Original post here – I’ve just backed it up in case it ever goes down!
This guide is from the NA forums and is by Forthyn
Hello everyone!
To help with your acclimation to Aion, here is a guide that forms a rundown on what you can do in Aion to make it easier for you, and what to look for in the game. Basically a crash course. This guide includes hints, tips, abbreviations, and general NPC knowledge. Any instance info would be subjected to the PVE forums.
I will edit this as patches come, and I gather more information/opinions of input.
**Aion Wiki is your religious text; read it for all Lore, class info, literally everything about Aion. This guide is to pinpoint quick things at a fast glance. Read Aion Wiki when you have several hours to spare.**
>>> http://aion.wikia.com/wiki/Aion_Wiki <<<
Index: (Ctrl+F, then search [letter] for section)
[a] – Race Balance
[b] – Classes
[c] – Chat
[d] – Fast Track Server (Instance Server)
[e] – Free Items NPC
[f] – Questing
[g] – Menu and Options Settings
[h] – Macros
[i] – Legion
[j] – Groups and Alliances
[k] – Chat Commands
[l] – Mounts
[m] – Instance Abbreviations
[n] – Increasing Inventory
[o] – Pets
[p] – Housing
[q] – Rifts
[r] – Easy Gear/Coin Gear
[s] – Manastones and What to Socket
[t] – Posting Locations in Chat
[u] – Chat Abbreviations
. Welcome! .
First, Welcome to the game! Aion’s been going since 2009, but still has a strong playerbase. The game is completely Free-To-Play, meaning you don’t have to spend one penny. NCSoft offers a “Prestige” pack, essentially, a $15/mo subscription for extra buffs and boosts. You can read up on the Prestige Pack by clicking this sentence. Link goes to the online store.
A personal tip to the game: depending on the server, understand that there will be some “nasty” people who like to shout macros, “bad” “noob” etc…. don’t let these bother you. These people don’t make up the entirety of the server. Every game has them, but it’s up to you how many you see.
. Black Cloud Market .
The Black Cloud Market (BCM), is Aion’s online store where you spend real money (converted to NCoin), for skins, items, scrolls, etc. This is also the fastest, easiest way to earn kinah.
Check broker listings for hot items. Each server will be different based off of inflation and supply/demand.
[a]. Race Balance .
Asmodians have always been the lesser-picked race. People tend to choose the white wings over black… so if you choose to be an Asmodian on any server, you will be helping it.
Servers in general, as of 10-29-15:
Siel – The most populated playerbase, Elyos currently dominating content.
Tiamat – Smaller population compared to Siel, Asmo currently dominating content. Back and forth.
Kahrun – Another “smaller” server. Asmo currently dominating content; contains a high multitude of different languages.
Israphel – Nearly entirely populated by Elyos. Asmodian hard mode.
Beritra – Brand new server! Population is a clean slate. All new players are recommended to roll here.
My opinionated generalization to each server.
[b]. Classes .
As for classes; choose whichever you like to play. If you’re a natural tank, then pick tank. Currently, melee classes will be easier to gear up than magic classes, based on the cost of manastones (magic stones are more expensive currently). Or if you’re trying to choose based on group play, there are several support/dps/hybrid class selections. I recommend looking up PVP videos or similar gameplay to see what you would like to main as. There’s no real “unpopular” choice in classes, only people complaining about class imbalance or certain skills over others.
Every class can be a DPS class. Short generalization of each:
Templar: Aion’s natural tank. Massive livability, group supportive buffs. Think Paladin. Melee physical.
Gladiator: Powerhouse class. Less defense than the Templar for more offense. Focuses on AoE’s, bursts. Melee physical.
Chanter: Supportive class. Party buffs, mantras, and heals. Also a lethal DPS class with fast chains. Melee physical.
Cleric: Priority healer. AoE heals, cleansing, some party buffs. Melee/Ranged magic.
