Which AION 2 Global server to choose: player count, pairs and transfers

In 30 seconds

Pick your region by pingEurope for EU players, NA East or West for North America, LA and Asia for the rest.

Servers belong to a factionEvery server is Elyos-only or Asmodian-only. In the Abyss and rifts your server fights its paired enemy server.

Dungeons are sharedExpeditions, Transcendence and other instances mix players from all servers. A small server does not mean empty dungeons.

Transfers from 14 OctoberYou will be able to move a character to another server of your faction.

The main criterionThe server of your friends and legion, not "the most popular one".

Which servers AION 2 Global has

AION 2 Global servers are split by region and faction

Servers are in five regions: Europe (EU), North America East and West (NA East, NA West), Latin America (LA) and Asia (AS, hosted in Japan). NCSoft opened several servers per region at launch and kept adding new ones in the first days.

Europe currently has 7 servers per faction:

Elyos	Asmodians
Siel	Israphel
Nezekan	Zikel
Vaizel	Triniel
Kaisinel	Lumiel
Yustiel	Marchutan
Ariel	Azphel
Fregion	Ereshkigal

The list for every region, new servers and maintenance times are on the AION 2 servers page. It updates by itself.

How to choose a server

RegionPick the one with the lowest ping for you — that matters most in PvP.
FactionChoose your side first — the server follows from it. See Elyos or Asmodians.
CommunityGo where your friends or legion are. If you play alone — the recommended server.

New or popular?

Popular servers have queues and blocked character creation in the first days. NCSoft explicitly advises new players to create their character on the recommended server marked in the list at login. Do not fear an "empty" server:

dungeons and other instances are shared by all servers — you will always find a group;
server pairs for the Abyss and rifts are rebalanced by faction strength;
from 14 October you can move to another server of your faction.

Looking for a legionPopular servers hit the cap first, so many players are now on the newer servers too. If you are looking for a Russian-speaking legion, ask in our Telegram.

Server pairs: who you fight

In the Abyss and rifts a server fights its paired server of the other faction

In the first AION both factions lived on one server. In AION 2 each server belongs to one faction. An Elyos server is paired with an Asmodian one, and you meet it:

in the Abyss — fights over artifacts, corridors and bosses;
in rifts — portals into enemy territory.

At launch the European pairs are: Siel — Israphel, Nezekan — Zikel, Vaizel — Triniel, Kaisinel — Lumiel. The pairs are not permanent: NCSoft watches faction strength and reshuffles them regularly. In the Korean version pairs changed every few weeks, and on unbalanced servers even servers of the same faction were matched.

Player count and queues

AION 2 Global launched with a very high player count. In early access alone over 170,000 people played at the same time on Steam. NCSoft announced that the game hit No. 1 on the global Steam top sellers and No. 1 in 13 countries.

That is why the first days come with queues. What to know:

Priority queueWhen a server is full, players in good standing get the priority queue. Rule-breakers lose it.

Character limitFull servers temporarily block new characters. It is not an error.

Capacity growsServers are expanded gradually, and new ones open right during maintenance.

If you cannot log in, see AION 2 errors.

Character transfer

On 14 October NCSoft opens character transfers between servers of the same faction. You will be able to join a friend's server on your side, but not change faction.

Until 14 OctoberIf your friends' server is closed for new characters, start on a recommended server of the same faction. The transfer lets you reunite later, and your levelling time is not lost.

Waiting for the "right" server to openStart on a recommended server of your faction and transfer after 14 October.
Picking a far-away regionPing matters, especially for Assassins and Sorcerers: they are hard to play with high latency.
Thinking a small server means nobody to play withDungeons are shared by all servers.
Creating your main on the other side from your friendsFaction cannot be changed.

The bottom line

Pick the region with the lowest ping. A server belongs to one faction and fights its paired enemy server, while dungeons are shared by all. Start on your friends' server or a recommended one: from 14 October you can move a character to another server of your faction.