Aion - Ultimate Media Blowout Thread (Warning: Picture blowout)

Gallagher · 09:45 AM

Current Status: korean closed beta
EU/US Release: 2008
US Closed Beta: Early 2008

System requirements

Quote:

Minimal
CPU: Pentium 4: 2.8GHz oder AMD 2800+
Main Memory: 512MB Ram
Graphics card: GeForce5700/Radeon9600 (128MB Graphic memory)
DirectX: 9.0c or higher
System: Windows 2000, XP or Vista.
Harddrive: around 6 GB

Recommended:
CPU: Pentium4: 3.0GHz oder AMD 3000+ or better.
Main Memory: 1GB Ram oder mehr.
Graphics card: Geforce6600/Radeonx1550 or better-
DirectX: 9.0c or higher
System: Windows 2000, XP or Vista.
Harddrive: around 6 GB

Some Question & Answers with Ken Choi (Senior Designer - Aion)

Quote:

Part 1 - The Core of Aion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPIzo7VUorE

Part 2 - About Quests...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=4I5AHcDyT_w

Part 3 - The Flight of the Aion Queen ;)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=llZJWUX0PQM

Part 4 - Battle System
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c6cXY4te3w

Part 5 - Three Fractions (Elyos, Asmodia and Balaur)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBm4qFjBREY

Part 6 - Player versus Player
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1r1ZnrzXqjQ

Part 7 - The Story of Aion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb71CqNnP_4

Part 8 - The Characters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbjzPVyqoHk

Part 9 - Differences between Casual / Hardcore Players
http://aion.gamona.de/index.php?seit...pid=12&sid=4#9

Part 10 - About Asian Grind Games
http://aion.gamona.de/index.php?seit...id=12&sid=4#10

Part 11 - The Background Story
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S5PV7bmrVM

Facts from Question & Answers without the Questions (by Aionblah):

Quote:

