AION 2 is out worldwide today, 17 years after the first one, and NC actually asked Western players what they wanted

NC's AION 2 went live globally today on Steam and NC's own launcher PURPLE, free to play, after early access opened on September 30.

Quick version: it's the sequel to AION, which came out on PC 17 years ago, and it's set 200 years after the first game. Flying is the main thing, with aerial combat and traversal, and NC calls it best-in-class. Combat is action-style but you can still tab-target. Solo and 5-player dungeons, 10-player raids, arenas from 1v1 up to big cross-server realm-vs-realm fights, and the Abyss is back. Unreal Engine 5, eight classes, 200+ customization options, and they say the world is 36 times bigger than the original. The part I didn't expect: NC started reaching out to Western players back in March, posted dev videos, and adjusted the pricing to match what Western players expected. During early access it hit number one on Steam's global top sellers in more than 10 regions. As someone who spent a summer in a PC bang watching the guy next to me play Lineage with his whole keyboard on potion hotkeys, I have trust issues with Korean MMO monetization. But a Korean MMO company asking "what do you hate about us" before launch is new. Anyone actually playing? Is the flying as good as they say, or is it the usual first-week honeymoon?