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Aion MMO Set To Challenge World Of Warcraft
By David Taylor | August 23, 2009
September is set to be a big month for new MMOs, with NCsoft set to release its new MMO, Aion. The game has already been a runaway success in its native Korea, and in China. With a fantasy setting, it’s impossible not to dra
In short, Aion is never going to be as large as World of Warcraft, but NCsoft isn’t expecting it to be, nor does it need to be in order to be considered a success. It needs to generate a reasonable following prepared to stick with it, thus generating a reasonable playing and social environment that’s essential for an MMO, and essential for the revenue to sustain it. And the good news is that Aion has enough gameplay and new ideas to generate that critical mass.
Comparing Aion with World of Warcraft is tempting because it is easy as they are both fantasy MMOs, but the backstory to Aion is very different. It draws upon legends and mythology from around the world, although most heavily from Korea. The whole game world then both looks and feels different enough from World of Warcraft for gamers to feel they are experiencing something new.
Graphics and environment alone though are not enough to set a game apart, and Aion knows this. The principle addition in gameplay terms is that of flight. When you reach level 10, after a brief in-game ceremony, you are given a set of wings and the action starts to occur on more than just the ground. Quests may require you to fly around and even combat can start to use the third dimension. There’s something entertaining about hovering our of reach while you blast a target. Flight is limited of course, otherwise you would become invincible. So you can only fly for a period before landing in the main game area, although PvP has this limitation removed. Flight does add to the fun of Aion, but it’s not the only new idea.
The classes in Aion might look a little slim on first glance – choose between Mage, Fighter, Scout and Priest when you create your character, but again level 10 holds the key. At this level you get to choose a sub-class or specialism. The good thing about this is you’ve had ten levels to hone your style of play before you have to choose what exact skills you will pursue. As an example, a Priest might opt for the buffing route or the out and out healer route.
Level 20 introduces another way to customise your character – Stigma Stones. Instead of having the abilities of your character fully defined by your class, you can use Stigma Stones to allow your character to do something that the class doesn’t normally permit. For example, Cloth Armour too lightweight for your melee loving Mage? Not to worry, a Stigma Stone will allow you to wear metal armour. This way you can create a set of bespoke skills that mean your character is actually quite different from someone else’s playing the same class.
Aion has little touches as well as big new ideas, so you do feel this is a well-rounded MMO: there’s the Locate feature that helps you find quest targets, the semi-transparent map that allows easier navigation and the Private Store that allows you to set up and sell to other players anywhere in-game.
What’s not to like about Aion? Perhaps some will find that despite the extensive and successful localisation that it still retains an Eastern feel that Western gamers may not warm too – Talking Weasels can feel a bit odd, even in fantasy. World of Warcraft won gamers over by opening up their UI to third party add-ons and it’s a shame Aion hasn’t done the same, but these are minor quibbles with what is a polished MMO.
Aion is due to be released in September 2009 and is a PC only MMO. It will be a monthly-subscription based MMO.
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