Aion: Beginner's Guide to Running a Legion

Running a legion of any size is no easy task and there are many ways to go about leading those who choose to follow you.  While there is no one way to prepare someone for this role, there are certain tools and services that groups of players utilize when forming legions- both within Aion and elsewhere on the internet.

In this guide, we will point out the basic information you will need, as well as some helpful suggestions and resources for your legion.
 

The Legion warehouse serves as a universal bank for the Brigade General and any Centurions who are permitted to access it. It can be used for storage of any unrestricted item as well as kinah.  If your Legion successfully captures or defends a fortress in their name, your Legion warehouse will automatically receive kinah in accordance to your victory.

 

 

When you first create a Legion, you are allotted 24 slots of Legion warehouse space.  Upon reaching rank 2, you are granted another 8 slots for a total of 32.  Currently, the maximum Legion rank is rank 3, which allots a total of 40 warehouse slots.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Permissions
Currently, only Centurions and above may access the warehouse.  The Brigade General can choose whether or not they wish their Centurions to have access to the Legion warehouse by accessing the Legion permissions menu.
 

 Contribution points are your Legions running grand total of abyss points.  This number represents the contribution your Legion has made to the war in the Abyss.  Your Legion must contribute at least 20,000 contribution points before you become eligible for rank 3.  Contribution points increase as members of your Legion earn Abyss points and will never decrease, even if members lose or spend their personal abyss points. Contribution also determines your Legion’s standing among other Legions on the server, placing you in a ranked list among others.

Legions in Aion can also level up. When you create your Legion, you begin at rank 1.  Upon recruiting to 10 members, you may choose to upgrade your Legion to rank 2 for a fee of approximately 100,000 kinah.  In order to reach rank 3, you must have at least 20 members and 20,000 contribution points.  Once you do, a fee of approximately 1,000,000 kinah will be needed to upgrade to level 3.

Prerequisites
Rank 1: No prerequisite.  ~10,000 kinah fee.
Rank 2: 10+ members, ~100,000 kinah.
Rank 3: 20+ members, 20,000 contribution, ~1,000,000 kinah

Perks
 Each rank gives your Legion different benefits.

Rank 1:
 Access to the first 24 slots of the Legion warehouse.

Rank 2:
 Access to the next 8 slots of the Legion warehouse.
 Ability to change color of Legion cape.
 Ability to choose a new pre-designed Legion emblem.

Rank 3:
 Access to the next 8 slots of the Legion warehouse.
 Ability to upload and display a custom Legion emblem.
 All members are able to access the Legion items vendor to purchase various Legion-only goods.
 

 The Legion announcement is a message that all Legion members will receive each time they log in.  You can change this message by opening up the Legion menu and pressing the Edit Announcement button.  Many Legions choose to display Legion events, news, meeting times, voice chat information, or any other Legion business that needs to be communicated.

Brigade General

As the Brigade General of the Legion, you have complete control over all aspects of the Legion.  You may also set the permissions for your Centurions and Legionaries.

 
 

 

Centurion
As a Centurion, your permissions depend greatly on what your Brigade General has set for you.  Generally, Centurions have full access to the Legion warehouse, can activate Legion-controlled artifacts and gate restoration stones, can edit the Legion announcement, and invite new members to the Legion.

Legionary
As a Legionary, your permissions are very limited.  There are only a couple of options the Brigade General may enable for you. The most important being the ability to use Gate Restoration Stones to activate the Legion controlled Gate Guardian Stone.

Once your Legion has reached rank 2, you will have access to the Legion Items vendor.  Various goods become available for purchase and can only be purchased from this vendor.  When you reach rank 3, a few more items will become available for purchase.

 Items for sale
 Asmodian Legion Kisk Stone / Elyos Legion Kisk Stone
 Legion Shield / Legion Shield
 Insignia of Darkness Protection / Insignia of Light Protection
 Small Multi-fire Cannon Rig / Small Multi-fire Cannon Rig
 Medium Multi-fire Cannon Rig / Medium Multi-fire Cannon Rig
 Large Multi-fire Cannon Rig / Large Multi-fire Cannon Rig
 

 Customization
Use Legion customization options, such as legion emblems and cape color, to distinguish your legion from others.

  Legion Colors
You may choose the color of your Legion’s cape to be any combination of the RGB (Red Green Blue) color scale.

  Legion Emblem
At rank 2 and above, you are able to choose a new Legion emblem from a selection of pre-designed logos.  You may do so by visiting the Legion Emblem Manager in the Legion office in Sanctum or Pandaemonium.

  Custom Legion Emblem
Once you are rank 3, you have the option of uploading your custom Legion emblem.
When choosing this option, you will receive a pop-up window listing the requirements for the file.

 

Your file must be:
 24bit .bmp or 32bit .tga
 256 x 256 pixels
 Located in the main Aion folder on your computer

 For advanced users, you can use alpha channels within your image software to add transparency to parts of your emblem.

