Korean Media's Comments on Aion 1.5 and Expectations on V2.0

Tags : aion 1.5, aion 2.0, Shadow of the Balaur

Following the release of Aion 1.5 named Shadow of the Balaur six months ago, now it's confirmed that Aion 2.0 will come out in the first half year.

In Aion 1.0, the level cap was 45 and the biggest problem was that some classes like Templars, Assassins and Clerics were too strong. This version evolved around the conflicts between Elyos and Asmodians in Draupnir Cave, one of the hardest instances in V 1.0. How to conquer this instance and how to complete quests with the reward of fabled equipment was the main content of Aion 1.0.

At that time, Level 45 players were always talking about the topics about Level 45-50 Draupnir Cave and how they should work together to conquer it.

In Aion 1.2, the level cap was raised to level 50, the extremely strong classes were modified and new instances were released. It was easy for players to pass through Draupnir Cave then. But there was another balancing problem among Templars, Assassins and Spiritmasters when players went on a battle.

In Aion 1.5, higher-level stigma stones were made available, new instances were added, the Abyss system was adjusted and the instance difficulty was augmented. Because Gladiators, Rangers, Sorcerers and Chanters were strengthened, the previous team structure centering on Templars, Assassins and Clerics was changed.

Up until now, some problems still exist in V1.5 and seem worse and worse. Fabled equipment becomes common and the overall ability of Aion players keeps improving. Thus, lots of players have pointed out that the instances of V1.5 are too easy.

Now, the former tank Templars have fallen into an embarrassing situation, as Gladiators and Assassins can easily play the role of tank instead of Templars. Few teams need Templars to partner with. Although Clerics are still in charge of healing, but in most times, they take on the mission of removing and freeing teammates from debuff states.

After V1.5 was updated, the main damage producer Gladiators and Assassins were strengthened greatly in attack as well as defense. That is the problem.

The popularization of fabled equipment is the first problem

Along with the update of V1.5, players' fighting ability and equipment are averagely improved. Actually, the current instances are not so easy to conquer. Players even have to team up and wear advanced equipment to pass through Draupnir Cave with great efforts.

However, the advanced Level 50 Dark Poeta allows players to acquire fabled equipment with no sweat. Furthermore, the difficulty of newly added instances is low, which becomes the basic problem. In the meantime, the time limit on challenging an instance destroys the combination of various classes.

Most players including massive damage producers may find those new instances are easy. Because of the time restriction, more teams begin to look for classes with high damage output and classes with healing abilities.

Under such a background, the demand for Manastone: Attack+5 and Manastone: Magic Boost +25 have been increasing sharply, but most of the items that were created to diversify the game become of no value.

Combats decreased

Actually, the core of Aion is large-scale combats--RVR rather than instances and equipment. Aion was originally a vast battlefield, but after updating to V1.5, it may only focus on siege wars.

The former racial wars around Boss Menotios in lower Abyss and aerial combats with the aim of winning Abyss Points disappeared, the space-time crack quieted down and the conflict between the two races was alleviated in V1.5. Why? That is because characters are busy challenging instances and they have no time to launch a racial war even though they meet each other face to face.

Except the siege war, no massive battle breaks out in Abyss, only untiring slaughter remains. At present, even aerial combats can hardly be seen.

Aion 1.5 is a repeated product not for amusement

Templars are not indispensable for a team and they are degraded from tanks to a simple GPS class, as high damage output classes have been improved in defense and Templars' wrath buffs are not managed well. Thus, tanks give up defense and begin to use Manastone: Attack+. Their skills also incline to deal considerable damage. When experiencing V1.5, players just repeat causing damage and helping heal, but a sense of accomplishment after defeating tough opponents will never be gained.

Aion was originally a MMORPG based on RVR instead of an instance-repeated product. More badly, V1.5 didn't make any progress but degrade. Without hatred and antagonism, less competition and fun is left. Perhaps players only get enjoyment from the Dredgion battlefield.

In Aion 1.0, although players could reach Level 45 at most, they had to vanquish tons of awesome Bosses, such as King Consierd, Grand Chieftain Kasika and Menotios…all of them brought a strong sense of accomplishment and embodied the essence of a RPG.

Did Aion change after updating to V1.2 and V1.5? Is it still a RPG? Simply speaking, what will players do after entering Aion world? Just rush into instances again and again. How boring! Is this a so-called RVR product?

Aion is no longer challenging and interesting after the release of V1.5. It is not a game but an assignment.

:page:

Two suggestions for improving Aion

We only hope Aion can achieve the following two points in V2.0.

1. Reinforce class function

Suppose the balance between the eight classes is good, warriors, mages, priests and scouts promote and restraint each other, that should be the best relation between them. Moreover, various classes should possess their advantages and disadvantages in solo situation which would be a pretty stable balance.

However, each class of Aion doesn't undertake clear assignments in RVR or team hunts. Only three classes including attack, healing and debuff eliminator are needed. We hope that the eight classes can play their own role in hunts in the upcoming V2.0, especially the function of a tank class and a damage output class should be marked off.

Tank

Templars haven't fulfilled the role of tank for a long time.

In Aion 1.5, Templars can hardly perform their tank role. Tanks often evoke hatred and protect teammates with high defense, but Templars cannot safeguard teammates because they only have high defense but they are unable to manage their hatred. Besides, the new instances are not difficult and can be even conquered by a team without tanks. Certainly, such a problem also occurred in V1.0, but it was not so serious. In a word, Templars only simply act as a GPS class in Aion. The easiest way of boosting Templars is to increase their hatred value or to strengthen monsters, so other classes cannot take the place of their tank role.

Gladiators established their tank and damage output position

Gladiators that could equip various weapons were off-tanks originally. However, after the two-handed weapons became common, they began to deal massive damage and control hatred. Plus, in possession of high defense as well as AOE skills, they are able to protect healing classes in most cases. What's more, Gladiators wielding two-handed weapons can cause as much damage as Assassins.

Assassins are the representatives in damage output.

Assassins are designed with low defense, high evasion and strong melee attack. It is widely acknowledged that they are the main damage producers in Aion. When V1.5 was updated, Assassins' HP was augmented greatly with the help of universal advanced equipment and Chanters' buffs, thus they can also act as main tanks or off-tanks aside from causing damage.

Rangers are stronger than Assassins in PVP.

Rangers are featured with long-range critical hit. Generally, they are inferior to Assassins in team hunts. Nevertheless, they can surpass assassins in PVP.

Sorcerers with magical attack can deal more damage than Assassins.

At present, the upper limit of Magic Boost is 2600 and 8% magical attack will be upgraded with every increase of 100 magic boost. Therefore, Sorcerers with Magic Boost +2600 can produce more damage than Assassins and Rangers. The only drawback is that they must be assisted by Chanters and consume much MP. Still, they cannot cause continuous damage.

As a result, in Aion 1.5, the number of Gladiators and Assassins has been increasing sharply and each class's function is not determined clearly. Aion 2.0 should pay attention to improving this aspect.

2. Add new motives to incite racial wars between Elyos and Asmodians

Aion 1.5 is rather tendentious on instances. With the decrease of instance difficulty, players can hardly extract pleasure from them. More fun should be found in outdoor fields and instances in V2.0.

In V1.5, ancient relics were added in the Abyss system where Abyss Points can only be gained through racial wars, but they were also updated in instances, so players can even acquire Abyss equipment by only lingering on instances. That means that the motive of racial conflict was relieved. We hope more large-scale wars can be seen again in V2.0.

Source: mmosite. com