Aion (Open Beta, Launch Day Info too!)

[Falconeer]

Hah, no. It's not a feature that I'll ever get close to use. I just like to know it's there. The high-level hardcore content is out of my reach anyway, and this is vaguely new for this kind of games. I like the sound of it, smells worldly.

[Draegan]

Sooooo no change to the experience curve?

[Kail]

Sooooo no change to the experience curve?

2. Energy of Salvation has been added.

 Characters who have progress slowly from level 15 despite long connection times and continuous in-game activity will now obtain bonus EXP through the Energy of Salvation.

 Characters who receive the Energy of Salvation will receive Energy of Salvation points at set time intervals.

 Energy of Salvation points are automatically used during hunting, collecting, crafting, missions, quests, and PvP, and will boost earned XP by 30%.

 Unused points disappear 10 minutes after logging out.

 

3. Energy of Repose will now be earned starting at level 15. Its effects have been increased between levels 30~45.

Though how much of an actual impact this will have in real numbers, I'm not sure.

[Draegan]

Sooooo no change to the experience curve?

Basically it's the longer you grind the more experience you get.  They need to cut the xp to level after level 10 or 12 in like half or something.

[ajax34i]

Energy of Salvation:  that sounds like "if you're online but idling/chatting/roleplaying, you'll get a shot of this stuff to persuade you to go hunt something to use it up.  If you're already grinding and getting steady XP, this won't make much of a difference."

[01101010]

Soooo, I log on and only have an hour/hour and a half - I get no xp booster, but the kid that catasses a 13hour day is going to grab 30% more xp? I am having a hard time with the logic here. Spend more time grinding, here is your reward, more xps for more time and more foozle-whacking. Why? 

[Threash]

You'd still have rested exp, that goes up to 40%.

[Chimpy]

After reading the full notes....I am actually pretty happy about the changes.

The Dredgion changes are both huge and awesome. The ninja surkana and/or train the opposition strategies are all dumb.

Some stuff is a little weird, but overall it is definitely a good patch. Especially if the drop rates/tables are adjusted well and not just some paltry 1-2% drop rate increase. Killing a boss in the endgame instance should not net you 1 white manastone. SOMETHING needs to drop even if it is shard fodder every time.

[Shatter]

Soooo, I log on and only have an hour/hour and a half - I get no xp booster, but the kid that catasses a 13hour day is going to grab 30% more xp? I am having a hard time with the logic here. Spend more time grinding, here is your reward, more xps for more time and more foozle-whacking. Why? 

Depending on your level, in the upper 40's it takes hours to burn through the rested XP buff

[Shatter]

http://na.aiononline.com/board/notices/view?articleID=256&page=

Little more info on rental equipment, weapon combinations and looks like 1.9 comes out in May although Im probably the only person here who still plays lol

[01101010]

http://na.aiononline.com/board/notices/view?articleID=256&page=

Little more info on rental equipment, weapon combinations and looks like 1.9 comes out in May although Im probably the only person here who still plays lol

What the hell is equipment renting? Wait...no don't tell me.

[Shatter]

http://na.aiononline.com/board/notices/view?articleID=256&page=

Little more info on rental equipment, weapon combinations and looks like 1.9 comes out in May although Im probably the only person here who still plays lol

What the hell is equipment renting? Wait...no don't tell me.

There is 2 ways to rent equipment all of which has limited-time usage basically.   You can get the best stuff doing dailies and the less-then-best I think by straight purchasing.  Supposedly this equipment is available every 5 levels.  I think part of the logic behind it is its "decent" gear you can use to grind levels faster lol

[Threash]

http://na.aiononline.com/board/notices/view?articleID=256&page=

Little more info on rental equipment, weapon combinations and looks like 1.9 comes out in May although Im probably the only person here who still plays lol

I'm still playing, i love all the changes for 1.9 cept the cc break/inmunity thing.  If you want less cc in your game take it out or nerf it, don't just give every single class a "get out of pvp free" card.

[jakonovski]

Hurtz Rental Swords!

