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[Aion] ITT we argue about MMO lore

1246762

Posts

  • EnderEnder Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Mandres wrote: »
    Ender wrote: »
    So, because the aion discussion forum is currently locked to moderators only, I'm going to add my two cents here. Deal.


    Which Aion discussion forum? The one on our guild site should not be locked to anyone. I just posted a test message as a Guest to make sure. What are you guys looking at?

    Sorry, just ignore me. I figured out what was wrong about 2 seconds after I posted, but I'm too goddamn lazy to edit my post.

    Ender on
  • SpindriftSpindrift Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    CostanzaK wrote: »
    And for the people who are saying I'm a megalomaniac, I only took this role as a necessity. Someone had to go and get everything organized, and my sincerest wish is to create a system where I am no longer needed in order for it to be maintained.

    Fuckin' lol

    Spindrift on
  • Silas BrownSilas Brown That's hobo style. Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    One thing I'm hoping to do is get involved with the game, or at least the server, community as a whole. Usually I get tied into the community I hopped into the game with, but this tends to create a "Them vs. Us" mood that becomes restrictive and unnecessary.

    Silas Brown on
  • TarranonTarranon Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    I was chatting with some Chanters the other day asking the same question Moriarty, and they compared him to a Warcraft Paladin; good damage, buffs, okay healing. That seemed to match up with what I was reading.

    Tarranon on
    You could be anywhere
    On the black screen
  • RaiekRaiek Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Hey, guys. I didn't get in on the beta, but this game is looking very very interesting to me and I plan to hop in on Day 1 (maybe even on the headstart, we'll see.)

    I realize there's lots of craziness trying to organize (and I am definetly pro-organization) but I thought I'd put in my two cents.

    Living in Alaska, I definetly prefer West Coast servers. That being said, if I don't experience too much lag, I'll join just about any server. Definetly don't care too much about which side we take, though I personally find the Elyos most appealing.

    For those of you who play, what is the Chanter's primary role and does he do it well? I'm assuming it's not basic healbot stuff, as that would clash with the Cleric a little much.

    Call me your resident Q&A guy today, I feel very post-happy. ANYWAYS! This was discussed a lot in the other thread, but I'll give you a quick rundown.

    Clerics are your heal-bots. Period. They put out some respectable ranged spell DPS, but they are your core healers. A Chanter can't even begin to compete in the healing department.

    Chanters are the ultimate hybrids in Aion. They really shouldn't even be considered healers, because at higher levels they simply can't do the job without at least one cleric around. What you do bring to the table is this:

    -Moderate DPS
    -Best Buffs/Debuffs in the game
    -Off healing, typically through the form of a powerful AoE HoT. (Chanters get the best AoE HoT in the game, but it's a Stigma I think).
    -Awesome staff-fu.

    Think of Chanters a bit more like a Bard and you're more on track. Or even a shaman without the crazy chain-healing. You bring great buff auras to the group, every melee attack you do as some kind of debuff associated with it, and you have short duration, high mana "wishes" for big boosts (think Heroism, for WoW-folk). You're not an amazing solo character, but you're a star in a group.

    One last thing, on overlap. HoTs in this game don't stack, so the more powerful one takes precedence. Therefore, you actually mesh extremely well with the Cleric. The cleric gets to focus on tossing out big, powerful heals while you handle keeping a group HoT up. General consensus is a Cleric/Chanter combo for a party is better than trying to stack two Clerics or Chanters.

    Raiek on
  • Silas BrownSilas Brown That's hobo style. Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    That makes me so damn happy, Tarranon and Raiek. My big issue with lots of MMOs is that I tend to have a conflict of interest between flavor and function. It seems like for once I'll actually enjoy playing as the class that most appeals to me in terms of both.

    EDIT: Haha dang. The guildlaunch forums are blocked at work, but the PA forums aren't. Ah well.

    Another question for those who have played: is this a game to be excited about? Do you expect to be playing for years to come, or is this one of those briefly exciting new releases?

    Silas Brown on
  • king awesomeking awesome Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Oh you damn west coasters. I'm leaning towards Elyos cause that seems to be where the majority of people are. Have they released info about the time zone thing related to the pvp stuff? Do we know if it's during "prime time" only for the big stuff?

    king awesome on
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  • interrobanginterrobang kawaii as  hellRegistered User regular
    edited September 2009
    That makes me so damn happy, Tarranon and Raiek. My big issue with lots of MMOs is that I tend to have a conflict of interest between flavor and function. It seems like for once I'll actually enjoy playing as the class that most appeals to me in terms of both.

