Gear Wars : The New Crucible PVP Gear Vs. AP Gear

When 2.7 launched it brought 2 new modules to the game:  the Arena of Chaos and the Arena of Discipline,  and with those 2 new mini instances,  new PVP gear was also introduced.  The new Empyrean Crucible gear is eternal,  with 5 manastone slots.  That's not all though.  For the first time in Aion  NC has introduced a new
element of gear stats,  called conditioning.  Conditioning is an extra set of stats that can be enabled with the purchase and application of the conditioning item,  which can be bought from the general store in Sanctum or Pandamonium.   NC also made 2 levels of conditioning available to players by creating 2 tiers of gear.  One set of gear can only be conditioned once,  and the other set of gear can be conditioned twice.  Of course the 2 tier set is more expensive because it enables a second,  extra set of stats.  The EC gear can be bought with
Crucible Insignias,  first introduced in the 2.6 update,  and with Courage Insignias,  the new form of currency

in the 2.7 release and only obtainable by running the Arena instances.  Here's a pic of a piece of my EC gear:

As you can see,  its a Tier 2 item,  and has 2 levels of conditioning available.

Now for a discussion about AP (Abyss Point) gear.  AP gear was,  until the release of 2.7,  the only available PVP gear in the game.  It is purchasable only with AP (abyss points) and medals.  There are 3 levels of AP gear for levels 30, 40 and 50: superior (green),  heroic (blue) and fabled (yellow).  There's  4 levels for 55,  an extra eternal (orange) gear set.   For the purposes of this discussion I'm only going to compare the fabled and eternal  AP gear with the Crucible gear,  which only offers fabled and eternal grade.
Also,  most players who set a goal to obtain AP gear usually go for the fabled set,  and then upgrade to eternal later. 
The most attractive thing about AP gear is the number of manastone slots.  There are 6,  which is 2 more than most any fabled piece of armor or weapon in the game.  There are some exceptions to that rule,  but not many,  so the AP 6 slot gear exceeds other fabled gear 95% of the time. 
The next stat is the bonus you get for having the entire set.  Its an extra set of stats that activates and gives more HP,  crit strike,  etc.
Those two things on top of the PVP defense or attack (armor or accessories),  made AP gear the most coveted gear in the game.
The differences between the AP PVP gear and the Crucible PVP are as follows:

Eternal Crucible Gear 

• 5 Manastone Slots
• Lower Physical Defense than a comparable item for level 55
• Only for level 55
• Extra stats of Magic Resist and Paralysis Resist
• 2 Tiers of Conditioning which enable extra stats like Strike Resist and Spell Resist,  PVP attack and more

AP Gear

• 6 Manastone Slots
• Comparable or higher Physical Defense for the player's level
• Available to players at level 30, 40, 50 & 55
• Bonus Stats for having the entire armor set

This brings up the question: Which one is better? and is the reason why I wrote this article.  Clearly,  the AP
gear has alot of advantages,  and those who have the full set are looked upon with respect.  The reason why is that AP gear is hard to get.  Earning enough AP and medals to get the entire set is a very time consuming
process.  For those who can't devote daily time to the game to farm AP exclusively from instances like dredgion or endless quest grinds in the abyss,  the AP gear is out of reach. The 55 eternal AP gear requires platinum medals,  which,  for the most part,  can only be obtained in bulk from daily quest grinds,  which I'm going to write a separate article about soon.   This means that the acquisition of AP gear is tailored to the hardcore player.   Of course,  AP is also gotten from PVP,  however if you don't have the PVP gear to begin with,  how can you beat another player who might?    I could go on about that topic,  but I'd be going off subject.  This is the reason that NC introduced the Crucible PVP gear,  which,  in my opinion,  was a smart decision.  It's biggest advantage is that it takes much less time to acquire.  The gear is bought with crucible and courage insignias,  which are obtained from running either of the 2 arenas.  If you think of the cruc insigs as AP and the courage insigs as medals,  then you're getting both items at the same time,  which is convenient in comparison to the demands of AP gear,  which requires silver, gold or platinum medals that have to be earned or purchased separately.  This is a great opportunity for those players who've never had PVP gear because they lacked the time to obtain it,  and now gives a larger player base the chance to participate in the PVP aspect of the game.
The ease of obtaining the Cruc gear has been offset with some disadvantages.  The gear has lower PD and needs enchanting to bring it up to comparable items.  It has 1 less manastone slot, which prevents higher stat
accumulation.  Finally,  it requires a lifetime maintenance fee:  re-condiitoning the armor as needed when the conditioning runs out.  A player must purchase the conditioning item,  level 1 or 2,  depending on what armor they have,  and pay to have the armor's stats refreshed when they run out.  The fee I pay for my Tier 2 armor
runs me about 200K per item.  How often the item needs re-conditioning is something I'm still studying.  I'm not sure whether it's based on a time rundown or how often one plays the game (how much the armor is put to use).   
So which is better?  They're both good,  and I hope that my comparison discussion has helped you decide.  My conclusion is: whichever one suits your playing style.  Have fun and game on :D

