The second Aion closed beta event kicks off this weekend Friday, June 19th (12:00 PM PT, 9:00 PM CEST, 8:00 PM BST) and ends Monday, June 22nd (12:00 PM PT, 9:00 PM CEST, 8:00 PM BST).

For this event, enthusiastic testers will focus on the beginning player experience for the Asmodians as well as testing server stability and live launch simulation. Take the time to read the story of your quests, pay close attention to the words of the NPCs sharing their knowledge with you, and explore the first ten levels in the shadowy world of Asmodae during this weekend’s exciting beta event.

If you’re a part of this weekend’s closed beta event, drop by the official beta forums beginning on June 18 to share your reports and experiences.

Thanks to the diligence and reporting from the first closed beta event, this weekend’s event also features several updates and changes in the game content:

- Updated with culturalized content for Asmodian levels 1-10
- Updated UI at login screen
- Localization fixes for various in game maps
- Fixed various NPC messages
- Initial zone channels increased from 4 to 10
- Server queue added

Coming Soon!

- Localized voice overs for cut scenes
- Localized tutorial videos
- In game pre-rendered movies
- More culturalized content for Asmodae
- Culturalized content for Elyos
- Community Events

Participants in the closed beta events will also be excited to hear that the NDA has been lifted. Chat, blog, post, and tweet about your experiences in Aion!

Wondering about even more upcoming beta events? Check out the current closed beta schedule below and plan now for your fun-filled summer in Atreia.

Upcoming Closed Beta Events

Closed Beta Event #3 - July 2-July 6
Focus: Asmodian levels 1-20

Closed Beta Event #4 - July 17-July 20
Focus: Elyos and Asmodian levels 1-25

Closed Beta Event #5 - July 31-August 3
Focus: TBD

Closed Beta Event #6 - August 14-August 17
Focus: TBD

As always, stay tuned to the official web site and the Aion team Twitters (@aion_ayase, @aion_amboss, @aion_liv, and @aion_xaen) for more news and your chance to be a part of the closed beta.

It’s almost time to spread your wings and take to the skies! Get an early start to your adventures in Atreia by pre-ordering Aion, now available at participating retailers, including GameStop, Amazon, Best Buy and EB Canada.

Pre-order Aion to receive:

- Guaranteed entry to all scheduled beta events
- Early access to the servers at launch
- Special game benefits including character and server pre-selection privileges
- Exclusive in-game digital items

Your character will enter the world of Aion in style with an exclusive Black Cloud Hat and Lodas’ Amulet, as well as one of five different Ancient Rings of Power.

In addition to these extraordinary in-game items and early access, North America pre-order participants also have a chance to win an Alienware Area-51® m15x gaming notebook and other fantastic prizes! In order to qualify to win, players must pre-order and participate in Aion beta events. Visit the official pre-order page for more information and contest terms and conditions.

Check out this video interview with Associate Producer Lani “Liv” Blazier on the Electric Playground! Lani gives you the rundown on the story of Aion, shares the scoop on why you should play, and more in this electrifying interview.

Visit Electric Playground now to watch the video showcasing the “hot-looking-game” coming this fall!

The first closed beta event for Aion took flight from June 5-7, 2009. Thousands of players logged in and pounded on the server, NPCs, and quests to give the game its first big test of server stability and infrastructure - and Aion ran smoothly all weekend long.

Legions of eager testers created characters to venture into the lands of the Elyos for the first time. A number of players were in high spirits and provided fantastic feedback on their initial encounter with the world of Atreia.

“The game itself…I am in love with it.”

“It’s the best first day of a closed beta I’ve seen.”

“Looks really impressive. Looks like we could spend a weekend on character creation alone.”

Ten Ton Hammer also shared their favorite impressions of Aion, providing an in-depth look at the first closed beta event.

“Aion could quite possible be the first Korean MMO to make a major impact on the North American market.”

Thank you to all participants for sharing your view! The Aion quality assurance and customer service teams are busy catching up on all of the comments, reports, and constructive feedback from this first event to provide an even better experience for upcoming beta events and beyond.

Stay tuned to the official Aion web site and Twitter for announcements on the next closed beta event (June 19, 2009), including the focus of testing and your chance to be a part of it!

