[SmokinSick]

CMBlackVelvet, on 14 December 2011 - 11:42 AM, said:

2. What items will be added to the cash shop and what items are planned to be added in the future.
We are aware that Aion is a PvP focused game for many players. But we will monitor and discuss every decision about possible items for the itemshop thoroughly and also want to react to wishes of the community. There is no intention to interfere with the PvP game balance.

I quote that part. When a new CM apears and stands its point to the community and answers questions, this is the first step where I build up trust.

To be honest, this answer is exactly what I wanted to hear. They know about the pvp aspect of the game and they react to community wishes.

For me it is ok if they bring up some stuff like costumes, xp potions (everything with pve is fine with me to be honest) .. sell special mounts, or abyss potts .. who cares. as long as they don´t sell stuff that makes a player stand out (like abyss potts with 1 min. CD and heal for 5000 hp/mp) I don´t care.

[CMBlackVelvet]

Ayyr, on 14 December 2011 - 04:23 PM, said:

CMBlackVelvet,

welcome and congrats on picking up AION! You're going to have to weather the cynicism, but it will die down if things go well. F2P can be very satisfying for player and publisher if done right.

I have a question from some guys on our server who asked me to post this to you.


'Will Gameforge be looking to purchase patches past 3.0 and including 4.0?'


Thanks in advance and gl!

Yes, we are going to keep the game up to date and that also means future content updates like 3.0 (I want a pink house!) and any update further in the future.

Edit: And thanks for the warm welcome

This post has been edited by CMBlackVelvet: 14 December 2011 - 04:52 PM

[VBK]

Wow, i'm really surprised to see these news. And i think not many people understand the point of f2p system. What company wants is to fetch LOADSOFMONEY from players, as much as possible. This is natural, and you should view things from this position. But at the same time company needs not to nyerk up. Especially when dealing with game, which was p2p from the start. If you are amateur at mmo business, you might not see, that things like player-run market and thin lines in game balance actually do exist. And it's easier to ruin these with cash shop items (i can even give you example: if you make an item - a trinket which gives +200 magic resist, which is not that much - it will make gigantic difference between paying and non-paying population, because game mechanics work in certain way, which people in suits often ignore and fail to understand). Anyway, you know that there are people whose principle is not to pay for f2p games. My opinion is that company should think of non-paying players' game experience firsthand. Some companies do it very well. I can even confess: i play couple of other MMOs and don't spend real money in there. But my gameplay experience does not feel limited. So this is what should be done with Aion. I guess, most cash will be obtained through gold member accounts, but will this tremendously hinder people who don't want to pay? I don't know.
I haven't worked for any game company, so i may sound somewhat "naive".

[Raiya]

CMBlackVelvet, on 14 December 2011 - 04:51 PM, said:

Yes, we are going to keep the game up to date and that also means future content updates like 3.0 (I want a pink house!) and any update further in the future.

Edit: And thanks for the warm welcome

Well well give u a chance depending on the conditions of the F2P model (no pay 2 win stuff) and how things pan out will make a big difference.

Be warned tho ceiling cat is watching you! O.O

[Nukkies]

Its not about the monthly fee, its about the luck factor with what seems like everything you do in the game having a chance to fail or succeed with the player having very little control it. It was a nuance to begin with but with the creep of MR this wheel of fortune type gameplay has become more and more pronounced in PvP (particularly for me as a chanter in 2.7). It was always there and we put up with it in small doses but it really now seems to have taken the lead role. This is the main reason I don't play any more. I like many aspects of Aion but PvP is really now just a piss-take.

Why they made the game this way is beyond me, other games such as Guild Wars got by not having a silly succeed/resist system for every skill but instead allowed the players to counter the effects of such skills via JUDICIAL SKILL USE.

What they will be selling in the cash shop is LUCK for a flawed rule system. Its like saying 'Hi, come and play our retarded game and buy items from our cash shop to make it less retarded'. My response to which is 'You have had 3 years to make the game less retarded - and you failed. I'm spending my money on another game right now'.

[Nicottia]

Awwww, I'd rather play Lineage 2 on NA servers than play Aion with 3 different account types. Sorry to say this BlackVelvet, but I don't trust your company. At all.

