Translation made by Zanion
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Player vs Player, or PvP, is a term widely used in MMORPGs to describe gameplay where human players directly engage in combat with each other.

Lore

Painful memories from the ,,Thousand Years War" appear in form of a rip in space,everywhere in Atreia. Those rips which altogether are called Abyss, play the main role in Aion and they make us remember how vulnerable the Tower of Eternity had become.

In contrast to the Aetherical surrounding's ,The Abyss is nightmarish empire which split between chaos and riots.The Abyss exists in the heart of the Aion-Universe and is different from everything else what you might discover in Atreia. Its anarchical and imposing nature make this area to be destined as a battlefield where war is held and won.

Everywhere in the Abyss,there are Elyos, Asmodians and Balaur fighting each other in hard RvRvR (PvPvE) wars. The Abyss is a dangerous and unpredictable place in which behind every shadow lies a challenge.Inspite of the fact the the Abyss hides many dangers,players who have the will to enter the Abyss,where valuable resources,legendary bosses and enemy fortresses lie,will be richly rewarded.

The Abyss is not a single hunting ground but in addition to that its one of the most dynamic and exciting aspects of Aion.

Analyzing the Abyss

1. Analysis of Aion's Battlefields:
NCSoft gave some information regarding the Abyss.The information given are not much but we can make precise assumption instead guessing of how it might be.

The Abyss consists of three floors which lie around the "island".

These three floors are the one above,the center and the lower one.

Until now there is no information given on how the three floors are connected.But if you look at the two strategic points on the lower floor than it's possible that both factions at the beginning control one of these points and than through the highest floor they can access the center if some conditions are fulfilled.

Reasons why we believe that the center is the last floor to reach is because:
1. There is only one castle but as many artifacts as on the other floors.
2. This Abyss Zone is called Aereschuranta and the central floor is called ,,The Eye of Aereschuranta".

It is also possible that each race owns one opposing floor (the upper and lower one) and they fight each other for the central one.Because there are no strategic points on the upper level,it seems that this speculation is unlikely.

Other than the Castles,the strategic points have no status information and they are always in a peacefully condition.It might be that the strategic points serve as the last defense line which can't be taken over.

The new map showing the abyss is much different from the one shown at GSTAR 2007.(note that these are maps of the lower level)

Add the points which mark the strategic points and they are identical.The enter the Abyss one will probably have to start from the lower level and fight his/her way to the upper level ,till one can reach the central level.

These two maps are identical. Black: Asmodians White: Elyos

Moreover there are the Articaft Symbols missing ,which can be found in the castles which are being ruled by the territory of the castles of "Shi'els Right Wing" and "Shi'els Left Wing".The makes us assume that these two castles will be the starting battlefields.

On the left picture there is that edged Artifact symbol missing above the castle.

The whole map consists of flying islands.Flying can't be avoided.Flying in the Abyss will have no time limit.Furthermore if you take a close look at the map you will see that there are no entry points or strategic points on the upper level.There will likely be NPC's which offer flying services in others abyssums or from castle to castle.

The war exists all the time! but there is a truce.

There are some points where you conclude that the war lats 24 hours:there are now static times given and you can distinguish between attacked and peaceful castles.(take a look at he devanion status in the info box)

Abyss Ranks. A weekly Rank System?

The abyss ranks can be confirmed as follows:

Because the panel counts kills and points from every week,it is likely that the rank system will be update weekly,too.

The indication "highest rank achieved" means that one is not only able to climb the rank ladder but rank also change.It seems to be possible that if players want to achieve a special rank,different ranks and points are required.

At GSTAR 2007 was announced that a player who has reached a special rank would get a power as strong as a whole group.To keep balance and to avoid that the gameplay is destroyed,it's likely that only few players of the highest ranks will get the chance to obtain this power.

Of course the player who gets this special rank will be degraded after a period of time.It is good to reward the competition and taking part in RvR fights but this system may lead to an unwanted rank grind.

Draconic Carrier

In the left corner of the map you can view the legend.The appears to be an entry of a draconic carrier.There are no details given about the draconic carrier but we can say that there are quests in which the player has to infiltrate the abyss or enemy zones.It is likely thaat there will be quests added that force one to go to the balaur.

The fact that the draconic carrier appears in the map confirms the statement that the draconic carrier may become on his own a Raid-Monster.

Balance of Powers

Players can view the balance of powers by clicking on the icon right under the screen.During the tests,the Asmodians were able to hold 7 out of 9 castles and the Elyos 2 which confirms the showings of the panel (78%/21%).The Balaur where not able to hold any of the castles so they had only 1%.

The prices and taxes were not accurate.The prices showed during the whole tests 100% and the taxes 0%.

Abyss = Revenge?

The new revealed maps indicate that there will exist more than one abyss which will look like the "Aereschuranta" region.The region of "Aereschuranta" seems to look the same like the abyss video from GSTAR 2007.

By seeing that the panel only counts the balance from the "Aereschuranta" region one can assume that other abyssums are being created.

Names of the other castles in The Abyss: