
Class balancing issues
Rangers lacking in damage, summoners fail, melees getting destroyed by ranged classes, etc. Doesn't matter how hard you try to call the korean players noobs, it's a widely accepted fact in the Korean community that class balance is broken.
Bugs and Exploits
Jumpshot bugs, macro exploits, inability for melees to use skill on a moving enemy
Bots
Beep.. Beep..
As many people here are aware, Korean retail 'beta testers' (as they call themselves) have been whining and QQing loudly all day all week. Some were ignored. Some were answered.
And here's what NCsoft have done this week
1. Class balance patches
- Cries of Sorc OPness were answered by nerfing the hit rate for hellfire. While some people claim that their CC land rate was also patched without announcement, its debatable if it actually happened or not. A lvl 45 mage, 하늘나라 responded to this patch with another one of his famous Abyss pvp videos, proving that sorcerers were still as strong as they can be.
- Rangers received a slight attack speed increase. However, most perceived this patch as something of an insult to ranger players. It's apparent that slight boost didn't mean anything for most. Just few days after the patch, a mass spam thread protest broke out in the Ranger forums, lasting for several hours.
- Summons still cannot fly even after 8 months of player complaint.
- Heal aggros lessened. However, if this made a difference or not is debatable. Clerics are still the #1 customer for Spirit healers in party play.
2. Bugs and Exploits
Aion servers seem to be fairly stable for a game that just launched. Other than evil surprise maintenances, (which Blizzard is also known to have after a major update) and unannounced restarts, servers haven't experienced major crashes. There has been no reports of a serious exploit (item dupping, etc) Macro skill exploits were patched almost immediately after they were reported by players.
However, NCsoft failed to address the "jumpshot" bug. (Perhaps they are letting rangers use it for now so that they are not total nubs until a real balance patch comes out?) There's still debate going on about if NCsoft even wants to fix this or not. For now, Rangers will just have to keep hopping.
Melee classes cannot land ANY of their skills in mid air on a moving enemy. This issue was reported from the day 1 of introduction of abyss flight pvp. NCsoft has yet to respond to this problem.
3. Bots
This is another screenshot taken from Aion official general board.
[rimg]http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/4149/forumshot2wo1.jpg[/rimg]
This is a screenshot taken from a Korean fansite's Debate forum
[rimg]http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/1975/debatevk4.jpg[/rimg]
Despite their energetic announcements (twice), NCsoft has made zero visible progress in terms of bot problems.
This is something Korean players voiced very strongly about since the day 1 of retail.
Bot complaints were lessened when NCsoft announced that they'll crack down bots, as many players took "wait and see" stance. However, seeing that nothing is being done (still seeing same bots in same areas), Korean players are protesting now more loudly than ever, desperately trying to persuade NCsoft from letting Aion die from bots like they did with Rohan (a NCsoft MMO that is currently a massive botfest).
Source: AionSource (elliot)...


1. Chat Window
2. Character Window - Bottom right hand side, displays your level.
3. Status Bar - HP, MP, & DP
HP - Hover the mouse cursor over this bar, will display your current hp and max hp.
MP - Hover the mouse cursor over this bar, will display your current mp and max mp.
DP - Depending your current level, this bar changes color.
*level 1 - green
*level 2 - yellow
*level 3 - orange
4. Action Bar - Can add, skills, items, macros, or emotes
5. Menu - Character Information, Skill menu, Inventory, Mission (Quest), Map, Macro, Shop, Community
6. No idea (guessing something to do with whether setting) 

7. Flight Mode - Only available in certain regions, after you have complete you level 10 daeve quest, you can use this.
*PageUp - Fly
*PageDown - Land/Dismount Wings
8. Radar
9. Target Selected - Display hp, mp, name of your target
*Depending on the monster, each monster will a dot on their them. And are classified according:
1. General - Level Range 0-9 Need: Soloable
2. Elite - Level Range 10-19 Need: Party (2-4)
3. Hero - Level Range 20-25 Need: 1-2 Parties (Up to 12 players)
4. Legend - Level Range 26-32 Need: Up to 24 players
10. HP/Bar over your head (dunno what to call it)
11. Help...

