Seriously considering stopping after falling victim to the enchantment and manastone system. Quite frankly I would have better odds winning the lottery then socketing or enchanting my gear in game. When you watch your hard work of 1 or 2 months collecting and farming burn up into thin air to end up worse off then when you started, with the game telling you you've got an 70-80% chances of success and failing 10 stones in a row, multiple times. The game has haemorrhaged players and it is no wonder why. It feels completely inaccessible to consider getting a piece of gear to a useable place and that feels even worse when you've spent the last month farming it.
I've never had an issue with gambling and cannot say I have lost much real money other than the occasional lottery ticket. However the game forces players into a rigged gambling system with unrealistic odds expectations and considering this I'm sure there is very valid grounds for litigation. It would be interesting to see what the odds truly are via the form of a subpoena in court.
Suffice it to say that I will be giving careful consideration on continuing here which is truly sad because at basic level Aion is a fun and engaging game where I have met several great friends and successfully built a community based on respect and friendship. Shame this is ruined by aggressive pay to win mechanics which force people into positions where they have to spend money to keep up and those who don't are met with overwhelming odds of failure. Already I have seen masses of the player base become disenfranchised and quit, followed by a desperate attempt to redeem by increasing the amounts necessary in game items (enchantment and manastones). Sadly that was one step forward and now I think ten steps back with the advent of the new mana stone system which requires anecdotally 50-100 stones to succeed at a 5% chance, which if real would be just 20.
All of this has left me saddened and frustrated, considering a move to an alternative game without such predatory mechanics.