Aion - Angels or Demons?

[Voicy]

Hi friends,

Based on interest in this game by WrG's (and the larger SA gaming community in general), I would like to see which faction tickles your fancy and maybe determine on which side we can all play together.

Basically there are 3 factions: The Elyos (Angels/"Alliance"), The Asmodians (Emo Demons/"Hordies") and the Dragonkin (NPC race). So far the SA Aion community rates the popularity as Elyos 68% - Asmodians 32%.

This is by no means an attempt to force people to choose a side, but I will find it interesting to see who prefers which side.

If you haven't heard of this game yet, I strongly suggest you read through Sunny's original thread: http://www.wargeeks.org/showthread.php?t=8105

I'll wait here... :whistle:

Right, so you've skimmed through that thread and you're still a little confused...Here's a few external links to give you a little more insight into the game...


SA Aion Community: - http://www.aionsouthafrica.com/

As per Sunny's post - Official Site: - http://eu.aiononline.com/uk/about/factions/?src=side

As per Sunny's post - Official Classes: - http://eu.aiononline.com/uk/about/classes/?src=side

MyGaming.co.za following: - http://mygaming.co.za/forum/showthread.php?t=2240

MyGaming.co.za Graphics queries: - http://mygaming.co.za/forum/showthread.php?t=2536

myADSL following: - http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=180991


There are currently 2 editions of the game being released at the end of this month:

Aion Steelbox retail version - R350.

Aion Collector's Edition (CE) - +/-R518. (What does it include? You didn't read the thread I told you to, did you? :baseballbat:)

Please note:

This is a Pay-to-Play (P2P) game and monthly subs will be around the 10 Euro mark, so roughly R100 p/m.

[Thumponius]

I think the Emo Demon look is definitely in this month. Those pumps are to die for.

[Noodle]

As cool as this looks, I just don't have the time or money to join a MMO...

But as an FYI I like the Asmodians.

[Voicy]

As cool as this looks, I just don't have the time or money to join a MMO...

But as an FYI I like the Asmodians.

I hear what you say - naturally I'd also prefer the "light" side, but if you look at the lore, they're not as rosey as they appear:


The Elyos occupy the lower half of Atreia, known as Elysea. After the Epic Cataclysm, they found themselves bathed in sunlight for over 750 years and, as a result, have transformed into a beautiful and radiant people. However, their splendor has also led to the Elyos becoming arrogant; they see themselves as blessed by Aion, while the Asmodians, cast into darkness by the Epic Cataclysm, are seen by the Elyos as cursed creatures.

etc.

They remind me of a certain religious race who consider themselves "the chosen race".


The Asmodians are a brave and hardy people, separated from the Elyos by the Epic Cataclysm and plunged into a world of darkness and despair. To survive such desolation is one thing, but to thrive and prosper is quite another.

The scars of their history are still exposed for all to see; as the Asmodians sank into their cold and somber world, their bodies started to change. In the darkness, their skin fell pale, and as their eyes adapted, they developed an otherworldly glow about them.

To their own, Asmodians are infinitely generous and fiercely loyal - they would sooner give their life in battle than to see that of a comrade taken from them. However, outsiders beware; Asmodians are an increasingly hostile faction and will not think twice before bringing their colossal power into play. Similar to their Elyos counterparts, Asmodian Daevas are blessed with strength and the ability to fly, though their wings have darkened following many difficult years on Asmodae.


Whereas the Asmodians on the other hand seem to have been dealt a raw deal that could've gone either way and as a result of their harsh conditions, they share a stronger fellowship.

So I'm leaning towards the funny-footed Asmodians as well at this point.

[SunnyCash]

I am going Asmodians with out a doubt. They are just awesoem and kind have the wolverine feel about them. As for the Dragonkin I am not sure if they are a playable race. Think they just npc's.

[Voicy]

I am going Asmodians with out a doubt. They are just awesoem and kind have the wolverine feel about them. As for the Dragonkin I am not sure if they are a playable race. Think they just npc's.

Yep, that's why I wrote (NPC race) in brackets behind 'dragonkin'. :p

Here's some background info on the Balaur (dragon okes):


The term “Balaur” invokes images of terror and fear for the level of destruction that they caused, and continue to cause, in Atreia. A mighty and highly intelligent race created by Aion to rule the planet’s population (including the human races), the Balaur quickly became fixated with power and servitude.

