Alright guys, I have been playing AION for a few days now and I am far from being eligible to give a review, but I would like to post a few "first" impressions, here we go:

PROs:

• Great graphics, both in design as well as animation, interesting and quirky monsters. Good Performance as well
  
• Good music, very atmospheric and diverse
• Amazing character customization, at least there will not be a clone wars feeling (dont know about the items yet)
• Combat is a bit more exciting than WOW, due to the "Skill Chains" (Skills that trigger the availability of other skills)
• Players can open up "private stores", which means they can pretty much sit down anywhere and offer their goods, which makes economy a bit more fun and lively
  

CONs:

• Quest Design: All quests are pure grinding quests, go and kill x monsters, am Level 15 and have not encountered a single quest that was different, gets very boring and you do not care about the story anymore
• Drop System: You do not find many interesting things from MOBs, all the good weapons come from quest rewards or auction house, which takes away some of the fun "hunting" for you gear
• Lots of bots and gold farmers around
• Powergames community, people refuse to group so they get more EXP soloing etc.
• The crafting system is polished but to linear, no recipe drops and you can basically craft whatever you want, when you want as long as you are willing to spend hours doing the same thing
• The ****s may be but do not look diverse and you cannot really tell a caster from a gladiator just by looking at it
• No playable races (all human)
• A lot of game functions (channels, godstones etc.) are not explained in the manual or tutorial
• Very linear world/story progression, you will never have the choice where to go, as the world is constructed linear (not like WOW, where you have multiple areas you could continue to level)
  

Last Night, I had a discussion with a friend regarding how MMOs, by now, are established as the new major form of gaming (at least they are regarded as such by the majority) and the flood of releases is not stopping. Yet, there is a lack of MMO's which use licensed IPs (such as LOTR), I thought I might write a small list of possible licenses I could think of:

1. Harry Potter MMO:

In a Nutshell: Playing a pupil of Hogwarts school for witches and wizards based on the popular series of books by JK Roawling

****s / Skills / Equip: There could be various school of magic, all related to which are mentioned in the book, apparition, leviathon, defense against the dark arts etc. Furthermore, the four "houses" could be some sort of character ****s, giving you various benefits in form of access to the respective dorm rooms etc.Generic items such as staffs, wands, orbs etc, and unique items such as the "invisibility coat" or the "magic map"

Leveling / Quests: I think there could be 7 tiers (7 years of school) with 10 levels each. Unfortunately, the "year" system might be a bit unhandy, considering it would not make sense for someone to get out of sync with players who started out in the same year only because he leveled up faster. Maybe, the game could introduce and new mechanic, which years advancing once a month, and pupils would have to qualify for advancement by doing a special quest beside being the correct level ? Quests are easy, with such a rich lore, there can be quests given by other kids, teachers, parents and so forth. There could be outside areas, the school, dungeons and maybe even rifts into other realms and worlds (Think Goblet of Fire)

Characters / Monsters: Cameos by the movie characters, loads to choose and for the monsters you take the high fantasy mishmash Roawling offers in her books, a mix of mythological creatures and weird new creations

PVP: Maybe a competitive "House" scoring system, related to accomplished quests, loot gathered, monsters slain and other fields of competition such as exploration and quidditch games. The game should introduce lots of casual games (regarding the target audience), like in puzzle pirates. Puzzle brewing, rune stacking or else, to spice up the competitiveness as well as the casuality of the game

Endgame content: Tricky one, the book does not elaborate on that and mentioned a few characters here in there, furthermore, it does not make sense for pupils to "stay" in Hogwarts. The best way to go would probably to create "Dynasties" like in the books (The Potters, The Malfoys) and create new characters which are alternated by their "parents" (your previous chars) so you can inherit items and skills etc. as well as have your own family crest, books in the library, trophies in the trophy room etc.

Any Good ?: I think it would be, the system for some sort of linear levelling is in place, as well as rich lore and an amazingly popular IP.