    EDIT: Haha dang. The guildlaunch forums are blocked at work, but the PA forums aren't. Ah well.

    Another question for those who have played: is this a game to be excited about? Do you expect to be playing for years to come, or is this one of those briefly exciting new releases?

    I dunno if I'll be playing it for years, but I think there's enough stuff to do now - along with any future expansions that may be released - to keep me busy for a good long while.

    interrobang on
  • Silas BrownSilas Brown That's hobo style. Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    It might be that what I'm looking for in MMOs is simply something not provided except by a few notable exceptions. I'm interested in a long-term social and somewhat-episodic RPG experience.

    That seems pretty obvious to me, though. Why else work with a subscription system? Or are we at the stage now where it's just normal to pay $50+a monthly fee to play any old online game?

    Silas Brown on
  • interrobanginterrobang kawaii as  hellRegistered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Well, Aion seems to be a pretty social game. It doesn't force grouping up down your throat like FFXI did, but some of the campaign missions and harder quests are almost impossible to go solo.

    interrobang on
  • Silas BrownSilas Brown That's hobo style. Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Well, it's not the first time I've chosen to hop on a launch bandwagon that might not go anywhere. The game looks beautiful, the celestial themes resonate with me, and the gameplay is solid by all accounts.

    Silas Brown on
  • RaiekRaiek Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Well, it's not the first time I've chosen to hop on a launch bandwagon that might not go anywhere. The game looks beautiful, the celestial themes resonate with me, and the gameplay is solid by all accounts.

    Really everything about the game has made me very optimistic. It's really polished, and they've shown they're up on fixing player complaints fast, what with the hotfix on Saturday to resolve the mouse movement/camera issues. The thing that will kill Aion, imo, is GameGuard. Plenty of people are already weary of the program, for good reasons, and it also doesn't get along well with Windows 7. I really, really hope NCsoft addresses the whole thing soon. I'd like to see them ditch it entirely, but I'm not going to get my hopes up.

    Raiek on
  • MandresMandres Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    It might be that what I'm looking for in MMOs is simply something not provided except by a few notable exceptions. I'm interested in a long-term social and somewhat-episodic RPG experience.

    That seems pretty obvious to me, though. Why else work with a subscription system? Or are we at the stage now where it's just normal to pay $50+a monthly fee to play any old online game?

    I'm not sure Aion is what you're looking for if the somewhat-episodic part means grand new PvE encounters like FFXI or WoW. This is a war game. There is a smattering of PvE experiences to be had but the focus is squarely on defeating the other faction and working towards better gear so you can kill more of them. I'm not sure if I'll be playing it for years (unless they figure out some way to draw out the fun in this kind of dynamic) but I'm going to enjoy the hell out of the next six months. If you're not drawn primarily to PvP gameplay you're going to be disappointed in what Aion has to offer. But if you are interested in combat I can say that from what I've seen so far the PvP intensity is nothing short of spectacular.

    And I can also say as far as social opportunities go that nothing creates friendship bonds better than slaughtering your mutual enemies together.

    Mandres on
  • StuffGuyStuffGuy Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Raiek wrote: »
    Well, it's not the first time I've chosen to hop on a launch bandwagon that might not go anywhere. The game looks beautiful, the celestial themes resonate with me, and the gameplay is solid by all accounts.

    Really everything about the game has made me very optimistic. It's really polished, and they've shown they're up on fixing player complaints fast, what with the hotfix on Saturday to resolve the mouse movement/camera issues. The thing that will kill Aion, imo, is GameGuard. Plenty of people are already weary of the program, for good reasons, and it also doesn't get along well with Windows 7. I really, really hope NCsoft addresses the whole thing soon. I'd like to see them ditch it entirely, but I'm not going to get my hopes up.

    Whats sorta issues with Gameguard and Win 7? Im running the RC still, and I didn't notice any issues during my admittedly short time with the open beta.

    StuffGuy on
  • EnderEnder Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    They've done a few repairs to GG (lol), but it still has some compatibility issues with Win 7. Not for everybody, though, which is why it's not an easy fix.

    They've tossed around the idea of removing GG for the western release, but nobody's sure if they will. They obviously know there's some issues, and are trying to resolve them before launch.

    Ender on
  • RaiekRaiek Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    StuffGuy wrote: »
    Raiek wrote: »
    Well, it's not the first time I've chosen to hop on a launch bandwagon that might not go anywhere. The game looks beautiful, the celestial themes resonate with me, and the gameplay is solid by all accounts.

