Aion 2 Starts September 30 — The Confirmed Launch Schedule, and the Classic Scene in Full Swing

Aion 2 starts September 30 — the confirmed launch schedule, and the classic scene in full swing

best Aion servers

For months, Aion 2 has been a "coming soon" with trailers attached. This week it is something more concrete: confirmed dates, a platform, a price point — and a classic private server scene that is surging in the final days before the sequel arrives. Here is what is actually locked in, and where the Aion servers listed on GameListZone stand right now.

The launch is no longer a rumor — it is a schedule

According to the Aion 2 Hub's release-date tracker, NC confirmed at gamescom Opening Night Live that Aion 2 launches globally on October 5, 2026 on Steam and PURPLE, preceded by a five-day Advance Access window from September 30 to October 4, following the Launch Scale Test NC ran on September 17–18. The Steam store page has been counting down the date since early September, per AION2 Kina's tracking.

Date	What happens
September 17–18	Launch Scale Test (completed)
September 30	Advance Access begins — Founder's Pack holders
October 4	Advance Access ends
October 5	Full free-to-play global launch

Three rows of that table matter for your wallet and your plans:

• It is free-to-play at launch. No box price and no required subscription — per Timesaver's breakdown, Aion 2 on October 5 can be downloaded and played for nothing.
• Advance Access is tied to the Founder's Pack. According to All.gg's report, NC officially calls the window "Advance Access," it begins September 30 for Founder's Pack owners, and the pack bundles early access, starter essentials, special cosmetics and unique character titles.
• The Western build is not the Korean one. Timesaver's launch countdown checklist notes that NC reworked systems and monetization for the West, so Korean guides are "a rough map, not the territory." Per AION2 Guide (DE), the Western payment model is one membership instead of the Korean two-tier setup, and the community is still arguing about it.

The Steam pitch itself is straightforward: a world where "the sky is the battlefield," a map 36 times larger than the original, PC only, built on Unreal Engine 5 (Steam store page).

The latest official move: a launch-week hotfix

The most recent official activity from NC before global launch was a hotfix notice ahead of Scale Test day two, addressing four issues:

• a slightly larger interaction radius for quest interaction objects,
• appearance change tickets blocked for characters below level 10,
• a fix for chat/macro reports being applied wrongly,
• a client crash fix.

Small items, but they tell you what launch week will look like: NC is already patching around the clock, and the KR/TW live service is your best preview of where the global build is heading. The most significant recent KR update, per the Aion 2 Hub's patch-notes archive, was the September 2 update: Spacetime Rift Domination — a 60v200 S-PVP stronghold siege in Verteron and Altgard — plus a guaranteed Watcher Kaira spawn in Lower Reshanta. If you want a shape of Aion 2's endgame, that is it: forced large-scale faction warfare rather than dungeon grinding.

What the classic scene looks like right now

While the sequel warms up, the classic scene is moving. The GameListZone Aion section currently lists 43 approved Aion servers, all 43 with a page you can visit, spanning versions from 2.7 through 7.x (Classic) — and 17 of them are trending right now. That is more than a third of the entire section moving in the final week before Aion 2, and the top five of that trending list are:

Rank	Server	What it runs
1	AION HARDCORE ASCENS	—
2	Beyond Aion 4.8 - since 2015	4.8 classic, live since 2015: no VIP, no Gold Pack, events, frequent updates
3	HiveGamez Aion - Classic	fair-play Aion Classic with no pay-to-win
4	NotEvenAion	—
5	Aion Soul 8.4	—

The catalogue, before or instead of Aion 2

The 43 servers are far from identical. The section's flags span Low Rate, Mid Rate and High Rate, plus PvP, PvE, Abyss, Siege and Custom builds, and the version list runs 2.7, 3.0, 4.0, 4.6, 4.8, 5.8 and 7.x (Classic). A few anchor points from the section's data if you are choosing where to spend a last classic season:

• Beyond Aion 4.8 - since 2015 — a 4.8 server running since 2015 with a trust score of 26, no VIP, no Gold Pack, events, various bonuses and "frequent updates and qualified support."
• HiveGamez Aion - Classic — 7.x (Classic) at trust score 26, a fair-play experience with no pay-to-win, run by a small community operating free servers for several games.
• United Aion 4.8 PvPvE Retail-like — trust score 25, a retail-style 4.8 PvPvE build with its own rates and community.
• Legendary Aion 5.8 — trust score 25, for players who want the 5.8 era.
• Aion 4.6 — trust score 25, a classic 4.6 PvPvE build based on the Phoenix Legacy content with items from the Korean official classic server.
• Beritra 4.7.5 — trust score 24, a 4.7.5 home for the Elyos-versus-Asmodian war.
• AlfaAion — trust score 25, a free Aion server with its own rates and community.

Note what none of those top servers have: a VIP tier. Every single one sits at "none," so if the classic you remember is one where spending money does not rewrite the balance, the entire head of the list works for you.

So which way?

• If the goal is Aion 2: it is free on October 5. The Founder's Pack is the only decision to make — a five-day head start, starter items, cosmetics and a title. Nothing else is required.
• If the goal is the Aion you already know: the classic scene is in full swing exactly now, with 17 of 43 servers trending. Start from the trending list in the Aion section, match the version and flags to the style you want, and read the server page before committing — rates, version and flags are all on it.

The launch date is no longer the story. The next two weeks are the story: the servers that hold players through launch week, and the ones that get absorbed by it. The trending list above is the place to watch either way.

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Cover image via store.steampowered.com.