* Dredgion Instance Maps now show in correct languages
* Item comparison tooltip has been rearranged
* Gender Tags for title will now show up appropriately in FR and DE
* Fix to Auction House where some users were not credited correctly for crafted items

FR Language Update:

* Fixed Abyss Maps
* Fixed LC1 map
* Various terminology changes
* Corrected various punctuation and spelling errors in dialog and quests
* NPC Audio fixes
* UI fixes for FR language
* Bug fixes/grammatical edits for Item descriptions
* Various translation corrections in dialogs and quests
* Various cutscene text/audio issues have been fixed

DE Language Update:

* Fixed Abyss Maps
* Fixed Sanctum map
* Made various map name changes in Altgard and Morheim
* Various terminology changes
* Corrected various punctuation and spelling errors in dialog and quests
* NPC Audio fixes
* Various Skill books have been edited for grammar and consistency
* Various cutscene text/audio issues have been fixed
* UI fixes for DE language
* Bug fixes/grammatical edits for Item descriptions
* Various translation corrections in dialogs and quests

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Patch 1.5.0.8

• Closed Beta Event 5 Info
• Closed Beta Event 4 Info
• Aion Patch 1.5 Impressions
• Licensing Issues in EU
• Aion Collectors Edition Selling Fast

Open Beta

• Features patch 1.5
• 6-13th September
• Numerous western enhancements (new character creation features), as well as new zones, instances, skills, quests and more
• Level cap stays at 30

Pre-selection will allow you to create your character and reserve a name prior to the headstart and will be available on 18th September, while Aion’s Headstart will begin September 20.

The open beta client is now also available for download from Fileplanet and later this week GamersHell. You can also download the full open beta client or upgrade your closed beta client by downloading these torrents.

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Open Beta, Preselect & Headstart Info

• Closed Beta Event 6 Info
• Closed Beta Event 5 Info
• Closed Beta Event 4 Info
• Aion Character Customization
• Aion FAQ

For a full post, glide over to Kotaku.

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Aion Patch 1.5 Impressions

• Open Beta, Preselect & Headstart Info
• Rifts FAQ
• Aion Character Customization
• Aion System Requirements
• Closed Beta Event 6 Info

Apparently, NCsoft decided to give distribution rights in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to a company called “Innova Group”, which is a distributor of localized Russian version. In addition, an IP block will be enforced, meaning the players from these countries will not be able to play on European servers, but rather Russian. Furthermore, Croatia and Turkey will be joining those countries and will be blocked from accessing EU servers as well, which clearly made a “few” players quite upset.

Being from Croatia myself, I fail to see any logic behind this decision. I included a map so you can fail to see it too.

Now I’m not sure about Turkey, but Russian language is definitely not a popular one in my country and I have no intention of learning it just to be able to play Aion, nor would I ever want to play with any russian people and I’m not alone. Due to the IP block, we obviously won’t be able to choose where to play, and forcing players in any of the above countries to play on localized russian servers has got to be the most ridiculous move I’ve ever seen in history of gaming.

The official response to this is yet to be seen.

–

Edit:

Response (GM Ricardo) 08/20/2009 10:23 AM
Hello there,

Thank you again for your interest in Aion.

Croatia will be included in the EU servers.

Unfortunately, we do not have any further information about the game’s release in Lithuania at this point.
As a result, Lithuanian users will not be able to use any acquired serial codes to create an Aion game account (whether it’s American or European).

Should this situation change we’ll make an announcement on our official website.

Thankfully one part is resolved, Croatian users will indeed be able to play on EU servers, however Lithuanian players will not be able to play anywhere or will be limited to Russian servers. Definitely a bad move by NCsoft.

Another edit:

All of the aforementioned countries will be able to play on EU servers, thankfully.

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Licensing Issues in EU

• How To Get AionArmory Tooltips On Your Site
• Movement Bonuses and Penalties
• Closed Beta Event 6 Info
• Aion Overview
• Gameguard – To Protect or to Spy?

Here’s a short snippet from the announcement made on the official site:

We want to conclude closed beta testing on a high note, so we are arranging a series of story-driven in-game events, in part hinting at some of the much-anticipated content forthcoming in with our massive release day patch. Keep that F5 key handy, since more information on these live events is headed your way later this week!

Closed beta 6 is primed to rocket onto the servers on Friday, August 14, 2009, noon PT (8 p.m. BST, 9 p.m. CEST). Our beta forums open their gates two hours earlier, and access to them will be ongoing throughout the weekend until Monday.

It’s going to be another exciting weekend and I’ll do my best to keep you updated, so make sure you check up on the site for the latest info.

Come feed your Aion addiction on AionFly.com

Closed Beta Event 6 Info

• Closed Beta Event 5 Info
• Closed Beta Event 4 Info
• Open Beta, Preselect & Headstart Info
• Aion Preorders
• Licensing Issues in EU

I only played for about ten hours total this time: I’m either getting older and can’t handle 16 hours/day anymore, or the more likely scenario, it’s beta and I’ll rather wait for the game to come out to try it. Only got a Gladiator to level 13 which ain’t much of an accomplishment, but I will be posting my thoughts about the latest beta soon nevertheless.

CryEngine

There’s an article over at some Swedish site talking about the CryEngine. The article is in english, but you can translate the rest of the site here. It’s a short interview ansswering a few interesting questions about Aion’s engine, how NCsoft modified and customized it and why the hell Aion looks so good.

