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AION 2 Overview - Version 28 vs Version 29
Oct 9, 2026, 06:51 PM
Linked the Global practical guides and clarified service scope
Oct 15, 2026, 02:37 PM
Recorded the completed October 8 and 9 wing maintenance, the October 14 transfer opening and patch highlights, and re-dated the global class note to October 15
11AION 2 is a free-to-play PC MMORPG developed and published by NCsoft. Built natively on Unreal Engine 5, it serves as the long-awaited successor to the original AION in the same Atreia setting, with an open world roughly thirty-six times larger than its predecessor and aerial combat positioned as a core gameplay pillar rather than a travel mechanic.22The game launched in Korea and Taiwan on November 19, 2025, and globally on PC through Steam and NCsoft's own PURPLE platform on October 5, 2026, after five days of paid Advance Access that began on September 30. The global service has server locations in North America, South America, Europe and Japan, no region locking, and localization in eight languages. The global launch build is not the current Korean build: as of October 7, 2026 global first-party sources describe eight classes and make no mention of the Brawler or the Chapter 1 regions; see Global Launch and Platforms. NCsoft has also disclosed that some in-game assets were created with the assistance of AI tools, specifically the Arcana card art and icons.3+The game launched in Korea and Taiwan on November 19, 2025, and globally on PC through Steam and NCsoft's own PURPLE platform on October 5, 2026, after five days of paid Advance Access that began on September 30. The global service has server locations in North America, South America, Europe and Japan, no region locking, and localization in eight languages. The global launch build is not the current Korean build: as of October 15, 2026 global first-party sources describe eight classes and make no mention of the Brawler or the Chapter 1 regions; see Global Launch and Platforms. NCsoft has also disclosed that some in-game assets were created with the assistance of AI tools, specifically the Arcana card art and icons.44Global practical guides66Start with Global Progression Walkthrough for the route to level 45 and first endgame clears. Use Global Material Farming Planner to plan materials, reward claims and reset-clock checks. The guides below cover Global launch play and keep later Korean and Taiwanese rules separate.88GuideUse it forTemplar Global PvE BuildTank setup, point priorities and damage windowsCleric Global PvE BuildHealing loadout, party upkeep and a solo alternativeGladiator Global PvE BuildMelee damage setup and skill sequenceSorcerer Global PvE BuildSpell priorities, specialties and burst sequenceDeus Research Base / Shattered ArkanisBoss cues, responses, tank and healer duties, positioning diagramsVakron Sky Island / Ferocious Horn DenGlobal Expedition boss playbooksVerteron Global Exploration Route / Altgard Global Exploration RouteTeleport-based routes, collection maps and pet targets1010Core Pillars1111PillarWhat It MeansAerial Combat3D combat in any direction; flight is how you fight, explore, and contest territory, not just how you travel between zones.Skill-Chain CombatA hybrid of strategic tab-targeting and active dodge or parry; chain skills together based on the encounter and your build.Faction WarfareOpen-world PvP between Elyos and Asmodian factions in the Abyss, alongside arenas and aerial battlegrounds.Seamless WorldAn open world rendered in Unreal Engine 5, approximately thirty-six times larger than the original game, with verticality designed in from the start.Daeva ProgressionPlayers ascend as Daeva and customize talents on the Daevanion Board, which extends skill caps and adds passive nodes for stats.1313Quick Facts1515FieldDetailDeveloper / PublisherNCsoftEngineUnreal Engine 5PlatformsPC (Steam, NCsoft Purple)Server RegionsServer locations in North America, South America, Europe and Japan, chosen in game as Europe, NA West, NA East, Latin America and Asia. No region lockingKR / TW LaunchNovember 19, 2025Global LaunchAdvance access ran September 30 to October 4, 2026; free-to-play launch October 5, 2026Business ModelFree-to-play. A Special Quai Membership at $14.99 per 30 days gates Market trading, the economy runs on Kina and the premium Quna, and per-character Daeva Passes provide