As the Albion summer draws to a close, and with the cold nights of fall not far off, it’s time to think about your outfit for the season. Well as luck would have it, right now you can enjoy a massive discount on the chilling Keeper of Souls Vanity Bundle until August 31!
This premiere bundle comes not only with a full costume set and a macabre mount skin for your Giant Stag or Moose, but also includes the Phylactery of Souls, a costume weapon in the form of a large lantern-topped staff that gives off an otherworldly blue-green glow, striking fear into your opponents as you approach.
In total, the Keeper of Souls Bundle includes the following vanity skins:
Keeper of Souls Cowl
Keeper of Souls Armor
Keeper of Souls Boots
Keeper of Souls Cape
Phylactery of Souls costume weapon
Keeper of Souls mount skin for your Stag or Moose base mount
[video autoplay="yes" loop="yes" muted="yes" playsinline="yes"]http://assets.albiononline.com/uploads/media/default/media/45d25ba1bed9ca043cf08cb19929b9b0fb72e5d5.mp4[/video] (As with past bundles, you can use all costume, weapon, and mount skins with all characters on your account, and they are never lost or destroyed. All items will be unlocked in the ingame "Appearance" menu after purchase.)
This offer is available to all players using the native client, Steam client or Google Play, so check out the in-game store now and take advantage of this deal!
Go Hog Wild with the Cursed Direboar
As the people of Albion enjoy the late summer sun, harvesting their crops and relaxing by the water, an unwelcome surprise awaits. From all around, an unfamiliar beast is coming to cause havoc. The Cursed Direboar has appeared in Albion, and you can pick up this brand-new mount skin from the in-game store!
This premiere mount skin transforms your Direboar base mount into a snarling, ravenous creature from the depths. With huge piercing tusks and a terrible fire burning within its mouth, it’s sure to terrify your fellow adventurers as you ride up to loot, ransack and ravage.
This skin provides a great option for those looking to enhance the look of their trusted Direboar mount, and of course, like all mount skins it can be used by all characters on your account once unlocked.
Go pick one up today and lay waste to your enemies’ lands!
The Season 16 Crystal League Championship is Coming!
The Season 16 Crystal League Championship takes place September 10-11, with Albion's top Crystal League players facing off for tremendous prizes including the ultra-rare Sabertooth Rex Swiftclaw Skin. This time, the tournament will be open to teams from both the Lethal and Non-Lethal Crystal Leagues, with the top six teams from the Lethal format and the top two teams from the Non-Lethal format qualifying based on the following:
Number of Level 9 wins
Number of Level 8 wins
Number of Level 7 wins
etc.
(Note: each player can only qualify for the tournament once through either the lethal or non-lethal format)
As with the previous tournament, matches will be hard-capped to limit the overall regear costs to teams, and the tournament will be full-loot.
Additional rules:
Teams must sign up by Tuesday, September 6 at 10:00 UTC
Teams must consist of five qualified players, at least four of whom must have qualified with the same team this season
A player cannot qualify with multiple teams
Each team can allocate one substitute in addition to the five players on the team
For full rules, signup info, and the final schedule, see this forum post [Forum post]
Watch the Action Live on AlbionTV
As always, you can watch the action all weekend long on AlbionTV, the official Albion Online Twitch Channel. 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.
Get ready for Albion's next high-stakes tournament, and keep an eye on our forum for updates! In the meantime, check out these Level 8 and 9 matches from earlier in the season:
The Arcane and Frost Patch is Live!
Into the Fray Patch 4, AKA The Arcane and Frost Patch, is here! This patch brings the long-awaited reworks to the final two Magic Staff lines, as well as unveiling a new season winner statue, introducing changes to Black Zone looting, and much more. Read on for details…
Magic Staff Overhaul: Arcane and Frost Staffs
This patch completes the overhaul of the Magic Staffs weapon line that was kicked off with the Into the Fray update. With entirely revamped visuals and animations, along with new and reworked abilities, Arcane and Frost players will enjoy a fully refreshed and revitalized combat experience. For full details of the spell changes, see the patchnotes.
Season 15 Winner Statue Unveiled
With the statues safely back home in Conquerors’ Hall following the Living Legacy event, a new face has joined them! So congratulations to Season 15 winners Elevate, whose statue now sits at the entrance to the Hall, along with the banners for second and third-place guilds Team Pilas and RAQ.