Their obsession eventually threatened The Tower of Eternity after violating the restrictions that Aion placed on them, forcing the god to create the Empyrean Lords to safeguard the planet and its people.

After a long and vicious war against the Empyrean Lords, the Balaur were involved in the destruction of the Tower of Eternity during an intended meeting for peace. In retaliation, the Empyrean Lords banished the Balaur, sealing them inside the Abyss, an unstable rift between the two shattered halves of Atreia.

Recently however, the Balaur have managed to escape from their prison, and threaten this fragile world with their fury once again...

It seems the flavour of the month as far as MMO's are concerned is evil dragons threatening to kill the planet. As is the theme for Cataclysm, Guild Wars 2, Dragon Age and now Aion.

[Noodle]

Although I think I could have fun in this..... I think it best I stop reading these threads :sad:

[Mugato]

Beards R Better! Yes?? Come on!! We will be 3 members strong!

Rule 1: You have to have photographic proof of having a beard to join
Rule 2: If you are female, your bf/husband or brother, father, cousin ect has to have a beard. Photographic proof once again.
Rule 3: We pwn everything!!
Rule 4: You dont have to follow rules 1,2 & 3 so long as you have a beard! Wootss!

*cue Dire Straits here*

Beards are Better - We get our money for nothing and our chicks for free...

[Jono]

If you haven't heard of this game yet, I strongly suggest you read through Sunny's original thread: http://www.wargeeks.org/showthread.php?t=8105

I cant read that thread... :(

[Voicy]

Shame - by the looks of things it's going to be 4 of us camping punky. :(

Anyone else shown any interest in this one?

[senorblinky]

Sunny sounded really enthusiastic about this game and admittedly got me to look into it with awe as well. But you know what, i only have one 80, the next chap is 72 then the one after that is 60, so i think i'll wait for all of you to try it first, and if you love it and it's the new [-]timeswaster[/-] game (and i have all my oktoberfest achievements :D ) I'll come and join...

But let's be the baddies this time... or rather, not the baddies, the... erm... "horde" equivalent

[Voicy]

Hi Friends,

So the game's officially released, you're all patched up and ready to go... now what?

Have no fear, for Aion Online's official Beginner's guide (http://powerwiki.na.aiononline.com/aion/Beginner%E2%80%99s+Guide) is here!

Check it out and hopefully we can help each other out as we go along in this game with no quest helper or wowhead to help us on our ways. :eek:

[SunnyCash]

Still patching :(

[Voicy]

So some of us have run into some early issues...

1) You have an account but you cannot log on?

Answer: Change your area settings to Europe in your NCSoft launcher under settings -> Advanced. (Thanks for the tip, Mugsy!)

2) Yay! It works! ... oh wait...everything is in chinese! :mad:

Answer: It is a known issue and here's the forum thread with various answers...

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=969588&page=1

It requires you to repatch a 300MB file in order to run the game. Me, I just pulled the 25MB 2_enu.pak (http://rapidshare.com/files/282165027/2_enu.pak.html) language patch from rapidshare (at my own risk) and it sorted out the problem 6-love. If my account gets stolen, it's luckily still early days...

[Sabre]

So guys is this a definite buy, bearing in mimd it would have to be better than WoW to attract the rest of the group???

[Voicy]

It's very different to wow in its concept design...

If you don't enjoy anime or arcade style fighting - this is not for you.

I'll post some screenies when I have a moment. Character creation is out of this world though - your guy/girl can be any shape/size/colour/creed/form/fitness level/etc.

You can even change the position, size and shape of your head, nose / eyes / brows / feet / neck / etc. It's silly.

[Sabre]

Voicy I assume your are an assassin :P

What server is every1 playing on and what classes, I'm seriously thinking about going to BT games to get this, apparently they have the 1.5 patch as well

[Sabre]

Voicy,

Do u know of a trustworthy source for the 1.5.0.0 to 1.5.0.7 patch, the NCsoft downloader will probably take about 2 days at it's current rate (for 540MB)?!?

[Voicy]

It took me 4hrs to pull the patch on a 384 line via the NCSoft loader. Sorry boet :meh:

[Voicy]

I've uploaded some screenies below of:

The user interface,
The transparent minimap you can use while running.
The character profile & quest log.
Flying with your own wings.
Taking a "flightpoint" between two outposts.

