3.0 Housing: Special Auction Announcement

The info I'm sharing is on a news announcement on the NA site,  however I'm posting it here for those who may have missed it.  The auctioning of homes begins tomorrow,  4/25 (I'm not sure what time).   The schedule is as follows:

• 4/25 - Oriel,  Arcada State  and Pernon , Sierra State(?),  its the area of land where the studios are
• 5/2   - Oriel,  Beryl State,  Pernon , Halcya State -  it's the rich folks area
• 5/9   - Oriel,  Beryl State again,  Pernon,  Halcya State - different neighborhoods of these areas
• 5/16 - Heiron and Inggison/Beluslan and Gelkmaros
• 5/23 - Oriel,  Apex State and Pernon,  Aurora State

Good Luck if you're planning on bidding,  I don't know if I will yet.

3.0 Housing: Daily Furnishing Quest

Now that there's a studio for your toon to live in,  and actual homes available for sale soon,  the Aion player now faces a new expense:  home furnishing.  The game is expensive to begin with,  and home furnishing is no exception.  Fortunately the game starts every player off with a few basic items to furnish their studio with.   There are a few starter item quests that give:  a basic cabinet that has a 9 item storage cube,  a very basic table,  and a couple of other quests that give free hearthblooms and a guestbloom (more on these at another time). 
Today's article is about the ongoing daily quest that's available to all players :  The Vintage Grab Bag.
It's started from one of the basic home decor quests in Oriel or Pernon.  You're asked to speak with a vintage reseller,  who turns out to be a shugo in a distant village.  For Oriel the shugo is in Prosperity Light Village and for Pernon,  its in Glory's Light Village.  Every day you get to "reach into the Grab Bag"

and get an item for free!  There's no guarantees that you'll get something useful however,  as I learned on my first try.  I got a piece of driftwood,  which couldn't be used for home decorating and sold for 100 kinah,  but on my second try I got a polka dotted wallpaper that I didn't already have,  and on my 3rd try I got a plain ruko fiber bed.  I didn't need it so I gave it to someone in my legion who did.  As you can see,  the outcome is totally random,  which is why I think its so much fun!  Its one of my favorite new dailies because its always a surprise,  and sometimes you get something valuable and useful for your home that you don't have to pay for!   



Talking to the Shugo who gives the Vintage Grab Bag quest




Completing the quest

 Happy thrifting!

3.0 - The New Housing Zone

It's been 5 days since 3.0 launched,  and I've gotta say:  The amount of new content is amazing!  I hardly know what to do first sometimes,  so I just go with the flow and discover things as I roll along...  I have some screenies from the new Elyos housing zone,  Oriel,   a place I spent some time getting to know a couple days back:

The Central Town Square in Oriel

Here's another :


 If you want to tour the area in style,  you can speak to the shugo NPC right outside the central square and
get a free 1 hour rental of the new surfrider mount.  Here I am riding to my new studio apt. on one:



Twilight at Oriel Bridge on the way to Rockroof, where the studios are

 Every player level 21 and up is given a free studio to live in.  It's a simple one room apartment that can be
decorated with the many types of furnishings available to buy from NPCs.  Construction is also the new
craft introduced in 3.0,  and already many players have taken it up and crafted items unavailable anywhere

but the broker.    I'll have more pics and info coming soon!  





3.0 Is On It's Way Part 2

It's been 2 days since my last post,  and alot has happened.   Players have gotten a peek at the new NC store,   and are deciding what,  if anything,  they want to buy.  Those of us who kept up a monthly
subscription to the very end now have a decision to make.  The official end of subscriptions was on April 4th,  and NC is converting the remainder of our paid month into its new form of store currency,  NCoin.
The "coin" can be used to buy the new items and goodies offered at the store.  I had my eye on the cube all along.  I liked the idea of paying a flat rate for a certain amount of space and being able to fill up the space with items without having to worry about their price.  Its more fun that way!  I opted for the medium cube.  I had 1120 ncoin remaining on my account,  and the medium cube is 1200,  so I bought some more coins and got that.  I filled it with:  lots of fun stuff!  All the cool goodies a person like me  could want,  like a tahabata dagger skin,  some AP boost packs (!),  an EC boost pack,  an emote,  some 1 hour running scrolls (how cool is THAT?),  etc,  etc,  etc.   Now I'm prepared for the arrival of 3.0 on the 11th and I can't wait to ride around in the new mounts! That'll probably be the first thing I'm gonna get.  It's what I'm most looking forward to the most. 

3.0 Is On It's Way!

Wed,  April 4th - Aion players on the NA servers are awaiting changes to the website that will enable them to purchase items for the upcoming 3.0 upgrade that goes live April 11th.  As I write this the website is down and has been all night long.  When it comes back online the NC store will offer its new CUBE, which is basically a shopping cart that can be filled with as many items of your choice that it can hold.  There are 3 sizes,  small,  medium and large.  In order to get players to purchase the large cube,  NC has promised a free
Tahabata weapon for those who purchase it.  This wep goes to 1 toon per account.  This idea has been received with mixed reaction by the Aion community.  Some veteran players dislike the fact that NC is giving
out a wep that hardly anyone ever gets.  The Tahabata weapons are gotten from the boss Tahabata on Dark Poeta "S" rank runs,  which is very challenging and few people ever successfully kill.  
My personal opinion is that its a good idea.  Why not make them available?  Its only 1 per account.  It isn't like every player in the game is going to now have an eternal DP weapon.  I think it'll make the player base happier and help even the playing field between those who have played for a long time and those who are newer to the game. 

A Pic From the Fools Day Event

The latest Aion event celebrates April Fools Day.   There arent any quests associated with this event,  just a fun bunch of mobs from some of Aion's instances such as Steel Rake,  Haramel,  and Dark Poeta.  I was

near Altar of Avarice a couple of days ago,  and I saw this mob: 

 Its Tahabata from Dark Poeta and you'll only see him if you do the "S" run,  which is the highest level of difficulty,  so most ppl never see him.  During this event he's a much tamer lvl 52 (?) mob who isn't that hard to kill :).