Character
1. Characters can now be leveled up to level 45.
2. The limit on number of characters per account is now raised to 5. Please note that you can only create characters of the same race on each server.
3. Characters over level 20 have a 7 day delay for deletion. Characters under level 20 have a 5 minute delay.
note: Aion launched without OB wipe.
Abyss
The abyss area will finally be revealed. This is a strategically important area for all three factions of Atreia - the Elyos, the Asmodians and the Balaur - that was created as the Tower of Eternity split apart. Each of the factions will fight for their lives in this area and Aion's world will shift according to its dynamics.
The Abyss also contains PvE content past level 25 and features seamless flight throughout all its areas.
1. How to enter the Abyss
At level 25 you will automatically receive a quest that allows you access to the abyss upon completion. The abyss gates are located in the air and underground of Elyos and Asmodian strongholds.
2. Fortress Sieges
Players can now lay attack on fortresses and bring them under their racial control. Sieges will begin with the fortresses on the lowest floor of the Abyss, but will eventually expand to all floors. Each fortress will open for sieging throughout the week at a specific rate. On weekends the rate will be slightly higher.
# Gaining Victory
When a fortress opens for sieging, a guardian of the controlling race will be placed to defend the fortress. The attacking faction will need to defeat the guardian to acquire victory, while the defending faction will need to protect the guardian. At launch all fortresses will be in the posession of the Balaur, and players will need to eliminate the Balaur guardian in order to take control of the fortress.
# Gaining Ownership
Upon victory, ownership of the fortress will be allocated in the following manner:
* Legions associated with the individual, party leader (party), and force leader (force) that made the greatest contribution to the siege
* If the individual, party leader (party), and force leader (force) are not associated with a Legion, ownership will fall to the racial faction itself.
# Siege Earnings
Upon winning a siege battle, part of the taxes accumulated by the Fortress is rewarded to the Legion(s) and the individuals that participated in the siege. Also, while in possession of the Fortress, taxes earned by the Fortress will be forwarded to those that are applicable every 12 hours. Tax money earned in this manner will decrease with time, and are limited in count.
* Individuals: Upon victory, the top 100 participants (based on Abyss point accumulation during siege) will be rewarded a portion of the earned gold and achievements. Rewards will be delivered by mail.
* Legions: A portion of the earned gold will be given to the Legion(s) that take ownership of the Fortress. Additional earnings from ownership will be given every 12 hours. Legion leaders will be able to verify the details through the Legion interface. Rewards will be delivered to the Legion bank.
The Balaur may try to retake any Fortress that is open for siege at any given time, so players will need to be on their guard at all times.

3. Abyss Rankings
Accumulated Abyss points will determine your status within your faction as well as granting you access to various benefits. The calculation will take place every week on Monday at noon. Ranks within the faction will be determined at this time, and will stay with the player for the week.
4. Artifact Battles
Elyos and Asmodians as well as the Balaur are able to wage battles in order to gain use of the Artifacts. Artifacts are located at strategic points within the Abyss and their power can be of great use in Fortress sieges.
Instanced Dungeons
The following instanced dungeons have been added to Atreia in the Interdica (Elyos area) and Belusran (Asmodian area) areas. These are meant to be enjoyed in parties and will be a source of rewards unavailable in non-instanced hunting areas.
Instanced dungeons can only be accessed once every 12 hours. If all members of a party exits an active instanced dungeon, the dungeon will reset after 15 minutes.
Note: 5 dungeons were supposed to be added, no clue what happened to the 5th one.
Interdica
1. Secret Laboratory
A laboratory run by the Lepar in the deepest of their laboratory grounds. It is said that the Lepar are conducting experiments on creatures found in the area, away from the watchful eyes of Elysium. 
2. Indratu Stronghold
The base of operations for the army under Balaur emperor Tiamat, lead by Indratu. It is guarded by Indratu and his 4 elite generals so only the strongest of Daeva may enter. The stronghold is accessible from the Kraltumag cave in the Interdica area of the Abyss.
Belusran
1. Alchemia Mansion
A haunting castle found deep in the Alchemia stronghold. The lab used to be the home of the wealthiest merchant in Belusran, but has since been taken over by the Lepar. Its heavy doors remain shut and on windy days screams can be heard within its walls.
2. Draupnir Caves
Cave located to the east of Belusran. The cave was once an ice cave but took its current form when the Balur forced up the underlaying lava to harvest energy. A balaur legion of Bakarma has set up a contraption in this area that is dissipating the energy of Aether in all of Atreia.
Other
1. Player Character Changes
* Combat effects during movement will not take effect when jumping.
Note: fleiva has clarified that 'combat effects' means the movement bonuses (the small arrow under your character that gives you certain bonuses while moving in combat mode) that now don't affect while jumping. Jump-shotting has not been patched.
* Kibelisks cannot be set again after player changes channel.
* A bug that eliminated DP aura effects after transforming through the disease given by 'Dancing Fungus' monster has been fixed....

