Aion (Open Beta, Launch Day Info too!)

[Hindenburg]

Well played.

[Murgos]

You can't possibly be that dim.

Well, he did sign his post.

[Draegan]

They'll be wrong when Fall rolls around :)

Now if we can only get a US.OB timeframe.  I'm looking forward to see if anything other than language is changed for the US release.  Time will tell.

[Signe]

I call all games Vapourware.  It's a tradition.  I was right about Darkfall and LoTRO, wasn't I?

[TanakaRo]

anybody can answer at my question please ? if aion will be p2p or f2p , for now i see is f2p ...but i heard will transfer to p2p .

Please help me with this question .

[Hindenburg]

anybody can answer at my question please ? if aion will be p2p or f2p , for now i see is f2p ...but i heard will transfer to p2p .

Please help me with this question .

You heard wrong. It'll stay f2p.

[TanakaRo]

And an american or european opening when is expected ?

[Draegan]

And an american or european opening when is expected ?

The American Version was released last year in June.  You should go to your local game store and demand a collector's edition.  It's free to play, but you have to pay 50$ for the game.  But if your character dies 10 times you have to buy a new game and start over.

[Trippy]

anybody can answer at my question please ? if aion will be p2p or f2p , for now i see is f2p ...but i heard will transfer to p2p .

Please help me with this question .

You heard wrong. It'll stay f2p.

Huh? Where did you hear that Aion is going to stay F2P? Aion in China, like in Korea, is P2P (using timecards in China). In the US Aion will be subscription-based.

[Hindenburg]

anybody can answer at my question please ? if aion will be p2p or f2p , for now i see is f2p ...but i heard will transfer to p2p .

Please help me with this question .

You heard wrong. It'll stay f2p.

Huh? Where did you hear that Aion is going to stay F2P? Aion in China, like in Korea, is P2P (using timecards in China). In the US Aion will be subscription-based.

Saved for posterity 

[Trippy]

You guys are mean!

[schild]

I deleted it. And I don't feel bad.

[Darkdavid]

whats it called on the second on of zo1 and i click save but it takeing forever can some plz help

[Darkdavid]

should i stop dowlad cause i here it  the beta
stoping

[raydeen]

Damn. I think I just accidentally clicked into Yahoo! Answers.

[Trippy]

Behold, the power of Google!

[Trippy]

should i stop dowlad cause i here it  the beta
stoping

Yes you should stop downloading. The China Beta is over.

[Goreschach]

should i stop dowlad cause i here it  the beta
stoping

Yes you should stop downloading. The China Beta is over.

Any idea when China is going live?

[Trippy]

April 16th.

[Falconeer]

This game is WoW 1.5

[Koyasha]

Feels more like if L2 and WoW mated and Aion is their offspring.  Which probably isn't that far from the truth, considering it very much seems like they were trying to combine the two gameplay styles.

I'm liking it a good bit, I'd really like to get high enough to pvp some before this is over but I doubt it's gonna happen (especially since I just got kicked off for 'using my alloted playing time' - probably that limitation on time per day or whatever).  I'm not even sure what level I'd need to be to take any real part in PvP, but I'm thinking it's around 30 since that's the minimum level for all the armor bought with abyss points.

So far what I don't like is that flying feels too limited (by FAR) and too slow.  1 minute of flight time at what feels like extremely slow movement speed.  Plus the flight meter doesn't recharge faster if I sit.  If this ramps up at higher levels it's not a major problem, but if it stays this limited I don't think I'm going to like the flying much.  Other than that I haven't spotted any major issues.

One thing I'm impressed with is that I can crank all graphics settings to maximum.  Shadows, textures, visibility range, everything - and still get 60-100 FPS depending on the area.  I cannot do that with any other game I've played recently.  Even WoW, which looks vastly worse.  So whatever they've done with the graphics they've gotten them running very very smoothly.

Edit: And one other minor (mostly silly) quibble is that the Asmodian side of the world is supposed to be dark, right?  Then they should stop using such bright colors and lighting.  Shadows should be nearly nonexistent there.  I'm not saying it should be actually 'I can't see the enemies in front of me' dark, but their art scheme for that side should have reflected that its supposed to be dark better than their current choices do.

[Falconeer]

It's as dark as the dark sides of Azeroth. I think that's the(ir) point.

