WithWild Blood having expanded Albion’s gameplay significantly, it’s already time to look forward to what the future will bring for the game. In this new Dev Talk, Game Director Robin Henkys shares some of our thoughts and impressions about the update, and what that means for Albion going forward.
The Wild Blood Update
Wild Blood took longer than most updates to produce, for a number of reasons:
The launch of Albion East, and the various challenges this presented
Multiple groundbreaking features
Shapeshifter Weapons work differently to any previous weapon line
Awakened Weapons added new stats to the combat system
Tracking brought new quest and spawning systems to the open world
Working on many features in parallel means they slow each other down somewhat
New Update Cycle
With this in mind, we’re looking at ways to get updates out more quickly and reliably:
Updates will be tied to the Guild Season schedule, coming roughly every three months
Updates will be smaller, and targeted at a specific area of the game
Other changes being worked on can be released as and when they are ready
Updates will therefore vary in size depending on how many features are completed in each cycle, and the next update will never be far off. This way we can focus on the key features of each, ensuring they are delivered to the highest possible standard.
The Next Update
Our first update on the new schedule will release in January:
It will focus on Guild Seasons
It will feature a new line of rewards, which expands every season
These can be earned by helping your guild climb the season rankings
The way territories produce Season Points will be reworked
A new territory raiding mechanic will drive conflict between guilds
Individual players will be rewarded with a daily Might bonus for successful territory control and raiding
Additionally, there will be various tweaks and rebalancing, including revisiting Hideouts and Headquarter Hideouts, to increase competition for Power Cores.
We’ll have more information for you as we approach January’s release date, so stay tuned for more!
Guide: Tracking
Tracking is a new open world activity that sends you and your group out into the open world to pursue rare creatures.
Tracking 101
To begin Tracking, you’ll first need to unlock the Trainee Tracker node on the Destiny Board, which you can do by getting a small amount of PvE fame. This will allow you to use T3 tracking toolkits. These can either be crafted at a Toolmaker, or purchased directly from the Marketplace.
There are a total of seven types of creatures that you can encounter, each coming in a small version for 1-3 players, and a larger version for 4-8 players. Hunting in a party bigger than these designated sizes is not possible.
Starting the Hunt
To initiate the hunt, you will first need to enter a red or black zone. You can then use the Tracking Toolkit either by clicking on it in your inventory, or with a hotkey (default: U).
This will reveal any readable tracks in your vicinity. A T3 tool can reveal Panthers, Sylvians, and Spirit Bears, with each tier after that adding one more type of creature. Higher tier Toolkits also increase the radius in which you can discover new tracks. Go to one of the tracks you have revealed and interact with it to start the hunt.
Now you will be directed to a specific area to search for further clues. This can be within the same map, but could also lead you to a neighboring zone. Search the marked area, and you will either discover tracks or the creature itself.
Finding and Interacting with Tracks
When you find your target’s tracks, you will need to interact with them in order to progress the hunt. The tracks will be surrounded by a small circle and may have some mobs around them protecting it. You’ll first need to clear these mobs before you can interact with the track.
Engaging the Target
If you find the target itself you will need to fight it in order to progress. You may not be able to kill it on your first encounter, as the creature may flee after receiving a certain amount of damage, after a time limit has been reached, or if too many players are nearby.
But don’t worry, any damage you’ve dealt to it will carry over to the next encounter. If you end up killing the target it will drop various items, ranging from rare ingredients that can be used to craft potions, to powerful artifacts which are necessary to craft the new Shapeshifter Weapons.
Rewards
Any step of the hunt after its initiation will award Tracking Fame to you and your party members if you have a Tracking Toolkit in your inventory. Tracking Fame progresses the Seasoned Tracker node on the Destiny Board and its related specializations. This allows you to use better Tracking Toolkits and hunt more efficiently.
Each creature can drop new items which can be used for crafting and enchanting:
Animal remains: Enchanting Potions
Rare Ingredients: New Potions and Shapeshifter Weapons
Artifacts: Artifact Shapeshifter Weapons
Note: for the first few months after the Wild Blood launch, more tracks will spawn for small groups. These additional tracks will drop Black Market loot instead of rare ingredients and artifacts.
Different Tiers of Tracking Toolkits and Specialization
Unlocking and using better Tracking Toolkits has many advantages. Not only does it allow you to track higher rarity creatures, it also rewards more Fame, speeds up interactions with tracks, and increases the search radius in which you can find new tracks.