Black Zone Looting Changes
To give active PvP participants a better chance at gaining and keeping the spoils of their battles, changes have been made to loot restrictions in the Black Zone. For the first 90 seconds after a black-zone kill, the dead player can only be looted by their own allies, the player who dealt the killing blow and their allies, or the player who dealt most damage and their allies. After 90 seconds anyone can collect the loot again.
Other Changes and Improvements
Updated Building Nutrition and Trade UIs
Might from Castle and Outpost Chests now distributed in a wider radius
As summer draws to a close in Albion, human and animal alike are coming out to harvest nature’s bounty. But dangers lurk, and some creatures seek out one prize above all else: unsuspecting adventurers.
You can do a little harvesting of your own with this beastly new mount skin, arriving next week to the in-game store! Look out for more details coming soon…
Refer One Friend and Claim the Recruiter's Jaguar Skin
As the late-summer days grow shorter, the shadows grow longer, providing cover for fearsome foes. A new referral season is upon us, and from now until October 1 you can claim the Recruiter's Jaguar mount skin when you refer a friend!
This skin transforms your Swiftclaw base mount into a sleek, spotted hunger. From humid swamps to frigid mountain peaks, this sly feline will help you stalk your foes from the shadows. And as always, once you’ve unlocked this skin it can be used by all characters on your account.
You can also earn huge amounts of Fame for your third and fifth referrals: three referrals scores you a T7 Pile of Tomes worth 100,000 Fame, and five referrals gets you a T8 Pile of Tomes granting a colossal 200,000 Fame. And as always, your first-ever referral grants an additional T8 Pile of Tomes along with the mount skin.
The current referral season lasts until maintenance on October 1, so refer a friend now and claim your rewards!
How to Earn Seasonal Referral Rewards
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.
PLEASE NOTE: Your personal referral link (available on the referral page, requires login) has been updated. The old links will not work after October 1, so please use your updated link when referring friends. Make sure to update any links you've posted online as well!
Into the Fray Patch 3 is Live!
Into the Fray Patch 3 is live! This patch brings changes and improvements to the Arena and Crystal Arena, Training Dummies, the Journey Back ability, and more. Read on for details…
Arena & Crystal Arena Changes
This patch brings some refinements to the Crystal Arena, with Rank Point calculations adjusted to better place players in an appropriate rank bracket, and Crystal Arena matchmaking now matching players of a similar ranking. Additionally, Arena losses now give fewer Adventurer’s Challenge points, to ensure players cannot reach their daily bonus with one Arena defeat. And Arena rewards are now displayed at the end of a match.
Training Dummy UI
Training Dummies now display a small UI when being attacked or healed which displays useful information, as follows:
Total Damage / Total Healing
Damage Per Second / Healing Per Second
Last Hit Damage / Last Heal Healing
Journey Back Ability Changes
Some important changes have been made to the Journey Back cost calculation in this patch:
It now uses the average zone modifier for the zones you would have traveled through, rather than only the zone you are currently in
It uses what would be the cheapest route, rather than the shortest
To balance these cost reductions, zone type and item value now have a greater impact, while distance has less effect on the cost.
Other Changes and Improvements
Access rights after undeclaring a Headquarters Hideout are now restricted for 7 days, rather than 14
Rare Castle and Castle Outpost chests will no longer reroll their rarity, and simply be Rare
Various mobile optimizations and fixes
…and more
For a full rundown of all the changes in this patch, check the official patchnotes.
Happy Fifth Anniversary, Albion Online!
Today marks a truly momentous occasion in the history of Albion Online, as the game celebrates its fifth anniversary! As part of our ongoing anniversary celebrations, we're taking a look back at some of the major events of the past five years…
Launch Day: July 17, 2017
After years of development, including countless new builds and alpha and beta launches, Albion Online officially launched on July 17, 2017. In the weeks leading up to the launch, anticipation in the community reached fever pitch: people took days or weeks off work to dive into the game, created extensive spreadsheets to document their burgeoning guilds and alliances, and spent late nights on the forums plotting their first steps in the world of Albion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RenamXTvqU At 13:00 UTC on July 17th, the game was officially live, and people began streaming into the Royal Continent. It was a time of firsts: first kills in the red zone, first to enter a black zone, first Hellgates, first GvGs, and claiming of Home Territories. Guilds and alliances soon began to take shape as well.
While thrilling, the launch was also challenging: the community had grown beyond all expectations, and was fully prepared to log in the moment the game was live. The numbers alone would have been challenging to handle from a support/moderation perspective, but coupled with malicious DDOS attacks it became an exhausting week for the developers and community alike. Over the following weeks, the technical issues receded, and players were able to fully immerse themselves in the game.