[Koyasha]

I have to say that certain areas of the Asmodian world seem appropriately dark, but others seem to have way too much light pouring down from the sky for a part of the world that's supposed to be eternally dark.  The lake and forest in the starting area look fine.  The first field where you begin in, on the other hand, does not.

And as to the flying - if it eventually gets up to the speed and movement as shown in the cutscenes you get during the starting area / class change quest, then I'd be happy with it as long as it's not still limited to 1 minute.  If it remains the speed actual flying is at once I'm 10 even when I'm maxed level, I won't be too happy with the flying part of the game.

[rk47]

Thanks for the great impressions and shots. I'm definitely gonna try to get on the US Open Beta when it's out to give it a whirl. Hopefully by then I've upgraded my graphic card.

[Draegan]

should i stop dowlad cause i here it  the beta
stoping

Yes you should stop downloading. The China Beta is over.

Apparently you were able to log into some servers yesterday as part of Beta.

Edit:
In regards to flight time and speed.  There are mods that extend time, speed and regeneration.  I also believe, though I don't know for sure, that it increases with your level.  I didn't actually time it, but it felt like I had more flight time at 17 than I did at 10.

[Segoris]

I'm liking it a good bit, I'd really like to get high enough to pvp some before this is over but I doubt it's gonna happen (especially since I just got kicked off for 'using my alloted playing time' - probably that limitation on time per day or whatever).  I'm not even sure what level I'd need to be to take any real part in PvP, but I'm thinking it's around 30 since that's the minimum level for all the armor bought with abyss points.

FWIW, supposedly pvp really beings around level 25

So far what I don't like is that flying feels too limited (by FAR) and too slow.  1 minute of flight time at what feels like extremely slow movement speed.  Plus the flight meter doesn't recharge faster if I sit.  If this ramps up at higher levels it's not a major problem, but if it stays this limited I don't think I'm going to like the flying much.  Other than that I haven't spotted any major issues.

I don't know about speed, but max flight time does increase up to 2 mins I think it was. I agree about the speed though, and think it needs to be increased maybe every 10 levels or so get a 10-15% boost in speed.

One thing I'm impressed with is that I can crank all graphics settings to maximum.  Shadows, textures, visibility range, everything - and still get 60-100 FPS depending on the area.  I cannot do that with any other game I've played recently.  Even WoW, which looks vastly worse.  So whatever they've done with the graphics they've gotten them running very very smoothly.

Yeah, now if only I could get the program to allow me to open more then 1 account on a single computer. It wasn't allowing me to do so, and a message popped up in Chinese.  WIth how smooth it runs I honestly wanted to see how many accounts I could open and have it still run well.

Edit: And one other minor (mostly silly) quibble is that the Asmodian side of the world is supposed to be dark, right?  Then they should stop using such bright colors and lighting.  Shadows should be nearly nonexistent there.  I'm not saying it should be actually 'I can't see the enemies in front of me' dark, but their art scheme for that side should have reflected that its supposed to be dark better than their current choices do.

I thought this too, since the Asmos are 750 years evolved into the darkness. It's why they are pale and have claws/talons.

I do have a few more issues with the game, things that I'd really like fixed, but nothing game breaking. The short worded version would be this:

-When dialogue boxes are open, any movement at all closes them, it sucks.
-Turning any amount while casting cancels the cast. I could understand jumping or moving cancelling it, but not turning.
-Autorun! They have it, but if you bind it to a key, you cannot be doing anything else or pushing any buttons when trying to start it. I hold the right mouse button to turn my character, if I'm holding this down and try to turn on autorun, it doesn't work. If you push any button, including instant cast abilities, autorun disables.
-Autoattack issues: Sometimes autoattack just doesn't turn on, or randomly turns off. This needs to be looked at.

Otherwise, I think this game is very well done and it if the first MMO I have played since WoW started that I could play for more then 2-3 hours without needing to know people to truly enjoy it. If the pvp is balanced, fun, and meaningful then I think I foud my next addiction.

[Segoris]

Thanks for the great impressions and shots. I'm definitely gonna try to get on the US Open Beta when it's out to give it a whirl. Hopefully by then I've upgraded my graphic card.

Unless you gpu is 5+ years or older, I almost wouldn't worry about it. It seriously runs that smooth.

should i stop dowlad cause i here it  the beta
stoping

Yes you should stop downloading. The China Beta is over.

