Aion (Open Beta, Launch Day Info too!)

[DLRiley]

I'm sorry the game lacks end game pve info though its been out for several months now....Anyway, as far as my butt being hurt, I never played early WoW so keep your e-tough boy act to yourself please.

[Draegan]

The end game fortresses allow the side of the guild access just not the guild.

There are three levels of the Abyss for players to fight in.  The fortresses in the easiest level need 3-6 people to take over while the ones in the toughest level need raids.

They are adding dungeons to each fortress in the 1.5 update.

There are also end game dungeons that have nothing to do with fortresses.

There are also open world raid targets for your legion to fight and to defend from the other side as you're doing them.

There is also Open World PVP.  Fortress sieging etc.

There is also PVPVE dungeons according to an update in patch notes where you race another side's group in a PVE dungeon while you have options of setting back the other team is some fashion.

There is also NPC fights with the Baluar.  Apparently there is a big ship called the Dredgion or something.  Basically amazingly tough.  There is a post somewhere about it in this thread that I linked.

[DLRiley]

Ok Aion wins, that is officially a shit ton of shit to do (if draegon has the features correct), and you don't have to care about the rvr to do it. Apparently nsoft was learning the right lessons from blizzard before they decided to make wow with wings. Yeah this game should hold its sub base easy. Though I have the feeling that once the initial excitement goes down the bigger draw to the game would probably be its pve game then the pvp.

[Draegan]

Well finally.  All this has already been talked about for quite a while in this thread.

[DLRiley]

I think the derail happened when we were discussing aions merits as a pvp game. Personally it looks a bit shallow, and it probably won't turn out the way people in NA/EU hope it will and if that happens Aion will be known as pve land very quickly. Also it doesn't help that for a good portion of posters WoW with wings feels like someone announcing there will be a Transformers 3 (which is probably being made as we speak). Yeah it will make a lot of money, but someones intelligence is being insulted by making it because it almost proves that the movie going audience isn't all that demanding in the first place. Further reinforcing the idea that all anyone needs to make is mindless summer block busters for 10 year old and the 30 somethings will still pay for it. But unlike the movie industry the mmo industry still hasn't broken past making only the equivalent of mindless summer block busters, so I can see why Aion is making peoples ears bleed.

[Nissl]

Draegan pretty much covered it, but I should note that if I've got things straight there's only 1 PVPVE dungeon, it's the Dreadgion, it's only being patched in for 1.5 so it's a new experiment, and it's locked so you're pretty much going to do it once a day at most.  

The non-PVP suite of activities won't keep Aion competitive with WoW by itself - you'll have close to WOTLK amounts of PVE dungeon endgame in 1.5 but ~2/3 of it will be gated by fortress control, it's relatively tank 'n spank (think vanilla WoW), and there isn't instanced raiding.

[DLRiley]

My faith is restored.

[Draegan]

Source

The following has been translated by fans so it might have a little Engrish to it.

Instance Dungeons
1. 12 various instances have been released
- These new instances all come with different themes
- These instances are aimed to give players better items and Abyss Points.

Abyss Fortress Dungeon
The 3 fortress in the lower Abyss(sulfur Tree Fortress, West Sield Fortress, East Siel Fortress) and 5 fortress in the upper abyss(Asteria Fortress, Ancient City of Rhoo, Krotan Fortress, Dikasas Fortress, Ran Miren Fortress) each have their own dungeons, and many new quests involving these dungeons have been prepared. The availability of this content depends on the fortresses being occupied by your faction, and for this reason fortress sieging has become more important.

- Players of the faction currently holding a fortress can enter its dungeon by interacting with the Entry Object inside the fortress.
- Each instance has many Treasure Boxes, and the aim is to collect as many of them in a certain time frame.
- The difficulty levels of the monsters will vary depending on the fortress instance, and if the time runs out, the treasure boxes will disappear one by one or even all at once.
- Only players of the faction holding the fortress can enter.

Battleground - Dreadgion
Elyos and Asmodian forces participate in a battle to bring down the Dreadgion.

The main objective is to infiltrate the Dreadgion from inside, destroy energy sources and eliminate the Dreadgion commander, but you must remain vigilant as you can also run into the enemy faction at any time.

- This is a PvPvE type instance where Elyos and Asmodian players can both enter the same instance.
- The Dreadgion can only be entered at certain times by registering at an NPC.

- Registration is available in Individual/Quick/Group modes. If you want to register for a new game, then select the individual register option. If you don't care whether to join a new game or a currently running game, then select the quick register option. To join as a group, select the group register option.

- Elyos players can register at NPCs Aseluse, Parasgos or Hipotades in Teminon Stronghold in Ereshuranta.