Cracking The Stigma Threshold Part 3

I recently completed the level 55 quest "Cracking The Stigma Threshold",  a quest that I began writing about some time back.  See my first post on this quest  for a full recap.  After grinding 60 mobs for a total repeat
of 5 times,  I'm happy to report that the drop rate stayed the same for every rep quest and hardly changed.  There might have been a slight reduction in the drop rate on the last rep,  but not by much,  maybe 7 out of 10 mobs dropped the item while 8 of 10 dropped them on the earlier reps.  Its a reliable quest that isn't quirky or hard to complete outside of the fact that its a long quest to begin with.  Oh and while you're out there in Conqueror's Ravine, you might just spy the shugo who sometimes spawns there.  He sells high level
designs for crafting!  What a nice surpise!  I saw him for the first time on my last rep quest,  and picked up a couple of designs.  You can also sell junk loot and other items to him,  which is really convenient while grinding out there and running out of room in my inventory. 
It was nice to return to Reemul and get my final stigma enabled.  Finally - Quickening Doom - Wow!  It really rocks and only has a 1 minute CD. 
I hope this was a helpful article to those of you who needed answers about this quest or are soon having to complete it. 

Aion 2.7 The Arena of Choas Part 2

I've run the Arena several times since my last post and can now offer a better description of the instance and what goes on there. There are 3 rounds to each run and players can be ported to any of 6 possible places to run those rounds.

 The Plaza of Struggle - This arena  is also used in the arena of discipline (the 1v1 instance).  It's a
Roman coliseum sort of place with an upper tier accessible by stairs and a main level.  The main level is a center surrounded by a wall.  Outside this wall is a running area with large nooks to stand in.  The nooks have faces!   A power up called "blessed relics",  worth 1250 pts,  spawns in the center,  usually at the beginning of the round and towards the middle of the round.  Be careful though,  because if the
instance starts in the Plaza of Struggle,  everyone goes running for those relics!  Those aren't the only power
ups to get.  Go upstairs and you'll find Flame Throwers,  worth 500 pts,  which deal out a flume of fire from the mouths of one of the faces downstairs,  lets hope your enemy is standing there! 

The Collapsed Wind Tower  - This place is vertical in build and requires flying to navigate through.  The main
thing that players in this place go for is the Cannon.  This item can be found on the middle wall of the tower,  in a nook that was made to house it.  If you can get to this item before anyone else,  you've got a big advantage.  Once you've got control of this item you can tab lock onto players and fire "cannon balls" at them
or fire a paralysis debuff.  I prefer the cannonballs because they kill quickly and help me rank up fast.  Most players are hip to this tho,  and try to fly out of range of the cannon.  The cannon will tell you if the targeted player is out of range.  In that case just keep tabbing until you find one that can be targeted,  and kaboom!,  the most satisfying kill ASAP in the entire instance.   If round 1 of the Arena starts in the Wind Tower,  and your player is placed behind the cannon,  you've got it made.  Likewise if you respawn behind the cannon during the round and nobody else is already at it.  The only downside of using the cannon is that when it disappears after about 15 secs,  the  player is poisoned and low on health,  which is an easy target for those who were waiting for the cannon to fade. 

MuMu Garden - This place is a flatland that's easy to run around in. It's also a pretty small place in comparison to some of the other places.   The power ups that exist are huge gatherables that spawn for a very short time and require a minimum of 350 gathering skill.  I think they give 1750 pts for gathering them and it takes a much shorter time to gather them than regular gathering so its worth it.   There's also treasure boxes to be had,  which yield crucible power up buffs,  like restraint water,  explosion water,
faster casting water,  etc.  Watch out for the Maus,  they're elite and they aggro.  The mumus are worth pts too and aren't hard to kill,  but since the place is small,  its likely that someone might attack while trying to kill one so the decision is yours. 

