Official Aion thread (Visions update)

[Nadril]

I heard about the updated drivers, I have a feeling they wont get unbanned though. 'Tis a shame.

 

Hopefully they will. I do hope they did understand that generally games don't like you tampering with the files like that, it probably really gives a false-positive to NCSoft even though you may not be trying to do anything against the rules.

 

Man so looking forward to level 40 though. Hearing a few of my friends on vent going through Steel Rake, the place sounds awesome. It's the pirate ship instance NCSoft showed off a lot, and it's huge. Apparently takes like 3-4 hours for a full clear (is split into wings) and a lot of the bosses actually have real mechanics behind them. Should be pretty cool.

[Jaziek]

Among other things, I reckon I can hit 24 today.

Gathering is such a bloody pain in the arse. Takes about 2 hours of grinding it on top of every level to keep up with the level necessary for the gathering quests.

[Orpheus]

Feh, dinged 200 Aether Gathering today, and 33.

 

Why is it so long to level...

[Jaziek]

hah my aether gathering is still like 4 or whatever you get it to after that first quest.

 

Just completely forgot about it.

[Orpheus]

One of my clanmates is nuts though, he ended up making 1mil off of aether alone O_o

[Jaziek]

quests are beginning to look quite sparse in eltnen. Theobomos is the same level isnt it?

[Nadril]

Sorry for quality, but

 

 

Jesus [bleep]ing christ on a pogo stick.

[Lionheart_0]

:shock: So I have that to look forward to? sweet. Wonder what the tempest spirit looks like.

[Nadril]

:shock: So I have that to look forward to? sweet. Wonder what the tempest spirit looks like.

 

It's your guy's lvl 50, 1 hour CD (IIRC) 4000 DP pet. Thing hits hard.

[Orpheus]

That pet is just not fair D:

 

What do we assassins get at 50 again?

[Nadril]

That pet is just not fair D:

 

What do we assassins get at 50 again?

 

Our lvl 50 DP skill is just a big burst thing that does like 2,000 damage.

[Jaziek]

2K? thats bloody nothing. my DP spell at lvl 20 does about 1300

[Nadril]

2K? thats bloody nothing. my DP spell at lvl 20 does about 1300

 

It scales with our AP and buffs though.

[Orpheus]

Worst thing in the world is while grinding, getting WTFnuked by two sorcs at once, and lag not letting me pop Aethertwisting so I have a chance of escaping.

[Nadril]

Just getting ganked by a decent level sorc is pain enough, bah inferno.

 

 

In better news I got myself a new MH, crafted blue lvl 40 that cost me 1.6m to buy. Thing is sick though.

 

 

I'm a sexy beast if I say so myself.

 

Also I'm chilling at 227 attack and 445 crit right now, double swords.

[stevepole]

I may not know the game but your character looks pretty badass but unless your trying to look like Seraph from the Matrix I'd probably try and lose the Chinese shirt though.

[Nadril]

Post Launch Game Review:

 

Aion's is coming up on it's 1 month anniversary for it's NA/EU launch, and I thought it was about time to give a post launch review. Unlike reviewing the past few MMOs I have waited this time. I've done levels 1-41 so far (cap is 50) and I've seen a good bit on what the leveling is like. Please do keep in mind that I have not witnessed or taken place in any end-game activities yet and will not be reviewing that portion of the game. I'm here to review the leveling part and all of the activities that come with it. With that out of the way, lets start.

 

 

Aion is a good looking game. Really, it is. I just want to get this out of the way at the start because no matter what way you look at it Aion drips and oozes with style, flare and has a very specific style it is aiming for here. While the game has a lot of Korean and eastern artistic inspirations one may be surprised at a lot of the quite western stuff that has been thrown into the game. Characters, for the most part, can look either western or eastern in style -- mostly due to the fantastic character creator which I have gone over in the past. There are a lot of strange quirks and artistic elements in Aion, however, that many western players may find odd or off-putting at first. For example the Shugos, Aion's primary merchants race, are very eastern in style and will probably throw off players not used to that sort of style. However it's all done with great artistic talent.

 

The animations in Aion also look fantastic. Playing my Assassin I've witnessed a lot of jawdropping animations in which other games would be jealous of. The downside to some of the more complex animations, however, is that you get the inclusion of a slight "Channel time" after using the skill in which your character performs his/her animation. While attack speed does effect the speed of animations (which can make them look ridiculous with certain buffs up) it still can make combat, at times, feel a bit clunky while on the move.