- Asmodian players can register at NPCs Buri, Okom or Rukbar at Primum Stronghold in Ereshuranta.

- Players will not be able to zone in the instance until there is enough players that has registered, so there may be some waiting time after registering.

- Points are earned when monsters are killed inside the instance and when the Dreadgion's power source 'Shukana' are destroyed.

- Points are also earning by killing players of the enemy side. When killing an enemy player with 0 points, no points will be gained.

- You will lose some points if killed by enemy players.

- There are many different routes to reach the commander, and a variety of ways to impede the opposing factions progression, all of which requires a strategic plan.

- When the commander is defeated or time runs out, the infiltration mission ends and all individual points acquired is combined to determine the winning side.

- When the infiltration mission is over, AP is awarded based on the total amount of points received, and the winning faction will receive a larger AP bonus.

- In addition to the AP rewards, some special bosses will also drop useful items.

This is just the new stuff that's going into the game come September.  This is also just PvPvE stuff, not including strictly PVE dungeons.

[DLRiley]

Why is there so little information out concerning the strictly pve stuff? At this point is a tad disturbing, you don't want to tell the NA/EU audience to "try, wait, and see". I think those 12 new dungeons you mentioned are tied to fortress control since they offer abyss points.

[Draegan]

Here you go.

[DLRiley]

 

[Threash]

When is the beta weekend starting?

[Ceryse]

When is the beta weekend starting?

In about 28 minutes. Ends around 1:00 pm MST on Monday.

[Segoris]

For those needing to patch for this weekend, here are some mirrors

Some main download mirrors off of that thread:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=D17KA9O6

http://new.flyupload.com/files/view/eprRf4dSj55utG3YvA8I

http://rapidshare.com/users/EBWR77

I don't know how well these work since I patched mine last night through the NCSoft patcher, but people reported these work pretty well. If you do follow that link, avoid mirror 3 though, since just looking over the files and where they lead to you'll notice that 2 out of 5 files are the same and duplicated.

[Numtini]

If this was a test of their patcher, it failed. The "trickle patch" took 10 hours and the regular patch was a non-starter.

[Lantyssa]

Ick.  We started the update early Friday through the launcher and it finished rather quickly.

[Threash]

I guess mine patched in the background while i wasnt paying attention, i didn't notice any patch.

[Strazos]

Patch was near-instant for me.

Also, I still have yet to try another toon. I like my lvl 22 ranger. I basically don't die solo unless I do something dumb.

[Segoris]

So this weekend was pretty fun. Rifts are a great time, as I've found out, just don't forget a kisk. Also, the low level areas are protected with a barrier/seal that won't let you pass as an enemy, so that is cool. I was within that level range of the first zone too, so it just keeps any enemy out regardless of level.

[Lantyssa]

Also, I still have yet to try another toon. I like my lvl 22 ranger. I basically don't die solo unless I do something dumb.

How does the Ranger actually play?  In my duo I'm playing an Assassin, but I'm finding I have way too many buttons to press to be really effective.  A couple of really short buffs, a positional backstab, a charge which kind of defeats the use of the backstab.

I just got a Gladiator and took the spear.  So far she's really fun.  Also close to getting the summoner Mage to see how that plays.

[amiable]

Also, I still have yet to try another toon. I like my lvl 22 ranger. I basically don't die solo unless I do something dumb.

How does the Ranger actually play?  In my duo I'm playing an Assassin, but I'm finding I have way too many buttons to press to be really effective.  A couple of really short buffs, a positional backstab, a charge which kind of defeats the use of the backstab.

I just got a Gladiator and took the spear.  So far she's really fun.  Also close to getting the summoner Mage to see how that plays.

Apparently Rangers are a bit ass until level 19 when they get stunning shot, then they turn awesome.  I've got one up to 15 now and it is pretty fun, if you don't mind kiting.  i hear the issue with rangers is that currently sorcs do everything they do better.

[Tannhauser]

I wanted to try this again, but the patching was very very slow.  After several hours I got up to 33% before I got fed up and re-installed Warcraft III.

[Hawkbit]

In all seriousness, whoever decided loot rights go to the person who does the most dps needs their teeth knocked out with a baseball bat.

As an 11 Templar, I can't out dps a 7 Scout so they *always* get loot rights. And Aion has the most retarded chat system I've seen in a game yet, so nobody is talking and groups never get arranged. It's just a bunch of people running around fighting over six spawn points, none of the grouping.

Fucking retarded. It's 2009, how the fuck is this still an issue for an online game?