You can be a nice person, but still it's not you who decides of all major changes to the game. Those "gold accounts" sound fishy to me. Item shop sounds even more fishy. For now we had some buyable visual changes to our characters and some pets, I can cut my hand and bet that you'll add a lot more of imbalancing stuff. Not right away of course, but as soon as a lot of new players pour in you'll start introducing more and more Pay2Win stuff.

Seriously, L2, LoL and 72164782 of Mass Effect 1 & 2 playthroughs to prepare 2652665136 Shepards for ME3 to kill the time until GW2/Tera release is much more interesting than playing Aion, even F2P.

[CMBlackVelvet]

I still have to finish Deus Ex: HR, now that you mention it...

Anyways as said before in a previous post, the detailed info about the gold pack as well as the item shop will follow and we will announce it. Right now, I am not able to tell you more about it. And the concerns and also rumors as well as comparisons are understandable.

I don't mind if you decide otherwise and rather want to continue playing another game. Your choices, you decide .
However, I am there for questions regarding the changes any time (and further in future for any questions and discussions), no matter how you decide . So is our support team inhouse as well as the whole GF Aion EU team.
After all information flow is important to us. That means feedback from you and also feedback from us to you.

And as a counter to ceiling cat (because I need to):

[Keishara]

mass invasion of greeks and egyptians inc

enjoy getting ks'd on every mob, being trained in every DDG and doing daily with nowhere to stand amongst the zerg crowd

[sfar]

Thanks for taking the time to speak to us BlackVelvet. I have some concerns and questions about how Gameforge is partitioning existing servers ...

Quote

Can I transfer my characters to one of the new servers?
No. It will not be possible to transfer to a new server to start with. However, you can begin a new adventure with another character there.

Will you merge existing servers?
No, existing servers will not be merged. All servers will remain as they are.

The population of some of the existing servers is quite low. With this announcement it's likely to fall further as a proportion of players will inevitably decide the F2P model isn't for them. I think many of us were expecting NCSoft to merge servers at some point in order to breathe new life into the game. It seems that's now unlikely to happen.

How is Gameforge intending to handle this situation? Will there be a mechanism for transferring existing characters between the original servers, so that we can effectively perform a server merge ourselves? Or will you perhaps be relaxing transfer restrictions in the event that server population falls below unplayable levels.

As I'm sure you can appreciate, the option of rerolling on a new server isn't terribly attractive, when it involves repeating months of work while paying the Gold subscription for the required "Fortress Siege Rewards".

[No,you.]

From what I saw with GF games and Cash Shop, they don't make custom items, so in the worst scenario, we'll get every single Cash Shop designed items like suppl', enchant stone bags, medals and crown bags + a nyerkload of costumes, like in Korea.

If it's the worst case, I'm okay with it 'causeI'megoistanddon'tneedtoimprovemygear.

F2P = lot of young players -> we'll have a lot, A LOT of 12-15 old asmodians 'cause they're so dark and cool and stuff, which means a lot of free APs

No, the really scary things are :

- infinite bots ?
- infinite hax programs ?
- infinite nyerking bad gameguard ?

ATM, we have like no haxorz / bot, if the game turns into a hack/bot fest, it will be bad


*gives some waffles to BlackVelvet*

[SmokinSick]

sfar, on 14 December 2011 - 06:09 PM, said:

Thanks for taking the time to speak to us BlackVelvet. I have some concerns and questions about how Gameforge is partitioning existing servers ...



The population of some of the existing servers is quite low. With this announcement it's likely to fall further as a proportion of players will inevitably decide the F2P model isn't for them. I think many of us were expecting NCSoft to merge servers at some point in order to breathe new life into the game. It seems that's now unlikely to happen.

How is Gameforge intending to handle this situation? Will there be a mechanism for transferring existing characters between the original servers, so that we can effectively perform a server merge ourselves? Or will you perhaps be relaxing transfer restrictions in the event that server population falls below unplayable levels.

As I'm sure you can appreciate, the option of rerolling on a new server isn't terribly attractive, when it involves repeating months of work while paying the Gold subscription for the required "Fortress Siege Rewards".

I think there is a logical answer for that, but maybe BlackVelvet can enlighten us futher.

Normaly you can not transfer to new servers, because fully equipped players would destroy the new server balance (where everything is fresh and new, and untouched ^^) .. That´s most likely the reason why you can not transfer to the new world(s).

