Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

In the spring of 2005, a little game called Guild Wars came roaring into existence hot on the heels of a series of highly successful beta weekend events. For a game that ultimately took traditional MMO conventions and turned them on their ear, offering capsulated experiences leading up to launch rather than a full-blown open beta served to build up a critical mass of hype. Four years and over six million units later the Guild Wars franchise is still going strong, even after launching during a window of time when the World of Warcraft snowball effect was picking up speed and showing no signs of slowing down.  

A major contributing factor to the success of those weekend events was the fact that players were being exposed to a game that was extremely polished and ultimately fun to play on many different levels. Between events communities and guilds were formed as players contemplated not only what they wanted to achieve with their characters during the next event, but after the launch of GW as well.

When I first learned that NCSoft would be following a similar approach by hosting a series of beta events for Aion leading up to launch, I couldn’t help but consider this a smart move. Only time will tell whether Aion will become another MMO success story in the pages of the NCSoft history books, but if this weekend was any indication, Aion has certainly set the stage for what I’d consider to be the first true blending of an eastern approach to game design delivered in a distinctly western wrapper.

For the kickoff event, players were allowed to create characters from the Elyos and advance them up to level 20, with the Asmodians and higher level content presumably earmarked for future weekend events. The character creation process itself is fairly straight forward, though ended up being far more robust than I’d originally envisioned thanks to a slick interface revealed after making your core class selection; Warrior, Scout, Mage or Priest. On the cosmetic side, dozens of preset combinations and hairstyles are available as is the option to fine-tune specific facial features and body parts.

One thing that stood out for me is that players are able to create believably young or even outwardly haggard characters rather than simply sticking to the realm of unearthly beauty that’s typical especially of female characters in MMOs. The most dramatic shifts can be seen on the male end of the spectrum, though expect to wade through a high volume of overly androgynous preset options in the process of tweaking a character to your liking. Another nice touch is allowing players to toggle starting and more advanced armors to give you an idea what your character might look like decked out in high end gear. So for example if you wanted to create a crazy hobo assassin and are curious to see what they might look like with a giant unicorn head placed squarely on their shoulder, you’re certainly able to do so!