In Aion 1.9 the crafting skill level has been raised from 449p to 499p. Crafting designs for various new potions, scrolls and other items have also been added. On the korean PTS people are leveling up theyr crafting skills to 499p. With the increased XP & Droprates (4.5x than normal) on the PTS it iscurrently not that much of a problem to get to 499p. Once Aion 1.9 will go live things gonna lock different, due to the normal XP & Droprate. Also note that there are not much 449+ designs available in 1.9 and people will have to wait untill Aion 2.0 gets released to get access to additional Designs.

Informations about Manastones, Cast Speed Scrolls, Masterwork Quest

Aion 1.9 brings new flight transportation routes to all areas of the game. This will help with quest and getting much faster from A to B in general. Along with reduced Teleportation and Flight costs the Soul Healing costs also got reduced.

Read on for new Flight Routes & reduced Soul Healing Costs

The PTS for Aion 1.9 is up and running in Korea. Slowly the first detailed informations about Daily Quests, Rental System Items, Low Budget Abyss Items and Limited Edition Items are becoming available.

Details about Daily Quests, Abyss Items, Limited Edition Item Costs, Rental System Costs

During the Press Conference on March, 3rd 2010 NCSoft Korea unveiled first details about the next Aion updates, named 1.9 and 2.0. Version 1.9 will focus on class balancing and bringing several improvements to eas game play. New major content will have to wait until the release of Aion 2.0.
Aion 1.9 is currently been tested on the Korean PTS and scheduled to hit the Korean Live Servers later this March. Version 2.0 is scheduled for May 2010 in Korea. There is currently no
known schedule for the European and NA servers.

Aion 1.9 Preview and 2.0 informations

En Masse Entertainment announced the formation of En Masse, a wholly owned subsidiary of Korean MMO company Bluehole Studio. En Masse is comprised of veterans from companies including Blizzard Entertainment, Microsoft Corp., Electronic Arts Inc., ArenaNet and NCsoft. The first official En Masse title scheduled for release in North America and Europe will be the MMORPG PC title, TERA: The Exiled Realm of Arborea. TERA is deveoped by Bluehole Studio and is currently undergoing a Closed Beta phase in Korea.

En Masse Entertainment Press Release

Yarrr, PirateNinjas are expanding theyr wings to Aion. Therefor we are looking for a few dedicated players. No random mass recruiting – just some special players for special needs :) If you are a Ninja or Pirate, we might be intrested in you!

Read on for the the full Recruiting Post

The first Closed Beta for TERA: The Exiled Realm of Arborea has been held on August 22nd and 23rd 2009. Selected players were able to test run TERA for 8hours on each day. The focus for this first Closed Beta was on basic character / fighting mechanics. TERA is the highly-anticipated MMORPG under developement by Bluehole Studio. It features a unique non-targeting battle mode. The final game will feature 6 tribes divided in 8 playable classes.

CBT Teaser

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NCwest finaly announced the Open Beta dates for theyr MMO Aion: The Tower of Eternity.

Sep 06, 2009 – Open Beta starts
Sep 13, 2009 – Open Beta ends
Sep 18, 2009 – Pre-Selection for Server and Character / Name starts (for Pre-Order customers)
Sep 20, 2009 – Headstart Program launches for both NA & EU (access to the live servers for Pre-Order customers)
Sep 22, 2009 – Retail Launch for North America
Sep 25, 2009 – Retail Launch for Europe

Read on for Aion Open Beta details

ArenaNet premiered the first Guild Wars 2 Trailer during GamesCon Cologne 2009. There is no release date nore open beta shedule for Guild Wars 2 yet, but it should be expected 2nd half 2010. Class and Lore Details for Guild Wars 2 will e published later this year.

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NCWest finaly launched the re-designed official Website for Aion: The Tower of Eternity. Besides a general design overhaul, the Aion PowerWiki got introduced. The PowerWiki is the western version of the korean Aion PowerBook. For those not familiar with the PowerBook, its the official place for anything related to Quest, Skills, Classes, NPCs, Mobs, …
The NA/EU PowerWiki is currently providing very basic informations, compared to what the korean PowerBook offers. Also the new layout can not compete with what NCSoft offers theyr korean customers on the official korean Website (http://aion.plaync.co.kr/) — but within NCWest’s standards, this new layout is a hugh step forward. So time will tell if NCWest manages to catch up and not let the official NA/EU Aion Website turn into another failure like the official Lineage 2 Website …