Read the interview about this:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/qanda-what-free-to-play-means-for-aion-6347587 (http://www.gamespot.com/news/qanda-what-free-to-play-means-for-aion-6347587)
Good thing my subscription was only till mid January
Gameforge seems to be taking over. Dunno if they'll provide better service than NCSoft, but we'll just have to see. The US doesn't seem to be affected by the takeover?
QuoteWill I receive a refund if I have already paid my subscription for beyond February?
All subscriptions will end automatically with the switch to free-to-play and the transfer of the relevant accounts to Gameforge. From this point on, the monthly fees will not be debited from your account. All payments which you have made for the time after February 2012 will be refunded. We will be publishing more detailed information about this in the next few weeks.
We are rewarding all subscribers who remain loyal to Aion: if you grant NCsoft permission to transfer your account to the new server, we will award you Veteran status – which provides you with more game options than new players.
Glad it won't be wasted for those who subscribed beyond february
There's still lots of questions to be answered, but at least now I know I'm never gonna waste money from subscribing to Aion so it became a lot easier now to play it casual when I want to
Also wondering about this gold package they're talking about. Would be nice if it's only a 1 time offer
more info at gameforge-aion website. just checked it today http://www.aionfreetoplay.com/website/ (http://www.aionfreetoplay.com/website/)
as for your question knuckles..... this is on the interview white posted:
QuoteIn addition to these account types, all players have the choice to purchase a Gold Pack which, for a limited time, not only removes all the restrictions from their account, but also gives additional benefits to improve the game experience, such as lower instance cool down times, increased PvP currency rewards, and more. We are currently evaluating if we will provide this Gold Pack as an optional subscription service.
and from official website the main things i could take off were:
- all servers will remain as they are, no merges will happen, and 1 english, 1 french and 1 german will be added.
- all character info will remain, be it items, stats, abyss points and rank, warehouse, etc
- all subscribers (active or not) will get the veteran account status. new players of the f2p model will get starter status and then upgrade to veteran by buying the gold pack.
- all shop codes that you may have still to redeem, should be redeemed before it goes to f2p model
- legions will also be transfered, but in order to have the administration rights you might have on it, the legion leader MUST do the transition also.
- starter status will have only 2 character slots and limitations to chat, broker, private shop and other small restrictions, in order to prevent bot and rmt's infestation.
- new forums will be created for F2P model, however the old forums will be archived and still avaiable for viewing by the players.
- veteran reward will still be avaiable, as long you are a gold pack buyer (this smells to me like a montlhy fee more than a 1 time purchase)
and as a personal observation..... considering aion 3.0 is about to be (or was allready) launched in korea, i start to feel that the f2p model will start with the localization for europe ready for launch also.... i can only hope hehe ^^
edit: replying to knuckles 1st question
QuoteAt present I am playing on a US server. Can I continue to do so?
Yes. This microsite only relates to the European operation of Aion. The American versions are not affected by the change of publisher. For more information about the US version of Aion, please click here www.Aiononline.com (http://www.aiononline.com).
after some search, i found nothing related to US or KR aion becoming free also. but will be strange to have only europe version F2P.
Knuckles, we could use this actually as a opportunity to boost RoyalStorm presence in Aion, under your leadership (as a casual players legion, that is present since the birth of the game and there for can provide plenty of know-how to the new players). :) Such boost would also mean good news to the other divisions of RoyalStorm because being f2p aion players will likely feel at ease to also experiment and have fun on the other games in which RoyalStorm divisions exist.
oh i will play a bit more often when it comes f2p hehe. could help knuckles recruiting people.
only thing im doing in rift now is the events and that new ''instant adventure'' thing (wich actually is quite fun tbh)
EDIT: ncsoft account website is now under maintenance. its possible that they are adding the feature to ''mark'' our account for gameforge transfers. check it later and dont forget to mark it before february.
quote from aion free to play website:
QuoteHow can I transfer my account to the Gameforge Service?
Please mark your account so that we can migrate it to the free-to-play model. Visit http://www.plaync.com (http://www.plaync.com) and log in to your PlayNC Master Account. There you can find instructions which will guide you through the marking process.
After that, you can log in to the game as usual. Your account will only be transferred to the Gameforge server on the day of the changeover.
In the next few days we will provide further information on this page in an effort to make the migration as simple as possible.
Marked and ready.
Actually it's no more than ticking a checkbox, giving permission to NCSoft for transferring your personal account information to GameForge, as well as agreeing with GameForge's ToS.
Let me know if you want my sorc/tank/glad back in there. They have alot of AP and will help your rank. As for playing, I don't see that happening with SWTOR out now and GW2 soon as they just announced the final profession. I might log and do one of the new instances to check them out. That "gold" whatever version is obviously a paid service, and since it says the status of it is "temporary", you can expect to pay often for it. No TY!
Now back to my Star Wars saga... DPS + healer + heavy armor + shields + mega pots + a healing companion, nothing like solo intances, all the loot is mine bitches! (And it only drops loot for my class or my companion, not that random bullshit in Aion) And PvP is awesome, no faceroll 1 hit wonders, even light armor folks take some doing to get down!! (if they don't kill you first, they got more CC/Stuns etc... the game is very balanced ATM) brought to you in yellow for a more Star Wars'y effect :)
I would ask every royalstormer that has an account at NCSOFT to update it so that you can still play casually with RoyalStorm once the transfer is made.I already marked myself, so RoyalStorm legion is going to be transfered together with me (was a requirement for it to be transfered).
