Aion - The Tower of Eternity

[tmp]

They mentioned something like 1-2 months (not /played) to reach max level and play time described as something between casual/hardcore.  Who knows what their definition is of that.

Korean 'between casual/hardcore'? The hardcore are these guys who grind two characters worth of max level in L2, even if their casual don't play _at all_ that still leaves you with something like 10-12 hours per day as middle ground.

(yeah that's green. barely)

[rk47]

i think the problem with the grind curve is that the higher you go the lesser you gain, but the more work to be done.

It just doesn't add up IMO. I'm frankly burned out at my current game whereas Lvling from 1-30 unlocks new possibilities it becomes nothing more than just 2-3% gains (in terms of dmg) at lv 40+ and took me 3x as long to grind the exp

[Mark]

Incidentally, the level grind to cap is supposed to take approximately a month according to my sources*
Now whether that's a month /played or a month real time hasn't been elaborated upon but either way that's not exactly in the L2 league....


(*Random bloke posting in the SA Games forum.  )

I'm M4rk over on the SA forums and Mark on AionSource.com. How're you doing, fellow goon?

[schild]

So, Mark.

Is it worth playing?

[Mark]

So, Mark.

Is it worth playing?

That's a good question. Unfortunately, I don't have an answer, just an opinion. I haven't played it yet either, so aforementioned opinion is probably worth shit.

If you guys have questions about the game mechanics, though, I can probably find answers for those.

[Mrbloodworth]

So, Mark.

Is it worth playing?

That's a good question. Unfortunately, I don't have an answer, just an opinion. I haven't played it yet either, so aforementioned opinion is probably worth shit.

If you guys have questions about the game mechanics, though, I can probably find answers for those.

Aerial Combat...

And..


GO!

[Soukyan]

So, Mark.

Is it worth playing?

That's a good question. Unfortunately, I don't have an answer, just an opinion. I haven't played it yet either, so aforementioned opinion is probably worth shit.

If you guys have questions about the game mechanics, though, I can probably find answers for those.

Aerial Combat...

And..


GO!

I read somewhere (perhaps this thread) that flying only lasts about a minute right now and is relegated to one particular zone. I hope they expand it a bit if that's the case. Although, perhaps other zone designs require keeping the players on the ground to manage content flow.

[Draegan]

If you goto Aionsource there's an FAQ with a lot of good infos.

[spiralyguy]

Holy crap those classes look tired 

They didn't even bother to come up with original names or anything.....

[Mark]

Holy crap those classes look tired 

They didn't even bother to come up with original names or anything.....

If you're talking about the names for the classes, hell yes, they are quite pedestrian and regular. Pretty sure it was intentional, as to not confuse the already befuddled Koreans with yet something else new they have to learn. If you're talking about the functions, they're predicatable (nothing that'll throw you for a loop), but they're interesting enough to keep you occupied, it seems.

Thing is... Well, if you have the money, you can use "Stigmas" to basically do most of anything any other class can do. Complicated sentence there, what I mean to say is, if you're rich enough, you can pay to have your Spirit Master (only halfway original name in there) wear heavier armor than cloth. He won't get all the benefits of the armor, like a warrior-type class would, and he'd lose the benefits of wearing cloth armor (whatever those are), but he would be play very much differently.

Guys, it's like DAoC in it's prime all over again. Habeeb it. My buddy still plays that tired old game just for the RvR (look him up, Fendor [forgot last name, might be Bendor] on Bedivere I think). He makes the craziest pally builds and succeeds at not sucking with them, out of sheer boredom.

Aerial Combat...

And..


GO!

Let's get this small fact straight real quick: flying is not unlimited. You can only fly in certain areas, such as the entirety of the Abyss, certain PvE zones (most of them, actually, very few are no-flight), and you can only fly for a limited amount of time (between one minute and two, with a cooldown of around 5 minutes). There are items that can prolong your flight time a bit and decrease the cooldown a bit. Also, Chanters (the main buffer class, half monk, think Dervish from GW) can keep an ally in the air for quite some time, if not indefinitely, if they know what they're doing.

