You will have the default character setup for all Key Binds and User Interface options. You will also notice that there is a “?” button near the bottom of your screen. This leads to the in-game tutorials that will pop up as you encounter different game mechanics.  

Use the tutorials if you are relatively new to the MMORPG world. However if you wish to turn them off you can click on any one of the “?” buttons and check the “Do not show tutorial from now on.”

The movement for Aion is set up to be the WASD or Arrow Keys by default.  Camera Movement is controlled by clicking and holding down the right mouse button. Camera Zoom is controlled by the mouse wheel.

Most of these things can be changed in the Options menu. To access the Options menu, click the menu at the bottom of the screen, or navigate to the Options menu by pressing O. Select the “Key Mapping” tab to customize the controls and what keys do what.

There is also a “Game Options” tab that allows you to personalize the User Interface and chose which functions are available during game play. For example, you can toggle a “distance to target” display, enable a setting that displays numbers on Health and Mana bars, or view of the target’s target. Once you have a setup that works well for you, start your journey. You can always come back later and change the options.

The next thing to do is set up the Quickbar. By pressing K you can access all of your current skills, emotes and actions. Set these up on the Quickbar so they feel natural and comfortable to you.  If you’re new to the game, be sure to have the “Return” skill bound to the Quickbar, which will allow you to return to the beginning area should you become lost. It’s also a good idea to have the “Loot” action bound to the Quickbar, which will allow you to loot any monsters you defeat.

Once you have the Quickbar set up, you are ready to begin!

Look for an NPC (Non Player Character) with a blue arrow over their head. The blue arrow indicates that the NPC has a Quest. Double click or right click on the NPC to interact with them. Start the Quest and follow the instructions. 
 

Once you acquire Kerubar Hunt, which requires you to kill Striped Kerubs, you will be introduced to Aion’s combat. One of the easiest ways to target enemies is to click on them. You can also target the closest in range target by pressing Tab. To attack the target, click the icons on the Quickbar, or press the corresponding keys on the keyboard.
 

Becoming familiar with your skills and the targeting system is one of the more important things for a beginner. Walk around and experiment with combat a little until you feel comfortable with it.

While you’re wandering around, keep an eye out for glowing plants called Aria. These are the first Gatherable objects in Aion. Gatherable objects can be used in crafting professions, which is something you can experience later. For now, gathering Aria is a decent way to gain a bit of experience, and ten are needed for a future Quest.

Continue completing the Questline that begin with Kerub Hunt to become more comfortable with the game. 
 

When you reach level 3, which should happen after completing three to four Quests, a small blinking button with a scroll icon will appear in the lower right area of your screen. This is button indicates a Survey has arrived; click to open it.

This particular survey is part of the Adventurer’s Guide, which was implemented in October of 2010. This feature is to help point you in the right direction as well as give you a few items to help with your journey. The reward for attaining level 3 is 10 Minor Life Potions.

Try to finish off any remaining quests in the Akarios Plains and head to the first town, Akarios Village. By this point try to have those 10 Aria mentioned earlier in your inventory. You can check your inventory by pressing I.

Once you enter Akarios Village a Quest Menu will pop up and you will start on your first Campaign Quest. Campaign Quests are the main story arc for your character so completing them is central to the progression of the game. Campaign Quests be shown as bright yellow Quest markers.

Next to Kalio, the first Campaign Quest NPC, there is a Priest named Polinia, speak with her and start her Quest, Collecting Aria,  and then speak with her again to give her the 10 Aria you collected. Polinia will reward you with a few Potions and some XP.

Seek out the rest of the Quest related NPCs in the village and speak with the merchants to sell unneeded items in your Inventory. Open your Inventory and look for items with grey names; these serve no purpose other than as pet food or for selling to merchants. Armor or weapons you can’t use should also be sold to the merchants. 

Press J to bring up the Quest menu, and click the checkbox to track your progress on specific Quests.

You can also click any one of your current Quests to see a small description of what you must do to complete that Quest. If there are blue linked names in the text, that means that there is an in-game dictionary entry for the specific term or phrase. If it is a location or NPC, clicking the “Locate” button at the bottom of the entry will mark it on your map with a purple “X.”

Once you have acquired a bit of Kinah (Aion’s currency) by selling your unneeded items, you should bind to the Obelisk in Akarios Village. This will allow you to teleport to Akarios Village using the “Return” skill, or resurrect at Akarios Village in the event of your demise. 

Next you can acquire more inventory space by speaking to the Cube Artisan, and having him expand your Cube for a small fee.

Once you have bound yourself to the Obelisk and expanded your Cube, you should speak with your Class Trainer and purchase the level 3 Skillbooks to learn new Skills. If you have extra Kinah, purchasing the level 5 Skillbooks in advance can be a good idea. This will save you a trip back to town. 

