Possible reasons Aion could fail >_<( read first )

[Sangre]

Lack of me...

[Kan0n]

Just thought I'd drop my two cents into this convo... I've read through the majority of posts in this thread, honestly as many, I've been playing w0w since release and quite heavily am looking into this game...

1. If it's lack of content, I have to agree that indeed NCSoft seems to deliver with their content from previous games, I'm confident they can deliver with this title also.

2. Regarding Gameguard, can't say I've heard much about it actually but yeah from the sounds of it that kinda worries me... hopefully either they will make a new protection system built in-game or improvements upon the one they've been using.

3. Western / European market with NCSoft Soul driven for primary development, it'd be nice to hear re-assurance from someone such as Ken Choi himself, we've all had false promises made, I for one remember when WoW was first announced they didn't really promise but implied that hero classes and siege weapons would be in with release of the game, that failed... All we can do is wait on that matter when it comes to Aion.

4. All other aspects I'm not too worried about, support isn't that big of a deal for me along with the rest...

5. On a more personal note about this game, from what I know what I like myself, being able to fly, dye your armor, the amazing soundtrack, unique combat animations and scenery of the world alone is enough for me to switch from WoW to Aion... but yeah, nothing will be perfect, especially in a mmo perspective because everyone has different opinions on what they like.

[lilmark98]

I read through 6/9 pages and than I was just looking for Ayase's posts.

Biggest concerns which I haven't seen/heard much on really which I think will lead to it failing are 3 things...

Advertising! I believe this is the downfall of all MMO. Once they get going and grab their group of people they stop advertising completely (WoW is only one I've seen exception of this since I still see them on TV all the time) and they slowly drain away. Seeing how Aion isn't advertising here in NA yet I see it not taking long to drain after it releases in NA.

Storyline! I love all aspects of MMO's from PvP to Non-PvP, but one thing that is a must for me is a STORY...a good one. I hate the repeated..."Go gather me 10 furs" or "Rescue my daugther" quests. If anything take a look into FFXI Online. I love the storyline/cutscenes with their missions on every expansion and on top of that a lot of their quests have cutscenes and good stories too. Otherwise, the game will just be another grinder imo.

Content! What else is there to do besides abyss and partying/questing? FFXI has things like chocobo racing, pankration (capture monsters and use them to battle other people's monsters in an arean), and inviting people into your Mog House (which you can decorate) to show off or just chill. Ultima Online had the ability to plant different sized houses on open land where you could literally build up your house block by block and make it look however you want from the inside out. I just want to know what else is there to do besides the STANDARD hack/slash/quest/pvp type of deal.

[Eau]

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[Ariel]

Originally Posted by Sangre

Lack of me...

I would play Aion forever if you weren't there.....
Yet if you weren't there...
It would be no fun ;~~;

[Shmak]

A few things I wanted to call out from way back in the thread:

Originally Posted by Kaycy

Something that's been bothering me is that the servers are locked off from the Asian ones. In L2 , some servers being takes over by hackers does not influence the asian servers in the slightest. Locked server where only IP's geographically located nearby can acces it means you can let servers fail and still keep the game running without any problems somewhere else. It shift responsabilty off you. I'm kind of affraid this could happen in NA/EU like it did with L2 partly and most other Asian MMO where they lock of Asain access on purpose.

Logically what you are describing here does not seem to be a problem. I mean, all servers are isolated from each other anyway, so geographically isolating them doesn't really make a difference. The problem that you are getting at is that there appears to be a catch 22 with server responsibility. It has been said that NC Seoul will look after its local servers and the other regions will be responsible for their own. If Seoul is the sole agent of change with respect to the client however, this will essentially make the other regions powerless to fix problems. There is so much time lost in simply trying to fix problems to begin with; making it necessary to consult a third party before attempting a fix makes things even worse. I hope that NC Austin and Brighton get some autonomy in their decisions.

Originally Posted by Arrowtaru

Again there is no real reason to have an open beta. Most of the bugs have been ironed out in the Korean version and then those will be used in the EU/NA version. These preview events are just what they call them PREVIEWS. A chance to submit feedback.

Forgive my honesty but this is simply wrong. If you are in the business of making games, you simply cannot test enough. It is not possible to test enough, period. The more people you gather to test your game, the better it will be; guaranteed. It is extremely disheartening to see that there will be no open beta, because the terms "preview" and "event" both imply a short time-span.

Closed beta accounts are mostly given to gamers who know how to play the genre. The best feedback you can get will not come from these players, it comes from people who are unfamiliar, who are just trying the genre for the first time, who are ignorant to the history of MMOs or even to games in general. One is more likely to snag these "gems" in an open beta, rare as they are even then. Is NCsoft really this confident that their game is finished?

[StormBringer]

Gameguard is a major issue, disgusting program.

The main issue though is blindingly obvious:

NO ADVERTISEMENTS IN EUROPE AND AMERICA.

Idiots, unbelievable how they make BILLIONS with Lineage 2 yet, have u ever seen a TV advert in Europe or America on any proper tv channel?

No.


So stupid, can never understand them.


