i may have missed something (other than the brief mention in the combat paragraph) but..... how was this hands on? hands on the devs? what i read was the devs say it will be this way - the devs say you can do this or that what did you do exactly?
Almost every single thing I talked about in this article, as the developer was talking to me about it, I was looking at it in game. That's the main reason its all as sporadic as it is, we came to different topics as I stumbled upon it in the game. The Stigma system for example, I was going through the different panels of the Character window in game and saw the Stigma panel and asked about it. I flew, I fought, I did quests, I explored... I did lots of things...
Richard J. Cox "There were much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible, and not a little of that which might have excited disgust."
I am looking forward to giving this game a try. The flight aspect is intriguing and the avatars and the war remind me of angels and the struggle of good verses evil, or in this case light versus dark. The backstory is one that I might actually get into more than some of the other mmo's.
Just to be clear there is no good and evil in Aion. Just 1 part where sunshine can still come and 1 part where shadow is. ( all cause by an event further explained in the bio )
Following this game for a half year now ^^ Cant wait. But will test warhammer, just curious
LMAO that looks like MU online,all you can really enjoy from something like that is looking at 500 names scrolled across the screen.I know i know the usual you tube doesn't do a game justice, i surely hope not from that video,it makes AION, like i said MU online and going back 15 years in gaming.
If you enjoy instanced battlegrounds and limits telling you that you can't fight cause there are way too many people on that spot, Aion isn't for you.
I stopped taking Wizardry serious, when he said most korean games have bad animations. Hell WoW is one of the few games in the west. Where the models animate well enough to even be on par with some of the korean games I've played.
In War - Victory. In Peace - Vigilance. In Death - Sacrifice.
LMAO that looks like MU online,all you can really enjoy from something like that is looking at 500 names scrolled across the screen.I know i know the usual you tube doesn't do a game justice, i surely hope not from that video,it makes AION, like i said MU online and going back 15 years in gaming.
If you enjoy instanced battlegrounds and limits telling you that you can't fight cause there are way too many people on that spot, Aion isn't for you.
I stopped taking Wizardry serious, when he said most korean games have bad animations. Hell WoW is one of the few games in the west. Where the models animate well enough to even be on par with some of the korean games I've played.
I don't understand how someone can complain about a MMORPG being massive, specially with these graphics, hats off to the coders for such optimization, got tired of limited battlegrounds where you're thrown against a bunch of randoms.
The article read OK but this game will be very PvP centric in an RvR format (Player vs Player in "team" Realm vs Realm combat based upon race/side you choose). By "very" I do mean it is planned to limit gak happy folks activities by not allowing "baby slaughtering" but it will "encourage" you to participate by having most of the leveling up benefits, and the like, IN the PvP areas.
Access to the PvP Abyss is via portals which are level limited.
The designers do appear to be rather smart on their implementation in that the PvP area (called the Abyss) has 3 factions in it: 2 Player sides and a computer controlled "random" side that can appear randomly but will also be less likely to attack the weaker realms forces vs the stronger realms members. The 2 player controlled sides battle to take the 5 keeps, which grant benefits to those that take and hold them. The computer controlled side will help "balance" the imablances of 1 side outnumbering the other, which holds more keeps than the other and such other considerations. How and why of it is the developers "secret" and something that they can tweak.
Many aspects of what I have discovered are not really to my tastes but most *ALL* of it is still "wait and see". Why? Because the game is NOT in release yet and there are a lot of things that can and will change plus, as I noted above, the developers have left themselves tools to "tweak" the PvP experience after it goes live by adjusting how that computer controlled 3rd "team" interacts with the 2 player sides.
One thing I did find out was that it will have "contention" even within a realm for "world resources".
The Abyss has 5 "keeps" that can be conquored and held. The guild that holds a keep actually can get income from that keep for holding it -- the elite get richer by the rest buying stuff that may only be available from a specific keep. HOW this is decided, I don't know. A mixed raid -- would it go to the raid leaders guild or the person who gets the killing-blow on the keep boss or what? Lots of little questions but the overall is a realm will controll the keep with a guild "owning" it so gaining benefits from that ownership. Good for "the ubah's", good for those that don't care who owns it. "Contention" with any other guilds that wish to hold a keep.
There will be "bosses" out there to fight. From the sounds of it, a lot of this will be "world" based vs instanced. This draws images of WoW's early world-bosses where only the top guilds usually got to fight them. Thus some "contention" for these encounters as in who gets to fight the boss when it's up and the like.
etc...
A whole bunch of the stuff is being adjusted but, as some mentioned, this is one of the most visually stunning games I've seen coming out. To me, eye-candy isn't everyting. I chose WoW over EQ2 -- not for the visuals of the game (EQ2 had more "realistic" graphics) but for the game play and to get the hell away from SOE who I felt had "trashed" EQ in the time they controlled it. I went from WoW to LoTRO which *IS* a graphical upgrade experience but I decided on this for a variety of reasons, not the least of which has turned out to be the "more mature" atmosphere in the game.
Aion... Lots of promise but the PvP "contention" aspects of the game look to appeal to a younger croud. I'm not into having PvP force-fed to me nor being penalized for not participating in those aspects of the game. Don't get me wrong on PvP -- I did rank up several chars in WoW's system before quitting and I have over 22 "creeps" and a few "freeps" ranked up in the LoTRO PvMP system. It's just that I prefer doing PvP when *I* want to and not feeling I must go do that every time I'm in the game or my "char's progress" suffers... Thanks but no thanks if that's how it'll be. Again, it's mostly just wait and see...
for me te combat interface is the heart of the game.
me for example i love how aoc handles combat and i hate the wow/war style while i tought lineage2 of click and execute was ok but not as good as action combat in aoc/ddo.
you hinted about a combo system so pleeeaaaaase if you find the time give us a detailed look into combat in aion, what controlls are used and how the combat system is like.
if your bored, visit my blog at: http://craylon.wordpress.com/ dealing with the look of mmos with the nvidia 3d vision glasses
I for one am looking forward to Aion. I've been away from MMORPG's for a long time, but this game might make me return to this genre. For those others interested in learning more about the game, I found a great forum. Link: www.aionsource.com
The article read OK but this game will be very PvP centric in an RvR format (Player vs Player in "team" Realm vs Realm combat based upon race/side you choose). By "very" I do mean it is planned to limit gak happy folks activities by not allowing "baby slaughtering" but it will "encourage" you to participate by having most of the leveling up benefits, and the like, IN the PvP areas. You are able to reach max level outside of the PvP areas without ever partaking in a PvP battle. There is quest content up to level 50 on each race's half of the world. Access to the PvP Abyss is via portals which are level limited. There are two different "portals" that lead to PvP and I think you're mistaking the two. The Abyss is a zone you portal to, but it is a zone that, after level 25, you will always have access to. You simply need to go to the portal and enter it. The random portals you speak of appear randomly around each home world and portal you to the enemy's home world. Any time you can see the enemy, you can PvP them, and right now, the only way to see the enemy is in the Abyss or in their home world through the random, timed, portals.
