Aion - The Tower of Eternity

[Zehn - Vhex]

Originally Posted by Draegan

Zehn is starting to sound like Dumar. At least he punctuates properly.

Uncalled for dude. Let's keep it civil here.

[Seig]

Originally Posted by Someone

What I am getting from your posts is, you don't know about flying because you have not flown in a certain area? somehow this Abyss magically makes flying the greatest thing in the world?

I figured I'd respond to your - rep here. I dunno why I'm even posting about something stupid like flying which is an interesting gimmick that I'm pretty indifferent about.

I never said flying is the greatest mechanic in the world just that it isn't really flawed in the ways people have described and it's fine as is when it comes to PvP. It serves it's purpose and the only annoying part is farming those mats in the sky. But because of the time sink and annoying factor involved in farming them.....the people who get their gathering aether really high make a ton of money selling mats on the AH since certain sky mats are needed in almost every weapon/armor recipe.

My only complaint is that you can't use flight in every zone instead of the current setup.

[Zehn - Vhex]

I didn't give you a neg. I normally don't neg anyone, especially for disagreeing with me. I enjoy arguing about video games and I respect that you have a differing opinion. Fuck, people still have fun playing EverQuest and the thought of ever playing that game again makes me physically ill.

Anyways...

Alright, I've calmed down a bit. Grocery store stopped stocking my favorite noodles awhile back and now Amazon tells me they're out of them and not expecting to get a new shipment in for quite some time. Just found out a Mexican grocery store not a few blocks away has them. yay.

So, we're really looking at two situations.

One, NCsoft has little/no say in the matter and we'll end up with yet another beautiful but totally unplayable past level 30 Asian MMO. Yet another in the long line of "buy it when it's at the bargain bin at Gamestop for 15 bucks, play for your free week, then shelve it" titles.

Joy.

On the other hand, if NCSoft will be taking NA ownership from here on in and just using Asia's art assets. In which case I'm going to bitch until the game is fun, entertaining and convenient. I don't really relish the thought of sitting through another 2 years of watching as they slowly understand why WoW made many of the changes they did. I'm not talking the PvP abomination that is WoW today. I'm talking the linked flightpaths, the guild bank, the very strong API for UI modding, etc...

Things like Flight should be fun and useful outside of just another strategic asset to PvP. That's fine in and of itself, great, make it a limited resouce when in combat. But there's practically zero reason they can't allow you to fly everywhere outside of the abyss as well, indefinitely and at 200% runspeed at that. Fuck, I know I'm not the only one that would willingly pay Blizzard 5~10 bucks just to have them revamp the art assets of the vanilla WoW so we can fly there.

Aion is a gorgeous game, it runs smoothly, it has the basics for an amazing game. The cut-scenes are short enough that you don't get annoyed but they give you critical storyline info. Animations are excellent. I pray to god they let us keep the chinese voice acting for players. Having my characer shout some nonsense when he casts spells is so much more entertaining and sounds like actual spellcasting then what will eventually be someone shouting, "Fire Arrow!" over and over again.

But there are tons of things that drag it back down beyond just the inane grind. Tradeskills being cumbersome. Not being able to fly in more area's at the beginning of the game(Including the main city. Why it's turned off there is fucking beyond me). Very limited inventory. No ability to summon new group members to your location (not sure if this is a spell someone gets later perhaps?).

Calling a game PvPvE isn't an excuse to just take a dump on PvE content. WAR did that and look where it got them. They may finally be turning it around from what I read but it's too late. Everybody is back playing WoW again.

[Pyros]

To be honest, it seems pretty clear to me NCsoft will have absolutely no say whatsoever in this game developpement. You MAY get more double xp weekends, or they MIGHT hand out free xp shit, but I don't even think they'd be able to change the leveling curve.

It also seems pretty clear they're total incompetent retards that couldn't get the client translated in like 8months, and somehow think it's a good idea to showcase their "progress" so to say on shitty preview weekends that are both faction and level limit capped(and god the asmodian will suck, 1-10 is like 2hours) on an outdated version of the game with possibly outdated translations(hopefully for them). That's so fucking stupid on so many levels you wonder how they managed to survive for that long, then again you look at mythic and what they managed to do with war after years of daoc, and you slightly lose hope for humanity as a whole.