Assassin: Burst damage class. Focuses on quick and deadly kills, hides, lockdowns. Massive self-buffs. Melee physical.
Ranger: Burst class. Lethal from afar, but can sacrifice range for more power, hides, and specializes in traps. Ranged physical.
Spiritmaster: DoT and Pet class. Locks down opponents with debuffs, CC, slows, and summons pets for support and damage. Ranged magic.
Sorcerer: Burst class. High-digit nukes, AoE damage, self buffs, and CC. Ranged magic.
Songweaver: Damage and supportive class. Fast debuffs and nuke chains, also has AoE heals and mana regen, CC. Ranged magic.
Gunslinger: Medium burst class, focuses on burst damage with quick reloads and some evasive skills. Ranged magic.
AetherTech: Specializes in fast debuffs, self buffs, and counters. AoE damage as well as holding some tanking ability. Melee magic.
Read this link to Aion Wiki over more in-depth Class explanations.
[c]. Chat .
If you haven’t already, organize your chat boxes to how you would like them to be. Some people opt for a single-chant box to keep their screen neater. I personally have multiple because I get distracted a lot and need more direct notices.
This link will take you to a youtube video demonstrating how to set up chat. Your chat is completely customizable; change font size, color, and how you choose to keep it active or respond to other players.
[d]. Fast Track Server .
As a new player, you would have been placed instantly on the “Instance Server”, aka: Fast Track Server.
The Standard server is your “home” server. It’s where your character really lives for everything post-level 55. The “Fast Track” server is an “instance” server. That means everyone from the other servers are playing on one. The term Instance Server will rule everything for cross-sever PVP and pre-made PVE groups, to select sieges, so be sure to remember the name and associate it with “playing with people not on your server.” The Fast Track server (FTS) is only for those under level 56. It has 2x XP for fast leveling. If you are on the Standard server in a group when you switch to FTS, your status will go “offline”. But people on your friends list can still whisper you. There is no PVP on the FTS, and no Abyss.
[e]. Free Items NPC .
As you level on the FTS, make sure you remember to go back to the main Cities to receive free gifts from winged NPCs. They are located by pink quest markers. You want to stay on top of this, as all items are useful. Includes scrolls, consumables, armor, weapons, and somewhere around lv.45 you get free wings!
Asmodian Edandos gives the free items. Elyos talk to Nebrith.
The other NPC gives you quests to complete, for Asmodian her name is Erdat. Elyos talk to Luella. The quests are easy to complete and give good gear relating to each instance.
As far as the free wings go, you get the free quest around lv.45~55. Here is what they’ll look like:
[f]. Questing .
Focus on gold Campaign quests and dark blue assist quests. As I mentioned earlier, pink Growth quests give nice gear for easy amount of effort. You can take the normal blue quests as fillers between Campaigns, you’ll need them for buffer between XP. Aside from that, questing is pretty straightforward, so you can take time to enjoy the Lore as well.
Don’t worry about going fast. Take your time and learn your class and how your playstyle works.
[g]. Menu and Options Settings .
Menu (press “O”), familiarize yourself with the settings. Here you can change keybinds and place the extra skillbars. I recommend:
1. Turning off “Auto-Approach Target”.
2. Set up specific key to target “Enemy Player PC”. Right now the automatic key is nothing, with “Tab” being target nearest enemy, but that includes mobs. Have a special key that you can use in case of PVP, so you will only tab through players and not mobs too.
3. Can change what you see for names of people. Meaning, I would change player rank from “Title” to “Abyss Rank”. For me, if I see my Commander (ranked individual) out in the front lines about to die, I know to run up and save him.
Play around in here, as Aion’s keybinding system is very in-depth.
Why turn off auto approach? For some classes, you may want to leave this on, but based on prior experience, I have found turning this function off to save my life on countless occasions, both PvE and PvP. What Auto-approach is, when you are too far from your target to cast a skill or initiate a move, your character will automatically start running to that enemy. During fights, sieges, or instances, you can fall off ledges, get pulled away from your group, or otherwise get baited. Watch the beginning of this video to see what I mean when a player has auto-approach on..
