Massive Nerd

With the year dwindling away, I thought I'd take a look at what went well and what... didn't.

Wins

3: Batman: Arkham Asylum

Name the last good Batman game. Go on, I dare you. Anyone? Bueller? Right. Arkham is the first Batman game in, let's just say, ever to even be playable. Not content to just make a FUNCTIONAL game, Rocksteady Studios went and made a GOOD one. Not only did they make it GOOD, they made it RIGHT. Bringing in Kevin Conroy, Mark Hammill and almost the entire voice cast from Batman: The Animated Series was a brilliant move. This wasn't just a bunch of guys making a game, it was a bunch of fans creating a labor of love. I hope for a similar treatment on Transformers: War for Cybertron. The developers have already said they can't have Optimus Prime without Peter Cullen.

2: Modern Warfare 2

Anyone who listened to my segment on For the Lore knows that I LOVE this game. I applaud Infinity Ward's risk-taking. Story-wise, this is perhaps the most immersive game I've ever played.

1: New IPs

2009 is the best year in recent memory for new IPs in games. Brutal Legend, Borderlands, Dragon Age, Shadow Complex and Torchlight are all properties I look forward to spending more time with in the years to come.

Losses

3: WoW failing in China

Blizzard can survive without the income from the Chinese market. However, there are LOTS of people in China who want to play games. This is income that many smaller (and I'm using that term relatively) companies rely on to help turn a profit. Not being able to reach a deal in China could cause some borderline-successful games to fail down the road.

2: Aion

Despite what many have said, I STILL think Aion is a fun game, and I would still be playing if I weren't dedicating my time to other pursuits currently. That being said, it looks like the game is on its way to a slow death here in America, joining the ranks of Warhammer, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Age of Conan and many others as games that just cannon exist in the current WoW-centric MMO market.

1: Console Inequality

Modern Warfare 2 and Borderlands are horribly undersupported on PC. Dragon Age's console versions are inferior to the PC version. Differences in graphics and controls are to be expected. However, removing features, slow content, lack of support and dumbing down features for a "lesser" audience? That's not good business. Release an equal product or hand the ports off to a company that will. In today's market, game companies cannot afford to alienate large portions of their fans.

As many of you know, I work in retail. As such, time and energy are at a premium. I'll try to post as often as possible, but there may be some weeks... well... like this one.

At the very least, I'll try to make up for the quantity with extra quality.

In addition to scaling back on posting, I'm scaling back on playing.

I've deactivated my Aion account. No, I'm not like many out there ragequitting. When last I played (several weeks ago) I was still enjoying the game greatly. No, it's not perfect, and NCSoft still has work to do, and it may be too little too late. That being said, it's a game I wish I had more time for. Unfortunately, it requires an investment I can't give.

I'd rather spend that time playing games like Dragon Age: Origins right now. So, I'm scaling back from all subscription-based games to focus on single-player games for a while.

Once I finish DA:O, Mass Effect 2 and Final Fantasy XIII, with a chance of Assassin's Creed 2 and others, I'll start looking back at MMOs.

I still really want to give Champions Online a go, and I'm REALLY liking Star Wars: The Old Republic. Oh yeah, there's a little thing called Cataclysm out there, too.

So, I'm not going anywhere, chumps. I'll still be posting, just not playing anything Massive right now.

Servers

1: This game is all about balance. If one faction is outgrowing the other, it will be locked until the population levels out. If one server is growing faster than the others, same thing. It's annoying, I agree. However, we'll all be happier for it.

2: The game is new. TONS of people are wanting to get in. There will be waiting. From the Betas, NC knows what their servers are capable of. They have 2 options. Either slowly introduce the population to the servers, making sure everything is stable, or open the floodgates, crash the servers, then spend the first 2 weeks of their launch apologizing for crappy service. It's always better to start out small and expand, than to start too big and have ghost servers.

3: Q-U-E-U-E If you're going to cry about it, at least spell it right.

General

4: Lrn2Glide. Seriously, if you get good at it, you can navigate the map MUCH faster. Pressing the 'S' key, or whatever you have "Move Backward" bound to, will cause you to tilt your wings back, catching air currents. Timing this correctly, just before touching down, can enable you to glide almost endlessly.

