It was over a year before there was even a trial for Lineage 2, even then they only give trial keys to subscribers to give out to their friends. Usually a trial isn't given so early at release but you can play the game for free if you manage to get your hands on an Open Beta key come September 6th.
Yah sep 1st FP will give them out to subscribers (yah it sucks but everyone uses FP now days so nothing new)
It's hard to tell how large Aion is by those pics, look at a game like Ryzom it only has a few zones but together it takes near all day to travel across the world.
I hope the folks putting Aion together redraw that map it looks like something out of a f2p mmo.
It's hard to tell how large Aion is by those pics, look at a game like Ryzom it only has a few zones but together it takes near all day to travel across the world.
I hope the folks putting Aion together redraw that map it looks like something out of a f2p mmo.
I don't think you would have any trouble at all fitting any one of those maps inside The Barrens from WoW. Also not that in most of those maps, less than 70% of the square area the map fit in is actually playable terrain.
Originally posted by Remii718 Hmmm...... I didn't expect a small world and zoning with loading screens. I hated how small WAR and AoC were. Maybe Ncsoft will give us a trial? I don't want to pay for another mmo that ends up having small cut up zones with loading screens and "world pvp zones" that are instanced lol. I like playing in a big world.
If WAR was too small for you, skip Aion. Excluding the Abyss, which is a little hard to quantify size wise, Aion is probably only about 20% the land mass of WAR. Maybe less. Half that space belongs to the other faction and you don't really have access to most of the content there.
Aion is definitely smaller than WoW, and levels 1-15 are very linear, both in quests and in zone progression. But after that it opens up quite a bit. While Aion is definitely not an "explorer's" game, I like to think of it as quality over quantity. Most of the zones are quite asthetically pleasing and varied. I think because this is a PvPvE game the world is just the right size. Too big and everything becomes PvE like Warhammer, and too small and it's one large arena PvP fest.
This is definitely one of the biggest negatives for Aion.
A game can be fun from the start, but if the world is too small, that flaw will grow in importance every day you play, until it becomes the death of the experience for you.
Aion has a very small game world.
The first wave of people quiting the game will be people who can't stand the griefing.
The second mass exodus will be people leaving once they realize how small the game world is (and how poorly designed much of what is in game actually is).
Zone design is at least as bad as WAR, maybe even worse, but the total land mass, excluding the Abyss, is maybe 20% of the land mass in WAR. Each zone is maybe the size of a large zone in WoW, but post level 20 there are only three zones for each race, excluding the Abyss! That is very small.
you won't feel the map is small but you will feel it is huge and feel frustrated by travel even just in one map. trust me with 13 year MMO game experience. build a big map is the easiest part for any MMO game design. Aion map is much bigger than Wow when its launched. 1 Aion map eq to several wow areas. Aion has 10+ maps for each side
U have to remember they are new too ... there will be expansions that will increase the world size im sure. Take EQ1 for instance .... the original area to play wasn't very big at all and now I dont think theres a game out there with more area to cover. But because of its size if it actually had a decent pvp system to it, you would have a really rough time finding anyone outside of the newest zones. I think Aion is right about the right size for pvpve, and again even if it is a little small now they have years to add to it.
The size of the 20-30 area is really nice for PvP, i haven't had a chance to see the higher levels yet. But i like the fact that you don't have to go far too find someone to gank. Theres nothing worse than have large area of land that no one uses or goes to.
Aion v3 "RELOADED" - A glimpse into the future of the MMO genre
This is the first ive heard of instanced zones. When I played CB it was seamless from area to area. But I know there are channels in the starting zones to keep lag to a minimum.
I rather have a medium sized game thats well polished and full of things to do, than a gigantic world full if bugs to cover and deserted areas.
The game is new and there is already a new big Abyss area getting prepared for the first major content update after launch, and there will certainly be other zones and expansions.
Whats important is to have a good game to begin with, the world size always expands during the games life cycle
This is definitely one of the biggest negatives for Aion. A game can be fun from the start, but if the world is too small, that flaw will grow in importance every day you play, until it becomes the death of the experience for you. Aion has a very small game world. The first wave of people quiting the game will be people who can't stand the griefing. The second mass exodus will be people leaving once they realize how small the game world is (and how poorly designed much of what is in game actually is). Zone design is at least as bad as WAR, maybe even worse, but the total land mass, excluding the Abyss, is maybe 20% of the land mass in WAR. Each zone is maybe the size of a large zone in WoW, but post level 20 there are only three zones for each race, excluding the Abyss! That is very small.
