Does anyone know what players will do at max level in this game? I have read that gear and weapons are cosmetic so I am not sure what will be left once leveling is completed. Thanks.
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Weapons aren't cosmetic only, they have stats attached, however, you can bestow those stats into another weapon getting the appearance of it, thats what you might have seen.
About endgame features.
1st: The abyss.
The Abyss is the zone where PvPvE is engaged, from the lore:
The Abyss was a large gap created when Aion, the Tower of Eternity, was destroyed. As a result, debris was scattered everywhere. Large chucks of rock served as "islands" for inhabitants.
Painful memories of the Millennium Wars materialised throughout Atreia in the form of scar-like spatial rifts. These rifts, collectively named The Abyss, constitute the central area of Aion, a stark reminder of the increasing vulnerability of the Tower of Eternity.
The Abyss, unlike the ethereal surrounding areas, is a realm torn between chaos and disorder, akin to a nightmare. It exists in the core of the Aion universe, and so appears and behaves very differently from anywhere else you might discover in Atreia. The anarchic and imposing nature of the Abyss lends itself to combat, a place where battles are fought and wars won.
Even if you are done with your levels, there will be a lot of things to do in The Abyss, there are 3 kinds of equipment; normal, draconic and abyssal ones, the latter two ones are only obtainable in the abyss.
You obtain draconic gear via killing the balaur, while the abyssal gear is obtained through pvp. You will be able to access to the abyss from level 20something, there all 3 factions might meet and fight each other, pvp is quite important since thanks to your performance in pvp you’ll obtain Abyss points, which can be used for the following:
About heros, not much can be said, other than you will be able to take parties by your own and that you would be an abyss points pinnata for whoever manages to kill you. There will also be appearance changes if you become hero. Refer to the Gstar trailer to see an Elyos whose armor changes with some glowy spikes around it to see what I mean.
2nd: Fortresses
The Abyss counts with around 9 fortresses, spreaded within the different islands. Fortresses are initialy controlled by the balaur, and are to be taken by guilds since the profits from controlling one are huge.
Once your faction controls a fortress the pve profits in the area will be even better, guilds will be able to sell certain products which can’t be acquired elsewhere, and tax from them, in order to have their fellas farming there, thus protecting the area where their fortress is from an enemy invasion.
Everyone can access to that endgame feature since Siege weapons are obtained by pve, so if you aren’t interested in pvping you can always lend a hand to your faction and support them from the distance. Also, pvers might be interested in killing the different powerful monsters around fortresses in order to ease the fight for their mates.
3rd: Portals
Portals are an alternative way to obtain abyss points, thanks to portals you will be able to access to the enemy lands and generate skirmishes. There are, however, some terms about them you might want to know:
This is a pretty interesting feature, since devs might be able to involve portals with quests, or make some interesting raids which can be only accessed if you dive into the enemy territories, also, guilds might be interested in going inside together, and create epic battles which would require the opposite faction to be organized and ready to kick them out any time.
4th: Raiding
Nothing new can be said about raids other than this:
5th: Stygmas
Stygmas are a way to add a bit of sandbox in the linear development of your characters, thanks to them, you will be able to see, for example, sorcerers with plate armor, or assasins with a teleporting skill. Some of them can be obtained through NPC shops, however, there are some others which involve raiding and pvp. There is a limit of stygmas for every character, five, iirc.
Those are some of the endgame features you’ll enjoy of, however, there are more to be discovered as the beta progresses and more to be added as the game evolves, hopefuly I helped.
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So is pvp mainly endgame ?
You can do pvp from lvl 1 I think. But it's free for all pvp in abyss, guilds will controll Abyss.
The OP asked for endgame possibilities, you will be able to engage duels with your own race and arena fights whenever you want, you will be able to access into the abyss at level 20something, and portals will prevent lowbies from getting ganked, so I dunno where the first portals will be seen.