Sorta like saying Aion is the least-foul-smelling turd in the toilet. Picking the top new MMO of the year just became like most political elections; you don't vote for who you like, you vote for the one you despise the least. Sad.
Speak for yourself.
Success of an MMO is not defined by having 10 million subscribers. Far from it. Success of an MMO, in purely economical terms is one that brings in profit. Currently, AION has either the second or third most subscribers for MMO'S in the west and the second most in Asia (1 million+).
Aion may have it's own expectations of making bigger waves in the western market that it failed to meet. That does not mean Aion is a failure. It's like trying to become a brain surgeon only to settle for being a general practice doctor.
A lot of the naysayers like to use Xfire numbers as evidence of Aion's downfall. They neglect to mention it's the second highest MMO ranked on the list behind WoW.
Using any objective measure of success. Aion is the most successful new MMO of 2009.
Nothing epitomizes the sad state of the industry better than the notion that these five pitiful offering could be considered the "best" of anything.
my thoughts exactly tbh.recently i have been feeling let down by the mmorpg industries.there was a time not so long ago (in fact end of 2004) when the genre could boast games like WoW and EQ2 to fight it out for title of best mmorpg of the year.
Now we have aion,darkfall,CO ?!?! This is just the sad state of the industry.We need another year like 2004/05 .This year has to have had some of the poorest choices.
Don't blame mmorpg.com they had little offerings out there.
for example, how did FE and tabula rasa use its "fps" mode?
regarding aoc, memory leaking, shitty textures, terrible modeling and so much more
im not saying aoc had bad graphics, in fact if aoc was delayed 1 more year it wouldve been such a great game, but sadly it was rushed and quality control was neglected.
Using any objective measure of success. Aion is the most successful MMO of 2009.
The category is Best New Game, not Most Successful New Game.
"Best" - subjective, opinion, personal taste, etc.
I just provided some objective factors on Aion's success and some reasons why a lot of people enjoy playing Aion. For many many people, Aion is a great, and very least a good game. For those of us that play, and there are many many of us, this award is not a surprise.
First of all, Aion would have been a great game, if level progression stopped at 35. But it doesn't. Only content does.
Second, did you guys, that made the decision to crown the game, actually see it? I am saying this as someone who played on chinese servers, then participated in beta, and got really disappointed by what Aion had to offer after the level cap got to 50. I am not saying that any of the other MMOs that came out last year were particularly good, but Aion - best game? Give me a freaking break! I know even Lineage veteran grinders who quit Aion after just three months. This game appeals neither to PvPers, nor to carebears, after they pass a certain point where they no longer care how pretty it is. Not to mention PvE becomes more and more boring with every level you grind your teeth on. BTW, did I mention the laugh of a support?
You should change the name of category to The best game of 2009, there is nothing new in Aion. It is the biggest copy cat of the year: a slice of WoW, two pinches of Lineage 2 and you have your best game of 2009. By chosing Aion you promote nothing except unoriginality.
Er.. uh... whaaa? Am I being Punk'd? Ashton get out here you crazy guy you.
LOL
I'm with the same feeling. The funny thing is: read the article again. The pro about aion is graphic.And that's it. All the other features?let someone else write in the forum,because for god's sake,it must be so hard for the guy in the article to write,what,THREE OR FOUR paragraphs to justify the winner.
So,if someone says "Aion sucks" he's trolling. But to write the "best new game of 2009" and to say "Aion graphics rox.and that's it.now,for the second place...",one must be a helluva fanboy.Or a helluva writer.pick one
I liked the Massively poll better -- where the readers AND the editors both agreed that Aion was the biggest disappointment of the year. It was fun for a while but lacked real depth. The grind is still hideous (my account has been cancelled but the time hasn't run out quite yet).
I played AION since closed beta, and was at first very vocal in how great it was. However when it went live, and the server population exploded like crazy several things became apparent which made me cancel my account.
Intermittant crashes with no real ability to determine why they happened because I couldn't replicate the decisions/actions that I may have done to cause the crash. When NCSoft was contacted they advised that I run a tool which would collect data, I didn't ever run the tool because my account time closed before I was able to and there was no way I was paying for account time again just to run the tool.
