Albion Online
Extra Maintenance on Albion East - 29 March 10-11 UTC
In general, as patches must be deployed to both servers at the same time, this takes place outside the regular Albion East maintenance at 23:00 UTC.
Dev Talk: 2023 Development Update
With the launch a success, Game Director Robin Henkys discusses what's next for the world of Albion in our newest Dev Talk (subtitles are available for all supported languages):
What's Next in the Short Term?
- Rites of Spring event: Similar to 2022, but with a new, bad-tempered counterpart to the Spring Cottontail
- Beyond the Veil Content Patch: New features for the Mists, adjustments to the Roads of Avalon, usability improvements
- "Dungeons in the Mists": Central feature; will be discussed in a forthcoming Dev Talk
- After that: Next major content update
Albion's Development Strategy
Albion has become quite large and complex, requiring a development strategy that allows us to maintain, improve and revolutionize the game at the same time.
Better Basics
Consistent improvement of core aspects of the game, especially where most impactful:
- Improved Marketplace experience: Repair All, Sell All, improved filtering and easier large-scale purchases
- More stable loot experience by optimizing Black Market
- Improving Stone market, reworking crafting capacity and crafting on player islands
Continuous Content
Expanding on features already in the game:
- New gear choices for the "You are what you wear" system
- Rites of Spring + Content Patch (both with new items)
- New Weapon Line for the Hunter tree
Fantastic Features
New features that expand the scope of Albion Online (these are always in flux, but a few are in progress):
- Legendary Weapons: Weapons can attain "Legendary" status through use, and be given a unique name; these have a chance of being added to the loot pool on death, thus leaving a lasting mark on Albion
- Improved spell behavior around walls and height differences: Precursor to proper castle and siege fights that may include player-made fortifications
That's it for today - stay tuned for more Dev Talks covering these themes and Albion’s next major update!
Basic Builds: Battleaxe
This is the first of our Basic Builds series of guides for beginner-to-intermediate players. Each guide presents a suggested build and describes how its abilities work in tandem. You can try these out as-is, or use them as a starting point to create new builds of your own.
Characteristics
This build is based around the Battleaxe, which is characterized by a self-sustaining ability called Blood Bandit that lets you throw your axe twice, dealing damage while also healing yourself.
The full build offers additional self-healing, a defensive ability with energy recovery, and additional mobility.
Here’s the full breakdown!
Equipment and Skills Used
Adept’s Battleaxe
- Rending Strike/Rending Spin
- You can choose between two spells for your Q slot, one for single targets and one for area damage. They both deal damage and apply bleed stacks to your target(s).
- Adrenaline Boost
- Your W ability offers damage, attack speed and movement speed modifiers that help you maximize your damage and stick to your target.
- Blood Bandit
- The main ability allows you to deal additional damage at a range depending on the amount of bleed stacks on your target. This is a two-part combo, with the first cast dealing increased damage and the second applying a direct heal to yourself.
Adept’s Scholar Cowl
- Energy Shield
- Your cowl has a defensive spell that decreases your damage taken while recovering energy for every hit taken during its active time.
Adept’s Mercenary Jacket
- Bloodlust
- The jackets active ability allows you to regain some health for every time you use an auto attack or damage spell.
Adept’s Mercenary Shoes
- Refreshing Sprint
- Your shoes allow you to track down targets while lowering your cooldowns, they can also be used to run away from a fight.
Adept’s Shield: An off-hand that passively increases your defenses and cc resistance.
Adept’s Bag: An accessory that increases your passive carry weight capacity.
Adept’s Cape: An accessory that increases your energy and passive energy regeneration.
Minor Poison Potion: A potion that inflicts a damage-over-time effect on a target and decreases their resistances for the duration.
Catfish: A buff food that greatly increases your health regeneration while out of combat. This allows you to get back to full health after clearing a pack of mobs.
Journeyman’s Riding Horse: A mounted horse that brings you swiftly across the map while adding more passive carry weight.
All items can be bought via the Marketplace, or crafted if the corresponding crafting node has been unlocked.
Build Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Great sustain against strong enemies
- Good energy management
- Good clear speed
- Good chase potential
- Affordable
Cons:
- Bleeds can put you in combat for an extended period of time
- Not applicable in large scale fights
Playstyle
- Use your Q spell to deal direct damage and apply bleeds to your target(s). You can use direct attacks in between the spells.
- Your W ability can be used to buff your damage output for a short amount of time. It’s also a great tool that lets you stick to your target since its buff can be active for up to 7 seconds as long as you deal direct damage to a target.
- Blood Bandit can be used to deal additional damage, and the second cast can be used to recover some health when enemies have multiple bleed stacks on them. Try to use this ability before utilizing your jacket.
- When you’re low on energy or expect to take an increased amount of energy you can use your head ability. For every hit taken you will replenish some energy while generally decreasing the amount of damage you take.
