Some piccies of Aion Snort

So Aion is near

Our Coalition of guilds have finally decided on a server for Aion.

We have as a community chosen: Perento

The legions we are bringing with us are the following:

Elyos:

Nishibo
Chosen Existence
Excessum
Ginnunga
Explicit Content
Comittee
Semper Dius
Cyrus
The Black Hand
Crimson Imperium Reborn

Asmodian:

Sol Invictus
MEH
Heresy
Hades
Eva Vix
VideInfra
Drakes
Frozen Tears
Mystical Awakening
The Unnamed

Aion thoughts

A large proportion of my guild are interested in playing Aion. I thought it prudent to do some research on the game to make an informed opinion of my own. While my guildies are enjoying the game a lot of them are looking at it with a non-critical eye and are not the best source of factual information.

I tried the various forums for information and while MMOrpg, Aion Source and the official beta forums have a lot of threads the standard of information is appalingly low for anyone attempting to glean some facts about games.

I will illustrate the character creation system (which is superb) allows you to creat characters that are anything from 4 feet to 7 feet tall, I wished to see if there were any actual disadvantages to being as small as possible or indeed any advantages to being as big as i could be. There were indeed threads on a number of the forums where these questions were asked. The replies given covered.

I am rolling a small character

I am rolling a big character

I am rolling a medium character

Small characters look silly

Large characters look silly

You should not be able to make you character so small

you should not be allowed to make characters so big

The size difference in this game makes it a bad game

Go back to WoW

Aion Will fail

Of the 40 or so posts in the threads two actually addressed the question. One pointed out that the hit boxes are universal for both characters but smaller characters catch the eye less in pvp. The second that a larger character as a tank is easier for dps and healers to find and to interact with in terms of position, healing buffs.

So why are these threads so poor and why are the standard of reviews so poor in terms of actually providing factual information.

Firstly posters in threads for a game that isnt launched are self selecting and in no way reflect the gaming community of a launched game While they are not exclusively fanatics they do have an above average interest in the game.

A large number of these posters tend to break down in to the Fanboi or the Hater.

The Fanboi is magpie like in his love for something new and shiny, he has often left another game and resents that others still enjoy something that they he longer does. His new love is without flaw and vastly superior to his previous infatuation who still casts her whorish wares in front of the unenlightened.

The Hater has invested a lot of time in another game and they see a new game as a threat to their game. The worst scenario for them is that they will have to go a new game and all their time invested in their character will have come to and end and they will be starting as a lowbe again.

Neither of these types offer anything to those of us who want to learn about the game and we have the misfortune of having to try and sort through their dross to get the few gems the forums have.

Having suffered through a few days of forums and finding those who are trying toi provide some real information I came to the conclusion the game was worth having a look at in Beta.

In the past I have played,WoW,EQ, EQ2, CoH, Warhammer, VanguardSOH, AoC so i am comfortable enough with the MMOrpg to at least know what I like. I think i know enough to be able to look at a new Mmo and have some idea if its worth exploring further.



So how did i find Aion?

Aion runs very well it felt smooth and my fps went to around 100 (albeit in a beta environment)I had max’ed out graphical settings at 1920×1200 . Overall the game feels very robust and well put together.

the whole pre-daeva game (that's levels 1 p- 10 before you specialise) feels a little repetitive but this is the case with all Mmos

The quests are mostly kill quests, the skills the classes get are interesting for sorcerer and cleric, but quite boring for the melee classes. The scout has only one attack, which key will be spammed in hope for a crit, to finish the task quickly.

EQ2 learned its lesson after 2 years of constant negative feedback about its convoluted branching system. Eventually EQ2 did away with this system by letting people choose the class they wanted right from the beginning, at lvl 1, without having them go through two separate branches to get there.

Even in the early stages you seem forced to group.Having your campaign quest push you into an area that requires a group and kill mobs that can only be killed by a group is forced. Should you decide to skip this part, for whatever reason, then you are missing out on a portion of the game that pushes your character development along the plot line.

While some players would prefer to do it solo I actually think a return to a more group orientated leveling experience is a big plus.