The lag in the instances of the world that were not instanced, major cities that were not instanced became an utter nightmare to traverse/deal with. This was I'm certain directly related to the large amount of players in the zone for questing, seeing their class npc(s) etc, and the unbelievable amount of spam bots with their player stores up. The whole concept of player stores ruins the major cities for me because of the amount of lag it creates, the same was true for Lineage II. I never understood putting something in place that makes lag worse when they also have an auction house in-game already. Forcing players to use the auction house system would cut down on lag and the ability for spam bots to sell their junk for huge sums of money/advertise their services. Using the report feature was just as busted and I never saw anything come out of it as I would see the same bot (s) that I reported time and time again in the same area(s) of the game. And they were usually placed where the highest concentration of mobs are in the world for questing.
To be honest I thought that AION would be different then Lineage II in regards to what players are/are not allowed to do. However once it went from beta to live status it became apparent that it would in fact be filled with the same spammers/botters that destroyed Lineage II for me.
I hate to make a generalization but it seems that if the games are not created in the U.S. and/or are created in the Asian market first that the player economies of those games are immediately destroyed, and that the amount of spammers/bots that are allowed to exist soon make the game little or no fun to play.
Yes I know they put more guards in place to help slow down/stop the spammers and bots, I even waited around awhile after they had done so, but the measures they put in place were quickly circumvented.
Simply put, I am unwilling to pay to play a game where I am continually harrassed by spammers, have questing areas ruined by bots, and major cities that make the beautiful world of AION a pain to play instead of entertaining to play like a game is supposed to be.
If I thought there was a snowball's chance in hell that I could get my money back for that game from them I certainly would do so, as right now the box the game came in is just sitting there showing the pretty artwork.
You may or may not like it, [Mod Edit] but fact is that Aion was the best MMO released in 2009. Bar none.
Out of all complaints about Aion in this thread, the only one I agree with is the lack of support (namely how long it takes for a simple ticket to be processed and answered). But I consider the support provided by the company hardly part of the game.
Other complaints on Aion that can be read in this thread:
Bots and RMT = simply squashed during the first month or two and practically on-par with other MMOs
Grindfest = name me 1 MMORPG that isn't a grindfest. Just one. Besides, what's wrong with grinding? Hundreds of thousands of people like and enjoy grinding to level up. It promotes grouping up and making friends, you know, the stuff the "MMO" part of RPGs is all about. I'd rather spend a year getting to max level but meeting awesome people on the way than solo questing to it in 2 weeks. Grinding also prevents every random mig-mug scrub to achieve everything there is to achieve. Wanna be someone and something on your server? Show some dedication.
I understand some of you may not like the game. Hell, even I don't like it. But that's all a subjective point of view, but guess what, this award is given out based on objective reasoning and objectively, Aion was the best MMORPG of 2009.
Some of you say: "Oh but it's nothing new. It was all seen before.", but I bet my filthy underwear that when Diablo 3 or Starcraft 2 get the "Best game of 2010. (or 2011. whatever)" none of you will raise the same argument.
I managed to stay online for three weeks then I quit. The bots, kinah spammers and the insane grinding was the last straw. It is a beautiful game I agree to that but it was not for me.
Three weeks isn't even close to enough time to get into the meat of the game. The spammers are being delt with and there are periods of several days when I don't see one.
Ignored is the fact that spammers and gold bots seem to have chosen Aion as the winner to. They wouldn't waste time and resourse on a game that didn't produce a maximum profit. A decent game with no spammers, ever, simply doesn't exist.
I tried beta and then tried it a few months after release and it still does not appeal to me. The first 10 levels is has a cool story to it and introduces what your character is and how you gain your wings, but then the story just kind of drops off for awhile making it feel more like a grind.
The Good:
1) The graphics from the environment to the combat looks great! It far succeeds most mmorpgs in that area.
2) Beginning story and quests that lead you through in it both factions up to level 10 is great.
The Ugly:
1) Lacks interesting quests after beginning. (Go kill 20 of these and bring me there <insert item>)
2)Feels more like grinding in order to get to next level (Which could be overlooked if there was interesting quests)
3) Crafting is mediocre at best.
4)Only limited areas you can fly in.
5) PvP starts at level 20 but end game PvP much later.
o gee the same ppl feeding you atm dear MMORPG.COM , will piss on you tomorrrow-- just keep that in mind,its your reputation!! . Everyone , i mean everyone with a clear mind , with a free will to judge ... i take it further ...with a spark of sanity KNOWS that Aion wasnt the best of 2009 ,it doesnt even deserve to be labeled as good .Through all the tragic releases in 2009 , specialy Aion deservs to be stomped in the ground .
