Aion: playing Elyos

Ino sucks.

He couldn't play Asmodian with us on Tiamat so we all rolled Elyos on the new server, Kahrun (I think that's what it's called).   It's kind of hard to make an Elyos character that doesn't look anime.   There are a number of preset faces that look super Asian, & the rest all look like Chun Li.   Even using the Advanced controls this was the best I could do.

She looks about as dangerous as that Asmodae I rolled in the last blog whose face I just couldn't stand after a few levels.   At least she doesn't look like she's ditching her 4th grade class to run around in the forest.   It's at least her algebra class.   Maybe even Alg II.

Anyway, this was the best I could do.

I have to admit that the Elyos side is the one with the piano heavy BGM I love so much.   The geography is also prettier.   Since I spend so much more time looking at the environment than at my character's face, I guess this is ok.

I rolled a Priest & ascended to Chanter.   Sanctum, the Elyos main city, is a pain in the ass but it is very pretty.   It's hard not to check out all the different players running around.



Some of the male player characters are pretty.   Aaaand some of the male NPCs.   Now I'm thinking maybe I want to roll a male character just to see the different looks the guys get.   I think Aion has the hottest male character models of any game I've played.   Ok, except vanilla pixelated EQ with the half elf men.

Shortly after arriving in Sanctum I received a quest to go talk to some girl who is into "pets."   This girl then gave me a quest which rewarded me with a purple frog pet.

I wasn't sure if I wanted a purple frog pet.   I don't have anything against frogs, but to be honest, I like piggies.   And not purple.   And then it wasn't even really purple.   It was fuschia.   Yuck.

Furthermore, the pet was --- is --- irritating.    It constantly wants your attention & hops around bleating (croaking) pitifully, even throwing temper tantrums.   Totally not my ideal pet.   However, the guildies said that it was worthwhile, so I kept it.   Supposedly with time the pet would gradually become happy with me & then it would give me a gift.

The 3 interactions you can have with your pet - Snuggling, Grooming, & Training - are undemanding, only taking a second or two each.   I was fairly amused when I saw that Training entailed not trick tutelage, but a treadmill.   Ha ha, that was funny.   Work it, frog.

I named my frog Sausage.

The highlight of my day was finally getting to do some crafting.   I love Aion crafting.   It's a lot like Vanguard & EQ2 crafting, where you have varying degrees of success with the final product, & you have to go to a specific crafting station to do your thing.   I like the visual & sound effects too.   Anyway, I started off at the Cooking station.   It's the only tradeskill, at this early level, that I have collected sufficient materials for.   I spent a lot of time just doing Work Orders from the Cooking Trainer; you are supplied with the main mats to fill the work order & you gain xp as well as skill & random ingredients from completing it.   When my bags filled up with too many random ingredients I decided it was time to go back to questing.

Aaaand now I'm going to log back in.