* PVP is possible in ALL areas, not just the abyss. Abyss is just in the middle though so it'll be most common. You bet we'll be rushing their zones and raping their lowbies as often as possible, as using flight you can get to the enemy's side. Griefing gogo.
* Air combat is confirmed to be very fast paced; it'll be WASD movement and mouse look only, much like a FPS. Normal movement can be click or WASD, whichever you like.
* There WILL be player housing, if not by release than implemented shortly after. Clan housing will also be available; and you will be able to pick where it's at too, and decorate it.
* Guild Emblems won't show up like L2; instead they show up on your guild's flags and can be used as decoration for armor and weapondry.
* If you "farm" a monster too long, it will evolve and become stronger. Antibot <3.
* The weapon enchant system is apparently very similar to the materia system of FF7. That should be... Totally amazing.
* Closed beta cap is 25, open beta is 50, final level cap is unknown.
* The dragon race won't have wings or tails, and the Asmodians (the devils) apparently don't grow wings either, but can still fly. It's unknown as to how right now, I would imagine they either get like semi-seethrough darkness wings or are propelled by magic. Both sides will have the same cooldown and flight length.
* Knowing when to fly, when to knock your opponent out of the sky and when to attack air-to-ground is apparently going to be important for PVP.
* Day and night change just like real life and there's an active weather system. Weather is confirmed to effect the environment AND... Skills? Should be interesting. I would imagine weather effects Flight, too, but that's just my speculation.
* Aion will NOT be focused on dungeons and will not require players to run instance dungeons or dungeons in general in order to succeed and get good equipment. (Of course not; you're supposed to chill in the Abyss.)
* There will be an auction house.
* The only time you can fight your own faction is in the arenas or duel mode.
* World will not be seemless, it will be zoned with 2-3 second loadings... This worries me about spawnkilling. Regardless, it's lineage-2 like.
* There are 4 basic classes (Warrior, Scout, Wizard, Cleric) that branch off into 8 classes (Knight, Fighter, Ranger, Assassin, Wizard, Elementalist, Priest, Enchanter.) You can think of these as Elven Knights, Rogues, Dark Wizards, etc. They further branch off into another two classes, for a total of 16 each. It's unknown if each side has different classes, though people are assuming they don't. Check the Classes Thread for more info on actual classes, and it'll probably be a lot more updated.
* One press release fron NCSoft clearly and energetically states that there will be no instances... But another one says that there will be. Good fucking job, NCSoft. We don't know if there will or won't be, as a result.
* There are plenty of floating cities that can only be reached by flying or taking a floating platform/airship. The Angel's "capitol" for example is suspended in the sky.
* Flight time is limited, think of it as a skill. You have a set amount of time you can fly and it has a cooldown. Items will be able to extend these but they don't believe that time will increase with levels. "Learning to use your flight time will be essential in PVP." For long, long distance there's a teleport system like L2. For short range, there's apparently an "auto-pilot" like thing for flight where you choose your destination and you'll go.
* Character customization is pretty damned nice. You can pick from some hairstyles (I would imagine about as many as GUild Wars allows, which is a good variety). You can then choose the color of the hair and skin. There's a sweet system that allows you to shape your face, and you'll also be able to alter eye color and choose your voice. Tattoos are present a well and are available for the face, and possibly other areas. They're also making a height/weight system that you can use to make your character anywhere from skinny to fat.
* Raising your PVP rank changes your wings and makes them sweeter looking, but as of right now they will not get more effective as they change. This fact is one of the reasons that I believe the Asmodians will get "dark energy wings", because uh... To leave that part out of them entirely is kind of rediculous. Then again, maybe you'll grow horns or some shit.
* There's no mounts in Aion. Why do you need them? You have wings. Shut up.
* Party size is 6 and apparently raids will probably be limited to 1 party. That means raiding should take a pretty long time and be a little more intense than "heal him. Spam hate." I'm worried that this will result in "prime parties" where certain classes won't get to raid because people will want an enchanter or a tank instead, but who knows.
* The game's looks are described as "dream-like" and if you haven't seen the movies they resemble Fable, with the exception of humans which look quite a bit more realistic. It's by far the best-looking MMO so far, absolutely no contest. The water effects are awesome and the sky is (as expected) the best looking I've seen in any game.
* Skills can be chained in a combo fashion, depending on the weapon you use. "Length of skill chains cannot be modified." What the fuck does that mean? Preset combos?
* There will be castles a-la L2 and guilds that get them will get special crap from NPCs (like books of giants from L2, lol) and will get tax money. Where have I heard this system before?
* You get PVP points for smoking people and they can be exchanged for high-end armors and weapons.
* The weapon and armor system is fucking neat. Not only can they be dyed like Guld Wars, but if you find a weapon that has a look you like and a weapon later that has higher stats, it's possible to change the new weapon's look to the one you like. This means it's going to be damned hard to judge opponent's strength, I bet, since you can't just be like "drac bow o shi-". It'll be cool to see how this pans out.
* NCSoft expects a flat $15 USD monthly fee, but it's possible it'll change. Release is expected April of 2008, possibly earlier.
* Aion runs on the CryENGINE1, which is the same engine FarCry ran on. It has better graphics and physics than the U3 engine and less system requirements. It's currently the only MMO being developed on CryE1.
* In the abyss, the 3rd faction (the neutral dragons) apparently gank both sides. This is obviously Anti-bot with an excuse, and it's an EXCELLENT idea.
* Aion is planned for 3000-5000 players per server, and there will be euro and asian servers. It's unconfirmed if euro players can get on U.S. servers.
* There's no character collision in Aion. That means no "MOVE FAGGOT WTF" blocking like in L2. In short, you can move through monsters and players.
* You can move while using skills, so combat is quite a bit similar to WoW.
* There's no info yet on if there will be Set Bonuses for armor, as they were in L2 but not Guild Wars. I would imagine there will be, though. There's also no info on if there will be a L2-esque grade system, or if it will be stats requirement a-la guild wars, or a simple direct level requirement.
* Stats are going to be static like L2 but there's a chance to custom mod them... Like L2.
* NEW Weapons currently have a set level requirement rather than a L2-like grade system, as shown in http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/2...1635258wq3.jpg They can also be soulbound like in WoW, where you can't drop or trade an item after you've identified/picked it up.

Quote:

Player Reviews

1. http://www.aionsource.com/forum/gene...sgame-com.html

2. http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost...2&postcount=85

Picture blowout:

Quote:

Trailer Blowout

Quote:

Class videos

Quote:

Warrior - http://aion.plaync.co.kr/introduction/class/index#con
Knight - http://aion.plaync.co.kr/introductio...s/class1_1#con
Assasin - http://aion.plaync.co.kr/introductio...s/class2_1#con

Quote:

* The morph item was bought from a town npc
* Only ranger/assassin can morph into this one
* This morph gives 20% moving speed bonus
* Lasts only 10 mins and costs 1000 "kina"

Ranger - http://aion.plaync.co.kr/introduction/class/class2#con
Spirit Master (formerly known as Elementalist) - More Info Click here
http://aion.plaync.co.kr/introductio...s/class3_1#con
------ Water Elemental: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWdYe7qaV7I
------ Fire Elemental: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8MJFGiPOns
------ Earth Elemental: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NBGIeNC_l0
Sorcerer - http://aion.plaync.co.kr/introduction/class/class3#con
The Priest - http://aion.plaync.co.kr/introduction/class/class4#con
Scholar - http://aion.plaync.co.kr/introductio...s/class4_1#con

Downloads

Quote:

Games Convention 2007 Promo Trailer - http://aion.onlinewelten.com/downloads.php?id=6
Aion Soundtrack - http://aion.onlinewelten.com/downloads.php?id=12

I will update the thread with more videos as soon as i get time... but for now iam leaving.

