Love It Or Hate It: Aion

By Jason Winter, News Editor June 2, 2015

Some free-to-play games are more polarizing than others, with some sides taking the stance of "great, totally non-exploitative implementation" and others thinking "total pay-to-win trash." We'd like to see on what side of the spectrum the gaming public -- and by that, we mean you guys -- think of certain F2P games, and so we've invented something new called Love It Or Hate It?

Every week, we'll present a new F2P game and give you the option of passing judgment on it. Then we'll look back at it the next week and see what people thought. There are no prizes, except for the satisfaction of knowing you clicked on a button and made something happen. Really, what else do you need?

So, last week's proposal of SMITE wasn't really that much of a question. For all the codes we burn through, it would have been amazing if it didn't come up as massively loved, and that was definitely the case. Hi-Rez Studios' MOBA was just a shade below 70% liked, making it the new all-time leader in "most-liked" game since we started this! In fact, let's take a look at how various games have fared so far:

Game	Love It	Hate It	Meh
SMITE	70	8	23
War Thunder	61	9	30
TERA	52	10	39
Dota 2	48	17	36
PlanetSide 2	48	12	41
Marvel Heroes	43	16	41
Hearthstone	40	17	43
SWTOR	38	20	41
Star Trek Online	37	17	46
Defiance	37	14	49
World of Tanks	33	22	45
ArcheAge	14	42	44

But enough about the past (he said, before bringing up a seven-year old game for voting). Unlike last week's offering, I'm genuinely unsure what people think of Aion. It seems popular, though you just don't hear it talked about a whole lot. And, as for me, I've tried to get into it multiple times and it's just never hooked me. How about you?

surveys & polls

Tell us what you think of Aion, and leave a comment below to expound upon your views!

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In this article: Aion, Ncsoft.

About the Author

Jason Winter, News Editor

Jason Winter is a veteran gaming journalist, he brings a wide range of experience to MMOBomb, including two years with Beckett Media where he served as the editor of the leading gaming magazine Massive Online Gamer. He has also written professionally for several gaming websites.

More Stories by Jason Winter

Game is poo 9 years ago

Aion is POO!

satanyca 9 years ago

hmm i tried aion when it was first published once while it was pay to play and for a bit when it became free to play..i gotta say the game is easy in leveling but it keeps you playing while the farm for pvp gear and also the abyss are endless gaming..which is good for an mmorpg..i gotta say i love it because it has no end

SqueezyTime 9 years ago

I love Aion. It has changed a lot since going F2P, but it's polish still shines. Even as a PvP-focused game it still has a full and enjoyable PvE experience, which is something that just doesn't exist in MMOs anymore. It's a little unfair to compare Aion to other F2P games though; it was a very successful AAA title that later switched to F2P.

ThatOneKakaGuy 9 years ago

Wow, the mmobomb community. No surprise in that fail vote XD. Sad,
Any how, AION is one of hte best F2P models and one of the best mmorpts right under TERA...IN USA!
EU, yes, is FAIL! Gameforge ruines all it's games. I can not even start where the corruption begins. From the forum vote where over 10K people voted that they install the fast track server, to Failforge REMOVING it, then replacing it with an official statement: "We find it in the EU regions players interest to not use the US model. It does not seem to fit the players demands..." ...What? You removed the official forum vote that they WANT IT! Then 6 months later: "We will be including the fast track"... with restrictions of course... IT is GREED city in Gameforge, they are marketing the experience. I tried playing in US but wierd lag. That was a few years ago, maybe its better now... TERA, a LITTLE better game forge title, but I cant go back out of MORAL principle (something gamres lack.."oh this company has a total P2W game, but they release an ok one, guess ill support em and log in every day" derp).

Remb 9 years ago

For localized MMOs, sometimes the publisher is more important than the actual game because they decide how the game makes money and how much p2w the shop is. Gameforge is notoriously bad...

Mamson 9 years ago

how can u love game where u can create character with huge body and tiny head.... and its anime - uglyest art

-GG-TheSecondJoker 9 years ago

1 Word: Gameforge ▄︻̷̿┻̿═━一 (*_*) (dead)

drTRUTH 9 years ago

If u made an SEA server of this game many will still hook up with this game! too bad some asians player quit because of 250ms+ if they made an SEA i probably i wont QUIT too. but hey this game is really complete package even though its has old battle system.

Gahen 9 years ago

European version of Aion is not hated, but hate itself. The glorious example of pay to win, or not only that, I often name it pay to enjoy. Since every form of trading is locked away from the free players, completely. I left the game at low level, because it made me clear, that there is no chance of a sane endgame content for free players.

Eviil 9 years ago

man i i had played this before they went F2P called the FFXI killer (not) what killed FFXI was when Square brought out their poorly optimize FFXIV out. Today I am happy they revamped that. thats like 12 years of final fantasy (online based). had that PS2+HDD bundle LOL

Faby 9 years ago

I played Aion for 5 years, it rly hooked me. But before the last expasióninvasión they addded two new items, that mark the difference between donators and the rest of the players: Tempering solution, it is the name. It added pvp stats (15% more damage and 20% more defence, so a lot !), they also give special rewards (better gear) to all the ones that got items full enchanted with the temperings in less than 5 days. This happened, like 3 times in the lasts 5 month, never beofre that. Aion lost a lot of old members this way.

SolShadows 9 years ago

It is a really fun game, but a lot of things just ruin the experience.

First of all, on the server I play on (Siel) there is a huge inbalance of Elyos and Asmodian.
Secondly, the leveling is painful. It takes days to level up, sometimes even weeks. For someone like me who doesn't have much time, it's just a pain in the butt.
Lastly, the game always loses connection and closes. When you email support about it, they are of no help.