Aion 1.9 patch details teased while videos of 2.0 dance in our heads
by Seraphina Brennan 
Mar 3rd 2010 at 12:30PM
Filed under: At a glance, Fantasy, Video, Aion, Game mechanics, Patches, News items
The patch is hosting a wealth of enhancements and updates to the game that includes a new looking for group system, quest updates, a brand new daily quest system, changes to the endgame dungeon Dredgion, a decrease in transportation and soul healing prices, increased experience gain, a two-handed weapon merge system, and much more. The whole thing actually totals over 26 pages of patch notes which NCsoft West are still translating for Western audiences.
Tomorrow, however, we've got a special look into some of the deeper mechanics of the patch, so be sure to come back and visit us at 11 AM Eastern time for all of the gritty details (as we need to be all hush hush until then.) But, for now, enjoy some beautiful concept art in the gallery below (in the form of desktop wallpapers) and a video of Aion's "update 2.0" patch stored after the break.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Knightsaber said on 12:41PM 3-03-2010
I might grab this again if they patched it down to 'doesn't take a billion bloody hours to do anything at all'.
Reply
mttgamer said on 2:11PM 3-03-2010
I couldn't agree with you more, THE one thing that kept me away from Aion and more on WoW was the fact that it took so darn long to level :( I'm excited to read over the GIANT patch notes....
Bad thing is:
I read from Aion_Ayase that its going to drop "First half of this year" so sometime in the next 3 months :( what a bummer....
Averice said on 12:45PM 3-03-2010
Awesome. It's good to see that they're making changes to some of the harshest issues. I say some of, because I've head of a few others from some friends who still play, mainly related to the pvp system, but I like the direction it's going in. I might have to give ncsoft another $15 to check it out after 1.9.
Reply
DrewIW said on 1:02PM 3-03-2010
"a decrease in transportation and soul healing prices, increased experience gain"
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Awesome.
Reply
Zsazsa said on 1:04PM 3-03-2010
I love this game. It may not be for everyone, but for hardcore PvPers like myself, it's a blast. I really wish someone at Massively was still actively playing this game. At least it's still getting covered, though. That's something.
The 1.9 patch sounds awesome. I am awaiting the full patch notes (and an ETA on the actual patch itself) but there's a lot of great stuff listed there. My server is still hopping but I've heard that others aren't, so maybe 1.9 will bring some of the former players back.
Personally, I love Aion because I'm burned out of PvE-only games, or games where PvP is tacked on as an afterthought. I'm not a hampster in a wheel: Shelve the instances and give us more open PvP games, please! The mobs in MMORPGs today are too predictable, static, and boring. If I have to kill one more mob just for the sake of killing 9000 more mobs, I'll hang up my polearm and magic wand for good. ;)
I like how well-implemented small-skirmish PvP is in Aion. I don't have to sign my life away to some big legion to PvP. I can log on in Aion for a little while and barrel through a rift to the enemy's turf or charge after an enemy group that has come through a rift to our side. There's nothing better than helping to take down a persistent ganker! :) You get just as many Abyss Points per kill for rift-based PvP; it's based on the same point scale as the larger-scale Abyss Warfare is. The Abyss itself is also nice (despite the gankers, who also exist in every other open PvP game too) in that you can even get Abyss points for killing mobs. You just need to have a thick skin while you're leveling up, and then you can face the gankers head on (they will usually run from a fair fight though, hehe).
And there are two sides to PvP in every game: offense and defense. For those who don't like pursuing other players, they can always help keep their own team/side alive. At least Aion's classes are strong for the most part, and even the healers can fight their way out of a tight corner if need be.
Aion is polished, professional and a blast to play if you're a fan of PvP.
Reply
Macabre said on 1:51PM 3-03-2010
I tried really hard to enjoy this game (yeah, that's indeed as twisted as it sounds), as I'm all about PvP and I haven't had shit else to play for a while, but I just couldn't slog through it any more. Made it to 45 on my Glad, and while I absolutely loved rifting and the random Abyss PvP, I just couldn't take the level grind any more, especially when everyone around me kept talking about the "real" grind that begins at 50.
That, and I got positively fed up with fortress crashes. I know they did some bullshit workarounds, but I didn't drop a truckload of cash on a high-end system just so I could turn down my settings and drop player models to enjoy what was supposed to be the highlight of abyss PvP.
