AION 2.0 Patch Notes - Environments

AION 2.0 Patch Notes - Environments 

1. The Balaur homeland, Balaurea, is now accessible to the Elyos and Asmodian forces.

There are two new regions: Gelkmaros and Inggison.

These regions are both governed by the Dragon Lord Tiamat.

Gelkmaros and Ingisson, hidden from view for so long, have retained an appearance reminiscent of the Atreian mainland before the Cataclysm struck. However, the Drana in these lands has also left its mark; there are many areas where the laws of nature are not obeyed.

 Monsters level 51 and above appear in these new regions.
 These new regions contain unique environments.
 The Elyos fortress is located in Inggison. The Asmodian fortress is located in Gelkmaros.
 There are two fortresses and four artifacts in each region.
 Flight plays a new role: each region contains new windstreams.

2.  Windstreams have been added.
 Windstreams are naturally occurring phenomena unique to the Balaur regions. Daevas can enter these windstreams, and are carried in the direction of the stream.
 The Daeva’s flight timer is not used whilst in the windstream. Daevas cannot attack or be attacked in the windstream.
 Some windstreams are stronger than others. Blue windstreams are powerful, and cannot be left until the windstream has run its path. Purple windstreams are weaker, however, so Daevas can leave them wherever they please. Daevas can leave purple windstreams by simply changing direction, or jumping.
 Daevas who leave purple windstreams with a change in direction will simply glide away; Daevas who break from the windstream by jumping will start to fall.

3. Daevas can now move about via updrafts and geysers.

 Players can ascend to higher areas using updrafts and geysers, or by entering certain windstreams.
 Some of the updraft and geyser locations are blocked by monsters. Daevas must defeat these monsters in order to use them.

 Daevas can enter updrafts by gliding into them.
 Daevas use geysers by standing above them and waiting for an eruption.

4.  [Elysea] Modifications have been made so that monsters cannot climb up a certain region inside the Theobomos Lab dungeon.

 5. [Elysea] A bug where players cannot climb up trees in some parts of Heiron has been fixed.

6. [Asmodae] A bug causing players to glide abnormally in some parts of Beluslan has been fixed.

7. [Reshanta] A bug causing the glass wall inside the fortress dungeon (Abyss top layer) to appear opaque has been fixed.

8. A bug causing some monster skills to not be applied in certain parts of the Draupnir Cave has been fixed.

9. Changes have been made so that players cannot stay for extended periods of time in certain regions of Elysea, Asmodae, and the Abyss.
 Kisks can no longer be installed in certain areas.
 Spiritmasters cannot summon their spirits in certain areas.
 Players who log out or are disconnected in certain areas will now reappear at an Obelisk when they next log in.

Aion 1.9 & 2.0 Announced release dates

Although the folks at NCwest have said that they are still working toward a May release for 1.9, their beloved parent company NCsoft had this to share last Friday. 

Release dates for Aion 1.9 & 2.0!

Whilst we still await seeing 1.9 on the PTS, NCsoft announced via their Q1 2010 quarterly earnings report call that their global plan is to release patch 1.9 in June-August 2010, followed by patch 2.0 in September-October. They also confirmed that for each release, NA/EU will be implemented ahead of other Asian territories. This means that, for example, although some territories will see 1.9 as late as August, we can expect to get our paws on it much earlier.

Our own community team from NCwest have confirmed to us that they are still working toward a May release date for aion 1.9, so there is certainly hope on the horizon for the next few weeks.

If you would like to know more about the quarterly earnings call, you can download the English translation of the call here and listen to it, but be warned it is 30 minutes long!

Highlights from the call:

"Aion was down 21% quarter on quarter but up 67% year on year. As opposed to a solid domestic user base, Aion in overseas markets experienced the decline of active accounts resulting from natural decline and massive elimination. However, we could expect some recovery soon because content updates such as 1.9 and 2.0 are scheduled in May and the third quarter respectively."

"In terms of the overseas update schedule, the 1.9 update will be from June to August so it will depend on the territory. We are planning to update 1.9 in the EU/US first then in other asian territories afterwards."

"As for the 2.0 update, it will be sometime in the fall so we are looking for sometime then between September and October and also, it's the same, we will probably begin to update it in the EU/US and the Asian countries afterwards."

"As for the Aion performance in the Western market, I should have mentioned that the number of active users has declined since the launch of the retail package in September and October last year. But I'm also very confident that at this point EU/US is able to maintain the current level of active users and since we're expecting the 1.9 update soon, and also 2.0 in the third quarter."

"Probably we'll also be able to reactivate the dormant users, because we have a huge err...the amount of dormant users who are just waiting for the improvement in game design and game play, and also the new content. We will be able to provide those new changes with new content in 1.9 and 2.0 so we'll be focusing on reactivating those dormant accounts at this point. I regret that we are not able to provide any specific figures on our game operation."