Archive for Guide
01.02.10
Posted in Aion, Gear, Guide at 11:40 am by Fedoldinn
Yes, we’re still here. Things have been pretty chaotic lately with work and the holidays coming up, but we’ve still been playing Aion regularly.
Lately, I’ve been working on leveling through the upper 30s and having just recently hit 39, I still have a ways to go in the process. Many hours spent in Mist Mane grinding, and I still have many more quests to complete there which should be good for quite a bit of experience when I finally get to turn them in. I’ve also been working through some of the campaign quests I left lying around, and generally clearing out my quest log in the Abyss when I can. Right now, I’m taking some time to focus on gathering again since my potion supply has dwindled and I’ve lagged behind severely in my Aether Extraction skill.
Anyway, with more time spent grouping and hopefully more opportunities to group for instances coming up, I’ve been debating once again on which Stigma I want to pick up for my open spot. I’d left it for two reasons: because I wasn’t entirely certain that I wanted to get Curse of Roots, and because the general cost of the Stigma Stones was extremely high on the broker in comparison to my kinah supply at the time. Now, cost is less of an issue, but I’m still not completely sold on Curse of Roots.
Let’s take a quick glance at some of the the stigmas available for Sorcerers:
- Lumiel’s Wisdom I – Level 20 – For 15 sec, you can use skills with only 50% of the required MP.
- Curse of Roots I – Level 20 – Transforms the target into a tree for 20 sec. The transformed target cannot move or act, and its All Elemental Defenses increases. Once the target is attacked, the effect disappears immediately.
- Zikel’s Wisdom I – Level 28 – Increases your Magical Skill Boost by 300 for 15 sec.
- Curse of Weakness I – Level 28 – Curses a target within 25m. For 1 min, each time they use magical skills, they take magic damage equal to 5% of their Max HP. This damage will not exceed 500.
- Wind Cut Down I – Level 31 – Deals 687 magical wind damage to a target within 25m of you, causing it to bleed for 6 sec.
- Vaizel’s Wisdom I – Level 37 – Reduces your skill casting time by 25% for 15 sec.
The first on the list, Lumiel’s Wisdom, is the first stigma that we get as sorcerers. I still use it a lot for grinding and soloing, as well as in instances to keep my mana supply up without having to use potions repeatedly. The other stigma that I picked up early on was Zikel’s Wisdom, for those times when you need a mob to die faster or for adding some damage when out killing Elyos. I find these two to be very useful in different situations, even though they are on the same 30 second cooldown.
Taking a look at the others, we have Curse of Roots, Curse of Weakness, Wind Cut Down and Vaizel’s Wisdom. Curse of Roots adds yet another form of CC to our arsenal. Even though we already have Sleep, Root and Aether’s Hold, having another more permanent crowd control ability that also keeps ranged targets silenced is extremely useful in many situations, both PvE and PvP alike. Many sorcerers tend to pick this one up early on and use it quite often. Curse of Weakness does damage to targets as they cast, however, the damage done is fairly limited and so is its usefulness. Personally, I’d recommend passing on this one. Wind Cut Down is more useful, adding a bleed to targets who try to run. This one seems more useful for PvP, and I’ve even contemplated picking it up myself, however I’m not entirely sure how useful it is since I’ve never seen anyone using it. Finally, Vaizel’s Wisdom is yet another stigma on the same cooldown as both Lumiel’s Wisdom and Zikel’s Wisdom, but this time it reduces our casting speed by 25% on spells.
I’m still leaning towards picking up Vaizel’s Wisdom if I can, I’d like to be able to dish out more damage in less time in PvP situations personally. Curse of Roots is tempting though since I’ve lost count on how many times I’ve had an extra mob or player around that Root or Aether’s Hold simply wasn’t useful enough to take care of. Of course, the latest broker prices on both of these has me waiting yet again. The last time I checked, Vaizel’s Wisdom was 3 million kinah on our server, and Curse of Roots was around 500 000 kinah, both far overpriced compared to what they had been before. What are your thoughts as a Sorcerer? Which stigmas do you prefer for PvE and PvP purposes?
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11.18.09
Posted in Aion, Guide at 8:23 am by Fedoldinn
If you haven’t already, be sure to check out Part 1 of this article here.
