Aion Coverage - It's live folks!

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: EricMartello

Originally posted by: SunnyD
I haven't seen what you're saying. The animations are very fluid. Granted, they're static, but so are WoW's. Until someone comes out with gesture-based kinematics using ragdoll physics, that's the best it's gonna get.

Go on Youtube and watch an Aion video and a WoW video side by side. If you don't notice the better quality of character animation in WoW then you may just not be that observant...but a lot of people who are coming from WoW are put off by Aion's "twitchy" and "stiff" character animation.

Heh. Youtube video? That's the last thing I'd want as proof. I've played both games, so I have a pretty good frame of reference. Unless I'm completely misunderstanding what you're saying here... all the animations I've seen in Aion (and I've seen a lot) have been nothing short of refined.

Perhaps if you provide me with links to samples, I can comment further.

 

[EricMartello]

Originally posted by: SunnyD

Originally posted by: EricMartello

Originally posted by: SunnyD
I haven't seen what you're saying. The animations are very fluid. Granted, they're static, but so are WoW's. Until someone comes out with gesture-based kinematics using ragdoll physics, that's the best it's gonna get.

Go on Youtube and watch an Aion video and a WoW video side by side. If you don't notice the better quality of character animation in WoW then you may just not be that observant...but a lot of people who are coming from WoW are put off by Aion's "twitchy" and "stiff" character animation.

Heh. Youtube video? That's the last thing I'd want as proof. I've played both games, so I have a pretty good frame of reference. Unless I'm completely misunderstanding what you're saying here... all the animations I've seen in Aion (and I've seen a lot) have been nothing short of refined.

Perhaps if you provide me with links to samples, I can comment further.

Yes, I can...

WoW Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FFITWbUu3M

Notice how the movement and animations seem to flow smoothly with good transitions between different actions. The character's body and weapons move too, not just the legs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seoLFvY-mbc

For this one, starting right around 0:38 when the player is running away you can see exactly what I mean about stiff motion. While the player is running, the body of the character is animated but it seems to move in a straight line...I dunno, if you can't see it there watch a few other videos of each game and compare.

It's not just the running, it is the combat to. It seems really "stop-n-go" rather than being able to smoothly transition between attacks for a cool-looking fight. I've watched the Aion pvp and pve videos and I find WoW videos to be far more entertaining. This animation problem isn't limited to Aion, it plays most asian MMOs.

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: EricMartello
Yes, I can...

WoW Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FFITWbUu3M

Notice how the movement and animations seem to flow smoothly with good transitions between different actions. The character's body and weapons move too, not just the legs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seoLFvY-mbc

For this one, starting right around 0:38 when the player is running away you can see exactly what I mean about stiff motion. While the player is running, the body of the character is animated but it seems to move in a straight line...I dunno, if you can't see it there watch a few other videos of each game and compare.

It's not just the running, it is the combat to. It seems really "stop-n-go" rather than being able to smoothly transition between attacks for a cool-looking fight. I've watched the Aion pvp and pve videos and I find WoW videos to be far more entertaining. This animation problem isn't limited to Aion, it plays most asian MMOs.

Um, okay. All I saw were two herky jerky youtube videos, just as I thought I would. Personally, I thought the wow video looked like crap... of course it may have just been the lousy recode or bad recording on the player's part.

I think I know what you're saying however, and it's what I alluded to before - without gesture based kinematics and ragdoll physics, we'll never see anything more than static animations, which is what I saw on both videos. The :38 part, I assume you mean in Aion. Yeah, that's all because of the way the camera is set up - static. I believe there's an option for "chase camera" similar to what WoW uses though. That has absolutely nothing to do with the animations though.

To be honest, if character animations are what floats your boat, then I'm not really sure what to say. They certainly don't make a game fun or not in my opinion, but then again it's just an opinion.

edit: One thing I didn't mention - yeah, the combat is sort of stop and go, I'll admit that. But for one and only one reason... you can't queue skills. One at a time, single button press for each. It kindof sucks, but it makes the skill chain system work.

 

[EricMartello]

Originally posted by: SunnyD
To be honest, if character animations are what floats your boat, then I'm not really sure what to say. They certainly don't make a game fun or not in my opinion, but then again it's just an opinion.

