Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

Competition is a good part of what MMORPGs are about.  Even without the aspect of player versus player gameplay, which by itself is particularly competitive, PvE players often also strive to show up other players and legions.  This drive to play better and be better often ends up being the cornerstone of cheating, the competitive environment leading players to look for new ways to prove themselves as gamers.

Cheating has various definitions in each game and some are definitely more restrictive than others.  There are always grey areas, and then there are some definite lines that your user agreement will not allow you to cross.  We are going to cover what constitutes cheating in Aion then show you some ways you can help your game without putting yourself at risk for a banhammer smack down.

User Agreement Highlights

Every MMOG that you play will have a unique user agreement that covers just about everything you need to know about what the game will and won’t allow.  These agreements are long, tedious, and written in lawyer speak that most of us cannot understand which generally means that no one actually ever reads them before agreeing to them.

Citing that the user agreement is long and boring doesn’t make for a great defense once you find your account banned for breaking the agreement, so it really is better to read through it and try to grasp the basics for the health of your player account.   Here are the basics:

No account sharing.  Only one person is allowed to use an account and the account is never allowed to be traded or sold.  It isn’t often that friends or a husband and wife get into trouble for this one.  Power leveling services and account sales are generally the target.  Don’t share your log in info and don’t let others use your account if you would like to keep it.

No emulators.  This has become a huge problem with World of Warcraft.  Private servers that basically steal Aion’s content are prohibited.

No 3rd party programs or hardware.  At this time, NCsoft does not permit that use of any assistive programs or hardware including add ons or mods that are often used in other games.  Programs such as Curse’s extremely helpful and widely popular EQ2 Maps and other UI mods don’t yet have a place in Aion, so don’t use them!

It is also probably a good thing to note that Aion users shouldn’t be making any changes or additions to their game files for any reason.  With some of the recent bans, it has been found that alterations to game files may have contributed to some very confused players getting their accounts banned.

No selling, or assisting other players to sell, any in-game items.  Yes, buying items is assisting in selling so it is punishable too.  Buying kinah to get yourself better gear may seem like a good idea, up until the source of that kinah is traced and you lose your account and any account made with the same info and/or credit card.

Making the Best of What You Have

NCsoft’s hard line against add-ons and mods, something that many of the newer games have softened against, really doesn’t leave much for players to utilize to help step up their competitive edge.  So what tools do we have then?

The number one tool you have is knowledge!  As cheesy as it sounds, the best players always have a profound knowledge of their class, their skills, and their weaknesses.  Some think of them as min/maxers, but these guys are generally the ones that are beating you down in PvP and making major milestones for their legions.  While you don’t necessarily need to spend every waking moment of your day researching your class, do put some time into it.

Along with those basics, you’ll also want to spend some time brushing up on in game gear and weapons.  There are various qualities of gear in game, but eventually you’ll want to shoot for Abyss gear if you want to stay competitive.  The better gear you have, the more effective you will be in game.  All these things can be found on the internet, and while some may choose to purchase guides, I’ve found that nearly anything you can get from a purchased guide you can get from a good website or forum of players for free.

Your user interface is another important part of making the best of your limited resources.  Particularly in PvP, having a good UI set up is key in being able to quickly execute maneuvers.  You can find a lot of good tips online and much of the UI tweaking just comes from trying different things out for yourself in game.  My personal favorite tip has been arranging my quickbars in a way that makes sense to me.  I have my most used skills on my main bar using my number keys.  Hitting a key is quicker than navigating the mouse around so learning to use keys for skills is a good habit to get into.  I use the 3^rd quickbar on the side for my utilities so those are out of the way.  Things like my return, health restore, buffs, and rest keys are all over there and out of the way so I don’t inadvertently hit one during battle.

Look over the UI options in game.  You’ll see that it is fairly customizable and just about all keys can be re-mapped however you’d like.  Rather than retraining yourself to learn the game’s UI, fix the UI to fit what you already know and you’ll save yourself a lot of time and confusion.

Macros are a beautiful thing and if you aren’t using them in game, then you should be.  From the uncomplicated task of assisting a tank or targeting a group member for heals to the more complicated skill combos, macros just make much of what you do execute quicker.  Aion’s macros are pretty easy to use.  Along with the typical slash commands that may have seen in other games, you can also drag and drop skills to link them together with a single key activation.  This works really well with skill chains and pet commanding.  If you arrange your combos to fit between auto-attacks, you can not only save yourself time and key mashing, but ultimately raise your damage potential.  Mages can group together skills that compliment re-use timers so that they have less down time during a fight.  Healers can create macros that target group members then automatically cast a heal saving time that can mean saving lives.

While it has always been said that cheaters never prosper, I think most of us realize that it isn’t always true.  Hacks and cheating will always be a part of gaming but for those who would like to ultimately compete in Aion without running the risk of losing our accounts, you can see that there are ways to do more within the confines of the rules.  It may take more effort but the payoff is so much better when you know that you’ve earned it fairly.