Server transfers will appeal to a wide-variety of folks.  For some this is their chance to reunite with friends.  Others will relocated to a server more suited to their play-schedule.  But for some, this is their chance to hop to the “winning” side.  Several on Lumiel, Asmodian-side, have stated that they will be leaving Lumiel for a server in which Asmodians are dominating.  They don’t want to stick around to try to help their brother Asmodians progress in the Abyss as they would rather hop to a server in which others have done the work.  The Asmodians on Lumiel are divided on this issue.  Many plan to stick around to see victory, and others are joining the bandwagon jumpers in preparing for the leap.

The bandwagon phenomenon is nothing new. It’s been around ever since I started playing MMOs.  If necromancers were over-powered, everyone rolled a necromancer.  If Horde is winning a lot of battlegrounds, people re-roll Horde.  Bright Wizards are destroying everything in sight; Order becomes the most-populated faction.  Everyone wants to play the winning side, even if their side isn’t really losing much.  These are the same people who search for cheat codes the moment they buy a new game, and in the past, they used the Game Sharks and such.  It’s nothing new, but it is just somewhat sad..maybe even pathetic.

Truth of the matter is that Asmodians on Lumiel aren’t doing that bad.  As a matter of fact, there’s barely anyone who is level 50.  It puzzles me as to how people can make a judgment on a faction’s ability to succeed so early-on especially when the vast majority isn’t even at the maximum level.  Personally, I play Elyos, and I’m not confident that we’ll hold whatever “domination” that we have in the Abyss for long.  There’s already some strife and drama between the higher-ranked legions.  It wouldn’t take but one strong legion and a few supporters on Asmodian-side to dominate or at least level the playing field.

As we sit back and watch the bandwagon-jumping, cheat-code using, easy-mode playing Asmodians pack their bags, we can at least take comfort in knowing that there’s a chance, being that the game is so young, they will end up on a server that becomes truly Elyos dominated, while Lumiel ends up balancing with time.  Enjoy your free transfer, my friends, and remember what they say, “the grass is always greener – over the septic tank!”

One simple mistake was made, and I’m paying for it.  In Closed and Open Beta, I did not play on the server in which I am currently residing.  I was playing on Nezekan, which at the last moment became the Oceanic server.  Because I did not play on Lumiel, my current server, I missed out on forming relationships with residents there before release.  Once the game went live, many legions were full.  On top of all that I played on Siel at release for a week, reaching the mid-20s on an Asmodian Cleric there.  The community on Siel was not desirable at that time, and the faction balance was a bit lopsided in favor of the Asmodians.  I chose to start over on the second week at Lumiel on the Elyos side.  I’m a little behind the curve as far as leveling goes – almost 30.  Most of that is due to my obsession with crafting – a long story for later, and a friend with a troublesome swing-shift schedule.  All in all, I feel that I’m doing fairly well.  But, it still doesn’t help the legion search.

Finding a legion now wouldn’t be a huge issue. I’m patient. I can wait.  The real issue is the fact that I’m running around without a legion tag.  This opens up the door to a whole other can of worms.  The first being that I have the appearance of a bot.  No. My name is ydfgh.  Yes. I have a title.  I’ve even set my note as:  Just Legion-Less; Not a bot! However, when I am out grinding mindlessly at anything that will die to my almighty smite, I feel as if those who pass by me and pause are trying to determine if I am a bot.  Hang on a second, my friend!  That is not the only problem.  I’m being stalked.  Yes. Stalked!  By a few very small legions who message me daily, several times a day.  One, who I will call Pete (name changed to protect the not-so-innocent), drives me absolutely bat-sh*t crazy.

I know you must be asking yourself (ok, I”m sure you’re not but humor me), “What’s the big deal here?!  Why not just join one and get it over with already!”  Really? Is that what you are thinking?  Well, then Mr. and/or Ms. Reader, you certainly don’t know much about me – yet.  To me a legion is important.  I will spend 10-15 hours a day with these people.  Because I don’t legion-hop (due to some odd devotion or  whatever-the-heck-it-is thing that I have with legions as if I sign my soul away to them upon joining or something) since legion-hopping is wrong.  Ok.  Let me clarify.  There are times in which it is necessary to leave a legion for another such as unnecessary drama, missing-in-action leadership, conflicting schedules, etc.  However, so many join and quit legions on a whim always seeking the next best thing that will benefit them.  That isn’t me.

