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Aion Open Beta Starts September 6th 147

Posted by Soulskill from the gives-you-wings dept.
NCSoft announced today that the open beta for upcoming fantasy MMO Aion will begin on September 6th, extending through to the 13th. The client is available now. The game launches on September 22nd in the US, with a two-day head-start given to players who pre-order. NCSoft has also said they'll be showing off Aion in more detail at the Penny Arcade Expo, expanding on the information they provided at Gamescom (video).
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Aion Open Beta Starts September 6th More

Aion Open Beta Starts September 6th

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  • Rootkits for everyone! (Score:5, Informative)

    by regular_gonzalez ( 926606 ) on Friday August 28, 2009 @05:22AM (#29228635)
    A word of warning - Aion uses GameGuard [wikipedia.org] which for all intents and purposes, is a rootkit. The article is a bit outdated w/ regards to incompatibility issues with other apps, as the Steam incompatibility was fixed a month or two ago iirc. Either way, it's a terrible and invasive bit of software that I won't allow anywhere near my PC.

    • Re:Rootkits for everyone! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 28, 2009 @06:08AM (#29228805)

      I used to play another small korean mmorpg, Priston Tale [wikipedia.org]. It used GameGuard. The GameGuard server would go down all of the time, making the game inaccessible. The parent is 100% correct, GG is crap.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Kagura ( 843695 )

        The GameGuard server would go down all of the time, making the game inaccessible.

        The MMORPG server would go down all the time, making the game inaccessible. I'll never play an MMORPG!

    • Re: (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Aion 1.5 (the version that will be in the open beta and used for release) does not have GameGuard. Unless they decide to put it back in before release, that is.

      • *jumps for joy*

        Since when is this?

      • Aion 1.5 (the version that will be in the open beta and used for release) does not have GameGuard. Unless they decide to put it back in before release, that is.

        I'll mod you up if you can give a source for this

    • Re:Rootkits for everyone! (Score:5, Informative)

      by Datamonstar ( 845886 ) on Friday August 28, 2009 @06:57AM (#29229021)
      Yep. it's another ADMINISTRATOR account that silently gets added to your system. Once I figured out what it was I disregarded it, but I was still pretty pissed.

    • Re:Rootkits for everyone! (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Skuld-Chan ( 302449 ) on Friday August 28, 2009 @10:59AM (#29231949)

      Best/easiest way to disable gameguard? Load it on 64 bit windows. Patchguard won't let it patch the kernel, so while it loads - it can't do anything against cheating. So if you are a hacker or botter - get Windows X64 and have at it.

      No doubt about it - it is a rootkit. On 32 bit machine I've watched it read window titles, intercept I/O - stuff like that. One of the ways around gameguard on 32 bit machine is to build a rootkit that sits below it.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AP31R0N ( 723649 )

      Can someone explain to me why this is so bad?

      While playing in the closed beta i had no problems with it.

      How is this different than/same as punk buster? Are there systems to prevent cheating in MRPGs that don't involve some program watching the code on the client side?

      • Would you give, say, me permission to install a rootkit on your machine and monitor everything that you do on it? Yeah, that's how I feel about letting someone else - an individual or company - install a rootkit on *my* machine.

  • Fileplanet Subscribers Only (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    It looks like the open beta will only be available to Fileplanet Subscribers (about $5/month)...
    There may be more beta keys available from other websites, but currently Fileplanet is claiming to have exclusivity on the beta.

    So, I'm not really sure in what way this is "open", it sounds like it will be exactly the same as all the other Aion beta events with a limited number of keys for select (lucky) players.
    Maybe, someone with more info can prove me wrong.

    • It's also for anyone who preordered. We were all stuck playing 1.0, they had better let us in on some 1.5 action before the beginning of headstart. Thre's alot of changes to the game between the 2 versions.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Fozzyuw ( 950608 )

      I pre-ordered Aion from Gamestop a while back and they gave you a Beta key. I've been beta-ing in for like a month now. It's not hard to get into this beta.

