Another lost and confused returning player

[kitkatya-IS]

I used to play this game back in Steel Cavalry days, so I was quite confused after logging in since all my previous quests are invalidated/gone. I had a level 42 gunslinger but... I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to do now. My next campaign quest is on level 54 and the quest log told me to do regional quests and reach level 54. So I assume these "regional quests" are the repeating quests ones? Becase I've exhausted those blue marker quests for my level and the only thing left (at least in heiron) are repeating quests. They give massive XP though, which is surprising for Aion. I went to level 48 just screwing around. I remember XP was hard to come by just doing quests and there was an awful lot and almost painful amount of grinding just to get to that point, even when I was on fast track server. So what exactly is going on here? Did they just give up lower levels and draw people to endgame?

I made a new toon to remember some mechanics and they cut a lot of starting quests in Poeta, too, Akarios Plains quests are removed altogether. It made me a bit sentimental going back to the end of Akarios Plains and seeing Elpas just kinda standing there. So they also cut a good deal of main quests/storyline too.

Anyway, I spawned in Heiron and there are just one or two NPCs with said regional quests that match with my current level. Is that all of it? What other major changes did I miss? I see they nuked a lot of maps, including Abyss/Reshanta. Upper sanctum is completely closed off, and is the airship to outer dock inoperable? Because the dock is fenced off.  Is crafting replaced with other mechanism? This is kinda sad, the world in this game is amazing when I started playing even though it was grindy as hell, but with the way they cut contents and area it looks pretty dead atm and seems there are little to no content left for PvE players. So, uh, what do I do now?

[Arhangelos]

Pretty much as you said, trying to level an older char might create some blank area because you do not have those campaigns or quests. Making a new char is kinda easier to progress as you take it from 0 and go forward with the campaigns and blue quests.

What server/race you play?

[Matsukamy-KT]

36 minutes ago, kitkatya-IS said:

I used to play this game back in Steel Cavalry days, so I was quite confused after logging in since all my previous quests are invalidated/gone. I had a level 42 gunslinger but... I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to do now. My next campaign quest is on level 54 and the quest log told me to do regional quests and reach level 54. So I assume these "regional quests" are the repeating quests ones? Becase I've exhausted those blue marker quests for my level and the only thing left (at least in heiron) are repeating quests. They give massive XP though, which is surprising for Aion. I went to level 48 just screwing around. I remember XP was hard to come by just doing quests and there was an awful lot and almost painful amount of grinding just to get to that point, even when I was on fast track server. So what exactly is going on here? Did they just give up lower levels and draw people to endgame?

I made a new toon to remember some mechanics and they cut a lot of starting quests in Poeta, too, Akarios Plains quests are removed altogether. It made me a bit sentimental going back to the end of Akarios Plains and seeing Elpas just kinda standing there. So they also cut a good deal of main quests/storyline too.

Anyway, I spawned in Heiron and there are just one or two NPCs with said regional quests that match with my current level. Is that all of it? What other major changes did I miss? I see they nuked a lot of maps, including Abyss/Reshanta. Upper sanctum is completely closed off, and is the airship to outer dock inoperable? Because the dock is fenced off.  Is crafting replaced with other mechanism? This is kinda sad, the world in this game is amazing when I started playing even though it was grindy as hell, but with the way they cut contents and area it looks pretty dead atm and seems there are little to no content left for PvE players. So, uh, what do I do now?

Run. Run as fast as you can, and don't look back.

[kitkatya-IS]

13 minutes ago, Arhangelos-KT said:

Pretty much as you said, trying to level an older char might create some blank area because you do not have those campaigns or quests. Making a new char is kinda easier to progress as you take it from 0 and go forward with the campaigns and blue quests.

What server/race you play?

I'm on Danaria (Elyos). What do you mean by blank area? Do you mean newer quests that my character doesn't get? I prefer to use my old toon though, out of pure sentimental reason. I'm okay if by using it means I'm a little bit slow to progress compared to making a new one, as long as I can get a pointer of what I can do to catch up with the newer version of the game with my current level. Is that possible? Does the main quest (54 onwards) still give you updated equipment? I'm pretty sure the ones I'm currently wearing are from the previous main quest line.

[Kubei-DN]

What you see now barely resembles a husk of the original Aion. Right now it's an RNG gacha type of game filled with disappointments. You're off better not going in too far, casual gaming doesn't exist here.

[kitkatya-IS]

3 minutes ago, Kubei-DN said:

What you see now barely resembles a husk of the original Aion. Right now it's an RNG gacha type of game filled with disappointments. You're off better not going in too far, casual gaming doesn't exist here.

Oof that sucks. I did read a lot of players were left hugely disappointed after 6.0 but I wasn't aware of how bad it was until I play it again. Shame, it was such a good game.

