It’s been a promising start for Aion 2 so far, and as I write this we’re still about a day away from its full release. While the new MMORPG is going free to play when that happens, it’s already been soaring off the back of players jumping into the five-day paid advanced access. Its concurrent Steam player count has peaked at over 171,000 so far, and held relatively steadily since the doors opened to Founder’s Pack purchasers. To celebrate its initial wave of support, developer NC is extending its pre-registration rewards to all, and fixing one big frustration for early adopters.
“First, we want to say thank you,” the Studio writes. “We’re grateful for the enthusiasm and support you’ve shown since the start of early access, as well as the time you’ve taken to send us so much feedback.” The numbers have certainly been strong. Aion 2 managed to make it to the top of Steam’s global top sellers based purely on players spending money to get into the game a few days ahead of it becoming available for free on Monday October 5, and it’s still sitting there now.
“To thank our entire community for its support leading up to launch, we’re extending all pre-registration and Steam wishlist rewards to every player who creates an account and logs in before maintenance begins on Tuesday December 1.” That means you’ll have almost two months to get your hands on a bundle of bonus goodies just for playing. These include a chest full of consumables, and a double dose of pets. Everyone gets a Pagati, and then you can choose one more from the Papis, Silver Blade Rotan, Konutin Worker, or Black Smoke Murute.
Additionally, for those who bought the Founder’s Pack, NC has confirmed that it will be making the included cosmetics available to all of your characters across all servers. Previously, these were limited to just a single use, which led to outcry on the add-on’s Steam page. “We ask for a little patience while we work through implementing the change,” the developer writes. It may still take “several days,” so there’s no guarantee it’ll be fixed in time for the full launch, but you will get it eventually.
“As soon as the approach is confirmed, we will publish a second update covering how your characters will get access, what you need to do, if anything, and when.” NC adds that if you decide you want a higher-tier Founder’s Pack as a result of this change, you can use Steam customer support to request a refund of your existing tier so that you aren’t paying for certain items twice.
Wrapping things up to prepare for the big day, NC has also confirmed the first set of server matchmaking pairs. Its two factions, Elyos and Asmodian, are divided into separate servers, so competitive modes like Spacetime Rifts and the Abyss will pit your chosen world against a specific other one. These will rotate periodically, meaning that you’ll always be going up against a set group of opponents for a limited time.
“We will update server pairings periodically to keep the factions balanced,” the developer notes. “Today’s pairing may be replaced by a new challenger down the road, so make your mark while you can. Represent your faction and show what your server is made of.”