I do understand that a lot yummie $$ is provided to you givin them that title , but lemme tell you that even the non brainers here see through that .
Ok you need the $$ i understand that , but for how long can you bullshit the ppl ??
You may or may not like it, and considering most of you are you probably aren't, but fact is that Aion was the best MMO released in 2009. Bar none.
Out of all complaints about Aion in this thread, the only one I agree with is the lack of support (namely how long it takes for a simple ticket to be processed and answered). But I consider the support provided by the company hardly part of the game. Other complaints on Aion that can be read in this thread: Bots and RMT = simply squashed during the first month or two and practically on-par with other MMOs Grindfest = name me 1 MMORPG that isn't a grindfest. Just one. Besides, what's wrong with grinding? Hundreds of thousands of people like and enjoy grinding to level up. It promotes grouping up and making friends, you know, the stuff the "MMO" part of RPGs is all about. I'd rather spend a year getting to max level but meeting awesome people on the way than solo questing to it in 2 weeks. Grinding also prevents every random mig-mug scrub to achieve everything there is to achieve. Wanna be someone and something on your server? Show some dedication.
I understand some of you may not like the game. Hell, even I don't like it. But that's all a subjective point of view, but guess what, this award is given out based on objective reasoning and objectively, Aion was the best MMORPG of 2009. Some of you say: "Oh but it's nothing new. It was all seen before.", but I bet my filthy underwear that when Diablo 3 or Starcraft 2 get the "Best game of 2010. (or 2011. whatever)" none of you will raise the same argument. Anyways...continue your trolling and QQing.
I beg to disagree, I played live after beta closed pst the time frame you said. AION does have more bots than other games, heck it even has more bots & spammers than some of Play NC's other games (CoH, CoV). And it definately has more bots and spammers than EQ II and WoW.
I don't care about the grinding bit, those people need to learn that some games just aren't /easymode.
You may or may not like it, and considering most of you are teenage trolls you probably aren't, but fact is that Aion was the best MMO released in 2009. Bar none.
Out of all complaints about Aion in this thread, the only one I agree with is the lack of support (namely how long it takes for a simple ticket to be processed and answered). But I consider the support provided by the company hardly part of the game. Other complaints on Aion that can be read in this thread: Bots and RMT = simply squashed during the first month or two and practically on-par with other MMOs Grindfest = name me 1 MMORPG that isn't a grindfest. Just one. Besides, what's wrong with grinding? Hundreds of thousands of people like and enjoy grinding to level up. It promotes grouping up and making friends, you know, the stuff the "MMO" part of RPGs is all about. I'd rather spend a year getting to max level but meeting awesome people on the way than solo questing to it in 2 weeks. Grinding also prevents every random mig-mug scrub to achieve everything there is to achieve. Wanna be someone and something on your server? Show some dedication.
I understand some of you may not like the game. Hell, even I don't like it. But that's all a subjective point of view, but guess what, this award is given out based on objective reasoning and objectively, Aion was the best MMORPG of 2009. Some of you say: "Oh but it's nothing new. It was all seen before.", but I bet my filthy underwear that when Diablo 3 or Starcraft 2 get the "Best game of 2010. (or 2011. whatever)" none of you will raise the same argument. Anyways...continue your trolling and QQing.
I beg to disagree, I played live after beta closed pst the time frame you said. AION does have more bots than other games, heck it even has more bots & spammers than some of Play NC's other games (CoH, CoV). And it definately has more bots and spammers than EQ II and WoW.
I don't care about the grinding bit, those people need to learn that some games just aren't /easymode.
It had a fraction of the bots and spammers three weeks after release then it did at release.
This article has its merits. No one can deny that Aion's graphics are visually pleasing to the eye and are thus far unmatched in this genre. But visuals only get you so far.
Playing Aion for me was like dating an extremely attractive and well-dressed guy only to figure out three weeks into the relationship that we have nothing in common. Or walking into a gorgeous postmodern new age penthouse condo only to realize I just don't feel at home here.
Long story short, for whatever reason I couldn't make the connection to Aion. Once I reached the point where the gameplay felt like a grind, I stopped playing. Mind you, I have nothing against grinds and most of the time I can take it...but there has to be something else there keeping me interested, be it the lore or character development or what have you. Aion just felt too sterile and bland to me.
I will agree with Aion being the best new game of 2009, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have its own faults. I think it just brings the best overall package to the table, and is probably the only game that came to the market in 09 that did not have severe technical issues.