      Since then, I've canceled my pre-order and put the $5 in on the WoW Cataclysm, which was listed with a release date of 11/2010. Which, of course, means nothing but a rough idea of when we might expect the new WoW xpac. It seems about right to me as well... except for the 2 months they'll likely push it back come Oct. 2010. =)

      Aion wasn't bad and anyon

  • Where's the download for Mac? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Where's the download for Mac?

  • Gameplay beyond level 20: Unfair ganking. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Tei ( 520358 ) on Friday August 28, 2009 @05:47AM (#29228733) Journal

    This is a RvR game. To avoid the problems with PoTBS:

    Don't join AION, if you can't handle ganking. Ganking in Darkfall could be much more fair than in AION, the "resistences" of a high level may make imposible to kill a players that is a few levels higher than you.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by abigsmurf ( 919188 )
      All the talk of ganking really put me off this game. PVP is fine but being constantly oneshotted by people you stand no chance against isn't. Yes you can ask high levels to help go around and kill gankers but they'll take a while to arrive and they're not always available.

      I was really looking forward to this until I read impressions from people playing on Korean servers that say ganking is almost out of control and the recent penalties have done little to stop it.

    • Re:Gameplay beyond level 20: Unfair ganking. (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Dr. Eggman ( 932300 ) on Friday August 28, 2009 @08:03AM (#29229581)
      I never understood why MMOs didn't implement some sort of PvP honor system that takes into account the difference between levels and awards or takes away from a players honorabilty, like a morality meter in some rpgs. A more honorable character gets certain, small bonuses to a stat like luck or maybe just allows them higher standing with some faction. Ganking is still possible, but a minor deterrent could at least reduce the instances of repeated ganking. Sure, you'd have to track who started a fight to make sure some sort of reverse-ganking doesn't happen, but it can't be that hard.

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by SpartacusJones ( 848951 )
        Back in the early days of WoW, you could get a dishonorable kill for killing non-combatant NPCs. I'd also like to see the same happen for ganking much lower level characters. It's one thing for an 80 to kill a 70 (which really doesn't have much of a chance either), but for an 80 to kill a 20 and camp the body is really ridiculous. That should be considered dishonorable and the 80 should get some sort of reputation penalty for it.

        Blizzard apparently thought otherwise though because they removed the ent

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by Jim_Maryland ( 718224 )
          for an 80 to kill a 20 and camp the body is really ridiculous.

          Completely agree with you on that. I have no problem though with an 80 running through a low area once (example: Mid-Summer Festival quest/achievements) but staying there and repeatedly camping is crazy. Kill the low level once, then move on to whatever you have to do in the area.

          That should be considered dishonorable and the 80 should get some sort of reputation penalty for it.

          Wouldn't be completely opposed to this, but lets face it,

          • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

            by gone9teen ( 958480 )
            The one thing that people do not seem to know about Aion is that you can be ganked but there is 10+ channels to select to quest in. It's an option that quite a few don't know about until you get to near 15+. If you can't find an NPC you need in one channel? You switch channels and hope that it's there. If you are getting ganked in one channel you can switch channels and they would have to figure out which channel you were in to follow and each time you switch it takes time.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Tridus ( 79566 )

        When you do that, the gankers whine on the forums endlessly about how the game is too "carebear" now, and other such nonsense.

        Lots of developers listen to their forum whiners and thus don't want to do anything to stop it. In something like WoW, you can just join a PvE server and the problem basically doesn't exist. Unsurprisingly, the PvE servers are more popular then the PvP ones where ganking does exist (not that the pro-ganking forum whiners would ever want to acknowledge such a thing).

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by dnaumov ( 453672 )

          Unsurprisingly, the PvE servers are more popular then the PvP ones where ganking does exist

          Proof or retraction. This claim couldn't be farther from the truth.

          • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

            by Tridus ( 79566 )

            Actually its entirely true. Someone beat me to the Warcraftrealms stats.

