How to improve Aion Classic and attract more active players?

[Ponci]

Retail Aion was released 14 years ago. Im sure everyone remember and misses Gelkmaros and ingission or Tiamaranta Eye pvp. New server can start v2 with new road map. I can sacrifice my bakarma polearm and ap gears to playing this game much more new players, better than waiting for hours to doing some pvp. 

[Cyfur]

11 hours ago, Ponci said:

Retail Aion was released 14 years ago. Im sure everyone remember and misses Gelkmaros and ingission or Tiamaranta Eye pvp. New server can start v2 with new road map. I can sacrifice my bakarma polearm and ap gears to playing this game much more new players, better than waiting for hours to doing some pvp. 

They are not going to create a new server for 2.0, it's coming to Siel anyway.

[Load]

On 4/28/2022 at 2:40 PM, Violet said:

Some of us been playing Classic for more than 9 months, since day 1 and the server isn't really enjoyable right now, staff changed so many important things and it affected all the end game players. Honestly, I don't believe this post will change something soon but I just wanted you to know the things that been affecting this game in a negative way, @Rin. I made a list of some things that you guys should bring back / add in game and that us, players, would really appreciate and love:

 

1. Brusthonin / Theobomos gold items and godstones: It affected game economy really bad, affected the gameplay for players that like to grind your own stuff, bots still exists, that won't change, bots numbers on KR are even worse, Aion is a grinding game and we'd like to have the option to grind everything.

2. Sieges: Defending a fortress is the most lame thing right now, we don't get medals for defending so most people don't care to go defend and if there's a Dredgion going on, doesn't take 5 seconds to them to kill our deity, it's ridiculous. It's impossible to get divine fortress because we don't have too many active players to get it, maybe make his hp adjustable with the reality of our server.

3. Quna Shop / Daeva Pass: Putting the "Purra Cat Weapon Selection Box" was great choice. We love skins and we really would like to see more skins available on shop. Aion is a game with so many nice skins and we been getting similar skins on premium daeva pass, if I remember we had 2 similar skins, like a wedding dress, who's choosing it? C'mon, I'm sure you can do it better. Shop is still poor, in my opinion, why you guys don't add motions, permanent pets, emotes and the essential: MORE SKINS for all the kind of people, not only wedding dress!

 

That's so far what I miss in the game and I believe more people miss these things too. Our Aion community are very tired to make posts like this because you guys don't listen but we only want Aion to have more players and not to be a dead game.

1. Totally agree. They should reconsider those changes for NA.

2. I do not agree with this. The game is not balanced. Factions are not balanced. One faction would hold all fortresses, pretty much like it was before this change save rare ocasions.

3. Please more skins...

On 4/30/2022 at 7:11 AM, Thronos-DN said:

How to improve Aion Classic and attract more active players?

Does the aion community want more new active players though? Ask yourself this question, when was the last time you have mentored a new player? Or when was the last time you have been helpful to someone that needed to find a quest, dungeon, information, etc. From what I see on LFG and from experience of new players that I talk to is a very toxic community that's looking down on unskilled or new players that don't meet their criteria for "2k DPS" or "PvP geared premade" "paying 90mill each group member if bakarma spear drops". And to top it off all the technical mistakes ncsoft has done managing the game because they don't know their own game so what you have left are just clickes of people circle jerking each other complaining and wondering why the server is dead. So the next time you're wondering why the server is empty just take a look at the mirror.

 

On 4/30/2022 at 11:09 AM, Squid said:

This is not really true, There are a lot of players who are willing to tell new players do campaigns to get to level 50 there are not many players at all that are willing to help them complete the campaign's and then even less players who are willing to play with a fresh level 50.

So while objectively you are correct people do help lowbies/new players the level of help is not at the level that would keep players around long term in the game.

Are you going to stop doing S rank DP(if you are doing S rank DP) to help a new player do their first B or A rank DP? You mite but the reality is 99.95% of the community would not unless they can no longer get people on to do their own run.

