We reported yesterday that the newly created Aion public Test Server has a 30% XP increase over the regular live servers. This was based on us killing several mobs on level one in starting Elyos areas. Turns out that this is true only for the first few levels. The image above shows the same characters at level 6 and they are killing the same mob only on different server versions. As you can see the PTS XP is 4.5 times higher (no rest bonus or other XP increasing buff was present). This changes the XP curve significantly.

There are people overrunning the PTS. This reminds me of times when the game launched and everyone eagerly going through content. I’ve seen people lvl 27 today and I am guessing some are in their mid 30s by now.

We’re all eagerly awaiting the 1.9 patch as well to debut on the PTS. If the server doesn’t buckle at that point it never will .

We jumped right into the newly opened Aion Public Test Server and the XP increase compared to the regular client seems to be 30%. At least on the first levels. We’ll try and officially confirm this.

Also, when trying to create the copy of the PTS client we ran into some difficulties although we followed the instructions for manual installation. I have Aion installed in non default directory (D:\Aion2) and when I copied this directory into D:\ and renamed it (so the new directory is called D:\AionPTS), as the instructions suggested, the NCSoft launcher still didn’t recognize the PTS installation.

I created a folder named AionPTS in C:/Program Files/NCsoft/ and copied the files there. The launcher recognized it then and things went smooth from there on.

Also, I noticed in the official forum thread that people sometimes suggest you delete the addcache.xml file in your AionPTS folder and repair the client.

It has been announced on the official site that you can start accessing the PTS (Public Test Server) that will have beta versions of the game running. The official FAQ can be found on the official forums and here are the most important things you need to know.

To run the game so it accesses the new PTS you must do one of the following:

Method 1: Duplication of Already Existing Installation

1. Browse to the Aion installation directory on your local hard drive.
2. Copy the folder and paste it into the same location (for example, “C:/Program Files/NCsoft/”).
3. Rename the new folder to AionPTS. The name must be changed to exactly “AionPTS” for the copy to work.
4. Boot up the NCsoft launcher. The NCsoft launcher should detect the newly created folder as the PTS client and list it in the left pane of the launcher.
5. Patch (if needed), and launch the game!

Method 2: Fresh Installation

1. Download the 9.8 GB Aion PTS client installer from one of the following locations:
   • GamersHell
   • FilePlanet
2. Launch the installer and follow the installation instructions. A new game title, “AionPTS,” will appear in your NCsoft launcher.
3. Patch (if needed), and launch the game!

You can use your regular login username/password and create both Asmo and Elyos characters. Leveling is faster in both XP and crafting and for now you can;t copy your regular characters. We’ll be checking out the new servers and share our experience.

We are getting our own test servers today (as announced by this news post), while at the same time Korean Public test Servers are seeing the release of the much anticipated Aion version 2.0. The patch notes are 38 pages long! Western team is working diligently on translating these into English, French and German and we should see the release of these in the next few days (early next week is the time line we are looking at here). We’ll let you know as soon as we have the news. Things are picking up in Aion and the upcoming months look to be rather exciting.

What we know of the patch is that it will bring:

• Level cap 55
• New Balaur Zones
• Pet System
• New flying/gliding mechanics
• New Fortress