Aion Races to 200k Concurrent Users
First day breaks 100k mark; 200k reached in 5 days
80% of players are finding the game 'fun'
91% of players are 20+
After setting a record reaching 100k concurrent OBT users in the shortest amount of time in Korea, NCsoft's Aion has reached 200k concurrent users on the 5th day - November 15th around 8pm. Also impressive is the fact that the numbers hardly fluctuated throughout the weekend, maintaining a growing user rate right until the end of Sunday.
Aion is currently drawing a slightly older crowd, with 79% at ages 20~30 and 12% at 40+, showing that the gamer base has aged since the launch of NCsoft's past products.
In an in-game survey (pops up in game every 10 levels) that more than 300k players replied to, 79.9% reported that the game was 'very fun' or 'fun'.
Survey Results*: How fun is the game so far?
* Very Fun: 36.4%
* Fun: 43.5%
* Average: 18.1%
* Not Fun: 1%
* Extremely Not Fun: 1%
*note: majority of these numbers would have come from players within levels 10-20
Aion is also topping the charts as the number one game in netcafes since the beginning of OBT. (Meanwhile the user numbers of NCsoft's other games Lineage and Lineage2 haven't been much affected so far.)
Based on the numbers, Jaesung Lee an employee at NCsoft suggested that a large number of players that had stopped playing MMOs altogether have been revitalized by Aion.
But can Aion beat WoW? (In Korea)
At the current rate? It's more than possible.
Comparing Aion's user numbers to WoW's launch 4 years ago, there's no doubt that Aion is growing at a comparable rate. Back in 2004 when WoW conducted their OBT, they reached maximum concurrent user numbers of 240k, including the users in queue. Currently Aion's presumed to have 220k users when taking the queued users into account.
WoW has Aion beat in the speed new servers were set up (Aion is currently at 31 servers), but considering that WoW had a lot of server stability issues throughout OBT, the numbers were necessary as a buffer for downtimes.
WoW's OBT Timeline in Korea
* November 12th 2004: WoW starts kOBT with 12 servers. Servers are bombed with users and their website goes down. All servers experience heavy lag.
* November 15th 2005: 24 more servers added in 3 days, reaching a total of 36 servers. Servers are still bombed. At this point it's announced that concurrent user numbers in Korea had broken NA records. Blizzard is stumped.
* November 16th 2005: 8 more servers added. Total 44 servers.
* November 25th 2005: 11 more servers added. Blizzard Korea announces that they'd reached maximum capacity and stops accepting sign ups.
* December 25th 2005: 600k copies of World of Warcraft are pre-ordered. OBT maintains 200k concurrent users.
* January 16th 2005: Open beta ends. 65 total servers at this point. Maximum concurrent users recorded at 240k.
* January 18th 2005: WoW launches with 65 servers.
* January 20th 2005: WoW reaches 100k concurrent subscribed users.
The real race begins after launch
WoW had a very short beta period of 2 months before launching, and it seems that Aion will follow suit. Much of the content held off for after OBT, including the Abyss area, is ready for release so there is no real reason for NCsoft to continue the beta for too long.
There's very little doubt that Aion will reach the 240k OBT concurrent user record that WoW had set 4 years ago. The real question that remains is whether the subscribed user numbers will be equally as impressive.
Source Links:
AionSource
Translations
Thisisgame...