I repeat, please everyone do the same, would be a total waste to loose the character of high level, even if you don't plan to play activily. Also have in mind (from what I undertood) that the "gold pack" are for those that are joining the game for the 1st time after it becomes free and want to benifit the same as the "veteran" accounts (which will be ours that already bought the game before and were marked to be transfered).
As white said, gold pack is for the new "free to play" accounts that want to remove the restrictions.
All former aion players that bought the game or payed at least one month, will receive veteran account.
we only pay gold pack if we wish to receive the "veteran rewards" that we receive now with each month subscription.
Looks like that's the end of me playing aion...
Quote from: Arashiyama on Thursday , 15 December 2011 - 18h19
Looks like that's the end of me playing aion...
I prefer to look at it on the positive side, and wait and see. Does not hurt to mark our chars to be transfered, at least so that all the hours that we played in the past still mean something. Even if you dont play actively you can still connect whenever you feel like it, to just hang around with other royalstormers in doing something together.
I see this as opportunity with a boom of new players, easier to make groups and start instances.
A opportunity for royalstormers from previouos generation that did not play Aion because they had no money to pay the fee to finally join us...
A opportunity for current royalstormers that had a shared account and could not play side by side, because of not wanting to pay 2 fees per month... (Knuckles / Sue and Xioza / Fragore )
A opportunity for royalstormers that left Aion, to return.
...And finally a opportunity for us to meet more people and increase the community as well as still make use of our accumulated experience of Aion (that we have since launch day). RoyalStorm Aion presence was dying and was possible that the division either would go to hibernation or would reborn with Aion 3.0 . ...Now, it will cost us nothing to keep a active/playable account. And we will already benift from Veteran status, as we already payed the game in the past. There for, the limitations of the new f2p players will not apply to us. That likely was a negotiation made by ncsoft when they allowed someone else to take over, to protect the existing players from raging.
Thanks for the news, I was hoping this would happen :)
I opted in.
Nice. Can finally try out this game :)
This is hopefully good news, but like many other F2P games i usually end up disappointed. Let's hope not...
Well as far as i can see at this moment i'm pretty sure me and my gf will be back playing. Unfortunately we are on Asmodians side and instead of playing with you guys i'm afraid i will have to kill you ;D We will see..
I will play it casually since i pretty much got geared characters. Will be mostly doing pvp i think. Dreadgion etc.
But we will see ;)
Aion F2P is going to be a bigger failure than the payed version ever was. The quality of players you're getting from a free to play game is much worse than a payed one. Alot more kiddies will be coming in to troll and be baby sat by the game. If NCSOFT has given up on the game in the west, I suggest you do the same and spend your time on a game that has some kind of future. There is a reason that they are letting the game go in February 2012, Guild Wars 2 has announced it's final profession this week... get the hint? (You do know who the publisher for GW2 is, don't you?) GW2 is free to play after you buy it as well, Aion is doomed as hell!
I'd actually give away my account info if I didn't need it for Guild Wars!
You are right and i agree with you. Although i don't really care as long as i can grab my characters and kill ppl, who cares about community or if they are kids or not. I just wanna see blood on their wings 8) Plus i don't really depend on alot of ppl to achieve what i wanna do when i do play it casually. All i ask is 2-3 good players by my side, the rest is not important.
My words zeus...why spend more time on fail game when new games like gw2 are going to be released soon (they're about to start the closed beta soon btw. so we won't have too long for the game to be released)
Gonna try GW2 as well and if it satisfies me, at least I got an easier time playing aion casually since I don't have to pay for it any longer
I can't say the Aion community ever was very good, with the exception of some of the betas I was in.
I'll just hop in now and then when I got nothin better to do... if it's free I don't have much to loose.
And I'm still very curious about 3.0, and how much they will realize of what they have showed us.
Ye, and spatalos seems to be full with trolls/dramaqueens sometimes. Sure the gameplay's still ok there. But if you're looking for a good community, don't go there
Kids only botter you if you give them attention. Kids dont concern me, as we filter them out on RoyalStorm allowing only very rare exceptions.
I dislike reading all the bash talk on the previous posts, to be honest (and that is why i dont read official forums neither the global chat ingame).
I have my concerns and i have my hopes, but i will not cry "the sky is falling" until i actually see it. Reminds of the time where all the sin players cryed and left the game even before the patch was implemented, just because they read that every class was getting a schock remover. When in reality they can still easilly come up with tactics and still easily win on pvp.
If you wonder my concerns are mostly related with 2 things:
- what items will be on the shop
- gold sellers / bots
but i will not cry wolf to everyone till i actually see one. So please, let's keep from being doomsday preachers and dramaqueens.
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q1wOdAybp4Q/TaUIJiHvZ2I/AAAAAAAAALE/nWX9d6q8Nxw/s1600/mystery_of_the_mayan_calendar_revealed.jpg)
"double XP will start at 6pm GMT (19:00 CET) on Friday 16th and will end at 6pm GMT on Monday 19th December"
sakushi just took a better look at aion free to play website and found something that isnt leaving us very pelased.
veteran memberships (in wich we all current aion players are) will have the same instance cooldowns as free memberships.
i wouldnt mind this, if they havent changed the times in a very very wrong way.
an example? udas temple. currently with a 6 hour CD. with aion f2p it will have for free and veteran members a 70 hours cd (YES 70), and gold pack members will have..... 4 hours..... that is an insane difference. check it out here.:
current times: http://gameguide.na.aiononline.com/aion/Instances (http://gameguide.na.aiononline.com/aion/Instances)
Aion f2p plan: http://www.aionfreetoplay.com/website/featuresdetails/ (http://www.aionfreetoplay.com/website/featuresdetails/)
from aion f2p website at http://www.aionfreetoplay.com/website/news/legions (http://www.aionfreetoplay.com/website/news/legions)
QuoteYou have questions or want to give feedback? Requests are also very welcome.
