AION 2 Early Access starts 30 September 2026 and only players who bought a Founder’s Pack can get in. There are three packs: Standard for €21.25, Deluxe for €42.49 and Ultimate for €84.99, and all three give you exactly the same five-day head start. They differ only in cosmetic items. The game itself is free for everyone from 5 October 2026.
Two things up front, because they regularly trip people up. First: this article is about AION 2, not the original AION from 2009 or its AION Classic version. Second: if you’ve seen AION 2 on Steam listed in search results at USD 24.99, that’s not the price of the game. It’s the price of the Standard Founder’s Pack. The game itself is free-to-play.
The key facts in five points
- Early Access starts 30 September 2026 and runs for five days. The full free-to-play launch is 5 October 2026.
- All three tiers (Standard €21.25 / $24.99, Deluxe €42.49 / $49.99, Ultimate €84.99 / $99.99) give you the same head start and the same chest of consumables. Paying more only gets you skins, a pet and wings.
- NCSOFT states explicitly that the title, skins, pet and wings from the packs are appearance-only, meaning they have no stats.
- The limit is one pack per account, and the pack is tied to its platform: if you buy it on Steam, it won’t work through the PURPLE launcher (NCSOFT’s own game client, similar to Steam).
- Upgrading to a higher tier is possible only through PURPLE; on Steam your tier choice is final.
When Early Access starts and how long it lasts
Early Access (listed on Steam as Advance Access) starts on 30 September 2026 and ends with the full launch on 5 October 2026. The five days are fixed for every buyer no matter when they bought the pack. If you buy in the middle of the window, you can play right away, but you simply lose the rest of the head start.
Also keep in mind that a five-day window doesn’t have to mean five days of playtime: NCSOFT itself warns that scheduled server maintenance will cut into the actual time you can play.
One inconsistency on Steam is bound to confuse you: the game’s main page (app ID 3393110) still shows only a generic “September 2026” in the “Release Date” field, while the Deluxe and Ultimate pack pages list 5 October 2026 in the same field. It’s an error in a single Steam field, not a conflict between dates, and MMORPG.com confirmed this on 22 July 2026.
We cover the full context of both dates, the server regions and why both 2025 and 2026 get mentioned for this game in our article on when AION 2 comes out.
What each of the three Founder’s Packs includes
The difference between the tiers is purely cosmetic. The head start, the starter chest and the title are identical in all three packs; a higher price only adds skins, a pet and wings. Steam and PURPLE both show you the final amount at checkout.
| Item | Standard | Deluxe | Ultimate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price in euros | €21.25 | €42.49 | €84.99 |
| Price in dollars | $24.99 | $49.99 | $99.99 |
| Extra cost over Standard | – | +€21.24 | +€63.74 |
| 5-day Advance Access | yes | yes | yes |
| Daeva’s Campaign Supply Chest (Bound) ×1 | yes | yes | yes |
| Vanguard of Atreia title (Unique) ×1 | yes | yes | yes |
| Ascended Daeva armor skin set (7 pieces) | no | yes | yes |
| Weapon Skin Chest: Eternal Sun (Bound) ×1 | no | yes | yes |
| Moonlit Aria skin set (6 pieces) | no | no | yes |
| Pet: Black Dragon ×1 | no | no | yes |
| Blazing Sun Wings (Bound) ×1 | no | no | yes |
| Daeva’s Styling Chest (Bound) ×1 | no | no | yes |
The Ascended Daeva set has seven pieces: chest, pants, helmet, shoulders, gloves, boots and cape. Daeva’s Styling Chest contains a Customization Voucher and a seven-day Appearance Change Voucher, i.e. vouchers for changing your character’s look. “Bound” means the item is tied to your account: you can’t sell it or give it to another player. Besides a founders pack, you can back your love for AION 2 with limited AION 2 merch from the GamersTogether shop.
The wings from the Ultimate pack are cosmetic too. Wings in AION 2 generally work as upgradable gear with a stat, though; we cover them in our article on the flight system.
