Well this is a bit out of nowhere. Despite what everyone thought, Aion 4.0 might be a bit further away from an NA release than we initially thought. We’ve got official Korean dates for public testing, as well as a wealth of information on the update in patch note form!
If you don’t know what’s been revealed yet, check out our other posts on what’s to come in Aion 4.0. They present some of the big information in a pretty format that’s easy to digest so you can hurry back over here.
I’ll wait. I’ll make some tea until you get back.
Welcome back!
A post on the official English forums broke the news about the 4.0 PTS going live with much of the information found in the Korean patch notes translated by Google. You can either wander to the English post to see the notes, or you can just read the patch notes yourself on the Korean site. (Google Translate version here.)
This is the first of three 4.0 updates on the Korean PTS and is by no means the extent of new content. The next update is coming on December 20, and the one after that will come on January 16. As of now, Aion 4.0 has no official release date in any country.
[Edit!] Sorry for the misinformation here, the patch went live on December 20. The next patch is on January 16, and the third one will be live in March 13.
Because of the iffy reliability of the translation, we’re going to keep things (kind of) brief here. So this is not comprehensive.
Also keep in mind that these notes are for the Korean version, and hence we are not guaranteed to get the same content when we finally get 4.0 in NA and EU.
Character and Class Changes
Changes to Note
- Level cap raised to 65
- Required experience amount lowered (faster leveling)
- Can have 7 character per account instead of 6
- Arrows are no longer finite — infinite arrows purchasable at general goods NPCs
- Gunners implemented, and they use either pistols or cannons for combat.
- Charge skills implemented
- New skills for every class. They can be seen in all of their Google-translated garble English here.
Katalam! And Other Places of Interest
Katalam has been implemented, and it’s.. yeah. It’s pretty big. The region is split between North and South, both of which seeming to have a fairly large variety of terrain.
The Katalam region will also have new fortresses. Northern Katalam will have Ruth Fortress, while Southern Katalam will be home to Wassenberg Fortress and Death Fortress.
Northern Katalam
Southern Katalam
Instance: Steel Rose
The Steel Rose is a three-part instance found in Southern Katalam. The parts are as follows:
- Steel Rose Dock – Can be done solo or in a party of 3, available once a day
- Steel Rose Cabin – Can be done solo or in a party of 3, available once a day
- Steel Rose Deck – Can be done in a party of 3, available once a day
There are also several updates to multiple instances in this update, and a more detailed party finding system with cross-server compatibility.
Base Scrambles
These are not big, new areas but they do look like they are going to be a big part of playing the game from now on. What are they?
Base scrambles are small areas that can be conquered by one faction or the other for NPC dominance in the base. The controlling race gets all of the basic NPCs (warehouse, Spirit Healer, etc.) as well as a special item NPC. I’m excited to get/understand more details of the base scramble system.
New Items
Aside from the new items to facilitate the Gunner class, new AP and craftable items have been added in this 4.0 test patch wave. Not only that, but the medal requirements on Abyss armor have been lowered and special tokens for completing quests in Katalam have been implemented.
A Look At New Item Sets
Item Synthesis
Understanding this part of the patch notes via Google Translate is.. hard. It seems that an item has been implemented that fuses new stats to your gear much like manastones, but without taking up slots. Details on this are still sketchy, but it looks like a multi-use item.
We’ll have to wait on more information on synthesis, since there is no clear resource on it for the time being.
UI Changes
Aion has always looked pretty good, but the feel of the UI has always left something to be desired. It’s always been functional, but never really looked all that great. Maybe it’s all that blue..
Anyway, Aion 4.0 is bringing some interface changes that have effects on functionality and style.
Character Creation and Select Screens
The character creation screen has been revamped so players can see hairstyles before clicking on them, instead of having to scroll through them all as we do now. There is also more organization to customization options, as well as the ability to see your new character in costumes before deciding on a look.
The character select screen, as seen above, has also gone through an overhaul. Nothing big, but it looks nice.
In-Game UI Design and Color
The dark blue UI has been replaced with a (likely adjustable) translucent, lighter blue in this patch version. Icons and small pieces of the UI have been changed to go with the new color scheme.
Icons themselves have gone through a whole new overhaul, with multiple graphical changes and the number of them increased to 40 from 35. The new UI components simply look more sleek and modern than pre-4.0.
To be honest, the number of graphical and interface changes rolling through in 4.0 are numerous and I couldn’t really cover all of them here. Browse through what they’re showing on the Korean site to really get a good idea of everything that’s changing.
Looking Forward
There’s a lot in the current version of 4.0 that’s on the Korean PTS that we haven’t covered here, and if you’re really itching to know everything so far it is a good idea to go to the source. Even so, much of the information in this patch isn’t necessarily going to be relevant next patch.
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December 20’s Aion 4.0 update brings the Bard class as well as another big chunk of content. The third update containing the “Armored Castle” is still scheduled for January 16, but is subject to change.
Sorry again for the misinformation! The patch went live on December 20. The next patch is on January 16, and the third one will be live in March 13.
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Published: Dec 6, 2012 04:15 pm