Aion: The Tower of Eternity Breaking Beta Test Records in Korea
Commercial launch for NCsoft game only weeks away in Korea; North American and European launches set for 2009
SEOUL, Korea, Nov. 14, 2008—One of the most highly anticipated massively multiplayer online (MMO) games, Aion®: The Tower of Eternity™ from NCsoft®, is already showing signs of reaching hit status in only a matter of days since open beta testing kicked off earlier this week. Aion is scheduled to launch in Korea within the year and launches in China, North America, Europe and Japan are planned for 2009.
Since Tuesday's launch of open beta testing in Korea, concurrent user numbers have already jumped to more than 170,000 players, making it the most popular beta event in Korean history. According to NCsoft officials, more than 11,000 people were logged into the game after only two minutes of open beta service. In less than an hour, that number had ballooned to 40,000. Currently the number of concurrent players has leapt up to more than 170,000.
To meet the unprecedented demand by gamers, NCsoft rapidly expanded to 25 servers over the first few hours of opening the beta. Even with the increased number of servers, tens of thousands of people were waiting to enter the game. By the second day of open beta, the game reached the top spot in Korea's Gametrics web site that rates games that are played in Korea's PC Café industry.
Aion is an epic fantasy MMO that combines an eastern-style focus on visuals and design with western action-oriented gameplay. In Aion, players must fight to save a beautiful and vibrant world ripped asunder by a celestial war; during their adventures, players will ascend to divinity and earn the ability to fly. Flight adds a fun and strategic dimension to the gameplay of Aion and is integral to combat, exploration, harvesting and more.
"The response we're seeing in Korea is incredibly exciting," said David Reid, president of publishing for NCsoft West in Seattle. "Our Aion community in North America and Europe is also rapidly growing. We've got aggressive plans for the western launch in 2009".
For more information on Aion, go to http://www.aiononline.com.
About NCsoft
NCsoft, headquartered in Seoul, Korea, is the world's premier publisher and developer of massively multiplayer online games, including the critically acclaimed Lineage®, Guild Wars® and City of Heroes® franchises. NCsoft West is a division of NCsoft which holds operating responsibilities for North America, Europe, South America and Australia/New Zealand. More information can be found at http://www.PlayNC.com.
###
NCsoft, the interlocking NC logo, PlayNC, Aion, The Tower of Eternity, Lineage, Guild Wars, City of Heroes and all associated logos and designs are trademarks or registered trademarks of NCsoft Corporation. All other trademarks and the property of their respective owners.
Contacts
David Swofford, 512 623-8002, dswofford@ncsoft.com
Janna Bureson, 512 623-8051, jbureson@ncsoft.com...

Aion's Korean open beta is now boasting concurrent user numbers of 150,000.
Since launching the service at 6am on the 11th, 150,000 players managed their way into Atreia by 11pm the same day. Aion is now operating with a total of 25 servers, with each server exceeding the 5000 player target NCsoft had set out for their servers.
Upon login, players are finding most servers on the list marked as 'full'. Taking into account all the users in queue for the servers, the number of concurrent users could possibly be seen as closer to 200,000. Considering that the launch was done on a weekday, the numbers are expected to go up as many more attempt to join over the weekend.
(ETnews reports that this is a record for a Korean developed MMO. The past record holders have been Lineage2 and Ragnarok 2 but even then they were only able to reach 100k after a month of open beta testing. No mention of how WoW did in comparison, but WoW had over 150k concurrent users at its peak during open beta according to an interview with Mike Morhaine.)
NCsoft is now dealing with the happy dilemma of handling a much greater level of interest than they'd anticipated. Having already added 7 more servers than originally planned, continuing to add to that pool is only one way of handling the situation. The first change they had to implement was to cut down on the scale of the promotions that were planned to begin on the 13th. This decision was made so that Aion's user base grew in increments that they could actually handle.
Unsurprisingly, many players are venting their frustration at the situation. Players that used the pre-beta services to reserve their spots had it easier, but those that didn't were having to wait in long queues just to create their characters. (note: Many of these players were sitting in netcafes as well, so you can imagine the added pressure.)...

Elyos Version
[youtube]p9v4LGXnFhY[/youtube]
Asmodian Version
[youtube]5LHz71akcqU[/youtube]
In-Game Tutorial
[youtube]g0uJh0NAtZ0[/youtube]
Character Customization Promo
[youtube]WPgl19zw51M[/youtube]
Abyss Promo
[youtube]6YWOzPLXE4Y[/youtube]
New Wing Promo (Elyos)
[youtube]6YWOzPLXE4Y[/youtube]...

