Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Aion Open Beta Starts September 6th

Posted by Soulskill on from the gives-you-wings dept.

NCSoft announced today that the open beta for upcoming fantasy MMO Aion will begin on September 6th, extending through to the 13th. The client is available now. The game launches on September 22nd in the US, with a two-day head-start given to players who pre-order. NCSoft has also said they'll be showing off Aion in more detail at the Penny Arcade Expo, expanding on the information they provided at Gamescom (video).

8 of 147 comments (clear)

  1. Rootkits for everyone! by regular_gonzalez · · Score: 5, Informative

    A word of warning - Aion uses GameGuard which for all intents and purposes, is a rootkit. The article is a bit outdated w/ regards to incompatibility issues with other apps, as the Steam incompatibility was fixed a month or two ago iirc. Either way, it's a terrible and invasive bit of software that I won't allow anywhere near my PC.

    --
    Due to circumstances beyond my control, I am master of my fate and captain of my soul.
    1. Re:Rootkits for everyone! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I used to play another small korean mmorpg, Priston Tale. It used GameGuard. The GameGuard server would go down all of the time, making the game inaccessible. The parent is 100% correct, GG is crap.

    2. Re:Rootkits for everyone! by Datamonstar · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yep. it's another ADMINISTRATOR account that silently gets added to your system. Once I figured out what it was I disregarded it, but I was still pretty pissed.

      --
      The eternal struggle of good vs. evil begins within one's self.
    3. Re:Rootkits for everyone! by Skuld-Chan · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Best/easiest way to disable gameguard? Load it on 64 bit windows. Patchguard won't let it patch the kernel, so while it loads - it can't do anything against cheating. So if you are a hacker or botter - get Windows X64 and have at it.

      No doubt about it - it is a rootkit. On 32 bit machine I've watched it read window titles, intercept I/O - stuff like that. One of the ways around gameguard on 32 bit machine is to build a rootkit that sits below it.

  2. Gameplay beyond level 20: Unfair ganking. by Tei · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This is a RvR game. To avoid the problems with PoTBS:

    Don't join AION, if you can't handle ganking. Ganking in Darkfall could be much more fair than in AION, the "resistences" of a high level may make imposible to kill a players that is a few levels higher than you.

    --

    -Woof woof woof!

    1. Re:Gameplay beyond level 20: Unfair ganking. by Dr.+Eggman · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I never understood why MMOs didn't implement some sort of PvP honor system that takes into account the difference between levels and awards or takes away from a players honorabilty, like a morality meter in some rpgs. A more honorable character gets certain, small bonuses to a stat like luck or maybe just allows them higher standing with some faction. Ganking is still possible, but a minor deterrent could at least reduce the instances of repeated ganking. Sure, you'd have to track who started a fight to make sure some sort of reverse-ganking doesn't happen, but it can't be that hard.

      --
      Demented But Determined.
  3. Re:Who cares? by Tridus · · Score: 3, Informative

    Yeah, pretty much. I wasn't impressed and cancelled my order. Blizzard doesn't have much to worry about here. It gets really good when you get into the forced PvP part. Once people learned that, every single person in my WoW guild who had been interested decided not to bother.

    It seems that being ganked isn't exactly a feature people look for in games.

    --
    -- "So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated." - Bill Gates
  4. Re:$50 + Pay 2 Play = No thanks! by space_jake · · Score: 4, Informative

    If you want a mature-ish WoW experience. Join a mature guild and turn off all of the public channels.