Aion has a lot going for it. It’s fun, stable, has great graphics and has a lot of content for a game just releasing. But, even with all those positives, there are some things in other MMOs that I would love to see in Aion. This post is about exactly that, what I would like to see in Aion that I have already seen in other MMOs. Take a look at my list and see how it matches up with yours.
Lord of the Rings Online
Let’s start with LotRO. I have played LotRO, off and on, since release. It’s a very good game, with amazing environmental graphics, an epic story and a ton of features that appeals to the Rings nerd in me. Unfortunately, it’s just a tad too PvE-centric for me. I really don’t like the PvP portion of the game, so I can only play it for a short period of time before I head off to look for PvP elsewhere. Even with that, there are some features I love in LotRO.
The Epic Book Quests in LotRO were really cool, with an overarching story line, some instance play (solo and group) and some excellent writing. I would love to see this move over to Aion. I know Aion has its version, but it seems to be a much more intrinsic feature in LotRO.
Yeah, call me a roleplay nerd if you want, but the Music System in LotRO was just cool. I never really used it myself, but it was really awesome to run into a tavern and find a band playing in the corner and people standing around just to listen. It may just be fluff, but it was really fun fluff!
I love the idea of nameable Legendary Weapons. I am not 100% sold on how they are implemented in LotRO but the idea is really solid. Get an sword at low level, name it and it gets better with you. Give it better stats, better effects and a really cool name and you have a sword all your own.
Warhammer Online
As stated before in this blog, WAR was my holy grail. I awaited this title with anticipation, only to be completely devastated when the game launched. Even with all its problems, however, there are a few features I would love to see in Aion. By the way, I was really attempted to put the Tome of Knowledge in this list, but I suspect that the ToK is the cause of many of the performance problems in WAR. I may be completely wrong about this, but, for this reason, I will keep it off the list.
- The Dual-Targeting System
This is probably the biggest thing on this list. When I started WAR the dual-targeting system was just one feature I thought was cool, but not really a big deal. After leaving WAR and going back to WoW, LotRO and Aion, I find that its the one thing I miss the most. Being able to have both an offensive and defensive target at the same time is amazingly cool and intuitive. NCSoft needs to put this in as soon as possible.
This is another feature that I love but thought was poorly implemented by the originator. In WAR there were simply too many Public Quests. It lessened their impact and made them a crutch for other content. They could be amazing in Aion though. Imagine a competitive Public Quest in The Abyss. Both sides fighting to complete the objective first. It would be amazingly cool and something I would love to see.
World of Warcraft
I played WoW from release. I have canceled my account a couple of times but I find myself going back. I am fed up with the game for the most part, but there are some great things in WoW that I would love to see in Aion.
I played a hunter as my main (and only!) character for 4 years. I loved him. One of the things that endeared him to me was the hunter pet system. Unlike other pet classes, WoW’s hunter allowed you to find a pet in the wild, name him and train him. He was my steadfast friend and I loved the system. Adding this to Aion would probably necessitate a new class, but I would like to see something similar in Aion sometime.
PvE has never been my favorite thing in MMOs, I am much more a PvP’er. With that being said, I do enjoy PvE. Especially well done PvE. WoW has some amazing boss encounters; Nefarian, C’Thun, Vaelstrasz and even a few of the 5-man bosses are incredibly well done. I am not asking for more instances but I would like to see some complex boss fights in the game. Tank and spank is all fine and dandy but every so often I would like a challenge. By the way, can you tell I much prefer old-school WoW?
Everquest II
I tried EQII at release, was pulled away for WoW and came back for a bit later. It has tons and tons of content, deep character options and very good graphics. For me, however, there was something missing that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. I could never play it for more than short periods of time and I always found myself getting bore. There are still some amazing features in the game I would love to see in Aion.
EQII has one of the best guild management systems of any MMO. Options to recruit in-game, a great interface and guild writs allowed options I have not seen in any other MMO, though some are starting to add these features. The guild writ system added the ability to level your guild by doing quests centered on your guild and the guild interface gave you all the information you could want right at your fingertips.
