* Dredgion Instance Maps now show in correct languages
* Item comparison tooltip has been rearranged
* Gender Tags for title will now show up appropriately in FR and DE
* Fix to Auction House where some users were not credited correctly for crafted items

FR Language Update:

* Fixed Abyss Maps
* Fixed LC1 map
* Various terminology changes
* Corrected various punctuation and spelling errors in dialog and quests
* NPC Audio fixes
* UI fixes for FR language
* Bug fixes/grammatical edits for Item descriptions
* Various translation corrections in dialogs and quests
* Various cutscene text/audio issues have been fixed

DE Language Update:

* Fixed Abyss Maps
* Fixed Sanctum map
* Made various map name changes in Altgard and Morheim
* Various terminology changes
* Corrected various punctuation and spelling errors in dialog and quests
* NPC Audio fixes
* Various Skill books have been edited for grammar and consistency
* Various cutscene text/audio issues have been fixed
* UI fixes for DE language
* Bug fixes/grammatical edits for Item descriptions
* Various translation corrections in dialogs and quests

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Patch 1.5.0.8

• Open Beta Troubles
• Closed Beta Event 4 Info
• Closed Beta Event 5 Info
• Official 1.5.0.5 Patch Notes
• Open Beta Patch Notes

Let’s poll this:

So we have all seen the huge amount of complaints, abuse, misuse, and the FPS comments and issues regarding Personal Stores.

“…I think personal stores are great!  they let me earn money, and sell the items I want to a specific group audience…”

Really?  Cause I didnt notice a significant difference between the Broker and a Personal Store in with this excuse.

Look, call it what you want, and justify the use however you need, but in the end, they are all just excuses.  Personal Stores is a good idea, yet the use of them has offset the original idea.  So lets all just be honest.  Does John set up a Personal Store, and then sit at the computer screen staring at his toon? Or does John set up a Personal Store, (even legit), to sell some items, and then ALT+TAB out or go watch TV, Eat Dinner, Walk the Dog, Go to Class, Take a shower, Fuck your sig other, or engage in other real life activities… I.e. NOT playing?  As a reminder… lets be honest.

((BTW, I may mention, for Thirteen, I pulled in nearly 87,000 Kinah yesterday using the broker, AND gained a level through questing, and hanging out with friends in our Legion.))

“…the whole 30 mins of personal stores isnt fair!  We entrepreneurs are simply trying to make some money!  The 30 min “rule” simply isnt fair!!”

Give me a damn break!  Players are complaining about a personal store for the reason of use because of a 30 min window?!?  Versus what?  The 8 days you get from the Broker?!?  ROFLMAO!  Just who do these complainers think they are trying to fool?  This excuse is being overused only becasuse it takes away some of the ability to abuse.

Upon finding a Personal Store, labled as “edfe”, and a Manastone: Parry +6 for 199,999,998 Kinah I whisper the abuser, “…Hey asshole, I am submitting your name to NCSoft for abusing the game, a violation of the Agreement you click when you enter the game…have a good day”

Yes, I know, I can be petty.  I have come to terms with it.

Nearly a half an hr later, I get the following whisper; “…Yeah, a lot of good it did you huh? I’m still here arent I?  I will continue to use the afk store as long as its in game, b*tch, so f*ck off!”

I know what you’re thinking now, Hes classy right?  I’d love to date him!  Stay back ladies!

“…I make more profit from the personal store, than on the broker…”

Jeez, does the BS ever end?  Please at least check the Broker prices before such claims are made.  Sure, there are rare occasions, but at the expense of affecting others via fps and queue times… heh, I say, keep tryin, and think up another one.

Now, this one has some merit..

“…lets not ignore the root cause problem, isnt the Personal Store, rather the over-population of servers!”

True enough.  However what about fps?  Server memory issues, which affect stability?  Anyone do some early checks on server up time for the more popular servers?  I did.  Lumiel has an average of 2-4 hr queue time between the hrs of 4:15PM EST till 11:40PM EST.  It has a general failure or crash, at least once every 52 hrs.  52 hours!  Seriously, less than 3 days, you can expect this server to crash or go down.  Times when these crashes occur are… yup, you guessed it, during the peak hours.

Lastly, what about the beauty of the game.  I personaly HATE going to Pandemonium.. “Lag-emonium”.  Billboards EVERYWHERE!