[Chimpy]

I'm still playing, i love all the changes for 1.9 cept the cc break/inmunity thing.  If you want less cc in your game take it out or nerf it, don't just give every single class a "get out of pvp free" card.

Assassin stuns are not CC, they are a "no one can beat me because they can do NOTHING for the entire time I attack them". Which is why the assassins are all crying into their fruit loops and saying they are cancelling as soon as the patch comes out because their "100% kill rate" as one assassin I know brags about will go down to 90% because someone will get a chance once every 2 minutes to get out of a stun-lock.

[Falconeer]

Crowd Control went out of control in MMORPGs... a long time ago. Yeah, maybe they could nerf Assassins, but honestly I think anything that moves away from CC dominance is a good move.

[Threash]

I'm still playing, i love all the changes for 1.9 cept the cc break/inmunity thing.  If you want less cc in your game take it out or nerf it, don't just give every single class a "get out of pvp free" card.

Assassin stuns are not CC, they are a "no one can beat me because they can do NOTHING for the entire time I attack them". Which is why the assassins are all crying into their fruit loops and saying they are cancelling as soon as the patch comes out because their "100% kill rate" as one assassin I know brags about will go down to 90% because someone will get a chance once every 2 minutes to get out of a stun-lock.

The only reason assassins need stuns is because its damn near impossible to hit anyone moving.  Nobody is going to use the new skills to fight back, they are run away skills.

[Falconeer]

You are reasoning on small scale PvP terms. Since Aion is more geared towards large scale battles, the anti-stun is meant to make your participation in such battles less frustrating (runtobattle-getstunlockilled-respawn-runtobattle-getstunlockilled-respawn). Having more survivability helps pretty much every multiplayer game if you ask me.

[Shatter]

I love this change since the only way I die as a cleric is to chain stuns basically. 

[Threash]

If you get zerged you are gonna die regardless, all the change does is ruin small scale pvp.  Your cleric already had a very effective way of dealing with stuns and silences: magic resist stones.  I don't see how runtobattle getkilled respawn is in any way an improvement.

[Chimpy]

If you get zerged you are gonna die regardless, all the change does is ruin small scale pvp.  Your cleric already had a very effective way of dealing with stuns and silences: magic resist stones.  I don't see how runtobattle getkilled respawn is in any way an improvement.

You play an assassin don't you?

A skill that needs to be pressed that un-stuns you once every minute won't 'ruin' small scale (which I am sure you mean 1v1) PvP, it will just make it so that people who get jumped by an assassin that comes 3/4 of the way across the core in Shadow Walk might have a chance to actually fight back. How does that 'ruin' the game when the other 80% of the player base no longer becomes a free kill every time you see them?

[Shatter]

If you get zerged you are gonna die regardless, all the change does is ruin small scale pvp.  Your cleric already had a very effective way of dealing with stuns and silences: magic resist stones.  I don't see how runtobattle getkilled respawn is in any way an improvement.

For the average player stuns are a death sentence.  My cleric is above average on gear but I clearly recall getting face raped by sins and ranger by their stuns, essentially being able to literally do nothing from full health to dead.  Thats where this change applies.  Every ranger and sin stat for the 440 crit cap first and its achievable at level 30.  This change gives some balance to that. 

[amiable]

I still do not understand after all this time why game developers do not realize that the combination of:

1. Stealth (Invisibility)+
2. Stuns (crowd control) +
3. High burst dps

is a recipe for a horribly unfun gaming experience.  The only one who seems to have gotten in right is turbine with LOTRO, whose burglars only have 1+2 along with a good deal of utility.

[Shatter]

I still do not understand after all this time why game developers do not realize that the combination of:

1. Stealth (Invisibility)+
2. Stuns (crowd control) +
3. High burst dps

is a recipe for a horribly unfun gaming experience.  The only one who seems to have gotten in right is turbine with LOTRO, whose burglars only have 1+2 along with a good deal of utility.

