Aion’s free expansion Assault on Balaurea is announced for September 7th. Among the huge list of new features in this enormous update (about 3 or 4 gigs of new content) was the mention of Aion Pet System.

We’ve also introduced our pet system, and just from reading all the comments from the players on the forums, that’s something that they’re really looking forward to. Pets won’t just be cute and cuddly — they will be — but they’ll also have functionality. We have an inventory pet, so basically it’s your pack mule that carries around all your items for you. We have a production pet, so when you go around the world and find junk loot that you don’t want, you can feed it to your pet and it’ll produce a better item for you to use. I usually say you feed it and it poops out a prize — it’s a whole new meaning to “world drops.”

There are also alert pets, that actually alert a player when something is sneaking up behind you. We have multifunction pets that are a combination of the ones that I just mentioned, and that’s our pet system.

[Spotted on Massively.com]

Before you can buy a pet, you have to finish Pet-related quest – That you will take the pet. You can obtain a pet praise skill book after completing the corresponding quest. You can purchase, sell, or abandon pet eggs through the Pet Manager Uranos and Armis (Elyos Sanctum) or Katin and Erudil (Asmo Pandaemonium).

Each pet has a unique function. There are 5 types of pets in the new Aion Pet System:

1. Decorative pets: unique appearances but no game play value.
   
2. Alertive  pets: Warns its master when an opposing race character approaches within certain range
   
3. Productive pets: When you feed it you may receive an enchantment  stone, manastone, aether, balaur material, ore, jewel, dye, hairpin.
   
4. Warehouse pets: Owners can use a warehouse type storage space while it is the active pet. The storage they can hold is 6, 12, 18 and 24 slots.
   
5. Multi Type: A pet with more than one function.

Functional pets can be purchased with Kinah, or be obtained as quest rewards. You can select 3 accessories when you purchase a pet but you cannot choose the pet’s color. You can check pet abilities through the pet information screen. Double-click on the summoned pet from the pet list screen or by using the shortcut key ‘[‘. You can feed the pet by registering the item that it can eat or by dragging and dropping the desired item onto the pet. Through emotion study, your pets can learn to bow, flirt and even fly with you!

Tags: Aion, news