Aion (Open Beta, Launch Day Info too!)

[Morfiend]

but I really wouldn't like the quest exp to be increased tremendously without mob exp also being increased to keep the balance.  One of the things I find refreshing and enjoy in Aion is that I can do quests if I feel like it, but I don't feel like I HAVE to do them. 

Thats the problem the quests are exceptionally craptastic in structure and reward comparatively. Not only do they give a pittance of exp, but for a nice chunk of them you will be needlessly backtracking the map 2-3-4 times in a single chain, killing nothing. For an amount of exp that you can acquire in in a dozen kills or so. Questing is a detriment to your leveling rate by a huge margin (generally). And even if you did all of the quests its not even remotely close to what you need to level/max. You have no choice, you will be grinding a corner for hours. This is not a refreshing take on Korean MMO game design. Its something that is going to be a detriment to many players with a moderately easy remedy.  I can grind a corner for however long is needed, but the quests go out of their way to kick your nuts and pay dick.

There should be some amount of parity between the two "options", and as of now there is none. Grind this corner an hour or do quests for 2 hours and STILL have to grind 30 minutes to achieve the same exp. Im only level 20 so my direct experience is limited, but I learned early that questing by and large isn't worth the time. Basically ive accepted that the price for reading the lore is losing a level per session.

I totally agree with this, and it is slowly driving me to not log in. I got home yesterday, logged in, realized that in order to advance to the next level I needed to spend 2 hours just grinding the same Hero Spirits just to get to level 19. I then went and watched the Food Network on TV instead. I really want to like this game, but the quest EXP is so bad, its really not viable way to level.

At level 19, even con mobs give me 3,200 exp. The average quests gives 5k to 6k exp. That is fucking horseshit to me.

[Checkers]

Why would you have private stores and a faction-wide auction house?

I'd love if private stores operated like they do in Lineage II, where you can purchase items as well as sell them, and also craft items that players provide the materials for.  Being only able to sell isn't particularly useful, and doesn't seem capable of contributing to a more enjoyable player economy.  Still, I hope the developers give the economy some more time to evolve before player shops are removed completely.  They might prove interesting/useful down the road.  

[Venkman]

Thanks tmp, that makes a lot of sense. And to Checker's wish list I'd add that items listed on Private Store can be found on the AH search list (even though I haven't been able to get Search to work for me yet).

[Checkers]

even though I haven't been able to get Search to work for me yet

Search is case-sensitive.  Yeah I know, pretty retarded.

[tmp]

At level 19, even con mobs give me 3,200 exp. The average quests gives 5k to 6k exp. That is fucking horseshit to me.

I got couple random groups for the elite area at l.18-19 and that was basically enough xp to hit lvl.20 before i noticed (on top of mob xp some of the quests in that area give 100k xp each)  If you want to grind solo then instead of the ghost mobs it might be worth to pick up repeatable coin quest at the whatsitsname shrine slightly farther down the road. The quest is to kill ~20 lvl.18-19 regular mobs but each 2 coins give a nice (though random) piece of green armour as a bonus. Don't know what the rewards are for 4 coins, didn't have patience to find out  

[Ard]

It's the rank 9 weapons.  Compared to other gear in the same level range, the rank 9 gear is kinda shoddy, but if you're lacking in a slot, it can be a cheap piece.

[Threash]

Being able to upload your own guild emblem is pure win.

[LK]

Oh, snap.

[01101010]

Being able to upload your own guild emblem is pure win.

that is EXACTLY what i am talking about... now i want a   or better yet

[Lucas]

OMG, is that for real? Win 

[Soln]

the 2 PA guilds are arguing over what to have.  Seems 4 realz.

[Threash]

Its real, my guild decide to go with the fabled swordicorn:

[DLRiley]

i sense some gay coming from that guild emblem.

[gryeyes]

To me, if you can do an AH, why have a Private Store?

I believe you are also capped at 10 items on the AH at a time.

[Kail]

The chat in this game needs to be killed with flamethrowers.

Where's Tutty.  Where's the Cube.  This game is so much better than WoW.  Buy some gold from this site.  BC killed WoW. Where's Tutty.  Stop talking about WoW.  In celebration of Aion being awesome, please visit www.totallylegit.notakeyloggeratall.com for your free gifts.  Buy some gold from this site.  WoW sucked.  Where's the Cube.  Is this game better than WoW?  Buy some gold from this site.  Where's Tutty.

And that's in the LFG channel.  In General, I think they were talking about how Hacking isn't illegal and why Marijuana should be legalized in between asking about Tutty.

[Nonentity]

The chat in this game needs to be killed with flamethrowers.

