One of the nice things about AION that I haven’t really touched on yet is that at level 10 you ascend and become a Deva. At which point, you gain wings.
These wings have a few uses. They become your own personal gryphon. Allowing you to travel between two designated areas on your own power. No Flying mounts required. They also allow you to fly for a limited amount of time. Allowing you to reach areas otherwise unapproachable. This allows for things like floating cities and dungeons.
Recently the patch notes for the Korean Closed Beta 3 were released. A great many things were confirmed and made more clear. They also added a nice little touch to the wings.
The “Glide” skill has been added.
The Glide skill is activated when flying, causing your wings to spread and glide on the air currents, bringing you slowly back down to earth. Press the [space bar] while in the air to spread your wings and enter Glide mode.
Glide mode is only available after becoming a winged Daeva, and can be used in every region in Aion. (Is exempt from the flight availability region list)
This is just another welcome addition to the game. Sounds like it will mimic the floating in Everquest 2. I always did enjoy being a Fae or one of the magical races who would just glide gently to the ground. Found a video of some people demonstrating the new glide ability.
What that video demonstrates is something that I appreciate. Everyone can fly. I played City of Heroes/Villains for quite a while and the difference between all of the movement abilities (Flight, Teleportation, Super Speed, and Super Jump) was huge. There were massive speed differences and endurance drains associated with each ability. Even in Everquest 2. For a long time the Fae had a very large advantage. In AION everyone seems to be on an even playing field.
Though I heard that there might be upgrades to your wings as you progress farther into the game.
The developers of AION seem to have learned from other games mistakes. Instead of just trying to take aspects from every game and just smash them together they seem to have taken the time to decide which bits would actually work in their world.
After looking up all of this information about the game, I’m glad that the developers haven’t tried to just create World of Warcraft with a mild twist. Unlike some people. *cough* WAR *cough* The wings are an added bonus, but it looks like the game would have been fine without them. I couldn’t be happier. I leave you with a few videos.
The first one is showing off the Gryphon-like flight from point to point.
The second video shows off the free flying and just the beauty of AION. This one is available in High Quality on Youtube.
July 17, 2008 at 4:49 pm
This game is going to be crazy!!!
July 17, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Agreed.
July 17, 2008 at 7:57 pm
What I hope is the flight is like Perfect World. You had your “mana” bar go down as you used it, but as you leveled it took longer to go down.
Then eventually it never got used.
I hated the gameplay for that game, yet spent so much time flying around the world. Great stuff.
Still getting excited here.
July 17, 2008 at 8:09 pm
That’d be nice. As of right now, I believe the length of time that you can spend aloft does not change as you level. There are rumors that there are items and enchantments that will increase the length of time you can fly though. Seeing as it’s still in Beta though, this is all subject to change.