Filed under: Aion

One Shots: Wonder what he's reading

by Krystalle Voecks Nov 16th 2009 at 2:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Aion, One Shots

For some of us, there's nothing quite as good as getting some gaming time in, save perhaps cracking open a good book. Sometimes you can even get a good book in while getting some MMO time. When you add in being in the lovely lands of Aion, that's a pretty solid combination -- or at least a pretty one as today's One Shots shows! This great picture comes to us from Steffan A. who writes in: I started a new character on Triniel, and I was wandering through Munihele Forest when I just had to stop and take a screenshot. Aion is one of the best looking MMORPG's I have ever played, and I think I'll be staying for awhile.

For some, it's all about the beauty. For others, it's all about the play. Others still prefer a bit of both! We'd love to see screens of your favorite MMO, if you'd like to send 'em on in. Just email them to oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a quick description. We'll do the rest. Easy, no?

Gallery: One Shots

Developer communication as it affects games

by Eliot Lefebvre Nov 15th 2009 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Aion, Forums, Opinion, Academic, Champions Online

Developer chats aren't only important when it comes to what players know about the game -- they're also important in how the players approach the game. That's one of the more interesting conclusions to be taken away from Elder Game's latest discussion regarding the interactions between developers and community. As Eric Heimburg points out, developers and community teams have two main approaches to dealing with their players, both of which affect the attitude of players and their perception of the game as a whole.

Aion is his choice of examples for the first type of communication, in which the development team is essentially totally silent. The attitude is either complete silence, or denying that a bug is actually a bug. On the flip side, Champions Online embraces an open style of communication in which the developers loudly talk about bugs, system problems, and so on. Heimburg goes on to point out the positives and negatives of both sides -- Aion, for instance, creates an impression that things are working as intended even when they aren't. That works well until it becomes absolutely transparent that something is wrong, at which point the credibility is lost. Champions Online has a much more prevalent sense that the players should work with the developers and give them slack, but that only extends so far. It's an interesting look at a complicated issue, and worthy of an in-depth reading.

NCSoft asks Aion players to fly their fan flags in public

by Rubi Bayer Nov 14th 2009 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, Culture, Events, real-world

NCsoft and the Aion staff have been spending a lot of time lately working to get the Aion community involved and engaged in ways beyond just playing the game. They began with the Eye on Community feature, brought out Aion apparel, and now NCsoft gives you Aion Around the World.

The Aion team is enjoying the international popularity of their game and want to see it in action. Community Manager Andrew "Tamat" Beegle explains "to highlight the global phenomenon that Aion has become, we want to see pictures of our community members in public locations. We're looking for pictures of our players participating in exciting activities or showcasing Aion-themed merchandise, art, or cosplay."

Tamat and two other Aion team members Ayase and Amboss illustrated the idea by cleverly getting themselves into one photo while 5,000 miles apart. (We anticipate someone taking the idea a step farther by doing the same thing with their entire guild.) Aion will be featuring the pictures on their site for the next few months, so get to work on those wings, grab your camera, and send your photos to the Aion Community email. Have fun!

Aion live server numbers crunched

by Brooke Pilley Nov 13th 2009 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, New titles

Aion has been out for roughly 6 weeks so we thought it might be fun to crunch some of the numbers NCsoft provides on their official North American website. We've taken a look at realm balance, class balance, and what level Aion's population is at. Data collection occurred on November 12 at noon Eastern. A spreadsheet containing all data can be viewed here.

Realm population balance (Elyos vs. Asmodian)

Realm population balance is 50/50 on 3 of 14 servers. The remaining 11 servers have the Asmodians ahead of the Elyos by a 51:49 ratio. It appears as if NCsoft's forced realm population balance mechanic is keeping things under control, but one wonders how rampant these disparities would be if character creation was unrestricted. We've seen unbalanced two-faction MMOs before.

It should be stated that these numbers only represent a tally of Elyos and Asmodians across all servers and not how organized or active each realm is in PvPvE.

Aion announces holiday items for players

by Rubi Bayer Nov 10th 2009 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, News items

The holiday season is approaching, and NCsoft is leading the charge for the annual rush of holiday celebrations and items in MMOs. Yesterday they announced the Aion Holiday Ascension Pack for those of you who haven't purchased the game yet, or are hoping to receive it as a gift.

The Ascension Pack comes with an extra holiday bonus in the form of four gifts to give your character a little boost and shine up his or her appearance a bit. It contains 20 Lesser Life Potions, 15 Lodas Amulets, 15 Lesser Running Scrolls, and a special dye for your character. You'll get a different dye color depending on where you purchase your Ascension Pack, so you may want to choose your purchase place with that in mind.

Amazon – Hot Orange Dye
Best Buy – Mustard Dye
Game Stop – True Black Dye
Target – True Red Dye
Wal-Mart – True White Dye

Aion is only the first game to begin announcing their holiday plans - we're sure much more will be coming soon, and we're looking forward to it!