When auto-approach is turned off, your skill bars are greyed out, and even if your target is too far away, you will only get the alert that you cannot attack, and your character will remain in place. In sieges where you may suffer lag and slower reaction times, this is extremely helpful.
[h]. Macros .
Macros will be a part of your life, you can add skills, items, add delays, etc. Here is an example of an armor switch macro, followed by more complicated ones. To open the Macro screen, press “u”.
^ This shows you full “pro” level of macro management and utilizing your various skill bars.
Example on what you’re seeing: “/Quickbar 4 3 5” means “Skill set 4, row 2, slot 5”.
There is a character limit on macros, so using the above method allows maximum abilities/item usage. Once you’ve completed that, here is how it looks:
After you’ve done that, or gained a better understanding of Aion macros, you can go full-pro level, as seen in this video:
[i]. Legions .
Here, “guilds” are called “legions”, and they vary based solely on their Brigade General (legion head). You would have to ask on your server for a supportive and active legion willing to take on newcomers, doing this will help you get a head start, especially if you have active lv.65’s willing to show you the ropes directly via in-game. They can mentor you in various quests and instances. (Mentors defined in-game is anyone over 10 levels than you). For level 5 legions and higher, they have Legion Tasks which you can accept and complete for rewards, namely legion coins, to turn in for supplies, gear (skins), mounts, and souvenirs.
[j]. Groups .
These will comprise your Aion life within the first 20 levels, and there are several options available. You can type /RecruitGroupMember or /RecruitAllianceMember in chat to create links for others to click on. First, group setups:
Groups – 6man max. They appear as dark-blue names to you. Your AoE support skills and spell apply to them.
Alliances – 24man max, 7man minimum. Composed of 4 groups. You have your 6man group (dark blue names) and the extras are light blue names. Beside each person’s name you’ll see I, II, III, IV to signify the group they are in. So if you see a light blue name running beside you with a III beside their name, you know they are in group 3.
League – Total of 8 alliances, 192 people max. You have the league Captain who can lead everyone by /LeagueAlert (everyone sees this), and the alliance leads can micro-lead by /alert (only the 24 people in alliance see this). Whenever you siege a fortress, the captured fort goes under the league Captain’s legion. People in the league but not in your alliance show up as dark-blue-grey-names.
[k]. Chat Commands .
You’ll be exposed to this the second you start the game, here is how you can make each function and what they do.
/1 = Region: Everyone in the same map/zone you are in sees this.
/2 = Trade: Global, supposed to be used for trading, but not used anymore.
/3 = Looking for Group (LFG): Global chat. Everyone on the server can see this. Used for recruitment, talking, and selling.
/4 = Class Chat: Only players of the same class can see this. Good place to ask for class-advice.
/Say – Public, everyone to a certain distance sees what you say.
/Shout – Public, has a farther range than shout.
/Legion – All legionmates see what you type.
/Group – All group members see, but alliance cannot.
/Alliance – All alliance, including group, sees this.
/Whisper username – You message a specific person.
/League – When a leader in an Alliance, you can talk to the whole league through this.
/Alert – Message appears across the screen to your alliance.
/LeagueAlert – Message displayed to the whole league.
To start a message:
> Enter
> type /3 (whatever you want) followed by [space]
> Chat direction will automatically assign itself
> Type your message
> Enter to send
The smiley icon on the right lets you add faces, icon, and emblems to spruce up your message.
You can short commands:
/s = say
/! = shout
/g = group
/a = alliance
/l = legion
/w [name][space] = whisper the person, name must be spelled correctly
/inspect = view what another person is wearing, only available if the person has Details open.
For characters, you can right-click another character to prompt several commands, including “Details” and other useful goods.
[l]. Mounts .