 

Rewards
If your Legion successfully conquers a fortress, you will begin to gain the rewards associated with its capture.  Conquering Legions will earn a certain amount of gold and silver medals as well as some kinah.  More kinah will be added to your Legion warehouse as each vulnerability stage passes (whether your fortress goes vulnerable or not) when your Legion has control of the fortress. 

 Defense
Upon a successful defense, you will receive another silver and gold medal reward, so maintaining control of these key structures can be very beneficial!

Gate Restoration

 If your Legion controls a fortress that is currently vulnerable, you will have the option of using the Gate Stone to repair a large chunk of damage that has been done to a fortress gate.  By default, all Legion members can use this stone, but the Brigade General can choose to limit its use to only himself or Centurions.  The Restoration Stone can be used once every 30 seconds at a cost of 5 Restoration Stones per use which can be purchased in Teminon or Primum landing

If your Legion is successful in acquiring an artifact in the Abyss, you are now responsible for its role in the war.  Only the Brigade General and Centurions from the controlling Legion may activate artifacts, so if you are going to capture one, be sure you are ready and able to put it to use!

Nickname
As the Brigade General of a Legion, you can assign a nickname to each of your members.  This can be utilized for any purpose you choose, and it will be visible to all within the Legion via the Legion User Interface.  Some Brigade Generals use this option to designate a player’s alt character by “nicknaming” it with the name of the player’s main character.

Self Intro
Each member of a Legion may type a short self intro by accessing the Legion menu.  This intro can be anything you like, but often times Legion members choose to put useful information here such as gathering/crafting levels and instances they are seeking groups for.

World Bosses
There are many named monsters and world bosses within the lands of Atreia.  Some can be very difficult to defeat and thus require an entire alliance of characters to bring them down.  Calling upon your Legion to bring down these foes not only brings your team closer together, but it also ensures that any loot will stay within your Legion.

Legion Events
Organizing Legion events can be a great way to keep morale high, as well as, ensure that your members are interacting and getting to know each other.  Legion events can consist of anything from rifting parties to holiday get-togethers to exploration and tutorials.  The important thing to remember when planning an event is to make sure it is during a convenient time for the majority of your Legion without interfering with scheduled raids or fortress sieges.  It is also a good practice to announce your events far enough in advance so that your members can plan to attend and spread the word among the rest of the Legion.  Posting this information in your Legion announcement as well as on your Legion’s personal forums is a good way to do this.

Static groups
Instances in Aion are a great way to level up and upgrade your gear, but finding consistent groups for these can sometimes be a chore.  Organizing static groups within your Legion will allow your members to become accustomed to the same team and allow them to plan and coordinate their runs based on instance cooldowns and the availability of their team.  This method also allows for fewer surprises when running instances.  Static teams will learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses and will effectively become much more efficient at the instances they run.  This is also another way to ensure that your Legion is growing stronger through gear acquisition and team morale.
 

Legion website
Having a Legion website is a great way to advertise your Legion and its accomplishments beyond the walls of Aion.  Here you may post news, video, screenshots, and general information about your Legion so that your members and potential recruits are able to keep up with your activities.  There are a number of free guild hosting sites around the web, so do a little searching and find out how easy it is to get set up!

Legion forums
Legion discussion forums are another great way for your Legion to interact.  Not everyone can be in-game all the time, but a forum is useful for transferring knowledge, off-topic discussions, organization, and also decisions that require a bit more debate.  Much like the free web page hosting mentioned above, forums can also be obtained for free and with ease.  Simple web searches should be able to provide your Legion with a central gathering place outside of the world of Atreia.

Legion calendar
Planning is a crucial step when attempting to organize a large amount of people.  Having a calendar of upcoming events, required fortress siege times, etc will give members time to plan for them.  In addition, if an event needs to be rescheduled due to low attendance, members will be given advance notice.

Voice Chat
Voice chat is not necessarily a required component to running a successful Legion, but quick communication can make all the difference during fortress raids and instances.  Instructions can be sent much faster via voice chat and thus can produce a faster and more effective response time from your Legion.  There are a number of voice chat programs and server rental websites available.  Searching forums or asking Legion mates should provide quick answers to which will serve your needs best.

DKP / Item distribution
Some Legions rely on a “Dragon Kill Points” system for item distribution.  Systems such as these reward participating members with “points” that can be used to purchase loot obtained through raids and world bosses.  Loot that is not bind on acquire is held in the Legion warehouse and offered up at a certain price to members who spend their earned points to purchase them.  This is a fair way to distribute loot so that one player isn’t receiving an unfair abundance of gear or something they didn’t really want.  Systems such as this require a lot of attention, and it is recommended that an officer or two be assigned to keep track of all points and transactions to avoid discrepancies and confusion.  There are a few different systems that legions use for loot distribution, so take your time to search through a few different methods via internet search and see which will work best for your legion.