As I write this, there is 1 hour left until 3.5 launches. There are so many new and exciting additions to the game that I'm not quite sure where to start!
To begin with, and in my opinion one of the most awesome, is the conversion of Theobomos and Brusthonin into PVP zones! These 2 zones were strictly PVE since their launch in 1.5. Players 45+
will now have the chance to rift to these zones through a Dimensional Vortex located in the Kaisanel
Academy and Maruchan Priory. The Vortexes will only be open for limited times: 10 p.m to
Midnight, Monday, Wed, Friday & Saturday. There also seem to be some set rules: the rifting
is scheduled to be in the form of "Raids" of 24 group alliances. Also, the rifting is limited to the higher
level areas of the respective zones, because Theo and Brust are both low and high lvl regions.
Next we have the addition of 2 instances to the Crucible Coliseum: The Arena of Harmony and
the Arena of Glory!
These sound very interesting: the Harmony Arena involves 3 groups of 2 players each (12 total) battling
each other. As always, its faction vs. faction. And for the first time in the Arena system, chatting
will be allowed between the 2 group members. I don't know whether or not you can make your own
group or if you just apply and you're auto grouped with someone.
The Arena of Glory will be available to the top 4 winners of the Arena of Harmony and the winner and first runner up of the Arena of Chaos. Its for lvls 56-60. The rewards will include the usual abyss points and also
Mithril and Platinum Medals, as well as a new unit of currency known as Glorious Insignias. Titles will
now be available based on number of wins of the glory instance.
The third item of interest in the 3.5 patch is the introduction of the Instanced Server System. This will
allow players to apply for Auto Group Formation across all the Aion servers ( I assume NA only).
There will be benefits for forming a group through the new system:
1. XP and item drop increase, and
2. "Victory's Pledge" boost effect (PVE DUNGEONS ONLY)
What this will do for static group formation of friends on one server is anyone's guess, but this change
seems to point to a wish on NC"s part to level the playing field through the encouragement of random
group formation with incentives to do so.
The Involved Dungeons are as Follows:
PVE DUNGEONS
NTC
Fire Temple
Theo Labs, Adma Stronghold
Steel Rake, Udas Temple, Dark Poeta, Draupnir Cave
Empyrean Crucible
PVP DUNGEONS
Dredgion, Chantra Dredgion and Terath Dredgion
Arena of Discipline
Arena of Chaos
Arena of Harmony
The Discipline Training Grounds, Chaos Training Grounds and Harmonious Training Grounds are also
included however I've never run the Disc or Chaos so I don't know if they're PVE or PVP.
Finally, in the list of the top changes in 3.5, there's the entirely new PVE dungeons:
Tiamat Stronghold and Dragon Lord's Refuge, both for players lvl 60
and both with an entrance in Tiamaranta's Eye. This should make for some serious battles
between the factions for control of the Eye, eh?
and
A new Abyssal Splinter instance, called Unstable Abyssal Splinter, only accessible
by the faction that controls Divine Fortress. This should provide some fuel to renew interest
in taking Divine Fort again.
My final subect to note is the changes to Legions. Extra levels have been added: a legion can now
level up to lvl 8. There's a cost for this, and it's not cheap.
There'll now be legion quests to complete, available for level 5 legions or higher. These quests will
provide both legion and personal rewards for those who participate.
Legions level 6 or higher will have the right to purchase legion items, a new addition to the game.
These can be bought with legion coins, obtained through the new legion quests.
If this isn't encouragement to nudge legions to upgrade to level 6, I don't know what is! Not complaining, just saying.
There are many more changes, including housing zone quests which I've chosen not to cover in this article.
The full patch notes are here.
I must take my leave now, and go download the patch so I can see Brusthonin for the first time!
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