Massive Nerd

Here's a quick look at the questing system in Aion.

First, the icons. Aion doesn't use the usual Question marks and Exclamation Points.


This Arrow indicates an NPC with a quest for you.


This is a turn-in.


This is an interesting one. These quests involve dialog options. For this one, the answers you give determine the quality and quantity of the rewards.

Now, the log.


Quests are divided into three tabs. Standard, Campaign and Work Orders. Campaign we will get to in a bit. Work Orders are crafting quests, and I will cover those in a future post.

See the blue text in the quest description? Click it and another window opens up.


This is the in-game Dictionary. It gives information, and you can continue clicking through, learning more about the game world. See the "Locate" button?


Locating creates a marker on your map, leading you right to the objective. Now, this doesn't completely take away the fun of exploring. For quests where you actually have to FIND something, you're on your own!


This is the campaign tab of the Quest Log. Campaigns are the central storyline quests of the game. Campaign NPCs are differentiated by their gold quest icons instead of the usual blue. Many Campaigns are started just by entering the correct town. As you can see, each Campaign is made up of several legs. Each leg is a chain of its own, and completing legs will unlock the later ones. The major difference between Campaigns and Standard Quests is CUTSCENES. Each leg of a Campaign is accompanied by one or more in-game engine cutscenes. These range from a brief glimpse of your objective to full-on, Wrathgate-style mini-movies.

Upon reaching Level 9, you automatically gain the "Ascension" Campaign.


This questline is nothing short of epic. I don't want to spoil anything, but it is, thus far, the highlight of the Beta. This allows you to upgrade to your chosen class. For example, it allowed me to take my little Warrior to a full Gladiator.


When Aion first released in Korea, it was a bit of a grinder. That's what Eastern audiences are into. As the Western release grows closer, NCSoft is expanding the questing system. By release and Version 1.5, there will be many more quests available in the game, accounting for a much higher percentage of experience gained. That's not to say you can avoid grinding ENTIRELY. There may be points later where you'll have to grind a BIT, but nothing worse than the early days of WoW. This is not another Lineage. Of course, if you choose to avoid some of the Group Quest chains, you'll have more grinding to do, but that's your decision.