Contact us and write an email to legion@aionfreetoplay.com
so people, start writing mails and show your displeasure to this situation. it is a HUGE diference they are planing. untolerable imo.
Unless they're gonna increase the droprates like hell, I'm definitely gonna hate it and it'll give me more reason to be more active in gw2 if I'm ever gonna like it. Even dredgion and the arenas are gonna have a fucking sick cd. Just look at the cds they're planning. It's ranging from 22h to 118h!!! (5 days). Padma's cave is 168, but we already have that and it's not rly much to worry about.
To make things worse, if we don't want those excessive cds, we're gonna have to stick with monthly subs. If this is really gonna happen, Aion would've been better off the way it is right now
In short:
Low level instance = normal times.
Dredgions = once per day.
medium level and high level instances = 2 to 3 days cooldown each.
Fortress instances = 5 days cooldown each.
Padmarashka's Cave = Has no difference vs the gold pack. (everyone once per week)
Honestly, I don't see the big drama. I mean, look at it, with rage aside.
Now a monthly fee costs 13 euros per month. It's going to be decreased to 10 euros on the gold pack, so that is less 3 euros per month. And you get shorter cooldowns than you have today in return. = Good for the hardcore player.
The rest of us, we decrease from paying 13 euros per month, to pay nothing per month. Nothing. And with the casual approach that we have and the ammount of instances that exist, we still have plenty available to keep us busy. If anything, it's a blessing, because it forces us to play in multiple diferent instances rather than farming over and over again on the same instance, making it boring.
I personally am ok with the change, and if I am not, I can simply continue to pay a monthly fee, like I did for the past 2 years, with the diference that it's actually going to be cheaper per month. So... again.. no drama.
Am I the only one that is able to think in this way about it?
agree with you, and as i said i would be ok, if the differences werent so big. whoever has payed so many months for this game such me and you and many others, should have some more benefits beside character slots, wich is what we get if you see it thru. make them a 4 hour difference or even 8 hour for each membership. not days difference.
cmon white, a free and veteran player has to wait 5 days for an instance, while gold ones can do it 5 times per day? that is outrageous.
And during the time that you payed a fee for the game, you had access to the instances during those months with normal CD, had you not?
What would happen until now, if you would stop paying a monthly fee? You would not even be able to roam around in the world.
Gold members will be paying less per month than you pay today. So if you really are bothered by the instance cool-downs, you can still continue to pay a monthly fee, while saving money from comparison to what you pay now, and with smaller instance cool-downs by comparison to what you have now.
And lets actually do the math Uther.. And I am going to be generous on it.
Even if you play Aion every single day, after work, you do about 3 maybe 4 hours per day. So you do maybe 1 or 2 instances. By the 3rd or even 5th day, you will still have available High Level instances to play in by that time the one you played before already becomes available as well. So again, I really see no drama. If anything, it forces diversity which is a good thing in my humble opinion. Hell, it might even make people siege more to gain control over the forts and get the extra instances. Nothing wrong with that either.
Bottom line, you will not run out of instances for your high level. And even so, just because you are in CD for a instance with one char, does not mean you can not play it again with your alts. Which again, is not a bad thing either to give some love time to your alts.
To represent the feedback and concerns exposed by you, I sent just now the following email (after it was reviewed and approved on our Teamspeak server).
-------------------------
TO: legion@aionfreetoplay.com
CC: support@ncsoft.com
Hello all,
The people at my legion and myself included received well the change of Aion into the Free-to-Play model and its recognition of people that actually bought the game before it went to Free-To-Play.
That said, I came across today with a collective outrage from the members to the news that Veteran accounts would receive a exaggerated amount of cool-down in instances, basically as much as the people that never bought the game.
Such can be seen in: http://www.aionfreetoplay.com/website/featuresdetails/ (http://www.aionfreetoplay.com/website/featuresdetails/)
After talking/debating the issue over TeamSpeak with other members, being me the Aion legion leader falls on my responsibility to voice the community complains and suggestions to you:
We all understand the wish and need for an attractive Gold Packet, in relation to the Free-to-play and Veteran accounts.
We kindly ask you to consider however, a difference between the people that never paid for the game and the people that bought it.
Our suggestion would be that you place the value of Veterans cool-down half way between what the Starter and Gold-Pack have, as this is what feels logical and expected from most players.
Examples:
- Instance cooldown: Starter (High), Veteran (Medium), Gold-Pack (low).
- Steel Rake: 22 hrs, 12.5 hrs, 03 hrs.
- Dredgion*: 22 hrs, 06 hrs*, 02 hrs
(*instead of 12hrs. Because Dredgion opens at GMT 12h00, 20h00 and 24h00 and it means that per day: Starter 1x, Veteran 2x, Gold 3x)
- Arena of Chaos: 46 hrs, 23hrs, 00 hrs.
- Empyrian Crucible: 70 hrs, 46hrs, 22 hrs.
- Crucible Challenge: 118 hrs, 70hrs, 22 hrs.
This will still give a clear difference and recognition to Veterans over the Starters, and still having a clear difference on the Gold Pack over the Veteran accounts.
We sincerely hope you understand and acknowledge the feedback here given.
We wish you success on this coming year.