The Abyss has 5 "keeps" that can be conquored and held. The guild that holds a keep actually can get income from that keep for holding it -- the elite get richer by the rest buying stuff that may only be available from a specific keep. HOW this is decided, I don't know. A mixed raid -- would it go to the raid leaders guild or the person who gets the killing-blow on the keep boss or what? Lots of little questions but the overall is a realm will controll the keep with a guild "owning" it so gaining benefits from that ownership. Good for "the ubah's", good for those that don't care who owns it. "Contention" with any other guilds that wish to hold a keep. There are many, many more than 5 keeps in the abyss and there has only been 1 abyss zone (3 islands) shown so far. This won't be like L2 where you have a couple castles that the same guilds control for life. With castles spread all around, there will be plenty for the taking to allow all guilds more than a snowball's chance in hell. As for how participation affects who "wins" the castle, I'll look into it to see if that info is out, yet. I do know, however, that you don't have to be in a Legion to win a castle. You can win it for your faction if a group on non-legioned players took one. There will be "bosses" out there to fight. From the sounds of it, a lot of this will be "world" based vs instanced. This draws images of WoW's early world-bosses where only the top guilds usually got to fight them. Thus some "contention" for these encounters as in who gets to fight the boss when it's up and the like. Tough to say until the game is out. I know there are a couple of vids on YouTube already where people have banded together to take out a large raid boss. Whether they were a Legion or not, I don't know, but it took a LOT of them.
Aion... Lots of promise but the PvP "contention" aspects of the game look to appeal to a younger croud. I'm not into having PvP force-fed to me nor being penalized for not participating in those aspects of the game. Don't get me wrong on PvP -- I did rank up several chars in WoW's system before quitting and I have over 22 "creeps" and a few "freeps" ranked up in the LoTRO PvMP system. It's just that I prefer doing PvP when *I* want to and not feeling I must go do that every time I'm in the game or my "char's progress" suffers... Thanks but no thanks if that's how it'll be. Again, it's mostly just wait and see... Again, PvP isn't something that will be force-fed to anyone. You can go from level 1-50 without ever fighting the other faction. You will miss out on some content in the Abyss (where you always have the danger of being attacked), but it can be done. There will also be elements in the game so that PvE players can still contribute to their Legion without being right on the battlefield. They have said that there will be PvE raids that affect the war. Seige weapons (actual or schematics) may be able to be obtained through PvE raids, which can then be crafted and given to your Legion to help defend or attack. Killing an NPC boss of either faction might result in a short term buff for your faction or a debuff for theirs. Basically, they're keeping the PvE people in mind even though the game's highlighted end-game content is PvP based. Hope this helps clarify things!
Also I wrote up a little article about some other things Aion has going for it. Check that out here.
I'm glad the one poster straightened me out on a few things,thanx no prob there ,i can be proved wrong whatever.
Some of the things you answered made the game look a little better,but of course it is still pre specualation,not an actual released game.
To the other guy,i never said i don't like PVP games,my fave game of all time is unreal tournament lol.You don't get anymore PVP than that.What i don't like is the way MMO's try to interact PVP with PVE,and ALways PVP is horribly done,by my standards anyhow.I do NOT agree with open ended FFA PVP,that is not a chalenging system,maybe to the weaker player it is ,but no way in hell is is any challenge what so ever to the stronger player.
Look at it this way,if you can't see the fail in such a system.Player A looks over at player B and thinks to himself,you know that guy is really decked out in gear and has a lot of high ranking skills, i think i'll go commit suicide and fight him for a guarantee loss...lol,it won't happen.The other side of the coin has player A looking over and thinking,man that dude is an easy kill i'll attack him because i have nothing to lose.
When i see PVP i want a system that is so fair across the board any player can kill any player,with there own real life abilities ,not some abilities they got in a game because they can spend all day playing ,because they don't work.Easiest way to explain PVP would be to look no further than UNREAL T.,that is what i expect from PVP,because that is IMO the best PVP system i have ever played in.
On the topic of flying the author did not say it was bursts only he did say it was possible to fly from town to town if you wanted to do so.
Lastly,to the guy who said i shouldn't complain about TIME=REWARD,or he was asking why i should,you answered your own question.I don't care if most games do it,there all failures IMO,It is not the proper way to do it,and any such game that rewards players in that matter is a poorly designed game.No matter what you may think about my pre conscribed thoughts on AION,i NEVER hold any grudge,and can and will change my mind in a heartbeat if this or any game turns out to be much better than what i thought.
I was never a final fantasy fan ,didn't really care about the franchise at all,until a friend made me watch it a bit and understand it a bit more.Then i decided to try and give there games a try and was amazed at the effort and thought that was put into there games,SQUARE ENIX is the most amazing developer on the planet,at least until some better one comes along.I am never a fanbois for life to ANY developer or game ,i can turn sour fast and move over to another developer as soon as they earn it.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
On the topic of flying the author did not say it was bursts only he did say it was possible to fly from town to town if you wanted to do so.
Oh?
Didn't I?
The flight in the game is there because of the combat system, it’s all about the aerial combat. Flying really isn’t meant to be used to get from point A to point B, though if you want, you certainly can. You are limited in the amount of time you can stay airborne, and if you don’t keep an eye on your timer, you WILL plummet out of the sky like a rock. And there are skills in the game targeted solely at the aerial combat (knockdowns, for example). If you thought knockdowns were a useful skill when fighting on the ground, wait ‘till you nail one a couple hundred feet in the air.
"limited in the amount of time you can stay airborne" == timer as far as I know...
Richard J. Cox "There were much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible, and not a little of that which might have excited disgust."
The low leveling curve is prolly there because this game is designed for pvp mainly. For "grindfests" one has to wait for Lineage 3 hehe.
Also the engine seems to be very well used. I have great expectations for this game, and atleast the community team so far has been a happy surprise.
If I remember correctly, the flight skill has 5 minutes cooldown. And you really can avoid PvP if you really hate it. Just beats me why on earth someone would play mmo-games if one only wants to do PvE content.
The article read OK but this game will be very PvP centric in an RvR format (Player vs Player in "team" Realm vs Realm combat based upon race/side you choose). By "very" I do mean it is planned to limit gak happy folks activities by not allowing "baby slaughtering" but it will "encourage" you to participate by having most of the leveling up benefits, and the like, IN the PvP areas. You are able to reach max level outside of the PvP areas without ever partaking in a PvP battle. There is quest content up to level 50 on each race's half of the world. Access to the PvP Abyss is via portals which are level limited. There are two different "portals" that lead to PvP and I think you're mistaking the two. The Abyss is a zone you portal to, but it is a zone that, after level 25, you will always have access to. You simply need to go to the portal and enter it. The random portals you speak of appear randomly around each home world and portal you to the enemy's home world. Any time you can see the enemy, you can PvP them, and right now, the only way to see the enemy is in the Abyss or in their home world through the random, timed, portals.
