Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Questions for Clarification
digitalruse
Member Posts: 21
Greetings fellow MMOers.
This game popped onto my radar and I have been trying to put together some solid information about it and am hoping that since these forums are not affiliated with the game, I might get more objective information. I played WoW for three years as a Druid, and liked the game enough (I have been on the wagon for 2 or so). Also, I still occasionally hop on to Guild Wars to play my Ritualist. While this is not the beginning of my MMO resume (that starts back with UO), it feels like a relevant piece of information to guide how your opinions might be conveyed. All that said, haters need not apply.
The game, Aion, itself (from the various youtube videos) seems solid, colorful, and polished. Classes look to fill the traditional "roles" (Thank you D&D) and while i haven't seen a comprehensive spell/ability list, I think I'll feel at home playing a class like the Chanter since they appear to be the most hybrid of them all (my preference).
So then... what could be possibly left to answer...
The thing that killed WoW and those that came before it for me were the end game and your really having no effect on the narrative (Guild Wars being a small exception to the narrative component). Endless hours spent raid farming the same bosses for just the slightest chance that it would be your turn to be "rewarded." The occasional raid (especially to see new content) was fine. It was the actual carving out of four hours a day 3 days a week that killed me. Additionally, I can't say I am too fond of rep grinds and such, but I know that developers add them as a time sink to make the game "feel" longer and provide alternative for solo/casual players to obtain gear. I think you might be able to see where I am going with this in that I am probably more defined as a casual player by most MMO standards.
All that said, my research into the endgame and narrative of Aion reveals that I could be in for the same fate, but obviously having not played the game in any form it would be ignorant to come to such a conclusion without appropriate input. That is where I hope you come in.
Does anyone care to elaborate more clearly just what is in store for the endgame and your role in the narrative? Will you have to raid endlessly? Will you have to PvP endlessly? Will your actions on the world be meaningless? Can the casual/solo player make it Aion? Should I be worried that the PvP will be similar to UO and some will be eager to ruin my gaming experience so they can get a nerd hard on over my corpse?
I appreciate any and all information. Like I said, I think Aion would be an excellent title to try, but $50 is hardly a drop in the bucket for a whim.
Best Regards.
-DR
Played: Ultima Online, EverQuest, Asheron's Call, DAoC, Ragnarok Online, Earth and Beyond, Shadowbane, Star Wars Galaxies, Final Fantasy XI, Phantasy Star Online, Guild Wars, Matrix Online, World of Warcraft
Comments
Why do people expect MMO's to have this incredible endgame where you as a solo person can change the landscape of the entire game? Millions of people changing the landscape of a game sounds like a lot of work to me.
But besides all that, I am excited for one simple fact: Abyss battles. Having PvEvP is going to be exciting in my opinion.
I still think the holy grail of an MMO requires 3 factions. My fav part about DAoC is having 3 factions kind of allows the players to police themselves in terms of population balance. The 2 weaker ones would generally be wise enough to deal with the stronger one first before hitting eachother. It was chaos and it was great.
Aion is capitalizing on the concept of PvPvE- the Abyss is the heart and soul of the endgame currently in Aion. In this zone, one flies around and can either PvP with other players or against NPCs in a more PvE manner. Additionally, your faction will need to PvP in order to open up the fortress instances where you find the PvE content. There will be lots (and by lots I mean more than you can count on one hand) raid and party instances upon the US/EU release in late September, and hopefully will be added in for the open betas, but no word on that yet.
/Agree with previous post, no MMO lets you "Change the landscape" as a solo player. Would be nice, but not possible at the same time as then you get 10k people trying to change whatever it is at all hours on said server.. so constantly changing and pointless.
From what I have read though the PVPVE will be awesome, since the NPC can chose which to side with and switch whenever they feel the need.
--------------------
-Currently playing FFXIV, and BDO.
I think you misunderstand my post, and my apologies if I was not clear. More specifically, with regard for the narrative, I am not looking to be the end all, be all savior of the world. Something that I like about both FFXI and Guild Wars were the instanced cut scenes that involved my character/party accomplishing part of the story. I want to be a "part" of the narrative.
PvPvE does sound intriguing, but while maybe not as polished as Aion, UO had a free for all environment for the longest time that was a turn off for some of us that wanted our PvE and PvP experiences to be independent of kill stealing, ganking juveniles. In fact, the best part about GW is that you can expose yourself to the community just as easily as you can ignore it entirely... IMHO anyway. I understand and accept Aion will not be that sort of MMO.
