Aion vs WoW
Aion vs WoW
“Aion, WoW, Killer”; those three words in its various combinations such as “Is Aion a WoW Killer?” for example, has been a very popular Google search as of late. Endless debates raging in many forums and discussion sites around the net all seem to point towards certain common themes I find. Aion fans generally argue the reasons why Aion is a WoW killer, is by touting how superior the graphics in Aion are. Or one of my personal favorite I read in a comment box “Aion has wings = auto win.” Lest we forget, “it’s not a WoW clone, aka – not a WoW” (I read that in many comment boxes, what ever that means…)
You probably already assumed that given this editorial is from a dedicated Aion site, it will most likely be biased towards Aion, right? Sorry to burst your bubble, but not exactly. Even though I am looking forward to Aion, I still play *gasp* WoW to this day. With good reason might I add! You can’t argue that WoW is one of the, if not the most solid MMO to this day. I tried other MMO that have come and gone, Age of Conan, Tabula Rasa, Warhammer Online… But in the end, all of them lacked something or another I missed in WoW and gravitated back.
Enter Aion. Can Aion be a WoW killer? Not a shot.
Can Aion provide a unique experience WoW can’t? Definitely!
This will be the strength of this game, and attract a supporting fan base. How do I know? I happen to be one of them! Unlike the typical pound per pound Aion vs. WoW comparisons found around the net; i.e. Aion Graphics vs. WoW Graphics, Aion Gameplay vs. WoW Gameplay… etc. I’m taking a different approach. Let’s assume your going to try to get your WoW buddy to give Aion a shot, how would you convince him?
Show him what Aion offers that WoW doesn’t, see if that attracts them to take the bite.
Create a Unique Hero
Aion offers one of the most robust customization engine that few MMO can match. Instead of mix and matching a dozen or so pre rendered selection, you choose exactly what the shape, color, size… what ever you want for your character in detail. It doesn’t stop there, no my friend, don’t like the color of your armor? You can dye it, hell, if you don’t even like what your armor looks like, you can change that too without sacrificing stats! Check out the details on Item Customization here. Need more info on character creation and customization? Find it here. Can you do this in WoW? I’m sorry to say no, my generic looking lvl 80 Night Elf Druid number 3487.
Your Actions Matters
Antharas the Server Raid Boss in Lineage 2
Don’t get me wrong, WoW has one of the coolest lore ever. I have been hooked by it since the RTS days that started with Warcraft 1. But I find something is left to be desired in World of Warcraft. I mean, when my server in Lineage 2 downed Antharas, we created history! When we had slain Illidan in WoW in the Burning Crusade days, it felt so anti-climactic, stepping outside the instance, nothing really changed in the world.
“So what now?” – Me
“I don’t know; let’s item grind by doing it again (Note: and again in days to come)” – Clan Leader
*Facepalm* – Me
Somehow the whole experience didn’t feel quite as epic as I would have wanted. Ok, it was epic the first time we downed him, but the 5th? Not so much. On the other hand, no matter how many times we captured or defended Gludio Castle is Lineage 2, it was always epic, the experience unique every time! I have high hopes that the Abyss in Aion will provide the same type of excitement once the game is released.
Illidan, Instance Raid Boss in WoW
Another Korean Grind
From experience, no matter how much interest your WoW buddies may develop from your pitch about Aion. The dreaded overused comeback is bound to be repeated by them.
“Aion is just another Korean Grind”.
Yes, Korean MMOs are generally notorious for creating level treadmills that makes you want to drown puppies sometimes. They hold the monopoly and the reputation for creating games that are boring endless grind that requires you to literally kill the same mobs tens of thousands of times, no exaggeration. NCSoft West gets it, thus they are working hard to localize Aion for us. I can attest from playing Aion, that it is no where near the brutal grind we experienced in Lineage 2.
The reason why we can never resist the Grind...
But when MMO games look this good from Korea like the image above, we are willing to abuse ourselves and take on the grind sometimes…
Final Thoughts
I feel Aion is definitely a solid MMO in its own rights. As long as NCSoft West doesn’t drop the ball, they may have themselves a cash cow for years to come. Let’s also hope they keep their promises, I want player housings!!!
“Is Aion a WoW killer?” Do you still have to ask that?
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I think my biggest worry with NCSoft at this point is their almost complete lack of response to their customers on their website. It’s difficult to get information. They use 3rd party sites like Twitter (which I loathe) and AionSource. Their forums are a cesspool. On the other hand, I’ve had reason to contact their tech support and been pleased with their response (even if they can’t seem to help me with the problem I’m experiencing).
Having played WoW, I just don’t see enough similarities between WoW and Aion to compare the two. What Aion DOES remind me of – quite a bit in some ways – is EQ1. A couple of the classes remind me of it. The questing does not. WoW, while it has a really good PvP side to the game, is much more PvE and raiding centered, where Aion seems to be more PvP centered.
Oh and … puppy drowning is expressly forbidden! No really! =P
Honestly, I see this as a direct representation as how I feel comparing the two games. I feel as they both offer a completley unique feel of the genre in their own perspective.
Coming from Final Fantasy 11, the grind in Aion is non-exsistant. WoW and aion cant really be compaired as wow is for very young children (crappy graphics and over the top costumes) and the fact that if you can drop the disk in the tray you won the game as everything is handed to you on a silver platter. WoW kills aion in one aspect, you can turn PvP off. when aion puts that in-game then it will be the best MMO ever.
Muhbulz, your such a child. Its not soo much that WoW is for children as it is for people who can’t always invest 40 hours of gametime in a week. That’s why there’s “Pity” epics in it. So that on the weekend you wife/girlfriend/kids are gone you can at least put 4-5 hours in for a raid and have some fun. I think Aion will do very well and I plan on trying it, but saying wow is for children is retarded. And as far as Over the top costumes and crappy graphics? The game is freaking 5 years old! At the time, the graphics where amazing! And to top that off, The over the top costumes come from the lore of the game. Us wow players could say the samething about Aion’s angle wings, or anime faces, and some of them do. But they’re just like you, unitelligent brats. Have a good day now!
Perhaps Aion and WoW are quite different, but after playing MMOs for many years, they all starting to look the same. They all based on the same concepts, mechanics and same basic elements. I am playing Aion not because it’s better then WoW. I am playing it only because it’s somewhat different and I got bored with WoW. I enjoyed WoW a lot, but then lost interest and stopped playing. Now I am checking out everything that comes out and so far I didn’t really like anything simply because there area just too many similarities, especially on the annoying side like time sinks, inventory restrictions, slow progress, etc. And I have a feeling that I won’t keep my interest in Avion for too long either, because everything there is just too familiar and too predicable. And I doubt Avion will “kill” WoW. But at least I think it has a chance to coexist.
And one more thing. Talking about graphics. Though characters look great, I found that terrain is not really good. Everything is confined to small narrow areas and landscape is quite boring.