Little things like this are what keeps WoW churning along while MMO start-ups like this one fall short after an initial dose of hopeful hype. Personal preferences? For one, I could do without the metrosexual anime-style character artwork that it seems EVERY game out of Korea has. They need to get off that whole anime thing and be more original.

Originally posted by: SunnyD
edit: One thing I didn't mention - yeah, the combat is sort of stop and go, I'll admit that. But for one and only one reason... you can't queue skills. One at a time, single button press for each. It kindof sucks, but it makes the skill chain system work.

You can't queue skills in WoW either...it's all button mashing, but if you play your class well you can outperform others quite effectively. I don't like complicated interfaces or gameplay systems. When it comes to user input they need to stick with KISS.

 

[gramboh]

I don't have time to research this game right now, but can someone quickly let me know, is it a level grinder like Lineage 2 (also from NCSoft)? I played that game one summer and loved it, the only MMO I really got into, real open PvP with consequences for dying, no stupid carebear crap like WoW. The only problem is that it took insane amounts of time to reach max level, like just out of control.

Also, I agree about the animation, it was the same thing in L2, sudden direction changes etc. are jerky, I think it's just the artstyle though. Also remember that these games have way more model/world detail that WoW.

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: EricMartello

Originally posted by: SunnyD
To be honest, if character animations are what floats your boat, then I'm not really sure what to say. They certainly don't make a game fun or not in my opinion, but then again it's just an opinion.

Little things like this are what keeps WoW churning along while MMO start-ups like this one fall short after an initial dose of hopeful hype. Personal preferences? For one, I could do without the metrosexual anime-style character artwork that it seems EVERY game out of Korea has. They need to get off that whole anime thing and be more original.

Originally posted by: SunnyD
edit: One thing I didn't mention - yeah, the combat is sort of stop and go, I'll admit that. But for one and only one reason... you can't queue skills. One at a time, single button press for each. It kindof sucks, but it makes the skill chain system work.

You can't queue skills in WoW either...it's all button mashing, but if you play your class well you can outperform others quite effectively. I don't like complicated interfaces or gameplay systems. When it comes to user input they need to stick with KISS.

Hmm... I thought WoW had a 2-deep queue. It's been a long time since I played though. At least the "anime" style of Aion is much more realistic than cartoony. The character editor is pretty impressive. You can google it and see some very striking character recreations, everything from Obama to various movie stars. They look incredibly realistic.

 

[EricMartello]

Originally posted by: gramboh
I don't have time to research this game right now, but can someone quickly let me know, is it a level grinder like Lineage 2 (also from NCSoft)? I played that game one summer and loved it, the only MMO I really got into, real open PvP with consequences for dying, no stupid carebear crap like WoW. The only problem is that it took insane amounts of time to reach max level, like just out of control.

I don't like the idea of consequences for dying...what if you get ganked by a player you have no chance of beating? It happens plenty of times and there is a reason that we don't want games to be a copy of our reality. This game would only be fun for griefers if it had death penalties. Why do you think that game EVE Online never really caught on? Because its death penalties sucks ass and STIFLE progression (the heart of any good RPG)...you put all that time and effort to get a nice ship only to have a gang of douches on trial accounts blow it up and then you start from nothing again. No thanks... Games should be fun and stress-relieving...not monotonous and stress-inducing. WoW's death system is pretty good and it is one of the elements that helped it get as big as it is today.

 

[EricMartello]

Originally posted by: SunnyD
Hmm... I thought WoW had a 2-deep queue. It's been a long time since I played though. At least the "anime" style of Aion is much more realistic than cartoony. The character editor is pretty impressive. You can google it and see some very striking character recreations, everything from Obama to various movie stars. They look incredibly realistic.

As far as I know it never had this functionality, but it does have "setups", for example with a frost mage you could set up a shatter combo by rooting the target in place and then shooting them with frost bolt + ice lance simultaneously. The added effect of the setup is +50% crit chance. A simpler example is the shaman's flame shock setup which gives the lavaburst ability 100% crit chance. PvP in WoW pretty bad now, the game is heavily mismanaged but it's like Wall Street...it will stumble for a while before finally imploding under its own weight. I stopped playing that game a while ago but since then nothing has really caught my interest in terms of MMO.

