Enthused

From what things are looking like, Aden will be very similar to Essence, with a few tweaks here and there. All revealed information except for DK transform, as of right now, is identical to Essence. It is definitely not a "new" service or game mode. It is Essence rebranded. While it is "new" to NA servers, we have been playing this game mode for years now. I told Juji years ago to bring this here because it would be very successful.

No, there will not be a monthly subscription model server. Essence/Aden is built from the ground up for the F2P mobile game monetization model, specifically crafted around it. The main goal of this model is to hook whales.

I agree, it's horrible to delay the patch notes until the servers go live. No one will have any clue to expect. The last thing they want is to give the players time to sit and pick through all of the patch note details days in advance. By releasing the patch notes when the servers go live, the players will be forced to immediately jump in blind and have no idea exactly what is in store for them. If you want to play it safe, I would buy the Deluxe Pack for $35, and buy the smallest L2 Coin box possible, and just chill for a few weeks. Sit back and see how things go, learn what changes have been made, look at how fast the p2w is coming, and then make your decision at that point whether you want to fully invest, or if you want out. If you decide you want out, you will be out around $50 total, but that isn't bad at all.

As was previously stated, skill books are one of the biggest carrot-on-a-stick tools that will be monetized via lootboxes and dangled in front of you. Expect very low drop rates from bosses for these items. This (skill books) is one of the monetization pillars for this game, so don't expect any changes in this regard.

It's impossible to know. We are getting a custom version of Essence that will be modified in unknown ways. The only people that knows is NCSoft/NCWest, and they aren't talking. Yet, at least.

Sayha is basically a resource that you need in order to obtain XP and adena from mobs. As you kill mobs, your sayha will slowly go away until it's gone. It is basically just another monetization tool.

There is all kinds of legal ramifications from promtional giveaways, and for good reason. Back when these things were completely unregulated, there was a ton of internal corruption and other issues that were quickly discovered. The legal system then got involved and came down on them heavily. In terms of the legal for NCWest, they are based in the US and thus strictly follow all US laws. You, being Brazilian, have your own set of laws that may or may not be compatible with the US laws. Promotional rules, more than likely, cannot be applied equally to both countries, due to their own unique laws, thus making any attempt at doing so, impossible.

I will be playing the mighty HELL KNIGHT!

Honestly, if you want to play Dwarf, then play Dwarf. Don't worry about anything else.

It can't be offered to Brazilian residents for legal reasons. This decision is out of NCSoft's hands. Your best bet would be contacting Jair Bolsonaro and asking why these things are like this.

Your best longterm options are going to be Titan/GK or DK.

Everyone pumps +STR because there is bonuses given at 60, 70, and 90 STR.

Yes, Aden servers will be a p2w gambling casino. But that's not what really matters. The biggest difference is the cost involved. If costs are low, Aden servers will thrive despite p2w gambling. If costs are high, these servers won't even last a month.

On Essence they are really good for many of the same reasons why Titan is good. But no clue what changes they may/may not receive here for Aden servers.

This is a safe bet. Just keep in mind that some skills here might be changed from that EU wiki. Hopefully we can get a full rundown of all class skills before launch. But more than likely DK/Titan will still be very strong.

I agree with every comment posted in this thread so far. I think Sunshine is well intentioned and will do a good job here as CM, but ultimately everyone here knows that the Koreans call the shots. The Korean mentality and NA mentality just doesn't align. The potential for this project is through the roof. In the DK preview posted earlier today, they revealed the first sign that Aden will be diverting from the broken Essence model by nerfing DK Ultimate Transform. This alone is huge for fixing the balancing issues, and is just fantastic news in general and I hope this trend continues. Sunshine, I know I have mentioned it 100 times already, but you need to get on your bosses and the Koreans about pricing here, if you haven't done so already. Don't accept no for an answer from them. You have a mountain of potential going here. Overpricing L2 Coins will kill this game. If you need to throw yourself on the fire and get yourself fired for doing so, then so be it. This is a hill worth dying on.

I think the success, or lack thereof, of these servers is going to entirely depend on the pricing. Pricing is everything. Everyone is sick of old days of having to spend thousands of dollars just play a game. If NC tries to continue with that strategy, this entire project will crash and burn.

We need the entire favela. Gab, Gnits, Dunks, Vex, Falcon, JBZ, etc. Bring them all!

These new servers are going to have major flaws, but they can be mostly overlooked as long as the pricing is right. Bad pricing is the one issue that will not be overlooked. Once people realize that premium currency (L2 Coin) is required for pretty much everything, including rezzing yourself after getting PK'd, they will leave. I could make 1000 more forum posts on pricing alone, and that wouldn't even be enough to show how big of an issue pricing is for the success and well being of this game.

