BUT

You talk like WoW is the 1st 3d mmorpg ever created, as if Wow is complete original, and all rest just copy. Dear friend you should get your facts straight, there were 3d mmorpg games before WoW, and WoW was basicaly created with 20% original content, 80% of content was combined from games that were on the web before WoW. Its more or less same with Aion, it combines most of the finest details from numerous mmorpg games. And yes, there is no grind in Aion, none at all, 1-50 you can do by only questing. PvPvE system enables you to get exp even from pvp action. lvl25+ you all can expect to experience intense pvp action not even closely seen in WoW.

WoW is 100% out of date, thats shown in huge drop in income in pas month, and keeps dropping, instead of these atempts of adding more expansions, Blizzard should focus on making a sequel.

Bot problem in Aion: Ehm, do you realy think there is no botting in WoW? My neighbour still makes a living, feeds his family, pays bills etc from botting characters in WoW and selling them online, tho sales are down for a last few months. I wonder why? Oh wait…Aion

Personally, I tried WOW and could only stand it for about 20 days. The graphics were way too cartoony, and the animations only added to that. There was hardly any story to speak of, and the only thing worthwhile really was just the quest grinding. Nothing else made me want to stay. Even the RP was severely lacking–and WOW has dedicated RP servers!

If Aion were anything like WOW, I would have dropped the Beta and demanded a refund from GameStop for my preorder.

computer power!

Firstly, computer wise… I have a 2-3 year old computer and aion ran outstandingly smooth (it took a long time to load the game and get to login screen, howerver after that everything was instant and very very smooth)

First Impression

First impression of the game was very very good, character creation screen provided good options for individualistic creation and was very simple to use.

Classes!

Up to level 10 you are still your base class (such as mage) so i am unable to comment a great deal on classes or balance, however from what i have seen the class balance is a highly important aspect to nc soft. An example of this was the nerf of spiritmaster in beta test 2.

Gameplay!

The game play looks good :), the best aspect (in my opinion) of WOW is the simple but effective interface, which Aion has included. The spells individually work the same way as WOW, except for the combo’s which i have not tested as of yet. Quest givers are highlighted aswell (unlike FFXI online, which drove me mad)- The statement made earlier about the combination of Western and asian mmo’s is instantly proven at first inspection. Aion provides easy. user friendly controls from games like WOW or WAR, and includes customisable macros and a self contained AH (such as the bazaar in ffxi). In adition to this it apears they have corrected what i beleived was the downfall of WOW, which is they have included PVP amongst leveling and raiding (instead of treating PVP and PVE as completely different aspects).

Finally i would just like to contest something people consistently say…. “korean grind”….. well firstly EVERY mmorpg is a grind game (whether its grinding for exp/levels or loot). This is no exception for WOW either, once at max level you can spend hours and hours grinding for loot in instances or raids. secondly without the need to grind to obtain items or exp the game will become way way to easy (another of WOWs downfalls).

Personally after 4+ years of WOW i think being able to get full PVP epics after 6 or so hours of BG is pathetic…. where is the challange??? …

On the other side of the coin FFXI provides this challange however is perhaps a bit to complex to control and understand to begin with. And obtaining items from quests can take way way to long for low levels.

Conclusion!

If you want everything for nothing, have to work for nothing and level quickly then WOWTLK is probly best for you. Although the simplistic user interface makes this game easy to grasp and simple to learn.

If you want to play for hours, without feeling like you are getting very far very quickly and possibly lose it all when u die then FFXI is your game. However the upside here is you can party a great deal to level faster (but partys take a lot of time to form and play). Items do not bind on equip so most items u can use and then sell. Possibly the best 2 aspects of this game are: 1) the concept of sub jobs and 2) the autotraslation keys to remove some language restrictions

However if you would like a reasonable mix of the two then for sure Aion is for you!

Ratings of the games i have played!

WOW - before any addons = 10/10
WOW + TBC = 8/10
WOW + TLK = 5/10
(Blizzard made it to easy and were lazy with thier addons)
DAOC + addons = 8/10
RF Online = 3/10
FFXI Online = 6/10
Archlord = 4/10

*AION* = 9/10 (HOWEVER PLEASE NOTE THIS, AND ALL INFO ABOUT AION ABOVE IS BASED SOLEY ON BETA’S!)