Best regards, on behalf of the RoyalStorm community.
<my real name> "White Horse"
<my email>
-------------------------
Let's see what is replied, if anything. And most importantly, what actually happens.
While I share the pain expressed in your posts, there is the characters to consider that are not yet at max level.
http://www.aionfreetoplay.com/website/featuresdetails/ (http://www.aionfreetoplay.com/website/featuresdetails/)
Have a look at this!
Veteran rewards no no
Abyss points (kills and mobs) no no 20% more AP
Crucible bonus no no 20% more medals
PvP arena no no 20 more Courage Insignias
Energy of Repose no no fourfold increase, extended duration
EXP amulets no no 10 amulets with 50% increase
It does not format too well in here but basically:
want veteran awards: need to pay for premium
abyss points premium gets 20% more medal
The rest is clear from the table HOWEVER if you want to level additional chars: energy of repose gives 4FOLD increase and has extended duration, also you you get nice exp amu's if pay for premium.
On the other hand, the MAJOR benefit of us over freebie players is the PERMANENT 8 characters available!e.
For casual players like me this will translate to paying for premium (gold package) or for prozac (lots of it since will be slower too offering express frustration)
Arieuluma,
Ker
The whole veteran thing is none of Gameforge's business. They simply need to make money by selling gold packs, and that's the way they're gonna do it. No surprise, but like White said, it is still gonna be cheaper if we pay.
Game is dead and deleted off my machine, reading this post just makes me feel all warm inside that I deleted it, may the force be with you!
I'm gonna stick with what I've been saying for months. I'm still curious about 3.0 so when it comes, I'm surely gonna check on it again.
I don't care if it's free to play now, although it does make things easier for me to check it out, before making a decision to stick around or not.
i sent a mail regarding instance cooldowns some days ago and this is what i got as reply:
QuoteHello there,
I apologize for the late reply. Happy New Year to you first.
Thanks for your feedback. You are - obviously - not alone with the
concerns on the cooldowns.
However, and I am sorry to burst your bubble, but the cooldowns will
unfortunately stay this way. There are fine adjustments done (see Fire
Temple) but in general, and as a start for the f2p model there will be no
changes.
The changes were made in agreement with NCSoft. It might be possible that
the CDs will be changed in future though.
I admit: I don't like it either as player.
I will forward your idea about free instance scrolls for vets or a
similar.
If you have questions, more suggestions or want to express your concerns,
don't hesitate to drop a mail. :)
Kind regards,
BlackVelvet
Really sucks week dead soaked mudthorns :(
2 days ago, I also received a reply and was from the same representative:
---quote-------------------
Greetings to you and your legion,
Happy New Year and I hope you had a good start into 2012.
Thanks for your feedback.
The cooldown issue is one of the Top 5 discussions/concerns of the
community and got adressed pretty fast already.
The anger is understandable and from my player point of view...well... it
sucks.
However the cooldowns will currently stay as is. Those were made in
agreement and in cooperation with NCSoft and we need a starting point
somewhere.
So it won't be changed right away for the moment. It might be possible
that the cooldowns will be adjusted according to players' adaption and
concerns later.
If you have further questions, concerns and such, don't hesitate to drop a
mail. Suggestions are also very welcome.
If needed and requested, and that's an offer I made to all legions so far,
I can have direct contact with your members.
That means: discussing with you on your legion forums, have a chat.
I did that for one legion already and it was actually a nice experience
for both sides and if you feel that it is a good idea and also good to
break the ice, just yell and we can arrange something :).
Kind regards,
Blackvelvet
----------------------------
So, RoyalStormers, if you still have doubts or constructive feedback/sugestions to give and wish so, I can request for him to come to our forum and talk to you all. A very nice and noble offer, respectable at least.
thats quite a nice feedback and i think you could send him details to join our forums indeed, not only for the doubts and sugestions now, but also for future questions and discussions.
it can also help boost a litle more our community, because in theyr future official forums, he can quote some of us in a discussion, if he wishes ofc (player X from RoyalStorm suggested.....).
im quite tempted to ask them how is the localization process undegoing and ask if they plan to launch 3.0 with the f2p change as a ''lure'' :P
considering the time the other major updates took from korea live to europe/na live, im a bit hopefull that they might launch it in the conversion or even before.
Sounds like a good idea indeed. Great support really. In fact I only had real good support experiences with Aion staff in the past.
Uther, about the localization and aion 3.0.
It will happen, but will take time. That has been already an official answer on their FAQ. Do not expect 3.0 to come in Februrary, it will come later on (no date specified yet)
Secretly hoping 3.0 is far away. My chars still need quite the gear first
What for Knuckles? I mean, with the level cap increase to lv60 you will likely want the best of the best gear and that will be lv60 gear I expect.
Experience tells me that you won't get the best gear if you go straight to the max lv, especially if a server has been around for a while already. Im also keeping my alts at lv50 still because:
- Lv50 dred is usually super easy because most of the asmos in there are pathetically weak, so it's easy AP if you bring a nice geared group with you that can handle trains form asmos
- Arenas are almost just as easy (There are only 2-3 ppl in there who can actually beat me in chaos). My alts usually end up in first place if those exceptional ppl arent in there
- You can only rift up to lv50. Lv55 pvp is usually dull because it's almost always zerg vs zerg in balaurea
So the reasons I won't lv to 60 immediately and instead work on my gear first are kinda like the above:
- Most overgeared ppl will go to 60, so lv51-55 arena/dredgion will be much easier to get insignias/ap if you stay lv55
- Drop rates in Esoterrace won't lower for me if I go with groups up to lv55
There ya have it. When it's time for me to go lv60, I'll be ready for it. If I go to lv60 right away, I'll just be put up against the overgeared ppl again and trust me, it'll be harder to reach your goals. At lv50, I can already work on my gear for 55 and the same thing can be done about lv60 gear
That was basically my plan for my Sorc lv30 with full daeva set:
- To make it accumulate enough AP to buy lv40 AP full gear and only then starting to level up from 30 to 40.
