On July 18, 4 days from today, the 3.1 update will be brought to the NA servers. The update will bring some changes to the game, such as the introduction of a second "fast track" server for players 1-50 who want to level up quickly. The fast track server will have rift buffs up, which makes it more of a pve power leveling server. The other server won't have rifting buffs, which is for those who want to experience the pvp aspect of the game.
Another new feature is the addition of a new world boss into the abyss region: Moltenus. It'll be fun to see how he looks and fights!
Also, the NC store is gonna be updated on the same day as the 3.1 launch.
See you in game on launch day!
Update 7/17/12: The patch notes are published - read them here, but if you dont have the time,
here's my list of the 12 most important changes:
1. The addition of a new world boss that spawns in the Abyss.
2. The lowering of rent on estates and mansions.
3. An increase in the amount of Kahrun's symbols given for completed quests
4. The opportunity for Elyos to run Adma Stronghold and Asmodians to run Theo Labs
5. The addition of a "fast track" server
6. The lowering of the entry level for Besh Temple to 53
7. The ability for spiritmasters to remove BG Vasharti's reflect buff in Rentus Base
8. The removal of the daily quest in Tiamaranta's Eye for both factions that asks for 10 outer ring
mobs to be killed. It will now be a one time quest.
9. The addition of fabled and heroic gear drops in Aether labs and Alquimia Research center
10. The removal of mobs near the entrance of Aether labs/Alquimia Research that made it difficult to reach the instance
11. Reduced the amount of AP lost for 3 star and 4 star officers and generals when killed and reduced the amount of AP gained by the player killing them
12. Added teleports to reach Draupnir Cave
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Friday, July 6, 2012
Level 60 Abyss Armor: A Discussion
3.0 has brought many new things, and among them, a new set of abyss gear for level 60 deavas. When I first took a look at the armor and weaps, I was very surprised. NC added something new.
They added a term of use to the 60 E (eternal) armor and weps that requires the wearer to maintain an abyss rank of at least 3 or 1 or the gear cannot be worn. What this means in terms of pvp is that a rank 1
player wearing a 60 E piece of "rank regulated" gear will lose 885 AP every time they're killed. A player loses AP based on their rank. The higher your rank, the more you lose when defeated during pvp. For those of you unfamiliar with the abyss point ranking system, please see this page at the Aion website that explains the concepts further. It also means that if your rank drops below rank 1,
you can't wear the gear. This probably won't ever happen tho, because the new 3.0 end game content
has so many ways to get AP, which are given out in bundles of abyss relics, that a player is sure to have a savings hoard of them to boost their rank in an emergency.
To my mind its more a question of control: should I allow myself to be held to a constant rank by acquiring a set of gear that has a program limit, or should I retain my freedom to be a lower rank and go with a set of gear that is very good but gives less stats?
It isn't an easy question to answer, and a comparison of the gears might help in reaching a decision.
We'll begin by taking a look at the lv 60 rank regulated Fabled Gear:
As you can see, it has 6 slots (standard for fabled or higher AP armor). It is only wearable by Rank
3 or higher players, and it gives a set effect of magic supression for a wearer who has 3 or 5 pieces of it. It also gives a hidden set effect that will activate and become known when the entire set is worn.
And for those of you who are fashion concious, here's how it looks on a female toon:
Next we'll take a look at the pricier fabled jerkin, also for rank 3 or higher:
The difference between the two is that this one has no set effects available but it does have augmentation. Augmentation is practically the same idea as with the crucible armor: you pay an NPC to augment the armor, which gives a specified stat boost that lasts for a certain amount of time, at which point you either re-boost it or leave it on its base stats. The augment stats on this jerkin are +4 crit strike, +hp 27 and + 27 magic supression.
Now lets take a look at the eternal armor:
Once again I've selected the jerkin for an even comparison. This item requires rank 1 or higher of the wearer. Like the previous jerkin it has no set effects. It also has augmentation, but it has 2 levels available. I don't know why anyone who could have a lvl 2 would only choose 1, but I think the idea is that if you forget to re-boost it you won't immediately go back to base stats, you'll just drop down a bit. The lv1 augment stats are: +32 hp, + 5 crit strike, + 32 magic supression and +10 magic resist. The lvl 2 augment stats are: +33 hp, +32 magic supression, +12 Accuracy and +5 attack.
That last stat really wowed me! I've never seen a +attack stat on a jerkin before. As far as I know this is a first in the game. Its pretty cool.