Cya later ^^

Borys · (11-26-2007, 12:37 PM)

Boobalicious.

Blablurn · (11-26-2007, 12:40 PM)

Ist das ein MMORPG?

akachan ningen · (11-26-2007, 12:41 PM)

Wow, nice art style. What a world of difference from WoW. I might actually give an mmorpg a shot.

Lain · (11-26-2007, 12:47 PM)

Wow, my pc meets exactly the min specs... Which means probably I'll be able to play it at 15fps with everything off!
But I'll try it anyways (maybe my pc will be upgraded by the time I get it).

Gallagher · (11-26-2007, 12:50 PM)

Originally Posted by Blablurn:

Ist das ein MMORPG?

Jop.

Gallagher · (11-26-2007, 02:03 PM)

Quote:

he description that went along with this pic said that:

* The morph item was bought from a town npc
* Only ranger/assassin can morph into this one
* This morph gives 20% moving speed bonus
* Lasts only 10 mins and costs 1000 "kina"

I guess there will be some more Information about those transformations soon. Maybe its something for scouting or other spy stuff ^^

DKnight · (11-26-2007, 02:09 PM)

The flying shots are really nice, but being this an MMORPG I'm sure you''l need to spend half of your lifetime to "unlock" the wings. So you're left with a barren, "overbloomed" world where distances seem too long and characters designs are shamefully ripped off from L2. I'll pass on this unless I'm proven wrong.

Gallagher · (11-26-2007, 02:15 PM)

Originally Posted by DKnight:

The flying shots are really nice, but being this an MMORPG I'm sure you''l need to spend half of your lifetime to "unlock" the wings. So you're left with a barren, "overbloomed" world where distances seem too long and characters designs are shamefully ripped off from L2. I'll pass on this unless I'm proven wrong.

The main aspect of aion is the pvp content in the end. You will only need around 2-4 weeks to get to the high level content. There is not much grind and most of the levels you will do with quests to evolve the characters story. Every quest will have some cut scenes.

In the end you will be able to PvP, to make castle sieges, to make raids, to build your house (in the next update after launch), to make Roleplay (there is a lot of stuff only for roleplayers), to collect epic stuff and such things... and i guess many more to come

Dont worry about grinding.... you will get the wings with Level 10.

djtiesto · (11-26-2007, 02:15 PM)

It'd look real nice and stylish if they just turned down the bloom! Seriously, my eyes were starting to hurt after looking at some of those pics :P Plus, MMORPGs :(

Gallagher · 02:22 PM

Originally Posted by djtiesto:

It'd look real nice and stylish if they just turned down the bloom! Seriously, my eyes were starting to hurt after looking at some of those pics :P Plus, MMORPGs :(

I guess its because of the area... there are some dark woods and other areas without so much glooming ;)

Edit:

Some of the area videos...

Quote:

Area Exploration 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfnmtnT007I
Area Exploration 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wreP5ZE4le0
Area Exploration 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW7s9heCX5c
Beautfiul Aion Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VoBQehiexg
Aion Foothills Exploration - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2cmJy0_mak
Aion Beach Exploration - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zZOS8-APHQ

Acosta · (11-26-2007, 02:23 PM)

Fantastic!. Love the art style and the free flight. I keep saying that MMOs a great thing because developers put lot of efforts in making the enviroments interesting and different.

Love it, I will play this for sure.

Ether_Snake · (11-26-2007, 02:26 PM)

What the McFuck. It looks identical to WoW as far as the kind of landscapes are concerned.

ivysaur12 · (11-26-2007, 02:26 PM)

Like others have said, the art is really good.

Wyndstryker · (11-26-2007, 02:31 PM)

Art looks a lot better than the usual korean mmorpgs I see out there.

But i'm still skeptical...

Gallagher · 03:01 PM

Originally Posted by Wyndstryker:

Art looks a lot better than the usual korean mmorpgs I see out there.

But i'm still skeptical...

