A little while ago Ten Ton Hammer was able to interview Aion Producer Brian Knox during the San Diego Comic-con. The format below is going to be: white text shows the question, blue text shows the answer, red text is my comparison to preset expectations (WoW).

Ten Ton Hammer: In some previous interviews, you’ve discussed PvE and PvP being separate. Is that really the case? I’ve been hearing about people who were in PvE having to engage in PvP against people that came to their area via portals and things like that. What’s the real PvP scope of Aion look like?

Brian Knox: Basically the scope is that PvE and PvP are blended together in Aion. That said, you can choose your path as far as where you want to go and you’re not penalized if you want to switch your mindset partway - if you want to go from PvE to PvP and vice versa.

There technically aren’t any pure PvE zones outside of the pre-level 20 areas. That doesn’t mean you’re under constant attack, just means that you might see enemy players occasionally.

Ten Ton Hammer: So that’s where everyone was confused.

Brian:: One of our major aspects of the game is the concept of earning Abyss points. You can earn these via PvP and PvE. So for instance if you’re out kill the Balaur, you can get - let’s say - ten Abyss points. And if you’re killing players you get ten Abyss points. You can earn the same gear by killing either the Balaur or the PvP.

You might make different choices in your gear depending on your playstyle, but you’re still earning points in a particular direction. You don’t have to “restart” if you decide that you want to play something different than PvP or PvE.

You also get experience by killing enemy players based on their rank and level. Too many times I’ve seen people do nothing but raid in WoW and then get bored and decide to PvP, they start off with no PvP gear and next to no experience at all. They get destroyed and it pretty much shuts that door of gameplay.

Ten Ton Hammer: What about players that are in a dungeon or engaged in active PvE? Is there a chance for them to get ambushed?

Brian: There’s world PvP, but we also instanced PvP as well. When we launch there’s going to be sixteen new instances than what their is in beta. Everyone knows that you’re going in to fight against other players. But in the world PvP, if you’re on the Abyss you’re putting yourself out there on the line. That’s also where a lot of the good rewards are and - I think - where a lot of the fun is in Aion.

That said, if you’re on your side of the world, eighty to ninety percent of what you’re doing is basic PvE. Players can receive these “infiltration quests” however where they can jump through portals and go to the other side of the world. There’s a whole system in place to help stop griefing and that sort of thing, but it still keeps you on your toes. It should remind them that a battle is still occurring without having them be constantly harassed.

The system to stop griefing (not ganking) isn’t going to stop it completely but it does a good job. If a player kills enough enemy players in their own zones he’ll get certain debuffs that eventually make him visible on the zone map as well as announce him in chat by name. Killing this guy grants a major buff to players int he area of his death and he cannot resurrect in that zone or use the rift to re-enter for a while. The rift system is too keep reminding players that there is another faction out there, you do have enemies, and you’re not teaming up with them ever.

Ten Ton Hammer: Let’s say players are in an end game raid sort of scenario. Is there any way for players from the opposing faction to get into that raid and mix things up with other players?

Brian: If it’s an Abyss raid, then yes. It could happen. But that’s the way the Abyss is designed. If you’re in an instanced raid that is your special little piece of the world.

Ten Ton Hammer: Can you go all the way to the end game while staying on your floaty little continent?

Brian: Certainly.

Ten Ton Hammer: Is the gear a little bit better in the Abyss? What’s the draw to go there?

Brian: There are some good pieces to be attained in the higher level PvE questing, but a lot of the really awesome rewards are in the Abyss.

There are a lot of great quests in PvE though, and we wanted players to enjoy PvE where players are enjoying what they’re doing without feeling like they’re being harassed all the time. We think the Abyss creates an environment where everyone’s on an even playing field with the different factions. You’re just always aware of what’s going on.

Lets be honest, the end game for Aion has to do with PvP. The ultimate enemy is the other player faction and the NPC faction of the Balaur. You find the Balaur predominantly in the Abyss, and you fight your enemy faction players there too.

Ten Ton Hammer: What does fortress PvP look like?

Brian: There are three tiers to the Abyss. There’s a bottom layer, a top layer, and then the middle, core layer. Each of these layers is progressive in level. The Abyss is a lot of the end-game, but it’s not like you need to level to fifty to do it.

In a lot of games, your pay off feels like it comes at the end… in the Abyss, you really can start into the action at level twenty-five and the entire lower area is really geared towards that sort of player. You’ll be able to start sieging things and helping out with fortresses at level twenty-five.

Eventually you’ll graduate to the top level and then eventually to the middle, core area.

God I love this. In WoW, you don’t really get shit (lets not kid ourselves) until you reach the level cap. They even make leveling so fast and easy because they want you to experience the end game stuff. In other words, you don’t have jack shit to do until Lv 80 (the cap for WotLK) and that sucks. In Aion, you start enjoying the fruits of developmental labor right away at 25, just scaled down to your level. Imagine having an Ulduar quality raid at level 30? 40?