Aion does have the feeling of a small world till you get into endgame content, but this is of course only speaking of vanilla Aion.
Actually Aion limits griefing pretty heavily for a PvP centric game, but if all it takes is a few death for a player to quit, then they were better off not playing to begin with. Only place where open PvP is without much restriction is in the Abyss which if someone step into it, they really have no excuse to whine about deaths. There are 10 channels too, which is already pretty friendly to people that want to avoid battles.
Aion's design is actually pretty good, it is nothing new, but it is better than most. Without playing to endgame even in current Vanilla version, I cannot take your word for it. However, it is not that small when the contents are more compact together instead of spread out with nothing in between.
How the heck do you define zone in WoW is beyond me, since WoW uses open map. This is really starting to feel like more of a bash on Aion instead of actual facts. Truthfully stuff like gigantic map with content spread out and a small map with same amount of contents compacted is only going to end up the same. Only one that can surpass theese two is big map that is also filled with all kinds of contents. No game has really achieved this yet, even though alot of games got the big map design correctly, but filling it with content takes alot of work and resources.
Kinda sucks to hear this news, I was looking forward to aion alot more until I heard this. I played WoW until TBC (ick) came out but one of my favorite parts of WoW is at high levels, you could return to the lowbie zones and find places you never even knew existed IE. all of the random islands or elevated points. Pre BG's we used to organize battles in the Shimmering flats and get all of the high level's out there to duke it out; also there was this small island off the coast of the barrens near the STV boat where we would meet with alliance to duel.
It's the little things like this that make a game truly immersive and fun.
Can anyone tell me why the WOW's barrens being huge with -- what, it's been a few years -- two camps and a farm and a vast amount of grindy grazing animals... I mean, why is that better?
I suppose if you are a heavy duty explorer type, you should go play LOTRO or WOW. But I don't think this game is catering to that. Regardless, I've found some cute things tucked in the corners of the maps, little easter eggs, named mobs in remote corners, and so on.
Personally, I am not fond of spending 20 minutes slogging across a zone with no special content.
Terrain and vast herds of grind mobs is easy. But if I told you Aion had big maps with vast herds of grind mobs, you'd say "Oh, how like a Korean grind game!" and if I said it was like WOW, you'd flame me...
There is no win with you people, go haunt another forum.
Comparing world size to other games well of course EQ is the standard despite what people think wow was not the first open world area game EQs landmass is way bigger then wow. It is small compared to these games but shit eq has been out 10 years, wow 5 etc give aion 5 years and 3 expansions see how big it gets.
Comparing world size to other games well of course EQ is the standard despite what people think wow was not the first open world area game EQs landmass is way bigger then wow. It is small compared to these games but shit eq has been out 10 years, wow 5 etc give aion 5 years and 3 expansions see how big it gets.
I don't think Aion's landmass is ever going to be that big. A large part of the gameplay comes from PvPing over the limited PvE resources. Create a huge landmass and everyone will be so spread out that there will no longer be much incentive to compete.
you won't feel the map is small but you will feel it is huge and feel frustrated by travel even just in one map. trust me with 13 year MMO game experience. build a big map is the easiest part for any MMO game design. Aion map is much bigger than Wow when its launched. 1 Aion map eq to several wow areas. Aion has 10+ maps for each side
I can't comment on the truthfulness of your gaming experience, but everything else you said is highly inaccurate.
The maps are small and feel small. They are so small that people couldn't understand why they would announce that they were working on mounts for the game, when you can transverse the entire length of a zone in well under five minutes.
Zone creation is not the easiest thing in MMO design, or we'd be seeing much bigger worlds and much more frequent terrain additions.
The Aion map is MUCH smaller than the WoW map was at launch. One Aion zone is about the size of a single, large WoW zone.
In Aion, you have the following for each race:
Lvl 1 to 10 tutorial zone.
Lvl 11-20 zone.
Lvl 20-40 zone.
Lvl 30-50 zone.
Lvl 45-50 zone (with a small section for lvl 20-25).
Capitol city zone.
That is far from the 10+ maps for each side you espouse.
