Things are looking good for NCSoft’s Aion right now. With Aion 3.5 localized a mere three months after it was released in South Korea and exciting new info in Aion 4.0 coming in, old and new players have a lot to look forward to in the game’s future.
[Edit: We have loads more information on 4.0 found under the Aion 4.0 tag. The update will be making its way to North America in June and presumably in Europe around the same time!]
NCSoft is promising a wealth of new content in Aion 4.0, including the first new classes in the game’s history and a new region. A Daeva couldn’t be more excited!
In case you’ve laid your Daeva-dom to rest and haven’t kept up with what’s going on in the world of Atreia, check out Aion Life’s presentation on 3.5 below.
So what’s up with 4.0? A whole lotta stuff (that we don’t actually know about).
Aion’s not getting any younger (it launched in 2008 in South Korea and 2009 in North America), and the game’s core structure hasn’t changed that much since launch. There are certainly more things to do today than at launch, but none of the previous updates have been as ambitious as 4.0 seems to be.
Aion 4.0 will be the first big update with actual new classes, as opposed to balance changes to the classes already present in the game. That in itself is enough to get excited about!
NCSoft announced the arrival of three new classes at Gamescom, and preview videos of two of them were uploaded to Youtube just two days ago.
The Bard/Troubador
This is the class I’m most waiting for, personally. 
According to the official site, the Bard/Troubador “uses stringed instruments to heal friends and attack enemies”.
This is no doubt a support class, probably with a huge reliance on grouping. This will be the squishiest of Aion’s support classes, considering they do in fact wear cloth instead of chain or leather. The official announcement claims the class to be a mix between a Cleric and Spiritmaster. Aw yeah.
The preview video uploaded recently covers many of the Bard/Troubador’s abilities. and I can’t help but wonder if males of the class will have different ability animations. If not, well..
I just can’t see a male Asmo throwing pink butterflies, summoning dancing penguins, and launching an ethereal horse from a harp. Maybe you Elyos men can pull it off, but Asmo guys — no way!
Gunner
There isn’t any actual information on this class yet, but a preview video was uploaded alongside the Bard preview. While the abilities showcased above look just a touch feminine, the Gunner abilities are just about as cool as it gets.
From the preview video and weapon concept art, we can assume the Gunner will be able to choose between dual pistols or hand cannons. Either way, it’s good to see a new ranged DPS class.
?????
The third class has yet to be revealed. All we have to go on is this image:
Does that look like someone riding a mech to you? Because it does to me. If it is someone riding a mech, technology in the lore may have progressed significantly. It would be a big deal in the world of Atreia. Can’t wait to see what happens with this class and what it means to the lore in Aion 4.0.
Katalam
That’s a nice image you have there. Might be a neat area in a game. Oh wait. That’s concept art for the new region “Katalam”!
Finally somewhere new to explore and (maybe) fight over. The official post linked above has more concept art of this new area, and it looks absolutely gorgeous.
Seriously beautiful.
We don’t know anything else about Aion 4.0 as of yet, but NCSoft has been releasing more and more information as the Korean launch closes in before the end of the year.
We can expect NA Aion to get 4.0 early to mid 2013, judging by the frequency of updates we’ve been getting. It’s good to see NCSoft actually paying attention to our side of the water, but I’m hoping it’s not too little too late. Either way, the new classes and region look fantastic. We’ll keep you updated on any future Aion 4.0 news. Thank you, Daevas, and happy hunting!
