Update Interview

MMORPG.com:

How has the player progression been in Aion since the launch of the game? Are you seeing players hitting the end game content?

Chris Hager:

We've had a lot of players playing through the content and have seen several people reach the level cap. It's exciting because we've seen the game in its entirety for a while before launch, but seeing people reach this end game content like fortress sieges and some of the level 40-50 instances is great.

MMORPG.com:

Now that the game has launched, what is one area you feel needs some improvement?

Chris Hager:

One of the areas that we would like to improve is communication with our players. We've been in a huge rush the past year to get the game ready for launch and up to the high quality standards we expect, and have only recently been able to really switch mentally from a pre-launch mindset to a post-launch mindset. With this we're working on increased community support and communication, which I think the players will really get a lot out of.

MMORPG.com:

Do you feel the player groups and guilds have now stabilized? Are you seeing a trend in those groups pushing toward end game content?

Chris Hager:

We have a growing number of legions in game, and have several that have established themselves on each server as top-tier legions. We've seen several fortress sieges in the Abyss as well, and it's really exciting to see the game unfold there between the higher level players and legions from both races.

MMORPG.com:

Can you talk about the bot issues the game has experienced?

Chris Hager:

Like any MMO we are fighting against the issue of bots. As you can tell from some of our recent news updates, we've been waging a very aggressive war on them, and I think frequency and amount of account banning we've done so far reflects our stance. As always, we will continue to be aggressive and are constantly looking for better ways to catch bots and improve the player experience.

MMORPG.com:

Currency spam plagues MMOs, what steps are you taking to prevent spammers?

Chris Hager:

We are actively monitoring our chat channels across all NA and EU servers using several tools and live Customer Service Reps, and are looking into other ways we can refine our searching process to not only stop spam before it starts, but also catch and eliminate it from the game right after it happens.

MMORPG.com:

What is your favorite part about Aion's growth over the last few months?

Chris Hager:

I've really enjoyed seeing our players get into the depths of the game and its lore. Our writing team did an excellent job hiding pieces of the story in the early level quests that you don't fully realize until you get the full story many levels later. It's great to see the 'light bulb' go off when players connect the story elements and understand more about the game's lore.

MMORPG.com:

What element do you think players have reacted to the most in the game?

Chris Hager:

Players seem to be enjoying the PvP and the PvPvE. The PvPvE really adds another element to traditional PvP and I think players are enjoying that along with PvP and the Abyss Point system, which gives players points for enemy kills in the Abyss that they can in turn use for gear or to achieve a higher rank within their race.

MMORPG.com:

What plans do you have for the game during the holidays?

Chris Hager:

We have some in game festivities for the Solorius Festival (NCsoft West's version of the Holiday season for Aion). We'll be releasing more information shortly so stay tuned to aiononline.com.

MMORPG.com:

How is work going on the next game patch? Can you give us any insight?

Chris Hager:

I can't say anything about the next game patch other than it is currently being developed. Stay tuned!