My exposure to DAoC was before the first expansion as a Warden, and all I remember was people shouting out "OMG BUBBLE ME!"
-DR
Played: Ultima Online, EverQuest, Asheron's Call, DAoC, Ragnarok Online, Earth and Beyond, Shadowbane, Star Wars Galaxies, Final Fantasy XI, Phantasy Star Online, Guild Wars, Matrix Online, World of Warcraft
So only these "fortresses" will be instanced? Interesting.
What type of scale will they be? Are we talking a grueling AQ40 or a tolerable dungeon crawl that one could PUG in an hour or two?
Hopefully, my clarifcation on "part" of the narrative was a better explanation.
That is indeed an interesting twist.
-DR
Played: Ultima Online, EverQuest, Asheron's Call, DAoC, Ragnarok Online, Earth and Beyond, Shadowbane, Star Wars Galaxies, Final Fantasy XI, Phantasy Star Online, Guild Wars, Matrix Online, World of Warcraft
I have not played the end game but have followed the game for some time and can share what little I know perhaps it will help.
Aion is boasting a PvPvE system which remnds me of the DAoC end game where PvP actions included and affected PvE play (in speculation) and PvP actions earned you a form of PvP experience which could be used to further develop your avatar. I would assume that capturing a castle (its a keep in the PvP of Aion) for your faction would render rewards for the faction as a whole rather or not they go to the extent that DAoC did where PvP (or RvR as they called it) was the means to unlock Darkness Falls is yet to be seen but I do believe they are aiming to blend the PvP and PvE end games together in a deeper way than we commonly see. I do know that in the end game area (i for get its lore name) that you have a NPC faction as well as the enemy player faction competing against you for control of the various resources and points. I get the impression that the majority of this will require a Legion (its a guild) but that there will also be more casual avenues of play in the end game areas. In terms of raid content I really haven't seen much on that but have heard rumors of such. From what little exposure I have had to the actual game I can say that it plays as smoothly as wow but has (or at least appears to) have more depth in terms of player attachment to a specific avatar, this would suggest that the end game will account for a larger % of the total game (at least that's my impression) while the 1-mid range is more of a character development path.
Of the games I have played in the past its hard to say which Aion is most like, I see features in Aion that where taken from so many MMOs it seems to me to be more of an evolutionary game than a revolutionary one (which is good for me). I am familiar with the classes in both Aion and the titles you mentioned and I would agree with your assessment that the chanter is likely the class for you, Aion does seem to favor the traditional roles and arch type system of RPGs past so there are no "true" hybrids (i.e. jack of all trades) like we saw in WoW and like you can create in GW but the chanter has good buffs, solid heals and can put out some fair damage, its chain makes it a harder nut to crack than a caster but I have not noticed any bonus defensive abilities to write home about so I don't believe you would ever be tank worthy even in a pinch but that's merely an observation as I have not played that class.
Over all I would say the game is worth a try, so I understand there will be an open beta event perhaps you can get in there and give it a try, but in my opinion it is well worth the price. As for the end game well its all speculation but from the sound of it you like a good pick up game that wont eat a ton of your time just to get started and I do get the impresion that there will be meaningful yet still short length things to do (PvP quest, perpetual battles, NPC mobs in the PvP zone, capture and hold situation, siege situations,etc) not to mention the crafting which like the rest of the game is nothing new but is a part many players enjoy in an MMO.
Some how it double pasted after spell check, such is the curse of piss pore spelling and grammer.
I agree, the 3 playable factions of DAoC gave a lot to the game and I have not seen it since
DAoC was a master of the PvP (or RvR if you will) and the PvP actions having an impact on the PvE (opening Darkness Falls) was great as well I loved that dungeon and would assume the Fort in Aion is similar.
Does any one have any info on the dungeon structure? I do truly miss non instanced dungeons, being able to go into a dungeon solo and pick off the stragglers while waiting for a group to either form or suck you in was great (DAoC again) I meet some of my best MMO friends that way and honestly since the push to all instanced dungeons I have not really meet any one new (perhaps its the way I look)
First, let me start by thanking you for your reply.
