Directfeed from Korean forums

[TwilightAngel]

Originally Posted by Felluah

OK, so reading the whole thread, and as much as I can of the various linked articles, the summary seems to be as follows:

• On the korean forums, there are a lot of people posting about bots, or suspected bots (due to them being really high levels already)
• On the korean forums, there's also issues about balance between the classes.
• We have people here who have played the OBT, and are currently playing the retail game, saying they've not seen so many bots and the balance isn't too bad, nothing more tweaking won't fix.

There are a few things that need to bared in mind:

• There are a few hundred thousand people playing -concurrently- at anyone time. When a game is this new, people spend more time playing than they do writing on the forums. Those that are writing on the forums obviously feel very strongly about something, to take time out to talk about.
• Sadly, even here, 75% of forum posts tend to be negative. (OK, here it's not that bad, but the game's not out yet, and generally this is a mature and genial community)
• The game will have been live in Korea for several months, and in China as well before it hits our computer screens.
• NCWest is a new entity. They have stated they will not tolerate botting, and are, if reports are correct, cracking down on the issue far more than NC Austin did. Tools to aid in the detection of bots take time to produce and refine - it will always be an ongoing thing.
• Balance issues will be ongoing as people get more and more into the game, learn what the class capabilities are in more detail, and find more interesting combinations. In the case of the sorcerer, they've always been the proverbial glass cannon. Extremely powerful and physically vulnerable, it's a fine balance that needs to be found, and it will take time to find it - time we'll not have to worry about due to the 3rd point above.

So, enough lists, they were just for clarification (although they seem to ramble a bit now looking back on it).

In my opinion things are never as bad as they will seem on the forum, I am far more likely to lend weight to the arguments of people actually playing the game. The fact that there are bots there is disappointing, but inevitable. It's the response that matters. What everyone here that has played L2 especially want to see is a strong reaction from NCSoft in regards to this. Noone should expect an immediate response, a knee-jerk reaction to fix this would not be in the best interests of the game, nor as effective as other measures that can be found through deliberation. The game is young, and NCSoft is probably wise to use the time they have, while the game is young, to find the correct solution.

It could well be that botting to level is not efficient or called for, which is fine, it will die out, or be of little or no effect. Gold/resource farming is another matter, and can effect the economy a lot. However, the game setup seems to be that the truly profitable things will be
in the abyss, which to all intents and purposes, will not be an environment conducive to botting - I am willing to adopt a wait and see approach here.

The class balancing is a different matter altogether, and one that's taking place across -every- MMO there is. Noone will ever be happy with their class unless it is over powered in all ways, but that won't do to all the other classes. Time is what is needed to balance the classes properly. Regardless of how many people played the OBT, it's still not enough to find all the combinations and account for them. Again, we'll see the benefit of a more balanced game when it hits NA/EU.

Overall I think NCSoft should be applauded for having what can probably be considered one of the smoothest launches of any MMO i've ever seen. with a 90% retention rate from free to paying account, that is pretty massive, especially when you consider the numbers we are talking about (several hundreds of thousands of concurrent players?!). What those bitten by the bot issue in previous games want now is strong evidence of a crack down on bots. I don't expect that to happen in the first month of the games release, there's probably more pressing issues to deal with first. However, I do expect to see something by early next year at the latest - if that is a crack down with the ban-hammer, or botters finding there's no market in Aion for them, I don't care, as long as it gets resolved.

I would suggest everyone takes a deep breath, enjoy the good points, keep an eye on the bad ones, and invoke the mantra-a-la-Ayase and "Just wait and see, you will be very pleasantly surprised"

Nicely put ^_^

[Anirk]

Originally Posted by TwilightAngel

then aboutt he flying as he stated frm many ppl iv talked to to movies and even the players movment there nothing stiff about the char movements, maybe fi there lagg or what not. but tot he OP he never played AION so he cant just go off by what some ppl say. you have to play the game it self.

I will admit that after playing OB the movement was not stiff at all, skills were often delayed but thats probably because of the latency between me and the korean servers.

The summon problem is pretty funny though lmao, poor summoners.

Bots are the biggest problem hands down and need to be dealt with asap. Everything else can be solved over time IMO

[TwilightAngel]

Originally Posted by Anirk

I will admit that after playing OB the movement was not stiff at all, skills were often delayed but thats probably because of the latency between me and the korean servers.

