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NCsoft extends Aion abyss point event
Aion's recent For War and Glory event hit something of a technical snag yesterday, and as compensation for the resulting server maintenance period, NCsoft is gifting daevas with an additional week of festivities. Originally, the abyss point event was supposed to conclude on April 27th. Now, Aion players will be happy to know that they can keep scarfing down bonus AP from monsters in the Abyss and Silentera Canyon all the way up to May 4th, which should put a dent in the considerable grind required to obtain endgame gear. The event also halves the AP loss from PvP encounters in the aforementioned areas, so get out there and kill your fellow daevas for fun and profit (or at least, less of a loss). Full details are available at the official Aion website.
SDCC 2010: Massively's interview with Aion producer Lani Blazier
San Diego has been the place to be for the past few days, with developers bringing out all the latest and greatest to show off at Comic-Con 2010. We at Massively have been pretty busy, in part with Aion's web producer Lani Blazier. Aion's free expansion Assault on Balaurea is just over a month away, so Lani had plenty to talk about. She gave us a look at what we can expect with 2.0, and spent a bit of time answering our questions afterward. Follow along after the jump to see what she had to say.
Exclusive interview with Aion Producer Brian Knox
We submitted a few questions to NCsoft back when players were taking their first baby steps into the strange and lush world of Atreia. Things have obviously been a bit hectic these past couple weeks but Aion Producer Brian Knox took some time out today to answer them for us. Thanks Brian!We've heard a lot about "westernizing" or "culturalizing" Aion for North American and European audiences. Can you please explain the full breadth of this term? Are we talking about language translation, story rewrites, and lowered experience curves here? Westernizing Aion is about making the game culturally relevant to our market. This includes going above and beyond basic translation and delving into the story behind the text and making sure that it is presented in a way our players will understand. For us it isn't so much about changing things with Aion but shining the spotlight on the area that is most appealing to our audience. Aion is a huge game with a ton choices and features for users all over the world to enjoy; making sure we point those parts out is a huge part of the culturalization
Aion's first fortress falls to the Origine legion
So for those of you who have been counting the days, Aion has been out for about a week in the North American / Europe regions. And, in this short, short, week, we've already got a legion who has gotten into the Abyss and accomplished one of the main objectives -- capturing a fortress.Origine, a legion making its home on the [FRA] Suthran server in Europe, has taken a level 25 raid to a level 35 objective and has laid claim to the fortress. The entire siege took over 1 hour and 15 minutes from the door of the fortress to the downing of the boss inside. Control of the fortress gives Origine access to a special dungeon, which the legion has already cleared as well.Sebastian "Ayase" Streiffert, the community manager of Aion, managed to catch up with Gwarf, Origine's leader, for a short interview regarding the event. You can check out Ayase's full interview over at Aion's main site. If you're interested in seeing the siege for yourself, you can see Origine's stream of the event at their website.
The Daily Grind: Will you be playing Aion open beta this weekend?
With Aion's open beta set to launch this weekend (September 6-13), we're curious: Do you plan on giving it a shot? The game has gone through several closed beta phases dating back to early June. All closed beta phases leading up until the very last one were using an older version of the game client (1.1). They've recently upgraded to 1.5, so we highly suggest giving it a try before making any final judgments based on early testing experiences. We also hear the open beta version will be the version Aion launches with in North America and Europe. Be sure to read up on Shadow of the Balaur.Open beta characters will be capped at level 30, which is high enough to test a good mix of what the game has to offer including Rifts and the Abyss. Rifts are portals that will take you into your enemy's PvE lands and the Abyss is a giant PvPvE zone where the game's three factions battle for supremacy. I'm personally going to play a bit next week as an Elyos Gladiator named Snafzg on the NA servers, so make sure to say "Hi!" if you see me putzing around. Settling on a class has been challenging thus far. Want to know more about Aion? NCsoft invites you into the world of Atreia where the Elyos and the Asmodians fight each other and the evil Balaur for control of the shattered planet. Check out out all our coverage of this must-play MMO!
Aion: Korean closed beta patch notes translated to English
When it comes to any hot juicy tidbits regarding the latest developments US Aion fans are usually left in the dark. Aion Source is a great outlet for the die-hards, but the official NCsoft US channels remain relatively silent. Until now, the US Aion website has announced they will be working closer with NC Korea to keep US fans updated. According to the latest announcement Aion recently entered its third closed beta phase and the Korean patch notes have been translated to English, and what a behemoth this new patch is. The patch notes are chock-full of changes across the board. The largest new addition to the game is a zone called the Abyss, a fully flyable zone which features fortress battles and lots more! The Abyss zone includes monsters of levels 25 ~ 40, plus a total of 9 floating island groups and Fortresses. Around the Fortresses are 31 artifacts claimable by defeating their guarding Protectors. Each artifact has a particular effect that will help you in Fortress Battles and while adventuring in the Abyss. The full list of patch notes on the CTB 3 Korean beta are available on the website. The US/EU Aion preview event has not been announced yet.
Information on Hellgate: London's next three updates dished out
What's better than one update preview? Why, two update previews of course. But what could possibly be better than that? Hellgate: London's official website has a new article which aims to help players see where the game is heading, by plotting out the details of the next three major patches. The first update to be examined is Patch 1.2, with the highlight being the addition of an in-game mail system that allows items to be attached. Patch 1.3 is next, and the biggest features of this update are some new functional pets, and the ability to warp to a player on your buddy list.The biggest changes will come with the third update however, Patch 2. It will be the largest content update to the game since release, and includes major additions to PvP, class skills, armor and weapons, bosses and monster types. The alternate name for Patch 2 is "The Abyss Chronicles", and this is because of a new dungeon to be included in the build, fittingly named The Abyss. Click on through to see all the features of Patches 1.2, 1.3 and 2 that are listed in the preview.
