill, 4 Guild Free For All and so on, but the top rated Guilds mostly did Guild vs. Guild. Anet also did a good job (initially...no longer) by offering things such as a $100,000 tournament where they flew teams to Taiwan (and the next year Germany) to compete at those big gaming conventions. That ultimately died out once Anet realized the money is in PvE.

I can post some videos to show the PvP, but I imagine it'd make no sense.

[Garylisk]

Bashar: I am not sure how it was described to you, so I have no way of knowing if it is everything they said it was.

I can tell you this, though. It is very entertaining, and I can't wait to see how PvP is going to play out. There are going to be rifts opening every 2 hours in various zones from which the other faction can come through and battle for control of certain points. PvP will affect the game in many ways, including tax placed on items, etc...

I posted some screen shots here if you are interested: http://s77.photobucket.com/albums/j41/g ... mview=grid

The game is very similar to WoW, and yet not. It's hard to describe.

[dwchang]

The game is very similar to WoW,

This is exactly what my Guildmate said and to me, that basically seals the "no" for me. I hate WoW.