Should have Aion won Grind of the Year, not Game of the Year for 2009?

If you played Aion than you know why I am asking the question.  How did Aion get 2009 Game of the Year?

Did they pay them to say it?  If so give me $25,000, and I will praise your game.  I think a better award would of been 2009 Grind of the Year.

Do you think Aion was the Game of the Year for 2009?  If not, which one?

Honeymoon is over

The honeymoon stage of my relationship with World of Warcraft has ended already.  I can't say I didn't try.  I really tried to play again, and even with the triple xp I just couldn't get into the game.

It isn't just World of Warcraft.  You can put Warhammer Online, and Aion Online right up there too.

Am I burned out on MMO's?  Why have I lost interest in them?  Do I just need a break?

Actually I find myself enjoying blogging more than playing these days, but if you don't play enough it's hard to find things to blog about.

Three Reasons Aion Killed our Legion

I never thought that Aion would kill our legion. We were the biggest guild in Warhammer on Dark Crag. Everyone worked together, and had fun in vent. So how did it turn sour so quickly?

It is still shocking that it has happened. The remaining players in Aion are just a handful compared to the active roster we had in Warhammer. They plan on sticking it out, but I have a feeling in another month or two it will be completely dead.



Reason #1:   Legion 90 Player Cap size

The legion size cap in Aion played a big part in the demise of our legion. We no longer felt like one big family. We were split up into six different legions. It seemed okay at first because everyone was still in vent together, but it changed rather quickly.

The Legion was splitting up without the legion leadership even realizing it. I pointed it out early on, but no one wanted to listen. The legion leadership decided to make every legion split up into time zones to make it easy for everyone to be on at the same time. I tried to tell them that was a failed approach from the start, but I am just an idiot and don't know what I am talking about.

You have to have all the hardcore active players together. With the separate legions it became hard to find out who was on, and what everyone was doing. Everyone in vent started going to their own channels with their own cliques so you couldn't even ask for a NTC group or whatever because people were spread out everywhere even on vent. Our 200 man vent felt like a 10 man vent.

Eventually each separate legion started acting snobby to the other legions. It soon felt as though each legion was running as if they didn't want anything to do with the other five legions.


Reason #2:   The Grind

The grind killed a bunch of players early. After the first week or two most just disappeared without a word. By the end of the free month you could tell the activity levels dropped by a huge amount, and even more players stopped playing Aion. The legions kept getting smaller, and smaller.

As each legion shrunk in size the more unmotivated the remaining players became. You started having gaming sessions with less than five people on at the same time within each legion.

The grind was driving people to quit. You can't just grind for hours and hours, and see very little progress. The grind was terribly boring even at early levels.

As the remaining players reached 30+, 35+, 40+ they really started feeling the effects of the grind even with the Grind Optimizer. Once again players were dropping like flies.

The hardcore players like myself who forced themselves to grind it out till 50 have quit too. The game is just very boring, and when you think the grind is over at 50 you are just lying to yourself. The AP grind is probably worse than the leveling grind.


Reason #3:   PvP at level 25

The biggest lie Aion told us was that you were able to pvp at 25. Pvping at 25 is a huge joke. I would like to see anyone go out, and have fun pvping at that level. With no level limits in the pvp areas a level 25 has zero chance of killing anyone because of the hidden level of the opposite faction. Maybe if you could know you were fighting another 25 it would be different, but otherwise you better be quick at looking names up on the Aion site.

With our legion unable to really pvp at early levels, and the huge grind ahead it just didn't seem worth it. Players just gave up on Aion. No one wants to spend 5000 hours leveling to find out they hate the pvp in the game. It is easier just to quit, and move on.

Aion Xenophon Weapon Quest

I wanted to share a great detailed post on the Aion Xeno Weapon Quest.  Hoschi does a great job over on his Aion blog, and his posts are always full of valuable information.  Be sure to check out some of his other posts too.