It took two-and-a-half weeks for the first Western players of NCsoft's new MMO Aion to reach the level cap of 50 - and the race was a tie.
Almisaela and Drno, a Chanter and a Ranger, both playing on the Elysian side of the European Votan server, reached level 50 "within moments of each other" on Wednesday according to the AionSource forums (via Massively). It took the pair, members of the For The Harmony legion, 17 days since early access began on 20th September.
Apparently they made the attempt as a team, and probably chose their classes to suit - one poster in the thread notes that the top four teams in the race to 50 on the game's Korean release were all Ranger and Chanter duos.
One acquaintance who'd played with the pair most of the way said: "They played about 18 to 20 hours a day and grinded most of the time. There was no account-sharing or something like that. Just an enormous willpower."
That's a lot of key-presses. Aion's is clearly one of the longer levelling curves in modern MMOs. Congratulations to both of them. Now take a break.