There's some lore attached to the reason why you can fly in certain places and can't in others. Something like a certain energy was released into the world when the Abyss appeared and it flows like a river through certain areas and only trickles in others. It provides another reason to fight over control of the Abyss, other than "holy shit, I hate those guys" or "holy shit, that castle looks awesome, I want it" or "holy shit, is that an organic lazar-firing spaceship piloted by lizardmen? Let's kill it."

Attacks and skills work differently while flying than when grounded. Attacking a flying player while also in flight is different than attacking someone on the ground while flying, or attacking someone flying while on the ground. Stealthing doesn't work in the air, I believe, so Rangers and Assassins are going to have to get creative (unstealth, flip on flight, pull off a skill that does more damage while aloft, land again quickly, stealth again) or stay grounded.

[rk47]

lore is fodder in Korean MMO. Ok so why did the Dark Elves have a gigantic lightning rod in a shape of hand in their starting town for Lineage 2? I doubt 1% of the player population knows.

[Chenghiz]

lore is fodder in Korean MMO. Ok so why did the Dark Elves have a gigantic lightning rod in a shape of hand in their starting town for Lineage 2? I doubt 1% of the player population knows.

Isn't it an icon of their god or something? I certainly wondered about it.

[Koyasha]

If I remember right, that's the spot where the souls of the dead actually cross over to Shilen's realm.

[Draegan]

If you're still interested in this game here is a good collection of pictures, Sr. Designer interviews and other notes etc.  Good reading material if you want to take the time:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=242624
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=211289

[Xanthippe]

Very pretty!

[AcidCat]

http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=lZPhozn3Bzo

I was fairly interested before, but now I'm completely sold!

[HaemishM]

WHAT... THE... FUCK?     

[Mrbloodworth]

http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=lZPhozn3Bzo

I was fairly interested before, but now I'm completely sold!

Can't see that from work, anyone got a synopsis?

[AcidCat]

"Lvl 20 Cornstalk LFG"

[Ragnoros]

Oh nothing, some guy walks around a bit, apparently playing as an animated stalk of corn.

Also unimpressive graphics.

[AcidCat]

Also unimpressive graphics.

Boo, I think it looks quite nice. Art direction reminds me of FFXI a bit.

Much more visually appealing to me personally than the drab looks of AoC and Warhammer.

[Signe]

It took a crap, didn't it?  In that thingy on top of that other thingy!  I SAW IT!

[tmp]

Also unimpressive graphics.

Compared to what? Dunno, it looka more than ok on screenshots ( http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=211289 ) They even bother to do soft shadows if you want to look at it from technical viewpoint.

[Mrbloodworth]

Also unimpressive graphics.

Compared to what? Dunno, it looka more than ok on screenshots ( http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=211289 ) They even bother to do soft shadows if you want to look at it from technical viewpoint.

BLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!


*fuzzes*

[Draegan]

I actually like those graphics.

Personal taste anyway.  I think EQ2 graphics are awful, some people love em.

[Xanthippe]

I like the graphics too, but don't like EQ2's much.  I don't know why.  Both EQ2 and LoTRO seem flat or something. 

I also like WoW's graphics - Nagrand, in particular, reminds me of old Disney.

[Draegan]

Class: Scout (ELYOS)
Level: from the start
Special: Speed improvement


"Zaiffs Ghost" is a alchemic mixture to transform. You can get all what you need at a shop.

[HaemishM]

I'm going to be see dancing, evil corn in my fucking dreams now. 

[Nebu]

That game is sure to be a big hit in Iowa. 

[tmp]

BLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!

*fuzzes*

Yeah that bloom is rather overdone 

[grunk]

So, Mark.

Is it worth playing?

That's a good question. Unfortunately, I don't have an answer, just an opinion. I haven't played it yet either, so aforementioned opinion is probably worth shit.

If you guys have questions about the game mechanics, though, I can probably find answers for those.

I have an issue with the class design, it just looks like it is ripped from every other mmo released. (i miss my EQ ENCH)........... I just have a hard time playing Cleric 230303303 or Warrior 234939393 along with generic DD 393939393,....
Class Design is very important, I kinda want something out of the box (look at WAR class design)

[nurtsi]

Yeah that bloom is rather overdone 

Bloom is cool like lens flare.

[Mrbloodworth]

I actually like those graphics.

Personal taste anyway.  I think EQ2 graphics are awful, some people love em.

