The Aion team has published a letter that provides updates on the game's open beta cycle, which is currently under way and runs through Sept. 13. The letter outlines a number of issues that have either been addressed or are in the process of being fixed:

• Lag issues have been resolved, but the team will continue to troubleshoot the issue as needed.
• The team is searching for errors in the setup of the authentication server and is working to improve its behavior.
• The team is working on a patch that will address GameGuard errors and is asking for feedback.
• A fix has been implemented to make sure players can access the beta forums.
• North American open beta keys are now available to everyone via FilePlanet. A limited number of European keys are also available.

The full letter can be found after the jump.

The Aion Team extends a huge thank you for the overwhelming response we have received throughout the beginning of our ongoing open beta testing. We've had a few hiccups along the way, but have managed to resolve many of them with your persistent help, reports, and sincere desire for the game to run as it should.

The main topic of discussion over the past few days has been lag, in particular on the North American servers. We believe we have resolved the issue, but we will aggressively work to continue to improve and prevent similar issues. Over the next couple of days, we will do more in-depth troubleshooting to flush out the issue. It is very important to us that the game plays as intended for everyone, and we won't rest before we reach that goal.

The second issue we are addressing is the authentication server, which from a player point of view, is the login process. We are investigating the issues with its behavior during today and this evening to search for errors in our setups and to try a few different ideas we have that will allow us to understand the player reports and improve its behavior. We will let you know ahead of time if this will impact service in anyway.

The next issue is GameGuard. We are aware that a couple of new errors have popped up since our closed beta tests. We are working on a patch that will address a couple of them. Feedback is essential as we troubleshoot these errors, as the data you give us helps us narrow problem factors down and reach solutions quicker. To give you additional information and suggested fixes that might help your GameGuard-related situation before you need to call upon a customer services representative, we have added a GameGuard information page on www.aiononline.com.

The beta forums have been a quieter than normal, in part due to irregularities with our forum authentication script. Certain upgrades that needed to be made for open beta apparently weren't completed in time, preventing both new and old accounts from logging in. The fix is now implemented. If you were able to log in prior to this update, but notice that you are suddenly unable to, make sure to update your Aion account password following these instructions. Your password update may take as long as 30 minutes before it is effective.

The final noteworthy topic relates to beta keys. Many of you have wondered why we have been so restrictive in distributing them. We know many of you have guildmates or friends who would love to give the game a try before making a further commitment. To ensure that we had time to set our servers up properly and get rid of initial connectivity issues, we throttled the key giveaways and so that we could ramp the distribution up slowly but securely. We are now at a stage where we are confident enough to open this final beta phase up to a much broader audience by giving away North American open beta keys to everyone! FilePlanet is hosting this giveaway, and you will not need to be a paying subscriber in order to get your hands on one of the keys. FilePlanet also have a number of European keys to give away, so get them while they last! Many more European websites in different languages will also be offering European keys.

Again, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your continued help in the open beta test. With your help, we will flush out any remaining issues before the upcoming release of Aion!

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