Early Content Updates: Expanding Albion's Possibilities
The first post-launch update, Joseph, brought the Arena, which offered 5v5 battles in each of the game's cities, and PvE opportunities in the form of two new higher-tier Expeditions. From the betas through the release and into late 2017, players gained a much better understanding of Albion as a hardcore sandbox game and what to expect from it. Accordingly, in December 2017 the Kay update introduced Guild Seasons, territory raids, and a political world map to the game.
Year Two: From Lancelot to Nimue, and a Steam Launch
2018 brought three major content updates: Lancelot in the spring, Merlyn in the summer, and Nimue in the fall. These brought major new features like fishing, open-world mobs, Faction Warfare, crafting bonuses, the Crystal Realm, and more.
Then, on May 16, 2018, Albion Online launched on Steam, bringing thousands of new players into the greater Albion community. The influx of players expanded the Albion ecosystem, providing new economic and combat opportunities for seasoned players.
2018 also saw a massive expansion of guild warfare in Albion, spawning rivalries that have continued to the present day. Guild conflicts varied from friendly group PvE to small-scale interguild skirmishes to all-out backstabbing and warfare. 2018 also saw the introduction of new seasonal rewards, including valuable mounts and a chance at a permanent spot in Conquerors' Hall.
A Major Milestone: Albion Goes Free-to-Play
On April 10, 2019, Albion Online became entirely free to download and play. Tens of thousands of new players flooded into the game, necessitating a queue system, an expansion of the Outlands, and an ongoing series of optimizations to server performance. As new players made it past the early-tier bottleneck, the gameworld became more lively and action-filled than ever, with full cities, constant Hellgate, Arena, and Dungeon parties, and an explosion of new guilds and alliances. The veteran Albion Online community stepped up, offering a hand up to new players via ingame chat, the forums, Discord, and numerous video tutorials.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBU_Fxd0Jf4 Albion's free-to-play launch was a huge milestone in its development, opening up the game to hundreds of thousands of new players from around the world, making the world of Albion more alive and vibrant than ever before.
Toward the end of 2019, a new presence began stirring in the Outlands. Soon its true nature became clear: an ancient force known as the Avalonians had returned to Albion. As the strength of the Avalonians grew, their intent became clear: to invade Caerleon and reclaim all of Albion for themselves. The season culminated in the chaotic Battle of Caerleon, in which Avalonian Mages and Constructs laid siege to the city before ultimately being driven back.
2020: Challenge and Change
The Queen update in January 2020 was Albion's largest content update since launch. First and foremost, the update brought a completely new Outlands continent, shaped by the magic of the Avalonians. The update also brought a whole new guild warfare system, where territory control was now determined via massive open-world battles. And those looking for 5v5 combat could battle it out in the new Crystal League, with victors able to claim valuable rewards and boost their territory's tower level.
Combat Designer Michael Schwahn remembers these changes as being a leap of faith, which fundamentally altered one of Albion's core endgame features:
"With Queen we changed territory warfare completely. We removed the existing 5v5 GvG system with Open World Territory Battles, which let more guilds and players take part in territorial warfare and also made it impossible for guild politics to be controlled by a handful of elite players. It was quite a big leap for us to replace an existing high-end feature with something completely different, but looking back, this change was absolutely for the benefit of the game and has helped it grow further."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gW_oM4J0HO8 The Rise of Avalon update, released in August of 2020, followed up with two major new gameplay systems, the Roads of Avalon and Corrupted Dungeons, as well as new Avalonian Weapons and numerous other changes and quality-of-life improvements. August also brought Albion's first-ever Crystal League Championship, a new high-stakes tournament that would become a regular part of Albion's offseason, pitting the top 5v5 teams against each other with massive rewards at stake.
Pandemic and Resilience
In April 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the entire Albion Online community, the Staff of Hermes Charity Pack was launched, with a unique healing-themed offhand costume item and avatar ring and all proceeds going to the COVID Solidarity Fund.
The response was tremendous: in the four weeks this special pack was available, the Albion Online community came together and raised an incredible €42,644.94. The outpouring of support for this cause was truly inspiring, and the "staffies" sent in by those who had bought the pack contributed to the overall feeling of community and goodwill.
