Customer Ratings & Reviews

Like with any NCsoft game, the character customization is amazing. The item drop rate is crazy high and if you're like me, you'll be making lots of trips back to a vendor and the bank to ensure that you profit off the items. It's a very large world and early on there are multiple channels so you can avoid the large crowds in some areas or go to them for group quests. Many skills can start chains and as you level, you learn more. The graphics are great but have room for improvement in regards to some of the basics. Depending on the class you choose, the game may be a little more difficult for you (Like in my case) or it could be laughably easy. It's hard to get lost when doing quests so I'm referring strictly to the killing of monsters. Some items at the broker (Auction House) are very spendy and it can be a little difficult to pick up "that one" upgrade you're looking for. Like with any MMORPG, there is a grindy feel to it. It's not as bad as normal Korean games but if you're too used to the cake-walk that is World of Warcraft then you might not like it in Aion. Conclusion- If you don't mind a challenge and like what you've researched about the game so far, pick up Aion. If you've only played WoW and you hate the grind in it then you might want to avoid this game.

I am currently in the Open Beta of the game and am currently only lvl 11 so I can only explain what I have experienced so far. Up until this point at lvl 11, the quests have been nothing but grinding and go talk to this person at this place. The questing has been quite boring. Now the graphics are amazing. One of the best for an MMO I have seen. Along with the graphics is the character customization. You can change everything from how tall you are (you can be a giant or as small as a gnome), how wide your shoulders are, the scars, the facial hair, your hair color, etc. it's amazing and it keeps you from looking like everybody else in the game. Also, the flying is a lot of fun. You don't have to pay for the wings and you get them at an early lvl of 10. It's easy to fly but the battles in the sky are just like the battles on the ground so it doesn't seem like it adds anything new to battling, but does make it easier if you are a Ranger (archer) to kill monsters and mobs of monsters. However, with these wings does change the game somewhat. For instance, the NPCs which give quests can now be anywhere. I looked around for an hour for one NPC on the ground before realizing there was a giant ice rock in the sky where the NPC was standing. On the map you can't tell whether the NPC is on the ground or in the sky, so it does take some getting used to and being able to ask a lot of people. I'm not sure if quests change as you get higher lvl, but I hope so. Also, I heard the PVP was supposed to be pretty good, but I haven't quite done any of that yet. I would recommend this game strictly on graphics. These graphics blow any other MMOs out the water.