#1. PRICING Pricing is, by far, the biggest reason why the population of the EU servers quickly died and resulted in multiple server merges. The main premium currency box, known as an L8000 on EU, is priced at $25. One of those boxes is basically worthless, because it requires dozens of them to really obtain anything of value. This is due to the very low enchant rates, lootbox rates, and special craft rates. You simply have to drop huge amounts of money to get a single good item you need, and when you factor in the sheer amount of different p2w items in the game now, it is easy to see why it costs well into the 5 figures to obtain all the items you need in order to not just compete, but to actually survive more than 1 hit in PvP. The fact that premium currency (L2 Coin) will not be dropping from mobs, means that paying money directly is the only feasible way to obtain access to this currency that will be required to create all the p2w items needed. No amount of farming will help you if L2 Coin doesn't drop from mobs. This could possibly still be okay if the prices of L2 Coin are extremely cheap, but I suspect that will not the case at this point. The price of this currency needs to be low, that way most of the players will be able to buy a large amount of it, and not just whales. Failure to have affordable pricing for the general population will kill these servers faster than you can blink, and this is by far the biggest death sentence topic in regards to player retention. #2. Player Killing (PK) System The current PK system will, absolutely 100%, result in large numbers of new players quitting this game. There was essentially zero penalty for mass killing of entire zones. EU/RU was forced to implement a small fix because the situation was so out of hand. But basically what is going to happen on these Aden servers, is a small group of players are going to go from zone to zone and PK every single char they come across. Lowbie zones included. This sweeping of zones will not stop, either. Every zone will get PK'd over and over until the players quit. Entire farming zones will literally be completely empty because the moment you teleport in, you will be instantly PK'd, and there's absolutely nothing that you can do about it. There will be people that spend all day PK'ing people, and they cannot be stopped. Even if you try to chase them down and attack them, they can instantly teleport away to safety and you won't even be able to touch them. There is no way to counter it. You will lose. #3. Class Balance While class balance comes in at #3, don't underestimate how important this factor is. Class balance in this version, and this patch that is coming to NA, is ABSOLUTELY HORRENDOUS. I cannot emphasize enough just how bad the balance here is. Dark Elf Death Knights, along with Titans, will run the show here. Starting with DE DKs, they are incredibly strong in all aspects of the game. They have a pull, they can blow you up in 1v1s, and they can AOE 1 shot entire parties and raids. If a clan here decides to roll mostly DE DKs, they will never lose a single siege. As for Titans, they run faster than you, they are unstoppable, they will keep you knocked down, and you will get immediately killed. There is zero counterplay for you against them. You just die, and there's not a single thing you can ever do about it. If they want you dead, then you are dead. This is due to the fact that they will have Frenzy and Zealot up, both of which last for a full minute and are on extremely short cooldowns, along with Knockdown, which has nearly a 100% land rate. In most cases, they will Rush you, instantly knock you down, and kill you, before the knock down even ends. Every other class is pretty much irrelevant in this game. Sure, you need healers as well (Cardinal/SE) and even throwing in a few Overlords is nice. SWS/BD will be alts that are simply boxed and will stand and be left at the siege respawn points to buff up the raid before you make a push. But any clan that focuses on rolling only DE DKs, and Titans, will completely dominate the competition to the point that it will be laughable. CONCLUSION The PK system and Class Balance won't kill the game. They will severely impact the game, hurting the population badly, but not kill it. However, bad Pricing can and will kill this game. Whatever price you are considering charging for L2 Coin, I strongly urge you to cut that number in half. Even then, it might not be enough. I fully understand the mentality of the mobile game monetization model that is implemented here. I fully understand the aspects of targeting the whales and empowering them through this system. But you need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. L2 so far has leaned far too heavily on the side of the whales, at the complete expense of the casuals/free to plays. You need to adjust this dynamic. Both of these players, despite being on the complete opposite ends of the spectrum, need each other in order to survive. I have seen what can, and will, happen if you do not adjust course before this game launches. The players deserve better than that.

No one can "lose" gear when dying. However, everyone can have gear potentially unequipped and locked behind a small paywall to get it back. If you are simply farming mobs and you get PK'd your own gear can potentially be unequipped and locked. You will then have to pay a fee to the person who killed you, to be able to equip your gear again. So this system effects everybody, but the difference is that if you are red when you are killed, you have a higher chance of the gear being unequipped and locked, and a higher chance of it happening to multiple pieces (up to 3 pieces of gear if red).

It's so you can run multiple adena farmer kamaels in plains of glory.

All the points you are bringing up are completely true. Bosses are nerfed to the ground so they rarely ever drop anything good. Nearly your entire equip and the economy as a whole comes from lootbox contents. You need to buy massive amounts of the premium currency to even survive more than 1 hit. Easily over $10,000 worth of L2 Coins will be needed. This is why this currency must also drop from mobs, otherwise these servers will simply mirror the fate of EU/RU. You are also correct about being 1 shotted by AOE. Dark Elf Death Knights are arguably the strongest class in the game. When whales play this class (and they will, because most of us know what they can do) they will simply press 2 AOE buttons and that is enough to kill half of an entire raid force. Most players will be instantly killed by their massive radius AOE instantly. They don't even need to bother targeting you.

I know. If free to play and poorer players don't have a way to farm the currency that is used to purchase the necessary p2w items, then they will have no shot to ever amount to anything on these servers. They won't be able to obtain the items necessary to ever even survive 1 hit from a big spender. It's a sad reality and I hope it gets changed.

You might not fully realize it, but I can assure you that you are sitting on an absolute goldmine here with Aden servers. If you fully knew the amount of interested people, and the sheer potential that is possible here, you would realize that 3 servers wouldn't be nearly enough to contain the crowd. You will probably be receiving a ton of feedback and comments on here over the upcoming weeks about this. Some might be heavily critical. Keep in mind that many of us have already played these new servers, multiple times in fact. We have seen the mistakes, what works, what doesn't. numerous times. We have spent countless thousands of dollars in the process. I could tell you exactly what will work, and what won't. I could tell you how you could have 3 servers filled to the brim with players, or how you could have 3 servers that are completely dead and need to be merged within a few months (EU Rose/Pink, for example). During this time before the launch, other players with as much or even more experience with this game than I have will comment on here. I highly suggest that you take into consideration these comments, and fight to get changes enacted before this game launches. Because again, you are sitting on a goldmine.