I am not totally enamored of the crafting system in EQII. For the most part I found it unintuitive and hard to learn. But it did manage to do something that most MMOs do not, keep you at your keyboard. In WoW, I queue my materials and go afk until its done. I do the same in LotRO and I imagine I will do the same in Aion. EQII required you to be at your keyboard and actively participating. If that idea could be taken, made more intuitive and fun and put into Aion, I would love it.
Dark Age of Camelot
This is it. My Holy Grail of MMO goodness. I love this game. I played it for years and finally left after the population dropped so much it was hard to play. I have tried to go back numerous times but left for one reason or another. Surprisingly, even though it is my favorite MMO, I have less to to put in this list from DAoC than any of the above. This is a good thing. Simply put, Aion is so close to what I think DAoC was it doesn’t need to add much from it and the one thing I would like to see from DAoC is something NCSoft has little control over.
DAoC had the best Realm Pride of any faction competitive MMO I have ever been a part of, period. When Keeps were under attack and Relics were in danger of being lost, the entire Realm stopped what they were doing and came to help. It didn’t matter if you were PvE’ing, grinding or crafting…you helped. There was pride in being from Midgard, Albion or Hibernia. WoW had a bit of this early on with the Horde and Alliance but it has totally disintegrated after Burning Crusade and WotLK. Even so, it was nothing like DAoC. NCSoft has little control over this but they can help influence it. Less instancing, no cross-realm battlegrounds, reasons to defend Fortresses and the like, will help nurture Realm Pride. Give me DAoC level Realm Pride and I will be ecstatic!
So, that’s it. That’s my list. Keep in mind that, though I have played many MMOs, I have not played them all. I am sure I have left many great features off the list and that’s where YOU come in, what would you like to see in Aion? What do you not like on my list? Comment and let me know!
Filed under: Aion, General Commentary, Other MMOs, PvE, PvP, Quests | Tagged: daoc, lotro, WAR, WoW | 13 Comments »
Aionic Thoughts 
What features would you like to see added to Aion?
Aion has a lot going for it. It’s fun, stable, has great graphics and has a lot of content for a game just releasing. But, even with all those positives, there are some things in other MMOs that I would love to see in Aion. This post is about exactly that, what I would like to see in Aion that I have already seen in other MMOs. Take a look at my list and see how it matches up with yours.
Lord of the Rings Online
Let’s start with LotRO. I have played LotRO, off and on, since release. It’s a very good game, with amazing environmental graphics, an epic story and a ton of features that appeals to the Rings nerd in me. Unfortunately, it’s just a tad too PvE-centric for me. I really don’t like the PvP portion of the game, so I can only play it for a short period of time before I head off to look for PvP elsewhere. Even with that, there are some features I love in LotRO.
The Epic Book Quests in LotRO were really cool, with an overarching story line, some instance play (solo and group) and some excellent writing. I would love to see this move over to Aion. I know Aion has its version, but it seems to be a much more intrinsic feature in LotRO.
Yeah, call me a roleplay nerd if you want, but the Music System in LotRO was just cool. I never really used it myself, but it was really awesome to run into a tavern and find a band playing in the corner and people standing around just to listen. It may just be fluff, but it was really fun fluff!
I love the idea of nameable Legendary Weapons. I am not 100% sold on how they are implemented in LotRO but the idea is really solid. Get an sword at low level, name it and it gets better with you. Give it better stats, better effects and a really cool name and you have a sword all your own.
Warhammer Online
As stated before in this blog, WAR was my holy grail. I awaited this title with anticipation, only to be completely devastated when the game launched. Even with all its problems, however, there are a few features I would love to see in Aion. By the way, I was really attempted to put the Tome of Knowledge in this list, but I suspect that the ToK is the cause of many of the performance problems in WAR. I may be completely wrong about this, but, for this reason, I will keep it off the list.
