Beginning April 29th, Aion will be getting its very own Public Test Servers!

That's right folks! Beginning April 29th, 2010, NCsoft will be officially opening the doors on their Public Test Servers so that players can test and check out early content before it lands on the regular servers! Users will be required to download a new Aion Client (obviously) to access these Public Test Servers, and these servers are probably going to be a bit more unstable in comparison to the official version, but the Aion team promises a "few stimulating settings," including a substantial experience gain increase, an Abyss Point gain increase, boosted crafting, gathering and item drop rates and the ability to create both Elyos and Asmodian characters on the same server. Just remember that there will not be any premade characters available.

Truth be told, this kind of deal sounds too good to pass up! Boosted EXP, drop rates, crafting rates and Abyss Point gains? It sounds like Aion will end up with the largest army of game testers of any MMORPG! Details on how to access the Beta Test Servers will be posted after the jump.

Getting Started with the Public Test Server

The public test server (PTS) is accessed with a separate Aion client. You must install this PTS client, even if Aion is installed on your PC already. There are two ways to go about with this, one which requires much less time and bandwidth. Keep in mind that while these instructions will help you get started, the PTS server will not be available before the 29th of April.

Method 1: Duplication of Already Existing Installation

1. Browse to the Aion installation directory on your local hard drive.

2. Copy the folder and paste it into the same location (for example, “C:/Program Files/NCsoft/”).

3. Rename the new folder to AionPTS. The name must be changed to exactly “AionPTS” for the copy to work.

4. Boot up the NCsoft launcher. The NCsoft launcher should detect the newly created folder as the PTS client and list itin the left pane of the launcher.

5. Patch (if needed), and launch the game!

6. Log in using the same username and password that you do as on the normal servers. Enjoy!

Method 2: Fresh Installation

1. Download the 9.8 GB Aion PTS client installer from one of the following locations:

GamersHell
FilePlanet

2. Launch the installer and follow the installation instructions. A new game title, “AionPTS,” will appear in your NCsoft launcher.

3. Patch (if needed), and launch the game!

4. Log in using the same username and password that you do as on the normal servers. Enjoy!

Enjoy playing the test version, and let us know about any comments or questions you have or bugs you find. Please note that the PTS is not a suitable server to play main characters on, since characters may at any point in time be removed or modified due to testing reasons. In other words, such characters are temporary.