I'd be interested how you fellow aionsourcers are imagining/planning your first day with Aion. This is assuming there's no preorder or early access, just the release day. Here's mine:
The Friday the game comes out, I will use my lunch break to head to the town center and grab my copy (hopefully Collector's Edition) from GAME. Then I will take my precious, safely tucked away in a plastic bag and check out all the other game stores to see how Aion is presented there and how it's hopefully flying off the shelves
Then I will take the box back to work and put it on my desk, where it will sit, all shiny and new, waiting for me to take it home after 6. Come the time to leave the office I will head to the off-licence that's around the corner of my house, buy two packs of cigarettes, a bottle of water, a bottle of Coke (full sugar+caffein) and a can of Fanta Icy Lemon from the fridge.
At home I'll put the bottles in my fridge, take the can and my Aion box upstairs, power up the PC and sit down at my desk, clean last nights cookie crumbles of, empty the ash tray and log into my Windows account. First thing then is I'll open up MSN and send a text to my brother saying only "AIONAIONAION!!!!!", then go DND.
Now here comes the moment I've been waiting for over the last two years. Carfeully I make a small incision to gently peel of the plastic wrapper and put it aside. I lie down the box, feeling the smooth high-quality gloss print, mentally preparing myself for what's next. With gentle fingers I run around the corner of the box, slowly lifting it upwards. The forming vaccuum slowly sucks air into the box until the top finally slides of with a satisfying "whup" sound.
Quickly I bow down, deeply inhaling the "new game box" smell that were trapped in there for far too long. The fumes make me even more light-headed than I already am. Nervously I wipe my sweaty hands on my trousers, carefully picking each item from the box. A map, a poster, a manual, a game activation card, a trial code leaflet, and finally: The Aion Game DVD case. Swift fingers pop it open, lift the DVD off the tray and in one fluid motion open the DVD-Drive, po the disc in and close it again.
While the autorun loads the installer, I rip open my box of Pall Mall's and light a cigarette. The installer starts copying files to my D-Drive, while Firefox brings up the (completely overwhelmed) PlayNC website where I log into my PlayNC account, punch in the Aion Activation code, digit by digit, confiming it with "Ok". It's done. My Aion account has been created.
I sit back, relax and wait for the patcher to finish downloading the latest update. I open my can of Fanta Icy Lemon, taking a careful sip, enjoying the cool and refreshing running down my throat, when the patcher finishes, starts the game and brings up the login screen. The title melody is flowing out of my speakers, filling the room with a neverending tune of freedom and peace, gently bouncing off the soft evening light that's creeping in through my window.
It's all just one click away. Filled to the brim with hope and expectations that have built up over the last two years I type in my account name and my password. I click "Login", and I'm there. I'm finally, finally there.
I'm home.
After waiting through endless hours of downtime because the servers arent up or going through endless patches because the game isnt running properly. I will sift through hundreds of angry posts about a horrible release and whatch untold amounts of people claiming to burn their copy of the game and vouch to never play again. Horray MMO Release Day.