The MMORPG Aion launched its classic servers in America last week. While there was a huge rush at the release, disillusionment is now setting in. Many players are upset about the game’s payment system and even accuse it of being Pay2Win.
What’s going on? The classic servers for Aion drew a lot of attention at release. On the first evening, clearly over 30,000 players were in line to access one of the two servers.
The servers promised the “old Aion.” They launched with patch 1.5, which is when they also came to the West back in 2009, somewhat like WoW Classic in August 2019.
Aion Classic can be played for free and without a subscription, but there are strong restrictions that can only be lifted by a subscription. One promise from the developers was that the shop would remain free of Pay2Win and focus only on cosmetic content.
However, accusations against the MMORPG are piling up on reddit and in videos, with Pay2Win playing a significant role.
Aion Classic is supposed to offer Pay2Play, a Battle Pass, and Pay2Win at the same time
What are the players criticizing? Players are mainly upset about two things:
- On one hand, there is the item Tiger Candy, which can be purchased in the real-money shop and resold in-game.
- On the other hand, there is a Battle Pass with strong rewards.
Many players see both issues as a form of Pay2Win and are correspondingly dissatisfied.
What’s the deal with Tiger Candy? This item transforms the player into a tiger and enhances their stats, making it very useful. However, the stats aren’t the actual problem:
- Tiger Candy can be sold at NPC vendors for 100,000 Kinah, the in-game currency of Aion.
- However, players are limited and can only receive one million Kinah from vendors per day.
- Players have started selling Tiger Candy cheaper to other players to bypass the one million Kinah limit. They sell it for example for 80,000, and buyers can sell it for 100,000 at the vendor.
Since you can buy Tiger Candy directly for real money in the shop, in-game currency can basically be bought for real money. Already, there are reportedly players sitting on several tens of millions of Kinah, affecting the economy.
What’s the deal with the Battle Pass? This pass costs 30 dollars in the premium version and offers many useful items that can also be earned in-game. However, Battle Pass users can relatively quickly obtain coins that they can use for their gear.
Furthermore, some content from the Battle Pass can be resold for Kinah.
What’s the deal with Pay2Play? In addition to the shop, where you can purchase in-game currency, and the Battle Pass, Aion Classic also uses a subscription system. It is called Siel’s Aura and brings with it, among other things:
- 100% of experience points (Free2Play players only receive 50%)
- Access to all items in the game (Free2Play users can only access ordinary gear, not rare items)
- Access to gathering, Abyss Points, and direct trading between players.
So, anyone wanting to make the most of Aion Classic is reliant on the subscription. However, all players receive one hour of the subscription for free each day.
Is Aion Classic Pay2Win? Here, players have differing opinions.
Since you often only receive the best gear in Aion Classic from dungeons, even spending real money won’t help you there. However, players who spend a lot of money benefit from buffs and can buy strong, albeit not the best, gear directly.
Some compare the system of Aion Classic to the gemstones in Guild Wars 2 or the system in Lost Ark, where real money can also be exchanged for in-game currency.
However, Aion Classic additionally relies on a Battle Pass and a subscription, which is essentially mandatory for heavy players. Many players find this too much and complain about such aggressive monetization.
What do you think about the payment content in Aion Classic? Has NCSoft gone overboard here, or are the players upset for no reason?
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