Advanced Combat Video

CBW 5 Screenshots

Courtesy of Longasc again, we got 140 new screenshots in out Beta Weekend Screenshots gallery. There’s plenty of interesting areas and scenery, as well as pics from the Abyss. If you didn’t get first hand experience, check out the gallery.

He also posted several impressions about PvP on twitter:

• Enemy player levels are never shown, they are always level ??
• 5 lvl higher players can still be hit with attacks and spells reliably,the only major problem is they resist CC effects better
• Tanks are cool in PvP,their “pull” spell is like the DK grip. Either your group lets you die or they must engage in close combat
• Clerics are hard to kill 1v1, but they do not have as good CC as other classes. So they cannot stop you running
• Sorcerer sleep only lasts some 4-5 seconds in PvP, and breaks on damage
• Class synergies encourage PvE and PvP grouping, 2-4 people are ideal for ideal for PvP, 2 for PvE abyss point farming
• XP/Abyss points, well everything, is divided exactly by the number of people in group. Damaging mobs/player targets of others
• Damaging players/mobs tagged/killed by other players gives a % of points,too, looting rights apparently are based on % damage done
• No castle sieges yet, mostly small gank squads flying around. But the size of the Abyss makes it easy to run away
• The lowbie rift ganking (level 50s going to level 25 Eltnen areas e.g.) is adressed in later patches, but still quite unresolved
• The “PvE zones” become very huge later on, and rifts only allow a certain number of players through. e.g. 25 players, max level 30

I gotta get this guy to write some posts for us, he knows a hell of a lot more about Aion than I do.

Got more CBW5 news? Send it!

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CBW5 Screenshots, Combat Video & CryEngine

• Closed Beta Weekend Screenshots
• Unique Items Preview
• Beginner’s Guide to Skills and Chains
• Stigma System Overview
• Aion FAQ

The guide covers the basics such as acquiring skills, how to put them on your action bars, the difference in (the number of) chain skills depending on your class etc.  Most of you who participated in the last few beta events might already be familiar with most of this, but if you still didn’t preorder your copy of Aion go ahead and read the full article.

We got more beginner’s guides for you right here and you’re welcome to read those as well!

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Beginner’s Guide to Skills and Chains

• Killerguides Aion Guide Review
• Aion Preorders
• Free 1-10 Leveling Guide – Asmodian & Elyos
• Aion Basic Controls & Keyboard Shortcuts
• Closed Beta Event 6 Info

• Starting time: 17th of July (noon PST, 8 PM BST, 9 PM CEST)
• Ending time: 20th of July (July 19th 11.59 PM PST, July 20th 8 AM BST/9 AM CEST)

This time, the goal is reaching level 30 (something which I unfortunately won’t have time for), more Abyss, and testing of new character voices and voice overs. You can get a short sneak peak into the new character voices here. Here’s an overview from the official post:

• New Sound files have been added
• NPCs should now have a greet and farewell voice
• Cutscenes will now have voice
• Race Prologues are now available when you create a new character for Elyos and Asmodian
• Tutorial videos are now available in game via the help menu
• Player voices are now available at character creation
• System voices are now available
• New NPC Dialogue/Quest text for Theobomos and Brusthonin
• Various Localization fixes
• Broken HTMLs have been fixed
• Various grammatical errors have been fixed
• Various Glossary term fixed
• 2 New servers added for each territory

If you still don’t have your beta key, it’s probably too late to get into this one, but there’s one more beta weekend scheduled for August 14 – August 17 so don’t forget to preorder Aion if you want in!

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Closed Beta Event 5 Info

• Closed Beta Event 4 Info
• Closed Beta Event 6 Info
• Patch 1.5.0.8
• Aion Tutorial Vids
• Aion Character Customization

Basically, rifts are portals which take you to the other faction leveling areas, and enable you to visit instances, collect materials and of course, PvP. There’s a few key things you need to remember about rifts, most importantly the fact they are no return tickets, there’s a limit to how many players can pass through them and if you go through one and die you will respawn back on your side, unless you’re carrying a Kisk with you.

Anyway, hop over to Aionic Thoughts and read the full post!

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Rifts FAQ

• Aion Patch 1.5 Impressions
• CBW5 Screenshots, Combat Video & CryEngine
• Beginner’s Guide to Skills and Chains
• Aion Basic Controls & Keyboard Shortcuts
• Flying FAQ

In addition to your armor and weapons, the way you move in combat also affects your offensive and defensive capabilities. For example, moving forward in combat will increase your damage, but also decrease your defense. Moving backwards will greatly increase your parry and block rating, but also significantly decrease the movement speed and physical damage inflicted. Lastly, strafing from side to side will increase your chance to evade attacks, but will in turn decrease both your damage and movement.

Forward	Backward	Left/Right Strafe
+10% Physical Damage +10% Magic Damage   -20% Physical Defense -20% Magic Damage	+500% to Parry +500% to Block   -70% Physical Damage -40% Movement Speed	+300% to Evasion   -70% Physical Damage -20% Movement Speed

Although you certainly don’t need to use movement in every single fight, it’s definitely a good trick to keep in mind. For example, if you’re low on health and expect a heal, it would be wise to start moving backwards (often frowned upon in other MMOs, but actually useful here) or strafing. Additionally, I recommend checking out the basic keybinds, and binding strafing to your A and D keys.  You can also check the short key binding guide here.

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Movement Bonuses and Penalties

• Aion Player Stats
• Aion Class Overview
• Flying FAQ
• Aion Basic Controls & Keyboard Shortcuts
• CBW5 Screenshots, Combat Video & CryEngine