Guilds I can work with, it is the "demand" and "raid schedule" that make a game feel less like a game and more like a job... and really... why am I going to pay $15 a month to work? The more 'impromptu' nature of the end game being driven by a more chaotic PvP system seems to help the game be more dynamic. Of course, there is always the concern of games like Shadowbane where one guild 'ruled the world.'
Refreshing to hear. It was a drag to level up a character to the cap to find the only thing left to do with them was rub their face on the faction and farming cheese grater.
No argument here. I too can accept an evolutionary game so long as the evolution is going from UO to EQ and not WoW to WAR.
Gee... was it that obvious that I like the Jack of all Trades classes? It is true though. A Ritualist in GW, a RDM in FFXI, a Druid in WoW, a Warrior Priest in WAR, a Warlock in Shadowbane, a GM Fencing/Magery in UO etc... I tend to "fall in love" (for lack of a better term) with one avatar and not really want to roll another one unless I need more storage space or am playing with a friend who just started and needs to catch up. It can be hard enough to earn reputation, gear and wealth on one toon, let alone 3 or 4.
Much thanks again. It certainly has given me more to consider.
-DR
Played: Ultima Online, EverQuest, Asheron's Call, DAoC, Ragnarok Online, Earth and Beyond, Shadowbane, Star Wars Galaxies, Final Fantasy XI, Phantasy Star Online, Guild Wars, Matrix Online, World of Warcraft
First off, let me post this link for you (should be able to find skills/weapons/armor for every class: www.aionarmory.com/
Second, Patch notes (sorry for the long read): Note: aion will launch with 1.5v (korea just got it a few days ago)
Patch 1.1v: www.aionsource.com/forum/general-discussion/16195-translation-aion-update-1-1-a.html
Patch 1.2v: www.aionsource.com/forum/general-discussion/16426-translation-aion-update-1-2-a.html
Patch 1.5v: www.aionsource.com/forum/general-discussion/20946-patch-notes-v1-5-update-shadow-balaur.html
Ok now with that out of the way let me see if I can answer your questions:
Grinding for max lvl: Casual player that only solo's should be able to hit max (lvl50 via grinding + quest) in around 3-4 months ( I hit lvl30 in one month solo playing around 3 hours a day on the weekdays / 6 hours a day on the weekends) You will probably not have very much money and your gear will not be the best following this route.
Expect to cut that time in half if you group play and fight Elites and do the dungeons that start to appear around lvl30 ( beta testers hit lvl30 by playing 15 days total (3days each for each beta). If you group and fight the stronger mobs (most parties are 3-6 man) you will come away with better gear and more gold. Instances in the game are mostly geared towards 6 man parties.
The best gear in the game for pvp is abyss gear: Your gonna have to pvp grind for this and it's gonna take some time (your also gonna have to capture a few fortresses in order to get gold abyss gear also). each abyss armor piece will give you a damage reduction while you are in a pvp fight and abyss weapons will give you a damage increase while you are in a pvp fight <This is why abyss gear is a must for pvpers.
Instances dungeons will give you blue and gold gear that is best used for pve: It's also good for pvp but is no match for someone fully geared with abyss gear. Expect to make quite a few runs through them to get what you want. (again the dungeons are setup for 6 man parties but can be done with less)
Crafted gear: 2nd to abyss gear when it comes to pvp, and top gear for pve IMO. Time & money !!
Game play: If you just put all the BS I posted above and don't think about it, and just play the game you will have a blast. If you start thinking about gear and playing just for gear > the game will suk for you because it's gonna be a grind.
Advice: Play the game with a small group of friends and experance everything (pve & pvp) and screw the rest. By the time your small group of friends hits max lvl you should have almost everything you will need.
Velika: City of Wheels: Among the mortal races, the humans were the only one that never built cities or great empires; a curse laid upon them by their creator, Gidd, forced them to wander as nomads for twenty centuries...
So only these "fortresses" will be instanced? Interesting.
What type of scale will they be? Are we talking a grueling AQ40 or a tolerable dungeon crawl that one could PUG in an hour or two?
Hopefully, my clarifcation on "part" of the narrative was a better explanation.
That is indeed an interesting twist.
-DR
The fortresses themselves are not instanced, just the dungeon located inside each fortress.
We don't know, these dungeons came with patch 1.5v, and that patched just went live a few days ago in korea.
Velika: City of Wheels: Among the mortal races, the humans were the only one that never built cities or great empires; a curse laid upon them by their creator, Gidd, forced them to wander as nomads for twenty centuries...
