There will be no normal closed beta for NA\EU?

[Wicked_Edge]

Ok for some reason people seem to think that they wont get to preview the game. And that's not entirely true.

This is how it works. ncsoft is a company. Companies stand to make what? profit! You have to think of these things as a company standpoint.

Like I said before, this is hypothetical but this more than likely seems to be what will happen. The FIRST preview event will exclusively go to the people who attend the conventions and MAYBE people who apply (but prolly not). Ncsoft has made it this way so more people will attend the conventions. Simple, right? I would do that if I owned a company like that.

Now again this is hypothetical, but based on past ncsoft events, they will more than likely have at least a SECOND preview event where EVERYONE gets to play the game.

Take this with a grain of salt, because this is all hypothetical, but rest assured your chances of playing the game pre-release are EXCEPTIONALLY high.

[ILLUSIA]

about last Ayase's post:
I hope NCSoft got realy compelling reasons for such kind of confidence in quality of localization. Sorry but I doubt. I don't belive in fairy-tales.

AoC's devs didn`t show high lvl content before release too. And what was the result? There`s nothing to do there at high lvl. They din't show it just because they had nothing to show, but they still wanted to sell as more boxes as they could before players understand what was the reason of their secrecy.

previw events? Heh, it's not possible to understand in a few days is the game good enough or not. you can only assess the ghaghics, combat and low lvl content =)
cunning ncsoft

I wait for Aion for a very long time. But I`m not a blind fan-boy. I'm realist.
I don't know what will be added in the final stage of korean testing. But I should say that CBT3 content was not satisfactory. I won't say it's bad. It's just still insufficient for a top MMO:

- the lack of pve content begins at 35 lvl
- abyss is not so big as we expected
- pvp and sieges were zerg rules toughly. You can be any kind of pro-gamer but you can't achive anything if you play in a small clan.
- the game is not casual friendly. they tried to do it but failed. ther's no life for non-clan players and no life for soloers at 30+ at all.

All I can do now is to pray that they won't leave it in the present state.

[lilmark98]

So they're looking to launch the Preview Events in 2009 1st Q? So, what...does this mean we'll have to wait until 4th Q for the release? ; ;

It's good to keep the public waiting, but keep them waiting too long and they'll find something else to do.

[Cynthe]

Release is still set for Q1 2009 as far as I know, I predict these preview events won't last too long, long enough for some of us to get in, talk about the goods and then we can all play the goods. I'm guessing. ^^ And hoping. At the most I think march 2009, it couldn't possibly be Q4.... ; ;

[dalin]

Originally Posted by Cynthe

Release is still set for Q1 2009 as far as I know, I predict these preview events won't last too long, long enough for some of us to get in, talk about the goods and then we can all play the goods. I'm guessing. ^^ And hoping. At the most I think march 2009, it couldn't possibly be Q4.... ; ;

quoted for truth, and emphasis...

the preview events will not likely last longer than a weekend, or week... they will also (likely) be available just prior to launch...

[KatzuyAion]

Originally Posted by ILLUSIA

Okay Previw events start in 2009, not even in the end of this year. So EUNA release shall be allegedly in the end of next spring, may be even in summer.

OMG!!!!!!

Well if it does, it's gonna be awful for Aion.

Players will be in the middle of The end game of WoW's expansion.
And Warhammer online also.

If Aion wants the best boost possible it must come out around december this year, the same time as the WoW's expansion. as were players fed up with WoW will for sure, like to embark in a totally new adventure called Aoin. if it is release in middle, i really think most of the peeps will not abandon their guilds in the mid term.

However i will for sure be playing Aion.. but i can't wait much more :<<<<<<<

[czechzombie]

that sucks

[Arrowtaru]

Originally Posted by KatzuyAion

Well if it does, it's gonna be awful for Aion.

Players will be in the middle of The end game of WoW's expansion.
And Warhammer online also.

If Aion wants the best boost possible it must come out around december this year, the same time as the WoW's expansion. as were players fed up with WoW will for sure, like to embark in a totally new adventure called Aoin. if it is release in middle, i really think most of the peeps will not abandon their guilds in the mid term.

