The ULTIMATE AION FAQ

[Xplicit7]

The ULTIMATE AION FAQ

 

Last Revised 26/01/09

 

General info:

 

What is Aion?

 

AION: The Tower of Eternity is an upcoming fantasy based MMORPG from the gaming corporation NCSoft, it is considered to be one of the most visually stunning games in the market today and for good reason. Players take to the skies in an unprecedented level of aerial integration as they fight to protect not only their race but the world itself.

 

What is the current status of Aion? / Beta status

 

Aion is currently released in the Korean market however due to ip filtering US/Eu based players will not be able to connect.

The Chinese beta however is being ritualistically stalked by Aionsource members who are creating accounts and hording gems for CBT (Closed Beta) keys on the Chinese website. Chinese beta keys are extremely difficult to get due to the large Chinese player base, I'm not overly sure if anyone from Aionsource has actually managed to snag one yet.

 

Also worthy of note is the fact that there will be no NA pr Eu closed/open betas. It seems sufficient beta testing was conducted in Korea eliminating the need for us to go through one. While that will lower the spirits of some people fear not! NCSoft will be hosting "preview events" shortly before release to get some feedback and let people get a feel of the game. Please note that participation in these events will be heavily restricted. Sourced from Ayase.

 

Basic Storyline (Lore)

 

In AION, players must choose a side between two warring factions: the Elyos or the Asmodians. Once their world was whole; a perfect union joined at the center by The Tower of Eternity. When a great catastrophe shattered The Tower of Eternity, it split the world into two halves - and awoke the Balaur, a warring race exiled within the Abyss. The Balaur now seek revenge on both of these new worlds, sparking an epic conflict. The conflict between those 3 races is about Aether, a substance needed for flying, and the Abyss is the only region where you can find this material in huge quantities. The part you play, the side you choose and the decisions you make will help determine the ultimate fate of AION. The American Aion website also features lore extracts from the perspective of the Elyos and Asmodians.

 

Key Features

 

    * Interactive gameplay systems

      The actions of each faction on every individual server will eventually trigger consequences, which will then change the server's live environment. This should lead to differentiation between all realms. (Some have suggested this system will be based, to an extent, off Guild Wars).

    * PvPvE (Player vs Player vs Environment)

      Aion: The Tower of Eternity features an evolving conflict system, which manages the complex relationships and alliances between realms, races and guilds. The system also takes into account a third NPC faction, the Balaur, who may act as the enemy - or the ally - of players in various situations. Some players have noted from the Korean Betas that the Balaur AI system is somewhat lacking, NCSoft however appears to be working on this.

    * Free flying and flying combat

      Take to the skies and soar over the landscape, with wings that allow your character to access remote areas, travel to different parts of the world - and to engage enemies in aerial combat!

    * Beautiful and detailed graphics

      Created using a modified version of the Crytek engine (as used in Far Cry), AION: The Tower of Eternity is the most graphically beautiful MMORPG yet released. Astounding levels of detail on characters and in environments immerse you in the world of AION. There is however a common misconception that Aion will be running off the same engine as Crysis and therefore those who struggled to play it shouldn't waste their time with Aion. However whilst Aion will be running off the CryEngine Crysis was created with the CryEngine 2 . See this if confused. (Thanks Killer)

 

    * http://aionsource.com/forum/cmps_index.php?page=whatisaion

    * http://eu.aiononline.com/

Is Aion free? P2P?

 

    * No pricing has been officially announced yet, however it can be almost guaranteed that AION will be P2P. The industry standard of $15 USD per month is the predicted monthly fee. The actual box has been estimated at $40 for a regular edition and $60 for a "Collector's" edition. (Noting that there has been no official comment on the possibility of a Collector's Edition)

    * Every region has the right to change it's subscription type so NcSoft Austin may differ from NcSoft Korea and NcSoft Europe

 

 

Factions & leveling:

 

    * Elyos and Asmodians are the playable races. Elyos are 'Angelic' and Asmodians 'Demonic' in appearance. Neither is necessarily good or evil from a lore perspective.

    * While there was originally differentiation in skills between Asmodians and Elyos with the Stigma stone system it appears that these differences have been removed. While this is still subject to change in the NA/Eu versions it seems quite unlikely that there will be any differentiation now. See Hellrose's Stigma Guide for further details. (Love you Hellrose <3!)

    * AION's current proposed level cap is 50,naturally that is also subject to change.

 

Wings and flying:

 

    * Due to Aion's unique system the skies have opened up like never before!

    * The quest for becoming a Daeva (taken at level 9) earns you your wings at level 10. When you first obtain this ability you will only be able to use flight for a one minute period with the "cooldown" being twice that. However as your character progresses there will be items/abilities/situations that will result in higher flight times.

