Aion will be launching with a maximum level of 50 -- and there was a bit of vocal inflection on the word "launching." Does this mean NCsoft plans on increasing the level cap at some point in the future? Speaking of launching, the North American and European community feedback has been extremely positive about Aion launching at version 1.5 -- the same version Korea is currently at.
As for Korea, they may be leading the development of Aion, but NA/EU feedback will affect the game's direction. NCsoft feels it is important for players all over the world to enjoy Aion. One example of western influence on the game is that it will be launching with many more instances than originally intended because apparently we're big fans of dungeons in this neck of the woods.
NCsoft also hopes to launch future patches as close together as possible in the game's various regions. Both development teams work very closely together to alleviate the localization process. What does game localization mean in Aion? According to the person we spoke with, the main difference between the Korean and NA/EU versions is language/text and lore. The game mechanics will actually be the same.
This flies in the face of the rumour that has been circulating that western audiences will experience less of a "grind" in their version. Hopefully, we can get some clarification on this in the future.
When talking about Aion, you must inevitibly discuss PvP(vE), so that's where we headed next. What's to stop highbies from ganking lowbies? There doesn't seem to be any punishment mechanism in the Abyss according to what we heard, but the zone is broken up into various level ranges. This should artificially separate the highbies from the lowbies, but technically a highbie could break away from his or her path and engage in lower level ganking.
As for rifts, which are small portals leading into the enemy's PvE areas, there is a punishment system. The developers have introduced a "curse" mechanic, which prevents high level players from escaping through rifts once they've killed players deemed too low level for them. This mechanic should be interesting since you can't actually tell what level your enemies are in Aion and it has apparently been working well with the Korean players.
We wanted to know what made Aion different from other MMOs and the community person really wanted to stress flight. Even though games like City of Heroes have done flight before, it never held the same kind of strategic value as it does in Aion. Not only can players attack each other from the air and ground, they can also siege fortresses and even specific PvE content. Some PvE is only accessible via flight, so flight isn't just a simple travel feature -- it's a necessity.
Even gliding can be very useful if you manage to take advantage of Aion's thermodynamics system. The game world features pockets of hot air that can provide small boosts to your gliding height and range.
Aion will also feature rich levels of customization. The character creator provides vivid diversity in character appearance, which is compounded when you add it to their armor skinning feature (allowing you to apply different looks to your restricted armor type). Manastone sockets will provide statistical diversity and stigma stones let players choose various special abilities that suit their play style.
Finally, there's the Crytek engine. Even though some players may not appreciate the Asian-inspired art direction, they can't scoff at the stunning visual quality that isn't very hardware intensive compared to the competition. The artists paid extreme attention to detail and the various animations are fluid and unique
Aion is currently in closed beta and set to release in North America on September 22, 2009. A number of us here are in the beta, so you can stay up to date on our coverage by bookmarking Massively's Aion category page.
