AION 2 Early Access: who gets in and how it works
Early Access is five days of play, 30 September to 4 October, for anyone who owns a Founder’s Pack, and any of the three tiers counts. It runs on its own first wave of servers, and on 5 October those servers join the rest of the game when it opens to everyone for free.
Do you get in?
- You own the Standard, Deluxe or Ultimate Founder’s Pack
- Yes, for the full five days. The cheapest tier gets exactly the same access as the dearest; the pack comparison shows what the extra money buys instead.
- You buy a pack on 2 October
- Yes, straight away. The packs are on sale until the end of Early Access, but the window closes on 4 October for everybody, so a late buyer simply gets fewer days.
- You played the Launch Scale Test
- No. The test was free and open to all, but it gave no Early Access, and its characters were wiped.
- You wishlisted the game or signed up for the newsletter
- No. NC has said reward details for those will come closer to launch; there is more on the pre-registration page.
“Advanced access begins on September 30 and runs for 5 days. The start and end dates are identical for all buyers, regardless of when individual Founder’s Packs were purchased.”
“Purchasing a Founder’s Pack is required for Advanced Access. If the Advanced Access period is already underway, you can join immediately upon purchase.”
Early Access servers and Launch servers
NC splits the server list into two waves. Pack owners fill the first one; on launch day a second wave opens, and new players can pick either:
“When Early Access officially starts, we will launch the initial wave of world servers, called Early Access Servers. Only players who purchased any tier of Founder’s Pack will be able to access them initially.”
“Players who did not purchase Early Access will also be able to join Early Access servers if those servers remain open and available at launch. We will also open a second wave of servers, called Launch Servers.”
Here is what that changes, before and after 5 October:
| Topic | During Early Access | From 5 October |
|---|---|---|
| Who can log in | Founder's Pack owners only | Everyone; the Early Access servers stay in the list if they have room |
| Servers | The first wave, called Early Access servers | A second wave, called Launch servers, opens alongside them |
| Dungeon party matching | Across all Early Access servers in your region | Early Access and Launch servers in the same region together |
| Abyss PvP matching | Between Early Access servers only | Servers matched by how far along and how strong they are |
| Market | Your own server's Market, from day one | Server Market; the Cross-Server Market opens some time after release |
Direct trades between players are switched off in the global version, so the Market is the place to trade, and buying on it needs a membership; every pack includes 30 days of one. How the Abyss works is on the PvP and Abyss page.
Five days, minus maintenance
NC warns that the servers may go down for patches during the window, so you may get less than five days of play:
“During the 5-day advanced access period, server maintenance and patches may be conducted to ensure service stability. Consequently, actual playable time may be less than the stated 5 days.”
At the end of the Launch Scale Test’s first day the game servers went down for about 24 hours, so take the warning seriously. The release date page has every time NC has published, and server status says where maintenance notices appear.
What you keep after 4 October
- Your character. Early Access servers are the first wave of the live server list, not a test, and NC has announced no wipe when Early Access ends. The Launch Scale Test was the event that was wiped.
- Your pack items. Anything you have not claimed can still be claimed on any server after Early Access, from the Founder’s Pack claim button.
- Your membership days. The pack’s 30 days run from when you press Activate, not from 30 September, and they apply to one server.
- Your server. You stay where you started. NC has promised a server transfer service but has not said when; see regions and servers before you pick one.