Now then, let’s discuss legion names.  I’ve been in some interesting legions (guilds, clans, kinships..whatever) in my time.  The names haven’t been particularly clever, but they haven’t been what I consider on my “Could you at least give it some thought” list.  Legions with the word angel, knight, Aion, Lumiel, etc. are a no go for me.  So <The Knights of Lumiel Angels>, <Lumiel Legion of Angels>, or <Aion Knights of Angels> just will not work for me.  Don’t even get me started on <The Legion> Legion.  Another set of names that I avoid are ones related to World of Warcraft.  If the legion is named after a spell and/or piece of armor that World of Warcraft uses, chances are I will avoid you like the plague.  This is especially true if it is related to Paladins.  I left WoW quite some time ago, and I prefer not to be reminded by it every time I read my legion tag.  The next set of legion names that don’t interest me are those related to drinking and/or drug use.  Now, now! Don’t get all huffy on me.  If you want to drink every night while you play Aion, cheers! Go for it.  If you want to pass the joint around every time you log-in, I won’t judge.  Have fun!  But I don’t want to be in a legion full of drunks or stoners.  Sure. It’s entertaining from time-to-time, but after awhile it is more annoying than anything.  Too much gets put on hold because people are too out of it to play.  Besides, do you really need a legion that announces your favorite intoxicating pasttime, such as <We are a bunch of drunks>, <Smoking Pot is Kewl>, etc.

What is my criteria for a legion:

- Not having a completely ridiculous name, unless it is so ridiculous it is funny.

- Not being too small nor too huge.  Overly huge guilds that invite anything that can move typically have problems.  Legions that are extremely small rarely do anything.

- Not be managed by a child, angry drunk, power-hungry jerk, dude who wants to give his GF phat lewts for hot lovin’, micro-managing maniac who not only insists that we read the bylaws but test us on them, etc.

- Will have a fair amount of players who play all the time (sometimes I play early morning, afternoons, evening, late night, etc.)

- Will have a firm hand in removing beggars, botters, drama queens, deadbeats, loot whores, e-sluts, etc.

- Will hopefully not have members on my block list…ideally.

- Will use Ventrilo rather than Teamspeak.  Why TS still?  If a legion uses TS, I sure hope they are awesome and then some. I really dislike it.

Sounds simple enough?  Yeah.  I’m not too picky, but it still doesn’t make it easy.  Now then, I’m sure you asking, “What do you have to offer?”  Well, I will tell you, even though I know you really don’t care.  I have..wait for it..time.  Yes. Time.  I play 10-15 (sometimes  more) hours a day.  No. I don’t have a life.  Actually I do.  I’m my own boss, so I play at work.  I play at home.  Since I don’t like to party, am finished with school, and am not a fan of television, I choose to game.  This means that I can keep any schedule and raid time desired.  Pretty cool?  Yes. It is.

Wait! There’s more. I have years of experience as a healer, but the real deal is that I have years of experience as a PVP healer.  This means that I go into a battle already having trained myself in not only healing those around me but staying alive myself.  I am well-versed in the art of tanking the enemy until help arrives.  Most of all, I don’t cry, complain, bitch, and/or moan if I die.  While I will alert the group to an attacker, if it seems desired, I will not yell, “GET HIM OFF ME!”  In the end, if we are both destined to die, I will do everything that I can to see that you die after I do.

Is there more? You betcha.  I love to farm and craft.  No. I will not be your farming slave.  However, I will contribute. If I see a need, I will go out and farm and donate without being asked.

Well, enough about me and back to legions in general.  It seems that most of the legions recruiting are doing so through the LFG channel.  Normally I dismiss all legions who do this, but when I game first gets launched, I try to make an exception.  There just hasn’t been one that caught my eye yet.  The forums would be my first choice in getting information, but it seems most are not posting.  This leads me to believe that the vast majority are content with their roster.  That’s fine.  The first month will be up soon.  Several people will return to WoW.  Many Clerics will reroll DPS.  Spots will become available.  I’m patient. I know that somewhere, out there, is a nice, virtual home with my name on it. I’ll keep you posted. Oh..I come with a Templar buddy too.

- Disclaimer: Legions names posted here are fictional to the best of my knowledge.  If they happen to resemble a real legion on Lumiel, oopsie daisy.  My bad.

The purpose of this blog is to rant and rave about all things Aion.  What is Aion?  It’s a MMORPG.  If you, the reader, have no idea what a MMORPG is chances are this blog will completely bore you.  I suggest that you move along, but thanks for your visit nonetheless.  Back to the purpose, there isn’t a single theme.  Entries won’t be solely on my experiences as a healer in Aion.  It will be about everything that has caught my eye including my class, server, legion, race, friends, enemies, etc.  In addition, I will write about happenings from other servers, legions, classes, races, etc.  Basically it is about all things Aion.  You may agree with me. You may not.  Chances are you won’t always.  In the end, hopefully I made reading the posts worth your time.  We’ll see.