- The jacket can be used to regain a substantial amount of health. It has a high cooldown so it is advised to be used in emergency situations. For every auto attack or direct damage you deal you will be healed by a certain amount, up to 7 times. Pairing this ability with battle rush will let you heal up faster because of the bonus attack speed.
- Shoes are generally a tool for mobility. You can use them to close a gap or to create distance between yourself and the enemy. Refreshing sprint additionally lowers your cooldowns which allows you to use your abilities more frequently.
That's it for this week - stay tuned for more Basic Builds guides coming soon!
Limited-Time Starter Bundle Offer
For a limited time only, there’s a brand-new Starter Bundle on offer, featuring the popular Knight Adventurer Vanity Bundle! For the price of a 7-day Premium subscription, you’ll receive the following:
- Knight Adventurer Vanity Bundle
- 7 Days Premium Status
- 50 Gold
This deal is available in the Albion Online Web Shop, the ingame store, the Steam client, and Google Play. Once purchased, it can be claimed on either Albion East or Albion West, and the Vanity component will be available on both servers once unlocked. The offer runs until 10:00 UTC on April 3, so take advantage now!
Albion East is Open!
Today’s the day: after much anticipation, Albion East is now publicly accessible to all players!
Following a successful Closed Beta phase, and an early access period for Founder Pack owners, anyone can now play on Albion’s new, Singapore-based server as this entirely fresh version of Albion develops from the ground up. Players are pouring into the Royal Continent and Outlands, gathering, crafting, building the economy, and progressing their characters as they gain Fame and form guilds. It’s a truly momentous occasion!
Initially, Albion East will have a reduced world size relative to Albion West, in order to maintain competitiveness and density of players. As the player base grows on this new server, it is anticipated that more regions will be opened up, and its development will be constantly observed in order to judge this process. For an overview of available regions, check out this forum post.
Limited-Time Starter Bundle Offer
To help you get off to the right start in Albion, for a short time there’s a brand-new Starter Bundle on offer, featuring the popular Knight Adventurer Vanity Bundle! For the price of a 7-day Premium subscription, you’ll receive the following:
- Knight Adventurer Vanity Bundle
- 7 Days Premium Status
- 50 Gold
Special Twitch Drop Campaign
To celebrate the launch of Albion East, we’re running a special Twitch Drop campaign from March 15-29, with exclusive chests containing brand-new items. During this period, campaigns will run daily rather than weekly, meaning you can earn chests each day by watching any channel participating in our regular campaigns. For details, check out this forum post.
New Player Video Guide
Whether you’re just starting on Albion West or awaiting the launch of Albion East on March 20, this video will set you in good stead as you begin your adventures:
Albion's Next Guild Season is Coming
Albion’s next Guild Season kicks off soon - including the first official season on the new Albion East Server!
On March 11, Season 19 will begin on Albion West. Two weeks after that, on March 25, the first Albion East season will kick off. Note that this time the Albion East season will be slightly shorter - but moving forward seasons on the two servers should be synchronized. Because of its reduced length this time, the final stretch on Albion East will offer tripled Season Points. For full schedules for both servers, click here.
Both Guild Seasons are open to anyone who wants to play on that server - so you can participate in both simultaneously if you choose. And both offer fantastic prizes to guilds that reach a high enough rank, like the Roving Bastion and new Sword Dancer Avatar Sets.
In addition, the top three guilds will no longer receive a furniture item of their season statue, but instead will receive new Direwolf Skins (see top image).
Season Changes
As well as those new Direwolf Skin rewards, these seasons bring changes to scoring in the Crystal League and Crystal Arena. All scoring Runestones will reset at the end of each round, to prevent teams from simply defending a Runestone advantage to win a match. Furthermore, Albion East and Albion West will have different time slots for Crystal League matches. For full details on these changes, see this forum post.
Watch the Albion West Season Kickoff Live
The Albion West Season 19 kickoff on Saturday, March 11 will be broadcast live on AlbionTV starting at 17:30 UTC, with hosts Shozen, Lewpac and Bogul bringing full coverage of Invasion Day.
At 18:00 UTC all territories will be reset for guilds to claim. Those in the North and South American time zones can tune in for the second round of territory resets on Sunday at 00:30 UTC, when hosts Shozen, Robinhoodrs and Tazzik cover the next round of invasions. All open-world fights are broadcast live with a 15-minute delay.
Check out AlbionTV's coverage of a previous Invasion Day, which kicked off Season 18:
The Keeper Challenge Returns!
Spring is back, and the Keepers of Albion are beginning to awaken... and for the entire month of March, you can take the Keeper Challenge to collect fantastic rewards! Earn points for open-world activities, unlock chests to get valuable loot, and claim your very own Grizzly Bear mount.