You SHOULD loose out if you do not group.
You SHOULD get better loot in a group.
You SHOULDN'T be able to get through without groups.

It is also worth considering which class type suits you. I tend to believe the tank healer classes are where groups succeed, dps decides how fast you succeed. Aion also seems to be a game that will need you tank in particular to be very aware. I also suspect that the sorcerer class may have to be like an enchanter in everquest dealing with adds. This is a game that starts at level 20, not at max level. If you pick a healing class, expect to be healing and not DPSing or Tanking, that's just how it is.

I decided that I would spend my time in beta testing the templar class. Templars are the pure tanks of the Warrior class and of the entire game really. Templars use swords or maces as their primary weapon and a shield to go along with it. They are masters at building threat and mitigation. There is not much to say about the class other than what has already been stated, but I will say that if your goal for your character is to tank in all situations and be able to handle incoming damage the best, then the Templar is for you.

Theres is little downtime while grinding and I kill mobs pretty much as fast as the next guy. There are a few issues with multi-mob tanking but the new aoe taunt skills that are coming up seem like it will take care of that to some extent.

Tanking the elite mobs near Altgard was very lucrative in terms of cash and items drops and experience. It was also challenging, the group needs to be awake and on the ball. They can be started by a full group at level 13 but a careful approach is required. The area also has a few named elites which have some nice green drops.

Gathering and crafting are very time consuming

Is it a revolutionary game? Nope but IMHO its on par with LoTRO, AoC with patch 1.5, and EQ2. The game provides people a good experience for those seeking a new world to explore.

The character graphics and customization IMHO is outstanding and so is the armor and weapons designs in game. Quest wise there is nothing new here in this game. If you’ve played WoW, LOTRO, CoH/V, etc..

The game isn't hard , it takes effort. At lvl 10 you get a taste of what your character is capable of, at lv18 it comes to life with the various skills you receive and allow you to familiarize with your character further and develop your playstyle.

Some links I found useful.

http://www.rpgfan.com/reviews/Aion/index.html

http://powerwiki.na.aiononline.com/aion/Templar

http://www.aionarmory.com/search.aspx?browse=6.6&filters=501=45;502=50

http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/previews/48835/Aion-Options-and-Interface

http://www.aionsource.com/forum/general-discussion/16195-translation-aion-update-1-1-a.html

http://www.aionsource.com/forum/general-discussion/18828-dats-translations-including-major-patch-notes.html

http://www.aionsource.com/forum/general-discussion/22086-truth-reaching-level-50-5-days.html

http://www.aionsource.com/forum/general-guides/20612-how-effectively-use-keybinds.html

http://powerwiki.na.aiononline.com/aion/Combat

http://www.mmorpg.com/blogs/Paragus1/072009/4306_Aion-Updated-Impressions-and-the-Abyss

Fan sites:
http://aionicthoughts.wordpress.com/
http://www.aionarmory.com/
http://www.aionglobal.com/
http://www.aionsource.com/
http://www.areyouhellbound.com/forum/
http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/253
http://www.onrpg.com/
Official sites:
http://www.ncsoft.com/global/
http://www.aiononline.com/us/
http://eu.aiononline.com/en/
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/246106/Mostly-Elyos.html

Aion but what of Endgame

Aion and hype.

Interesting thoughts here.

A taster.

WAR had a ton of hype before launch. Probably more hype than any game I have seen before. It worked, as evidenced by the fact that they sold nearly a million copies of the game. Looking back on the pre-release hype, however, reveals that much of it was generated by Mythic. Paul Barnett and the rest of Mythic did a masterful job of building hype. Video Podcasts, developer interviews, convention booths and Mythic’s regular visiting of any WAR forum, all contributed to an amount of hype unknown before WAR. The Internet was covered in WAR information and hype and we all fell for it; hook, line and sinker. Of course, after the game was released, we found that most of the hype was just that; HYPE.

I am going to have to check out Aion

More to come.

Nothing but the truth about the Blorc

I had to copy this and draw attention to it here. I agree with nealry every word.

Its not my work all credit goes to TLALOC.


Forgive the wall of text below. I started typing and it just poured out. Mythic has me completely pissed.
This isn't an exhaustive list of how they've screwed the pooch on this class - but it's a start.