Although i'd disagree its the best mmo of 2009, in all honesty any mmo that one this title for 2009 is like beating a one legged man in a kicking contest.
I would have given it to Fallen Earth. It's a unique setting, one world one server, no load screens, no instances or zoning with exception of the tutorial, and all of this from an independent company. Ofcourse it isn't without it's faults, but all the other games have faults as well.
Aion is an interesting game that kind of stalled out for me around level 20+. And while the character creation is really great, one of the main attractions, flight, is hamstrung with timers which took away some of the fun for me. Load screens are always a turn off though, and the zones while attractive felt small and claustrophobic. In some ways I think it was a WOW clone, except that WOW was much faster to level and more fun. The character creation in Aion is amazing, but somehow the characters don't look exactly the same in the game, as if the coloring was slightly off.
Champion's Online had an amazing character creator as well. It's kind of like COH with better graphics in terms of character creation. But zones and instances killed my enjoyment of the game in a big way, and I think this is the exact wrong direction mmo's should be going as creating such worlds is more of a hinderance to growing a sense of community than an the alternative model, say one world, one server, no zones/instances. This is ofcourse my personal preference.
I think to the credit of all three games, the performed relatively well on my pc and looked great, in contrast to last years offerings some of which looked good but performed way under par.
Comments
Speak for yourself.
Success of an MMO is not defined by having 10 million subscribers. Far from it. Success of an MMO, in purely economical terms is one that brings in profit. Currently, AION has either the second or third most subscribers for MMO'S in the west and the second most in Asia (1 million+).
Aion may have it's own expectations of making bigger waves in the western market that it failed to meet. That does not mean Aion is a failure. It's like trying to become a brain surgeon only to settle for being a general practice doctor.
A lot of the naysayers like to use Xfire numbers as evidence of Aion's downfall. They neglect to mention it's the second highest MMO ranked on the list behind WoW.
Using any objective measure of success. Aion is the most successful new MMO of 2009.
The category is Best New Game, not Most Successful New Game.
my thoughts exactly tbh.recently i have been feeling let down by the mmorpg industries.there was a time not so long ago (in fact end of 2004) when the genre could boast games like WoW and EQ2 to fight it out for title of best mmorpg of the year.
Now we have aion,darkfall,CO ?!?! This is just the sad state of the industry.We need another year like 2004/05 .This year has to have had some of the poorest choices.
Don't blame mmorpg.com they had little offerings out there.
for example, how did FE and tabula rasa use its "fps" mode?
regarding aoc, memory leaking, shitty textures, terrible modeling and so much more
im not saying aoc had bad graphics, in fact if aoc was delayed 1 more year it wouldve been such a great game, but sadly it was rushed and quality control was neglected.
The category is Best New Game, not Most Successful New Game.
"Best" - subjective, opinion, personal taste, etc.
I just provided some objective factors on Aion's success and some reasons why a lot of people enjoy playing Aion. For many many people, Aion is a great, and very least a good game. For those of us that play, and there are many many of us, this award is not a surprise.
Popularity Contest: '09
The category is Best New Game, not Most Successful New Game.
how would u measure best? u dont award the smartest kid award to the kid that gets Cs. u could say he tried his best but it still isnt the best.
First of all, Aion would have been a great game, if level progression stopped at 35. But it doesn't. Only content does.
Second, did you guys, that made the decision to crown the game, actually see it? I am saying this as someone who played on chinese servers, then participated in beta, and got really disappointed by what Aion had to offer after the level cap got to 50. I am not saying that any of the other MMOs that came out last year were particularly good, but Aion - best game? Give me a freaking break! I know even Lineage veteran grinders who quit Aion after just three months. This game appeals neither to PvPers, nor to carebears, after they pass a certain point where they no longer care how pretty it is. Not to mention PvE becomes more and more boring with every level you grind your teeth on. BTW, did I mention the laugh of a support?
You should change the name of category to The best game of 2009, there is nothing new in Aion. It is the biggest copy cat of the year: a slice of WoW, two pinches of Lineage 2 and you have your best game of 2009. By chosing Aion you promote nothing except unoriginality.
Er.. uh... whaaa? Am I being Punk'd? Ashton get out here you crazy guy you.
The category is Best New Game, not Most Successful New Game.
I agree but it seems that the game that generates the most money is considered the best this year.