5: If you're patient, you can repeat the first work order of any craft over and over again, until 40 Skill, FOR ABSOLUTELY FREE. This will give you a nice headstart on recipes and materials from all the turn-ins.

6: If you take your time and weave Auto-attacks in between your skills, you can deal MUCH more damage in a given amount of time. If you need burst, spam away. If something is going to live longer than your cooldowns, use timing.

Classes

7: Gladiators are best suited for Polearms in PVE and Greatswords in PVP. In PVE, you'll want the higher crit and top-end damage. In PVP, you'll want the faster speed and Accuracy.

8: Templars, use your Shield! You can usually do more damage with the ol' Sword-and-Board, since Templar has many offensive skills that trigger after a block.

9: Assassins, learn your Signet moves. These function similar to Combo Points for a WoW Rogue. Watch out, though! Some skills do not have 100% chance of applying Signets!

10: Rangers start out VERY slow. They are basically a Scout with a Bow for their first few levels. Once you gain more shots, they grow into a very powerful class. Stick with it!

11: Sorcerers should stick with Spellbooks, no matter how cool the Orbs look. The additional Macic Accuracy is invaluable, plus the Spellbook has a RANGED Auto-attack, and the Orb is melee.

12: Spiritmasters are currently a little broken. Pets cannot fly until the next major patch hits servers, and DoTs don't stack. They're still very fun to play, but currently represent the smallest portion of the active community.

13: Clerics are BRUTAL to level early on. They gain many healing and defensive skills after ascension. As such, they have to wait until later to start doing any respectable damage. Of course, being the most essential class in the game should motivate many to power through.

14: Chanters start off AMAZING, but slow down in the mid levels. Right off, they gain a few awesome offensive skills, but spend those middle levels gaining their buffs. Additionally, they learn very few healing skills outside Stigmas and higher levels. Once those mid-levels are over though, the class really shines.

The Most Important Thing

15: EYE-on

For more info, take a look at my Preview series:

Character Creation
Classes
Questing
Combat
Death
Growth & Leveling
Getting Around
Items
Gathering
Crafting

Yesterday I previewed Gathering. Now, what to do with all that stuff?

Craft!

Aion has 6 main crafts:
Cooking - Food buffs are very important in Aion, even moreso than in WoW and other games.
Alchemy - The same can be said for potions. Alchemy can also make Spellbooks and Orbs, Sorcerer and Spiritmaster weapons.
Armorsmithing - Makes Plate and Mail Armor, as well as Shields.
Weaponsmithing - Swords, Maces, Daggers, Greatswords and Polearms
Handicrafting - Jewelry, Bows and Staves
Sewing - Cloth and Leather Armor

For this preview, we're going to use Weaponsmithing, an awesome choice for my Beta Gladiator.


First off, find your trainer. In Pandaemonium, all the crafting trainers are in one section of the city. A small amount of Kinah will teach you the skill of your choice up to level 99.


To start crafting, simply right click on the appropriate table.


This will open the Crafting window. The window displays all recipes you know, and clicking on the recipe will display the necessary ingredients.


Starting a craft will open the same Pass/Fail Window as Gathering. Once the craft is started, the materials are consumed. You are also locked out from any actions while the Craft is working. So, if the Fail bar starts growing, you're stuck.

After a successful craft, many recipes will have a chance for a High Quality outcome. If this happens, a SECOND Pass/Fail Window will open, and attempt to create your HQ item. A White item will attempt to create a Green, Green to Blue and Blue to Gold. Some recipes can even "Double HQ."


Work Orders are the primary method of leveling your Craft. These are special quests you pick up fro your trainer. You can obtain the first one at Level 1, and gain a new one at 10, 20, etc. In these quests, the trainer will give you a special quest item, and ask you to make something out of it. This involves picking up a reagent or two from the nearby vendor and cranking them out. The crafting itself will raise your skill, not the quest. Instead, turning in the quest will grant you random reagents and even recipes!

