Helmets and Brokers.
Posted by nefchast on June 24, 2009
Short post, just touching on the two topics in the header — as they are in Aion.
Starting with helmets, you’ll notice something different about them in Aion than in other MMOs. They’re accessory pieces. Yup, that means that you don’t depend on your armor restrictions when choosing one, they’re all fair game. Here’s an illustration:
Leather Helmet
Plate Helmet
That’s my Chanter, who typically wears chain armor, wearing both the leather and plate helmets. Without the armor class restrictions, the choice is either cosmetic or stat based (I wear the leather one unless I’m just feeling bad ass, then it’s all plate).
I quite like the choice; I’ll have at least one Sorcerer that wears a plate helmet with their dress.
The next item is the broker, or auction house (AH). There’s two forms of selling in-game, the broker and private stores. If you’ve played any other Asian MMO you’ve likely run into the private stores, for those who haven’t — basically you can go anywhere in the game, open up a shop with items you want to sell at prices you set and let people look/buy themselves. It’s great when you’re AFK for a bit, or want to set up in an area that’s far from a broker.
Anyway, the broker is similar to most — here’s a screenie:
Broker
List shows what’s up for sale, just use the obvious drop down menus. There is no bidding, everything is buy out. Register is where you list your items, you can only have a certain amount up at once — around 10 I think — so make sure you use the spots wisely. Settle Account is where you check to see what’s sold and collect your money. No running to the mail box for it; if you’ve played Everquest 2 you should be familiar with this style.
The broker works quite well; I don’t see many people using the private shops apart from some in the main/large cities. That could be the population on my server (not too high I think) or that I’m still in the relatively low-level areas. Also, could be the Asian subscription method, and using the broker to keep from paying to sell goods. Probably a combination of all three. When NA launch comes, I suspect there will be a healthy use of both the broker and private shops since we don’t pay per time played. Should be interesting.