You'll be done with the tutorial zone in a few hours, the level 11-20 zone in under a week. There are a couple quests in the cities, but it's not a quest or instance hub like in some other titles. You basically go there to craft or to train. That's three actual PvE zones, for each race, for the bulk of your game play.
The abyss is separated into three levels; upper, lower and middle. Quantifying the size is a bit difficult. It's a 3 Dimensional environment, with little floating islands of land. There is a lot of empty space.
Also remember that unlike other games, where the early zones are race specific, but the higher level zones are often open to either race, here your opponent's PvE lands offer nothing to you except a few invasion quests and the opportunity to rift their for PvP (usually zerg invasions).
BTW, I wanted to address a couple comments in recent threads, just to be clear where I am coming from.
I pre-ordered Aion and will be playing it, for at least a couple months. The PvP nature of the game won't effect my game play, but I know from past experience that the small world size will severely limit the longevity of this title for me.
I've referenced WoW numerous times for comparison, because most people who play MMORPGs have at least tried the game, many having played it for at least a few months. It's an easy reference point for comparison that will have worth for most people.
I'm between MMORPGs. I haven't played WoW in over a year and a half. There is no other title, present or future I am advocating for.
Sharing information so people can make an informed decision on whether or not they should buy the game and what their long term expectations might be if they decide to give it a shot.
Can anyone tell me why the WOW's barrens being huge with -- what, it's been a few years -- two camps and a farm and a vast amount of grindy grazing animals... I mean, why is that better? I suppose if you are a heavy duty explorer type, you should go play LOTRO or WOW. But I don't think this game is catering to that. Regardless, I've found some cute things tucked in the corners of the maps, little easter eggs, named mobs in remote corners, and so on. Personally, I am not fond of spending 20 minutes slogging across a zone with no special content. Terrain and vast herds of grind mobs is easy. But if I told you Aion had big maps with vast herds of grind mobs, you'd say "Oh, how like a Korean grind game!" and if I said it was like WOW, you'd flame me... There is no win with you people, go haunt another forum.
I'm sure this was probably already mentioned but what would be the point of multiple, giant zones? When I leveled in WoW from 1-80, how much of the zones were actually revisited outside of maybe leveling a profession, helping a lowbie, or traveling to an instance? Almost none. In WAR, part of the problem with the end-game PvP was that it was so spread out in multiple zones that they were close to empty. Perhaps maybe Aion isn't catered towards people who want to run what seems like forever to the next zone? I don't know just my two cents
As stated before Aion is a new game and this is gonna be the starting point. People who are bashing Aion for having a small world need to remember that patches/expansions will make this game larger. With the lore this game has there is gonna be a whole new planet, or moon, or continent from which the Balaur got their new powers. So in time new race or classes and maps will be coming from this. I for one cant wait to explore Aion and coming from EQ1 (yes it still has a good raiding base) am excited about a smaller world where you see people in zones instead of towns and cities DEAD.
Comments
Yah sep 1st FP will give them out to subscribers (yah it sucks but everyone uses FP now days so nothing new)
Yes, Aion is very small.
http://aion.mmosite.com/guide/map.shtml
Thats the entire world of Aion.
Thanks for the links.
It's hard to tell how large Aion is by those pics, look at a game like Ryzom it only has a few zones but together it takes near all day to travel across the world.
I hope the folks putting Aion together redraw that map it looks like something out of a f2p mmo.
Playing: WoW, EvE
Interested in: TOR, ER, GW2, WoD, Dust514
Thanks for the links.
It's hard to tell how large Aion is by those pics, look at a game like Ryzom it only has a few zones but together it takes near all day to travel across the world.
I hope the folks putting Aion together redraw that map it looks like something out of a f2p mmo.
I don't think you would have any trouble at all fitting any one of those maps inside The Barrens from WoW. Also not that in most of those maps, less than 70% of the square area the map fit in is actually playable terrain.
It's a small game world.
Want to know more about GW2 and why there is so much buzz? Start here: Guild Wars 2 Mass Info for the Uninitiated
If WAR was too small for you, skip Aion. Excluding the Abyss, which is a little hard to quantify size wise, Aion is probably only about 20% the land mass of WAR. Maybe less. Half that space belongs to the other faction and you don't really have access to most of the content there.