The problem I unexpectedly came across, was that me with lv30 most ppl are several levels above, and even if they would get naked, I would still have my skills resisted 95% of the times.
My mistake: I tough if I would invest enough on Magical Accuracy to compesate for the people having more Magic Resist. But truth is, that even if their MR is 0, just because of the level difference being more than 15 levels they will resist no matter what.
I guess then I will have to level up to 40 already so that I can hit everyone :).
oh yeah, I remember those MR tests... couple of levels did a lot, while gear barely seemed to change a thing.
While on Teamspeak, we already debated about some concerns related to the f2p model of Aion.
Today I sent an email back to the replier of my previous email exposing the concerns and asking info about the 2 topics.
------------------
Hello Blackvelvet,
thank you for your honest and nice reply to my previous contact.
I shared it to the legion, we thank you your offer, your answer was straight forward and I believe it is not required to come specially to our forum to calm anyone. We still hope however that, after launch, the managers review this subject again.
I personally would like to express two of my worries about the Free-to-play model that is still not very clear.
A) Premium shop:
- What type of items will be there?
We hope for fashion (ie: pets, furniture, skins, dyes...) and useful things (ie: bag expansion, server transfer, rename, plastic surgery, ...)
In short, nothing that affects the outcome of fights (ie: exclusive gear, buffs). We fear such would ultimately drive players away.
"League of Legends" is a good example of a game that has a premium shop and is free to play without being a "pay to win" or "who can afford the most" game. And that has attracted over the time many players.
B) Bots, Gold Sellers, Spammers:
- what preventions for their possible return are being made, and what effective in-game tools will be in place to fight any appearances?
Aion on it's young weeks was heavily attacked by these, but NCSoft with much effort was impressive and cleaned the game in a good way, and it was kept so.
The concern is that with the free-to-play model, this is going to attract the attention of Bots/Gold Sellers/Spammers. Although the Starter accounts have limitations of in-game communication and shops. The concern is still valid if we think of bots and hacked accounts.
Currently there is a way of reporting "bots" in-game with a "skill". Unfortunately, it does not work in places like Sanctum (where sometimes I felt the need to report mail spammers as 1 or 2 appears every few months.)
Any remarks or info you can share about these two subjects?
Greatly appreciated your attention.
Best regards.
Whitehorse - RoyalStorm @ Spatalos
-----------------
Let's see what reply is given about these.
QuoteDownload Aion immediately and win access to the Beta phase.
Aion-Free-to-Play's release is getting closer by the minute. Start Aion's pre-load today to prepare for its launch in February. The gates of Atreia will be opening up for the first pioneers on the 26th of January. Explore the free-to-play version of Aion for three weeks during the Closed Beta.
With a bit of luck you can secure an access key for the Beta phase, as we will be having a draw amongst the Aion newsletter subscribers (register for the newsletter here). Or take part in our partner draws on several gaming websites.
What's more, we're rewarding your heroic deeds as a pioneer: by participating you will automatically get a Veteran account for Aion's live version, which will be released in February. If you are very active during the Beta, you will be rewarded even more abundantly: when you reach levels 10, 20 or 30 you will receive additional Gold Packs which will have an increased duration correspondent to the level.
There's another couple of things you should know: the Closed Beta will only be available in English, German and French and support will only be provided in English. And last but not least, all characters will be deleted after the test phase is finished and you will receive your gained rewards in the live version.
from aion free to play website at: http://www.aionfreetoplay.com/website/news/beta (http://www.aionfreetoplay.com/website/news/beta)
as an extra info, the beta client can be downloaded allready and it will be the same when servers come live.
QuoteThe game client can be used for the Closed Beta starting on the 26.01. as well as for the game's launch in February.
more info and download link at: http://www.aionfreetoplay.com/website/betapreload/ (http://www.aionfreetoplay.com/website/betapreload/)
EDIT: the gameforge client, when installing, will detect ncsoft aion instalation and will ask to copy to the new folder. less time to download and dont need to copy manually ;)
after instalation, i noticed that it says ''gameforge game launch V3'' and only works for aion f2p (no more selectable games in launcher), would love to see this as an indication that aion 3.0 is coming up with f2p model ^^
Their official FAQ says that will take time due to the localization. In no way created hopes for when the f2p model launches.
link: http://www.aionfreetoplay.com/website/faq/item/gamecontent_02 (http://www.aionfreetoplay.com/website/faq/item/gamecontent_02)
Are they really gonna make an item mall? That's just asking for the game to break apart. Lets just hope they'll make it the same way as NCSoft is doing right now, only cheaper
as far i have read they will make item shop, but will be for the same things aion has and adding some boosters (XP, AP and drop rate boosters)
i dont think they will add stuff that will make a char more powerfull than others.
I didn't get into the beta. :(
From http://www.aionfreetoplay.com/website/faq/item/beta_01 (http://www.aionfreetoplay.com/website/faq/item/beta_01)
QuoteHow long will the Closed Beta take place?
The Closed Beta will start on the 26.01.2012 and finish on the 16.02.2012.
