Aion Levels 20 - 30 Review

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I've spent a fair amount of time playing Aion this year, all through the closed beta test, and for the first few weeks when the game was released back in September. If you read any of our coverage back then, you'll know I was really impressed with the game. The character customisation is second to none, and the graphics are simply stunning. The starter zone is filled with varied and interesting quests; it was a pleasure to explore the world, gaining new skills at regular intervals and uncovering new areas.

I played levels 1-20 for the first review, all of which I enjoyed, before taking a break. Between then and now, NCsoft has been tweaking the game in response to feedback from players. I'd heard that Aion was a bit 'grindy' in the early twenties but, knowing a number of fixes and changes had been applied, three weeks ago I picked up where I'd left off without a worry in the world, keen to get stuck in again for the next part of the review.

Around 8 hours into my first gaming session, it became apparent just what 'grindy' meant. I'd stopped playing at a point where I'd completed all the available quests in my locality, so my first task was to find a new quest hub. This proved quite tricky; at one point, all I had in my quest log was a handful of group quests and one or two that were well above my level. As a DPS class, my chances of finding a party to do the group quests wasn't great, but eventually I found one. It seems to take an age to find groups in Aion, possibly due to the fact that, on my realm at least, the LFG channel is used as the global chat channel where all discussions go on. Finding a party is more a case of luck, by happening to glance at the fast-scrolling chat panel at the right time and responding before someone else does.

Some group quests are very long chains, I'll give the Krall area in Verteron as an example. As usual, the next quest in a chain becomes available once the previous one is completed, and many require you to return to the quest giver to get the next part. With no mounts or quick travel system besides the spell that returns you to a city, making the long and dangerous trip back to the spot in the enemy grounds where the follow-up part of the quest begins is a tedious job. And it's a job that many players just can't be bothered with. I often found a party who would stick together to get one or two parts of the quest chain done before crying off for one reason or another. This results in many people being on different parts of the quest chain, making it even harder to find a party, where everyone must be willing to perhaps do a part they've already completed to bring everyone up to the same stage.I think I wasted two or three evenings in groups going over quests I'd already done in there so others could catch up, only for someone to leave and the group would disband.

If you were wondering about attempting any group quests solo, you can pretty much forget it. A single regular mob of the same or slightly higher level as your character can reduce your HP down to 50% or more in some cases. An elite can kill you in seconds. I found this to be the case, playing as a plate-wearing Gladiator, a melee damage-dealing Warrior, but I've seen Spirit Masters and other ranged classes last a little longer.

So, unable to do it alone and with no luck finding a group, you'd probably just skip a tricky quest in any other game. Unfortunately, these quests are part of the Elyos campaign, the main storyline that persists through Aion. Yup, one big quest chain. Also, at the time there wasn't a lot else to do quest-wise, so I persevered and eventually got through it.

A new quest hub awaited, and I relished the chance to start climbing through the levels again, but it was painstakingly slow work. Many quests only reward you with the same amount of XP as killing a handful of mobs. This is probably the origin of the 'grindy' rumours – I'd often see players just staying within a small area killing the same group of mobs over and over, because it's the best way to earn XP quickly. Also, as I progressed, I noticed more and more repeatable quests on offer from NPCs, ones that require you to go out and kill around 25 mobs or collect 15 of a certain item. These quests only reward the same XP as one or two mobs – it just seems a way of justifying the grind that's necessary to get characters through the extremely long levels. I estimated that, without using the grind method and by completing quests that were available to me, it took me anywhere between six to ten hours to complete each level between the levels 20-30.

Don't be under the impression that grinding is the quick and easy way to end game though. As I mentioned before, most mobs of the same or higher level than your character will take a good chunk off your HP, requiring you to heal up before taking on another. This can take anywhere up to 30 seconds between each mob, which is extremely frustrating. It doesn't sound much, but just watching your character sitting on the ground for half a minute after killing just one mob out of those 25 you've got to kill is painstakingly dull. And if you should accidentally pull 2 mobs, I hope you have a potion or two handy; death in Aion is a costly business. Not only do you end up at your set spawn point, which could be a 5 minute run away from where you died, you also have to pay the soul healer to get some of your precious XP back, and it's not cheap.

