AION 2's global service is not one world. It is a set of regional server clusters, opened in two waves, split by faction, with a matchmaking layer that reaches across servers inside a region. Which server you roll on decides your Market, your faction, and who you fight in the Abyss, so it is worth understanding before you make a character.
Regions
NCsoft has given the regional layout twice, in different shapes. The April 2026 global announcement said the service would maintain servers in four regions: North America, South America, Europe and Japan. The August 2026 global livestream described the same layout as five entries, splitting North America into a West and an East cluster and naming the European one Central Europe.
Announced as | Regions given |
|---|---|
April 2026 global announcement | North America, South America, Europe, Japan |
August 2026 global livestream | North America West, North America East, South America, Central Europe, Japan |
The two are compatible if North America runs two clusters inside one region, which is the most likely reading, but NCsoft has not published a single reconciled list, so treat the count itself as unsettled and the four geographies as the firm part. Korea and Taiwan keep their own separate service and are not part of this layout.
There is no region locking. You can create a character in any region regardless of where you live, at the usual cost in latency. Each account gets four character slots at launch.
The Two Server Waves
Wave | Who can play there | Opens |
|---|---|---|
Early Access Servers | The first wave of world servers. Only players who bought a Founder's Pack can get in while advance access is running. | September 30, 2026 |
Launch Servers | A second wave that opens alongside the free-to-play release. Open to everyone, and players pick their preferred server. | October 5, 2026 |
Players who did not buy a pack can still choose an Early Access server once the game goes free to play, provided that server is still open and has space. The restriction applies to the advance-access window, not to the servers themselves afterwards.
Faction-Separated Servers
Elyos and Asmodian players are on separate servers. The two sides do not share an open world; they meet in the Abyss, which is where the faction war is staged. Your faction choice therefore also decides which server list you see at character creation. See Factions: Elyos and Asmodian.
Grouping Across Servers
Content | During advance access | After launch |
|---|---|---|
Dungeon party matching | Matches across every Early Access server in your geographical region | Pool widens to cover both Early Access and Launch servers in the same region |
Abyss matchmaking | Between Early Access servers only | Servers matched on how far along and how strong each one is, so an older server is not thrown against a day-one server |
The practical effect is that a five-day head start does not leave those players stranded in their own queue after launch, and that a server which started early is not automatically handed easy Abyss opponents.
The Two Markets
Market | Reach | Availability |
|---|---|---|
Server Market | Your own server's local trading hub, trading in Kina | Live from the start of advance access and onward |
Cross-Server Market | Every server inside your region, also trading in Kina | Not available at advance access or at launch. Opens after release, once participating servers reach a similar stage. |
Early Access servers keep their Markets separate during the head-start window, which is the mechanism that stops five days of extra farming from setting launch-day prices. Trading on either Market requires an active Membership.
Server Transfers
NCsoft has committed to an AION 2 Server Transfer Service but has not dated it. The stated plan is to evaluate server occupancy after advance access and launch, aiming to ease congestion, then publish details in a dedicated announcement. Until then, players who start on different servers can still party for dungeons and add each other as friends.
The Korean and Taiwanese build already runs its own transfer windows, priced per account and per character in Quna, restricted to the same faction and to characters at or above level 45. Those terms describe that service, not the global one.
Related Pages
Global Launch and Platforms covers the launch calendar, distribution and languages. Launch Scale Test covers the free open test that runs before advance access. Monetization and Memberships covers the Membership that gates Market trading.