AION 2: NC Wants to Do a Lot Better With the Western Release

Home › Opinions › MMO › AION 2: NC Wants to Do a Lot Better With the Western Release AION 2 launches globally in October. We cover its classes, PvE, Abyss, PvP, monetization, and our impressions from Gamescom. German English I went into my AION 2 appointment at Gamescom with quite a bit of skepticism. Not because the game itself failed to interest me, but because of something that can be just as important for a free-to-play MMORPG: monetization. AION 2 has already launched in Korea and Taiwan, and its monetization in particular drew plenty of criticism. On top of that, I still remember what happened to the original AION after its transition to free-to-play, when non-paying players had to deal with a number of restrictions. So one of my biggest questions was how NC intends to handle the global release. After my conversation at Gamescom, I am cautiously optimistic. AION 2 will obviously still feature a shop and premium systems in the West, but the overall model sounds considerably less aggressive. One statement from my appointment sums up NC's ambition for the sequel rather well. According to the developer, AION 2 is essentially supposed to become the game the team would have liked to create with the original AION, but could not because of the technological limitations at the time. AION 2 takes place roughly 200 years after the first game and is being developed with Unreal Engine 5. According to NC, its new world is around 36 times larger than the one found in the original. The basic philosophy was explained to me in very simple terms: if you can see something, you should generally be able to reach it. You can travel across land, take to the skies, and explore on or beneath the water. Flying in particular once again becomes one of the defining features of the MMORPG. This time, it is supposed to feel much more dynamic and play a larger role in both exploration and the more action-oriented combat system. YouTube Show a video from YouTube. Loading establishes a connection to YouTube. Personal data may be transferred. Your wings are not simply a convenient method of transportation. You can collect different sets of wings, with some requiring considerably more effort to obtain than others. There will also be purely cosmetic wings. According to the developer, many skins and customization options can be found or earned through normal gameplay, so not everything will automatically be locked behind a paywall. Pets are similarly extensive. During my presentation, the developers talked about more than 200 collectible pets. These companions can also function as mounts, with different pets carrying your character around the world in their own unique ways. For more convenient long-distance travel, Windstreams also return and allow you to automatically travel along certain routes. At launch, you can choose between eight different classes: Gladiator Templar Assassin Ranger Sorcerer Spiritmaster Cleric Chanter Combat is intended to be considerably faster and more action-heavy than in the original AION. According to the developer, timing, positioning, and your reactions will matter much more. You can also customize your abilities. This should allow you to adapt your playstyle depending on whether you prefer solo content, coordinated group play, or a more supportive role. During my appointment, the developers repeatedly emphasized how important movement, communication, and synergy between individual players will be, particularly in group content. NC is also going big with AION 2's character creator. You can customize more than 200 individual features. Your face, hair, body, and numerous smaller details can all be adjusted extensively. The presentation already made it clear just how far you can push the system. If you are the kind of player who can lose several hours inside a character creator before even starting the actual game, AION 2 appears more than capable of enabling that particular habit. Customization does not stop once you leave the creator either. According to NC, there will be hundreds of outfits, wings, mounts, and other visual customization options. The developers also stressed during my presentation that many of these skins can be earned directly through gameplay. Some cosmetics, however, will remain exclusive to the cash shop. The Story Continues 200 Years After the Original AION AION 2 does not merely reuse the same universe. Its story continues roughly 200 years after the events of the original. Following the destruction of the Tower of Eternity, the Elyos and Asmodians must navigate a shattered world. At the same time, the Balaur once again pose a major threat and have, according to the developer, become considerably more powerful. Throughout the story, you will uncover secrets about the world's past and learn more about the lost powers of the Daevas. The familiar factions therefore remain a central part of AION 2, both within its story and in PvP. AION 2 is not designed exclusively for players who always have a permanent group available. There are dedicated solo dungeons and smaller solo challenges. During my appointment, these were described as encounters in which it is essentially just you against a boss. The idea is to teach you how to recognize mechanics, dodge attacks, and react properly to different abilities. At the same time, these encounters help you understand your own class. Instead of immediately entering your first group dungeon and introducing four strangers to your creative interpretation of red danger zones, you can learn the fundamentals on your own first. These activities are not simply tutorials either. Defeating the bosses still rewards you and allows you to continue improving your character. For traditional group content, NC currently lists dungeons for four players and larger raids for eight. During my Gamescom appointment, the developers also described an interesting raid concept. Groups can temporarily split up during an encounter to tackle separate objectives or bosses. Later, the players come back together to face the main boss as a full group. Communication should therefore matter considerably more than simply having everyone attack the same target for several minutes. You cannot freely fly around inside dungeons, by the way. Your wings do not become completely irrelevant, however, as certain gliding or hovering movements can still be used to avoid attacks. PvP remains a core pillar of AION 2 as well. Alongside traditional 1v1 fights, NC has confirmed modes including 