Last week I briefly discussed the variable factors in terms of in game goals and play time, including profession leveling, gathering and questing. I’d like to start out by discussing the latter two of these in a bit more detail considering they will make up the bulk of my in game time and affect the planning stages the most for those of us who have limited availability and are more casual players overall.
The main factors in my decision making process for questing versus gathering were the size of the quest hub I was currently working on and the current state of my gathering skill in comparison to the nodes in the areas nearby. If I felt like I was behind on gathering skill, or knew that I needed to level it up before I moved into a new area, I would focus more on gathering and less on questing. Although the two are not mutually exclusive, sometimes it became apparent that ignoring the quests for a short time and hunting nodes to gather would be more beneficial than focusing on the quest goals. During these periods of time, I would simply farm the nearby mobs for XP gains while waiting for nodes to respawn.
For the most part however, questing is generally better suited to longer gaming sessions and gathering / grinding is better suited to shorter ones. The exception here would be the smaller quest hubs that are restricted to a fairly limited area as they can usually be completed in shorter time frames. Always remember that you can skip a quest hub and save the larger ones for another day when you do have the time to go complete them.
Looking back on my experience, I leveled from 1-16 solo for the most part. It is entirely feasible to level up further solo as well. There were a few times when I found myself killing mobs several levels ahead of myself. As a sorcerer, the main thing I had to keep in mind was that since I’m fairly squishy, playing carefully in situations like these was of utmost importance. Dying is both a costly and time consuming mistake (and one that I’ve made many times). Making sure to take my time and think strategically, I was able to work through them with little to no problems at all. The last few levels in this range become the hardest, just be sure to play carefully and not to rush, and you will be able to work through them alone.
When you hit roughly level 18, you’ll want to work on the quests relating to the Mau and the Black Claw area. For this, you will need to find a group (and it is most likely your first major group experience in Aion). It also means you will want to be sure to set aside a larger chunk of time to play. The area isn’t too large, but the elites are tough and the quests take some time to work through. I had a ton of fun here in the beta, and can say its well worth the effort if you can plan for the time to head over to the area with a group to check it out.
At this point, I’ll have to admit that the next few levels really tested my patience with this game. Going from roughly level 20 to 25 was very rough in my experience, and involved a lot of solo grinding that I wasn’t initially prepared for. Looking back on it I could have probably done it better by strategically choosing mobs that yield the highest XP possible and focusing my efforts, but my haphazard method at the time made it more painful that it had to be. Needless to say, I’m much more used to grinding in Aion and far more focused now, but for those of you who may still be in this range fear not; once you finally hit level 25 the process becomes easier for a while and much more enjoyable when you get to enter the Abyss!
I have a few more tips for casual and hardcore players alike:
- Leveling professions is both costly and time consuming. I recommend doing it in short bursts and make sure you do the first free work order repeatedly, as Middea has already mentioned in another post.
- Make sure you focus on gathering as you go if it is important to you. Going back to do this later on can be extremely annoying!
- Off peak times are excellent for farmed quests, waiting on spawns, drop rates and other tasks that are difficult to accomplish during peak hours. If you can and have the time, leave these for those times when there are fewer players around to compete with.
Overall, my main strategy was to know in advance how much time I had available for the day so that I would have a plan of attack before I even logged on. This helped immensely considering I tend to get sidetracked quite easily and can become distracted with legion chat, browsing the broker or selling items, or just randomly wandering the world around me. It isn’t exactly uncommon for me to spend hours in a game and not feel like I’ve accomplished much if anything at all, so being prepared and organized is crucial to keeping my focus while playing an MMO casually. Of course, this strategy is only really important if you are trying to level in an efficient manner. If you simply wish to enjoy the game at your own pace, feel free to do so.
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11.07.09
Posted in Aion, Guide at 6:51 pm by Fedoldinn
A few weeks ago I wrote about my debate as to whether or not Aion would be worth the purchase and monthly subscription fee considering my limited availability to play. This is a follow-up post outlining my time in game and hopefully providing some tips on how to plan and maximize your own game experience. As always, any feedback is appreciated and we would like to hear about your own experience with Aion so far!
So, what has changed after my initial debate? Well, after a little thought and some discussion, it became clear to me that I did actually want to play the game. Speaking with Middea about the upcoming release, the latest news, and everything else surrounding it only made me that much more excited to check it out. On top of this, there were a few factors that convinced me that it was actually worth my money to purchase the game and pay the $14.99 US ( approximately $16.36 Canadian currently) monthly subscription fee. Middea’s breakdown of the cost of entertainment, as well as our decision to play casually and make sure we enjoy ourselves instead of rushing to the end game both weighed fairly heavily in the final decision.