Anyway, I'm commenting just to ask, as I've been gone for a while now, has the infamous fortress crash been fixed? I mean *really* fixed, not just worked around. If so, combined with this incoming patch, I just might consider a re-sub.
If not, back to Minesweeper I guess, lol.
Seraphina Brennan said on 2:08PM 3-03-2010
We're getting in a brand new Aion columnist specifically to cover Aion, so your problem will be alleviated very soon. ^_^
TexRob said on 3:09PM 3-03-2010
Yes, the fortress crashes have long been fixed.
Macabre said on 3:48PM 3-03-2010
@TexRob
To the extent that I can crank up my settings *and* display all character models during a primetime fortress siege without crashing (provided my machine can handle it, of course, which it most certainly can)? Or does everyone still shift+F12?
If you still have to "F12", that's not a fix in my book... nor should it be in anyone's, for that matter.
Not trying to flame your comment, but you'll have to forgive me if I'm a tad skeptical.
crsh said on 10:03PM 3-03-2010
The crashing issue in overcrowded areas/fights was fixed a little while ago (sometime in early November), silently so even since NCsoft never officially acknowledged the problem and stealth-fixed it.
Solude said on 1:32PM 3-03-2010
If.
Reply
Herb said on 2:17PM 3-03-2010
i will buy the game again when the patch goes live, im liking the changes.
Reply
starzzareblind said on 2:47PM 3-03-2010
I can't wait. I think this is the content and enhancements that would turn this game into what everyone wants it to be, and I'm happy it's finally here. I definitely am most excited about the experience gain increase, and the new quests.
Reply
Georgio said on 3:33PM 3-03-2010
Come on people. Again we start hyping this P.O.S. ? Aion already failed and no amount of teasers and so called "leaked" info will bring it back to life. NCSoft will under-perform AGAIN and after first month of the 1.9 release again the bubble will blast. 5 out of 14 servers are barely alive in EU now and after 1.9 will kick the bucket I'm afraid Aion will do a "Tabula Rasa" move.
Reply
crsh said on 4:02PM 3-03-2010
Except Aion isn't half as bad as you make it sound, it's in dire need of tweaks and NCsoft really isn't moving very fast, but the core of the game is good, PvP is fast-paced and the crafting system is one of the better ones I've seen in recent years. There is hope.
Dymphna said on 8:29PM 3-03-2010
Not to mention it is still by far the best looking MMO out there, and I'd hate to see such a gorgeous world and environments die because of some design choices that are fixable.
SleepingPanda said on 4:54AM 3-04-2010
I will return for 2.0!
Reply
Archmage said on 5:10PM 3-03-2010
/waves at all the NCwest employees that are posting positive comments about Aion in this thread
Seriously. I was one of this games biggest defenders for a while on AionSource and I finally gave up. I'm not going to detail the laundry list of problems with this game as they are discussed at length over on aionsource.com for anyone who cares to really do their homework on whether this game has been fixed or improved.
Just be careful you don't get your account hacked during your visit.
Reply
Joshua Przygocki said on 5:42PM 3-03-2010
Well I gave it my try, I wanted to see it succeed, but it somewhat failed me.
I hated the grind yes, but what ruined it the most for me, was the lack of anything special, the PvP was nice but the classes were jsut so bland, I felt like I was just cycling through my attacks on my chanter over and over, it was ridiculous. There was nothing special about the classes, EQ2 has some unique classes along with common ones, WoW has some class mechanics that are nice, WAR had some great ways of diversifying theirs, and other games(aside from most F2Ps) have SOMETHING that makes their classes stand out.
The characters are the heart of the game, they are you in-game, they are what makes an RPG work, in Aion they were just too straight-forward and bland...
Loved this game, but I also hated it, on top of all that I think my account got hacked because I received an E-Mail from NCsoft's support saying my password was changed by an IP I didn't recognize, so I searched it and found that it came from somewhere in Singapore.
If my account still has anything on it, I might give the game another try, maybe I will have a little motivation to grind some more and get some enjoyment out of the game, who knows.
Reply
Tizmah said on 5:54PM 3-03-2010
Naaaaw...They said they increased XP last time and I was also teased with hopes of Aion 2.0 and fell for it...
I won't fall for your little hype game this time. Nooo way.
Reply