Since you are now level 3 and are able to learn some of these new Skills, familiarize yourself with them and be sure to bind them to your Quickbar.

Once all of this is done, head out of town and speak with Muranes about your first Campaign Quest, The Kerubim Threat. You might see grey Quest markers above some NPC’s heads, which mean that you are too low level to get their Quest.

Head down to the Cliona Lake and west towards Ager’s Farm; there should be a few Quests that you can complete down in the Cliona Lake and Ager’s Farm area including; Uno’s Ingredients, Abandoned Goods, and the first part of the Campaign Quest The Kerubim Threat.

Once you have finished up at the farm, be on the lookout for the Pinbeak Airon named Tirratirra. Tirratirra is a level 4 named monster that has a chance to drop some level 4 unique equipment. Tirratirra likes to hang around the center island of Cliona Lake. 
 

Finish up the Uno’s Ingredients Quest and the first part of The Kerubim Threat Campaign Quest as well as the Abandoned Goods Quest.

Head back to Akarios Village, sell anything you don’t need, and turn in the Quests you have completed. On the way out, collect the A Book for Namus, Quest from Melampus. In addition, grab the next step in The Kerubim Threat and head back to Ager’s Farm to complete it.

Once you are done with The Kerubim Threat, head over to Feira and grab her Quest, To Fish in Peace. The Brax, an ox-like creature, she has you kill also have a chance to drop a Broken Axe Handle that triggers another small Quest when you use it. If you don’t get it by killing the 5 Brax needed for To Fish in Peace, you can spend a little more time slaying Brax.
 

Once you reach level 5 you will receive another Survey from the Adventurer’s Guide. This time, you will receive 20 Broiled Mela!

At level 5 you can use the next set of Skillbooks, so be sure to purchase them if you haven’t done so already. Rework your Quickbar and experiment with the new Skills a bit to get used to what they do and how you can work them into your growing repertoire. Finishing Quests in the Cliona Lake area is a good way to become familiar with the new Skills.

Once you are familiar with your new Skills and have finished up Feira’s Quest, head back to Akarios Village and visit the merchant to sell unneeded items. Grab Mune’s Quest, Pernos’s Robe,  from inside the building with the weapon and armor merchants and, if you have spare Kinah, purchase a higher level weapon if you don’t have one already.
 

Following, you should pay a visit to your class trainer to purchase your level 7 Skillbooks, and if you wish, your level 9 Skillbooks. Head right out of the village and towards Daminu Forest. Be sure to pick up Pranoa’s Quest, Light up the Night, on the path to Daminu Forest.

Run past the monsters and turn in your Quests on the little hill where Namus, Noah, and Ampeis are. Start up the next Campaign Quest, Request of the Elim, then head back a bit to the Adult Sparkies and finish up Light up the Night. Grab some Slyphen wings from Evergalde Sylphen for the Quest, Insomnia Medicine as well.

Next up is the Abex leather from Grove Abex. Take caution, the Abex will assist each other in combat if too close together. The Abex also have a chance to drop another quest item called Namus’s Diary. Double click this to activate the Quest The Nymph’s Gown. Directly northeast from Namus is a waterfall called the Nymph’s Pond. If you go there at night, you can see the Nymph bathing and her gown will be resting on the rocks next to her. Grab her gown and take it back to Namus.

After you have the Abex Skin and have started the Quests in Daminu Forest, start your journey back to Akarios Village. Stop by Feira and Pranoa on your way back to turn in their Quests. 
 

Once at Akarios Village, pick up any new Quests and head back to Daminu Forest; it’s time to hunt some pigs, Shortbristle Bellepigs to be precise. Be on the lookout for the Sleeping Elim Elders that will appear as green dots on your Minimap. Speak with two of these sleeping Elim and finish hunting down eight pigs then return to the hill where Namus and company are.

Start on the next part of the new Campaign Quest, Illegal Logging, and head deeper into the forest to confront the Dukaki who are logging the area. Watch out for Worgs and the Dukaki, these will be some of the first aggressive monsters you encounter; if you get too close they will attack you!

Aggressive monsters show up as red dots on the minimap.

Follow the path until you can see Melponeh’s Campsite, go there and turn in any Quests that you can, as well as pick up any Quests that are available to you.

One of the Quests you will pick up is called Thinning the Worgs, this is a nice Quest that gives a lot of XP. You will also get a few Quests for the Agaric Spore Road, you can ignore those for now and do them later. First things first; get the Campaign Quest, Illegal Logging done followed by Thinning Out the Worgs.

Run back through the forest towards the village and continue the Campaign Quest by speaking with Daminu. Once the cutscene is finished you will need to return to the Akarios Village to claim your reward. Using the Return Skill is a quick way to return you to the village, but be warned that you can only use the Skill once every 20 minutes.
 

