Filed under: Aion

Aion releases first Eye on Community for February

by Rubi Bayer Feb 7th 2010 at 8:00PM

Aion team member Tamat is back with the first Eye on Community for February, in which he answers player questions and talks a bit about what the developers have in store.

This week's player question was regarding the fort timer surveys from a while back, and Tamat revealed that they've finished looking over the surveys and will be changing the capture timer to an hour next week.

Eye on Community lived up to its name by providing a pretty extensive community roundup this time, directing players to a handy application to monitor server status, a guide to a couple of bosses (Kratia and Harpback -- if you're having trouble with them this is the place to go),a look a one players first month in Aion, and a new reason to keep one eye on the skies in PvP.

Head over to the official Aion site to read the full Eye on Community.

AionSource.com compromised, e-mails possibly leaked to hackers

by Seraphina Brennan Jan 29th 2010 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, Events, real-world, Exploits, News items

Yesterday we reported that a wide number of e-mail password phishing scams were being sent out to Aion users. Today, AionSource.com has sent out an e-mail announcement to all of their users that this new wave of scams may have been due to a hacking attack on their website.

Knite Shadowbane, administrator of AionSource, has posted that AionSource.com had been under hacker attack five days ago on the 24th of January. The staff has since cleared the attack and has proceeded to beef up their security, but today's e-mail to all AionSource members warns that their database could have been used for these phishing scams. So, if you are a member of AionSource, keep an eye out for any unusual e-mails coming your way.

Even if you aren't a member, always remember to check the source of any e-mails coming to you that request for you to "access your account" or "confirm your password" or require you to log into an unverified source.

Knite has also posted a handy guide to securing your account, such as changing your password and installing anti-virus software.

Aion players: Watch your e-mails for scams

by Seraphina Brennan Jan 28th 2010 at 10:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, News items

Keeping your password for your favorite game safe is always a top priority. No one wants to have their accounts hacked or have their passwords lost to someone who's willing to sell all of their items for gold, kinah, or what have you.

So today, as a friendly public service announcement, we here at Massively would like to remind you to make sure you double and triple check any correspondence that looks like it comes from NCsoft or your favorite game company. Today we've received an e-mail telling us that our Aion account password had been changed, and if it wasn't us that we needed to go to the NCsoft master account site and change it back.

We can guarantee you that the link provided was not for NCsoft's account management, but a phishing scam. While the scam letter was pretty obvious, always be wary of e-mails you don't anticipate. If you think there's something wrong, don't click any links in the e-mail -- instead go to your account management website directly to check on your account.

Aion's community address for January

by Eliot Lefebvre Jan 22nd 2010 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, Events, in-game, Previews, Leveling, News items

Approaching the end of the month means it's time for another Aion community address. It's reliable enough to set your watch by, assuming your watch runs in one-month increments of time. This address promises an increased number of double experience weekends, with one currently running to help players accelerate their leveling. It also promises that character re-customization and gender changing services are on the horizon for players who would like said services, and briefly discusses the need for ongoing improvement in the website. There's a scarcity of hard facts, however, beyond a promise that some of these features should be available in early February.

If you were guessing that the community seems a bit... unhappy about this, you'd be guessing right. The comments for this particular entry already stretch into the triple digits, with several players calling for server merges and additional content. It also has no mention about the recent security issues that NCsoft has been contending with, a somewhat sore point for several players. Coupled with the January Eye On Community, the natives seem to be getting a tad restless, especially with no news on the many features previewed in the Visions trailer. We're sure that Aion's team is hard at work, but the fan community seems a bit less docile than before.

One Shots: Girls on the internets?

by Krystalle Voecks Jan 22nd 2010 at 2:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Aion, One Shots

Occasionally we get some interesting -- or at least amusing -- stories from players who send in screenshots. Speaking as a female who plays MMOGs, I'm personally always amused when guys don't believe I'm a girl. Alternately, I'm equally amused by my male friends who play nothing but females. What am I on about? Well, here's a note from Julian H. that came with today's sunny Aion screenshot to explain: My friends and I were rounding up some Krall marks with an alleged real "girl" who decided to cuddle next to my friend. We are all Elyos on the Vaizel server. Gotta love MMO culture -- where everyone is male until proven otherwise.

Have you taken a silly screenshot when you've been out running around? If so, we'd love to see it. Just email it in to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a quick description. We'll post it out here and give you the credit. Easy enough to do!

