NCsoft Launches Aion: Assault on Balaurea

On the eve of the game’s upcoming one-year anniversary in a few weeks, NCsoft has launched Aion’s first expansion, Aion: Assault on Balaurea. Assault on Balaurea is a free expansion that gives players new levels, pets, weapons, items and skills through several new solo and multiplayer zones and instances.

“Assault on Balaurea is more than a free expansion consisting of new and exciting game experiences for our players, but a sign of our commitment to providing players hours of fun and excitement they can’t experience anywhere else,” said Jaeho Lee, CEO NCsoft West. “With this expansion, we continue to make Aion a truly global franchise by offering customised features catering to Western audience gameplay styles, something we’ve been looking forward to bringing our players since launch.”

Assault on Balaurea will offer the following features to Aion players:

• New Instances: Aion hosts eight new instances each filled with fantastic challenges and enticing rewards. These new instances experienced at both lower and higher levels offer a range of challenges for all varieties of players ranging from solo adventures to full-on Legion raids.
• Pets: Pets are no longer only decorative. Aion redefines how MMORPGs approach pets, creating an entire new subsystem for players to explore as they acquire functional pets capable of storing goods, assisting with crafting or acting as guardians by alerting their masters to nearby enemies. Pets are acquired through in-game purchases, quest rewards, item drops, NCsoft Store, and special promotional events.
• New Zones: Players will explore the vast lands of Balaurea, the home of the Balaur, ruled by the Dragon Lord Tiamat. The Asmodians and Elyos have established fortresses in the two new zones: Gelkmaros and Inggison, each area featuring completely new environments, powerful monsters and unique flight mechanics for players to enjoy.
• Increased Level Cap: Five additional levels can be achieved. With an increased level cap of 55, characters will discover new weapons, earn new items and learn new skills as they explore the dangerous lands of Balaurea.
• Enhanced Flight Mechanics: Brand new flight options in the form of Windstreams allow characters to traverse the vast new zones of Gelkmaros and Inggison with increased speed and unlimited flight time. Windstreams have varying strengths and effects, adding a further layer of depth and strategy to Aion’s highly-acclaimed flight mechanics.
• Twitter Integration: Aion’s new Twitter feed functionality makes player bragging rights easy with its fluid integration into the game. Players can capture and Twitpic up to ten of their favorite screen shots using the updated in-game UI.

The retail version of Aion: Assault on Balaurea includes the full original game and expansion, an exclusive Speckled Ailu (Panda) pet as well as retailer-specific pet exclusives from NCsoft Store, Amazon (France/Germany), GameStop (Germany), 4u2play (Germany), Fnac (France), Gamemania (Benelux), Game (UK), BT Games (South Africa), Steam and DL Gamer (Europe), and 30 days of game time.