 

For the two points above, this is a flawed game design. Players should not be "forced" to help new players, the game should do that. We are 9 months in Classic and there is virtually no catch up mechanic for new players.

Maybe give new players full SR set + weapon for doing SR 1, 2 or 3 times killing all bosses or something like that. SR gear is not game breaking and it would allow them to start doing all endgame content: DP S, Fort instances HM, etc. This would be  HUGE change and it would cost NOTHING to NC.

This is just a RANDOM idea that came to mind. It took me 10 seconds.

On 5/1/2022 at 11:53 AM, Tron said:

1. Offer a cheaper sub option that has limits ( 3-5$ gets you 3 hours of siels a day) - This is something NCwest should be capable of doing with their toolset. 

 

2. Allow F2P players to do quests and get the rewards but not allowed to loot dropped items. This is something NCwest can not do with their current toolset.

 

3. Promote PVP videos, Fort Sieges and streamers to bring players back and entice new players.  This is something NCwest can do with their current toolset.

1. I'm all in for a cheaper sub, but no limits to Aura. They could limit you to have only 1 character for, lets say $8 or $10 a month. No other limitations.

2. Yes! This is ridiculous that F2P can't even collect quest items roflmao.

3. They won't advertise sadly. It would be awesome, though.

On 5/1/2022 at 12:01 PM, Kynurenigh said:

Well, one of the reasons why the game is dying is because they market to toxic people.  The main thing bringing toxic players in is the P2W. They also go beyond that and market appearances that are inherently toxic such as https://i.imgur.com/1BjnMY8.jpeg. It's like they are supporting toxic behavior.

This makes no sense. It's just a emote... it's the same as calling people who like to see female characters in bikini's perverts. WTF? It's a videogame.

On 5/1/2022 at 2:03 PM, Avator-KT said:

May I add another issue is that a -significant- portion of our players are EU and can't participate in half the content?

Can't we have another tiak window earlier in the day?

Sieges a bit earlier? Even for east coast NA.. divine from midnight to 1am is maddness

I want better times for SA then too. This is not a thing they should do imo...

On 5/2/2022 at 6:30 PM, marikazan-KT said:

Some glaring issues i see for any new or returning player.

Due too low population and most people now at 50.

Skill Books and Stigmas are in ridiculously short supply,there should be a vendor or Event leading up too 2.0 launch.

I saw a inescapeable judgment go for 20 Million Slashing Winds 10 million plus ,new players cannot compete with that same as Stigmas high demand ones are rarely on broker.

Group Content a lot of campaigns do require groups too complete it takes hours to get groups for quests and dungeons,who wants to play in a empty MMO.These end campaign quests should be made so they can be done solo,since the population is unlikely to ever recover.

We have had loads of Experience Events and also double AP so why still refuse to put in 100/200% Experience and AP amulets into shop permanently?

Also AP amulets why not increase ones for a hour like before even with 100% weekends it takes hundreds of thousands of AP to grind out a basic 30 elite set.

Gear drops while im all for running dungeons players want too see gear progression,running any dungeon whether it be FT or  other dungeons simply to get a Extendable which is a given for pvp is not enjoyable and just makes people quit,and again at 50 players hit the paywall because a lot dont have half a billion kinah to drop on a weapon.

I was really hoping Korea would of learnt from its original release and fixed the issues that saw the game bleed thousands of players in the first few months,there was a lot of opportunity here to make this game sustainable with some minor tweaks before its release yet they are always done after the games lost players it makes no sense when it was preventable.

 

On 5/6/2022 at 3:35 PM, Nia said:

As a returning player I'd like to see:

• Leveling survey items available to more than one character. The leveling support items are really useful, but for those of us who haven't settled on/geared a main yet, it's painful to have everything locked to one character.
• Kinah for skill books please  It gets painful around level 40 with how expensive everything is.

Yes for both. We NEED catch up mechanics as I have mentioned above. You don't want to give people free PVP gear, but provide the means for people to start farming it, such as my idea of a full SR set + weapon. I don't see the harm that it could do, at this stage of the game, to give people free SR gear.