I guess thats why NC Soft bought the core developers of World of Warcraft, Starcraft and some people from Fallout ;)

Broadbandito · (11-26-2007, 02:53 PM)

Really can't wait for this. I need a new mmo, resubsribed to wow and ffxi and just not feeling it anymore.

DKnight · (11-26-2007, 03:08 PM)

Originally Posted by Gallagher:

The main aspect of aion is the pvp content in the end. You will only need around 2-4 weeks to get to the high level content. There is not much grind and most of the levels you will do with quests to evolve the characters story. Every quest will have some cut scenes.

In the end you will be able to PvP, to make castle sieges, to make raids, to build your house (in the next update after launch), to make Roleplay (there is a lot of stuff only for roleplayers), to collect epic stuff and such things... and i guess many more to come

Dont worry about grinding.... you will get the wings with Level 10.

How free is the exploration? are there any invisible walls? gigantic force fields? automatic 180º turn zones? "return or you will be shot" limits? Loading times? separated/instanced zones?

Lain · (11-26-2007, 03:14 PM)

Originally Posted by DKnight:

The flying shots are really nice, but being this an MMORPG I'm sure you''l need to spend half of your lifetime to "unlock" the wings. So you're left with a barren, "overbloomed" world where distances seem too long and characters designs are shamefully ripped off from L2. I'll pass on this unless I'm proven wrong.

I think I read a faq or interview linked in that other thread about Aion, and they said people get wings from lvl 1, but maybe i'm remebering it wrong (they were talking about how there were no mounts as it wasn't needed since you had wings from the start to move around).

CTLance · (11-26-2007, 03:14 PM)

Looks bloomerific. Nice artstyle, love those elephant things, and the flying looks awesome.

On the other hand...
CTRL&F "Korea"
CTRL&F "MMO"
Uh oh. Tell me it's not yet another grindfest. Please.

Still, Interest +1.

E-phonk · (11-26-2007, 03:16 PM)

Cool, a game with colours. I hope modern 3D cards can still handle those.

Gallagher · (11-26-2007, 03:18 PM)

Originally Posted by CTLance:

Looks bloomerific. Nice artstyle, love those elephant things, and the flying looks awesome.

On the other hand...
CTRL&F "Korea"
CTRL&F "MMO"
Uh oh. Tell me it's not yet another grindfest. Please.

Still, Interest +1.

Like i said... you can reach level 50 in 2-4 weeks with quests almost alone...

Ferrio · (11-26-2007, 03:19 PM)

So what percentage of playtime will consist of being on that beach killing those little tiny crabs?

Broadbandito · (11-26-2007, 03:22 PM)

Originally Posted by Gallagher:

Like i said... you can reach level 50 in 2-4 weeks with quests almost alone...

thats awesome, i knew they were talking about almost no grinding, kinda like that. also more incentive to make other characters, do want do want

Gallagher · (11-26-2007, 03:23 PM)

Originally Posted by Ferrio:

So what percentage of playtime will consist of being on that beach killing those little tiny crabs?

Dont ask me, iam not playing yet ;) i only know the stuff i read from other korean players or from the Q&As by NC Soft

Broadbandito · (11-26-2007, 03:24 PM)

So im guessing summer/fall release here?

I wish it was early spring or late winter release :(

Gallagher · (11-26-2007, 03:32 PM)

Originally Posted by Broadbandito:

So im guessing summer/fall release here?

I wish it was early spring or late winter release :(

At the moment they are looking for a release in the first half of 2008. Depends on how long they need for the korean beta.

CTLance · (11-26-2007, 04:09 PM)

Originally Posted by Gallagher:

Like i said... you can reach level 50 in 2-4 weeks with quests almost alone...

Yeah, but what does that get me? And what's the level cap, anyway? Is the quest system well thought out? What about the background story?

Gameplay has not that much to do with visuals. The game looks pretty gorgeous, but I've been burned by korea-style MMOs once too often to be lured in by looks alone. Grinding is not fun for me, particularly not if I have to pay for it.

Are those two weeks full of wonder, or will I be stranded in fetchquestlandia and bash mobs with 0.237% drop chance for prolonged amounts of time to reach my quota of "broken oilator rugz material" like in oh-so-many korean-influenced MMOs? What'll happen after those two weeks? Is the world open for me to explore, or will there be massive amounts of high-level aggro-on-sight mobs that are only beatable by a highly coordinated team effort?