Hope this gives you guys a better idea of what it looks like...

[SunnyCash]

Its a very nice game I am pleased and whats even better is u pay for what you play so u in actual fact can play both wow and Aion but having said that I am enjoying it very much and for the moment can't see myself going back to wow full time until the new shiny feeling wears off Aion ;) I had allot of issues just getting on but once I was on I found myself forgiving them very quickly. I say if u are tierd of wow and u need a change of scene this could be a nice option even if its only for a few months.

[Voicy]

I don't know about that pay-per-play thing. On my account it still says next payment is 1 month from now.

I would _HATE_ pay-per-play instead of monthly subs.

Just imagine it in wow terms - you would NEVER boost lowbies, because it's costing YOU actual money. You would never go exploring willy nilly or help people being ganked, or level your fishing, or go rock jumping in nagrand or RP in Goldshire - because every minute you spend doing that is taken from your wallet. Hell no! :mad:

[Sabre]

Sigh, first download of the 526MB patch bombed last night after running for about 10 hours, and I couldn't repair it, so have reinstalled AION and downloading patch a second time ... fortunately it seems to be going faster. If I have to wait to log-in I'm not going to be impressed.

[Voicy]

Change your folder name to AionEU before doing the patch - ask Gassie to help you a bit with it on TS, otherwise you'll run into even more problems with the language settings.

I pulled a 25MB 2_enu.pak file to solve it though so its not the end of the world.

[Punky3025]

Can you level on your own like wow or do you need to be in a group

[Voicy]

Depends on your class - but after you've ascended it becomes rather difficult at times. Just harder, but you can yes. Gassie is struggling with his Assassin - but it also has a lot to do with your gear level. You can make your own stuff as well - no limit on what professions you take, but you can only max 2 of them.

[Sabre]

Voicy, it seems Gorgos is full :(

What char is Gassie playing?

[Voicy]

Gassie is playing an Assassin (scout to start off with) and I have one as well. After I ascended (choosing your class and getting your wings) I went and rolled a mage.

It'll be a good idea to do this with a few characters so you can get used to them.

[SunnyCash]

Yeah the server is a problem. Some times there is a queing time aswell but I don't see any with a low Pop

[Voicy]

Yeah there's huge server issues all over - i expect it from a new MMO launching.

Punky - it seems doing quests as a group is WAY less suicidal. After lvl 12 anyway... Max lvl is 50, but there's SO much to do in this game while you wait for a group of friends..

[Vortex]

I don't know about that pay-per-play thing. On my account it still says next payment is 1 month from now.

I would _HATE_ pay-per-play instead of monthly subs.

Just imagine it in wow terms - you would NEVER boost lowbies, because it's costing YOU actual money. You would never go exploring willy nilly or help people being ganked, or level your fishing, or go rock jumping in nagrand or RP in Goldshire - because every minute you spend doing that is taken from your wallet. Hell no! :mad:

Or you can come from the other angle and say that you'd rather quit playing entirely because you don't get to play enough to warrant the monthly subs! ;)

A pay-per-play concept isn't a bad idea for some IMO, but perhaps a choice between the two on an individual basis would have been a win..

[Voicy]

Vorts, you got a point on both counts...in the event that pay-per-play works out cheaper than monthly subs.

[Sabre]

Got to lvl 10 last night and really enjoyed it, this after waiting for 1hr 35 min to get in but it's early days and they are probably deliberately restricting ppl joining servers to try force them to move to servers with less folks. Was pleasantly surprised that the WoW practice of buffing folk as u pass them seems to have rubbed off on Aion.

Graphics are very good and was getting decent FPS, my pings were hovering around 580ms though, I don't know is this is server/network related or due to my new ISP (so I can't compare to WoW). It will be interesting to see what the raids look like and if we also get add-on's for Aion.

[Voicy]

I sincerely hope there are no add-ons for Aion.

My ping was sitting on 800ms and I didn't feel laggy at all.

[Ga5can]

Yes, it is very nice and like Sunny said - new :) The graphics is good and the story line seems to be good as well. Oh, and as you will here Voicy say - You will not get tired of gliding!

Up to lvl 10 it is easy going and you can solo quite a few quests. After that it becomes a bit more tricky as gear plays quite a big role in your dps. There are also a limited amount of quests, so you need to do every quest that you get.

