news.curse.com/details/2819/

*blink*blink*  Whoa, info about this game!  Nice, I'm looking forward to the interview with the Q*A

Originally posted by Alienovrlord

*blink*blink*  Whoa, info about this game!  Nice, I'm looking forward to the interview with the Q*A

It is nice!

And the customization lvl is what I have been looking for, for years.

Can't wait (though from what I understand we have a bit of a wait until '08)

Indeed, nice find. Thanks for posting it!

Got a discussion going on about this at AionSource.com too, check it out (thread posted by a dude from Curse itself): http://www.aionsource.com/forum/general-discussion/1915-depth-aion-overview-games-convention.html

Curse is promising a video interview and normal interview sometime today/tomorrow. Look forward to it!

Here's some more info

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(Translation)
The Leipzig Games Convention is underway and I got the chance to sit down with the guys from NCsoft. They gave me a presentation of a new MMORPG. The Lead Designer had some interesting things to say. The MMORPG-world might be becomming saturated, but everyone seems to think they can fill the last hole. At least Aion is trying..

When we talk about MMORPG's in the west, we mostly think about World of Warcraft. But there is a lot more out there than just this game from blizzard. The asian based NCsoft released Guild Wars some time ago. Richard Gariott works for NCsoft on Tabula Rasa and they are also producing Aion: Tower of Eternity. Let us forget the failed Auto Assault that was released last year. That game is long since dead.

The game that I'd like to dedicate this preview to, is Aion. Don't confuse this game with our crewmember, it's a serious MMORPG. The game satkes place on the planet Atriea. Once a peaceful place, but a small difference of opinion brought on a war that divided the planet. The tower of eternity was destroyed in the battle and now the Asmodia and Elyos live seperately. To make the story more complex, The Balaur live between the two. The result is an long battle in the middle of the Abyss.

Daeva?
You start the game by chosing a class (warrior, wizard, healer or ranger). Until level 10 you are just playing basic quests. After level 10 you can choose a secundary class and become a Daeva. The Daeva is a sort of uber-class and when you belong to this class, you get access to new areas. Also, you get wings that is of course very cool. Alright, you can only fly for one minute at a time, but in this minute you should be able to reach some great places.

Within the Abyss players gain access to the PvP part of the game. Here you can also find a third faction. The Balaur take up a special role in this PvP part. They will help you or work against you in PvP-battles. The Balaur will spawn with the faction with the strongest faction, helping the weaker faction. However it is not true that they will completely ignore you. If you come within aggro range, they will attack you.

Advantages of controlepoints
Besides that you will have to conquer control points in the PvP-world. These will grant your faction extra advantages for the battle against your enemy. The Abyss will be home to 8 to 10 castles that can be captured by either faction. The advantages will have extreme consequences. Your faction will be able to gather crafting materials easily. Besides that, traders live around the csatle and will sell special weapon only to your faction. Finally, the ruling guild will recieve taxes from the land. The rest of the faction won't get any money from it. Only when the enemy retakes the castle, another guild will have the chance to benefit from the many advantages of the castle.

Cutscenes tell stories
In the game you can find two types of quests. In certain quests you will gather items and help NPC's, but in the relevant quests you will progress through the campaign. In these campaign quests the short cutscenes will make the experience more film-like. NCsoft did this because gamers often click quests away and don't learn anything about the story. Thanks to cutscenes gamers won't miss the essential parts of the story.

There are more elements in the game where the gamer gets spoiled. When you find a nice armour on level 40, you are of course very happy. But as soon as you become level 50, this armour is of course useless. That's why it's possible to customise equipement. You can apply the stats of your level 50 armour on your level 40 armour, so you can always take the appearance you like best. Or you can choose to look like a bum, but have the stats of a great character.

Conclusion
Aion has a few unique elements. Thanks to the first CryEngine, used in Far Cry, the game looks fantastic. Besides that PvP-players will be ablt to go at it in this game and NCsoft strongly emphasises this part of the game. The big question of course is whether there is room in the market for Aion. Time will tell.

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yeah i saw it, its mint :)

Damn , it almost looks too good to be true.  The flying aspect looks really nice, and being limited to 1 minute is a great idea.  Airbourne combat 

Just hope it's not too carebear , but from the looks of it, warfare seems to be the main theme.

4 classes or did I misread?

Nice and informative :P Thanks!

Originally posted by Herodes

4 classes or did I misread?

Eight classes. 

http://www.aiongenesis.com/index.php?page=theclasses.htm

And thank you, Bornath, for the info./links. 

Each class will also have two sub-classes. You will be able to choose one once you reach level 10.

God this gayme looks goood

Originally posted by angelsfang

Damn , it almost looks too good to be true.  The flying aspect looks really nice, and being limited to 1 minute is a great idea.  Airbourne combat 

 

Just hope it's not too carebear , but from the looks of it, warfare seems to be the main theme.

There are open pvp areas and areas that aren't pvp. It really isn't a hardcore pvp game. Though I do believe there will be xp loss at death, but not a huge amount.

Originally posted by Sovrath

 

Originally posted by angelsfang

Damn , it almost looks too good to be true.  The flying aspect looks really nice, and being limited to 1 minute is a great idea.  Airbourne combat 

 

Just hope it's not too carebear , but from the looks of it, warfare seems to be the main theme.

Well, it's not completely ffa pvp so it might not be to your liking.

 

There are open pvp areas and areas that aren't pvp. It really isn't a hardcore pvp game. Though I do believe there will be xp loss at death, but not a huge amount.

I dont think there will be a ffa pvp game that can be popular anymore, the days of Shadowbane are long gone, it'd proabbly be too chaotic.  However, the main theme of the game seems to be about warfare, so unless you're going to sit and hide in cities for the rest of your life, i think eventually everyone will get hooked on the PvP because that's what playing MMORPGs is all about, instead of a LAN game...