It should not have anything new in relation to the current Aion version. It's simply for them to test their servers I believe.
Also, it indirectly points what I expected. The Free to play version will start in mid February or near the end of it.
Yep, but if you get your char up to lv30 you will receive a 30 day gold pack.
syrie, im sorry you didnt got in...... and appologize to say this but... i did got into beta.
so, seems we do the beta as if we were ALL starters. and i say this ebcause:
1- Cant whisper anyone
2- Cant trade with anyone
3- Cant sell on broker
4- Cant sell on private shop
so far this is what i tested. they also say that gathering will have limits per day, but i was unable to test that.
other thing i couldnt test was the mail, but if we cant whisper, i believe we cant use mail also.
as for the rest of the stuff, it is good old aion.
Wow, starter accounts seems to be very limited.
That the starter (free-to-play) is very limited is nothing new.
It's actually important such, because of scammers/spammers. So actually I support that it is like so.
If people confirm you as friend, you can (with starter accounts) send mails/whispers to people that you have on Friend list.
And beyond that they can also chat inside their group/alliance and also inside the legion chat.
Look at the details:
http://www.aionfreetoplay.com/website/featuresdetails/ (http://www.aionfreetoplay.com/website/featuresdetails/)
Instance cooldowns on the other hand are way over the line. 46h for Theo Lab is a lot.
I also did get beta access and am looking for people to play with. Utherverse are you game? Other people?
Character is Ker (hunter) currently level 6.
There's only one server (Siel).
i was playing before i saw your post. i will search for you when i get back online. my char name is teaser, and as an advertizing atempt and trying to get more emmbers, i created the ''royalstorm spatalos official'' legion and named my pet as the community website ( wwwROYALSTORMeu), shame i couldnt use dots on it, and i was very lucky cause it hit the letter limit lol.
would try to open shop and advertize more, problem is.... starter account chars cant open private shop :(
ok :) I will be looking for Tea
I confirm F2P characters cannot open shop.
there is one more i forgot to mention. free accounts can start a legion, as i did, however they will not acess the legion warehouse in any possible form.
as for upgrading the legion, i cant confirm because beta wont give me time to do recruitments and get enough kinah for it.
and i bet many people on beta wont join a temporary legion, considering everyone will spread out thru the servers.
Yay, got my beta pass today. :)
The new graphic engine is very nice, especially if you look at new models.
above i mentioned the limitations of the f2p character but did it in a wrong way.
we can open shops, we can open broker, we can use trades, the limitation goes towards the option to palce the items for sale, thats where it is denied to us.
you can still use the options to buy stuff in broker/shop and receive trades/mail items from other non-starter players.
i should warn about this considering that jony made me a question in a different way about these limitations and i noticed that the way i posted here was not the accurate info.
so, you can open trade/broker/mail/shop, but when u try to place any items to sell/send to others, it will give you a ''unknownitem'' error message. this message also shows up when you reach your limit of gathering, and doesnt allow you to star a new gather if you reached the limit allready. was able to reach around 30 points essencetapping before i hit the daily limit, doesnt seem too low, but at higher levels we know that we need more gathering time to lvl the skill, so it might get too low at higher lvl.
Quote from: Syrie on Wednesday , 01 February 2012 - 16h40
Yay, got my beta pass today. :)
The new graphic engine is very nice, especially if you look at new models.
New graphic engine? You had still not played aion since version 2.5? Or you mean there is a even newer/updated engine now?
The high quality one, I quit before 2.5.
from gameforge mail today.
Greetings, Daeva!
It's all happening in Atreia: heroes are gathering in the cities and arming themselves for the next battle. The hate between the Elyos and the Asmodians has intensified once again: embittered conflicts about Atreia's future are breaking out at the Abyss.
Since the launch on the 26th of January, AION free-to-play's land has been populated with hard-working Beta testers. Up until now you have been experiencing this land as a Starter, but now we are raising you to Veteran status! This status bestows the following features upon you: Trade with other players or open your own private shop to increase your Kinah. Collect as much Aether and Essence as you like, or chat to others about your heroic deeds - as a Veteran you can immediately use all channels.
Let's start a legion!
I'm level 12, so I can't do it alone.
Oh, I actually can! Just created RS!
/w Sorin so I can invite you!
syrie, if you had read some posts above, i said i allready had legion created as ''royalstorm spatalos official'' ^^ so i could try to recruit some people that way, but shops werent possible to do advertizement when i was afk.
Oh shi-, must've missed it somehow. ;D
i will be playing the beta to day.. :D
my name in game will be hmmmmm Sakushiiiii :P
Why not call yourself Sushi ! :D
It has better comedic value matey !
today i sent an email to aion f2p support regarding an issue that has been over my mind for soem days.
considering that only europe will have aion f2p, would gameforge put or not an I.P. block to non-european countryes.
just got theyr reply, and they say that at this moment it is not planned, but they might consider in future.
due this, we should expect alot of incomming players on aion, im quite sure some people will abandon korean and na games and reroll on europe aion now.
but even if that doesnt happen, we will get people from all over the world that was playing on private servers.
Aion beta extended to 26.02.
Still need to lvl my char to 30... :p
I'll just wait for my old char to return :D
Same here, i am awaiting that the f2p version starts.
I find it kind of bad that they still did not announce the specific date that such will happen.
Tested the item shop today, nothing gamebreaking but people who are willing to pay will get a slight hendicap with getting new gear or leveling their toons.
I looked at the item shop too and saw they offered stuff to make delay to enter instances shorter.
19 points to reset udas, lower udas, kromede trial instantly. Each item requires different instance.
