Massively

I agree that it's great to see MMO's doing well. The more competition that we have in the market the better that it will be for the consumers. Having said that, healthy criticism will always have it's place. If we were to simply accept everything that we're given studios would never strive to improve the product.

Funny post, Aganazer. Do the wings make you look and older and more "weathered"?

Not to steal any thunder from Aion, but I really wish NCSoft would throw a rez in Tabula Rasa's direction.... It just seems a shame to have so much game just sitting idle in the ether, as it were. : /

No character customization? What do you call the stigmas and all the moonstones and godstones?

Or didn't you play long enough to actually start seeing the stigmas? Maybe you are used to WoWs talent trees, but you have to admit that most of the things you pick in the talent trees are neglible or filler for those few good things you pick

AIONS stigmas are all brand new attacks, some benefit pvp others pve and even castle seiges.

shinobichocobo, I believe I said "character development choices". Yes that would mean something like WoW's talent trees, DDO's Feats, multiclassing, and raising attributes, CO's power, advantage, and talent choices, AoC's talent trees, etc. Aion doesn't have these. I think those kinds of permanent character development choices are a cornerstone of the RPG genre and are almost entirely missing in Aion.

Its good in a way because no one can screw up their character. Its also bad in a way because it makes every very samey. Everyone in a class has the same powers and abilities and the same base attributes.

I could go on about how Sigils are just gear and how limited the options are when it comes to manastones and godstones, but those aren't a replacement for what I am looking for anyway.

Like I said, its not a bad game, just not my bag.

shinobichocobo: Dont get me wrong, I love Aion and will be playing it exhaustively (over WoW even, the content of which im kinda tired of), but it is very limited as far as skill/playstyle customization goes, when you compare it to games like LotRO and WoW. you talk about getting new attacks and spells, etc with Stigma, but thats exactly what WoW's talent tree does, only instead of being limited by 8 Stigma slots, you have 3 trees to choose talents from and effectively each class has 3 very different ways to play.

Stigma system is young, theres some promise there, but its nowhere near the polish of WoW's system, even if it is trying to merge the talent and inscription systems into one.

I agree with Aganazer! I do not think forced PvP got a place in games on this side of the water!

Bah, PvP is the only multiplayer worth a damn. Everything else is just feels like single-player with chat rooms.

We're certainly seem far more casual on this side of the world, but that doesn't mean PvP-centric games don't belong here.

Aion won't de-throne WoW, but whether you like it or not, it will be very successful in the west, no question.

I'm kind of in the same boat. After 2 and a half years, I'm tired of LOTRO and looking for my next game. CO fell short of my expectations (light on content and too much of a single-player game), and Aion is just more of the same (if not a bit behind the times). Maybe I'll just stick with DDO until SW:TOR, although I still want to see if AOC has gotten any better in the past year.

I was anxious to try the "new and improved" AoC as well, but since they no longer offer a free trial, I've avoided it.

I generally won't buy an MMO without either a trial period or beta access, and if AoC is truly better than it was at launch, I'm having trouble understanding why they wouldn't even offer a few days trial period... Pretty bonehead marketing decision if you ask me. I know they had that offer for past subscribers, but what about those who were on the fence about it, or avoided it due to the bad rep it got at launch? You would think they would want our money, too...

Oh well, their loss.

And in 4-5 months Icecrown will be out in wow, so yes, everyone will return to Wow (myself included) unless Aion's endgame is something spectacular. :) To me Aion is polished and similar enough to wow that its the perfect MMO to enjoy a vacation away from WoW, but I do have serious doubts about tis endgame content.

Cataclysm is still at least 8, if not 9 months away!
Kinda optimistic about this now aren't we?

Don't forget the Icecrown patch will come AFTER the comming Onyxia patch, and if their gonna give us time to all clear Icecrown citadel, then don't expect Cataclysm out before the earliest late April next year.

nvm, you said Icecrown, I read Cataclysm