During the last few days a fair amount of attention was drawn to Aion 2.0. Pet System which we covered in our latest guide Aion 2.0. Pet System Part 1. The upcoming free expansion Aion: Assault on Balaurea introduces an entirely new pet subsystem to explore. You will have access to functional pets capable of storing goods, assisting with crafting, acting as guardians by alerting their masters to nearby enemies, and of course those simply designed to make their masters look good.

The pets system will continue to develop and evolve moving forward, but we’re looking at five pet types to start out with:

* Companion – Adventure with their owner throughout Atreia
* Signal – Alert their owner to the presence of enemy players
* Pack – Expand their owner’s inventory
* Fortune – Produce items for their owner after being well-fed
* Purebred – Provide their owner with multiple functions at once

You’ll have 100 dedicated pet slots available to populate, but can only own one of each type, and are only capable of summoning one pet at a time. You will retain features such as inventory space increase even while the pet providing the feature is put away. The pets you own can be given names, and these names are not unique, which will allow you to choose names freely and make changes whenever you so desire. And as a special treat, a new type of pet emote will trigger unique animations for each type of pet (watch out Westminster Kennel Club, there’s a new set of tricks to teach those old dogs).

There will be different ways to get your hands on these pets, including buying them from in-game merchants or the NCStore, getting them as quest rewards, item drops, or through special promotional events.

Aion: Assault on Balaurea is a free expansion, but there will also be a new boxed version with an upgraded client preloaded available for purchase (MSRP $39.99). To celebrate the release of Aion: Assault on Balaurea, those who purchase the expansion will receive an adorable Speckled Ailu pet (it’s much like a panda). Some retailers will for a limited time also offer an exclusive Companion pet along with the Speckled Ailu: NCsoft Store: Fuzzy Elroco, Amazon.com: Beluslan Kitter, GameStop: Grassy Drakie, Best Buy/Best Buy Canada: Heiron Kitten, QVS: Altgard Kitter Companion Pet, Steam: Skullabra Krall, Wal-Mart: Border Daggie

Tags: Aion, news