Some might arguee that crafting would become obsolete, and it would to some extend. But answer me this: can new players even afford the 7-25m kinah for crafted stuff? They can't even buy all their skill books lol.

[Tasoulaaaa]

On the kr servers for 2.2 they have made Sr soloable with getting the full set in 3 repeats with the wepon they have also made the lvl 25 instance soloable as well. 

With the lvl 42 skill being sold on the skill vendor.

For 2.4 they have rebalenced the campaigns to make the soloable as well.

The changes are coming even it's a bit to slow but then we might have a mix and match from later patches into 2.0 at launch that should help players catch up.

My therory is that we will be getting 2.2 with 2.0 like they have done before in earlier patches for us

[Cyfur]

Aion doesn't need F2P.

If WoW can thrive on a $15/mth. subscription since inception, so could Aion,  if NCsoft would fix all the problems the community keeps posting about over and over for years, eg. failure rates, equipment inequality,  having to run the same instance hundreds of times for one piece of gear to drop etc.  One of the biggest issues in the game is the bad RNG that effects almost everything, people are sick of failure.

[marikazan-KT]

The problems as i see it and many may disagree,however they have probaly been playing 9 months during the peak and these players  are geared.

1.Quest rewards are just a joke,i'll use wow as a example dailys give half decent rewards and let players catch up somewhat.

2.So Players tell you just hit 50 thats when the game starts,except every group almost wants geared and experienced,how many posters here truly help players form groups and allow them too catch up?

3.Pvp gear for NA at least level 30 gear is way way overpriced in terms of being able too gain AP.Lets be honest fort guards during a Double ap weekend start at 140 AP kill which diminishes as you rank and level unless you suicide to stay lower which is simply stupid game design that you have too deliberately stay low level.

4.I have already suggested 100% AP boost amulets for 40 and lower and people call it pay2win,how is it pay2win when most of the server already has their gear sets,not counting all the fort carry feeds being sold already.

It would allow new and returning players a chance to farm AP faster which is a huge issue,if you rift to elthen or asmo equivalent there is literally hardly any players to pvp against,look at korea servers you can pvp all the time and earn decent AP doing what this game is supposed be about openworld pvp not killing thousands of Npcs for AP.

5>Again gear drops this was a glaring issue for years upon first release and the same thing has happened again,players shouldnt need to be doing 100-900+ runs simply to get a extendable to compete and be considered geared.

6.I see tons of posts saying give us skins blah blah, so lets stand around looking good when theres virtually no open world pvp happening,makes no sense.

7.Since they wont even add gear wraps/passes to help your own toons or allow pvp gear be put into warehouse,why is any new or return player going to bother when they are already at a massive disadvantage.I have tons of crowns id like to use too buy pvp gear for the char i finally settled on as my main but they wont move them,which is stupid i earnt paid for them doesnt matter which toon i want too use them.

8.Campaigns were all good and well 6 months ago,goodluck getting groups too complete anything now and there should be way more dark blue quests to help leveling.

I havent seen a GM even reply too anything in this thread no different too Aions entire life they want players money but they ignore players and dont implement half of the things suggested,the business model of Aion NA is utterly depressing when the game could be made so much better.I love the excitement of openworld when you see that red dot,but meh game hasnt improved in the slightest second time round which really is a shame.

[Load]

5 hours ago, Tasoulaaaa said:

On the kr servers for 2.2 they have made Sr soloable with getting the full set in 3 repeats with the wepon they have also made the lvl 25 instance soloable as well. 

With the lvl 42 skill being sold on the skill vendor.

For 2.4 they have rebalenced the campaigns to make the soloable as well.

The changes are coming even it's a bit to slow but then we might have a mix and match from later patches into 2.0 at launch that should help players catch up.

