You can run several dungeons or defeat world bosses in Aion 2 without receiving any upgrades for your equipment. NCSoft is exaggerating the grind in the endgame, says MeinMMO editor Karsten Scholz.
Why can the grind in Aion 2 be frustrating? In the endgame of NCSoft’s new MMORPG, it’s all about boosting your character’s item level. Only then can you access the next high-level content, from which you can earn equipment for the milestone that follows. In other words: If you cannot increase your item level, you are stuck.
The gameplay path through the endgame spiral is quite clearly defined. If you want to reach item level 1,600+, for example, you must prepare for countless runs in the Expedition Vakron’s Air Island. The sought-after equipment pieces with item level 70 drop rarely at the Conquest difficulty level. Only after 21 runs (!) does a guaranteed reward await.
The situation is hardly better with the world bosses. They almost always bring only painting materials and a few Kinah. I have never seen a yellow equipment drop from them. If you – like I did last weekend – are unlucky, you play for hours without a noticeable increase in item level. The somewhat toxic dungeon community can quickly escalate frustration to the point of logging out annoyed.
In the global version of Aion 2, he currently has around 70 hours. He still farms Vakron’s Air Island daily, even though he has had no luck with loot there yet.
Alternatives are missing
How is the community reacting? In the Aion 2 subreddit, posts are increasingly appearing in which players complain about the random factor in the endgame grind.
- Kamina22 writes in his post on Reddit: “5 Uruguru weapons have dropped, but I haven’t seen my bow yet. This drop mechanic is really annoying.”
- The alternative crafting also has random factors, as Ner3idis describes on Reddit: “After over 300 weapon crafts, my combo attempt failed. Yes, you read that right: After 300 weapon crafts, I finally achieved that 25 percent combo from Blue to Majestic Gold, only to see it fail at a success rate of 94 percent. I don’t think this game is for me. My mental health can’t take it.”
- AceInSpvce has shared a meme on Reddit that emphasizes how rarely you see good loot from the world bosses as well.
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How could this be solved? The PvE theme park of Aion 2 lacks alternatives. Sure, you can sometimes help yourself with the item level grind by farming the feathers in the Abyss or buying all the Daevanion crystals in the various shops. Or you farm (or buy) millions of Kinah until you can afford some equipment on the marketplace. But these are just band-aids.
Crafting could be an alternative, but the crafting progression also has random elements, as Ner3idis’ comment underscores. It can be extremely expensive and time-consuming to obtain unique equipment alternatives in this way. NCSoft could easily improve the crafting progress.
By the way, the Korean version of Aion 2 has an alternative that hasn’t made it into the global version: the equipment tab in the Abyss shop. Through this, you can, for example, farm upgrades for accessory or weapon slots over time to fill some gaps and reach the next item level milestones more easily.
I personally hope very much that NCSoft will soon bring the equipment purchasable with Abyss points to the West, and that there will at least be slight adjustments to drop chances or crafting.
However, these adjustments need to come quickly before too many players turn their backs on Aion 2’s endgame in frustration. Or do you see it differently? Feel free to tell me in the comments how the item level grind feels for you! The developers have already addressed another issue: Aion 2 is grappling with the issue that plagues all Free2Play MMOs, directly banning nearly 5,000 accounts
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