    Really everything about the game has made me very optimistic. It's really polished, and they've shown they're up on fixing player complaints fast, what with the hotfix on Saturday to resolve the mouse movement/camera issues. The thing that will kill Aion, imo, is GameGuard. Plenty of people are already weary of the program, for good reasons, and it also doesn't get along well with Windows 7. I really, really hope NCsoft addresses the whole thing soon. I'd like to see them ditch it entirely, but I'm not going to get my hopes up.

    Whats sorta issues with Gameguard and Win 7? Im running the RC still, and I didn't notice any issues during my admittedly short time with the open beta.

    Well it varies. Some people report not having any problems at all (I think this is mostly Windows 7 64-bit users). Some 32-bit users can't even launch Aion though, because Windows 7 tends to treat GameGuard like malware (not entirely unfounded in doing so). Usually they'll either blue screen on launch or get a GameGuard error that will crash the game. Buddy of mine running 32-bit tried to play in the open beta this last week and couldn't at all.

    Raiek on
  • Teslan26Teslan26 Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Easiest way to get a US copy of the game from England - would want to play on US servers, and obviously as I Open Beta'd I've no need for a disk or owt, just the game code.

    Teslan26 on
  • StupidStupid Newcastle, NSWRegistered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Strato wrote: »
    How about that thing where you bounce as you land and glide farther? I saw that in a video but wasn't able to do it.

    Press and hold 'S' while gliding. You don't actually hit the ground, but come very close, then swoop back upwards a few feet. It's like when you drop a well-balanced paper airplane from a height; it drops until it picks up speed, then rises until it slow, then drops again... except in this case it ins't "real" so you can drop-rise-drop-rise nearly indefinitely. I wasn't kidding when I said it's possible to actually run out of flight time on a glide. (ProTip: flight time potions DO NOT WORK while gliding!!)
    That being said, if I don't experience too much lag, I'll join just about any server.

    It's worth noting that ALL the servers are physically located at the same co-loc in Virginia. Ping times to any given server will be identical to any other server regardless whether they are "east" or "west" time based. The only thing that changes are the scheduled times for fortress and instance events. Those are based on "prime time" for the server, so east-coast servers will have events that are unplayable for working stiffs on the west coast, and west-coast servers will require east-coast players to stay up until 3am during the weekdays.

    Stupid on

    26904.png
  • Silas BrownSilas Brown That's hobo style. Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Mandres wrote: »
    It might be that what I'm looking for in MMOs is simply something not provided except by a few notable exceptions. I'm interested in a long-term social and somewhat-episodic RPG experience.

    That seems pretty obvious to me, though. Why else work with a subscription system? Or are we at the stage now where it's just normal to pay $50+a monthly fee to play any old online game?

    I'm not sure Aion is what you're looking for if the somewhat-episodic part means grand new PvE encounters like FFXI or WoW. This is a war game. There is a smattering of PvE experiences to be had but the focus is squarely on defeating the other faction and working towards better gear so you can kill more of them. I'm not sure if I'll be playing it for years (unless they figure out some way to draw out the fun in this kind of dynamic) but I'm going to enjoy the hell out of the next six months. If you're not drawn primarily to PvP gameplay you're going to be disappointed in what Aion has to offer. But if you are interested in combat I can say that from what I've seen so far the PvP intensity is nothing short of spectacular.

    And I can also say as far as social opportunities go that nothing creates friendship bonds better than slaughtering your mutual enemies together.

    If it's a seamless experience and the PvP is actually good, I'm interested. This seems likely with the whole "PvPvE" bent the dialogue has taken.
    Stupid wrote:
    It's worth noting that ALL the servers are physically located at the same co-loc in Virginia. Ping times to any given server will be identical to any other server regardless whether they are "east" or "west" time based. The only thing that changes are the scheduled times for fortress and instance events. Those are based on "prime time" for the server, so east-coast servers will have events that are unplayable for working stiffs on the west coast, and west-coast servers will require east-coast players to stay up until 3am during the weekdays.

    Oof. As a person who won't even be able to play until 7 PM Pacific Time at the earliest on weekdays, this is kind of bad for me. I guess I'll definetly be committing to a West Coast Server.

    What do I need to be looking up for more information on the scheduled content? It doesn't matter how good what I'm playing is if I detect I'm missing a big part of the overall experience.

    Silas Brown on
  • jkylefultonjkylefulton Squid...or Kid? NNID - majpellRegistered User regular
    edited September 2009
    http://na.aiononline.com/en/news/more-details-on-preselection.html

    Preselection officially starts at 3pm EST this Friday.

    jkylefulton on
    tOkYVT2.jpg
  • PsychoishPsychoish Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    I think what would be better is if we made a poll for the time zone thing, but included what faction you'd want. If we do end up doing two servers, then that would make more sense. If we don't split up into two servers, then sure, what we have is fine.

