Aion: Sweet Relief or T3h EZ Mode?
If you haven’t already heard, NCSoft has released a statement saying that for the next three weeks they will be doubling experience gained for level 1-35 characters on weekends. This is to address the throngs of grievances over how mind numbing grinding is. Obviously, controversy began within minutes. Many posts have been made in response, even an official poll on AionSource. Now, let’s try to analyze the different opinions.
Casuals: THANK… GOD.
Hardcores: WTF? Go back to WoW if you want EZ endgame.
In-Between: (Get to these in a moment)
Now that you’ve read my extremely over-simplified version of the three main opinions, let’s bring in some specific posts, for example, Mojeaux’s response. Mojeaux believes that this is a step in the wrong direction for Aion, and that it will, in the long term, only hurt the game. Now, before I type anything else let me be perfectly clear in stating that I fully respect and understand his opinion. Mojeaux and I both agree that levels 1 to 35 really don’t need an increase in experience (except for perhaps some trouble spots, but those are very infrequent in this level range). However, I think from a fundamental viewpoint we disagree greatly. The important thing to note with this experience statement is that it is a gateway to possible future changes. By testing the lower leveling rates, hence not being a sweeping change to the main trouble spot, and the community’s response to such testing, they can get a better viewpoint of where to proceed for the rest of the game.
Insert the age old conflict of Hardcore vs. Casual, however, this time I would also add in a third faction of “Common Sense Players”. The Hardcore players see this as a gateway towards future implementations that will lead to Aion’s downfall. The Casual players have, as always, the exact opposite viewpoint, being Aion’s grind is completely outrageous for anyone who can’t play for more than three hours a day. Hence, these changes will lead towards a much brighter future and prosperity for all. (Hmm… this seems eerily familiar to a discussion going on in Congress) Finally, you have the Common Sense Players. These moderates understand the Hardcore’s viewpoint, being that they don’t want Aion to be reduced to WoW’s difficulty level when it comes to leveling and gear progression. (Sidenote~ Very good article discussing WoW’s difficulty written by Raim over at Lagwar.com, should check it out.) At the same time however, they agree with Casual players that grinding the same mobs again and again does not constitute fun, and surprisingly enough, Aion should be fun Personally, I would file myself into the Common Sense Player grouping, because while I do love that Aion isn’t an easy game, I hate the fact that within a few days I’m so sick of grinding that I just stop playing for a week. Though perhaps that’s just due to my generation and all of our newfangled technologies and lack of attention spans.
Now that you’ve got the gist of it, is NCSoft heading in the right direction? Have they gone too far, or perhaps not far enough? Even if you haven’t played Aion, how do you feel about experience increases in games that players claim to be “too grindy”? Also, don’t be surprised if I further discuss this with Raim and Sarc in Episode #10 of the Epic Elyos Podcast.
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Well, I definitely count myself as an in-betweener. And I’m not sure that the xp gain is enough to bring me back to Aion. My problem was not in the speed of my leveling but more feeling like I didn’t have much to keep me occupied at the late 20′s level. Perhaps the extra speed in leveling would get me to a point where I felt like I had more to do. But I just don’t think there is enough appeal to bring me back to even test those waters.
Personally I see no problem with the EXP increase – it’s not like Aion is hard as it is, just time consuming.
Besides, 1-35 is like 25% of the time spent to level. 40-50 is still going to take you forever
good…except they give you a boost right to the point where the grind gets THE WORST!!!!!
its like raising the speed limit right before they drop a brick wall in the road. you hit it even harder and it makes it hurt even worse
is it better than nothing? yes. Is it the right tool for the job? no. but at least they pulled out a tool instead of standing around with thumbs up their… wings.
While it may not be a step in the right direction, it is certainly a step in A direction, which some were worried about ever seeing NCSoft make. I’m about 5% from 42, so this doesn’t really help me; however it may help convince other players to stick it out until there are more experience revisions, or content additions. They are also reducing the cost of soul healing, and they mentioned something about the Energy of Repose (“rested xp” inLOLWOWFTWWTFZORZ-ese). I am hopeful, as this is the first game I was ever playing at launch, and the only other one I was even close to launch died. Nice editorial picture, too-very subtle. HaHAH!