In the spring of 2005, a little game called Guild Wars came roaring into existence hot on the heels of a series of highly successful beta weekend events. For a game that ultimately took traditional MMO conventions and turned them on their ear, offering capsulated experiences leading up to launch rather than a full-blown open beta served to build up a critical mass of hype. Four years and over six million units later the Guild Wars franchise is still going strong, even after launching during a window of time when the World of Warcraft snowball effect was picking up speed and showing no signs of slowing down.  

A major contributing factor to the success of those weekend events was the fact that players were being exposed to a game that was extremely polished and ultimately fun to play on many different levels. Between events communities and guilds were formed as players contemplated not only what they wanted to achieve with their characters during the next event, but after the launch of GW as well.

When I first learned that NCSoft would be following a similar approach by hosting a series of beta events for Aion leading up to launch, I couldn’t help but consider this a smart move. Only time will tell whether Aion will become another MMO success story in the pages of the NCSoft history books, but if this weekend was any indication, Aion has certainly set the stage for what I’d consider to be the first true blending of an eastern approach to game design delivered in a distinctly western wrapper.

For the kickoff event, players were allowed to create characters from the Elyos and advance them up to level 20, with the Asmodians and higher level content presumably earmarked for future weekend events. The character creation process itself is fairly straight forward, though ended up being far more robust than I’d originally envisioned thanks to a slick interface revealed after making your core class selection; Warrior, Scout, Mage or Priest. On the cosmetic side, dozens of preset combinations and hairstyles are available as is the option to fine-tune specific facial features and body parts.

One thing that stood out for me is that players are able to create believably young or even outwardly haggard characters rather than simply sticking to the realm of unearthly beauty that’s typical especially of female characters in MMOs. The most dramatic shifts can be seen on the male end of the spectrum, though expect to wade through a high volume of overly androgynous preset options in the process of tweaking a character to your liking. Another nice touch is allowing players to toggle starting and more advanced armors to give you an idea what your character might look like decked out in high end gear. So for example if you wanted to create a crazy hobo assassin and are curious to see what they might look like with a giant unicorn head placed squarely on their shoulder, you’re certainly able to do so!
Your first steps into Aion as an Elyos will land you on the island of Poeta after having woken from an odd slumber that has left you searching for answers and a desire to recover lost memories of a former life as a Daeva. This will be the main storyline that will sweep you through roughly the first nine levels and ultimately drives you to recall having been the leader of a great legion in the Abyss who fell in battle, which is a clever way of guiding players towards their subclass selection, but I’ll get into that a bit more later on.

The first thing that struck me which I feel deserves special mention here, is that Aion is not only an incredibly beautiful game, but that I suffered only the most minimal of performance hits when I first logged in to see the starting area flooded with literally hundreds of other players. With all graphical settings turned up to their max I never fell below 30 fps, most often seeing closer to 100+ which is no mean feat considering how visually stunning both environments and combat animations are. It’s also worth noting that I was playing on a somewhat middle of the road PC, with a 2.60 GHz dual-core processor, 4gigs of RAM and a 9800gtx GPU; so not a powerhouse machine by any means. The graphics also scale incredibly well, so that even with everything turned down to the lowest settings Aion still carries that otherworldly glow of a believable and visually appealing game world. Throughout the weekend I had an entirely stable, lag-free experience which just goes to show that once the localization efforts for Aion have been completed, the game is certainly ready for prime time and will hopefully offer an equally solid experience for a broad spectrum of PC users.

Another thing I took an immediate liking to is the slick, one-piece UI. While there is the option to toggle the placement of your character’s status window and the mini-map at the top of the screen which has become somewhat of an industry norm, I’m one of those players who will typically opt for a less cluttered screen in exchange for a better view of my surroundings. Many of the other bells and whistles you’d come to expect from a newer western MMO are also present such as the option to add more hotbars at the click of a mouse or even being able to preview armors before attuning them to your character. During my exploration I also discovered such perks as being able to retain the visual appearance of a particular piece of armor while gaining the benefits from a newer equipped piece by paying a simple fee (which is currently only available at level 30).

