A lengthy interview with Aion lead developer Yong-chan Ji; it summarizes all areas of concern that remain since closed beta phase 3 (CBT3) and gives insight into the direction Aion is headed for open beta (OB).

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Source: Playforum
Writer: Arusin
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It's already been a month (note: this article was posted August 14th) since the 3rd wave of Closed Beta has ended. The Abyss - the key update of CBT3 - was met with mixed reviews. On one hand there was the underlaying concept which felt fresh and exciting; on the other hand were all the issues that come with an untried feature. How is the Aion dev team interpreting all the tester feedback they've received from CBT3, and more importantly, what will they do with it? We had a chance to speak to Yong-chan Ji, the lead developer of Aion, to get a glimpse into Aion's future.


Aion's Lead Developer Yong-chan Ji

Q: Hello.
A: Hello.

Note: Epic intro.


No More Closed Beta Tests

Q: At the last media event we were told that there will be an Open Beta by Q4 this year. Can you share any details on that yet?
A: Details still haven't been decided on, but the plan is still set to start an open beta test between October and December of this year. We will not be holding any more closed beta tests.


CBT3 : A Success

Q: Now that CBT3 has been over for some time, how would you rate CBT3? Did it meet your targets in terms of what you wanted to test?
A: As a beta test it was extremely satisfactory. Many areas of the game that we thought might be problematic, or we weren't sure of, were clarified. It's providing a lot of help and direction in our development.


Changes in the Abyss

Q: The Abyss was the center of attention in CBT3. In the case of Fortresses, the rewards were Legion-centric and many players that weren't a part of large legions felt somewhat left out. What can these players expect for open beta?
A: We're taking much of those concerns into account; changes will be made so that Fortress sieges are more accessible. For one, fortresses will no longer be owned by a single legion, but by multiple legions or groups of players. Our benchmark is to make sure that all players could have a meaningful experience in a Fortress siege, even in a small group with few friends. Secondly, siege objectives will be modified so that it's no longer as simple as taking down the siege boss. We'll be adding a system that gauges various player efforts on the siege, and reward those players appropriately.

Q: Many players found that the 9 Fortresses were all too similar. Can you comment?
A: We're aware of this, in fact, I'd go further and say that I agree. The differentiating elements were there but they were either undiscovered or unused. We are working at exaggerating these elements so that they have more of an effect.

Q: Another disappointing factor was that all the siege bosses were the same. Will this be changed?
A: We will not be changing their appearance, but we will add variances to their behaviour.

Q: Siege weapons seem to be underpowered, especially considering the difficulty in crafting them. Can we expect changes in those as well?
A: We haven't been able to gather proper metrics for siege weapons yet, since they weren't used very often. But we do plan to address some of the issues that were brought up, such as the duration time being too short.


Raising Balaur

Q: The Balaur were met with a lot of criticism. It seems they lack the AI to be a true third faction.
A: We're seeing two sides of the issue with the Balaur. On one hand, players that do not have ownership of a fortress are finding them simple; on the other hand, fortress owners are complaining that they come attacking their fortresses far too often. Some of the Balaur units are strong enough to take on the siege boss 1:1, so that is part of the second complaint. We will find the right middle ground between these two sides and optimize the Balaur as a balancing faction that has enough flexibility to change based on the server's dynamic.

Q: So the fact that the fortresses occupied by the Balaur are easy to take over - this is on purpose?
A: Balaur occupied fortresses will always be easier than player occupied ones, but we are still tuning the difficulty. For example, the current system allows for stronger Balaur units to spawn depending on the server's faction balance - we will be exaggerating this system to strengthen the effect.


Optimization

Q: Are you making progress on dealing with lag issues in mass pvp?
A: This is something we're working on on an ongoing basis. We're also discussing the idea of having a 'mass pvp mode' where we would sacrifice some of the visual elements for smoother gameplay.


Special Stigma Skills

Q: We saw armour and weapon items as well as consumable items as Abyss rewards in CBT3. What else can we expect in open beta?
A: We will be adding stigma items as rewards, which players can use to get new skills. In addition to rewards gained from gathering Abyss points, we'll be adding unique drop-only stigmas. Skills acquired through these stigmas will be especially useful in the Abyss. They won't add massive amounts to your damage or anything like that - but instead they might allow you to put a group of enemies to sleep for 1 minute, for example. These skills will be PvP-focused rather than PvE, so a unique stigma skill will be a highly coveted piece of content for core players.