In the beginning, five Dragon Lords were created by Aion, but they became hungry for power and decided to overthrow his rule. In return, Aion created twelve Imperial Lords, who fought the Dragon Lords.
This conflict was a hell of fight, which actually caused the world to split in two. The Imperial Lords were split evenly between the upper and lower halves of the world, forming the game's two fractions - the Asmodians and the Elyos - while the Dragon Lords, now called the Balaur, inhabit the bit in the middle called the Abyss.

And it's the factional split that will concern you when you first start the game. While Aion's character creation system is phenomenally broad in scope, letting you create all manner of customized characters, the class system is incredibly slim. Once you've picked either the light (Elyos) or the dark (Asmodians), and one of the four classes on offer, you begin your quest into the game's world.
This all leads toward a special event that happens when you reach level 9, an almost coming of age quest called an Ascension Quest, that will define what your character will become.
[youtube]Bo94Mz2kXAk[/youtube]
For the Asmodians, this quest begins when a strange Daeva (a god in Aion) sends you on a quest to find three fortune tellers who can help you decipher your future.
After finding all of the items the fortune teller requests, you're greeted with a fancy cut scene (starring your own character). NCsoft has been very specific in wanting to provide a more story-driven quest than is usually found in MMO's, and to this extent, cut scenes are found more regularly than they are in other titles in the genre, though never enough to hamper the action.
Without wanting to throw too many spoilers into the air, at the end of this quest, you eventually become a Daeva (an immortal, basically - and are granted your wings, along with the ability to specialize your character class. For most, we're assured, this is where the game will begin proper, as you begin to reap the true potential of your abilities. Best of all, we're promised it'll only take nine hours to get there) the rest of which is spent being slowly introduced to the world and the new sights and sounds.
And once you've become a Daeva, you can begin exploring...
When you reach level 20-ish, you gain access to the area call the Abyss. This is the main area of the game. The Abyss also doesn't exactly sound like the nicest of places.
For the start, this is where you find Fortresses - huge player-controlled castles that factions will be in a constant state of war over. Of course, controlling the land comes with huge benefits, and not merely financial - when you own the fortress, your fraction gains exclusive access to the land and hunting ground that surrounds it, deep in the land of high-level territory.
As the fortresses are player-contested, it's a pretty safe bet they'll be constantly changing hands, but if you're looking to capture a fortress then there is help for you. "To help you conquer the fortress, you have what are call artifacts. These are very small islands around the castles that can be claimed separately from the fortress. Once claimed, you have an item that you can activate, which will have a zone effect - we have one that turns every enemy into frog."
Of course, these island artifacts also add an extra layer of strategy to the proceedings. When you're capturing a fortress, where do you go first? Do you send a unified force to besiege the castle? Or do you split into two groups, and risk meeting a huge resistances and being overwhelmed before your second group can capture the artifact that'll give you the advantage you need?
To make matter of capturing fortress even more deadly, a third ingredient is added into the mix... PvPvE. The Abyss is where most of the PvPvE action happens, as it allows for players versus player, with the possibility of being attacked by a common enemy.
Picture the scene, if you will...You're engaged in a huge battle against the other faction. There's upwards of fifty people involved. It's creating a huge scene. Swords and shields are clashing; players dropping everywhere, but you're at a stalemate. Then someone always has to come spoil the party.
The Balaur, as we mentioned earlier, are a race descended from the Dragon Lords that made their home in the Abyss after the Millennium War. Presumably because they inhabit such a nasty place, they currently spend their time picking fights with anyone and anything that happens to look at them in the wrong way. And you don't even get a warning they're coming. "It's adds an unexpected element, because they could just turn up in the middle of a battle and wreak havoc. You never know what's going to happen."

And that, we think, is one of the most appealing things about Aion. It's brand new MMORPG and it looks absolutely stunning, yet we're still not sure what's going to happen. With the focus on story-driven gameplay, and the promise you could solo your way through the whole thing if you wanted to, this is sounding like a really impressive game. You can rest assured we'll be keeping a close watch on it....

