30/11/2009 09:58:00 | Lydon McGrane

8 comments

Rate it:

E-mail to a friend

To:

Bcc:

Your email address:

Message:

World of Warcraft vs. Aion: An update

Gaming discussionsGaming discussions

IndieCade 2010 - list of finalists

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light Review (MyGaming)

Mythos : Frogster Launches Site (eu beta reg open)

Is WoW in trouble now?

Back in August, NCsoft’s highly-anticipated MMORPG – Aion – was released over here in the West. After being hugely successful in the East by gaining millions of subscribers, expectations were high for it in other territories.

With Age of Conan and Warhammer Online failing to be the “WoW killers” they were touted to be, the general anti-WoW MMO population looked to Aion for deliverance from Blizzard’s wicked ways, despite the two games’ obvious similarities.

So just how did things fare for Aion on this side of the world? Should World of Warcraft players be praying for deliverance from NCsoft’s frightful beast come to snatch away players one-by-one during server maintenance? The answer is quite simply: no. Whilst Aion enjoyed impressive initial sales in the range of 700 000 and is still selling steadily – nearing 1 million sales - the novelty seems to have worn off quite quickly for existing/ex subscribers. Three months after release, many subscribers who were with Aion from the start are no longer playing.

If we take a look at World of Warcraft, we notice that not only does it have high subscription numbers over here in the West, but actual boxed sales are still high after all these years. Blizzard is raking in the cash and the players.

It seems WoW will continue to hold the crown as the MMO juggernaut in the western world. Things aren’t looking too rosy in the East for WoW, what with the Chinese government banning the game, but Blizzard is no doubt scrambling to sort out any pending issues.

The West is what’s important to us, and so far it doesn’t seem like there will be a mass exodus of players from the game we love and love to hate. In fact, chances are that many players who screamed for the death of WoW upon leaving are now returning to the game they’ve grown comfortable with over the years. At least one is.

World of Warcraft is here to stay, and it doesn’t look like Aion is about to put a stop to it any time soon.

One can’t imagine a single MMO on the horizon that will, for that matter. Cataclysm’s imminent arrival will no doubt ensure the retention and return of players. Those who would never even dream of forsaking their second home can rest easy knowing that Blizzard and millions of players will be behind the game for a good long while to come…Aion or no Aion.

Discuss WoW vs Aion in the forums

PC

SA won’t get Call of Duty: Black Ops servers

South Africa currently not on the grid to receive dedicated local Black Ops servers ...

29 comments | Read more »

PC

Win NAG LAN tickets with Incredible Connection

A total of 95 rAge NAG LAN tickets up for grabs with Gaming Inc ...

2 comments | Read more »

Comments (8 posted): Comments (8 posted):

Subscribe to comments feed

WooKi

on 30/11/2009 12:25:41

Problem is, The developers are yet again "Making it pretty, adding features" but the problems still persist. They moving to DirectX 10, now people can't even fort siege on DirectX 9, they have to put all the settings on low to be able to do it, now they improve they add DX10 support and it makes things even worse. The reason why I left the game (And this can be clarified, and you will notice it 40+) there is absolutely NO endgame at all. Everything you do, you do while leveling. That is "endgame". I was the same "Ah **** those guys who hate this game, this is the best game ever, im not going to leave this. It's so much better than WoW." That all changes when you actually pass level 30. The storyline totalliy disappears at 45, there are no quests to read. Just one quest you can repeat 200x for 400k xp and 1 platinum coin to hand in for lvl 50 gear.
Grinding 45-50 450mil xp? No ty, at 50, you can't rift pvp, nada. Vision won't be on thew NA and EU servers anytime soon, Vision is expected to go live on KOR servers mid next year. and you need to remember that KOR has had a year for this game, and they have had numerous patches which is needed before vision, we have had a few months, we still need all the KOR patches, and then only later, we can eventually get Vision. The reason why people come on Aionsource and complain, (The constructive posts) they are telling you what to expect endgame and not to waste your money and time. Because there is absolutely nothing to do at endgame. My server has totally died completely, they all have endgame gear, they all just fort siege, they just login for the fort and then logoff. :/ The PvP system is bull, they said it's unique to any other game, it's not. It's glitchy and crap (IMO) every other MMO is superior to that. Only unique things Aion has going for it is, Wings, In-depth character customization, other than that, all other free to play MMO's are 10x better including graphics, endgame content and customer support. There is just no endgame at all.

pons

on 30/11/2009 17:43:02

CAN U PLAY AION ON A MAK?

WoWtard

on 30/11/2009 22:41:22

Watch the Aion Visions and cry, because that's only a patch.

BTW, one month away from any updates on WoW rite? And when is going to be released the Failclism?

DPS racing on old raids = fun?

WoWTard.

hug-a-tree

on 01/12/2009 09:10:02

wow is in this race too long for any other mmo to try and compete, people learned to love wow and all the other mmo's will be measured to a wow style and standard, i am fan of change but the only people that can kill blizzard will have to be blizzard themselves... world of starcraft nuf said..

Dera

on 01/12/2009 12:14:16

Many people prefer to jump to conclusions about MMORPG's just by their graphics,it's like comparing a talented musician to a good looking(and not as talented) one.You will get attention,you will get fans.But it won't last.

Throw in the best graphic engine you can find and give players a tasteless plot.You will find people leaving the game as fast as they joined it.(Not referring to Aion in particular)

WooKi

on 05/12/2009 00:05:35

@hug-a-tree & Deta

You guys are 100% correct. Aion did exactly what Deta mentioned, in terms with graphics.

@WoWTard.

You're just a complete utter moron >;[

josh

on 31/12/2009 08:13:22

well i have been playing WoW for the past 2 years off and on...its cool but it gets boring, and its the same non stop bull **** all the time!i like that its more open though.
as for aion, i just started to play it.i have a level 8 warrior and at level 9 i get to fly(really excited)so far it has been really cool!the controls are a lil weird and you have to adjust the graphics a hell of alot to fit it to your computer correctly.over all though i like that it doesnt get as boring, but it is very hard to level and get money.
overall i think taht WoW will not be very afected by aion and that most people will continue to play WoW over any other mmorpg because of how simple it is.how ever i do think that one day aion will be right next to wow in the futre, its a new game that is still a bit under developed.also i like aions story line a hell of alot better!wows kinda sucks....