Tag Archives: news

Aion 2.0. Pets Part 2

During the last few days a fair amount of attention was drawn to Aion 2.0. Pet System which we covered in our latest guide Aion 2.0. Pet System Part 1. The upcoming free expansion Aion: Assault on Balaurea introduces an entirely new pet subsystem to explore. You will have access to functional pets capable of storing goods, assisting with crafting, acting as guardians by alerting their masters to nearby enemies, and of course those simply designed to make their masters look good.

The pets system will continue to develop and evolve moving forward, but we’re looking at five pet types to start out with:

* Companion – Adventure with their owner throughout Atreia
* Signal – Alert their owner to the presence of enemy players
* Pack – Expand their owner’s inventory
* Fortune – Produce items for their owner after being well-fed
* Purebred – Provide their owner with multiple functions at once

You’ll have 100 dedicated pet slots available to populate, but can only own one of each type, and are only capable of summoning one pet at a time. You will retain features such as inventory space increase even while the pet providing the feature is put away. The pets you own can be given names, and these names are not unique, which will allow you to choose names freely and make changes whenever you so desire. And as a special treat, a new type of pet emote will trigger unique animations for each type of pet (watch out Westminster Kennel Club, there’s a new set of tricks to teach those old dogs).

There will be different ways to get your hands on these pets, including buying them from in-game merchants or the NCStore, getting them as quest rewards, item drops, or through special promotional events.

Aion: Assault on Balaurea is a free expansion, but there will also be a new boxed version with an upgraded client preloaded available for purchase (MSRP $39.99). To celebrate the release of Aion: Assault on Balaurea, those who purchase the expansion will receive an adorable Speckled Ailu pet (it’s much like a panda). Some retailers will for a limited time also offer an exclusive Companion pet along with the Speckled Ailu: NCsoft Store: Fuzzy Elroco, Amazon.com: Beluslan Kitter, GameStop: Grassy Drakie, Best Buy/Best Buy Canada: Heiron Kitten, QVS: Altgard Kitter Companion Pet, Steam: Skullabra Krall, Wal-Mart: Border Daggie

Update on Aion Character Transfers

Today Tamat has announced that the free transfer signups will be reactivated on Monday, August 16 at 8:00 a.m. PDT, with the first transfer set to begin on Wednesday, August 18.

We realize that many of you are anxious to hear an update regarding character transfers. The development phase of the improved character transfer system has been completed and is currently undergoing testing to ensure that future transfers will help balance server population. The dynamic system that we’ve created will allow us to reopen the transfer service with automatic safeguards in place to prevent mass transfers negatively affecting server balance.

Our current plan is to reactivate the free transfer signups on Monday, August 16 at 8:00 a.m. PDT, with the first transfer set to begin on Wednesday, August 18. We realize some players were separated from their friends and family after the first wave of transfers. This process will provide an opportunity for those players to reunite, and we’re dedicated to helping those of you who are currently isolated from your friends. However, because these transfers will be automatically controlled based on faction population balance, trying to reunite with your Asmodian friends on Vaizel or your Elysean friends on Zikel may not happen right away.

Here at NCsoft, we’re passionate gamers just like you, and because of this, we hold ourselves to an extremely high standard for Aion. The first round of character transfers didn’t go as well as we had hoped. For that, we’d like to express our sincerest apologies. We very much appreciate your patience as we restore the game environment to a state where you can reunite with your friends and transfer more successfully moving forward!

Weekly Poll: Will you play Aion 2.0. on Test server

The free upcoming Aion expansion Assault on Balaurea known as Aion 2.0, will be live on Test server from August 18th 2010. This week we have a new question for you: Will you play Aion 2.0. on Test server?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

Aion Activities at Gamescom 2010

If you’re attending Gamescom 2010 in Cologne, Germany, then be sure to stop by the NCsoft booth Hall 9, A11 to meet members of the NCsoft and ArenaNet staff, community and development teams! The world’s largest convention for interactive games and entertainment will open its doors on the 19th of August 2010, and run for four full days before coming to an end on the 22nd. This year we will be there to bring you the best coverage of all the Aion goodness. So what we can expect this year?

Aion: Assault on Balaurea Western Premiere
Visit our NCsoft booth to experience the Western premiere of our upcoming free and fully fletched expansion Aion: Assault on Balaurea. You’ll be able to witness live demonstrations from the stage, masterfully conducted by our German Community Manager Imhotep. After getting a feel for all the new things coming, 12 gaming stations will be available for hands-on preview. Our helpful staff will of course be available to show you the ropes and get started!

Q&A with Members of Aion’s Development Team
Level Designer Jiho Lee and Lead Server Programmer Seungwuk Baek from Aion’s development team in Seoul, Korea, will both make their way to our gamescom booth this year. Thursday 19th 12:00 they’ll join us on the stage to answer your questions in a unique Western Aion Q&A session. We’ll keep our eyes and ears open for questions popping upon the website and social media as well.

Cosplay Contest!
It’s come to be a merry tradition of ours to host a cosplay contest during the show and we’ll be no worse this year (hopefully you won’t be either, har-har). No, seriously though, you kicked ass last year and we’re sure you’ll bring the same game this time around.

A highly prestigious contest will be held atour booth during the show with terrific prizes from Razer. You’re of course free to participate, dressed up as a character from any current NCsoft game! That being said, we’re looking forward to seeing a couple of Elysean or Asmodian Daevas turn up!

Stuck at Home? Don’t worry – There’s a Live Stream!
We realize that even if the ambition is there, travelling to gamescom 2010 doesn’t fit into everyone’s calendar. To help anyone at home get a better feel of gamescom, the atmosphere and our awesome activities, we will be hosting a live stream at ustream.tv. Stay tuned to our Event Portal for details on how to access the feed.

Paaar-tay!
If you’re in need of winding down after the first frantic day of gamescom madness, why not pay a visit to the official NCsoft/ArenaNet Party? The party takes place on Thursday 19/9 20:00 local time at Goldfinger, a bar and club located in downtown Cologne. By stopping by you’ll be able to meet and mingle with the NCsoft staff, listen to some wicked DJing, talk to Aion’s producer or simply kick aroundwith the community team.