Don't get me wrong, the art direction ans artwork is fantastic. The bloom is just slightly (Read: Extremely) over done in those examples. IMO.

[Signe]

I thought I would necro the newer thread because the original one is REALLY old and this one turned out to be better anyway.  Game probably doesn't need a whole new thread.

More Aion stuffs:

Wings: Original Recipe Or Extra Crispy?


I’m not really into MMOs (gasp!), though I always seem to wind up writing about them. After the first five or so, I developed the bitter attitude most post-Ultima Online elitist gamers have towards MMOs: “Psh. WoW clone.” But when I sat my skeptical self down for some hands-on time with NCsoft’s Aion: Tower of Eternity, I was surprised to find that I actually wanted to keep playing when it was time to pack up and go.

This MMORPG might look like a World of Warcraft copycat, but there’s more going on here than meets the glazed-over eye of a cynic. It’s got PvPvE which kicks your old school PvP/PvE in the butt, incredibly flexible character customization, and – instead of some lousy mount at level 20 – you get freaking wings at level 10.

“What the hell is PvPvE?” you ask. It’s exactly what it sounds like: you’re a player fighting a player fighting an environment. The crux of Aion lore is that the world has been split in two and there are three factions warring for control. The Eylos are the “light” guys (bright colors, sparkling costumes, angel wings) and the Asmodians are the “dark” guys (bruise-colored skin, glow-in-the-dark costumes, shaggy wings). These are the two factions you can choose from in the game and the third faction, the Balaur, is entirely AI-controlled. So while you’re Eylos fighting Asmodian, you’re also fighting the Balaur and so are the Asmodians.

The classes are the same for the Eylos and the Asmodians; you start out with your basic Mage, Priest, Scout, and Warrior. This means that there’s no learning curve if you want to change sides. Eventually, the classes branch off into two sub-sections that are either ranged or melee (Scout becomes Assassin or Ranger, etc).

When you hit level 10, the real game gets going. You go through the “Ascension” and gain godlike powers and wings with which to fly around like a badass. (However badass you are, though, mind your 60 second flight gauge or you’ll do a lot more falling than flying). After getting your wings, it’s off to the Abyss to experience PvPvE firsthand.

It was the wings that won me over – WoW doesn’t have anything quite like them, even if it does have battle zones that look like the Abyss what with the purple and the lighting and stuff. I was too busy flying around (plummeting to my death) to actually fight in the Abyss, but I did do a lot of fighting on the ground. As with all MMOs (don’t even pretend otherwise), the early levels are all about fetch quests and map exploration. I stabbed flowers, collected rat butts, and shanked grave robbers for a good twenty minutes before it dawned on me that while the combat system might look prettier than some, it’s the same damn select-attack-hot-key-spell-wait-for-cool-down-attack pattern I’ve seen since EverQuest II.

You know what they say – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

The other thing that stood out for me was the character customization. I’m used to dragging sliders back and forth and seeing barely any change in my character (unless it’s a boob slider – those changes are always visible); so I was shocked when I dragged the height slider down and my character actually got smaller. Then I bumped up her hips, legs and torso sliders and she actually got fatter instead of a bigger version of skinny! I picked a random face model and suddenly had the option to open up a face modification window; wherein I made her look like the bastard child of Katherine Hepburn and Tinkerbell if such a thing were possible. The customization is so detailed that other journalists were making David Bowies. A few of the customization features were MIA (most notably tattoos), but it looks like NCsoft was serious when they said that there was no way that any two avatars would ever look exactly alike.

Aion: Tower of Eternity is slated for release sometime in 2009. I could have hugged the production guy that declared the full game would be out – not a crappy skeletal version that requires half a dozen patches in the first month of the release – but then I remembered that I’m a cynic with no faith in release schedules and that they won’t give a more specific date than 2009, so I covered by hugging a nearby lamp.

There’s no official word on a US open beta anytime soon, but a closed beta is well underway in Korea (where the game is being developed), so maybe we won’t have to wait too long before we get our wings.

Not a particularly good article.  Oh well.  Another grindy kekela game with cool sounding character customisation.  I'll be hooked for at least a week!

SOURCE

[schild]

Why would someone let Kotaku play an MMORPG?