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

Over the last year since Aion's North American and European launch, NCsoft has been striving to make the game better and working to address the concerns of the playerbase. Part of this has been the recent massive 1.9 update that introduced UI changes, dungeon requirement changes, cheaper in-game money sinks, and daily quests to fill in content holes. While the update went a long way in boosting player morale, many are still looking towards the next big thing in Aion, and the upcoming expansion, Assault on Balaurea, fits that bill!

Aion's first expansion goes live next month on September 7th, 2010 and with it brings tons of end game content, a level cap raise, new zones, new dungeons, and new features for players of all levels to enjoy. One such feature is the new pet system. These dedicated little creatures will soon be every player's best friend! We wanted to find out more about Aion pets so Ten Ton Hammer's Reuben "Sardu" Waters got in a few minutes with Aion Associate Producer Sean Neil to talk a bit about the expansion and the pet system. Find out now how you can snag up one (or many) of these fun expansion additions for your very own.

Ten Ton Hammer: Companion pets are being introduced into Aion with the next expansion and are a very fun and exciting addition. Can you tell us a bit about what these pets are and what what they will do for players?

Sean Neil: We decided that regular vanity pets were not the only kind of pets that players wanted to see so we wanted to introduce functionality with these pets without altering gameplay. We'll have several types of pets available at launch. First, we have the companion pet which is the typical trophy vanity pet. Then we have signal pets whose purpose is to keep you safe from enemy players. Like everyone else I have been out gathering flowers and have had an enemy player come out of nowhere to gank me. These pets will be your little siren that will let you know when danger is near so you can either pack it up and run or get ready for a fight.

We will also have pack pets which are basically warehouse storage. They range anywhere from six to twenty-four slots and are functional storage that you can use even if the pet is put away. He has to be active to access his pack, but you can use his storage and then put him away to use a different pet and your stuff is still there.

There will also be fortune pets, previously referred to as production pets. What these guys do is when they are really hungry, you feed them junk items and when they are all full up they will give you a little present that will range from little packs of potions to green or blue items, manastones, or enchantment stones. They have a huge variety of different items they will give you and they are random little packs that you will receive. Finally, we have purebred pets which are multi-function pets. A purebred could be a signal and a pack pet or a signal, pack, and fortune pet. These are a sort of all purpose type of pet.

You'll have about 100 slots for your pet list and none of the pets will take up inventory space. You receive them as an egg or a bag then you'll go to the pet vendor to learn your pet at which point you can name it. You can learn up to 100 pets but you can only learn each pet once. Each pet likes to be unique so if you learn a panda, then you won't be able to learn another panda while you still have the first one. Each pet will take up one slot in your pet list but they will all be unique.

Ten Ton Hammer: How will players acquire these new pets?

Sean Neil: There are multiple ways to get them. First, if you pick up a box copy of Assault on Balaurea that will come with limited availability pet. In game there is a vendor who will sell pets of all different types. More rare versions of the pets will definitely be drops. We will also have pets available as vet rewards and through promotions.

Ten Ton Hammer: With the fortune pets you mentioned that you will feed them items. What kind of items will you be feeding them?

Sean Neil: It is specific junk items that you will feed the fortune pets. If you try to feed them something they don't want, they will tell you. As players will find, it is mostly grey items that they will eat and there will be an opportunity at some point to buy food for them in game as well. It will depend on what type of production pet you have. If you have a pet that produces dye, it may only eat a specific type of root. A pet that produces manastones may eat a specific type of biscuit that you have to get for him. Some pets will tell you what they need and some don't so you'll have to figure it out.

Ten Ton Hammer: You have 100 slots for pets, how will you keep track of all those? Will there be a new UI element?

Sean Neil: Yes, after you learn it you'll have a new pet list UI element. When you open the UI window you will get a little icon of what the pet is, a column with the pet's name, and another column with the pet's function, if it has one, then you can sort by any of those columns to find which pet you want. There is a summon button on there so you can summon the pet once you've found it. There is also a pet information window that tells you what each pet's functions are, what their current name is, and if they eat there will be a tab that shows their current state of hunger.

Ten Ton Hammer: What will interaction with the pets be like?

Sean Neil: They will follow you, they stick pretty close to their owners, but there aren't any commands. When you're playing with these little guys it's pretty immersive to see them. You're flying through a windstream and you have your little pig flying behind you with little white wings, it's really cool and you feel like you've got someone out there with you.

There is a simple quest you will get when entering the city that will award you a praise pet emote that will trigger a unique animation that your pet does. When the pet is eating it has its own animation, if you're running too fast and get too far away from them they have a special animation, if you're flying they have a special flight animation to follow behind you. They have a lot of different animations for everything that they do.

Ten Ton Hammer: You mentioned that you can only have one specific kind of pet of each kind. Like the panda, for example, if you pick up another panda can you trade it with other players?

Sean Neil: The pets that are dropped will be tradable and sellable. The more rare pets may be untradable but for the most part the pets that you find in game will be tradable as eggs. Once you've learned that pet though, it won't be tradable and is yours forever unless you set him free or abandon him.

Ten Ton Hammer: With the pack pets, will you be able to acquire multiple pack pets to gain additional slots?

Sean Neil: Yeah, as long as they are unique. As an example, when the game launches there will be, I believe two different pack pets on the vendor available for purchase. They are each a different type of pet so you can learn each one and you'll have access to both of their inventories once you summon them. So you could have twenty or thirty different pack pets that have inventories you can use but none of them can be the same type creature.

Ten Ton Hammer: Will there be any faction specific pets?

Sean Neil: Currently we don't have any but that doesn't mean in the future we won't.

Ten Ton Hammer: Other than the signal pets, are there any others that perform that sort of gameplay function?

Sean Neil: Not right now there isn't but the system has proven to be popular so far so I think that once it hits here in the western market that it will get even more popular. We are working in conjunction with creative and developing to create more pets and we will be able to devise even more functions while we come up with more and more ideas for pets.

Ten Ton Hammer: If you play a pet class, such as the Spiritmaster, will there be any issues with having multiple pets out at once?

Sean Neil: No, not at all. They will be on a completely different system and the pets won't have any effect on gameplay or combat.

We'd like to thank Sean for taking the time to talk with us and sharing with Aion players about the new expansion and the pet system. Be sure to look for Aion: Assault on Balaurea on September 7th. It is free for Aion subscribers but if you want those limited edition pets, be sure to pick up the box version of the expansion!