            So, I've got that. I've also got the server count, showing more PvE/RP (129) servers then PvP/RP-PvP ones (112). And on top of that, the average population is higher on the PvE side (3.9 million to 2.5). More PvP servers run at low population then PvE servers do.

            Now, what have you got to disprove it?

            It's a fundamental reality - more people dislike being ganked then like ganking. Which makes sense, really. There's nothing very cool about

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by SL Baur ( 19540 )

            Unsurprisingly, the PvE servers are more popular then the PvP ones where ganking does exist

            Proof or retraction. This claim couldn't be farther from the truth.

            (I'm responding only to the bolded part). Yeah, ganking exists even on PvE servers, but you kind of have to ask for it. The first time I was ever ganked was in STV right after killing Samantha Swifthoof (which flags one for PvP) and I was sitting on my horse talking to one of the quest givers in the Nesingwary camp. I got over it.

            I've been corpse camped a couple of times too. A call for help to level capped guildies solved that.

            "It's better to give than to receive."

            And I've ganked myself. Some lowbie w

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by KDR_11k ( 778916 )

        Or maybe just area level caps, if you go into an area that's for lower level characters you get dropped to their level automatically for the duration of your stay.

      • I never understood why MMOs didn't implement some sort of PvP honor system that takes into account the difference between levels and awards or takes away from a players honorabilty, like a morality meter in some rpgs.

        This is an old debate WoW. This sort of system is only a deterrent if the losses are harder than the gains. That is, gaining honor is slower than losing honor for attacking a lowbie. And then you'll have griefers gaming the "morality meter" to screw with folks' hard-earned honor points.

        As SpartacusJones noted, WoW's honor points system was very different when it was first introduced. Honor wasn't a currency but a sort of meter. Honor was difficult to come by and very quick to lose when you attacked and

      • WoW used to do this. You'd lose honor for killing low level players and npc's. Not sure why they changed this. WoW these days is - help me if you are around, if not - better switch characters while someone camps your corpse.

        Lineage 2 has a system in place to prevent people from killing low level players. You lose karma, and if you lose enough (3-4 dishonorable kills - I forget...) people can take your hard earned epics when you die and guards from cities will attack you.

      • Age of Conan does this -- if you gank people more then (iirc) 8 levels lower, you get murder points. The lower their level, the more murder points. If you have any murder points, all city guards will kill you on sight, vendors won't trade with you, etc. You have to work them off via questing. I can count on one hand how many times I've been killed by someone more then 8 levels above my own, due largely to this system.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AP31R0N ( 723649 )

      MPRGs with Gygaxian power curves are like this... aside from the Warhammer game which turned n00bst0mpers into chickens. i didn't reach level 20 so i can't say anything about the PvP specifically. In general, when you're in a PvP area in a power curve game... bring your friends.

      PlanetSide (an MFPS) doesn't have n00bst0mping because it has a shallow power curve. Give it a look.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by donweel ( 304991 )
      I believe Warhammer Online uses the chicken system. High level characters entering starting areas are turned into chickens, which can be ignored or killed by other players.

  • I played the closed beta. It's not terribly impressive. People have been excited about the graphics, but they're kind of outdated... maybe top of the line stuff for 2004 or so. There are a few impressive areas in the game, though.

    Gameplay and questing is not terribly fun. If you've ever done a Kill 30 Wasps or Gather 10 Herbs quest, you've done them all, and AION has a lot of this kind of stuff. I guess there's a story or whatever to read, and IIRC some quests have different options, but by and large I was

    • Re: (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Oh come on, who could get bored with that?

      "Only you [and all the players around you] can save our village! Travel to the far-away mystical land of Boringtoss [run along that road for 5 minutes]. Then kill 1,000,000 [identical] Orcish Barbarian Wizards [special attack: sap your will to live]. Gather the Borestone that each of them carries [for no apparent reason]. Bring me back the Borestones and I will give you one gold piece and ten experience points [so if you do this a few hundred times, you'll go up a l

    • Search YouTube for some old Tabula Rasa (pre 2005) demos and be surprised how much alike it looks. I'm almost tempted to say they recycled some of the old graphic they didn't use for TR to make Aion now.