Who knows anyway, and won't get an answer to all these questions before these idiots finish their shitty beta phases even though they're basically not testing much more than my fucking firefox spell checker could do. 3+months to spellcheck, really?

Edit: I'm angry at the beta shit, but I actually like the game, which is why I'm angry.

[Draegan]

Apparently the translation process was more than translating korean to english but also changing cultural references. Then again why it takes almost a year is fucking retarded.

[Ashes Emberblade]

Pretty tempted to cancel my CE preorder and just get the regular edition now that I know the +40 second wings can be vendor bought and are inferior to the level 50 wings.

[Naj]

Originally Posted by Ashes Emberblade

Pretty tempted to cancel my CE preorder and just get the regular edition now that I know the +40 second wings can be vendor bought and are inferior to the level 50 wings.

The soundtrack mannnn.

I bought the CE for the CD quality Aion music.

[Seig]

And here are the 1.2 patch notes.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Aion: The Tower of Eternity
Update 1.2
Applied to Main Server on April 15th, 2009


Highlights of the update:

1. New Instance dungeon in Theobomos: Secret Laboratory
2. New Instance dungeon in Brusthonin: Ardma Fort (translation conflict)
3. Title stat boosts changed.
4. The way Dual Wield weapons gave attack speed bonus changed.

Table of Contents
1. Theobomos Secret Laboratory
2. Ardma Fort
3. Title Stat Boosts Change
- Elyos Titles
- Asmodian Titles
4. Dual Wield ASPD Change to Balance Classes
5. New Set Items Added
6. Armor Skin Change Items Sold By Traveling NPCs
7. New Outlook Change Items
- New Traditional Outfits
- Changes to Wearing These Outfits
- Screenshots
8. New Wings
9. Platinum Coin Quests Change
- Change to Reward Item Stats
- New Monsters for the Platinum Coin Quests
10. Changes to General Item Stats
- Stat Buffs to Staves
11. Penalties of PvP in Low Level Areas
12. Changes to NPCs
13. Changes to Quests
- Quests Added
- Quest Interface Changes
14. Changes to Crafting
15. Abyss
16. User Interface
- Marking System
- Communication System
17. Other Changes


1. Theobomos Secret Laboratory

Even though it is shorter than the current hardest dungeon, 드라웁니르?s Cave, at the end of it lies a powerful boss.


Entrance to the dongeon is in the southeast corner of Theobomos. You may enter after finishing the quest ?Secret Experiment of Theobomos.?

Within lies complex equipments and routes like the ones you would only find in secret labs. Boss monsters inside require strategy, not just Tank-And-Spank.


2. Ardma Fort

Located at the southeast corner of Brusthonin, this fort houses a large number of boss monsters. You may enter after completing the quest ?Secret of the Pollution.?

Again, it is shorter than the current hardest dungeon. However, you will need to defeat many bosses in multiple environments.

Starting from the dungeon pipes, you fight through gardens, Fort Commander Chambers, backyard, kitchen, and etc environments to finally arrive to meet the ghostly centaur boss in the deepest corner of this fort.

Oh, and don?t forget to pay your respect to the new celebrity of the male players.

PS: She hits hard.

3. Title Stat Boosts Change

61 Titles had their stats change. (even though the Powerbook says change, most of them has an added boost and/or their base stat boosts increased)

Using one site that has slightly incorrect names and the stats, and another with correct names and no stats. So the title names might not be accurate.

I am putting up all the changed stats of the titles, so if a stat that was in 1.0 is not there, then assume its been removed.

Elyos Titles, New Effects (in > X <, where X represents new number or new effect)