Alquimia Culvert -  This place is alot like a dungeon.  Its also a big maze.  The bottom floor of the place has
swamp water that puts a slowing debuff on toons.  Stay on the small areas of safe land and jump from land bit to land bit if possible,  and watch out for the sprays of sewage while walking along the tunnels of the maze:  the sewage outs you from hide and possibly puts a debuff.  Ranged fighters can go to the landing at
mid level and shoot players on the ground floor from above,  a definite advantage. 

Decayed Garden -  My least liked area of the arena.  Its a circular place with a hill ring to run along on the perimeter,  water below the hill ring,  and a hill in the middle of the lake.  The most important thing to remember in this place is : Dont fall in the water!  It puts a damage over time debuff on toons that takes so much HP off per second that its almost impossible to beat,  even if you get out of the water quickly.  Sometimes taking a potion works if you get out very fast,  but most of the time its certain death.  Stay away from it at all costs. The hill in the middle can be reached by gliding,  and there's relics to be had on the hill,  but players often don't make a strong enough glide,  end up in the drink,  and then its bye bye...



Round 1 Arena of Chaos starting in Decayed Garden - Me and
 other Contestants




Another view - theres the hill in the middle with the relics surrounded by the deadly water


Cassus Manor -  This is the haunted house of the arena,  and the place with the most mayhem IMO.  The aggro is close here,  and there's alot of mobs to kill for points if killing players isn't working for you.  If you spawn in a room with no other players or can get to an empty room,  you can level up by means of pve,  and not lose points from being killed.   The place has an upstairs and a downstairs,  the upstairs is reachable by
means of 4 staircases,  which lead to 2 hallways,  which each lead to a room with a mob or two.  The most valuable mob in the manor is Pale Carmina,  who is very tricky to kill because of a buff called bladestorm,
which is actually a reflect buff.  All attacks on her are reflected back to the attacker when bladestorm is cast.
This is a quick death,  as I found out the hard way.  Strategy:  wait out the buff without attacking and go for the kill when it runs out,  for a reward of 1,500 pts.  Btw, these rooms are also the place where the treasure boxes are placed for this area.

And that's it!  I hope you found this helpful.  I'll try to post some pics of the instance,  which is gonna be a challenge to get,  but if anybody can it's an assassin,  thanks to invisibility skills :)

The Harvest Revel Festival



Me talking to Blair

 Theres a new festival that started yesterday in Aion called the Harvest Revel Festival.  Following on the heels of the Ascension Festival,  it's been a seamless stream of back to back festivals for the last month.  For this
festival,  there are 2 quests:  What Witches Wear,  a 10 time rep quest,  and a second, also a 10x rep quest , that's based on character level.  It's the same for the Asmos,  just with different quest names.  To start the quests,  talk to Blair in Sanctum or Witcha in Pandamonium. 
The first quest asks players to obtain "castings",  pictures of the witches from their younger days.  The game directs players to go to the pvp arena of Sanctum or Pandamonium,  and kill Shulack Sugarcrooks,  naughty
shulacks who stole the castings.  Thats only one way to get the castings ;  they drop from mobs throughout the game,  which is good because I have to say that the idea of putting players in the arena was pretty lame.
The drop rate is bad,  I'm talking like 1 out of 5 if not worse,  and everyone's competing for every single
shulack that spawns!   Accidents happen,  tempers start to flare,  and since this is all going on in the pvp zone,  you can figure out the rest.  I was AOE'd by a glad,  which  startled me,  then later I was rooted by a
ranger,  which really got on my nerves,  so I pounded him out of the arena.  No,  it wasn't brutality,  he was lvl 52.
So,  in my opinion, a thumbs down to NC for that!  I think they should've placed them throughout the land zones of the game,  that would've been better. 
The second quest,  based on char lvl,  took me to Heiron for killing Senior Mage Souls and a lepharist lady,  her name might've been Senior Witch Hunter.  These quests reward with different kinds of bundles,  which contain a big variety of items:  manastones great and small,  event dyes,  event outfits - some perma, some temp,  event drinks,  enchantment stones,  medals and power shards. 
I'm on rep 2 of 10 on the Heiron quest,  and as for the "castings" quest,  I'm gonna just wait for world drops and skip the coliseum.  I'll post some pics soon :)

Guardian Deavas Takes Siel's Western Fortress!