My therory is that we will be getting 2.2 with 2.0 like they have done before in earlier patches for us

We needed those changes YESTERDAY! lol

[Cyfur]

What they need is a soloable L50 instance where you can get some AP to buy stigmas.

 

[Load]

30 minutes ago, Cyfur said:

What they need is a soloable L50 instance where you can get some AP to buy stigmas.

 

I mean... if they give you some gear that you can run instances with, then they don't need to "hand" you stigmas, you can grind yourself.

Is the free SR a nice addition to the game? Yes, but it's coming way too late. In 2.0 or 2.2 SR gear will be garbage... they should give it away now to help people farm DP gear. This is for new players btw. To attract new players to the game. Make it less painfull for the grind to START.

I honestly don't know why don't they think of those quality of life stuff sooner... 

[Neferupito]

Be it SR, TL or DP, the problem is the same for all lvl 50 : if you're geared and you still haven't got what you want (because drop rate are shit), you want to spend the minimum time possible inside and as such you don't want new 50 with you.

The best things they could do and that we know they can do with too much hassle is to remove mobs on the way.

SR is 2h30 long even with a group of lvl 50, DP is 2h long with fresh new 50 and TL, if the temp refuses to train mobs, lasts more than 1 hour. All that with a 5% droprate on the final boss.

It's been 4 months since merge and 1.9, people are bored to death and are just leveling alts waiting for 2.0

Remove mobs, increase droprate and you'll solve the "fresh 50" problem.

[Squid]

14 hours ago, Cyfur said:

Aion doesn't need F2P.

If WoW can thrive on a $15/mth. subscription since inception, so could Aion,  if NCsoft would fix all the problems the community keeps posting about over and over for years, eg. failure rates, equipment inequality,  having to run the same instance hundreds of times for one piece of gear to drop etc.  One of the biggest issues in the game is the bad RNG that effects almost everything, people are sick of failure.

This is just wishful thinking, There are things Aion does not have that it will never have. Like PvE servers which is close to 90% of the community in WoW. That alone is one a reason why Aion failed it does not work w/o factions and faction v faction content is a niche in the genre.

[Cyfur]

3 hours ago, Squid said:

This is just wishful thinking, There are things Aion does not have that it will never have. Like PvE servers which is close to 90% of the community in WoW. That alone is one a reason why Aion failed it does not work w/o factions and faction v faction content is a niche in the genre.

Aion use to have "Fast Track" PvE server.

[Squid]

59 minutes ago, Cyfur said:

Aion use to have "Fast Track" PvE server.

Nothing like a pure PvE server which attracts 10s of 1000s of players who refuse to PvP due to w/e reason. Also fast track was not even max level so you could not walk to end game instances safely.

Edited May 10, 2022 by Squid

[Cyfur]

3 hours ago, Squid said:

Nothing like a pure PvE server which attracts 10s of 1000s of players who refuse to PvP due to w/e reason. Also fast track was not even max level so you could not walk to end game instances safely.

True, there is far more money to be made in good PvE than imbalanced PvP.

[FictionGirl-DN]

10 hours ago, Cyfur said:

True, there is far more money to be made in good PvE than imbalanced PvP.

NC just refuses to expirement with it. 
FFXIV and GW2, sepperates PvE and PvP and it seems to work.
If they made an almost pure PvE server and a pure PvP server(where you can buy basic crappy PvP armor&weapons below level 36, so you can start PvP in PvP set at level 25, but also lock being ganked by a level 36+ player if you are level 25-30. New player will just leave if they are 25-30 and get one shot killed by a level 50.
The almost pure PvE server should have 24/7 rifts and instances open more often, to stimulate group play and exploring the whole world, like in GW2 and FFXIV. The pure open world PvE server should still have PvP if you dual challange or go into PvP instanced zones. Reshanta forts could still be used but in another way. 
 

[Nalariel]

Easy answer for no pve server because they can't sell p2w in that server.

No pvp = no point to pay 2 win.

