OK so I might seem a little hypocritical by posting this today after all the whining I did earlier about my lack of enjoyment playing Aion. But just like the weather, I can change my opinion, right? Well whatever, I’m going to – at least just for today Last night I joined a Dredgion group which is Aion’s only PvP instanced dungeon. For those who don’t play Aion, Dredgion is a level 50 PvP (player vs player) instanced dungeon. It is setup so that you and your team battle your way through the dungeon killing mobs and destroying objectives whilst trying to either avoid enemy players or take them out.

The grouping can be completely random so you can put yourself into the queue and get an entire group of casters without a healer. This risk is part of the enjoyment of a random instanced dungeon. The flip side is of course, the same thing could happen to the enemy team and you could end up playing some of the best geared players on the opposing side (usually a premade group) and losing miserably. You can also totally beat their asses down and complete all your objectives killing everything in sight and emerging victorious.

Well, yesterday was such a day for me and my group. The opposing team were just really ill-equipped to deal with our group makeup, skill and gear. The gear on my character Colma is actually pretty poor for my level and I have no inclination to better it anytime soon due to my stance on grinding for better gear. But we had one of the best geared Gladiator’s on the server, Moralus who I must say, totally kicked ass! We also had a very exceptional healer, Vidivici Definitely one of the best if not the best Clerics in the game

The highlight for me during this Dredgion run occured when the opposing Elyos team decided to use the ‘loser’ tactic and tried to drag (train) every mob in the area on top of our group to wipe us. They couldn’t kill us in straight up PvP so they decided to train everything which, I might add, is hitting well below the belt. I frown on this sort of thing in games but some people will do absolutely anything to win including cheating and using third party programs to do it. I kid you not – gaming is SERIOUS BUSINESS bro!

Anyway, they failed miserably and not only did they fail but I was constantly fearing all the mobs with AoE fear, we killed the Elyos team again as well as killing all seven added mobs that they trained on us. We lost only one person during the fight that I managed to resurrect straight away. Boy was that a LOL moment if ever I’ve seen one. Thanks to the quick thinking of Moralus and the brilliant team work of our team, I got one of the highest personal scores from that dredgion run to date.

Here is the final screenshot of which I am very proud (note: two of their team members left half way through and didn’t finish):

Eat Asmo dust Ely b1tches!

My thanks and respect to the opposing Elyos members that stayed to finish but I having nothing to say to their team member who thought training us would get them somewhere… oh wait, actually yes I do – U got PWND BRO!

I decided to blog about the games I play on a more personal level. This is partially because it sometimes gets a little repetitive reviewing games all the time and going along to game previews and beta’s etc. Whilst I love that aspect of what I do, I’m a writer first and foremost and becoming a better writer is what drives me.

So this is my first blog post about gaming life in Aion on the Yustiel server. It’s a US based server so I am consistently playing with lag. That is not an excuse for any poor gameplay on my part, everyone has off days but try playing with 300 odd people at a fort raid with upward of a 700ms ping EVERY day. You’ll soon understand what it means to laaaaagggg.

And there is no such thing as an Oceanic server, NCSoft!!!!

To try and combat the situation with lag, I tried playing on Nezekan which is touted as the Aion Oceanic server for people like me living in well, oceania. The ping was exactly the same. Now before anyone starts pointing at my network, my hardware or my crappy ISP connection, I have no issues connecting to any other game I play online without lag. I often playon XBL on my 360 and don’t experience anywhere near the same amount of lag as I do when playing Aion. I also play many other games online on my PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 and don’t get lag. Aussie ping times are about 36ms. So if it was my internet connection or anything related to my hardware, I am sure I’d be getting lag everywhere, not just in Aion. Right? Feel free to prove me wrong

So when will NCsoft actually create a proper Oceanic server that doesn’t lag for Aussie or New Zealand gamers? Nobody knows… and that’s the truth.

Colma, Level 49 Spiritmaster, b1tches!

This is the character that I play as she currently is at level 49. I am one level away from the cap now which means I’ve pretty much grinded as far as I can go in the game. I’m not too happy with my gear though because obtaining good gear in Aion in my opinion is far more difficult than it should be. To compare this game to EverQuest for example, the Epic quest in EQ seemed almost easy compared to some of the loot quests you can do in Aion. The quests to do them are extremely tedious, long and boring grindfests that require you to spend copious amounts of your time killing the same mob over and over or dying to the same mob because it takes an entire guild to kill it. Some people do this because they are used to the Korean gamestyle of play which is pretty much grind, grind, grind and consistently kill mobs over and over. I however am not really used to this type of gameplay. Having come from various other MMOs that did not require you to grind so much for so little, I guess I’m just not attuned to it.