Here’s an overview of the types of creatures that can be found and interacted with, as well as the Fame bonus you receive, depending on the tier of your toolkit. [table] [tr] [td] Tracking Toolkit [/td] [td] Creature Unlocked [/td] [td] Bonus Fame [/td] [/tr] [tr] [td] T3 [/td] [td] Panthers
Sylvians
Spirit Bears [/td] [td] - [/td] [/tr] [tr] [td] T4 [/td] [td] Werewolf [/td] [td] 5% [/td] [/tr] [tr] [td] T5 [/td] [td] Hellfire Imp [/td] [td] 10% [/td] [/tr] [tr] [td] T6 [/td] [td] Runestone Golem [/td] [td] 15% [/td] [/tr] [tr] [td] T7 [/td] [td] Dawnbird [/td] [td] 20% [/td] [/tr] [tr] [td] T8 [/td] [td] - [/td] [td] 30% [/td] [/tr] [/table] In addition to better Toolkits, you can also increase your specialization in tracking each type of creature. This will further boost your Tracking Efficiency as well as increasing your chances of encountering your target at each stage rather than another track.
Tracking in a Party
The size of your party matters. Not only does each creature come in two different difficulty levels offering different rewards, there’s also a benefit to hunting a rare creature that you may not be able to track down yourself yet.
Small creatures for 1-3 players are easier to kill but offer lower rewards when killed. The Tracking Fame given is the same no matter whether you’re solo or in a group, but rewards will be shared between all party members.
Large creatures for 4-8 players are much harder to kill and offer a higher chance of rare ingredient and artifact drops.
Additionally, the more party members interact with a track, the faster the interaction will channel. During this process, the interaction speed bonuses of each member are added together.
When starting a new hunt, you want the member with the highest specialization to interact with the track, as it will use their specialization levels for the entire hunt. Even if you don’t interact with a track, as long as you’re carrying a Tracking Toolkit you will earn Tracking Fame and progress your Destiny Board.
Get the Heretic Warsteed this Referral Season
The battlefield is a wasteland. All around, the earth is parched and littered with hundreds of trashed, useless weapons. Rats pick at what they can before scuttling away into the shadows. For a second, it seems like all life has ceased. Then the smoke clears, the earth shakes, and across the carnage steps the meanest, scariest pony you’ve ever seen in your life.
It’s the Heretic Warsteed, and you can claim this nightmarish nag this month with just a single referral. With armor fashioned from thick slabs of scavenged wood, coarse leather strewn across its back, and a candle stuck to its head, this will be the last sight your enemies want to see coming towards them - and for many, it will be the last. The Heretic Warsteed can be used on your Armored Horse base mount and, once unlocked, can be used by any characters on that particular server (either Albion East or West).
Send your referral link, which you can find here, to a friend. (You must be logged into your account on the website to view this page.)
Your friend registers an account and starts playing Albion Online (preferably along with you!).
The first time your friend purchases at least 30 days of Premium, they will trigger a reward for you.
On top of that, for your very first referral ever, you'll receive a T8 Recruiter's Pile of Tomes, worth a massive 200,000 Fame.
This Referral Season lasts until 23:59 UTC on November 30, so invite your friends and enjoy these rewards!
The Grim Challenge is Back
Allhallows is in full swing, and the Grim Challenge is back! For the entire month of November, earn points for open-world activities, unlock chests to get valuable loot, and claim your very own Pest Lizard.
Pestilential Prizes For Intrepid Adventurers
PEST LIZARD: This month’s Challenge offers another chance to claim the popular Pest Lizard. This sleek, slithery mount comes with a Toxic Cloud ability that causes enemies who touch it to become temporarily disoriented, and can be used to disrupt enemy players in numerous situations.
AVATAR RING: Adventurers who rack up enough total Challenge Points will also earn the Grim Challenge Avatar Ring, featuring a spooky skull-topped iron frame. This non-tradable item permanently unlocks this avatar border for one character, or can be traded to the Vanity Merchant for one Adventurer’s Token.
SEASONAL SPECIALS: All month long, reach weekly point totals to unlock Grim Challenge Chests. Along with valuable rewards like Adventurer’s Tomes, Silver, resources, and other loot, you’ll also have a chance to unlock four furniture items: the Empty Coffin, Grim Gravestone, Grim Lantern, and Weeping Woman Statue.
As always, you can earn Challenge Points by gathering, fishing, farming, and killing monsters. Points count simultaneously toward a daily bonus, a weekly unlockable chest, and the monthly mount and avatar ring reward. So log in, head out into the open world, gather points, and claim these rewards while they last!
Wild Blood went live on October 16, and players have been busy Tracking terrifying beasts, crafting Shapeshifter Staffs, and awakening their weapons to previously unseen levels. So we’ve delved into the data, and come out with this new infographic to give a snapshot of what’s been going on in Albion since the update released! (Click to expand)
We’re thrilled to see so many of you out there trying out these features, bringing new dimensions to the world of Albion, and we can’t wait to see how things develop further! Meanwhile, the Allhallowsevent is on now, so grab your gear and dive into those dungeons for some spooky rewards…
It’s Allhallows in Albion!
It’s the spookiest time of the year - and the Allhallows event is here! For its duration you can run the limited-time Hallowed Ground dungeon for the chance to grab the very rare Jack o’ Donkey and Horse Macabre mount skins!