The Abyss has 5 "keeps" that can be conquored and held. The guild that holds a keep actually can get income from that keep for holding it -- the elite get richer by the rest buying stuff that may only be available from a specific keep. HOW this is decided, I don't know. A mixed raid -- would it go to the raid leaders guild or the person who gets the killing-blow on the keep boss or what? Lots of little questions but the overall is a realm will controll the keep with a guild "owning" it so gaining benefits from that ownership. Good for "the ubah's", good for those that don't care who owns it. "Contention" with any other guilds that wish to hold a keep. There are many, many more than 5 keeps in the abyss and there has only been 1 abyss zone (3 islands) shown so far. This won't be like L2 where you have a couple castles that the same guilds control for life. With castles spread all around, there will be plenty for the taking to allow all guilds more than a snowball's chance in hell. As for how participation affects who "wins" the castle, I'll look into it to see if that info is out, yet. I do know, however, that you don't have to be in a Legion to win a castle. You can win it for your faction if a group on non-legioned players took one. There will be "bosses" out there to fight. From the sounds of it, a lot of this will be "world" based vs instanced. This draws images of WoW's early world-bosses where only the top guilds usually got to fight them. Thus some "contention" for these encounters as in who gets to fight the boss when it's up and the like. Tough to say until the game is out. I know there are a couple of vids on YouTube already where people have banded together to take out a large raid boss. Whether they were a Legion or not, I don't know, but it took a LOT of them.
Aion... Lots of promise but the PvP "contention" aspects of the game look to appeal to a younger croud. I'm not into having PvP force-fed to me nor being penalized for not participating in those aspects of the game. Don't get me wrong on PvP -- I did rank up several chars in WoW's system before quitting and I have over 22 "creeps" and a few "freeps" ranked up in the LoTRO PvMP system. It's just that I prefer doing PvP when *I* want to and not feeling I must go do that every time I'm in the game or my "char's progress" suffers... Thanks but no thanks if that's how it'll be. Again, it's mostly just wait and see... Again, PvP isn't something that will be force-fed to anyone. You can go from level 1-50 without ever fighting the other faction. You will miss out on some content in the Abyss (where you always have the danger of being attacked), but it can be done. There will also be elements in the game so that PvE players can still contribute to their Legion without being right on the battlefield. They have said that there will be PvE raids that affect the war. Seige weapons (actual or schematics) may be able to be obtained through PvE raids, which can then be crafted and given to your Legion to help defend or attack. Killing an NPC boss of either faction might result in a short term buff for your faction or a debuff for theirs. Basically, they're keeping the PvE people in mind even though the game's highlighted end-game content is PvP based. Hope this helps clarify things!
Also I wrote up a little article about some other things Aion has going for it. Check that out here.
Gathering information on the PvP aspects of a game can be a bit difficult to ferret out before a game ships. Little about it is covered with detail in reviews versus such things as the look and feel of a games play, combat systems, etc... Therefor I can see where your statement comes from with respect to this game but it appears to be misleading. Here's some of the info I found on Aion as I looked into it (I had to go back and find some of this from when I first looked into it a few months back... *snicker*)
That is Part 6 of an interview with Ken Choi -- there are 10 or 11 parts to that interview on YouTube. -- He's a Sr. Game Designer for Aion. Here are excerpt statements of his on the question:
"...of course you can level up in non-Abyss areas until you reach maximum level but it won't be as efficient as when you're hunting in the Abyss which will have all the higher level MOBs..."
"...it will have that risk element. That is deliberate because we want the players to be gradually introduced to the element of having to fight your enemy faction..."
So when a game designer says that you can get to max level without PvP but that it won't be as "efficient" as PvPvE... Then also makes statements about "it would be wise..." and the like... Well, if it would be wise to go if you wish to level up "efficiently" then what would it be to NOT go there?
If you've played MMO's for a while, that "wisdom" carries a bit more meaning than the preceding portion of his statement that it is "possible" without PvP -- especially when the rest of that topic is about the Abyss and why players should go there. At 25th level you can start going to the Abyss and it seems that they want you to go there as close to that as you are willing and able to go.
As the information on the game points to: The first 25 levels are PvE based "learning time". The first 10 levels are "learn the controls and figure out the basics". The next 15 levels appear to be about learning specifics of your class operations, fight and the like. They'll go by pretty fast, similar to WoW.
At 25th level on up, you'll be "encouraged" to go to the Abyss, PvP area. No, you don't have to -- the same as you don't have to ever get a mount in WoW. You can play WoW entirely without a mount for travel but it does tend to slow one down a bit and limit what one can do compared to other players -- especially as you get closer to "max level".
In other words -- can you advance without PvP? Yes. Would anyone in their right mind play the game with a handicap of NOT going to the Abyss when that's where "the good stuff" and "faster advancement" is at? ...
Now; if you're around level 25 going in there, can much higher level "enemies" easily hunt you down and kill you? That's a tougher question but, in every MMO I've played so far, the difference between someone half "max level" and someone max level is quite a bit with respect to how well they can "compete" with each other and all are in the same PvP zone.
How PvP play works, with respect to protections, ability to participate AND avoid it, does carry meaning to a good portion of a games player base. If you are going to have to go to PvP areas to progress should you expect to be fodder for a good while? I don't think you nor anyone else currently has an answer to this question. So it's at the wait and see stage... Perhaps some more info will come out as the release date approaches.
FYI -- you're correct on the keeps. There are more than 5. I don't recall where I came up with the 5 but each major island in the abyss has a citadel and the Abyss is a zone they can easily expand due to the nature of the place. Also there was something about different "values" for having different keeps but, again, I couldn't recall where to find the references.
As to portals -- the level protection prevents sub-25th levels from getting in -- sorry if I wasn't clear. I didn't even want to touch on the "random" portals because they seem very odd and also seem to violate the separation between sides outline for the game . Each realm has it's "safe home area" and combat between sides is to be done in the Abyss yet these random portals... I've no idea how those will work if it lets "enemy troops" get into your "safe" homelands.
Good points- I'll try to clarify anything I can if I know it.