 

[AmberClad]

There are macros in Aion that allow you to specify delays between actions. I used to do my combos manually, but I was experimenting with the macro editor over the weekend. You need to experiment a bit to figure out the optimal delay timing between actions for a particularly weapon type.

Example (Templar armed with Greatsword):

Indignation I [attack boost]
Weakening Severe Blow II [damage + decrease target def]
/delay 1.3
Taunting Severe Blow I [damage + increase agro]
/delay 1.3
Shining Slash I
/delay 1.3
/Ferocious Strike II [chain level 1]
/delay 1.3
/Robust Blow II [chain level 2]
/delay 1.3
/Desperate Strike I [chain level 3]

The actual syntax for programming the macros differs slightly, but I'm simplified it for the example. And the cooldown period differs for each skill, so after the initial macroed combo, you still have to do things a bit manually. (I don't play any other MMOs, so I don't know if this is a common/typical feature.)

Edit: To add to that, if you attempt to trigger a macro and some of the skills in the macro haven't cooled down, the macro will skip them and continue on to the next skill.

 

[Chronoshock]

Originally posted by: EricMartello

Originally posted by: gramboh
I don't have time to research this game right now, but can someone quickly let me know, is it a level grinder like Lineage 2 (also from NCSoft)? I played that game one summer and loved it, the only MMO I really got into, real open PvP with consequences for dying, no stupid carebear crap like WoW. The only problem is that it took insane amounts of time to reach max level, like just out of control.

I don't like the idea of consequences for dying...what if you get ganked by a player you have no chance of beating? It happens plenty of times and there is a reason that we don't want games to be a copy of our reality. This game would only be fun for griefers if it had death penalties. Why do you think that game EVE Online never really caught on? Because its death penalties sucks ass and STIFLE progression (the heart of any good RPG)...you put all that time and effort to get a nice ship only to have a gang of douches on trial accounts blow it up and then you start from nothing again. No thanks... Games should be fun and stress-relieving...not monotonous and stress-inducing. WoW's death system is pretty good and it is one of the elements that helped it get as big as it is today.

1) They've added many more quests and boosted quest xp in patch 1.5. We are beta testing 1.0. As a result it's hard to make a final judgement call but I'd say the leveling curve isn't bad. It will definitely take you less time to reach max level than it did to hit 60 with WoW at retail (some guy playing hardcore without using quests hit max level in a week played vs ~12-15 days played with vanilla WoW).

2) In this game, death in PVP does not incur penalties. You get res sickness like any other death but you can remove it for 1 kinah (free). Killing other players awards you experience and abyss points, their honor system.

 

[AmberClad]

It does seem like they've done various things with this game to make things non-frustrating / non-grindy.

Crafting is another aspect, where you can either train the normal way (spend hours gathering materials and gaining exp crafting them), or the alternative way, taking work orders from the Expert crafter, where you craft things for the person (sort of an apprenticeship). You have to spend a little of your own money to purchase reagants from the crafting store (you only get provided with some of the materials) and you don't get the finished item, but the upshot is not having to spend ages farming materials.

 

[Genx87]

So is there a persistent beta going on or is it only selected weekends? I grabbed a 5 dollar pre order from BB with a beta key. Then created my account and downloaded the game. But no joy on logging on?

edit: after trying to visit the forums it appears there are only selected beta events you can use this key on?

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: Genx87
So is there a persistent beta going on or is it only selected weekends? I grabbed a 5 dollar pre order from BB with a beta key. Then created my account and downloaded the game. But no joy on logging on?

edit: after trying to visit the forums it appears there are only selected beta events you can use this key on?

You are correct - this is a CLOSED beta, with limited access. It seems to be just about every other weekend though, starting on Friday and ending Sunday @ midnight.

 

[Genx87]

Glad I didnt plop 60 bucks for that

 

[Magusigne]

Originally posted by: Genx87
Glad I didnt plop 60 bucks for that

LoL! I Did, Slightly stupid on my part as I wanted to try out the beta as well. Should have considered the 5 dollar pre-order box.

Doesn't matter though. Amberclad and Sunny D's judgements on games I hold pretty highly. It will at least provide me with a few months entertainment at the very least.

 

[Davidpaul007]

I'm definitely looking forward to Aion.