My legion,  Guardian Deavas,  took Siel's Western last night!  Awesome! Our first fort!  Gratz to the BG of our legion, Raxu,  for being a great leader and a good friend to everyone in the legion.

Aion 2.7 - Part 1 - The Arena of Chaos

Aion 2.7 went live on 10/19,  2 days ago,  and of course I've been playing!   Two new instances have been
introduced in the Empyrean Crucible:  the Arena of Chaos and the Arena of Discipline.  Both earn Crucible Insignias and both reward players with a new form of currency,  the Courage Insignia.  The Crucible Insigs and the Courage Insigs can be used together to buy a new line of PVP armor and weaponrs that's also been introduced in the 2.7 upgrade.  An alternative to getting PVP gear was long overdue and I'm glad they finally
did something about it. 
The Arena of Chaos is a free for all PVP instance - it's Aion's version of a virtual pillow fight! After getting the quest for an arena ticket from Perbano in Kaisanel Academy,  you request a group in either of the 2 instances.  You start out  in one of 3 places: a haunted house,  a field,  a lava pit kinda place,  or a roman style arena.  Once ported into the instance,  you're locked within a ring of light,  unable to move until the game begins,  which is 1.5 minutes after you're ported in.  You can see some of your opponents and are able to click on them to know what class they are.  The 1:30 gives you time to buff up and plan your strategy.  The object of the game is to get as many kills as possible without getting killed.  When the game starts,  thats it - total madness - players attacking one another,  instance mobs aggroing on players,  players dying,  and players being rezzed back into the game to try again.  If you get alot of kills you rank up,  and the game notifies you of that.  The player in first place is marked with a winner's ribbon over their head.  Each round is about 2.5 minutes.  The game alerts when 10 seconds are left and when that time is up,  the players are auto ported to the next round,  which is always one of the 4 environments I mentioned earlier.    Sometimes there are things to collect or treasure boxes to break which give you power up items to help you in the game.  One such item is a kind of explosion fluid,  which is used to deal damage to enemies in the instance.  There's others too,  but I've only run it 3x so far,  so I don't know all there is to know about the collectibles yet.   In the Roman arena setting there's cannons that players can take control of to shoot other players with,  but I haven't tried that yet.  Killing mobs and collecting things gives points,  so if I'm tired of fighting other players and I'm in an area where no one else is,  I can do that instead.  The one thing I like alot is that it doesn't take too much time to run,  only a few minutes,  and  in addition to the cruc and courage insigs,  I  get AP,  which is nice.  It isn't as
much as I'd get running c dredge,  but its still something. 
All in all,  I give it a + rating because its fun,  new, pays well and doesn't take much time.  In my next post
I'll discuss the other instance,  the Arena of Discipline.  Until  then,  have fun in Aion - I know I will!

Elyos Take Divine

This past Saturday,  the Elyos here on the Siel server took Divine Fortress.  This is the first time since the launch of 2.5 in the summer that we've owned it.  Before 2.5 we owned it but that was reset with the patch to the default Balaur ownage.  Since then the Asmos took it once and lost it to the Balaur,  who had it up till
this past weekend.  Yesterday I was able to complete the quest I've had for ages:  Jarumonerk's Shot At the Big Time,  which awards the "Honarary Black Cloud" title.  It's one of those Aion quests that I call "step and fetch",  where you're asked to talk to a long list of people.   This quest is more difficult than the usual step n' fetch quest because you have to talk to ppl in all the forts,  and that's why it takes so long to complete.  One faction  never owns all the forts at one time so in order to get this completed,  I had to wait,  oh I don't know how long,  a few months I think.  Well,  last night,  I finally spoke to the last NPC on the list in Divine.  Not that I was able to teleport there - the asmos killed the tele NPC,  so I had to fly there on my own.  Luckily I'm a sin so I've got invisiblity.  Cheap tricks like that don't put a dent in my plans.    Now all I have to do is talk to the shugo on Black Cloud Island and I'll finally have it done,  but I decided to wait on that due to reports on the LFG that the asmos were camping that loc.  There's no rush on that tho,  BCI will always be there and it can't be camped forever :)

My Best C Dredge Run Ever!