      • Search YouTube for some old Tabula Rasa (pre 2005) demos and be surprised how much alike it looks. I'm almost tempted to say they recycled some of the old graphic they didn't use for TR to make Aion now.

        I actually played TR. There's not much similarity.

        • I actually played TR. There's not much similarity.

          But have you seen a Tabula Rasa video like this? [youtube.com]

          I believe this is what the grandparent post was referring to. It looks nothing like the Tabula Rasa that was actually launched. It was more fantasy and magic back then.

          • Pretty much, yes. And if you ask me, that indecisiveness (Fantasy? SciFi? Mix? Something else?) was what sunk this game. It was released a year before it was done, but the VCs got, understandably, quite cold feet when they saw year after year pass and million after million sink into the game without any ROI on the horizon. Ironically, TR was quite playable and fun when it was closed down, a year after its release.

        • TR also didn't have much in common with the original concept of TR. Or how many harp-playing magic users did you see in the finished TR?

          Take a look at this [youtube.com]. And tell me that's the game you played. Yes, this is TR, before they went from fantasy to scifi.

          And even as a scifi game it looks like more fun than Aion. Aion is just another "stand and deliver" MMO, like the billion othres that clutter the net today. TR at least tried something new. Yes, it failed. But I doubt it was because of the FPS'esque control s

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AP31R0N ( 723649 )

      Did you get your wings?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by SL Baur ( 19540 )

      While I would like someone to knock WoW off its high horse (because the game really isn't designed as well as they think it is),

      So what's your problem? Unsubscribe! I like endless days of collecting Murloc eyes and sorting through monster dung for Nagrand Cherries.

      And WoW works (quite well) on my Mac and Aion does not. It's a no brainer.

  • Really, I was really excited about Aion, but all that excitement vanished once I learnt from the official web site the game cost $50 PLUS monthly fees. Sorry, nowadays I just don't spend that much time gaming to justify paying monthly fees, no matter how awesome the game is (otherwise I'd be another WoW addict).

    The sad part is that NCSoft will likely abandon the incredible F2P Atlantica Online in favor of Aion.

    Back to Perfect World, I guess, the best MMORPG I've ever played, period.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Ultra64 ( 318705 )

      "Back to Perfect World, I guess, the best MMORPG I've ever played, period."

      That's not really saying much if you are excluding all the pay for play games.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
      Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by KDR_11k ( 778916 )

        You make the assumption that the hours in an MMO are entertaining.

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
          Comment removed based on user account deletion

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by SL Baur ( 19540 )

          You make the assumption that the hours in an MMO are entertaining.

          You make the assumption that the hour or two (plus any waiting in line) in the theater is entertaining. Whatever.

          If you don't like it, don't subscribe. I haven't felt compelled to go to a theater to watch a movie in years. That doesn't mean that I think others who enjoy that sort of thing should be denied the opportunity.

          What is it about people that they feel the need to eliminate something that others consider fun?

      • Re:$50 + Pay 2 Play = No thanks! (Score:4, Informative)

        by space_jake ( 687452 ) on Friday August 28, 2009 @09:33AM (#29230683)
        If you want a mature-ish WoW experience. Join a mature guild and turn off all of the public channels.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by SL Baur ( 19540 )

          If you want a mature-ish WoW experience. Join a mature guild and turn off all of the public channels.

          Ah, I posted too soon. You are exactly correct.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Draek ( 916851 )

        If you look at it in terms of entertainment per hour per dollar spent, MMORPGs are actually quite cheap.

        But still nowhere as cheap as offline gaming, online FPSs, or free online RPGs.

        The best part, though, is that the presence of a monthly fee keeps away kids who can't convince their parents to pay for their subscriptions! It doesn't keep all the kids away, of course, but it definitely makes a difference.