Gathering information on the PvP aspects of a game can be a bit difficult to ferret out before a game ships. Little about it is covered with detail in reviews versus such things as the look and feel of a games play, combat systems, etc... Therefor I can see where your statement comes from with respect to this game but it appears to be misleading. Here's some of the info I found on Aion as I looked into it (I had to go back and find some of this from when I first looked into it a few months back... *snicker*) www.youtube.com/watch That is Part 6 of an interview with Ken Choi -- there are 10 or 11 parts to that interview on YouTube. -- He's a Sr. Game Designer for Aion. Here are excerpt statements of his on the question: "...of course you can level up in non-Abyss areas until you reach maximum level but it won't be as efficient as when you're hunting in the Abyss which will have all the higher level MOBs..." "...it will have that risk element. That is deliberate because we want the players to be gradually introduced to the element of having to fight your enemy faction..." So when a game designer says that you can get to max level without PvP but that it won't be as "efficient" as PvPvE... Then also makes statements about "it would be wise..." and the like... Well, if it would be wise to go if you wish to level up "efficiently" then what would it be to NOT go there? This is another one of those instances where it is difficult to say until the game gets closer to completion. The Abyss yields higher rewards- increased XP, Abyss points, and maybe better loot tables. But it is riskier. The enemies are a bit tougher and the opposing faction is there. As of the end of CBT 3, we haven't been introduced to end-game areas on either faction's respective side of the world, but talking with Brian Knox at PAX, he said they've been rolling out info to us as the game gets more and more localized. They've shown us the first Abyss and the starting areas so as it enters into Open Beta in Korea, we'll start to see exactly what kind of non-Abyss content we can expect. If you've played MMO's for a while, that "wisdom" carries a bit more meaning than the preceding portion of his statement that it is "possible" without PvP -- especially when the rest of that topic is about the Abyss and why players should go there. At 25th level you can start going to the Abyss and it seems that they want you to go there as close to that as you are willing and able to go. As the information on the game points to: The first 25 levels are PvE based "learning time". The first 10 levels are "learn the controls and figure out the basics". The next 15 levels appear to be about learning specifics of your class operations, fight and the like. They'll go by pretty fast, similar to WoW. At 25th level on up, you'll be "encouraged" to go to the Abyss, PvP area. No, you don't have to -- the same as you don't have to ever get a mount in WoW. You can play WoW entirely without a mount for travel but it does tend to slow one down a bit and limit what one can do compared to other players -- especially as you get closer to "max level". In other words -- can you advance without PvP? Yes. Would anyone in their right mind play the game with a handicap of NOT going to the Abyss when that's where "the good stuff" and "faster advancement" is at? ... Well, with content outside the Abyss, there will be "good stuff" elsewhere also, but as I said before, with more risk comes greater reward. Those who wish to do without that risk surely care, but no one, at this point, knows how easy it will be. Now; if you're around level 25 going in there, can much higher level "enemies" easily hunt you down and kill you? That's a tougher question but, in every MMO I've played so far, the difference between someone half "max level" and someone max level is quite a bit with respect to how well they can "compete" with each other and all are in the same PvP zone. The first Abyss is actually 3 separate islands. Each island has its own general level range, so while there will always be higher level people running around killing the lowbies (if they don't restrict where they can go in the Abyss- I assume they won't), the general missions you're running will be being run by about your same level on the enemy side as well. I believe I read somewhere this first Abyss (3 islands) is level 25-40 content. There is also said to be 3 total Abyss zones ready for launch, all different from each other with fortresses and artifacts to capture and different level ranges. No other info is released yet on this. How PvP play works, with respect to protections, ability to participate AND avoid it, does carry meaning to a good portion of a games player base. If you are going to have to go to PvP areas to progress should you expect to be fodder for a good while? I don't think you nor anyone else currently has an answer to this question. So it's at the wait and see stage... Perhaps some more info will come out as the release date approaches. This depends, really. The first island you go to will be, as I stated, level 25 content and therefore, the enemies and opposing faction members you find there will be (unless they're lowbie ganking) roughly your same level and this should hopefully prevent, in many cases, the "fodder" effect of PvP zones. Now, if you decide to travel to the level 40 island, you're likely going to get stopmed by everything and you'll wish you were something as high as "fodder" FYI -- you're correct on the keeps. There are more than 5. I don't recall where I came up with the 5 but each major island in the abyss has a citadel and the Abyss is a zone they can easily expand due to the nature of the place. Also there was something about different "values" for having different keeps but, again, I couldn't recall where to find the references. Fortress owners will be able to "tax" their territory, gaining assets for their legion from those who hunt on their land, purchase from their vendors, etc. Also, how you do in the Abyss affects your faction's morale. If the Elyos are winning in the Abyss (maybe this is Abyss points, rank, and fortress control?), vendors on their half of the world will sell cheaper and their faction may receive a buff. As to portals -- the level protection prevents sub-25th levels from getting in -- sorry if I wasn't clear. I didn't even want to touch on the "random" portals because they seem very odd and also seem to violate the separation between sides outline for the game . Each realm has it's "safe home area" and combat between sides is to be done in the Abyss yet these random portals... I've no idea how those will work if it lets "enemy troops" get into your "safe" homelands. These portals are the only risk of PvP that non-PvPers will have if they choose to avoid the Abyss. Now, its been said that these portals will only be open for a short amount of time- I believe roughly 5 minutes, and it was said a while back that people in the area would know without a doubt when they opened. Maybe a beacon thats visible all over or a system message. Also, if you go through the portal it doesn't just warp you outside another portal where you can get ganked as you load- it puts you in a random location in the area. The only way home is back through another portal or death (unless there are abilities/items to take you back to your bind stone, which Im sure there are). So generally speaking your homeland is still the safest place to be. I don't know if cities and towns are a 100% safe zone or not.
If I remember correctly, the flight skill has 5 minutes cooldown.
Flight has a dynamic cooldown. As of the CBT2 client, low level players (12ish) had 1 minute of flight time. If they used 30 seconds of this and landed, there would be a small 5 second cooldown for the flight skill itself, but after that they could fly again to continue ticking their timer down. Now, any time you're on the ground, not flying, your flight timer is recharging +3 seconds every 5 or so.
So (and these are unofficial numbers, but fairly close as of CBT2) you have 1:00 of flight time and you fly to a floating island above you that has a quest and it takes you 25 seconds to get there, leaving you with 0:35 on the timer. You land and begin talking to the npc. It takes you 20 seconds to read the quest blurb and accept the mission, you should have, roughly, 47 seconds of flight time, now.
It has been said that there are buffs that increase flight time as well as other factors. Abyss points can be spent to "upgrade" your wings. Whether this is just appearance or if it makes them stronger, its not known. Flight time may also increase with level- also unknown at this point.
The article read OK but this game will be very PvP centric in an RvR format (Player vs Player in "team" Realm vs Realm combat based upon race/side you choose). By "very" I do mean it is planned to limit gak happy folks activities by not allowing "baby slaughtering" but it will "encourage" you to participate by having most of the leveling up benefits, and the like, IN the PvP areas. You are able to reach max level outside of the PvP areas without ever partaking in a PvP battle. There is quest content up to level 50 on each race's half of the world. Access to the PvP Abyss is via portals which are level limited. There are two different "portals" that lead to PvP and I think you're mistaking the two. The Abyss is a zone you portal to, but it is a zone that, after level 25, you will always have access to. You simply need to go to the portal and enter it. The random portals you speak of appear randomly around each home world and portal you to the enemy's home world. Any time you can see the enemy, you can PvP them, and right now, the only way to see the enemy is in the Abyss or in their home world through the random, timed, portals.
