Confessions of a Gamehopper: Aion

I will admit right away that I am considered a game hopper. I played EQ pretty consistantly, however during my time being abused, sorry, playing in Norrath, I also played whatever struck my fancy at the time.

My time as blue furred Kobold Shadowblade in DAoC is still fresh in my mind, and Eve is still on my start menu simply because of the game's quality and skill system. After SW:G and even Shadowbane, naturally I gave EQ2 a chance, but soon moved on to WoW, which has been my home for a few years now. Tabula Rasa, Warhammer online, various FPS, I played (and in some cases still visit) every game that seems worth my time and money.

What's my point you ask? That's a good question.

With all those games under my belt, I have a nice perspective on the past, and while I may be arrogant to say so, the future of MMO's. Each title that came down the wire had it's strengths. While I did not get to play Ultima Online, I recognize it as the first real MMORPG in the sense that it's player base felt a level of ownership. EQ opened up the genre to the Roleplaying/Carebear/Raiding multitudes that reproduced and now have children of their own. Game after game came along, improving and adding their 2cp to the landscape, and at the same time forcing the dominant players on the market to adjust their thinking.

With all of that said, I mention a new MMO, Aion. For anyone that hasn't heard of it, check it out here . Am I going to play this game? Hell yes. The graphics are absolutely stunning, even at the meager settings I can manage without losing frame rate. Combat (so far) is similar to DAoC which was intense, reactive styles, unbalanced Classical Rock/paper/scissors. The lore is rich, and complementary to the PvP environment the game is built around, giving you a reason to go out and fight. Did I mention that beginning at lvl 10 (50 total levels) you can fly with your own damn wings? Gimmicky I know, but it certainly grabs the attention.

Now on the flip side...I can already see a potential problem, the same problem DAoC ran into. End game content seems PvP based, and if not handled correctly, will result in the same dead end. Any game that hopes to survive it's 30 day trial needs to be captivating to the majority of power gamers that will muscle through to the end game content in a week and realize "Hey, this is actually pretty cool" and stick around long enough to make a mark.

Will I think Aion will last? I'm not sure, and to be honest, I doubt it. Aion is a refinement and continuation of the current generation of MMO; there are still Quest NPCs, hotbars, and magical weapons/armor. But fear not true believers, the next generation of game is coming, I can feel it in my bones.