From what I’ve been able to gather TERA Online brings absolutely nothing new to the genre and you might as well just go play Aion, it’s probably a lot better now than Tera will be in quite awhile. ArcheAge however suffers from different issues. I do in fact think the game will be decent (not good, just decent), but whether it can be a serious hit depends on a lot of things. Let’s look at ArcheAge’s features first:

• Huge world map
• Dynamic environment
• Mass PvP (100+ people)
• Player housing
• Crafting & production
• Adjustable interface
• Mounts (eg. horses)
• Naval warfare
• Persistent World

Naval warfare: Darkfall. Mounts: no need to go there. Crafting: what game doesn’t have crafting (in one form or another. Mass PvP = huge lag and FPS issues. Dynamic environment & persistent world: yeah sure, every game says that. Player housing: completely useless. Adjustable interface: wow that’s a new one. Huge world map: alright, as long as it’s not just copy/pasted terrain.

Can you really now tell me this game is revolutionary as many claim it to be? I didn’t think so. The good thing is that it runs on CryEngine 3, which has ridiculously good graphics, but on the other hand tons of players probably won’t even be able to play this game above 30 FPS, and it will be pretty much unplayable in PvP. Age of Conan had great graphics too, and look where it got them: maybe 10,000 subscribers. Rift doesn’t seem to have farted yet and is in fact doing quite well even one month after the release.

It’s still early to even tell how Rift is going to turn out, much less about TERA or ArcheAge, but I simply think all these new upcoming games need to offer a bit more than good voiceovers and fancy graphics.

ArcheAge: Another Fail MMORPG? is a post from: Trolr

The latest Aion video coming from NCsoft is almost impressive enough to make me want to resubscribe — almost.

It shows the “future” of this game as apparently the developers see it: improved graphics, weather effects (real weather effects with visual consequences), huge monsters being shot by cannons, mounts, possibly player housing, and finally, swimming. The whole vid lasts nine minutes and is well worth a watch.

Aion Vision Trailer is a post from: Trolr

While I personally can’t complain about specific problems, I can complain about the game as a whole. Four, five years ago when I first started my adventures in the World of Warcraft, I didn’t mind grinding, bugs, bots or anything like that. The entire game concept was pretty new to me and extremely fun. Now, whenever I try a new MMO it simply feels like I’ve done and tried everything there is and not many things can really excite or entertain me anymore.

That’s where Aion steps in. It’s just a game, nothing more. It has levels, grinds, money sinks and other features/annoyances which I’m simply tired of. It brings nothing new to the table. Flying was supposed to be something new and unprecedented and it turns out to be more or less crap: it’s too limited and not as much fun as I thought. I remember getting my first flying mount in WoW: now that was really something. Being able to fly through Outlands was something special and quite possibly one of the best WoW additions ever.

Aion is simply not something I see myself playing anymore. I can’t really put a finger on anything specific like Spooner or Werit did, although I completely agree with all their conclusions. Leveling is too slow for one, I did it countless times before in other games and frankly I’m tired of it. The worst thing is one way or the other in Aion you have to grind; I rather not even think what it’s like after level 40. While I personally didn’t have huge issues with making kinah I do admit there’s always a lack of it. While leveling in WoW you could spend a few gold occasionally on a cool new blue item — in Aion, you have to save only to buy skills.

I barely experienced any PvP. Rifts sounded like a great idea on paper, but they are too limited and random to be frequent fun. The endgame is almost all about the Abyss, which really concerns me. I like PvP, I really do, but when I think about doing it day after day makes me dizzy. I played a shitload of battlegrounds in WoW, but could never do it more than 4-5 hours a day. You simply get burned out, and Aion doesn’t really offer any alternatives: there’s not a ton of daily quests or instances to break the routine, and crafting in Aion hardly means taking a break. There’s no point in making an alt when your main character still takes months of playtime to be decent.

I won’t even mention botting, lag, bugs, gold spammers, server crashes and other quirks since most of those come natural with these games.

Overall, the times have changed and a game needs to offer more than a “new” story and a couple of cool features to stay competitive. I sincerely hope Aion won’t go down as Warhammer, but I’m afraid without serious changes soon it will happen.

Is Aion Going Down? is a post from: Trolr

Aion Wallpapers is a post from: Trolr

The dates for the open beta, headstart and character pre-select for the upcoming MMORPG Aion have been revealed on the official site.

Open Beta

The open beta will start on September 6 and will last till Sep 13th. The open beta will hit with patch 1.5, which includes many additions to the extensive character customization features, as well as additional instances, quests, skills and other improvements.

Headstart & Pre-Selection

The release of Aion Online is scheduled for 22nd next month, but those of you (us) who pre-ordered can start the journey two days sooner. In addition, character pre-select feature will be available starting Sep 18th: you will be able to create a character and reserve your name, which I’m sure many will take advantage of.

Open Beta Client

The full open beta client is already available, as well as a patch for your existing closed beta client if you have one. You can download the game client here, just be sure to start as soon as possible since they are quite large, and no doubt the demand will be huge in the coming weeks.

Aion Open Beta Schedule & Client is a post from: Trolr

Designed as an added value and a way to say thanks to our biggest fans of the Guild Wars and Aion franchises, players that purchase an Aion Collector’s Edition or a first run Aion Steelbook Edition will be rewarded with a Guild Wars emote that displays the wings that have become synonymous with Aion.

The wings emote will stay active indefinitely, but this promotional offer unfortunately won’t, so if you want your wings in Guild Wars be sure to preorder Aion. I got my copy from Amazon, they always have plenty in stock.

You can get more info about this offer here.

NCsoft Announces Exclusive Promotion Between Aion and Guild Wars is a post from: Trolr

An interview between Aion West Producer Liv and Aion Lead Designer Yongchan Jee revealed some of the upcoming plans for their highly anticipated MMORPG game due for release next month.

It appears they are planning to implement player and legion housing, and they specifically noted Balaur will never be a playable race in Aion. There are already expansion plans in the works as well, but that’s too far away for any sort of details. The other interesting part was the talk about mounts. Even though mounts aren’t exactly anything new, they are supposed to be used for something other than transportation in Aion, since that part is already covered with wings.

I’m definitely intrigued by the fact they are adding mounts, however I rather would see them as another transportation mechanic. Wings unfortunately can’t be used everywhere and gliding also has its limits and at times it seems traveling is a real pain, especially at lower levels where you can’t use your wings in most zones.

The game isn’t even released yet so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

Aion Mounts in the Works is a post from: Trolr