As a casual player, think the boost in exp is good. The first 19 levels in Aion are fine as they are. I have been playing since launch and have only reached level 28. At about 19 it just slowed to a crawl. Faster leveling may not be a cure for Aion. I think the game needs some sort of PvP for the first 30 levels. I loved the scenarios in WAR. I was something else to do when leveling got boring. It has been a long time since I played WOW, but the scenarios type things in that game were the only thing that kept me playing for the year I was in that hell hole of immaturity.
I have to agree with Sarc on this one. Speeding up the easy part is just going to make 40-50 seem like the grind is even worse. I did sort of read hints that the whole grind may be getting easier, but supposedly its not just an easy fix, and the double xp is just a temporary fix.
Now just take your lodas amulets, and stack them with your double xp.
I really don’t see it drawing any players back to the game, but only time will tell. I just see massive declines in Aion activity including my blog, forums, twitter, facebook, etc.
Well, I would hardly consider myself a hard core player as I usually put in about 1.5 – 2 hours a night during the week (wife permitting) and a bit more on the weekends.
That being said, just because I don’t have a lot of time to play the game doesn’t mean that I want the game accelerated to the point that it becomes a farce just so I can “experience the endgame”. I will experience the end game, and it may be later rather than sooner, but I’m ok with that. I’m having fun during my trip to the top. It’s often the journey that’s more enjoyable than the destination itself.
And to borrow something Ionomonkey said in response to my blog post:
“If Aion wants to grow and get players it won’t do so by being WoW.”
And I’m afraid that this is exactly what NcSoft thinks it might have a chance of doing by taking this step onto a very, very slippery slope.
WoW players want WoW. Changing the game too drastically to try to win those folks back will only alienate your current subscription base and STILL not get you the coveted WoW player.
My feelings echo much of the sentiment in these comments. The speed of leveling wasn’t my problem, it was the lack of enjoyment I felt while I was playing.
Poeta and Verteron are so well done, but after that, the world feels lifeless, The quests are dull and the world, while beautifully rendered, feels like one desert wasteland after another, with very little variation.
By contrast, I have gained just 5 levels in LOTRO in the last 3 weeks. Not a torrid pace by anyone’s standards. But the levels don’t matter to me because I’m actually enjoying the journey. Each new area I enter feels fresh and exciting, and I can be happy simply wandering around and exploring.
When I’m on a road trip and I happen to be traveling through a particularly boring city, or endless prairies, I find myself stepping on the gas, hoping to get to my destination quicker. But as soon as I hit an area where with some interesting sites and some aesthetic beauty, I’ll inevitably slow down to take it in, and suddenly my destination isn’t quite as important.
Yeah, I agree with you Grok. Once I hit 37 the grind went into full force and content just wasn’t interesting. While this specific change may not be that big of a deal, its important to note: “While we’re committed to providing a permanent solution, our long-term plans require development time.”
I personally infer this to mean “We are adding more content”. I could be very wrong in this respect, but I suppose we will find out soon enough.
I really wanted to enjoy the endgame of Aion. Getting there was the problem. When I do have time to play I usually do play around 3-4 hours at a time. What I felt in Aion was the problem was the lack of options, you hit X level, then did this, or go do this dungeon for 6 levels. I really loved the Training Camp levels as I could do one of those quick, then hit up a couple of quests and almost level. I could never really solo effectively in the abyss as I was lower level than most. I also had a huge problem with the no level cap in the abyss or even in the portals to the zones where you were supposed to be ‘safe’. Nothing was more frustrating than to have a level 40 sorc running around the 20-30 zone insta nuking everyone. Same with the abyss, but this was covered in another article as there no real incentive to stop one lone ganker who was messing up your mojo (aside from calling in guildies).
The other problem I saw was the real lack of enthusiasm for grouping in the abyss, even in the face of the ‘enemy’. I was a healer and didn’t get squat for healing outside of a group…why should I save you when you can’t even accept a group invitation. Such is the price for all healers in a pvp game although I never saw that problem in WAR. In the open RVR areas where I quested if there was trouble I could almost always get a group to help out. Maybe it was just a different mind set or player base than Aion.
