Next korean update/patch - 1.2 (inc. new kind of wings!)

[Kayin]

Originally Posted by Moltenstorm

Didn't Liv say in an interview that the Devs were adding over 1500 quests just for the NA/EU version because of our proclivity to questing rather than grinding?

I don't know, personally I enjoy the battle system so much that grinding a level or two isn't so bad, namely if you get off your lazy nyerknyerknyerk and craft/gather. But still, I played WoW for years and I know how spoiled the NA area is with this stuff. The fire temple grind just isn't going to be popular with those players. BTW, questing is also a good way to make GOLD, if the rewards aren't crappy anyway. Aion has such a heavy gold-driven economy, more quests with more gold will help those that are frustrated about not being able to play the auction house game (max of 17 items on the broker I believe?)

[Daeven]

Originally Posted by Kayin

The most important question about 1.2 is exactly how changes were made to the questing system.

- How much has quest experience been changed?

Have a look at this post, it details the changes for 1.2. You will need to read it all the way through to see the full story.

- Has there only been quest EXP increases at certain levels, or across the board?

In version 1.0, levels 1 to 25 were well filled with quest content, while level 25-40 saw a quick drop-off and the only option was to grind the majority of each level via solo/party monster killing. Version 1.1 implemented a rest system (it's nothing major, but a boost for casual players nonetheless), while 1.2 brought quest reward boosts across the board (dramatic increases in many cases), and a selection of new quests added to each location (in particular, the rest of the Theobomos map was introduced with many quests for 45+ players).

The resulting effect was that levels 1 through 40 now provide a well-paced levelling experience with a lot of quest content. When you consider this is supplemented with the game's PvP system (especially the Abyss zones), this makes for an accessible game with a lot of crossover potential in the West.

However, the game does not yet provide enough quests for levels 40 through 50, where the XP curve increases at a very steep rate. This is where the game's Korean roots unfortunately start showing through, with the sudden drop in content requiring players to level primarily through mob grinding, which is going to put a lot of Western customers off the game.

- Was new quests only added to the latter part of the game?

As noted above, quests were added for 45+ players, but the quest XP reward changes result in the "mid" section of the levelling curve receiving the biggest change.

- How much grinding is required AFTER 1.2?

With each progressive level beyond 40, there is currently a lot of grinding required.

The question is, just how much revisions will there be for 1.2 and the NA release? I don't care how pretty wings will look, if you force players to kill the same monsters for days at a time, then they will only result in cancelled subscriptions.

Ayase has stated they are not changing the game systems (including number of quests and levelling curve) for the Western release. He said the only changes they are making are to the writing of quests, to make it more relevant to Western audiences. I have an end-game Templar on Chinese retail, and can say that the absolute majority of quests are lore-based or generic anyway (as you would expect) and clearly do not need changes, so I am not sure if NCsoft West has simply decided to present this as their excuse for what is more likely some other project delivery issue/s leading to the game's delayed release over here.

The quoted 1500 quests is misleading - I am not even sure if their are 1500 quests in the game - but either way, the two races don't share quests so this number is basically cut in half when applied to a player's actual levelling experience.

Nice post - I have some answers to some of the questions based on the official Korean Aion website and previous comments from Ayase (Aion Community Coordinator) - these are in an alternate color above.

[Aeon]

(Stares in utter disbelief at those level 50 wings...)

Yeah.

I was definitely on point in selecting to play Elyos from the very onset... if anything, those wings have given me something new to aspire to when I start playing. Whoa, those are very...very...

(Stares again at those wings...)

I mean, just... wow... that's all I can say... wow.

Thanks a lot for sharing these, Iyankyj... truely suberb find.