I’ve added some real beauties to my AION screenshot section in my Gallery … go to Main Menu -> AION -> Toque – Asmodian Cleric to check them out! You won’t be disappointed.

Also, Noroia is not standing in the middle of Altgard; as the quest says, she is in the Altgard Dungeons, which are located below Altgard. This is why she appears to be standing in the center of town when you use the locate feature to find her — she is actually underneath you. To reach her, go to the west gate of Altgard and follow the little stone path north along the wall around behind the buildings. You’ll see a little entrance that will take you down below into the dungeons.

For Scout It Out, you need to find and pick up the documents on the table inside the house. If you’re looking for the Escort Wagon and you can target it but can’t attack it, change channels and try again.

Speaking of changing channels to fix problems with quests, you’ll also want to do that with the incense burner one where you summon the monster at the shrine if you can’t click on the urn to activate the incense.

I figure since I write this information out 4949534947 times in general chat each day I’d post it here, too. Not that anyone will read it, but… you know. Just sayin’.

Wow. I guess the fact that I haven’t had time to update here should be indicative of how amazing Aion and its launch has been.

At 3pm EST on Sunday afternoon the servers went live for Head Start, the 2 day head start access that pre-orders were granted. The servers basically just switched on as planned on Sunday, and even with as many people who hammered the servers all at once, clamoring to get in, I had zero trouble logging right in, accessing my server, and launching into the world of Atreia right on schedule. It was … well, let’s say crowded those first few hours, but it was exciting and amazingly smooth for an MMO launch.  No downtime, no disconnects… I simply played for hours on end from the moment the servers launched until I was too tired to go on. Congratulations for the smoothest MMO launch I’ve ever experienced, NCsoft.  The game went live for the rest of the world on Tuesday, and that went off without a hitch as well. There have been some big queues to get into the game during prime time for some, but as I understand it, NCsoft has capped the servers at lower than the maximum capacity temporarily to help distribute the population more evenly as they ease into the full load. It really has been a successful launch, though.

My main character is Toque, an Asmodian Cleric on the Lumiel server. She of course has pink pigtails; a shout out to my original Toque, the pink pigtailed gnome Warlock in WoW that I had that was the “face” to go with the Toque gaming nickname that originally inspired this site in the first place. The world of Atreia is large and there’s so much to take in; scenery is gorgeous, crafting is thankfully more challenging and even risky at times, and I’ve found myself getting lost in the sheer overwhelming aspects of a completely new game. New worlds, new lore, new stories, and new mechanics to explore. Crafting is pretty time consuming, and I can spend hours just gathering various materials and aether. You get small amounts of xp for gathering and crafting, so I don’t feel like I’ve completely neglected leveling when I go on a crafting or gathering binge, but I’m definitely leveling a bit slower than some of my legion mates. I just don’t feel the need to rush; in beta I only leveled a couple characters just past ascension at level 10 so that I could get a feel for the classes and basic combat mechanics. I hit level 10 the first day of Head Start on Toque because I knew the starter area well, but from then on the rest has been all new and I just don’t want to miss anything.  There’s plenty of time to level up, so I figure I’ll enjoy myself more if I absorb it all as I go, at my own pace, instead of trying to rush through it or keep up with others. It’s hard not to keep pushing to level because I’m so psyched about PvP in the Abyss starting at level 25.  I know I’ll suck at it, but I’ll sure have fun dying while I try… and having fun is all that matters.

Be sure to check out the new pictures I’ve put in my Screenshot Gallery. Go to Main Menu -> Aion -> Toque – Asmodian Cleric to check it out; I’ll be adding more as Toque progresses.

One thing I’m trying to get the hang of is gliding. In Aion you can fly for limited amounts of time based on your level and the type of wings you have. You can only full-on fly in fly zones, but in no-fly zones you’re able to spread your wings and glide for a short time. Gliding is handy if you can get the hang of it and use it effectively. If you jump just right and are able to gain speed and catch drifts just right, you can really save a lot of time and cover a lot of ground quickly by gliding. I’m far from there, but practicing is a lot of fun. It all boils down to coordination, and I laugh trying to imagine me managing an epic PvP battle and flying (and managing to get down/land somewhere safely so I don’t plummet to my death when my flight timer runs out) at the same time. Coordination. I’m doing it wrong.

