Aion's next big patch, dubbed "Aion 2.0" is a big deal. It's bringing a ton of changes to improve the game, but by far, the most cuddly change it's bringing is the new pet system. The system is aimed at making pets useful beyond just complementing your armor's primary colors, by letting them carry items, convert a bunch of lesser items into a single high-quality item, among other things. We've got the full list of pet types below, and an interview that answers all your questions about the new system, but first check out this brand new video.
We know from the press release that players can collect up to 100 pets, but only have one out and visible at any given time and that anyone that buys Aion at retail after the reboxing of the game post-patch will recieve a unique pet depending on where they purchased the game (Steam included). This is clearly not enough information to satisfy us, so we dug deeper and spoke with the devs over at NCsoft to get all of our questions answered. Here's what we discovered:
- There are five pet types, each with different abilities:
Companion – Travel alongside you throughout Atreia. Have no other function than looking good!
Signal – Alert their owners to the presence of nearby enemy players. Never get ganked again!
Pack – Expand your inventory even further by carrying between 6-24 slots of items. Items are stored even if the pet is put away!
Fortune – After being well fed (you can feed your pet certain trash or purchasable food), these pets will present you a random gift. Anything from potions to entire weapons can be produced this way!
Purebred – The tip-top of the pet chain—purebreds will have two unique powers instead of one. For instance, a purebred pet could carry 20 items and alert you to enemy presence!
- Your pets will travel with you anytime, anywhere: One of Aion's most famous features is the ability to fly, but what happens to your poor pig when you do so? He sprouts his own wings of course! All pets will be able to keep up with you no matter where you are.
- Every pet has unique animations: Every pet is different, so why shouldn't their animations be? Every pet in AION will have a unique praise animation, and they're ready to show you their tricks whenever you feel like it.
- Each pet is yours : Name your pet whatever you'd like (within reason). If you want to name your pig “piggy”, you won't have to worry about the name already being taken by another player. And if you change your mind later, you can always change it again!
- You can only collect one of each type: You can collect one hundred pets, but they've all got to be different. You can have all backpack pets if you want, but only one of each type.
- Pets aren't forever...unless you want them to be: Sure, you can keep your pets forever and ever if you want--they won't abandon you--but if you get tired of one of their faces, you can send 'em packing. Don't worry, you can always go collect it again when you inevitably regret it. The pets won't hold it against you.
- Pets are easy to get, but can be hard to collect: Getting a pet is simple. Getting the pet you want may not be. Pets can be learned from vendors, rewarded from quests, or dropped from high level bosses.
