Aion v1.9 Interview #1

Tags : Aion v1.9, aion 1.9, aion 1.9 patch

Aion v1.9 is coming up just around the corner and our Daeva of Journalism, Aquilanius, had the opportunity to interrogate Producer Chris "Kinslon" Hager. During the interview, Kinslon is forthcoming with the nitty-gritty information about the stun defense system and daily quests coming in 1.9. Over the coming weeks we plan to continue these mini interviews until Kinslon’s information well is dry. Stay tuned!

Aquilanius: How exactly will the stun defense skills work?

Kinslon: You can purchase the Remove Shock skill from your character's appropriate skill trainer (preceptor). Once your character has learned the skill you've purchased, if your character becomes stunned in combat, Remove Shock becomes available as a chain skill that you can use to remove the stun and increase your character's resistance to stun, knockback, and similar conditions for 7 seconds. At later levels, class-specific skills that you can also learn will act as chain skills that let you go on the offensive in addition to the basic abilities of Remove Shock.

Aquilanius: How will skills be acquired? Are they Stigma skills or skills taught by an NPC?

Kinslon: At level 40, every class can purchase the Remove Shock skill from the appropriate skill trainer (preceptor). Remove Shock is a regular skill that can be learned after being purchased. The higher-level chain skills that follow Remove Shock can also be purchased from class preceptors.

Aquilanius: What purpose does this stun defense have in overall class balance?

Kinslon: With each update in an MMO, the game designers need to rebalance the game's classes as players progress in skill and learn tactics that allow them to optimize (and sometimes overly optimize) specific class abilities. In the Aion 1.9 update, every class can now counteract and counterattack stun blocks to a degree. This strengthens the balance of all of Aion's classes. Future updates will continue to balance and shape each class, allowing players to shift tactics as new and different skills are introduced, and 1.9 is no exception.

Aquilanius: For which level ranges will you offer daily quests?

Kinslon: Each race has two sets of daily quest factions it can join. One faction gives quests starting at level 30, and the other faction starts at level 40. Once a character joins a faction, an icon appears each day in the UI that offers a new daily quest for that day. You can choose to either accept or decline a daily quest as it pops up each day, but you will continue to receive a daily quest each day until your character leaves the faction that gives those quests.

Aquilanius: What are the rewards of daily quests?

Kinslon: Ah, but that would be telling! Seriously, though, I don’t want to ruin the surprise of the specific rewards. I will say that the quest givers will offer are a wide range of rewards, from XP and Kinah to mist (time-limited) weapons, armor, and even some new titles!

Aquilanius: How much time will I need to invest in for a daily quest?

Kinslon: The time players will need to complete a daily quest will vary depending on if you are questing solo or in a group, which faction you join, and the specifics of the quest. The game designers wanted you to have some variety! Some daily quests will require more effort, but the rewards will also be proportionately greater.

See you next week for more information about the upcoming 1.9 patch!

-The Aion Community Team