This article covers the Korean service and announcements; times are KST (UTC+9) unless stated otherwise. In AION 2’s Korean community, being “wanja-ed” means seeing equipment or stats you worked hard to obtain suddenly become available to latecomers for far less time and currency. Wanja is a Korean meatball: the bitter metaphor is that early players’ efforts have been ground up and served to those following them. Your equipment can retain exactly the same attack power and still prompt the complaint. What changed is what a player must give up to obtain that power.
Season 2’s ranking rewards are a particularly revealing example. Someone who gears up early at least gets to use that equipment to run dungeons sooner. But making an equally powerful title available in a shop to everyone at the end of a competitive season changes the reason for competing in the first place. Both measures narrow gaps, yet they affect different kinds of investment. That distinction helps explain the controversy that has continued through roughly eleven months since launch.
Season 2 ranking rewards: more than a price of 2 Quna
As Season 2 opened on January 21, 2026, NC announced that end-of-season rewards would be paid out according to the ranking of each class. If you're competing for records within the same class, even if you have good gear, there's a reason to change the attack order to save a few seconds. Gear is a tool used in the process, and the title is a marker that shows how far the season went. Even if stronger gear comes out next season, the record set last season may remain meaningful.
The problem is that towards the end of the season, controversy arose surrounding the fairness of ranking records. The development team explained that it is difficult to determine how much the problem affected each character and provide differential rewards. Recognizing questionable records could result in those who competed legitimately being pushed out, and even if the rankings were corrected with incomplete records, the wrong people could be disadvantaged. It is necessary to distinguish which users actually used the shortcut and whether the management was able to determine a reliable ranking.
The April 8 patch changed rewards for four Season 2 activities: Transcendence, Awakening Battles, Nightmare, and Subjugation Battles. The planned ranking rewards were withdrawn, and the Shugo Caravan instead sold a Season 2 ranking reward box once per character for 2 Quna. Its title provided the same effect as the Challenger 1 title. Quna is distinct from Kinah, the currency used for upgrades. This was a historical measure: the sale ended before scheduled maintenance on July 1.
In-store sales reduced the damage caused by misjudging whose records to recognize. Instead, it became difficult for those who reduced their records until the last day to show that achievement with just the title. A challenge that has already ended cannot be retaken under the same conditions. In a competition like this, it is easier to understand how to review abnormal records from the start of the next season and what rewards will be provided in common if the ranking is not confirmed. That way, the person taking on the challenge can understand the conditions of competition and spend time on it.
How reduced pet requirements changed the grind
“Pet grinding” means repeatedly collecting pets and spending Soul Crystals to develop pets and species knowledge. Two separate changes affected this process. On December 24, 2025, the daily Odium Storage dungeon introduced another source of materials through a pet growth box. For players previously farming field monsters, this opened an alternative route. Returning players trying to fit several activities into limited time benefited from having a choice of material sources.
On April 8, 2026, the amount needed per level also changed. Pet and species-knowledge experience requirements were reduced to 70% of their previous amounts. A level that once needed 100 experience would now need about 70. Accumulated experience could therefore produce additional levels, with species Soul Crystal points awarded for eligible overflow beyond the cap. The recalculated pet levels did not separately grant species-knowledge experience, and special species were excluded from the pet overflow settlement.
These changes affect players differently. A new dungeon changes where you can farm from that point onward; lower experience requirements change how far your existing stock of crystals will take you. For someone already at the cap, the uses of overflow points may matter more than another farming source. A general statement that “pets are easier to level” does not tell every account what it should check.
Heroic equipment: a cost reduction with a calculable refund
The equipment-cost reduction had a relatively clear baseline. On February 11, the cost of a stage-5 Heroic equipment breakthrough fell from 7.3 million to 3 million Kinah—a difference of 4.3 million per attempt. NC said it would reimburse previously spent Kinah differences in stages based on play records. Equipment inheritance fees were also removed, with prior inheritance costs to be reimbursed retroactively. The 3 million figure was the stage-5 breakthrough fee at that time, rather than the total cost of completing an item from scratch.
A refund tied to fixed fees lets someone who upgraded just before the patch understand what they should receive. It does not reimburse every expense involved in obtaining good options. One player may gather materials while another buys them, and the number of attempts needed can differ. Defining the refund specifically as the breakthrough-cost difference makes it possible to distinguish that amount from the rest of an item’s acquisition cost.
