09.13.09

Is Aion Worth It?

Posted in Aion, Legion, Rant, WoW at 8:02 pm by Fedoldinn

Well, to say the least, the excitement for Aion is still here, but it definitely has faded somewhat for me. I’m a bit confused lately regarding how much time I can realistically dedicate to gaming at this point in my life and into the future, as well as what it is that I want out of the gaming experience.

Do I want to play another MMORPG? After World of Warcraft, my answer was initially a definite “yes” with a few stipulations regarding the game. Aion, to say the least, was that game initially. It excited me, it made me want to play another RPG, but more than that, it made me want to experience the online community surrounding such a game once again. I wanted to be a part of another guild, I wanted to help my online friends out as best as I could with my considerably messed up work schedule (I could never join a raiding guild for example, I simply can’t predict when I work and when I don’t) and I wanted to help contribute to the bigger picture, even if it was more of a behind-the-scenes kind of role than I have been used to in the past.

So, the logical question to ask is, what has changed?

Well, after a few months of being out of the MMO scene, I’ve come to realize a few things. First, the past community I was a part of is still around in a relative sense. Some of us hang out in IRC and chat about our lives or random topics daily, which at least means that some of the friendships formed within that community are still active even without the guild being active as it once was. This fact doesn’t have much bearing on joining a new legion in Aion, however, it does mean that I’m still active to an extent in an online community, even without a game behind it to keep us playing together.

The second realization, and a fairly significant factor in my decision to play Aion, is that the time requirements for an MMORPG are extremely large for the most part. After adjusting to my new schedule with very little gaming involved at the moment, I’ve been debating whether or not I will have much time to play each day. Basically, I’ve been counting approximately how many hours I would be able to spend in game daily, and my conclusion is that I won’t be able to dedicate as much time to Aion now as I once did to WoW. This may be for many reasons, but read on for the reasons I’ve come up with so far.

When I played WoW, I probably played too much. At the time, I was used to coming home from work or school, grabbing a meal as fast as possible, and logging into the game in order to help organize our guild to raid. On off nights, I did the same more or less, but I organized smaller groups to raid 10 mans, or helped organize premade PvP groups, or otherwise logged on to run instances, farm, chat, or help out where I could. Basically, what it boils down to is this: when I got home, I was dedicating 100% of my time to the guild and game in one sense or another. I really enjoyed the community I played with, and it would be hard to say that I wouldn’t do it again in retrospect. This is simply the way it was for me. Now, I have other important aspects of my life outside of the game that would prevent me from being this active, and I foresee the next few months being fairly busy as I work through these and plan for the future.

Well, what about casual play then? Although I fully realize I can come and play Aion more casually than I have other games before it, I still realize that even casual play requires a rather significant time investment. It will take all of us a fairly long time to reach the level cap, which means a lot of time spent questing and grinding on the way there. I considered this, and came up with the following realization. One hour a day is not enough to jump into a game like Aion; you simply won’t get too much accomplished in that short of a period of time, and it is almost guaranteed that I will want to continue for a bit longer in order to make some more progress. A minimum of roughly two hours spent to the cause is a bit more ideal, yet factoring two hours a day into my schedule, I’ve realized that some days I will be able to play that much but other days I simply won’t.

The real dilemma here, is that I really do like what I’ve seen so far of Aion. The few closed beta events that I had the opportunity to play in were extremely fun, and I don’t normally enjoy playing any games at all before they’re released. I like to see the final content that’s been tested and balanced; playing beta content that isn’t finalized, is limited in some way, or isn’t balanced usually doesn’t interest me at all. This was not the case for Aion. The beta content made me more interested in the game than I was before. Considering that the betas had level restrictions and I never had the chance to even check out the Abyss or much of the PvP aspect of the game, I’d say that there is a lot to still look forward to.

As I’ve stated previously, the questing and leveling experience in Aion feels like less of a grind than it did in previous role playing games I’ve played. I had fun with the process, and I actually do look forward to spending time doing this again. That in itself may be a good reason to make the purchase even if I don’t have the time to experience much of the end game content. With visually stunning, interesting, and most importantly fun environments to check out, there is a lot to do and look forward to in the leveling process alone in this game. Given a limited amount of play time each week, this process may take longer for me than for others, but at least I know I will enjoy it while I’m doing it. Aside from the quests, I also look forward to grouping up while leveling with others on the server to conquer some of the content, like the elite areas found scattered around the world. We had quite a bit of fun for hours on end in the same small area in the closed beta doing just this.

Of course, there is also the PvE, PvP, and PvPvE aspects of the game to look forward to also. Exploring the Abyss and  random world events and encounters with the Elyos (we’ll be Asmodian) should provide for interesting learning opportunities in a new game where the classes and their abilities, strengths and weaknesses aren’t well known to me. Finally, when I do reach the level cap at some point, I know I will have other end game content to check out when I have the time to do so. I’ve always really enjoyed grouping up with other players to conquer content, so dungeons and raids will definitely be of interest to me.

My conclusion about whether Aion is worth my monthly subscription fee at the moment is still entirely up in the air. Casual play still requires a fairly significant time investment, and at that rate I won’t really get to enjoy as much of the game as I would like to. MMORPGs simply aren’t designed to be the type of game you can jump into and play for a short while, and then leave behind for a bit when you get busy and don’t have much time. They’re designed to create epic worlds that will keep you in game for a long periods of time. On the other hand, given my reduced time schedule and slower leveling process, I may be able to actually enjoy some of the content the game’s designers have provided for players instead of simply rushing through it to reach the level cap and focus on the end game as I’ve always done in the past.

I guess the real debate here is whether or not I can play Aion (or any MMORPG for that matter) and enjoy it in a similar manner to other types of games that you can jump in and out at your own leisure, without concerns about in game goals. Examples of these are multiplayer FPS games. I’ve had some fun playing Day of Defeat and Natural Selection again over the past little while, and those are the types of games I can jump into when I have time with a group of friends and play for a bit. Most importantly, I can leave those games behind at times when I get busy and have other things to do quite easily.

What are your thoughts on the topic? Can you play Aion casually? If so, is it worth the monthly subscription fee, as well as the game purchase, to play an MMORPG for a maximum of 10 hours a week? Let me know what you think.

As an aside, although I definitely don’t regret the amount of time I spent playing WoW in the past for many reasons (the friendships I made during this time are important to me, and I know for a fact that at least one of them will definitely last a lifetime), at this point in time that kind of dedication is something I cannot give to a game. I have other priorities that need to be taken care of when I’m off work, and I’d like to spend my time relaxing a bit more and doing other things as well.

Related posts:

1. A Casual Approach to Aion (Part 1)
2. A Casual Approach to Aion (Part 2)
3. The NCSoft Launcher…
4. Head Start Update

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