Aion: Say goodbye to GameGuard (for now...)
"Hark! The Herald Daeva Sing. NCsoft casts GameGuard out from under its wing." Many an Aion player are rejoicing at the latest news out of NCsoft. The game will not be launching with infamous anti-cheating software GameGuard (GG). If you're unfamiliar with this software, it comes packaged with many Asian MMOs. Think of it as Warden from World of Warcraft or Punkbuster from your favorite FPS... on steroids. GG has probably been the number one complaint about Aion throughout beta and it appears that NCsoft is unwilling to put off any customers on launch day by potentially inconsistent performance.
However, this removal of GG will be only temporary until they can figure out a way to re-enable it without causing major issues. NCsoft just released one last patch before launch to banish GG and include a few more updates to the client. The level cap has been raised from 45 to 50. Players can now reserve 2 characters during preselect and create 8 characters in total during the head start period and beyond. Finally, channels will be set at 10 instances for the first two zones of each faction. This number will be reduced once players settle in, likely to reduce farming potential and maintain critical mass.