You won’t get a mount until later levels in the game, but if you save up for it, you can easily get a 15-day Cirrus mount from other players for a relatively cheap price. On siel, they’re about 15mil (sounds like a lot, but honestly not that expensive). After that, there are various other ways to acquire in-game mounts, through instances, or a legion.
[m]. Instance Abbreviations .
Here are all the instances currently in the game and their abbreviations, should you ever see it in LFG.
Abyssal Splinter = AS [group/alliance]
Adma Stronghold = Adma [group]
Aetherogenetics Lab = A-Lab [group]
Alquimia Research Center = ARC [group]
Anguished Dragon Lord’s Refuge = aDLR [alliance]
Asteria Chamber = same [group]
Aturam Sky Fortress = Sky Fortress [solo]
Azoturan Fortress = Azo
Beshmundir Temple = Besh, BT, BTHM (hard mode) [group]
Chamber of Roah = same [group]
Chantra Dredgion = C-Dredge [group]
Danaur Reliquary = DR [group]
Danaur Sanctuary = DS [group]
Dark Poeta = DP [group]
Dragon Lord’s Refuge = DLR [alliance]
Drakenspire Depths = DD [alliance]
Draupnir Cave = DC [group]
Dredgion = B-Dredge [group]
Empyrean Crucible = EC [solo/group]
Engulfed Ophidan Bridge = EoB [group]
Esoterrace = Eso [group]
Fire Temple = FT [group]
Haramel = Hara, same [solo]
Idgel Dome = Idgel, ID, Dome [group]
Illuminary Obelisk = IO [group]
Indratu Fortress = Indratu [group]
Infernal Danaur Reliquary = iDR [group]
Infernal Illuminary Obelisk = iIO, Infernal IO [group]
Infinity Shard = IS [alliance]
Iron Wall Warfront = IWW [alliance]
Kamar Battlefield = KB, K-mart, Kamar [alliance]
Kromede’s Trial = Krom’s, KT [solo]
Krotan Barracks = Barracks, Raks [group]
Krotan Chamber = Chamber [group]
Kysis Barracks = Barracks, Raks [group]
Kysis Chamber = same [group]
Left Wing Chamber = same [group]
Link Gate Foundry = Link Gate, LGF [solo]
Lower Udas Temple = LUT, Lower Udas [group]
Lucky Danaur Reliquary = LDR [group]
Miren Barracks = Barracks, Raks [group]
Miren Chamber = same [group]
Noshana Training Camp = NTC [group]
Occupied Rentus Base = OCC, ORB, Occ-Rentus [group]
Ophidan Bridge = OB, Bridge [group]
Padmarishka Cave = Paddy, Padma [alliance]
Raksang Ruins = Raksang [solo]
Rentus Base = Rentus, RB [group]
Right Wing Chamber = same [group]
Sauro Supply Base = Sauro, SSB [group]
Seized Danaur Sanctuary = SDS, Seized Sanctuary [group]
Steel Rake = SR, same [group]
Steel Rake Cabin = SRC, [solo]
Stonespear Siege = Stonespear [alliance]
Sulfur Tree Nest = same [group]
Talocs Hallow = Talocs [solo]
Terath Dredgion = T-Dredge, Tea-Dredge [group]
The Eternal Bastion = EB, eBay [alliance]
The Hexway = Hex, Hexway [group]
Theobomos Lab = Theo, Theo-Lab, TL [group]
Tiamat’s Stronghold = TS [group]
Udas Temple = Udas, UT [group]
Unstable Abyssal Splinter = UAS [group/alliance]
[n]. Increasing Inventory .
If you have extra kinah, upgrade your inventory to carry more items. The first shugo you talk to is in the starting zone, and he will open your inventory by one row. Talk to the shugo in your capitol City to expand further; do it in either Pandamonium or Sanctum (both located in the broker area). For Asmodians, talk to the shugo in the center desk of the broker. Elyos, the shugo is located directly across from the broker, on the right as you enter the building.