I like this. Instead of cranking out random worthless items to level up, the Work Order system is much smoother. The only limit to your leveling is time and money. Also, since crafting items in Aion is a much more in-depth process, it makes your ACTUAL craft that much more special.

You CAN level any Craft in the game up to 399 skill. However, you can choose only two to "Master" beyond that. You can create 95% of available items at 399 skill, but only Master can make the best stuff.

That being said, I would not recommend attempting to level more than one Craft at a time. The Kinah investment required for each craft is overwhelming.

Bottom line: Aion's Crafting system is incredibly robust. Much more fun, intricate and rewarding that WoW's, without being as mind-numbingly complex as Final Fantasy XI. I enjoy it greatly.

Two epically awesome things about Gathering in Aion:

-All methods of gathering are shared within one skill
-You gain small amounts of experience with each success


This is the first Gatherable item you will come across in the game. Although, it is called "Azpha" in the current translation. It shows in the mouseover that it requires 1 Point in your Collecting Skill.


After Right-Clicking on the plant, a window will appear. In this window, the "Pass" and "Fail" bars will fill up semi-randomly, depending on your skill level. Pass? You get it. Fail? Try again.


Once you ascend to Daeva status, you're above gathering with your bare hands. Instead, your Collecting skill becomes "Extract Vitality." It functions exactly the same, although you can no longer gather in the starter zones.


In addition to Extract Vitality, you also gain the Extract Aether skill upon ascension. Aether is used in every craft, and functions slightly differently that Extract Vitality. Vortexes are only found in midair, and require flight to gather. The higher in the air a Vortex is, the higher level of Aether it contains, and the higher skill it requires.


Also, some items are obtained through old-fashioned farming. The pictured Refining Stones (now called "Fluxes") come in Weapon, Armor and Accessory varieties. They are random drops of just about any enemy, with higher-level enemies dropping higher level stones. Skins, hides and other goodies also drop off the appropriate enemies. In this way, you must balance mob-farming and straight-up gathering to be successful in Aion.

This part of the preview will take a look at all the nifty items and goodies that make Aion unique.


Power Shards are random drops off just about any mob in the game. They can also be bought from certain vendors.


You equip Power Shards in the small slot just above your weapon. At any time, you can press the 'B' key (default) to activate them, and increase your melee or ranged damage. This only affects autoattacks, and will consume one shard with each one. This is by no means a method for steadily increasing your DPS, due to the cost factor. Rather, it provides a nice boost when you need it. More powerful shards will drop at higher levels.


The two greatest buttons ever. First there's the "Sell all misc" button you see in shops windows. This will automatically add any gray, useless items in your inventory into the Sell window. Second is the one I've circled in the image. That is an "Automatically organize inventory" button. For people plagued with cluttered inventories, this button is a savior.


What about that inventory? You only have one "bag," a Horadric Cube that is able to defy the laws of physics through magic, of course. The default cube only has 27 slots, but can be expanded up to 54 by speaking to NPCs like this guy. This costs an ever-increasing amount of Kinah with each expansion.

Have I mentioned Shugos yet? Shugos are the most awesome race in any game I've ever played. Nyerk!


Manastones are a great mechanic that allows you to further customize the stats on your gear, much like the Gems in WoW. EVERY weapon or piece of armor in the game has sockets in it. 1 Socket for a basic piece of gear, and more as quality increases. There's a catch, though! Manastone socketing can FAIL. If it does fail, ALL Manastones in that piece of gear will be lost. This mechanic really bothers me. It seems to have no purpose other than to drive the cost of the more popular stones up. Nothing sucks more than dropping a bunch of Kinah on Crit Stones, socketing 3, then having the 4th fail and losing them all. Just like Power Shards, Manastones are random drops.


What's this?


It's a Private Store.


While us Western gamers love our Auction House, Eastern gamers prefer Private Shops. Aion, like some games before it, offers both options. Now, for many instances, the Auction House will be the better place for selling goods. All those Private Shops crowding the entrance to Pandaemonium? Once their owners realize nobody is going to stand around and look at random junk in 50 different shops, they'll dwindle out. However, they can be useful. Have a bunch of herbs you want to unload fast? Set up shop in the Alchemy Lab!


