Aionic Impressions

A portion of my guild was sick and tired (and tired and sick) of WoW. After over 5 years of playing this (although I hate to admit it) great game we needed a reprieve from what we deemed as a “Gaming Life Sentence” and we staged a break out. We have since come to realize that it can be a bit difficult to assimilate back into another gaming society.

We moved into Aion. Aion is a Korean based game from NCsoft and really quite good, the leveling from 1-30 is filled with lore and quests and after figuring out that you are a “Daeva” – a winged warrior, then you have tons of quests revolving around getting your wings and learning your new role. Your mission as an Asmodean Daeva is to face Hellion (some named Elyos Badass). This is your destiny and the game seems to be fairly progressive until that level 30 mark.

Once the level 30 mark is reached the game slows down to a snail’s pace. The solo quests are more spread out and more difficult to locate and not nearly enough to keep you going without grouping with other members that are in the same predicament as you have found yourself. When unable to locate a group, you find yourself doing more and more grinding and less and less questing. For many of us, this is frustrating.

To add to the frustration of the incessant grind, the solo PvP in this game that seems to be really quite good, when attempting to take over a fortress in the Abyss (PvPvE Zone), it is little more than a “Zergfest”. Now my guild can “Zerg” with the best of them, but I was hoping for a bit more strategy.

It appears that I’m bitching, whining, and complaining but I’m really not (well maybe just a little). I love the crafting system in place and the gathering of materials to use in this endeavor. I love the intricate quest lines and the rewards for deeds done well. I love the rewards for points earned while in the Abyss. I really love the balance of flight in PvP that makes this game just a bit more challenging. I love this game because it’s not WoW and its bits and bits of sugary goodness that it has become.

WoW spoiled us, it was easy to go from point A to point B and watch your bar track your progress. Once in a while it was great to run through an instance and get some uber piece of gear that was going to be replaced in a level or 2. No grinding, just questing would take you to level 80 with tons of quests left undone. This game is a bit more hardcore and some of the content you really need to provide on your own.

You have to think and plan to move through the levels – you also need to be aware of “Rifts”, these portals go from the Asmodean to the Elyos side and vice versa and they allow a number of enemies to come through to upset the normal grind and add a certain amount of diversion to the infernal grind. We have devised a number of strategies to alert us when a warband of Elyos are headed our way. There is no way to avoid PvP in this game, it follows the ole adage, “If Mohammad won’t go to mountain, then the mountain must come to Mohammad”. I never really understood that but it fits in this game.

One of my guildmates said it best when he told me “Aion is a not a sprint, it’s a marathon”. Well I’ve played games that were set up like this before and although it has been a long time since I had to put on my big girl panties and actually work for my gaming experience, I am not dissatisfied with what Aion has offered us. I have a world that is both original and beautiful. It is mysterious and dangerous and more than enough to keep me busy while I grind through my umpteen billion points to get to max level.

Time is only a factor when you have only a little to spare - Momologic