The Daily Grind: Are you still playing a September MMO?

by Brooke Pilley Nov 6th 2009 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Aion, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Fallen Earth, New titles, The Daily Grind, Champions Online

September 2009 saw the release of Champions Online, Dungeons & Dragons: Eberron Unlimited (an older MMO going F2P), Fallen Earth, and Aion. This was easily the busiest month for MMOs in recent memory and we're sure many of you at least picked up one of them to try out. We're curious to know if you're still playing a September MMO just over a month later. If so or if not, why?

No MMO in the history of MMOs has experienced a perfectly smooth launch and these September titles were no exception. Did the action-packed combat of CO pull you in or did the lack of content push you away? Were you awed by DDO-EU's polished suite of tools or annoyed by the limitations put on free accounts? Was Fallen Earth's post-apocalyptic setting a breath of fresh air or did you choke on a mouthful of radioactive bugs? Did the beauty and smoothness of Aion make your heart beat faster or did its grind and bot infestation crush your soul? Just how impressed were you with September's crop of new MMOs?

Tags: aion, champions-online, cryptic, ddo, ddo-ebberon-unlimited, fallen-earth, icarus-studios, ncsoft, new-titles, the-daily-grind, turbine

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)

Ssieth said on 8:06AM 11-06-2009

I'm still playing champions but it, as expected, plays second fiddle to Eve/Second Life for me. It's a great fun game that hits the mark for me in terms of the ease in which I can play it casually :)

Goonja said on 8:07AM 11-06-2009

I'm still playing Aion and enjoying it even with the bots infestation :(

crsh said on 9:21AM 11-06-2009

And the endless crysystem.dll crashes in the Abyss, but I'm still playing too. Now that the WoW brats are gone, it's much more enjoyable.

Adam Teece said on 8:07AM 11-06-2009

I still play Champions Online here and there. It is really good, but my girlfriend has been wanting me to play WoW with her so that is where I have spent most of my time.

Pewpdaddy said on 8:08AM 11-06-2009

Yeps... I'm still playing DDO I have about 4 toons I'm currently messing with definitely enjoying the rogue the most so far. Gotta unlock Drow first of course. It did suck me in though went VIP about 10 days ago. =] Even found myself a few dungeons narrated by Gary Gygax himself =p DDO is definitely a viable free option though even if only to pass the time while waiting for a few bigger games to come out.

TommyB said on 8:10AM 11-06-2009

Still playing Aion, probably will stick with it for a while.

At least until APB comes out. :D

Blythe said on 8:12AM 11-06-2009

I was playing Aion but after the free month ran out I decided to quit. I got to lvl 30 on an Eylos priest. The grind just was so boring. I did pickup Dragon Age origins and I am loving it. Bioware makes a damn good game. Can not wait now for Mass Effect 2 and Stars Wars Old Republic.

Joe said on 8:58AM 11-06-2009

LoL, this sounds like my last month as well. The only difference is that I'm waiting to try out FE as well. Otherwise, Dragon Age has sucked me in!

Delos said on 8:16AM 11-06-2009

DDO has sucked me back in.

I really enjoy the combat, and the content works.

Kifix said on 8:37AM 11-06-2009

Still playing Aion en enjoying the PvP, despite to much / overpowered CC.
PvE is nice too but basic.

Champions, i only played the beta and didn't like it, its to basic/arcade for me.

Super Healer said on 8:17AM 11-06-2009

I bought CO and Aion and havent renewed after the first month. Both games were OK (other than the usual gripes which have been expressed in numerous other posts) but I guess im looking for a game to blow me away like WoW did when I first played that.

As Im a casual player I can only really concentrate on one game at a time so I will go back to them though after about 6 months to see if things have changed but I have invested far too much time in WoW (and enjoy it too much) to leave right now (until APB and Secret World)

Nick said on 2:30PM 11-06-2009

Is WoW your first MMO ever? Cause if it is, nothing will ever be the same as when you first stepped in. I'm looking for an experience that was like the one when I first started EQ, and have yet to find that feeling. Not in EQ2 or WoW or any other MMOs. I like all those games a lot, but none of them gave me the same feeling that I did when I played my first MMO.

Skypp said on 4:55PM 11-06-2009

I agree with Nick, with the exception that its not just your first MMO, as UO was my first(for like 1 week). Its the first one that really sucked you in.

It was Everquest for me too. Nothing will ever be like that first year, before I knew Guilds would be the same cycles over and over, and armor progressions would dominate end game systems. I was innocent and free to imagine better things ahead of me in the game.

Now with any MMO, I pretty much find I like everything prior to end game, and the end game looms like a giant monster, conning red and ready to mop the floor with the fun I had with the game prior to it.

Antonia said on 2:16AM 11-08-2009

Yep, that time investment is exactly what Blizzard banks on to have you keep coming back for more...

Unless you can completely turn off all feeling to the amount of time it took you to do any thing in your life your always going to go back to it. Its the feeling addicts get when they quit and go back.. Its all a trick of the brain..

Poozle said on 8:21AM 11-06-2009

DDO the whole way, especially after getting into a weekly group, although I still find it enjoyable to just hop in and kill a few things occasionally.

Iceballs..yum said on 8:32AM 11-06-2009

I got a couple(Cleric,Ranger) guys to 30ish in Aion and its a very nice looking game, but the Grind is horrible and just downright boring.Canceled for now, may get the itch to return and tackle that grindfest.

I also just picked up BioWare's Dragon Age:Origins and it has reminded me what I love about the genre and what is missing from a lot of the MMO's. Deep story, that's what MMOs just seem to glaze over these days. I don't want to sound like some guy who sleeps w/ action figures under my pillow but yea man, what the hell happened to immersion. Its all grind + grind+ some pvp+ more grind with very little story to keep me interested. I know that reading every bit of quest text is where I am supposed to get my story but it doesn't seem to cut it.

sami said on 8:24AM 11-06-2009

Kinda full of traditional mmo's at the moment, thus i'mnot playing Aion or any other of that kind at the moment. Instead i spend my time on Wurm where i've been allmost half a year again.

Tharina said on 8:24AM 11-06-2009

I'm still playing Aion on my 45 ranger but Dragon Age has slowed my leveling and play time to a trickle, by the time I'm finished DA, Modern Warfare will be out so looks like I'll be 45 for a long time to come

Vulturion said on 8:24AM 11-06-2009

Played DDO Unlimited after launch, but none of the other passed beta.

Haven't stuck with DDO though; wasn't hooked by the ugly character models, shallow itemization (I know this is from staying true to D&D, but doesn't make it any more fun) and trifling progress (again true to D&D, but earning conditional fractions of a bonus doesn't make for compelling levelling) - I just didn't see the point in playing on.

Defrag said on 8:26AM 11-06-2009

I let my Aion account run out after the free month was up. The game was nice looking and ran well but reminded me of the grind from my days in EQ and AO. I just do not have the time or patience anymore for a game that requires that much time to level up.

I'm now playing Champions Online and loving it, much more casual and I'm enjoying the graphics and play style a lot more than Aion.