Aion

Well i guess the biggest reason i'm writing this is for confirmation.

I read last night that the abyss will be completely free of a death penalty and xp-loss(as there will be on non-abyss grounds). To me this is extremely dissappointing, we already have an abundance of games taking the FFA no loss counterstrike'esque pvp-ruleset, and i was really hoping the koreans wouldn't dissappoint me on this one.

What do you guys and gals feel about this? is this positive or negative information to you?

Well, that depends...is the Abyss going to be an area I have to go to or is it someplace people choose to go to purely for FFA PvP (like a big pvp only arena)?

If it's someplace I will have to go to progress or get certain items, then yeah, this game goes out the window for me since having FFA rules pretty much guarantees a big, pointless gankfest.  But if the only purpose of the area is to give those who enjoy FFA PvP some place to do it, that's fine with me.

Basically, I want to PvP when I want to PvP, not when someone else decides I should.

I'm not sure whether what pezit is saying is true or not, but you don't have to go the the abyss zone. It is mostly only for pvp, though they said that there would be areas with high lvl mobs.

But the developers have said that you can play the entire game outside of the abyss ignoring the pvp aspects and still have alot to do.

The abyss if pretty much THE endgame of this game, meaning the best items and the best leveling will be done there. I think you misunderstod me on one thing though. I like the fact that there is open PvP at the abyss, the thing i don't like is the fact that there is no death penalty(DP) in the abyss, meaning no risk in the PvP just endless "deathmatching" like you find in game such as WoW, AoC and probably warhammer. If there's a death penalty the PvP won't be as sporadic, ie you need to plan an attack if you don't want unnecessary deaths.

I do respect your opinion though, and i believe this game is probably not for you if you don't like PvP, since the endgame pretty much focuses on the faction war.

Edit: my source for information is aionsource.com

I think that the Abyss will be the hardcore area but adly outside the abyss will be carebear zones for free xp but no good items ect. i guess lvling will be faster in the abyss. To be honest i would prefer the other way round but the gae stil looks coo,l and since it is unlikey to be released till next year thing swill change, wait for the beta is my advice then decide from that, or what people say from that if u dont get in

I think the point the OP is trying to make is that PvP must have a risk vs reward concept, and I pretty much agree with him, and that's great in Aion, since the risk is getting kicked out of the abyss, and the reward is getting the profits from the best leveling/hunting/farming area in the game.

That being said, Ill try to go into detail (as much as I can as a random fan).

There isn't confirmation cause the Abyss hasn't been under testing yet, it will come in CBT3 (june/july) next to all the endgame content there is to test, however, I'll try to point my opinion from what I know (i've read almost everything there is to read about Aion, in english, that is).

a) There is the abyss points concept, which can be used to acquire certain gear, skills, bonuses and even hero status. Dying would mean an abyss points loss.*

b) Going back to the abyss isn't that simple, there are huge rewards that will sure make you want to go back, but then you'd have to reorganize your groups, which would take time guessint that the RvR concept works out properly (the winner will be waiting with the whole zerg supporting).

c) Raid bosses are going to be in partially seamless world a la L2, aka, races will compete for them, the loser gets no raid boss. (strongest raids are in the abyss).

d) There is a death debuff.

e) Fights in the abyss aren't just for regular mobs but for fortresses and strategic artifacts, you will want to farm there, but if you loose you might have a hard time doing so considering how the fortress owner controls the area until the devanion mist dissapears. (if you don't know what that mist is, look at my profile and track my last posts in this forum).

I can't recall anything else, but I'm sure these are good reasons to advoid death.

*I must say again im not 100% sure of these points, and since looking again hundreds of articles about Aion would take me years, I rather post this now waiting for someone to bring the facts if they can recall where they were.

Originally posted by Ephimero

a) There is the abyss points concept, which can be used to acquire certain gear, skills, bonuses and even hero status. Dying would mean an abyss points loss.*

b) Going back to the abyss isn't that simple, there are huge rewards that will sure make you want to go back, but then you'd have to reorganize your groups, which would take time guessint that the RvR concept works out properly (the winner will be waiting with the whole zerg supporting).

c) Raid bosses are going to be in partially seamless world a la L2, aka, races will compete for them, the loser gets no raid boss. (strongest raids are in the abyss).

d) There is a death debuff.

e) Fights in the abyss aren't just for regular mobs but for fortresses and strategic artifacts, you will want to farm there, but if you loose you might have a hard time doing so considering how the fortress owner controls the area until the devanion mist dissapears. (if you don't know what that mist is, look at my profile and track my last posts in this forum).

I can't recall anything else, but I'm sure these are good reasons to advoid death.

*I must say again im not 100% sure of these points, and since looking again hundreds of articles about Aion would take me years, I rather post this now waiting for someone to bring the facts if they can recall where they were.

Some of the things you're mentioning i've missed completely when reading, and i must say it sounds awesome if half of it is true :) the only thing i'm pretty sure of is the fact that the death penalty will not be in effect in the abyss, i read it in some interview or something on aionsource.

Indeed, no xp loss or DP in Abyss (but in other areas there is, so pvp through Rifts will have them)

Since there is no deleveling, theres no point to have that in Abyss, coz that area is mostly for endgame (yeah, some parts of Abyss are available from lvl25, but still).

As Ephimero said, there are the Abyss points (check Jamien's translations about the Abyss (2 articles) - main source of all our Abyss infos).

All your endgame actions will be measured and you gain/lose ABP-s based on them.

Another thing to keep in mind (though some might not like it) is that this is meant to be a casual game.

Yes, that's right... casual game. Therefore it could fall in the design of the dev's that harsh death penalties might not lend itself to being "casual".

Mark my words, and I've said this and will continue to say it until after launch, we are going to hear a lot of complaints from more hardcore pvp'ers (or those who expect a hardcore game) that the game is not "up to snuff" as well as from people who don't ever want to have pvp and will complain that they are getting attacked when the gates opened up and they want nothing to do with pvp.

Just a quick reminder, guys: the Abyss in Aion is RvR, not FFA PvP. That means you don't have to worry about your own faction killing you and you can probably run to get help if you're being chased. XP