However i will for sure be playing Aion.. but i can't wait much more :<<<<<<<

If Aion doesnt release by december they will run into major problems with getting players. Again with Warhammer coming out soon and the WoW expansion coming out people will just not play aion or have enough motivation to move on out and come to Aion.

[Fleiva]

The same was said when AoC was about to be released. Games fail, WAR might fail and WOTLK excitement won't last long.

High contrast here, people want NCsoft to polish the game, some others want NCsoft to rush the release...Im personaly on the first group, I know I would play Aion even if it released late, I know I wouldn't play it if it was released without enough content to keep me satisfied. So I rather wait.

[Zetsu]

Originally Posted by Caedes

There was no potential in Rising Force Online to begin with. So you can't compare them :P.

LOL...I love how wrong you are.


I'm getting pretty bad L2 Prelude vibes all over again. Hopefully NCSoft has learned a lot from that debacle. I must admit though, at this point I get the feeling that NA/EU feedback will have no impact on the development or patching of the game. I'd hate to see Aion become another Eastern > Western port where all we get to do is tag along and shut up.

[justamemory]

Originally Posted by ILLUSIA

- the lack of pve content begins at 35 lvl
- abyss is not so big as we expected

I remember reading somewhere, from one of the interviews/translations (which I forget of course), that there was supposed to be limited content so they could reveal some "other" features during full release, and (my guess) it was probably unnecessary to bear all content or 'more content than they did show' for the purposes of testing. Unless CBT3's aim was to provide the "full experience" to be expected at full release, I don't think it'll be too much of a problem

[BahamutKaiser]

It became apparent quickly that they wern't going to leave any significant decisions open after the Korean and only beta, the games going to be finished before anyone here even gets to give any feedback, and they woln't have the flexiblity to make legitimate changes to the gameplay by the time it reaches us.

As usual it will either be good or bad, and nothing we have to offer will change that.

I don't care when it is released unless it is good enough to play, and I'm less and less impressed, at this rate, I'll be playing some more filler games until online gaming has moved forward 2 or 3 generations, this apparently isn't going to be the revolution I was looking for.

[Vent]

No game is your dream game, unless you make it all by yourself. You're bound to get dissapointed if you hype yourself too much.

Never forget that we may not get a chance to give feedback, the Koreans can. They'll give NCsoft feedback about the most common things.
Hmm. I doubt NCsoft wants to change the game for the US/EU market. I doubt any company wants to do that, it might be worth it though. But I understand if NCsoft just wants to get it done already after 3 closed betas.

[Endrance]

Originally Posted by Fleiva

What makes you think so? Just because they are exclusive it doesn't mean you won't be able to test the game.

Um yes, that's exactly what it means. At least, there's a rather high possibilty not to get to test the game if the word "exclusive" is involved (even if some or many will, there are people who wont be able to). Exclusive = exclusion = only a certain group. But I suppose I don't have to teach you the english language.

Im quite sure there will be a lot of chances to test the game before buying it, wait for the buddy passes or the free trials if you aren't lucky enough to get in these exclusive events, if you can't wait, buy the game, but this "I want a free ride and I want it now" sounds childish and impossible considering the high expectations behind this game.

Open beta concept is dissapearing, other than for stress test, since the MMORPG market is becoming mainstream, you better get used to that

Open beta's are disappearing? Can't see that. I just see that NCSoft Korea doesn't give a **** about us and that the guys who do can't do anything about that (which is the main point - koreans get to change the game and our feedback aint be worth a penny). I've yet to see a MMORPG that haven't had a beta. Also, I'm not willing to buy a MMORPG I haven't tested, which those exclusive preview events are for, but a open beta would completely cover (just look at the genre, there are maybe five games that are worthy to pay for). And I have all reason not to trust NCSoft.

[Zetsu]

Originally Posted by Endrance

Open beta's are disappearing? Can't see that.

Actually, I see what he's meaning and I hope the trend doesn't continue that way. For example, more games seem to be going for the "pay for pre-release access (aka beta)" approach. Like AoC, the game that was available for pre-release and even post-release was quite full of bugs. WAR seems to be having a similar deal going on, and I read somewhere that they might be rushing it too. I haven't followed WAR though so I can't confirm this myself.

Personally, I really don't like the whole exclusive early access for pre-ordering or even paying extra as was the case with AoC.