Class Balancing

Q: What changes do you foresee in terms of class skills?
A: Starting with Templars, we're eliminating the cooldown time on the 'Prey' skill to make it more useful against ranged classes. Gladiators will get additional skills that add to their AoE specialization, such as AoE knock-back skills. Scouts are all about the single target kill, so we'll adjust their skills to further accentuate that specialization. By giving each class more of its own identity, we expect players to enjoy the game in a much more strategic manner. For example, we expect to see Templars pulling in the Gladiators using 'Prey' and Gladiators countering with a knock-back - and this is just within the Warrior classes.

Q: CBT3 saw the rise of a strange hybrid build: polearm-wielding Assassins... and they were unreasonably effective. How is the dev team dealing with this?
A:First of all, we are eliminating all stigma skills that essentially allowed players to wield any weapon they wished. We're switching direction instead to stigmas that heighten the unique qualities of each class. You won't see any polearm Assassins in open beta, at least for a while.

Q: The reason polearm Assassins were so effective was because of knock-back and push-back effects from the polearm, and these effects seemed excessive even on Ranger skills. Will we see a change on these effects?
A: Crowd control effects such as knock-backs and push-backs were proccing far too often, even just from regular hits. This is going to be fixed. We'll reduce the chance percentage of these effects significantly on regular hits, but the chance will be heightened in class skills. Crowd control skills will generally always be a result of explicit control, rather than random chance.

Q: Any more thoughts on class balancing in CBT3, and further balance changes?
A: The two most common reports we received in CBT3 was that the Spiritmasters were too weak and that heal amounts were to small. The healing issue was brought up quite often internally so I played a cleric extensively myself, and I came to agree with the complaints. Some players commented that Priest classes needed stronger offensive abilities, but just from looking at their leveling speeds, we're being careful in balancing them upward in that aspect - in CBT3 Clerics and Chanters leveled faster than any other class. In any case, all these issues are being looked at holistically. Cleric's heal amounts will be increased, and Spiritmasters will be improved. Like I've already mentioned, all changes will occur to reflect the unique qualities of each class.


XP, Drops and Rewards

Q: Hunting in the Abyss areas gave significantly more XP than in other areas, can you explain the reason for this?
A: The Abyss is a much riskier hunting area because of possible PvP attacks, so it makes sense that the rewards are greater. This is a design direction we will continue to take, although we will adjust the balance of risk and reward continuously. For example, our estimates of the difficulty for elite monster areas were off - XP and rewards in these areas will be adjusted upward.

Q: Elite areas were found to be extremely difficult due to linked mobs. Was this intended?
A: Those areas were far more difficult than we had accounted for, and will be adjusted. They will still be party-oriented, but reasonably so.

Q: Aion features prices and taxes that fluctuate with Faction control, but we found that some items differ in price even when the tax and currency rates are the same. What causes this?
A: Prices can differ based on the area. Generally, item prices will be higher in areas where PvP warfare takes place, so it comes down to player choice. Players can choose the convenience of buying close by or they can take the time to travel for lower prices.

Q: Crafting was deemed useless in CBT3 due to drops in the Abyss. Will this change in open beta?
A: Yes, definitely. More crafting-only items will be added, including Drakonic items. The cap on crafting levels will also increase.


Accuracy vs. Critical Rate

Q: Of the player stats, does Accuracy have an effect on the rate of critical damage bursts?
A: No, accuracy has no correlation with critical rates, and only determines how often physical attacks miss or land. The critical rate bonuses indicated on certain Accuracy scrolls are additional bonuses that have no relation to the accuracy bonus itself.


Quest Content

Q: We were told that there will be a new area added for open beta. Can you tell us about the area?
A: Both factions will be able to explore new areas with level 30~50 content. These areas have storylines that integrate to regular areas, as opposed to the Abyss storyline, and feature plenty of hidden content. We're also adding areas with level 20~25 content - and these areas do not spawn dimensional rifts, and therefore will be safe from PvP.

Q: Players have been commenting that there wasn't enough quest content available in CBT3. How much more can we expect for open beta?
A: We still have a large amount of quest content waiting to be implemented, and we're continuously adding to the pile, always with variety in mind. This is more a matter of time than anything.


Racial XP Gap

Q: There was a difference in XP levelling requirements for the two racial factions. Will this change?
A: Yes. The change was there for testing purposes so that we could gauge player patterns for some of the content. We experienced some backlash from it, and since we're done testing what we needed to test, that gap will be removed for open beta.


Aion to Return: Bigger and Better

Q: Thank you for giving us so much of your time. Any last words for the fans?
A: I'd like to thank all the closed beta testers for their feedback. I can personally promise that all the input from the fans are being taken into account. At this point, Aion is already ready to go in terms of quantity of content. We now aim to reach the quality we've been striving for with the help of our testers.

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