Aion= graphics when it was ist introduced here was OMG; the concept of having wings was awesome till it had a timer; I didn't find it grindy but the idea of fun in leveling was not there, much like my old school MMO just had better graphics.
Tera.= the combat system > graphics > leveling was actually "fun" > and Emasse-they actually listen to their player base opinions and suggestions! thats like ....i dont event know how to describe it. :
Yea everyone's going to cancel, because there is chance involved with enchanting. Byee
Only thing I miss from Aion... is the voice acting :(
Wish I was allowed to change the voices to Kor/Jap or something... I just can't stand NA and its terrible voice acting ><''
(Not native to North America, came from Asia)
I have been playing Aion since head start (2 1/2 yrs) and TERA since non-preordered OBT (weekend).
For lvls 1-10, in Aion it takes 1hr max. to achieve but in TERA a lot longer, However, onwards, for TERA it takes a consistent amount of time to level but in Aion, at least pre 2.0, it took an increasinly greater amount of time to level. Best idea in TERA is having mounts from lvl 11, the point after which you do a lot of legwork to quest and level but in Aion, again pre 2.0, you didn't have that which added to the time it took to level.
No available quest indicators on maps in TERA unlike in Aion which is useful as sometimes in TERA I didn't realise a quest opened up until by chance i saw an excalamtion mark on my minimap as I was running through a random area, but TERA does generally (not always) have a final quest from a camp/outpost leading you to another location that offers more quests which is helpful. I'm sure ppl have missed content in TERA because they didn't realise quests have opened up in another area due to the fact they weren't guided to the area.
Aion PvP is ridiculously fast where it is not uncommon to die in literally a few secs, but in TERA PVP encounters generally last a lot longer than a few secs. Depending on your point of view this may be a good thing or a bad one. Likewise, because Aion is PvPvE, you always need to be vigilant of the possiblity of an attack by the oppossing faction when PvEing wheras in TERA u r generally safe from ganking so you can PvE in peace. xD
Aion's story is easy to follow but so far with TERA, to say the least, it is convulted unless you read beyond the story related conversations and text in the game. It may be clearer after lvl 32 - I don't know yet!
TERA is definitely easier in terms of difficulty (up to lvl 32, can't comment beyond that!) and in other ways compared with Aion 3.0. In TERA, you can pull a whole room of mobs and survive, even with the healer afking, but in Aion you can basically wipe if a tank doesn't use a PARTICULAR ability AT THE RIGHT TIME. Aion can be so difficult that most people would miss a lot of content such as Empyrean Crucible stage 9 onwards whereas an average player in TERA should be able to experience virtually all of the content. However, drop rate is a lot better in TERA where it can be common for someone with gold gear but in Aion, not so much nowadays, only a few can have the very best gear!
Basically, you need thick skin to play Aion but TERA is very player friendly that throws great gear at you as long as you participate. Alternatively, TERA is casual friendly / easy-going compared with Aion.
I played TERA beta from the original closed beta (pre-october). After playing this past open beta/headstart, and after long consideration and analysis, I have come to the realization that personally, I believe that the Aion combat system is far superior (both in skill required and enjoy-ability).
We're all entitled to our opinions and preferences, but I will be playing Aion, and not Tera.
Enjoy and good luck comrades.
Aion has so many weird design choices that made it hard to be in. Travel was expensive, death was inconvinent, combat was slow, itemization was random and sparse, crafting was too much of a gamble. Progress was painful.
Problem is TERA has a bunch of the same mechanics, between the enchanting, resealing, small world, and other Korean game designs. But progress and rewards come faster here, and mainly the combat is interesting and fast. I'm not spending more than 30 seconds on normal mobs.
Course the big problem ends up being how well you overcome that KMMO stigma. That was my friend's bigger issue with this game.