Another interesting innovation is Extraction. Buying a set of Extraction tools allows you to basically "Disenchant" one of your items.


This will create an Enchantment Stone. The level of the stone depends on the level of the item. Then, you can apply these stones to your current equipment to make it more powerful.


As you can see here, my Spear of Karma is now a +1 Spear of Karma, with +4 additional damage. Again, beware! Just like Manastones, Enchanting can fail. Unlike Manastones, a failed Enchant will not drop you back down to nothing. Instead, it will drop your level by 1. If I failed to Enchant the spear a second time, it would drop back to its basic state. A failure at +9 will drop it to +8. The failure rate is affected by the level discrepancy between the stone and the item. This is to prevent someone from Extracting a bunch of cheap, low-level items to max out a high-level one.

As we have established, one of Aion's core gameplay elements is flight.

One thing I am absolutely SICK of hearing is "WAAAAH! But we can't fly everywhere."

Stick it.

First of all, the lack of free flight is supported in the lore. Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken. Sprouting wings from your back does not enable you to defy gravity. Flight in Aion requires the presence of Aether to work. It's magic.

Second of all, free flight in MMOs sucks. Yeah, I said it. What you gonna do about it?

The allure of an MMO is playing in a vibrant world. A world with people in it. Go to any zone with flight in World of Warcraft and do a /who to see how many people are there. Then, try and see how many you can actually FIND.

Don't get me wrong, flight is a wonderfully convenient way to get around the world. However, it completely destroys the feeling of playing a multiplayer game.

Also, maybe it's just me, but I prefer traversing by ground. I love actually experiencing the world that the developers have worked so hard on. With flight, that "world" just becomes "distance."

So, no. You cannot fly everywhere in Aion. You can, however, fly everywhere that it's important. The Abyss is a total free-fly zone, bound only by your flight timer, and even that can be easily extended.

Stop flying. Start experiencing.

Yes, yes. You can fly. Let's start off a bit more... basic.


Yay! It's a map. Just like everything else in the game, Aion's map is beautiful to just sit and look at.

But wait, there's more!


If you press the 'N' key instead of 'M' (defaults) you get a cool translucent menu. Very handy.


Now, check this out. I have this Karniff selected. Check out the minimap and you'll see a small orange circle around his dot. That is his aggro radius. This is an excellent tool to have.


Not content to just sit your butt on a bird, Aion's flight paths are a little more... dramatic.

In addition to flight paths, Teleporters exist in the game in major cities and certain towns.

Flight will be a post of its own. See you tomorrow.

Throughout Aion, you will fight, quest and gain experience. You will grow in level and gain new skills. Let's take a quick look at some of the interesting takes Aion has on advancing your character.


This is what you'll see when you first log in. Basic skills, basic gear, basic everything.


In the starting areas, and later the capital cities, you will find Class Trainers. Instead of teaching you skills directly, they will instead sell you manuals that you can then use to teach yourself the skill. While this may not seem terribly fantastic, there is no level requirement for actually BUYING the manuals. Have you ever found yourself in town one or two bubbles away from leveling? How much of a pain is it to go out, then come back for training? In Aion, you can just buy your manuals, then use them in the field immediately after reaching the correct level.


Notice how brave Samo is now Treasure Hunter Samo? Finishing certain questlines, exploring the world, advancing your character and even crafting will grant you titles in Aion. Hold on, there's more to titles than just looking cool.


Titles also grant stat bonuses! As you can see, my "Treasure Hunter" title grants +4 Accuracy, which increases my chance to hit and critically hit. As you progress through the game, you will accumulate a wealth of titles, that you can change out as the situation demands. That is, you will unless you just power through the game, plowing headlong to the level cap. If you want those stat bonuses, you actually have to experience all that the game has to offer. I LOVE this idea.

Of course, there is one thing that separates Aion from its competitors.


Upon completing your level 9 Ascension questline and choosing your advanced class, your character becomes a full Daeva, complete with wings.

In my last preview post, I mentioned that combat is more difficult in Aion than in many other MMOs that most are used to. You will die. It's going to happen. I'm the freaking man, and even I went down a couple times.


