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Wings Over Atreia: Bite-sized Aion
It happens. No matter how much you enjoy Aion, there just comes a time when you can't do marathon gaming sessions, with snacks stockpiled next to you and no regard for the clock. Sometimes life demands attention, and you just can't really delve in and lose yourself for untold hours on end. It could be flooding or house fires (been there, done that), a change in employment, a move, impending term papers, or a change in your household. Regardless the reason, any number of things -- from the mundane to the truly unbelievable -- can occur and prevent solid chunks of gaming time. Such has been my case over the past couple of months. Sadly, real life intervened in both some wonderful and some tragic ways that have prevented me from spending any length of time in-game at one sitting. And even when I did get in, I'd feel so paralyzed by how much I need to do that I'd end up doing nothing. So what's a Daeva to do? Well, just because you or I cannot spend hours at a time in Atreia doesn't mean we can't still enjoy it! Even if you find yourself temporarily unable to spend quantity time in Aion, you can still indulge in quality time; there are plenty of smaller tasks that move you toward your goals without requiring inordinate amounts of time to actually accomplish. Today, Wings Over Atreia explores some of those bite-sized bits of Aion that can be enjoyed when only quick bursts of gaming time are available.
Wings Over Atreia: F2P and vet rewards and bears, oh my!
OK, so maybe there aren't really any bears. Wait, I take that back -- there are maybe sorta bears... at least alluded to! Polar bears, to be exact. No really, work with me here: What Winter Festival, Atreian or otherwise, doesn't conjure up images of polar bears? We just won't get into the whole dancing bears thing. What we will get into this week in Wings Over Atreia, however, are musings about a few topics of interest that are swirling around lately, most notably Aion's upcoming conversion to free-to-play in Europe, the changes to the veteran reward system, and the aforementioned Winter Festival (sans dancing bears). Quick quiz now: Other than involving Aion, what else do these three subjects have in common? Give up? Time. While this column usually delves into single topics at a time, the fact that two of these are time-sensitive necessitates that they share face-time, else the news most relevant to Daevas would become obsolete. The third is less time-sensitive but more time-relevant.
Wings Over Atreia: Tickets please
As we barrel through November and get closer to the holidays, my thoughts have turned to turkey, pie, rolls, pie, and candied yams... did I mention pie? It's not that I can't think of anything else (pie), but I always look forward to family, food, and free time during the upcoming holidays -- free time meaning more gaming and less working! Unfortunately, a few other things are slipping in and interrupting the thoughts of impending gluttony for many Aion players. Everyone deeply immersed in Atreia knows that two of the most frequent topics of discussion this past week (ignoring all troll comments, of course) have been Star Wars: The Old Republic with its impending effect on Aion and the reduction in arena tickets that went into effect after last Wednesday's maintenance. While Wings Over Atreia took a look at the forthcoming release of TOR last week, I might have altered my predictions a bit had the announcement about the arena tickets happened sooner than right before publishing. Could one event really affect the balance? Check out past the cut to examine the NCsoft's action, the community's reaction, and the possible repercussions.
Aion's patch 2.7 goes live
Aion's patch 2.7 is here, and a healthy number of new features has arrived along with it. Players can now take part in the Crucible Coliseum PvP arena or test their mettle in the Arena of Discipline for one-on-one battles. If you're more interested in a no-holds-barred battle royal, the Arena of Chaos may be more your style, as it features a six-player death-match battle. Balaurea's PvP battles have seen a number of refinements and adjustments as well. If you're more of a PvE sort of player, you can bring some friends to Padmarashka's Cave in hopes of taking down the legendary creature for loot and glory. A number of skills have been adjusted as well in hopes of creating a more enjoyable, balanced gameplay experience. Aion players can scour the whole of the new patch notes over at the official site.
Wings Over Atreia's Aion 2.7 sneak-peek: Dev death match
You all just better be grateful that NCsoft is working out the kinks by using me as a guinea pig so you can have a smooth launch! Even if by launch I only mean the PTS, which is set to go live today with Aion's newest patch. Yes folks, I -- your intrepid Wings Over Atreia correspondent -- was invited to a media sneak-peek to check out the Crucible 3 arenas coming very soon to a live server near you. Who am I to pass up a few practice runs through the new arenas before the rest of the masses? So I touch-down mid-week for some additional Atreian coverage. And come on, no one could pass up the chance to stealth up behind a dev and unleash a flurry of dagger blows into his/her back! Unfortunately, logistical and technical difficulties stretching for days plagued this endeavor. Yours truly was especially cursed. However, just when it seemed like the event wouldn't happen, there we were, standing in Kaisinel Academy in spiffy new duds and queued to enter what is arguably the highlight of 2.7: the PvP arenas. At this point, I forgave all previous problems because I got to commence some slaughter on a few NCsoft employees. What?!? You all know you want to! I tested my dagger and sword against Scott Hannus, producer of the game guide; two members of the game guide team, Sean Orlikowski and Ryan Compton; Adam Christensen, Associate Producer; Dom Wai, Brand Manager; and two members of the community management team, Felicia Johnson (Nyx) and Curtis Grooms (Anhtoo). Oh, and I learned some pretty neat things about the upcoming patch as well. So how was the experience? And just exactly how tasty are Aion's forthcoming goodies? Whet your appetite past the cut with my impressions of the two instances and the new PvP gear as well as check out a video. Then join in on the PTS server to experience for yourself.%Gallery-136333%