You can check for yourself what's in the stock since no logon is needed to look:
http://www.aionfreetoplay.com/website/shop/;jsessionid=8297db79b1fbdae7edbfd9627070 (http://www.aionfreetoplay.com/website/shop/;jsessionid=8297db79b1fbdae7edbfd9627070)
Ker
Some of these scrolls exist already, but only as a quest/survey reward i think. Is there anything in the shop that gives advantage directly? Mostly something like over powered gear or uber rare stuff. XP boosts, instances resets only give indirect advantage.
Only skins, pets (lots of them), lodas amulets, gold packs, scrolls resetting instance CDs etc.
About the cash shop, this may interest you:
gold pack costs 99 premium points which I guess corresponds to the 9.99€ quoted, but also:
Gold Pack
"Additional information
- activation of additional Gold Packs extends the effect period
- effect valid for all characters in an account
- can be traded with other players
- can be traded at trading agents"
So basically you can buy/sell gold packs at the broker.
Ker
Hmm... that's not good. Will give the paying customer a major advantage at the ingame economy. We'll see what happens.
maybe, but its also a way that all members can have acess to the gold pack.
I tend to favour Uther's interpretation but we will have to see indeed.
Oh that way maybe I could finally afford to waste 40kk kinah on Miragent's pants. ^^
I think two warnings are in order:
(1) the message on aiononline that they will delete all classic veteran rewards on 25/02/2012 may mean that we need to claim all our rewards: Gameforge would not be getting our veteran reward status (what's been taken already what not), Gameforge would continue to give the old veteran rewards when earned until the 28 month one.
(2) if you buy the shugo lad in the ncsoft store he's for the entire account, when you buy him in the Gameforge store it is per character (!!), so basicallly if you want that 24 storage pet get it quickly before the accounts are moved AND claim it on ALL characters BEFORE the accounts are moved.
Take care :)
PS. Hehe Syrie :)
You will still be able to claim all of your veteran rewards on old and new characters. It was confirmed by the Gameforge CM.
Oh and game goes live on 28.02.
Aion Europe Transition of Service 27/02/12 17:00 CET
QuoteGreetings Daevas!
On February 27, 2012 at 16:00 GMT (17:00 CET more), all of the EU Aion servers will be brought down in preparation for the transition to Gameforge. At this time the forums will be turned off, and the webpages for uk.aiononline.com, fr.aiononline.com, and de.aiononline.com will reflect that the transition is occurring.
If you wish for your character to be transferred to the Gameforge servers, but have not made this selection yet, you will need to "opt-in" to the transfer from your NC Master Account. Details can be found here.
NCsoft West wishes to thank you for being our customer and joining us in the world of Atreia. May your future Aion journeys be glorious and rewarding.
~The Aion Team
http://uk.aiononline.com/news/announcements/aion-europe-transition-service-270212-1700-cet (http://uk.aiononline.com/news/announcements/aion-europe-transition-service-270212-1700-cet)
and a newsletter sent to my mail today, gameforge announced aion 3.0 for spring, no schedulled date yet tho. most probably late march, start of april i think.
I think it's going to be the same time, Aion NA goes f2p, because they will also get 3.0 by then.
So Aion NA also going f2p, did not knew that.
I'd nog get too worried about not having been able to register for the Guild Wars 2 beta:
http://www.neoseeker.com/news/18441-guild-wars-2-beta-sign-ups-close-to-hitting-one-million/ (http://www.neoseeker.com/news/18441-guild-wars-2-beta-sign-ups-close-to-hitting-one-million/)
to be precise: 990 152 beta signups. So good luck to all that managed to subscribe <grin>
Ker
and its only a sign-up, its not a secure beta presence :P
exactly :)
Wrong thread. :P
OBT will be following shortly, so no rush. Also, I'm not that excited about GW2, so I won't cry if they wont chose me for CBT. I'm happy with Tera at the moment.
True: sorry!
well, it wasnt totaly off-topic... both are from ncsoft :P lol
Quote from: Utherverse on Saturday , 25 February 2012 - 07h17
well, it wasnt totaly off-topic... both are from ncsoft :P lol
ncsoft is only the publisher^^
shhhh.... still have something in common :P
and my aion subscription ended today. 2 days waiting for f2p now :)
altho im getting more and more focused on STO, got 2 high lvl ships and i want to be able to use them ^^
Remember all, your previous Aion game installation will no longer work. You need to download the new client, which converts the old installation to the new free version.
Here it is:
http://www.aionfreetoplay.com/website/download (http://www.aionfreetoplay.com/website/download)
You can play the "Aion free to play" version starting tomorrow.
Some restrictions were removed or changed.
Cant link the source now cause im writing on my cell phone, bit they are the following.
Whispers no longer limited to friend list on free account. Can whisper everyone now.
Gathering limit raised from 50 to 150 per day.
Limit of items that can be sold to npc also raised (limit not said tho).
XP boost will not be given with gold pack amymore.
And thats all i remember for now. The info was posted on theyr facebook page.
Anyone managed to get in?
I can't. Getting error "Failed to initialize the game" when the game is loading, then it closes.
"They broke it! They bloody broke it!" :o
Are you using NCsoft launcher or Gameforge one?
I downloaded the gameforge launcher yesterday, it asked me to use the old files from the ncsoft installation, it downloaded some more files and has been ready to launch since then. It opens with new splash screens, still same news feeds on the left and when logging says "Cant connect to auth server" or something, cuz their servers are not up yet.