The summon problem is pretty funny though lmao, poor summoners.

Bots are the biggest problem hands down and need to be dealt with asap. Everything else can be solved over time IMO

well we all knew about the summoners summons dont work when they fly lol.... but still summoners might be getting skills that they can only use in flight lol.

I dont really under stand tho why ppl think summoners will suck in aerial fights bc they can still attack lol look in RFO and some other games i know, summoners still can dish out DMG not as much as a warlock but they still hit hard with there spells or what ever tho do lol

[Anirk]

Originally Posted by TwilightAngel

well we all knew about the summoners summons dont work when they fly lol.... but still summoners might be getting skills that they can only use in flight lol.

I dont really under stand tho why ppl think summoners will suck in aerial fights bc they can still attack lol look in RFO and some other games i know, summoners still can dish out DMG not as much as a warlock but they still hit hard with there spells or what ever tho do lol

I knew they couldnt fly but I just never thought about how that would affect them in Abyss pvp rofl.

imo they need to either give summoners or ther summons a skill to bring people to ground level or allow summons to fly, preferably the latter as the former would be quite annoying

[Meldarion]

While lvling a ranger to 20, a glad to 25 and a chanter to 13 I haven't seen a single bot. I don't think the bot problem is as bad as people are saying. I mean just because I haven't seen a bot doesn't mean they aren't there but I think its being a little exaggerated.

[Anirk]

Originally Posted by Meldarion

While lvling a ranger to 20, a glad to 25 and a chanter to 13 I haven't seen a single bot. I don't think the bot problem is as bad as people are saying. I mean just because I haven't seen a bot doesn't mean they aren't there but I think its being a little exaggerated.

Well it really doesnt take very long to level early on, most of the botters are probably in the higher level areas where it takes a good amount of time to level. Probably farming for high level items too.

If the two races form some kind of truce they could allow each other to clear out each others bots...

[IHOPnes]

Originally Posted by Kaey

I to am like you, I avoid grinding 100% unless it is ABSOLUTELY NEEDED or I need it for money. Hopefully that doesn't become too much of an issue while leveling.

haha im the opposite of you guys. i quit wow because there are too much running around in quests. i rather sit at a same spot and hit the same mob over and over for a million times so i can fall half asleep instead of having to look for NPCs and directions.

[mnzeba]

Originally Posted by Anirk

If the two races form some kind of truce they could allow each other to clear out each others bots...

This is a great idea! I don't know if it could happen though.

[TwilightAngel]

Originally Posted by mnzeba

This is a great idea! I don't know if it could happen though.

we doneit on RFO retail lol when bots was farming in ether lol we have a day where we go and clear then out tell they dont come back lol

[Anirk]

Originally Posted by IHOPnes

haha im the opposite of you guys. i quit wow because there are too much running around in quests. i rather sit at a same spot and hit the same mob over and over for a million times so i can fall half asleep instead of having to look for NPCs and directions.

Im like you xD I dont think i mind the quests that want me to kill mobs though as I'd b doing that anyway.

This is a great idea! I don't know if it could happen though.

Well it would be easier to organize if elyos could pk elyos and asmo asmo because well have some dum idiots that will try to pk whoevers invading to kill bots. Not to mention the idiots on the invading side that decide to start pking innocent bystanders.

Its doable though the invading clan(s) would have to be pretty high level.

[Plastik]

Very nice post, Felluah.

[IHOPnes]

Originally Posted by Infares

The way I see it, I'm glad we got another 4-5 months to wait before the game goes live in US.

omfg how can u be glad about that! i cant wait! Q_Q

[Zedek]

Originally Posted by Anirk

Elliot wants Aion to succeed just as much as any of us he is just worried about the problems and wants us to take a firm stance against the problems.

Are you doing anythign someone tells you?
Im not going to take any stance against something i dont know about for sure. Especially not if this thing is based on forum whines.

[aznkenshin]

Great thread. Despite a few arguments, I enjoyed reading the good points that have been brought up. I support being realistic, but also have faith in NCWest and this community.

[Urbandurban]

Originally Posted by TwilightAngel

we doneit on RFO retail lol when bots was farming in ether lol we have a day where we go and clear then out tell they dont come back lol

Man, you laugh alot.. Stop abusing lol so much ><.