The Abyss has 5 "keeps" that can be conquored and held. The guild that holds a keep actually can get income from that keep for holding it -- the elite get richer by the rest buying stuff that may only be available from a specific keep. HOW this is decided, I don't know. A mixed raid -- would it go to the raid leaders guild or the person who gets the killing-blow on the keep boss or what? Lots of little questions but the overall is a realm will controll the keep with a guild "owning" it so gaining benefits from that ownership. Good for "the ubah's", good for those that don't care who owns it. "Contention" with any other guilds that wish to hold a keep. There are many, many more than 5 keeps in the abyss and there has only been 1 abyss zone (3 islands) shown so far. This won't be like L2 where you have a couple castles that the same guilds control for life. With castles spread all around, there will be plenty for the taking to allow all guilds more than a snowball's chance in hell. As for how participation affects who "wins" the castle, I'll look into it to see if that info is out, yet. I do know, however, that you don't have to be in a Legion to win a castle. You can win it for your faction if a group on non-legioned players took one. There will be "bosses" out there to fight. From the sounds of it, a lot of this will be "world" based vs instanced. This draws images of WoW's early world-bosses where only the top guilds usually got to fight them. Thus some "contention" for these encounters as in who gets to fight the boss when it's up and the like. Tough to say until the game is out. I know there are a couple of vids on YouTube already where people have banded together to take out a large raid boss. Whether they were a Legion or not, I don't know, but it took a LOT of them.
Aion... Lots of promise but the PvP "contention" aspects of the game look to appeal to a younger croud. I'm not into having PvP force-fed to me nor being penalized for not participating in those aspects of the game. Don't get me wrong on PvP -- I did rank up several chars in WoW's system before quitting and I have over 22 "creeps" and a few "freeps" ranked up in the LoTRO PvMP system. It's just that I prefer doing PvP when *I* want to and not feeling I must go do that every time I'm in the game or my "char's progress" suffers... Thanks but no thanks if that's how it'll be. Again, it's mostly just wait and see... Again, PvP isn't something that will be force-fed to anyone. You can go from level 1-50 without ever fighting the other faction. You will miss out on some content in the Abyss (where you always have the danger of being attacked), but it can be done. There will also be elements in the game so that PvE players can still contribute to their Legion without being right on the battlefield. They have said that there will be PvE raids that affect the war. Seige weapons (actual or schematics) may be able to be obtained through PvE raids, which can then be crafted and given to your Legion to help defend or attack. Killing an NPC boss of either faction might result in a short term buff for your faction or a debuff for theirs. Basically, they're keeping the PvE people in mind even though the game's highlighted end-game content is PvP based. Hope this helps clarify things!
Also I wrote up a little article about some other things Aion has going for it. Check that out here.
Gathering information on the PvP aspects of a game can be a bit difficult to ferret out before a game ships. Little about it is covered with detail in reviews versus such things as the look and feel of a games play, combat systems, etc... Therefor I can see where your statement comes from with respect to this game but it appears to be misleading. Here's some of the info I found on Aion as I looked into it (I had to go back and find some of this from when I first looked into it a few months back... *snicker*)
That is Part 6 of an interview with Ken Choi -- there are 10 or 11 parts to that interview on YouTube. -- He's a Sr. Game Designer for Aion. Here are excerpt statements of his on the question:
"...of course you can level up in non-Abyss areas until you reach maximum level but it won't be as efficient as when you're hunting in the Abyss which will have all the higher level MOBs..."
"...it will have that risk element. That is deliberate because we want the players to be gradually introduced to the element of having to fight your enemy faction..."
So when a game designer says that you can get to max level without PvP but that it won't be as "efficient" as PvPvE... Then also makes statements about "it would be wise..." and the like... Well, if it would be wise to go if you wish to level up "efficiently" then what would it be to NOT go there?
If you've played MMO's for a while, that "wisdom" carries a bit more meaning than the preceding portion of his statement that it is "possible" without PvP -- especially when the rest of that topic is about the Abyss and why players should go there. At 25th level you can start going to the Abyss and it seems that they want you to go there as close to that as you are willing and able to go.
As the information on the game points to: The first 25 levels are PvE based "learning time". The first 10 levels are "learn the controls and figure out the basics". The next 15 levels appear to be about learning specifics of your class operations, fight and the like. They'll go by pretty fast, similar to WoW.
At 25th level on up, you'll be "encouraged" to go to the Abyss, PvP area. No, you don't have to -- the same as you don't have to ever get a mount in WoW. You can play WoW entirely without a mount for travel but it does tend to slow one down a bit and limit what one can do compared to other players -- especially as you get closer to "max level".
In other words -- can you advance without PvP? Yes. Would anyone in their right mind play the game with a handicap of NOT going to the Abyss when that's where "the good stuff" and "faster advancement" is at? ...
Now; if you're around level 25 going in there, can much higher level "enemies" easily hunt you down and kill you? That's a tougher question but, in every MMO I've played so far, the difference between someone half "max level" and someone max level is quite a bit with respect to how well they can "compete" with each other and all are in the same PvP zone.
How PvP play works, with respect to protections, ability to participate AND avoid it, does carry meaning to a good portion of a games player base. If you are going to have to go to PvP areas to progress should you expect to be fodder for a good while? I don't think you nor anyone else currently has an answer to this question. So it's at the wait and see stage... Perhaps some more info will come out as the release date approaches.
FYI -- you're correct on the keeps. There are more than 5. I don't recall where I came up with the 5 but each major island in the abyss has a citadel and the Abyss is a zone they can easily expand due to the nature of the place. Also there was something about different "values" for having different keeps but, again, I couldn't recall where to find the references.
As to portals -- the level protection prevents sub-25th levels from getting in -- sorry if I wasn't clear. I didn't even want to touch on the "random" portals because they seem very odd and also seem to violate the separation between sides outline for the game . Each realm has it's "safe home area" and combat between sides is to be done in the Abyss yet these random portals... I've no idea how those will work if it lets "enemy troops" get into your "safe" homelands.
Your post doesn't make much sense. That's like saying dungeons shouldn't be allowed in games because, since the exp and rewards are better, people are forced to play in them.
Risk = Reward, in life and games, and the Abyss is there for people who want to take the risk. You're not encouraged to spend all your time in the Abyss, you're encouraged to play the damn game however the hell you like. If you don't want to go to the Abyss, then don't! I know I probably won't, I'm more of a PvE buff myself.
In any case, a lot of the above are preconceived notions you'll have to let go. I understand we've all played almost every MMO out there and are a little bit jaded, but if you're going to stick with that attitude you'll never be happy, and you may as well just stop playing like...now.
And another thing, you're comparing yourself to other players, because those who enter the abyss may reach the end-result before you...however, if you don't want to PvP, why does that matter? I could understand people getting stronger, faster, then turning around and pwning you...but if it's not open PvP, who cares if the PvPers hit lvl 50 in a week when it might take you a month? Just go at your own pace and enjoy the game, stop worrying about what other people are doing with their time.
EDIT: In response to Abyss level restrictions, no one has declared whether specific areas of the Abyss will come with level restriction, however it has been stated that killing someone lower level than you will yield little to no reward. So unless you piss someone off, or they're just kind of a dick, you won't find a lot of lvl 50s ganking lvl 25s
"Forums aren't for intelligent discussion; they're for blow-hards with unwavering opinions."
Sounds like it could be worth a try, but Ubisoft need to learn from EQ2. The archetype system wasn't well received there, it won't be well received in Aion either as the community get to the point of making alts and find out the reason why EQ2 dropped. It adds a grind to the game where people have to play through the archtype to try a class they want to play out ,only to get there to find it's not for them. This can burn people out.
