AION Division Headstarts with a Bang!

It was midnight, Singapore time, and three hours before the Aion servers were due to go live for the two-day headstart period when I logged onto TOG Ventrilo chat server. I wasn’t surprised that close to a hundred Toggers were already there, chatting away and even counting down to the launch. The late (or early) launch time of 3am didn’t worry me, as I’d taken two day off from work to enjoy the The Tower of Eternity, and I was ready to stay up all night! I wasn’t the only one either; several Toggers could be heard mentioning that they were doing the same over the bustling general chat channel.

In chat, too, were Division Leaders and Officers openly discussing what they had planned for the Division in the days to come, fielding questions and taking suggestions. In Aion there are two playable factions, the Elyos and the Asmodium. Although there are some Toggers who’ve expressed interest in playing as the Elyos, most of us have answered the call of the Division Leaders to play as the Asmodium on the Nezekan server for those in the North American and Oceanic region, and on Gorgos server for those in Europe.

One hour to go, and the number of Toggers on the Vent server had passed well over the hundred mark, with more arriving every minute. The server, like many others in TOG, is financed by donations from members. I’d certainly be the first to say that such examples of generosity and working together for the common good are a large part of what makes TOG such a great place. The server held up well under the strain - even if it started to get hard to hear yourself think, let alone get a word in edgewise!

Five minutes to go and many Toggers were already trying to login - I was one of them. The general chat channel was filled with laughter when someone commented: “Well you know what they say, the 26th time’s the charm!” Finally someone shouted with joy: “I am in!”

With adrenaline pumping through my veins, I attempt another login. Success! The loading screen appeared and soon I found my character surrounded by a large group of people, some I recognized as Toggers, and some I didn’t. There were some latency issues, but that wasn’t surprising, what with that many login attempts occurring at the same time.

As the rest of us flooded into the game, a few of the Toggers still couldn’t login. “I hope the server crashes! If I can’t login, neither should all of you!” one wit cried, and once again the general channel was filled with laughter. Thankfully, it wasn’t long before the last few managed to login as well.

And so it began!

Division Leaders rushed their character to level ten so that they could form TOG Legions, while other Toggers donated in-game gold to finance Legion formation and expansion. Division Officers worked around the clock sending ‘invites’ to Toggers so that they could enjoy the fruits of their frenzied labours.

In all fairness, I would have to say the efforts and dedication exercised by the Division Leaders and Officers to be worthy of high praise, as they sacrificed their fun for those first couple of days to get the rest of us on the way. With dedication and teamwork like this, and as the Division continues to expand, it is clear that the TOG Legions will be a significant force to be reckoned with in the world of Aion.

Introduction by Shogun