are you kidding me?

[Noted]

Seriously NCwest. I mean it: SERIOUSLY????

What is wrong with you? The game is deteriorating and instead of trying to bring a fix for the lack of population, you offer a $50 solution?????????

OMG. I don't even have words for this. This is the nail for me. I was hopeful, I really was, but damn................

[Cookie]

Worst part is: It's not even the thing we really need. It's enchantment stones, which we just got tons of from the pass... When what we really need, manastones, we only got one box of from pass and only 2/week from the event...and that's if you didn't wanna buy anything else from the Autumn Coin event.... 

[Frankenberries]

I've recently come back and truly in the 12+ years playing this game I've never felt so demoralized, so far behind in gear, and just so disheartened with the bullshit pay to win. 

[Locke]

We keep asking for manastones. Instead, they give us AP. Now we all have multiple sets of gear with no manastones. Additionally, medal prices are up 10x.

We keep asking for more low-level drops like stigmas. Instead, they give us more XP. Leveling twice as fast means half the drops.

They can't just double or triple a resource in the economy without screwing it up.

The cash shop should be for "catching up" items, not best in slot items. Giving out untradable DP gear and 40e makes sense. Giving out L110s doesn't. Doing it for $50 is messed up. Remember all those people defending the candies on day one, while everyone else quit? This is why everyone left classic and this is also why everyone left retail.

People see the new Siel's Aura and Daeva Pass, along with their "apology" letter, and many want to come back... then they pull this stunt only a few weeks later.

The worst part is they never talk to us. They just send dumb surveys with typos about topics we don't even care about. No GMs, no forum presence, and the ticket system is all copied and pasted responses. Why is it so hard to talk to a human with this company?

[Oldplayer-IS]

And let's remember that even if you spend money and manage to equip yourself, there are people who use hacks and there is RMT.

The number of BOTS is huge, the economy is inflated, new players cannot buy anything on the broker and much of what is sold is sold by BOTS.

I agree with Locke, I don't see a human being in this company doing anything about the problems the game has.

Hacks destroy PvP, BOTs destroy the economy, and new players leave so faster than they arrive.

[Xarthas]

28 minutes ago, Oldplayer-IS said:

 the economy is inflated

new players cannot buy anything on the broker and much of what is sold is sold by BOTS.

 

Well I have to disagree on this part, if anyone paid attention to economy class, you'd know that it's about scarcity and demand. 

The economy is hyper-inflated yes, due to low population and very few people doing the sub 50 content. Resulting in extremely expensive stuff, especially lv 20-50 stigma's. (sigil of silence 20mil, body root 20mil, curse of roots 7mil). 

However, all the bots who can't be bothered to do all the main camp quests to blast to lv 50+, they farm mobs at all levels, resulting in drops to be sold on the broker. Right now, maybe once a week one of the previous stigma's is presented on the broker, can you imagine if there were not bots??? I doubt there would be one of these stigma's once every 2 months. As it currently stands, we need these bots to keep the broker active. Otherwise it would be barren as hell and more would quit. Yes even though these bots have profit in mind, we still need then. Otherwise the server would die.

I agree on the cheaters and such though. 

My own confidence has been crushed by the lack of communication from NCsoft, as well as not really having a clue whats going on. I will 100% quit when EU comes out, and probably most of the server. The server is doomed, lets be real, why not cash out on selling Estones and go out with filled pockets. 
NCsoft really have themselves to thank, maybe most blame goes to korea, but whatever. GG

Gameforge is a clown company, but at least they communicate and show signs of life. 

I had extremely high hopes for NCsoft, but after 2 months, that's all but gone. 

Edited October 19, 2022 by Xarthas

[Ontwo]

6 minutes ago, Xarthas said:

Well I have to disagree on this part, if anyone paid attention to economy class, you'd know that it's about scarcity and demand. 

The economy is hyper-inflated yes, due to low population and very few people doing the sub 50 content. Resulting in extremely expensive stuff, especially lv 20-50 stigma's. (sigil of silence 20mil, body root 20mil, curse of roots 7mil). 

However, all the bots who can't be bothered to do all the main camp quests to blast to lv 50+, they farm mobs at all levels, resulting in drops to be sold on the broker. Right now, maybe once a week one of the previous stigma's is presented on the broker, can you imagine if there were not bots??? I doubt there would be one of these stigma's once every 2 months. As it currently stands, we need these bots to keep the broker active. Otherwise it would be barren as hell and more would quit. Yes even though these bots have profit in mind, we still need then. Otherwise the server would die.

