Pets are no longer restricted to fetching the morning paper and crowd pleasing tricks, as today Aion redefines how MMORPGs approach pets, creating an entirely new subsystem for players to explore within the upcoming free expansion, Aion: Assault on Balaurea. For the first time within Aion, players will have access to functional pets capable of storing goods, assisting with crafting, acting as guardians by alerting their masters to nearby enemies, and of course those designed to make their masters look good.

While the pets system will continuously evolve throughout the life of the game, Aion: Assault on Balaurea will launch with five pet types:

Companion – Adventure with their owner throughout Atreia

Signal – Alert their owner to the presence of enemy players

Pack – Expand their owner’s inventory

Fortune – Produce items for their owner after being well-fed

Purebred – Provide their owner with multiple functions at once

Players will have 100 dedicated pet slots available to populate, but are only capable of summoning one pet at a time, however, features like inventory space increase remains while the pet is put away. Players are restricted to one of each pet. Names are not unique, so players have the freedom to name them and make changes at will. And as a special treat, a new praise pet emote triggers unique animations for each type of pet – watch out Westminster Kennel Club, there’s a new set of tricks to teach those old dogs.

Players will have plenty of opportunities in and out of the game to acquire pets, including in-game purchases, quest rewards, item drops, NCStore, and special promotional events. To celebrate the release of the expansion, those who purchase Aion: Assault on Balaurea (MSRP $39.99) – the new retail SKU that provides everything a new player needs to jump in to the world of Atreia – from select retailers will receive an exclusive Companion pet along with a premium Speckled Ailu (Panda) Pack pet.