If you dont have the gameforge launcher yet, you will have to w8 for their website to come up. I'd upload, but its still 140MB...(and im hosting ts lol)
White warned about new client some posts above, and download link on it.
My installation experience was like what Jonybat described.
Now is just a question of the servers being available so that you can logon to them.
Well, they managed to get their boards up:
http://en.board.aionfreetoplay.com (http://en.board.aionfreetoplay.com)
None official news since 2pm tho, when they said that it would take 5h...
All we have to to is w8
My installation went just as smoothly.
Getting the error when the game is loading, while looking at the new combined GameForge & NCSoft screen.
Apparently this error has been around for quite a while, finding lots of very old posts concerning the same issue.
Aion coins prices:
40 - 5 euro
100 - 10 euro
400 - 25 euro
1000 - 50 euro
2500 - 100 euro
Gold pack - 99 coins
Instance reset - 25-45 coins
Pets - 99-199 coins
Skins - 59-199 coins
Dyes - 29-99 coins
Skins - 49-99 coins
Doesnt seem to be much expensive compared to other f2p games.
Well, yeah prices are quite normal, if you ask me. Problem is, there's nothing interesting to buy at the moment. I hope they will add more skins and emoticons, like that "Bad girl" dance with music background. Some unique mounts after we hit 3.0 would be cool as well.
Servers up :D
HF
QuoteThe servers are open! The website will be activated shortly as we fix some final issues. You can start to login now with your old AION login from your transferred account.
in FB as off February 29th 2012, 2:08am CET
1hr after "shortly", still down
QuoteThe servers are open.
You are able to login to the game with your transferred accounts. Also you will be able to create new accounts on the website.
The mails with the Beta Rewards will be sent out tomorrow before 11 am.
You will be able to access the official forums tomorrow, right now you won't be able to login.
February 29th 2012, 2:11am CET
http://en.board.aionfreetoplay.com/board3-news/board8-news/2420-servers-are-open/ (http://en.board.aionfreetoplay.com/board3-news/board8-news/2420-servers-are-open/)
...also, i don't know what do they mean with tomorrow ::)
Hey guys,i used to play aion back in 2009/10 soon after initial release, got a warr tank to level 35 then quit playing as i got tired of being ganked while trying to level and quit playing.
But while playing with syrie in tera he was telling me its changed alot,is alot more pve content now and is harder for high level players to gank you now in the open areas,so he peaked my interest.
I managed to recover my old account after some lengthy contact with ncsoft but all my old chars are gone lol,seems i have a blank slate to start with,sigh
I assume this is because my chars were on another server which got closed down in the past i realy have no idea and i cant be bothered to contatc ncsoft all over again to find out what happened,they are so slow,and now that its all in the hands of gameforge its not realy their problem.
anyway i have rolled another warr on your server and will see what the game is like now,who do i poke to hit me up with an invite to the guild on Aion? :)
Name is Statica.
i cannot say how active i will be though,what with wow and tera taking up alot of my time,hope this will be oki if im not around much :)
no problem at all, we are casual players anyway :)
ill be back home at midnight gmt and might login to the game. seems whitehorse is on medical leave and will stay home all day, i imagine he might play aion for a while during the day.
jonybat might login also, but during afternoon, however im not sure if jonybat already has invite permissions to the legion.
Statica take a look on all available servers.
If your old server got merged with another one, your characters should still exist on this "other one". Just gotta figure out which one it is.
What server did you play on?
For those buying the AION Club membership subscriptions: I'd suggest going with the 1 month subs atm. Bought a 3 month sub myself and was supposed to get 3 gold packs, which i did. But allocating 1 of the gold packs to my char resulted in using up 2 gold packs and only receiving one. Already sent a mail with this issue and also found out other ppl are having that problem
@ Zero
Thanks for the warning!
Since the takeover, I figured I listed some of the errors I stumbled on
- Launcher has a hard time connecting to the update server. I gotta open the launcher 10-100 times before it starts working properly
- Launcher is always getting interrupted by UAC for some reason, so I always have to give permission to run it
- Login servers are still annoying. A lot of times, I'll get the error "cannot connect to authorisation server" (Problem existed before GF took over)
- At Teamspeak, I couldn't use the push-to-talk key whenever Aion was the active window (Fixed this by running TS as admin)
Never had or have such problems. Only thing that happens to me, but seems it has been less with gameforge, is that sometimes the game doesnt load clicking OK button, either on user/pass screen or the agreement screen. It doesnt freeze, animations and sounds still run, it just doesnt proceed to next screen.
But as i said, this issue happens much less with GF client now.
To me, there's absolutely no difference at all after I managed to fix the client (L10N folder was totally fked up in the transfer proces, that was the cause).
For me, connecting to the update server even goes a lot smoother and faster than it went with NCSoft.
UAC is something I always have disabled, since I find it majorly annoying. If you don't wish to disable it (which can be done in Control Panel -> User Accounts), you might wanna try if running it as an Administrator helps. You really have to define this in your shortcut, simply being logged on as an administrator account won't do.
I get stuck at login as well. I noted that it happens more frequently when you:
1. Press enter instead of clicking the "ok" button.
2. Terminate the Aion.bin process instead of closing it manually
3. When you get disconnected from the server, when you try to login again, this bug happens to me a lot.
I also get stuck after the "accept agreement" screen, the char select screen doesn't load.
So far i did not experience the issues you are refering. Strange.
The only time the login screen hangs for me is when i enter a wrong password, and then i have to close the process and re-open the game. Don't know if it was like this with NCSoft, but it is annoying anyways.