Aion 1.9 brings new flight transportation routes to all areas of the game. This will help with quest and getting much faster from A to B in general. Along with reduced Teleportation and Flight costs the Soul Healing costs also got reduced.

Read on for new Flight Routes & reduced Soul Healing Costs

The PTS for Aion 1.9 is up and running in Korea. Slowly the first detailed informations about Daily Quests, Rental System Items, Low Budget Abyss Items and Limited Edition Items are becoming available.

Details about Daily Quests, Abyss Items, Limited Edition Item Costs, Rental System Costs

During the Press Conference on March, 3rd 2010 NCSoft Korea unveiled first details about the next Aion updates, named 1.9 and 2.0. Version 1.9 will focus on class balancing and bringing several improvements to eas game play. New major content will have to wait until the release of Aion 2.0.
Aion 1.9 is currently been tested on the Korean PTS and scheduled to hit the Korean Live Servers later this March. Version 2.0 is scheduled for May 2010 in Korea. There is currently no
known schedule for the European and NA servers.

Aion 1.9 Preview and 2.0 informations

Yarrr, PirateNinjas are expanding theyr wings to Aion. Therefor we are looking for a few dedicated players. No random mass recruiting – just some special players for special needs :) If you are a Ninja or Pirate, we might be intrested in you!

Read on for the the full Recruiting Post

NCwest finaly announced the Open Beta dates for theyr MMO Aion: The Tower of Eternity.

Sep 06, 2009 – Open Beta starts
Sep 13, 2009 – Open Beta ends
Sep 18, 2009 – Pre-Selection for Server and Character / Name starts (for Pre-Order customers)
Sep 20, 2009 – Headstart Program launches for both NA & EU (access to the live servers for Pre-Order customers)
Sep 22, 2009 – Retail Launch for North America
Sep 25, 2009 – Retail Launch for Europe

Read on for Aion Open Beta details

NCWest finaly launched the re-designed official Website for Aion: The Tower of Eternity. Besides a general design overhaul, the Aion PowerWiki got introduced. The PowerWiki is the western version of the korean Aion PowerBook. For those not familiar with the PowerBook, its the official place for anything related to Quest, Skills, Classes, NPCs, Mobs, …
The NA/EU PowerWiki is currently providing very basic informations, compared to what the korean PowerBook offers. Also the new layout can not compete with what NCSoft offers theyr korean customers on the official korean Website (http://aion.plaync.co.kr/) — but within NCWest’s standards, this new layout is a hugh step forward. So time will tell if NCWest manages to catch up and not let the official NA/EU Aion Website turn into another failure like the official Lineage 2 Website …

The Aion Closed Beta / Preview Events are underway since a few weeks. For those that didn’t got a chance to give Aion a try have now a chance to fetch a Beta Key for the upcomming Closed Beta Event. The next Beta Event will run from July 2nd to July 6th, 2009 and allow you to try both factions, the Elyos and Asmodian from level 1 to 20. Since the classchange is at level 10, this Beta Event gives a good amount of time to try various different classes and get an impression of the game.

How to get a free Aion Closed Beta Key?

Well, the first 2 “Closed Beta” Events for Aion: The Tower of Eternity are over, and a few of us spend some time in the World of Atreia. We mostly focused on playing the different classes, trying to figure out wich classes each of us might play in the future.
For the most part we like what Aion is as a MMO/RPG – a pretty much straight forward gameplay targeted at a more wider casual playerbase, unlike Lineage 2. Before getting to the BUT section, some small sidenote about Aions production and marketing from a global point of view. Aion as an IP gets developed and produced by korean based NCsoft. Theyr focus is on the korean market and to be in competition with World of Warcraft over there – Aion is not following the traditional korean grind scheme but more orientating on the quest system WOW has. Outside Korea Aion gets distributed by different licensees and joint venture offices (NC Japan, NC Taiwan, NCwest). The role of these companies can basicly be described as a marketing and support job. They have no call in the production of new features or fundamental game changes and so on – even so some die hard fanboys think otherwise. So all they have todo is come up with a translation for theyr territory, promote the game as good as possible and provide a working support. That all within an appropriate timeframe – aka not being too much off from the launch of any update in Korea.

Read on for our concerns

The first Beta Event for Aion: The Tower of Eternity is underway. Those that managed to get theyr hands on one of the few Beta Keys, can give NCsoft’s latest MMORPG a try. From 5th to 7th June players are allowed to play an Elyos.
Some of us are playing on the EU Beta Server. I for myself am playing on the NA Beta Server. If anyone needs company of a Chanter, feel free to PM Isobell.
Those being not so lucky getting a Beta Key, can follow Awantos on the EU Beta Server (when he is not streaming live, there will run some pre-recordings from the chinese Beta):

NCSoft Korea has launched the Open Beta for Aion: The Tower of Eternity. Being restricted to korean Players only, some non-korean people sneaked in it as well. If you want you can follow Awantos live while he is exploring the world of Atreia:
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