Asmodae, land of the Asmodians

[Mark]

First off, let's get some serious business straight: AionSource.com is not a place to discuss any Korean Closed Beta information. The players in the CBT are under an NDA. Please don't start threads about the client or its contents. I apologize for not acting on this earlier. I was caught up in the excitement myself and, consequently, couldn't see two figurative feet in front of me. My bad.

Now for some awesome news. First off, images of Asmodea, the motherland of the Asmodians. I'll be uploading those images very soon. Let me warn you: they are amazing. Grab on to something.

[1] [2] [3] [4]

Next is some more Q&A goodness:

A Summary of ThisIsGame.com Q&A, as noticed on 2007-10-24

• The character class names have recently been changed in Korean.

Player vs. Player

• PvP in Aion will have a focus on control-oriented and reactive skills. Skills have clear relationships with each other where some are used in combinations and others to counter combinations.
• PvP-specific skills will be available for usage around level 40. The player can, however, still choose not to participate in PvP unless he/she wants to.
• The time required to reach maximum level has been reduced since the last Friends and Family Test. The level progression will be similar and comparable to that of many western-developed games in the genre. After reaching the level cap (currently 50), players will be able to improve their characters on a more horizontal plane by using something called “Stigma”. More on this later.
• For players who don’t enjoy PvP, there will be various PvE activities to take part in such as raids, instanced dungeons and so on – All connected to the great war. An example would be PvE players collecting items for big siege weapons to support their faction.
• The main conflict within Aion: The Tower of Eternity is a great conflict raging between the Elyos, Asmodians and the Balaur. This is also where the content focus will be.

The Abyss

• The Abyss will consist of two distinct parts. The first part is aimed at beginners and is meant to introduce players to the Abyss concept. The second part is connected to the real war and meant for more experienced characters. More information about the Abyss will be available during the G-Star exhibition, taking place in South Korea between November 8th and 11th.

The Asmodians

• The basic class tree of the Asmodians is the same as the Elyos. There will however be some important differences in skills. This means that fighting a class of the same faction and one of the opposing faction will be quite different experiences.
• There will be some zones outside the Abyss where the Elyos and Asmodians will be able to interact.

Characters & Stigma

• The developers do not want players to have to worry about character attributes (such as Strength, Dexterity, Constitution…), which is why attributes are automated and controlled by the game.
• One of the things differentiating characters is the “Stigma” system. Stigma is a sort of stone containing the memories of a Daeva. A Stigma stone will, in a nutshell, allow players to, by the use of different slots, create unique characters with skills or equipment from other classes. Examples of the combinations that can be acquired by utilizing this system are Wizards wearing heavy armour or maybe Assassins knowing how to teleport.
• Stigma is available from around level 20. There are limitations which will be revealed at a later point.

Raids

• There will be two types of raids in Aion. The first type is similar to that of Lineage, with huge amounts of players participating. The second type requires more strategy and class-specific skills (perhaps more comparable to that of “Everquest”).
• A Raid NPC/Monster for the Elyos might be an important NPC for the Asmodians which leads to the possibility of raids influencing the faction war.

Closed Beta

• How long will the Closed Beta be? As long as it is required to be. The Closed Beta will go on until the developers agree that it has reached a finalized stage.
• Most of the above mentioned game systems have already been developed and implemented. There are, however, level requirements on some of them which means that the beta testers will not be able to try them quite yet.

Items

• The types of items in Aion are divided in to three categories: Normal items, Abyssal items and “Drakonic items” (names are still to be determined).
• Abyssal items are received via PvP and “Drakonic items” will be available through crafting of items acquired from hunting the Balaur.
• There will be some “Soulbound” items, meaning that once equipped, they can not be traded anymore (as made famous by “Everquest”).

Various

• Each faction will have one, large capital city but also numerous other, smaller towns.

[Tez™]

max level 50 >_> and also only 2 or 3 months to get it >_> ....there better be TONS to do after that

[Vydos]

Yes!!! I was hoping those pictures would be from the asmodean side and I love them!!! It's a bit dark but still pretty and enchanting.
Exactly how I was hoping it to be. The artist inside me is liking all these concept arts.

Edit:

http://www.aionsource.com/photoplog/file.php?n=167&w=o
This picture reminds me of "Folklore". Now that I think of it all those pictures got a bit of that "Folklore" feeling.
(Which is a good thing )

[Mark]

Originally Posted by Tez™

max level 50 >_> and also only 2 or 3 months to get it >_> ....there better be TONS to do after that

There normally is in RvR games. Why do you think DAoC has survived for so long? Also, they're planning expansions and whatnot for Aion, so I bet we'll be kept entertained for quite some time.

[Tez™]

Originally Posted by Mark

There normally is in RvR games. Why do you think DAoC has survived for so long? Also, they're planning expansions and whatnot for Aion, so I bet we'll be kept entertained for quite some time.

i really hope so mark i really do...now answer pms and find me that song

also if the exspansions cost money that will suck

[Mark]

I don't know what the song is named or where to get it. If it wasn't on the Korean site, I couldn't get it.

[eVenom]

This is good news. I'm liking what I see. Keep it up Mark.

[Onikage36]

Asmodian Concept are of the place looks sweet. Definitely Dark...but the second to last image shows light being shined down from the heavens...well, they have light through the sky. Looks sweet.

I am still confuse on the PVP side of the skills but it still sounds sweet.

[Night_Stalker]

Looking good!

** Anybody know if we'll get any info out of G-star, or is it all just gonna be more Korean stuff?

[Mark]

We'll get pretty pictures and info we can't read, but now that we have a roaming translator here we might have a chance to learn something.

[Ayase]

I might also point out that the Q&A summary above is a much shorter version of what an AionSource member translated from the same source, quite well I might add, at Korean Q&A's .

[Mark]

True. I didn't want to confuse anyone who just checks out front page every once and a while, though. All our translated info has been coming from NCsoft so far.

[Xenosye]

The Asmodians artwork looks great cant wait to see what the 3d anmations going to be like.

[Dallyoop]

These look really really cool... I guess now we all understand why the Asmodians need talons and claws now eh? Kinda hard to climb up ice walls without em.

[plasma06]

im glad i was sitting i would have fell over otherwise