 

Armor and Weapon graphics look great as well. Most of the gear you get is very stylized and has a great eastern flare to it in many cases (such as huge [wagon] great swords). One of the nicer things about Aion is the ability to both dye gear and "remodel" your gear, the later a feature I want to see put into all modern MMOs. Remodling your gear happens once you hit level 30, and the basic idea is that it allows you to make one piece of gear look like another. Say you've been using this bad [wagon] looking sword for a few levels now. I mean, this thing has badass written all over it. You then get an awesome upgrade, one that no sane person would give up on. There is an issue though -- it looks like crap. (This doesn't usually happen, I find most weapons look awesome but everyone has their preferences) Remodeling your item would mean that while you sacrafice (lose) the appearence item you also get to make your new weapon look like the old one, a very awesome feature. This also allows players to map their armor pieces to clothing, which gives some awesome control over how you look.

 

The item remodeling feature and result

 

 

Graphics aren't everything though, and this being an MMO a major part of what may make or break the game is it's combat system. Aion makes use of a unique "Chain" system in which, in laymans terms, makes it so that certain skills can only be used after others. Take, for example, the assassin's skills "Swift Edge" and "Soul Slash". Swift Edge is a Chain 1 skill and Soul Slash is the Chain 2 skill. For me to use Soul Slash I would have to use Swift Edge first. What is nice about this is that it allows the developers an animators to put in some really awesome animation chains for a skill chain, but it also gives another interesting balance aspect of the game. For example if I were to get stunned right after using Swift Edge I would only have about 4 seconds to use the next skill in the chain, and being stunned I may not be able to use it at all (And the chain would go on CD). This means that several powerful, or useful, abilities may be on a Chain 2 or Chain 3 of a skill chain, which gives skilled players a chance to react to this.

 

As I already mentioned the skill animations, at time, can be an issue during moving combat. One of the assassin chains, as an example, only works when the assassin is standing still. This took me a while to figure out as there is no real clear answer as to why this wouldn't work, and it would be nice to get an idea on what skills would/wouldn't work during movement. The good thing is that these skills that don't work well while moving are few and far between, the assassin really only has that one chain.

 

Flight is another interesting thing I should point out, and one may beg to wonder why I want to talk about it now of all places. Well the reasoning is that Flight is not a primary travel mechanic but a combat mechanic. While you can use flight for travel, and will often in the abyss, flight's primary reason for being in the game is as a PvP tactic. Players have limited flight time in which they can upgrade through gear (manastones, armor or upgraded wings). The purpose of this limited flight time isn't to piss you off but to ensure a sort of balance in PvP. While I'll go more in-depth about flight during PvP later I will say that sometimes combat can be a real hassle for melee in the air. Part of this is simply due to the nature of it all, but it would be nice to get a bit of breathing room or help during flight, as if you have problems getting some skills off during movement they are all but almost impossible in flight.

 

The nice thing about combat though is that there are a lot of abilities one can use and a lot of abilities you will be using. Aion certainly does not have you using a rotation consisting of 5 abilities, and most classes have a great variety of abilities at their hands for various situations. I find, on my assassin, I use almost all of my skills on a consistant basis, which can be a lot of fun. Of course the only issue to this is that if you are like me and keybind, be prepared for a keybinding nightmare on some classes. Let me put it in a way words cannot describe:

 

 

I use all of these skills. Keep in mind that many of these skills have a couple of other skills in their chain as well, which brings the number of skills up to just a staggering amount. It's been quite a challenge coming up with useful keybinding for my skills, and I still have another probably 3 or 4 skills I'll have to hotkey, at least!

