Aion : Tower of Eternity

[Postal]

Just a little update on CBT.


http://www.aionsource.com/articles/t...st-of-cbt3-25/

[Maguspk]

Malware on that page, can you just post it here.

[Lebzile]

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Source: Playforum
Writer: Arusin
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This is a summary of the best and worst moments from my 20 days of Closed Beta testing. I wanted to keep it lively and somewhat objective - so I took into account various opinions I'd come across on forums... though I couldn't help but be subjective at parts. ^^

Best List

Best 1. The graphics... not bad, not bad at all.

AION's always enjoyed hype over its eye-catching graphics since the game was first announced. What's different in CBT3 is that character customization was much improved - it finally felt like my character had an identity! Many complain simply that all the characters are too... well... too pretty, so as long as you don't have problems with having a 'pretty' character you're in good hands. If NCsoft could diversify the models to include, say, a stocky wrestler type, or a creepy old man, that would be the icing on the cake.



I would say the environment art was also well done. Lots of detail, especially in the cities; beautiful forests and lakes.. it all helps you sink comfortably into the game.




Best 2. Easy breezy interface

AION's interface is polished, and gives you plenty of freedom in the placement of different windows. The chat window is especially flexible as you can configure it to display exactly the information you want. Quest descriptions were accessible, and the flagging feature on the map is a nice touch. The skill descriptions were puzzling at times, but other than that, the interface is more than adequate.




Best 3. Combo system - FTW

A unique feature in AION's combat is the combo system. Each class has their own set of combos to play with and overall it's a system that adds a lot of fun to what could easily become a chore. The feature is easy to learn as well, which is a big part of what makes it fun in the first place. Combo activation is chance-based (% depends on the skill) so if you really wanted to, you could spam a single skill until a combo opportunity opens up. As an added element of strategy, some combos are branched so that players will have to make split second decisions during a fight to get the right results.




Best 4. Ready, set, PvP!

PvP has definitely improved since the last CBT, although mass PvP always has a way of coming down to class balancing so some classes may feel better about it than others. But generally I think we can agree that the gap between melee and ranged classes has been dealt with to some extent (although the gap is still there) and damage amounts in PvP have been brought down so players can at least have a chance to react before a fight ends.

Of course there are still those times when you quietly burn in rage as you watch your opponent fly off to safety, and get frustrated from ridiculous knock-back effects certain pole and bow skills have, but the game seems to be headed in the right balancing direction and there's no doubt that more improvements are in the works.

Personally I'd like to see AION develop more arena-based PvP activities as well, and in addition to the existing arena... perhaps an aerial arena without flight limitations? It's a thought!




Best 5. Flight of the Chicken

Flight is another key feature of AION that's been enticing us since the beginning. Not just flight, but aerial combat. With the addition of the Abyss in CBT3, we finally had a chance to see aerial combat in its full glory - and yes, we did experience much of that glee we expected in high-speed flight chases.

Aerial combat is an area that still needs a lot of work though. Some of the skills are limited to ground combat, and there are other such restrictions that aren't properly communicated so the flow between air and ground feels clunky and confusing. But separation between two travel modes being inevitable, perhaps aerial-only skills should be added so that we at least don't feel less powerful in flight. In anycase, these are small complaints when put in perspective of how unique the feature is in general.

A 'glide' mode has been added to flight in CBT3, and most players are responding positively to it. It's hard to explain, but the mode just feels.. right, so I found myself using it often, even when I didn't necessarily need it.



As an Asmodian, I always got a kick out of Asmodian players calling the Elysea 'Flying Chickens'. In CBT3 though, the Asmodians got new wings that look like black variations on Elyos' wings... and thus 'Burnt Chickens' were born.




Best 6. Spawn Markers ('Kisks')

CBT3 saw the birth of a new consumable item - 'kisk's. Kisks let you mark a temporary resurrection point so it's an important item to keep with you for missions, PvP, you name it. The system is not without its problems but NCsoft's already mentioned that they're working on improvements.
(Please fix the bug that lets me place kisks in out-of-reach places..)