I agree on the cheaters and such though. 

My own confidence has been crushed by the lack of communication from NCsoft, as well as not really having a clue whats going on. I will 100% quit when EU comes out, and probably most of the server. The server is doomed, lets be real, why not cash out on selling Estones and go out with filled pockets. 
NCsoft really have themselves to thank, maybe most blame goes to korea, but whatever. GG

Gameforge is a clown company, but at least they communicate and show signs of life. 

I had extremely high hopes for NCsoft, but after 2 months, that's all but gone. 

It's real promising to see how well NC handles Aion Classic with the launch of Throne and Liberty coming out sometime in the future. From how poorly handled classic was I wouldn't touch T&L with a ten foot pole.

[Oldplayer-IS]

14 minutes ago, Xarthas said:

Well I have to disagree on this part, if anyone paid attention to economy class, you'd know that it's about scarcity and demand. 

The economy is hyper-inflated yes, due to low population and very few people doing the sub 50 content. Resulting in extremely expensive stuff, especially lv 20-50 stigma's. (sigil of silence 20mil, body root 20mil, curse of roots 7mil). 

However, all the bots who can't be bothered to do all the main camp quests to blast to lv 50+, they farm mobs at all levels, resulting in drops to be sold on the broker. Right now, maybe once a week one of the previous stigma's is presented on the broker, can you imagine if there were not bots??? I doubt there would be one of these stigma's once every 2 months. As it currently stands, we need these bots to keep the broker active. Otherwise it would be barren as hell and more would quit. Yes even though these bots have profit in mind, we still need then. Otherwise the server would die.

I agree on the cheaters and such though. 

My own confidence has been crushed by the lack of communication from NCsoft, as well as not really having a clue whats going on. I will 100% quit when EU comes out, and probably most of the server. The server is doomed, lets be real, why not cash out on selling Estones and go out with filled pockets. 
NCsoft really have themselves to thank, maybe most blame goes to korea, but whatever. GG

Gameforge is a clown company, but at least they communicate and show signs of life. 

I had extremely high hopes for NCsoft, but after 2 months, that's all but gone. 

I agree with you. Regarding the economy, let me develop my thinking better.

There is a scarcity of stigmas and a great demand for these stigmas. As a consequence, the price goes up, as you said, this is known. But there is one detail to consider. We also have the kinah product. BOTS 'produce' a lot of kinah and this causes the value of Kinah to drop, so it takes more and more kinah to buy something in the game. What ends up happening is that BOTS win twice, the first is by offering cheap kinah for RTM and then selling the scarce items for a high price doing RTM again. It's a vicious cycle.

NCSOSFT does nothing to solve the problems of BOTS and in the case of Stigmas they even have the option of putting them to sell in the store if greed speaks louder, or simply putting an NPC that sells these stigmas, they don't even do that.

[Xarthas]

1 hour ago, Oldplayer-IS said:

I agree with you. Regarding the economy, let me develop my thinking better.

There is a scarcity of stigmas and a great demand for these stigmas. As a consequence, the price goes up, as you said, this is known. But there is one detail to consider. We also have the kinah product. BOTS 'produce' a lot of kinah and this causes the value of Kinah to drop, so it takes more and more kinah to buy something in the game. What ends up happening is that BOTS win twice, the first is by offering cheap kinah for RTM and then selling the scarce items for a high price doing RTM again. It's a vicious cycle.

NCSOSFT does nothing to solve the problems of BOTS and in the case of Stigmas they even have the option of putting them to sell in the store if greed speaks louder, or simply putting an NPC that sells these stigmas, they don't even do that.

Hmm I still don't agree. Everyone had less kinah, shit would still be relatively just as(maybe but unlikely) or even more(probably) expensive, just not in absolute numbers.

 

Some more food for thought, take for example the new stones pack, 50$ for 5 stones lv 95 going for around lv 85, lv 95, lv110 etc. Lets say avg worth 20mil per stone. 100mil for 50$. RMT is ~20$ for 100mil. This new pack introduced by NCsoft, will make these stones WAY(probably) more expensive, since there is now actual value attached by NCsoft to these stones. Even further killing people who grind for money... And thus killing the game even more lmao

Edited October 19, 2022 by Xarthas

[Noted]

I was starting to think that I was the only one that had this problem...

I was so happy with the changes to Aura, I really was. And I do pay for Aura, and always have. But it would certainly bring some people back, even if only for PVPVE instances and daily quests.

But like, for real... this a joke.

