Public Test Server is already hosting the long awaited patch 1.9. In preparation for its release on the live servers NCSoft released several articles and videos to help you navigate through the new features and content. Official PowerWiki has a page dedicated to showcasing all the new features you’ll have access to in mere days. Kinslon, Aion producer, along with Tamat (Andrew Beegle) and Lani Blazier, made a video entitled Aion 1.9 Podcast we are embedding below. In it they discuss the patch and we can see short glimpses of all the new stuff. They call it the “patch created for players”, as it aims to correct all the things players themselves complained about in the months since Aion launched. Not a huge content patch but player pleasing patch that should, hopefully, shift the accent from grind to having fun.

Here’s (another) recap of the most important improvements:
- New Stigmas and Stigma vendor
- New Skills including the lvl 40 anti stun skills
- UI improvements (Floating Quickbar for example)
- Daily Quests (starting lvl 30)
- New Fashion Items
- Enchanting to +15 and Armsfusion (combining two weapons into one with mixed stats)
- New Scrolls
- Gathering (Expert skill up to 499) and Dismantling
- Vendors for more rare profession materials
- New LFG system
- More XP and lower cost of flight and Soul Healing

Just as patch 1.9 hit the PTS NCSoft released a trailer for the patch 2.0, from now on to be called Assault on Balaurea. The video showcases new instances, bosses, lands, pets and the other goodness arriving with 2.0. See it in all its HD glory below.

The long awaited Aion patch 1.9 is available for download on the PTS as I write this post. The server should be down for maintenance while the patch is being applied. The patch is 3199MB in size.

Update: At some point patch download stopped and got reset. The new size is 4028MB and the version is 1.9.0.1.