Old player not sure to return or not, Quit in 4.8 (Loved the old PVP and Regions

[1s1B36CF-KT]

Hi guys, 
 
I'm an old Aion player, was fanatic in pvp, played from release till 4.8 i believe, i quit with the patch that removed all my favorite regions.
 
At the time i invested so much time in aion i played nearly every day, had full ap gear sets became general on several chars etc, i loved PVPing in Aion.
 
My fondest memories are from Danaria, Katalam, and good old 3.0 Tiamaranta's Eye, loved all that stuff!
 
I felt so angry when they removed all these regions, i quit the second it was gone, it sucked so bad.
 
Told myself ill never play an MMO again coz i spend so much effort and they destroyed all i love.
 
However i randomly out of the blue started playing FFXIV few months back and really liked it (for PVE) im having fun there as far as PVE goes its a great game, community too.
 
But i miss PVP, open-world PVP Aion had in 3.0 and 4.0, the pvp in ffxiv is instanced and just no fun, cue times etc, i miss that exiting feeling of open world maps, huge sieges, town take-overs you name it.
 
Been thinking lately to go back to a PVP mmo for when im not playing XIV, was thinking aion died? so thought about other stuff like bdo etc but seems not for me.
 
So ill get to the point, with what i told here that i loved about Aion, do you think its worth it to come back? or is it not like the old days anymore and better stay away?
 
Second thing that worries me is gear, now its lv 80? or something, and all my gear would be outdated, is it doable to get end pvp gear decent stats to enjoy pvp, without too much of a grind?
 
But first question is the most important, is Aion still for me in its current state? 

Sry for the long post, ugh that 3.0 4.0 time was so precious D:
 

[Madara-KT]

You should come back. The open world pvp is great. The p2w isnt as bad after 6.2 . I am also a returning player from 6.2. We all share one map right now and 7.0 is around the corner with a bigger map that will be share and better pvp. The population could use some work but the game isnt dead. Gearing up isnt hard or easy but takes some work. u will need to spend some money at 1st to make the gearing up faster. But overall the game is worth comming back to. If you do hit me up ingame in KT on Madara and I can help you out. I am also looking for pvpers for my Friendslist. I only play AIon for pvp.

[Lad-DN]

It would take you a couple months at least to get to a point where you're not just instantly squished in PvP, and a lot of that would be from farming PvE. I don't know what the old days were like since I started playing in 5.8, but I'm having fun. 

[Aly-DN]

It won't take months to get decent PvP gear. If you are constant about your effort, should be about a month. Though you quickly figure out who you should run from and who you can go toe to toe with. That is very much like the past.

If you are looking for "The Good Ol' Days", you won't find them. And yes. I have played since 2009. The game has changed. Some for the better and some for the worse. Things are easier with friends or a good legion, but that's pretty standard. It's free, though! So nothing stopping you from getting in and giving it a try. The game has changed enough that it would be best to start with a brand new character to learn the new systems. Leveling is nyerk easy and will take you a few days at most. There is an event right now where you can get ancient transformations (a -must- have), so now is a good time to give Aion another chance.

Best of luck.

[1s1B36CF-KT]

13 minutes ago, Aly-DN said:

It won't take months to get decent PvP gear. If you are constant about your effort, should be about a month. Though you quickly figure out who you should run from and who you can go toe to toe with. That is very much like the past.

If you are looking for "The Good Ol' Days", you won't find them. And yes. I have played since 2009. The game has changed. Some for the better and some for the worse. Things are easier with friends or a good legion, but that's pretty standard. It's free, though! So nothing stopping you from getting in and giving it a try. The game has changed enough that it would be best to start with a brand new character to learn the new systems. Leveling is nyerk easy and will take you a few days at most. There is an event right now where you can get ancient transformations (a -must- have), so now is a good time to give Aion another chance.

Best of luck.

Aww  So the type of PVP changed? I'm referring to the big open zones like katalam/danaria/tia etc, huge maps with pvp.
 
Specifically that time/style with Katalam/Danaria sieges, the Blood Mark Camps, the *everywhere pvp* on maps, not instanced, all end game zones were PVP open zones (with safe/zones parts)
 
Is that still a thing? i got real upset when they removed that, someone else mentioned 1map, only 1 zone now open pvp?

[Aly-DN]

That is still very much a thing. There is one end-game map. There are weekly camps that everyone must do. You can earn more "blood mark"-ish tokens by doing daily PvP in each area on that map. And "kill 20 mob" quests that also give the tokens. So there is a reason for people to be out and about. By the end of the week (Monday and Tuesday), it can be tough to find anyone but bots around, though.

There are four PvPvE instances, but if you don't have a group to go with.. they can be frustrating and an afk fest. Arenas have become a game of "queue until you get your own alt" and aren't fun. Dredg, one of the PvPvE instances and used to be my favorite instances, is now all about rushing to kill bosses and not really about PvP. Sieges have de-evolved into PvE as well with the very recent changes. I don't know. Things have -changed-.

You just need to get in and have a feel and see if the changes are alright with you.

[Azzmaria-KT]

Hello. 

a lot of things changed. Many maps were deleted. 

But... 

the new map is so similar to the old Katalam map. We have both factions in the same map. With a city for each one and open world pvp and a fortress in middle (or up middle now). The map also have camps whit weekly quest to get a "token" to buy PvP gear (and other things). So, it is almost the same than our old Katalam. (just the art is different). 