The final two in-game acquirable rows are through a quest. All other slots can only be opened by purchasing Cube Expansion Tickets from the BCM, or other players who buy it from the BCM for you. You can currently buy four Cube/Warehouse expansion tickets from the BCM.
Current max inventory slots: 127
Guide to increasing slots VIA in-game.
Link to BCM Cube/Warehouse Tickets.
The other option is purchasing pack pets. These vary in what functions they do. Read below on more in-depth info.
[o]. Pets .
Pets are portable helpers, vanity, enemy PC alerts, loot for you, buff you, and they can carry various items for you.
When you get a pet, they come as an Egg, that you hatch from a Pet Minder in Pandemonium/Sanctum. And special info about the pet is listed beside the name, along with the open tab. If you have a pet that has a limited time usage, it will have a timer shown, counting down to the second.
For buff/loot pets, there is a little icon on the third page that corresponds to the action. Once you activate it, little lights will rotate around the edge. You can drag this icon to your skillbar so you know the pet is always buffing/looting.
Types of Pets:
Loot = loots all mobs for you, except quest items.
Buff = uses one food and drink, and select scrolls to constantly buff you.
Pouch = carries a specific number of items
Cheer = consumes aether cherries to give the buffs listed.
Pack Pets: Here is a list of the available slots of pouch pets. Pet’s with the same number of pouch slots share inventory. Example: a 12-slot pet Trico will have the same inventory as a 12-slot Ailu. However, this rule does not apply to the Tahabata pet.
6-slot
12-slot
18-slot
24-slot
26-slot
30-slot Tahabata
30-slot King Saam
[p]. Housing .
Housing is a special feature in Aion, and you can fully customize everything inside. Some even provide buffs for your character. From adding music scripts, resizing, wallpapers, flooring, outside (excludes Studios), etc. Every new player is entitled to a free home, called a Studio. This opens up access to the skill Homeward Bound (teleport to your home) and also opens access to house bidding.
You can acquire the blue quest at level 21.
Asmo = Give My Regards to Pernon
Elyos = The Living Is Easy
Housing Auctions happen between Monday through Sunday, Sunday being the last day for bidding. The typical bidding strategy is to wait until Sunday, as people begin to counter bid. Bidding ends at 12pm, but if a bid is placed when only 5 minutes or less remaining, the auction will be extended up to a maximum of 30 minutes.
When you place a bid, the kinah is debited from your inventory until you win or out-bid, and in the event of being out-bid, the kinah is sent to your mailbox. As you can tell, this can make bidding hectic. You will want to bid at a house that has a mailbox outside, next to the info board. You can bid at each house’s info board, it will bring up the auction window, but you can’t bid on that particular house, so pay attention to locations! The house that is highlighted is the house you are bidding on.
Here are the list of each home:
Studio, free.
House, cost varies, maintenance fee of 400,000 kinah a week.
Mansion, removes the Soul Sickness debuff after dying. Fee of 2mil kinah a week.
Estate, removes Soul Sickness debuff, and the chance of crafting proc combos increases by 5%. Fee of 4mil kinah a week.
Palace, no Soul Sickness, crafting 5% boost, and item drop rate increases by 5%. Fee of 20mil a week.
Here is a more indepth guide to housing and what to expect. Read on!
Link to Aion Housing Wiki. Click this!
[q]. Rifts .
Rifts are a special element in Aion. A Rift is a corridor that sends you to the opposing faction’s map. When Rifts appear, an on-screen alert will be notified. If they are corridors you can use to infiltrate, they will appear as blue circles on the map. If they are incoming Rifts, they do not appear. Rifts happen on the Standard Server on the maps of Elysea and Asmodae, with set timers, but not on the Fast Track Server. Rifts are constantly active in Enshar and Cyngea.
