Aion in retail will not be the same game we’ve beta tested. NCSoft has repeated this statement many times, referring to their 1.5 update that will ship with the game (and be playable in open beta).
But what exactly does this 1.5 update, titled Shadow of the Balaur, contain? Apart from more quests, what else can we expect in terms of improvements?
I set out to find out more about this update’s contents, and I present the results of my findings to you here.
More PvE Content
The 1.5 patch adds 12 additional instances. Amongst these is Dark Poeta, a redone version of the starting zone of Poeta for the Elyos, which has been overrun by the Balaur. What’s interesting about this instance is that you’ll gain points by killing monsters, destroying objects and harvesting rare materials. The amount of points you manage to gain will determine the difficulty and type of end boss that you’ll face. A more difficult end boss results in better loot.
Another interesting instance is the PvPvE instance called Dreadgion. You’ll be destroying monsters and attempting to take down the Dreadgion Commander, but a team of the opposing race will be attempting to do the same thing. There are two parallel paths to the end, so you can decide to go all-PvE-until-the-end, or try to impede the opposing team’s progress.
Steelrake valley, an instance involving a pirate (flying) ship; Abyss Fortress Dungeon, a collection of several instanced dungeons; and Nohusana Training Camp, an introductory instance to the Abyss, are other notable instances added in 1.5.
Aside from these additional instances, Aion 1.5 also boosts the total quest count to over 1500. This should be plenty to reach level 50 without needing to resort to grinding for levels.
Aion character customization... now with even more sliders!
Superior Character Creation
Even in closed beta, Aion offered plenty of character customization options to ensure that no character will be alike. It was right up there with Age of Conan and EVE Online’s customization systems.
It turns out NCSoft wasn’t quite satisfied, and listened to player feedback in order to add even more options. Now you’ll be able to determine arm and leg length (for more realistic dwarves), or change eye colour (an oddly absent choice in closed beta). There are also 40 new faces with more Western features to choose from.
Naming is a bit more strict in the new version, which will result in a slightly more believable experience.
Improved Tutorial System
The first twenty levels will now feature mini tutorial elements that pop up whenever you’re confronted with something new.
You may have seen this kind of system in games like Lord of the Rings Online, but Aion does it a little differently. Instead of using walls of text, which will not be read by those who need tutorials the most, it employs video tutorials.
This should not only help newbies get used to game systems more easily, but it’ll also help keep more stupid questions out of the chat.
Default Controlscheme Westernized
The left mouse button will now rotate the camera, as it does in any other MMORPG.
Click-to-move will be disabled, which should make WoW-fans a little less confused when their mouse clicks override their WASD movement.
Click-to-move wasn't very useful in flight anyway
Itemization and Clothing
NCSoft has added set armours to the game in version 1.5, as well as a new tier of rarity called Eternal (light red colouring)
54 new level 50 recipes added for each race. (not that we had access to level 50 in closed beta, nor will we in open beta)
Four new material types of ‘unique’ grade have been added.
And more…
Abyss Improvement
All fortresses in the Abyss will now include their own instances, much like conquerable towns in Guild Wars: Factions.
This provides extra incentive for Guilds to take over fortresses in the Abyss, on top of the items, taxes, and status advantages.
Stigma System Improvements
Advanced stigma stones are introduced in the new version. This adds 3 more stigma slots to your maximum of 5 basic stigma slots, which allows players to further differentiate their class. Basic stigma stones can be slotted in advanced slots, but advanced stigmas cannot be slotted in basic slots.
Stigma stones provide additional skills that are not normally available to the player’s class. Version 1.5 adds no less than 93 new types of basic and advanced stigma stones. Each class will receive 6 new advanced stigmas which can be purchased with Abyss points.
Also see:
AionSource Translated Patch Notes (for the Korean version, does not include all of the stuff changed for the Western version).
These two developer walkthroughs courtesy of GameTrailers:
Loading ...
[...] take a look at the Aion 1.5 (Western launch version) overview I wrote up last week, for more indications of the effort NCSoft is putting into translating this [...]