Sounds like it could be worth a try, but Ubisoft need to learn from EQ2. The archetype system wasn't well received there, it won't be well received in Aion either as the community get to the point of making alts and find out the reason why EQ2 dropped. It adds a grind to the game where people have to play through the archtype to try a class they want to play out ,only to get there to find it's not for them. This can burn people out.
First the archetype will not be a problem i think. if you choose the warrior archetype youll have to choose between a tank or a dmg warrior, support archetype you choose between a buffer or an healer, etc so the choice isnt that bad and if i remind right you choose your class at lvl10 or 20 max. And btw ubisoft will be only a distributor in europe nothing more than that. They dont have anything to do with the gameplay or the game at all. NCSoft made a deal with them cause its better to use a company that have better experience and a better distribution network than invest tons of cash to do it.
No distributors, UbiSoft or other, have been announced. NC Soft is a distributor itself, so I can't imagine they'd outsource what they can do themselves.
No distributors, UbiSoft or other, have been announced. NC Soft is a distributor itself, so I can't imagine they'd outsource what they can do themselves.
Comments
Almost every single thing I talked about in this article, as the developer was talking to me about it, I was looking at it in game. That's the main reason its all as sporadic as it is, we came to different topics as I stumbled upon it in the game. The Stigma system for example, I was going through the different panels of the Character window in game and saw the Stigma panel and asked about it. I flew, I fought, I did quests, I explored... I did lots of things...
Richard J. Cox
"There were much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible, and not a little of that which might have excited disgust."
bla bla bla bla
launch 2009
y gameplay
here www.youtube.com/watch
korean grindfarmer
www.youtube.com/watch aion = mmorpg?
korean grindfarmer
Just to be clear there is no good and evil in Aion. Just 1 part where sunshine can still come and 1 part where shadow is. ( all cause by an event further explained in the bio )
Following this game for a half year now ^^ Cant wait. But will test warhammer, just curious
LMAO that looks like MU online,all you can really enjoy from something like that is looking at 500 names scrolled across the screen.I know i know the usual you tube doesn't do a game justice, i surely hope not from that video,it makes AION, like i said MU online and going back 15 years in gaming.
If you enjoy instanced battlegrounds and limits telling you that you can't fight cause there are way too many people on that spot, Aion isn't for you.
I stopped taking Wizardry serious, when he said most korean games have bad animations. Hell WoW is one of the few games in the west. Where the models animate well enough to even be on par with some of the korean games I've played.
In War - Victory.
In Peace - Vigilance.
In Death - Sacrifice.
LMAO that looks like MU online,all you can really enjoy from something like that is looking at 500 names scrolled across the screen.I know i know the usual you tube doesn't do a game justice, i surely hope not from that video,it makes AION, like i said MU online and going back 15 years in gaming.
If you enjoy instanced battlegrounds and limits telling you that you can't fight cause there are way too many people on that spot, Aion isn't for you.
I stopped taking Wizardry serious, when he said most korean games have bad animations. Hell WoW is one of the few games in the west. Where the models animate well enough to even be on par with some of the korean games I've played.
I don't understand how someone can complain about a MMORPG being massive, specially with these graphics, hats off to the coders for such optimization, got tired of limited battlegrounds where you're thrown against a bunch of randoms.
The article read OK but this game will be very PvP centric in an RvR format (Player vs Player in "team" Realm vs Realm combat based upon race/side you choose). By "very" I do mean it is planned to limit gak happy folks activities by not allowing "baby slaughtering" but it will "encourage" you to participate by having most of the leveling up benefits, and the like, IN the PvP areas.
Access to the PvP Abyss is via portals which are level limited.
The designers do appear to be rather smart on their implementation in that the PvP area (called the Abyss) has 3 factions in it: 2 Player sides and a computer controlled "random" side that can appear randomly but will also be less likely to attack the weaker realms forces vs the stronger realms members. The 2 player controlled sides battle to take the 5 keeps, which grant benefits to those that take and hold them. The computer controlled side will help "balance" the imablances of 1 side outnumbering the other, which holds more keeps than the other and such other considerations. How and why of it is the developers "secret" and something that they can tweak.
Many aspects of what I have discovered are not really to my tastes but most *ALL* of it is still "wait and see". Why? Because the game is NOT in release yet and there are a lot of things that can and will change plus, as I noted above, the developers have left themselves tools to "tweak" the PvP experience after it goes live by adjusting how that computer controlled 3rd "team" interacts with the 2 player sides.
One thing I did find out was that it will have "contention" even within a realm for "world resources".
The Abyss has 5 "keeps" that can be conquored and held. The guild that holds a keep actually can get income from that keep for holding it -- the elite get richer by the rest buying stuff that may only be available from a specific keep. HOW this is decided, I don't know. A mixed raid -- would it go to the raid leaders guild or the person who gets the killing-blow on the keep boss or what? Lots of little questions but the overall is a realm will controll the keep with a guild "owning" it so gaining benefits from that ownership. Good for "the ubah's", good for those that don't care who owns it. "Contention" with any other guilds that wish to hold a keep.
There will be "bosses" out there to fight. From the sounds of it, a lot of this will be "world" based vs instanced. This draws images of WoW's early world-bosses where only the top guilds usually got to fight them. Thus some "contention" for these encounters as in who gets to fight the boss when it's up and the like.
etc...
A whole bunch of the stuff is being adjusted but, as some mentioned, this is one of the most visually stunning games I've seen coming out. To me, eye-candy isn't everyting. I chose WoW over EQ2 -- not for the visuals of the game (EQ2 had more "realistic" graphics) but for the game play and to get the hell away from SOE who I felt had "trashed" EQ in the time they controlled it. I went from WoW to LoTRO which *IS* a graphical upgrade experience but I decided on this for a variety of reasons, not the least of which has turned out to be the "more mature" atmosphere in the game.
Aion... Lots of promise but the PvP "contention" aspects of the game look to appeal to a younger croud. I'm not into having PvP force-fed to me nor being penalized for not participating in those aspects of the game. Don't get me wrong on PvP -- I did rank up several chars in WoW's system before quitting and I have over 22 "creeps" and a few "freeps" ranked up in the LoTRO PvMP system. It's just that I prefer doing PvP when *I* want to and not feeling I must go do that every time I'm in the game or my "char's progress" suffers... Thanks but no thanks if that's how it'll be. Again, it's mostly just wait and see...
very nice overview
but...
can you do a combat exlusive article next time ?
for me te combat interface is the heart of the game.
me for example i love how aoc handles combat and i hate the wow/war style while i tought lineage2 of click and execute was ok but not as good as action combat in aoc/ddo.
you hinted about a combo system so pleeeaaaaase if you find the time give us a detailed look into combat in aion, what controlls are used and how the combat system is like.
if your bored, visit my blog at:
http://craylon.wordpress.com/ dealing with the look of mmos with the nvidia 3d vision glasses
Excellent read. keep them coming I can't wait to get in.
Why?
I might be a dinosaur but a level speed comparable to WoW isnt something Im looking to.
So 1-2 week and you reach max level or only a couple of days for the hardcore junkies? bleh.
