The Aion Closed Beta / Preview Events are underway since a few weeks. For those that didn’t got a chance to give Aion a try have now a chance to fetch a Beta Key for the upcomming Closed Beta Event. The next Beta Event will run from July 2nd to July 6th, 2009 and allow you to try both factions, the Elyos and Asmodian from level 1 to 20. Since the classchange is at level 10, this Beta Event gives a good amount of time to try various different classes and get an impression of the game.

How to get a free Aion Closed Beta Key?

Well, the first 2 “Closed Beta” Events for Aion: The Tower of Eternity are over, and a few of us spend some time in the World of Atreia. We mostly focused on playing the different classes, trying to figure out wich classes each of us might play in the future.
For the most part we like what Aion is as a MMO/RPG – a pretty much straight forward gameplay targeted at a more wider casual playerbase, unlike Lineage 2. Before getting to the BUT section, some small sidenote about Aions production and marketing from a global point of view. Aion as an IP gets developed and produced by korean based NCsoft. Theyr focus is on the korean market and to be in competition with World of Warcraft over there – Aion is not following the traditional korean grind scheme but more orientating on the quest system WOW has. Outside Korea Aion gets distributed by different licensees and joint venture offices (NC Japan, NC Taiwan, NCwest). The role of these companies can basicly be described as a marketing and support job. They have no call in the production of new features or fundamental game changes and so on – even so some die hard fanboys think otherwise. So all they have todo is come up with a translation for theyr territory, promote the game as good as possible and provide a working support. That all within an appropriate timeframe – aka not being too much off from the launch of any update in Korea.

Read on for our concerns

The first Beta Event for Aion: The Tower of Eternity is underway. Those that managed to get theyr hands on one of the few Beta Keys, can give NCsoft’s latest MMORPG a try. From 5th to 7th June players are allowed to play an Elyos.
Some of us are playing on the EU Beta Server. I for myself am playing on the NA Beta Server. If anyone needs company of a Chanter, feel free to PM Isobell.
Those being not so lucky getting a Beta Key, can follow Awantos on the EU Beta Server (when he is not streaming live, there will run some pre-recordings from the chinese Beta):

In a few hours the latest Lineage 2 expansion Gracia, Final will go live. Untill then a short rant from our side and a few Gracia Final related guides.

It’s sadden to see that the majority of text and translation issues will not be fixed (once again). So good luck to everyone having to deal with (but not limited to) Item, NPC, Description, Quest, … inconsistencies. Prime example here might be the name for one fo the 2 seeds on Gracia: Seed of Immortality, Seed of Infinity … while the correct translation would have been Seed of Eternity.

The poor quality of the translation and overall lag of any QA makes us wonder in what shape this company is going to deliever theyr next MMORPG Aion.They have stated to ‘westernice’ every text related aspect of the game and start with a realy polished version. We shall see …

Read on for Quest Walkthoughs, Elemental Test and more

Just 2 weeks after the PTS for Lineage 2 Gracia, Final came online we gonna see the latest expansion hit the live servers. Remains tobe seen how much of the Text, Translation and other bugs gonna make it to the live servers. But if the games Associate Producer is even to lazy to copy&paste&forward any bug reports to the QA team:

Thanks for the good bug list, but please remember to submit these via the in game petition client as well. Our QA team directly checks this and they do not always make it to the forums to read issues here. The quickest way to get it looked at is in game! Kinslon

there is much hope to find your favourite bug on the live servers next week.
Wonder if they even noted that a) theyr ingame petition system wasn’t working most of the time, and b) within a petiton you get asked to open a ticket on the official ticket system to report a bug …

So fare also no Gracia Final launch events, like they had in Korea.
Gracia Final Launch Announcement & 5Th Anniversary Event Details

After getting beaten by any other Lineage 2 instalment worldwide (including the just recently started russian Servers by 4game) NCwest’s Associate Producer ‘Kinslon’ posted yesterday:

Please note that effective 5:00pm CDT the Lineage II PTS server will be taken down in preparation for the Gracia: Final publish. Please stay tuned as we will be announcing the Gracia: Final PTS schedule soon.

So get prepared for the next round of ‘Lost in Translation’ and later on finding your favourite text- and translation-issues making it onto the live servers.
Sorry, but if my business involves a major translation part, i make sure to hire someone being fluent in the products original language and context and my targeted audience language. Hiding behind lame excuses like:  ‘Our texts & translations are based on gibberish machine translations’ (very loose quote of a NCwest employe’s forum post) is nothing but a lame excuse.
Gracia, Final PTS Server goes Live April, 16th 2009

Lineage 2’s long rumoured April Fool’s Event has finaly got off, even tho with 1 hour delay due to ‘technical difficults’. The Event runs from April, 1st untill April, 7th and is split into 2 Parts.
Attention! Spoiler Warning - This post includes details for the 2nd part of the Event

Adam Martin, former lead programmer at NCsoft, wrote a good article about all the NCSoft/NCWest re-structurs: NCWest: Stage 1 complete; Farewell, European MMO Industry! After reading it you can rather easily predict the future and (failing the way to) success for upcomming NCWest titles (like Aion: The Tower of Eternity) in Europe and America (in the long run). At least they stick with their tradition of miserable-at-best/non-existing Customer-Support and being deaf when it comes to listening to concerns from their Communities/Customers.

Mythic Entertainment today announced the possibility of a 10 days free trail for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. For the European servers check this link, while the North American and Asia Pacific trial is available here. Players that sign up for the 10-day free trial are eligible to participate in the current Bitter Rivals live event to unlock the soon-to-be-released Orc Choppa and Dwarf Slayer careers for head start play.
Read on for the Press Release

Spring is once again in the air. And as the weather turns sunny and warm, the inhabitants of Fantasy Isle are preparing to hold their yearly Spring celebration.

The playful residents of this strange and wondrous land have spread Treasure Sack Pieces across the globe. And they are waiting for you to find and collect these special items. Collect enough, and these pint-sized occupants will exchange your pieces for rare and precious prizes, including S-grade armor, high-grade Soul Crystals, shadow Agathion bracelets, and more!
Read on for the full Event Rules, Prices and Schedule