Directfeed from Korean forums, Take Two

[elliot]

It's been a week since I posted the first directfeed thread, where I pretty much posted a summary of the things I perceived from the Korean community. Some people were fairly upset at what I did. Some people questioned the credibility of my posts and the very sources. Some people welcomed "reality" posts. Some people were just happy at any kind of new info about Aion. Unfortunately, last one ended with flaming replies. However, I feel that following the progress of this game is something important to a lot of people here, so I'll continue translating.

I am not gonna call anyone fanboys or anything. I guess it's my own fault as well. Perhaps my style of "reporting" is too negative for some people like someone pointed out. I'll try to stay as neutral as possible this time. Let's all keep it civil.

Anyway, let's review the problems stated and what changes have occurred. (refer to my other translations for specifics)

- Class balancing issues
Rangers lacking in damage, summoners fail, melees getting destroyed by ranged classes, etc. Doesn't matter how hard you try to call the korean players noobs, it's a widely accepted fact in the Korean community that class balance is broken.

- Bugs and Exploits
Jumpshot bugs, macro exploits, inability for melees to use skill on a moving enemy

- Bots
Beep.. Beep..

__________________________________________________ __________________________

As many people here are aware, Korean retail 'beta testers' (as they call themselves) have been whining and QQing loudly all day all week. Some were ignored. Some were answered.

And here's what NCsoft have done this week

1. Class balance patches

- Cries of Sorc OPness were answered by nerfing the hit rate for hellfire. While some people claim that their CC land rate was also patched without announcement, its debatable if it actually happened or not. A lvl 45 mage, 하늘나라 responded to this patch with another one of his famous Abyss pvp videos, proving that sorcerers were still as strong as they can be.

- Rangers received a slight attack speed increase. However, most perceived this patch as something of an insult to ranger players. It's apparent that slight boost didn't mean anything for most. Just few days after the patch, a mass spam thread protest broke out in the Ranger forums, lasting for several hours.

- Summons still cannot fly even after 8 months of player complaint.

- Heal aggros lessened. However, if this made a difference or not is debatable. Clerics are still the #1 customer for Spirit healers in party play.

I am going to refrain from translating posts related to class balancing from now, as I was told that a NCsoft rep stated there's a major patch coming around Christmas for all classes (can't find that interview however). We'll have to wait and see.

2. Bugs and Exploits

Aion servers seem to be fairly stable for a game that just launched. Other than evil surprise maintenances, (which Blizzard is also known to have after a major update) and unannounced restarts, servers haven't experienced major crashes. There has been no reports of a serious exploit (item dupping, etc) Macro skill exploits were patched almost immediately after they were reported by players.

However, NCsoft failed to address the "jumpshot" bug. (Perhaps they are letting rangers use it for now so that they are not total nubs until a real balance patch comes out?) There's still debate going on about if NCsoft even wants to fix this or not. For now, Rangers will just have to keep hopping.

Melee classes cannot land ANY of their skills in mid air on a moving enemy. This issue was reported from the day 1 of introduction of abyss flight pvp. NCsoft has yet to respond to this problem.

3. Bots

This is another screenshot taken from Aion official general board.

This is a screenshot taken from a Korean fansite's Debate forum

Despite their energetic announcements (twice), NCsoft has made zero visible progress in terms of bot problems.
This is something Korean players voiced very strongly about since the day 1 of retail.

Bot complaints were lessened when NCsoft announced that they'll crack down bots, as many players took "wait and see" stance. However, seeing that nothing is being done (still seeing same bots in same areas), Korean players are protesting now more loudly than ever, desperately trying to persuade NCsoft from letting Aion die from bots like Rohan (a MMO that landed in Korea but failed with a massive botfest).

ps. There's a player's post about bots that I thought was a good point. I am not sure if I should translate it or not since the writer uses WoW as a comparison : P Let me know if you guys wanna hear what he's saying.


__________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

Read, Appreciate, Discuss (:

[Kaey]

Thank you very much for sharing this again Elliot (:

[Mark]

Celebration! I can now prove that the Korean vidyagaemin' populance is just as intelligent as America's and Europe's!

[Evrilysis]

Thanks for the info man,

Don't feel threatened for posting good translations, it's appreciated by the majority of the community. Let the diehards have their QQ fests, gives me some fun.

It's much better to underestimate a game and be surprised than to overestimate and be disappointed.

Keep up the good work.

[HunterX]

A little over 2 weeks into retail and they expect the bot problem to be gone that fast? These things take time...so give them time.

[Mark]

I especially liked the "I'm leaving" post. It cracked me up. Anyone who types up an "I'm leaving" message is borderline mental.

[Casket]

Thank You.

And yes, I would like to read the WoW Comparison post.

[Voramar]

This info you translate is interesting it seems that koreans are in favor of getting rid of bots as much as US/EU players its kinda sad that NCsoft ignores them in their current games....I kinda doubt they will do anything about the bots but only time will tell if they dont do something about the bot issue by the time its released NA/EU im not even gonna bother playing the game I dont want another L2 bot fest I would like to hunt where I want when I want and not have to fight bots over spawns!. And bots just ruin the economy with all the money they make/sell to others.

Edit- yes translate anything you find WoW related or not as long as it has to do with Aion im all ears!

[Delux]

Translate anything and everything you want and ignore the haters. I feel ashamed to be part of a community that has called you a wow fanboy so much that you had to think twice before making comparisons.

Originally Posted by HunterX

A little over 2 weeks into retail and they expect the bot problem to be gone that fast? These things take time...so give them time.

Another way of looking at it is "a little over 2 weeks into retail and they already have so many bot problems? its only going to get worse with time since they're not really fixing it".

[Kaey]

Originally Posted by Mark

I especially liked the "I'm leaving" post. It cracked me up. Anyone who types up an "I'm leaving" message is borderline mental.

Calindor wasn't mental...

[persepha]

Thanks for the translation and keep them coming!

Mycket prat, liten verkstad as we say it in swedish, basically means "too much talk, too little action".

They seriously need to get their thumb out of their asses if they want the player base to trust them or even have some faith in them. Sure, they acknowledged the problem by saying they will do something about it but they still have to show that they mean it. Hopefully they will find a solution! :]

[AdrianWhiteheart]

Yeah another great post elliot!
Bring out the WoW Comparison!

[HunterX]

Originally Posted by Delux

Another way of looking at it is "a little over 2 weeks into retail and they already have so many bot problems? its only going to get worse with time since they're not really fixing it".

sure you can look at it like that aswell...but anyways what I'm more worried about is what NCWest will do about bots, I hope they don't drop the ball.

[Sickbrain]

I want to read that bot thread.

[lyankyj]

Thanks elliot, all infos are appreciated, bring them on!