Aion

Aion 2.0 has launched for a while and now it’s time for NCsoft to unearth the next massive update, Aion 2.5. According to Korean gaming website Inven, the Korean leading MMO developer will hold a press conference for Aion 2.5 on January 4th 2011 and you can expect an official announcement at that time. Based on the previous patches’ release schedules, Korean media speculated that Aion 2.5 will be released before March 2011 in Korea.

Aion – Vision Trailer

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The 2.5 patch is a highly-anticipated update for Aion fans because some of the new features in the Aion Vision movie (commonly known as Aion 3.0 trailer) will be implemented. Looking from the previous interviews to the developers, it’s very likely that the following things will happen in 2.5 patch: an improved CryEngine and enhanced graphic with more visual effects, new dungeons and skills(almost sure), great change to Abyss, boss monsters can drop pets(same appearance as the bosses’), player housing system.

Related: Aion 2.5/3.0 Info Revealed by Game Developer

Does the upgraded graphic urge you to upgrade your PC?

Player housing

When Aion: Assault on Balaurea launched, many players expressed dissatisfaction with 'rifting' PvP. NCSoft and Aion devs have spent a lot of time working with players via surveys and forum topics to determine how to make changes to make rifting more equitable. Devs have implemented several significant changes that will be implemented for the next month with players providing feedback.

In the feedback gathered, you indicated that you felt that lower-level players needed to have some to protection. However, the majority of you also told us clearly that you felt that the strength of the defensive bonus after Assault on Balaurea launched was excessive.

On Friday, December 10 we will begin a month-long trial of changes to the current rifting settings that take into account your feedback. After the month is over, we will send out another in-game survey to gauge your thoughts on the changes to determine if we need to do any final tweaking of these settings.

Read more here.

Now Aion has updated to version 2.1 and the developer team will work on the next update, version 2.5. Recently, NCsoft’s Kim Hyoung-Jun reveals some important information about Aion 2.5/3.0 in Japan and Taiwan. Read on to find out what does he say.

Information revealed in Aion 2.1(JP) press conference (source)

Aion 2.5 will upgrade the visual effect and the graphic will be close to that shows in the Vision movie. If you still remember the movie released last year you must be impressed by its enhanced graphic. People see this video as an Aion 3.0 trailer, but NCsoft has told in different occasions that the contents show in the trailer won’t be available in a single update but will be released to players in several patches.

Aion – Vision Trailer

More Aion videos

According to Kim Hyoung-Jun, they will apply improved CryEngine in Aion 2.5 but considering the upgraded graphic will require more powerful PC, the developer will provide another version that makes little change on graphic. That’s to say, there will be 2 clients, one for high end PCs, one for low end PCs, and the 2 clients are just different on graphic.

He also explains their work on making the Vision movie into reality. He More >

MMORPG.com's Bill Murphy recently had the opportunity to sit down with NCSoft Associate Producer, Sean Neil to talk about the 'westernization' efforts being brought into Aion with the arrival of the Assault on Balaurea 2.1 patch. In fact, Bill calls 'the Aion of today is pretty much a brand new game compared to the Aion of launch.' Check out Bill's chat with Sean. Be sure to add your comments!

First Sean figured it was a good idea to go back in time and give a recap on just where Aion was when it launched in the west last year to give us an idea on just how much progress has been made to make the game ideal for its western audience. When the game launched in the US it was already in iteration 1.5 from NCsoft East. The benefits were that the game was stable and ready for launch in the US because it had already been launched months prior in Korea. The down side was that it wasn’t completely appropriate for the US audience in terms of how the systems worked. It felt, in Sean’s own words, “too grindy” for the Western mentality.

Read more of our exclusive Aion: Assault on More >

Aion(KR) is now celebrating Daeva’s Day with a new update deployed. During Daeva’s Day players can exchange funny looking items by collecting certain numbers of festival spirits. Aion has had lots of funny items long ago but this time, the developer gives you something that will surely excite gamers. The weapons include light blade, electric saw, and alarm clock, etc.

Currently Aion(KR) is in version 2.1, called the Golden Age. Aion 2.1 increases the drop rate significantly by 3.5 times. Now Korean Aion gamers can get a complete set of armors within one or two weeks. And the economy is unstable after the update. High drop rate should be something that players want to see but Aion 2.1’s insane drop rate concern many gamers. They are worried about the game will soon become no challenge as most of the gamers get what they want in such a short time. Although those ultimate bosses like Marchutan and Padmarashka remain untouched, the common dungeons, like Udas Temple and Udas Underground Temple have lost their glamour.