This is what you'll see when you die. Once again, I've used my expert image editing skills to point something out. See that little part of your experience bar that's darkened a bit? Yeah, that's the experience you lost from dying.

I know this may seem insane to some of you out there, but look at it this way. EVERY game needs some sort of penalty for death. Otherwise, why let players die at all? For example, WoW had its players lose Durability on their equipment, requiring them to spend money repairing it back. Fine, die too much and it hurts your pocket.

Now, Aion's equipment does not have Durability, so that's out. On the bright side, it's not as unforgiving as Final Fantasy XI, where your lost experience was just *poof* gone, even causing you to LOSE A LEVEL occasionally. No, in Aion, you can get your lost experience back, for a price. So, while the direct penalty for death is a loss of experience, the only lasting penalty is a loss of Kinah, Aion's currency, just like WoW.


When you enter a new town, you will usually find an Obelisk. Paying a small fee will allow you to bind your soul. After death, you will resurrect back at whichever Obelisk you are bound to. Additionally, you can purchase items called Kisks, which will serve as temporary Obelisks.


Nearby Obelisks, you will usually find a Soul Healer. For a price, they will return your lost experience.

So, yes, for someone who has not played any MMO other that World of Warcraft, Aion's death system can seem unforgiving. However, if you take a closer look at it, and compare it to other games in the genre, it fits the game it was designed for nicely.

It's been a while since I've done an Aion Preview post. My apologies, I am a fail blogger.

At least I'm getting back in the saddle with a good one! The meat and potatoes of the game, Combat!

Aion's combat is heavily skill-based. However, it is not a spam-fest. Rather, the most successful way to play is through careful timing of your skills, using the right ones at the right times, in the right situations.

One of the great features of Aion's combat is the Skill Chaining system.

Opening up your skill menu, you will find a button labeled "Chains." Clicking on it displays your available Chains.


For my Warrior, Ferocious Strike is the first skill in the basic Chain.


Once Ferocious Strike has been used, it then makes Robust Blow available. Note that Robust Blow cannot be used by itself, it MUST follow a Ferocious Strike.

As you continue to level and gain skills, the Chains will grow longer, as well as branch. You have options. Would you rather follow the Chain that does more damage, or results in a possible Knockdown? There are certain skills that can only be used against Knocked Down, Stunned or Staggered enemies. Again, it's all about situational awareness and using the right skills at the right time.

Another interesting aspect of Aion's combat is the Combat Movement system. No, that's not its exact name, that's what I'm rolling with since I can't recall the exact term. >.>


See that little arrow I've oh-so-expertly pointed out? That indicates that you have a movement buff active.

If you are moving forward while in combat, you will have additional Damage at the cost of Defense. This affects both Physical and Magical combat.

Backing up will increase your Parry and Block chances, while lowering your Physical Damage.

Strafing increases Evasion at the cost of Physical Damage.

The third piece of Aion's combat is Divine Power. Killing enemies grants DP, which fills up the gauge below your Mana:


This gauge has three levels: 0-2000, 2000-3000 and 3000-4000. Each level grants your character a visual glow effect, letting you know that you're OVER 9000! Err... yeah. Anyway, When over 2000, you can use your DP skill!


Explosion of Rage deals a moderate amount of damage and leaves the enemy in a vulnerable state. It looks amazing, on top of that. With the exception of Spiritmaster, none of the DP skills that I have seen are game-changing, but it could be the difference between victory and defeat.

That's because combat in Aion is HARD.

An even-level enemy is not a pushover. A single unplanned add could be fatal.

I'll cover death in a follow-up post, since that merits a discussion of its own.

I did not play the Aion Closed Beta Event this weekend. As I mentioned last time around, I'm pretty much just waiting around for the retail release. However, I have been keeping up with the goings-on of the game.

There is only one word I have for the behavior I've seen this weekend: pathetic.

A portion of the player base has reached the Beta level cap of 30. This is not as terribly easy as you would imagine, as mid-20s leveling is brutal in version 1.0 of the game.

Now, at "level cap" in a PVP-based game, what is there to do? PVP, of course!