The night before last I had a great run in dredge.  For pure excitement,  it couldn't be beat. 
Our team:  1 sin, 1 tank,  2 clerics and 2 sms.  The asmos team:  3 tanks,  1 cleric,  1 chanter,  1 sorc.   We had one group wipe,  which was our own fault but we were making up the points quickly.  We were still down 1k though.  Finally we met them in mid.  Their tanks were tough,  and we were getting pounded in pvp.  Our sms couldn't get fear going,  thanks to all the stuns of the tanks.  They pulled way ahead in score by nearly 4k as a result of our losses and things were looking grim.  The asmos were so confident that one of them shouted "Knocked you the f--- on out" in Elyos language.  Yes,  he was that happy.  He went to that much trouble to let us know they had it in the bag.  We pvp'd again on the path to Zanata,  and this time the Sms got the fear on - that was the beginning of the end for the asmo team.  After 3 more rounds of that,  we'd whittled their score down to ours and the final battle for the win was on.  Their tanks were hella pissed,  and I would be too if my team had been that far ahead and were now in danger of losing.  They couldn't beat the fear shriek though,  and cutting thru them like butter while they're little purple rolling carts was truly a pleasure.  By this time,  our score was 300 pts ahead of theirs,  with 1 min remaining in the game.  From 8K to 5K - OW! thats gotta hurt!  They tried one last time but failed and the clock ran out with us as the winners!
In the end neither team got the cap but it's ok cause we won,  with the best turnaround from losing to winning I've ever seen in dredge yet! 
Thanks to Snoop and Zophkiel,  the 2 spiritmasters who made it happen for us,  great job both of you!
And a big LOL to Dnoc,  who had to eat his words in the end.

Platinum Medals: The Goal of Many a Lvl 55 Player



 Platinum Medals - they're hard to get for one simple reason:  they're untradable,  which means they can't be sold on the broker from one player to another.  So how are they obtained?  Well,  most of the time,  not very easily.  The only quick way to get plats is through surveys.  Just click the scroll and accept your medals!  Easy! The reality is that this doesn't happen very often,  and for those of us who need alot of medals for eternal AP gear,  waiting for the next survey isn't the answer.  This brings me to the path that most of us in need of plats take:  the daily grind.  The 2 forts in Inngison each offer 2 quests to obtain plats and each quest is repeatable 40 times.  That's 80 medals per fort for a total of 160 obtainable thru daily quests.    Did I mention that these quests are kinda difficult?  Each quest demands 50 of the requested item just to get 1 plat.  You end up killing more than that for the item because it doesn't always drop.  I'd say the drop rate is about 7-8 out of every 10 mobs.  The other factor that makes these quests difficult is opposite faction intrusion.  It ain't safe out there!  The forts are located in riftable territory,  which makes grinding so many mobs a bit dangerous.  Players in my faction have solved this problem by grinding for these quests in groups,  which makes alot of sense.  It also makes for a shortage of mobs,  but the safety it offers is worth it.  Here's a pic of a mad shelled ksellid,  one of the daily quest mobs needed to get a plat.


Ksellids:  Your Key to Platinum Medals

 I'll post more on the fighting styles of these mobs and what to be prepared for when fighting them  in the near future.

Level 55 Advanced Stigma Quest Part 2

I went out to Conqueror's Ravine yesterday to work on the "Cracking the Stigma Threshold" quest for my

last stigma slot.  In my earlier post I wondered if the drop rate gets worse with each time you have to repeat the quest,  which is a total of 5 (?) times (can't remember).   Once again I'm happy to report that the drop rate has not decreased and is remaining steady  - about 8 of 10 mobs drop the aether needed for the quest.  This is good because the quest asks for 60 of them on each repeat.  Here's some new pics I took of the mobs in Conqueror's Ravine:



Inngison Trico



Tidal Seafoam - They have to be fought in mid-air



My Recent Trip To Gelkmaros




Viscum Swamp

 




The Purple Shrooms in Viscum Swamp

  




Close Up of Purple Shrooms and Windstream

  




A Pic of A Cool Animated Transparent Bubble in Viscum Swamp

   I journeyed through Silentera Canyon the other day to Gelk,  and it was a fun trip - these are some of my pics from out there.