Gallery: One Shots

Double XP in Aion this weekend

by Kyle Horner Jan 20th 2010 at 11:00AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, Events, in-game, News items

Since we're aware many of you get your MMO time in on the weekends, double XP events are always something we're keen to post about in a timely manner. This is especially true if you're stuck in a level spread that's seemingly impossible to grind past without developing a desire to redistribute objects on your desk in a forceful manner. Double XP weekends can be a real life saver for the jaded MMO gamer.

That's why we're here to tell you that Aion is having one starting on Friday, January 22nd -- although make sure to take a gander at the official post, as it contains the starting time for each server timezone. The weekend ends at 8am (server time) the following Monday, so check which timezone your character's server is set to and plan accordingly.

[Thanks, AterNox!]

Aion announces Solorius Video Contest winners

by Rubi Bayer Jan 18th 2010 at 7:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Aion, Contests

Part of the Solorius celebration in Aion included the Solorius Video Contest, an opportunity for fans to show off how they were celebrating Solorius, and compete for some extremely generous prize packages. The contest deadline was January 5th, and from then on it was up to the Aion staff to sift through and pick a winner: "On Wednesday, 12 members of the Aion team were locked in a conference room to view the videos that made it to the finals. It wasn't easy, but we're happy to announce that we've chosen our winners. Drum roll, please!"

The three winners displayed not only nice editing skills, but some pretty impressive vocal talent as well. The winning videos can be seen on the Aion site. (Aion staff members also treated us to a few of their favorites that didn't make it into the top three, so make sure to take a peek at those as well.) Our congratulations to the winners!

NCsoft names new producer for Aion

by Rubi Bayer Jan 15th 2010 at 9:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, News items

NCsoft announced this evening that they have named a new producer for Aion. Chris "Kinslon" Hager left his Associate Producer position to make the step up to Aion Producer. Kinslon has been with NCsoft since the fall of 2005, working on Guild Wars and Lineage II as well as Aion.

Andrew "Tamat" Beegle welcomes Kinslon: "We're all very excited to follow our new Producer forward. His intricate knowledge of Aion and deep history with the game and NCsoft are invaluable as we move forward. Needless to say, there is plenty to be excited about that we have yet to announce."

The team at Aion has spoken very often about changes and new content coming in 2010, and this is presumably the first of many to come. Along with the rest of the Community team, as well as the fans, we wish Kinslon the best of luck in his new position.

One Shots: They're wash and wear

by Krystalle Voecks Jan 11th 2010 at 2:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Aion, One Shots

When it comes to characters in Aion, normally we see tall, statuesque types. That's why we couldn't help but go "d'awwwww" when we opened our email box to reveal this trio in their freshly cleaned wings. From top left to front, we have Mae, Zowina and the adorably small Flowette of the guild Penguin Theory on the Castor EU Aion server. Along with this cute screenshot, Flowette wrote us a note: [Here's] how to look fashionable in three easy steps. (Just don't put your wings in the tumble-dryer after washing!)

Have you and your friends gotten a fun shot while you were playing together? If so, we would love to see it. All you have to do is email it to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a quick description. (Guild and server are welcome too!) We'll post your screenshot out here for everyone to check out and give you the credit for sending it to us.

Gallery: One Shots

January Eye on Community promises more for 2010 in Aion

by Rubi Bayer Jan 11th 2010 at 9:00AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, News items

The latest Eye on Community from Aion team member Andrew "Tamat" Beegle covers two of the biggest issues in player's minds these days: the recent account security breaches, and upcoming new content.

This month's player question was, "A lot of players are wondering about the future development of Aion. Since the Aion Vision Trailer we haven't heard anything." Tamat does mention that something as big as the Vision trailer will naturally lead fans to expect something concrete, and promises a "significant amount of content" this year brought to the game through several updates.

He also addressed the continuing security concerns, reminding players to take what steps they could to protect themselves on their end. Check out the first Eye on the Community for 2010 here.

Aion gets a post-launch discussion in Game Developer magazine

by Eliot Lefebvre Jan 10th 2010 at 10:00AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, MMO industry, Opinion

With a couple months under its belt and a more stable playerbase, Aion is no longer in the state of just-launched new hotness any longer. You might be one of the game's still-numerous fans, or maybe you stepped away from the game because of the grind. Either way, there were a number of innovative and interesting features in the game, which was designed from the ground up to appeal to gamers on both sides of the pond.

The latest issue of Game Developer magazine has a lengthy feature on what went right and what went wrong from the Aion team's point of view. The CryEngine and the game's overall level of polish are both cited as decisive positives for the game, helping the game feel more vital and engaging. The limited amount of flight early in the game is also pointed out as helping to simplify the learning curve, as navigating combat in three-dimensional space can get overwhelming for first-time players.