Crafting is harder to assess. On April 8, the crafting cap rose to Expert level 70 and new Unique Draconic equipment designs, including the Hyeonryong and Jeokryong lines, were added. Unlike a fixed breakthrough fee, an existing weapon’s market price also depends on what the new designs produce and who can obtain their materials. Someone keeping a crafted item can therefore judge the update differently from someone planning to resell it. A higher crafting cap alone does not establish a specific weapon’s financial loss.
Tradable Abyss medal boxes: who can actually catch up?
Abyss is a space connected to the PvP gear progression where you face other players. In May, the Guard Commander weapon, Guarder, and Elite Guard Captain weapons obtained from the Abyss store and through inheritance crafting were added. Having a goal like this gives you one more reason to go to the battlefield. Even if you fight once today and don't get the gear right away, if you collect the necessary materials, you'll be closer to the next stage.
On July 1, the Abyss gained three types of medal boxes that could be traded and listed on the marketplace. They could drop from Chapter 1 Abyss boss contribution boxes or newly added middle-layer orders. Simply saying “medals became tradable” misses an important distinction: the patch specified the boxes as the tradable items, and also provided direct acquisition routes.
The benefits differ even among latecomers. Someone short on battlefield time but with Kinah earned elsewhere can buy boxes to catch up. A new player lacking both money and equipment may still be unable to afford them. Established players also differ: some welcome selling the boxes they earn, while others want battlefield participation to preserve an equipment advantage. More supply alone does not tell us how much the real gap narrowed. Who gains access to which progression route matters as much as the number of boxes.
The September 10th Abyss improvement notice included two seemingly opposite plans side by side. By adding the ‘[Jin] Guardian Guard Captain’ weapon and guard on top of the Guard Captain gear, the plan was to reduce the gap between reward sections in Abyss boss battles and conquest battles. Setting a high gear goal and dividing rewards more evenly is something we can do together. However, the information that people who have existing weapons need right now is whether their weapon is used as material for the next gear and what additional items they need to collect. The announcement that day said that acquisition methods and abilities would be announced in the official patch notes. There is a gap like this between the day the direction is revealed and the day I can decide what to do with my gear.
Why Korean and global servers have different starting points
At the user meeting held on April 11, the development team explained that as the difficulty of Season 2 increased, there were users who gave up on the progression. The focus was on lifting up users who were behind, and the goal was to pursue a stepwise progression in which what was accumulated in the previous stage would be used for the next upgrade. If a returning person has to prepare for the last season's dungeons one by one, and there are few parties to go with in that section, it will be difficult for new members to join even if their previous efforts are preserved. There are also realistic reasons for requesting relaxation.
After the official global launch on October 5, there is one more object of comparison. According to the development team's explanation on October 13, the global version restricted some percentage abilities from being too high from the beginning, and in Korea, there were users who had already set the attack speed and cooldown reduction to high levels, making it difficult to make drastic changes. Let's assume we place an upper limit on the same abilities. In the new server, this will be the basis for deciding what gear to choose in the future. On older servers, the first issue is what to do with the weapon and build you have already selected after looking at the options. There is a gap between the direction of reflecting the improvements that received a good response in the global version to the domestic version and the patch announcement that will change the domestic gear and by what value.
Should you invest in equipment now?
For those who are worried about wanja, saying ‘it will get easier later anyway, so let’s wait’ is only half helpful. If you have a dungeon to challenge with your friends this week, and breaking a level is a condition for joining that party, then you're definitely getting something in return for spending Kinah now. Even if the cost goes down later, the time we spent together that day remains. On the other hand, if you can already go to the content you want to enjoy and are trying to fit one more option by using all the materials that are difficult to trade, there is little reason to rush to judgment. In the patch announcement, it becomes more important to check whether existing options can be inherited and how to deal with materials already used.
That's what I want to see first in the next mitigation announcement for AION 2. Next to ‘How easy is it?’ is written ‘What happens to characters who have already completed that step?’ If there is a specific answer, such as the excess of the pet's maximum level, both the person who ran first and the person who returned can choose according to their situation. For rewards that are difficult to return later, such as rankings, the explanation is needed closer to the first day of the season than the last day.
