Aion Review: New Generation of MMO or Same Old Grind?

Interface and Gameplay:
The interface and gameplay  is very identical to WOW. Actually a lot of things about aion are very "wow-like" . But the one thing that stands out is stigmas. Stigma stones allow the player to use abilities from another class and is equipped in a "stigma panel." I am not sure the max stigma stones you can hold in your panel, but I currently can hold two. As your levels progress, you will gain more stigma slots.

Aion also likes to reward people who play or grind the game with something called Divine Power. The more you kill the more Divine Power you get (although i don't see what is so divine about killing stuff). Divine Power is required to use "super-skills" and disappears once you log off.

Best MMO of the Year?
Hey its possible. The year 2009 doesn't have the best outlook for mainstream mmos, but who knows what else could come its way and Aion is probably on the top of the list right now.

Why I am disappointed? (My Opinion)

Ya you probably seen on forums and stuff people shouting "WoWclone" or "WoWkiller" about this game, but let me tell you, this game is definitely not a Wow killer. I know there is a die hard fan base for Aion especially on mmosite (since it is very hyped up), but don't keep your expectations too high. It might be just all the hype but I really expected more from this game.

I know that people dislike comparing mmos to WOW but using WOW as a comparison is probably very well suited for Aion . First thing is that I especially hate using WoW terms but it is hard to distinguish the gameplay in Aion as anything but...

Next to runes of magic, i have never seen another game that resembled wow so closely. That is right. WoW and Aion would go hand in hand. But WoW would be like the little kid and Aion is like the big brother. Aion gives a more mature feeling compared to crudeness of WoW. It is strange that it is "like WoW, but not like WoW."

Actually just to show you the similarities i'll use Steparu's ingame footage he used during a "mission" back in april for chinese OB.

Final Thoughts
Nevertheless this is a good game. Even if the hype brings the game to shame a bit, it will probably be the best mmo of the 2009 (for now). I don't see this as something that will de-throne WoW, but it is a good alternative. According to NCsoft, the future of aion is going to be a p2p game (boo !!). Whether it stays afloat or not all depends on the community because  p2p is always risky business but if you can pull it off you make tons of $. Also it probably doesn't matter if you play the korean or EU version of the game (but the korean version feels much more "complete" if i may say).