While I’m on the subject of fees, many gameplay elements eventually will end up costing you Kinah, the main currency in Aion. Examples here would include travel or teleportation between areas, removing the XP debt obtained upon death or even some of the advanced work orders you’ll likely end up doing as a means of advancing your crafting skills. Thankfully Kinah is also generously handed out as quest rewards and even the most basic dropped items sell to vendors for a decent price, so I never really encountered an instance of feeling a pinch in my coin purse even when teleporting back and forth from the crafting workshop and the bank numerous times or paying the fee to bind my recall point to a new area.

Your first steps into Aion as an Elyos will land you on the island of Poeta after having woken from an odd slumber that has left you searching for answers and a desire to recover lost memories of a former life as a Daeva. This will be the main storyline that will sweep you through roughly the first nine levels and ultimately drives you to recall having been the leader of a great legion in the Abyss who fell in battle, which is a clever way of guiding players towards their subclass selection, but I’ll get into that a bit more later on.

The first thing that struck me which I feel deserves special mention here, is that Aion is not only an incredibly beautiful game, but that I suffered only the most minimal of performance hits when I first logged in to see the starting area flooded with literally hundreds of other players. With all graphical settings turned up to their max I never fell below 30 fps, most often seeing closer to 100+ which is no mean feat considering how visually stunning both environments and combat animations are. It’s also worth noting that I was playing on a somewhat middle of the road PC, with a 2.60 GHz dual-core processor, 4gigs of RAM and a 9800gtx GPU; so not a powerhouse machine by any means. The graphics also scale incredibly well, so that even with everything turned down to the lowest settings Aion still carries that otherworldly glow of a believable and visually appealing game world. Throughout the weekend I had an entirely stable, lag-free experience which just goes to show that once the localization efforts for Aion have been completed, the game is certainly ready for prime time and will hopefully offer an equally solid experience for a broad spectrum of PC users.

Another thing I took an immediate liking to is the slick, one-piece UI. While there is the option to toggle the placement of your character’s status window and the mini-map at the top of the screen which has become somewhat of an industry norm, I’m one of those players who will typically opt for a less cluttered screen in exchange for a better view of my surroundings. Many of the other bells and whistles you’d come to expect from a newer western MMO are also present such as the option to add more hotbars at the click of a mouse or even being able to preview armors before attuning them to your character. During my exploration I also discovered such perks as being able to retain the visual appearance of a particular piece of armor while gaining the benefits from a newer equipped piece by paying a simple fee (which is currently only available at level 30).

While I’m on the subject of fees, many gameplay elements eventually will end up costing you Kinah, the main currency in Aion. Examples here would include travel or teleportation between areas, removing the XP debt obtained upon death or even some of the advanced work orders you’ll likely end up doing as a means of advancing your crafting skills. Thankfully Kinah is also generously handed out as quest rewards and even the most basic dropped items sell to vendors for a decent price, so I never really encountered an instance of feeling a pinch in my coin purse even when teleporting back and forth from the crafting workshop and the bank numerous times or paying the fee to bind my recall point to a new area.

The early levels are spent questing and getting a general feel for both your archetype and how combat differs ever so slightly from what you might have experienced in previous MMOs. One example here would be the combo system that, on the surface, appears somewhat complex but has been seamlessly integrated into the combat experience much better than previous iterations on the concept such as the Heroic Opportunities in EverQuest 2 or whack-a-mole combos in Age of Conan. Hitting the combo starter will temporarily swap out the same keybinding with the next skill in the chain which makes pulling off some of the longer chains you’ll experience later on a breeze.

Combat does tend to feel a bit slow at first, but ultimately hits a point in the early teens where it not only becomes more involved, but has a distinct visual flair as well. Though I did spend some time with each of the core archetypes during the event, I quickly took a liking to the Gladiator subclass. The interface is comfortable and familiar when playing the class, while combat itself felt extremely fluid and graceful. Gladiators attack in a series of grandiose, sweeping movements that instantly brought fighting games such as Soul Calibur IV to mind much more so than anything I’ve experienced in an MMO previously. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how the class fares in aerial combat in the Abyss should the option become available in future weekend events, but for now I was quite content to scamper around and beat the living snot out of everything that stood in my path; all the while looking the part of a badass warrior with some seriously mean moves.