Want to know more about GW2 and why there is so much buzz? Start here: Guild Wars 2 Mass Info for the Uninitiated
Dam I was really looking forward to AION.
It has no PvE, and the World is Small. I enjoy exploring. I like good PvPvE games.
Dam man, this game was looking cool too.
QQ anybody mind if I cry on your shoulder?
Aion is definitely smaller than WoW, and levels 1-15 are very linear, both in quests and in zone progression. But after that it opens up quite a bit. While Aion is definitely not an "explorer's" game, I like to think of it as quality over quantity. Most of the zones are quite asthetically pleasing and varied. I think because this is a PvPvE game the world is just the right size. Too big and everything becomes PvE like Warhammer, and too small and it's one large arena PvP fest.
This is definitely one of the biggest negatives for Aion.
A game can be fun from the start, but if the world is too small, that flaw will grow in importance every day you play, until it becomes the death of the experience for you.
Aion has a very small game world.
The first wave of people quiting the game will be people who can't stand the griefing.
The second mass exodus will be people leaving once they realize how small the game world is (and how poorly designed much of what is in game actually is).
Zone design is at least as bad as WAR, maybe even worse, but the total land mass, excluding the Abyss, is maybe 20% of the land mass in WAR. Each zone is maybe the size of a large zone in WoW, but post level 20 there are only three zones for each race, excluding the Abyss! That is very small.
Want to know more about GW2 and why there is so much buzz? Start here: Guild Wars 2 Mass Info for the Uninitiated
you won't feel the map is small but you will feel it is huge and feel frustrated by travel even just in one map. trust me with 13 year MMO game experience. build a big map is the easiest part for any MMO game design. Aion map is much bigger than Wow when its launched. 1 Aion map eq to several wow areas. Aion has 10+ maps for each side
U have to remember they are new too ... there will be expansions that will increase the world size im sure. Take EQ1 for instance .... the original area to play wasn't very big at all and now I dont think theres a game out there with more area to cover. But because of its size if it actually had a decent pvp system to it, you would have a really rough time finding anyone outside of the newest zones. I think Aion is right about the right size for pvpve, and again even if it is a little small now they have years to add to it.
The size of the 20-30 area is really nice for PvP, i haven't had a chance to see the higher levels yet. But i like the fact that you don't have to go far too find someone to gank. Theres nothing worse than have large area of land that no one uses or goes to.
Aion v3 "RELOADED" - A glimpse into the future of the MMO genre
This is the first ive heard of instanced zones. When I played CB it was seamless from area to area. But I know there are channels in the starting zones to keep lag to a minimum.
I rather have a medium sized game thats well polished and full of things to do, than a gigantic world full if bugs to cover and deserted areas.
The game is new and there is already a new big Abyss area getting prepared for the first major content update after launch, and there will certainly be other zones and expansions.
Whats important is to have a good game to begin with, the world size always expands during the games life cycle
Aion does have the feeling of a small world till you get into endgame content, but this is of course only speaking of vanilla Aion.
Actually Aion limits griefing pretty heavily for a PvP centric game, but if all it takes is a few death for a player to quit, then they were better off not playing to begin with. Only place where open PvP is without much restriction is in the Abyss which if someone step into it, they really have no excuse to whine about deaths. There are 10 channels too, which is already pretty friendly to people that want to avoid battles.
Aion's design is actually pretty good, it is nothing new, but it is better than most. Without playing to endgame even in current Vanilla version, I cannot take your word for it. However, it is not that small when the contents are more compact together instead of spread out with nothing in between.
How the heck do you define zone in WoW is beyond me, since WoW uses open map. This is really starting to feel like more of a bash on Aion instead of actual facts. Truthfully stuff like gigantic map with content spread out and a small map with same amount of contents compacted is only going to end up the same. Only one that can surpass theese two is big map that is also filled with all kinds of contents. No game has really achieved this yet, even though alot of games got the big map design correctly, but filling it with content takes alot of work and resources.
Kinda sucks to hear this news, I was looking forward to aion alot more until I heard this. I played WoW until TBC (ick) came out but one of my favorite parts of WoW is at high levels, you could return to the lowbie zones and find places you never even knew existed IE. all of the random islands or elevated points. Pre BG's we used to organize battles in the Shimmering flats and get all of the high level's out there to duke it out; also there was this small island off the coast of the barrens near the STV boat where we would meet with alliance to duel.