Word.  Since as of late I have been leveling alts Ive spent more time in the lowbie zones and it is pretty amazing how many stealth classes(rangers/sins) are out rifting and raping people over any other class.  I think everytime Ive been ganked its been one of the two or gladiators but te majority are stealthers who either do it solo or double up.  I guess it makes sense since at this point in the game(lower areas) these classes dominate all others due to everyone having low HP. 

[Kageru]

So did the RvR end-game actually develop into something balanced (population effects and mechanics) and interesting?

[Threash]

I'm sorry but nobody is going to use that skill to "fight back", that is nothing but a "run to the guards" skill.  Stuns and knockdowns are not for killing people, if people stay still and fight back nine times out of ten i would kill them anyways, stuns are necessary because in this game YOU CAN'T HIT MOVING PEOPLE.  I move faster both on the ground and in the air and i have zero shot of killing someone who runs away.  I wouldn't give a shit about the new stun break ability if it came with a fix to the retarded "you must stand still for several seconds with your opponent in range while your incredibly elaborate attack animation goes off in order to hit them in melee" mechanics but i read nothing of the sort in the patch notes.  Watch some pvp videos if you get a chance, what people do when they get targeted is simply run around in circles, that's ALL it takes to make yourself immune to melee.

[Shatter]

Yeah I know the melee range is crappy and moving targets are a pain.  Extendedable weapons make it a little better(gogo gladiators).  I would use the skill to fight back, I dont typically run to guards because if you dont kill me with your initial burst, once I heal up I'll kill you next.  Most melee who attack me once they finish their burst sequence and Im not dead yet run for their lives lol.  Well geared clerics in Aion can be a pain to kill even for 3-4 people sometimes so 1 SIN attacking me is usually not a problem unless they sport the very best in gear. 

[amiable]

I'm sorry but nobody is going to use that skill to "fight back", that is nothing but a "run to the guards" skill.  Stuns and knockdowns are not for killing people, if people stay still and fight back nine times out of ten i would kill them anyways, stuns are necessary because in this game YOU CAN'T HIT MOVING PEOPLE.  I move faster both on the ground and in the air and i have zero shot of killing someone who runs away.  I wouldn't give a shit about the new stun break ability if it came with a fix to the retarded "you must stand still for several seconds with your opponent in range while your incredibly elaborate attack animation goes off in order to hit them in melee" mechanics but i read nothing of the sort in the patch notes.  Watch some pvp videos if you get a chance, what people do when they get targeted is simply run around in circles, that's ALL it takes to make yourself immune to melee.

I don't even play this game but my response is simple: so what?  Are you suggesting that it is better to have a mechanic wherein players go from full health to dead without being able to act?  Can you not see why that is the antithesis of fun?

If the part about having to have an opponent stand still hit them is true than you are right, that needs to be looked at, but I that is still subordinate to a stunlock->dead problem which will just cause folks to leave the game in annoyance/frustration.

[Threash]

It is VERY rare to be able to get one player from 100 to 0 in one stunlock, it requires an extremely severe gear disadvantage.  You can open up with a 3 second stun, if you have enough attack speed gear you can then carve three runes during that stun and follow with another 3 second stun.  If they aren't dead in those six seconds, three of which were already spent using low damage attacks in order to get the second stun off then you better hope your got them low enough that you can finish them off with your bow auto attacks as they fly away.

[waffel]

Well geared clerics in Aion can be a pain to kill even for 3-4 people

Reminds me of early day DAoC Clerics. Sounds balanced.

[Wolf]

I'm very lttp to this but I've been getting an urge to try it on. Haven't read any of the 100 pages... I just want to make a chick with big sword :)

It's good enough to kill a weekend over, right? It'll be basically for free, I'll bum an abandoned friend's account and plop a 15 day card on it.

[Falconeer]

It's good enough to kill a weekend over, right?

Right.

[Wolf]

Can I get to wings in one weekend? :)

[Shatter]

Can I get to wings in one weekend? :)

You get wings at level 10.  This weekend is another double xp weekend so you can probably get to 10 in about an hour. 

[Wolf]

score :)

the pre-paid card has the chick from Tabula Rasa on it...