The AION 2 Launch Scale Test runs September 17–18, 2026, with a level 37 cap and 12 playable hours split into two six-hour sessions. You can test early leveling, eight classes, three party dungeons, crafting, pets, mounts, and character progression, but the Abyss, arenas, marketplace, and level-45 endgame are unavailable.

Pre-download begins September 16 through Steam and PURPLE. Check the launcher for exact regional opening times before each session because a missed hour represents one-sixth of a test day.

Test Schedule and Access

Queues, patches, and character creation can consume more time than an early dungeon. Complete the administrative work before servers open.

Pre-download on September 16. Do not sacrifice playable time to installation, driver updates, or file verification.

Before the first session:

1. Request access through the AION 2 Steam page or prepare PURPLE.

2. Install all available client updates.

3. Update your graphics driver.

4. Prepare several character names.

5. Choose your faction and primary class.

6. Set a basic graphics preset before entering a crowded area.

7. Confirm the opening time shown for your region.

The correct priority is access first, cosmetics second. A detailed character face has no value if the session ends before you reach Crow Cave.

Available and Locked Content at Level 37

A visible menu does not guarantee entry. Several endgame categories may appear in the interface even though their level requirements exceed the test cap.

Use the following matrix to avoid building your plan around inaccessible content.

Clear each available dungeon once before repeating one. Breadth provides more useful launch information than temporary loot.

Playable Party Dungeons

The test includes three five-player dungeons on Exploration difficulty:

• Crow Cave — level 20
• Urugu Canyon — level 28
• Fire Temple — level 35

Crow Cave tests basic targeting, revives, party visibility, and boss telegraphs. Urugu Canyon shows whether your developing rotation suffers from resource gaps or excessive downtime.

Fire Temple is the best class checkpoint. By level 35, your character has enough skills and progression bonuses to expose animation commitment, weak specializations, poor resource management, and survival problems hidden by open-world enemies.

Do not repeatedly farm Crow Cave unless you need a specific reward to continue leveling. Its equipment will not tell you how the class performs near the cap.

PvP Cannot Be Judged From This Test

The Abyss, 1v1 Arena, 4v4 Arena, and 10v10 Battlefield are unavailable. This removes open-world faction warfare and both equalized and gear-dependent structured modes from the test.

Do not publish or trust a PvP tier list based on level-37 PvE. A class with slow quest clears may gain decisive control tools at later skill levels, while a strong leveling class may depend on predictable enemies that never interrupt its rotation.

Test movement, targeting, animation recovery, and latency instead. Those factors still matter when PvP opens at launch.

Crafting Is Testable; Profitability Is Not

Blacksmithing, armorsmithing, handicrafting, alchemy, cooking, and Substance Morphing are available. The disabled marketplace removes material pricing and player demand, so the test cannot establish the most profitable profession.

Record operational details instead:

• Recipe sources
• Required Kinah
• Material bottlenecks
• Profession leveling rules
• Gear rarity limits
• Extraction or salvage returns
• Substance Morphing ratios
• Which profession supports your preferred class

A cheap recipe in a closed test can become expensive when launch demand drives up one ingredient. Choose a profession for access and utility, not simulated profit.

Fastest Level 1–37 Route

Following only the main story leaves useful progression behind. Clearing every marker wastes the limited session.

The efficient route combines objectives in the area you already need to visit.

Stack Objectives Instead of Clearing Zones

Use the yellow main quest as your route. Before leaving each local area:

1. Accept regional quests targeting the same enemies.

2. Reveal nearby question-mark activities.

3. Clear sealed dungeons close to the active route.

4. Activate convenient teleport points.

5. Collect Imperium Traces requiring only a minor detour.

6. Equip useful quest rewards immediately.

7. Continue the main story.

If a regional quest shares enemies with your story objective, complete both. If it sends you across the map for a minor reward, leave it for launch.

This distinction matters because not every side quest slows leveling. Travel time is the cost, not the quest label.

