Exclusive Questions & Answers from two beta players!

[Zyuu]

Irisviel and Shilenne, members here at AionSource.com and currently in the Closed Beta 2 of Aion have answered many questions from eager Aion fans. Below is a summarized list of all questions & answers. Thanks Irisviel and Shilenne for taking your time to answer our questions!

Disclaimer: These are questions from fans and the answers come from beta players. This information is subject to change as the beta progresses and Aion evolves.

Include the source! If you post this information somewhere other than here on AionSource.com, please include the source or you may not post it.

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What do you think of Aion so far, compared to WoW, FFXI, or L2?

Irisviel: Aion is pretty similar to WoW, not a grind fest game like Lineage 2. I am not sure about FF11 since I've never played it. Well, I personally think it's pretty fun, quest and lore oriented instead of endless grinding. There are things to be balanced and fixed here and there but I am sure it will get better as they test the game.


This question is in regards to the recent 39 posted screenshots. What is your computers specs? Resolution the game was played in? Was it nice and smooth?

Irisviel: My comp's system is AMD Athlon 3600+ 64bit, 2 gig ram, ATI Radeon x700. I play Aion with graphic setup at medium and low textures are all at medium, extra stuff like character shadow detail are all at low. resolution is 1280x1024 32 bit. It's not that smooth lol I think i need a better graphic card.


When people say Aion is similar to WoW, I don't see how, except for the quest system. Could you elaborate?

Irisviel: key bindings and everything can be changed like WoW, auction house, it got faction system just like alliance vs horde, neutral zones that you could gank people, there are instances and raids, and similar default UI system to Blizzard's default UI for WoW. well it's just my opinion. i am not saying Aion copied WoW there are also many stuff that WoW doesn't have.


Personally, how fun is it playing a mage class? I'm thinking of starting one as my first char, so I just wana see what you think.(I'm guessing you're a sorc).

Irisviel: I am planning to go ranger later on when it's out for US. sorc is pretty fun if you like to cast cool spells and kill fast. but problem is, they are kinda weak against ranged mobs. my sorc is level 14 only atm ( highest guy is 20 ) so i am not sure about protection spells or crowd control at this point but 1 thing i can say for sure, their hp is like lowest.


Hey, can you tell me about maps, linearity, etc? How far can you go away from roads? Free wandering? Do you actually feel you are on a narrow path which leads you from 1 quest to an other? How many hours does it take to explore a single map? Are there hidden things around the world where no quests leadin you to? A small, secret village or statue etc?

Shilenne: From the starting zone atm, the roads are more like trails in the forest, which means you can wander around into grass or lake freely. If you stick to the roads there are less chance that you'll aggro mobs, and the trails usually will lead you from one town to another, or to a "save point" where you choose to hearth at or res at after you die. I don't know about the world maps I think most areas are linked, and depending on the area it is the size differ. I would say from how I played so far that one quest won't lead you to the next on the trail, it's more of a free wandering style. I have to update this as I level =p. The higher level maps are bigger, and the beginner zone map is smaller, but it still takes quite a while to explore everything. Some trails splits into 2 with one leading to another and one becoming a dead end later on etc.

And there are hidden things I believe that no quest will lead you to, things to look at and stuff, but it's hard to tell atm need to level up and explore more.


How are the group dynamics? Is most stuff solo or is a group necessary?

Irisviel: It is possible to solo play, at least until level 18 or so. From that point though you probably should party to do quests since mobs got way much more hp and hit harder etc. I am not sure if it's possible to solo all the way to max level since people tend to party instead when their level is around +20 than solo questing.


Are spiritmasters at least viable in PvP? They look very interesting to play, but aerial PvP has me excited, and aerial PvP with an elemental would be the best.

Irisviel: Spiritmaster is probably the strongest solo class atm. not sure about pvp though. people duel and stuff but that's not real pvp so... we will see.


Regarding armor pieces, anything you can share?

Irisviel: about armor pieces, there are cloth, leather, mail and plate just like WoW. by using stigma it is possible for even casters to wear plate if you wish to, although it would be very stupid since plate armor doesn't give any mana bonus.


Hey, you are playing a Sorc, how are they doing against other classes right now? And is aerial combat in the game? Finally, are their invisible walls when you fly?

Irisviel: sorc is probably the highest damage dealer atm but they die very easily. sorc is pretty strong against melee classes atm in pvp but kinda weak against ranged classes such as ranger, although it really depends on how good the opposite player is.

Yes, aerial combat is possible but since you can fly for 1 min only, if you don't finish the battle in 1 min then you will just drop and die if you were flying too high lol. and yeah there are invisible walls where you can't fly over. you can only fly in certain zones, can't fly everywhere. although, it is possible to fly anywhere in abyss.


Are there many robes and weapons for your class to choose from? are there any restrictions to when you can use them?

Irisviel: there are many robes from vendors, mobs and tailoring. but weapons... i am not even sure if sorc can use other weapons such as sword or dagger or staff... sorc's default weapon is a spell book. my sorc is level 15 now and i am still using the book and have no idea if it's possible for me to learn new weapon skills. people said it might be possible with stigma system but no one knows since no one found stigma yet. there are level requirements for items.


