Aion 4.0 has already seen a release in Korea and China, and the North American server is about to get its injection of update goodness next month. NCSoft has remained tight-lipped about many of the features added in 4.0 despite the information being plastered all over the official Korean website for translation. Gameforge has been even more quiet, with Aion EU being almost entirely in the dark on the update.
One would think this opportunity to draw in new players would get NCSoft at least a little more active in their promotion of the game. The 4.0 update will bring more features, a higher level cap, loads of new endgame content, and new classes. What’s not to promote here?
I’ve taken a bit of a hiatus from Aion as I wait for 4.0 to launch. 2013 has been a busy year for the MMORPG genre so far, and I’ve been taking the downtime to try my hand at several titles going through their beta test rounds. Some have been pretty impressive, but nothing can top the classic MMO feel of Aion. I’m prone to taking breaks, but I always come back.
I’ve written several articles covering some of the features coming in 4.0, but I just want to go over a few of them here in a convenient list format.
The list below is by no means complete or intensive — my Korean is by no means good enough and listing out gear is no fun — but those of you getting antsy for Aion 4.0 can at least take solace in the fact that these new features, areas, and classes are heading to North America next month. Hopefully our friends over on the European servers will get the update around the same time.
New Features to Aion 4.0
- Two confirmed classes: Songweaver (support) and Gunslinger (DPS). The third new class, a tank class reportedly called the Aethertech, has yet to hit the Korean server and as such cannot be considered confirmed.
- Level cap raised to 65, the new Katalam region has been added to accommodate this change. The region contains three spanning, separate areas: Underground, Southern, and Northern Katalam. All three are PvP-heavy areas.
- Players can now have 7 characters per server per account, up from 6.
- The entire game has a new, more modern UI. Most functions are the same as those in pre-4.0. Some of these changes can be see in the Korean website.
- Every classic class gets new skills, including charge abilities and some receive some mobility skills to aid in Katalam PvP.
- Enchantment stone synthesis. Players can combine two enchantment stones to receive one of higher level. Sweet relief!
- New emotes and underwear. Old emotes will not be replaced, but the new ones will be added to the current roster.
- New craftable gear sets — including level 65 extendable weapons!
- Manastone and Godstone crafting, including composite Manastones.
- New lategame instances: Sauro Supply Base, Kamar Battlefield, Jorumunganduis Bridge, Idgel Laboratory, Impenetrable Bastion, Runadium, Lunas Sanctuary, Steel Rose, Hall of Knowledge, and more.
- In-game party voice chat.
- Several new PvE and PvP gear sets. These can be obtained from instances, world bosses, crafting, Hero quests, and some standard quests. Daeva’s Report has a great deal of information on the new gear sets.
- New character customization options.
- Siege battles on small encampments or larger bases in the Katalam region.
- New 12 vs. 12 and 6 vs. 6 battlegrounds.
This list is by no means complete, but even with the Korean site available and packed with information it’s difficult to go through and pick out every little bit. Even if the above were all that was to be added in 4.0, it would still be a massive update to an already huge game. The amount of instances alone is more than in any single update to Aion yet. Let that sink in a bit, and get ready for the not-that-long wait to play it ourselves.