It's the little things like this that make a game truly immersive and fun.
Can anyone tell me why the WOW's barrens being huge with -- what, it's been a few years -- two camps and a farm and a vast amount of grindy grazing animals... I mean, why is that better?
I suppose if you are a heavy duty explorer type, you should go play LOTRO or WOW. But I don't think this game is catering to that. Regardless, I've found some cute things tucked in the corners of the maps, little easter eggs, named mobs in remote corners, and so on.
Personally, I am not fond of spending 20 minutes slogging across a zone with no special content.
Terrain and vast herds of grind mobs is easy. But if I told you Aion had big maps with vast herds of grind mobs, you'd say "Oh, how like a Korean grind game!" and if I said it was like WOW, you'd flame me...
There is no win with you people, go haunt another forum.
Shava
I don't think Aion's landmass is ever going to be that big. A large part of the gameplay comes from PvPing over the limited PvE resources. Create a huge landmass and everyone will be so spread out that there will no longer be much incentive to compete.
I can't comment on the truthfulness of your gaming experience, but everything else you said is highly inaccurate.
The maps are small and feel small. They are so small that people couldn't understand why they would announce that they were working on mounts for the game, when you can transverse the entire length of a zone in well under five minutes.
Zone creation is not the easiest thing in MMO design, or we'd be seeing much bigger worlds and much more frequent terrain additions.
The Aion map is MUCH smaller than the WoW map was at launch. One Aion zone is about the size of a single, large WoW zone.
In Aion, you have the following for each race:
That is far from the 10+ maps for each side you espouse.
You'll be done with the tutorial zone in a few hours, the level 11-20 zone in under a week. There are a couple quests in the cities, but it's not a quest or instance hub like in some other titles. You basically go there to craft or to train. That's three actual PvE zones, for each race, for the bulk of your game play.
The abyss is separated into three levels; upper, lower and middle. Quantifying the size is a bit difficult. It's a 3 Dimensional environment, with little floating islands of land. There is a lot of empty space.
Also remember that unlike other games, where the early zones are race specific, but the higher level zones are often open to either race, here your opponent's PvE lands offer nothing to you except a few invasion quests and the opportunity to rift their for PvP (usually zerg invasions).
It's a very small world.
Want to know more about GW2 and why there is so much buzz? Start here: Guild Wars 2 Mass Info for the Uninitiated
BTW, I wanted to address a couple comments in recent threads, just to be clear where I am coming from.
I pre-ordered Aion and will be playing it, for at least a couple months. The PvP nature of the game won't effect my game play, but I know from past experience that the small world size will severely limit the longevity of this title for me.
I've referenced WoW numerous times for comparison, because most people who play MMORPGs have at least tried the game, many having played it for at least a few months. It's an easy reference point for comparison that will have worth for most people.
I'm between MMORPGs. I haven't played WoW in over a year and a half. There is no other title, present or future I am advocating for.
Sharing information so people can make an informed decision on whether or not they should buy the game and what their long term expectations might be if they decide to give it a shot.
Want to know more about GW2 and why there is so much buzz? Start here: Guild Wars 2 Mass Info for the Uninitiated
+1
mmorpg gamers are so funny
I'm sure this was probably already mentioned but what would be the point of multiple, giant zones? When I leveled in WoW from 1-80, how much of the zones were actually revisited outside of maybe leveling a profession, helping a lowbie, or traveling to an instance? Almost none. In WAR, part of the problem with the end-game PvP was that it was so spread out in multiple zones that they were close to empty. Perhaps maybe Aion isn't catered towards people who want to run what seems like forever to the next zone? I don't know just my two cents
I could care less, size to me dont count... its how it works!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liLhz0dy4PM LAWL
As stated before Aion is a new game and this is gonna be the starting point. People who are bashing Aion for having a small world need to remember that patches/expansions will make this game larger. With the lore this game has there is gonna be a whole new planet, or moon, or continent from which the Balaur got their new powers. So in time new race or classes and maps will be coming from this. I for one cant wait to explore Aion and coming from EQ1 (yes it still has a good raiding base) am excited about a smaller world where you see people in zones instead of towns and cities DEAD.
Hearing the small world map numbs my nerve system already. Now I am thinking about terrible traffic jam and lag only.