Ten Ton Hammer: What can players capture in sieges?

Brian: You can capture artifacts anytime you want - there’s not set time limit on these - and they’ll give your legions (Aion guilds) buffs, or it will debuff the other side. You capture these artifacts and they’re actually really helpful in capturing the big fortress.

The fortresses are timed, but they’re not a once-a-week sort of timed events. They’re nightly and they vary.

So you’re not expected - if you hold a fortress - to defend it for weeks and weeks and weeks. It’s meant to fluctuate back and forth so players can enjoy the content. The Balaur - the PvE race - can own it as well. You have to compete against both factions.

Oh look, constant reasons to engage in PvP or group activity! God forbid! A 3rd faction that can own bases as well to keep things balanced and equalized? BLASPHEMY! Guild buffs for playing together like a team!? Hold on 2 drops of piss just came out I’m so excited.

Ten Ton Hammer: Let’s say you’re a top-end guild. What are some of the advantages of concentrating your time on fortresses?

Brian: As you control the fortresses, your influence rations change in the game, which changes the tax rate. The prices on gear and items all go up and down based on your faction ownership.

You also gain access to specific shops within the fortress and in our launch version there will be dungeons that are a part of fortresses. These will be only accessible through the fortresses.

So engaging in PvP grants access to good gear, financial boons, and PvE content. Any complaints?

Ten Ton Hammer: What if you have the highest ranking on the server in terms of Abyss points?

Brian: You can actually have a skill that turns you into a raid boss for a particular amount of time. Obviously this skill has a *long* cool down timer, but lasts for five to ten minutes-

Wait, so you’re going to have a way for people to actually know who’s a good player and give them reason to rally under him/her?

Ten Ton Hammer: You’re badass!

Brian: Exactly. But it does have a cooldown timer so you can’t just sit around and grief people. There’s also a thing that lets people know that you’re in the zone and they should come and attack you to try to knock you off.

Ten Ton Hammer: But you could use it if you wanted a really high-level person to try to help take down a fortress or something like that.

Brian: Right.

So let’s say once a week or whatever, you can become a raid boss, lead a charge and downright fucking annihilate the enemy winning a clutch victory for your faction. Or you can waste it by ganking and being a douche in which case people on the server will most likely shit on your name. I like this.

Ten Ton Hammer: What’s the sweet spot for guild membership?

Brian: We actually limit guild numbers - I believe it’s max at ninety at guild rank 3. You have three ranks, and each time you rank up you can invite more players in and you get different ways to customize your guild.

Customization means being able to upload you own images to the guild tabard or Legion Cape or whatever they call it. You get access to legion shops. I like this concept of guild pride. Kind of how WoW was back before cross server battlegrounds and server transfers.

Ten Ton Hammer: Anything else players should know?

Brian: I think it’s important for players to go in and try out our PvP experience during our beta event weekends that we’re holding. We’re going to open it up even further in our next pass, so players should get in and get to see how things operate.

Also, I think players should know that we are launching with three major updates on the game, so that means three major balancing passes already in place before people even get to jump into Aion.

So we’re getting a game that’s been balanced and tweaked for about a year already in the Asian market where PvP is like a fucking bloodsport and treated with the seriousness of the Olympics. I can’t wait.

The mechanic in Aion is that at Level 25 you can enter the lower level of the Abyss. You can take part in PvP, in PvE, in Fortress raids and siege warfare as well as capturing relics and other strategic points. These activites add to the greater sum, so players int he high levels fighting in the Abyss Core capturing castles matter just as much as those in the lower areas doing the same. The rewards are obviously better and designed for that player level.

This is part of the leveling in the game, not just a means to get your character gear. The leveling in Aion as well is infinitely slower than that of WoW for obvious reasons, the cap is 50, not 80. The developers would rather put emphasis on enjoying and experiencing all there is to offer on your way to the cap so when you get there you’re a seasoned player and now have access to the best the game has to offer. That’s how WoW used to be when the cap was 60. Now you pretty much have to hustle through 70 levels of watered down and castrated content that’s viewed as worthless and obsolete so you can see the level 80 content. Back when we were first starting out, Scarlet Monastery was an incredible place you farmed for weeks. Now you don’t even need to bother entering once because of heirloom items, extremely cheap mounts, and let’s face it; free fucking level ups if you decide to use the recruit a friend feature. Lets be honest. That wasn’t put in because they want new accounts. That was put in for people to level up alts faster.

When the cap gets raised AGAIN in the next expansion, you’ll see people making 5 man groups to kill Arthas, or a Death Knight solo him