AION 2’s free-to-play global launch begins after an eight-hour maintenance that starts on October 4, 2026, at 10:00 PM PDT (1:00 AM EDT and 7:00 AM CEST on October 5), NC announced on October 4. The maintenance notice says it ends Advanced Access and starts the “commercial launch,” and NC also confirmed on October 3 that Founder’s Pack cosmetics will soon work on every character.
The Details
If the maintenance runs to schedule, servers reopen around 6:00 AM PDT (9:00 AM EDT, 3:00 PM CEST) on October 5, which matches the release time in AION 2‘s Steam store data. What else NC posted in the last day:
- Founder’s Pack cosmetics go account-wide. After players called the per-character limit “a significant obstacle,” NC says the pack’s cosmetics will be usable “on every character on your account, on any server.” That covers the title, armor and weapon skins, the Black Dragon pet and the Blazing Sun wings, depending on tier. The 30-day membership and the supply and styling chests stay one-time rewards. NC says the change “may still take several days” and lands after Early Access ends.
- No paying twice. Players who picked a lower tier because of the old limit can upgrade on PURPLE, or buy the higher pack on Steam and request a refund of the cheaper one through support.
- Login rewards for everyone. All pre-registration and wishlist rewards go to every player who creates an account and logs in before maintenance on December 1 at 11:30 PM PST, including a pet chest and bundles of potions and Resurrection Spiritstones.
- New servers and first pairings. NC has added launch servers alongside the Advanced Access ones, and posted the first server pairings: each Elyos server faces one Asmodian server “for a limited time” in the Abyss and Spacetime Rifts.
What This Means for Players
If you are starting at launch, pick your server with the pairings in mind, since your matched server is who you will meet in PvP. Our Elyos vs Asmodian guide helps you choose a side, and the best class guide covers the rest of character creation, including the appearance options. Our beginner’s guide covers your first day, and our release time guide has the unlock in every time zone.
Founder’s Pack owners who skipped the Ultimate tier because the cosmetics felt wasted on one character may want to reconsider; our Founder’s Pack guide compares the tiers. Every guide is on the AION 2 hub.
Source: NC, AION 2 Steam announcements, October 3 and 4, 2026.