This dungeon can appear randomly in T4-T8 zones across the open world, and can be entered through special portals adorned with pumpkins. Once inside, you’ll find it filled with blood-curdling mobs, bone-chilling decorations, and the abominable final boss: Bob. Should you withstand its horrors and defeat this pumpkin-headed nuisance, you’ll find a special Hallowed Ground chest which, along with those ultra-rare mount skins, may contain some special Allhallows Treats. These grant a temporary boost to all non-PvP Fame - but don’t save them for too long, you wouldn’t want them to go bad would you?
Allhallows runs for the following times on each server:
Albion East: October 26 at 23 UTC to November 12 at 23 UTC
Albion West: October 27 at 10 UTC to November 13 at 10 UTC
So arm yourselves up, head down into the dungeons, and go put the frighteners on old Bob!
Wild Blood Wallpaper Now Available!
The Wild Blood update is live, and players are out there tracking monsters, crafting Shapeshifter Staffs, and awakening their weapons. So if you’ve got Wild Blood on your mind, why not decorate your desktop with the official wallpaper, which you can download now!
All artwork can be downloaded in 4K format, which fits regular HD and 4K screens and can be cropped to fit a variety of widescreen monitors - simply click on the thumbnail images to expand, then right-click and "Save As".
The collection currently includes:
Content Update Splash Art
City and Biome Loading Screens
Dungeon and Hideout Loading Screens
Factions of Albion
Seasonal Events
We're regularly adding more wallpapers, so check back often!
Saturday is Invasion Day
It’s Invasion Day this weekend, with territories reset on both servers - and we’ll be broadcasting the action live on AlbionTV!
At 13:45 UTC on Saturday 21 October you can join hosts Nazori, Shozen, and Bogul for coverage of the final round of the day’s invasions on Albion East. Then, at 17:55 UTC, Shozen, Lewpac, and Bogul will bring you coverage of the first round of territory resets on Albion West. Finally, at 00:45 UTC on Sunday 22 October, Robinhoodrs, Shozen and Tazzik will present the second round of territory resets on Albion West. Tune in to make sure you don’t miss any of the action!
For current season schedules for Albion West and Albion East, check out this forum post, and we’ll see you at the weekend!
The Tracker Vanity Bundle is Here!
The Tracker Vanity Bundle is here! This brand-new premiere bundle is available to buy now, and includes a full costume set along with the Tracker’s Horse Mount Skin for your Riding Horse base mount.
With Wild Blood is out there, Albion’s boldest and most intrepid adventurers are prowling the open world, taking on strange and fearsome creatures to make off with their rare essences. Tough yet canny, the Tracker seeks out traces of these beasts in the darkest corners of the land, moving fearlessly wherever they lead.
So attuned are they with Albion’s nature, the Tracker appears almost as magical as the very creatures they hunt, a strange, misty luminescence emanating from them. The Tracker’s Horse, too, covers Albion’s vast lands with a calm purpose, its mystical markings aglow as it carries its companion towards the final showdown with their target.
The Tracker bundle includes the following vanity skins, which work on male and female characters alike:
Tracker’s Hood
Tracker’s Armor
Tracker’s Boots
Tracker’s Spear
Tracker’s Horse
As with past bundles, you can use all costume and mount skins with all characters on your account, on both servers, and they are never lost or destroyed. All items will be unlocked in the in-game "Appearance" menu after purchase.
Grab this premiere bundle today and track down your prey!
Wild Blood is Here
Wild Blood is now live! This update introduces some major new additions and improvements to Albion’s gameworld, with Shapeshifter Weapons, Tracking, Awakened Weapons, new and reworked potions, and much more.
To mark the update, we’ve produced a new trailer:
Fearsome New Forms
Shapeshifter Weapons are a brand-new Staff weapon line which allow players to transform into fantastical beasts mid-combat, expanding the possibilities of combat builds and bringing a new level to Albion’s ‘you are what you wear’ system. Tracking, meanwhile, is a new activity in which these same creatures can be hunted across the open world by groups. These hunts will take you along unexpected paths, but success can reward you with rare, magical artifacts and ingredients.
New Powers Unleashed
The ingredients gained through Tracking can be used to craft seven powerful new potions and Shapeshifter Artifact Weapons, while potions can now be enchanted to new levels. Meanwhile, Awakened Weapons can be attuned with unique combinations of traits, allowing the bearer to wield immense strength. These weapons may be lost in combat, of course, but their traits will live on, telling their story and that of their owners.
Additional Improvements
Personal Islands now have stunning new visuals, reflecting the biome of the city they are attached to, and players can now own more than one island. Furthermore, new farming bonuses for each of these biomes encourage trade across Albion and economic specialization. Randomized Dungeons have expressive new visuals too, along with reworked layouts and some colossal new enemies you may encounter. And the Death Recap lets players go over their recent combat defeats, to hone their skills before returning to the fray.
Celebrate Wild Blood with Twitch Drops
To mark the release of Wild Blood, we’re running a special Twitch Drops campaign in addition to our regular campaign! For full details, see this forum post.
For the complete list of changes coming with this update, see the patchnotes, and for more info, check out the official update page.