This latest Campaign Quest will reward you with a weapon. Unless you received a rare weapon drop, this should be the best weapon you have come across. Equip it and grab all the remaining Quests in Akarios Village, use your Level 7 Skillbooks, and rework your Quickbar. After you have cleared your inventory of miscellaneous items and made some Kinah, you can take the Flightpath in the village to fast travel to Melponeh’s Campsite and grab any Quests that you can there.

Travel down the Agaric Spore Road and speak with Pernos, grab his Quest to locate his friend Tutty. Head up north and follow the path, killing the Krall and Dukaki as you see fit. After you have passed a rickety watchtower on the right, you will notice a raised area to the left. Head up there to discover the fate of Tutty and complete the Quest.  Be sure to kill at least 12 Dukaki while you are up there to finish the first part of the Campaign Quest, Neutralizing Odium.

Return to Pernos and report Tutty’s fate to him. Pick up the next Quest in the Questline, Avenging Tutty. Also be sure to report to Oz and grab the next step in Neutralizing Odium. Next head back up to where Tutty was found and start taking revenge on the gluttonous Dukaki.

Be on the lookout for the black hooded Tursin Big Boss as well; you will need to defeat 3 of these before you return to Pernos and Oz. Once you have the Wooden Spoons, you need to head deeper in to find the Odium Cauldron. You need a sample from the cauldron to take to Pernos. Return to Oz and finish up the Campaign Quest, then head over to Pernos and turn in his Quests while starting the next step in the Campaign Quest, Neutralizing Odium.
 

Once you hit level 8 you will receive another Survey. This is the third survey of the Adventurer’s Guide, and will award 20 Minor Life Serums!

After completing the Quests , head down the Agaric Spore Road and slay all the monsters you can find; most of the monsters in this area are related to Quests.

Complete the Quests at the beginning of Agaric Spore Road, and to run back up to the Odium Cauldron to sabotage it. While up there you will grab the Ancient Cube for Baevrunerk. On the North side of the Cauldron’s area, up against the cliff you will find a small mining camp. Look for the Ancient Cube on the ground. Grab it and run back to Melponeh’s Campsite.

Speak with Tula, and use your Return Skill. Turn in all the Quests you can, and start on the final Campaign Quest in Poeta! Head back to the Campsite and speak with Oz. Then head back to Pernos, who will direct you towards Poa at the end of the Agaric Spore Road.

Watch your XP bar, don’t want to go too far over level 9. All XP earned from level 9 on will be lost.

Grab Poa’s Quests, and complete Scouting Timolia Mine first. Once that is done, you can venture into the cave and kill monsters, grab the Suspicious Boxes for Suspicous Ore, or continue on the Campaign Quest, it is up to you. But once you reach level 9, DON’T TURN IN ANY QUESTS!
 

A new Campaign Quest named Ascension will appear when you reach level 9, and you need to drop whatever it is you are doing and do the entire Questline. All other XP gained will be lost. This single Questline takes you through level 9-10
To start this Questline, head to Pernos and speak with him. He will ask you to head to Cliona Lake and bottle some of the water in the crater. You can hit Return and go back to Akarios village and run from there to the Cliona Lake, then to Daminu, and back to Pernos.

Once at the village head down to the lake, stand near the island in the center and open up your inventory (I) and use the bottle Pernos gave you. 

Next you will need to head back into the forest and meet with Daminu again. After obtaining his essence, return to Pernos.

Pernos will reveal your past memories to you, or at least a fragment of them. You see yourself in the Afira Obelisk and will need to speak with Belpartan, like you did before. But this time the memory continues. You will land and need to defeat four Balaur, and Orissan.

After Pernos re-appears you must choose which of the two paths you wish to take. These paths will differ depending on what class you chose in the beginning. Each base class has two sub-classes that they branch out to. You must decide which one you wish to be before continuing your journey. 

Once you have decided on a class, talk to Pernos and chose that class. You have now ascended as a Daeva! You have new ablilities, like Essencetapping and Aethertapping, as well as the ablility to use Divine Power to morph items.
 

There is one more thing you must do before reaching level 10. You must complete A Ceremony in Sanctum.  Speak with Pernos and have him teleport you to Sanctum.

Find Leah and speak with her. She will send you to Jucleas who is to perform the ceremony. You can find Jucleas in the Lyceum to the left once you come to Elyos Square. You will receive the ceremony and be asked to talk to your class preceptor to receive your reward. Your class preceptor will award you with a new weapon, and you will finally be level 10!
 

Once you hit level 10 you will receive another Survey. This is the fourth Survey for the Adventurer’s Guide, and will award 10 Tombstones of Revival!