For your psychological health: How to avoid ragequit and burnout

This is an excellent post found on Aionsource.com forums, and I felt the need to post it here is anybody missed seeing it there.  I did not write this, and take no credit for doing so.  But I think it's awesome, and think it's a good idea for most all Aion gamers to read.  The link to the original posting is here.  http://www.aionsource.com/forum/general-guides/36110-your-psychological-health-how-avoid-ragequit-burnout.html

(This post may be outdated with version 1.5)


This thread is dedicated to those who may not have played a hardcore PvP or PvE MMO before.

Aion is both. Don't let the pretty graphics, the epic music, the cute fungy creatures, or the innocent asian-girl toons fool you. It is hardcore by Western standards. The definition of hardcore being that it isn't very forgiving to you. Hardcore DOES NOT mean "skill-based". I will leave debates of what is "skill-based" to other threads, as it is outside the scope of this post. Examples of hardcore games : AoC on a PvP server, EVE Online in 0.0 space or low-sec, Guild Wars or Lineage 2, etc.

First off, most of you who are not used to a hardcore game will end up ragequitting or burning out. Also, a great deal of you who think you are prepared for it, aren't... I'm not being snerty or mean, that's just how it is. It's like the saying: On average, most people think they are above-average in intelligence. However if you really do have experience in other hardcore MMOs, you can stop reading now.. this thread will be nothing new for you guys.

While many on this forum will laugh and say GO BACK TO WOW!!!LOLZ!!!11!, this thread will take the opposite approach. I say, "please don't leave! we need you!... much <3<3!!. Why? Every player counts. There is nothing wrong with being a "carebear" or a "noob", in fact they help the economy, in my humble opinion. Also, ghost servers are no fun! Even if the game can survive a dropoff due to burnout or ragequitting players, server merges are no fun. It really disrupts the communities that form on specific servers. I saw this firsthand with AoC and WaR.

Thus this thread is designed to try and psychologically mitigate ragequitting and burnout.

First, let's talk about PvP

1. Play in zones that fit your playstyle preferences.

Contrary to what people think, a lot of PvP "can" be avoidable. Many people are suggesting the idea of hardcore PvP servers or PvE only servers. I think these suggestions are a bit misguided. NCSoft has designed AION so that there are three levels of these "server-types" are inherently built into Aion. The PvE zone is unfinished as of 1.0 but in 1.5 most of the content will be added in. Let me give you an example.

Playing like a PvE Server for Asmodian:

Levels 1-10: Ishagen

Levels 10-20: Altgard

Levels 20-50: Brusthonin

(edit: Actually I'm a bit wrong on this. These zones will feature normal mobs 20-25 and then 40-50, but will include instances via 1.1 to 1.5 updates. Future versions will fill in the gap here with new zones as well as fill the level gaps in the abyss (lack of mobs mid30s-late 30s, 45+))

Playing like a PvP Server (PvE with periodic PvP ganking):

Levels 1-10: Ishagen

Levels 10-20: Altgard

Levels 20-30: Morheim

Levels 30-50: Morheim + Belusian

Playing like a RvR Server (e.g. warhammer pvp style):

Levels 1-10: Ishagen

Levels 10-20: Altgard

Levels 20-25: Morheim

Levels 25-30: Lower Abyss

Levels 30-50: Upper Abyss

Elyos has equivalent zones. So you see... if you don't like the threat of gank squads... level in the PvE zone of your level.

2. "I love PvP but it's not really pvp when it's not a fair fight" or "LOL @Aion PVP (insert screenshot of dead character next to 20 characters of the other faction).

The above statements are false. The best PvP games will come close to full-blown warfare. In most intelligent wargames, hardly anything is fair. In fact, most fights are decided before they start. It's hardly about the individual, it is about something greater. To master Aion PvP you need to not only master how your character fights, but when to fight.

(A) The RLSG maneuver. Those of you who played X3, recognize this term coined by NUKLEAR-SLUG. I will borrow it here, since DiD games are just hardcore. This move will be your characters most important move. RLSG stands for RUN LIKE A SCREAMING GIRL. That's all there is to it. If you are not 100% sure of the outcome of a fight. Run first, think later. You can always come back later if you decide your odds are good. But first you need to run. There is nothing wrong with running. You aren't less of a man because of it. You aren't a noob if you run from a fight. No one from AionSource is going to take a screenshot and then make a call-out thread (actually I'm not too sure on this one). But there is nothing to be ashamed of. The only time you shouldn't run is if you don't have many AP to lose, and you want a fast way back to your bind point (and your return is on cooldown).