All in all, I’m really happy with Aion. The game is beautiful, the Lumiel community is really great, and I’m enjoying every little detail that I’m soaking up like a sponge in my character’s infancy. It’s like starting out with my first MMO ever; not knowing it all and not being sure of myself or my surroundings and having to learn is really refreshing. Cheers to Aion and to enjoying the ride. See you in game! :)

Can’t talk now, Aion beta. kthx.

(Ok, so planning on a Cleric main @ release, Asmodian side, Lumiel (EST) server. Will likely make an Elyos mirror on Siel, but my main will be my Asmodian. I’m enjoying beta lots, spending a lot of time getting to know the crafting system and figuring out other mechanics and details and not spending much time on leveling… want to save some excitement for live! Putting some screenies in the gallery; both Asmodian and Elyos. Enjoy, my pretties… and have fun playing around in the last day and a half of beta! See you after official character creation Pre-Select with more photos and details in time for release.)

Just a quick little rant to help me feel better about the lag and rubberbanding in the first day of Aion Open Beta. I know it’s beta, I know it’s the first day and as a beta it’s meant for testing and taxing the servers, but I just want to spend some more time checking it all out!  Earlier today before the lag fest ensued, I happily created my Priest, and though I haven’t reached a point yet where I have to choose between Cleric or Chanter for sure, I do know I plan to make one of each and play whichever one I’m in the mood for when I login.  That much I’m sure of.

My feelings between Asmodian and Elyos are mixed, however. I’ve created Asmodians on one server and “matching” Elyos counterparts on another server just to experience them both, and I’m finding the starting lands of the Asmodians kinda depressing :( I prefer the look of the Asmodians… but I prefer the Elyos lands for questing in. I remember this being one of the main issues I stayed with Alliance for so long in WoW — the Horde lands were dark and kinda depressing until we got blood elves in BC. And the Barrens were so…. yellow. When I switched Horde I leveled all of my characters in the blood elf starting lands and actually managed to get past level 20 without needing anti-depressants. I’m wondering how much of an issue this will be for me in Aion; is it enough to make me go Elyos? I guess it depends in the end on server balance and what is needed. I truly felt the Asmodians would be the underdogs in my previous posts, but after reading a lot on AionSource lately, I don’t think the Asmos are as disliked as I thought. In fact, there actually may be cause for concern that Asmodians will be on top as far as numbers go when the servers hit live.  If the server I want to be on is in need of Elyos, it won’t kill me to create Elyos characters. Especially if they’re the underdogs. I like underdogs. Anyway…

I really enjoy the combat moves and animations in Aion. I’ve tried a little bit of each class and in the end felt really solid about my choice to roll Priest as a main. I’m not sure what my alt class will be; I tend to lean towards caster types so Sorcerer seems like a natural choice; but I may eventually try an Assassin, too, though it’s obvious there will be 2980498509487905608568 Assassins running around Atreia.

Here’s hoping for more open beta time without lag! According to the Aion team’s twitter updates, they are aware of the lag issues and are working on it. Now where have I heard that before? … hehehe :) See you in-game!

*sigh* I think I’ve edited my previous post to reflect on which class in Aion I’m going to play 4 or 5 times now. I edit it to say that I’m going to roll a Cleric, then I edit again and pick Chanter (rinse, repeat) and now I’m conflicted again. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out my previous post about Aion, the newest NCsoft game coming out September 22. I’m gearing up for the final beta week starting this weekend and hope to get a chance at trying out both so I can decide which class is best for me. One minute I think I’m going to be a Cleric, the next minute I change my mind to Chanter.

In the meantime, I’ve been doing loads of reading to see which Priest class in Aion fits me best. As most of you know, I played a Druid healer in WoW for a long, long time and really loved being a Resto main healer. However, Druids are a hybrid class, and when it was time to go solo either in PvE or PvP, I could hold my own, too. At first I thought that Cleric was my obvious choice, and then I read another article and suddenly think that Chanter might be where it’s at for me. Chanters are more of a hybrid that can DPS and manage spot heals for support while Cleric is the main healer with loads of heals under their belt for group support. Do I want to be a healbot or a hybrid?  Yesterday I was positive I was going to be a Cleric. Then I read this article. Now I’m back at square one.

In a perfect world the answer is to base the choice on my playstyle, but in reality my playstyle is a little bit of both, so how do I choose? Quirky Quiescene didn’t make my decision any easier because now both sound equally appealing and equally needed and viable throughout the game. The only one thing I’m sure of is the server I am picking, which is Siel. I guess I’ll just have to roll one of each and see which one I enjoy playing the most.