I really love the idea of scenarios in WAR and wish there was more of a lower level PVP area/arena (not WoW arena, but more a small group battle arena 5v5 or 15v15, etc) before 25 as that is the whole ‘endgame’. Who knows if something like that will be implemented. I would also want a little more variety for a choice of zones or instances. If you were a certain level, you had to do this (having a hardcap for instances can be extremely frustrating, especially if you wanted to help out, but you would be a exp vacuum).
Forgot to add that accelerating the lower levels will not really do anything to change the ‘grind’ later on. I just see it as a small bandaid fix.
[...] (who’s recently switched sides to play Elyos!) wrote an article about players perceptions of NCSoft’s new implementations of some XP boosts in Aion. [...]
As a non-Aion player (played in beta…hated it) and kind of a “casual” when it comes to MMO’s, I think that accelerated experience is almost never a bad thing. The only time it’s a bad thing is when you don’t give the player an option to throttle it back if they so desire. The people who like to rush will rush no matter what, and the people don’t, won’t, or will rush through the crap they don’t like. I’d really like to see an experience slider of some sort instead of an off/on button (like Vanguard or EQ2). Give the player the choice.
I am one of those guys that plays WoW and attempts to play Aion. I haven’t played recently due to the grind leveling. Although Rer and I may not see eye to eye on all matters Aion and WoW I have to say that I think we are on the same page here. I don’t mind a challenging or even long trek to max level. The thing that perturbs me with Aion is that I simply don’t have fun grinding packs of mobs over and over again. Playing the game should be fun, not a chore. It can be fun and hard, maybe even fun and grueling, but not the way Aion currently has it set up. Or at least that is what I think, to me grinding leveling is nothing more than a lack of content.
Yes, something needs to be done about the XP in Aion. There’s a reason you haven’t heard from me or any of the other old CotNS folks in a while… we are STILL grinding. Up to 42 on my Templar last night and it took 9 nights of 3+ hour sessions to get that single level
No, double XP weekends are not the long term solution, I agree with you here. It’s just postponing the pain from level 20 to level 35. Also I think it will screw with the economy by further jacking up the price of low-end gatherables (who is gonna bother leveling up their gathering to 200 on their super-fast journey to Eltnen/Morheim?) and reducing the supply of fluxes, etc.
I suppose the double XP weekends will be a fine time to make some more bank alts…
We in the former CotNS are coming to the slow realization that the Aion “endgame” such as it is really begins at 40… the further you progress through the 40s the more of the interesting mid-game content (Fire Temple, lower Abyss forts, etc.) you get “soft locked” out of due to loot disappearing when you kill mobs 10 or more levels below you.
The game is still fun to me however and a great way to pass the time until Guild Wars 2…
Ok, I followed your link to the poll Rer, and in it I see Tamat, the community manager for AION, posting that the double xp DOES NOT apply to quests.
Soooo…. what does that tell us? I don’t know what it tells you, but it tells me that in order to get the double XP that most of your readers here are saying is a good thing, they will in fact have to… that’s right, GRIND more mobs in order to get it.
How, I ask you, does this alleviate the grind my friend? It doesn’t! In fact, what it does, is encourage you to find the highest level mob that you can take on by yourself and then guess what? Kill it over and over again.
Swing by my blog tomorrow, I’ll have a new post up that goes into more specifics about why I think this is not a very well thought out plan by NcSoft. Hell, the above alone should make that pretty obvious.
I look forward to it sir ^_^
[...] of the game, came to AION’s defense, not only in the comments section of my post but on his blog as [...]
18 comments
Well, I definitely count myself as an in-betweener. And I’m not sure that the xp gain is enough to bring me back to Aion. My problem was not in the speed of my leveling but more feeling like I didn’t have much to keep me occupied at the late 20′s level. Perhaps the extra speed in leveling would get me to a point where I felt like I had more to do. But I just don’t think there is enough appeal to bring me back to even test those waters.
Personally I see no problem with the EXP increase – it’s not like Aion is hard as it is, just time consuming.
Besides, 1-35 is like 25% of the time spent to level. 40-50 is still going to take you forever
good…except they give you a boost right to the point where the grind gets THE WORST!!!!!
its like raising the speed limit right before they drop a brick wall in the road. you hit it even harder and it makes it hurt even worse
is it better than nothing? yes. Is it the right tool for the job? no. but at least they pulled out a tool instead of standing around with thumbs up their… wings.
