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Aion thought experiment


Nalariel

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Well my friend and I have discussed that what if Aion 6.0 still happened but we changed something a bit would it survive and more success than original 6.0

I purposed that transparent scrolls are default and we got a BCM shop with full skins like before 6.0.
My friend believed Aion still fall because huge different of ultimate and legendary gears damage even we removed transformation system and back to scrolls system, Aion still declining.
I also believed Aion still fall but slower decline than original 6.0.

Now this is the interesting question what if game mechanics/system is same as classic Aion/no daevanion skills but with maps wiped out ?
I can't predict the outcome of this at all but I assuming Aion still declining but doing much better than original 6.0 removing a lot of instances and maps will have a negative effect like when 4.8 removed 4 maps.

So I concluded that as long as we don't deal with transformation system and greatly different between ultimate/legendary/ancient gears we will never stop Aion declining population (If classic Aion is not an option at all)

Just a fun stuff I had a chat with my friend :)

Maybe in infinite universes ,NCsoft still constantly persist on p2w but ours took the hardest hit :P
What clearly show now is mobile monetize won't work with PC gaming but why invest so big on PC games when returning income is so little comparing to mobile where you invest little but a lot bigger profit xD

Final thought
This post won't change anyone mind or NCsoft policy. So don't get any hope for it Hahaha. Just some fun experiment ;D

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There is probably alot to talk about here but I will share some of what i thought was wrong with 6.0. The biggest issue I had with 6.0 was the combination of the removal of so many maps/content and having only 1 map that all players were forced on (Lakrum).  A change i would have done would to have left Illuma and Norsvold as level 75+ PVE zones with rifts so PVP could still take place there and had Lakrum as the new PVP zone. That way players would of had more content spread out thru different zones instead of being stuck in one single map. For that matter i would not have removed the Abyss and would have instead tried to improve or change the flying mechanic of the game so the Abyss would have been a 4th endgame map players would have had access to, but I understand this flying mechanic was not popular so I can see why its removed.

As for the story part and overall leveling part of the game but I wont go into all the details of it but I would not have removed so many of the zones and gutted it down as badly as they did, actually the 7.5 story and leveling changes are worse than the 6.0 changes. You are just on an acorn hunt now, thats about all the story this game has until you reach 75. If anything why does a game that makes its money off of the cash shop sales, not sell Level 80 tickets directly so players who dont want to go thru all that story and leveling could just spend money to get Alts leveled instantly? I never understood that.

I wont discuss P2W since thats how this game makes its money but they should not have removed players kinah and reduced it to 30% of whatever they had, should not have removed free mounts and free skins from the luna, should not have made it so difficult to do any of the new instances unless you had compensation gear. I would say at least 7.5 is closer to what i thought 6.0 should have been, more endgame zones, more pvp instances, faster gear earning so players can try PVP and PVE instances, more content overall from what 6.0 was.

 

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I joined the official servers at 3.X . The maps were full of players. All of them. I think that was the best situation for Aion I saw. The begginings of Aion 4.X were ok too. But they players started to left after few updates. Aion 5.X was really sad. So few players and they had to merge servers and after that, even more players left. I was here at the begginings of Aion 5.X and wasn´t so much better than beffore. I cam back 2 months ago and I think we have a lot more people now. 

IMO what affected the game were some points: 

- In some way we slowly lost the roles. Every class became strong enought to do everything. At some point we had sorcs and SW tanking a lot of bosses. 

- We lost so many maps and we liked them. Maybe we did not play them on that moment, but still was so sad and depresing. And you dont want to be sad in a game. 

- We lost options. We had so many ways to get gear (coins, instances, crafting, quest) and all of them were similar in value and the difficulty to get. We lost that. Proffesions were ruined first and destroyed after that. At some point we started to have only 1 endgame gear for PvE and for PvP and only 1 way to get it. Finally we started to get those in events. Now we have again coins and some gear to get. 

