AION 2 subscription cost: the Special Quai Membership
The AION 2 subscription, called the Special Quai Membership, costs $14.99 for 30 days and covers every character on the server where you bought it, and none on other servers. You do not need it to play; you need it to buy from other players. It is on sale in the game now, under Subscribe in the menu.
| Detail | Special Quai Membership |
|---|---|
| Price | $14.99 (it was $15.00 until NC trimmed it); the shop charges in US dollars only |
| Length | 30 days, counted from when you press Activate |
| Where to buy | In the game: menu, then Subscribe |
| On sale from | 30 September, 6 AM PDT |
| Covers | Every character on the server where you bought it, and no other server |
| Buying limit | Only while fewer than 60 days remain, and at most 3 purchases per server per month |
| Buying again | Adds another 30 days each time |
The per-server rule is the one to plan around. If you play characters on two servers, each server needs its own membership, so settle where you will play first; regions and servers covers how the servers are split.
Before and after
Every change, row by row:
| Benefit | Without membership | With membership |
|---|---|---|
| Market | Items can be listed for sale; purchase unavailable | Items can be listed for sale; purchase available |
| World Market | Items cannot be listed or purchased | Items can be listed and purchased |
| Exchange | Exchange unavailable | Kina ↔ Quna exchange available |
| Remote Storage | Only through Storage NPCs in the game | Always available at the bottom of your Cube |
| Wind Breeze Merchants | Shop only through Merchant NPCs in the game | Shop - Wind Breeze Merchants available |
| Odyle Energy on reward Cubes | Expedition (Exploration/Conquest) or Transcendence: injected once | Expedition (Exploration/Conquest), Transcendence or Sanctuary: injected twice |
| Odyle Energy capacity | Base capacity | Increased capacity; the amount is to be announced |
| Personal Trade | Personal Trade unavailable | 5 times a day, with another member (disabled for everyone since the trade ban, see below) |
The Wind Breeze Merchants look to be the members’ shop where purchases are made with Kina; in the Korean version, the shop of that name sells consumables, dungeon tickets and crafting materials for Kina. The World Market row may not matter on day one: if it is the Cross-Server Market, linking every server in a region, it opens some time after release, not at the start of Early Access or launch.
One more wrinkle: when NC cut the price to $14.99 it also said “the World Exchange feature has been removed from the membership benefits”, yet the same notice’s table still lists the World Market and the Kina to Quna exchange as member benefits. Until the game shows which one went, count the Market and the exchange as what you are paying for, and treat the World Market as a maybe.
Personal trade: listed, then switched off
The membership lists personal trades five times a day, as long as the other player is a member too. After the Launch Scale Test, direct trading was turned off for everyone:
“As an anti-bot measure, direct player-to-player trades are disabled. The Market remains our central hub for trading between players.”
So the benefit is still listed but cannot be used: do not count personal trading as part of what the $14.99 buys unless it comes back.
Probably also: the queue
The trade ban came with a change to the login queue. When a server is full, “members in good standing” go into a priority queue instead of the general one. The phrase is not defined, but this is the only membership on sale. Both queues move as space opens. Priority is a privilege rather than a guarantee, and it can be withdrawn from accounts under disciplinary action. What queues look like at launch is on server status and queues.
If you have a Founder’s Pack
Every Founder’s Pack, including ones bought before NC added it, comes with a 30-day membership. Its clock starts when you activate it, not when you buy the pack, and it is server bound: claim it on the server you mean to stay on. The rest of the pack is compared on Founder’s Packs compared.
How the Korean membership differs
The Korean membership is a different product, so do not read its numbers as global ones. In the Korean version, three memberships were merged into a single one (콰이링 특급 멤버십). Its benefits include a 50% increase to Odyle Energy recharge, double Abyss time and twice the Shugo Festa reward key recharge, and each repeat purchase adds 28 days. The global membership has none of the Abyss or Shugo Festa items, runs in 30-day steps, and promises an Odyle Energy capacity increase whose size is still to be announced.
The Market works the other way round too: in Korea buying is open to any verified account and listing needs a membership, while global free accounts can list but not buy.
Is it worth $14.99?
- Yes, if you want to buy from other players: items on the Market, anything on the World Market once it opens, or Kina for Quna on the exchange.
- Not yet, if you are levelling your first character: the game is free, you can still list items for sale, and your Founder’s Pack month, if you have one, covers the start.
- Either way, not for power on its own. It opens doors rather than adding stats; whether what is behind those doors tips the balance is weighed on is AION 2 pay to win, and the full list of what costs money is on is AION 2 free to play.