2. BLADE RUNNER MMO:

In a Nutshell: The players take on the roles of Blade Runners, Replicants and the Military/Government in a dystopian metropolis

****s / Skills / Equip: Various forms of Blade Runner, specializing on various futuristic skills, The Marksman, The Hacker, The Driver, The Socializer etc. Same for the Replicants, except they have different goals, which may related to what they were created for, the Hauler, Driver, Prostitute, Security Staff etc. The Government ****s could range from straightforward Military units to spies. The skills could be sorted into fighting skills (weapon skills), technical (driving / hacking / crafting) and Social (manipulative) skills / magic (Hypnotizing / Tracking / Cybertech). Equip is an easy one, an abundance of melee and long range weapons. Armour should be focussing on cybertech instead of ****c armour. he ambigiuity of all character ****s (replicants look like humans, humans might work for the gov. they might not etc.) there could be a high amount if infiltration quests, so that player do not really know whether their opposite is actually a replicant or not and first need to test them etc. There could be skills / equip improving the chance to tell whether a player is a replicant. Furthermore, the governemt players could be both pro or contra replicant (measured by a corruption level) which in turn cannot be spotted as well on first glance by other players. Intriguing

Leveling / Quests: ****c Leveling system about 40 levels, the game is set in one big city, with unlockable areas (depending on authorization levels). Sewers, abandoned buildings, skytowers, outskirts etc. The quests are mostly generic (kill, fetch, explore). T

Characters / Monsters: Character types based on the movies, many sleazy folk and corrupt government workers

PVP: The three way competitive PVP. Both in direct combat (connected quests, which are random and times), as well as in overall achievment and control of the city. There could be areas which give the factions benefits if controlled

Endgame content: Grinding / PVP

Any Good: SciFi is not in vogue in the moment and Blade Runner not as popular as it once was due to the lack of any content coming from that IP, yet the atmosphere of the game would be a nice change from all the goofy and kiddy games around. The three way PVP system would make for great replayability and world dynamics, must be implented well though and might be a turkey. The fact that all player ****s are of the same race (seemingly), the game could ass a lot of suspense as game mechanic, creating and atmosphere of claustropobic mistrust and insecurity.

3. ANNE RICE's Vampire Chronicles MMO

In a Nutshell: The players are either Vampires or Hunters in the game set in the real world (specific era, maybe something eerie such as 1890), loosely based on the books by Anne Rice

****s / Skills / Equip: The character ****s would not be as variable as other vampire games (such as Bloodlines) due to the lack of vampire races, but the vampires ****s could be dependent on what they did before they were awoken and who awoke them. The same for the hunters, considering that vampire hunting might not be (other than in rare) occasions a full time job or something you come across as a youth, the characters have rich backgrounds relating to professions or social tiers. There are tiers of shared skills (fighting etc.), unique vampire skills and unique Hunter skills (with the hunter skills being related to secret hunting lodge knowledge and sacral stuff). Equip is real-world equipment, clothes / armour as well as special vampire hunting gear and relics for the vampires.

Leveling / Quests: ****c Leveling systems, the game should take place either in Europ or America (maybe the new world), and set in four or five city tiers (like Bloodlines). Quests are generic, except that vampires need to maintain their blood levels and their secrecy as well. Vampire Hunters of course must gather clues, fight lesser monsters etc.

Characters / Monsters: Real World inspired, but obviously some professions should be included like priests, renegades, artists, magivians etc. Monsters could be (apart from Player controlled vampires), ghouls, werwolves, lowert tier critters, bats etc.

PVP: Crucial to the game but hard to implement. The should be a system that Vampires leave "clues" and "marks" when fulfilling a quest only clumsily or dropping their secrety. Depending on their "secrecy" status, vampires can or cannot be found by the hunters (visibility, acessability of the hideout). It would be great if players would play both hunters and vampires, hunters during the day and vampires in the night, so that there could be a lot of intrigue going in between the vampires themselves, keeping their hideout and plans secret. There must be a lot of instanced and randomly generated quests, so that Hunters can never be sure where the Vampires hide and what they are up to. Vampires who are killed are thrown back into a lower tier and can "return" after a while (they loose XP as well etc.) Hunters who are killed can become vampires when the player's other vampire characters reaches a certain level.