My Latest Findings on the Stigma Threshold

Yesterday I finished grinding the 60 mobs needed for the quest "Cracking the Stigma Threshold".  As I mentioned in an earlier post,  I had no problems with the drop rate,  its just a long quest to complete.  When I turned in the quest to Reemul in Inngison I got the answer to the question of how many times would I have to repeat this quest.  The answer is 4.  The quest requires that you grind 60 mobs 5 times.  I haven't started on round 2 yet,  but I'm curious to see whether or not the drop rate changes on the repeat quests.  I'll continue to update this subject as I move through it.  Here's a pic of one of the 4 different mobs you can kill


A Haze Spirit in Conqueror's Ravine

 to get your quota of 60.  I took this in hide,  as its a pre-emptive creature and I wanted a close up.

Aion Turns Two!




A Close Up of the Awsome Cake!

  Aion's release to North America and Europe turned 2 this month and NCsoft is throwing a party in the form of an event.  They call it the "Ascension Festival" and its running from 9/21 - 10/26.  In many ways this event
is like the "Scorching Heat" event from earlier in the summer,  where a token of energy (ascension energy for this event) accumulates in the player's inventory automatically while they're logged in playing the game.  One
energy accumulates every 20 -30 min.  The least expensive gifts are 30 and 50 energies,  and they're   surprise boxes with a possibility of 13 different prizes.  The rest of the prizes require more energies,  100 and upwards,  and consist of outfits and weapon skins,  some of which were previously only obtainable by cash purchase on the website.  This brings me to the difference between the Scorching Heat event and this event.


Me talking to the NPC of the Ascension Anniversary Event

 In Scorching Heat,  all the prizes were surprises - you didn't know what you would get.  In this event you know its gonna be from a preset group of prizes,  or you decide what to buy with your tokens.  I personally liked the element of surprise,  but I think alot of people appreciate the right to decide what to buy with their "energies".  I've only got 10 accumulated so far,  so I"m not sure what I'm gonna buy yet.  I'll post my purchases later in the event. 

Level 55 Advanced Stigma Quest

The other day while playing,  someone on LFG was complaining hard about the drop rate for the advanced stigma quest called "Cracking the Stigma Threshold". She made it seem like the item you need,  ensouled aether,  almost never drops, and you need 60 of them.  I started to get a little worried because I have that quest and I hadn't even started it yet!   The next day I decided to start on it so I could see for myself if she was right and finally start work on getting my last stigma slot.  Well,  I'm pleased to report that for me the drop rate was good,  about 4 out of 6 mobs dropped the item,  and I managed to accumulate 35 before needing to return to the fort.  Since then I've discovered that the quest is actually a rep quest which asks you to grind 60 mobs 30 times.  Can you believe it?  And this is one I can't just drop like I did with Miragent when I decided it was outrageous.  More on this as I find out from personal xp.....

The Latest Aion Event



A pic of the Insect Fossil drop in the latest Aion event



"Picking Up The Past" is the name of the latest Aion event,  which started on  9/7.  Its objective is to benefit the Atreian Natural History Museum by having daevas collect fossils from all areas of Atreia except Poeta/Ishalgen and Verteron/Altgard.  These fossils can be given to NPC archaelogogists in exchange for
gifts,  such as manastones,  enchantment stones,  silver/gold/plat medals,  and a piece of clothing (its a T shirt in 2 styles,  male/female for couples who play the game together).   There's 3 different kinds of fossils that can be collected:

1. Plant Fossils - These can only be collected by receiving an in game survey.  There's no other way to get them.
2. Animal Fossils - These can be collected from the bosses of instances or by exchanging plant fossils for them.
3. Insect Fossils - These can be collected by fighting mobs anywhere in the game except the ones mentioned earlier.  They also come up on dice roll sometimes in group run instances during the event. 

The plant fossils are probably the most sought after because with them you can buy medals,  however the only way to accomplish that is to have only 1 character collect the surveys.  The medals are 100 - 125 fossils and with 6 fossils per survey times 28 days equaling 168,  then a decision has to be made.    The animal fossils yield AP relics and the T shirts,  and the insect fossils can buy manastone/enchantment stone pouches as well as a mystery prize for 200 of them.  That one is a total gamble,  which I might just go for if I collect enough of them.  The event will run for 28 days,  ending on Oct. 5th,  so I might be able to.  I ran Taloc's Hollow on the 7th and got a few,  I'd say 1 in every 7-10 mobs drops a fossil.  I was grinding quest mobs before that and found it to be about the same rate. 
The event gives me renewed interest in doing my pve quests.  Its something more to look forward to when out in the field,  knowing that there's a new item to collect that can buy me new things to improve my toon with.