Second, I would wait with transfering to other servers, because when F2P launches, it is quite possible that your server will be flooded with people and the problem solves itself (or like No,you said .. more noobs and kids to flame and kill ^^ for everyone)

For example conan got about 300-400% more players than to P2P times, and the restrictions for this game are nyerked like hell (content limited, character limit, level limit etc.)

No,you., on 14 December 2011 - 06:12 PM, said:

*gives some waffles to BlackVelvet*

gives some panda panties to BlackVelvet <3

This post has been edited by SmokinSick: 14 December 2011 - 06:37 PM

[shemals]

make the game ip blocked plz, we dont want ppl from all over the world flooding the servers...right?

[Masquarade]

Simple and important question.

Will my old inactivate account bought 1 year ago have a "Veteran" status when the game will go F2P in February.

I wish i could play the litle lvl 47 ranger i have on this account, but i won't pay a monstly fee for it that is for sure (gold pack included). Going F2P as a "Veteran" status will make me playing it for sure.

Also if this is the case, this would mean a lot of players might come back from the dead (like reactivation time account)

As far as i have seen, the "Veteran" status is very worthy of playing aion as a F2P, i am very glad it is going F2P and i hope everything will be going well for Aion. Welcome BlackVelvet.

I am an old player of Cabal Online, and actually waiting for Cabal 2 to come out. I PLayed it 3 years with a lot of breaks, and that's the good thing of a F2P patern, you can stop anytime, and really play when you want to! I was for exemple buying "premium account" equivalent to the "gold pack" Aion will have in Hollydays.

The sure thing is, they will make huge money from new comers, they actually don't need us to pay so much, that is why they give us this "Veteran" status.
The new comer will be limited in almost every aspect of the game, crafting, gathering, storage, broker and so on, they will have no choice but to pay to play if they really are interested in the game. The F2P patern is to make new players come, make them enjoy the game (it's not hard, it is Aion, beautifull, lot of content... Frist mmo i know of this quality going F2P) and make them bleed their money.

Cash shop item will be as it is now, mostly costumes, manastones, enchant stones. And in the future, they will probably add Major crown x10 (arroun 100k ap) for arround 30 euros. SO yes, at some point it will be game breaking, because they will need money, but, we as old players, won't really have to pay for it, since we already ARE geared mostly.

[CMBlackVelvet]

I will get some rest now since it is almost 2am here. I apologize for not being able to answer more questions for today.
Keep the questions coming tho and they will be added to the others which need clarification tomorrow/later .
Criticism is also welcome.

One thing I must say however before I try to catch some Zs. Consider this as a personal note:
I was actually a bit afraid of posting and discussing with you since you are veterans and know the game for ages now. And I expected a lot of rage.
After talking/discussing with you though I feel comfortable and I appreciate all the feedback and questions from everyone of you.
I might drop into IRC in the next few days if Nobody is fine with it and we can chat directly next to the forum replies. Just a suggestion.

Good night Daevas .

[shemals]

is the gameforge website safe? i mean . will our accounts be safe from hacking ..etc?

[sfar]

SmokinSick, on 14 December 2011 - 06:36 PM, said:

Normaly you can not transfer to new servers, because fully equipped players would destroy the new server balance (where everything is fresh and new, and untouched ^^) .. That´s most likely the reason why you can not transfer to the new world(s).

Second, I would wait with transfering to other servers, because when F2P launches, it is quite possible that your server will be flooded with people and the problem solves itself (or like No,you said .. more noobs and kids to flame and kill ^^ for everyone)

I doubt you'll be seeing a large influx of new players to servers like Spat. Partly for the reason you give, partly because it has nothing to offer over more populated servers, but mostly because new players will be pushed (or forced) to the new servers.

I'm not in any huge rush to transfer either, but it will likely be necessary in a few months and if transfers aren't available, that makes all other concerns somewhat academic.

Gameforges' FAQ implies that unrestricted transfers may be available in future, but it doesn't explicitly state that. That seems odd, so I'm asking for clarification.

[SmokinSick]

sfar, on 14 December 2011 - 06:57 PM, said:

I doubt you'll be seeing a large influx of new players to servers like Spat. Partly for the reason you give, partly because it has nothing to offer over more populated servers, but mostly because new players will be pushed (or forced) to the new servers.