While it may not be a step in the right direction, it is certainly a step in A direction, which some were worried about ever seeing NCSoft make. I’m about 5% from 42, so this doesn’t really help me; however it may help convince other players to stick it out until there are more experience revisions, or content additions. They are also reducing the cost of soul healing, and they mentioned something about the Energy of Repose (“rested xp” inLOLWOWFTWWTFZORZ-ese). I am hopeful, as this is the first game I was ever playing at launch, and the only other one I was even close to launch died. Nice editorial picture, too-very subtle. HaHAH!
As a casual player, think the boost in exp is good. The first 19 levels in Aion are fine as they are. I have been playing since launch and have only reached level 28. At about 19 it just slowed to a crawl. Faster leveling may not be a cure for Aion. I think the game needs some sort of PvP for the first 30 levels. I loved the scenarios in WAR. I was something else to do when leveling got boring. It has been a long time since I played WOW, but the scenarios type things in that game were the only thing that kept me playing for the year I was in that hell hole of immaturity.
I have to agree with Sarc on this one. Speeding up the easy part is just going to make 40-50 seem like the grind is even worse. I did sort of read hints that the whole grind may be getting easier, but supposedly its not just an easy fix, and the double xp is just a temporary fix.
Now just take your lodas amulets, and stack them with your double xp.
I really don’t see it drawing any players back to the game, but only time will tell. I just see massive declines in Aion activity including my blog, forums, twitter, facebook, etc.
Well, I would hardly consider myself a hard core player as I usually put in about 1.5 – 2 hours a night during the week (wife permitting) and a bit more on the weekends.
That being said, just because I don’t have a lot of time to play the game doesn’t mean that I want the game accelerated to the point that it becomes a farce just so I can “experience the endgame”. I will experience the end game, and it may be later rather than sooner, but I’m ok with that. I’m having fun during my trip to the top. It’s often the journey that’s more enjoyable than the destination itself.
And to borrow something Ionomonkey said in response to my blog post:
“If Aion wants to grow and get players it won’t do so by being WoW.”
And I’m afraid that this is exactly what NcSoft thinks it might have a chance of doing by taking this step onto a very, very slippery slope.
WoW players want WoW. Changing the game too drastically to try to win those folks back will only alienate your current subscription base and STILL not get you the coveted WoW player.
My feelings echo much of the sentiment in these comments. The speed of leveling wasn’t my problem, it was the lack of enjoyment I felt while I was playing.
Poeta and Verteron are so well done, but after that, the world feels lifeless, The quests are dull and the world, while beautifully rendered, feels like one desert wasteland after another, with very little variation.
By contrast, I have gained just 5 levels in LOTRO in the last 3 weeks. Not a torrid pace by anyone’s standards. But the levels don’t matter to me because I’m actually enjoying the journey. Each new area I enter feels fresh and exciting, and I can be happy simply wandering around and exploring.
When I’m on a road trip and I happen to be traveling through a particularly boring city, or endless prairies, I find myself stepping on the gas, hoping to get to my destination quicker. But as soon as I hit an area where with some interesting sites and some aesthetic beauty, I’ll inevitably slow down to take it in, and suddenly my destination isn’t quite as important.
Yeah, I agree with you Grok. Once I hit 37 the grind went into full force and content just wasn’t interesting. While this specific change may not be that big of a deal, its important to note: “While we’re committed to providing a permanent solution, our long-term plans require development time.”
I personally infer this to mean “We are adding more content”. I could be very wrong in this respect, but I suppose we will find out soon enough.
I really wanted to enjoy the endgame of Aion. Getting there was the problem. When I do have time to play I usually do play around 3-4 hours at a time. What I felt in Aion was the problem was the lack of options, you hit X level, then did this, or go do this dungeon for 6 levels. I really loved the Training Camp levels as I could do one of those quick, then hit up a couple of quests and almost level. I could never really solo effectively in the abyss as I was lower level than most. I also had a huge problem with the no level cap in the abyss or even in the portals to the zones where you were supposed to be ‘safe’. Nothing was more frustrating than to have a level 40 sorc running around the 20-30 zone insta nuking everyone. Same with the abyss, but this was covered in another article as there no real incentive to stop one lone ganker who was messing up your mojo (aside from calling in guildies).