the battle-pass layerLanguagesEnglish, French, German, Spanish (Spain), Portuguese (Brazil), Japanese, Korean, Russian. Full voice in English, Japanese and Korean1717How to Get Started1818New players should begin with the Factions: Elyos and Asmodian page to choose a faction, then read Classes to pick a role, and finish with Combat and Skill Chains and Aerial Combat and Flight to learn the core mechanics. The Daeva System and Daevanion Board page covers progression past the level cap, and World and Regions maps where to go next. Getting Started walks through the first few hours in order.2020Endgame Pillars2323Endgame revolves around PvP and the Abyss, Dungeons, and the seasonal Transcendence System of progression and ranking. The Gear and Progression page tracks how equipment grows toward that endgame, and Monetization and Memberships covers the free-to-play model. The Global Launch and Platforms page tracks Steam and NCsoft Purple availability, regional servers, and language support.2525Latest Showcase2828At the AION 2 Summer Festa showcase on June 14, 2026, NCsoft revealed the Chapter 1. Lands of Sand and Snow update, which launched on the Korean and Taiwanese build on July 1, 2026. It added the Brawler, a ninth class, raised the level cap to 50, and introduced the Eltnen and Morheim territories. See Classes and the Chapter 1 page for details.3030The Road to the Global Launch3232In the months before the global release, NCsoft published the commercial detail. A July 8, 2026 announcement laid out the business model: the game stays free to play, a $15 per month Membership gates player-to-player trading on the Market, the economy runs on the gameplay-earned Kina alongside the premium Quna, and per-character Daeva Passes provide the season-pass layer. Founder's Packs sold before launch carry cosmetics, consumables, and a five-day Early Access head start.3434A follow-up on July 17, 2026 explained how servers would work: an Early Access wave for pack holders, a second Launch Servers wave at release, separate servers per faction, and cross-server dungeon matching within each region. Full detail lives on Monetization and Memberships and Global Launch and Platforms.3636The first global livestream, Beyond the Abyss: Global Release Preview, aired on August 7, 2026 and filled in the launch-build shape: no region locking, four character slots per account, expedition parties of five, a ten-player first Sanctuary raid, and a 10v10 battleground with stat normalization. Every Founder's Pack tier also picked up 30 days of Membership, applied retroactively to packs already bought. Later that month NCsoft listed AION 2 in its gamescom 2026 lineup in Cologne, running August 26 to 30 with a slot during Opening Night Live.3838The last step before the paid head start was a free one. NCsoft ran a Launch Scale Test on September 17 and 18, 2026, open to everyone on Steam and PURPLE with no keys or registration, six hours per day and a level cap of 37. The shop, the Market and every payment route were switched off, and all progression was wiped at the end of the second day. Steam players had to uninstall the separate playtest application before installing the game proper for advance access.4040The notice that closed the test disabled direct player-to-player trades as an anti-bot measure, leaving the Market as the central trading hub, and gave Membership holders in good standing a priority queue when a server is full.4242Advance Access opened on September 30, 2026 after a short delay, and NCsoft added new server pairs through the first day as queues built. The game reached No. 1 on Steam's Global Top Sellers chart that day and a reported first-day peak of about 171,500 concurrent Steam players, and NCsoft set October 14 for free server transfers within the same faction. See Advance Access, Launch Events and Servers and Regions.43+Advance Access opened on September 30, 2026 after a short delay, and NCsoft added new server pairs through the first day as queues built. The game reached No. 1 on Steam's Global Top Sellers chart that day and a reported first-day peak of about 171,500 concurrent Steam players, and NCsoft set October 14 for free server transfers within the same faction, which opened on schedule. See Advance Access, Launch Events and Servers and Regions.4444The free-to-play launch went live on schedule on October 5, 2026 at 6:00 AM PDT, with a second