*** STATS ***

.. Wounds and Black Orcs ..

Wounds was once our advantage over other tanks. The new cap of 1050 has stripped that from us.

We have a tactic that adds 160 Wounds. However, the cap of 1050 is reachable without this, and easily. Tactics slots are very valuable - so once you have decent gear, it is now foolish to slot our wounds tactic.

In fact, ANY ability that a Black Orc has that increases Wounds has now taken a hit under this new mechanic.

- I'm Da Biggest: already mentioned - useless once your gear is good.
- Da Biggest: If you steal Wounds and it puts you over the cap, the buff has no effect.
- Da Toughest: The Wounds proc fails to work if it would put you over the cap.


.. Stat Caps in general ..

To be blunt, Mythic has ham-fisted stat caps.

First they nerfed Str contribution, so everyone looked for the magic number where Str stops mattering and moved to Wounds.
So then they soft-cap Wounds to 1050. Guess what? We all now aim for that number and move on to Toughness.

Can't they see that they are not helping diversify our stat choices? They are locking us into cookie-cutter builds. If they want to make people start making different choices, they need to remove caps and actually make all stats do something meaningful.


.. Class skills ..

If a class has a skill that increases a stat, that skill should ignore the stat cap. Why? Because the whole waffleing point of these skills is to define your class.

If I'm supposed to be the Wounds tank, then why am I now running around with the same wounds as every other waffle tank in the game?

Let ALL classes with a stat-increasing ability use that ability to push beyond the baseline caps.



*** Armor Stacking ***


The following abilities all increase Armor for a Black Orc:

- Tuffer n' Nails
- Da Greenest (bellow proc on physical damage)
- We'z Bigger
- Armor pots

Of these abilities, the following stack:

- ...

So let me get this straight ... a Black Orc has no less than _three_ class abilities that are mutually exclusive?! Using one of these negates the usefulness of the other 2?

And if I use an Armor pot, and three of my class abilities are now useless? What kind of Busch League crap is this?! Mythic developers, anything?


*** Tactics ***

We have the crappiest tactics of all the tanks in this game, bar none. Yes, this is a bold statement - I challenge anyone to prove me wrong.

Stolen from here:
http://forums.warhammeronline.com/warhammer/board/message?board.id=greenskin_bo&thread.id=294

Black Orc
m1 - Quit yer squabblin': 10% parry/dodge to your group for 30s
m2 - Deafening Bellow : 7s AoE (30ft) silence
m3 - Walk it off! : 120 toughness to your group for 15 seconds (!!)

Swordmaster
m1 - Guard of steel : 120 tgh to your group for 10s (look familiar?)
m2 - Wings of heaven : Leap to your target and snare everyone around by 60% for 10s
m3 - Bladeshield : 2798 dmg shield for 10s that returns 600 dmg to attackers

Chosen
m1 - Inevitable changing : 600 dmg, full AP restore
m2 - Tzeech's amplification : +300% healing on the chosen for 15s
m3 - Sprout Carapace : 504 to resists, 1320 armor, 100 ap to your group for 30s

KOTBS
m1 - Guardian of light : 3600 dmg absorb for 30s
m2 - No escape : 40 yard root for 10 seconds, + 600 dmg
m3 - Emperor's Champion : +240 str/tgh/wounds for 30s

Black Guard
m1 - Banish weakness : all hexes/ailments/curses removed and 300 healed + ap returned for each effect
m2 - Away cretins! : ae knockback + 600 damage
m3 - Armor of eternal servitude : 990 armor + 2400 healed over 20s

Ironbreaker
m1 - Roc clutch : 7s root + 600 dmg
m2 - Skin of iron : Immune to damage for 5s
m3 - Gromril plating : 7200 dmg absorb for 30s to your group (stronger than our rank 4 morale btw)



*** PvP Spec ***

At the moment, there is exact 1 viable spec for PvP - Brawler/Boss. Why? Because all the matters in this game is: Dmg, Healing, CC.