Best 7. Stigma - because variety is the spice of e-life

The stigma system is a great feature that adds that lil' somethin to your character. The system still needs balancing but it's a great start that allows players to further differentiate their play styles.




Best 8. Parody quests

Some of AION's quests will have players scratching their heads going "where have I seen this before...". OK, maybe they won't quite scratch their heads, because some of the references are plain obvious - like the Lord of the Ring references, or Gyunu and Jiknyuh (Korean version of Romeo/Juliet) messenger quests. These quests add a quirky tongue-in-cheek humour to the game that might just make you smile.





Best 9. Weapon Enhancements

AION gives us not one, not two, but THREE ways of adding to our weapons. Three different kinds of stones add either an effect to the weapon or modify its stats. The success of these enhancements are based on chance, so you might shed a tear once in a while (in my case, often) but the success rate isn't ridiculously low and the penalty for failing isn't enough to make you tear your hair out. Basically, the system was one that I enjoyed rather than dreaded.


Worst List

Worst 1. Lag

An issue every MMO faces is the problem of lag, but the problem is amplified when the game revolves around mass PvP. Again in this CBT, many wars broke out in the Abyss, and every time I scrambled to bring down my graphics settings. My poor computer barely kept up.

NCSoft maintains that this is an optimization issue that is being improved continuously so I hope for the best in Open Beta.



Worst 2. The Balaur

The Balaur NPC race launched with hype and soon fizzled. The AI of these guys borders on embarrassing and as it stands, neither player factions are able to take them too seriously. At least NCSoft is now aware of the challenges they face with PvPvE. We can only hope that they find a working solution by open beta.



Worst 3. Abyss environment art

Although I still think AION's graphics are superb overall, the newly revealed abyss left much to be desired. I understand from the narrative that it is meant to be a bit of a void.. but honestly, voids are no fun. It won't make or break the game, but it did definitely break my experience.



Worst 4. Mob difficulty... here comes the train!

Mob AI and spawn rates still need a lot of tweaking. Especially problematic are ones with linked aggro. As an example, I've had times where an attack on a single mob aggroed all the mobs I saw on screen at once. Even with a full party these kind of situations were impossible to deal with. This is a tweaking issue however, and I'm sure changes will be made.




Worst 5. Different XP pools - why?

Elysea had bigger XP requirements compared to Asmodians for no known reason, attracting complaints from some players. Either the requirements should be the same for both factions, or there should be a systematic/story reason for the differentiation.




Worst 6. Crafting - a lost art

AION has a typical crafting system that involves choosing a crafting path and gathering material for items, but CBT3 all but eliminated any need for training crafting skills. The reason is obvious - with the addition of the Abyss and Abyss items, it became much faster, easier and entertaining to acquire abyss items rather than tediously gather and create a crafted one.

Crafting skills that are oriented towards consumable items and accessories - such as alchemy and cooking - are still popular, but ones that build armor and weapons have been rendered useless. In the future however, NCsoft will be introducing more crafted items (Drakonic items) so we'll see how that shifts the crafting system.




Worst 7. Quests - just can't get enough

Lower levels are a breeze in AION, and following quests are enough to have your levels (and time) fly by. Higher level quest content is still sparse though, and as we leveled we found less and less to do to gain XP, resorting to farming mobs and repeatable quests (a.k.a. the old fashioned way).

Having the option of farming as opposed to questing is good. Having to farm because of lack of quests is not so good.
Lets hope that open beta comes with a lot more higher level content.




Worst 8. Spawn more rifts!