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Should Personal Stores be removed?

• What Excites You Most About Aion

A timer of 30 minutes will be implemented to prevent these shops from being abused as a means to prevent disconnection and alleviate queues.

The servers will be down for about an hour today at 14:00 BST / 6:00AM PST. This change may not be the best one for the future of personal shops but right now it’s definitely required and welcomed. It will probably make the auction house more popular as means for selling your items, although you must admit rarely anyone was selling anything of real value so far. Most important is the fact this will increase FPS is quest hubs and cities, as well as reduce queue times which we all unfortunately experienced.

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Private Stores Nerfed

• Details on Aion Launch Version: GameGuard Out
• Personal Stores… I Hate You!
• Newsflash: Patch 1.5, Aion Podcast, Blogs
• Spiritmaster Pets Learned to Fly
• Aion Collectors Edition Selling Fast

Now, I’m sure I am being unreasonable.  Now that Aion is live, I wonder how much more difficult this is going to be.  I have walked my character past people hiding behind buildings, behind trees, up in the mountains, out in the open, in front of obelisks, in the middle of towns, and pretty much everywhere in Pandemonium…nearly all of them have at least one item for 9,000,000,000 + Kinah.  Typically it’s a grey item; piece of animal fur or a fang etc etc.  Some Personal Stores even have their display as “AFK to avoid disconnect. 2hr wait=fail!”

 Hmm.. “2 Hr wait = fail”  I couldn’t agree more.  How about, “ability to make you wait 2hrs while I sleep tonight = fail” I think that’s a bit more like it.  Or how about this one; “Afk, mom making me take a bath. No disconnect”.  No kidding! There are so many things I could say regarding this statement.  I even thought of holding a Caption Contest… post a Screen Shot of one, and ask readers to tell me something about the user.

 Negate the abusive nature of the Personal Stores, at least you can get good items for a decent price.  Erm, what was that?  I took it upon myself and polled at least 115 people I ran into.  Excuse me, if I can just ask you, have you bought anything from a personal store, Yes or No?   No really, I made a macro.  All I asked for was “yes” or “no”.  The answers this author got were near foreseeable. Thus far, so summarize, the results are at 9 yes’s, and 106 no’s.  7.8%.

 I like math. 

 Assuming the ration is somewhat consistent.  Given NCSoft reported a little over 400K pre-select and CE users, and assume they are all online at some point in time, and then there are ~ 31,305 users who are supporting the Personal Stores.  So it’s safe to say, given the sheer volume of the stores, there are, at a minimum, no less than a 1:1 ratio of sellers to buyers.  31,305 people for every 2 hrs that 1 player has to sit and wait, you are looking approximately 62,608…well, you get the picture.  Sure there is a value of exponent ascending value to establish the first wait time, and subsequent addition would simply prolong a moving targeted range.

 Ann E. Way,

Is 7.8% of the population sufficient warrant to keep the personal stores as is?

Tell ya what.  Do a search for Aion Personal stores (enter derogatory comment here).  Me? I learned my lesson.  Until NCSoft removes or changes personal stores,…

 ….never log out, or if you want to play, foresee your future time, and log in min, 2 hrs early, then go eat a PoP-Tart or something.  I will be found outside, washing my car, at work, sleeping, eating dinner or lunch, at the park, on a motorcycle, hanging out with friends, etc etc… all the while, my toon it happily waving at people to come buy my 4 million dollar Lesser Healing Potion.

~ Thirteen

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Personal Stores… I Hate You!

• Licensing Issues in EU
• A Plethora of Options
• Super Serious Review of Aion Beta
• Private Stores Nerfed
• Updated Aion Beta Review & Abyss

As many of you noticed GameGuard caused more than a few problems during the open beta for countless players. It was mentioned awhile ago GG will be either improved or removed before launch, and it looks like NCsoft decided on the latter. It’s definitely one of the best news we’ve seen in awhile, and there was plenty of good ones.

I must admit I never thought it will come to this, but it’s good to see NCsoft care. Looks like they’re fighting for as many players as possible and I wouldn’t expect anything less. Let’s just hope they can come up with a better alternative before things get out of hand.