This is a solid game and a lot of fun. Most press on this game tends to be focused around its graphics which are really great but to be honest that is just the surface of it. This game is just really fun, plain and simple. If you've played any other the other big games out there like wow, warhammer, lineage, lord of the rings etc you will feel right at home. Character creation is extremely extensive. You really can pretty much make your character look like anything. Even your characters voice can be changed around. There are 3 races in Aion, 2 of which you can choose to roll (3rd race is server controlled). Any piece of armor can be used as a template for another so you can make your plate mail armor look like cloth etc. Every piece of gear can be modified in color as well for full customization. But the real character customization is not with the character looks but with how your character is. Titles, manastone, godstones, stigmastones etc. allow you to pretty much make your character into anything you like. None of the other MMORPGs released allow this much customization in player looks or abilities. You have your typical mage, cleric, rogue and warrior types in Aion. You further define a subclass at level 10 for a total of 8 classes: Sorcerer (Crowd control and nuker. They hit hard with spells but fold as easily as paper if hit.) Spirit Master (Pets, DOTs and lots of Fears.) Cleric (Healer. Those who like to heal seem to love this class.) Chanter (DPS and buffing healer. Substitute main healer.) Assassin (Melee DPS. Stealther. Poisons.) Ranger (Ranged DPS. Kiting and crowd controls.) Templar (Tank. They can do damage but they can't be killed easily either.) Gladiator (A DPS tank. Melee mostly. Substitute main tank.) The first few levels have a lot of things to help out new players of MMORPGs from in game help videos to lots of pop-ups with tips. Well done entry to the game. At level 10 you choose your subclass and get your wings as you ascend and become a Daeva. You were a lowly human until then. You don't really use your wings though until much later. Levels 10-25 are pretty much learning the abilities of your class. Tons of quests and gathering to do. Lots of which are only done in groups although you can solo all the way to 50 if you’d like but not recommended. At level 20 you may start to encounter the opposing faction and start doing some limited PVP. Up to this point the game is pretty linear and scripted. Level 25 you do your abyss entry quests and enter a completely 3d world. The Abyss is huge. Larger than the rest of the world combined and you really do go all over the place in it. You will encounter both the opposing faction and the 3 race, the Balaur. The Balaur are a computer controlled faction and are used to balance out the two player controlled races. If one race starts to dominate too much, the Balaur come in and wipe the slate clean. You are often thrown in against both factions at the same time in combat. Level 25 to 50 consists of quests, PVP, instances and crafting mostly. Tons of stuff and you never run out of things to do. Unlike most games you do all the quests all over the world map. You even have to go back into the starting zones a few times. The game is very linear at first and becomes completely non-linear later on. End game consists of tons of end game instances and PVP to do. Fortress sieges really start at level 35+ but are mostly done by the upper levels. There is a lot to do at end game already with more content on the way. PVP starts at level 20 but to be honest you don't really do much until later. PVP is a complete free for all in that you can easily encounter people much higher or lower than you at any time. I suggest you make friends and stick together when soloing or are lower level as single players are often easy prey by passing players from the opposing faction. PVP is very fast and not easy at all. You are not gimped in what abilities you can use and there are safe places to go to avoid PVP but sometimes even the major towns are raided so you can't even be totally safe except for in one zone and your capital city. All the classes are fairly evenly balanced with none standing out as better or worse than the others. As you get higher in level more pvp is introduced and you are sent into the opposing factions areas for specific quests to do. There are several instances in end game where you have to fight both the instance mobs and players from the opposing faction. If you want to avoid PVP you mostly can but sometimes you will run into it a bit. You just can't avoid it totally. If you absolutely hate PVP, buy another game. If you love some or a lot of PVP you will love Aion. Graphics are top of the line. Very difficult to find a game with better graphics than Aion. When you go into the graphics options, you can click the auto-detect settings and it will scan your computer and set the graphic levels to the best level for your hardware. Except for just downright poor computers, almost everyone will be able to run Aion at max settings. Moving from any other MMORPG you will see an instant improvement in both looks and or animations even with the same hardware. In Aion you can glide and fly. There is a difference which you will learn eventually. The first 30 levels or so very little flying is done. It's mostly used later in the game (Where you spend most of your time in). The game really is 3D. They do limit where you can fly in the first part of the game but open it up later on. 3D combat adds a lot to the game. I love closing my wings and dropping like a rock to escape an enemy. Flight time management is extremely important and adds to the difficulty of PVP and questing in the abyss. Ariel combat is often more about gaining an aerial advantage sometimes than fighting. Your characters stats change depending on if you are in the air or ground or even what direction you are moving. Music and sound are top notch. You can turn on and off various aspects if you’d like but not normally needed. Really the game music and sound effects get an A+. There is no built in voice chat system. Most players use the normal vent, teamspeak, skype or yahoo. Combat is very fast paced compared to most on-line games. It's not like you just spam the same buttons over and over like in some games. One really nice aspect is the chain skills. Basically some skills activate to open up others. Chain skills can have multiple branches and go very deep on some classes. You are constantly making choices in combat due to the chain skills. Chain skills become very nice after level 35 or so. Server lag tends to be very low. The hardware and ISP NCsoft uses is very good. They have been making on-line games for years so have it down right. The first few weeks the game was released the game was very poor in this category but it is extremely efficient and works well now. Characters statistics change as you move in various directions and if you are in the air or not. Combat is just plain and simply a lot of fun. Aion is a channel based game. If any one area gets too many players playing in it, the game automatically creates a duplicate channel of the area so it is not over crowded. If you group with others, you must be in the same channel. The Aion world is extensive and well done. The client and server software are not buggy at all and NCsoft seems to be adding stuff to the game already constantly. Patching the game is done automatically in the background and does not take long even with large patches. Servers seem to be populated and balanced well (They control this). Over all the game looks really good and plays even better. It truly is one of the next generation of MMORPGs. If you have played one of the older games like wow, warhammer, starcraft, lotro or guildwars, you will feel pretty comfortable upgrading to Aion. It really is an upgrade. If you have never played this type of game before, it is a good game to start with as they really made it easy to get into. Aion is subscription based and very well worth the money.

