Thoughts on AION, Part Two

[Thezdin]

Virtually everyone who has any interest in MMOs has heard of, or watched the Aion Vision trailer. In doing so, debate ensued of varying degrees on the multitude of things the video tantalized us with.

While I readily admit the visuals of a game have little to do with its ultimate success, any serious gamer cannot deny that AION is raising the bar in ways that are quite unbelievable. Not only does the current version of AION play superbly on sub-par hardware but with true gaming power AION is nothing short of MMO pornography. The visual upgrade we're now drooling over is something I simply cannot put into words.

On the subject of water, and thus swimming, I am skeptical. We saw the frustrations of swimming in Trials of Atlantis.

I feverishly beg of you, NCSoft, that you do not repeat the same mistakes you have made in Reshanta in making melee classes completely and utterly useless in this element. Similarly, will we now have to carry 900 flight potions AND 900 water potions? Please God No.

Next, an open letter to NCSoft:

With the AION "split" of East & West, we have a monumental amount of potential with AION. I sincerely hope your developers do not read AION Source for this very reason. Or if they do, they do so with mental condoms, because the WoW "elite" and XBOX gamer kiddies plague that website and it's viral "community" like a cancer threatening to turn AION into WoW with wings.

For all that is left of the humanity of true MMORPG gaming, please spare us from the influence of these vermin. Your game is the bright light of the RPG genre in such that the element of fantasy and depth are intact and powerful. We do not want easier leveling. We do not want "moar epics" nor do we want epics simply for remembering to wipe our own ass. I would willingly and happily pay a premium monthly subscription if that is what it takes to keep AION from being put into a blender and bastardized like World of WarCraft.

Quest rewards that are meaningful, complex, and time consuming are the diamond in the rough as it were. The Daevonian quest line is a shining star that must be retained and allowed to blossom. Do not let the threats of cancellations result in your doubting your plan.

Instead, build upon what you have and allow it to mature. I promise you, the passionate gamers will come out of the wood work in droves with admiration for your staying the course in the name of the RPG.

In doing so, give us more legion content. By this I mean Alliance content. Content that requires 24 players to realistically complete.

Currently your players are stuck with the limitations of choosing between 6-man dungeons, or server-wide zerg rushes to fortresses. Both of which have their place and intrinsic value within your game. But steadfast gains can be accomplished by adding legion content in a way that Blizzard failed to realize.

Picture a raid zone in enemy territory that requires all players enter a rift, fight their way through a crowded, mob-ridden zone before even beginning their quest through the dungeon itself (Picture a larger, more complex version of Draupnir Cave for 24 players). Imagine this dungeon being raided by an entire Legion. And to even enter the dungeon, all players must complete a quest that requires they have completed Dark Poeta S-Rank.

Similarly, I imagine a Daevonian weapon quest with the depth players were accustomed to in EverQuest. A weapon so rare and powerful that attaining it is a task of monumental proportion. More-so than even Miragent items. I imagine a quest that requires players kill, and loot particular items off various world-bosses strewn throughout their land, and their enemies. A quest that requires the successful conquering of a Divine Fortress Lord and an obscene amount of Abyss Points. A quest that requires the player then, after all is said and done, use the combined quest pieces to summon a boss as ugly as Daitka's O-FACE that requires an alliance (24 players) to kill -- In Reshanta. An epic quest.

I envision an outdoor dungeon deep in Lepharist Citadel that only level 50 players that have killed Tahabata can even view the entrance of. And when 24 players have killed Tahabata and contain a piece of his heart looted from his dead corpse, these 24 players can combine those fragments as bait to lure a beast of monstrous proportions deep within Lepharist Citadel that contains the key to Lepharist Tomb. And with this key, these players can now enter and begin their exploration of this tomb.

And in doing all this, do not give us tokens to ensure the entire raid walks away with something like a pathetic mirroring of modern day little league. Everyone is not a winner and we accept that. Do not reward us for failing. While guaranteeing a particular boss drops at least one item (even we concede clicking a corpse and being rewarded with Item "Tough Rawhide" not found. is cruel and unusual) would be ideal, you need not drop 4 tokens to be turned in for items in Sanctum.

While these are simply pixels and imaginary things in an imaginary world, the amount of time and effort we put into our characters breeds a sense of achievement that should be mirrored by the attaining of items. And raid items as door prizes at the door does not achieve this.

The Tower of Eternity is a unique game in a genre that is becoming increasingly more focused on catering to children and stay-at-home mothers. A genre that was birthed by individuals who despite all the technology in the world, can still find the inherent joy in rolling die while sitting around a table, roleplaying their favorite character with their friends. A group of people that remember what it feels like to be terrified of swimming across that lake because of Njessi. The same people who tip-toed through the Plane of Fear with the same fear their children now have of the dark before bed. Do not rob us of that immersion. We deserve this. We deserve a challenge and if you want to become a stand-alone studio dedicated to the specific desires of your western culture, then you must.

I beg of you NCSoft, heed the request of true gamers with a passion for your story and your game. These are but mere suggestions and the tip of the iceberg, but I speak with absolute certainty when I say that this kind of complex, intricate, and Legion-focused content will result in the immortality of your game in our hearts.

[Yabbernox]

Awesome post!

Regarding dungeon types, I'd like to see some where multiple groups are involved but enter from different places and are kept geographically separated through most of the dungeon. Success in the dungeon requires coordination between the groups to perform certain actions at the right times in order for all groups to progress deeper into the dungeon. Different bosses with different loot tables could be in each "wing" or whatever and the last 2 or 3 boss fights would involve everyone together in the same area.