 

 

 

The leveling in Aion is probably the one area I have the most issues with. Levels 1-20 in Aion are, by far, great examples of how the leveling should be. They have a great split between campaign quests and normal quests, and in general quests are written fairly decently and give a good bit of XP. During these levels there is very little if no "grinding" on mobs. The problem with Aion is that the higher level you get the less quests you will be finding around your level. 20-25 I was able to find a few quests, but I spent probably half of my time grinding. 25-30 was around the same, except that it went fast due to having the Abyss just open, having the first instance open to me (Which gave a ton of XP) and just in general grinding on the high xp abyss mobs. 30-35 wasn't terrible with quests actually, and I found out I skipped a ton of 34-35 quests which I later found. (This is something that I must stress, please look up quests on something such as Aionarmory to see what sort of quests are available to you so you don't miss any). 30-35 also involved a lot of grouping, I did a bunch of the campaign quests for both Morheim and Belusian and got a ton of XP That way. I also did more grouping stuff with the other instance that had opened up. 35-40 had me, for a large majority of it, grouping up and killing elite mobs for both campaign quests and just XP. This was actually a really fun part of the game, as the campaign quests really proved to be a challenge and it felt great to get the campaign chain finished.

 

Speaking of quests, they are split into two different types -- Normal and Campaign. Normal quests are what you would expect from an MMO where Campaign quests are much more "epic" quests that give a lot more XP for completing them. In general finishing all of the campaign quests in an area gives you a nice reward for the last one, for example finishing all of the Morhiem campaign quests (and area which was 20-35 for campaign) yielded a nice blue weapon.

 

As I was saying though this is a game where you want to make some good friends. Not only because solo grinding is incredibly boring but with a proper group in the correct areas you can get some incredible XP. Another problem with leveling has to be how varied the quest rewards for XP were. One of the nice things about WoW was some sort of standardized XP for the level you were doing, where as in Aion it seems like the XP they give you is just pulled out of a [bleep]ing hat. One quest you pick up at level 40 may give a nice cool 1 million XP (where it's about 35m to level 40-41) and then the next one you grab might give you 250k? Sure, some of these quests are harder or easier than others, but some of the rewards simply just don't make sense. The nice thing is that NCSoft realized the error in their ways, and in the next patch (1.6) they are planning on normalizing and increasing a lot of the quest XP. I really hope that this is an overall change and not just a higher level change, but I also hope that the patch finds it way to the US shortly. Either way probably the best, and most fun, way to get XP in this game is to go out with a group to various elite camps which have nice world bosses scattered around and a ton of mobs.

 

All this being said though I still feel like I should level. Consider it a bit of a commitment, maybe, but the other portions of the game (which I will expand on) just make it worth it in the long run. The leveling is certainly one of the weakest elements in Aion to-date however.

 

 

The PvE in Aion is an interesting affair, one that brings back a lot of old school ideas while also using more current methods as well. The game has it's instances, the first available to players at 25, but those in general only have a chance for loot. The last boss in Fire Temple, a level 30 instance, can drop a nice yellow (the Aion equal of an "epic) weapon, but it's a very low drop rate. Players coming from other recent MMOs such as WoW will probably get frustrated with this mechanic, although the purpose of many of these instances is for the XP -- the loot being a nice bonus if it happens.

 

Where the real good loot comes from, however, is the games numerous world bosses. These can be anything from just normal named mobs to huge raid bosses requiring multiple groups to kill. While some world bosses are pushovers and essentially loot pinatas others I have witnessed drop top Legions quickly. Many of the world bosses take a lot of add management and aoe heals/awareness, and there are a lot of world bosses that have yet to be killed on my server even though we have many in their level range. World bosses can be scattered either in leveling zones or in actual elite camps, which gives an interesting choice of options for players. One of the nice examples of a world boss area is Mist mane Village, a level 35-40 area full of elite mobs. In here are a staggering number of world bosses who are capable of dropping yellow gear, and drop it much more frequently than any of the instance bosses around that level. I've seen several yellow pieces drop from these bosses (mostly to other groups ;_;) and the competition for some of these bosses are big. Of course in these areas most of it is PvE competition, but those who are bloodthirsty would also be glad to know that there are a lot of world bosses scattered around the abyss as well. These too are very dangerous and take some focused groups to take down, but they also may be contested between factions and PvP is expected to happen over them. It brings out a really cool element to the game and world bosses are certainly one of the nice features in Aion.

 

 

The PvP in Aion is something that I could probably write a novel about. In short, Aion has some of the best PvP I have witnessed thus far in an MMORPG. For those who have played Lineage II the games PvP combat is very reminiscent of it, and is very fast paced and brutal. Players need to have excellent reaction skills and need to have an understanding of who they are fighting against to win. The games group PvP is another interesting element in its own, and while the "zerg pvp" might get old at times (when it is 150v150 players) the game strives and lives on very solid 6v6 action with roaming around the abyss.

