I don’t agree with Nyam, the quests are just the same as in any MMO really, so saying they are boring means you find quests boring in general.
I personnaly prefer to grind my way through the game, but you can quest your way to the top aswell. It’s just a matter of personal preference, but grinding will always be a part of any game. Grinding 100 mobs without a quest, or grinding 100 mobs for a quest and having to walk everywhere. Easy choice imo.

Aion has amazing graphics, a variety of classes, a great storyline for the lore fans, and last but not least.. Epic pvp battles.
Imagine trying to defend your fortress against an incoming attack from the other faction, and then a dredgion shows up and drops a bitchload of elite mobs into your base. You’re gonna have to defeat all of them if you want to keep your fortress, which has a lot of strategic value.

Ups: character customization and weapons / armor models very complex, open world PvPvE, skill chains (one skill used activates level 2 chain, and so on), 3 factions (2 human controlled faction and 1 artificial intel faction, all interracting in capturing fortresses)
Downs: limited pvp options (abyss point grinding too hard and long, no battleground / arena system to gain ap)

Conclusion: so far, it is a very promising game if certain aspects would be implemented in the future, graphics from a scale 1 to 10 is around 9.