I am a: Quirky sysadmin. Geek. Gamer. Comic fangirl. My little space, my home on the interwebs. I blog about personal stuffs, work, various coding projects, and anything else I feel like.

The final Aion closed beta weekend has now come and gone. I have had a TON of fun playing the last couple of months and absolutely CANNOT wait until the headstart! (those who’ve pre-ordered get to play a few days prior to game release, isn’t that cool?!)

Jim, Jess, and I played all weekend. Yesterday was Jessie’s birthday (my baby is now 12!!), so of course we let her stay up late all weekend so she could play with us a little more. She absolutely loves this game, and it has surprised me how well she’s taken to this MMO.

Such a smart little geekling. That’s my girl! :clap_tb:

A funny moment: I was questing with a group in the Tursin Outpost last night and just had to announce, “My baby just got her Ascension quest! w00t!!”

Go ahead, laugh, it’s ok. ;)

So, about the classes

When I signed out of my account last night, I was about halfway through Level 22 (Ranger). I had created a couple of other characters, but stayed with my main character, Minae, for the majority of the beta events. I know that by the time the headstart gets here, my account (along with those of all the other beta players) will be wiped out, and I will have to start over. I really liked my Ranger and think that for the time being, I will go that way again.

Jessie started out as a Ranger, but started over as a Sorcerer for this weekend. Overall, she found it an easier character to play and leveled much quicker. Jim, on the other hand, started as a Sorcerer and switched to Gladiator. Both of them had an easy time finding groups when it came to questing. Me, not so much. As with all MMOs, tanks and healers are going to be the most sought-after characters when it comes to grouping (whether for quests, PVE, PVP, etc.). No biggie for me, though. For now I’ll stick with my Ranger. :)

Note: For more info on classes and sub-classes in Aion, check the Aion website and Aion Armory (Aionsource).

Random acts of kindness

Most everyone I have run across while playing Aion have been great. There were many times when a passing healer would buff me or res me. In turn, I would res others when grouping or just the random player that I’d come across using the Elemental Stone of Resurrection (found in Verteron Citadel BTW!).

Personally, I love that! That’s an element of the game that I enjoy — the whole “community feel” aspect. Others helping others, and so on. Though not all players share my enthusiasm. You will occasionally get the one sour puss who, instead of politely saying thanks, will respond with, “No thanks, I can do this myself!” or a similar rude response.

‘To each his own’ I say. Me, I’m all about buffs and rezes! :tongue1_tb:

I hate the seller spam

A part of me wishes that NCSoft hadn’t added a ‘private store’ option. Personally, I think this falls under the “Just Because You Can Doesn’t Mean You Should” category. One of the things I hated about playing Aion is flying or teleporting into a place and being bombarded with a thousand “Green Items for Sales!”, “Shop here now!”, and other similar seller spam messages.

I mean, come on … people, please, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, use the trade brokers!

In my opinion, NCSoft should setup a designated area specifically for those who want to open a private store. Or, give users the option of blocking said messages.

I will sometimes change channels just to clear up all the message spam! :dry_tb:

Resources (link love!!)

Even though this game hasn’t been released in the US or UK yet, already there is a quickly-growing community of Aion fan and resource sites. Here are a few that I use fairly regularly:

• Aion PowerWiki – Found on the official Aion site, this is a recent addition to the site and they’ve been making an effort to add a lot of helpful info to it.
• AionSource – This site has a TON of helpful information on it. Whenever I have a question that I can’t find the answer to anywhere else, I check their forums!
• AionArmory – Owned by AionSource, this is a very handy repository of quests, NPCs, places, items, etc.
• Aionic Thoughts – I ran across this blog a few months back while researching the game. It’s updated frequently and usually has some pretty nice features posted.
• The Aion Guy – Found via Twitter, posts videos and other neat things to his blog.
• Aion Ladies – This is a new LJ community, for women (and well-behaved men) who play Aion.

Free free to share your fave links in the comments form below! :D