[DLRiley]

Let the backward game design your still paying for begin 

[Lantyssa]

It needs leveling pacts.  Of course I've come to the conclusion that any level-based game does.  I want to be able to go out and do things without worrying about out-leveling my friends.

[Samprimary]

I'm playing this right now.

It's just massively generic, class options are ruefully simplistic, and at times the game is a parade of terrible design, balance, and gameplay decisions which will come to rule realm PvP. The game does have some wonderful polish and it's great finally being able to customize your character to the degree Aion does, as opposed to WoW's decade-old model with five to seven barely perceptible face choices. You just don't have a world that will hold a lot of interest after the fact, unless high level pvp is actually stellar enough to compensate for design that appears amateur in the face of WoW.

Knowing that this is the front-running competitor against WoW, while it does make me pine for some real diversity in the MMO field, does make me feel happy that WoW enforces a quality minimum through their quasi-innovation.

HOWEVER

[Nissl]

i hear the issue with rangers is that currently sorcs do everything they do better.

In PVE groups, can't say I disagree and I would extend that issue to SM as well. From what I've read and seen, stealth and extra range make them very good for hit-and-run in the abyss and they have a solid set of tools in group PVP.

Aion has the most retarded chat system I've seen in a game yet, so nobody is talking and groups never get arranged.

The regional and global channels are turned off during beta, maybe as an anti-farmer measure. It's a really stupid decision if you ask me, since the solo game kind of hits a wall towards the end of the 10-20 area. I had good luck changing my status to LFG in the social window and grinding for a bit, 4 out of 5 times I got an invite in 15 minutes or less for Krall groups that went on for hours. The other time was damn frustrating, though.  As far as being able to hop in and out and get something meaningful accomplished solo, the game is a step backwards after the early levels.

Edit: I agree that the rest of the way the chat system is set up is also quite poor.

[Merusk]

The chatter I keep hearing is, "That Aion game is gorgeous and the spell effects are fantastic!!"  When pressed about gameplay I get the text equivalent of blank stares.

I hate teens and general chat.

[Hindenburg]

The regional and global channels are turned off during beta, maybe as an anti-farmer measure.

Who the fuck cares about farmers during a beta?

[Koyasha]

What's wrong with the chat system?  It's pretty standard, except they have channels turned off for the beta for some bizarre reason.  I mean, I agree it doesn't look particularly good, but then that can be said about every single game that's not EQ2 or City of Heroes, so I'm not seeing anything unusual about it.

As to loot rights thing...I'm not sure how I feel about that.  I have never liked the whole 'tagging' system, but then I don't entirely like this system either.

[Nissl]

Who the fuck cares about farmers during a beta?

Apparently they infested the CN beta, spamming offers for release. It's the only possible reason I've seen mentioned anywhere, and there's no official explanation. Who knows, maybe it's actually broken for some reason, but that doesn't seem too likely.

Albeit if they turned on chat right now 90% of it would be kids trash talking WoW. 

[Draegan]

In all seriousness, whoever decided loot rights go to the person who does the most dps needs their teeth knocked out with a baseball bat.

As an 11 Templar, I can't out dps a 7 Scout so they *always* get loot rights. And Aion has the most retarded chat system I've seen in a game yet, so nobody is talking and groups never get arranged. It's just a bunch of people running around fighting over six spawn points, none of the grouping.

Fucking retarded. It's 2009, how the fuck is this still an issue for an online game?

If you're getting griefed, change to another channel.   Making a group is easy.  Flag /lfg.  open the social pain "v" and search who for people lfg or otherwise.

[Merusk]

Yeah, bitching about the chat system being turned off by a group who prides itself on always turning it off in their MMOs is 

[Hawkbit]

If you're getting griefed, change to another channel.   Making a group is easy.  Flag /lfg.  open the social pain "v" and search who for people lfg or otherwise.

Yeah, I bitched about this to my WoW guild and they told me about changing channels.  That should fix part of the problem I had in my nerdrage. 

My next bitch is:  Why the hell do I have to grind so much just to get to the PvP? 

[Ceryse]

My next bitch is:  Why the hell do I have to grind so much just to get to the PvP? 

Because grinding is hard! If there wasn't a grind it'd just be WoW and the game would become infested with dirty casuals and WoW players!

Seriously, that's the answer you get if you dare question the grind in the game; its tantamount to heresy. The grind is a bitch; at 27 now on my Cleric and its a pain to level solo. If my wtfdie! skill doesn't activate it can take me a minute or two to kill a mob. The pacing needs adjustment but too many playing it have their hearts set on embracing the grind as rapture.

I'm still playing come release as its still going to be the best new MMO out there (mind the "new"), but it has more than its share of flaws. Speaks more to the market right now than the game itself.