I was in the top guild on the server until the medals that I earned in fort sieges were stolen from me and never recovered. I left that guild and I am now running around guildless and loving it. It just goes to show you don’t have to be in a guild to enjoy yourself in a game. As for fort raids, you can attend those without being guilded AND STILL get medals for raids! If I had known that from the beginning, I would never have joined a guild.

PvE versus PvP

The PvE content is OK but again way too repetitive. I haven’t even started an alt yet which is rare for me having played so many mmos before. This is the first game where I have never been tempted to start an alt to play. The thought of having to grind through all those levels just kills that idea dead.

As for PvP – wow seriously lacking. I consider myself a huge PvP gamer and in fact, it’s all I really want to do. If I could PvP all day, I would. That is one thing that Warhammer Online had over Aion in spades – their PvP content was a whole lot better organised and focused on giving players the opportunity to pvp all day if that’s what they wanted and on an even footing – none of this level 50′s ganking the crap outta level 30′s. Sorry but no, that’s NOT fun. That’s stupid. I don’t buy the ‘Oh but it’s more realistic’ either. The thing with Aion is that it’s black or white. You’re either really hardcore or you’re not. If you’re not hardcore enough your gear will suffer and your gameplay, especially in pvp will suffer. There is NO middle ground. Either you grind all day and do your Fenris gear at 50 or you get totally dominated in PvP by all the gamers who botted their way to 50 Fenris gear or just dedicated all their time to the game without living for four months.

The other thing about Aion that gets up my nose is that the Koreans have had this game for months. On my server, Team Korea go around ganking everyone because they’ve been playing for about a year which is about eight months longer than me and most western players. I don’t think that’s balanced or fair. I understand the need for beta testing but why give one country such a huge monopoly over the game content? Beats me…

To continue or not, that is the question…

I don’t want to quit because I do get some enjoyment out of Aion. But unless the gameplay seriously changes from a PvP perspective and they make it easier to get better gear rather than only offering grindfest quests that will suck the life outta you, I won’t be playing Aion for much longer.

If you’re looking for more information on Aion, here is the official website.

Here is my character link: Colma

Product Specs:

- SteelSeries Z Engine allows full customization of each key

- Pre-defined profiles for more than 150 games

- Anti-ghosting capability: Up to 7 simultaneous keystrokes

- Special gaming key area

- Interchangeable Keysets

- Internal hub with 2 USB ports

How the ZBoard works

This is the first proper gaming specific keyboard I’ve ever used so I’ll be honest and say I am a real noob when it comes to keyboards like the ZBoard. I’ve used gaming keyboards before but none quite like the ZBoard which can be skinned and used specifically for a particular type of game you’re playing, in this case – Aion. This hardware isn’t new so I guess as a gamer, I’m still learning about hardware too, even after all this time. What I can say is that the ZBoard is extremely KICK ASS when it comes to being able to play a game efficiently.

The ZBoard is so-called because it houses the ZEngine technology. This technology allows you to download a driver that will turn your normal looking keyboard into a gaming beast by allowing the keyboard’s interface to change. For Aion, this means being able to do everything in-game at the simple touch of a key – everything from flying to using emotes. The shortcut keys are endless and this technology is specifically designed so you can change the keyboard to suit your style of play. Obviously the default settings will work for most Aion gamers but you can also program the keyboard to do whatever you need in-game.

Macros be gone!

Once you’ve downloaded the software, you can enable the keyboard so that the keys setup for Aion will work in-game. I’ve had a play with most of the keys and I can’t believe how much easier it is to do everything using this keyboard. I’m also not a huge macro user either so this is where the Aion keyboard really does alot of the work for you rather than having to program in your own macros. Obviously, you can still do this but for people not so happy creating macros like me, this keyboard pretty much does all I need and then some.

One of the coolest things about the ZBoard is that you also receive more than one keyset (in fact I received three including the Aion keyset) which you can take off and interchange as often as you want.

Rounding it up

Bottom line is the ZBoard offers functionality that you just wouldn’t get from an average keyboard already preset and ready to use. For Aion gamers like me, that’s as perfect as it gets to having your own macros already setup to do whatever you need. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this keyboard to anyone playing Aion (and I’ve already boasted about it to mates). For general use the ZBoard is also extremely well-made even if gaming isn’t your thing. As a touch-typest, I actually found this keyboard to be one of the best I’ve used next to the Microsoft Natural keyboard range.