    Psychoish on
  • Silas BrownSilas Brown That's hobo style. Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    It seems like no matter how we do it, lots of people are going to be screwed if we don't go with two servers. I don't much care about races, but if someone has to choose between *playing with the PA crew* and *playing in a server where stuff actually happens when they play*, well... that's just a plain undesirable choice.

    I understand there's a certain need for coherence, but it seems suiting each time zone will be doable as long as you're willing to enhance the group experience with some pubbies.

    Silas Brown on
  • CostanzaKCostanzaK Only walks away from burning buildings. Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Well, for the "Two servers, Two time zones" thing it would be entirely possible for a player to do a siege on West Coast server, then jump to the East Coast server and do it all over again. That is an advantage to the idea as it currently is, but yeah. Having the Poll selection choices narrowed down even further might work for a more accurate selection, but I don't really know if it is required at this point.

    If more than two people want a further defined poll, then I'll go ahead and write one up on the Aion guild site.

    Oh, and Prof. For expanding content, this game is pretty good at it. It has been released Aion Korea for about a year and has added 20 levels and a it's contents to the game. It is also from the company that made Lineage 2, and since Launch they created three expansive regions for the game, an additional playable race, 20 new classes, 50 levels of content and their dungeons, and there is even more to come.

    I would say they intend to continue giving the game updates.

    CostanzaK on
    "We shall Capture the Flag. We shall go on to the time limits.
    We shall fight in Hoth, we shall fight on the spaceports
    and the orbital stations, we shall fight with growing confidence
    and growing strength in the instances, we shall defend our Republic,
    whatever the cost may be.
    We shall Re-Spawn on the beaches, we shall camp the landing grounds,
    we shall PvP Flag in the fields and in the streets, we shall gank in the hills;
    we shall never uninstall."
    --Winston Churchwalker
  • Silas BrownSilas Brown That's hobo style. Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    It's sounding pretty damn good. I just need to confirm that I can actually be available for the real good stuff, schedule-wise, and then I'm sold for giving it a shot.

    Silas Brown on
  • Shorn Scrotum ManShorn Scrotum Man Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    I broke down and preordered last night. I might roll up a character to play with you guys, but my main will be with some real life friends that are playing.

    Shorn Scrotum Man on
    steam_sig.png
  • ChewyWafflesChewyWaffles Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    So just wondering - can I preorder and still get into the beta, or is that deal over?

    ChewyWaffles on
    mwf2sig.jpg
  • Silas BrownSilas Brown That's hobo style. Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    I found the Aion Wiki. Can anyone tell me what some the Primetime-oriented content is called so I can look it up and determined whether or not I'll even be able to participate?
    So just wondering - can I preorder and still get into the beta, or is that deal over?

    I believe the beta is over. I'm not sure about the headstart, though.

    Silas Brown on
  • Shorn Scrotum ManShorn Scrotum Man Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    So just wondering - can I preorder and still get into the beta, or is that deal over?

    Beta is done. If you preorder you get into the early start though!

    Shorn Scrotum Man on
    steam_sig.png
  • RaiekRaiek Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    So just wondering - can I preorder and still get into the beta, or is that deal over?

    What exactly you'll get for preordering at this point is, as was said, the headstart on the 20th. You'll also be able to do the pre-select on the 18th, which allows you to create two characters on a server to try and grab a name you'd want to use.

    Raiek on
  • KazakaKazaka Asleep Counting SheepRegistered User regular
    edited September 2009
    I'm glad Spiritmasters are underplayed based on the Korean server stats, but at the same time it's sort of an ill omen. Oh well, the underdog tastes victory twice as sweet. Killing Assassins should net me a momentary high.

    Kazaka on
  • StupidStupid Newcastle, NSWRegistered User regular
    edited September 2009
    What do I need to be looking up for more information on the scheduled content? It doesn't matter how good what I'm playing is if I detect I'm missing a big part of the overall experience.

    There has been no official announcement on server-based event times yet.

    Which is playing merry havok with most guilds server selections.

    According to a recetn posting by the Community Manager, they will be releasing detailed server schedules either tomorrow or the next day, or possibly the day after that. Or Thursday. Maybe.

    AionSource discussion thread link

    Stupid on

    26904.png
  • NisslNissl Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Ayase wrote:
    The answer I've been getting so far is that we're working on getting an article fully translated outlining the times for various activities. But basically, all times will be aligned and optimized for the timezone the servers are specified as.