Dmg - Our Dmg sucks (read complete joke) if we're not Brawler spec at least to 3-hit combo.
Heal - tanks don't heal.
CC - We have exactly 1 knockdown, in the Brawler tree, requiring a 2H.

A simple solution for opening up other viable specs for a PvP Black Orc would be:

- allow Down ya Go to work with a 1h.
- Fixing Waaagh so it actually does the damage it lists, and debuffs Corp.


*** Waaagh ***

While we're on the subject, WTW is up with Waaagh? This is the friggin slogan for this waffle game, and it is STILL broken after how many months?

According to a recent grab bag (someone link it up if you can find it), this should be:
- Based on STR
- doing Corp damage

It has the same delve value as Da Big Un, and should be doing considerably more damage because
- it's Corp instead of physical
- it debuffs itself

But instead of hitting like a truck (like Da Big Un does), it hits for 1/2 the damage it should.


*** Class Mechanic ***

Da Plan is too limiting, and offers no reward for its risk. (you can apply this to SM as well)

We are limited to using 1/3 of our skills at any one time, yet the skills in Da Best Plan are no better than other skills in other tank's arsenals that DON'T require some stupid dance to get to.

We have a tactic that advances us to the Best Plan on a Parry... but they putting waffleing timers on all our Best Plan abilities, making this completely useless! Why the hell are there lockout timers on abilities like 3-hit when we already have to be in the Best Plan to use them?


Da Plan also hurts our CC more than other tanks.
Snares - plan 2
Knockback - plan 2
Knockdown - plan 3

We have no way of advancing to plan 2 without having a target and being in range for melee. So we can NEVER start an engagement with a CC like knockback - an option all other tanks (other than SM) have. In a knockback engagement like a bridge fight, we are at an insane disadvantage over other tanks.

Now if we're in Plan 2 we _can_ advance to 3 with no target by using Big Swing. We need something like this for getting from Plan 1 to 2.

A fix for this would be to add an ability (or change an existing ability) to allow it to advance the plan. What if our AP Regen Shout added to Da Plan? At least then we'd be able to start an engagement on Plan 2 or 3 once every minute.

Getting the maths wrong?

So its a keep seige and our alliance are there, it goes on for over 60 minutes

Rank 6 keep with all the bells and whistles.

The attacking force is trapped in the inner courtyard.

174 order players

93 destro players

690 kills by Destro players

249 kills by Order players

Here is a screenie of destro inside the keep( well done to Bladeh for 100 kills)



The question is who were the attackers?


If you said order, your wrong.

1.87 to 1 population ratio

2.77 to 1 kill ratio

Does that mean we were 5 times as good?

Mrs Wiggles gets wings

I was the lucky winner of one of the special mounts on the test server.

I have taken some screenies to show of my new toy.

70% movement speed I LUB you.

Land of the Dead - PvP Skirmish

Some people have been missing the point of rvr in the Land of the Dead. They look at locking it, driving the other side out and purging a few instances and go meh.

The rvr in The land of the Dead only starts when the other side gains control.

Then you face a real challenge and a real penalty, if you die and cant get a ress your gone and out. You going to be outnumbered too as the majority of your faction are vanquished.

Over the last few days I have been in groups of 8 or so trying to fight and survive as long as possible in the zone while the enemy controled it.

Today I lasted 6 hours, some of my group lasted an hour or so longer to see the zone locked back.

The cat and mouse involved is great fun. Todays group had mostly healers which made us less than effective in attack meant we could not be weeded out as people were ressed and ran to ress others.

The few mishaps along the way added to the spice, do not attack the bitter winds PQ in Stage 3 as your attack party will be split up as they are summoned into the crypts below leading to you getting your asses kicked.

In the end I died to a rather flattering amount of effort from order.





The partial bomb squad from a solid guild guarding my corpse for the full 10 minutes, the mine field and turrets say it all for me, the dangerous renegade "Tough Boss" Snort has been vanquished but we can not lower our guard lest his evil minions revive him.( Said evil minions survived to form a 4 healer death squad and continued to find and kill order, ganked by healers the shame...)



So dont give up on LOTD, its what you make of it and you can make a lot. And finally a moral tale for all the LOTD panic naysayers.