What’s in Daeva’s Campaign Supply Chest
This chest is the only non-cosmetic part of the whole pack, and it is exactly the same in all three tiers. It contains:
- 10× Return Scroll
- 10× Courage Scroll
- 10× Speed Scroll
- 10× Benediction Scroll
- 10× Absorption Scroll
- 100× Life Potion
- 50× Life Serum
- 30× Healing Potion
- 10,000× Power Shard
- 5× Resurrection Spiritstone
It’s a starter supply of consumables for your first few hours of play, not a permanent advantage. And most importantly: a more expensive pack doesn’t give you a single extra item from it.
Is a Founder’s Pack worth it? An honest answer
It’s only worth it if you want to play from 30 September. With a higher tier you’re buying nothing but looks; the head start and the starter items stay the same. Let’s split this into three separate questions.
1) Is a tier above Standard worth it? For an extra €21.24, Deluxe gets you two skins; for an extra €63.74, Ultimate gets you three skins, a pet, wings and two appearance vouchers. The head start and the chest contents don’t change by a single item. If you don’t care how your character looks, any tier above Standard is purely an aesthetic expense.
2) Is Early Access worth it at all? In its favor: you can reserve your character name and legion name (legions are what guilds are called in AION 2), get a leveling lead and enjoy a calmer start without launch queues. Against it: NCSOFT designed the mechanics so the lead fades quickly. During Early Access, only Early Access servers are matched against each other in the Abyss (the large open PvP zone), and after launch NCSOFT matches servers by their progression, not by who had the head start.
3) Is it pay-to-win? Not in the classic sense. NCSOFT states explicitly that the title, armor and weapon skins, pet and wings have no stats at all. Two things shouldn’t be glossed over, though: the starter chest is “pay-for-convenience”, not pure cosmetics, and NCSOFT is still earning back players’ trust. At the Korean and Taiwanese launch, it briefly sold items that boosted combat power, then pulled them within fifteen hours after its share price fell and publicly apologized. We break down the full monetization picture in our article on price, the F2P model and the cash shop.
Buy if:
- you want to reserve a specific character name or legion name,
- you plan to play competitively and your starting position matters to you,
- the cosmetic sets and wings are worth something to you on their own,
- you want to avoid the rush on the first day of the full launch.
Don’t buy if:
- you play casually and have no ambition to be in the first wave,
- you expect any gameplay advantage from a pricier tier (there isn’t one),
- you haven’t checked yet whether the game will run on your PC,
- you’d rather wait for player reactions after 5 October.
Before you spend anything, go through the AION 2 system requirements: the game needs 100 GB of disk space. And if you want to know what the game is actually like before you put money into it, we’ve written up our first impressions from the Taiwanese server.
What to watch out for when buying
Five things to check before you click buy:
- Platform lock. A pack bought on Steam works only through Steam, a pack from PURPLE only through PURPLE, and that includes the five-day head start itself. The servers are shared, though, so it has no effect on who you play with. We compare both routes in our article on AION 2 platforms.
- Upgrades only on PURPLE. No upgrade path has been announced for Steam, and your tier choice there is final. If you can’t decide between tiers, that’s a reason to buy on PURPLE.
- One pack per account. Buying more packs on other platforms gives you nothing extra: the five-day head start doesn’t stack or get longer.
- Refunds. Packs are refundable until the official launch. After launch, you have 14 days, but only if you’ve played less than two hours and haven’t claimed any item from the pack.
- Exclusivity isn’t guaranteed. In its official announcement, NCSOFT writes that some pack components “may be resold in identical or similar forms in the future”. In plain terms: those skins may show up in the shop again. If you’re buying Ultimate for collector’s exclusivity, you should know that in advance.
Upgrade prices on PURPLE match the price difference between tiers exactly:
| Upgrade (PURPLE only) | Price |
|---|---|
| Standard → Deluxe | $25 |
| Standard → Ultimate | $75 |
| Deluxe → Ultimate | $50 |
One small thing to finish: on your first payment, the payment provider Xsolla walks you through a one-time 3D Secure card verification. And one more thing that’s better to know before you buy than after: the game launches with ten languages, so check that yours is among them.
How Early Access works technically: servers, dungeons, the Abyss and the market
According to NCSOFT’s official “Team Update” from 17 July 2026, servers open in two waves: first Early Access servers for pack owners only, then Launch servers at launch. Players without a pack can get onto Early Access servers, but only “if these servers remain open and available”, and that isn’t guaranteed.