Here’s the rest of the news:

• Aion now features all three languages French, German and English. To select your language simply right click on Aion within your launcher and go to Properties->Language Options. Please select which languages you wish to download and which you wish Aion to display.
• The level cap is now level 50 (previously 45).
• Players will be able to reserve 2 character names during Preselection and create 8 characters in total once Head Start begins and beyond.
• Channels will be set to 10 instances for the beginning 2 zones of each faction. Please note that these will be lowered as characters progress and spread throughout Atreia.

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Details on Aion Launch Version: GameGuard Out

• Newsflash: Patch 1.5, Aion Podcast, Blogs
• Open Beta, Preselect & Headstart Info
• Closed Beta Event 4 Info
• CBW5 Screenshots, Combat Video & CryEngine
• Personal Stores… I Hate You!

According to most sites, the current pull is for Lumiel the unofficial RP world because NCsoft didn’t appear as though they were going to arbitrarily pick one.

However some noted Warhammer Online gamers from Phoenix Throne (the biggest and only official RP server) have decided to organize an effort to steal the vote for Zikel.  We won’t know the effects of this until Friday.

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NCSoft Server Poll on SurveyMonkey

• Licensing Issues in EU
• Aion vs. Warhammer
• Gameguard – To Protect or to Spy?
• Aion within the Ranks of MMO Giants
• CBW5 Screenshots, Combat Video & CryEngine

Once you complete the level 20 Campaign quest for your faction that leads to your first Stigma Stone you will also open up two slots to equip them in. After that a new slot will be available every 10 levels. (I.E.: 2 slots at level 20, 3 slots at 30, 4 slots at 40, etc.)

Stigma Shard cost is four times the level of the stone. (I.E.: for a level 20 stone you will need 80 shards. For a level 30 stone you will need 120 shards.)

The following quest chains will be need at level 20, and completed before you will be able to equip and use the stones.

Elyos
Memory of the Past

Asmodian
No Escaping Destiny

The Stigma Masters can be found accordingly.

Elysean Stigma Master
Orphe – Sanctum

Asmodian Stigma Master
Aud – Pandaemonium

At level 20, the following stones will become available. I believe NCSoft has the verbage incorrect here, as the Glad stones and Templar stones seem 180° off to me.  For example, I would prefer a Templar, Ranger, or Spiritmaster stone for a Gladiator.

Here are the “class”, “Ability”, and “Ability Action” for each stone type.

Templar
Indignation
Increases your Physical attack power by 30% for 30Sec.

Gladiator
Improved Stamina
Recovers your HP by 20% and increases your Max HP by 20%, shield defense by 150, and Weapon Defense by 100 for 2Min.

Assassin
Chain Engrave Signet
Inflicts 34~38 physical damage on the target and engraves a signet pattern on the target up to the level of 3.

Ranger
Arrow Deluge
Inflicts 122~126 physical damage on a target within a 15m radius of you and other enemies within a 5m radius of the target.

Sorcerer
Lumiel’s Wisdom
For 15 sec, you can use a skill with only 50% of MP that is needed to use the skill.

Spiritmaster
Vitality Absorption
Inflicts 279 magical fire damage on a target within a 25m radius of you, and absorbs 50% of the damage as HP.

Cleric
Grace of Empyrean Lord
For 12 sec, you can use a skill without consuming the MP that is needed to use the skill.

Chanter
Rage Spell
For 30Min, your Physical attack power increases by 15%. But in the meantime your healing skill casting time also doubles.

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More Info about Stigma Stones

• CBW5 Screenshots, Combat Video & CryEngine
• Aion within the Ranks of MMO Giants
• Gameguard – To Protect or to Spy?
• Aion Overview
• A Plethora of Options

Unfortunately, I haven’t seen any official word about it, the only proof is the video posted on Youtube. I’m afraid I can’t understand much on the korean site linked to. Howewer, it doesn’t appear to be a fluke so many of you us who scratched the class for their lack of combat abilities in the air, this is exactly the reason to reconsider.

(source: longasc)

Edit: confirmation can be found in these translated patch 1.6 notes, along with some other changes.

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Spiritmaster Pets Learned to Fly

• Newsflash: Patch 1.5, Aion Podcast, Blogs
• CBW5 Screenshots, Combat Video & CryEngine
• Open Beta, Preselect & Headstart Info
• Personal Stores… I Hate You!

