Massively http://massively.joystiq.com Massively http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif Massively http://massively.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[NCsoft answers questions on Aion's new security]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/12/09/ncsoft-answers-questions-on-aions-new-security/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/12/09/ncsoft-answers-questions-on-aions-new-security/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/12/09/ncsoft-answers-questions-on-aions-new-security/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Ever been in the middle of a duel with a friend in Aion and watch him (or her) drop offline in the middle of a conversation, then come back online on each alt, strip it down, and sell off everything -- right in front of your eyes? That very scenario has happened to me, and similar situations have happened to others. Even counting RNG rages, nothing really compares to the frustration and heartache of losing all you have worked so hard for in-game, and no one wants to experience this. With this in mind, NCsoft has introduced an extra layer of security -- a new PIN system designed to better safeguard your virtual stash.

We were able to speak with Sean Neil, Associate Producer of Aion, and Lance Stites, Executive Vice President of Game Operations and Production at NCsoft West, to bring you the scoop on this new system.

Join us past the cut to hear what they had to say.

Continue reading NCsoft answers questions on Aion's new security

MassivelyNCsoft answers questions on Aion's new security originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 09 Dec 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Account-Securityaionaion-gamefeaturedinterviewInterviewskeyloggerkeyloggerslance-stitesloginnc-softnc-soft-aionncsoftncsoft-aionPINrmtSean-NeilsecurityThu, 09 Dec 2010 16:00:00 EST<![CDATA[NCsoft's Stites talks Aion anniversary]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/09/22/ncsofts-stites-talks-aion-anniversary/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/09/22/ncsofts-stites-talks-aion-anniversary/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/09/22/ncsofts-stites-talks-aion-anniversary/#commentsFiled under: , ,


NCsoft's Lance Stites has weighed in on the one-year anniversary of Aion. Stites, Executive Vice President of Game Operations and Production, has quite a lot to say about the land of Atreia and the eternal war between its winged denizens. From thoughts on the launch-day server queues that were enraging prospective players this time last year, to the free content updates featured in version 1.9 and the more recent Assault on Balaurea, Stites summarizes a year of tweaks in a post over at AionOnline.

In addition to his mini-retrospective, Stites also hints at the future, which includes "new western-specific events, continuing refinement to drop rates and experience, a 64-bit client to make performance better than ever and expanded pet functionality." Finally, he mentions the special one-year anniversary presents available to active players via the in-game survey system, as well as the unique Aqua Griffo pet gifted to loyal subscribers who've stuck with the game since launch.

MassivelyNCsoft's Stites talks Aion anniversary originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 22 Sep 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>aionaion-tower-of-eternityaiononlineanniversaryanniversary-eventlance-stitesncsoftncsoft-aionone-year-anniversaryWed, 22 Sep 2010 13:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Aion developers acting to correct server imbalances]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/07/31/aion-developers-acting-to-correct-server-imbalances/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/07/31/aion-developers-acting-to-correct-server-imbalances/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/07/31/aion-developers-acting-to-correct-server-imbalances/#commentsFiled under: , ,


Aion's July community address mentions the upcoming 2.0 patch, of course, but that's not what grabbed the attention of the fans.

The recent server merge created some predictable imbalances, and the Aion team has made a few decisions on how to begin rectifying them. NCsoft's Lance Stites, who penned this month's address, tells fans that server transfers have been temporarily disabled while the devs sort things out: "All the associated Aion teams are working on a solution to allow character transfers to resume with appropriate limits in place to prevent radically unbalanced servers."

Furthermore, race creation is "selectively" limited on each server, in the hopes that it will help balance things out. "For instance, if you're playing on a predominantly Elyos server, Asmodian creation will be the only race available for new characters," says Stites.

The situation is only temporary, and hopefully only a first step in sorting things out on the newly-consolidated Aion servers. Take a look at the Aion site for the full July community address.

MassivelyAion developers acting to correct server imbalances originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>aionasmodiancommunity-addresselyoslance-stitesncsoftrace-creationserver-mergeserver-mergesserver-transferserver-transfersSat, 31 Jul 2010 09:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Addressing gold spam in Aion]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/10/07/addressing-gold-spam-in-aion/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/10/07/addressing-gold-spam-in-aion/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/10/07/addressing-gold-spam-in-aion/#commentsFiled under: , ,

After playing Aion for any length of time, one might think the 'Looking for Group' channel is actually a 'Looking for Gold" channel. Don't worry, it's a common mistake. Since a few days after launch, players have been bombarded with gold spam in the game's various chat channels from general to group to trade and even to personal tell (whisper). Notably absent from Lance Stites' first State of the Game address last week, English Community Representative Ayase just put out an announcement about gold spam and NCsoft's efforts to eliminate it from Aion.

