AION 2 Launch Scale Test: What Happened and What It Means
The AION 2 Launch Scale Test (Sept 17–18) recap: open access, level-37 cap, full wipe, and the community DPS findings — and what the test tells us about the September 30 Advanced Access window.
The AION 2 Launch Scale Test wrapped its two-day run on September 18 — the game's first open, public test window on Steam and PURPLE. This article recaps what officially happened, what the community measured, and what it means for the two dates that actually matter: Advanced Access on September 30 and global launch on October 5.
Stated by developer · 2026-09-20Quick answer
Quick answer: The Scale Test ran Sept 17–18, open to everyone with no keys, 6 hours per day, capped at level 37, and fully wiped. The community's equalized level-37 DPS test put Chanter (564K) and Templar (432K) on top and Ranger (225K) last — a gap that inverts at max level. Nothing transfers to Advanced Access; Steam players must reinstall the full client.
What officially happened (Sept 16–18)
The test's official mechanics were straightforward and heavily telegraphed:
- Open to everyone — "No keys, no invites, no registration list," per the official post. Pre-download opened September 16 on both Steam and PURPLE.
- Two six-hour days — Day 1 on September 17, Day 2 on September 18; character progression carried between days but all progress was wiped at the end of Day 2.
- A deliberately limited build — max level 37, shop and marketplace purchases disabled, no player trading, Founder's Pack items unavailable, wardrobe disabled.
- The point was infrastructure — NC described it as verifying servers and stability in a production-identical environment, with play as the public benefit.
The test hit rank 20 on the Steam charts with roughly 63.5K concurrent players at its observed peak — a strong demand signal for a pre-release window, consistent with the search surge the game is seeing.
Stated by developer · 2026-09-20What the community measured at level 37
Because the cap sat at 37 with equalized gear available, the test produced the first public, apples-to-apples class comparison. One tester leveled all eight classes to the cap and ran one-minute training-dummy DPS:
| Rank | Class | 1-min dummy DPS | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chanter | 564K | Early skills punch far above their endgame reputation |
| 2 | Templar | 432K | Doom shield + judgment timing combo |
| 3 | Gladiator / Sorcerer | ~370K | Mid-pack; both scale hard with gear |
| 5 | Assassin | 343K | Burst archetype needs attack speed to come online |
| 6 | Spiritmaster | ~330K | Water spirit the strongest summon at that stage |
| 7 | Ranger | 225K | Multi-hit/crit starvation — inverts completely at max level |
The honest reading: level-37 rankings describe the leveling phase, not the game. The same community coverage that logged Ranger last places it at the top of endgame DPS once geared — the multi-hit/crit stats it starves for at low level are exactly what gear provides. The full breakdown and its leveling implications live in the leveling 1–37 guide.
What it means for Advanced Access
- The client is not carried over. Steam players must uninstall the test Playtest App and download the full AION 2 separately for Advanced Access on September 30; PURPLE players need no extra step.
- None of the test's progress transfers. The wipe was explicit — nobody starts Advanced Access or launch with a head start.
- The test's class findings expire quickly. Advanced Access starts the real data collection: uncapped progression in the global build. That is when tier-list, best-class and the classes reference upgrade from community reads to tested reads.
What to do with this
If you are waiting on September 30: pre-register through official channels, download the client from Steam or PURPLE, and pick your main with the Class Finder — the class data below 37 is useful, but the class data that matters arrives with Advanced Access.
More coverage: the AION 2 news hub tracks launch milestones and patch notes as they land.
FAQ
Will there be another public test before launch? (to be verified) — no further test had been announced at our snapshot. The next open door is Founder's Pack Advanced Access on September 30.
Does the Launch Scale Test progress carry over? No — the official post states all progression is wiped at the end of Day 2 and nothing transfers to Advanced Access or launch.
Why was Ranger last in the test but rated top at endgame? Different stages, different stats: at level 37 Ranger starves for multi-hit and crit that gear later provides — the classic early-game/endgame inversion our tier method keeps apart.