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Aion Classes

     At level 10, you’ll then get to decide on your final Aion class. Every direction offers two choices. As a warrior you’ll have to decide whether you’ll be playing a templar or a gladiator.  Scouts pick between Assassins and Rangers. For Mages the options are Spiritmaster and Sorcerer, while priests get to choose between Priest and Chanter.

In general the class roles seem somewhat similar to what you would find in one of SOE’s MMORPGs: The specialization after playing  a base class for several levels, the distinction between the different options a base class has – even down to the equipment they usually wear.

Starting with the Warrior characters, I’ll take a look at the different Aion classes, allowing new players to make a beter choice:

• Templars are defensive tanks. If you’re looking to tank in raids, this is the class you want to play. Capable of carrying a shield they offer the highest defensive value, making it a great fit for the traditional meatshield role.
• Gladiators are more offensive fighters, think fury-specced warriors in WoW. What they lack in defense, they make up in offense. If you’re looking for a tank that also can dish out some damage, you’ll probably be happy with this choice.
• Assassins are your typical rogue class. Coming from an EQ world, they are rogues, only capable of wearing leather, specializing in daggers and of course counting stealth as their major bonus.
• Rangers are the other option for scouts. They trade off the element of surprise – stealth – for better armor and more versatility when it comes to using weapons.
• Spiritmasters can probably be compared the most to Magicians in EQ and Warlocks in WoW. They send their summoned creatures to fight for them and stand back during the action. Only being able to wear cloth armor they are dependent on their summoned creatures and other players to protect them from melee attacks.
• Sorcerers are your run-of-the-mill, average nukers. Pure range DPS these glass cannons live up to their expectations. Being one of two cloth classes in Aion, they are your main choice for magical range DPS. Like their Spiritmaster counterparts, you have to count on others to protect you from melee attacks.
• Chanters use their mantras to give strength to their friends. Basically a buff/debuffing class that seeks its equal in lack of popularity. Justifying your place in a group will be a regular occurance since you neither contribute pure DPS nor are able to heal or take damage directly.
• Clerics are the class that of course everyone picks first in an MMORPG. Not. Of course being the only class that can provide any decent heals at all, you are well of having one of them in your group at all times.

In general, Aion classes are feeling more similar to what you see in EQ than in other games. This isn’t a big surprise, given that NCSoft’s history and huge successes (e.g. Lineage 2), share common roots with other early MMORPGs. For players new to the genre this won’t make much of a difference. Others might need to go through the base classes first before deciding on their final class, less they end up playing one that turns out quite different than what they expected at higher levels.