LOL
I'm with the same feeling. The funny thing is: read the article again. The pro about aion is graphic.And that's it. All the other features?let someone else write in the forum,because for god's sake,it must be so hard for the guy in the article to write,what,THREE OR FOUR paragraphs to justify the winner.
So,if someone says "Aion sucks" he's trolling. But to write the "best new game of 2009" and to say "Aion graphics rox.and that's it.now,for the second place...",one must be a helluva fanboy.Or a helluva writer.pick one
LOL.
I liked the Massively poll better -- where the readers AND the editors both agreed that Aion was the biggest disappointment of the year. It was fun for a while but lacked real depth. The grind is still hideous (my account has been cancelled but the time hasn't run out quite yet).
I played AION since closed beta, and was at first very vocal in how great it was. However when it went live, and the server population exploded like crazy several things became apparent which made me cancel my account.
Intermittant crashes with no real ability to determine why they happened because I couldn't replicate the decisions/actions that I may have done to cause the crash. When NCSoft was contacted they advised that I run a tool which would collect data, I didn't ever run the tool because my account time closed before I was able to and there was no way I was paying for account time again just to run the tool.
The lag in the instances of the world that were not instanced, major cities that were not instanced became an utter nightmare to traverse/deal with. This was I'm certain directly related to the large amount of players in the zone for questing, seeing their class npc(s) etc, and the unbelievable amount of spam bots with their player stores up. The whole concept of player stores ruins the major cities for me because of the amount of lag it creates, the same was true for Lineage II. I never understood putting something in place that makes lag worse when they also have an auction house in-game already. Forcing players to use the auction house system would cut down on lag and the ability for spam bots to sell their junk for huge sums of money/advertise their services. Using the report feature was just as busted and I never saw anything come out of it as I would see the same bot (s) that I reported time and time again in the same area(s) of the game. And they were usually placed where the highest concentration of mobs are in the world for questing.
To be honest I thought that AION would be different then Lineage II in regards to what players are/are not allowed to do. However once it went from beta to live status it became apparent that it would in fact be filled with the same spammers/botters that destroyed Lineage II for me.
I hate to make a generalization but it seems that if the games are not created in the U.S. and/or are created in the Asian market first that the player economies of those games are immediately destroyed, and that the amount of spammers/bots that are allowed to exist soon make the game little or no fun to play.
Yes I know they put more guards in place to help slow down/stop the spammers and bots, I even waited around awhile after they had done so, but the measures they put in place were quickly circumvented.
Simply put, I am unwilling to pay to play a game where I am continually harrassed by spammers, have questing areas ruined by bots, and major cities that make the beautiful world of AION a pain to play instead of entertaining to play like a game is supposed to be.
If I thought there was a snowball's chance in hell that I could get my money back for that game from them I certainly would do so, as right now the box the game came in is just sitting there showing the pretty artwork.
Ashreal D'Synn - Shadowlover & Death's handmaiden
You may or may not like it, [Mod Edit] but fact is that Aion was the best MMO released in 2009. Bar none.
Out of all complaints about Aion in this thread, the only one I agree with is the lack of support (namely how long it takes for a simple ticket to be processed and answered). But I consider the support provided by the company hardly part of the game.
Other complaints on Aion that can be read in this thread:
Bots and RMT = simply squashed during the first month or two and practically on-par with other MMOs
Grindfest = name me 1 MMORPG that isn't a grindfest. Just one. Besides, what's wrong with grinding? Hundreds of thousands of people like and enjoy grinding to level up. It promotes grouping up and making friends, you know, the stuff the "MMO" part of RPGs is all about. I'd rather spend a year getting to max level but meeting awesome people on the way than solo questing to it in 2 weeks. Grinding also prevents every random mig-mug scrub to achieve everything there is to achieve. Wanna be someone and something on your server? Show some dedication.
I understand some of you may not like the game. Hell, even I don't like it. But that's all a subjective point of view, but guess what, this award is given out based on objective reasoning and objectively, Aion was the best MMORPG of 2009.
Some of you say: "Oh but it's nothing new. It was all seen before.", but I bet my filthy underwear that when Diablo 3 or Starcraft 2 get the "Best game of 2010. (or 2011. whatever)" none of you will raise the same argument.
[Mod Edit]
Given the nominees, was there really any other option? 2009 was a rather pathetic year for MMORPGs, and I think few will deny that.
Three weeks isn't even close to enough time to get into the meat of the game. The spammers are being delt with and there are periods of several days when I don't see one.
