In the MMORPG AION, the update 7.6 has been deployed. It includes a controversial feature that allows characters to farm and level up automatically. Some players believe this marks the end of the MMORPG, while others actually welcome the “legal bot”.
What is this feature? The new update introduces the so-called Auto-Hunting. This feature brings an automatic combat function to AION, which you would otherwise expect in such scope from mobile games:
- You can set a specific sequence of skills to be used in the automatic combat.
- Potions are used when your health points drop below a certain value.
- There is even an automatic selling function when the inventory is full.
Once auto-hunting is activated, your character will continuously seek out monsters it can defeat.
AION also introduces statistics on how productive your auto-hunting was. There is a window in the interface that contains information on duration, collected XP, defeated monsters, and received items.
In the community, the auto-hunt function is already referred to as the “legal bot”. After all, most illegally programmed bots behave no differently.
A large update was released in June that provided the MMORPG with a new area and additional new content .
The legal bot is not viewed so critically in the community
How are players reacting to the change? In the official AION forum, there is a survey that has been running since Friday. So far, 95 people have participated in the vote, which surprisingly balances out:
- 53% of the votes are against the auto-hunt function
- 47% on the other hand are not bothered by it
There are several reasons why the bot does not bother some:
- On one hand, mobs in the open world generally drop very little loot. Therefore, from the perspective of the in-game economy, it makes no difference for many.
- The “bot” is more limited than illegal programs because it only knows 5 skills and cannot perform chain attacks.
- The opposing faction can quickly defeat such “AFK farmers”.
- The “legal bot” is still better than having to get an illegal one.
However, there is also much resistance against the bot in the written comments.
- Some users see this change as a first step towards filling the MMORPG only with artificial players to create an illusion of a full world.
- Others see it as a step towards Mobile MMORPGs. After all, auto-play is often found there.
- Others are considering leaving the game because there is now a “legal bot”.
What do you think about this change? Are there players among our readers who regularly play AION?
AION still counts among the best free-to-play MMORPGs on MeinMMO. You can find other great titles in this list.