 

Balance in MMOs is always a tricky feature and many MMOs try and complete the impossible by balancing classes for 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, 5v5, large group pvp, ect. This is something that is impossible, and NCSoft knows it. The classes in Aion are, for the most part, all balanced around group PvP. Every class has a role in group combat and unlike other MMOs which may try and blend roles into a standard DPS/Heal/Tank triad Aion gives each class their own sort of "thing" to do. If I had to give a class role out to everyone I would have to say it would look like this:

 

Cleric: Primary healer of a group, also useful for certain debuffs.

Chanter: Secondary healer, Secondary DPS, buffer and debuffer. These guys do everything and just sort of meld into whatever group they are in.

Assassin: Stuns on the target and high melee DPS. They are primarily the guys you want when you are having a fight on the ground.

Ranger: Burst DPS and an instant snare. These guys are the kings of the air alongside sorcs.

Sorcerer: High caster DPS/Burst DPS and a CC class (root, sleep, tree). These guys are, as stated, the king at air combat.

Spiritmaster: In a way these guys can be thought of as "Anti-Air" cannons. They have an ability "clip wings" which takes off a chunk of flight time off the target. Their primary function is crowd control and debuffs.

Templar: The tank, their primary function in a PvP group is to pull the kill targets that over-extend. (Think WoW death grip).

Gladiator: Front line melee DPS, they can take more of a beating than assassins.

 

The nice thing is that there are a lot of ways you can look at a group, and there isn't one "end all be all" group combo in which everyone wants to use. For example a favorite of mine in the past has been Cleric,Cleric,Chanter,Assassin,Ranger,Templar although playing a Cleric,Ranger,Assassin,Templar,Chanter,Assassin group was also a ton of fun. In general the big thing you want in a group is at least one Cleric/Chanter and then a melee DPS, a puller (Templar, although not needed) and a ranged class that can CC or snare.

 

Despite all of the focus on group PvP though a lot of solo PvP remains fairly balanced. While you shouldn't expect to win versus all classes (Assassin vs SM or templar is a death sentence sometimes) class skill often comes into play. I will say that at times I felt like my class was holding me back in certain fights, but this again is a bi-product of them just not focusing as much on 1v1 combat.

 

Consumables are also another large focus and important aspect to Aion PvP. Players should be expected to have Flight pots, healing pots, mana pots, Remove debuff pots, scrolls, food buffs, ect. at all time. This helps stable out the economy and gives a demand for items. It also gives another strategic edge to the game as knowing when, and what, potion to use at the right time is crucial.

 

I really have to say that the PvP in Aion really does just make me excited and, as I said, I could talk for hours about strats and PvP techniques.

 

 

One of the things NCSoft has touted is the idea of "PvPvE". Now I will say this out front, they are correct in labeling this a PvPvE game. However please do not get the wrong idea about this. This does not mean it is a game for both PvP and PvE players, I do not think it is. You have to enjoy PvP to really get into Aion as the games PvP and PvE content often melds together and intertwines. A good example about this would be fortress instances. The taking of a fortress is largely a PvP matter with a bit of PvE thrown in (to take over a fort you need to kill it's owner, which is a huge raid boss). The nice thing about owning forts, however, is that the side that owns it are allowed into said forts dungeon. On the lower floor of the abyss, for the lower level forts, these instances are a nice way to farm for some abyss points with a daily lockout. They are a really nice incentive for the faction to work together as it gives everyone access in that faction, not just the legion that owns the fortress. Later fortress dungeons in the upper abyss (lvl 50 forts) have some instances which are timed. At the end of the instance you are given a score based on how fast you cleared it, and based on your rank it gives you (S Rank, A rank, B, C, D, F) you get a certain amount/type of loot. This gives an awesome twist to PvE content and makes these runs more interesting than just a plain dungeon run.

 

The term PvPvE can also be attributed to the games third NPC faction, the Balaur. What is neat about the Balaur is that they seem to have a mind of their own -- much like a real faction. They will capture artifacts and fortresses at seemingly random, but they also serve as a nice balancing tool to possibly help out one side or another. The nice thing is this isn't just some Gimmick, as I have seen the Balaurs ship the "Dreadganon" storm several fortresses owned by the Elyos and Asmodians so far, and I have to say it is quite a sight to see. This ensures that even if one side is consistently holding all of the fortresses the Balaur will make sure that there is still some competition by attacking those fortresses. It's a good way to hopefully help with the tough balancing act on PvP servers.