I read somewhere that mages will be able to use orbs also but orb is probably spiritmasters default weapon... Anyway does books differ in looks or all of them look exactly the same. What bonuses they give?

Irisviel: some are simliar in looks, but mostly different. well, books usually have mana bonus, magic defence, auto attack damage etc. rare ones got better stats of course as in could have some life bonus along with mana etc. and yes orb is spiritmaster's default weapon.


What can you tell us about end game content?

Shilenne: Do not hold me to this, but I've had Iris ask that question on the korean official forums. Some of the answers he received from the other players (that are higher ranked or chosen for previous beta) are that there will be a lot of end game content, and they'll be lore relative (draconic raid bosses? outdoor ones and indoor ones?) The Abyss is the high level zone where all this PVP PVE end game will happen at. As of current though t hey did not release specific details on the end game content, just that there will be that aspect in the game and they're working on it currently.


As I have seen on many screenshots there only seems to be one skillbar. Are you constrained to a finite amount of skills on your bar like Guild Wars? Or can the UI enable you to create more slots to almost litteraly fill your screen with skills, like on WoW? or are there too few skills to tell atm because of the level?

Also how do you learn new skills? Do they just pop up on your skillbar like on EQII or do you have to go learn them?

Finally, the quests. How open ended are they? Do they litteraly tell you the exact spot to go, like on Guild Wars? Or do they give a useless description like on Runescape? Or do they give you the general area, like on WoW?


Shilenne: Skillbar, from what I've seen there are 4, and yes, you can bind them to whatever you want, there's an options in interface to change bindings for everything. Iris didn't bind as much as I did on assasin so you might be able to see from that better.

Skills are purchased as books (or sometimes drops off mobs) then you pretty much right click to use it and it's learned. Most low level skills will be purchased though. It's kind of similar with the system in L2? From what I remember at least.

Quests. If it's a delivery quest to a certain NPC, you CAN click on tooltip which sometimes will have a map and a red dot on the map of where he's at. If it's a hunting quest, it'll put a dot at the general area of where you can find the mobs. Sometimes, if it's something that you have to find, it won't show you anything on the map. But from the quest log it'll give a rough idea of where you should be heading and what you should be looking for. I have to admit the maps help.


I have a question: is vendor gear any good? Or do you usually use the gear from q and drops from mobs?

Irisviel: vendor gears are pretty decent and useable unlike WoW. i do buy vendor gears sometimes, though i usually look for green gears from auction house instead. quest rewards are pretty decent too.


Does the auction house allow bidding like in WoW or can you only sell your things for a fixed price like in Tabula Rasa or Vanguard for example?

Shilenne: Right now it's just fixed price, no bids yet, never know though when the official version release


Do you have any info on the Templar class? I know they are a "defense oriented" class, but i wanted to know about their damage capabilities as well.

- They suck at dealing damage?
- How are their defense buffs? Do they work fine and "really tank" whatever comes to harm the party?

Irisviel: templars kill slow compare to other classes generally, excluding cleric maybe. i heard their dps is better later on with new skills and weapons though. just to remember that templar is the "main tank" of Aion, means if NCsoft some how screwed up their tanking abilities and skills then it's pretty much GG to party play sorry i can't tell you much about their skills at this point since i've never seen a templar with level +20 at least, but whenever groups are looking for a tank they look for a templar.

All questions & answers have been taken from this thread.

[FeyraN]

Nice, a good amount of info on how the game feels.

[Otium]

Thanks Irisviel and Shilenne!

[Zyuu]

Added the latest questions & answers.

I will not add more Q&A's to this news post, next batch will have to be in a seperate news

[Shilenne]

Should consider just moving the other thread to the general thread lol, it's not screenshot related anymore!

[Zandorgard]

Originally Posted by Otium

Thanks Irisviel and Shilenne!

Double Thanks!

[Irisviel]

ugh.. I joined aionsource.com yesterday to share some info and to chat, since aionsource.com seemed to be the biggest community, then Zyuu had to jack me up as soon as he found out.

[Fishy McFish]

Thank you for all the info.

[Kyuzo]

Thanks for the record, keep up posted.

[Kimino Sage]

Originally Posted by Irisviel

ugh.. I joined aionsource.com yesterday to share some info and to chat, since aionsource.com seemed to be the biggest community, then Zyuu had to jack me up as soon as he found out.

You should create a secret, secret identity so you can parade around stress free.

[Irisviel]

Originally Posted by Kimino Sage

You should create a secret, secret identity so you can parade around stress free.

nah, i am not saying i am stressed or anything. i registered to share the info and talk about aion in the first place. and i am happy to help out Zyuu.

[Xeno]

Thanks man! Lots of great answers.

[Katsuro]

Very cool, were lucky to be part of the community they happened to join

[Kyio]

Thank you so much guys! Answered a lot of general questions about the game and its very good insight into what we will be looking at come release ^^
I still have so many questions about Abyss, but I am very curious how it will play out with all the end game things happening there.

[Koji]

All sounds good to me. Glad to hear there isnt too much grind at this stage. I hope they keep up the content for the higher levels too.