If you’re interested in buying this keyboard or even just checking it out the official website is here.

The product description and order details are here.

A huge thankyou to Casper from SteelSeries for supplying us with one awesome gaming product to review This keyboard is going to get used to death!

Platform: PC Publisher: NCSoft Developer: NCSoft Rating: G Players: Thousands Genre: MMORPG/Fantasy Released: September 18, 2009

Website: http://na.aiononline.com/

Our first look at Aion revealed some of the basics of the game including races, tradeskills, classes and general gameplay up to level 25. After level 25, the game has the potential to really change especially if you’re a pvp player who enjoys hunting other players down in battle.

We’re almost at the level now where PvP gameplay is an integral part of the game and is actually one of the main motivators for playing Aion. So if you’re keen to find out exactly what game play for Aion is like after you get your ‘wings’, read on…

Once you’ve got your wings, there’s no turning back…

So you’ve reached the pinnacle level 25 and you’ve done the quest to enter the Abyss (you’re given three quests to choose from). You’ve heard all about how level 25 changes everything and you can finally PvP and kick some serious Elyos (or Asmo) butt! Afterall, what good are wings if you can’t kill people using them?

Having your wings is great but if you were anything like me and you didn’t read any of the previews of the game prior to release, you’re probably going to be just a little disappointed. You’ll get wings and you’ll be able to fly but none of it comes free. Your first initial set of wings will be free upon access to the abyss but everything else (including staying airborne) is going to cost you – big time.

Look ma, I can fly!

Flying comes with consequences, the biggest of which is running out of flight time in the Abyss. And unless you were one of the special people that forked out for the Collectors Edition of the game, you will have to pay something close to 1 million kinah to gain your upgraded wings after level 30. This in itself is a huge downer… especially when you’re in a group situation and you’re hunting Elyos or Asmo enemies. You’ll really feel it when you can’t keep up with your party because you either a) don’t have as much flight time as they do due to not having upgraded wings or b) you lack the money to buy pots (potions) that can boost your flight time.

As we previously mentioned, Aion is very much a traders game. If you’re not into selling and buying items you collect in-game on the broker, you’re going to find life extremely challenging in Aion without the monetary support to keep pushing to the next level.

PvP in the Abyss – all it’s cracked up to be?

In short, the answer is yes… and also no. In other MMOs such as Warhammer, worrying about having to fly to keep up with your pvp guildmates was not an issue so Aion is very much a unique game as far as PvP experience is concerned. You’ll be challenged with raiding parties of Elyos or Asmo hunting you down anywhere you decide to go in the Abyss (as it’s a freely accessible area for all players over level 25) which can be both exciting and extremely frustrating.

If you’re a lower level ‘noob’ trying your wings for the first time and grinding xp, you’ll be constantly reminded of the fact that it’s not only the wandering or respawning mobs you need to be careful of. If you forget to keep your eyes on the map (like a ‘radar’ that shows incoming threats as red dots) as you grind away, it’s likely that you’ll be jumped by a raiding party of Elyos or Asmo’s looking for easy Abyss kills to rank up their AP (Abyss Points). This in itself is not so great and could potentially be a flaw in the game much like the consistent class imbalances were in Warhammer.

I eat green berets for breakfast!

It would be nice to see NCSoft introduce something similar to the ‘Chicken’ affect in Warhammer which prevented high level enemy players dropping in on you at any time and pwning you without even a second thought. As this has happened to me many times, I can tell you that after dying consistently for an hour or so this way, you soon lose the taste to level up in the Abyss alone. It may sound like a whole lot of whinging but at the end of the day, keeping the game balanced will only enhance the player experience, not hinder it.

Revenge however, can be oh so sweet, especially when your raiding party has used a ‘rift’ to access the enemy territory. If a rift between the two areas opens up and you can locate the rift, you are free to access enemy territory. This of course offers plenty of opportunities for you and your hunting party to ‘gank’ (destroy) as many of the enemy as possible without them even putting up much of a fight. The element of surprise is particularly handy in such situations.

So although being consistently hunted in the Abyss has it’s downfalls, there are always ways in which you can get revenge if you truly feel the need. However, introducing level restrictions may help to make the game a little more balanced as far as PvP is concerned.

Advancing tradeskills

At higher levels, tradeskills can become ridiculously expensive. Players have reported to have spent more than 1 million kinah on one tradeskill alone just to level up. I find this extreme to say the least and overall, I’m not too impressed with the expensive cost of everything. Travel alone can be expensive and forget buying items – everything in the way of items is horrendously over-priced. Unless you’re into buying your kinah online illegally through a gold selling website, you’re going to find it difficult to even get close to rare items in the game (other than scoring one yourself from a raid or a group PvE situation).

