Aion Loot Etiquette

Nice loot from a hard boss fight is a nice reward but there is only so much loot to go around. There are no need/greed interface buttons for rolls on loot in Aion, which have become fairly standard in a lot of modern MMOs. If you have never played a MMO that does not incorporate the need/greed buttons into the interface or if it was so long ago that you forgot the way it is done, here is a quick primer. This is mostly helpful for a pick up group (PUG) but it also good if your guild group does not want to give extra loot to guild members and would prefer to auction it for their own greedy nefarious purposes .

First off, there are ways to divvy loot aside from the need before greed system, such as round robin. However, the need before greed system is generally what is accepted as the easiest and most logical loot etiquette in modern MMOs. You could always just take everything you can and vanish away like the loot ninja you are but etiquette is what is going to get you invited back to groups and not blacklisted from joining groups in the future. Aion has a lot of group content so you will want to avoid this sort of reputation if you want to experience this content.

One way to implement the need before greed system in Aion is to greed roll on everything that is tradeable and if someone needs it as an upgrade then they can just ask for it in chat and the winner can trade it to them. This is generally a bad system when leveling because unless something drops repeatedly in the same group, or the group does not have either mages or scouts, someone is most likely going to need the item. People can also get carried away and confirm looting a no-trade item that then just gets sold to a vendor.

The most accepted method is to only roll on items that are an upgrade for you. If everyone passes on the item then all the group members type "/roll 100" without the quotes and the high roller gets the loot from the mob corpse. It doesn't have to be complicated but people can make it that way.

If there are no cloth wearers, for example, then, as long as it is established before hand, the group might always roll on cloth. This can still be a sketchy system, though. Using the cloth example, there will be cloth items that will still be an upgrade to a healer who wants the cloth for the improved magic boost just for PvE groups where the physical defense of chain does not usually matter.

Another rule a group may make is to roll on items that have previously dropped and it was established that no one needed it the last time around. This can save time but it also means everyone has to remember what dropped and no one needed, which is usually easy but can be much more difficult for a group that is slightly higher level than the area it is in and a large part of the loot is not an upgrade.

In short, it is best to establish the looting structure before you head out with a new group. The easiest way to do this is suggest the looting structure as a question, such as, "Are we rolling only on upgrades and /roll 100 the rest?" If you are making the rules then just keep it simple.

Everyone likes loot and that means no one likes a loot ninja. Most importantly though is to have fun! It is fun to get loot but don't let a ninjaed piece of gear ruin your evening. Just steer clear of known ninjas in the future and warn your friends and guild about them.

Aion Ultimate Loot and Grind area for levels 17-22

This is a guide for the Asmodian faction but there should be a parallel area on the Eylos side as well but you will have to find the bosses yourself!

This is a useful area for roughly levels 17-22. If everyone in the group is level 17 it might be a bit hard on some bosses. After level 22, or perhaps earlier, the exp and rewards are going to be much better elsewhere. The green gear that is dropped here is all right around level 18 and it will beat a lot of other greens of slightly higher level and will beat white gear through at least level 24. There are also some nice blue gear drops, which will last you a while. The nice part about this is that you will get your quests done fighting trash mobs along the way (you'll need to stop and beat up totems), you will get some nice gear to make leveling and questing faster, and the exp from the group is usually faster than soloing.

Let's get started. First take a look at this map I sketched up and ignore the Chinese since the map layer is a screenshot from the Chinese beta.

These locations are not perfectly accurate but they gives a rough general idea if you follow the instructions below or as a quick reference. The yellow line and orange lines (orange means two options) are the path that I recommend taking and the small yellow dots are good places for the group to sit while checking on the bosses. If the lines are dotted it means I recommend gliding. The red dots are the bosses and they are numbered according to their appearance along the yellow path.

Starting from the gate of the complex you will want to go through the gate, head up the hill, and take the high road (the shaman for the guest is on the low road near the beginning so keep that in mind too). Up in the small alcove is the first boss(1). A good place to park your group is behind the big tree on the hill by the wall. I don't remember the names but I will try to update this with the names later.

Next you will continue up the path and when you get to the gate just sneak around to the right and hug the back wall behind the tents. When you get to the ledge turn to the left and park there. The boss(2) will be in front of the last tent you just sneaked past.

When finished with this boss, head out in front of the tent where the boss spawns and go over the rope bridge. On the other side you will be heading to the left and up the hill through the gate. Turn right immediately after the gate and jump behind the big tree and around behind the tents. The boss(3) will be at the base of a long staircase. Using a scout to pull will be helpful here and just have the tank taunt the boss.

Once done with that boss, head further up the path and there will be a big opening. Stay along the right wall and the boss(4) will be roughly in the middle in front of the back tent.

Now you can head back down the path and either fight your way through or go up the observation post and fly over the gate and run up to the back of this area by the ledge. You can then glide down to a rock, land, and glide down to the final small boss(5) where you can park up on the wall.

If you want to go to the bigger boss, which has a longer respawn time, so watch out right after game launch, you can either take the path indicated in orange that goes South and run/glide or fight your way through the mobs to the beach. Once gathered at the beach, you can run around the cliff through the water but be quick so that you don't drown. You can stop part way on a ledge if you need to catch your breath, which you most likely will without heals/pots. Another option is to go on the intended path on the map, which will be good for your exp rate but it is a lot of trash fighting.

The other option for getting to this final boss for this area is to go back up the path from boss 5 to the ledge you glided down when you traveled down to boss 5. From here you can actually glide all the way to the entrance of the tree and head up to the final boss(6). In this tree you can also grind tons of elite mobs if the boss is not up and earn exp very quickly with a good group.

Have fun looting and good luck on rolls! Also check out my Aion Etiquette post about looting in Aion before doing loot groups like this.