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Ten Ton Hammer: Will you release an early server list so legions can pick a server and build a community around that?

Brian: We have some good ideas in place so players can get together on the same server and prepare. We know how important it is to migrate in groups. One of my philosophies is that we’re not selling Aion to individuals, we’re selling Aion to groups, guilds, legions, communities, etc.

That’s definitely in the plans. We don’t have anything necessarily that we can talk about right now, but we’ve got some good ideas.

Ten Ton Hammer: Will you balance the classes more towards PvP or PvE? In essence, will you make the classes fight each other in a balanced fashion or fight monsters in a balanced fashion?

Lani: One of the cool things about the game being released in Korea first, by the time it comes over to the West, we’ll be able to benefit from all the time that they’ve spent balancing the classes.

So, with that in mind, I wouldn’t say that the classes are set for either PvP or PvE. Again, we really wanted to combine those two types of gameplay.

Brian: And it is a huge challenge, and a good question. From the outset, when we decided to make a game with PvPvE, we knew that it would be one of our major challenges. And over the past few months, I think there have been some balance issues that we’ve addressed and fixed.

There are some that remain and we still need to work on. But in an organic, evolving world where you constantly have players rethinking their strategies, you can’t always predict what they’re going to decide.

And it doesn’t always come down to one-on-one battles either. I mean, it could be how players interact in parties, solo, in a raid situation, with an elite team, and more. The goal is to really just ensure that players have a role and no one gets left out.

Lani: It also depends a lot on the player. You might have two people that are both sorcerers, but in the end it really just comes down to player skill.

Brian: There are a lot of skill-based systems in Aion, I mean if you strafe you add some dodge, move forward you add some offense, and move backwards you add some defense. We try to add some skill differentiators in there as well.

Lani: With the chains as well, because we didn’t want the players to just keep hitting the same button over and over again. You really have to make decisions on the fly.

Ten Ton Hammer: Will the game lore change over time through player actions? Or will it stay static?

Brian: The good news there is that we have a cool and unique setting in Aion. You don’t see it out there in another world.

The other cool thing is that we own the IP, so we think that it gives us a lot of flexibility not only where we want to take it, but where the community sees it going as well.

It provides us with a flexibility level that you don’t always get in an established IP. And things will change and evolves, and there will even be some secrets that are unveiled through your journey in the game. I really think that there’s a unique opportunity for this game to open up the roleplay crowd that really gets into the lore and history and can really take part in this game.

It really is a world that we can shape.

Ten Ton Hammer: With wings being introduced at a very early level in Aion, along with enhancements that up flying speed, does that rule out flying mounts or ground mounts?

Lani: I don’t think anyone would really want to rely on wings as a form of transportation. There are certain areas in every zone of the game where players will be able to fly, and there are good lord-based reasons why that is the case. You’ll also be able to teleport to certain areas.

There will be point-to-point mounts, but they don’t look like your traditional gryphon or anything like that.

Brian: There are point-to-point sort of mounts, but the traditional developer answer to that would be: there’s nothing planned at this time. That said, nothing is ever ruled out.

You can eventually replace your wings at certain levels, which is pretty cool. But flight isn’t meant for transportation. It’s meant to be a strategic part of the game for combat, quests, etc.

Ten Ton Hammer: Are there any plans to change how the Chanter will buff their party?

Lani: This question is probably being pulled from the Chinese or Korean version of the game, but it’s important to remember that the way a game is being played there isn’t necessarily how it’s going to play in North America.

Brian: In general, we’re just starting to talk about the game, so those sort of details aren’t something we want to talk about just yet.

Ten Ton Hammer: Is the “dragon” NPC race a counter to the “player zerg” of PvP areas? Do you have any other ways to balance the PvP areas for the side that doesn’t necessarily have as strong of a force?

Brian: We’re paying a lot of attention to the server balance in the beginning of our live release, and we’re going to strive to have healthy servers throughout. If you don’t have healthy servers, then you’re not going to have a healthy game, and you’ll have unhappy players. It’s something we take very seriously, and we have a lot of measures in place to focus on that.

I think the previous launches have done a really good job of that, so we’re going to take a look at the things they’ve done and hopefully improve on them.

Ten Ton Hammer: Some players suggest that Aion is more linear than some MMOs. Do you agree? If not, could you comment on the open world aspect of the game?

Brian: The first two zones are really designed to be kind of an intro to the game. In those places, we want players to grow their character and learn the game. But the world opens up pretty quickly as you progress, and it gets almost limitless in the terms of where you can go.

You might look at the maps, but just because there’s a road there doesn’t mean you have to stay on it. In the beginning, we want players to see things in such a way that they fully understand what they’re going to be involved in.

Ten Ton Hammer: Can you expand on wings being craftable items?

Brian: I think that’s something that we want to talk about a little bit later, in terms of the details of the gameplay.

Ten Ton Hammer: What are the features you’re enjoying the most in your testing?

Brian: One of our favorites around the office is the “Glide” feature. It sounds kinda simple, but it’s basically turning your wings into a hang glider. It’s really turned into a competition where you go and find a hill and glide down to pick up a bit of extra speed to see if they can get farther than the other person.

Ten Ton Hammer: Thanks again to Brian Knox and Lani Blazier for taking the time to answer our questions!