Ignored is the fact that spammers and gold bots seem to have chosen Aion as the winner to. They wouldn't waste time and resourse on a game that didn't produce a maximum profit. A decent game with no spammers, ever, simply doesn't exist.
I tried beta and then tried it a few months after release and it still does not appeal to me. The first 10 levels is has a cool story to it and introduces what your character is and how you gain your wings, but then the story just kind of drops off for awhile making it feel more like a grind.
The Good:
1) The graphics from the environment to the combat looks great! It far succeeds most mmorpgs in that area.
2) Beginning story and quests that lead you through in it both factions up to level 10 is great.
The Ugly:
1) Lacks interesting quests after beginning. (Go kill 20 of these and bring me there <insert item>)
2)Feels more like grinding in order to get to next level (Which could be overlooked if there was interesting quests)
3) Crafting is mediocre at best.
4)Only limited areas you can fly in.
5) PvP starts at level 20 but end game PvP much later.
o gee the same ppl feeding you atm dear MMORPG.COM , will piss on you tomorrrow-- just keep that in mind,its your reputation!! . Everyone , i mean everyone with a clear mind , with a free will to judge ... i take it further ...with a spark of sanity KNOWS that Aion wasnt the best of 2009 ,it doesnt even deserve to be labeled as good .Through all the tragic releases in 2009 , specialy Aion deservs to be stomped in the ground .
I do understand that a lot yummie $$ is provided to you givin them that title , but lemme tell you that even the non brainers here see through that .
Ok you need the $$ i understand that , but for how long can you bullshit the ppl ??
I beg to disagree, I played live after beta closed pst the time frame you said. AION does have more bots than other games, heck it even has more bots & spammers than some of Play NC's other games (CoH, CoV). And it definately has more bots and spammers than EQ II and WoW.
I don't care about the grinding bit, those people need to learn that some games just aren't /easymode.
Ashreal D'Synn - Shadowlover & Death's handmaiden
I beg to disagree, I played live after beta closed pst the time frame you said. AION does have more bots than other games, heck it even has more bots & spammers than some of Play NC's other games (CoH, CoV). And it definately has more bots and spammers than EQ II and WoW.
I don't care about the grinding bit, those people need to learn that some games just aren't /easymode.
It had a fraction of the bots and spammers three weeks after release then it did at release.
This article has its merits. No one can deny that Aion's graphics are visually pleasing to the eye and are thus far unmatched in this genre. But visuals only get you so far.
Playing Aion for me was like dating an extremely attractive and well-dressed guy only to figure out three weeks into the relationship that we have nothing in common. Or walking into a gorgeous postmodern new age penthouse condo only to realize I just don't feel at home here.
Long story short, for whatever reason I couldn't make the connection to Aion. Once I reached the point where the gameplay felt like a grind, I stopped playing. Mind you, I have nothing against grinds and most of the time I can take it...but there has to be something else there keeping me interested, be it the lore or character development or what have you. Aion just felt too sterile and bland to me.
I will agree with Aion being the best new game of 2009, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have its own faults. I think it just brings the best overall package to the table, and is probably the only game that came to the market in 09 that did not have severe technical issues.
Although i'd disagree its the best mmo of 2009, in all honesty any mmo that one this title for 2009 is like beating a one legged man in a kicking contest.
I would have given it to Fallen Earth. It's a unique setting, one world one server, no load screens, no instances or zoning with exception of the tutorial, and all of this from an independent company. Ofcourse it isn't without it's faults, but all the other games have faults as well.
Aion is an interesting game that kind of stalled out for me around level 20+. And while the character creation is really great, one of the main attractions, flight, is hamstrung with timers which took away some of the fun for me. Load screens are always a turn off though, and the zones while attractive felt small and claustrophobic. In some ways I think it was a WOW clone, except that WOW was much faster to level and more fun. The character creation in Aion is amazing, but somehow the characters don't look exactly the same in the game, as if the coloring was slightly off.
Champion's Online had an amazing character creator as well. It's kind of like COH with better graphics in terms of character creation. But zones and instances killed my enjoyment of the game in a big way, and I think this is the exact wrong direction mmo's should be going as creating such worlds is more of a hinderance to growing a sense of community than an the alternative model, say one world, one server, no zones/instances. This is ofcourse my personal preference.
I think to the credit of all three games, the performed relatively well on my pc and looked great, in contrast to last years offerings some of which looked good but performed way under par.