I love Guildwars and WoW, but certainly not for the PvP or high-level content element. I loathe competitive play. Give me lore, give me NPCs, let me do something I can perceive as meaningful (as ridiculous as that sounds with videogames and ESPECIALLY MMO games as context). I'm a crafter type. I'm the guy that switches to first person view to marvel at a particularly nice vista or item while being maimed by rabid elite +9 weasels. I'm the guy that solos to comparatively high levels and then gets accused of ebaying the toon for lack of understanding of basic group tactics. I'm the annoying guy who doesn't click "accept" until he's read why he's supposed to slaughter that family of cute bunnies, to the tune of the groups' tank suffering a meltdown because he's wasting time not hitting stuff. I don't mind teaming up with other guys, even if it's a pain to schedule and survive without losing faith in humanity. It's great fun to go on exploring with a nice group, though. "50 DKP minus because you don't know what the fuck you're doing!" is something that makes me want to strangle kittens nonetheless.

So, to sum it up: Looks great. Will it be fun, especially for me?

MedievalManIII · (11-26-2007, 04:45 PM)

Originally Posted by Gallagher:

The main aspect of aion is the pvp content in the end. You will only need around 2-4 weeks to get to the high level content. There is not much grind and most of the levels you will do with quests to evolve the characters story. Every quest will have some cut scenes.

In the end you will be able to PvP, to make castle sieges, to make raids, to build your house (in the next update after launch), to make Roleplay (there is a lot of stuff only for roleplayers), to collect epic stuff and such things... and i guess many more to come

Dont worry about grinding.... you will get the wings with Level 10.

This sounds like its very similar to Guild Wars. So, is Aion a MMORPG version of Guild Wars?

Gallagher · 09:14 PM

Originally Posted by CTLance:

Yeah, but what does that get me? And what's the level cap, anyway? Is the quest system well thought out? What about the background story?

Gameplay has not that much to do with visuals. The game looks pretty gorgeous, but I've been burned by korea-style MMOs once too often to be lured in by looks alone. Grinding is not fun for me, particularly not if I have to pay for it.

Are those two weeks full of wonder, or will I be stranded in fetchquestlandia and bash mobs with 0.237% drop chance for prolonged amounts of time to reach my quota of "broken oilator rugz material" like in oh-so-many korean-influenced MMOs? What'll happen after those two weeks? Is the world open for me to explore, or will there be massive amounts of high-level aggro-on-sight mobs that are only beatable by a highly coordinated team effort?

I love Guildwars and WoW, but certainly not for the PvP or high-level content element. I loathe competitive play. Give me lore, give me NPCs, let me do something I can perceive as meaningful (as ridiculous as that sounds with videogames and ESPECIALLY MMO games as context). I'm a crafter type. I'm the guy that switches to first person view to marvel at a particularly nice vista or item while being maimed by rabid elite +9 weasels. I'm the guy that solos to comparatively high levels and then gets accused of ebaying the toon for lack of understanding of basic group tactics. I'm the annoying guy who doesn't click "accept" until he's read why he's supposed to slaughter that family of cute bunnies, to the tune of the groups' tank suffering a meltdown because he's wasting time not hitting stuff. I don't mind teaming up with other guys, even if it's a pain to schedule and survive without losing faith in humanity. It's great fun to go on exploring with a nice group, though. "50 DKP minus because you don't know what the fuck you're doing!" is something that makes me want to strangle kittens nonetheless.

So, to sum it up: Looks great. Will it be fun, especially for me?

The level cap for the beginning is Level 50. You will have normal Quests from some NPCs around the World and Mission Quests. Mission Quests are going to explain the Background Story for you. What happened to the World? What happened to your character? For example, your character doesnt know that he is a "Daeva" at the beginning. After some Mission Quests, a old man is helping you to remember through a cutscene. Right after that (around level 10) you will get your Wings. At this moment its your choice what you are going to do. Those "Mission Quests" will go up to Level 50. I guess they will improve the level cap after the next update. Even if you dont want PvP, you can help by doing Quests to get siege weapons or other stuff for your Side for example. Think about it, you are a member of a really big clan who likes to pvp... but you not. Normally you would leave but in Aion you can choose another way to help your people in PvP by doing those quests and i guess a lot of the normale quests will lead you into the realms of the other Asmodian Faction or against the third "Faction" (The Balaur). How they are going to explain those normale quests to your character? I guess you have to wait and then you will see it by yourself. Let me show you some ways to play this game:

- PvP: Walk into the Abyssus and try some PvP or try to get some of the rare Abyssus Items (special Armors & Weapons you can only find in the Abyssus)
- Castle Sieges: Conquer one of the many castles in the Abyssus and gain special advantages for you and your guild.
- Raids: Gather your Friends, discover the world and make some bigger Boss Raids to get unique Equipment (like WoW). There are even Items which are bound to the character after you equip them. I will call them just now "Epic Items"
- Get a Job: Be a Smith for example. Improve your passive forging skills by forging weapons and armors. (Watcht the crafting video in the trailer section of this thread). Create weapons and armors only a smith can create. (Draconic Items). That should be interesting for you as a crafter.