(B) Set up your chat radar. In EVE Online, the chat window is the most important tool of recon in 0.0. You would watch the local window very carefully for the presence of hostile players. In Aion, you have to do the same thing to survive. Basically, create a new tab, and call it PvP. Pull it out to some location you can see, and check "third-party combat" in the tab options. Color all the squares red. When an enemy player uses any ability, drinks any pot, or takes any sort of damage in your vicinity, you will see them in this window. You can also see what level abilities they have, which is a good way to determine their class without a visual contact, and is also a good way to determine their level (since you can't see player character level, and only abyss rank).

(C) Watch your own radar! This thing is NOT a minimap, it's a radar, which is how NCSoft designers designed it. In 1.5 you can even zoom in and out. If you want to be very cautious, you can grind mobs that are neutral. They will show up as a white dot on your radar. So if you see a red dot zooming towards you.. that's your cue for the RLSG maneuver. Over time, as you get used to mob movements, you can even grind in hostile mob areas. Even though everything will show up as red dots, you will learn to instantly tell the movements of a player red dot as opposed to a mob red dot.

Update: With version 1.5, players now show up as diamonds on your radar, instead of circles. The catch is, the have to be within a 120 degree scope of vision of your character in front of you, so you still won't see them coming from behind.

(D) Grind/Hunt mobs in a group. You don't necessarily have to kill the same mob. Just be within the general vicinity in case a player shows up. This won't stop you from getting steam-rolled by a big group of players, but it will at least deter solo gankers.

(E) Join a good legion. Keep an extensive friends list. Social network. This helps with D.

(F) Set up intel channels. Your guild chat is a good place for this.. if you have a big guild. This is another feature being adopted from EVE, a game where even traveling from point A to point B is dangerous. Often huge alliances have intel channels where they report enemy movements (e.g. (player)(type)(numbers) spotted in (location).) Control right-click on your map to link a location into an intel channel. I hear in 1.5 with the slayer system, the game will do it for you. So you can even probably ignore F. There is no excuse to not pay attention to your environment or system messaging if this is the case.

(G) This one is the most important. If you get owned by a group of players. DO NOT MAKE A POST WITH A SCREENSHOT OF YOUR CORPSE WITH SOME CYNICAL OR SARCASTIC COMMENT ABOUT AION PVP. YOUR TEARS ARE DELICIOUS, YOU ARE ONLY GIVING SKULLS FOR THE SKULLTHRONE, AND SHOWING YOUR RLSG FAIL. (But if you do make a screenshot or video, end it with keyboard cat).

Okay, now on to PvE

First off, leveling take a long time.

(A) The most psychologically important thing you can do to prepare yourself is to convert Aion levels in your head to these other levels.. use the chart conversion chart below:

1 Aion Level =

5 WoW Levels.

4 AoC Levels.

1.6 WaR Levels.

HOW TO USE THE CHART: Suppose you only played WoW before. Each time you gain four bubbles (20%) in your leveling bar. Stop. In your head, make a mental "ding" sound. Imagine all your guildies saying "GRATS". Sit down in rest mode and wait until your health and mana bar is full to simulate the leveling-regeneration effect. Take a break or grab a soda. You just dinged, you deserve it.

(B) If all else fails, buy some removable duct tape and place just enough of it on the bottom part of your monitor to cover up your XP bar. I recommend 3M brand tapes.

(C) Grinding solo mobs is for losers. Really. Get a group and grind elites. It's less boring in a group. Better yet, get attuned for instances and run them for loot. It really boggles my mind that people can spend 18 hours per weeks for weeks and weeks to earn enough DKP to get a piece of raiding gear, that gives them only a marginal upgrade. All that gear is going to be outdated in the next expansion pack anyways. Imagine if raids gave experience... It would be way more grind than getting to max level in AION would be. When you hit 25 (enough for the new instance in 1.5), or when you hit 28 for Fire Temple, pretend that you have already achieved end-game in Aion. Actually this is not far from the truth, as you have abyss access. Treat levels 30-50 AS ENDGAME. When you run Fire Temple, think in your head that you're not grinding an instance like Deadmines or Gnomeregan, but pretend the place IS a end-game instance. It pretty much is, because you have to get "attuned" for it (abyss key quest). The gear upgrades you get are non-trivial. And because bosses don't always drop loot, it kind of simulates an endgame raid-- at the end of the day you are more likely to walk away empty-handed har har. Since the levels are much longer, you have a lot of time of use for that gear before it goes out of date. Equipment drops are also rare, so if you aren't gathering or crafting much, it may be your only source of upgrades. Even the quests are pretty stingy on their equipment rewards.

