Recently the NCSoft team posted the Vision Trailer(See below), which is a glimpse at all the enhancements and goodies coming to the world of Aion in the near future. While the video was exciting and caused lots of excitement, it also raised some questions about what exactly we were seeing!
Our team at AionSource.com has put together a post highlighting several stills from the video and summarizing what those segments of the video could mean for players and the future of the game! Take a look:
Visions Trailer:Stills & Speculation:
Please note that all the information in this section is unconfirmed speculation and is not an official word by any means until we are told so by the NCsoft devs or through patch notes.
- Upgraded Graphics! DX10? Dynamic lighting and overall crisper visuals
- New Zones! We saw a dangerous jungle, a vast living desert, an underwater city and world, and residential zones outside of the major cities!
- Dynamic Weather and seasons! Falling leaves, Accumulating and melting snow!
- Player Cities! Customizable houses and skins, multiple styles, customizable furniture and layout, city bulletin board, city decor. Did we see anything about legion halls?
- Mounts! One and two person mounts of at least 5 varieties, mounted combat, creature taming abilities.
- Improved Combat! Fluid motions, collision detection, unarmed combat, new weapons (Crossbow and Whip) and abilities! Finishing moves?
- New Classes? Fans have speculated Monk and Tamer classes.
- Player City Sieges! Bring the fight right to the doorsteps of your enemy! Houses appear to be destructible! Summon a Colossus to help? New defensive siege weapons- Aether Cannon?
- Vehicles- Boats were shown in front of player cities and also as a means to reach the underwater areas, but can players own and control them? Airships were also seen bringing a player to the city siege.
Here we see the new graphics and lighting being highlighted. We can only assume that this is DirectX 10 at work. This is a significant upgrade to an already gorgeous game and while it wasn't necessary, it is very welcome!
This city appears to be build on the walls of a canyon that overlooks a new zone with a lush jungle setting. By the construction I'd assume this an Elyos zone as the protruding buildings are reminiscent of Sanctum's towers and style.
For more stills and a look at what they could mean visit the AionSource.com Visions speculation thread!
Comments
Granted... this DOES show that updating an Engine to DX10 (or 11) can be done. Blizzard take some notes!
Its always better to stay one version behind when it concerns a graphic engine and a large MMO. Why is this? Because the new engines usually have many issues and bugs to still be worked out. And as a business do you really wish to risk losing you customers? Because of bugs and issues that you have no control over. A version behind is safer and in the long run considered more stable for such environments.