Good for those who are hyped. Personally, I might try it for nostalgia (and if it's free), but I know I won't stay. There's no point in going back 12 years, with all the backward steps that come with it (especially for certain classes)
If you look closely, the Official game version 8.x+
They have,
Created a P2W Transform system in their Cash shop (for a very long time),
and now that they've started offering transforms, they've made even stronger ones available for cash.
They erased the crafting/gathering system, as it was an established feature, only to
replace it with a new crafting system.
They have destroyed everything that resembled Aion.
Plus, they've added a legal botting system like in mobile games.
If nearly all licenses that launch Classic versions perform better than the official versions, there's a reason.
Aion Retail (8.x+) only lives around events,
The game has long, if not always since 7.x (and even before) been so empty that without events to boost players, the game doesn't survive.
On Aion Classic, all resources are farmed/crafted,
weapons/jewelry/armor are unlimited without daily/weekly limits.
Without wanting to argue for ages, the game under Classic is easy to understand and farm without having to spend thousands of euros on the cash shop every month.
Unfortunately, it's the end for retail, only some who don't truly understand the dynamics of Aion Classic as it should be,
(without extra shugo daevanion skills, without legendary skins that give abilities, without weird artifact stones that increase skills, without stigma +10/+12/+999, without having 100 spells that allow you to close your eyes and dps, without classes that regenerate infinite mana/instant magic dps, etc).
The current Aion makes no sense, but that doesn't stop some players from loving it,
yet there are more players who enjoy the Classic version.
(That's why Ncsoft officially stated they're willing to continue Classic in 3.x + while keeping the Classic concept)
Honestly, if you're tired of Gameforge's cash grabs and unbalanced systems, you should check out Aion Riftshade. I'm part of the beta and it's incredible. They offer a balanced Aion 4.8 experience with no pay-to-win, custom rates, and active GvG/Sieges. Plus, their server-side anticheat and DPS Meter integration is top-notch. Launching in Q1 2026, it's hosted in Frankfurt with the lowest ping across Europe. Aion Riftshade is the future for those wanting a stable, bug-free server where the devs actually care.
