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Whenever a new big MMO was announced many people would start to talk about how it was going to kill WoW, how it would come in and take away all the subscribers. I think by now most people have realized that the strengths of WoW, those which allowed it to grow so large as an MMO, were the exact reasons nobody could ever steal away massive quantities of the subscription base. WoW has an entire culture built up around it, so many people invested in it, that attempting to just supplant them all at once and shovel them into a new culture, a new MMO that they have nothing invested in, is an impossibility. There is no doubt that games have chipped away at some previous subscribers of WoW, but most often the new MMO turns out to be highly niche based rather than a new all encompassing world. Even with all these new MMO games coming into the market, Blizzard loves to point out that their subscription base continues to grow.
I have played WoW since its release. I have loved the game for years. Even before the release, during the WoW beta which I never got into, I would follow the forums daily. You could call me an early addict. My love for WoW started to wane about half way through the TBC expansion; Guild drama, real life, major game overhauls such as the raid numbers issue, and general burnout from playing the same game for three years. I started to shop around, looking for other MMOs to play: Age of Conan, Warhammer Online, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Lineage 2, Lord of the Rings Online, and many smaller production MMOs. None of them had enough grab for me that could take me away from WoW.
Then along came Aion. I am not suggesting that Aion is a WoW killer, just that what I used to love about WoW feels so prevalent in Aion. I must admit that I originally thought nothing of the game. To me, Aion was just another MMO on some random website with pretty screenshots. Perhaps I have been spoiled by Blizzard in that regard, but the scarcity of anything existent on many game websites turns me off. One of my friends, on the other hand, became engrossed immediately and pushed me to research the game further. I started watching the class videos on AionOnline.com, and the graphics looked amazing in motion, not just the perfect screen shot capture. I later learned that it was actually being produced by NCsoft as their next big thing, rather then an MMO from some company I had never heard of, and that made me perk up. Addition: After writing this article I headed back to AionOnline and discovered that they have recently updated their website. It is now fleshed out and I suggest anyone who has not seen the updated site should check it out.
After participating in the Aion beta, I have decided to give up WoW. There is not just one reason for my decision, nor can it all really be confined to a list such as this one. Everyone has their own opinions, but these are my major reasons for finally deciding to commit to a new MMO.
#1 Combat
Aion uses a combo system where certain abilities are chained together and the player must decide whether they want to go for more damage, protection, or something else such as a debuff or a knock back. Age of Conan touched on this, but their combat system was based around getting off the same sequential attack in order for a devastating ending while trying to not get interrupted in the middle. Aion, on the other hand, gives the combo chain a couple branching options, giving the player both flexibility and a choice in how to use their cool downs. Aion's system is much more engrossing then WoW's. Obviously WoW is an older game and Aion's combo system is built on top of the same structure WoW uses, but the higher level of interactivity is a much needed plus. Hopefully Aions dungeons and raids will really work to compliment the games combo system.