- We lost content. Some people decided that the only good thing is casual PvP, and all the people doing other things must be ashamed. So we lost the proffesions, We lost so much grinding, Instances became harder and gear from there started to have so much RNG, The housing feature was never improved and finally was broken, Farming coins and tokens were eliminated, Farming skins and trading them became harder, Playing with the broker started to be complicated and not so profitable. Helping new players was useless. And finally we found that actually nobody likes real PvP. Just try to do dredgion or other PvP instances. Nobody there. What people likes is to use geared toons to kill ungeared people farming quest. 

- NCSoft started to be disrespecful with the players and people paying. They created a lot of items and content whit the intention to make money in BCM. But they never think so well about that and most of them failed and became P2W and created unbalance. So many times they had to destroy those features and the players lost confidence. A lot of money and effort was destroyed in the last years

- In the same line with the last, the events, in the past use to provide small items, skins, some funny aditions. But at some point somebody decided to make them a way to create balance by providing hard to get gear from endgame instances (or impossible to get from the designed way), rare and expensive materials (like enchants and manastones). And a lot of people learned from that that effort was a wrong strategy on Aion. If something is too difficult, then dont do it, and wait for an event to get it for free. We still have something of that. 

 

So, I really think we are in a better situation than Aion 6.0 cause we have some old maps back (even if are not the same). We have some extra options to play again (some coins to get gear). Roles are important again. We have transparent transformations and we are starting to use skins again. The transformations now are easier to get and last longer so we can use them everywhere to walk faster. And we are starting to have more options, with many things to focus on. I dont think old mechanics or new ones have so much impact. Most of the players don´t like to do maths. Also I think transformations had an impact, but I dont think transparent transformations in the past could do so much change. I think gears and the difficulty to get them had a bigger impact. 

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Thanks for a lot of discussing :)

Well I'll start with roles first ,I don't think roles are important but sorc,sw,sin tanking is driven by greed people making small groups for instances for more loots and more enchantment stones and that amplified greatly in 4.x when they introduced tempering solution that can sell for a big kinah.I think loot box is the right solution but better would be loots depend how much contribute to group such as DPS,heal to each person so they don't be lazy.You know everyone get their own loot depends how much DPS they did like siege.I can't think anything about class who heal yet but that's NC job to think not me :P

About Aion 7.0 beginning to recover I used to believed that too but in reality I realized it's a false hope it's more like a way to make whales pay more let say they don't give anything to f2p players at all. Then whales will have no reasons to buy better gears because no one can do anything to them why spend more when you already immortal.Nice stuff giving to f2p is the way to sell more on whale players. Like in a country that ruling with dictatorship they fooled people that they got a chance and if they really work hard they can become one of elite people too. But in reality there're very few people who can make it to that status and some of those people became Aion celebrities. I'm certain some of whale players paid to be celebrities not because they having fun in games.

About 3.0 had so much people because it was free to play ? I disagreed with this too,Aion 6.0 in Korea was free to play too but it failed to get attention from people and so does so many f2p games. Aion 3.0 was the best of Aion that giving players every option to do everything in game.

PvP is not the ultimate goal in any games as many people believed it's not defining your skill or anything ,most opponents I met in p server in 4.x do not go alone they always come in group people getting ranks by spamming EB I wonder if that defining anything. My ultimate goal is having fun and pvp is not making me having it I refused to attack people until they started it.

But if you take a perspective from NC CEO and with the rise of mobile gaming their profit is extremely good comparing to PC games ,wouldn't you do the same if you're in CEO shoes ? Even you don't want your share holders probably forcing you to. But again a CEO can choose a slave obeys (Kill him with a golf club LOOOOL :D)

And I believed events should be nothing more than giving new players experience better like AC,Kahrun symbol,scolls,skins or Blood Mark or enchantment stones that's not super OP like 130.Events should not completely over took normal gameplay. If instances too hard they should nerf it not giving that instance gears in events.

Lastly I believed NC is reconsidering classic aion because I heard they talking about it with Gameforge. We will see how that goes.