Everything else sounds fine. Im looking forward to this game which hopefully will be half as good as reviews indicate.
I for one am looking forward to Aion. I've been away from MMORPG's for a long time, but this game might make me return to this genre. For those others interested in learning more about the game, I found a great forum. Link: www.aionsource.com
I don't like games where other players can kill me without my consent to PvP so I will steer clear from this one I think.
And Gameguard has hindered me in the past to play for any longer periods of time in Lineage II and I think that the same will be true for Aion.
The graphics looks nice though.
Also I wrote up a little article about some other things Aion has going for it. Check that out here.
Knite - Administrator, AionSource.com
I'm glad the one poster straightened me out on a few things,thanx no prob there ,i can be proved wrong whatever.
Some of the things you answered made the game look a little better,but of course it is still pre specualation,not an actual released game.
To the other guy,i never said i don't like PVP games,my fave game of all time is unreal tournament lol.You don't get anymore PVP than that.What i don't like is the way MMO's try to interact PVP with PVE,and ALways PVP is horribly done,by my standards anyhow.I do NOT agree with open ended FFA PVP,that is not a chalenging system,maybe to the weaker player it is ,but no way in hell is is any challenge what so ever to the stronger player.
Look at it this way,if you can't see the fail in such a system.Player A looks over at player B and thinks to himself,you know that guy is really decked out in gear and has a lot of high ranking skills, i think i'll go commit suicide and fight him for a guarantee loss...lol,it won't happen.The other side of the coin has player A looking over and thinking,man that dude is an easy kill i'll attack him because i have nothing to lose.
When i see PVP i want a system that is so fair across the board any player can kill any player,with there own real life abilities ,not some abilities they got in a game because they can spend all day playing ,because they don't work.Easiest way to explain PVP would be to look no further than UNREAL T.,that is what i expect from PVP,because that is IMO the best PVP system i have ever played in.
On the topic of flying the author did not say it was bursts only he did say it was possible to fly from town to town if you wanted to do so.
Lastly,to the guy who said i shouldn't complain about TIME=REWARD,or he was asking why i should,you answered your own question.I don't care if most games do it,there all failures IMO,It is not the proper way to do it,and any such game that rewards players in that matter is a poorly designed game.No matter what you may think about my pre conscribed thoughts on AION,i NEVER hold any grudge,and can and will change my mind in a heartbeat if this or any game turns out to be much better than what i thought.
I was never a final fantasy fan ,didn't really care about the franchise at all,until a friend made me watch it a bit and understand it a bit more.Then i decided to try and give there games a try and was amazed at the effort and thought that was put into there games,SQUARE ENIX is the most amazing developer on the planet,at least until some better one comes along.I am never a fanbois for life to ANY developer or game ,i can turn sour fast and move over to another developer as soon as they earn it.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Oh?
Didn't I?
The flight in the game is there because of the combat system, it’s all about the aerial combat. Flying really isn’t meant to be used to get from point A to point B, though if you want, you certainly can. You are limited in the amount of time you can stay airborne, and if you don’t keep an eye on your timer, you WILL plummet out of the sky like a rock. And there are skills in the game targeted solely at the aerial combat (knockdowns, for example). If you thought knockdowns were a useful skill when fighting on the ground, wait ‘till you nail one a couple hundred feet in the air.
"limited in the amount of time you can stay airborne" == timer as far as I know...
Richard J. Cox
"There were much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible, and not a little of that which might have excited disgust."
Nice article indeed
The low leveling curve is prolly there because this game is designed for pvp mainly. For "grindfests" one has to wait for Lineage 3 hehe.
Also the engine seems to be very well used. I have great expectations for this game, and atleast the community team so far has been a happy surprise.
If I remember correctly, the flight skill has 5 minutes cooldown. And you really can avoid PvP if you really hate it. Just beats me why on earth someone would play mmo-games if one only wants to do PvE content.
Also I wrote up a little article about some other things Aion has going for it. Check that out here.
Gathering information on the PvP aspects of a game can be a bit difficult to ferret out before a game ships. Little about it is covered with detail in reviews versus such things as the look and feel of a games play, combat systems, etc... Therefor I can see where your statement comes from with respect to this game but it appears to be misleading. Here's some of the info I found on Aion as I looked into it (I had to go back and find some of this from when I first looked into it a few months back... *snicker*)
www.youtube.com/watch
That is Part 6 of an interview with Ken Choi -- there are 10 or 11 parts to that interview on YouTube. -- He's a Sr. Game Designer for Aion. Here are excerpt statements of his on the question:
"...of course you can level up in non-Abyss areas until you reach maximum level but it won't be as efficient as when you're hunting in the Abyss which will have all the higher level MOBs..."
"...it will have that risk element. That is deliberate because we want the players to be gradually introduced to the element of having to fight your enemy faction..."
So when a game designer says that you can get to max level without PvP but that it won't be as "efficient" as PvPvE... Then also makes statements about "it would be wise..." and the like... Well, if it would be wise to go if you wish to level up "efficiently" then what would it be to NOT go there?
If you've played MMO's for a while, that "wisdom" carries a bit more meaning than the preceding portion of his statement that it is "possible" without PvP -- especially when the rest of that topic is about the Abyss and why players should go there. At 25th level you can start going to the Abyss and it seems that they want you to go there as close to that as you are willing and able to go.
As the information on the game points to: The first 25 levels are PvE based "learning time". The first 10 levels are "learn the controls and figure out the basics". The next 15 levels appear to be about learning specifics of your class operations, fight and the like. They'll go by pretty fast, similar to WoW.
At 25th level on up, you'll be "encouraged" to go to the Abyss, PvP area. No, you don't have to -- the same as you don't have to ever get a mount in WoW. You can play WoW entirely without a mount for travel but it does tend to slow one down a bit and limit what one can do compared to other players -- especially as you get closer to "max level".
In other words -- can you advance without PvP? Yes. Would anyone in their right mind play the game with a handicap of NOT going to the Abyss when that's where "the good stuff" and "faster advancement" is at? ...
Now; if you're around level 25 going in there, can much higher level "enemies" easily hunt you down and kill you? That's a tougher question but, in every MMO I've played so far, the difference between someone half "max level" and someone max level is quite a bit with respect to how well they can "compete" with each other and all are in the same PvP zone.
How PvP play works, with respect to protections, ability to participate AND avoid it, does carry meaning to a good portion of a games player base. If you are going to have to go to PvP areas to progress should you expect to be fodder for a good while? I don't think you nor anyone else currently has an answer to this question. So it's at the wait and see stage... Perhaps some more info will come out as the release date approaches.
FYI -- you're correct on the keeps. There are more than 5. I don't recall where I came up with the 5 but each major island in the abyss has a citadel and the Abyss is a zone they can easily expand due to the nature of the place. Also there was something about different "values" for having different keeps but, again, I couldn't recall where to find the references.
As to portals -- the level protection prevents sub-25th levels from getting in -- sorry if I wasn't clear. I didn't even want to touch on the "random" portals because they seem very odd and also seem to violate the separation between sides outline for the game . Each realm has it's "safe home area" and combat between sides is to be done in the Abyss yet these random portals... I've no idea how those will work if it lets "enemy troops" get into your "safe" homelands.