Poeta?s Protector: +20 HP, > +5 < Defense
Patient: +3 Dodge, > +6 Accuracy <
Mabangtah?s Envoy: > +10 < Defense, +8 Shield Defense
Demolitions Expert: > +2 < Attack, > +15 < Magical Boosting Power
Eltnen?s Hero: > +40 HP <, > +15 < Defense, > +8 < Magical Resistance
Newt Hunter: +9 Magical Boosting Power, > +6 < Magical Accuracy
Master of Flight: > +4% < Flight speed, > +2 < Max Flight Time
Thou taketh away, Thou giveth: > -5 < Defense, > +7 < Physical Critical Hit
Appeaser of Souls: > +5 < Physical Critical Hit, > +2 < Attack, +8 Parry
Problem Solver: +36 HP, > +15 < Defense, > +8 < Shield Defense
Inspector: +8 Accuracy, > +6 < Dodge, +2% ASPD
Savior of Eiron Forest: > +30 < HP, > +24 < MP, > +3% < Movement Speed (This one was nerfed)
Lonely Bounty Hunter: +8 Magical Boosting Power, > +1% < Flight Speed, +2 Max Flight Time
Detective: +1 Attack, > +4% < Movement Speed, +8 Magical Boosting Power
Defeater of the Indratu Legion: > +8 < Physical Critical Hit, +11 Magical Boosting Power, +2 Max Flight Time
Belbua?s Benefactor: > +35 HP <, > +15 < Shield Defense
Poor Camouflage Master: > +45 < MP, > +8 < Magical Resistance
Experienced Fisher: > +10 < Accuracy, > +8 Physical Critical Hit <, > +8 Magical Accuracy<
Excellent Spy: > +57 HP <, > +3 Attack <, > +10 Magical Resistance <
Novice Asmodian Hunter: > +40 HP <
Expert Asmodian Hunter: > +20 HP <, > +5 Max Flight Time <
Undefeated: > +50 HP <, > +5 Max Flight Time <, > +3% Flight Speed <
Heroic: > +60 HP <, > +5 Max Flight Time <, > +2% < Flight Speed, > +2% < ASPD

This title might be the Gullible title, 눈뜨고 코 베인: Original Stats: +4 Fire Resistance, +4 Dodge, +2% Flight Speed, changed to: +3 Max Flight Time, +4 Dodge, +2% Flight Speed.

Unable to find this title, 아조투란 파괴자 which means Destroyer of Azoturan in English. Original Stats: +6 Physical Critical Hit, +36 MP, changed to +36 MP, +8 Parry and +8 Physical Critical Hit.

This title might be the Eulogist title, 거신병 연구가: Original Stats: +45 HP, +15 Magical Boosting Power, changed to: -45 HP, +3 Attack, and +15 Magical Boosting Power.

Negligible enough change on one other title that it is not worth mentioning.

Asmodian Titles, New Effects

Bandit Hero: +20 HP, > +5 < Defense
Legendary Hunter: +6 Parry, > +2% < Movement Speed
Defeater of WhiteLash Lukerok: > +8 < Magical Resistance, > +8 < Dodge
Lord of the Necklace: > +34 < MP, > +8 Magical Boosting Power <
Protector of Morheim: > +40 HP <, > +15 Defense <, > +8 < Magical Resistance
Shugo Chef: > +2 Max Flight Time <, > +6 < Dodge
Energized after eating Millennium Ginseng: +40 HP, > +3% Movement Speed <
Honorary Kidorun: > +6 < Dodge, +8 Parry, > +2% < Flight Speed
Champion of the Elderly: > +12 Magical Boosting Power <, +42 MP
Friend of Kong and Pat: > +40 HP <, > +15 < Shield Defense
Silver Mane Benefactor: > +2 < Attack, > +6 Parry <, > +15 < Magical Boosting Power
Postal: > +36 HP, MP <, > +3% < Movement Speed
Slayer of Mabangta: > +2% ASPD <, > +8 Accuracy <, > +6 Dodge <
Dukari?s Servent: > +2 Attack <, > +15 < Defense, > +8 Physical Critical Hit <
Fast, Exact, and Reliable: > +1% Flight Speed <, +6 Magical Boosting Power
Unyielding Pioneer: > +28 MP <, +2 Magical Accuracy
Protector of Brusthonin: > +2 Attack <, +3 Physical Critical Hit
Cheated by Sleipnir: +10 Accuracy, > +8 Magical Accuracy <, > +4% Movement Speed <
Beluslan?s Hero: > +3 Max Flight Time <, > +8 < Physical Critical Hit, > +11 Magical Boosting Power <
Hunter of the Snowfield: > +7 Physical Critical Hit <, +9 Accuracy
Savior of Besfer Villagers: > +10 Magical Boosting Power <, > +8 < Magical Accuracy
Sweeper of Musfel Volcano: > +32 HP <, +3 Fire Resistance
Ancient Book Collector: > +40 HP <, > +2 < Attack, > +12 Shield Defense <
All the Way to Elysea for Nothing: > +57 HP <, > +20 Defense <, > +8 Physical Critical Hit <
Fluent in Balaur: > +46 MP <, > +3 Magical Accuracy, Resistance <
Novice Elyos Hunter: > +40 HP <
Expert Elyos Hunter: > +50 HP <, > +5 Max Flight Time <
Undefeated: > +50 < HP, > +5 Max Flight Time <, > +3% Flight Speed <
Heroic: > +60 < HP, > +5 < Max Flight Time, > +2% Flight Speed <, > +2 ASPD <
Kind: > +57 MP <, > +7 Magical Resistance <, > +15 Magical Boosting Power <
Born Merchant: > +3 Max Flight Time <, +4 Dodge, +2% Flight Speed
Pirates of the Caribbean: > +4 Max Flight Time <, +2 Attack, > +6 < Physical Critical Hit