Aion reports nearly 1 million copies sold in North America and Europe

by Rubi Bayer Nov 9th 2009 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, News items

Aion hit the ground running earlier this year, easily breaking the 400,000 mark for pre-orders, and they're continuing the trend. The first month post launch was occasionally rocky, but the good seems to easily outweigh the bad in the eyes of fans: NCsoft announced today that they have sold nearly one million copies of Aion: The Tower of Eternity in North America and Europe.

North America accounted for over 500,000 of those copies, and European sales stand at around 470,000, allowing Aion to make up an extremely respectable 52 percent of NCsoft's total sales last quarter.

Aion has their player base to thank for the sales, but their timing certainly didn't hurt. They enjoyed a launch time relatively free of competition -- the MMO market wasn't exactly glutted with new high-fantasy PvPvE titles in 2009.

Aion officially launched September 22nd in North America, and September 25th in Europe.

Aion 1.5.1 patch additions receive an overwhelming "Meh"

by Brooke Pilley Nov 9th 2009 at 1:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, Patches, News items

The latest additions to Aion's 1.5.1 patch notes illustrate the "damned if you do, damned if you don't" reality that is MMO development. They also show a potential communication disconnect between the game's players and developers or possibly even unrealistic expectations. Upon reading the pages and pages of player comments on these patch note additions, the general opinion can be summarized as such: "These changes don't address our major complaints."

There's no doubt that 1.5.1 will greatly improve Aion (less grind anyone?), but players seem to be sticking on a few major points that aren't yet in the tentative patch notes. Most of the players commenting on these notes seem to feel that Aion's first big patch should tackle the crashing fortresses issue (crysys.dll), flying spiritmaster pets, better UI customization, and a number of other issues (less grind included). There also appears to be resistance to a new debuff that will be added to aether extraction. Players will now be randomly debuffed when gathering, but can quickly remove it by typing a captcha. This change is obviously aimed at bots, but many state this will become an annoyance for everyone.

Check out our summary of part one of the patch notes and AionSource's interview with NCsoft's Lani Blazier to get a comprehensive view of the situation.

One Shots: The hat needs work

by Krystalle Voecks Nov 8th 2009 at 2:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Aion, One Shots

When it comes to Aion, many players love just how highly detailed and cool-looking their armor and weapons are. However, when it comes to the recent holiday hats from the Aion Halloween event, those glowy pumpkin heads just don't really cut it in comparison. Even considering that, they're still fun to see. This recent image comes to us from our long-time One Shots contributor, Johanis, who writes in: Here is Metros...now almost level 25 Templar who just got his Halloween Hat. Lookin' good!

One Shots is all about reader contributions. MMOs from big to small are welcome. Just email them 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 them out here and give you the love for sending 'em in.

Gallery: One Shots

Aion grips top ten digital sales charts a month past release

by Kyle Horner Nov 7th 2009 at 10:00AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, News items

You'd be forgiven for thinking Aion would've fallen off the Steam and DIrect2Drive top ten sales charts, what with the fire hose blast of new PC releases. Fortunately for NCsoft, that isn't the case as the game is still clinging to said charts in the face of games like Dragon Age: Origins, Borderlands, Torchlight and Left 4 Dead 2. Boldness!

Actually, the game is pretty darn good -- if you don't mind your peanut butter with extra grind -- so that's not a huge surprise all things considered. It's always a good sign when an MMO can stay on the top ten after its launch, moreso when it does so against high profile, high pedigree releases. So, rejoice Aion players, you've likely got a strong community! (We could've just told you that, but now numbers vindicate said observation.)

The Daily Grind: Are you still playing a September MMO?

by Brooke Pilley Nov 6th 2009 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Aion, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Fallen Earth, New titles, The Daily Grind, Champions Online

September 2009 saw the release of Champions Online, Dungeons & Dragons: Eberron Unlimited (an older MMO going F2P), Fallen Earth, and Aion. This was easily the busiest month for MMOs in recent memory and we're sure many of you at least picked up one of them to try out. We're curious to know if you're still playing a September MMO just over a month later. If so or if not, why?

No MMO in the history of MMOs has experienced a perfectly smooth launch and these September titles were no exception. Did the action-packed combat of CO pull you in or did the lack of content push you away? Were you awed by DDO-EU's polished suite of tools or annoyed by the limitations put on free accounts? Was Fallen Earth's post-apocalyptic setting a breath of fresh air or did you choke on a mouthful of radioactive bugs? Did the beauty and smoothness of Aion make your heart beat faster or did its grind and bot infestation crush your soul? Just how impressed were you with September's crop of new MMOs?