When you rift over, you are open to any and all forms of PVP. You will be ganked, you will be zerged, you will be outplayed. Do not let Rifters ruin your fun or leveling experience. Try to gather friends. High-ranks and people looking for PvP will notice if you post locations of the enemy faction, asking for help. How to post locations instructions are later in this guide.
Here is additional info to Rifts, leading to the Aion Wiki.
[r]. Easy Gear/Coin Gear .
The easiest gear to acquire in the game for a leveling character is what is called Coin gear. The earliest you can start is with Iron/Bronze coin, with lv.16 armor. I would recommend you don’t start collecting coins and turning in until you reach lv.26 Bronze; use what you acquire in Campaign and Quests in the meantime. This gear is very useful and excellently easy to acquire.
Here is an in-depth guide to everything about Coin Gear. The only thing to note is that the cost variables have changed. They significantly reduced the amount of coins you need to purchase gear.
Click here for in-depth walkthrough and guide to Coin Gear.
[s]. Manastones and What to Socket .
Manastones are an essential element in your gearing process. At low levels, don’t worry too much about what you socket, you’ll out-level the gear and toss it. Around level 25+ you should become more self-conscious on what you’re socketing.
Manastones come in grades: common, “greens”, composites, ancients.
The higher the stone grade, the better the stats. Composite manastones are the only stones that feature two stats per stone.
Here are stones each class uses. I will note when a class uses multiple sets if they acquire more than 3 sets.
Templar: Multiple Sets. Crit Strike, Accuracy, Block, Magic Resist, Magic Suppression, HP, Attack.
Gladiator: Multiple Sets. Crit Strike, Accuracy, Block, Magic Resist, Magic Suppression, HP, Attack.
Chanter: Multiple Sets. Crit Strike, Magical Accuracy, Block, Magic Resist, Magic Suppression, HP, Attack.
Cleric: Multiple Sets. Magic Boost, Block, Magic Resist, Magic Suppression, HP.
Assassin: Crit Strike, Accuracy, Magical Accuracy, Attack, Magic Suppression.
Ranger: Crit Strike, Accuracy, Magical Accuracy, Attack, Magic Suppression.
Spiritmaster: Magic Boost, Magical Accuracy, Magic Suppression.
Sorcerer: Magic Boost, Magical Accuracy, Magic Suppression.
Songweaver: Magic Boost, Magical Accuracy, Magic Suppression.
Gunslinger: Magic Boost, Magical Accuracy, Magic Suppression.
AetherTech: Magic Boost, Magical Accuracy, Magic Suppression.
[t]. Posting Locations In Chat .
Learning this in imperative to a successful PvPvEr, and is extremely simple to do.
1. Open Map, “m”
2. Ctrl+Right Click any location on the map
3. A green X will appear, and will place a <Location> link in your chat bar.
3. You can link up to 10 locations.
4. Add any text, and Enter.
[u]. Chat Abbreviations .
For any veteran MMO gamer, these are second nature, but here are some short-hands to look out for, and what they mean along with common terms.
+ = “Plus up”, sign of being ready
2k = 2,000 Divine Point skill
4k = 4,000 Divine Point skill
acc = Accuracy
af = As f*ck
afk = Away From Keyboard
aoe = Area of Effect
at = AetherTech
bard = Songweaver
brb = Be Right Back
buff = Asking a Class to buff the party/themselves
burn = Focus on attacking the boss to kill it, ignore everything else.
CC = Crowd Control
dp = Divine Points
hot = Heals Over Time
Ic = I see
kite = Action of running around to avoid attacks by players or mobs to stay alive
ma = Magical Accuracy
mb = Magic Boost
mr = Magic Resist
ms = Magic Suppression
n = No
omw = On My Way
pop wings = Action of opening wings to fly, using the flight button to act in flying
port = Teleport, take the flight or instant teleportation to another area
r = Ready
rl = Real Life, also IRL
sin = Assassin
sm = Spiritmaster
strip = Act of removing buffs from a player or mob to make them weaker
sw = Songweaver
y = Yes
