Revision 5

The Launch Scale Test, abbreviated LST in NCsoft's own notices, was a free stress test of the global AION 2 build held on September 17 and 18, 2026. It was the last public test before advance access opened on September 30, and the first time the global client was open to players who had not bought anything.

Its purpose was server scale rather than content preview. NCsoft describes it as preparing the service for launch, and the restrictions below follow from that: the economy, the shop and the cosmetic systems were all switched off so the test measured load rather than commerce.

Schedule

Times below are the ones NCsoft published for the two regional clocks it used in the announcement.

Each day ran six hours, for twelve hours of play in total. The same two days were also published against Japanese time: pre-download from 22:00 on September 16, Day 1 from 22:00 on September 17 to 04:00 on September 18, and Day 2 from 04:00 to 10:00 on September 19 local time.

How to Take Part

Restrictions

The test build was deliberately cut down. The restrictions NCsoft listed were:

• No purchases of any kind. The shop, Quna, passes, memberships and every payment route were turned off.

• The Market, the Quna exchange and player-to-player trading were disabled.

• Founder's Pack items were not available during the test.

• The Closet was disabled, so every character wore default outfits.

• Maximum character level was capped at 37, which also gated any content that requires a higher level.

That level cap was specific to this test and is well below the live cap. See Gear and Progression for the real progression ceiling.

Progression and the Wipe

Progress carried from Day 1 to Day 2, so a character built on the first day was still there on the second. Everything was wiped at the end of Day 2. Nothing transfers to advance access and nothing transfers to launch, including levels, gear, currency and characters.

How the Test Ran

Both days went ahead on the announced dates. On Day 1 NCsoft added more European capacity within the first ninety minutes, opening each new server as an Elyos and Asmodian pair: Vaizel and Triniel at 6:48 AM PDT, then Kaisinel and Lumiel at 7:28 AM PDT. Those were test servers, but both pairs returned by name in the European Advance Access lineup published on September 28, 2026, Pacific time.

A hotfix was released before Day 2. It slightly widened the interaction radius of quest objects, stopped characters below level 10 from using appearance change tickets, fixed a chat and macro reporting error that claimed the other player could not be verified, and addressed client crashes. Players had to download it before Day 2 began.

After the Test

The notice that closed the test on September 18, 2026 also carried two changes for the live service rather than for the test. As an anti-bot measure, direct player-to-player trades are disabled, and the Market remains the central hub for trading between players. When a server is at capacity, Membership holders in good standing now join a priority queue instead of the general queue, with both queues moving as space opens; NCsoft said priority access can be revoked from accounts with disciplinary action against them or suspected of breaking the Terms of Service. See Servers and Regions and The Market.

Earlier Tests

The global build's public testing history is short. Before the Launch Scale Test, the closest thing to hands-on access for players outside Korea and Taiwan was a closed-door press and creator demo run alongside Summer Game Fest in June 2026, which was not open to the public. The Korean and Taiwanese service has been live since November 19, 2025, so that build has no test phase left to run; it is the shipped game. Treat anything observed in a test build, including this one, as a snapshot rather than as the launch build.

Related Pages

Global Launch and Platforms covers the launch calendar and server structure. System Requirements covers the hardware you need to install it. Servers and Regions explains how the two server waves work.