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I think roles can be important to keep the players in the game. It happened to me in the past that after some time and with a list of friends, sometimes I needed a "dispell" or a templar, or maybe a chanter. Sometimes they were not online so I had to call them via social media. If roles are not a big thing, then anybody can just fit the place. So you are not really important and you can leave easily or nobody will wait for you. 

I dont think people just played cause in 3.0 it was free to play. I mean, is a good reasson to attrack a high number of players, but not to keep them for so long. And we were a huge community for sooo long. The game had something for everybody. So many things to do. Impossible to do everything, so you had to choose what you wanted to do. And in some way you interacted with other players to get those things you didn´t worked for. 

Unfortunatelly whales will be in any game with microtransactions based on items with RNG, and used to improve your power or to get things. In the past we used to have way less of those things in BCM. A lot of people just paid for the prestige suscription (with some small benefits) and skins. Now you can just buy an Ultimate transformation and mats for advanced stigmas. 

But still I dont get why we still have some whales in this game. NCsoft is totally unfriendly to people paying. We already lost a lot of big whales due to being deceived by NCsoft. Like those players who wasted thousands in temperings for the plumes (useless now), with the extra reward: a special fire horse and a black skin. Then we all had those, almost free, in the luna shop. If somebody is buying today those contracts and stigmas... well, I feel worried for them. We dont know if those things will still be something after a couple of updates. Or maybe we will just get those for free on every alt just being afk in the main city on december. And I used to spend some money in Aion. 

Agree with the point of the events. They should not replace the endgame content. Something we saw lately, that skins, emotes, motions could be great rewards and a lot of people like them and will work for them. Is not required to provide the best items ingame. But still need to be something nice. Nobody wants an event to get just a couple of potions and titan coins. 

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Sorry I didn't explain it clearly enough we know temp = tank and cleric is healer right ? what if cleric or temp is not in game ? then we should be able to do instances with alternatives heal or tank like AT,glad with more healers or heal with SW+ chanter combined.I know recently instance needs heavy dps and time base it should reduce to the point everyone can do and all rewards base on each person performance this would be eliminated stupid stuff as gearcheck and small party group.

Like I said before some whales didn't play the game they paid to be Aion celebrities. I think they like to have some followers ;P

People expected a major update in November but as long as we don't heal with transformation issue and huge different in gears nobody will come back or the easiest solution just launch classic lol xD

Everyone know classic is what everyone want but since nobody can guarantee classic will bring better money than current Aion. Classic is just a pipe dream for now ,until a server proved huge success of it.

And lastly any games with p2w gears hugely affected your character to the point make you immortal will fail you can make more 10 classes or 10 maps or even 1000 skins but as long as  this is not deal with the game won't be mainstream.

 

 

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4 hours ago, Nalariel-KT said:

Well I'll start with roles first ,I don't think roles are important but sorc,sw,sin tanking is driven by greed people making small groups for instances for more loots and more enchantment stones and that amplified greatly in 4.x when they introduced tempering solution that can sell for a big kinah.I think loot box is the right solution but better would be loots depend how much contribute to group such as DPS,heal to each person so they don't be lazy.You know everyone get their own loot depends how much DPS they did like siege.I can't think anything about class who heal yet but that's NC job to think not me :P

 

An act of doing content with less people because you were skilled enough to do so is not an act of greed. It is an act of skill and game knowledge. If anything those who get upset with people who can do content solo/with others are often envious and wished they were in that position.

One thing that plagues all MMORPG's be it WoW to BDO and back to Aion is that players have this hero complex(due to PvE story lines) that makes them believe they are better than they are. If you can only do content with 6 people then you are not as good(currently) as someone who can do it with 4 people. However if you can do it with 6 then it fluffs your ego until you hear about someone being able to do it with 4 then you complain it is unfair or they are just being greedy. That is not the case at all, It comes down to some gamer simply have more skill than others and they do content in the way they can do it. I see 0 greed just envious players when it comes to this subject.