    * Elyos and Asmodians both get wings however these will be uniquely styled based on the race.

    * You can fly freely or follow a flight path (Which appears to be the same concept used in WoW, albeit far more stylish), depending on the area. Using a flight path to get to an area will not exhaust your flight bar as you are using some form of "spiritual bird" rather than your own wings. It is assumed this will be a far faster means of travel that standard flight as well.

    * Wings can be personalized or upgraded through PvP. Specifics are yet to be announced.

    * Some skills act differently or are available only when you are flying. That makes the flight system more of a strategic element than a transportation mechanic.

 

Elyos Wing Stages:

 

 

Asmodian Wing Stages:

[Xplicit7]

PvP

 

    * PvP in Aion will be very control-oriented. Skills that have clear relationships with each other are to be expected where some are used in combination and others to counter.

    * PvP-specific skills will be available for usage around level 40. The player can, however, still choose not to participate in PvP unless he/she wants to. (Possible Rumor)

    * The time required to reach maximum level has been reduced since the last Friends and Family Test. The level progression will be similar and comparable to that of many western-developed games in the genre. After reaching the level cap (currently 50), players will be able to improve their characters on a more horizontal plane by using the stigma system along with equipment combinations.

    * For players who don?t enjoy PvP, there will be various PvE activities to take part in such as raids, instanced dungeons and so on ? All connected to the great war. An example would be PvE players collecting items for big siege weapons to support their faction.

    * The main conflict within Aion: The Tower of Eternity is a great conflict raging between the Elyos, Asmodians and the Balaur. This is also where the content focus will be.

    * A feature that is currently on a planning stage is to randomly open teleportation portals in the Elyos and Asmodian lands. Rumored to be present in the Korean version albeit still in need of tweaking.

 

Where?

 

    * You can PVP in the Abyss and there will be some zones outside the Abyss where the Elyos and Asmodians will be able to interact.

    * You can only duel your own faction.

    * There appears to be a siege system in the works also.

    * Entering instances (dungeons) for PvP purposes also seems to be possible.. That means if the Elyos guild named "X" is doing an instanced dungeon, the Asmodian guild "Y" can enter the same instance and kill them.

    * There also seems to be a practice arena, although this is currently just for fun, with no ranking systems.

    *

 

    * http://www.aionsource.com/forum/general-discussion/3236-pvp-outside-abyss.html

 

Abyss

 

 

PvE

 

    * There will be two types of raids in Aion. The first type is similar to that of Lineage, with huge amounts of players participating. The second type requires more strategy and class-specific skills (perhaps more comparable to that of Everquest).

    * A Raid NPC/Monster for the Elyos might be an important NPC for the Asmodians which leads to the possibility of raids influencing the faction war.

 

Abyss & Castles :

 

    * The Abyss will consist of two distinct parts. The first part is aimed at beginners and is meant to introduce players to the Abyss concept. The second part is connected to the real war and meant for more experienced characters.

    * The Abyss will be home to 8 to 10 castles that can be captured by either faction. The advantages will have extreme consequences. Your faction will be able to gather crafting materials easily. Besides that, traders live around the castle and will sell special weapons only to your faction. Finally, the ruling guild will receive taxes from the land. The rest of the faction won't get any money from it. Only when the enemy retakes the castle, another guild will have the chance to benefit from the many advantages of the castle.

    * High-end leveling seems to be centered around the Abyss, killing the Balaur in order to obtain XP.

      Leveling in the abyss seems more effective than leveling in the outside (due to the greater risk of getting killed, the XP reward from mobs will be greater...)

    * Rumor has it that castles can be upgraded with defencive structures and NPC guards. Yet to be confirmed.

    * Siege weapons can also be obtained through PvE (raid boss drop)

    * This way, PVE players help the war opposing faction, without doing PVP, but the idea is to bring people doing PVE to start PVP and PVP players to do some PVE

    * http://www.aionsource.com/forum/general-discussion/2783-translation-everything-about-abyss.html

    * http://www.aionsource.com/forum/general-discussion/2781-translation-aion-seminar-q-abyss.html

    *

 

Items, Armors, Tradeskills

 

Items & Armor

 

    * The types of items in Aion are divided in to three categories: Normal items, Abyssal items and Drakonic items(?) (names are still to be determined).

      Abyssal items are received via PvP and Drakonic items(?) will be available through crafting of items acquired from hunting the Balaur (Drakonic items are yet to be implemented)

    * There will be some Soulbound items, meaning that once equipped, they can not be traded anymore (as made famous by Everquest).

    * You can customize armors with dye

    * When some sets are full/complete, they will glow around the character.

