To join or participate please look at the site http://www.riftbusters.com

With level 3 Legions, you can upload a custom graphic to your cape. Looks fantastic.

Aion 1 week after launch user reviews

Man, Aion seems to be the WoW killer that people need. OK I’m only level 15 at the moment and still need to experience more of the games mechanics. But it feels almost like a clone but with suttle differences. Once I get more geared up with the game I will do a comparison for people who are in WoW and what to expect from Aion. This has to be one of the most beautiful looking MMO’s I’ve ever seen.

Here are a few screenshots, click the images below to see them in full resolution.

Anyway I’ve installed Windows 7 Ultimate x64 & OSX Snow Leopard 10.6.1. Only problems I’m having is getting sound and the right video card driver. But that’s another days work, will stab at this over the weekend.

Windows works like a charm. Windows 7 seems very fast bootups and gaming is…. Whoa! I’ve installed Aion and running it on 2560 x 1600 (My native 30″ Apple Cinema display) with 8x AA, Bloom 3 and everything set to max. Getting an average of 150fps and looks absolutely beautiful. I will post some screenshots soon. Installed Call of Duty 4 and maxed everything out on top resolution. Getting about 100fps and it looks fricken awesome.

As for Aion only level 7 and so far its amazing. Chain spells are awesome.

If you want to join me on Aion my server details are:

Aion EU Server: [EN] Kalil
Faction: Elyos Faction
Class: Mage
Name: Spooksie

I’ve not had much time to play due to customer deadlines, so once I get the work done by tomorrow I can have a gaming marathon on Aion.

Aion 1 week after launch user reviews

Last week I added that when Aion was released it received very positive user (not commercial) feedback.

See the results below.

Lets start with Gamespot

As from 23rd September

As from 30th September

Metacritic is less forgiving

As from 23rd September

As from 30th September

Looks like a slight dip, but still very positive. However people will be reaching levels 20+ soon as things may change. I’ll be getting on Aion next week and will do a mini review on the pro’s and con’s.

The first western review of Aion hits 9.1

IncGamers have produced a very good review of Aion, note it isnt a full game review as the user has only reached to level 20. However shows a few good points and cons. Check out the full review here.

Aion Revisited: Levels 1 – 20 Review [PC]

Aion seems to be a hit

Its early to say it but Aion seems to be getting praise from gamers. No official review has been set yet by a gaming site, nor will be taken seriously until they get midway. However I’ve been looking at peoples responses for the game and some of them are hailing this a world of warcraft killer.

As from 23rd September 2009

Not that I trust Gamespot but I trust the gamers over their bias paid reviews

198 gamers average score of 8.9

Metacritic is a great honest site that takes the averages from all sites, but their user score is slightly less.

28 gamers average score 8.2

Be wary of early hype

Early adopters are all looking for a replacement to World of Warcraft (as I am too). At first glance be fooled into the games beauty, then to be shot into grinding all through the mid-levels. I’m expecting a dip in these reviews over the next 2 weeks. However I won’t be diving into this game for at least 2 weeks (when the hype is slowly dies down). I remember the pain of starting MMO’s from day one, too many on servers, down times, etc. Check back soon for an update on the reviews.

Aion, is it all hype or will it turn heads?

People are hailing the new MMO on the block to knock off millions as ‘Aion’. Unfortunately I’m not going to pay for this game until I’ve seen reviews. I’ve wasted so much money this month on Champions Online and Warhammer Online. So if it gets the green light I will be jumping right in.

11.5 million subscribers, my arse

Could World of Warcraft be a victim of white lies? well they keep on bragging about the 11 million subscribers. Surely times 11,000,000 with the monthly subscription + games sold would equal a crazy amount of money monthly. The merge with Activision, if they are making crazy amounts monthly why merge?

Personally I think its figures they are using from free trials to lost subscribers added to the list. I myself have 4 accounts (3 for myself and 1 for my wife). I used to dual box for fun, as I was so bored leveling my 6th character to 70.

Finding the maximum players that can appear on a server, apparently its 20,000 but Blizzard have never released the official numbers. (Source)

Lets do the math

11,500,000 subscribers / 20,000 = 575 servers worldwide

Thats nearly 600 servers having to be completely full to reach 11.5 million subscribers.

The US alone has 200 realms (source) so thats roughly:

• 4,000,000 players in the US alone if each server is 20,000 limit
• 6,000,000 players in the US alone if each server is 30,000 limit

Please take note, this is if all 200 of the US servers are maxed out to the full. If we take a mean result from this, lets say 5,000,000 subscribers on US servers alone. This leaves 6.5 million left worldwide.

Somehow these numbers don’t add up, they are obviously getting mixed up with inactive trial signups & inactive accounts over subscribers. Trouble is we live in a follow the herd society… this leaves new MMO’s out to die as they can only compete with thousands of real subscribers. No one will never know the truth about actual numbers, however I’d love to hear from you if you have any inside info.

I’m actually playing this game off a Mac using the new beta client. Please check back soon for the review.