I think you misunderstand my post, and my apologies if I was not clear. More specifically, with regard for the narrative, I am not looking to be the end all, be all savior of the world. Something that I like about both FFXI and Guild Wars were the instanced cut scenes that involved my character/party accomplishing part of the story. I want to be a "part" of the narrative.
Edited to save space!
Aion also has these, A lot of the main quest have cut scenes with your toon portrayed as the main char.
Velika: City of Wheels: Among the mortal races, the humans were the only one that never built cities or great empires; a curse laid upon them by their creator, Gidd, forced them to wander as nomads for twenty centuries...
I think you misunderstand my post, and my apologies if I was not clear. More specifically, with regard for the narrative, I am not looking to be the end all, be all savior of the world. Something that I like about both FFXI and Guild Wars were the instanced cut scenes that involved my character/party accomplishing part of the story. I want to be a "part" of the narrative.
Edited to save space!
Aion also has these, A lot of the main quest have cut scenes with your toon portrayed as the main char.
yes I liked the way they managed that, I only got to see teh first few which wasnt' sugesting your char is the god send hero but rather that you would become a Deava (or how ever its spelled) and partisipate in epic battles
Thanks for the excellent links. I will return the favor with a link to a recent Kotaku article with an interview of an Aion developer at Gamescom:
http://kotaku.com/5340296/aion-version-15-impressions--what-ncsoft-learned-in-a-year
I have no problem with grouping with people and such. I was just was really turned off by games like FFXI that forced you to be in a party after level 10 if you wanted to advance. The flexibility of being able to reach that goal either way is what I am mostly concerned about.
Hmm... that seems to run the risk of homogenizing how end game characters look in their gear. While not a deal breaker, it does show a certain lack of creativity... though maybe not as bad as the newly announced Tier 9 in WoW. Or is my knee jerking a bit too hard?
Craftable gear being the 2nd best in the game?! Be still my heart! Crafting actually means something? Wow... that is nice to hear. This seems like a liveable gear scenario overall.
Thanks to you (and others) for taking the time to reply with all this info. I am definitely feeling like the pieces to the puzzle are starting to come together.
-DR
Played: Ultima Online, EverQuest, Asheron's Call, DAoC, Ragnarok Online, Earth and Beyond, Shadowbane, Star Wars Galaxies, Final Fantasy XI, Phantasy Star Online, Guild Wars, Matrix Online, World of Warcraft
digitalruse: most of the crafted gear in the game is wayy better than what you find via drops (IE: lvl24 crafted armor will be better than lvl28 green gear) When you craft you have a chance to "crit" (30% chance I think depending on the lvl of your craft and what your crafting). If you crit the item then it will be very good indeed. Later on when you get your craft skill higher you will be crafting blue gear and will crit gold gear (or close to it). But the down side is it takes time and money, best to select only 2 crafts and of those only master in one. (master craftsman is 400+ craft skill)
Velika: City of Wheels: Among the mortal races, the humans were the only one that never built cities or great empires; a curse laid upon them by their creator, Gidd, forced them to wander as nomads for twenty centuries...
At level 30 you can interact with a NPC and opt to keep the look of pieces of gear you currently have in your inventory but use the stats of your new gear. Dyes are also in the game ala WAR (one of WARS better points).
This will deffinetly prevent all the best gear looking the same.
That is both a very neat idea, and a tricky one. Insofar as there will be a certain amount of deception when judging what an opponent is wearing on the battlefield. Additionally, I guess inspecting to see what kind of armor someone is wearing will be trickier as well (should you like it and want a piece of your own).
I was trying to find more info on the flying mechanic, and I can't find clarification on this point: Will flight be like your mount in other games? If so, how can only flying for 30-60 seconds at a time be the same as riding a mount through a zone? Is there a cooldown before you can pop your wings again? If not, what purpose does having them end really serve?
Lastly, will this game allow for UI mods like WoW and WAR? No offense to the designers of either game, but I prefer a clean minimalistic UI most times and I really liked that both of those games allowed for such a modification. Not a deal breaker, just curious.
-DR
Played: Ultima Online, EverQuest, Asheron's Call, DAoC, Ragnarok Online, Earth and Beyond, Shadowbane, Star Wars Galaxies, Final Fantasy XI, Phantasy Star Online, Guild Wars, Matrix Online, World of Warcraft
Another quick question... probably a "dumb" one.