You could make this competitive in some way as well, where two groups from each side are racing through their respective wings and each can do things to cause set-backs to the other side indirectly until, ultimately, they meet at one point and fight each other and the winning side can progress through the end of the dungeon.

[Thezdin]

Regarding dungeon types, I'd like to see some where multiple groups are involved but enter from different places and are kept geographically separated through most of the dungeon. Success in the dungeon requires coordination betwwen the groups to perform certain actions at the right times in order for all groups to progress deeper into the dungeon. Different bosses with different loot tables could be in each "wing" or whatever and the last 2 or 3 boss fights would involve everyone together in the same area.

I really, really, really like this idea.

You could make this competitive in some way as well, where two groups from each side are racing through their respective wings and each can do things to cause set-backs to the other side indirectly until, ultimately, they meet at one point and fight each other and the winning side can progress through the end of the dungeon.

If this were enemy groups, like Dredgion, I would love this. Competing against guild members is the kind of drama I'd rather take it up the ass than deal with.

[Yabbernox]

If this were enemy groups, like Dredgion, I would love this. Competing against guild members is the kind of drama I'd rather take it up the ass than deal with.

where two groups from each side

Yeah, enemy groups.

edit: also, i used "two groups from each side" to keep it from being zergy. It could be an alliance from each side or whatever. 2 groups was just an example. Ideally, there would be different dungeons like this for different numbers of groups.

[Rogmog]

I hate to say it, but the good ol' days of MMOs are gone. What you (and most of us here) want is the equivalent of a fine dining experience. We want a seven course meal that builds from something small into something spectacular, filled with highs and lows along the way. We want something made with high quality ingredients, to share with close friends, which requires us to sit down and take the time to enjoy them properly. At the end we want to be left with a feeling of satisfaction and plenty of great memories. And that is why we're now the exception; We're surrounded by people who would rather get McDonalds or Taco Bell. Not everyone can afford to invest in the fine dining experience and fast food is fast, cheap, doesn't involve a lot of time, and tastes good. The satisfaction is short and sweet, and can be easily experienced whenever you want.

The issue then becomes, as a video game company, would you rather be the MMO equivalent of McDonalds and make a game that everyone has experienced, or the niche local restaurant that is constantly packed but only serves a minute portion of people with amazing memories? I think BlizzDonalds answered that question for every other company.

I think the one bright side to this situation is that the numerous crappy games we've experienced over the last 5-odd years have made things so bad for the MMO market that a company could swoop in with something high-quality that flashes back to the genres' old-D&D roots and people would embrace it. Maybe Aion is that game.

[Thezdin]

You have a point Rogmog but I disagree.

It's like saying places like Morton's Steakhouse, any five-star restaurant, is irrelevant. They most certainly are not. And in some cases, the niche companies have a much better bottom line. And the bottom line is what matters in the end for any of these companies.

The problem is companies like Mythic spend Blizzard-like money developing their game in a niche market, and end up making nothing close to the same return. On the other hand, DAOC I would argue had perhaps the best ROI of any RPG, ever, until World of WarCraft came along. They had a team of 20 people build something that 300,000 people paid $15/month to play for 5 years. That's astronomically successful.

AION has the potential to have Blizzard type returns as long as they stick to their strengths and not fall into the trap of trying to mimic WoW like Warhammer did.

[Rogmog]

It's like saying places like Morton's Steakhouse, any five-star restaurant, is irrelevant. They most certainly are not. And in some cases, the niche companies have a much better bottom line. And the bottom line is what matters in the end for any of these companies.

It's not saying they are irrelevant, it's saying they are the exception. The people that WoW brought into the gaming market are the ones who are now driving much of the content and experience for the genre.

[Thezdin]

Blizzard is the Toyota Camry. NCSoft has the possibility to be the BMW or the Lexus. Still high appeal but not as much so, and yet arguably more successful. That's all I'm saying.

I agree the mass market MMO is nothing more than a pay-to-play version of a standard single player RPG now, but I'm hoping other companies realize there's an adult audience to cater to that craves nostalgia and a good-old-fashioned RPG.

[Yabbernox]

I don't think it is always the game company that is pulling the strings trying to WoWify something. It's the money-men. What needs to happen is the financiers of these companies need to realize that just because a game doesn't hold 10 million subscriptions, doesn't mean it's a failure.

I think one factor that led to WAR's demise was the un-tried notion that millions of board gamers would equate to millions of game subscriptions. It didn't quite work out that way. I have to say most of the people I know who play Warhammer and Warhammer 40k do NOT enjoy MMOs. I realize that's anecdotal, but I submit it as evidence regardless. Leading me to my next point...

WoW's success was not an accident. Why did it work differently for Blizzard? Because Blizzard's already massive fanbase was made up of people who enjoy playing computer games. Blizzard has several hugely popular titles played by millions and millions of people. They took the lore from 3 of these massively successful titles and made an MMO out of it. So we have people who already enjoy playing Blizzard games on a computer being presented with an MMO that was easy to progress in, was easy to play, and did not require PvP (a HUGE deterrent for a lot of people), and glowy epicz. It was a recipe for success and they knew what they were doing.

Unfortunately, to retain WoW's growth, Blizzard eventually had to appeal to more and more people by eliminating the things people don't like about MMOs, such as time investment, gratification over time, and dealing with other people. Thus emerges the WoW kiddie, roaring awkwardly into every other game and game community with expectations of instant gratification and a huge sense of entitlement.