I made a Mage for my new Elyos and I decided to create a Scout to test out the Asmodian side on (More on that character later though.)
So first thing's first:
Meet Arathen.
If any of you saw me running around Israphel, yeah that was me. If a mage named Arathen stole any of your kills...that was some other guy, I swear!
From my experience so far with Mages, it's clear they have a number of cc abilities. This makes sense as you're not exactly too tough (ie: paper thin).
Your cc (crowd control) abilities are pretty much the only defense you're going to get. Luckily, you start out with two of them: Ice Chain 1 and Restraint 1. You'll also start out with Flame Arrow 1.
Ice Chain eventually chains into Cold Wave 1, which knocks your opponent back and stuns them for a moment. Flame Arrow chains into Blaze...which lives up to its name (instant cast burst damage spell).
Used correctly, these spells can easily kill an enemy before they get the chance to even touch you in melee range.
But enough about class skills, lets take a closer look at the Elyos starting area: Poeta.
This is your roadmap. Throughout this entry I'm going to be referring to different parts of Poeta and showing a few glimpses of them. Please look back to this map if you're wondering where they all fit in relation to each other.
Poeta is the zone you'll be exploring and adventuring in during levels 1-10. There are many different looking environments in this zone and you'll get a taste of each of them before you finally Ascend to Daeva-hood.
You'll start in Akarios Plains, where some farmers are being harassed by some miscreants. It's a pretty wide open area but you won't stay there too long.
One of the things in Aion I had the joy of experiencing while in this area was the game's weather effects (which like everything else in the game are simply gorgeous). Along with the rain, the sky will crack with lightning on occasion, bathing the players below in light.
Another pleasant surprise was that my character actually would react to the weather. Arathen didn't seem pleased. A few moments later he conjured a large leaf to hold over his head while he impatiently waited for me to stop taking pictures of the clouds.
Moving on, we reach Akarios Village. This is your main shop hub for Poeta. Your trainers and most of your merchants can be found here, as well as your main contact for your Campaign Quests.
Quests in Aion are split into different types. Campaign Quests are basically your main storyline. They're the quests that will chain you from one part of an area to another (and eventually one area to another). Each part of these Campaigns is often its own small questline. You do not have to do them in order, but you likely will anyway.
Another thing to note: In Aion (like many similar Korean MMO's) you can set up your own private shops. There's been some debate over the inclusion of these into the NA release of Aion. A number of players dislike them and feel they do little more than clutter the landscape. They also argue that the private stores are redundant with the game having an Auction House system in place.
Personally, I don't mind them too much. They can clutter a town a little, but they add a little bit of original flavor to the game. Honestly, the alternative is everyone simply standing around in the auction house room (and lets face it, they're going to anyway for most items crafting related).
From Akarios Village we move on to Cliona Lake.
You'll spend a bit of time here, and some quests will send you back to this area. There's some farmers that need help fending off the Kerubs, and a fisherman who needs some assistance.
I took a few pictures of the Mage's combat stance when wielding spellbooks. I should note you're only holding the book while attacking if you're using your default attack.
When you do this though, the pages of the book will flip in your hand and your character will toss an energy bolt.
I have to say I was really impressed with the level of detail that has gone into even texturing the pages of the spellbooks.
I also happened to notice something rather huge flying overhead. This thing isn't targetable, but it is utterly massive. I'm pretty sure that broken planet up in the sky behind it is the other half of Atriea; Admodae. Please correct me on that if I'm mistaken, but yeah that's essentially where the players from the other faction are.
Eventually, your quests will take you to Daminu Forest; home of the Elim, lead by Daminu.
Quests here will have you helping some fellow Elyos as well as assisting the Elim ready themselves to fight off a growing Kobald menace.
You'll earn a glimpse of your past here, as well as a taste of what some of your higher level gear will look like.
Sadly, like a good dream meeting an alarm bell, you've gotta wake up and get back to work.
You'll be sent to the Deforested Area next, where Kobalds are chopping down Daminu's trees for reasons yet unrevealed.
There's also a small camp here with flight point access back to Akarios Village. By this point it's a welcome addition to your transportation options.
I'd like to point out: You can bind yourself to Obelisks that allow you to use the Return skill to basically hearth back to your desired town point, but it's a one way trip. In Aion it also costs money to bind yourself.
A number of quests at the camp will send you to the next zone:
Kabarah Strip mine.
This area isn't too large, but it's densely populated with enemies (something which isn't really depicted well in that screenshot).
You'll also spend some time going back and forth between the mine and the hermit Pernos' camp. Pernos is located at the beginning of the Agaric Spore Road.
You'll have to fight your way through the Agaric Spore Road in order to reach...
Timola Mine. I'll leave any descriptions of this area blank for now. Wouldn't want to spoil too much of the story.
You'll eventually save the day though. Saving Poeta from a growing menace...
...revealing more pieces from the mystery of your past...
...and ascending as a Daeva.
Ultimately, I chose to make Arathen a Sorcerer. However, as Beta2 didn't allow us to level our characters past level 10 I can't speak much for how the class change has affected the gameplay of the character...yet.
In the end he earned his wings, and gave me a chance to show you around Poeta.
I hope you enjoyed the brief tour. Next stop: Asmodae!
Stay tuned!
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