Flight itself becomes available upon completion of a quest you automatically gain at level nine that allows you to select which of the eight unique subclasses to advance your character into. One minor sticking point here is that, for such a hefty decision, the subclasses themselves are only briefly described in a few simple lines of text with many offering a completely different playstyle than what you might have experienced in the first nine levels. For example, Scouts can become either an Assassin or Ranger; with the first nine levels dedicated to melee attacks and more assassin-oriented combat it would be hard to really understand how vastly different the Ranger subclass would pan out since you haven’t seen any of its skills in action at that point. This reminded me of certain aspects of EQ2’s long-gone archetype system where you’d spend 20 levels essentially playing a Conjuror only to have an entirely different experience with your Necromancer later on.

Abrupt, non-descript “here’s your future” decision-making aside, at level 10 characters finally become Daeva and earn their wings. Most combat areas were designated as no-fly zones, but there were enough areas where flight was an option to get a decent feel for how much it will impact gameplay later on. Even in the no-fly zones your wings can still come in handy, as a quick double tap of the spacebar allows you to glide for short, 10 second bursts which can dramatically speed up travel in areas with terrain of varied elevations or even in Sanctum, the main city hub you’ll also gain access to upon becoming a Daeva as an Elyos. In certain areas crafting components can only be harvested while in flight as well, which certainly adds new a new layer of depth to such an otherwise commonplace activity.
Crafting itself takes place within Sanctum, and is somewhat easy to learn thanks to the above mentioned work orders you can obtain from various NPCs related to the specific trade you’d like to advance. This weekend I opted to explore Armorsmithing to see if I could craft myself a new set of armor for my Gladiator, which I was able to achieve though it did involve a fair amount of travel to obtain all the necessary components. Most recipes involved a mix of crafted, dropped and harvested subcomponents, adding a layer of complexity to an otherwise straight forward process. Basic recipes could either be purchased from a vendor or granted as work order rewards, with some rare recipes dropped randomly as loot.

As a means of circumventing all the component gathering involved in crafting it was also exceedingly easy to hop on over to the local trade broker, or Aion also allows players to whip out a stool and set up a personal shop anyplace they’d like. These personal shops also allow players to advertise their wares with a small floating text box, or in some cases I saw them being used as recruitment tools for legions, Aion’s version of guilds. While I like the concept and can see the potential for centralized, player-driven swap meets ala the early days of EQ in the East Commonlands tunnel, I can also see the potential means for gold farmers to get some cheap (OK, free) in-game advertising if the system isn’t kept in check. Hopefully towns and outposts won’t become flooded with this kind of thing come launch, but the system itself is a nice way of allowing players to buy and sell items without having to constantly run back to the city to do so.

Overall, based on my experiences this weekend I’d say Aion is coming along exceptionally well, and could quite possibly be the first Korean MMO to make a major impact on the North American market. The extra time spent with localization is paying off, even if some elements haven’t quite fallen into place as of yet. Still, many of the rumors that Aion is simply a grindfest or lacks the flair necessary to appeal to a western audience can finally be put to rest, as the game is already incredibly polished and packed with potential. This is one game to keep your eye on in the coming months, and in the meantime I’m looking forward to getting some hands-on time both with the Asmodians and some of the higher level PvP in the Abyss.

It’s hard to believe that four years have passed since I took my first official steps on Tyrian soil. I say ‘official’ steps due to the highly successful Beta Weekend Events leading up to the April 28th launch date for Guild Wars that helped cement my Unreal clan’s decision to throw down our guns and pick up staves and swords, determined to reign supreme in the Hall of Heroes just as we had on the war torn Unreal battlefields previously. This was an exciting time; a whole new virtual world sprawled out before us unlike anything the MMO market had ever seen.
While my initial guild inevitably shattered into splinter groups long before we could claim the highest rankings on the leaderboards, the Tyrian landscape continued to grow with a series of expertly crafted stand-alone campaigns, each of them providing a complete microcosm of weapons, armors and skills unique to their particular setting. Having recently announced that the franchise has surpassed 6 million units sold, it’s clear that the developers at ArenaNet have crafted one of the most beloved fantasy settings in online gaming.