4v4 arenas. Things become considerably larger with Realm-vs-Realm PvP, where players from different servers can meet in massive battles. And, of course, the Abyss is returning. The faction-based PvP zone was already one of the defining features of the original AION and is once again intended to play a central role in the sequel. The Elyos and Asmodians begin on different sides of the world. Eventually, however, their paths inevitably cross, at which point peaceful sightseeing in the skies rather quickly turns into war. That immediately raised an important question during my appointment. What happens if, at some point, 90 percent of players on a server choose the Elyos while only ten percent play Asmodians? Situations like this have repeatedly caused problems in faction-based MMORPGs. Eventually, one side becomes so dominant that PvP simply stops being enjoyable for the weaker faction. AION 2 is supposed to counter this with a cross-server matching system. During my conversation, I was told that factions and servers will be matched in a way intended to create encounters that are as balanced as possible. According to NC, the large Realm-vs-Realm battles also operate across servers. The system therefore does not have to rely solely on the population of a single server. Whether this will actually create balanced faction warfare over the long term remains to be seen. The underlying concept, however, sounds considerably more sensible than relying on a completely static server structure. And now we get to the part I was most concerned about before my appointment. AION 2 will launch as a free-to-play game in the West. According to the developer, you can access the actual game content without making a monthly payment. The Abyss is particularly important here. As a free player, you are not supposed to be locked out of the main PvP area by a daily time limit. In other words, you can enter the Abyss without a membership and participate in PvP for as long as you want. There is still a monthly membership. However, based on my conversation, the biggest difference is not access to dungeons, raids, or PvP, but access to the in-game economy. With a membership, you gain access to the Marketplace and important trading functions between players. Without a subscription, you can still fully equip your character. You simply need to obtain the relevant gear yourself and cannot freely buy or trade certain items through the market. Additional convenience benefits were also mentioned during my appointment, including advantages related to warehouse access and certain repeatable activities. For me, that initially sounds like one of the less problematic ways to monetize a free-to-play MMORPG. If you eventually spend hundreds of hours playing AION 2, become heavily invested in the endgame, and actively participate in its economy, a membership will probably become considerably more appealing anyway. Alongside the membership, AION 2 will feature a traditional in-game shop. Among other things, it will sell cosmetic items, some of which will only be available for real money. There are also consumables such as Resurrection Stones as well as various items related to crafting and gathering. A premium currency will be available too. According to the developers, that premium currency can under certain circumstances also be exchanged through the Marketplace. Full access to those economic features once again requires a membership. There will also be a Season Pass, which according to my presentation is expected to refresh roughly every three months. NC is promising a considerably less aggressive model for the global release than the one players initially experienced in Korea. Even so, I would not currently claim that every possible form of pay-to-progress has been completely eliminated. Items such as additional Resurrection Stones initially fall more into the pay-for-convenience category for me, assuming they can also be obtained reasonably through normal gameplay and do not provide permanent character power. Crafting materials, consumables, and potential Season Pass rewards are where things become more interesting. We will probably only be able to judge the actual advantage paying players receive once the Western version has been running for a while. That is why I came away from my appointment feeling considerably more positive, but I am not ready to give NC a blank check just yet. Previous monetization models have left a little too much scar tissue for that. From a gameplay perspective, AION 2 sounds very much like the sequel many fans of the original have probably been waiting for. The Elyos and Asmodians return, flying is once again a core part of the world, eight familiar classes are available, and PvE ranges from solo dungeons all the way to raids. At the same time, combat is faster and places a greater emphasis on movement and timing. PvP also covers a broad spectrum, from duels and arenas to cross-server battles and, of course, the Abyss. If the new matching system works properly, the old faction concept could hold up considerably better than it did in the original AION. My biggest concern remains the monetization. The Korean launch showed that skepticism is absolutely justified here. Based on my Gamescom conversation, however, the global version appears to handle several aspects considerably better. Instead of locking free players out of major pieces of content, the most significant restrictions appear to focus more heavily on trading and convenience. Whether that promise holds up over time is something we will only be able to judge after release. Fortunately, you do not have to rely entirely on developer promises until launch. AION 2 will be publicly playable for free on September 17 and 18, 2026. Early access then begins on September 30, 2026, followed by the regular global launch on October 5, 2026 for PC via Steam and PURPLE. After my appointment, AION 2 has moved considerably higher on my personal MMORPG watchlist. Now NC only has to prove that the Western free-to-play model still looks this reasonable a few months after launch. I'm the co-founder of Guided.news, and I have been running online magazines in the gaming sector since 2013. Starting with a strong focus on survival games, I now deal a lot with role-playing games, and I'm an expert on survival and RPG titles like Conan Exiles, Baldurs Gate 3 & Cyberpunk 2077. X / Twitter Instagram LinkedIn Interested in AION 2? Follow the topic — get news, guides & community posts. 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