So we have now "Normale Items", "Abyssus Items", "Draconic Items" and "Epic Items"

- Be a Roleplayer: They are doing a lot right now to attract to roleplayers. A big variety of Emotes and Stuff only for roleplayers. (For Europe they are thinking about roleplay servers like WoW)
- Be a hero: Even if you dont like pvp you can get a hero status by doing many quests. If i think about Lineage 2, Heroes will get unique skills... but in Aion a Hero is also a "Boss Enemy" in some of the quests from the other Faction. But dont ask me how they will do this exactly.
- Build a house: Not right from the start, but with the next update. NC Soft is going to implement a housing system.

This is just a small insight of the world of Aion and i know they are going to implement a lot more stuff with the next updates.... but there is still even more now.... i will look for the other Question & Answers.

Originally Posted by MedievalManIII:

This sounds like its very similar to Guild Wars. So, is Aion a MMORPG version of Guild Wars?

I guess you can think so. They have even a complex pvp system called "Gods Power", this power is needed for your special combos and you can even transfuse this power to other player if they are running out of their own power in pvp for example...

Like i said... i will look for the other Question & Answers from NC Soft about Roleplaying, Casual Gamer, End Content, Quests, PvP, Hero System and more...

usea · (11-26-2007, 09:27 PM)

Talk about disgustingly blurry images.

CTLance · (11-26-2007, 09:29 PM)

Originally Posted by Gallagher:

(answers)

Wow, thanks. Sounds like Guildwars, WoW, RF online and DAoC had a foursome.

Not bad. Not bad at all.
Danke Dir.
Das nächste Mal frag ich per PM, dann musst Du das ganze Zeug ned ins Englische übersetzen; Sorry.

Gallagher · (11-27-2007, 02:12 PM)

Quote:

Importance of Massively Organized Group of Clans of the Race

This is not my own words but I am not going to translate word for word. Rather, I am going to just include the important stuff.

So this guy, 로젠로즈, is one of the beta testers who run an Aion guild site. He was pointing out the need for some serious organization based on how the RvR system is.

For many MMOs, the PvP is based on Clan vs Clan, or a small group of people. For Lineage, timed seiges on specific time frame. Aion begs to differ. Like WoW, Aion is entirely Race VS Race. However, WoW does not offer a real incentive for people to fight (PvP has almost disappeared from WoW after release of Outland), while Aion offers rewards and bonuses for those in power. The pvp in Aion is going to be massive and totally spontaneous.

This is a screenshot of an Abyss:

You can tell that this is a pretty big area. NCsoft told us that there's going to be many of these, and this is actually one of the "small" ones

Note that this one area alone will require a LOT of people to defend. Imagine having to defend multiple abyss. You will have absolutely no idea when the enemy will be attacking. Not to mention the possibility of the dragon invasion at any time. For example:
1. Dragons invade a Elyos territory, Elyos forces manage to fend off the dragons but have exhausted their strength and suddnely Asmodians start pouring in (oh my gawt and I was about to go to sleep!)
2. Asmodians are fighting Elyos, Dragons drop by for fun.

There is no way that a single guild could get anything done.

The Aion RvR is a very complicated process with infinite possibilities that shatter any form of absolute superpower.

To achieve any form of victory in this type of setting, we are going to need some serious organization in massive scale. If we are to keep a fortress, we'll need 24/7 monitoring in constant state of alertness.

Yeah

Gallagher · 03:16 PM

Damn doublepost... stupid browser

And if you want to see more from the World of Aion, keep an eye on this youtube user...

http://www.youtube.com/user/sunshineaion

She is one of the beta testers of Aion and uploading a lot of stuff every beta weekend.

speedpop · (11-27-2007, 02:43 PM)

It seems more promising than the usual junk that gets shat out by Korean MMORPG companies but I've been burnt way too much in the past so will be very hesitant on this one.

Halvie · (11-27-2007, 02:50 PM)

Game is going to be amazing...perfect mix of Lineage 2(good graphics, castle seiges) and WoW(no crazy ass grind, rvr).

ParticleReality · (11-27-2007, 02:51 PM)

Who knew the Far Cry engine would work so well with an MMO.

Quote:

WoW(no crazy ass grind)

speedpop · (11-27-2007, 02:51 PM)

Originally Posted by Halvie:

Game is going to be amazing...perfect mix of Lineage 2(good graphics, castle seiges) and WoW(no crazy ass grind, rvr).