    When I have more, I will return. Might be tomorrow, and it might be later...

    Well, here's major launch mistake #1.

    It was fun playing with you EST folks while it lasted.

    Would be amusing to see the oceanic reaction right now, but I'm too lazy to go find it...

    Nissl on
    360: Purkinje
  • LednehLedneh shinesquawk Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    cut and paste

    Have they said whether or not they plan to give SMs flying pets or any midair capability at all (other than that wing clip, which in my mind only sort of counts)? I want to play a mage of some sort, preferring SM because I love the look of the pets (holy shit the level 50 pets :shock: ), but I want to get in on that fancy midair combat, something SMs can't do far as I can tell :(

    (edit) seriously look at these motherfuckers, they may be DP pets but goddamn:

    th_Aion0012.jpg
    click for big

    Ledneh on
  • Silas BrownSilas Brown That's hobo style. Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Damn, the only thing worse than waiting for a game to come out is waiting to find out if I even want to buy it. Guess I'll just sit here holding my breath. :D

    EDIT: Sorry for beating a dead horse here, but I'm so close to prepurchasing this game and I'd hate for this one nitpicky detail to keep me from such a beautiful looking experience.

    Do you guys know exactly which content is set to be scheduled? How intrical is it to the play experience? If I miss out on certain events, does the rest of the game still carry itself?

    Silas Brown on
  • DarkewolfeDarkewolfe Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    If you can't capture keeps, you miss on the whole point of the end game.

    Darkewolfe on
    What is this I don't even.
  • interrobanginterrobang kawaii as  hellRegistered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Alright, cast my vote on Ye Olde Guildlauch site.

    Chalk up another east coaster.

    interrobang on
  • The Dude With HerpesThe Dude With Herpes Lehi, UTRegistered User regular
    edited September 2009
    I don't know if these have been posted; maybe replace the videos in the OP with these as they're more informative. They're the "podcasts" discussing the game design and whatnot with videos of story/pvp/pve.

    Podcast 1:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MyiwRy40YA

    Podcast 2:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KQiXqOa_XY&

    Podcast 3 (from today):
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tII8Tl6T8KU

    The Dude With Herpes on
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    Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
    Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand

  • Silas BrownSilas Brown That's hobo style. Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Darkewolfe wrote: »
    If you can't capture keeps, you miss on the whole point of the end game.

    Good to know. It seems pretty damn harsh to have the main point of the endgame be scheduled so strictly, though.

    EDIT: With a broad idea of prime time, though, it shouldn't be too bad. If it goes from 6 - 12, for example, I could actually conceivably participated for 5 hours. Assuming being part of only a fraction of the experience acceptable, this would rock.

    God fuck, I just want to play this so badly. C'mon, NCSoft, you nearly have me!

    Silas Brown on
  • DjiemDjiem Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    I'm in the boat that doesn't care what server/race I am on. I just want to be with the group that is actually going to be playing and pushing forward to get to content and has active people on to play with.

    Same except I'll play Elyos, not Asmo. So, basically, I'm gonna be playing with whatever Elyos PA guild is the biggest.

    Djiem on
  • goodtimesgoodtimes Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Darkewolfe wrote: »
    If you can't capture keeps, you miss on the whole point of the end game.

    Good to know. It seems pretty damn harsh to have the main point of the endgame be scheduled so strictly, though.

    EDIT: With a broad idea of prime time, though, it shouldn't be too bad. If it goes from 6 - 12, for example, I could actually conceivably participated for 5 hours. Assuming being part of only a fraction of the experience acceptable, this would rock.

    God fuck, I just want to play this so badly. C'mon, NCSoft, you nearly have me!

    it really isn't an issue as a soloplayer looking for a server, the problem you run into is as an established guild/clan/legion from another game with a diversity of timezones to cater to migrating to aion.

    Having a window of increased opportunity one can argue adds a sense of persistence to the world and should you cap a fortress you have the opportunity to defend it should it become contested the next day.

    This way a fortress will actually be fought over , as opposed to "well fuck it let them have it we'll just cap it when they go to bed." or having some taiwan crew just roll through everything while I'm asleep and cap everything uncontested.

    I think it will definitely fracture some legions up a bit and will make it tough on oceanic players which is a shame but I'd rather deal with that than actually have to fight over a fortress , win , cap it , then have some off-hour crew roll through everyday uncontested and amass easy AP after your own hard fought gain.

    I agree it is contrived and less than ideal.

    goodtimes on
    new sig underconstruction
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