I was a closed beta tester for AION, preordered the Collector's Edition, and began playing at launch. The game is beautifully rendered. The character creation screen has a nearly infinite amount of options, and the gameplay is straightforward enough that almost anyone can learn the game within a few hours. Having flight as a core ability in the game after level 10, I have to admit it's fun, but the flight timer restrictions don't allow for a lot of indulgence. You can use potions or items with permanent ability modifiers to lengthen the time, but you're still limited to a few minutes of flight time. The game has an auction house, legions (guilds), a party mechanic of up to 6 players, crafting, and PvP arenas. The online website has the ability to look at character equipment, stats, auctions, and mail. This is an awesome feature when you're craving for some game time while at work.... a great feature in my opinion. Early on in the game's life there was an immediate plague of bots and gold sellers... NCSoft has dropped the "banhammer" as of recently and really knocked out the majority of these illegitimate accounts, so as a player I don't see as many bots in the field as before, and definitely a giant drop in the amount of spam in the chat channels. I've heard from other players some complaints of lag in the game, but I have never experienced it on any of my desktop machines (I use Comcast broadband if that is of any significance). Overall, the game is well done. I was not a huge fan of WoW, and avoid it at all costs... yet AION has captivated me enough to not only try, and eventually buy, but keep me playing on a constant basis. I expect great things from AION in the future.

I'm not sure what the huge fuss is over this game as most of the reviews I've read are bad. Maybe its just people only decide to write a review over something if they're mad. Anyway, I've played this game since the open beta, have purchased the special collector's edition, and have spent hours playing. I have never had the issues that all of the other posts seem to have had. The queue times have NEVER been at 4 hours for me. At most, I've waited about 30 - 45 minutes. While this may seem long, any online game worth it's salt has high queue times either during launch or during an upgrade. The reason: if there were too many servers (aka no queue time) there would be virtually no players as they would be spread out over too many servers. Also, I'm not sure about this whole 'account ban' scheme, but I'm pretty sure that no one gets an account banned with no explanation for no reason at all. Anyway, I've found the game to be fantastically entertaining to play, much better than I did WoW. There is an actual story line to follow in the game as well as a more well defined system to complete quests. There has not been one point so far I have had to google where something is or how to do something as I have had to all the time in WoW. The game is great fun, but doesn't have a learning curve so high on it that only the geekiest of geeks can tell you what you're doing. Don't listen to the others on this site; this game is ultimately a keeper and will probably prove much more long-lasting and sucessful than a lot of the MMO's out there today.

The game is fairly good. It's not just another copy cat MMORPG, it actually has a new story and a new experience. After level 10 there aren't really any clear goals except for getting to a higher level, which many people, like me, get bored with. The graphics are very nice, and the classes are interesting. One major issue is that there was no trial. I ended up spending $65 just to TRY the game: $50 for the game, and $15 for the first month.

