Development feedback requested on character class naming

[Rockjaw]

Hello everyone,

I'm really excited to post today because for the first time, we're here to ask you for feedback on behalf of the development team for Aion: The Tower of Eternity, Studio 5. As has been said before Studio 5 is developing Aion to be a global game, and they want feedback from all over the world... so your opinions are very much sought!

As part of that process, today on the official Korean website a forum post went live asking for feedback on character class naming. We're repeating that call for feedback on various 'Western' fansites, AionSource being one of them.

Incidentally, Amboss will be posting this request to various German fansites. We'll post the same official request to French fansites next week, when our French community team member returns from holiday - don't worry, French feedback is important to us too.

However, if you run a fansite that we don't have community staff for (I know of Italian, Spanish and Russian sites for example) we'd love to hear feedback from your members too. We just need your help in getting it to us... so feel free to PM me with any discussion you're hearing about over on those sites, or of course register and post here. This is early days for all of us so we'll have to work together, people!

Okay, enough preamble. What do the folks behind Aion want to know?

Well, it will not surprise you to learn that Aion is going to have character classes, like many other MMORPGs on the market right now. While we're not about to reveal what exactly those classes are just yet, you can expect the usual archetypes - fighting types, magic types, healing types and rogue-ish types (and I include rangers etc in that).

Here's our questions:

First of all, if you are not a native English speaker... don't answer this if English is your native language...

... would you prefer your character class names to be localised into your language, or would you prefer to have them in English? (I know this begs the question "But what languages will you localise Aion into?" Bear with me for now and just tell us your preference. )

Please note we've made no decisions yet on Aion's server structure globally, so I can't comment on that, and your personal theories on how it might work should have no bearing on your answer. So just answer the question if you don't speak English as your first language.

Second of all, we've all seen many games with very generic character class names like fighter, warrior, priest, cleric, thief etc. The question is, would you like generic character class names in Aion, or would you prefer names that are more specific to Aion's world background and environment? (For example, a warrior type class might be known as a 'Divine Avenger'. This is just an example, it's not from Aion!)

Anyway, to sum up, Studio 5 wants to hear your opinions about class names, and they'd love to hear your ideas for specific class names instead of generic ones.

Give us your feedback, and we'll give it to Studio 5.

Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for your feedback!

[skimike]

Second of all, we've all seen many games with very generic character class names like fighter, warrior, priest, cleric, thief etc. The question is, would you like generic character class names in Aion, or would you prefer names that are more specific to Aion's world background and environment? (For example, a warrior type class might be known as a 'Divine Avenger'. This is just an example, it's not from Aion!)

I'd rather see names of classes specific to the game world than the generics.

Always adhere to the lore. FFXI's fantastic story is the only reason I stuck with it as long as I did.

[AztecA]

SWEET - I love the feel of progress..

To answer your questions:

1) English is my primary / local language so either works for me!

2) The names need to be specific to the lore of Aion.
2a) I don't have ideas of specific class names ATM but will repost or edit if I come up with any.

Thanks RockJaw!

[Xormanis]

Imo, I don't really like the generic names for the classes. They should be unique. It would give a more "new world" feel to it instead of being the same type of game with a different setting. And maybe the names could be different for the realms to go more along with the atmosphere of that realm.

[dalin]

unfortunately, i know nothing of Aion's background/lore (shame), but I'm all for non "generic" class designations... if nothing else, it adds a little flare and mystery to the name...

thanks for the opportunity Rockjaw!

[Koji]

I think the class names should be unique but not stray too far from what it is. Also if it is hard to define a generic name into another name that works well then perhaps leave the generic one in there.

...but if possible i would like to see unique names for this unique game.

As for language i can't really have a say in that. I just hope it's english as everyone knows we struggle with different languages.

I'm glad something like this has been made public. Shows a good dev-fan relations. Makes me even more excited that this is going to be a game that the fans shape even before playing.

A good sign. I hope to see more soon.

