My 2 cp, Moving up in Aion.

In my previous entry I wrote about how my stay in Aion was going. Happily leveling on my own for the most part. Mostly I talk about the good, today I have decided to talk about the good and the bad.

The Annoying stuff..
I have gotten a bit higher where I can do group quests now. Some parts of the Campaign quest line require a group. I think today was probably the most frustrating day so far. I still had fun, but moments I wanted to pull my hair out! Why?

Questing and how... Other players make the world a
better
worse place sometimes.
Oh you had to ask ;) First off there is a quest in the Campaign line where you have to lure a mob to the 'guards'. I do this, after many many many... let's just say about a half hour of trying to get people to stop killing him while I tried to kite him there.

Finally after inviting a few people that were on the same quest we found a channel where we could complete it without much of a problem. I ended up making a new friend in the process which was nice!

The point of going on about this was, why in creation did they make a quest such a pita when they knew these areas were going to be highly populated?! Along with escort quests in highly populated areas, not a good move IMO. If you are like me and like to get every quest done you can, then you will be waiting at times.

To cap it off the quest did not mention the mob had to be low on health upon pulling him there, you have to figure that out on your own or look it up. I had to tell group members about three times, "Please stop pulling him there at full health." and "Please stop killing him before we get there." ...sigh.

Grouping
We decided to recruit more for the following part of the quest chain. Currently the LFG system is pretty messy IMO. Trying to even use chat is a mess in itself. With so many random people talking in LFG and gold spammers on top of it (for those who don't block them), it's pretty tough to skim through it at times.

Most people don't know how to switch channels yet. You simply click on the Menu button, to the left of the wings button, click channel and select channel from the drop down box in upper right hand corner. So this can get kind of repetitive trying to explain how to over and over. Nothing that will ruin the game, I am happy it is there, I use it often to quest in less populated channels.

So anyhow, I found a tank, we died a few times, got part of the quest complete then he disconnected. At this point I was just too tired of playing to find another. The group members were nice, I did have a nice time. I just think the whole quest line, with the problems created from other players in the game, made it an aggravation.

While all games have quests that really are blah, I'm just am going over my time in Aion so far. This is not the first time I've had a bad time questing in any game. However it could have been prevented by just having you kill the mob, chances are someone is going to kill it anyhow before you finish the objective at least once. If not you're a luckier person than I.

Ganking?
Add in the random rifts and a whole new world of aggravation is going to open up while doing Campaign quests. There are two areas for questing once rifts come into play. One zone random rifts can open, the other none open. One side is obviously safer to experience and quest in. However the side with the rifts is where the campaign quests are found.

Yes this there will be ganking. There is no other description to what will happen when the rifts open. Sure it's part of the game. Will it drive some players away? Who knows. I know that I like PvP. However I like to PvP when I want to. Definitely not while I quest. So this may be a problem for my specific play style. Call me a carebear all you like, call it to my face and maybe you'd think again ;) Seriously, we all have our own likes and dislikes. That is what makes us diverse players.

Gold Spammers
Look below, need I say more? It's fun blocking all of these spammers each time I log in, they all make new names daily. Yes that chat window is full of gold spammers. I opened it to show just how bad it is, how I spend my time upon logging in. Blocking.

Penalties and bad Mechanics
Lets talk about something considered outdated in this day and age of MMORPGs. Kill Stealing. While I think this game is great, it does need some things to be looked over. Kill Stealing is a problem, it's not something I enjoy dealing with. I shouldn't even have to say more on this topic.

Death Penalty. Why? We already have to run back from our bind point (Everquest much?), why even make it an option to lose experience? Sure you can pay gold to get some back, I have yet to figure out if it's a full refund for the price of gold. Or even if you can even get the NPC to rez you once the 'resurrection' debuff wears off.

We in Aion don't swim, we are beings of the air! Seriously we can't swim in Aion. Most water is shallow and you walk through it. However I have come across some deep spots. You simply keep walking deeper in, which causes damage while you are submerged.

Server Crashing
I have not had much of a problem with this problem. There have been a few I have noticed. Last night we had two fairly close to one another. Once the server came up it took about 20-30 min for it to smooth out. Rubber-banding all the way back after running all the way across Sanctum is not fun.

That is all I am going to complain about today ;) Just a few points I think need to be smoothed out.

The Good
Aion has been fresh and very fun for me, even though I have had a few bad experiences it's still a great game. Overall I have had mostly good experiences within this game so far. It has been one of the most fun games I have played in a long time.

If I ever do quit playing it will not be because of the game play but rather more depending how much I really want to PvP in the end. I went into Aion knowing what it is about, so I can't complain if that happens. I just had to try this fantastic game for myself.

You can have six members in a group which is nice. The classes seem, so far, rather balanced. The gear in the game has easy to figure out stats, no D&D confusing stuff here! Money is easy to make! Channels for each class are provided which is a nice touch.

For the hardcore trades people this game offers a wide selection of trades. Gathering is rewarding even if you don't have any trades. You receive experience points for it and you can sell the items to other players.

Some things I miss from my other games, or would like to see!
Mounts. While you can fly, it's very restricted. Gliding is limited. I would love to see some type of mounts added into the game. I really get tired of running.

With all these cute critters in the game I'd love to see some as companion pets! I'm not sure if there are any currently, I have yet to see any. I also cannot find any information leading me towards thinking so.

I would also like to see some strictly PvE areas, high end targeted at groups and raiding. I know this is a PvPvE game, however I am sure that road can lead to quick tempers and burn outs. At least from my point of view, having been gaming as long as I have.

More portals and flight paths available while leveling. As I mentioned before... I really am tired of running in Aion.

Another thought I had was where the classes branch off. Wouldn't it be nice to try the other side of the coin? Maybe respec for a cost to try the other one out? Why play a cleric and chanter up? Would it really be that game breaking to be able to switch out? Maybe you regret the choice of tank you made. I think it would be nice if you could at least try both out until 'set level' to get a feel for which you want more. You don't always know until you try, why play up though that burnout content again to do so?

Most the time I brag on how great Aion it, and it really is! Though I do want to give a look at it with out any candy coating as I move on though the game and experience how it really is. And.. that's my 2cp!
-kaozz