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Actually what you said is not baseless ,any skilled players will ask themselves why they should carry players who didn't even use pots and got a chance to roll against them o_O

Well like I said if we have something like performance base rewards then small groups won't be needed anymore but ofc there should be a NPC who sell that instance skins like a shulack in sanctum and alternate way for bad perform players to get stuff and gears. Everybody should have a way to get stuff somehow not just elite people.

Anyway this is pointless we can't even ask NCwest to do simple stuff like adding skins to BMC which they getting money from it I don't believed GMs or staff don't understand just some higher decision don't approved.

I believed incoming Aion 8.0 will fail as long as it's based on 6.0 fundamental. I don't think what we discussing here will affected NC decisions at all but as I said it's just fun to discuss if things went differently for Aion :P

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Just some fun performance score system I imagined in my head ;P

Well we should divide performance score into 4 categories DPS/HEAL/BUFF/ENMITY
But we need to change healing skills to be more powerful and increase CD and deaths when you killing bosses should minus score so everyone will using pots and avoid deaths because it will lower their rewards.Switching between healing mode and dps mode should have 0 cd.

Modifier DPSx1.0/HEALx1.2/BUFFx1.2(chanter and sw buffs mainly not included self buffs and HP buffs)/ENMITYx1.0(not included from armors but from skills like taunt)
Cleric and chanter can't idle healing they need to dps too if they want best rewards.

People who lazy will get lesser rewards people who work hard will get better rewards.

I don't think this system will punishing newbies severely because in current system nobody wanna take them anyway but with this they can go instances and get better.
Sure some people will rage because bad clerics get them killed or people who refused to use pots died and get bad rewards but it will make them try to get better in game.

Just a fun idea:P

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But IMO those are 2 differents things. 

I totally know it feels much better when you can upgrade your toon and gain exp and skills to do more content. Actually I enjoyed so much that in Aion 5.8 (?). My cleric with some gear (and not even so great) was able to do a lot of things and it was like having so much power. Facing some bosses and doing DPS and heals at once, was great. I never had that sensation before or after. And I was not close enought to a really powerfull player. 

But on the other hand, when you are able to reach that point. And you can do more things alone or with just the people you find there, then you dont really need nobody. And nobody really needs you. It becomes easier to just go in solo mode to farm things faster. 

When you have a huge focus on roles and your tanks have a lot more resistance than others, DPS can not obtain enought HP with their skills and need a healer. When the healer can not do enought DPS. And you start needing people doing some task cause you really can´t, then you need to create bounds in the game. You need to talk and play with others and those others will need you cause they can not do what you do. Then, is really harder to go away. If you are not in, they will ask you to login cause they need you. It´s complicated, but at some point you are part of something and you need to stay. lets remember that every class had more skills before and they worked different. Now is just Tank-Healer-DPS

And, with more skills was harder to master a class. You needed a lot of time to really know how to use your toons. Much more than now. So, after investing all that time and practice, was harder to leave and lose that. 

So on one side whe have something that feels so good, but also is easier and you play solo to do it better. But could be boring and less dependant on others. On the other hand we had a complex net with players doing different tasks but needing each other to play. I think the first one feels better, but the second one is better to keep a game populated. 

 

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To be honest I really don't know what's the situation in Aion NA right now. It's true when you skilled enough you can solo anything and don't need anyone but thing is everyone try to solo everything in every game not just Aion because more loots for them and sometimes your group just so stupid or too cheap to do certain things right and you feel right you carried everyone. But that's your choice just because you can solo doesn't mean you have to rejected your teammates. Right now you being forced to play with people does that make the game populated ? or it doesn't matter because the game is so bad right now ? xD Back in 3.0 people can solo everything even some ally mobs lol but yet it's the most populated ;D

I believed everyone should be able to do their own things whatever solo or group play the game shouldn't enforce you to do what it wants the game should offering every option to all players to choose how to play the game.
Same as trying to make everyone pay more but what's the result ? f2p just left you just lost them forever. Very same could say with PvErs NC cut their contents PvErs don't turn into PvP they just leave.

Well then again I say if you happy with current Aion then keep playing if you ain't then don't it's that simple.
Going to quote from Bioshock "Utopia is not a place but people" :)

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