[FeyraN]

I don't care about the localization of languages, English would be fine for me, but I think that Aion should release their own names for classes like in Lineage 2. Abyss Walker, Phantom Ranger, Prophet, Hawkeye, Spellsinger sounds a lot cooler than just: thief, mage, archer .etc

[Hellscream]

Imo and as many have already said specific class names would be better.
About the language, my primary language is not english but still I wouldn't like to see the names localised. To me it would be nicer if they were all in english, but that's just my 0.02$

[Burberry]

I think the class names should have something to do with the world and the background of the game...... but nothing to hard o say or read...... i hate those types of names

[Zinrae]

Well I think using a generic or unique name depends on how the class is set up. If the class has generic skills, stats, and everything else, you may as well just use the generic name, instead of hiding the ordinary behind a cool sounding name. Everyone will know what it is anyway, and it just makes it easier for new people to call it the generic name (most people will have a pretty good idea what a 'warrior' is). If the class has a unique playstyle or skills that we don't normally see, I think a unique name would be great.

Just a few notes about making non-generic names for a class:
It should be just one word. If you use 'Divine Avenger' or 'Phantom Ranger,' everyone will just chop off the first word for brevity and you're left with an Avenger and a Ranger. It's also nice if there's a convenient way to abbreviate it, for the lazy in-game typers

[Saito]

I find it strange we are asked feedback on this as it seems like a no brainer to me.

1) Its a global server not a local server so (imo) the main language should be english all round. Of course you can't/want avoid people using other languages but having everything in the client or key elements translated to local language will cause many problems.

Just think... Someone from Germany is chatting with Russian about what classes they think are good or what not if all classes are translated to the local language this will cause a lot confusion. Same would go for skills/npcs/places etc... it should all be one language - English. It's easy for everyone to adapt to one standard instead of everyone having to learn every translation.

2) Definitely go with class names specific to Aion. The generic names like fighter, mage, ranger etc work for typical mmorpg that play in a typical D&D environment but Aion's world is completely different from that and thus names should fit the game.

[Fireze]

I loved the way the classes were set up in Lineage II, being that you start off as a basic "Fighter" or "Mage", and through class changes you gain the unique "Hawkeye" or "Spellsinger" and so on....

I don't quite understand the first question asking about the languages. Does he mean that if English is used to name the classes that people in Asia will have to see their class name in English also? I don't know how cool they'd be with that, but to me I would want the names to be English in America and Korean where that is their native language. I don't think I'd like to play a game that I couldn't read my own class name. Or maybe I misinterpreted the question altogether.

[Fireze]

It also depends on if the servers are distinguished between continents. Lineage II has different servers for different geographical locations. In that case, the English speaking servers should be English language only, and so on. This would probably be the case if they follow what they did with L2.

[Chu]

As far as class names go, I'd prefer names that fit the game rather than generics. But...

Please, pleasepleaseplease no cheesy ones T_T

Oooh, actually, I'd really like names that don't scream what the class is. Like...maybe mages would be Sirens. And fighters would be Advocates (Guardian or Vindicator, maybe). I'd like to see perhaps some references to ancient mythology; I think it'd fit really well in a fantasy-based MMO.

[osric]

aaaah, feedback time! so exciting!

i would agree with the other posters that unique names would be great. i agree with Feyran that the class names in L2 were very creative and made the game more interesting. class names unique to the separate factions would be cool(such as the Holy Avenger non-example example Rockjaw gave ). even if a warrior does the same thing for Chosen or Fallen, they might be called different things. so maybe a Chosen warrior is a Holy Defender or Protector, while a Fallen warrior could be a Deathbringer or Dark Assaulter.

some priest names : Vicar, Lightbringer, Cultist, Deacon, Exorcist, Dusk Prophet, Acolyte

mages : Diabolist, Divine Channeler, Gloomcaster, Blighter, Witchdoctor, Holy Pyre, Necromancer (of course), Chaos Mage

rogues : Shiv, Heaven Ranger, Demon Assassin, Minstrel, Mountebank, Rake, Aegis

tried to keep them as close to the lore as possible. hopefully this will get the creative juices flowing for everyone and we can get some seriously cool class names!