TenTonHammer.com Assassin Interview and MMORPG.com Beta Review

[Knite]

Hey everyone- a couple articles popped up this morning I thought I'd draw some attention to:

First up is tentonhammer's most recent Class Interview: the Assassin

From www.tentonhammer.com

Continuing our series on the classes of Aion, Ten Ton Hammer has another great interview for our readers. Check out the burst damage scout known as the Assassin!

This lethal attacker combines stealth and speed to deliver deadly blows in a short span of time. The Assassin class must carefully balance the damage it deals with skills that divert the enemy's attention or the entire group can be in jeopardy.

Read the full article here

Next up is a Beta Review posted on MMORPG.com

Nothing new here for many AionSource readers, but its a decent review to show friends you're trying to convince to play Aion. You just may have to add or elaborate on a few points.

From www.mmorpg.com

After my last entry about some of the upcoming MMOs, luck would have it that I was able to get a chance to play Aion during one of their recent beta preview weekend type events. Today I am going to try to give you my impressions from playing during the recent weekend event that had a level limit of 10, but did allow players to make characters from both of the game's factions. While I will be the first to admit that 10 levels is hardly enough to review much of anything, but I think I got a chance to sample the game and take a look at various aspects that were present.

Just to recap quickly here before I get started, I went into this with a few preconceptions about the game in terms of graphics, polish, and whether or not the game would be bringing anything new to table. I have seen some pretty remarkable screenshots of the game, so graphically I set the bar pretty high. The game has also been out in a foreign market for a while, so I expected a fair amount of polish. In terms of innovations I approached Aion with fairly low expectations. As soon as the log-in screen popped up as seen above, I felt somewhat reaffirmed that graphically I would not be disappointed. So with all that being said, let's get started!

Read the full article here

Finally, there's only a few hours left of Western CBT2- I hope you all enjoyed the weekend. The next beta event is scheduled for July 2-July 6 with a focus on Asmodian levels 1-20. There's been no word as of yet if they'll allow for Elyos characters to be played once again, but keep checking back for news on that event and everything else going on!

[Yakuzan]

They need to let Elyos play even if it's with frozen level status. I gotta farm some mats lol.

Taken from mmorpg review:

One of the main differences with Aion is that the game only features 2 races to chose from, the Elyos (Angels) and the Asmodian (Demons).

Hmm here we go again with that debate...

[niuniu]

That' actually a very worthwhile class interview. Many MMO class interviews are terribly shallow. GJ Liv, I got some assassin questions answered.

[Neon]

hmm, good article. I do like assasins personally however, while they are balanced at end game (so I hear) they are definitly lacking at lower levels.

[Killer]

Originally Posted by Neon

hmm, good article. I do like assasins personally however, while they are balanced at end game (so I hear) they are definitly lacking at lower levels.

Ya they are

[Cynic]

They need to stop bringing up Angels and Demons, it just causes so many misconceptions about the game's design =/

[jinxster]

linear well i think thats way better then war or aoc. wow is the best laid out quest lines.

i mean i leveled like 6 classes in wow 4 70s few 60+ and an 80. let me tell you the only difference in quests are scenery.

we all need to realize a game company will be hard pressed to make questing fun and different.

BTW war PQs for the most part failed big time.

[Watchers Eye]

I must say, the beta review was pretty spot on. I did notice how small the world looked and there were too many places were flying wasn't possible. I really don't understand not being to fly in the capital cities.

[Vander Nars]

Originally Posted by Cynic

They need to stop bringing up Angels and Demons, it just causes so many misconceptions about the game's design =/

Thet designed the races to look like angels and demons so what do you expect people to relate them too?

[Kaldur]

Great articles, although I find it extremely funny when reviewers like Paragus base their opinion and "deal breaker" conclusions on the PvP part of the game. I'm sure his view of "linearity" will change when he'll be able to play beyond level 16, and find out that you don't have to stay in the same areas all the time to advance in the game.
I guess it's NCSoft's fault as well, since they give an extremely narrow experience to people by leaving a whole weekend with a level restriction of 10.

Greatest Beef: PvP should not be used as a unique benchmark to rate an MMO.

[Demonized]

Originally Posted by Kaldur

Great articles, although I find it extremely funny when reviewers like Paragus base their opinion and "deal breaker" conclusions on the PvP part of the game. I'm sure his view of "linearity" will change when he'll be able to play beyond level 16, and find out that you don't have to stay in the same areas all the time to advance in the game.
I guess it's NCSoft's fault as well, since they give an extremely narrow experience to people by leaving a whole weekend with a level restriction of 10.

Greatest Beef: PvP should not be used as a unique benchmark to rate an MMO.

It is not NCSoft's fault. They wanted a focused beta test so they could extract the information they need; It's the reviewers fault for making such general statements about the game without playing through it's entire content. You do not say a game is linear without playing through all of it, it's just unheard of.

You don't see any one complaining the beta was limited to level 10 - People are aware that this is a beta and information must be gathered to insure the most polished experience possible for retail. People might be disappointed that it was limited but I haven't seen anyone that complained about it.

[Oruboros]

Originally Posted by Demonized

It is not NCSoft's fault. They wanted a focused beta test so they could extract the information they need; It's the reviewers fault for making such general statements about the game without playing through it's entire content. You do not say a game is linear without playing through all of it, it's just unheard of.

this is exactly correct. i hope im not the only one who noticed that mmorpg.com has been putting out a lot of biased crap lately. their writers have slipped into a lazy and pompous state where they seem to think themselves the ultimate judge of anything and everything that can be tagged 'mmo'.

[XxpeddyxX]

Mm porkchops

[Rayzor]

Hmm. Didn't like the Beta review. Didn't feel like the guy had done any research, just picked up the game and critisized the smallest things. The angels and demons thing was also a pretty big sign of the reviewer's ignorance. He should have talked more about the lore, or talked about what was good in particular with the graphics. He didn't seem to talk enough about the combo system either. I think that was an important part of the gameplay.

[Slazz]

he probably just used the term "angels and demons" to describe it to the people who haven't done any research into the game yet. Although it might give them the wrong idea, it puts them in the right direction.