Aion has a PVP zone called The Abyss for mass-scale Faction vs Faction battle. Seems like a great time, eh? Except that's not how it went down.

There are also Rifts that open randomly throughout the world, allowing Asmodians and Elyos to enter opposing territory. In the release version, there are level caps and player limits on these Rifts, as well as penalties for repeatedly killing lower-leveled players. Unfortunately, that is not the case now.

So, what are all these level-capped players to do? face off and fight fair? Hell no. The stack up and surround lower-leveled cities and will not allow anybody to leave. Without chat channels enabled (again, Beta) it is impossible to mount a defense against this. Level 20 players have absolutely no way to combat this threat. Where are all the level 30 players of their faction to come to the rescue? Why, doing the EXACT SAME FRAKKING THING.

When given the option for a fair fight or making other people's lives miserable, what does a large portion of the community choose? To be complete asses!

Now, I understand. This is a PVP-focused game, and disrupting the other faction is a part of the game. I get this. I also understand that, when faced with impossible odds, the lower-leveled players have options. They can go to a non-rifting zone and grind for a while until the raid is over. Yeah, grinding sucks, but at least it's progress you wouldn't be able to make elsewhere.

However, this is Beta. Players are here to experience what the game has to offer. Intentionally preventing others from experiencing the game, for absolutely no gain of your own is just inexcusable to me.

You want to PVP? Go to The Abyss. That's what it's there for.

You want to raid the opposing faction? By all means, go for it. You're entitled to experience that part of the game, yourself. However, don't be asses. Don't spend all three bloody days that the event lasts camped outside a lower-leveled town.

That's just pathetic.

This is not an isolated incident, either. Some are worse than others, but from what I've seen, this is happening on both sides, across all servers.

Many players are incredibly upset about this. They think this is all they have to expect from the release version of the game. Thankfully, that's just not true, thanks to the limitations and penalties that I mentioned previously.

So, for any out there pissed about their experiences this weekend, please read this thread from the Aion Source forums. This is a fantastic thread (which, sadly, are few and far between these days) full of great information about what to expect in the REAL game, and how to avoid situations like this.

Also, if anyone out there actually reading this can give some perspective on the attackers, please do so. Help me understand the mindset of these people. As I said before, I understand that disrupting the opposing faction is part of the game. However, completely destroying someone's chance for entertainment seems unnecessary. Sure, the main point for attacking the opposing faction is to draw out defenders for battle and, presumably, fun all around. However, IT'S BETA, chat channels are disabled, and there IS NO OPPOSITION. So, simply, why?

This is my first PVP-focused MMO, so help this carebear understand.

Lots of little news to cover today.

First of all, last week was Aion's fifth Closed Beta Event. I played.. a little. I'm struck with the Beta Blues. There's very little motivation to play a character that will be deleted in 2 weeks. Without some seriously hardcore playtime, I won't be able to make it to the next tier of content, but that's okay. I have enough for several more preview articles.

I'll likely skip the Open Beta, to make me hungrier for the retail release.

Today is the big WoW Patch 3.2. Whoop-dee-doo.


Calm down, folks. I've still got a month of time on my account, so I'll at least poke my head into the new patch. I'm just not getting $15 worth of entertainment, at the moment. So, perhaps some time off will be good for me, and my wallet.

So, no WoW, no Aion, what's a guy to do? Well, I'll be spending some quality time with my consoles.

Oh yeah, then there's this guy:


Say hello to Garda, my Tanker.

Yes, after years of poking and prodding, I finally bit the bullet and bought City of Heroes. Expect some coverage in the future.

This weekend was the fourth Aion Closed Beta event.

I got my Gladiator, Samo, up to level 16. I got my first tastes of grouping up for a couple small quests. Very fun.

Here's a pic of Samo when I logged off today:


I also got to spend a hefty amount of time with the crafting system. I first got my Weaponsmithing up to level 50, in order to make my level 15 Polearm. Later, while questing, I got a rare recipe drop. I decided to spend some of my saved-up Kinah to buy the rare materials needed. After working my Weaponsmithing up to 75, the Spear of Demon was mine!