Having been there to witness the start of the phenomenon, when it was announced that Guild Wars would be hosting an in-game celebration to mark the fourth anniversary I knew it was an event I wouldn’t want to miss. Besides, the seasonal events in Guild Wars have always been some of my favorites; just ask the friendly NPCs who are kind enough to hold onto my massive collection of hats, masks and zombie face paint that’s been handed out as rewards over the years.

Speaking of rewards, there were plenty to be had during the week-long event, including a fresh batch of birthday miniatures awarded to each character turning 4 years old at midnight on the 28th. Naturally I logged directly in with my very first Necro that I created way back on launch day in 2005. Checking my inventory, sure enough there was a shiny new box there waiting to be opened which contained an awesome new Miniature Nian that I quickly placed in my Hall of Monuments.

The Hall itself has undergone some minor improvements along with the anniversary update, most notably by letting players display their achievements across the entire account rather than by individual characters. The old display option can be toggled on at any time by speaking to Kimmes the Historian, but for those players whose achievements and collections are spread across multiple characters, the new display option is certainly a welcome improvement.

Rather than create a stand-alone event for the celebration, the fourth anniversary festivities instead marked a return of the Shing Jea Boardwalk, including the light-hearted PvP of the Dragon Arena and my own personal favorite mini-game Rollerbeetle Racing. During previous festivals I’ve been known to while away entire weekends racing around the Rollerbeetle track, and the fourth anniversary celebration was certainly no exception!  

What the celebration may have lacked in terms of new event content, it certainly made up for by introducing a lengthy list of game updates across a number of key areas. The most obvious of these is a new zone called the Zaishen Menagerie, accessed through the Battle Isles. Think of the Menagerie as an extension of the Hall of Monuments concept, a key difference being that this is a truly massive outdoor area with a focus specifically on the various types of charmable pets available to characters with a Ranger primary or secondary. Previously, the only way for players to charm a new pet was to travel to one of a handful of locations and speak to a trainer who would free up the slot. Now players not only have a means of charming the same pets again, but can do so at any previously unlocked evolutionary state to boot.

Logging in with my Ranger, I quickly swapped in Charm Animal on my hotbar to take Rover the Raven for a tour of the Menagerie. Speaking with the Saishen Keeper allowed me to add Rover to my collection of pets, as well as view complete lists of every pet type available across the three main campaigns and the Eye of the North expansion, even providing some basic information on where they could be found should I want to attempt charming any of them. From there I scampered off to see where my freshly added raven would appear on the island, a process made much easier thanks to a series of  Master of Winds NPCs interspersed throughout the zone who cast a buff called Windborne Speed when you approach. Normal movement enhancing buffs can also be used here, but I found the NPCs a nice touch considering the overall expanse of the area.

Ascending a small hill, I soon discovered a group of nests which were now populated with a group of ravens that will be available to charm again at any point in the future. Each pet type has a similar home within the zone, which I imagine looks fairly impressive the more tamed pets you add to your collection.

For those players who may not have the time to track down each individual pet type and follow the three possible evolution paths, ArenaNet also added a new Pet Unlock Pack to the online store which opens up all 26 pets across all evolution paths. A few other notable items have been added to the store as well, including such popular MMO options as Character Name Changes, Xuntai Storage Panes (in Guild Wars you can never have enough storage space!) and even Makeover Packs which allow you to alter your character’s appearance using elements across all campaigns for the first time. For those of you who feel like taking a walk on the wild side there’s also an Extreme Makeover which allows for gender changes.

Rounding out the content additions is a group of three repeatable Zaishen Challenge Quests that can be obtained at the Great Temple of Balthazar. Mission quests send you to replay storyline missions from each campaign, Bounty quests will send you to kill specific bosses at various locations and lastly PvP quests challenge you to win battles in various PvP types. The offered quests change daily for each type, and, depending on the specific quest selected, can reward players with a combination of gold, experience, faction and Zaishen Copper Coins which can be redeemed for things such as consumable items and scrolls.

