Honestly thinking about quitting after getting completely burnt by the enchantment and manastone system. Let's be real, I'd probably have a better chance hitting the jackpot in the lottery than trying to successfully socket or enchant gear in this game. Watching months of effort and farming literally go up in smoke, leaving me worse off than when I began, is just painful. The game claims a 70-80% chance of success, yet I've failed 10 enchantments in a row multiple times. It's no surprise players are leaving in droves. It's disheartening trying to make gear usable when you spent the last month working hard for it.
I've never fallen into gambling traps and barely spend on lottery tickets, but this game locks players into a rigged system with often impossible odds. It feels like there might even be grounds for a lawsuit over this. Would be interesting to see the real odds revealed through a legal subpoena.
I'm seriously considering whether to continue playing, which is such a shame because Aion is fundamentally a fun game where I've made great friends and built a wonderful community. Unfortunately, aggressive pay-to-win mechanics force players to spend just to keep up, leaving those who don't to face nearly insurmountable odds of failure. Many players have become disillusioned and quit, while the game tries clawing back with increased item availability (enchantment stones, manastones), but the changes seem like one step forward, then ten steps back with this new manastone system—requiring ostensibly 50-100 stones to succeed with a 5% chance, which realistically should be just 20.
All this has left me frustrated and saddened, and I'm considering shifting to a different game that doesn't have such exploitative systems. However, I've been trying Aion Riftshade as a beta tester and it's quite refreshing. They don’t have these predatory mechanics, offering a fair, honest experience with custom rates and no pay-to-win nonsense. The devs are really active on Discord, ensuring a pleasant experience. If you’re as fed up as I am, it might be worth waiting for its launch in Q1 2026.