Here's a quick look, comparing the stats to my current weapon:


Now, last event weekend, I commented on some issues people were having with the game. I figured I'd do the same this time around.

Most of the issues I was seeing around the community were nicely summed up by this post on Aion Source.

Aion is too linear. There is no stray path that you can take to level your character.

True, but then again, this is based on the first 20-ish levels of the game. Later on, the progression is still rather linear from quest hub to quest hub, but the zones become more expansive. You're no longer just "following the road." Additionally, you can quest in The Abyss, the PVP zone, if you want to spice things up.

There is nothing you can do to customize your skills to make you have different skills than other players.

Starting at Level 20, your character starts to gain access to Stigmas. These allow you to gain new skills, customizing your character however you'd like. For example, by level 22, Samo would have access to Dual Wield, Improved Stamina and Crippling Cut. With only one slot available, that allows you to customize your character 3 different ways right off the bat.

Non-existent connection to the main plot in quests. Quests are like this: go chop off this mob's arm, or go tell Bob that Linda is a nyerk and likes him. Ect.

No. Just, no. The regular quests may be rather pointless, plot-wise. However, as I discussed in my questing preview, the Campaigns are directly tied in to the overall story of the game. While some of them may seem like any other quest, if you READ THEM, you will see the difference.

Flight is a gimmick that stops being amusing in the first five minutes of trying it out. There are no mounts in this game, either. It's actually worse off than other games as you have to run from place to place and you have no mount. 95% of the game is restricted and you can only glide. No point to flying, then.

First of all, flight is not a gimmick. It is an integral part of PVP later in the game. True, flight is limited in many places, but I see that as a good thing. Flight kind of ruined WoW for me. I actually enjoy experiencing the game world instead of flying past everything. Secondly, learn to Glide. The gliding mechanic allows you to quickly traverse the game world, and is FUN on top of it.

Poor class balance. Some classes just overshadow and stomp other classes into the ground. For instance, a ranger will never have a chance against a sorcerer. Fireball > wooden flying stick. An assassin will never have a chance against a non-assassin. They get 1hit.

And? The game is balanced around group PVP, just like damn near every other game. Of course, there will be mismatches in 1v1, but that doesn't matter. If you spend all your time in PVP battling solo, you're doing it wrong.

Now, I'm not blindly defending the game. It's not perfect, no game is. However, please don't make suppositions based on inaccurate information. I'm not even going to touch his last comment. Pointless.

Anyway, who else out there played this weekend? What did you think?

Put on your foil hats, kids. Think of me as Mel Gibson, only better-looking.

A couple weeks ago, Blizzard trademarked the term "Cataclysm." Of course, the most likely explanation is this will be the next World of Warcraft expansion.

But why Cataclysm?

The term PROBABLY refers to the Great Sundering, which split ancient Kalimdor in two, creating the two continents WoW players know. However, in my experience, the ACTUAL term "Cataclysm" is never used in the lore. The only source WoW Wiki cites that uses that exact term is the World of Warcraft RPG game. While the RPG lore is canon, that's a long way to go for the title of a major expansion. There are several other terms that would make a better title and are closer to the central lore.

Okay, so WHY Cataclysm?

Here's where things get a little tricky.

The Cataclysm happens to be the term used to describe the central event in the lore of Aion.

What better way to steal the thunder of a serious competitor than to announce your own game, using THEIR word, a month before it comes out?

Wait. A serious competitor? WoW has what? 10, 12 million subscribers?

Not so, friends. Read This article by Tobold. For the "tl;dr" crowd: WoW is TECHNICALLY down to 5 million subscribers.

Last I checked, Aion was sitting pretty at 3.5 million, even before its Western release.

I'd call that serious competition.

Now, a Chinese subscriber, a significant portion of Aion's number and currently NONE of WoW's, is completely different from an American or European subscriber. Tobold explains it much better than I could, so I won't go into the details. However, in this industry, it's all about PERCEPTION. If NCSoft can claim that they have equaled WoW in subscribers, and they possibly could in time, that would be a huge blow to Blizzard. True, WoW may be making more money than Aion with a similar amount of subscribers, but how many members of the press are actually bothered with things like facts?

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.