Unable to find these titles: 요주의 인물 and 원혼 위로 전문가, cannot even find possible title matches. But not like anyone?s gonna care.

4. Dual Wield ASPD Change to Balance Classes

We have changed the way ASPD becomes calculated due to the unfairness of dual-wield classes compared to single-wield classes. To minimize the harm to players due to these updates, we have made the following changes:

- When using a dual-wield weapon set, both Attack Speed increases apply, but only the higher of the two will take effect.
- Any other bonus stats that come from both weapons are all applied as before.
- To minimize the losses due to this change, any soul bound items that have an ASPD increase will be unbound.
- If this ?unbounding? occurs while your character cube is full, the unbound item will be moved to a temporary slot made in your cube.

5. New Set Items Added

NEW G.E.A.R

Elyos

Asmodians

6. Armor Skin Change Items Sold By Traveling NPCs

Had these armors that was supposed to be the idea of Elyos wearing Asmodian armors and likewise.

Elyos wearing Asmodian armor

Asmodians wearing Elyos armor


Now that series continues! You can get these new ones of the type (referring to ?lets wear the other race?s armor!? armors) from NPC?s that show up in Theobomos Secret Lab or Ardma Fort at a very low chance.

Elyos wearing new Asmodian armor

Asmodians Wearing Elyos armor


Might cause some confusion during mass RvR, I?ll have some fun with this on my assassin in the US version.

7. New Outlook Change Items

New Traditional Outfits
In each capital cities of Sanctum and Pandaemonium, there are Quality Boutique shops. In it you can purchase new outfits such as Han Bok (traditional Korean Clothing) and Chi-Pao and Chang-Pao (Chinese, I assume). If you like colorful clothing, pay these Divine Cloth NPC?s a visit.

Elyos

Asmodians

Changes to Wearing These Outfits

It used to consume all 5 slots (pauldron, gloves, boots, torso, and pants) to wear these unique outfits. But now it only uses 1 slot. You can also wear these as battle outfits.

1. Can go into battle wearing other armaments.
2. Can use a Skin Changer to these outfits for your other battle armaments.

Screenshots

Left is Han Bok, right is Chi-Pao

8. New Wings

Once you complete the quests Secret Experiment of Theobomos (Elyos) and Secret of the Pollution, you can get these wings as REWARDS (that?s right, REWARD.)
The two quests are the required entry quests into the Theobomos Secret Laboratory and Brusthonin Ardma Fort.



9. Platinum Coin Quests Change

Changes to Reward Item Stats

Made the Chain Gloves of Elyos and Asmodian Army Soldier Level 3s? Stats match, with both having ASPD of +8%.

Previously it was only on the Asmodian reward.


New Monsters for the Platinum Coin Quests

Self Explanatory? they added in more monsters so kill-steals by evil mages dont have to happen as frequently.


10. Changes to General Item Stats

Stat Buffs to Staves Huge change for Chanters

Increased Base Stats for all Staves in existence.

Physical Critical Hit Increased by 30
Parry Increased by 40


11. Penalties of PvP in Low Level Areas

If you go on a killing rampage in enemy territory (does not apply to the Abyss), you will receive penalties for doing so. This is called the Slayer System. The effects are as follows:

1. Depending on the amount of killings you will receive points. If your penalty points go over a certain limit, you will receive the penalty effects. If you kill lower leveled players than you, you will receive more points.