I assume that you keep the abilities that you gained from 1-9 before choosing your subclass? So, for example, both Clerics and Chanters have a res since they were both Priests, but Clerics get improved ones at higher levels?
-DR
Played: Ultima Online, EverQuest, Asheron's Call, DAoC, Ragnarok Online, Earth and Beyond, Shadowbane, Star Wars Galaxies, Final Fantasy XI, Phantasy Star Online, Guild Wars, Matrix Online, World of Warcraft
That is both a very neat idea, and a tricky one. Insofar as there will be a certain amount of deception when judging what an opponent is wearing on the battlefield. Additionally, I guess inspecting to see what kind of armor someone is wearing will be trickier as well (should you like it and want a piece of your own).
Well what do you want from them? People on the Korean servers actually have a market for this. People will buy crappy gear, make it look like elite pvp gear and sell it to newbs. This protects the newbs from getting ganked because people will then be afraid of them.
I was trying to find more info on the flying mechanic, and I can't find clarification on this point: Will flight be like your mount in other games? If so, how can only flying for 30-60 seconds at a time be the same as riding a mount through a zone? Is there a cooldown before you can pop your wings again? If not, what purpose does having them end really serve?
Well it's actually fun because you can actively make yourself faster if you are skilled at gliding. Some zones, the home zones have a lack of Aether which means you can't fly, only glide. So you run up to the top of a hill, press space to jump and space again to start gliding down the hill. Gliding is faster but can only be done on a declining slope. As where flying comes in, it starts at a very low time because you are lacking flight gear and you are lacking Flight potions. Flight potions can increase flight time by 50%, example theres a potion that increases flight time by 24s but reuse time is 40s. Also there are manastones that increase flight time 5+ seconds each and wings that increase it by even more. You can fly in the air for up to 10+ minutes if you wish in the end. I can only see flight time getting longer in future expansions. Also after opening your wings there is a slight cooldown of 2 seconds or so before you can fly again. This just means you can't spam jump and fly.
Lastly, will this game allow for UI mods like WoW and WAR? No offense to the designers of either game, but I prefer a clean minimalistic UI most times and I really liked that both of those games allowed for such a modification. Not a deal breaker, just curious.
No, NCSoft has a strict no 3rd party mods rule.
-DR
Another quick question... probably a "dumb" one.
I assume that you keep the abilities that you gained from 1-9 before choosing your subclass? So, for example, both Clerics and Chanters have a res since they were both Priests, but Clerics get improved ones at higher levels?
That is correct. In the end the Clerics and Chanters ressurection differ in the Clerics ressurection spawns you on top of the Cleric while you spawn where your corpse was with the Chanters res. Therefore the Cleric res is more valuable if you were lying under a pile of mobs.
-DR
That is very clever indeed.
So then are the zones super expansive and take a while to get around? Is there a taxi service to cut down on travel time? Obviously gliding will be part of the learning curve of the game.
So certain equipment will increase flight time? Carrying a "flight suit" might be part of life in Aion, then?
That's too bad. =/
I figured as much, thanks.
-DR
Played: Ultima Online, EverQuest, Asheron's Call, DAoC, Ragnarok Online, Earth and Beyond, Shadowbane, Star Wars Galaxies, Final Fantasy XI, Phantasy Star Online, Guild Wars, Matrix Online, World of Warcraft
There is a taxi service almost identical to the one in WoW. In WoW you mount a huge gryphon and it travels you to another location while showing you the landscape. In Aion it's a huge pair of green wings added as a spell to your back and it automatically travels to your destination.
The zones become more and more expansive as you level. The 1-10 area is the smallest, the 10-20 area is much bigger and the 20-40 area is bigger than that. The 30-50 area seems to be similar in size. The Abyss is a collection of massive zones but focus more on flight to travel around. There are teleport spots and some can be opened up when you conquer a fortress.
Gliding is a short learning curve, you are going down a hill? Glide. You can find with some updrafts you can cover large distances this way, and sometimes the updraft can carry you to scary heights even in non fly zones. A trick with it is you can release your wings, fall to a safe height, pop your wings open and safely land on the ground. In fact, it's a tactic of flight combat as a means of escape.
Not certain equipment per se, but you can carry around an equipment set stacked with Flight Time manastones and it should increase your flight time by a few minutes. You are sacrificing other stones by doing this.