Been a While!

Wow! It has been months since I last put out a meaningful update. The reason for this is my lack of playing Aion for a period of time after 4.0 proved to be fairly disappointing. But I have since come back in preparation for 4.5's launch (hopefully soon!). I'm hopeful that 4.5 will breathe some life into Aion once more as it brings back many of the classic components that made the original game an exciting and new kind of experience.

Steel Calvary is bringing a lot of older content up to current endgame levels. Most notably, the Abyss will be making a grand return with the central forts upgraded from level 50 to level 65. The rewards for these forts will be raised as well to balance out the amount of work that will be required to siege and defend these reinvigorated forts. To pair with the flight-heavy abyss updates there are also numerous skill updates for every class, most of which add to their repertoire of aerial combat skills. Together, these updates can revive what was perhaps the most dynamic and interesting siege area Aion has seen in it's many years. Nothing quite compares to that old school hectic flight combat.

In other news, Steel Calvary also brings in the last of the new classes. The final class to be added is the Aethertech, a robotic juggernaut with a mix between damage dealing and tanking capabilities. Numerous videos have already been posted detailing the effectiveness of this mechanical monstrosity in PvP. Still, much remains to be seen in regards to their roles in group settings and PvE instances so there is plenty of ground to cover!

The last major and perhaps most important change 4.5 wrestles with is a total overhaul on the Abyss Point ranking system and, more specifically, how high ranking transforms are managed. This new system is called the Honor Point system and will be added in as the new determination of rank rather than amount of abyss points alone. The point of this alteration to the ranking system is to encourage siege activity and remove inactive/non-beneficial officers from the limited number of spots available. These highly coveted positions will be reserved for the more active players who contribute regularly to their faction. These points decay each day and can be earned through sieges, key instances, and certain quests. With any luck, this will stop the long-time issue of lazy players hoarding points and wasting highly beneficial spots on the transform list.

Depending on the difficulty/complexity of the new instances coming in 4.5 there may or may not be direct guides posted here. If I find myself in a position to write them then I shall! But if not, I'll give as much information as I can for referencing!

Happy flying, Daevas.

-Fest