2. The penalty effects are categorized into two. One is a ?Curse? and you cannot use rifts. The second is a ?Judgment? and under this effect you cannot be resurrected in any Kiosk placed in the enemy territory, as well as use rifts.

3. The name of the Curse/Judgment depends on the race. If you are Elyos, you will receive Curse/Judgment of Asphel. Asmodians will get Curse/Judgment of Ariel.

4. Once you come under Curse or Judgment, your location will be revealed throughout the local map for the entire opposing faction members. Also, even if you are under a hiding skill, your title will be seen, making it even easier to be spotted.

5. You must go back to your own lands or the Abyss and wait for a certain amount of time for the Curse or Judgment to disappear.

6. If you or someone else kills a slayer, 12 nearby players of the dead body will receive buffs.

7. The killer of the slayer will be announced throughout the area chat under the format of ?[Race]?s Hero [Killer of the Slayer] has defeated [Slayer] while he was under [Judgment or Curse] of [Ariel or Asphel].

Top left: Elyos under Curse
Top right: Elyos under Judgment
Bottom left: Asmodian under Curse
Bottom right: Asmodian under Judgment

Elyos Slayer under Curse/Judgment

Asmodian Slayer under Curse/Judgment

12. Changes to NPCs

Abyss Trainer NPC?s No longer give AP and Exp.
Also, stronger NPCs placed in Towns to protect them better.

13. Changes to Quests

Quests Added
Can now complete the final Campaign Quest in Elysea and Asmodae. Elyos can complete the Secret Experiment of Theobomos, and Asmodians can complete the Secret of the Pollution, both of which are required entry quests for their respective top-tier instance dongeons.

Quest Interface Changes

1. Can now look up the names/places/things highlighted in blue on the quest side bar, without having to go into the quest tab.
2. Fixed a bug regarding an Elyos quest
3. Fixed a bug regarding an Asmodian quest in Beluslan
4. Fixed a bug regarding an Asmodian quest in Abyss

14. Changes to Crafting

Now shows what the green/blue/orange output of the item you are crafting will be.


Also, the game now displays whether a party member has failed/succeeded crafting an item.


15. Abyss

1. A change has been made to getting AP through PvP in Eltnen, Morhein, Interdica, and Beluslan. If you die in the opposing faction?s areas, you will lose slightly more AP than you used to. If you kill an opposing faction?s member in your own land you will gain slightly more AP than you used to.
2. Fixed the bug where you used to see a combination of AP gain from killing multiple opponents at once.
3. The NPC placed in Divine Fortress Ereshkigals 1st Guardian? has a modified battle skill-usage.

16. User Interface

Marking System

To enhance the Marking System, removed signs Red Arrow, Musical Notes, Hot Springs, then added in Shield 1, Shield 2, Bomb, and Skull signs.

Communication System

1. Able to communicate with players of your same class with /4 option.
2. Shows a record of sales when a transaction is made on your Private Store.
3. Game no longer shows blocked user(s) messages on all chat.
4. Fixed a bug regarding map becoming foggy or the name of the cube becoming ?????
5. Game now shows when a legion member has logged on.
6. Game alerts you when the ?Turn off Chat? option has been changed, with the message ?You can now use your chat function again.?
7. Made the separate chat tab sizes smaller.
8. Fixed the bug where the name of the tab didn?t display properly after you changed it.
9. The macro message ?You have stopped using the macro? now only displays in chat.
10. Added the ?Status? help tab in the new player user tips pop-ups.
11. Game now displays the name of the recipient in the confirmation to send mail.

17. Other Changes

- Changed the color of the Elyos Customization 23rd female face from blue to the normal skin color.
- Fixed the bug where movement speed boost scroll and flight speed boost scroll?s effects overlapped each other.
- Fixed the bug where the Godstone glow effect only affected tilt of the Sword of the Spirit.
- Fixed a bug regarding an item.
- Fixed the annoying problem of the Remove Manastone pop-up closing everytime you removed manastone(s) from items.
- Fixed the bug when a skill has its hotkey selected as one of the letters, the skill?s usage was unusual.
- Fixed the problem where in Broker Interface in categories going over 100, the page numbers stacked on each other.
- Fixed the bug where if you made a character on the test server, it added to the amount of characters you are allowed (total 5 on main servers, 8 on test servers).