[Arhangelos]

This topic is practically obsolete, they could have started Classic correctly form start, thousands of players were lost in the first 2 weeks! Since then nothing positive changed, I would have forgotten the existence of classic if it wasn't for the forums being combined and forcing us to check all posts.

Everyone has an idea of how to make the game better, the publishers have already made their statements on day one though.

No shade!

Edited May 11, 2022 by Arhangelos

[Load]

1 hour ago, Nalariel said:

Easy answer for no pve server because they can't sell p2w in that server.

No pvp = no point to pay 2 win.

This is true to an extent. They can still make TONS of money off of pure PVE, but they would have to make Aion PVE much, much better for that to happen. Look for videos on FFXIV or Lost Ark endgame content for a more elaborated PVE experience that is worth paying for.

Aion PVE, with some RARE exceptions, are pure DPS race fights with some adds...

[Cyfur]

On 5/11/2022 at 9:21 PM, Nalariel said:

Easy answer for no pve server because they can't sell p2w in that server.

No pvp = no point to pay 2 win.

The PvP is the worst part of Aion, because of the gear inequality. The PvP instances etc. are fine, it's the failure to address the gear issue that has cost them sales. Aion encourages PvP gear snobs that won't let others join their group. It's a real mess.

[Cyfur]

One thing I forgot to mention, a simple but only partial fix for PvP gear inequality, would be to make ALL gear tradable on the broker, like most MMOs. The impact would be immediately felt, and a great improvement to the game.

The gear inequality problem peaked in Aion retail, that's one of the reasons many moved to Aion Classic to get a fresh start on gear, but now so much time has passed in Classic that gear is once again an insurmountable gap for new players/characters.

 

[marikazan-KT]

3 hours ago, Cyfur said:

One thing I forgot to mention, a simple but only partial fix for PvP gear inequality, would be to make ALL gear tradable on the broker, like most MMOs. The impact would be immediately felt, and a great improvement to the game.

The gear inequality problem peaked in Aion retail, that's one of the reasons many moved to Aion Classic to get a fresh start on gear, but now so much time has passed in Classic that gear is once again an insurmountable gap for new players/characters.

 

When they finally added pvp gear that could be bought it was one of the best things too happen,allowing players to access gear easily.They could fix the issues now with a few things.

1.Allow pvp gear to be sold and traded.

2.Allow gear even to be traded via account warehouse would be a big help.

3.Lower the cost of 30/40 pvp gear by at least half would help players get geared much faster.We simply do not have the population of korea whereby pvp is rampant and you can get Tons of AP.As ive previously stated while double AP weekends help its still a massive grind to get the gear even without ganks and nobody else farming a fort.

4.Add the codes that allowed players too buy silver/gold coin boxes with a chance of giving pvp gear.

There is so much they could do too be more helpful,i want to give this company money as i enjoy openworld pvp but the grind is boring as hell its just not fun Farming guard npcs to get geared.

On another subject they need to make campaigns soloable again its getting impossible too find groups for the last few hard ones.And indratu legion really should say group quest on it,many players wont know if you use the teleport its extremely hard to get to the place due too elite mob density.

They should let the Npc port you there multiple times so you can get groups.

[Cyfur]

I see in the Aion Classic 2.0 release notes:

The Elite Primus Pilus set is a PvP set for people who have completed their Elite Tribunus set or are looking for additional choices for their next Abyss equip.

So does that mean in order to obtain the Elite Primus Pilus set, you have to have have a complete 50e set first?

 

 

[Aureli]

The issue here is that NCWest still has to go and submit the changes to Korea to get anything changed. If NC Korea would give each of their subsidies free reign to do things and not require permission from the head office, things would be better. As it sits, NCWest has to submit request changes to  Korea, and then they have to wait....and wait... and wait some more to find out whether or not the request is approved or denied.  

NCSoft needs to go back to being just a publisher and let its subsidies handle the work, or let another company take over. I can only imagine the headaches that the employees of NCWest have to put up with. 

[Venny]

https://chng.it/H5B9cFrHTn If we want in europe sign for petition