Apparently you were able to log into some servers yesterday as part of Beta.

Edit:
In regards to flight time and speed.  There are mods that extend time, speed and regeneration.  I also believe, though I don't know for sure, that it increases with your level.  I didn't actually time it, but it felt like I had more flight time at 17 than I did at 10.

The Asmo server Non picked for the first post in this thread was still running yesterday. Also, I thought I saw something saying 16-18 which leaves me guessing that the open beta on some servers will be running through the 18th. Most likely not, but you never know.

As for mods extending flight time/speed/regen, I hope not. I love mods, but not if they change the gameplay. This is from a TTH interview:

Chris Hager: Flight in Aion keeps you on your toes.  You need to be aware of your surroundings in all directions, while at the same time managing your time left to fly.  Aion treats flight time and flight speed as stats, so players will be able to choose armor, buffs, or enhancements to increase these two.  Players will have to balance their combat stats and their flight stats to suit certain situations.

I actually kind of like that. Also, if you went to the crafting area in Pandemonium there was an Aether trainer of some sort, the text mentioned something about extending flight time and wanting to be in the air as much as possible. It cost 20k or something, which I didn't have so I couldn't test.

[Mrbloodworth]

And an american or european opening when is expected ?

The American Version was released last year in June.  You should go to your local game store and demand a collector's edition.  It's free to play, but you have to pay 50$ for the game.  But if your character dies 10 times you have to buy a new game and start over.

Now THAT is hardcore.

[Draegan]

As for mods extending flight time/speed/regen, I hope not. I love mods, but not if they change the gameplay. This is from a TTH interview:

Chris Hager: Flight in Aion keeps you on your toes.  You need to be aware of your surroundings in all directions, while at the same time managing your time left to fly.  Aion treats flight time and flight speed as stats, so players will be able to choose armor, buffs, or enhancements to increase these two.  Players will have to balance their combat stats and their flight stats to suit certain situations.

I actually kind of like that. Also, if you went to the crafting area in Pandemonium there was an Aether trainer of some sort, the text mentioned something about extending flight time and wanting to be in the air as much as possible. It cost 20k or something, which I didn't have so I couldn't test.

When I said mods, I meant exactly what you quoted, not addons or anything.

[Checkers]

Having played L2 for a while, I'm not looking forward to once again having essentially zero influence on the continuing development of the game.  Always being several months behind in content and/or fixes, and never being directly addressed by development are definitely not things players accustomed to WoW are going to have a lot of patience with.  If NCSoft were as serious about the western market as some have claimed they are, wouldn't it have made sense to hold back on the eastern releases and try to synchronize with the west? 

[Segoris]

When I said mods, I meant exactly what you quoted, not addons or anything.

Ahh my bad, thanks for clearing that up. That would have been really shitty if we weren't talking about the same thing

[tmp]

Hmm well the game client says now i've used up the time allowed for my account so i guess the party is over, not far off from lvl.19. Some final impressions:

* crafting is pretty fun. Even gathering can be sort of fun. Was sceptical when i first heard about the change they did to the usual progress bar (adding the 'fail' bar and turning the regular bar into a 'pass' one) but in practice having these two race against each other reduces the boredom somewhat. The amounts both bars move are seemingly based on checks of the craft/gathering skill vs required skill level, so it doesn't feel fully random and creates impression gaining the craft skills gives more than just unlock new resource/item tiers.

the 'craft quests' really help to advance the craft profficiency... it takes roughly 10 craft/gathering attempts to advance the skill by 1 point, and already at lvl.15 or so the basic items require 70-80 points in the crafting skills. The pile of resources needed to get to these levels would be huge. Even with the craft quests it takes dedicating some considerable time (and cash) to keep the craft skills at levels the game considers 'matching' the level of character. Random small rewards and recipes from these quests are a nice touch too.

* the Auction House is terrible, or maybe it's just the UI they gave it. There's no obvious way to search items based on required level, and searching by name goes through the whole thing rather than active item category. End result is either you know exactly what you're looking for, or you have to click through endless pages of low level stuff if you want to browse things for lvl.20 or higher. Endless being 30 pages or more. Problem is likely to go away when the playerbase collectively moves to higher levels, but doesn't make the basic design any less primitive.