[Hatorade]

Wings and char look like something right out of Soul calibur.

[khalid]

So for someone that has done more than reach lvl 10, what are the character customizations in Aion? Are all spiritmasters pretty much the same outside of gear? I didn't see anything like a talent tree but only got a chance to play for a few hours before the Beta ended.

[Seig]

I think it's the same for all classes you customize yourself with manastones to enhance your gear and your limited to 2-3 stigma skills that you can equip out of a fair amount of them.
(Stigma skills are special skills for your class that you have to find from drops/the AH.)

Your limited to 2 stigma slots at level 20 until you reach level 30 then you get 3 slots that you can equip them to. It costs shards from Abyss mobs to equip them and the npc that let's you equip them is in the main city area so you can't switch them on the fly. Unfortunately there's no talent tree to specialize in a certain elemental pet or anything like that.

[khalid]

Originally Posted by Seig

Unfortunately there's no talent tree to specialize in a certain elemental pet or anything like that.

That is very disappointing. New games just ignoring stuff like this is part of the reason why WoW has such a stranglehold. New games need to push the limits, not go backwards.

[Marthisdil]

Originally Posted by khalid

That is very disappointing. New games just ignoring stuff like this is part of the reason why WoW has such a stranglehold. New games need to push the limits, not go backwards.

Right...because certain classes in WoW have different specs? Riight.

Certain classes in WoW, in comparable gear when compared to their brethren, spec a certain talent spec and that's it. With things like SimCraft, it's easy to find "optimal" specs with the gear you have and with optimal gear. Doubly so for DPS only classes.

So for those classes, Blizzard could have just made them "default" with those specs, and been none the worse for them.

Sure, other classes (warriors, druids, paladins, DKs, etc) can have multiple useful specs...but for the DPS - dps is dps - doesn't matter much how you dish it out, so talents don't mean much when your specs don't do anything but give you more dps.

WoW has a stranglehold because it's simple for the noobs. There's no complexity at all to it. Certain classes can use spell chains/priorities that amount to just a couple of buttons, and that's it. Nothing else.

/snore

[Zehn - Vhex]

I wouldn't exactly say that talent spec's need to be a part of future MMO's. To be quite honest I'd rather they avoid them entirely. It's been nothing but a headache for the last 5 years in WoW to say the least.

You end up with shit like paladins where each spec in any other game could be it's own class. Healadin = Cleric, Protadin = Templar, Retadin = Crusader.

You end up with classes like druid where all you're really doing is choosing what 1/3rd of your spellbook you want to use while you completely ignore nearly everything else.

Or you get the hunter where two of your talent spec's are pretty much useless in PvE so you might as well only have one talent spec anyways.

If you're going to try to balance what basically amounts to 30 classes in WoW, why not just have 30 classes and implement the job system so I can pick which handful I want to be able to switch between?

Anyways...

To be honest any character customization is going to come from the character generator itself. I played around with it for several hours and while you can take one of the generic templates, change the hairstyle and log in, you can create some seriously creepy shit.

I wish I had taken a SS but my warrior was some 9 foot tall satan rape-machine looking dude. I was freaking myself the fuck out everytime I swung the camera around and felt my soul being sucked out. You can create some seriously alien looking dudes. I mean this shit puts the CoH character generator to shame.

[Ssinurn]

I also don't think you need a talent spec in every MMO. For me a good MMO has multiple mechanics fleshed out in all the important things: PVE, PVP, character development, fluff/pastime activities, raiding, tradeskills (not necessarily in that order). Some MMOs have more in one category than another, but many of the MMOs that don't do well have limited things to do in each category. You can ignore one category almost completely and still have a good MMO if the other factors make up for it.

I don't think every MMO should be cookie cutter, although there are some tried and true mechanics that MMOs should just copy if they don't want to take the time to create their own new version of that area. I also don't think MMOs need to innovate on every single category, just pick one or a few then concentrate on that. If you really want to you can always work on more in expansions once you are successful.