I accidentally a whole Priest.

Author: Estrid

i think this is where wow is sucessful .

Good vs evil is the oldest 'conflict' story in existence. People understand it. Moreover, people either want to be good (let's not get into the fact that in MMOs good people still go around killing and maiming) and or bad wherein that want to look 'bad-ass'. Inherent good or inherent evil is easier than developing a backstory that most don't care about.  Explaining the need factor which drove the 'noble XYZ race to unspeakable acts of cruelty which they lament to the heavens (or hells) even while they 123 their neighbors corpses....etc' is more effort than is required when a simple they are good and they are evil will suffice.

looking at the lore on the official website www.aiononline.com it seems that both the Elyos and Asmodians (who were initially just 1 race) were both responsible to some extent for the Epic Cataclysm (aka the Tower of Eternity being destroyed). So really there is no black and white. Just shades of grey.

as Razephon said, there is no good vs evil, some people just think the asmodians are evil judging their look...

wouldn't you consider the Dragons (npc race) to be the true evil ones in this game?  They are killing both off the winged humonoids. No?

I guess you could say that Aras, but thats open to interpretation. E.g. you could argue the fact that killing one of the Balaur Lords was what triggered the Cataclysm. (again looking at lore)

The appareance is just to difference both races so people can choose between them, some like to be badasses, some others like to be beautiful. However, all of the evolution in the asmodians can be explained to an extent looking at the conditions they were exposed to after the Tower's destruction, animal's eyes glow in darkness, darker hues of skin due to the ammount of sunlight they receive, etc.

About who's the bad one, I think none of them really are, looking at the last chapters, it even threw a good side to the balaurs who wanted peace, but then, daevas screwed it, in the end, it seems to me like a story about individual decissions leading to massive outcomes.

The only real evil here is the lack of a US Beta thus far.. Seriously though I never saw either side as being evil, but more like apposing factions. Then again I dont necessarily see the Destruction faction in WAR or the Horde faction in WoW as being evil either.

The Balaur are kind of their own shade of grey. They wanted more power, and wanted to kill their God to acquire it. They don't necessarily kill both the Asmodians and the Elyos, but act within their own chaotic nature? It sounds like they arbitrarily attack/aid each faction based on whatever their AI is dictating at the time.

I feel the Asmodians were just (justifiably) cautiously mistrusting, whereas the Elyos were naïve and effectively the catalyst that ultimately (inadvertently) caused the destruction of Atreia. Reading the fifth Elyos chapter, the POV character indicates that the Balaur didn't attack them OUTSIDE of the tower, showing their good faith. My take on that was that the Balaur were consciously planning to attack the tower from within. Asphel acted preventatively to stop what he knew to be the very nature of the Balaur – who had already shown themselves to be untrustworthy. :3

Well simply put ,this is aPVP game.I am glad you see a story side to it tha tis great,but is it or wil lit belong in the game?

Two players cross paths in the game,i just don't see them stopping to think of the game lore or how it should unfold,they are going to attack each other and nothing surrounding the game lore wil lmatter.This is why PVP games are so shallow,it is not about the storyline what so ever.

It is more like someone reading a book on the park bench,then some thug flys over your head and rips the book out of your hand and feeds it to you lol.Then the thug says "how is the storyline grabbing you now?"

haha hope you don't take me too seriously i have a weird way of conveying a point :D.