        Does it? all I've seen about WoW suggests that the community is filled with stat-whores who won't give you the time of the day if you can't do $X of DPS and have at least an $Y level armor, and that a 'casual' gamer has no chance of *ever* finding a good party (defining 'good' as 'can speak proper english and is willing to help newbies with their shortcomings instead of writing "gtfo nub"') withotu joining a mature, respectable g

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Tridus ( 79566 )

          "Does it? all I've seen about WoW suggests that the community is filled with stat-whores who won't give you the time of the day if you can't do $X of DPS and have at least an $Y level armor, and that a 'casual' gamer has no chance of *ever* finding a good party (defining 'good' as 'can speak proper english and is willing to help newbies with their shortcomings instead of writing "gtfo nub"') withotu joining a mature, respectable guild. In other words, exactly the same as most free MMOs."

          What is known as a '

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Tensor ( 102132 )
        <quote>Heck, I'd be willing to pay $20 a month for a WoW-quality game that only allowed you to play if you were over 21 and had a full-time job...</quote>

        That would be awesome... an adult-filled MMORPG (not necesarily adult-themed) ... where you play with people that have a life and can't be 20hrs a day online leveling... and can actually type a full sentence.

        Sweet...

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by SL Baur ( 19540 )

        Heck, I'd be willing to pay $20 a month for a WoW-quality game that only allowed you to play if you were over 21 and had a full-time job...

        I see your point, but that would make the already miserable family support in WoW worse.
        /leave 2
        and join an adult guild.

        Takes most of the childishness out of the game for me. And I *do* want my sons to play when they get a bit older and certainly before they are 21.

      • If you look at it in terms of entertainment per hour per dollar spent, MMORPGs are actually quite cheap.

        And if you look at it in terms of kg of food per dollar, McDonald's is better than a Michelin starred restaurant.

        Or maybe entertainment is more about quality than quantity.

    • The sad part is that NCSoft will likely abandon the incredible F2P Atlantica Online in favor of Aion.

      Yes, I'm sure they're abandoning all their free to play MMOs [guildwars2.com] once Aion is out.

    • The sad part is that NCSoft will likely abandon the incredible F2P Atlantica Online in favor of Aion.

      You're wrong. NCSoft doesn't have anything to do with Atlantica Online. Atlantica Online is run by a company called Ndoors [ndoors.com].

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by donweel ( 304991 )
      Dungeons and Dragons Online [ddo.com] Is going free to play September the 9th. If you participated in the beta or are a subscriber you get to start the new Eberron expansion on the 1st of September. They plan to make money using the in game store, selling expansions, potions and other game enhancements. You can still pay and be a VIP member which allows you more privileges.
  • Just in time for school! Looks like another year mediocre performance for me!
    • Don't worry. Games aren't addictive. I play games since I was 12 (31 now) and NEVER got addicted.

      • Don't worry. Games aren't addictive. I play games since I was 12 (31 now) and NEVER got addicted.

        I hope you've taken the occasional break to sleep, eat, etc.? :-)

  • At the same time (the 5th I believe) Cryptic Studio is expected to launch Champions Online.
    That MMO is a competitor to NCSoft City of Heroes.

    By the way Cryptic developped and delivered City of Heroes to NCSoft a few years ago, then sold it to NCSoft.
    Then Cryptic went on Champions.

    Is it intriguing that NCSoft starts its new MMO at same time as Champions the competitor of its product CoH ?

    If this is just calculated, then it may proove Aion is too young and not complete at launch time.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by toolie ( 22684 )

      If this is just calculated, then it may proove Aion is too young and not complete at launch time.

      You are aware that Aion has been released for almost a year in Asian markets and that the West version is starting at 1.5, right?

  • Played the beta.... Another Korean grindfest MMO. NC Soft's track record is not that great. Their greatest achievements: CoH/V and Guildwars. Decent, but not great. Too many fails to mention. Go look at Wikipedia for a full list. Alot of people claim it has the best graphics of any MMO. AoC had great/best graphics of any MMO Ive seen, but was fail overall. Flying in PvP is lame. Adds another dimension for people to abuse as I can guarantee there are going to be bugs. Those that played DAOC can reme
  • we haven't seen those in like 5 secs.

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