Knite - Administrator, AionSource.com
Flight has a dynamic cooldown. As of the CBT2 client, low level players (12ish) had 1 minute of flight time. If they used 30 seconds of this and landed, there would be a small 5 second cooldown for the flight skill itself, but after that they could fly again to continue ticking their timer down. Now, any time you're on the ground, not flying, your flight timer is recharging +3 seconds every 5 or so.
So (and these are unofficial numbers, but fairly close as of CBT2) you have 1:00 of flight time and you fly to a floating island above you that has a quest and it takes you 25 seconds to get there, leaving you with 0:35 on the timer. You land and begin talking to the npc. It takes you 20 seconds to read the quest blurb and accept the mission, you should have, roughly, 47 seconds of flight time, now.
It has been said that there are buffs that increase flight time as well as other factors. Abyss points can be spent to "upgrade" your wings. Whether this is just appearance or if it makes them stronger, its not known. Flight time may also increase with level- also unknown at this point.
Knite - Administrator, AionSource.com
Yeah they are wing upgrades, which add stats and stuff from abyss, also the look gets upgraded.
Also I wrote up a little article about some other things Aion has going for it. Check that out here.
Gathering information on the PvP aspects of a game can be a bit difficult to ferret out before a game ships. Little about it is covered with detail in reviews versus such things as the look and feel of a games play, combat systems, etc... Therefor I can see where your statement comes from with respect to this game but it appears to be misleading. Here's some of the info I found on Aion as I looked into it (I had to go back and find some of this from when I first looked into it a few months back... *snicker*)
www.youtube.com/watch
That is Part 6 of an interview with Ken Choi -- there are 10 or 11 parts to that interview on YouTube. -- He's a Sr. Game Designer for Aion. Here are excerpt statements of his on the question:
"...of course you can level up in non-Abyss areas until you reach maximum level but it won't be as efficient as when you're hunting in the Abyss which will have all the higher level MOBs..."
"...it will have that risk element. That is deliberate because we want the players to be gradually introduced to the element of having to fight your enemy faction..."
So when a game designer says that you can get to max level without PvP but that it won't be as "efficient" as PvPvE... Then also makes statements about "it would be wise..." and the like... Well, if it would be wise to go if you wish to level up "efficiently" then what would it be to NOT go there?
If you've played MMO's for a while, that "wisdom" carries a bit more meaning than the preceding portion of his statement that it is "possible" without PvP -- especially when the rest of that topic is about the Abyss and why players should go there. At 25th level you can start going to the Abyss and it seems that they want you to go there as close to that as you are willing and able to go.
As the information on the game points to: The first 25 levels are PvE based "learning time". The first 10 levels are "learn the controls and figure out the basics". The next 15 levels appear to be about learning specifics of your class operations, fight and the like. They'll go by pretty fast, similar to WoW.
At 25th level on up, you'll be "encouraged" to go to the Abyss, PvP area. No, you don't have to -- the same as you don't have to ever get a mount in WoW. You can play WoW entirely without a mount for travel but it does tend to slow one down a bit and limit what one can do compared to other players -- especially as you get closer to "max level".
In other words -- can you advance without PvP? Yes. Would anyone in their right mind play the game with a handicap of NOT going to the Abyss when that's where "the good stuff" and "faster advancement" is at? ...
Now; if you're around level 25 going in there, can much higher level "enemies" easily hunt you down and kill you? That's a tougher question but, in every MMO I've played so far, the difference between someone half "max level" and someone max level is quite a bit with respect to how well they can "compete" with each other and all are in the same PvP zone.
How PvP play works, with respect to protections, ability to participate AND avoid it, does carry meaning to a good portion of a games player base. If you are going to have to go to PvP areas to progress should you expect to be fodder for a good while? I don't think you nor anyone else currently has an answer to this question. So it's at the wait and see stage... Perhaps some more info will come out as the release date approaches.
FYI -- you're correct on the keeps. There are more than 5. I don't recall where I came up with the 5 but each major island in the abyss has a citadel and the Abyss is a zone they can easily expand due to the nature of the place. Also there was something about different "values" for having different keeps but, again, I couldn't recall where to find the references.
As to portals -- the level protection prevents sub-25th levels from getting in -- sorry if I wasn't clear. I didn't even want to touch on the "random" portals because they seem very odd and also seem to violate the separation between sides outline for the game . Each realm has it's "safe home area" and combat between sides is to be done in the Abyss yet these random portals... I've no idea how those will work if it lets "enemy troops" get into your "safe" homelands.
Your post doesn't make much sense. That's like saying dungeons shouldn't be allowed in games because, since the exp and rewards are better, people are forced to play in them.
Risk = Reward, in life and games, and the Abyss is there for people who want to take the risk. You're not encouraged to spend all your time in the Abyss, you're encouraged to play the damn game however the hell you like. If you don't want to go to the Abyss, then don't! I know I probably won't, I'm more of a PvE buff myself.
In any case, a lot of the above are preconceived notions you'll have to let go. I understand we've all played almost every MMO out there and are a little bit jaded, but if you're going to stick with that attitude you'll never be happy, and you may as well just stop playing like...now.
And another thing, you're comparing yourself to other players, because those who enter the abyss may reach the end-result before you...however, if you don't want to PvP, why does that matter? I could understand people getting stronger, faster, then turning around and pwning you...but if it's not open PvP, who cares if the PvPers hit lvl 50 in a week when it might take you a month? Just go at your own pace and enjoy the game, stop worrying about what other people are doing with their time.
EDIT: In response to Abyss level restrictions, no one has declared whether specific areas of the Abyss will come with level restriction, however it has been stated that killing someone lower level than you will yield little to no reward. So unless you piss someone off, or they're just kind of a dick, you won't find a lot of lvl 50s ganking lvl 25s
"Forums aren't for intelligent discussion; they're for blow-hards with unwavering opinions."
WOW ^^ i cant wait anymore i think this game will be best next gen MMO
Sounds like it could be worth a try, but Ubisoft need to learn from EQ2. The archetype system wasn't well received there, it won't be well received in Aion either as the community get to the point of making alts and find out the reason why EQ2 dropped. It adds a grind to the game where people have to play through the archtype to try a class they want to play out ,only to get there to find it's not for them. This can burn people out.
First the archetype will not be a problem i think. if you choose the warrior archetype youll have to choose between a tank or a dmg warrior, support archetype you choose between a buffer or an healer, etc so the choice isnt that bad and if i remind right you choose your class at lvl10 or 20 max. And btw ubisoft will be only a distributor in europe nothing more than that. They dont have anything to do with the gameplay or the game at all. NCSoft made a deal with them cause its better to use a company that have better experience and a better distribution network than invest tons of cash to do it.
No distributors, UbiSoft or other, have been announced. NC Soft is a distributor itself, so I can't imagine they'd outsource what they can do themselves.
Knite - Administrator, AionSource.com
http://www.gamershell.com/companies/ncsoft/478150.html