Reward Feeling

So I decided to have a go at Aion.

It was a Friday night and ahead of me was the chore of doing the Daily Heroics over the weekend and maybe some daily quests for gold I don’t even need. Nothing much more exciting to look forward to until Wednesday’s raid. So I thought hell with the dailies, lets do something totally new and try Aion!

Naturally I rolled a Warrior, as up and close fighting is what you crave when you shoot arrows at people for a living. I had a lot of fun designing my character and then, miraculous birth, I spawned into an unsuspecting server along with about two-dozen other people spawning at that exact moment.

Imagine a world where every female looks like Kate Beckinsale, and you will quickly grasp the distracting beauty of the many player characters currently running around the crowded Aion servers. The environment was very nice. Not fall off your seat nice, or staggering innovative by any means, but pleasant to explore.

Here’s what happened in one paragraph. I moved between quest hubs and killed X number of monsters. I experienced several innovations on the WoW system. These were: player shops, more frequent cut scenes, a location helper, a campaign quest log, a great chain-combat system, the ability to fly slowly for short periods of time. (That last one won’t feel like a great innovation if you have an epic flying mount).

I had lots of fun hitting monsters with a big sword, and enjoyed the very regular reward feeling that comes from gearing up a character from nothing. Best of all there were lots of people around and there was a nice general atmosphere of communal exploration.

Then I logged on to WoW to do the Brewfest Dailies (achievement hunter). At that exact moment our 5v5 Arena leader decided we should run some games. We had an absolute killing streak and suddenly I had access to more new arena gear than I had the Honor to buy. I stayed up till almost 2pm grinding battlegrounds and got the first two items that night (reward feeling). But I needed a lot more Honor and suddenly I had new purpose.

I will of course return to Aion, to enjoy some more sword-fighting and at my own pace adventuring. It’s not as polished, precise or self-satirical as WoW no matter how shiny the graphics. It’s not as bloody or combat tactical as AoC or as stylised and innovative as WAR. However it has great atmosphere at the moment because of all the new players exploring it for the first time, and it’s a very competent fun example of it’s type.

But it’s not Coca-Cola. And judging each game by its ability to differentiate itself from it’s peers, I feel it’s the weakest of the primary WoW alternatives.

WoW vs (other)

One talked about MMORPG coming very soon is AION.

I spent some time last night researching this, not because I’m about to jump ship, but because I have found that games such as Age of Conan and Warhammer Online (both great games!) have offered me a really enjoyable short-break akin to picking up an X-Box game and playing it for a month.

Inevitably the WoW comparisons overtake discussions about new MMORPG releases. This could be constructive if it were a point-by-point comparison as to how game-play issues were addressed in different or similar ways. You know, things that really matter.

However more often what we get is comments like:

‘WoW gets pwned’

‘WoW sucks’

If you dislike World of Warcraft – fine. But if you really believe that WoW sucks, then you need to add a bit more substance to your argument. Because as a solution to the challenge of creating an interactive virtual fantasy world, WoW clearly doesn’t suck.

First off we need to define the contested territory. Beautiful graphics may be a big consideration for some. But your personal preference to look like an emo in Aion rather than a cartoon character in WoW is only going to get you so far. If you just like eating cake and have no literally no idea what ingredients actually make a good cake then keep your mouth shut.

Core issues, i.e. things that contribute to the quality of the gaming experience are more to do with actual play issues that are; economic and social, that consider player reward and playtime longevity, environment immersion, learning-curve, variety and choice.

Second, on both sides of the fence, enough about what is a WoW-Clone or who stole ideas from Everquest. Unless your tipple of choice is 1st Edition Dungeons and Dragons, then it’s a moot point.

WoW has been embellished continually since its release. It has a lot of content and designers are responsive to the needs of the community, continually increasing the functions available to its subscribers. For this reason alone it will be extremely difficult to challenge by any new offering at point of release.

This isn’t to prove that’s it’s the best MMORPG possible, or even available already. I simply ask debaters to weigh up the ingredients that actually matter when exploring relative merits. I have to wonder if people who genuinely think that WoW is a poor offering will recognise a better one when it comes along… or know why it is better!