So, a couple weeks into the world that is Aion, my Chanter is sitting at about halfway through level 21. A little low by some regards, but I’m taking a different approach with Aion that I do in most MMO’s. I’m taking it slow. I’ve also been playing a handful of other games, which is unusual for me when I’m playing an MMO. With my limited time to play every evening, playing any other game basically means taking a night off of Aion. So with Dirt 2 still keeping me hooked (expect a multiplayer review soon) and the weekly Team Fortress 2 night that we hold, it’s like I’m at a gaming buffet. Oh look, sandvich, om nom nom nom.

The queues on Triniel seem to almost be a thing of the past. This last weekend, I once had a 4 minute queue, and that was in the middle of peak time. Other night’s, I’ve been jumping right in. The lemonade stands are almost non existent as well. About the only place I even see them anymore is the capital city. But, when I do see them, they seem to be legitimately selling things. So, the timer is working as intended in my opinion. What isn’t working out for most people is the gold spam. Wow, is it relentless. From the moment you log in, you see the chat box fill up with these dirtbags. NC West attempted to quell some of the angry customers by making anyone under level 5 unable to use the general chat. This seemed to work for about a day. It doesn’t take real long to knock out 5 levels, so it’s not really a fix. The easy fix to the general spam for you, the player, is to create a custom chat window that doesn’t show it, and that works well until you get the dreaded whispers. Though not as spammy as the general chat, they are by in large more annoying due to the little beep you get whenever you receive a message. But, that’s not without a quick fix. Just go anonymous and you won’t be bothered.

I know that NC soft is “working” on fixing the goldspam problem, and maybe it’s because there are more people playing Aion, but they don’t seem to be taking it nearly as seriously as Mythic did. Really, I want my Banhammer. I want to see people getting banned for using the service, not just closed accounts of the sellers and farmers. With a game as seemingly loot heavy as Aion, this is a larger potential problem than it ever was in Warhammer Online. The biggest issue, to me though, is that the only “fixes” in place right now to combat the spammers, are detrimental to the normal paying customers. Having to go anon for this is ridiculous. Having to squelch the general chat is unacceptable. Hopefully we see some results in the near future.

Other than the gold seller hate, I’m still enjoying the game for the most part. I say the most part, because around levels 18 and 19, I was getting a little bored. The quests really thinned out, so the only way to level was to grind solo, or get groups for the late teen “epic” area (Krall on Elyos side). It was fun as crap going into Krall with my guild, but the couple times I went in with a pug showed me why I usually stick with guild groups. Nuff said.

Bright side though, once I hit 20, got some new abilities and went on to the next area, I was buried in new quests. Some rather lame (go kill 10 of each of these), but some were actually interesting. One quest I enjoyed, for example, was where you were told that the Elim (tree people) have been making an exodus from an area that was once more wooded to the more protected area you are currently in. If you go to the area from which they are leaving, you can speak with one of the Elim who asks for some fresh water. You were instructed to go fetch a bucket (which you had to fight your way into a camp for) and then fill it at a waterfall before bringing it back. Sound terribly interesting? Not really, but when you return, you get a nifty cut scene of your character throwing water onto the Elim. The cut scenes continue to “do it” for me in Aion. I find them highly immersive, much like the ones from Guild Wars. They take what would be a normal grinded out quest, and make you feel like a part of its story.

I will say that the real driving force for me in Aion right now is the PvP. I’ve heard nothing by good things from those in my guild that have gotten to experience it. These are the same people who once played Dark Age of Camelot, and have wanted to relive days like that. I’m a few levels away from being able to go check it out myself, and I can’t wait.