LFL (Looking for Legion)

As a New Zealander playing primarily on a US based server, finding the right type of legion (guild/clan) has been tedious. At level 31 I am still without a legion to call home despite being offered to join a legion several times a day everytime I play. I’ve avoided it for the most part because joining a legion based in the US is going to be a major bummer in terms of playtime. Not to mention raids when you are 16 – 18 hours ahead of everyone else. It’s just too difficult to manage the time around other people located so far abroad. There are however some Aussie guilds on the server I play on so there is hope for me, yet.

Being part of a legion definitely has its rewards. You will more than likely find gear is easier to obtain through a legion, and grouping up with guildmates is far more enjoyable than having to go ‘LFG’ everytime you need help with a quest or want to level up in difficult areas. If you’re into raiding and PvP gameplay then you should definitely consider joining a legion. Solidarity in numbers will always have its advantages over solo gameplay, especially in the Abyss.

Imagine how much these wings cost...

Do all roads lead to Aion?

Aion is definitely a game developed with the true MMO gamer in mind. While casual MMO gamers may enjoy the experience of Aion, it’s doubtful whether the true essence of what Aion is all about could be enjoyed without dedicating a serious amount of time to the game. That means that unless you’re really sure of being able to be ‘hardcore’ enough to play on a consistent basis, you’re probably not going to get the full enjoyment out of what Aion has to offer.

So it’s safe to say that after my experiences in the game, Aion is a very good MMO but not without it’s potential ‘flaws’ or perhaps areas for improvement. On that note though, it’s good to see that the Aion community has a direct link to the developers of the game via the official website and even better to see that NCSoft listen when the gamers speak. The gold spamming issue we spoke of in the first part of this review has more or less been resolved and the queuing system that was set up on some servers to help with the overloading has too. As far as the future of the game is concerned, it’s really anyone’s guess but I’d like to harzard one and say that Aion has a fairly bright future if the NCSoft staff continue to listen and work with the Aion community on future improvements.

Game Culture Rating:

[starreview tpl=16]

Platform: PC Publisher: NCSoft Developer: NCSoft Rating: G Players: Thousands Genre: MMORPG/Fantasy Released: September 18, 2009

Website: http://na.aiononline.com/

Editor’s Note: This review is intended for gamers who are already familiar with Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games.

Gamers the world over are referring to Aion as the ‘WoW Killer’. Although I only played WoW for six months, I can definitely attest to Aion being one of the closest games to ever be worthy of carrying that mantle.

Since Aion is a rather expansive MMORPG, it would be silly to try and tell you everything about a game that has only been out for a week and currently has a level cap of 50. So, we’re breaking it down into several parts, this being part one and roughly a review of levels 1 – 20.

Like most MMORPGs, Aion requires a combination of grinding (killing mobs for experience) and questing to level. This is the most arduous part of any MMO and unfortunately, it can’t be avoided, even in Aion. So if you were looking for an MMO that doesn’t require repetitive killing of mobs and quest chains to level, move on.

Background/history of Aion

Without spending too much time on this area, Aion at its most basic is an MMO that focuses on two races of Atreia – the Asmodian and the Elyos. Asmodians look more like demons whilst Elyos look a fair bit like angels. After level 25, the game is really suited for players who enjoy combat, especially Player vs Player or battles between the races on a grand scale.

Quests/grinding

The folks over at NCSoft have done a wonderful job with the quest chains, setting up quests that are easy to follow and relatively quick to complete. There is also an indicator in your quest log that tells you what quests are active, their difficulty level (indicated by colour) and where the quest is located. Finding quest NPCs is also ridiculously easy. You can use both the in-game map to assist you as well as obvious markers (big arrows) above the heads of the NPCs that tell you where to collect quests. Quests are also divided into two groups; campaign quests and normal quests. Campaign quests are indicated by yellow markers and normal quests by blue.

Classes/Sub-classes/Races

The classes in Aion are again very similar to those of other MMOs notably, EQ, WoW and Warhammer. Aion starts off relatively simple with only four main character classes to choose from with each branching off into a sub-class upon completion of level 10. At level nine, your character will undergo the ‘Ascension’ which is where you choose your path (specialty).

The four main classes are Priest, Mage, Scout, Warrior.

The Warrior is a master of weapons and combat. The sub-classes are Gladiator and Templar. The Gladiator is a true master of weaponship, able to wield practically any weapon as well as polearms. The Templar on the other hand is extremely adept at defense whilst also being able to dish out damage to opponents.