What I have heard also is that you cannot really progress beyond lvl 22 without completing the group quests - again the issue of completing all the quests but also the difficulty in the quests. Something to keep in mind, DO NOT take on a mob that is 2 levels above your current level! (you need to be well geared to survive that fight as well as have some scrolls and potions available)

We do have a legion on the server (a.k.a Guild) called Ravenwood. Just log on to TS and chat with us.

Some of the Chars on the server

Mahdia - Gassie (Scout - Ranger)
Voicy - Voicy (Mage -
Pshygon - Psygon (
Falcor - Mugato (Scout - Ranger)
Fallenheart - Fallen (Priest -
Sunnycash - Sunny (Mage -
Gerro - Gero (Scout)

Some additional information:

Cubes (Bag space) the first extension will cost you 1000 gold. The second level will be 12000 gold. Dont worry about gold, you get quite a bit through completing quests but do buy the space asap.

You can log your cast bar by clicking the little lock to the left of it. It does help in some fights :)

You lock your char to an obelisk - if you die, you respawn there. You also loose some xp but can buy it back as well as get rid of the de-buff from the Spirit healer that stands next to the Obelisk.

You teleport between the main cities and fortresses but can only fly to the other villages, no teleporting.

You can take all the professions - Handicrafting, cooking, Alchemy, Weaponsmithing and Armorsmithing.

There is no skinning but you collect flowers, fish, minerals and crystals. It is important to begin that right from the beginning.

Do not use any of the accuracy mana-stones as your accuracy cap is 110! You can rather use HP + or MP +

... I will post a bit more later.

[Mugato]

Thanks for the help last night Gassie. My char would have been stuck there if it wasnt for the boost.

Heres my 2 cents. :D
Dont abandon any quests, no matter how trivial, Im having a real problem leveling. All my quests are one level above me and unlike WoW this doesnt bode well. Monsters one level higher can put up one hell of a fight. 2 Levels above you... bye bye. You cannot zone out and grind through mobs and its a habit ill have to try break. You have to focus and concentrate always in each bit of combat or risk visiting the Soul Healer.

Bear (or bare? I can never rememeber) in mind however that I havent mastered my chars playing technique yet, im still learning and configuring things so maybe a skilled player wont experience the problems im having. :D

Oh and check this out... I almost fell out my chair!

http://www.cad-comic.com/comic.php?d=20090923

[Voicy]

Yep - what gassie said!

Everything costs money in this game. Everything. Flight point to another place? 600g ... teleport to main city ... 1500. Want to buy back your lost res because some mob respawned behind you? 1500g - thanks for coming.

And ya - I'm using my +22 accuracy socket as a pet rock :)

Man - you just wont ever get tired of gliding! :gno:

[SunnyCash]

I see there are two more servers woth low Pop Perhaps we can have our Elyos chars on there for when we have a 2 hour login like I have today :(

[Sabre]

Are we using the IS or MWeb TS server?? See u guys online tonight.

[WondaWoman]

I think a sub-forum should be created for this game. Seems like it's taking off well.

[Voicy]

Thanks WeeWee, but so far there are only a few of us playing it. A sub-forum would be helpful though...

In the interim ... the holy grail of all things Aion related can be found here:

http://www.aionarmory.com

Have read through the forums with help on your specific class. After reading up on kiting etc. I could see a clear and present increase in my character's potency. (As illustrated by gassie's "ag nee man voicy, dis nie mooi nie" comment when I pooned a mob 3lvls above me without losing a pint of health.)

[Voicy]

I just noticed something extremely cool about aionarmory.com

If you've signed in and selected your main character...whenever you hover over a new piece of armor/weapon it not only displays the stats of that item, but also displays the name & stats of the item your in-game character is currently wearing _AND_ the difference in stats between your current gear and the new item you're viewing.

Pretty cool!

[Flatty]

I have been tempted to buy this game, very tempted. Then I got thinking - I have 3 x lvl 80's in WOW plus a 75 Shaman. I have wasted enough of my life playing WoW & there is no way in hell I am going to kill a gazillion more NPC's to get to the top of my game.

I feel like my days of gaming MMORPG's are coming to a close - even WoW. It's been fun guys :)

[rainy]

So far, Aion is a bit less of a grindfest... ;)