Apply a Detour Limit

Use a simple cutoff:

• Take teleport points within roughly 15–20 seconds of your route.
• Collect Imperium Traces within roughly 10 seconds.
• Enter sealed dungeons near active quest clusters.
• Skip distant strongholds and full collection sweeps.
• Abandon a detour if terrain or elevation makes the map distance misleading.

The starting-region figures cited for the Korean version should not be treated as guaranteed global values. Use the global client's collection menu rather than planning around another region's totals.

A short horizontal detour can also hide a long climb or blocked route. If the marker sits above or below you without an obvious path, continue leveling.

Use Dungeons as Build Checks

Each dungeon should answer a different question.

Stop farming once an activity no longer answers a useful question. Temporary gear is a weak return compared with learning your skill breakpoints, crafting dependencies, and account-wide systems.

Daevanion Board and Gear Priorities

Randomly spending Daeva points creates expensive paths toward weak bonuses. Plan the route before committing.

Prioritize Core Damage and Skill Breakpoints

Use this order while leveling:

1. Attack, combat speed, and cooldown reduction

2. Blue nodes improving skills used in every rotation

3. Nodes that immediately grant a useful specialization

4. Efficient attack nodes near your existing path

5. Defensive nodes when survival blocks progression

Check the full path cost, not just the destination. A strong orange node can lose value when reaching it requires several weak prerequisites.

Skill specialization levels may differ between regional builds. Read the global client tooltip before spending points, then equip the specialization manually if the skill menu requires it.

Take the shorter power spike. An immediate core-skill specialization often helps more than a distant generic bonus.

Enhance Gear Selectively

Enhancing every upgrade wastes Kinah on equipment you may replace within minutes. Use a strict priority:

1. Weapon

2. Guard or offensive secondary equipment

3. Persistent progression amulet

4. Armor only when survival becomes a problem

A moderate enhancement level on a weapon you will keep through several quest areas makes sense. Pushing a temporary item higher does not.

Before replacing enhanced equipment, inspect the extraction preview. Enhancement materials may be recoverable, but spent currency can remain a permanent cost.

Do not enhance for appearance or item color. Enhance when it reduces kill time, prevents a boss death, or removes a clear progression block.

Best Plan for Both Test Sessions

Using both days for identical leveling runs wastes the chance to inspect late-test systems. Assign one purpose to each phase.

If queues or server instability prevent level 37, do not restart on multiple classes. Continue one character far enough to test Fire Temple unless the class controls feel fundamentally wrong.

At the cap, record:

• Skill damage, cooldowns, and resource costs
• Specialization choices
• Daevanion Board routes
• Crafting recipes and material costs
• Dungeon entry requirements
• Pet, mount, and wing bonuses
• Account-wide versus character-specific progression
• Frame rate in populated hubs
• Latency during boss telegraphs

Use one short backup-class run to compare movement, early resource flow, and animation recovery. Do not replay the opening area on several alts unless class selection is your only test goal.

What is the AION 2 Launch Scale Test level cap?

The level cap is 37. Activities requiring level 45—including Conquest dungeons, the Abyss, and several endgame systems—cannot be entered during the test.

When does the AION 2 Steam test start?

The test runs September 17–18, 2026, with pre-download beginning September 16. Check Steam or PURPLE for the exact opening time assigned to your region.

Which dungeons are available during the AION 2 test?

Crow Cave at level 20, Urugu Canyon at level 28, and Fire Temple at level 35 are available on Exploration difficulty. Their higher-level Conquest versions remain outside the level-37 cap.

Can you play PvP during the AION 2 test?

The main PvP modes are unavailable. The test excludes the Abyss, 1v1 Arena, 4v4 Arena, and 10v10 Battlefield, so it cannot support reliable PvP class rankings.

Will AION 2 test progress carry over to launch?

Treat all test progress as temporary. Spend your final session recording class, crafting, progression, and performance findings rather than farming equipment for transfer.