AION 2 subscription cost: the Special Quai Membership
The AION 2 subscription, called the Special Quai Membership, costs $15.00 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 goes on sale in the game at 6 AM PDT on 30 September.
| Detail | Special Quai Membership |
|---|---|
| Price | $15.00; NC's notice gives no price in other currencies |
| 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
NC’s product notice lists 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 that NC’s business model notice mentions, 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 what NC’s Early Access notice calls the Cross-Server Market, linking every server in a region, that notice says it opens after release, not at the start of Early Access or launch.
Personal trade: listed, then switched off
The membership notice promises personal trades five times a day, as long as the other player is a member too. After the Launch Scale Test, NC turned direct trading 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.”
(From Steam announcement: Launch Scale Test Comes to a Close: What's Next?)
The membership notice was not changed afterwards, so it still lists a benefit that cannot be used. The later announcement is the one that applies: do not count personal trading as part of what the $15 buys unless NC brings it back.
Probably also: the queue
The trade-ban announcement also changed the login queue. When a server is full, “members in good standing” go into a priority queue instead of the general one. NC does not define the phrase there, but this membership is the only one it sells. Both queues move as space opens. NC calls it 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
Korean guides describe a different product, so do not read their numbers as global ones. In the Korean version, NC merged three memberships into a single one (콰이링 특급 멤버십). Its Korean benefit list includes 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 notice lists 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. NC’s Korean guide says buying there is open to any verified account and listing needs a membership; the global table above lets free accounts list but not buy.
Is it worth $15?
- 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.