This is probably the biggest thing on this list. When I started WAR the dual-targeting system was just one feature I thought was cool, but not really a big deal. After leaving WAR and going back to WoW, LotRO and Aion, I find that its the one thing I miss the most. Being able to have both an offensive and defensive target at the same time is amazingly cool and intuitive. NCSoft needs to put this in as soon as possible.
This is another feature that I love but thought was poorly implemented by the originator. In WAR there were simply too many Public Quests. It lessened their impact and made them a crutch for other content. They could be amazing in Aion though. Imagine a competitive Public Quest in The Abyss. Both sides fighting to complete the objective first. It would be amazingly cool and something I would love to see.
World of Warcraft
I played WoW from release. I have canceled my account a couple of times but I find myself going back. I am fed up with the game for the most part, but there are some great things in WoW that I would love to see in Aion.
I played a hunter as my main (and only!) character for 4 years. I loved him. One of the things that endeared him to me was the hunter pet system. Unlike other pet classes, WoW’s hunter allowed you to find a pet in the wild, name him and train him. He was my steadfast friend and I loved the system. Adding this to Aion would probably necessitate a new class, but I would like to see something similar in Aion sometime.
PvE has never been my favorite thing in MMOs, I am much more a PvP’er. With that being said, I do enjoy PvE. Especially well done PvE. WoW has some amazing boss encounters; Nefarian, C’Thun, Vaelstrasz and even a few of the 5-man bosses are incredibly well done. I am not asking for more instances but I would like to see some complex boss fights in the game. Tank and spank is all fine and dandy but every so often I would like a challenge. By the way, can you tell I much prefer old-school WoW?
Everquest II
I tried EQII at release, was pulled away for WoW and came back for a bit later. It has tons and tons of content, deep character options and very good graphics. For me, however, there was something missing that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. I could never play it for more than short periods of time and I always found myself getting bore. There are still some amazing features in the game I would love to see in Aion.
EQII has one of the best guild management systems of any MMO. Options to recruit in-game, a great interface and guild writs allowed options I have not seen in any other MMO, though some are starting to add these features. The guild writ system added the ability to level your guild by doing quests centered on your guild and the guild interface gave you all the information you could want right at your fingertips.
I am not totally enamored of the crafting system in EQII. For the most part I found it unintuitive and hard to learn. But it did manage to do something that most MMOs do not, keep you at your keyboard. In WoW, I queue my materials and go afk until its done. I do the same in LotRO and I imagine I will do the same in Aion. EQII required you to be at your keyboard and actively participating. If that idea could be taken, made more intuitive and fun and put into Aion, I would love it.
Dark Age of Camelot
This is it. My Holy Grail of MMO goodness. I love this game. I played it for years and finally left after the population dropped so much it was hard to play. I have tried to go back numerous times but left for one reason or another. Surprisingly, even though it is my favorite MMO, I have less to to put in this list from DAoC than any of the above. This is a good thing. Simply put, Aion is so close to what I think DAoC was it doesn’t need to add much from it and the one thing I would like to see from DAoC is something NCSoft has little control over.
DAoC had the best Realm Pride of any faction competitive MMO I have ever been a part of, period. When Keeps were under attack and Relics were in danger of being lost, the entire Realm stopped what they were doing and came to help. It didn’t matter if you were PvE’ing, grinding or crafting…you helped. There was pride in being from Midgard, Albion or Hibernia. WoW had a bit of this early on with the Horde and Alliance but it has totally disintegrated after Burning Crusade and WotLK. Even so, it was nothing like DAoC. NCSoft has little control over this but they can help influence it. Less instancing, no cross-realm battlegrounds, reasons to defend Fortresses and the like, will help nurture Realm Pride. Give me DAoC level Realm Pride and I will be ecstatic!
So, that’s it. That’s my list. Keep in mind that, though I have played many MMOs, I have not played them all. I am sure I have left many great features off the list and that’s where YOU come in, what would you like to see in Aion? What do you not like on my list? Comment and let me know!
Filed under: Aion, General Commentary, Other MMOs, PvE, PvP, Quests | Tagged: daoc, lotro, WAR, WoW | 13 Comments »