I have been playing Aion the last few weeks in closed beta and for those of whom are wondering, open beta begins in a few weeks. You still have time to jump on board to try it out. The game itself is amazing. IMO it takes the best aspects of every MMO out there and puts it into one. The combat system itself isnt button mashing but as you obtain higher levels it involves chaining abilities. The flying is very cool, but is limited to certain areas but you can use your wings at anytime to glid around. The class system: Has 4 classes that each split in 2 at level 10. For example if you choose priest you will be able to pick a Cleric (healer) or a Chanter (buffs and dmg). The crafting system which i did not take the time to explore, but from what i saw and what my friends have told and shown me. It is very dynamic, it involves much more then sitting there hitting a button over and over and over like many MMO's out there. There are end game raids much like EQ, involving a lot of people that have to coordinate to kill bosses. The pvp is intense and fun, (It was limited in closed beta so i did not get a lot of time to explore it) The servers are very unique in that you can changes channels within a server to another server within your server. So if you are trying to kill something that is being farmed you can change channels to where there are less people but still be on the same server. Aion has done a wonderful job fixing lag issues. Overall this is a great game and I think you can try it out for 5 bucks for open beta.

The game is great! Ncsoft itself from what I've been told has some great games out! I'm not sure as Aion is the only one I've played, but if that says anything about Ncsoft then I wold play some of there other games! The set up of the game doesn't take that long, just the patching, anbd you can't beat the looks of the game! In the past I have played both WOW and Warhammer, I would not play ether game over Aion though I do play wow some on my laptop as Aion has some lag there! Flying is great as well. It has to be about the best thing about the game! It would be nice to swim though, but not something that you need to do ingame so not a biggie! The quests them selfs aren't hard at all! I have played to 2 months now and the only thing that takes up your time is the leveling! The abyss is a great place to level though so that makes up for most of it! That's about all I have to say. It's a game that I would recommend to a friend over any other game!!!

Aion is a Korean MMO marketed and managed in the United States and other regions by NCsoft. The Korean version receives updates and new features several months before the US version. When Aion was first marketed in the US, it was advertised as PvPvE (player vs player vs environment). There was no mention of PvP being a large involuntary part of the game and a considerable portion of the early buyers of Aion anticipated an experience like that from another NCsoft MMO since that was all anyone had to compare it against. In the other NCsoft MMO, PvP is optional, completely voluntary and matches players of equal level with a balanced set of skills and equipment. In Aion the PvP aspects of the game are completely hidden from a player until level 20 (other than voluntary duels). You spend most of that time completing missions and quests for experience points and the majority of it can be accomplished solo. Around level 20 to gain a reasonable amount of experience points per battle you are forced to enter zones where unlimited, involuntary PvP is permitted. The opposing faction can enter these zones through rifts which open very frequently. More and more of the player base is becoming maximum level (50 currently) and as they complete questing the best gear they start running out of things to do. A portion of these high level players go out of their way to "grief" lower level players of the opposing faction, essentially "farming" lower level players for little to no gain. The lower level players have no chance of defending themselves or even running away since the difference in abilities is so great. This causes the lower level players to waste a large portion of their playing time recovering hit points and magic points after resurrection and then traveling back to their desired area only to be killed again in a few minutes. Another recent issue that has cropped up in the game is that some players buy 2 accounts and run a character of one faction in one account and a character of the other faction in the second account. This permits the player to safely run espionage against a faction with his like-sided character and then unfairly use the information on his opposing faction character to plan attacks. The like-sided character can also be used to spread disinformation such as false location reports. Summary: A very beautiful and entertaining MMO experience until you are exposed to the PvP aspects of the game. PvP in this game is very poorly implemented and leads to harassment of new players trying to obtain the levels and equipment necessary to compete successfully in PvP activities. It supports and even encourages antisocial behavior that would never be condoned in real life. It is the perfect environment for the up and coming Charles Mansons and Jack the Rippers of our time. If you want a challenging, evenly matched PvP experience you should look elsewhere.