And here's how it looks:
And a pic:
Ok, now that we've seen the rank regulated armor, lets take a look at the no rank required armor for comparison. We'll start with the fabled jerkin:
It has the standard 6 slots, no set effects, the same defense stats and the same pvp defense as the greater fabled jerkins. Of course its also less expensive.
And heres the eternal no rank jerkin with pic:
Its the same setup as the fabled jerkin.
As you can see, theres a trade off for retaining the right to be low rank. The armor has less stats available and is just basic, which is just fine, but if you want access to the extra stats and the best that the game has to offer, you have to settle with staying either rank 3 or 1.
It alot to sort out and consider, and I still haven't made up my mind yet on what I'll be doing as far as eventually upgrading my armor from EC armor to AP armor is concerned.
I hope this article has been helpful and your comments on this new change in the AP gear are most welcome.
They added a term of use to the 60 E (eternal) armor and weps that requires the wearer to maintain an abyss rank of at least 3 or 1 or the gear cannot be worn. What this means in terms of pvp is that a rank 1
player wearing a 60 E piece of "rank regulated" gear will lose 885 AP every time they're killed. A player loses AP based on their rank. The higher your rank, the more you lose when defeated during pvp. For those of you unfamiliar with the abyss point ranking system, please see this page at the Aion website that explains the concepts further. It also means that if your rank drops below rank 1,
you can't wear the gear. This probably won't ever happen tho, because the new 3.0 end game content
has so many ways to get AP, which are given out in bundles of abyss relics, that a player is sure to have a savings hoard of them to boost their rank in an emergency.
To my mind its more a question of control: should I allow myself to be held to a constant rank by acquiring a set of gear that has a program limit, or should I retain my freedom to be a lower rank and go with a set of gear that is very good but gives less stats?
It isn't an easy question to answer, and a comparison of the gears might help in reaching a decision.
We'll begin by taking a look at the lv 60 rank regulated Fabled Gear:
 |
| The 60 fabled leather jerkin for rank 3 or higher |
As you can see, it has 6 slots (standard for fabled or higher AP armor). It is only wearable by Rank
3 or higher players, and it gives a set effect of magic supression for a wearer who has 3 or 5 pieces of it. It also gives a hidden set effect that will activate and become known when the entire set is worn.
And for those of you who are fashion concious, here's how it looks on a female toon:
Next we'll take a look at the pricier fabled jerkin, also for rank 3 or higher:
The difference between the two is that this one has no set effects available but it does have augmentation. Augmentation is practically the same idea as with the crucible armor: you pay an NPC to augment the armor, which gives a specified stat boost that lasts for a certain amount of time, at which point you either re-boost it or leave it on its base stats. The augment stats on this jerkin are +4 crit strike, +hp 27 and + 27 magic supression.
Now lets take a look at the eternal armor:
Once again I've selected the jerkin for an even comparison. This item requires rank 1 or higher of the wearer. Like the previous jerkin it has no set effects. It also has augmentation, but it has 2 levels available. I don't know why anyone who could have a lvl 2 would only choose 1, but I think the idea is that if you forget to re-boost it you won't immediately go back to base stats, you'll just drop down a bit. The lv1 augment stats are: +32 hp, + 5 crit strike, + 32 magic supression and +10 magic resist. The lvl 2 augment stats are: +33 hp, +32 magic supression, +12 Accuracy and +5 attack.
That last stat really wowed me! I've never seen a +attack stat on a jerkin before. As far as I know this is a first in the game. Its pretty cool.
And here's how it looks:
And a pic:
Ok, now that we've seen the rank regulated armor, lets take a look at the no rank required armor for comparison. We'll start with the fabled jerkin:
 |
| The lv 60 "no rank required" basic fabled AP jerkin |
It has the standard 6 slots, no set effects, the same defense stats and the same pvp defense as the greater fabled jerkins. Of course its also less expensive.
And heres the eternal no rank jerkin with pic:
Its the same setup as the fabled jerkin.
As you can see, theres a trade off for retaining the right to be low rank. The armor has less stats available and is just basic, which is just fine, but if you want access to the extra stats and the best that the game has to offer, you have to settle with staying either rank 3 or 1.
It alot to sort out and consider, and I still haven't made up my mind yet on what I'll be doing as far as eventually upgrading my armor from EC armor to AP armor is concerned.
I hope this article has been helpful and your comments on this new change in the AP gear are most welcome.
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