    * item uniqueness : Let's take your situation as an example; at high levels, everyone will be wearing the equipment that provides the most stat benefits. In Aion, there is a system where you can transfer the stat bonuses from one piece of equipment to another. Let's say you have the an awesome sword by the name of Zariche which looks absolutely awesome, but an even better sword looks pretty dull (in your opinion anyway). Through Aion's system you can upgrade to the better sword while keeping the awesome looks of Zariche.

 

    *

    * http://feature.mmosite.com/content/2007-11-28/20071128012834664,1.shtml

Slots for equipment :

 

    * head, necklace, 2 earrings, shoulder, chest, legs, cloak, waist, boots, 2 rings, 2 weapon sets

    * http://aion.gamemeca.com/special/section/html_section/aion/info_contents/list.html?info_sort=8

 

 

Characteristics & Stigma :

 

    * The developers do not want players to have to worry about character attributes (such as Strength, Dexterity, Constitution?), which is why attributes are automated and controlled by the game.

    * One of the things differentiating characters is the ?Stigma? system. Stigma is a sort of stone containing the memories of a Daeva. A Stigma stone will, in a nutshell, allow players to create unique characters with skills or equipment from other classes. Examples of the combinations that can be acquired by utilizing this system are Wizards wearing heavy armor. There has been some speculation however that NCSoft has "nerfed" the cross-class Stigma stones to some extent in order to maintain character balance.

    * 5 Stats given by armor : Magical defence, Physical defense, Focus, Evasion & Mana.

    * http://www.aionsource.com/forum/general-discussion/2648-translation-stigma.html

 

Tradeskills, professions & crafting :

 

    * Six different professions are currently available in the game. These are Weaponsmithing, Armorsmithing, Jewelcrafting, Alchemy, Tailoring and Cooking. Discussion over these professions can be found here http://www.aionsource.com/forum/crafting-discussion/.

[zeneus]

lol why is thi post here?? :P

kiding nice preview!!

i like aion but i can't download it T_T

[Billistain]

lol why is thi post here?? :P

kiding nice preview!!

i like aion but i can't download it T_T

 

-> http://aion.patcher.ncsoft.com/liteinstaller/Aion.exe

[Simple2008]

aion will kill lineage really :) it's awesome.

[CoReNz0*]

Aion i have login and see, don't can hit the mobs =/ it's good game...!Don't fixed good the game...And for this need time for fix the game...

[Phoenix4]

Aion i have login and see, don't can hit the mobs =/ it's good game...!Don't fixed good the game...And for this need time for fix the game...

 

That are you talking about LOOOL , on private servers you can't hit mobs it doesn't have NPC yes cause they are private servers but on official Aion it has lulz , btw nice FAQ for new people on aion

[mpxx24]

can some tell me system requirements :|

i'm worried about my graphic card :(

[kocza]

i found only this

System Requirement

CPU : Pentium 4 2.0GHz

RAM :1GB

VGA :GeForec FX 5600(128MB), DirectX 9 or higher

OS :Windows XP

 

but on that pc it will be not working fine

[Cloud]

That are you talking about LOOOL , on private servers you can't hit mobs it doesn't have NPC yes cause they are private servers but on official Aion it has lulz , btw nice FAQ for new people on aion

ehm phoenix..on some private server u already can lv up and gain skill up to lv 10(if i am not wrong not more for now) and attack mobs,check npc(not all)...private servers are going better day by day but for now is useless play there..will happen the same that happened to l2:we'll be able to play Aion without pay with some bugs ofc but we'll not have to pay:P..i think that at the end of this year we'll have a not so bad aion server working

[Billistain]

Private servers always sucked or at least were worse than retail... In every game.

[Furiosus]

Nice Preview, nikoloudos7!

 

AION looks great!

 

Just awesome!

[Raigon]

Aion is a great game.I can`t wait to start lvling on my private server. =P

[Phoenix4]

ehm phoenix..on some private server u already can lv up and gain skill up to lv 10(if i am not wrong not more for now) and attack mobs,check npc(not all)...private servers are going better day by day but for now is useless play there..will happen the same that happened to l2:we'll be able to play Aion without pay with some bugs ofc but we'll not have to pay:P..i think that at the end of this year we'll have a not so bad aion server working

 

Niah 2 months ago you couldn't hit a mob (on prive servers) and now they added 10lv skills , they are going really slow trust me playing a prive servers at least on Aion it is a waste of time you lose the essence of real gameplay you thing that game sucks etc but you don't have an idea about it , all this just for some euro xD btw 2 ss from aion official (EU)

 

 

 

http://i26.tinypic.com/e0suvn.jpg[/img]

[Karma®™]

Bah Elyos suck :D

Asmodians FTW!

Nice preview! Get ready game starts at 18 september for the pre-ordered and 20 for the rest!