With the Shadows Over Balaurea update looming large for Aion players in North America, one expects a number of things to change. Sure enough, there have been a couple of posts on the game’s site that outlines a few of these, namely changes to Renown, Gemstones, and Runestones, and some new types of equipment.
In the first post, we learn that Renown will soon be earned by completing various quests and zone content across Balaurea, with new Renown levels unlocking things like additional content, such as new merchants, quests, and more. Renown levels will be important, as getting higher Renown within Inggison and Gelkmaros will allow players to open rifts to invade the opposing faction’s zones, and higher Renown levels will increase the number of players a rift can accommodate. Additionally, Renown will decay each week, and is earned on a per-zone basis.
The post also outlines a look at Gemstones and Runestones. Effectively, Gemstones modify active abilities while Runestones modify passives. Gemstones can be further refined in a process similar to equipment enhancement, and combining Gemstones of different color and quality can yield different effects. Runestones can similarly be refined, while they can only be paired as part of a set.
In the second post, players get a look at two new equipment types: Imbued Weapons, which have one of four inherent abilities that can be enhanced through a process called promotion; and Paragon equipment, which is only earned by defeating world raid monsters and powerful instance bosses and can only be enhanced with Paragon Enhancement Stones. Of course, if you’ve gotten some Paragon equipment you don’t care about, it can be sold on the trading broker.