Warhammer Online?

I kid.

Jacobi · (11-27-2007, 02:53 PM)

Awesome what they got out of the Far Cry-Engine. Will this shit be for free?

Halvie · (11-27-2007, 02:55 PM)

Warhammer doesn't look good imo. Graphics already look outdated. From the developer videos I have seen on Aion it sounds just like Lineage 2 but with the easier grind (wtf is with 80-85 in ct1...Christ that is like 4k hours of lvling easy)and rvr instead of completely open pvp which I am ok with because of the castle sieges.

no its pay per month

Lostconfused · (11-27-2007, 03:01 PM)

It looks much better in motion. Well i guess i might give it a shot.

MedievalManIII · (11-27-2007, 03:09 PM)

After reading about its massive scale of PvP, I am definitely going to give this game a try when it comes out.

Gallagher · (11-27-2007, 03:18 PM)

Originally Posted by Halvie:

Warhammer doesn't look good imo. Graphics already look outdated. From the developer videos I have seen on Aion it sounds just like Lineage 2 but with the easier grind (wtf is with 80-85 in ct1...Christ that is like 4k hours of lvling easy)and rvr instead of completely open pvp which I am ok with because of the castle sieges.

no its pay per month

I remember playing around 6 hours to get 0,02 % EXP ^^

Gallagher · (11-27-2007, 10:00 PM)

Added two more parts of the Ken Choi Q&A Interviews

Quote:

Part 9 - Differences between Casual / Hardcore Players
http://aion.gamona.de/index.php?seit...pid=12&sid=4#9

Part 10 - About Asian Grind Games
http://aion.gamona.de/index.php?seit...id=12&sid=4#10

Enjoy

Gallagher · 03:23 PM

Added a Player Review of the Game:

1. http://www.aionsource.com/forum/gene...sgame-com.html

Quote:

It's been 4 weeks since Aion Closed Beta started

I was lucky enough to receive the privilege of being a beta tester. (which is why I've been so inactive on forums) Anyhow, I am making a post to cuz I am getting the feel that Aion is going to a opposite direction of what we all had expected.

Today's topic is <Is Aion gameplay really light enough for everyone?>

(For those of you who just went what? Aion is supposed to be "light?", from what I recall, there were interviews that claimed "planning to satisfy both light/hardcore players" and "will include both solo and party plays")

1. Soloing is already getting difficult at eary levels.

Level cap was unlocked up to level 20. Since Aion's max level is 50, this is around 'Noob' range. The problem is that sololing gets very difficult for most of the classes past lvl 15.

Why? Let's take a look at the monsters' hp. Currently as a mage, 1 attack does about 500 damage. Sounds high ins't it? Yes, that's true for PvP. However, PvE is a totally different story. I don't even know what NCsoft fed to these monsters, but their HP is uber high. 500 damage only counts for 10% of their hp.

I wouldn't be comeplaining if I could be throwing those 500 dam magic shots like candy, but that's not the case. If I have around 300 mana, using up my entire mp would get me 1 dead monster.

MP regen speed? Yes, it sucks. You just have to sit and wait. Use mp regen items? Yea sure, that'd be 50 more. That's about 2 more casts. I'd rather leave it sitting and go watch tv.

Honestly, if it goes on like this, on later levels, fighting 1 mob would feel like I've done some major pvp. root, poison, slow, attack, slow again, run, attack, root, attack again, rince and repeat. Congratulations! you killed a monster!..

2. Mandatory, but non-soloable missions.

Ok, soloing is hard, but wouldn't there be lots of quests and missions to cover for that? No, that's not the case either.

When you go past level 17, the amount of regular quests you can do decrease by half. Plus, the mandatory missions require parties. Even the regular quests require gathering materials at a high level place. I won't have a party but will get hit by parties eh? ha ha ha.

Yes, I understand that there should be missions and areas for party plays to encourage partying.

However, the missions aren't even simple. You have to go back and forth b/w multiple areas , meaning if you don't have a good party, you won't get much done. Even if you do get one, you'll have problems with each party mates wanting to do their own quests first.

annoying priest spawn. (this is a state of the art annoyance. respawn time = 1 hour and its a quest mob) Although watch captains have longer respawn time and higher def than alert captains, they give less exp, but I am guessing this will probably be fixed.

3. A mistake means death? Overly intense party play

The party plays themselves are way too intense. I understand that the roles are divided into tank+damage dealer+healer, but robe users can die from 3 crits?

