[Translation] German Interview (23.05.08)

[Midgarsormr]

Will the world (map) be extended?

more zones will be added; about 1/2 of all zones are implemented; abyss with 3 layers is missing, the biggest high-end zones are missing; lvl 20-30 zones seems to be huge for Amboss;

That's pretty much all I needed to hear. Excellent. But as a bonus,

Wings dye-able?

Not yet in game, probably yes (read: it's intended )

Very, veryyyyyy cool. But I wonder if it matters, your wings will only be out for a minute like every 30 minutes, depending on your situation.

EU/US Beta expected this year

Yep, it's pretty much confirmed. Aion is a 2009 video game. The fact that the word "expected" has to be said tells you so. Ah well.

[Livvy]

maybe there will pvp/pve/rp servers

I sincerely hope there will be distinctive servers .

[kebrus]

They use the collected experience from Lineage in Aion; There are "Soulshots" in Aion, but not the same as in Lineage2;
they give a static bonus to damage; no percentage; -> intended moneysink;

... this is going to suck... it doesn't really matter if they only give you a static bonus because they are implementing it to be a moneysink, so they will definitely make it in a way that becomes a "requirement" for everyone...

[Livvy]

... this is going to suck... it doesn't really matter if they only give you a static bonus because they are implementing it to be a moneysink, so they will definitely make it in a way that becomes a "requirement" for everyone...

Overlooked that. It's most definitely not a good idea. This might mean it will be more of a grinder then previously thought too ( what use do these soulshots have if not to be able to down foes faster ? That implies you have to down LOADS of them for leveling purpose = grind ) .

[Mark]

The mobs have thousands of HP. AION's, uh, whatever they're called (soulshots, different name) only add a static +whatever to your damage. So if the +whatever is +50 or something, it does nothing in PvE. PvP, however, is a different story altogether because players have very little health compared to mobs.

I don't like the idea either.

[oback]

excuse my ignorance, but what is a soulshot?

[iNaction]

Originally Posted by oback

excuse my ignorance, but what is a soulshot?

its this dmg booster thing you could apply to weps they had back in l2. Basically, you buy/craft them, and a wep would consume for example 2 soulshots per hit. It multiplies the dmg done by ur wep by a %, so its pretty much required for high lvl pve and pvp

[oback]

anyone notice the 5% on death?

sadly the did not mention if u loose level or not. Even though we have heard from testers that you dont, its good to get a confirmation

Originally Posted by iNaction

its this dmg booster thing you could apply to weps they had back in l2. Basically, you buy/craft them, and a wep would consume for example 2 soulshots per hit. It multiplies the dmg done by ur wep by a %, so its pretty much required for high lvl pve and pvp

so they are a consumable?

[Verth]

xp loss on death would actually make the game a lot more fun to me and more challenging it's one of the aspects of FFXI that I did like, it made me really not want to die and choose my groups/mobs carefully I'm just glad they're having it in Aion. I really wouldn't mind if you could delevel from dying too much but that's just me but either way I'm glad that stuff like this is getting posted gives me something to drool over

[iNaction]

Originally Posted by oback

anyone notice the 5% on death?

sadly the did not mention if u loose level or not. Even though we have heard from testers that you dont, its good to get a confirmation



so they are a consumable?

yes, it was one of the annoying money sink out of the many in lineage2. I really hope they won't have that many annoying consumables in Aion... They were the things that ruined the fun in lineage2 and made it feel like work instead along with the grind.

oh and i believe the beta tester did mention the exp loss on death, i seen it in several reviews before this one =0

[Mark]

You cannot delevel.

[Haubix]

Originally Posted by Livvy

Overlooked that. It's most definitely not a good idea. This might mean it will be more of a grinder then previously thought too ( what use do these soulshots have if not to be able to down foes faster ? That implies you have to down LOADS of them for leveling purpose = grind ) .

Wrong assumption! You don't NEED those soulshots to level fast.
See it like enchantments in L2: You're levelling fine with a +3 weapon enchant (safe enchant), but with a +30 weapon enchant you'll level a bit faster, but you dont NEED a +30 weapon to level pretty good.

So you CAN use Aion's Soulshots, if you have ENOUGH money and don't know where to spend it, but it's no MUST-HAVE.

Hope that clears things a bit up.

[Zanion]

i just wanna say that i trust NcSoft and i am sure they will do great job !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[iNaction]

Originally Posted by Zanion

i just wanna say that i trust NcSoft and i am sure they will do great job !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lol if you posted this on a lineage forum back then, people would literally die laughing. But they are doing a lot better now and i hope they won't make the same mistakes twice..

[Lunais]

Thank you for the information.

It's nice to see an emphasis on class balance and usage of logfiles. Observing patterns in player behaviour is (in my opinion) a highly important job in MMOs and it seems like NCSoft (Or Studio 5? Not sure who to credit as such) are taking a good attitude towards getting started on this early. Very good habit to get into.

Things are at least looking good for a Q1-2 '09 release, any later than this and I'd be slightly concerned as to the manpower behind the Aion project.