Shortcuts

I realise I miss a few functional commands from Aion in WoW, not bad Aion, not bad. :-) The most missed was one of the ones I had the hardest time to learn to use - right-click to auto-walk to mobs and items. But other than that WoW now feels just like it does when you come home from work and pull on the comfy baggy soft attire mostly worn out of public view ("mjukisar"). :-D It feels good.

End of Aion

Ding level 10. Tested flying. Enjoyed the interface. Enjoyed the combat. Got tired of the music. Still don't stand the look of robes in the game. My free gaming time should be just about to expire.

My conclusion: Easy to play (easier than Oblivion, for sure). But too expensive to subscribe to, or rather, not good enough to spend the monthly money on.

I like my character, I will miss her freckled green-haired energy. :-D

Aion

Nippertippa, scout, main char (tiny)

Aion came. And we waited. And waited. And waited... my gosh, servers are totally swamped and it is no use trying to log on during the afternoon or early evening. Thankfully my "free" time starts after 23:00 so the waiting time isn't too bad then. I created three characters, mostly for fun, the character creation features are great!

Glomsk, priest (tall and chunky, just like a priest should be, right?)

However the actual game questing and combat is, well, so-so. It doesn't quite cut it to Warcraft standards. But I'll give it that - it could well be 'the new warcraft' to me, if I could only give it the time it needs. It's "pretty" (although, MY GOD why couldn't they animate the robes so that they look at least somewhat real??) and the combat is easy and graphically appealing. The sounds aren't too annoying, the voices ok, the music is good. The quests are reasonably easy to pursue, guiding you into and onto gradually more difficult areas and mobs as you progress your levelling (unlike Oblivion, where you can easily stumble onto an end-game instance-like mob with your newborn character...). The function-keys and menus are semi-logical although for my Warcraft-demented brain my muscle-memory makes me return to the old familiar shortcuts over and over again, to no avail... X-) Some of the built-in features, like maps and navigation and aid to find npc's are stuff that I'd really like to have in Warcraft too.

Teehe, warrior (slender and cute, like a warrior) ;-)

I had lots of fun creating the characters. But will I ever again invest the hours required to get to the point of comfort I am with Warcraft? I doubt it... :-] Tough luck Aion.

Aion

Right, I managed to muster up a few hours to try out Aion before the closed beta was locked and beta testing terminated. I ended up rolling a scout. :-)

Initial impression - it's a 2009 version of Oblivion, with the ease and familiarity of shortcuts resembling World of Warcraft. I didn't have enough time to learn any particular skills so my combat experience is hardly worth disclosing. :-)

I look forward to it's next step though, release scheduled for September.

Chanter or cleric?

When I roll a new character in the closed beta version of Aion online, will I roll a chanter or a cleric? That's the thousand dollar question of the evening.

Chanters are better than clerics for solo play as they can handle more melee as well as heal. But even though they are a little bit hardier than clerics they're pretty useless when the going gets tough and you meet multiple mobs. That means I'd have to pace myself carefully and not advance on the safe side of levelling e.g. focusing on lower level mobs etc. Which in reality is not as much excitement as if you're a little bit ahead of level. Perhaps I should roll a completely different character instead?

These are my options/classes available:

• The Warrior - templar or gladiator (very much the same as warrior and palladin in WoW)
• The Scout - assassin or ranger (rogue or hunter in WoW)
• The Mage - sorcerer or spiritmaster (mage or shaman in WoW)
• The Priest - chanter or cleric (priest in WoW)

Hmm... perhaps I'll try a ranger instead? Will have to do some more reading before making up my mind. Shouldn't be a problem. Downloading the install and patches seems to be a bit of a task, 6G waiting to trickle down into our house with the speed of a murder snail... *sigh*