The monsters' organization is impressive. We all probably have experience gangbangs in Tu-ru-sin areas.

so, um. This is the mid-level area? To me it feels like this is the Heroes only area.

I saw this one new player, who was a female playing an MMO for the first time, get gangbanged 3 times and die in the Tu-Ru-Sin Area and just leave. I bet she'll now run even at the sight of "Kralls".

There's also the delightful bonus of experience loss. That really hurts.

4. If it goes on like this?

I feel like I've been flaming too much. Yes there are certain pros. First of all, it helps taking out the image "for all ncsoft games, you stfu and press buttons". If you do that on Aion, you'll probably end up getting floored by Krall A.

You can also experience (intensely) true roles of each class from early levels. No one would be able say something like "you just pressed buttons to max level" later on.

However, there will be more losses than gains with that. Isn't the target audience of Aion Lineage II players, females players attracted by pretty graphic, and some WoW players? meaning mostly casual players.

As for right now, the game feels too intense for any of them to set foot on. Realistically, I've seen parties get in to conflicts in Tu-Ru-Sin area already 4 times. If it's getting like this already, I don't know how it's gonna be later.

5. Conclusion

It's pretty simple. Expand solo areas and lower mob HP to a reasonable level, and increase regen on Tu-Ru-Sin area.

Everyone is saying that modern games are too easy, but it seems like Aion went in the completely opposite direction.

I am not saying that's necessarily bad, but at this rate, Aion is going to turn into extreme hardcore game that surpasses Lineage II.

It was announced that level cap for fifth week is also 20. Would there be new areas? or is it going to be just like how it is now? I dare to have some hope.

Aion's extreme difficulty at early stage. What do you all think?

i guess you will have to see for yourself... WoW Player maybe sad about the difficult, lineage 2 players maybe be sad too because its too easy.. *lol*

And remember,... its still Beta and NC Soft will not finish the beta till everything is ok. ^^

Gallagher · (11-29-2007, 07:51 AM)

Added some more videos:

Character creation - http://youtube.com/watch?v=JJBU9Ixp03g
Aion Tailoring - http://youtube.com/watch?v=vK4nvcy3Sgs
Mage Swamp Fighting - http://youtube.com/watch?v=zLUnHxGeZMU
Aion Flying - http://youtube.com/watch?v=kwNjh90EYE0

Xiaoki · (11-29-2007, 08:48 AM)

Gallagher - why in the hell did you post that beta review?! Talk about killing ALL interest in a game in under a minute. I mean, holy crap, that's just terrible.

Unless Aion does a complete 180 degree turn then this game will go down in flames with "Hardcore Korean Grinder" tattooed backwards on it's forehead.

BrokenSymmetry · (11-29-2007, 09:08 AM)

Mana-regeneration down times is one of the most-used ways in MMOs to artificially increase playing time. I much prefer an approach with a shallow, but quickly regenerating mana pool (like used by Guild Wars, for example). This leads to much more tactically interesting play, and less downtime between fights.

CTLance · (11-29-2007, 10:27 AM)

Originally Posted by Xiaoki:

Gallagher - why in the hell did you post that beta review?! Talk about killing ALL interest in a game in under a minute. I mean, holy crap, that's just terrible.

Unless Aion does a complete 180 degree turn then this game will go down in flames with "Hardcore Korean Grinder" tattooed backwards on it's forehead.

I'd guess he quoted it because doing that is fair and prevents unnecessary hype? I'm certainly thankful for it, even though I did not like what I read.

We'll see. It's in public beta for a reason. Let's hope they'll offer enough singleplayer/nongrinding content in response to the criticism. One preview doesn't make the whole game shitty, too.

Until then, anticipation -0.5

Also, in before "LOL grindan gaems".

Gallagher · 01:03 PM

Originally Posted by Xiaoki:

Gallagher - why in the hell did you post that beta review?! Talk about killing ALL interest in a game in under a minute. I mean, holy crap, that's just terrible.

Unless Aion does a complete 180 degree turn then this game will go down in flames with "Hardcore Korean Grinder" tattooed backwards on it's forehead.

Its been normal for a Beta... nothing new.... so dont worry about it too much. I know stuff like that already from other games! Iam sure they are going to balance the game at the end of the beta. I will post some more views later, from people who totally enjoy the game....

Balancing is one of the things, every developer is doing in the last phase...

At the moment, some people are saying its too hard. Others are saying its too easy.... and some are saying its ok like it is. There are even people who are complaining about the flying time... and other people are thinking its even better like it is.

So... i dont care much about the opinion of the writer... iam going to see it with my own eyes.