Most of the maps deleted were low level ones or, in some way, unsuccesfull maps (like Kaldor or Levinshor). 

PvP changed in some way. Now gear is so important and will provide significative stats. So it is not like the old BM gear that was easy to get and yet, good enought to play. You will have to upgrade the gear from camps. But the materials for that (AP and enchanments) can be obtained by doing PvP, like dredgions, and you will be able to get something better soon. 

If you liked open world PvP, fights near the camps, or making an small group of friends and go to chase the other faction´s players. And you liked all of that easy and fast without having to wait for annoying rifts or having to walk many maps to reach the place you want.... then you should come back, cause that is what we have now. 

[SevenLions-KT]

Fellow returner who quit in 4.x and starting off with new account. I've tried BDO and also didn't work out for me because it was too overwhelming at start, and I like the customizations in Aion. I've been back for two months or so, and here's my take on it:

A lot has changed, and they did not really do justice for most of those changes. There things which are tough to get used to but yet you'll have to shove it down your throat. Everyone who returns from the golden days goes thru the 5 stages of denial. I think you should definitely give the game a try, and can always leave if you just can't accept it, but come with an open mind and try from a view of a "new" player. One pro is that you already know a lot about the game and how it works, so you won't be as confused/overwhelmed. I'd say give it a solid week. It'll be hard at the start for sure because getting to a good point takes time. I'd say I had just gotten to mid-game. 

Everyone complains about the management, but sometimes it's just excessive and unwarranted and entitlement so don't take it so seriously; be your own judge. 

As for gear, almost all long-timers and older players are probably in at least half-ultimate grade PvP gear, which will make things hard on you starting out, but you can't be expected to be handed a silver platter from start. Everyone works for their gears. Grinding has always been and still is part of the game. So yes, you will need to grind for good PvP gears, but it's really the same in any other game. Whether it's a huge hassle or not depends on the player.

In any case, try it out. The worst thing that happens is you have some fun for a few days with the now ridiculously easy leveling process. If you'd like some in-game Q&A while and after you hit 80, PM me. 

[Kubei-DN]

2 minutes ago, SevenLions-KT said:

Everyone complains about the management, but sometimes it's just excessive and unwarranted and entitlement so don't take it so seriously; be your own judge. 

"Entitlement" is the wrong word used here. It's about fairness. If the management purposely is nerfing the GST, BCM and drops to cripple the players and force them to spend real money to progress, then I'm more than certain it's not about entitlement as you believe.

[SevenLions-KT]

1 minute ago, Kubei-DN said:

"Entitlement" is the wrong word used here. It's about fairness. If the management purposely is nerfing the GST, BCM and drops to cripple the players and force them to spend real money to progress, then I'm more than certain it's not about entitlement as you believe.

No, I was clear on what I said and know exactly what I meant. There are some entitlement here. People will complain about just anything these days. I've seen posts crying about how the scales event and blossoms events are not good enough. Just screams that they basically wanted to be given an easy ride and unlimited kinah to do w/e they want without putting in any effort or time. Don't bother trying to argue with me on this. That's my hard observation, and anecdotal accounts or your idea of "fair" reasoning isn't going to change it.

[Cheesecake-DN]

Kubei is right, tho...management hard gimps us here versus every other region, and then they provide a store that's not worth spending money on, lol.

Yeah most of the playerbase is entitled as nyerk, but there's still plenty of shit that's going on on NCsoft's side that doesn't help the players who do care.

[Kubei-DN]

26 minutes ago, SevenLions-KT said:

No, I was clear on what I said and know exactly what I meant. There are some entitlement here. People will complain about just anything these days. I've seen posts crying about how the scales event and blossoms events are not good enough. Just screams that they basically wanted to be given an easy ride and unlimited kinah to do w/e they want without putting in any effort or time. Don't bother trying to argue with me on this. That's my hard observation, and anecdotal accounts or your idea of "fair" reasoning isn't going to change it.

I'm not sure whether my perception of your statement is right, but it's giving me the impression you believe only Aion players are entitled. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there's "entitled players" in every single game out there. However I stand by my comment from earlier, right now feels like NCWest is purposely trying to ruin the game as much as possible to prevent mass player loss and simply shut the game down.

[Vantheria-DN]

I think it's a combination of both, honestly. There are absolutely some management issues with NCSoft and there are SO many times that they don't listen to even the most sensible advice, but at the same time, some of the players around here are a little too demanding and lose their shit over tiny things. Of course, that's just how life is, so finding a middle ground would be nearly impossible.

[GenericUser8196]

This game is nothing like it used to be.  You remember how hard it was to enchant.... well now you get to do it 3x in a row on every piece of gear.  You have to be equally geared with someone or you do 1/10 of their damage and get smoked. 

At certain times on certain days you will go to a specific location on the map and fight over a boss or fort and that is what pvp has become.  There is no more massive world pvp breaking out all over the place all day where you go out and have fun and enjoy the game.  Now it is all about gear and they link the gear everyone gets in chat and everyone is like, "eww look at my pretty gear."  This expansion has just been a gear grind fest.

In my opinion I wouldn't recommend this game unless you are preparing for the next expansion. But don't take my word for it this game is so casual and underdeveloped that you can play a little bit and see if it is for you.