Where's Tutty.  Where's the Cube.  This game is so much better than WoW.  Buy some gold from this site.  BC killed WoW. Where's Tutty.  Stop talking about WoW.  In celebration of Aion being awesome, please visit www.totallylegit.notakeyloggeratall.com for your free gifts.  Buy some gold from this site.  WoW sucked.  Where's the Cube.  Is this game better than WoW?  Buy some gold from this site.  Where's Tutty.

And that's in the LFG channel.  In General, I think they were talking about how Hacking isn't illegal and why Marijuana should be legalized in between asking about Tutty.

Hi, welcome to the internet. Have you heard of these games called massively multiplayer online roleplaying games? I do believe you would enjoy them, good chap.

[Kail]

Hi, welcome to the internet. Have you heard of these games called massively multiplayer online roleplaying games? I do believe you would enjoy them, good chap.

Barrens chat was better than this, possibly because they talked about WoW less.

[Threash]

Hi, welcome to the internet. Have you heard of these games called massively multiplayer online roleplaying games? I do believe you would enjoy them, good chap.

Barrens chat was better than this, possibly because they talked about WoW less.

Worse, better... its still obvious if you are to enjoy ANY mmo the first thing you do is turn off general chat. 

[Venkman]

The chat in this game needs to be killed with flamethrowers.

Where's Tutty.  Where's the Cube.  This game is so much better than WoW.  Buy some gold from this site.  BC killed WoW. Where's Tutty.  Stop talking about WoW.  In celebration of Aion being awesome, please visit www.totallylegit.notakeyloggeratall.com for your free gifts.  Buy some gold from this site.  WoW sucked.  Where's the Cube.  Is this game better than WoW?  Buy some gold from this site.  Where's Tutty.

And that's in the LFG channel.  In General, I think they were talking about how Hacking isn't illegal and why Marijuana should be legalized in between asking about Tutty.

Definitely gotta turn off these channels man. Every MMO in its first month has this kind of conversation.

[Lantyssa]

Anyone who purchased a digital version of the collector's edition now qualifies for the /aion emote in Guild Wars.  You need to contact support after applying your key:

Updated FAQ

[Tarami]

Personally I find it a little cute how people try to rationalize why they aren't playing WoW.

[Gorky]

I'm download Aion using the NCSoft launcher, is there any way to see the download speed? It just says 'Installing' and I was wondering if it wouldn't be faster to find a torrent.

Update: Using Taskmanager, I noticed the download speed was between 20-30 Kbps, so currently downloading the 9.12GB 1.5.0.1 OB client, please tell me that it will patch to the release client on running update   

[Koyasha]

Allow me to illustrate the problem that is causing people to complain about not getting enough exp from quests:

Thats the problem the quests are exceptionally craptastic in structure and reward comparatively. Not only do they give a pittance of exp, but for a nice chunk of them you will be needlessly backtracking the map 2-3-4 times in a single chain, killing nothing.

You are supposed to kill things while doing all that running around.  That's why the running around is there, if you really think about it.  If something agros you, don't run it off, kill it.  Even just killing everything that attacks you (and not going way out of your way not to be attacked) will pretty much usually mean you won't outlevel your quests and have to go kill mobs on your own initiative.

See, here's the thing.  Quests involve killing mobs.  If quests give massive exp bonuses equal or greater to the amount of exp you get from killing all the quest mobs, then you have to do the quests because they double your exp rate or more.  You cannot have quests that involve killing mobs and give more exp than the killing of those mobs without making them required for efficient leveling.  So unless they turned all quests into 'click here' quests and separate questing and killing entirely, upping the exp on quests doesn't make things more even, it makes quests necessary, or else you don't get half the exp you should be getting.  Now Aion may fall a little to the other side of that balance, but essentially quest exp should be there to make up the difference for the amount of time you spend not killing mobs, if you do a quest.

[Falconeer]

Gorky, if you click on "PLAY" while patching (right click on the Aion menu listing) it shows download speed.

[Shatter]

I avoid the craptastic channels by making a new chat tab that has just party, legion, alliance and tells only. 

[tmp]

A small but endearing thing about Aion quests, they actually have separate page of text when you hit the "Decline" button. Which would seem like a waste of resources because people supposedly just accepts all quests and without reading them to boot, but provides a funny every now and then.

[Falconeer]

Nice read about the very first wetsern Aion Fortress conquest

Origine, a French legion on the [FRA] Suthran server, is by no means a new name to the MMO scene, having years’ worth of experience. Late Friday night September 25, 2009, it was the first Legion in North America and Europe to lay claim to a fortress in the Abyss. Siel’s Western Fortress on [FRA] Suthran is now under Elysean dominion! Origine has a challenging task ahead of itself: keeping the fortress secure. To remain kings of the hill, the Legion will need to avoid another title that is as equally feared as its current title is coveted: “First Legion to Have Lost a Fortress.” Origine has done a good job on defending and conquering fortresses, as the Legion also captured Siel’s Eastern Fortress during the weekend.
 
