Category Archives: Breaking News

Interview with Aion EU Executive Product Director

We had the honor of sitting down with Mr. Volker Boenigk, Team Aion EU Executive Product Director, during Gamescom 2012. This was a very special interview for us because we met the person that is among the most responsible people for operation of Aion in Europe. Just a few days before that Aion 3.0 launched in Europe (being several months late to its United States counterpart) and developers from Korea were just a few feet from us talking about Aion 3.5 and even Aion 4.0. We asked the European Aion community to give us their questions to ask them directly to the people running the game. We felt it was important to make that direct connection between the players and Gameforge and make their concerns heard. Aion Europen forums are known for their tough stance on how the game is run and I wanted to present those issues in a personal, one on one, interview. Who better to talk to than Mr. Volker?
  
Here’s a list of things discussed in Part 1 one of the interview

  • Aion 3.0 launch
  • Why did it take so long to launch Aion 3.0 in Europe?
  • Details about the process of releasing big patches
  • Do you believe that European market is treated as second grade market?
  • Size of Gameforge Aion team
  • Server merges/transfers?

  

  
Part 2 of the interview discussed these key points:

  • Plans to deal with gold sellers and hacker
  • What’s the timetable for 3.5 being released?
  • Pay 2 Win. What is Gameforge’s stance on P2W items in the shop?
  • Veteran rewards Phase 2, Events and future content

  

  

I would also like to take this opportunity to express my personal views on the interview and Mr. Volker. I initially did not know what to expect going into this interview. I told the PR people that I will be asking tough questions provided to me by the Aion EU community. I was not faced with any hostility, nor evasive behavior. Just an hour earlier I had an interview with people from Star Wars: The Old Republic and after that experience (which was full of evasive behavior and “politics”) spending time with Gameforge staff was very pleasant. The high point was sitting down with Mr. Volker and chatting about the operation of Aion in Europe. He seemed very open and sincere in his answers and there was not a single “hard” question he did not want to face and answer. The conclusion of the whole experience would be this; Mr. Volker and his team want to run Aion in Europe the best they can. They had a lot of problems with adapting to how the game runs and is localized, but after conquering the initial learning curve they hope to do things much quicker in the future. To the careful listener you will see that they really want Aion in Europe to succeed and they will do the best they can to keep running the game in Europe. If you have any questions about my time spent in Gameforge booth feel free to ask in the comments section bellow or discuss on the Aion EU forum.

Aion 3.5 presentation video and 4.0 reveals!

During our visit to GamesCom 2012 in Cologne, Germany, we were treated to a full presentation and session with the Korean developers, courtesy of Gameforge. We were shown loads of footage from Aion 3.5 including lots of information about what is new and exciting in that patch. Being insatiable for new Aion information we had to ask about Aion 4.0, although Aion 3.5 was just now launched in Korea. To our surprise we got not only an answer but two major reveals. You can watch all this in our video of the presentation or read the recap bellow:

Aion 3.5

  • Two new end-game dungeons finishing the story arc started in 3.0
  • The first dungeon is versus Tiamat’s generals and lets you get gear which will enable you to face Tiamat herself
  • The second dungeon is the fight versus dragon lady Tiamat and for one month since launch in Korea less than 10% of players succeeded in defeating the event
  • You will get mythic weapons from Tiamat (only mythic grade items in game).
  • New kind of rifts in the game with attacker/defender system and quests available
  • Two new arenas with high replay value
  • The first arena will give you the key to enter the second arena

Aion 4.0

  • Three new classes
  • One class will wield a gun
  • One class will wield a musical instrument
  • Third class is still being kept secret
  • 4.0 will concentrate on PvP and RvR content

Ancient Hypergates Gameplay Video

We’re in Cologne, Germany and we visited the SWTOR booth, where we found level 20 characters fighting it out in a new warzone. The objective of the warzone is to activate the two pylons which then start a countdown before they explode. To save yourself from the explosion all players must go to the middle […]

Aion 4.0 to have three new classes!

We are at GamesCom, Europe’s biggest gaming event and of course, we went to see what’s new with Aion (and take some community questions along the way). We were very happy to find out that among the people present are Aion developers from Korea. They were always very happy to come and meet the European players and this year’s Gamescom was no exception. We talked about patch 3.5 and what it brings to the game (did someone say dragon lady Tiamat – the hardest boss ever to be introduced to the game?). We had some great footage shown from the patch (with a promise from Gameforge people that this will reach European players much, much sooner) and it was a pleasure meeting the people that actualy make this game. The best was saved (of course) for last. In an exclusive reveal we learned that Aion 4.0 patch will introduce three new classes! One of the classes will be a gun wielding class (!), while the other will have a musical instrument as a weapon (!!!). The last one is still under wraps, but I think this reveal is great on its own. You will have to wait for a while until we prepare the video of the interview and the presentation, but we will be releasing that very soon.