“A thousand devs of the NCsoft empire descend upon you. Their nerfs will blot out the sun.”

“Then we shall QQ in the shade.”

It has been recently announced that the long-awaited Aion 2.5 patch has arrived on the Player Test Server.  The new patch will bring additional content in the form of PvE instances, a graphics overhaul, optimization of existing systems, such as crafting and enchanting, and the introduction of new ones, such as the Helper system. Legion features will be further  improved, character customization will receive an expansion and there will also be several tweaks and fixes to gameplay.

Having avoided logging in to the game since the end of 2009, I find myself strangely curious about the news. The urge to give this game another try seems to be getting worse, like an annoying itch that you can’t quite shake off. Instead of giving in, I decided to resist the temptation because I generally don’t go back to games that have burned me once. I’m just spiteful like that. Instead, I’m writing up this diary entry that will serve as a visual depiction of some of the entertaining things I still remember about the title. Follow along and remember to click on the thumbnails to enlarge them.

All RvR games start with a rivalry. Having amassed a huge community on the forums before launch, all that Aion-related threads needed was one spark, one short reply and everything was engulfed in the holy fire of a flame-war. Both Asmodians and Elyos would call each other names and comment on the looks of their opponents. The picture presented above is a good example.

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Perhaps I have just been reading too much of Gamasutra’s recent multi-paged article on the Dragon Quest franchise, of which I am a huge fan, or maybe it’s because no matter which MMORPG I play I always find the game to be lacking in certain areas as compared to it’s single player brethren. In anycase, I bring to you a serious concern for the future of MMORPGs: where did all the RPG go?

Now, I know what RPG literally translates into; you take the role of a character in the game. That character is you, and you act through that character. I understand that, let me be 100% clear by what I meant earlier: an RPG videogame traditionally has a whole lot of story that goes along with your character. These storylines range from good to bad, awesome to FFX-2, but no matter how good or bad the story is the game and story evolves with your character. You have an impact on the world and as such the world has an impact on you. Storyline progression is a HUGE part of the RPG world, and yet, in the MMORPG world it is practically non-existant.

Before any of you interject with pleas of my insanity, I do understand that MMORPGs have storylines. World of Warcraft, Everquest 2, and, especially, LoTRO all have storylines. However, that said, is there really any storyline progression? No, none at all. Your character levels up, gets better gear, and obtains more money, but that’s it. After you kill said boss of area A1 is that boss gone forever? Nope, in fact in about 5 minutes a new one will spawn, or in the case of instanced zones you can literally leave the zone, push the reset button, and hop back in for another go at him. Killing him has no effect on you, other players, or the game world. Therein lies the problem of the MMO. . .

You see, MMORPGs are, right now, being developed primarily to addict you to the game. They draw you in with promises of an awesome world (which many of them are, in fact, awesome) full of treasure and then supplement you with addicting gameplay that feeds off of “rewards” for continual play. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying this is a bad thing, I’m just saying that what if in stead of getting people to play based off addictive reward-based gameplay you get them to play based off a massive continual story-line progression where you, your character, can actually have an impact on the world and the players around. Doesn’t that sound more appealing? Would you seriously not at least try the game out?

If only we could get a company to take such a bold risky move in that direction. . .

Thought? Comments? Random acts of flamebaitery? You know where to leave em!

So while browsing the new gamer-oriented video uploading website, WeGame.com, I came across a delightful Guild Wars video. Now, I’m not entirely sure how the makers of this video were able to get such a remarkable synchronized look, and whether or not the video was made primarily through the game or primarily through editing. As far as I can tell it could be either. What I do know, is that it’s pretty awesome.

MMORPG gamers, believe it or not, are some of the most creative people I have ever met. If you give an artist a canvas and some paint, naturally, they’ll make you a painting. Makes sense right? Well, apparently, if you give a gamer an MMORPG (with little to no implementation for artistic value) they’ll give you shows, artwork, dance choreography, and a whole world full of artistic expression through videogames. I’d go so far as to say some of these gamers are more artistic than the actual painter. It is hard to create content from something that doesn’t give you much content to utilize for art.

So. . . have you created anything lately? We’d love to see it. :)

P.S. Sorry for not embedding the video directly, WordPress seems to hate me. The picture will link you directly to the video on WeGame.com.