Even with the Abyss around, players still fought in wars that broke out around 'Morheim' and 'Eltenen' areas. Problem is, wrifts to get to these areas were far too hard to track down. Plus there was also a balance issue of Elysea having easier access to wormholes (through quests etc.) wheras Asmodians were often left to their own devices. Level requirements placed on wormholes were also unintuitive. Since a lot of the quests require players to traverse through rifts, and since the wars that occur through them are fun to begin with, allowing easier access to rifts seems like a pretty good idea.




Worst 9. Minimap

AION's minimap is, in a word, useless. The 'map' aspect of the minimap is so indiscernable that it really doesn't give me enough information to be of much help. A crisp, more detailed map is needed, and if we could adjust the size and direction of the compass, that would be great too.

There.

[Haiko]

hmm sounds promising...NCsoft seems to be getting a lot of attention now since they are working on this and Soul and Blade which I can't wait for both

[BRP]

Poorly written opinion...

What is CBT? Closed Beta? Surely there are more reports on it.

[Kiarax]

Looks interesting.. when does open beta start? I could use a new MMO fix.

[yayaok]

aion is getting good feedback, give or take in korea atm, im definately going to try it out when FV is released

[Krandor]

A friend at NCsoft is in the closed beta and says they love it, haven't really been specific though.

[Ramor]

I remember seeing this posted a little while back, I've always kept it in the back of my mind but now that there's more info being released i'm really happy to see that it's getting some pretty decent reviews, looked really fun (at least the PvP did anyway)

[Omnipotent]

I'm excited, cannot wait for this to come out!

[Kiro]

This needs to come out already, I haven't any Lineage II'ish stuff to play since L2Extreme went down a few years ago.

[Maguspk]

Sounds good still, I'll definitely be picking this up whenever it goes open beta.

[Postal]

http://www.aionsource.com/forum/gene...ion-korea.html

A little answers from Korean contacts about AION. Big thanks for KR Team member for this information!
Please don't take it hard, its not an announcements from community team. Its just a private experience.
Sorry for my (Q>'s) weak english.



AION technical issues
Q> All testers was amazed by character customization editor in CBT3. As far as i know, among its issues was missing option to change eye color. Will any more improvements be done for character editor, maybe more presets for face/hair styles, etc? Also, eye color issue will be fixed in OBT ?

A>u can see many more presets for face/hair than u expected.
no option for eye color.

Q> There are rumors what newbie regions (as Poeta for Elyos) are made as instanced zones (with a limited maximum number of players for each instance) to spread a large number of newbie players between several copies of the region. Is it true? Will high-level (>10) players be able to teleport to Poeta and meet their newbie friends in such "multi instanced" areas?

A> instanced zone.. we call it channel. and u can go to the right channel that u wanna go.. everybody (newbie or not) can alter their channel.

Gameplay in AION
In Lineage II a very large scale battles was taking place, involving up to 200-400 simultaneous players.
Q> What estimated number of players are planned for fortress battles in Abyss ? Should we expect same scale of battles in AION as in Lineage II?

A> during CBT3, about 100 ~ 400 players were in same fortress for fight.

Q> Will game engine be able to handle hundred(s) of players in a visible range, kepping considerable level of lags?
A> AbyssMode Option(client option) will be added. ( can't say detail)

Q> Is a single-key-press function available in AION to bring graphical setting to lowest state for the battle use (to instantly decrease graphics lagging)?
A>No.

Q> Will swimming be added to OBT?
A>No.

Q> Will AION use offline experience boost system (like newly added Vitality system in Lineage II) to improve gaming experience for casual players (temprorary EXP gain boost bonus after being offline for a 9-12 hour period) ?
A>not in OBT. some exp boost method are in consideration.

PvP and RvR
Q> Will players of the same faction be able to confront each other? In many situations where are possible conflicts and concurrency between players (and even legions) inside a single RvR faction. For example, raid boss, exp spot conflicts, etc. Usually such conflicts could not be solved using a duel. Are any solution expected for this?
A>I don't think that we can make such a great solution ..