Dredgion: Why it's my favorite Aion instance

Chantra Dredgion,  or C Dredge,  its nickname,  is an Aion instance for players lvl 51 and up.  There's another Dredgion,  known as Baranath Dredgion or O dredge (Old Dredgion) for players lvl 46-51.
 I discovered O Dredge at lvl 46,  when the game first offers it via an entry option icon in the player interface.  I've been running it daily ever since!  Why?  IMO, a number of reasons make this instance a contender for the best in Aion.  First,  and I think this is a very important one,  it only takes 30-40 min. of time.  This is great for casual players who want to accomplish something in the game and not spend all day playing, which is what many things in Aion are geared towards.   Second,  it offers an element of competition found nowhere else in the game.  It's a competition between both opposing races,  Elyos and Asmodian,  to see who gets the most points.  These points  are transformed into earned Abyss points at the end of the instance,  which brings me to the third reason.  Dredge is the best way to get AP (Abyss points) in the game.  Again,  this is my opinion,  but I think many players would agree that if you want to bulk up on AP in order to get PVP (player vs. player) gear, or anything else that requires large amounts of AP,  such as advanced stigmas,  then Dredge is the way to go.  Some might argue that going out and PVPing is a better way,  and it may be for some,  but not all,  players of the game.  In order to get alot of AP through PVPing,  you have to make alot of kills without getting killed.  If you get killed in PVP,  you lose AP based on your rank.  Therefore making major amounts of AP through PVP is only an option for those with the full set of PVP gear. 
The fourth and final reason that dredge is my favorite is the fact that it's different every time.  For all the times I've run it,  and I haven't kept count but it must be around 200 by now at least,  it's always a little different,  which is what keeps it from becoming boring. 

A Few Thoughts About Miragent Gear



Me in my old Miragent boots

 Hooray!  I finally got rid of my Miragent boots!  They had no speed boost at all - pathetic for level 50 or higher.  The pic on the left is me wearing the Miragents.   After lvl 46 or so,  most all boots have speed boost.  You might ask why I got them if I knew they didn't have speed boost.  Well,  the Miragent armor is part of an entire set,  which has extra benefits for every piece collected.  The Asmodian equivalent of Miragent is Fenris.  At level 50,  the game offers both
races the opportunity to collect the set through the completion of a chain of quests to obtain both the armor and weapons and the title "Miragent Holy Templar" or "Fenris' Fang".   I thought that I'd quest for the whole set,  and put up with the lack of speed for only a short amount of time,  but I never got that far.  The quest chain after the first 2 pieces (boots and gloves) is incredibly demanding.  The third quest,  which is for the shoulderguards,  asks you to get 40 quest drops off of mobs in Theobomos 30 times!  As if that isn't bad enough,  the mobs don't drop the quest item on each kill,  so that's over 1200 kills the game is asking for,  just for a pair of shoulderguards that you also have to pay a certain amount for in the form of an oath stone,  which costs $4 million.  It just wasn't for me,  so I dropped it,  but I was stuck with the boots for 5 levels, because I was too busy upgrading other pieces of my gear.  It was a real drag being so slow for so long,  especially being an assassin,  which requires as much movement and attack speed as possible.  I used tons of running scrolls.  So what'd I replace them with?  A pair of Deft Leader's lvl 55 boots from the new mentor series armor.  I'm back to running fast again without a scroll!

Intro

Me at level 50 - the Graceful Sword was really beautiful!

I've been playing Aion since November 2010.  I bought the game for my birthday,  not knowing a thing about it.  I just liked the picture on the front :) - I didn't know it was an MMO and that there was a monthly fee,  I just wanted a new game to play.  When I got home and set it up and saw that I had to commit to a payment plan,  I was annoyed.  I hadn't wanted all that.  I was mad at myself for not reading the package more carefully and I knew that taking it back was gonna be a hassle  - software returns always are.  So,  with that in mind, I signed up.  And I've been playing ever since.  It's a great game,  which is why I've started this blog.  I'm a lvl 55 Elyos Assassin on the Siel server.  My legion is Guardian Deavas.