I've played WoW steadily since just before the realease of Burning Crusade. I wasn't looking for another MMO but a friend got a beta key for this and started sending me emails with screenshots and info and I got interested enough to DL the 5 GB and try out the beta. Unlike Warhammer (which turned me off after about 10 minutes of play), something about Aion just felt right. I'm a sucker for good graphics, no doubt, but the quests hubs were interesting and the combat was beautiful and more enjoyable than WoW.

That was 2 Beta events ago. Since then, I've tried out a few different classes up to lvl 12ish (you get your wings at 10) and really enjoy it the more I play...I have actually cancelled my WoW subscription.

I'm a DAOC veteran and the PvP in the game (from what I've read and seen in video's) definitely brings back some good memories (yes, I enjoyed the PvP in DAoC alot).

PS. Super long time lurker, finally got around to making an account

 

[DontMindMe]

Originally posted by: Powernick50

Originally posted by: Genx87
Glad I didnt plop 60 bucks for that

LoL! I Did, Slightly stupid on my part as I wanted to try out the beta as well. Should have considered the 5 dollar pre-order box.

Doesn't matter though. Amberclad and Sunny D's judgements on games I hold pretty highly. It will at least provide me with a few months entertainment at the very least.

wit the steam preorder, you get access to the beta, not just the closed beta...am I right?

Buy now and play the Aion beta for free until the full release this fall! Pre-Sale offer includes:

37 days of free play when the full game releases.
Access to beta and preview events
Special in-game items
Attribute Boosting Hat
Experience boosting Talisman
Exclusive special effects ring (Water)
Wings
Earring
Unique Color dye
Disco Emote
Samba Emote
Special Title ("Pioneer of Aion")
Also, pre-purchasing on Steam gets you an invite to the pre-release closed-beta events!

Closed Beta Event #5
Starting time: July 31 (12:00 PM PST, 9:00 PM CEST, 8:00 PM BST)
Ending time: August 3 (12:00 PM PST, 9:00 PM CEST, 8:00 PM BST)
Focus: Elyos and Asmodian levels 1-30

Closed Beta Event #6
Starting time: August 14 (12:00 PM PST, 9:00 PM CEST, 8:00 PM BST)
Ending time: August 17 (12:00 PM PST, 9:00 PM CEST, 8:00 PM BST)
Focus: TBD

 

[Magusigne]

Dontmindme,

I've been given no special time other than the closed beta events that are listed. I cannot log in and play anytime I want unfortunately.

I do get a 48 hour head start;p

 

[DontMindMe]

Originally posted by: Powernick50
Dontmindme,

I've been given no special time other than the closed beta events that are listed. I cannot log in and play anytime I want unfortunately.

I do get a 48 hour head start;p

Yeah after reading some more that appears to be the case.

Thanks for verifying it for me too. Perhaps I will stop at BB for the $5 offer I read about here.

 

[damocles]

I couldnt resist and bought the Collector's Edition on Steam. Hoping I will be able to play from China

 

[AmberClad]

There's a pretty long thread in the Aion forums about a region lock possibly being in place, to prevent Chinese gold farmers and botters from aggravating the NA and EU players. Some non-NA players have been able to participate in the NA closed beta, while some others have reported being locked out.

 

[damocles]

Originally posted by: AmberClad
There's a pretty long thread in the Aion forums about a region lock possibly being in place, to prevent Chinese gold farmers and botters from aggravating the NA and EU players. Some non-NA players have been able to participate in the NA closed beta, while some others have reported being locked out.

Urgh. I hope it is client based and not IP based

 

[damocles]

Managed t get my account setup. I tried to log in and it told me I am not allowed to and them promptly crashed. Under my account it says access 'standard' and not 'collector's edition' is that normal?

 

[AmberClad]

I think there might only be two types: "Standard" and "Trial". (My CE account also shows up as "Standard")

The next closed beta starts this coming Friday, so until then, your account will say that it doesn't have access to Aion.

 

[Chronoshock]

No level cap raise = lots of rifting. Be prepared to lvl 20-30 in Theobomos/Brusthonin or some remote region of Morheim/Eltnen far away from rifts. The main areas right outside of the main towns are going to be wastelands. I hit 24 by the end of last cbt, so I'm aiming for at least 28 so I can use the stigma (Zikel's Wisdom) that a guildie gave me.