Soon my time in Aion will come to an end. As I expected, the game is just not for me. It isn't a bad game and I did have some fun while playing. Even though I won't be playing it, there are some things that WAR can learn and hopefully be an even better game.
First lets start with why I will not continue with Aion. First and foremost is the nature of the leveling process. I made it to level 28 and just could not climb the hill to 50 via the PvE route. I really do prefer PvP leveling, but that isn't recommended in the Abyss. I also did not dig the art style. Both reasons are opinion based, so you may feel differently.
On to what WAR can learn from Aion.
- Performance. In normal situations (not 100+ player combat), Aion's combat is very smooth with very nice animations. Even with WAR's 1.3.2 improvements, it still doesn't match Aion in the flow of combat.
- Crafting. I do like WAR's crafting philosophy of making stuff you can use. Aion's crafting is the definition of grind, but it is much more broad than WAR. I would love to see WAR keep their philosophy but expand the system.
- Economy. Aion has a thriving Auction House economy party due to their broad Crafting system. In WAR, it is pretty easy to become self-sufficient. That is a double edged sword as not counting on others is nice but it hurts the social nature of the game.
- PvP. In Aion it is perfectly reasonable for you, or you and a friend, to go out into the PvP area and do quests, farm stuff or look for trouble. In WAR, that isn't really possible due to the nature of the RvR lakes. It is made for groups or larger. Sometimes players don't want to run in large groups.