The other problem I saw was the real lack of enthusiasm for grouping in the abyss, even in the face of the ‘enemy’. I was a healer and didn’t get squat for healing outside of a group…why should I save you when you can’t even accept a group invitation. Such is the price for all healers in a pvp game although I never saw that problem in WAR. In the open RVR areas where I quested if there was trouble I could almost always get a group to help out. Maybe it was just a different mind set or player base than Aion.
I really love the idea of scenarios in WAR and wish there was more of a lower level PVP area/arena (not WoW arena, but more a small group battle arena 5v5 or 15v15, etc) before 25 as that is the whole ‘endgame’. Who knows if something like that will be implemented. I would also want a little more variety for a choice of zones or instances. If you were a certain level, you had to do this (having a hardcap for instances can be extremely frustrating, especially if you wanted to help out, but you would be a exp vacuum).
Forgot to add that accelerating the lower levels will not really do anything to change the ‘grind’ later on. I just see it as a small bandaid fix.
[...] (who’s recently switched sides to play Elyos!) wrote an article about players perceptions of NCSoft’s new implementations of some XP boosts in Aion. [...]
As a non-Aion player (played in beta…hated it) and kind of a “casual” when it comes to MMO’s, I think that accelerated experience is almost never a bad thing. The only time it’s a bad thing is when you don’t give the player an option to throttle it back if they so desire. The people who like to rush will rush no matter what, and the people don’t, won’t, or will rush through the crap they don’t like. I’d really like to see an experience slider of some sort instead of an off/on button (like Vanguard or EQ2). Give the player the choice.
I am one of those guys that plays WoW and attempts to play Aion. I haven’t played recently due to the grind leveling. Although Rer and I may not see eye to eye on all matters Aion and WoW I have to say that I think we are on the same page here. I don’t mind a challenging or even long trek to max level. The thing that perturbs me with Aion is that I simply don’t have fun grinding packs of mobs over and over again. Playing the game should be fun, not a chore. It can be fun and hard, maybe even fun and grueling, but not the way Aion currently has it set up. Or at least that is what I think, to me grinding leveling is nothing more than a lack of content.
Yes, something needs to be done about the XP in Aion. There’s a reason you haven’t heard from me or any of the other old CotNS folks in a while… we are STILL grinding. Up to 42 on my Templar last night and it took 9 nights of 3+ hour sessions to get that single level
No, double XP weekends are not the long term solution, I agree with you here. It’s just postponing the pain from level 20 to level 35. Also I think it will screw with the economy by further jacking up the price of low-end gatherables (who is gonna bother leveling up their gathering to 200 on their super-fast journey to Eltnen/Morheim?) and reducing the supply of fluxes, etc.
I suppose the double XP weekends will be a fine time to make some more bank alts…
We in the former CotNS are coming to the slow realization that the Aion “endgame” such as it is really begins at 40… the further you progress through the 40s the more of the interesting mid-game content (Fire Temple, lower Abyss forts, etc.) you get “soft locked” out of due to loot disappearing when you kill mobs 10 or more levels below you.
The game is still fun to me however and a great way to pass the time until Guild Wars 2…
Ok, I followed your link to the poll Rer, and in it I see Tamat, the community manager for AION, posting that the double xp DOES NOT apply to quests.
Soooo…. what does that tell us? I don’t know what it tells you, but it tells me that in order to get the double XP that most of your readers here are saying is a good thing, they will in fact have to… that’s right, GRIND more mobs in order to get it.
How, I ask you, does this alleviate the grind my friend? It doesn’t! In fact, what it does, is encourage you to find the highest level mob that you can take on by yourself and then guess what? Kill it over and over again.
Swing by my blog tomorrow, I’ll have a new post up that goes into more specifics about why I think this is not a very well thought out plan by NcSoft. Hell, the above alone should make that pretty obvious.
I look forward to it sir ^_^
[...] of the game, came to AION’s defense, not only in the comments section of my post but on his blog as [...]
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