I wont touch any of their next games, that is for sure.

[Oldplayer-IS]

3 hours ago, Xarthas said:

Hmm I still don't agree. Everyone had less kinah, shit would still be relatively just as(maybe but unlikely) or even more(probably) expensive, just not in absolute numbers.

 

Some more food for thought, take for example the new stones pack, 50$ for 5 stones lv 95 going for around lv 85, lv 95, lv110 etc. Lets say avg worth 20mil per stone. 100mil for 50$. RMT is ~20$ for 100mil. This new pack introduced by NCsoft, will make these stones WAY(probably) more expensive, since there is now actual value attached by NCsoft to these stones. Even further killing people who grind for money... And thus killing the game even more lmao

The scenario you described is interesting. Ballast between the cash shop and the kinah done in an “official” way could make the informal market price (RTM) increase or decrease.

Following the line of reasoning proposed, the RTM would sell more expensively because of the ballast, I can understand this. However, they can choose to sell cheaper, this way it would be more attractive for the player to perform an RTM instead of buying items at the cash shop.

What I mean is if some people buy the new stone packs and put them up for sale for 100kk. The RTM seller see this and start offering 100kk for $25. It is more advantageous to make an RTM than to buy the package, that way who controls the ballast is the RTM and as they use BOTS it is impossible to compete being a legitimate player.

In a scenario where there were no BOTS, the amount of kinah on the market would decrease over time, because of the fail rates in manastones and enchantment stones for example and also over time the prices would stabilize with the kinah generated legitimately.

[Locke]

There is a simple solution to drop rates: increase drop rates and have low-level items drop at high levels. It's ridiculous that anyone would think bots are a good thing. If someone said this to anyone playing another MMO, they would laugh at the thought and think it's crazy, yet it's a totally normalized opinion here. Likewise, I've seen for months people asking to put "solutions" in the cash shop instead of just making items available. The only "solution" people on the forums ever come up with is more bots and more pay to win. The state of this game's community is sad and deteriorated into this almost immediately after every sensible person left at launch.

[Ontwo]

25 minutes ago, Locke said:

There is a simple solution to drop rates: increase drop rates and have low-level items drop at high levels. It's ridiculous that anyone would think bots are a good thing. If someone said this to anyone playing another MMO, they would laugh at the thought and think it's crazy, yet it's a totally normalized opinion here. Likewise, I've seen for months people asking to put "solutions" in the cash shop instead of just making items available. The only "solution" people on the forums ever come up with is more bots and more pay to win. The state of this game's community is sad and deteriorated into this almost immediately after every sensible person left at launch.

The game should have high enough drop rates of lootable and gatherable items to make for a sustainable economy. We currently do not have that and if we did with bots the economy would be tanked not hyper inflated like it is.

[Alance]

The only way to keep playing NA Classic as it is, is to abandon any hope of positive change coming from NCSoft. We have to do it ourselves, and that means changing the focus from getting the ultimate +15 Archon/SW set for every character and build up the existing community.

There are still new players coming to the game, but they find themselves alone and unable to afford the gear and skills to even get to L50. Personally I like to adopt a noob whenever I can, even a little leg up can make a difference.  

I just filled my 6th character slot this last weekend, and I'm bummed I can't make more because of some artificial restriction. Every time I run Ishalgen/Altgard I meet one or two new players, make sure to add them to my friends list, give them extensive advice on how to level up best and tell them to PM me with any questions.

My main is still considered a fresh 55 with TacNCO gear because I spend so much time alting, clearing campaigns for low levels and farming aether to keep those prices stable.

I've got a great Legion that does both high and low level stuff and it would be a shame to see them leave the game because so many players focus solely on end game in these insular groups of 'hardcore' players.

I'm not throwing shade at them either, we need hardcore players who know the instances like the back of their hand and are strong and rich enough to lead sieges. Those Alliance kisks aren't cheap, and when I them with only 2 players bound to it I wince a little bit, knowing my friends lists has a ton of greyed out names under L50 who wanted to join but never made it.

Chapter One has done a great job on the Asmo side recruiting and developing new players, they're my main competition when I try to recruit

Long story short, the Legion mechanic is generally under utilised. We need to share essential items via LWH, and take a little more time on running those pesky campaigns for others that still can't be soloed, even with the elite nerf.

None of that solves the manastone problem however, at least not immediately, but you really don't need a full set of green stones until 55, and what we're lacking is players who have a shot at getting there.  