wave of launch servers in every region. NCsoft reported 300,000 and then 400,000 active players that day and sent gifts at each mark, pulled the Sanctuary raid Ludra from the launch build for a rework, and promised to make Founder's Pack cosmetics usable on every character of an account. Monthly change logs for the Korean service, which the global build follows at its own pace, are indexed on Update History.4646Shugo Festival4848Alongside the dungeon and PvP loops, the storefront listing advertises the Shugo Festival, a rotating set of minigames staged in Atreia. The described activities include defending Shugos from waves of enemies, racing pets against other players and dodging laser hazards. Rewards are cosmetic: wings, skins, pets and housing-style décor. It is presented as a recurring event layer rather than a one-off, and it is one of the few launch features described for the global build specifically rather than carried over from Korean and Taiwanese patch notes.5050Recent Live-Build Changes5252The Korean and Taiwanese build patches weekly, and two updates landed after the Chapter 1 rollout that are worth knowing about because they change day-to-day play rather than endgame tuning.5454DateChangeJuly 29, 2026A character switch option was added to the main menu, letting you jump straight to another character without returning to the lobby, with combat power and item level shown per character. Pets gained an auto-pickup function, sold as a timed item and applied per character. Season missions gained weekly and seasonal objectives tied to the Expedition Ordeal, and dungeon room lists gained a popup showing the members already inside.August 5, 2026The thirty-day pet auto-pickup ticket was limited to two purchases per character per month and made sellable back to town merchants for bound Kina. Seven new wardrobe patterns were added, and a two-week Look Change Week event halved the cost of restyling a gear piece from 200 Quna to 100 Quna.August 12, 2026A new Expedition, named 잠식된 데우스 연구기지 in Korean, opened with Exploration and Conquest modes in Normal and Hard. Its English name is Consumed Deus Research Base. A new Transcendence dungeon, named 노이란의 숨겨진 유산 in Korean and Noiran's Hidden Legacy in English, added stages 1 through 4 and introduced the Dice and Lantern Arcana parts. A new Draconic craft accessory tier and a new Abyss accessory tier were added, alongside a mobile HUD editor and a rebuilt shop with an Appearance tab. Cleric and Chanter healing was cut by roughly 20 to 50 percent in exchange for range growing from 25 to 40 meters, and healing-reduction debuffs were strengthened across seven classes. Battlegrounds now match one-player or five-player groups only.5656Latest Global Updates5757In its October 6, 2026 announcement, NCsoft reported more than 400,000 concurrent players immediately after the October 5 global launch. The announcement does not give a Steam/PURPLE breakdown.5959The October 7 global patch implemented free account-wide Founder cosmetic claims, raised Raw Leather drops, set a 20-per-server weekly limit on the existing Sealed Wings conversion and a Kina-priced Spiritstone offer, and fixed several launch problems. The October 8 EU outage is marked resolved, with compensation announced for the next maintenance, and Nathara and Tassin were announced as additional Europe servers. Quest-wing Flight Power improvements remain scheduled for October 8 PDT / October 9 CEST maintenance. See Global Patch Notes: October 2026 and Crash and Fatal Error Troubleshooting.60+The October 7 global patch implemented free account-wide Founder cosmetic claims, raised Raw Leather drops, set a 20-per-server weekly limit on the existing Sealed Wings conversion and a Kina-priced Spiritstone offer, and fixed several launch problems. The October 8 EU outage is marked resolved, with compensation announced for the next maintenance, and Nathara and Tassin were announced as additional Europe servers. The October 8 PDT / October 9 CEST maintenance raised the Flight Power of each of the four quest wings by 500. NA East gained the Hithanya and Nemon pair on October 9 PDT. Server transfers opened after the October 13 PDT / October 14 CEST maintenance, and the same patch started the global Halloween event and set the maximum accumulated Abyss entry time to 7 hours. See Global Patch Notes: October 2026 and Crash and Fatal Error Troubleshooting.