The third Beta Event for Aion Online is still going on as I post this title. But as I am currently at work and the event will be done by the time I get home, it is effectively over for me. So here are some thoughts about the event which transpired over the Fourth of July holiday weekend in the US.
I had previously planned on trying to level up my gaggle of level 10's to the level cap of 20 imposed by this beta round. But this turned out to be highly optimistic when confronted with the increased leveling curve of 10-20. Even with the additional day added to the usual time frame of these beta events, I was only able to get just my Cleric to 20 in that time. I chose to use the time left after that to grind up my crafting and gathering skills as well as repeatable coin quests which awarded some kick ass weapons and an unexpected bonus later on.
Still undecided on what my main's class will be in retail and the experience in CB3 only added more uncertainty not less. Cleric turned out not to be as Paladin-like as I had hoped but more like a pre-TBC WoW Shaman. I should've picked up on the similarities with the chain-wearing, shield-equipping, healing class that relied on melee for its DPS but had some nukes as well. But it took learning a spell, Summon: Divine Energy I, which gave me a non-mobile pet with a limited duration which spat out some holy fire to augment my DPS. Hmmmm...that sure does look like a totem, all right.
Remember those repeatable coin quests I mentioned earlier? In the Impetusium region of the Altgard zone, there is a repeatable quest that has you killing 22 mobs in order to get 1 coin reward. You can turn in either 2 or 4 of these coins at once to either of two NPC's which gave out random rewards for melee or magic classes. I opted to turn in 4 coins for my first try to the magic guy as that was what my Cleric was classified as. He rewarded me with a mace I could equip right off the bat, the Mace of Asmodian Army Soldier Level 9 (I really hope they localize the item names a bit more come release). Eager to repeat my fortune, I ground up another 4 coins but was awarded with a spellbook I couldn't equip so I threw that on the auction house for a fair price. I guess I was just lucky the first time and random really is pretty random.
So the unexpected bonus came as I ran to Pandemonium, the capital city, for some errand or other and there was a guy with a quest waiting for me. His first words were that he noticed by my Mace of Asmodian Army Soldier Level 9 that I was ready for this quest. Now I had read something about there being some quests that could only be triggered by wearing a particular set piece somewhere; most likely the loading screen tips. But I had no idea they could lead to important quests like this turned out to be. It was the quest to gain the ability to equip Stigma Stones, which are the equivalent of WoW talents for character customization.
I once again totally failed to take screenshots as usual but I will post my meager collection from the beta events later.