Just my thoughts on all this. Personally I enjoy the game as is because there's plenty to do, and if I can't get ahead at sieges I'll farm my alts or aether or level my crafts and make new friends. If I wanted a PvP game with a level playing field I'd just play a console fighting game. The challenge is what makes it fun for me.

[Noted]

As some of you have said, we need better drops, not cash shop bs. The suggestion to add low level drops at higher levels is already a thing, but afaik it goes only as far as level 40 isntance Alquimia for the Asmos and A.Labs for the Elyos. Both of those instances drop low level stigmas, but you can't farm them at level cap, sadly.

There is still room for improvement, but sadly they only listen when it's already too late...

[marikazan-KT]

Why are people shocked every time pay2win gets added was obvious this was the plan from the very Start. Passes candies paying for stigmas they will milk this for all they can to believe the game will change is amusement at its finest.

[Locke]

I knew what it would be the moment I saw the candies and I knew why everyone left at launch. What I'm shocked about is how the few remaining people actually ask for more bots and more pay to win. Also shocked that this game doesn't have a single GM.

But the latest thing that's shocking is they just had a sort of public apology, in which they increased drop rates and decreased the price of Siel's Aura and Daeva Pass. Then they add L110s for $50. That makes no sense.

I'm trying to understand the purpose of classic. It looks like they're adding a new class now and it seems they're thinking of ways to introduce new gear or raise the level cap. Basically they're making retail Aion again. I'm not sure what is even classic about classic.

Edited October 21, 2022 by Locke

[Tappy-KT]

Why not just prevent failed manasocketing from removing other socketed stones? Failing on the 6th slot burns through many stones quickly at 60% success. Definitely increases supply this way. 

[Passionate One]

Just coming back after a LONG hiatus.....EVERY time I log in (if I can log in) the first thing I see is "SDGKHKFSB: kinah 2/USD" or some such. This says to me that there is no hope that NCS will ever clear out the sellers. No game will ever be content until it is cleared of bots/hackers. I also do not agree with having to BUY your way through the game. Paying a sub I can see, which is how most games functions, with the option to buy vanity things. Take a look at WoW. While the changes they have made have enabled you to  lvl from 10-60 in 4 days, gearing is still the main object. You pay your $15 a month but can not P2W per se. Aion was a great game until they went F2P causing a loss of many players, myself included. I understand the whole reason companies create these games is to make money, BUT without players you dont make that money you greedy people want.....so I have only one question for ALL MMO companies: What will it take for you to actually give a damn about the product and your player base and actually fix some of the issue? That might just being back more bodies which equals more money.....and DONT blame it on COVID or the War, while these things are horrible, the excuse is getting old!

[Passionate One]

On 10/21/2022 at 10:02 AM, Locke said:

I knew what it would be the moment I saw the candies and I knew why everyone left at launch. What I'm shocked about is how the few remaining people actually ask for more bots and more pay to win. Also shocked that this game doesn't have a single GM.

But the latest thing that's shocking is they just had a sort of public apology, in which they increased drop rates and decreased the price of Siel's Aura and Daeva Pass. Then they add L110s for $50. That makes no sense.

I'm trying to understand the purpose of classic. It looks like they're adding a new class now and it seems they're thinking of ways to introduce new gear or raise the level cap. Basically they're making retail Aion again. I'm not sure what is even classic about classic.

Its the "Greed Machine" most gaming companies run on. Like I said before we all know their aim is to make money, and they want it fast. Instead of looking at the long run. They know people will always P2W, so they keep finding ways to do such. Most people cant or wont P2W, but  if a vanity items gets my attention, Im not above paying a few bucks, but having to PAY for things essential to  the game is ridiculous at best. Just to enjoy the things outside of of the main such as crafting, or getting the same level of reward for the same amount of work to finish a quest is #R%$^$%^&. Basically if you dont give them money its a form of punishment. I have an issue with "paying for pixels" as all that money spent stops being relevant once you stop playing or the game ends: IE City of Heroes. So until NCS ACTUALLY starts listening to its player base the only 3 people they apparently having working in development will keep coming up with fail ways to just keep the game scrapping by and taking money. It wouldnt suprise me if if most of the bots WORK for NCS!!!!

[Cyfur]

Use the aion chat filter, it works well.

Search these forums for instructions or Google it.

[Passionate One]

On 10/28/2022 at 6:41 PM, Cyfur said:

Use the aion chat filter, it works well.

Search these forums for instructions or Google it.

ROFL. If you are referring to my intentional use of hash tags and dollar signs etc it was done to safe guard my fingers from getting me banned.........