I know you have a lot of games you are playing Tobold, but there is a game in open beta called Battlefield Heroes.

It's a FPS, but done as an MMO, with levels, some unlockable stuff, talent points, and even RMT items you can buy, such as uniforms/clothes to customize your character. No RMT though for better weapons, etc...just clothes.

You should try it out, and screw around with it. I know you aren't big into FPS games or PvP, but this isn't a real, traditional FPS but a cartoony version of one, designed not for little kids with super fast reaction time, but for anyone.

Anyway, just letting you know its out there. It's surprisingly fun, even though I wish it was Battlefield 3 that was out instead. Give it a try, I'd be interested in your opinion of its mechanics as a game, even if you don't particuarly like the PvP/FPS aspect of it.
 

The RMT doesn't affect combat? That is not what I heard.

Well, in my case, I tried it, and didn't like it. I'm not good at FPS games, so I only play the PvE FPS games, where you can still get ahead by setting the difficulty level to easy. There is no easy difficulty setting in a multiplayer PvP shooter.
 

Had any fun in Aion yet?
 

Ah, if you've already tried it, thats cool.

You can't buy anything that actually helps you in combat with RMT transaction. All you can buy is clothes and emotes. Not sure what the person on that twitter link is complaining about.

Just wondering what you thought about it. I find it fun, for some strange reason. Guess I'm just tired of grinding in WoW for the same old gear.
 

How does Battlefield Heroes compare to Gunz? Because that pretty much shook me off MMO shooters long ago...
 

Aion is ike WoW but as the poster before I find it somehow attractive. I guess it is due to the clean and good interface, nice graphics, very nice environment.

I am curious for the first instance (are there any?) or group quests (are there any?)
 

Indeed, you can't directly buy weapons with Battlefunds in Battlefield Heroes.

You can, however, buy XP and Valor Point boosts using Battlefunds. Which is essentially a smoke and mirrors way to let you get an advantage over another play using RMT, given the same amount of play time.

There are many arguments around this topic, something Tobold would probably be very good at expounding upon I'm sure. Essentially you could see it as letting those people with less available play-time catch up with those who can play for many hours, which is a Good Thing. However, given the general stereotype of FPS players as always being prepared to spend the most amount of money on their gaming rigs, and the most amount of time in game, to give them every advantage possible, do we really think that those playing for more hours will not also be taking advantage of the RMT purchased XP/VP gains?

When it boils down to it, mixing MMO elements into a competitive FPS is a bad idea from the start, in my opinion. The RMT just adds an extra layer to it all.

My 'review' was probably too short, but I was in the mood for being pithy. There are plenty of other things about the game that I find to be a bad idea - web browser plugins that trigger my anti-phishing protection for a start, although I notice that they seem to have fixed that issue now - but at the end of the day, nobody has to take my word for it, it's 'free' to play, go take a look.

Incidentally, I think the design and style of the game is fantastic, the sense of humour is spot on, and my concerns that it was just going to be ripping-off TF2 were unfounded as it definitely has a style that is all its own.
 

I eagerly look forward to Tobold's review of the Aion beta, which I anticipate he will post tomorrow ;)
 

Ha review... He hasn't even been playing it for a month, how can he possible review it then? ;)
 

If not a full-on review, then at least impressions of the game.
 

After reading a bit on the net about Aion, im getting curious about this game too. So I would appreciate some beta insights aswell:)
 

I think Aion will do slightly better then RFonline but still turn FTP in a month or two.
 

@Railith

Yep, a game with 3.5 million active subscribers in Asia alone is going to turn FTP in a month or two. Genius. Pure genius.
 

What kind of subscription model is Aion using in Asia? Those numbers over there always seem high, but isn't it because no one is paying anything close to $15/month?
 

Traditionally you do not have subscribtion based models in Asia. That is a very Western MMO model and what we are use to.

However a lot of people play in game/internet cafes where you pay by the hour instead of by the month.

So subscription structure is different in Asia then what we have here.
 

I just read an interesting article over at wow.com

The article was talking about Blizzard's paid faction change and how it is almost RMT.

Instead of weapons, armor, or items in game you can pay to change your hair, server, faction, and even gender.

Don't you think this is a version of RMT that people can accept or does not recognize?

I think so, shell out 20 here, 15, their, not a problem. But when it effects your game then people scream and shout.

So does paying for things that are out of game the same RMT as paying for things in-game?