[Arhangelos]

59 minutes ago, kitkatya-IS said:

I'm on Danaria (Elyos). What do you mean by blank area? Do you mean newer quests that my character doesn't get? I prefer to use my old toon though, out of pure sentimental reason. I'm okay if by using it means I'm a little bit slow to progress compared to making a new one, as long as I can get a pointer of what I can do to catch up with the newer version of the game with my current level. Is that possible? Does the main quest (54 onwards) still give you updated equipment? I'm pretty sure the ones I'm currently wearing are from the previous main quest line.

I mean that at your level you could have had a campaign but since you are an old char you might not get it, and you might have to level to some higher level until you trigger the campaign rows.

Also I am the exact opposite, Asmodian katalam,, so I cannot offer ingame help at any point.

[kitkatya-IS]

24 minutes ago, Arhangelos-KT said:

I mean that at your level you could have had a campaign but since you are an old char you might not get it, and you might have to level to some higher level until you trigger the campaign rows.

Also I am the exact opposite, Asmodian katalam,, so I cannot offer ingame help at any point.

Oh, sorry if I didn't make it clear, I do have campaign quest, but I've already done it and the next one requires me to level up to 54 first. I mean with campaign quests it was always that way, so I'm not bothered by it. What bothers me, though, is the lack of standard quests. At the moment I only have like 2-3 active quests (which are all repeating quests) while the last time I played I could have quite a number of quests racked up in different areas. Probably has to do with how they change the leveling system. I still don't get what they're trying to do. The repeating quests are hardly difficult but they give you like 50% of XP you needed to level up so this is a pretty shocking/major change for someone who haven't played Aion in a long period. But yeah as I've observed this does seem to mean that complementary quests are cut down, which sucks as a PvE player since that's how you get the little tidbits of the lore and stuff.

When I found out they removed most maps, saying I was bummed is an understatement, I really loved the high fantasy feel of Aion. Also I still can't believe they really got rid of most of Reshanta. I feel like it was such a core map in this game. BDO and GW2 both has great gameplay for me, but honestly, as bad as Aion is I still prefer the overall feel/aesthetic of this game. Also the soundtrack is what really shines in this game for me, props to the composer. If NCSoft just make a paid version of Aion and fix their shite I'd honestly be down for it.

[Cyfur]

2 hours ago, kitkatya-IS said:

Oh, sorry if I didn't make it clear, I do have campaign quest, but I've already done it and the next one requires me to level up to 54 first. I mean with campaign quests it was always that way, so I'm not bothered by it. What bothers me, though, is the lack of standard quests. At the moment I only have like 2-3 active quests (which are all repeating quests) while the last time I played I could have quite a number of quests racked up in different areas. Probably has to do with how they change the leveling system. I still don't get what they're trying to do. The repeating quests are hardly difficult but they give you like 50% of XP you needed to level up so this is a pretty shocking/major change for someone who haven't played Aion in a long period. But yeah as I've observed this does seem to mean that complementary quests are cut down, which sucks as a PvE player since that's how you get the little tidbits of the lore and stuff.

When I found out they removed most maps, saying I was bummed is an understatement, I really loved the high fantasy feel of Aion. Also I still can't believe they really got rid of most of Reshanta. I feel like it was such a core map in this game. BDO and GW2 both has great gameplay for me, but honestly, as bad as Aion is I still prefer the overall feel/aesthetic of this game. Also the soundtrack is what really shines in this game for me, props to the composer. If NCSoft just make a paid version of Aion and fix their shite I'd honestly be down for it.

To level up to 54 go and find the normal blue quest that is around level 50 and do that a few times. On the Elyos side it's given to you by an Elim standing next to a couple of Shugo.

Also, you can get a couple of levels by doing the daily Luna afk quest  Contaminated Underpath.

In summary, do the campaign quests first, then the dark blue quests, then the light blue quests. It's a double EXP weekend so you should have no problem leveling.

[kitkatya-IS]

8 hours ago, Ferk-DN said:

To level up to 54 go and find the normal blue quest that is around level 50 and do that a few times. On the Elyos side it's given to you by an Elim standing next to a couple of Shugo.

Also, you can get a couple of levels by doing the daily Luna afk quest  Contaminated Underpath.

In summary, do the campaign quests first, then the dark blue quests, then the light blue quests. It's a double EXP weekend so you should have no problem leveling.

Is the double EXP weekend a one time thing or a recurring event? I didn't notice that. I guess I could do that, there's the prestige pass trial too but I haven't checked if it boosts you or not.

Are there any updated guide for new/returning player?

[Cyfur]

Just play. I rolled a new SM on KT yesterday and had it up to level 80 in about 10 hours of play doing nothing special, just following the quests. No guide required.

