i am currently playing in the Aion open beta and i find myself having a rather good time in this new mmorpg. my very first impression was “oh this is so eastern/asian”. well yes, it is korean after all but it is adjusted to feel not as strange as FFXI does to the western player. graphics are very nice (farcry engine) but i have to admit it isn’t as nice as LotRO in dx10 and on ultra high settings.
the game itself is standard mmo fare, you get quests to kill stuff, bring items or the famous fed ex type where you have to talk to someone or deliver something to someone. combat feels smooth although there isn’t any skill queuing so you do end up smashing buttons. however, there is something very asian about combat: your in and out of combat health/mana regen sucks and you do end up sitting down and resting a lot. several quests have nice cutscenes and your campaign quest chain is really very well done and prompted me to say “wow” several times.
classes are pretty generic mmo as well: tank, dps, caster, healer. at level 10 you get to chose a sub job and can specialize. the first char i tried was a scout (dps) and at level 10 i had the choice of assassin (melee dps) or ranger (ranged dps). i went for ranger but only to discover that its not my cup of tea in Aion. naturally you have to kite the mobs you are killing but eventually you will end up being in melee range and having to melee them down. to do that, you need to switch weapons because you can only have either your bow or two melee weapons equipped. i found that bothersome and the fact you need to buy arrow and carry a nice stack with them around made the decision to dump the ranger easy.
next i tried a mage and although being very squishy its the typical nuker/glass canon. at level 10 you have the choice between sorcerer (nuker with CC) or spirit master (dots and a pet/summon) and i opted to go for sorcerer. i enjoy nuking and seeing those big numbers on your screen.
i also tried a priest but i am not level 10 yet, so the decision if i should go cleric (main healer) or chanter (support class with buffs and some healing) still has to be made. currently i am tempted to try chanter because a pure healing class is most likely a pain to level.
i think i wont try the tank class. templar is the sword and board main tank and i can’t see myself playing a tank in a mainly PvP game. gladiator sounds like a dps warrior with aoe capabilities but again, i don’t think i want to be a melee class in Aion.
open beta still runs until sunday.