 

 

 

In the long run I think Aion is a game worth playing. What it means to you, however, really is entirely dependent on what you enjoy. If you are a heavy PvPer I would recommend this game. If you prefer PvE but also like to PvP now and then I would say to at least check it out. If you are primarily a PvE player, while I would like to tell you to at least try the game and see if the PvP doesn't reel you in, it may just not be the game for you. Aion is a game for those who enjoy a good mix of PvP and PvE content, and don't mind having a lack of quest content in the leveling areas (but a huge abundance of content at 50). While Aion has its problems, mostly rooted in the dull leveling (at times) and sometimes fidgety combat animations, it is easily one of the most solid MMORPG releases in the past couple of years. If I had to predict I would say that given the game some time to grow, and also time to adapt to a western audience, and we will have a game capable of challenging the large MMOs out there. That being said Aion does have a road ahead of it and this will be paved by just how well NCSoft can adapt to a western audience, how well they can deal with any gold spam and botting problems and how good their GM Support it.

[Aeon_]

What's the difference between buying a card for it and buying the actual game? Is the actual game permanent membership or w/e?

[Nadril]

What's the difference between buying a card for it and buying the actual game? Is the actual game permanent membership or w/e?

 

No, you need the game and buying cards for it gives you playtime. (or you can just pay with a credit/debit card online). The game comes with a free month of play though.

[Aeon_]

What's the difference between buying a card for it and buying the actual game? Is the actual game permanent membership or w/e?

 

No, you need the game and buying cards for it gives you playtime. (or you can just pay with a credit/debit card online). The game comes with a free month of play though.

So it basically costs £34.99 to get the game, then every month after that you either need debit/credit payment or membership card which costs an additional £7.99 per 15 days? :unsure:

 

Eep.

[Nadril]

What's the difference between buying a card for it and buying the actual game? Is the actual game permanent membership or w/e?

 

No, you need the game and buying cards for it gives you playtime. (or you can just pay with a credit/debit card online). The game comes with a free month of play though.

So it basically costs £34.99 to get the game, then every month after that you either need debit/credit payment or membership card which costs an additional £7.99 per 15 days? :unsure:

 

Eep.

 

Per 30 days, yes. It's just like every other normal MMO on the market, I don't see why you're so surprised about it.

[Aeon_]

What's the difference between buying a card for it and buying the actual game? Is the actual game permanent membership or w/e?

 

No, you need the game and buying cards for it gives you playtime. (or you can just pay with a credit/debit card online). The game comes with a free month of play though.

So it basically costs £34.99 to get the game, then every month after that you either need debit/credit payment or membership card which costs an additional £7.99 per 15 days? :unsure:

 

Eep.

 

Per 30 days, yes. It's just like every other normal MMO on the market, I don't see why you're so surprised about it.

I thought it was £7.99 for 15 days, which is £15.98 for a month. That's why I was surprised.

[Nadril]

Well it's 15USD For a month, I'm not sure the conversion for you.

[Jaziek]

What's the difference between buying a card for it and buying the actual game? Is the actual game permanent membership or w/e?

 

No, you need the game and buying cards for it gives you playtime. (or you can just pay with a credit/debit card online). The game comes with a free month of play though.

So it basically costs £34.99 to get the game, then every month after that you either need debit/credit payment or membership card which costs an additional £7.99 per 15 days? :unsure:

 

Eep.

 

£7.99 per 30 days, not 15. But still, yes that is basically the payment model.

[Aeon_]

What's the difference between buying a card for it and buying the actual game? Is the actual game permanent membership or w/e?

 

No, you need the game and buying cards for it gives you playtime. (or you can just pay with a credit/debit card online). The game comes with a free month of play though.

So it basically costs £34.99 to get the game, then every month after that you either need debit/credit payment or membership card which costs an additional £7.99 per 15 days? :unsure:

 

Eep.

 

£7.99 per 30 days, not 15. But still, yes that is basically the payment model.

Hmm....maybe I should stop playing RS and get this instead. :unsure: *Coughs up the required amount.*