Aion 4.0 isn’t too far off. While details are scarce, they’re still a lot better than those we’ve gotten on big updates in the past. We’ve seen two of the new classes and had a sneak peak at one of the areas coming in 4.0. And now.. there is more!
Emotes
It seems NCSoft Korea is implementing more emotes in 4.0 (or changing the old ones). An official post on the Aion website shows a few shots of a male and female dancing for the motion sensor software. The official Korean site has two additional shots of the dances as well.
The small details in character in movement — such as a character’s running animation changing based on how fast they are going — are a nice touch. Small details like that are the type of thing that sets pay to play and free to play MMORPGs apart, and Aion isn’t exactly pay to play anymore (though it is pay to play past level 45 in Korea).
As Daeva’s Report points out, the shots on both sites look very much like the dance from Korean star IU’s video “You & I”.
Underwear
New underwear is perhaps the least interesting thing you could look for in a big MMO patch, but there comes a time when a Daeva’s undies are outdated. And they were outdated not too long after the game’s release.
These shots of the new underwear were found by Daeva’s Report to be on the official Korean site as well.
Old
New
Concept Art
Not like you’re going to be running around in your underwear very often (I hope), but much like the emotes, these small things make all the difference. The line between a sub-par and quality MMO is very thin, and small details paired with a strong core are what make a good MMO. And in my opinion, Aion is a good MMO.
Ahem, anyway. Continuing on.
Level Cap
Last week, the North American Aion site announced that 4.0 will be bringing a higher level cap. The cap has been raised five levels to 65 to facilitate Katalam, the new area coming with the update.
Because Katalam will be a PVP zone and leveling is far less exciting when you don’t get new skills, each class will be getting new abilities to more easily survive in (what just might be) the most expansive area in the game. Why do I say it might be the larger than everywhere we’ve seen so far (sans maybe the Abyss)?
New Skills
The same post announcing the level cap increase also revealed some new skills for the 60+ crowd. Three skills in particular point to Katalam being a large zone, primarily the “Sudden Dash“, “Full Sprint“, and “Time-Space Escape“. “Berserk Strike Down” also seems like something you would need for easy combat in a large space.
The skills revealed are split into three categories:
Survival Reinforcement
Magical Defense doesn’t look too exciting (though it will no doubt be useful for Glads), but the other three really cement my theory that Katalam will be huge. Why else would they implement three quick-movement abilities?
Raid vs Raid Reinforcement
Let’s be honest, here: These abilities all look pretty damn cool. With the exception of maybe Judgment Strike, and that’s only because it’s not a cool gap closer or the Aion equivalent of Final Fantasy‘s meteor.
Charge Skills
Charging is to be a new mechanic implemented in Aion 4.0 where casters charge an ability to the desired strength.
The longer you charge these abilities, the more effective they are (I mean, it says it on their descriptions). The concept of charging a sleep or a heal is pretty new overall, and it may be an effective way to balance these abilities.
While the Chanter’s Lethal Strike doesn’t seem all that exciting, it must do a huge amount of damage to make it worth the inclusion in a Chanter’s otherwise hectic rotation.
It’s still going to be a while until 4.0 makes its way over here, but the Korean PTS (private test server) will be going live on December 5. Expect new bits of information to come flooding in over the coming weeks as Korean players leak screenshots and information to the public.
On a final note, it looks like Aion 4.0 will be going live in Korea on December 20. We should be getting it a few months after its Korean release.
Published: Dec 3, 2012 12:11 pm