Hey everyone, goes by the name Virta, been in Aion nearly since its early days.
I kicked off on Perento as an Asmodian cleric, joined the PvP crowd from the start. Loved rift PvP and even enjoyed siege battles, despite rewards mainly going to dominant legions. There was a decent legion which shared their spoils for kinah through a private store in Reshanta. But they left once the game got too easy with their OP gear. That marked a change—players got greedy and became bullies over fort wins.
Later, I shifted to Telemachus, joining Elyos to explore that side too. Silentera Canyon and Gelkmaros/Inggisson were my world PvP spots, though zergs were an issue thanks to certain legions.
Nexus arrived, resetting and trying out twink characters on Elyos. Enjoyed Rift PvP and twinking in Nexus's active scene, facing off against fellow twinks was more thrilling than random easy targets.
Juggled PvP on Nexus and Telemachus until trolling and verbal garbage made me ditch Perento.
As Nexus got a new level cap, twink scene faded, so Telemachus had my full attention with Katalam's world PvP. It was a blast, thanks to easily accessible PvP gear that even alts could use. (Strife gear worked well in many scenarios).
But with new gear grinds in Nosra/Esterra and higher level challenges, focusing on PvP meant falling behind in gear. That pressure drained my interest, leading me to leave the game.
The announcement of 6.0 with promise of easier-to-get gear piqued my curiosity. I returned to Aion hoping for better PvP, but found the RNG more painful than before. My hopes for a revived PvP community fizzled. Many former PvPers had moved on to private servers or quit entirely, while PvE dominated the scene.
So I’m pondering whether to continue or quit. Does 7.0 offer hope, or will it crush my PvP dreams?
The game’s highs and lows have been a journey, unsure if any "highs" remain now?
By the way, a 33-year-old gamer here, started MMOs in 1997 with a 56kb modem, then ISDN.
First MMO was Ultima Online.
Other MMOs I played:
World of Warcraft
Tibia
Age of Conan
Lineage, Lineage 2
Guild Wars, Guild Wars 2
Dark Age of Camelot
Runescape
Anarchy Online
Dungeons and Dragons Online
Warhammer Online
Plus more I can't recall the names of and unsure if they count as MMOs.
Solo or with pals, games include:
Diablo series
Sin
Duke Nukem 3D
Wolfenstein 3D
Doom series
Quake series
Unreal Tournament and Unreal series
Commander Keen
PUBG
Counter-Strike series
Realized listing everything is endless, with around 1000 games on Steam and others elsewhere.
Started gaming as a kid.
Got into old computers and consoles.
Longest-running MMOs:
World of Warcraft
Ultima Online
and Aion
Now, here's something exciting - the upcoming Aion Riftshade, launching Q1 2026. It promises a balanced PvP environment with features like a DPS Meter similar to MyAion, strong anti-cheat measures, and smooth performance with low ping thanks to EU servers. If you've been in search of the best Aion private server, Aion Riftshade with absolutely no pay-to-win elements might just revive your PvP adventures.
So no reason to feel "old" here. But if you are looking for a fresh twist on Aion, you might want to peek into Aion Riftshade coming in Q1 2026. I've been testing it as part of their exclusive beta and let me tell you, it's got some of the most committed player groups and exciting features like server-side anticheat and premium EU hosting for the lowest lag. 
So why the feeling of age? 
Your somewhat grumpy ginger kitty is also adorable.