* most of the mobs have lots of hp. Too much hp, in fact. Gets even worse in the higher level environments as the mob populations get more dense, half of them starts aggro on sight and their aggro circles get bigger (the circle for selected mob is actually visible on mini map which is pretty handy) This is aggravated as...

* ...level 18 is very clear point when h the game goes "ok pal, the honeymoon is over" and menacingly waves the cock needles it's been hiding behind the back. The solo quests marked as suitable for this level only get ~half experience needed to advance and the rest (along with handful more quests/missions which the player is expected to get done) take place in open environment designed for groups. Mobs there are packed dense, hit like a truck (medium armour character can be killed in 2-3 hits) and take the "too much hp" to whole new level -- it can take group of people literally couple minutes to kill one such mob. Saw some players 10 level higher than what the area is designed for still struggle and die if they went in there on their own.

The group content would be probably less of an issue on server where the population speaks the same language. But it'd definitely remain one still for the hard core solo players. The shift to the group-oriented gameplay feels very much like how LotRO was on launch -- suddenly and without much warning the player is presented only with options to either grind mobs for the levels, or have to group with others to get anything done. For LotRO that design didn't end too well, and eventually they were forced to address it by adding whole new area where the players could have their solo fun and skip these group zones altogether. How it works out for Aion, guess we'll see.

[PalmTrees]

Got a character up to level 5 on each side but that was as far as I could make it. I could hear the siren call of achievement whispering in my ear, but he list of chores on the right side of my screen was just one uninteresting thing after another. Wandering around fields and woods trying to get my quest bits off the mobs before someone else with the same quest tags them, bleh. Deliver this to that other guy, *snore*. I just can't see myself paying money for this when f2p games like Runes of Magic offer the exact same thing.

The whole flying and pvp hooks were absent and I'm not falling for the "it gets better at level 30 when your shadowknight gets feign death" routine anymore.

A mmo's demo (open beta) really should put a taste of their best stuff in those lower levels.

[Koyasha]

* ...level 18 is very clear point when h the game goes "ok pal, the honeymoon is over" and menacingly waves the cock needles it's been hiding behind the back. The solo quests marked as suitable for this level only get ~half experience needed to advance and the rest (along with handful more quests/missions which the player is expected to get done) take place in open environment designed for groups. Mobs there are packed dense, hit like a truck (medium armour character can be killed in 2-3 hits) and take the "too much hp" to whole new level -- it can take group of people literally couple minutes to kill one such mob. Saw some players 10 level higher than what the area is designed for still struggle and die if they went in there on their own.

Just a guess at this point but I'd bet there's areas and/or quests you didn't run across.  From the rate of expansion it seems like that's around the point where you should be getting more than one or two small areas per level.  Quests seem easy to miss and it's possible you missed the breadcrumb quests leading to other area(s) you could go to.

The whole flying and pvp hooks were absent and I'm not falling for the "it gets better at level 30 when your shadowknight gets feign death" routine anymore.

A mmo's demo (open beta) really should put a taste of their best stuff in those lower levels.

Flying is at level 10, but it's damnably slow.  As for putting good stuff in early, I rather agree.  I've said once or twice before that an MMO is probably well-served by having players experience a high level 'intro' (insert whatever story justification is needed, kinda like the cutscene/fight at level 9 during the ascension quest) just so the player gets some sort of feel for how that class will play at max level.  As it is, it's easy in all these games to get up into the mid-levels before discovering you don't really like this class that much, after all.

[tmp]

Just a guess at this point but I'd bet there's areas and/or quests you didn't run across.  From the rate of expansion it seems like that's around the point where you should be getting more than one or two small areas per level.  Quests seem easy to miss and it's possible you missed the breadcrumb quests leading to other area(s) you could go to.

I had the whole area explored at this point. Scanned all the NPC places for the possible new quests multiple times too since yes, they do sometimes appear on "old" NPCs without any real notice. I just have to conclude either the game does expect you to group at this point (especially given some of the "missions" in the chain you receive when you enter the area for the first time do require  you to kill mobs in that group area) ... or the game hides some of its single player content from the player so well, an average player is unlikely to find it and arrives to the same conclusion i did.

On more positive note, the game update they did today included some patching for the Gameguard thing, and it apparently now works in Windows 7 too.