Most all are aware of the near indefinite customization of the character creation screen.  Further that, do you become Elyos or Asmodian?  Are you male or female?  Which path of the character classes do you follow?  Which sub class?  Do you prefer the speed questing of solo-questing or chunk EXP questing in groups?  Make your money in a personal store or uber grindfest?

Options.

In Open Beta, I came across a rather… how should I say, “unique perspective”, on the level of options within Aion’s fantasy culture.  And this sighting, got me thinking.  Just how far can a user go?  And to that extent, how much forethought did the NCSoft team put together when designing certian aspects of the game?  I am referring to the oldest profession in the world.  Yup, you guessed it.  Prostitution.

No ladies and gents, this is not a fake.  This is an actual screen capture.  Of course, being the Intellictual Posterior I am;… I had to jump in on the action.  Perhaps it was simply the fact that this was Beta and not many were too concerned over the horde of cash in their cubes, however, I was also surprised to see people ACUALLY offering money for a service!!

So I spent some time in discussion with the “Whore”.  A really nice fellow.  Does this author believe this single entrepreneur to be an anomaly?  not hardly; more like the first of many. 

Note the clothing.  This got me thinking too.  Why is this “outfit” available in the first place?  I get the Christmas one… it has a purpose.  Even the dress attire has a role play function.  Did NCSoft foresee this?

My hat’s off to this individual for his “out of the box” thinking.  Games are meant for entertainment.  Farmers make money at it… This “farmer” has an un-ending supply of “crop”.

The Question now is… “What are you going to do with the game?”

~Thirteen

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A Plethora of Options

• Personal Stores… I Hate You!
• Aion within the Ranks of MMO Giants
• Gameguard – To Protect or to Spy?
• Aion Overview
• NCSoft Server Poll on SurveyMonkey

Lets start with Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, since this seems to be the stick to measure up.

WoW was not the first MMO, but was the first to cross market it… made it appeal to fantasy people, kids, nerds, Lore geeks etc etc.  However, Blizzard doesnt seem to want to do anything else… I guess its the ole “why mess it” mentality.  Meanwhile, ANYTHING other than WoW will get criticized to death… if a new game differs from WoW too much, people will say “they’re stupid for not following what works”… and if its too much like WoW, people will complain that “its just another clone”…blah blah blah blah.  Frankly, Im bored of the same ole tripe of the WoW kiddy cartoon style.  After it gets stale, they just copy maps, houses, characters, mobs, etc… change the colors a little, perhaps a few tentacles or something, and release it as a “NEW” expansion….

Huge “L” on the forehead in my opinion.  Then again, we hall have an opinion.

So let’s face it, people dont play MMO games because they are intellectually stimulating, provide wisdom, or produce the ability to increase ones brain power/concentration.  People play MMOs for the chat, and the fact that its a “no brainer”.  What makes WoW so successful, is that it truly is a no brainer… and it appeals to just not one genre.  Case in point, my “carrot on a stick” analogy

… really….

its still a carrot.  Here’s another one…

Sure in the next expansion, the carrot may have a tail, or be green…. its still a carrot.  I seriously doubt any MMO will beat WoW at its own game play.  Instead, the game that will pull more dollars will be the one that’s evolved from that play style, and add some thinking beyond a strategy that you memorize… but one that adapts to its own set of stimulus.

Lastly, to restate my above sentence… “Alas, we all have an opinion”.  If I am to pick up another game, I will pick up one thats got something new or better to offer.  Some of us are content with killing … “Cartman says, 65,340,285 Boars, which should take us 7 weeks, 5 days, 13 hrs, and 20 mins.”

Let’s have some quick facts about popular games and their current (or recently published), standings..

So let’s face it, people dont play MMO games because they are intellectually stimulating, provide wisdom, or produce the ability to increase ones brain power/concentration.  People play MMOs for the chat, and the fact that its a “no brainer”.  What makes WoW so successful, is that it truly is a no brainer… and it appeals to just not one genre.  Case in point, my “carrot on a stick” analogy… really…. its still a carrot.  Sure in the next expansion, the carrot may have a tail, or be green…. its still a carrot.  I seriously doubt any MMO will beat WoW at its own game play.  Instead, the game that will pull more dollars will be the one that’s evolved from that play style, and add some thinking beyond a strategy that you memorize… but one that adapts to its own set of stimulus.