Maybe the Koreans are just oblivious to our existence.

[Ariel]

Korea hates NA/EU

[illmeltxwithyou]

Originally Posted by Ayase

Just wanted to stick my head in and let you know that I've read all the posts in this thread. The title seems a bit misleading which is unfortunate, but be that as it may...

We're all experienced and dare I say 'avid' MMO players here in the team and are aware of the many pitfalls that come with game development and publishing. We know that we have parts that need work, but are always doing what we can to improve these. I'm only speaking for myself now, but every time something happens to go wrong is a learning experience that will help me avoid similar problems in the future.

We have read this thread and are aware of your fears and hopes. We love Aion and would not for a second do anything less than we potentially can in order to make it a solid and awesome game with a smooth launch. Remember that.

That's all.

We'll see. If its anything like the last 3 NC games i played I wont bother waisting my time or money. Hopefully things will change.

[TheTruth]

Anyone who has played RF from release knows how important developer support is and the US/EU teams having a good relationship with the KR developers. A bad connection there can kill a game very, very quickly.

[Nilenya]

I think the time is pretty ripe for another "big" budget title, from really anywhere. Warhammer and wotlk will battle it out, but if War is even slightly worth the hype I think it will actually faire very well snatching subs from wow, considering, not that wow is a bad game, because its not, but considering its age. Even the best of mmo's have one bane, and that is age. - So with War paving the way, and disregarding the event it turns into another AoC disaster, why shouldnt Aion, with some euro commercials, wether they be viral, or even televised not be worth the money?

In the event that Aion has the content, and gameplay to attract and interest players even after level cap, it seems a waste to not drill the subscriber base for what its worth, even if it would mean an initial extra investment.

I believe one of the major annoyances with Korean and asian mmo's in general is that for their secondary markets they release, sometimes 6months+ later than their asian release. This in itself isnt a problem unless it concerns an mmo that could for all intents and purposes carry pve content to the point of server first/world first e-peen playing a role in the gamer communities.

Another real issue is when an mmo is released in its original release client form for the NA/EU markets, while several patches including content patches are live in the mmo's original language region. Often due to translation issues, it still stunts a communitys ability to live with bugs and lack of content, because; unlike true NEW mmo's you cannot excuse the problems as growing pains. Rather they are down to lack of understanding from the distributers side, how small gaming communities are. That we do view korean and japanese forums, we do see the content, not allowed to us, and we know that the game we are playing is a watered down and bugged version of the actual up-to-date client. - Requiem is a fair vision of what it can cause in a player base, albeit this particular game is perhaps of a different caliber with different funds to play around with. The result is the same.

Games are competitive, the gaming community is much smaller than you might think, and those who are loud, are loud and obnoxious and very unforgiving. - Make a great title, have the guts to release it worldwide with no regional discrimination. If not, then release it staggered, but expect that the competitive driving force that fuels end game guilds to promote - FOR FREE- mind you, your title and your game all over the web, to be absent from your particular sub base. And then, you are simply sitting with a niche game, nomatter how much money you spend on releasing it, eventually, world wide.

I think Aion could and would have a good shot at millions of subs in the Eu/NA market, partly because it doesnt insist on the grind korean games are infamous for, but also because what we dont have here, atm, is a well working, full content good graphic game.

Obviously, nomatter how the release is handled, the game - and I hope the devs have great understanding of this, because AoC did not, - cannot controll the level curve of its subscribers, unless high lvl grind areas/quests are ****blocked, and completely inaccessable to us. Dont make the mistake of believing you know when the higher lvl toons will be demanding content. Dont release unless you have something for them at release. - The amount of bad coverage you get when you sell a game that fails to provide content a few weeks into the game is not something you recover from. The people who say: You rushed through the game, its your own fault, wont pick up the subs from those who leave the game. - And they are loud and obnoxious all over the web instead.- So, lack of content is simply a failboat waiting to depart nomatter what your money people may try to convince you of. Dont rush release. Wait untill you have something for casual and hardcore gamers alike. In the mmo industry you dont get a second chance. Vanguard/swg should be good examples of that.

Oh and gameguard :/ - well, it you can make it work smoothely then its great. If even a small percentage of people will have to disable their firewalls or anti virus programmes to run the game without getting DCs by gameguard, its bad. This week, I uninstalled a game that ran gameguard simply because the hazzle to me, was more than my enthusiasm to play could cover.
A lot of the mainstream gamers, who no doubt are mostly familiar with wow or AoC, and perhaps Vanguard, will be completely baffled by gameguard. Expect them to sit for hours and get disconnected, with or without solutions within their avid or limited computer experience is another failboat, that probably sails one way straight to uninstall.

[Dominator]

As I read articles about the game on different web pages I get the impression of that some of the ppl are already passing away fromthe game because of no OB at EU/US, because of these preview events. Hope everything is going well. Now let's just sit back and wait to see an English translated version @ the games convention. Maybe there will pop up some fresh news aswell.

[Ariel]

Maybe they should give AS members with 100post + beta keys :O

[Karnage]

Akaris and I qualify.

[Ariel]

I haz 284 =\