[kitkatya-IS]

16 minutes ago, Ferk-DN said:

Just play. I rolled a new SM on KT yesterday and had it up to level 80 in about 10 hours of play doing nothing special, just following the quests. No guide required.

Well I mean like class specific guides, not for leveling per se. If it wasn't obvious I wasn't really targeting to level ASAP, but seems like the new update forces you to?

[Ossus-DN]

The new updates forces people to rush through the low levels to reach end game as fast as possible.  The reason why people are telling you to level up a new toon is coz your old armor just cannot make it in the revamped game.  Your toon will probably die a thousand times from simple mobs if you use pre 6.x armors.  Following the various dark blue and campaign quests will give you the acorns and the armors to proceed to the next level.

Reason why you run out of quests is coz you have over levelled that area so the quests become unavailable.  At the same time, your toon has not reached the required level to take the next set of quests at the higher level.  This happens also when you reach level 80 and you try to get back to Heiron to do some quests you will find that the quests are totally gone.  In such a case and since you need to reach level 54 or whatever level, your only recourse is to do your daily and weekly lunas to level to that level.  Then the quests for your level will open up.

[kitkatya-IS]

9 minutes ago, Ossus-DN said:

The new updates forces people to rush through the low levels to reach end game as fast as possible.  The reason why people are telling you to level up a new toon is coz your old armor just cannot make it in the revamped game.  Your toon will probably die a thousand times from simple mobs if you use pre 6.x armors.  Following the various dark blue and campaign quests will give you the acorns and the armors to proceed to the next level.

Reason why you run out of quests is coz you have over levelled that area so the quests become unavailable.  At the same time, your toon has not reached the required level to take the next set of quests at the higher level.  This happens also when you reach level 80 and you try to get back to Heiron to do some quests you will find that the quests are totally gone.  In such a case and since you need to reach level 54 or whatever level, your only recourse is to do your daily and weekly lunas to level to that level.  Then the quests for your level will open up.

Didn't quite catch that, I can't play atm so correct me if I'm wrong, if I just level until the next campaign quest is available then I should have no problem right? Because I can manage that using repeating quests, it is a bit slow since—as you said—I have an old armor and seems that my skills were downgraded somewhere along the way (e.g. my deactivated skill bar has lv. 6 in it but I can only use lv. 3 now) but it is doable just to level up.

Can I still get armor from campaign quests from 54 onwards?

[Cyfur]

Just now, kitkatya-IS said:

Didn't quite catch that, I can't play atm so correct me if I'm wrong, if I just level until the next campaign quest is available then I should have no problem right? Because I can manage that using repeating quests, it is a bit slow since—as you said—I have an old armor and seems that my skills were downgraded somewhere along the way (e.g. my deactivated skill bar has lv. 6 in it but I can only use lv. 3 now) but it is doable just to level up.

Can I still get armor from campaign quests from 54 onwards?

The armor doesn't come from the campaign quests, it comes from the Dark Blue quests offered by the Shugo at levels 20,30, 40,50,60, 70 but to complete those quests you need hard acorns gathered from rewards for the light blue repeatable quests. The campaign quests you have to do just to be able to progress from Poeta -> Heiron -> Inggison ->Lakram etc.

[kitkatya-IS]

1 minute ago, Ferk-DN said:

The armor doesn't come from the campaign quests, it comes from the Dark Blue quests offered by the Shugo at levels 20,30, 40,50,60, 70 but to complete those quests you need hard acorns gathered from rewards for the light blue repeatable quests. The campaign quests you have to do just to be able to progress from Poeta -> Heiron -> Inggison ->Lakram etc.

OH. So that's what I missed. I think campaign used to give you your equipments so I thought it's still the same. I didn't quite get what the tough acorns are for at first. At least that clears things up a bit. So to get upgraded equipments I have to do the Shugo quests, is that right? And from there just continue progressing through standard quests (to get acorns and XP) and campaign?

[Cyfur]

If you do all the quests on the Heiron map, you will have upgraded gear, and you will be level 76.

Only do the repeatable quests a few times or you will get really bored.

[Dreamergirl]

sorry i was late to the thread. As boring as it is, collect as many acorns as possible with the missions or those things that give you a reward to buy equipment. You can exchange them for legendary potions and mount for a day. I assure you that you are going to need the potions, not so much for the statistics, but for the speed they give you.

[Arhangelos]

On 1/25/2021 at 8:34 AM, kitkatya-IS said:

Is the double EXP weekend a one time thing or a recurring event? I didn't notice that. I guess I could do that, there's the prestige pass trial too but I haven't checked if it boosts you or not.

Are there any updated guide for new/returning player?