And so I promptly pre-ordered the Collector’s Edition and have been playing since the head start fairly often, although somewhat sporadically. Some days I play for a few hours, other days I can log on for an hour maximum, and sometimes (fairly often recently) I can’t even play at all. Even with these limitations, and the initially long queues, I’m confident I’ve been maximizing my time in game in order to accomplish the goals I’ve set for myself, and most importantly, I’ve been able to have fun while doing so.
So, what’s the secret to playing an MMO casually? Well, there are three main points to keep in mind while reading this:
- Be patient. MMO’s are designed and developed as a time sink, just like any good role-playing game.
- Plan your play time. I’ve come up with a few points that hopefully will help you with this.
- Have fun! After all, that is the entire point of playing, right?
It would seem that the first point should stand fairly well on its own without the need to further clarify. However, thinking back on the role-playing games (RPGs) I’ve played, sometimes its not so obvious that the games were intended to provide hundreds of hours of entertainment. In the case of MMORPGs, this usually is extended to thousands of hours. I know for a fact that I played WoW for well over 200 days… Just keep that in mind when you approach Aion and understand that there’s no reason to experience everything immediately. The game will be around for years to come and you will have time to work your way through it. The important thing here is to remember to start off with an idea of what you want to accomplish in game early on, and set the rest aside for later.
Once you know what is important to you, you can easily start to plan your time spent in game. For me, there were a few things that I had on my list from playing in a couple of the beta events. First, I wanted to make sure my gathering skills were kept up to the appropriate level with the content I was working on. This was important for a few quests, and I knew that it would help out later on with the professions I had chosen to focus on. For professions, I decided that Alchemy and Cooking would be important to me, but the former was the most important for my class and general interest. So, part of my plan was to level Alchemy immediately as I leveled my character, and set Cooking aside until later on considering the general expense, both in terms of time and kinah, to level a profession. Finally, the leveling process itself was important to an extent (as it always is), so I made sure I had an idea of how I wanted to approach questing and grinding at my casual pace.
Considering those three goals, there were a few things that became immediately apparent to me. My profession leveling could be done at any time, and didn’t have a time constraint on it. This made it an ideal choice for shorter periods of game time. I also knew that the gathering goal could potentially set me back a bit in terms of time spent questing, which was something to consider, but essentially a variable factor dependent on node spawns, general activity level in game, and other factors that were out of my control. The questing and leveling process itself is fairly variable as well, but can be controlled to a certain extent with a bit of thought put into it.
To be continued…
Be sure to check out A Casual Approach to Aion (Part 2) for more information on time management and planning while leveling. In the meantime, make sure you’re having fun!
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08.30.09
Posted in Aion, Guide, Legion at 5:56 pm by Middea
Now, I am not really a lore person, and I already have picked my faction, but I like to choose a faction based on the lore of a game. Why? Because I like to know that I am fighting for a team in which I feel has the right of it, the basic overlaying foundation on which I can fight for the ideals and believe I am right.
I think Aion does this beautifully, each team can be seen as the right team. Each side has a perspective on the history that demonstrates why they should be the faction that lives. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
First, a brief history lesson to watch:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwciMQ3xjbk]
Alright, so now you have the basics of the lore of Atreia/Aion. You can also read more detailed accounts from The Book of the Asmodians and The Book of the Elyos. Another article dissecting the differences can be found at TenTon Hammer.
Now what the video does not cover with enough detail… The two halves of the Tower of Eternity, Tower of Light (Elyos) and Tower of Darkness (Asmodian), are leeching the strength of the other, and as such each side fights to kill the opposing Tower and those fighting to preserve it.
Why not just kill one Tower and let everyone live on one half of the world?
Basically, this isn’t an option because without the Tower, the land supported by that Tower will perish and die. So why not just migrate the people of a Tower to the other half of the world and then destroy it? Basically, the enmity between the two factions is so deeply rooted and seated within each that there really is no hope for reconciliation, any chance of this having been an option has been destroyed and there are fresh wounds to obliterate that option.
