superstitions
Latest
Wings Over Atreia: Drop -n- shop
Hot topic! Hot topic! Fresh outta the community oven! In a much-hyped announcement a while back, NCsoft proclaimed that drop rates in Aion were being significantly increased in the 2.1 patch. The company even employed a certain wide-eyed Shugo named Victor to outline his experiments and prove that drops now rained from the skies. For a while, there was much rejoicing in the lands of Atreia. *cue Monty Python soundtrack* Oh, there were some naysayers who cried that an end to the economy as we knew it was at hand (not totally incorrect), but for the most part, Elyos and Asmodians alike flocked back to Aion with the promise of more wealth and gold loot. I even found that my bags could not hold everything that dropped during Taloc's Hollow runs, forcing me to to delete items in order to pick more up. Alas -- that was then, and this is now. The pendulum has quietly swung back the other way to the what-exactly-does-a-loot-drop-look-like side. From personal experience, I can attest that getting drops now is about like pulling Stormwing's teeth... with only your bare hands and maybe some dental floss. The change is obvious, so why all the hush-hush? Currently it feels like a classic bait and switch: Market an enticing feature loudly to get players then remove it with equal secrecy and stealth. And to top that off, there are murmurs that the devs plan to implement changes that put a halt to the popular selling of loot rights. Aw, don't kick us while we are down! Make sure you aren't on cool-down and zone past the cut to explore this bane of many a Daeva's life (drop rates) as well as the practice of selling loot rights within Aion.
Wings Over Atreia: Hit or myth?
You know they are out there. You hear them -- sometimes whispered in reverence, sometimes shouted by a particularly spazzy groupmate. Whether treated as ancient wisdom or snickered at, they cannot be avoided. But how much do you believe in them? Superstitions. Superstitions (myths, legends, folklore) are not by definition bad or even incorrect. In fact, superstitions are another way for a community to bond; shared beliefs go a long way towards creating a cohesive group. Every culture has superstitions, and gaming -- a unique culture, but a culture nonetheless -- is no different. And each game has its own unique collection of folklore. Whether they consist of avoiding specific loot, crafting with a full DP bar, or something almost whimsical (such as turning around in a full circle before my second attempt at Miragent's leggings), Aion is full of little snippets specific to the world of Atreia. What superstitions are prevalent in Aion today and just how much truth do they hold? Knock on wood and cross over the break to check it out.
Superstitions in WoW
The Daedelus project recently posted an article dealing with MMORPGs and the superstitions we build as we play the games. Seeing as how we as people love to finding meaning in seemingly random events, World of Warcraft has its fair share of superstitious players. I might even go so far as to say we all are superstitious about some things within the game. Despite the prevalence of superstitions in game, we always seem to see others' quirks as crazier than our own. Now we're not talking about religion or spirituality here, we are talking about how players create meaning where there is none. Here are just a few examples that Daedelus brought up: The spawn dance There are many players out there that subscribe to the particular belief *cough* Maelis *cough* that a special dance will help mobs spawn faster. I have never myself attempted to use a spawn dance, but I have found that I tend to run in a clockwise direction when I am farming because somehow the mobs seem to spawn faster. Or perhaps it's just because I can't turn left.