Elyos and Asmodians have separate servers and only meet in the Abyss. Dungeon party matching is region-wide from the start, which for European players means across Europe: during Early Access across all Early Access servers, after launch together with the Launch servers too. This is where the five-day lead shows first, because a difference in character level is visible right away. Abyss PvP, on the other hand, only matches Early Access servers with each other during Early Access.
The economy is split into two levels. The Server Market, the local marketplace using Kinah, works from day one of Early Access. The Cross-Server Market, the regional marketplace, won’t open during Early Access or at launch; NCSOFT will launch it later. So the regional economy, where a five-day lead would really pay off, doesn’t exist yet. We explain how the currency and trading work in our article on Kinah and the in-game economy.
Two last things: NCSOFT has committed to character transfers between servers, but hasn’t announced details or a date. And according to NCSOFT, trading on the Market requires an active Membership, which isn’t included in any Founder’s Pack. Anyone buying Ultimate for €85 thinking they now have “everything” will only find out in-game.
Where to buy a Founder’s Pack and is there still time
There are two official places: Steam (the game is under app ID 3393110 and the packs have their own page) and NCSOFT’s PURPLE launcher. You can’t get them officially anywhere else. Sales have been running since 22 July 2026, and NCSOFT only lists the end as “until further notice”; community sources expect it at the end of the Early Access period. The practical takeaway: don’t count on the packs still being on sale after 5 October.
Let’s settle the two questions that come up most around buying. Beta: no global closed or open beta test has been announced, so anything outside the official channels promising a “beta sign-up” is untrustworthy. Pre-registration: you can add AION 2 to your Steam wishlist for free and sign up for news on the game’s official website. According to NCSOFT’s press release from 5 June 2026, the reward is the Pagati pet plus one pet of your choice out of four (Konutin Worker, Papis, Black Smoke Murute, Silver Blade Rotan), claimable at launch.
Two caveats on that. Rewards from the Korean and Taiwanese pre-registration don’t carry over to the global version: if you come across 100,000 Kinah or a Pet Selection Box in discussions, those belong to a different version of the game. And sources disagree on whether a formal global pre-registration portal exists at all: NCSOFT’s official Japanese page says pre-registration is open, while community sources deny it. It hasn’t been settled yet.
Don’t want to wait even until 30 September? You can already play on the Taiwanese server, with all the risks that come with it. We cover the steps and the caveats in our guide on how to play AION 2 right now. And if you’re choosing who to create on an Early Access server, our class overview and tier list will help.
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FAQ
Early Access starts on 30 September 2026 and runs for five days. The full free-to-play launch for everyone is on 5 October 2026. Only Founder’s Pack owners can get in, regardless of which of the three tiers they have, since the head start is the same for all of them.
If you don’t care about your character’s looks, Standard is enough. All three tiers give you an identical five-day head start, an identical starter chest and the same title. Deluxe adds two skins; Ultimate adds more skins, a pet, wings and appearance vouchers. None of these items have stats.
NCSOFT states explicitly that the title, skins, pet and wings are appearance-only, meaning they have no stats. The only non-cosmetic content is the starter chest of consumables, which is the same in every tier. It’s worth remembering, though, that at the Korean launch NCSOFT briefly sold items with combat power and pulled them after criticism.
Until the official launch on 5 October 2026, yes, with no special conditions. After launch, the window is 14 days and applies only if you’ve played less than two hours and haven’t claimed any item from the pack. Each platform handles the refund process itself, so Steam and PURPLE each do it their own way.
NCSOFT hasn’t announced any global closed or open beta test. The closest thing to a beta is the five-day Early Access from 30 September, except it’s paid and you keep your progress. If anyone outside the official channels offers you a “beta sign-up” for AION 2, it’s untrustworthy.
Add the game to your Steam wishlist for free and sign up for news on the official website. The reward is the Pagati pet plus one pet of your choice out of four, claimable at launch. Sources disagree, however, on whether a formal global pre-registration portal exists. Rewards from the Korean and Taiwanese pre-registration don’t carry over.
Founder’s Packs are on sale on Steam and in the PURPLE launcher, and Early Access starts on 30 September 2026. Not buying? Add the game to your wishlist and sign up for news: on 5 October, AION 2 is free for everyone. You’ll find more articles about the game in our AION 2 guides section. Information verified as of 15 August 2026.