One of the cooler items available through the Zaishen Coins is the newly added Equipment Packs. These add a new bag slot to your character’s inventory and come in a number of different sizes. The pack can only hold armor and weapons, but if you’re anything like me you no doubt have giant piles of green weapons and elite armor sets that you’ve been shuffling around, so the added storage space for these items is a massive improvement in that regard.

Looking forward, it’s hard to see anything less than a bright future for the Guild Wars franchise. The recent content upgrades are a welcome addition to a truly unique and expansive game world. While specific details on Guild Wars 2 remain scarce, the original game that turned the notion of subscription fees and lengthy patching processes on its ears is still going strong. 

NCsoft’s Guild Wars is the ground breaking game that not only surprised free-to-play fans but also made subscription game players take pause and wonder “What are we paying monthly fees for?” Nothing proves this more than the latest news that Guild Wars has surpassed six million units sold! To celebrate this amazing feat, new content is being added for all fans to enjoy. Read on for the details!

SEATTLE, Washington – April 24, 2009 – NCsoft®, the world’s premier publisher and developer of massively multiplayer online games (MMOs), and ArenaNet®, a wholly owned subsidiary of NCsoft and the acclaimed developer of Guild Wars®, today announced that on the cusp of its fourth anniversary, the Guild Wars franchise has exceeded six million units sold. Guild Wars is the award-winning and genre-defining series that is one of the most popular and successful online role-playing games in the industry.

To commemorate these milestones, ArenaNet has just released a major content update, including new quest content and extra storage options. Additional in-game birthday festivities will be available starting on April 28th, the official anniversary of the game. For more information on the fourth anniversary updates, go to http://www.guildwars.com/community/news.

“We are humbled by how gamers have responded to Guild Wars over the past four years, and we are proud that the game and its community have helped to continually shape, define, and expand the genre,” said ArenaNet studio head Mike O’Brien. “Our subscription-free business model has proven to be a big hit with gamers, bringing an enormous and diverse online community to the game.”

Guild Wars is one of the most successful PC gaming franchises of all time. Since its release in 2005, it has received numerous awards for its innovative design, world-class art direction and robust content streaming engine. ArenaNet continues to support the game’s thriving community with regular in-game events, updates, and community activities.

The Guild Wars universe contains three campaigns and an expansion pack: Guild Wars, Guild Wars Factions®, Guild Wars Nightfall®, and Guild Wars: Eye of the North®. Last fall, NCsoft released Guild Wars Trilogy that combines all three campaigns with additional bonus items.

For more news on the Guild Wars franchise, go to http://us.ncsoft.com/en/news/ or http://us.ncsoft.com/en/news/press-releases. For more information on the game, visit the Guild Wars website at http://www.guildwars.com. The award-winning Guild Wars franchise, including the recently released Guild Wars Trilogy, can be purchased from retailers or downloaded from the NCsoft Store at https://secure.ncsoft.com/cgi-bin/Store.pl.

Before the Western market was inundated with free-to-play Asian imports, Guild Wars was the only game that offered a free-to-play business model and constant PvP action. With over four million units of the original game (Guild Wars: Prophecies) sold in stores, there’s no denying the popularity of this free-to-play game.

Set in a medieval fantasy world, Guild Wars allows players to choose from ten different total professions. In the original release of the game, players could choose from six of these professions, with the Nightfall and Factions expansions adding two more professions each. While there is a player versus environment (PvE) portion of the game, most players play Guild Wars to engage in player versus player combat (PvP). With a level cap of only 20 levels, players can quickly become a top-tiered character in PvE, yet the main drive to hit level 20 is to earn skills that can be used in the PvP arena.

Finally, the PvP competitions are separated into seven different areas of competition, each with its own nuances and goals. Players are urged to continually play Guild Wars because large cash payouts are available to the best players of the game. The money on top of the fun of PvP continues to keep Guild Wars an incredibly popular game.

Editor’s words: Recently, I know a Chinese player who used to play Aion. He told me his Aion experiences. It’s sad to hear the story. Like to share with you and hope those games we like can keep going forever. Here is the story:

Usually many things may have a good beginning, but not necessarily a good ending (sigh~). Similarly, at the first sight of Aion, I was really amazed at its great charm, but I’ve never thought I’ll feel so frustrated now.

