Impressive, Most Impressive….But I Am Not Impressed?

I have read a lot of impressions about Aion, both from fellow bloggers and on forums all over the ‘net.   Impressions are just that, impressions.  They are full of opinions and what one person deems a strength, another might deem  a weakness.  This I am fine with.  I understand that impressions are opinions and thus, highly personal.  However, in regards to Aion, there is one thing that I see every so often that has gotten to the point of irritating me and thats some people’s impressions about the polish Aion is launching with.

Aion is going to release very polished, of that there is no doubt.  It has tons of content, runs amazingly well and there seem to be no game breaking bugs.  Just about everyone agrees with that and if they don’t they probably have not played it.  But there are a few folks who insist that Aion’s apparent release polish is just not that big a deal. They insist that since Aion has been out since November in Korea that the polish of both the North American beta and the Chinese client is to be expected.

I beg to differ.

First of all, Aion has been out for less than a year in Korea.  Compare WAR and AoC currently to Aion

Hmmm, nice arms ya got there, mate!

and you will find Aion trumps both in the polish department.  Aion has fewer bugs, better FPS and is “feature-complete” something neither AoC nor WAR can boast of even now.   Even though both titles have been out longer than Aion has in Korea neither touches Aion in the polish department.

Secondly, the beta that all the North American players have played and the Chinese version are still running off of the 1.0 client.  This is the same client, with translation, that the Korean version launched with back in November! Think back to version 1.0 of WAR or AoC, how polished were they?  The answer is simple; not very.  Matter of fact, WAR and AoC were so broken as to be nearly unplayable for parts of the game.  AoC and WAR both ran so poorly that it was frustrating to play with more than a few people on screen, both were loaded with bugs and neither had a functioning endgame.

I understand if some MMO players do not like Aion, really I do.  I understand that for some it’s more of the same.  Some want to get away from fantasy MMOs and Aion does not fit that desire, some want innovation away from “tank, healer, dps” and Aion does not fit that desire either.  I understand all that, but let’s give props where they are due and not act nonchalant about Aion’s polish.

For years MMO players have griped about the terrible releases foisted upon us by MMO developers.  We righteously gripe when we see another AoC-style release.  We bemoan lack of content, missing features and bugs.  We yell at MMO developers that this is not how it should be.  NCSoft has not been immune to this,

This is what can happen if you rush release.

witness the failure of Tabula Rasa at launch.  But it seems that NCSoft has learned and they are making sure that Aion releases with a polish unheard of in MMOs.

Finally an MMO is releasing polished and ready, yet many have a nonchalant attitude toward this polish and try to make excuses why it’s that way.  Many act like Aion’s polish is to be expected, even though history has shown us that this is not so.  It amazes me.

Instead of doing this, MMO players should be pointing at Aion and yelling to MMO devs, “See?!?!  THIS is how it’s supposed to work!!  THIS is how an MMO SHOULD release!!”.  Even if you do not like the game, Aion should be held up as the standard by which every other MMO should be judged by at release.  We should expect that every other MMO should release this polished.  I mean, if NCSoft can do it, why can’t every one else??