Endgame content: Grinding / PVP

Any Good: The high interconnectivity of the hunter/vampire players is a big challenge, especially due to the fact that the hunters do not follow any other goals than to hunt the vampires, this might or might not limited the game experience. Hence my advice to let the vampire players play the hunters during the "day". Obviously there must be a benefit from doing that, eleminating other vampire players and/or earning points and rewards for playing a good hunter for the vampire aspect of the game

3. ANNE RICE's Vampire Chronicles MMO

In a Nutshell: The players are either Vampires or Hunters in the game set in the real world (specific era, maybe something eerie such as 1890), loosely based on thebooks by Anne Rice

****s / Skills / Equip: The character ****s would not be as variable as other vampire games (such as Bloodlines) due to the lack of vampire races, but the vampires ****s could be dependent on what they did before they were awoken and who awoke them. The same for the hunters, considering that vampire hunting might not be (other than in rare) occasions a full time job or something you come across as a youth, the characters have rich backgrounds relating to professions or social tiers. There are tiers of shared skills (fighting etc.), unique vampire skills and unique Hunter skills (with the hunter skills being related to secret hunting lodge knowledge and sacral stuff). Equip is real-world equipment, clothes / armour as well as special vampire hunting gear and relics for the vampires.

Leveling / Quests: ****c Leveling systems, the game should take place either in Europ or America (maybe the new world), and set in four or five city tiers (like Bloodlines). Quests are generic, except that vampires need to maintain their blood levels and their secrecy as well. Vampire Hunters of course must gather clues, fight lesser monsters etc.

Characters / Monsters: Real World inspired, but obviously some professions should be included like priests, renegades, artists, magivians etc. Monsters could be (apart from Player controlled vampires), ghouls, werwolves, lowert tier critters, bats etc.

PVP: Crucial to the game but hard to implement. The should be a system that Vampires leave "clues" and "marks" when fulfilling a quest only clumsily or dropping their secrety. Depending on their "secrecy" status, vampires can or cannot be found by the hunters (visibility, acessability of the hideout). It would be great if players would play both hunters and vampires, hunters during the day and vampires in the night, so that there could be a lot of intrigue going in between the vampires themselves, keeping their hideout and plans secret. There must be a lot of instanced and randomly generated quests, so that Hunters can never be sure where the Vampires hide and what they are up to. Vampires who are killed are thrown back into a lower tier and can "return" after a while (they loose XP as well etc.) Hunters who are killed can become vampires when the player's other vampire characters reaches a certain level.

Endgame content: Grinding / PVP

Any Good: The high interconnectivity of the hunter/vampire players is a big challenge, especially due to the fact that the hunters do not follow any other goals than to hunt the vampires, this might or might not limited the game experience. Hence my advice to let the vampire players play the hunters during the "day". Obviously there must be a benefit from doing that, eleminating other vampire players and/or earning points and rewards for playing a good hunter for the vampire aspect of the game

I will post more in the next few days. So what are your suggestions though ?!

Hello everyone,

just a quick update that I am still alive, I have been spending quite some time on Giantbomb lately, because I like to get involved and contribute to the site wikistyle, it is fun, but I won't desert Gamspot for that. I have been playing many games lately and I keep going back to old ones, maybe I am becoming nostalgic ? I bought two CDs full of old Amiga games and emulators and it is amazing fun.

Now, I have been discussing the issue of giving games a "chance" with friends recently and I'd like your opinion on that:

When do you decide to call it quits when you play a game ? How many hours you think one should invest in a game before abadoning it for good ?

Let me know

River