Massively wishes you a happy Halloween

by Alex Ziebart Oct 31st 2009 at 12:00PM

Filed under: Age of Conan, Aion, City of Heroes, EverQuest, EverQuest II, Fallen Earth, Final Fantasy XI, Guild Wars, Lineage, Lineage 2, Warhammer Online, Star Wars Galaxies, Exteel, Free Realms, Champions Online, Runes of Magic, Legends of Norrath

Halloween is probably second only to Christmas in terms of holiday popularity. Ask just about anybody what their favorite holiday is, and they'll probably list one of those two (if it fits the culture). Naturally, as MMO players, we have fun celebrating it in our virtual worlds just like we do in the real world. And boy, this year, do we ever celebrate. Just about every active MMO out there had (or has) something going on. The 2009 lineup included:

Most of these events last a few days into November, so if there's any one in particular you're dying to experience, you might still have a chance if you have a subscription laying around. If you're not able to visit any of these in person, we have screenshots from many of these events in the gallery below. Enjoy!

Gallery: Halloween 2009

Details for Aion's new Veteran Rewards Program

by Brooke Pilley Oct 31st 2009 at 10:00AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, News items

We probably don't need to point out the glaring congruity that each month you play Aion will soon be rewarded with four XP boost amulets; but we will. NCsoft just spilled the beans on their new Veteran Rewards Program. This seems slightly ironic because the game has only been out for a month. We suppose it's probably a good strategy to entice players to stick around; especially after an MMO's first month, which is arguably the rockiest.

Players will now receive special items for each month they remain subscribed to Aion. Months one to six award four Lodas Amulets (20% bonus XP for one hour) and four Revival Stones (self/player resurrection). Additionally, month one gives a cube expansion ticket (+1 free row) and a special Michael Jackson dance emote. Month three grants an extra title (Adept of Aion ) and another Forbidden Dance emote. Month six gives players special level 40 Black Cloud wings.

The disclaimer states that NCsoft can expand, revise, or end the Veteran Rewards Program at any time. With the first six months plotted out, it seems likely they will continue as the game soars ahead. Check out the official description page for full details on how to qualify.

Aion releases tentative patch notes for 1.5.1

by Rubi Bayer Oct 30th 2009 at 10:00AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, Patches, News items

In last week's community address, Aion promised some changes on the way in the next update. Today they released some tentative notes for that update as a preview of things to come. Of course the patch is still in testing and things are open to change, but it's a look at where things are headed.

Thankfully, it looks like the issue of EXP is being addressed pretty extensively. There are new repeatable quests that focus on crafting, increased EXP for gathering and crafting, increased EXP rewards for many quests in both regions, and a slight reduction in EXP penalties when you're in a group. We're anxious to see how this plays out when the patch is implemented -- a decrease in the grind will undoubtedly be welcomed by the Aion community. Rewards will be getting a little boost too, in the form of increased drop rates in several areas and new rewards here and there to make the grind a bit more rewarding.

The patch notes also include the standard tweaks -- bug fixes, skill balances, and changes to items and NPCs. Check out the full notes for all the current details, and we'll keep an eye out for a release date.

Last chance to upgrade Aion from standard to collector's edition

by Brooke Pilley Oct 28th 2009 at 5:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, New titles, News items

If you've been holding off on upgrading your standard edition version of Aion to the full-fledged collector's edition, now's your last chance. NCsoft is extending the upgrade window by only 48 more hours from Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 12:01 a.m. PDT to Friday, October 30, 2009 at 11:59 p.m. PDT. (Check the time in your area.) Here are the in-game goodies you'll receive for a $10 USD upgrade fee:

Black Cloud Wings (gives 40 seconds of additional flight time)
Black Cloud Earring (gives an HP and an MP boost)
Special character title (Settler of Aion) with stat boost
Rich purple dye to tint 10 in-game items
Two character emotes

The original upgrade period ended a bit earlier than NCsoft intended due to an interneal error, which is why they are extending it until this Friday (or Saturday depending on where you live). Keep your eye on the NCsoft store if you don't want to miss out on this limited time offer. It's actually a pretty good deal because the price difference between the pre-launch standard and collector's editions was up to $20 USD depending on the merchant.

One Shots: Elvis is everywhere

by Krystalle Voecks Oct 28th 2009 at 2:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Aion, One Shots

Okay, okay. It's not Elvis, but we feel reasonably certain he'd approve of those dashing sunglasses and the hair. That said, this One Shots comes to us from Justin M. who felt that a screenshot we've run earlier didn't do the lovely looks of Aion justice. As such, he sent in his own pretty shot along with the following note for us all to enjoy! Justin writes: Saw you post a picture talking about how beautiful Aion is, but the picture wasn't nearly as great as the many, many scenes that this game has. Here is one of my early pictures showing the diversity and beauty of the landscape, creatures, and my toon at level 14.

Think you've found a cooler looking shot from your favorite game? Why not toss in your own contribution and show off how awesome your favorite game is! It's easy to do. Just email it to 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 credit for capturing a great moment.

Gallery: One Shots