We managed to have a short talk with Gwarf, the Centurion of Origine, in order to gain some insight into what it takes to play in the big leagues.
 
---
 
Ayase: Hey Gwarf!
 
Congratulations on the recent accomplishment! You were the first Legion in North America and Europe to take down a fortress on our servers.
 Could you tell me a bit about the challenges in planning an event of this magnitude? Was this your first attempt?
 
Gwarf: After a few months of preparations to collect pieces of information in Chinese and Korean websites and servers, we finally tested our first fortress siege. Because of timers, we chose Sulfur fortress, which is the easiest fortress for a first siege.
 
We used Sulfur fortress as training for out true target, Siel’s Western Fortress, which could be captured two hours later. Preparing ourselves for this challenge was a major effort to our players, but we’ve been amply rewarded with the pleasure we’ve had during the fight.
 
Ayase: How long did it take from start to end?
 
Gwarf: We had taken 20 minutes for the artifact control (which is absolutely crucial for the success of this event) and placing sentinels to prevent enemy attack. By the way, some Asmodians were on one of our artifacts. That attack was repelled, but it was a good try for them.
 
From the door of the fortress to the kill of the boss, it took us 1 hour and 15 minutes. That is a bit long, but it took us longer due to the level difference between the boss and our raid (level 25 compared to level 35).
It was really a battle of endurance against the door. After that, we just had to be attentive and our efforts were rewarded.
 
Ayase: What part was the most challenging one in your eyes?
 
Gwarf: For this first fortress siege, the biggest difficulty was the level of our raid. Our templars, level 34, 31, and 30, had to tank enemies level 40. As a consequence, we had to equip them with accuracy manastones and special equipment crafted specifically for this event.
Aggro resets, monster respawns due to the length of the fight, teams to protect and activate the artifacts, and the area effect attack of the boss were very interesting dimensions of the fight. The most intensive aspect was during the last half of the boss’s health, when he takes a random target and instantly kills it while still attacking with his area effect attack.
 
Ayase : Any lessons learned?
 
Gwarf: This fortress siege isn’t a truly difficult, however it requires good preparation for anyone who wants to try it with a level 35 raid. We had to count on the good equipment of the tanks, because the boss may hide some surprises.
 
This fortress siege opens access to a dungeon, which after being cleared by one of our teams, was really lucrative for XP.
 
Ayase: Thanks for taking time to answer these questions. I hope to see more spectacular accomplishments by Origine in the future! Any last words to your rival Legions out there?
 
Gwarf: Thanks to you Ayase. We’ve demonstrated that Suthran, a French server, has a top-notch European Legion. We hope that a lot of Legions will join us on this server to challenge us because we’ll continue to accomplish other great events, which anyone can follow in our forum and WebTV where the movie of our siege is already released.
 
This fight wasn’t live on our WebTV, but we’ll do all we can to do it in the future.
 

[Shatter]

Ive done a number of Fortress runs so far and they are definitely interesting.  If you dont have siege equipment the doors on a Fort make Warhammer doors look girly largely because the average level of players hitting the door is much lower then you would like it to be.  So far my experience is it becomes a flip flop from both factions when hitting a fort.  For example Elyos attacked a Fort, they beat the door a bit then we wiped them and started on the door, got it down and started inside.  Then Elyos came back and wiped us inside, then we came back and wiped them inside.  We have the same problem, upper level 20 characters trying to do level 40 elite content with enemies attacking certainly makes it harder

[Threash]

Personally I find it a little cute how people try to rationalize why they aren't playing WoW.

What is there to rationalize? im not playing WoW because by the time i quit when AoC came out i had over 400 days /played.

[Venkman]

I'm not playing WoW because I don't have a lifestyle appropriate to the endgame. I won't in Aion either so will have quit by then too 

[Xanthippe]

What a wonderful surprise today to log in and not get a single whisper or hear one gold farmer on a channel!

Ncsoft did something, I don't know what, but how pleasant it is now.

With regard to channels:  I generally have General off in the <20 zones and in Panda, also the LFG channel, which for some reason is full of junk.  The class channels though, are terrific.  The General Channel in Morheim so far has a high signal to noise ratio.

But the class channels have been really helpful.  I've blocked a couple of people, but overall most are either quiet or helpful.

[Shatter]

WOW is the only MMO I can think of from many years of them that I dont miss one thing after quitting a year and a half ago. 

[Falconeer]

I am not playing WoW because it doesn't have meaningful open world PvP and because I don't like the visual style.

[Malakili]

So far my experience is it becomes a flip flop from both factions when hitting a fort. 

This sounds familiar 

[Ashamanchill]

Lol this thread is turining into the general chat from Aion. All we need now is gold spam.