Aion is now launched as "Truly Free" World Wide (NA and EU). Since the truly free approach did very well for Lineage II, NC Soft released Aion with the same business plan. Truly Free brings no account restrictions and access to the latest updates. Aion 3.0 brings new features into the game including player housing, an increased level cap, player mounts and new content, zones and instances. Of course there are shops which sells xp boosts, pets, and many other things, but it doesn't seem to affect the game balance.