I'm not in any huge rush to transfer either, but it will likely be necessary in a few months and if transfers aren't available, that makes all other concerns somewhat academic.

Gameforges' FAQ implies that unrestricted transfers may be available in future, but it doesn't explicitly state that. That seems odd, so I'm asking for clarification.

your partly right. new servers are always a little bit more attractive to certain persons who just want to start from the scratch, without a destoryed economy or market system.

but, for other players (like me for example) I prefer server with population, mostly because there are people with knowledge which can help you. also finding groups, or pvp situations is much easier on populated servers.

so, I think both sides will have their profits ^^

but that´s more a theoretical discussion, you will know it when it happens.

but yeah, to get an official statement is always better then guessing ^^ right?

This post has been edited by SmokinSick: 14 December 2011 - 07:09 PM

[lleuwelyn]

CMBlackVelvet, on 14 December 2011 - 06:51 PM, said:

I will get some rest now since it is almost 2am here. I apologize for not being able to answer more questions for today.
Keep the questions coming tho and they will be added to the others which need clarification tomorrow/later .
Criticism is also welcome.

One thing I must say however before I try to catch some Zs. Consider this as a personal note:
I was actually a bit afraid of posting and discussing with you since you are veterans and know the game for ages now. And I expected a lot of rage.
After talking/discussing with you though I feel comfortable and I appreciate all the feedback and questions from everyone of you.
I might drop into IRC in the next few days if Nobody is fine with it and we can chat directly next to the forum replies. Just a suggestion.

Good night Daevas .

Oh, dont worry, the rage will come when the fine bits of the costs for the gold package will be announced, and the items that will be for sale in the cash shop...

No,you., on 14 December 2011 - 06:12 PM, said:

F2P = lot of young players -> we'll have a lot, A LOT of 12-15 old asmodians 'cause they're so dark and cool and stuff, which means a lot of free APs

What you mean? Asmo design IS cooler than the angelic elyos design...
I'm 34 and i didnt feel anything for flying around in white wings and fluffy ponytail rainbow stuff....
But then they came up with eternal butterfly wings for asmo too..... made me cry...

[stewie]

its funny i see all this ppl qqing here.. i compare you to a beaten the hell out of a wife by here husband, but you stil.. live with him.. just for the sake of it .. the amount of lol in it just kills me inside =)

OT: blackvelvet will there be some change's with the isp of the new servers? i curently play on a ger serv.. and i have pretty high rates eaven with leatrix

This post has been edited by stewie: 15 December 2011 - 01:03 AM

[Aurelion]

CMBlackVelvet, on 14 December 2011 - 06:51 PM, said:

I was actually a bit afraid of posting and discussing with you since you are veterans and know the game for ages now. And I expected a lot of rage.

I quit Aion more than a year ago. We are over the point of raging about the game and just accepting it as it stands now. Most of us know, that Aion only has a chance that way, although not everyone wants to accept it. But it is your duty to create a REASONABLE Cashshop/Gold Account Settings, that are an advantage, but not as ridiculous as in other games. Please refrain from purchaseable power, let the people just buy speed instead. I hope, you know, what I mean. EXP/bonus AP items and settings are okay, but weapon and gear shop is not.

I am cool with the veteran settings, as I was subbed before, but as new player, I would constantly rage over: no auctionhouse and limited community interaction. These are huge issues, because that means, you basically cut the community in 2 halves. Not subsribing cannot be the choice for the more serious gamer (I am using the term loosely, because I don't think about those overachievers, but about anything that isn't trying to socket mp in their PvE stuff.), and the new unsubbed community can be easily distinguished and ridiculed over by the "leet veteran guyz".

I know, that this won't happen all the time, but it would be a major downer for ANY new subbies. Perhaps you could provide a onetime payment to get to a veteran status (without the AP items and so on) for 20 Euros or such, that nonsubbed players, that are more serious about Aion can play it with being the idiot in the corner because they cant join legion, nor chat, nor trade, nor use the postage system. You can see it as incentive to stay ingame, you could also provide a Veteran status for every account which had Gold status for at least 3 months.

So here is my question:

Will you provide the Veteran basic account for loyal Gold users or do you just try to milk the cow dry?

(Yes, I want you to answer my provocative question part too. And please refrain from the usual political correctness, I cannot stand that!)