There are many traditional dangers in AION. Balaur armies, angry Asmodians, enormous dungeon bosses and the occasional healer who appears to have developed a philosophical objection to healing.
But during AION 2 Global's opening weeks, one of the most persistent threats to certain inhabitants of Atreia has been rather less spectacular: an account restriction notice from NC.
And the numbers have become difficult to ignore.
NC has reported 58,057 account restriction actions across six enforcement announcements between October 11 and October 21, 2026, targeting bot operations, gold farming, unauthorized programs and real-money trading. The latest round, announced October 21, involved 15,380 accounts, making it the largest of the six publicly documented actions.
For a game that launched globally on October 5, this is a remarkable amount of enforcement activity in a little over two weeks. It also raises a more interesting question than simply how many accounts NC can restrict: what do these numbers actually tell us about AION 2's economy, and how much do they leave unanswered?
Six Account Restriction Waves in Eleven Days
The first major announcement arrived on October 11, when NC reported restrictions affecting 4,996 accounts. Two days later, another 10,000 appeared in the enforcement figures. By October 14, a third round had brought the combined reported total to 24,418.
We covered those early actions individually in our reports on the first 4,996 account restrictions, the subsequent 10,000-account crackdown and the additional 9,422 restrictions.
NC did not stop there. Another 7,933 accounts were included in the October 16 announcement, followed by 10,326 on October 17. The October 21 notice then added the largest single reported batch so far.
| Enforcement Date (CEST) | Accounts Reported | Running Total |
|---|---|---|
| October 11 | 4,996 | 4,996 |
| October 13 | 10,000 | 14,996 |
| October 14 | 9,422 | 24,418 |
| October 16 | 7,933 | 32,351 |
| October 17 | 10,326 | 42,677 |
| October 21 | 15,380 | 58,057 |
| Total | 58,057 | Six notices |
Important: These are the numbers of restricted accounts reported in NC's six announcements, added together. NC has not confirmed that all 58,057 represent different accounts, individual players or permanent bans.
That distinction matters. A commercial gold-farming operation may control numerous accounts, and the published notices do not establish whether an account could appear in more than one enforcement batch.
There is also no publicly documented breakdown showing how many accounts were restricted for each specific violation. Describing every entry in the table as a confirmed bot would therefore be inaccurate.
What Is NC Actually Targeting?
The language in NC's announcements has remained remarkably consistent. The company identifies botting and organized gold farming, unauthorized macros or programs, real-money trading and abnormal economic activity as the central concerns.
These activities are related, but they are not identical.
A bot automates gameplay that would otherwise require a human player. Gold-farming operations may involve large collections of accounts gathering currency or materials, sometimes using automation and sometimes employing other organized methods. Real-money trading, usually abbreviated RMT, involves exchanging in-game value for real-world money outside the permitted systems.
Economic abuse is another category, covering abnormal trading patterns that interfere with the game's economy.
NC says the disciplinary restrictions follow reviews conducted under its Operation Policy. It has not revealed the detection methods or how many cases belong to each category, which makes independent assessment of individual decisions difficult.
The company has also repeatedly clarified one important point: ordinary gameplay, including long grinding sessions, is not itself a violation.
This is reassuring, considering that spending six hours repeatedly killing the same creature has been a perfectly respectable MMORPG activity for roughly twenty-five years. It may raise questions about your weekend plans, but that is a separate matter.
Why the Crackdown Matters for AION 2's Economy
One reason these announcements deserve more attention than their raw numbers is that AION 2 Global has been fighting potential economic abuse since before launch.
In September, NC announced that direct player-to-player trading would be disabled, leaving the Market as the principal channel for ordinary item trading. We examined that decision in our report on the removal of direct player trading.
The reasoning was straightforward. When valuable items and currency move through a central marketplace rather than private exchanges, a developer potentially gains more visibility into suspicious transactions.
But controlling an MMORPG economy is rarely that simple.
AION 2 relies on players gathering materials, crafting items, improving equipment and trading resources. These ordinary activities provide opportunities for legitimate players to earn Kina, while also creating incentives for operations capable of farming valuable materials around the clock.