Source: GC Special - Interview mit Martin - Aion: The Tower of Eternity - aion.gamona.de
Q: You said that there will be more events until the release in EU. As we can see at the GC you are very dedicated and achieved a lot. How do you plan to entertain us during the remaining 4 months until the Preview Event starts?
A: We want to present Aion on other exhibitions in Europe this year. For example in England and France. It's not certain if there will be Shows in Germany.
Q: Will there be a Map of the Abyss at the off. website where you can see the distribution of Fortresses? Will there be rankings (also for integration on own sites)?
A: Our webteam is working on some cool features for our off. website. But unfortunately I can't say anything specific about it yet. But I can think of such functions.
Q: Will there be an Open Beta after the Preview Events?
A: It's currently uncertain if there will be another phase after the Preview Events. But I won't exclude that option, however it won't be named "Open Beta".
Q: How far is the localization of Aion?
A: The localization of Aion proceeds well. Actually the whole content which was included in CBT2 is available in English. This is an important step for us, because it's easy to translate from English to German.
Q: Are you already looking for Game Masters for Aion?
A: Not yet. If we need reinforcement, you'll know. But not this year.
Q: Will there be an off. forum for the Preview Events?
A: Right now we discuss a couple of options internally how we collect the player's feedback during the Preview Events. Official forums would be a valid option. We don't exclude it at the moment.
Q: Do you plan to implement ingame report-tools where players can report bugs and feedback?
A: Yes, it's very certain that players can send feedback within Aion.
Q: Will there be RP-Servers for every language at release? Would you like to have RP-Servers?
A: If there will be RP-Servers will depend on different factors. How successful will Aion be? Is there a strong demand on RP, etc? I'd like to see RP-Servers.
Q: Is Aion also interesting for casual gamers who can only play 1-2 hours a day?
A: A greater part of Aion will also be complete-able for casual gamers. You can also be very successful in short play-session and you get adequate rewards. The endgame in the Abyss is also interesting for casual gamers, but they won't have easy play against hardcore players. This is not only logic but also fair and can't be solved differently.
Q: How works the feedback-forwarding to Korea?
A: Our Community-Team at NCsoft Europe ransack the feedback of the fans, pick out new and interesting approaches and translates them - if necessary - to English. At constant intervals we're send them over to Korea. We can't send our colleagues questions on a daily basis
Q: Will the complete endgame content only be playable in the Abyss or are there other options for high-level characters?
A: Actually we can't say anything specific. But high-level characters won't be in the Abyss only....

Lepzig gaming convention already started, and ncsoft was a step ahead already, with tons of videos, and clips already available for the fans viewing pleasure. If you visit their official site, which has better information, my version is just a brief version
.
* The Official NCE International Podcast
Each day ncsoft will host a live show in English from their stages, just for the fans who couldn't make it out to the convention (so sweet). They will have staff members from Ncsoft Europe and maybe other special surprise guests interviewing guests, and answering questions from the audiences. Every show ill be recorded and the audio will make up of a series of speical podcasts which will feed into the Official Ncsoft Europe Podcast. (There are a couple of podcast already up!)
* The Official NCE ‘Vodcast’
Similar to the podcast Ncsoft will provide fans with "vodcast". Espisodes will be available at the end of each day on blip.tv or via iTunes. You can scribe here.
* Twitter-Feed
Ack, I don't know how to explain this, but apprently this is supposed to be an RSS feed from NCsoft Staff members. The ones that are available are from Ayase, Atreid, & Amboss. I might scribe to one of them, perhaps if I have time.
* MMS
Ncsoft have setup an MMS system which will allow you and your friends to appear there and show everyone that you're a fan of Ncsoft. (Sorry Im not a fan, guess I wont be using this
). All you have to do is take a picture of yourself and send an MMS message with the subeject "Leipzig" to "4444"....

Source: http://www.aiononline.com/us/news/latest_news/aion_exclusive_preview_signups.html

Welcome to our website. Our site is still under construction, few things needs to be worked on. In the mean time, free to browser our site, stay tuned for updates....
Race = Elyos
Server = NA
Playstyle = Causal/Hardcore...
Rare Polearm lvl 22
Stigma lvl 14
Epic Dagger lvl 39
Legendary Ring lvl 50
Slik x362
Rare Plate Helm lvl 15 To item request page...
Elias requesting a shield lvl 5-8
....