The Priest develops into either the Chanter or Cleric. The Cleric is pretty self-explanatory – a dedicated healer and the most proficient healing class in the game also able to wield sheild and mace. The Chanter is a healer but one that also concentrates energies on buffing other players, improving morale and generally enhancing other players’ abilities.

The Mage subclasses are Spiritmaster and Sorceror. The Spiritmaster controls spirits that it can summon at will whilst also being able to attack opponents with powerful offensive elemental spells. The Sorceror is a master of the elements, relying on high damage dealing spells.

The Scout class breaks off into sub-classes Assassin and Ranger. Assassins deal in death by stealth, hiding themselves from targets and evading danger. The Ranger is proficient in long-distance damage with the bow and arrow but can also wield a sword and dagger for close-combat attacks.

The environment and travel

The environment of Aion is very picturesque. The first thing you will notice about the world of Aion is its vibrant colour and meticulous animated detail. Whilst this doesn’t entirely make a game more playable (for some, it is the only thing that matters but for others, not so much), it’s nice to be able to play a game that doesn’t make your characters look like pixelated paint-by-number images on the screen. Kudos to the developers and animation artists as they’ve done a fantastic job here.

The travel system in Aion is a huge step up from other MMOs. It’s easy to get around (although a little on the expensive side at first) and the world is quite expansive, starting off with several small villages and eventually leading to full-scale cities such as Pandaemonium. Navigating through the cities is also exceptionally easy for newcomers to the game with the map displaying every area of the city clearly as well as comprehensively.

Having more than one city in an MMO is a fairly new experience for me as a gamer. It’s quite refreshing to see so much content in a game that has barely been in development since 2007.

Money/Economy

The monetary system of Aion is simplistic with ‘Kinah’ being the only denomination used in the game. Money can be acquired from quests, killing mobs and from trading.

The trade system and economy of Aion is well-structured and easy to use. Without knowing anything at all about the economic structure of the game, a newcomer can begin trading and making money as soon as they hit level 10 (which is when you can travel to the city and get access to the broker).

It’s an essential part of any MMO to have money to spend. In Aion, you will need a relatively plentiful amount of money if you intend on travelling alot (as it can be a little on the expensive side) or upgrading your gear. You’ll also need a fair bit of income to sustain tradeskills in the game should you decide to try them.

Tradeskills

I’ve always been fond of tradeskills in MMOs since my EQ days so learning about the tradeskills in Aion was a necessity. There are quite a few skills available to learn and there is no limit to how many you can learn on any one character. Some games limit this ability so it was great to see this hasn’t been the case in Aion. You’re also not restricted by class so you can learn any skill you like.

The tradeskills are Gathering (also part of the Aether/Vitality gathering skill), Armoursmithing, Weaponsmithing, Cooking, Handicrafts (sewing), and Alchemy. To start off you will need to have around 3,333 kinah to learn each skill. And then you’ll need money to buy ingredients to increase your skill. The quests for increasing your skill in any one tradeskill have been simplified in Aion to the point where it’s very easy to upskill. You can acquire quests from the trademaster called ‘Work Orders’ which are simply repetitive quests that require you to make something for someone (the government or another NPC). You will also be required to gather ingredients from hunting mobs or using the ‘gather’ skill to acquire raw materials such as iron and silver ore, or materials from animals such as skin for making clothes or fibre from plants.

Hint: If you’re wanting to learn the gathering skill, try levelling up as you quest. It’s very easy to do and will save you time in the long run.

In part two of the review we look at PVP combat, guilds (or Legions), the group system and other various elements of gameplay past level 20.

Game Culture Rating: [starreview tpl=16]

Here is the Aion official launch trailer which released this week. New Zealanders/Australians were able to start gameplay on the 19th but the official game release worldwide was the 21st.

MMORPG gamers should definitely check this out. Thanks to GT for the trailer.

Aion is about to hit PCs worldwide with the official launch for New Zealanders at 07:00 in the AM tomorrow. An estimated 400,000 pre-sales of the game have been recorded which is pretty impressive.

We’re all ready for launch after spending almost an entire day downloading the game client and patches from NCSoft. That said though, it’s going to be pretty interesting with the newly announced “Oceanic” server Nezekan going live. I just hope that Aion’s oceanic server is more oceanic than the Warhammer Online server was because that was terrible!

Official website for Aion is here so if you’re into MMORPGs and don’t yet have your copy of this, buy it – now!