The game should have a sub and I can agree to that but with a 13 year old game the subscription cost is too high. With it being $15 a month you're pitting yourself against games like FF14 and WoW, WoW slowly dying but that's beside the point. FF14 also has a $12 a month option for a sub if you just want a single character. This game has had no graphical refreshes, bringing it back to 2.0 is great (I started playing day 1 and still have the tin case with cd's) This brings back a lot of nostalgia, but that's honestly where it ends since there was little in the way of content back then.
Siels Aura is my biggest gripe and messing up the game in two ways for F2P players. (No I'm not complaining because I can't afford it.)
1.) The sub cost for the game I believe is too high I could see $10 a month but $15 is a stretch as I said before pits this game against MMO titans atm and will limit the income of new players looking for a game to play when they'll be thinking "Well if I'm gonna pay $15 a month I'll go back to WoW or FF14." Whatever their game of choice was. You're best bet is lowering the price and making it the cheaper option to other MMOs while providing a robust cash shop that stays more to cosmetics etc.
2.) Without the Aura you literally can't complete some quests because you can only accept junk items. I would move this to being able to accept green or below quality items as to keep players playing without driving them away. You want to keep people engaged in the game not allow them to play for an hour a day and force them off.
3.) Daeva pass costing $30 (From what I've heard I haven't looked into it since it's out of season atm) should be reduced to $15-$20 making the whole package cost around $30 for both. You'd probably see more sales for the packages this way.
This is just my two cents on the subject and my personal suggestion, feel free to comment as you wish but I'd like to see this game thrive again and be reborn not remain stagnant and kill itself off. Retail Aion is a barren wasteland, with hardly anyone playing, such a great game has been mishandled for so long and if you don't want to put the time and effort into rebirthing the game NC then sell it off to someone who will. As little people as this game has minus a select few whalers out this I doubt this game is making you much after the associated costs are taken out.
