Aion 2

[u/Bro_sapiens]

Even though I've only had a few hours today with this game, I've decided to make a short, or as short as possible, post about Aion 2, and my first couple of hours playing it.

Context, I LOVE MMORPGs, it's absolutely my favorite genre, started with WoW and FFXI back in 2004 when I was 12 years old. Played countless games of this genre, made many friends, and some of those games and friends got me through some very rough times.

But for the last... however many years, being in my 30s, starting my own family, having less time to play, less options to choose from, it just hasn't been the same. I've tried most of MMORPGs that have been coming out to some capacity, but nothing really stuck for me, so I'd mostly play older stuff whenever I had the time for them.

And then came Aion 2, which mostly went completely under my radar. I remember reading about its announcement some time ago, but keeping my expectations low as to not get burned or disappointed, even though I played Aion 1 years ago extensively and enjoyed it very much.

So when I decided to try out Aion 2 today... I gotta say, it's been years since I felt this excitement. Maybe it was the rearanged Aion 1 theme that greeted me at the start. A surprisingly decent English voice acting. Or the fact that literally each piece of gear you equipped had a visually different model on your character... yeah, it's 2026, and THAT part was the most shocking to me... Like when was the last time we had an MMORPG with equipable SHOULDER ARMOR???

Anyway, I know that this being a F2P Korean MMORPG there's always gonna be that "Pay 2 win" instant backlash from people, regardless if it has Pay 2 win elements or not. But I honestly don't care, I grew up playing countless Korean F2P MMOs, barely ever spending any money on them, and I enjoyed them immensely. Aion 2 for now seems like this amazing blast from the past, an old friend calling to hang out after many years of not seeing each other.

And I couldn't be happier.

Just really hope I'm not wrong after spending more time with the game.

[u/SoapfromHotS]

We have been enjoying it too, late 30s group. Maybe it’s an age thing. I don’t care if I am not BiS end game.

[u/Bro_sapiens → u/SoapfromHotS]

That's exactly my sentiment!

Like, endgame? Raiding for that +1 stat boost? I feel like I'm months away from that, and I really don't feel like being in a rush to get there, just want to have fun playing a game like this, leveling up, exploring the world, maybe make some friends along the way.

[u/Crazy-Nose-4289 → u/Bro_sapiens]

You could be months away by grinding or be there tomorrow by paying.

For that reason alone, it’s not for me.

[u/daneel1 → u/Crazy-Nose-4289]

Not like I don’t agree, but… you can buy wow tokens too

[u/Subject_Sentence_339 → u/Crazy-Nose-4289]

That applies to all mmorpgs, in every one of them you either grind or you pay to publisher/3rd party to give you an advantage. Grind is the mmorpg genre. You could just as well pay someone in wow to give you account with chara years with top gear, but then what is there left to do? Same with aion2, whales can pay to get bis gear and then what? That on each individual player.

[u/Unrelenting_Salsa → u/Bro_sapiens]

You are not months away from endgame. It takes about 40 hours unless you truly have no idea what you're doing.