On the flip side, the developers also talk about the amount of pressure on the frequently-changing team, as well as the technical and conceptual troubles with working on the Abyss. If you're interested in reading the full article, you should pick up a copy of the magazine, which is only around $4 for a digital copy.

Star Trek Online pre-orders topping Direct2Drive sales

by Rubi Bayer Jan 7th 2010 at 11:00AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-fi, Aion, New titles, News items, Star Trek Online

Some people may be apprehensive about the speed with which Cryptic is rolling out Star Trek Online, but that isn't slowing down the pre-orders at all. It seems that the majority of fans remain anxious to get their hands on the game. For the week of December 27th - January 2nd, pre-orders of the Star Trek Online Digital Deluxe edition took the number one spot for sales at Direct2Drive. Pre-orders of the regular edition of STO made a showing as well, coming in at number ten.

Cryptic isn't the only studio enjoying last week's sales figures. Aion is still selling well, and came in at number four last week. They dominated the D2D sales shortly after launch, grabbing the top two spots (Collector's Edition and Standard Edition) at both D2D and Steam at the end of September, and remaining in the top ten even into November.

STO is scheduled for launch in less than a month, so keep your eye on Massively for continued coverage as release day approaches.

Aion money glitch gives trillions to players

by Rubi Bayer Jan 5th 2010 at 10:00AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, Bugs, Server downtime, News items

A few Aion players on the Azphel server got a bit of a shock yesterday when a bug in the system presented them with more than 30 trillion Kinah as a reward. With that much extra cash floating around, the economy predictably went...well, completely insane.

The Auction Hall looked like opening day at the NYSE, and even fairly common items were selling for outrageous amounts of Kinah. The news spread outside of game very quickly, sending the Aion team into overdrive as they tried to figure out what had happened. (Since this isn't the first time something like this has happened to an NCsoft game, we imagine there was a game plan in place.)

The Azphel servers were taken down for "emergency maintenance" shortly afterward, and news of a rollback came down very early this morning, surprising absolutely nobody. As of now, the Aion team is planning to roll the servers back to 6:00 AM CST Monday morning, but they're not quite out of the woods yet. They have since found "a few additional bugs that are having a direct impact on the stability of the Azphel economy", and promise more information soon.

NCsoft sings a familiar tune with Aion security warnings

by Rubi Bayer Dec 29th 2009 at 11:00AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, Culture, News items

If you've been watching the increasingly insistent security warnings from NCsoft in the Aion community, your first reaction is probably to assume that it's another round of hackings a la Guild Wars. Don't be so quick to jump to that conclusion however, because while the warnings are pretty familiar this is a bit of a different situation.

With Aion's recent huge (and sometimes hilarious) push to ban gold sellers, the RMT traders are looking for new ways to make a (dis)honest living. And they're starting with some pretty official-looking phishing attempts in-game. Aion Support Tweeted a warning a while back, and Andrew "Tamat" Beegle echoed the sentiment last night, pointing back to the security warnings on the main site.

Unfortunately, gold sellers are persistent. And while it's a relief not to have them hanging around in game anymore, they didn't decide to step away from their computers and find a different way to make a living, they just changed tactics. So let's be careful out there.

One Shots: Cross-faction fashion

by Krystalle Voecks Dec 27th 2009 at 2:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Aion, One Shots

When it comes to glorious visuals, very few would say that Aion wasn't breathtaking. That said, there seems to be some strangeness going on with clothing: the Asmodians like the Elysean clothing, and the Elyseans are quite fond of the Asmodian gear. Today's Aion One Shots comes in to us from Janis T. who explains more about this lovely shot and the mixed fashions herein.

With a game like Aion, whose hype can largely be credited to its graphics, it was only a matter of time (and money) before I started obsessing over my character's armour. As if I hadn't spent enough time on the character creation screen! Despite rolling Asmodian, I have an extreme fondness for Elysean armour and scenery. This is my character Soul (Asmodian Ranger, Marchutan) in Brusthonin, wearing a full set of Elyos armour. There has recently been another picture posted of an Elyos wearing Asmodian armour -- but let me tell you this, obtaining armour of the opposing faction is much, much harder as an Asmodian.

One Shots is all about you, but we need your screenshots to show that off! Just send those in to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a quick description of what's going on. We'll post it out here and give you the credit for sending it in.

Gallery: One Shots