It will come every weekend. But you will be level 80 by the next one and you will only use it to turn your XP bar into XP marks to buy other things.

[Shaidessa-KT]

Okies, leveling is a boring solo affair these days. (You've already noticed that most of the content has been stripped from the game.)
Fortunately leveling is also very quick.

1. "O" --> Options --> Interface
Make sure the box for "Display Low Level Quests" is checked.
If it's not, click it and hit Apply --> Ok.
This will make all the light blue quests appear on your map/radar.

2. Quests around the Fortress will give you a few acorns. Speak to the shugo and buy the mushroom.
It's a 2 hour +20% EXP buff.
Daily Lugbug quests will give you EXP Crystals as you level. USE THEM! They expire 2 hours after you get them even if you're offline.

3. Follow the leveling path below.
Each red X indicates repeatable Acorn quests to help you level. You do NOT need to do these quests more than once or twice before the next set unlocks.
Green X indicates a Named Mob that will drop a Legendary, level appropriate, weapon for your class.

4. At level 20 do the dark blue quest at Senea's Campsite. (Shugo) You'll get a new set of armor and your first stigma. Then return to the Fortress and get your first Minion and a Contract Stone. This will give you a stat boost when summoned and activate the auto-loot feature.

5. Talk to Graa and do the Stigma Quest.

6. Return to Herion and continue the leveling path making sure to change out your gear and pick up stigmas with the dark blue quests. Don't forget to use your Acorns to buy wings an accessories every once in awhile.
This process should include one run of Aetherogenetics Lab and/or one run of Kromede's Trial.

Yep, that's it. That's all there is to leveling these days. 

 See you in Iggy.

[kitkatya-IS]

@Shaidessa-KT thanks for the thorough explanation! I really appreciate that. I got my updated gear from the using the acorns I have collected lol. Off to leveling then. I don't want to bother you further but should I worry about transmutation right now? I'm not sure what it does because the tutorial you get as a new/returning player isn't very clear. Seems that if I use an old gear there it adds to the transmutation energy but I'm not sure if I should? Can I just throw my old armor there?

[Vasilios-KT]

When it comes to leveling, overall its quite easy. It only takes a few days. You go around and do the dark blue quests that are repeatable until you're high enough level to do the campaigns. As for end game content, a vast majority of it is p2w and is super difficult to progress as a free player. Its also very RNG heavy like others have said. it seems at times you spend an ungodly amount of time praying to the RNG gods just for a +1 to proc when enchanting armor.

 

On 1/24/2021 at 11:17 AM, kitkatya-IS said:

I'm on Danaria (Elyos). 

 

As for your server, no offense to anyone on DN, but if you're looking to start over and make it further to end game id recommend switching to KT. DN is rapidly dying, and not to say KT isn't either. But its less dead. When on DN its more difficult to find groups when it comes to IDD, PF, or SL (which are instances you do right at level 80) or it felt that way to me. Personally, KT is much more lively and has a lot more players to do different things. I am hoping for a merge soon so that my chanter on DN can move to KT and I can actually progress through his gear more. 

[Vantheria-DN]

1 hour ago, Vasilios-KT said:

As for your server, no offense to anyone on DN, but if you're looking to start over and make it further to end game id recommend switching to KT.

Offense taken.

But only because you are correct.

:pepehands:

[Shaidessa-KT]

8 hours ago, kitkatya-IS said:

@Shaidessa-KT thanks for the thorough explanation! I really appreciate that. I got my updated gear from the using the acorns I have collected lol. Off to leveling then. I don't want to bother you further but should I worry about transmutation right now? I'm not sure what it does because the tutorial you get as a new/returning player isn't very clear. Seems that if I use an old gear there it adds to the transmutation energy but I'm not sure if I should? Can I just throw my old armor there?

XD Thank you. That was kinda a quick and dirty tutorial for leveling 10-65 and I'm sure I forgot to mention a ton of things. 
I'm leveling disposable alts to fill in some of the gaps in my Item Collection, so I'm derping around Herion anyway.

You really don't need to worry about Transmutation until level 80. (SHIFT+[)
Transmute is pure RNG.
There are 3 tabs: Basic, Advanced and XP. The each take different materials which will be highlighted in your inventory. Clicking the trophy icons under "Results Info" will show you a list of possible items. Once the bar is full you can click "Start Tansmute". The game will then randomly select 5 items from the prize lists, one from each tier for Basic, and puts them on the wheel.
You only get ONE.

Normally just get Platinum Cubics or Kinah out of it.
You can put your Acorn gear into Basic Transmute as you out level it rather than sell it for 1 Kinah or keeping it for skins.

Video with my SM for demonstration.

Yes, I know my cubics are in a sad state. Don't judge.