Flying in before the Week is out!

Muahaha, cutting it fine, really, but still.

The week has been mostly full of logging into WoW for a breif moment, with a side serving of the old Civilization 4 or whatever has interested me in this horribly hot week we've had.

That said, the Aion - Tower of Eternity Beta got off to a fizzled start on Thursday, when the European Login got swamped and promptly crashed. Being lucky enough to be included I persevered and ultimately got online, So here comes some thoughts as they are.

Aion - The Tower of Eternity, for what I know of it so far, Is a PvPvE game, whatever the hell thats meant to be (Someone tell corporate marketing to make something less complicated!) - I mean, we all have an Idea of what it means, but still, come on!

I can't personally comment on the latter parts of the game, as the level cap is currently 20 - and you can't enter the abyss PvPvE area untill 25 as a minimum, but still - Oh, PvP will grant experience - which is a nice addition that many games had been lacking in the past. (And are now implementing, Ohai WoW) That said, though, apparently Aion was lacking it on release and promptly patched it in.

That brings me to the premiere and main point, Aion is, in all essence, a polished game. It's had the benefit of being out for nearly a Year in Asia, and time has done it justice for the EU/NA Marketplace. Most of the issues are "lost in translation" bugs, such as no voice-overs yet, some text clips in boxes which were formerly occupied by Korean, Chinese or Japanese script. This is mainly menu options, descriptions and some tooltips. Nothing that would majorly kill your fun, but niggling enough to need a lot of time to go through it all to make sure it gets fixed.

I'll spare you a majority of the "Oh my good jesus it looks fantastic" routine, you've probably heard it alot. Nevertheless, Aion does look fantastic. I had some graphical errors, though I put that down to the gajillion people who were in the starting area along with my choice to run Windowed. The Characters also seem more alive - if its raining, your character will often become annoyed and magic a large tropical leaf out of nowhere and hold it over their head.

The ingame emotes are pretty damn good, you can magic a chair up and sit down, just to name one. Leaving your character Idle no longer means idle, as if left in water it will attempt to catch a fish with their hands, or pace a little if left unattended for too long. (In a circular static manner, but worth mentioning nonetheless) This, combined with the ridiculous amount of bars included in the character creation to customize your avatar leaves you with a distinct impression, perhaps, just maybe, theres a little person alive in front of you.

Or maybe thats just my insanity talking.

This brings me to what Aion is, not to be rude at all, but its gimmick. Aion is, afterall, a game based on the premise of getting wings and being able to fly. In this it executes it well from what ive played with so far. You can fight whilst in the air, and as your wings operate on a timed basis, you have to make sure you leave some safe ground to fly to should it become necessary in combat, afterall, a Daeva falling to his or her death would be rather undignified, no?

Aion is definately a game worth getting if you like a decent game in and of itself, and perhaps moreso if your into the PvP side of things. I'm not sure if Aion IS primarily a PvP game - as I know it features its own share of PvE Encounters on a group level, but I know it factors into the equation more-so than others, being a casual pvp'er at best it makes me think more cautiously about purchasing a copy. Nevertheless, The fact I had fun in an MMO for the first time in a while definately makes me consider, very seriously, purchasing Aion.

I'd rather pay not to play.

So, its been a while.

Ive done alot of things regarding MMO's lately. I took the plunge as it were, in 2008 - and tried out Lord of the Rings Online. It was interesting, it held my attention for a while. I liked the lore the game was based in, I enjoyed the time I spent there, but I came back to WoW.

The Realization was that whilst I enjoyed what LotRO was, and appreciated how it played - as I said, it was interesting, even though I never got beyond the first few levels.. It wasn't fun.

Now, dont get me wrong, and perhaps this is what I can't understand myself - It was a good game, It just wasnt fun. Yet I went back to WoW back in the Old daily and rep grind fest (Which it still is, albeit to a much lesser extent on the latter). How is that fun?

I came to WoW from SWG, As I didn't play it for very long, when the NGE hit I didn't rage the same way many of older players had. I did keep playing for a while, mainly because it was the only MMO I was familiar with, and I'd heard the horror stories about EQ (Although I understand EQ is a majorly different ballgame now, as it were).

Ultimately, I bought WAR, I enjoyed that, It was interesting - Indeed, for someone like me who isn't the biggest PvP fan in the world, the fact I played it to level 20 (No idea what pvp rank, probably 15 or something) was a phenomena. As usual, though - it was "interesting" and it was "enjoyable". But it wasn't fun.

I assume there was always that feeling that I was just playing a pretender. Whilst comestically different, with some new gameplay mechanics - they were basically, to be blunt - WoW without the polish that time had given it.

I started up Age of Conan the other day - afterall, it had been given about a year to sort its problems out, but whilst the combat was interesting - the game wasn't fun. So ultimately, I come back to WoW every single time.

The interesting thing is, without direction like a raid guild (been unlucky in that respect lately), I basically pay to not play WoW.

The interesting fact for me is, I'd rather pay to not play WoW than actively partake in the games ive mentioned. Don't get me wrong, I'm for diversification, and each of those games plays to something in particular, and will always have its market.

Perhaps I just find it interesting I find it more fun to pay to play WoW a few hours a week than to even play the trials of its competitors. Maybe its just burnout with misguided loyalty, I don't know. The difference is, If I joined a raid guild I'd be back to playing WoW all the time.

Nonetheless, yeah, you guessed it - It's interesting. I just can't figure out the reasons why.

A Resolution.

Ah yes, I make promises, I break them. So sue me.

Actually, don't, you wont get much. Sadly I seem to remembe this exists then palm it off "for another day".. Well, no longer. It is therefore my solemn vow (and you may comment here, which goes to my email and berates me) to update this blog at least once per week. Preferably more, depending on how it goes.

A vow of once per week is good for now, right?

Nearly a year.. Oh, how times have changed.

In my last post, STO had been given the kiss of life - and now a year later, its within 12 months of launch.

It will be my intention to keep posts fairly limited to games, although expect my RL (Not likely, its boring!) or mindless rants about nothing in particular to creep in. I hope to update tomorrow, most likely - with the first in a new line of thought.. or something. See, I'm rambling :).

Either way, Lessee how it goes, Any requests? (For what, I don't know, but I felt like saying it!)

I've shortened the blog name, not that Xay really has any relevance aside from being my blog handle for now, I guess. Anyway, Update soon! Yus.