Perception is everything. The acts of one person do not dictate the philosophy/behaviors of everyone. Yet both the Elyos and Asmodians judge the others by the actions of those in the past. Elyos believe all Asmodians to be bloodthirsty monsters, Asmodians believe Elyos to be pacifist wimps.
Elyos justify their prosperity of land and climate to the favor of Aion and point to Asmodians harsh environments and climates as disfavor. Asmodians believe that Aion gave them such hardships to test their mettle and believe Aion has been overly kind to the Elyos out of pity, not favor.
The fact is, the matter is not black and white. Neither side has it wholly right and neither side is willing and/or able to admit they may be wrong. Too much time has passed to heal the wounds of either faction. They will fight to the death to eliminate the other.
If you wish to choose a faction based solely on game play/looks, that is also a viable method. Perhaps that combined with some lore/history will be your deciding factor.
Environment:
Asmodian – darker, more harsh environment. This side of Atreia does not have sunlight so there aren’t many green places, though some plants have adjusted to this and still survive.
Elyos – warmer color palette. You’ll find beautiful sandy beaches, luscious forests, overall a more green and pretty landscape.
Wings:
For a visual, these are the level 50 (max level) wings for each race.
Asmodian – 
Elyos – 
Skills:
Keep in mind that DP (Divine Power) skills, titles and Stigma Stones also vary by the race you choose.
Which race will you be playing? What contributed the most to your decision?
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Posted in Aion, Guide at 3:31 pm by Middea
Taken from here, the official dates are out for this month, up to and including release. More than likely you have already heard of them, but let’s dissect what each is and what you can do in each.
Open Beta: September 6 (Sunday) – 13 (Sunday)
Server and Character pre-selection: September 18 (Friday) @ Noon P.D.T.
Head Start: September 20 (Sunday) @ Noon P.D.T.
Launch: September 22 (Tuesday) NA and September 25 (Friday) EU
What you need to do to upgrade to 1.5 or begin the journey to 1.5:
The open beta client is now also available for download from Fileplanet. You can also download the full open beta client or upgrade your closed beta client by downloading these torrents.
Open Beta:
Open Beta is for testing the game, previewing it. It is generally assumed that an Open Beta is open to the general public, but based on a quote by Ayase, “I’m not entirely sure how broadly our invitations will go out, but it will, relatively speaking, be open compared to our closed betas,” it sounds like it might not be open to the general public.
Characters from Closed Beta will be wiped and you will be starting new characters for Open Beta.
What we know, Open Beta will be version 1.5, and thus we will be experiencing:
- Western enhancements: including new Western stylization options during character customization
- New zones, instances, skills, and quests
- Level cap of 30
Edit: There is now a Letter from Aion Producer Brian Knox on Open Beta as well as Open Beta Patch Notes
Your characters will be wiped at the end of Open Beta.
Server and Character pre-selection:
Beginning Friday, September 18, at Noon P.D.T. anyone who has pre-ordered Aion has the option to create your character(s). You will be able to log in and create your character’s look and save the name(s) of your choice on your server. You will be able to create and save 2 characters at max during this time. You will not be able to log in and play until Head Start. Pre-Selection ends at 9 AM P.D.T. September 20 (Sunday).
Head Start:
Two days after pre-selection begins, on Sunday, September 20, those who have pre-ordered will be able to enter the game and start leveling. If you used the pre-selection time, you won’t have to fiddle around with creating your character’s look, but just start playing.
Launch:
Anyone who wants to buy the game without pre-ordering will be able to access the game and join those who have already started the leveling process.
Pre-order Items:
Preorder-Only In-Game Items: In-game items will be available for use during the head start program.
* Black Cloud Hat (gives boosts to HP, MP, magical resistance, and evasion)
* Lodas’ Amulet (gives a +20% experience boost for 1 hour)
* One Ancient Ring of Power (type depends on your preorder retailer): Ancient Ring of Fire (GameStop), Ancient Ring of Magic (Best Buy), Ancient Ring of Earth (Amazon.com), Ancient Ring of Water, or Ancient Ring of Wind.
Related Links:
Change your Password for access!: Make sure you do this if you created your Aion account before 07/29/2009
Installation & Troubleshooting FAQ: Comprehensive guide
How to download and install Aion without problems: “For those people with an unreliable internet connection “
Dat’s Translations – Including Major Patch Notes
Letter from Aion Producer Brian Knox on Open Beta
Open Beta Patch Notes
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