Many quests in Aion involve gathering a certain resource. This is another pet peeve of mine, as it means the compulsory levelling-up of your gathering or extracting skill. Although extracting does reward a small amount of XP, it's about a tenth of the value of killing a mob. What's more, it's time consuming – first you have to find a herb/metal/gem supply, then you must extract it, which takes a few seconds but has a chance of failing. Also, your skill only increases every five or so successful extracts.

I must admit, I was struggling with Aion until I hit level 25, which is when characters gain access to the Abyss. Not only does this open up a huge selection of fresh quests, it also brings with it the first instance in the game.

I had three group quests for Nochsana Training Camp when I entered it for the first time. These, combined with the masses of XP the instance provides thanks to the plentiful mobs and the backup of a full party, meant I got through a level in the record speed of about three or four hours. After doing some research and asking members of my legion, it seems that instance grinding is the way to go in Aion, using quests as a filler when you can't find a group or you fancy a break.

However, if you're into your PvP as opposed to PvE, then the Abyss holds more delights for you. There are three sections, upper, lower and the core, which are constantly being fought over between the Elyos, Asmodians and the NPC race, the Balaur. It's unwise to attempt anything solo, especially as a lowbie 20-something character, but Alliances are regularly formed to try and take a Fortress, an Artifact or even just a piece of land, by sheer numbers if nothing else.

All enemies killed in the Abyss, including the ones inside the instance, reward Abyss points, as do all quests. These can be redeemed at higher levels for weapons, armour, accessories and consumables. At level 27 onwards, the only quests left available to me were the ones in the Abyss, which I proceeded to attempt, however, questing in this zone is dangerous to the extreme thanks to the PvP nature of the place. Saying that, it keeps you alert, always checking the skies for approaching threats. Oh yes - you can fly everywhere in the Abyss without any restriction except time. Despite Aion's marketing heavily based on flying, there are very few areas outside of the Abyss where you can get around in the air. Flight is usually confined to major towns and the areas immediately surrounding them.

Other PvP opportunities present themselves back on the ground, in the form of rifts that randomly appear in each zone. These rifts take you through to a zone of equivalent level in the opposite faction's homeland. You get your first quest to go through a particular rift somewhere in the mid twenties. However, particular rifts are intended for certain quests – if you take another rift you have to travel through large areas of enemy ground to get to your desired location – and they spawn very sporadically. In fact I'm still waiting for the rift to appear that will deliver me to a quest NPC so I can turn in a quest I got 5 levels ago.

I've no doubt that, in time, NCsoft will address many issues players have with the game right now. The XP reward for quests is being looked at and I believe more quests are being added. This will flesh the game out nicely, which is what is desperately needed right now.

The first few levels of Aion are a joy to play, hence my previous high score, but the zones lose their appeal from 20+. Gone are the beautiful vistas, the forests and quaint villages of Verteron; large areas in the next two zones are taken up with desert. Quests seem harder to come by, but instances help a great deal with the problem of slow levelling. However, being forced to revisit the same content to take advantage of the better XP isn't much fun either.

Aion has a lot of potential, judging by the early content. The graphics are still stunning, combat is smooth and combos are fun to pull off. The regular cut-scenes involving your character are always cool to see as well. But mob difficulty and low quest XP, no doubt intended to prolong the game up to the current level cap of 50, must put many players off. I don't want to spend 10 hours getting from level 21 to 22, and I don't want to have to grind mobs in order to speed it up. I feel I can't spend the huge amount of time required to improve my professions because it's valuable time lost levelling. I don't want to do quests that force me to level my extracting skill, but I probably have to because it's one of the few quests that are available to me.

These are the main things that took the shine off my Aion experience this time around. I know NCsoft is looking to add many new features such as player housing, mounts and underwater zones, all of which would be welcome, but the current system needs re-working to get away from the grind-heavy attitude it encourages. Luckily, it seems NCsoft is taking steps in the right direction. Earlier today, it announced that double XP weekends for level 1-35s are being introduced until a more permanent solution can be implemented.