"Aion: Ascension" now F2P!

[alfheimwanderer]

So for those of you who don't know, the MMO Aion (from NCSoft, the publisher of Lineage II, City of Heroes, and Guild Wars) went Free to Play either last week or the week before, depending on if you live in North America or the EU. For those of you unfamiliar with the setting, it is based on the conflict between the conflict between two factions of humans which live on opposite halves of a shattered world: the noble but arrogant Elyos and the brave but bitter Asmodians.

...but of course, they have a common enemy as well, the Balaur, the dragonlike race once created to protect and watch over the world...but ended up sundering it, with each faction blaming the other for allowing the Balaur to do so...

Also, did I mention that all characters possess the ability to fly? (After level 10)

---

Important Information:

F2P in EU is handled by Gameforge: http://www.aionfreetoplay.com/
EU F2P information: account types, cash shop

F2P in NA is handled by NCsoft West: http://na.aiononline.com/home
NA F2P information: cash shop

NA or EU?

- Ping is quite important in PvP, as lagspikes will be your death
- EU free accounts are limited, but a gold package can be bought with in game currency, unlocking most features
- NA notably does not have different account types, just a cash shop filled with (pay to win) goodies


But just what is AION?

A graphically stunning, traditional (WoW-like) MMORPG (formerly subscription based, now free to play), featuring:

• Flying with fancy wings (in most zones)
• PvE and PvP (open world, fortress raids, battlegrounds)
• a unique setting (but only two playable races)
• 8 classes with 2 different skill trees each for specialization or hybrid builds
• Group (6 players) instances across the full level range
• 12 and 48 (!) players raids
• 3 battlegrounds: 6 Vs 6, 1 Vs 1 and 10 FFA with more to come
• 4 large open PvP zones (Abyss, Inggison, Gelkmaros and Silentera Canyon)
• 4 rift PvP zones (Eltnen, Morheim, Heiron, Beluslan)
• Fortresses that legions (guilds) can conquer and defend for nice benefits
• A boatload of character customization options, from faces, to fashion, and so forth
• Pets, which can be silly, cute, useful - or downright deadly
• Plus of course, the usual quests, looting, crafting, guilds and all other minutiae in a MMO
• ...and did I mention it was free?

Game Videos: Open Beta Trailer, Assault on Balaurea Preview, Assault on Balaurea Launch Trailer, Empyrean Calling Highlights, Aion Vision Trailer, Aion 3.0 Trailer

The current state of the game:

• The grindiness has been fixed! New players receive free items and gear while levelling, a mentor system exists to help beginners level faster and gear up at the same time. And the drop rate is improved, so reaching the level cap is now a matter of weeks and not months - even for casual players!
• Increased PvP Opportunities: 3 high level open world PvP zones, Dredgion PvPvE 6 man group instance 3 times per day, 10 man FFA and 1 VS 1 PvP battlegrounds as often as you want.
• PvE endgame: Even after reaching the level cap, a bit of work is needed to get the best gear, so there are raids and instances to run, with the most challenging being the Beshmundir Temple instance (6 man), Empyrean Crucible instance (6 man) and the Padamarashka's Cave instance (48 man).
• Gear in General:
  
  • PvE - Decent gear is easily acquired via drops and quests, but getting the very best is a still time-consuming process, as it should be
  • PvP - Gear is much easier to come by as the AP to buy the gear can be earned much more quickly, letting one catch up with PvP vets with a modicum of skill
• Community: Mixed bag. Asking questions in global chat gets answers quickly, high level players are fairly helpful, and legions are known to support each other (though they do recruit quite epically), but of course, there is also the elitism from PvP vs PvE and whatnot...
• In general: Raising a character of any class is now a fun experience (though we always need clerics, who can sometimes solo world bosses), PvP is alive, and there is more activity in the game now than before F2P

Useful links:

• Aion's Official Website with very useful official Gameguide
• Aion Armory
• Aion Database
• Aion Life - Various Guides and Quest Info

Major Patches:

• 1.9: Patchnotes, Guide
• 2.0: Patchnotes, Guide
• 2.1.0.1: Patchnotes, Guide
• 2.1.0.5: Patchnotes, Guide
• 2.5: Patchnotes, Guide
• 2.6: Patchnotes, Guide
• 2.7: Patchnotes, Guide
• 3.0: Preliminary Patchnotes

BL Members in AION (Elyos)
AlfheimWanderer (NA, Siel Server: Scryvenrie, Elantria)
Hyarion (NA, Siel Server: Froste)
Kyte (NA, Siel Server: Kavya)
HolySeraph (NA, Siel Server: Lizleihi)
Hoster (NA, Siel Server: ???)
Lethum (NA, Siel Server: Lethabelle)

BL Members in AION (Asmo)
Alulim (NA, Siel : Aluricius)

[lethum]

I have my account ready, but my character isn't. After I get home, Aion should be all I will do until I go to sleep.

[Froggie]

Might give this a try once I free up some more HDD space...

[In-N-Out Double-Double & Animal Fries]

I'll hit it up this weekend

[lethum]

Lethum is now the Elyos Lethabelle the Mage! Rejoice!

[alfheimwanderer]

Great. Welcome I look forward to seeing you all in-game, and perhaps setting up a BL Legion. ^^

[Alulim]

Al will try this.

[ItsaRandomUsername]

The moment I free up more HDD space I'm probably going to try this out.

[Laith]

I'm usually not interested in this sort of games... but flying man. Will see if I give it a try laterish

[eddyak]

So how is this any different from Flyff?

[SeiKeo]

Does it have hot angels.

[eddyak]

No angels, and unless you have really weird ideas on the word "hot", no to that as well.

[lethum]

No angels, and unless you have really weird ideas on the word "hot", no to that as well.

Aion versus Flyff... Aion is prettier, and the fluff is more engaging (to me) than Flyff's. However, flight in Aion is not as free as it is in Flyff (You can fly around the world with restricted Areas versus You can fly around special areas and glide in the rest of the world).

[Alulim]

I don't think I'll make it beyond the character creation screen.


...too many options makes Al's perfectionism go berserk.

[lethum]

I don't think I'll make it beyond the character creation screen.


...too many options makes Al's perfectionism go berserk.

You can always press the random button until you see something you like.

[GlanGR]

I was going to try this out today, but my computer's tendency to freeze randomly combined with that 10 hour download time means that it'll probably have to wait a while.

[Kyte]

For the record, I'm the kind to binge on gaming, so even though I began around the same time as Alf and co., I'm already at 23 when the rest are like 10, plus powerleveled most craftings because I'm nuts like that. This means I can Mentor and craft stuff for you.

[lethum]

Yay1!

Was that you who friended me, just a while ago?

[Kyte]

That'd be me, I suspect.

[lethum]

Yes, it's you. I checked.