Today marks the launch of Ascension, the first expansion for Jade Dynasty. The update introduces the Athan race, new zones, an achievement system, a transformation system that lets you turn your characters into creatures, and the ability to fight in the air with Skyblades. Two new factions, the Arden archers and the Balo warriors, will also be added to the game.

In addition, your character will be able to ascend to become more powerful once you reach level 135. You'll start back at level 15, but will be more powerful. This is a cooperative effort among players; one of the requirements is that 300 players must be level 135 or higher to enable ascension on each server.

The servers will be offline today for maintenance from 2-5 p.m. PST to implement the expansion. The team warns players that the downtime may be extended if necessary.