Automated farming may increase competition for resources or distort market supply. Real-money trading can create additional incentives for account abuse. Removing offending accounts may reduce those pressures, but NC has not released evidence establishing how these specific restriction waves have affected material prices, inflation or the number of bots remaining in the game.
There is no reliable basis for claiming that AION 2's economy has already been fixed. Equally, the fact that NC continues to announce restrictions does not by itself prove that its enforcement strategy is failing.
It shows that enforcement is continuing. Whether it prevents abuse faster than new operations can emerge is a different question.
The Market Restrictions Reveal Another Complication
There is an interesting connection between the account crackdown and the game's recent Market adjustments.
On October 14, NC introduced gameplay-history-based restrictions on listing gathered materials for sale. The October 21 patch subsequently relaxed that system for some previously restricted players, while leaving restrictions in place for others.
We covered the adjustment in our AION 2 Market Restrictions Eased report.
NC has not disclosed the exact criteria used to determine who can sell gathered materials, and the company has not stated that every player affected by the Market rule is suspected of botting.
That is a vital distinction. A gameplay-history restriction on selling materials is not automatically a disciplinary account ban.
There is a genuine balancing problem here. A system that makes life harder for automated farming operations may also inconvenience ordinary players who want to sell resources collected during legitimate play.
Gathering and crafting need a functioning marketplace. Otherwise, players can spend an entire evening collecting materials only to discover that the most difficult obstacle is not a monster, but a trading interface that refuses to cooperate.
Our Raw Leather Farming Guide illustrates just how important ordinary material collection can be for progression. That particular material primarily comes from monster drops, so it should not automatically be treated as subject to every gathering-specific Market restriction, but the broader economic principle is the same: resources need a useful purpose and a reasonably predictable route into the crafting economy.
If NC can limit abusive transactions while preserving normal trading, the restrictions may prove worthwhile. Without clearer criteria and economic data, however, players are left judging the consequences through their own experiences.
Account Restrictions Are Not the Same as Security Locks
Another detail has appeared consistently in NC's notices, and it deserves particular attention from players worried about losing access to their accounts.
NC distinguishes disciplinary account restrictions from temporary security locks.
Disciplinary restrictions concern alleged violations of the game's Operation Policy. Temporary security locks, by contrast, can be applied when unusual account access suggests a possible security risk, such as an unfamiliar device or connection that might indicate account compromise.
According to NC, a security lock is a protective measure rather than a punishment. Its purpose is to protect the account and its items while the situation is checked.
The company describes these security locks separately from the reported enforcement figures and does not provide a precise count for them.
Players who believe their account has been restricted incorrectly, or who encounter a protective lock, should contact AION 2 Global Customer Support. NC says these requests are reviewed individually.
It is worth keeping the distinction clear rather than treating every inability to log in as proof of cheating or a permanent ban.
Can NC Actually Win the Fight Against Bots?
Six enforcement rounds within eleven days certainly demonstrate that NC is devoting attention to the problem. The October 21 batch of 15,380 accounts is the largest publicly reported action in this series, and the combined notices amount to more than 58,000 restriction actions.
But a large enforcement total is not the same thing as a successful outcome.
The more meaningful questions concern what happens afterwards. Are automated farming operations able to replace restricted accounts immediately? Does suspicious Market activity decrease? Can ordinary players find materials and complete quests without competing against obvious automation? Are legitimate gatherers being affected by systems intended to stop abuse?
NC has not published enough information to answer those questions conclusively.
That is why the latest announcement should be viewed as another chapter in the Global launch's economic story rather than a final victory over gold farming.
For now, the developer's position is clear: unauthorized automation, prohibited real-money trading and abusive economic activity remain enforcement priorities, while ordinary grinding is explicitly permitted.
And for everyone who simply wants to collect materials, improve equipment and occasionally sell something to a Shugo, a fairer marketplace would be considerably more useful than another impressive-looking enforcement total.
After all, the monsters of Atreia are already quite capable of making life difficult.
Players shouldn't need an army of automated competitors as well.
Sources: NC's official AION 2 Global account restriction announcements dated October 11, October 13, October 14, October 16, October 17, and October 21 via NC's official Steam announcements. The total of 58,057 is calculated from the six published figures, not an official deduplicated count of unique accounts.
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