According to Ayase, game masters are working around the clock to identify and ban gold spammers. Players can also block spammers on an individual basis, which does work but is only a bandaid solution. It doesn't seem like NCsoft has this problem under control just yet, which isn't necessarily a testament to poor effort but to persistent and pesky spammers. The developers are working on new tools and processes to ban the spammers more effectively, but until then our chat channels will likely be flooded with spam. You see, the economy is a strong gameplay element in Aion, and where there's a buck to be made, weasels and sharks will prey.

MassivelyAddressing gold spam in Aion originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>aionayasebangame-mastergold-spammerlance-stitesnc-westncsoftWed, 07 Oct 2009 17:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Aion to offer free server transfers soon]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/10/06/aion-to-offer-free-server-transfers-soon/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/10/06/aion-to-offer-free-server-transfers-soon/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/10/06/aion-to-offer-free-server-transfers-soon/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Sunday we told you about the open letter to the Aion community from NCsoft West executive producer Lance Stites. Stites addressed the ongoing problem of seemingly endless queues for players trying to access the more popular servers. This has been a frustrating issue for everyone involved, with the crew at NCSoft West "engaged in multiple discussions each day" on the topic and players queueing for hours a day, attempting to play.

Unfortunately, rolling out new servers hasn't done the trick so far, as the problem does not stem from too few servers. Players continue to flock to the popular servers, leaving other servers nearly empty. "Sure, you rarely had to queue, but once you got into the game large areas of the world were devoid of fellow players. It's a hard balance to strike, and we need our servers full to ensure players experience Aion at its best," says Ryan James, PR director for NCsoft West.

Continue reading Aion to offer free server transfers soon

MassivelyAion to offer free server transfers soon originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>aionfree-server-transferlance-stitesnc-westncsoftryan-jamestransferTue, 06 Oct 2009 13:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Aion gets its first State of the Game address]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/10/04/aion-gets-its-first-state-of-the-game-address/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/10/04/aion-gets-its-first-state-of-the-game-address/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/10/04/aion-gets-its-first-state-of-the-game-address/#commentsFiled under: , ,


It's been a little over two weeks since Aion launched and NC West Executive Producer Lance Stites just released its first State of the Game address. These kinds of announcements have become more and more frequent as new MMOs launch and they usually cover the main successes and issues within a given period. This address is no different.

Lance proudly declares Aion's "fun and polished" launch and goes on to talk about the incredible demand they've experienced. Perhaps the demand was too high because the main issue he covers in this letter revolves around the server queues players have been sitting in since launch. NC West ran the usual prelaunch calculations and even added a 25% buffer to determine the game's initial server caps but that just wasn't enough.

It doesn't help that players have been playing long and hard either. "For example, we're seeing timeframes where 60 percent or more of our players are playing at any given time. This is a significant event by any MMO standard," Stites says. To address this problem, the studio is working on offering one-time free server transfers in the near future. Check out his full letter on the official site.

MassivelyAion gets its first State of the Game address originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 04 Oct 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>aionfree-transferslance-stiteslaunchnc-westncsoftserver-queuesstate-of-the-gameSun, 04 Oct 2009 10:00:00 EST<![CDATA[NCsoft's open letter to the Aion community targets all players of NCsoft games]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/06/27/ncsofts-open-letter-to-the-aion-community-targets-all-players-o/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/06/27/ncsofts-open-letter-to-the-aion-community-targets-all-players-o/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/06/27/ncsofts-open-letter-to-the-aion-community-targets-all-players-o/#commentsFiled under: , , ,


It's not everyday that we find a letter addressed to an entire company's audience when it's posted on a specific game site, but that's what NCsoft West's executive producer, Lance Stites has done with his recent letter to the Aion community.

To sum up his letter, it's been a busy series of restructuring the company and preparing for their next big release: Aion. While much of the focusing has been on Aion, the company isn't looking away from Lineage, Lineage II or Exteel. Those are still high on the company's priority list, according to Stites.

But things are going along smoothly for Aion, as more voice overs are currently being recorded, the localization is continuing smoothly, and tutorial videos are in production. It sounds like Aion really is the golden game of the studio, but it's also nice to hear about all of the staffing changes going on with the other games.

For the full letter and all of the nitty gritty of what's going on with the studio, head on over to Aion's website and check out Stites's report.

MassivelyNCsoft's open letter to the Aion community targets all players of NCsoft games originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 27 Jun 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>aionexecutive-producerexteellance-stitesletterlineagelineage-2ncsoftncsoft-westopen-letterSat, 27 Jun 2009 10:00:00 EST