FIELD RECORD · MONETIZATION
AION 2 Membership & Founder's Packs: What to Buy
AION 2 is free to play, but NCSoft sells three things: a monthly membership, a per-character Daeva Pass, and one-time Founder's Packs. This page breaks down exactly what each one does, who should buy it, and where the pay-to-win line actually sits — because the honest answer is 'it depends on how you play'.
October 2026 · Global pricing
The $15/month membership
The membership is the backbone of AION 2's monetization. For $14.99 a month it unlocks three things:
| PERK | WHAT IT MEANS |
|---|---|
| Market access | The ability to list items on the player marketplace. Without it, you cannot sell to other players — the single biggest economic restriction on free accounts. |
| Kina↔Quna Exchange | Access to the official currency exchange between premium Quna and in-game Kina. |
| Priority queue | Skip login queues. Worth real money during launch week on popular servers. |
Verdict: level 1–45 for free, then decide. If you intend to trade on the Market, the membership pays for itself in the first good week. If you only run dungeons with friends, you may never need it.
Founder's Packs: $24.99 / $49.99 / $99.99
One per account, and the only way into the September 30 Early Access period. The Standard pack at $24.99 is the value pick: it includes early access and 30 days of membership, which alone is $15 of the price. The $49.99 and $99.99 tiers add cosmetics, titles and convenience items — buy them because you want the looks, not because you need the power, because the power difference is cosmetic-only.
The Daeva Pass
The battle pass, with a free track and a premium track — and an important catch: it is per character, not per account. If you run alts, the cost multiplies. For a one-character player the premium track is decent value in materials and consumables; for an altoholic it is a subscription you pay several times over.
Is AION 2 pay-to-win?
Directly, no — the cash shop sells cosmetics and consumables, not gear. Indirectly, the debate is real: Quna can be exchanged for Kina, Kina buys gear on the Market, and the Market requires membership. So money can become power through the exchange loop, and NCSoft's September anti-macro enforcement shows they are policing the economy around it rather than removing it. Our read: at launch, a paying player gains convenience and speed, not exclusive power. Whether that line holds is the thing to watch patch by patch — we track it on the balance page.
What we recommend
| PLAYER TYPE | BUY |
|---|---|
| Just trying the game | Nothing. Free play carries you to 45. Redeem the launch code and go. |
| Planning to main it | Standard Founder's Pack ($24.99) if buying before launch; membership from the day you hit 45 otherwise. |
| Market trader / hardcore | Membership is mandatory. Daeva Pass on your main only. |
| Collector | The upper Founder's tiers are cosmetics — buy them for love, not advantage. |