indigo

Yeah, but from a marketing point of view, if they were to release a buggy and unpolished open beta, everyone will play it, complain about it, talk about it and by word-of-mouth, everyone will get the impression that the game is trash before it's finished or officially released. That would be a worst case scenario for NCSoft. I think they'd rather lose a couple impatient potential customers now, than lose most of their potential player base if they were to release a seriously flawed and disappointing open beta. I'd be playing AoC right now if it wasn't for all the reports that it's buggy and unfinished.

I'm only sitting here being patient because there's nothing better to play haha. When there's good alternatives, I'll just move on. It's like TS3. So many people have been anticipating it's release for years now, but new alternatives have popped up such as Murmur, and then there's always Ventrilo, but when TS3 finally gets released (if it ever does), you can bet most people will jump right on board.

gibsonxplorer

the problem i think, lies not with minor glitches but with gamebreaking flaws such as the stats not working, or say, incomplete content, and the pvp system not working, to name a few examples from AOC.

Gestalt

Aion's release doesn't seem that slow compared to most other mmorpgs. It was first announced to be in development in may 2006 which is only a little over 2 years.

Age of conan was first announced in 2005, Warhammer started in 2004 but didn't get licensed till 2005, and World of Warcraft was announced in late 2001 but released in November 2004.

If Ncsoft actually manages to release this game by the end of the year or Q1 2009 I think they are doing great, especially since the game is not just being released in korea but EU/US also.

Fleiva

Where's that official info stating that it would be released in 2006? would have been the first AAA MMO in history to release a few months after being announced.

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Pancak3s

You don't remeber when they were telling us closed beta would only be months away? I sure as hell do.

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Fleiva

I remember rumors, but back then we didn't have jameinkaiser, and I used to visit hellrose's forums a lot never seeing anything about that *confirmed*.

I mean, even if there were rumors, I was saying that an iceskating game about killing scorpions in a beach wasn't a finished game when people jumped all over the place saying there would be a beta. The only real official date delayed I'd recall is when they showed like a chart with Aion being a bit after Xteel's release, which obviously didn't end up like that.

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Provac

This is a good comment about graphics in AION.

As for many other MMO`s they try to utilize the latest graphics and make dense realistic scenery. I think NCsoft caters to a artistic audience. From the games ive played from NCsoft they have always made their games look beautiful utilizing their tools in a way that I think is best for good RPG`s. I like the artistic look of the characters, scenery and equipment, making things look rather epic as you raise in levels etc. A lot of MMO`s totally fail in this department, we want our characters to look great and NCsoft has never disappointed me in that area at least.

The choice of graphic engine suits AION well I think, it really does cater to their artistic development and the engine is by no means outdated if used correctly. Also using the engine makes it more viable to customers who doesn't have the greatest specs and will cater beautiful graphics to those who can max all the settings.

Ive been following this since the announcement, and by the looks of screens and videos the graphics of this game is going to hold up for at least a few years considering how they are presenting it. Not trying for the realistic approach but the epic artistic MMO look that all MMO`s should strive for.

Just my 2 cents, I also would like this game to be released ASAP though. Waiting for this game is ugh.... been playing some AoC but that game is an EPIC FAIL on all levels. So I guess its going to be alot of PS3 gaming for me until AION releases.

Dumah

I`d much rather wait til summer 2009 (for that matter) and get a somewhat finished and well polished game, then to play another Vanguard or Age of Conan.

Dragonprovidence

Ha, some of us knew about aion even before 2006 and have been waiting. Just trying to get pass each day by telling myself that the longer it takes for it to come, the better it'll be.

Endrance

Just don't ever wait for a game. Release dates tend to be inaccurate 95% of the time.
If you're actually "waiting" for a game, being ****ed off each day that there's no release date yet or the last one lies a few months in the past and telling us all that by making a thread something's gotta be wrong with you. Seriously... some posts in this thread make people look like as if MMORPGs would be the most important things in their life.

Ades

There's nothing wrong with having a serious discussion over a hobby,as I'm sure most of us view MMOs to be.
It's not like we spend half of lives in here discussing it (I sure hope you guys don't) ..
Nothing personal with you Endrance,just setting the record straight

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indigo

It's sad but true for too many people.

Ades

True but I am happy to see that this community is quite mature.Or at least I hope it is..

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Lady Elsa

errm as much as I would like to have this game right now, it's not going to make it any faster for producers to get it together and ship it off to store. The game will come when they are finished, no point in releasing something that’s terribly buggy and not finished. NCsoft hasn't given any release date yet, anything else is just rumors and is not a reliable information.
I hardly see the point of this thread.

indigo

The only people that I care about being mature are those that I play with, and that will basically just be my legion and friends. The community can be as immature as it wants as far as I'm concerned. We can all pull up a chair and grab buckets of popcorn while we watch the drama unfold haha

The only reason I'd want this game to come out earlier is that if Warhammer Online beats it to the shelf, myself and my friends will most likely ditch this game and play Warhammer Online instead. No doubt there's a lot of people like me that are sitting on the fence with regards to Aion and Warhammer Online. I'm also fairly eagerly anticipating the release of Stargate Worlds too (though I have a feeling that game is going to be a disappointment)