Aion 2 Starter Tips: Six Things New Players Should Know

Aion 2 is out, and the gates are open to everyone. If you've spent any time in MMORPGs, a lot of it will feel familiar. You'll pick up the quest loop, the gear grind and the map icons without much help.

But some systems are easy to overlook, or seem minor until you realise you've been ignoring them for ten hours. MMOBomb's QuintLyn has put together a short list of things worth knowing before you dive in, and they're useful enough to pass along. Here's the rundown for anyone who just joined after the worldwide free-to-play launch.

Check Your Character Under Different Light

Character creation in Aion 2 can already eat up a lot of time, and this tip adds a little more. It's worth it, though. In-game lighting can dramatically change how your character looks. QuintLyn describes a friend's character that was supposed to be blue but appeared green under orange-yellow sunset light.

The fix is simple. Under "Lighting Type" in the creator, pick the color-picking icon and switch the light color. You'll see roughly what your character will look like out in the world, not just in the flattering preview.

Hoard Empyrean Traces

Like plenty of MMOs, Aion 2 has a collection system. Here, you gather Empyrean Traces and hand them in at the region's Monolith. The first region has two Monoliths - for Asmodian players, that's the Altgard Monolith - but they're synced, so it doesn't matter which one you use.

There are 30 Monolith levels, and all but one hand out rewards. Think scrolls, keys for hidden cubes, and Amplify Stone Fragments, which go into the Amplify stones you need to awaken gear power.

Traces are everywhere. Look for the white feather on the map; collected ones get a green check mark, or you can filter them out of the mini-map entirely to cut the clutter. You won't need every Trace to max out the Monolith, but keep grabbing them anyway. The "Substance Morph" feature in the main menu turns spare Traces into Power Shards, which boost combat damage.

Don't Skip Sealed Dungeons

These start out as question marks labelled "Undiscovered Areas". Get close enough and the marker becomes a circle, and the game tells you that you've found one - usually a green portal in a cave entrance. Completed ones get a check mark, but unlike Traces, you can't hide them until every single one is done.

Sealed Dungeons scale to your level and are mostly solo content. The rewards are solid: Kina, Daevanion Crystals for your skill tree, Wisdom Stones for skill levels, and Enhancement stones for gear. Each clear also grants a title, plus Sealed Wing Featherdown (used to craft wings via Substance Morph) and Statue Scrap for a special statue in your Pantheon, essentially a display space for your stuff.

Extract, Don't Trash

Many outfits in Aion 2 are skin versions of regular gear. If you like the look of something, try extracting it before you throw it away. "Try" is the key word - success isn't guaranteed, and rarer items have lower odds. Remember where a piece dropped in case you need another shot.

Click the small vial icon at the bottom of your inventory, select items one by one or in bulk, and hit the yellow "Extract" button, which shows the cost. Even a failed run nets you Enhance Stones and a tidier inventory.

Check the Black Cloud Merchants Hourly

Tucked behind a tab in the top left of the regular shop, the Black Cloud Merchants sell outfit skins and pets for in-game currency rather than premium money. The stock rotates every hour, so if nothing catches your eye, come back later.

Watch Your Autopath

Autopathing is there, and it's genuinely handy when you can't spot a quest marker. It also saves teleport scrolls, which are limited. But it's clumsy. It can get stuck on players standing in your way, it may route you straight into a wind trail that flings you somewhere else, and when it decides you need to fly, it won't track your wing stamina. Run out mid-air and you're dropping. A flying mount, which travels lower than wings, can help you avoid getting stuck on other players.

Our Take

None of these tips are revolutionary on their own, and that's the point. Aion 2 layers a lot of small systems on top of each other - Traces feeding Monoliths and Power Shards, dungeons feeding wings and Pantheon statues, extraction feeding your wardrobe. Miss one early and you're quietly falling behind.

The Black Cloud Merchants detail stands out for a free-to-play launch. Offering cosmetics and pets for in-game currency suggests NCSOFT wants grinders to feel rewarded, not just wallets. Whether that rotating shop stays generous once the launch buzz fades is worth watching, especially after a 160K Steam peak during head start and a Twitch drops campaign pulling in new players. The autopathing quirks, meanwhile, look like prime candidates for a quality-of-life patch. We'll see if it comes.