*Ok. Before anyone gets bent all out of shape, I don’t mean the genuine nerds and geeks. I mean the wannabes.  To my brothers and sisters of nerdville and geekdom, I salute you.

It all started long before release. By long before release I mean maybe a week, but still.  The Roleplayers got together to decide which server they would all roll-on once the game releases.  Due to some conflict and politics and some general stuff dealing with Phoenix Throne from Warhammer and Aionroleplayers.com, there was a division.  Some chose to roll on Zikel, and others chose to roll on Lumiel.  Just a couple days prior to head-start, NCSoft makes an announcement that Nezekan would become the Oceanic server.  Nezekan was the server of choice of the self-proclaimed “elitist” pvp legions.  Now these elitist were scrambling for a server.  Guess which one they chose?  Yes.  They chose Zikel.  At this point, many Zikel RPers tried to mingle with the elitist only to be greeted with mockery and trolling – to no surprise.  Many roleplayers fled to Lumiel.  Some stayed on Zikel but were never heard from again…  Anyway, it seems that a large portion of the Aion RP community chose to go with Lumiel.  So the Roleplayers deemed it as the “unofficial” Roleplay server.

Everything sounds all rainbow and unicorns, right? Wrong!  Days before NCSoft put out a poll asking people if they wanted a RP server (and an Oceanic server).  In the end, NCSoft gave the people the Oceanic server, but they did not give the roleplayers a server.  Instead they said they would be happy to call Lumiel the “unofficial” RP server.  Wait a minute! Does that mean that Lumiel is the game’s only RP server?  Technically, no, it does not.  Does that mean that roleplay rules apply to Lumiel such as naming restrictions?  No, it does not.  Does that mean that Lumiel is listed on the server list upon logging-in as a Roleplay server? No. It isn’t.  What does this all mean then? Well, my friend, it means that basically NCSoft told the RPers that if they want to “unofficially” roll on Lumiel to go for it.  NCSoft will tell people that it is the “unofficial” roleplay server that the roleplayers have chosen to reside.  Isn’t that a cop-out on the part of NCSoft? You betcha.

Basically, Lumiel is a regular server.  It just happens to be the server in which most of the role-play community resides.  If someone is seeking role-players, NCSoft will direct them to Lumiel.  However, there are no naming restrictions.  It is a normal server through-and-through.  While I know the role-players would very much want it to be considered the “official” RP server, it isn’t.  NCSoft didn’t have the courage to make it so – probably in fear of lower population numbers.  Every day people make characters on Lumiel with no idea that it is considered, by anyone, as the “unofficial” RP server.

Overall, though, Lumiel has a good community.  The role-players do their thing, often in the taverns or library, and normally they are left alone by the masses.  Hopefully they will develop a thick skin and continue to play the game as they see fit.  I would have liked t0 have seen Aion label a server Role-Play – officially.  In my opinion the numbers would have been there.  If the community stays as it is, with the exception of a few morons, I’ll be content.  I don’t role-play, but when I’m crafting it sure is entertaining to read/watch. Yes. I was aware that it was the server most of the roleplayers were going.  That’s why I’m here.

Note: The following transcript is not quoted word-for-word but it gives the general gist of the ordeal…

<QQCleric> Ugh! I was just ganked by two evil, cruel, horrible Asmodians while trying to turn-in and/or pick-up a quest.  QQ.  My heart is now broken.

<SympathyCleric> Oh you poor, poor dear.  Those are nasty, mean Asmodians.  /hug

<Me>They like to camp quest givers.

<EnragedCleric>And we don’t???????????

<BuddyofEnragedCleric>LOL Racism in MMOs. We do the same.

<Me>Did I say we didn’t do the same?

<EnragedCleric>It was implied!!!!!!!11one111!!!

<Me>I said, “They like to camp quest givers.” Which part of that implies anything other than what it states?

<EnragedCleric>It gives the hint of it.

At this point I don’t say anything but I practically had to sit on my hands to keep from typing the words: Moron, Idiot, Dumbass, Noob, etc.

“Bob likes ice cream.” Am I implying that no one else but Bob likes ice cream?  Am I hinting at it?

“These gnats sting the crap out of me!”  Am I implying that only gnats can sting me?  Am I hinting that no other bug could sting the crap out of me?

No.

Next time, I will be sure to say, “They like to camp quest givers, but that’s ok.  We like to camp quest givers too.  Actually we probably camp quest givers more often than they do. To be more accurate I will take a poll to determine which faction camps quest givers more frequently and will report the data to you immediately.”  Dumbass!