(D) Speaking of which... gather and craft! The xp from both gathering and crafting is non-trivial. Crafting is a great way to gain experience while being semi-afk. You can start up a work order, take a bite from your Jose Ole's 1 dollar microwaved burrito, and then turn it in and fire up another work order. You can make good money from the broker system if you gather and craft stuff that is in demand and play the market correctly.

(E) Play it safe! If you aren't twinked out, or uber-leet, there is no shame in killing mobs that are 2 levels below you. The costs from death are quite expensive, and will take a big chunk out of your pocketbook. Everything in the game costs money, and the novice player may quickly find themselves more broke than AoC's memory management system at release.

(F) Travel. There is a lot of traveling by foot in this game, unless you live in the Abyss. ALOT of traveling by foot. You may ragequit at the fact that there are no mounts, or if you FAIL at gliding. In this case, I suggest creating a small character, and then zooming in very close while traveling to give the illusion that you are running very fast and are on a mount. Also another tip: Trains are bad for you mmkay. If you get mob aggro while traveling, most of the time, it is smart to STOP and then kill the mob before running forward. With 70% of your level EXP coming from non-quest exp, you will have to kill random mobs anyways. Some say the best first piece of PvP gear to get are the golden boots, which add 20% run speed. Infiltration quests for both sides will also give you a title with 4% bonus to speed (in the mid 20's). Finally, run scrolls can boost your run speed by various amounts, and scout classes can run, or turn into karnifs that run.

(G) Manastones. One property of other hardcore Asian games is that item enhancements have a chance of failing, and when they fail, something bad happens. In some cases the entire item is destroyed. In other games, the items and previous enchantments don't get destroyed, but an enchantment slot is taken up, effectively ruining the future potential of the item. Aion is more forgiving than these games, as items neither get destroyed nor have their potential ruined. However, the fact that there is a penalty associated with random failure will no doubt be a prime source of ragequit and burnout for players unaccustomed to a hardcore mmo mechanic. Here are some ways to deal with it, psychologically speaking.

First off, a table showing manastone estimated worth.

Manastones worth a damn: +HP, +Physical Crit, +Magic Boost, +Magic Resist (high level/lategame)

Manastones sorta worth a damn: +Phys Attack, +Shield Block

Manastones worth diddly squat: Everything else.

The strategy that will likely burn out casual players is trying to socket all of their items while leveling up with Manastones worth a damn. Manastones drop like cupcakes, and they'll be tons of them in your bag after a bit of grinding, but you may not have enough of the Manastones worth a damn to fill all of your vacant manastone slots on your item. Some players will buy manastones off the market for thousands of kinah to compensate. This is where the danger of ragequit comes in. Sure, you will be end up better geared if you fill all your slots with Manastones worth a damn, but if a manastone fails in slotting... you must be prepared for that. You would think people would accept the risk, but do a search of Manastone and QQ on this forum and see how many people weren't prepared or were uninformed of that risk.

Here are my recommendations (again, nothing special here, just common sense):

Option 1) Bad one in first approach. For all of your gear (no matter what quality), slot your Manastones sorta worth a damn or Manastones worth diddly squat first. On the last slot, slot your Manastones worth a damn. This way if it fails, you lose a bunch of crappy manastones and just 1 good one.

Option 2) Good one in first approach. Don't slot any manastones until you get a good piece of gear. Then slot all of your Manastones worth a damn into them. If you are unlucky, you will lose some, but you should have enough good ones to refill up that 1 or 2 pieces of special equipment. With your left over manastones and gear, switch to Option 1.

Option 3) Forego slotting Manastones worth a damn, and sell them on the market, making $$$. Use this $$ to buy food or drinks that will buff your stats much like Manastones would. Sure these food buffs gives temporary effects, but your gear while leveling is temporary too. It's like having manastones in your items, only that you can't fail in eating or drinking.

(H) You aren't a failure if you have trouble killing 2 dot mobs your level. It's pretty hard to solo after 40 for some classes. Again, groups, friends, legions are your friend.



I hope this thread has been helpful, and I hope your experience in Aion is enjoyable.