We have some ZAM exclusive screenshots from Aion's Assault on Balaurea expansion! Come check them out as we talk about our biggest anticipations for this massive update!

2. Pets! Pets galore!

Everyone loves pets, and it seems as though the Aion team loves pets the most, as players will soon realize that their pet is not just their fuzzy friend; he or she is also their helper! That's right, with AoB's new addition of the pet system, players will be able to find the pet that best suits their personality, as well as their play style! It has already been revealed that there will be at least five pet "types" to choose from, ranging from purely decorative pets, to the watchful pet, who notifies his or her master of any hostile players in the vicinity, or the productive pet, who randomly gives out certain items (manastones, Balaur items, etc) when fed, or the storage pet, who can, obviously, store items for you, or even the rare ones that do a combination of the above!

Ultimately, however, what this new Pet System represents is the level of customization and personalization that the Aion team wants to bring to their MMO. Add this new pet system on top of Aion's already impressive character customization systems, like the Dye System, Godstones, Manastones, Stigma Stones and their remodeling system, and you've got more customization than you can shake a stick at!

1. Personal Instances!

If you've always loved Aion but have never had the opportunity to get a group together to tackle a dungeon, then these new solo-only personal instances should definitely get you drooling. Heck, even for those of you who have done a lot of dungeon running with groups should realize just how awesome it would be to have a solo-only instance. Now, we're not saying that it's a bad thing that you need to socialize to get a group going for, say, Fire Temple, but don't you ever wish there was a place where you only had yourself to rely on? These solo instances provide great opportunities for players to really learn to play their class and to be self-sufficient, and that's definitely an exciting thing.

It's also quite intelligent of the Aion Team to situate these solo instances in notorious "slow leveling" gaps that Aion players have found difficult to slog through.The first solo instance, Haramel, will be available for players between levels 18-21, with the next solo instance, Nightmare (a tale of romance, set in an instance!? Sold!) being aimed at players level 37-41, and the final solo dungeon, Taloc's Hollow, being aimed at players level 50-55. To date, there really haven't been many MMORPGs that have employed the concept of the "solo dungeon," so it would be great to see how these work out!

And those are the top three things we're looking forward to in Aion's new expansion, Assault on Balaurea! Remember, you can click on the images scattered throughout the article to check out some exclusive AoB screenshots, and be sure to leave a comment as to what you are looking forward to the most in Assault on Balaurea! This expansion goes live on the Public Test Servers tomorrow, with the official launch coming on September 7th.