Really good game! Good PVP Great Graphics Game Runs smooth Dont beleive the 3 hour wait time most I waited was 15 min and that's done now overall a solid MMO if you're tired of WOW Ive played them all this one works! Just waitnig till TOR comes out!

loved this game ..it was to be a contestant to replace my 4 years of wow. and i think it might have too. with one problem ..hours after buying the collectors edition getting set up and starting to enjoy the game ... my account was permanently blocked (banned) . not sure why yet.. i had a common name for my toon (emmanuel) i had not so much as chatted ,returned chat, or communicated with anyone. (again 4 years of wow.. with no probs ever at all) so i call the support number after digging on there site for hours (the number the game gave me as a pop up was a fax number) so.... there is NO customer support on the weekends. ...sooo i check the net .. apparently in not alone by far.. MANY people have been blocked by a bot program they run. so.. 60$ and 5 hours of play ..and banned with no customer support. buy and try at your own risk! NCSOFT needs sued !! i got strait up jacked for my money. along with 1000s of others .. if any other company took your money and did not provide a product they would be out of bussness...NCSOFT should be too

i am used to different types of MMORPG game, guild wars, so this game has a very similar set up to guilds wars but in the same expansive world like WoW. i have several different characters and the character classes are out of balance and some are extremely difficult. its still a lot of fun even in the closed beta that is going on right now.

I've been looking at this game since last Winter when my friend showed a trailer of it to me. Another friend whom biased as the story went kept trying to get me into Final Fantasy XI, which has outdated graphics and somewhat older style gameplay. I quit WoW after a week into losing a lot of hope in MMOs but that was before I saw how amazing it was. I tried it out and I loved it, my legion is extremely helpful as well. I can say a small issue is the few bots in the Siel server but they aren't doing to much damage, other than wasting their own money paying for a wasted account.

This is a great game to play and the graphics are beautiful. The only thing is that it cost 14.99 a month to play and whenever i try to play the server is down or i have to wait 20 minutes to play. Hopefully thats a problem they can fix soon. I would give this game 5 stars, but no matter how fun the game is, if you cant play it when you want then whats the point?

This game is a good game. It has its faults but its beautiful world. The game play is visual exciting, and the quests have good writing in them, enough to get you reading them. The PvP is fun and largely balanced. Whats not so great is the rare but frusturating lag spikes, they are a nuisance, along with the spammers who make the chat window unusable. Future competitor to WoW. (P.S. they are patching and the spammers are seeming to be less and less frequent, and the performance seems to be getting better)

i have been playing aion for a couple months now and i love it. i will admit it is my first MMORPG and i love the way it plays and feels. the graphics are amazing and the sound fits the gameplay. i do get some lag everynow and then, but it never really bothers me, it quickly comes and goes. after reaching a certain level it does get harder to level up, but does not make it impossible to do. i love it and can't wait for the expansion to come, and to see what they will do in the future.

Best buy had the best price around for Aion. The game itself includes a free month of playtime and Best Buy includes another free month gamecard when buying the game from them. At $30 the online gametime pays for itself.

Played the open beta and am very impress with the game as a whole. There was some server lag, but being a beta it was to be expected. The character animations are great and I really enjoy the combo system. The PvPvE is an interesting concept and we will have to see how that plays out, but I would suggest anyone looking to get into mmo's or a mmo with more modern graphics to give this game a go.

We bought this game sense it was marketed as being optional PvP. This is a total lie. PvP is required, even some of the main quests require you to take part or you can not progress. They give the illusion of optional by giving you a few zones where PvP is not allowed but there is little to no reward there. The game seems pretty easy at first but quickly turns into a massive grind. You endlessly grind for levels and gear until you can be effective in PvP and all that time you are cannon fodder for the high levels who are grinding out PvP points. The game looks pretty and has an interesting back story...Beyond that its a waste of time.

I played this game during the "head start" week and I preordered this game, there were little to no queues at this time, hoever as the week progressed the queues grew and grew up to the retail release where they ballooned at 3-4 hours. So you come home from work, join the queue, get in the game 4 hours later and log off to goto sleep as its by now really late. Awesome huh! Well the "support" and I use the term in the loosest sense of the word, suggested to play at a different time of the day instead. Seriously that was their answer. Well after 2 weeks of 3-4 hour queues every day, I had enough, cancelled my account, and requested a refund under the Sales and Supply of Goods Act 1994. During my brief time in the game, every 10 minutes you get spammed by gold selling bots, and you cant create a ticket about them out of hours... This MMO is a joke steer clear.