Quick Facts:

WoW subscriber base (according to Blizz reporting in Jan 2008 – 11.5 Million World wide

Aion subscriber base (according to NCSoft reporting in August 2009 – 4.4 Million in Korea only

AoC subscriber base (according to FunCom reporting in Feb 2009 – 100K World wide. (a $23.3MM loss)

Lotro wont publish its subscriber base numbers but in Sept 2008 – $144Million a year in sales

Warhammer subscriber base (according to Edge Online reporting in Feb 2009 – 382K World wide.

Blizzards press release in Q2 2009 stated they took a significant loss, but state reasons due to down turn in economy in the US and affected EU and Asia markets.  They also stated they expect to regain old subscribers with an upcoming expansion

Ok Thirteen, so what makes an MMORPG the “best”?  In two words…  Suscriber Population…  Aka dollars.  Many people say World of Warcraft is the “best” game out. 

oh yeah?  so lets quantify that.  Best,… because of what?

Its graphics are superior to any other?

Its play model is superior to any other?

It costs less per month then any other?

It has a long standing plot / story line?

Its support and maintenance is superior to any other?

It offers a wide variety of customization?

Its requirement for players to maintain a high level of skill?

I can answer each of these with a definite “no” and provide an example;

graphics? no, see Lotro, AoC, Warhammer, Aion, Lineage, Eve.  I would almost argue that WoW is at the very BOTTOM of the list for graphics.

play model? no, been copied or was copied dozens of times.  Even Blizzard has copied its own, and rubber stamped it into Starcraft, and soon to be released Diablo 2.

Cost? no, majority of MMO games have ~ same cost, if not exactly the same

Plot? no, Lotor has the longest standing plot and story line.

Support and maintenance? no, AoC, Lineage, Eve all have no maintenance dates.

customization? hell no.  Example; every other game out there.

High skill? no, AoC, Guild wars, Lineage, Lotor… require more skilled combo, and interaction with the player.  one example, AoC mob shield generator, it moves depending on operator input, damage, AND it also is random.

MMORPG… hmmm RPG.  Interesting.  Let’s think about that some.  What appeals to the Masses of Multiplaying Online people who play these Role Playing Games?  Does button spamming make a game good?  RPG wouldn’t tend to say so.  There have been RPG games out for quite a long time, even before the current MMO giant.  It was the skill involved; the thinking; the adapting and preparedness for a battle that made RPG games so very popular.  Aion’s combat sequences are a mix of a bit of it all… button spamming, chained RPG abilities, character position to damage ratios, mob defense shields etc.

So what does this mean for the fate of Aion’s launch success?

Forget about the games themselves for a minute, and just look at the corporations.  If Corp A has a product that’s been the reigning champ for sales for a long time, and Corp B has a new product, that looks to be a very strong competitor… post market research analysis teams will push Corp A to throw out a gimmick.  Not to beat out the competition, but to simply ensure a reduction in projected sales by Corp B, and thus maintain Corp A’s position as leading sales….  this marketing strategy has been used for centuries, and it has 0% to do with the actual product.  Who really cares that Lucky Charms has a new 5th marshmallow!?!?  Cataclysm is just a 5th marshmallow.  And a poor attempt at that, in my opinion.

Really?

Worgens and Goblins?!?

ROFL!

So here’s this authors opinion… Aion doesn’t need to “beat out” or “kill” any other MMO.  They simply need to have sales in a close second.  There are enough MMO games out today which pull a little chunck from the current MMO giant.  Eventually, the player base will level out, and Aion, like many others, will become “another MMO game”.  Its up to NCSoft to do the job of keeping subscribers, once they get them.  I believe they can keep the attention from the start with the above current industry standard graphics, customization, and flight combat mechanics… I will be very interested to see how the end plays out.

One things for certian…

The days of considering MMO “aerial combat” as tossing a “smilie face” bomb from an auto pathed dragon…. are over.

Piff…

~Thirteen

Come feed your Aion addiction on AionFly.com

Aion within the Ranks of MMO Giants

• Aion vs. Warhammer
• Gameguard – To Protect or to Spy?
• A Plethora of Options
• Aion Overview
• Licensing Issues in EU