I’m a lazy bone and don’t like typing, so I chose Ranger since I only want to fight against weak monsters and enjoy the surrounding scenes. However, after one month’s play, Aion has been so different. I’ve advanced to lv 35, but only lv 35, and I’m extremely tired.

Everyone in the game looks so hurried, hurriedly being killed, hurriedly resurrecting and hurriedly leveling up (f**k P2P). And gradually I began to realize that many players are using bots. My teammates, however, still love this game. They still do quests with great passion and pleasure. Once, it was kind of fun to watch them chatting. But now, I can only see bots around and cheaters peddling in the chat channel. I managed to ignore them, but in vain. Can you imagine the feeling when your monster kill was stolen by botting players? Yes, I’m a lazy man and have no interest in making more friends. I just want to play the game relaxedly. But I just don’t know what I can do and where I can go…

I still remember that when I finally found the NPC on the central island at the lower layer of the Abyss when doing the “Prophecy” mission, I laughed heartily. But not long later, a group of Elyos players with red names appeared and I ran away immediately coz’ I feared of being killed. Later, I got to know that they were grinding up Abyss Points there…

The last time when I logged out, I curiously took a look at the AP ranking. I noticed that the top 1 player, with a Japanese name, was one of the players I spotted on the island when I did the “Prophecy” mission…

I feel just so frustrated. When I finally finished crafting my lv 35 weapon and equipped it, I had no idea where to go. I can’t find any happiness or excitement in Aion. What I’m feeling is but only tiresome and hopeless!  

Dear GM, you do reply my every report, and I want to thank you for what you did. However, your reply was always like: the technical department is handling the issue. You know, it really frustrated me and I can’t see any hope, any future.

Although I’m not a hardcore player like boys, I used to think I could go a long way in Aion coz’ I just want to do what I like and have fun in game. Hehe, you may say I’m a fool and it is a waste of time. But this is just what I want in Aion. Anyways, I still have another choice, quit, right?

After entering open beta in South Korea and China, NCsoft finallly announced Aion’s closed beta in South America and Europe. Here arises a question: what costs NCsoft so much time to set an English version? After such long time of waiting, will players receive a MMORPG that deserves it? Do the screenshots and videos NC revealed tell lies? Let’s keep watching!

Player’s Comments on Aion CBT(June. 6th, 2009)

Quote:
Second Closed Beta Event Dates: June 19, 2009 - June 21, 2009 Features: Asmodian race, levels 1 - 10 The second Aion closed beta event begins on June 19, 2009.

I really was going to be content with beta this weekend, but wow. This just makes me nerdrage.

Are you serious? June 19? and lvl 1 - 10? not even opening abyss? Are NA NCsoft really that incompetent or are you getting some kind of sick euphoria from making us wait even longer with this pointless beta crap?

You already had beta in Korea to test gameplay. To be honest there is very little need to do it here. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS TRANSLATE KOREAN TO ENGLISH. In other words the whole point of any NA beta should be to check for typos(which btw, is everywhere). What happened to that one time when you were talking about worldwide release?

I log on today and translation in 1 ~ 20 Elyos area isn’t even complete! Who the hell are you hiring to do your translations. Divine Stones being called ‘GODSTONES’? SPELL BOOSTING POWER? when you can just say Spell power? No wonder item names don’t even fit in auction house frames. ‘ Bob’s HP was healed by 123 because you used Healing light II?’ …. how about ‘You healed Bob for 123?’ or ‘Your Healing light II healed Bob for 123′? LOOK. I have better English grammar than you and I’m not even getting paid for this!

Don’t get me wrong. I waited so long for this game. And I even endured the beginning zone zerg rush-waiting 1 hr to get 1kill for mission quest. The game looks gorgeous and the stability is just incredible. Aion runs better than WoW with superior graphics.

It just kills me to look at these half assed efforts by NA NCsoft. You didn’t even make this game. All you have to do is translate an already made game and deliver it here. By the look of these beta dates Aion is going retail by Christmas. Jesus christ. Every single person here in Aionsource will tell you that you had more than plenty of time. Seriously, you can do better.

Then again I guess you have no reason to listen to me now. I already coughed up 70 for your pre-order.