Q> There are possible situation then a large-scale legion (clan) could split its members benween two sub-legions in both Dark and Light RvR factions. Communications between two parts of the legion could easily be made in out of game manner (forums, voice chat, etc). Opposing RvR factions of that large legion will be in truce with each other and such a legion will be able to totally break RvR system in the game and gain a total domination from the both sides of the bipolar world. Imagine you have possibility to call forces from opposing RvR force (by pointing them safe ways through rifts or in the Abyss) to get rid of any concurrent players on the spots, have fictional battles for AP farming, etc, etc. Could possibly a GMs or gameplay itself limit the ability to rise such "RvR cheating" legions ?
A> If I can manage large_scale , I'll put every resources (people) in same faction. raise 50 lev characters for AP farm
and spot holding??? I don't think so..
abyss is the field for fortress battle, not that sweety zone(get rid of any concurrent players on the spots -> don't have to do that...) anyway AP farming will be handled in system and by GM.

Items
Q> Recently some improvements in craft was announced: mean possibility to became a craft master beyond 399 points of crafting skills. Will Masters be able to craft unique items with custom names ? I mean very rare possibility for a Master to craft an item of exceptional quality and give a totally custom name (not just crafter's name) to it ? For sure such item will be based on some predefined model and textures, but its item name will be customized. It anything like that is planned?
A>no plan, but think that good idea.

A> Feel sorry for short answer..

[Katlan]

Gonna try the game just cause I want to fly in a mmo >.>
But it seems to have pretty high production values for a free mmo... why is there no charge for a game like this, is what makes me curious

[Beckwin]

probably another MMO going to the cash-store model. I'm not sure why though, I can't really see cash-stores being more profitable than subscriptions, but maybe it's the best way for korean/more obscure MMOs to get more players.

[Kiarax]

probably another MMO going to the cash-store model. I'm not sure why though, I can't really see cash-stores being more profitable than subscriptions, but maybe it's the best way for korean/more obscure MMOs to get more players.

Bigger userbase if they make the game free, they knew they can't compete with WoW so being free opens up a much bigger audience. Could also be so they can get away with half assing stuff and nobody can rightfully bitch about paying for a game with bad support since they're not paying a dime.

[Postal]

Aion will not be free, pay to play my friend :D

[Lebzile]

probably another MMO going to the cash-store model. I'm not sure why though, I can't really see cash-stores being more profitable than subscriptions, but maybe it's the best way for korean/more obscure MMOs to get more players.

Aion is going to be a P2P game, it's made by NCSoft which also did L2, CoH/V, Guild Wars and Tabula Rasa which none are run by a cash shop. (iirc)

Aion is going to be their bread winner for awhile until they release Blade&Soul though.

[crazyrabbit]

That report was about closed beta 3 (CBT3) which happend in summer, so some of those things already got changed and others are still worked on. Open Beta for korea will start in early november, eu and us will only get some preview events and no real betas meaning no open beta too. There won't be cash-shops so don'T worry about it, normal 12-14$/month fee. It will be realy worth it to give that game a try, many people believe Aion to be that next big mmo.

[avelle]

That report was about closed beta 3 (CBT3) which happend in summer, so some of those things already got changed and others are still worked on. Open Beta for korea will start in early november, eu and us will only get some preview events and no real betas meaning no open beta too. There won't be cash-shops so don'T worry about it, normal 12-14$/month fee. It will be realy worth it to give that game a try, many people believe Aion to be that next big mmo.

I'd be surprised if a korean mmo turned out to be "the next big mmo". I've been waiting and hoping Aion turns out to be a good game but I've been pretty disappointed with all of NCSoft's games thus far. Aion certainly is beautiful but I think it's probably going to lack something fundamental in gameplay. Lineage2 had a fantastic art style but the gameplay just wasn't all there. I guess you can call me a pessimist but I really do hope the game does well. WoW bores the shit out of me and WAR looks like garbage.