AION 2 Playtest Times — Full Schedule in Every Timezone

The AION 2 Launch Scale Test ran across September 17 and 18, 2026 in two separate six-hour windows. It was an infrastructure test, not a demo: it opened to everyone with no keys or registration, carried progress from day one into day two, then wiped all of it. This page reproduces the official schedule and converts it into every timezone players searched for.

What time did the AION 2 playtest start?

Day 1 opened at 6:00 AM PDT on September 17, and Day 2 opened at 12:00 PM PDT on September 18. The two days did not share a start time — day two began six hours later in the day than day one. NCSOFT published the windows in PDT and CEST only.

That mismatch is the single most common source of confusion about this test. If you assumed day two followed the same clock as day one, you missed the first six hours.

What does the official schedule say?

NCSOFT’s own figures were a pre-download window, two six-hour play days and twelve hours total. They are reproduced from the Steam announcements for AppID 3393110 and the playtest app 4972320, with nothing converted yet. The pre-download window opened a full day early, which is why the client was already installed for most players when day one began.

Day 1 and Day 2 ran six hours per day, twelve hours total.

What the schedule looks like in your timezone

The two windows converted from the official PDT times. Everything in this table is a conversion, not an NCSOFT publication — the source figures are the PDT column above. The two days did not share a start time, so both rows matter when you read across the zones.

A note on “PDT to EST”

If you searched for a PDT-to-EST conversion for these windows, be careful: in September the US East Coast is on EDT (UTC−4), not EST (UTC−5). Most converters and most articles label it “EST” year-round, which shifts every result by an hour.

For the record, the literal EST figures would be 8:00 AM – 2:00 PM on day one and 2:00 PM – 8:00 PM on day two — one hour earlier than the EDT row above. The EDT numbers are the correct ones for September.

The practical rule for any future AION 2 announcement: NCSOFT publishes times in PDT, so subtract 7 to get UTC first, then shift into your own zone. Going straight from PDT to your local time is where the errors creep in.

Why was this a scale test and not a beta?

NCSOFT never called the September event a beta, and the distinction is load-bearing rather than semantic. A beta tests whether the game is fun and complete; a scale test checks whether the servers stay up when everyone logs in at once. Everything about this event — its length, its caps, and its disabled systems — fits the second job.

• Twelve hours total is not a beta. Two six-hour windows cannot surface progression, economy, or endgame balance. They can surface login failures, queue behaviour, and crash spikes — which is what NCSOFT was buying.
• The disabled systems prove the intent. Cash shop, Quna, passes, membership, all payments, and even player trading were switched off. A content preview would show those off; an infrastructure test removes them so they cannot pollute the measurements.
• The level cap of 37 is a test ceiling. It kept every tester inside the same early-game corridor where server load is densest, rather than letting anyone wander into content whose stability was not under examination.
• No second test has been announced. A beta programme runs in phases; a scale test is typically one-and-done, days before paid access begins. The calendar — test on September 17–18, paid access on September 30 — matches the latter pattern exactly.

What did the test prove, and what did it leave unanswered?

Twelve hours of live servers produced real evidence about infrastructure and access, but almost none about the game itself. The client ran, the servers absorbed two days of logins, and the download pipeline worked — yet progression, economy, and endgame balance remain completely untested in public. The table below draws that line explicitly.

The practical takeaway: trust the test on logistics (download size, client behaviour, “no key needed” access patterns) and ignore it on game judgement. Nobody learned which class is strong, which dungeon matters, or what anything costs — because the build was never instrumented to teach those things.

How does the test compare with Advance Access and launch?

Three pre-launch milestones are easy to blur together, so here is the clean separation. The scale test was temporary infrastructure testing with wiped progress; Advance Access is the live service opening early with progress that persists; launch is the same service opening free. One table keeps all three straight.

If you played the test, exactly one thing carries forward: familiarity with the client and the early zones. Everything else — levels, items, names, market positions — starts over, and the rules that follow are the live ones. Read the Advance Access guide for what the next window changes, and the release date page for the full rollout in one place.

What the test actually let you do

It was infrastructure, not a content preview. NCSOFT ran it to stress the servers before the paid Advance Access window, and the restrictions reflected that: the cash shop, player trading and Founder’s Pack items were disabled, progress was wiped at the end, and nothing carried over to launch.

The level cap of 37 is worth noting against the October 5 global build — it is a test ceiling, not a statement about the live level cap, and NCSOFT has not published what the live cap will be.

Was there maintenance during the playtest?

Yes — two events, and both were announced only inside the playtest client. That is why maintenance searches spiked while the main AION 2 news feed stayed quiet. NCSOFT posted a scheduled maintenance notice for September 17 and a hot fix update on September 18, and neither appeared on the main feed.

If you want a single place to watch for the next round of downtime, server announcements and status checks are tracked on the AION 2 server status and maintenance page.

For the test itself, the only preparation that carried over was the client download — the preload and download guide covers the 100 GB space requirement and the difference between the two launchers.

Is there another AION 2 test coming?

As of September 22, 2026, no second test has been announced. The latest official announcement is the “Launch Scale Test Comes to a Close” post from September 19. What follows the test is Advance Access on September 30 — the live global build, open only to Founder’s Pack owners, with progress that carries into October 5. The Advance Access guide covers who gets in.

One action item if you played on Steam

NCSOFT instructed Steam players to uninstall the Playtest app and download AION 2 separately before Advance Access opens on September 30. The playtest client is a distinct Steam app (AppID 4972320) from the retail game (AppID 3393110), so leaving it installed will not get you into Advance Access. Players who used the PURPLE launcher were told no action was needed.

Sources and verification

• Steam announcement, “Launch Scale Test Coming Up”, August 26, 2026 (test framing, open access)
• Steam announcement, “Pre-download Now!”, September 16, 2026 (pre-download window)
• Steam announcement, “Day 1”, September 17, 2026 (day-one PDT/CEST window)
• Steam announcement, “Launch Scale Test Comes to a Close”, September 19, 2026 (no further test)
• Playtest-app announcement feed, AppID 4972320 (server opening, scheduled maintenance, hot fix)
• Steam store page, AppID 4972320 (playtest client as a separate app; uninstall instruction)

Evidence level: Official. Every clock time, restriction and announcement date above comes from NCSOFT’s own Steam posts. The timezone table is a conversion of the official PDT and CEST windows and is labelled as such; the offset for each zone was applied from the official PDT figure, not from a third-party converter.