Timeless Treasures are Yours to Claim
GRIZZLY BEAR: This month's Challenge brings back the popular Grizzly Bear, a huge, intimidating mount with an arsenal of powerful spells. In addition to its Intimidating Aura toggle spell, it also gains a temporary speed boost when attacked, giving its rider an edge when enemies are in pursuit.
AVATAR RING: Reach your goals to unlock the Keeper Challenge avatar ring, which gives your chosen avatar the stone-and-leather look of Albion's true guardians. This non-tradable item permanently unlocks this avatar border for one character, or can be traded for one Adventurer's Token at the Vanity Merchant.
SEASONAL SPECIALS: All month, reach weekly goals to unlock Keeper Challenge chests. In addition to valuable rewards like Adventurer's Tomes, Silver bags, and rare resources, this month's chests contain various Keeper-themed furniture and capes.
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. So log in, head out into the open world, gather points, and claim your rewards!
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The Season 18 Crystal League Championship Starts Saturday
The next Crystal League Championship is almost here! Watch Albion's top 5v5 teams face off in this special season championship for prizes and glory. This time around, matches will be non-lethal to keep regear costs down for participants and make the rewards even more lucrative.
Once again, we'll have a special Twitch Drop campaign running on each of the two days which will be exclusive to the official AlbionTV Twitch Channel.
The campaigns are active during the following times:
- February 25: 17-21 UTC
- February 26: 17-22 UTC
More details:
- On Saturday February 25, a campaign will run that awards the following drops:
- After 30 minutes of watching - 1 Rare Chest
- After an additional 2 hours of watching - 1 Epic Chest
- On Sunday February 26, a campaign will run that awards the following drops:
- After 30 minutes of watching - 1 Rare Chest
- After an additional 2 hours of watching - 1 Legendary Chest
As these are separate campaigns, progress from Saturday does not carry over to Sunday.
These campaigns run independently from the regular campaigns, so progress can be made towards these drops and the regular drops at the same time. To link your Albion and Twitch accounts and start collecting drops, click here.
Join hosts Shozen, Lewpac, and Tazzik as they bring you live coverage and commentary on these high-octane fights. The reigning champions will be crowned and receive their prizes at a ceremony after the final match on Sunday!
The Albion East Closed Beta is Here!
The Albion East Closed Beta is now underway! This special, one-of-a-kind event offers a fresh version of the world of Albion with a reduced world size, where all participants can earn unique, valuable rewards.
If you missed it, the newest Dev Talk from Game Director Robin Henkys gives a good overview. He discusses what to expect from the Albion East server and the Closed Beta, gives a rundown of the unique rewards and unlocks you can earn, and discusses how the world will be unlocked gradually over the course of both the Beta and the full launch.
And remember, everyone who gets a Founder Pack and joins the Beta will also get the new premiere Vanity Bundle, the Arcanist, unlocked for free on both servers before it officially goes on sale!
A Unique Three-Week Guild Season
For the duration of Albion East's beta, a unique Beta Guild Season will let players experience an intense, condensed three-week season. The Beta Season has much faster progression, to allow players to test out as many features and gameplay options as possible.
This progression buff is automatic for all players, and grants the following:
- +100% Fame from gathering, farming, and PvE
- +200% Resources from gathering and fishing
- +200% Silver from mobs
- Resource weight reduced by 66%
- All characters start with 2000 Learning Points
Earn Permanent Rewards
While normal Guild Season rewards unlocked via the Conqueror's Challenge will only be available during the beta, and will not persist after the server is reset at beta end, top-ranking guilds, along with players who make sufficient progress during the season, can unlock unique rewards that persist even after the beta ends.
Guild Rewards
Custom Guild Logos: The five guilds with the highest ranking at the end of the season will each get a unique custom guild logo, created in collaboration with our art team. These logos will then be added to the game after the beta and become permanently available to guilds on both servers.
Custom Season Statue: The season’s top guild will get a unique custom guild statue, which will be permanently placed in Albion East's open world for all to see. The second- and third-place guilds will also receive non-custom statues in the open world.
Personal Rewards
Unique Placeable Statues: During the beta, each player can unlock up to three unique placeable Statue items that they can claim on Albion East or West after the beta ends. Statues are unlocked once per account, and are earned for the following activities (with only the highest-tier statue given for each activity):
PvE Statue:
- Bronze: Reach 500,000 PvE Fame during beta
- Silver: Be in the top 30% of the Bronze group
- Gold: Be in the top 10% of the Bronze group
Gathering Statue:
- Bronze: Reach 150,000 Gathering Fame during beta
- Silver: Be in the top 30% of the Bronze group
- Gold: Be in the top 10% of the Bronze group
- Bronze: Possess 300,000 Silver at the end of beta
- Silver: Be in the top 30% of the Bronze group
- Gold: Be in the top 10% of the Bronze group