2021: Major Updates and a Promise Fulfilled
On March 17, 2021, the Call to Arms update went live, bringing a complete ground-up rework of Faction Warfare. Caerleon joined the fight as a sixth playable Faction with its own unique rules and playstyle, and valuable rewards including Elite Faction Mounts became available to those who pledged their loyalty to a single city. Call to Arms also brought major changes to Hellgates and the new Loadouts feature.
This was followed up by the massive, much-anticipated Lands Awakened update, perhaps the game's most expansive to date. This update touched nearly every aspect of open-world gameplay, from gorgeous new visuals for all five biomes, mobs that upgrade in power and value over time, and reworked static dungeons, to the brand-new War Gloves weapon line, an expanded soundtrack, big changes to guild warfare, UI and quality-of-life improvements, and more.
But the biggest milestone of 2021 was the fulfillment of a long-awaited promise: a truly cross-platform MMO experience…
Albion's Mobile Launch
On June 9, 2021, Albion Online reached the final major milestone in its quest to become a truly cross-platform Sandbox MMORPG: the official mobile launch. As a core goal since the earliest days of development nearly a decade ago, the worldwide launch on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store was the next massive step in opening up the world of Albion to countless new players, as well as allowing longtime players to play Albion Online whenever and wherever they wanted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MEvv81i3ek The worldwide mobile launch brought unprecedented player numbers to the game, and Albion shattered its all-time record with an incredible 270,000 daily active players, nearly doubling the previous record.
In Fall 2021 the Albion Online Creators Program, a new program designed to support the game's talented streamers and video creators while growing the overall Albion community, was introduced. The program received a further boost the following year with the introduction of Twitch Drops to support Albion's dedicated streamers..
Entering 2022: Awards, Honors, and More in Store
As 2021 drew to a close and 2022 began, Albion Online received several major honors: the game was awarded the 2021 Deutscher Entwicklerpreis for "Best Mobile Game", the 2021 MassivelyOP Year-End Award for "Best MMO PvP", and the 2022 Deutscher Computerspielpreis for Best Mobile Game, recognizing the game’s development into an immersive and truly cross-platform MMORPG.
And on June 8, 2022, the Into the Fray update brought a fully reworked Magic Staffs line, Portal Towns, Castle improvements, Dynamic Events, and more, making it easier for new and experienced players alike to enjoy Albion’s higher-level content.
Which brings us up to the present day…
Anniversary Celebrations: Legacies, Livestreams… and Cake
At the start of Anniversary Week, Albion's residents were shocked to discover that the season winner statues were missing from Conquerors' Hall. Rumors began to swirl of strange rumblings across the land, and soon it was confirmed: the statues had come to life and were roaming the world!
The two-week Living Legacy event kicked off July 14, bringing Albion's player-created history to life, with big rewards for those skilled enough to claim them. These included Anniversary Cake, Albion's first-ever decaying item.
Like all major events, Living Legacy came with its own dedicated trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwTNtdvemgs And last but not least, this milestone absolutely would not have been possible without the most important element: our incredible players. Game Director Robin Henkys shares his gratitude with the worldwide Albion community:
"The world of Albion lives through its players, and we're incredibly lucky to have such a dedicated, active, and diverse community to bring Albion to life. The past five years have certainly had their share of challenges, but we're very proud of where we've brought the game so far, and we can't wait to see what the coming years will bring."
Here's to the next five years!
The Living Legacy Starts Today!
Albion Online is turning five! And to mark this momentous occasion, today sees the beginning of a unique, two-week event: Living Legacy.
Until maintenance on July 28, we’re celebrating Albion’s history and your part in it with some special themed vanity items, birthday cake, city decorations, and – above all else – some familiar faces roaming through the open world…
For a taste of what’s out there, check out this brand-new video:
Albion’s Past Comes to Life
After much speculation as to their whereabouts, the missing statues from Conquerors’ Hall have been discovered – and they’re alive! These monuments to Albion’s triumphant guilds can be encountered in any Tier 5 or higher zone, and carry vast riches with them. But they’re not friendly towards adventurers, and will fight with fearsome weapons and spells before they give up their loot.
The living statues exist in three different sizes, which vary in strength, rarity, and value. So the stronger the statue you or your party can defeat, the better the chance of claiming some unique anniversary rewards. Arm up and take down these idols!
Birthday Presents and Unique Rewards
For the duration of the event an array of unique rewards will be available to players. All characters who log in during this time will receive a Fifth Anniversary Avatar and Avatar Ring. Those who watch the Anniversary Stream can claim a one-off Twitch Drop. And slaying statues can get you an anniversary-themed Riding Horse skin, a firework-launching Chromacannon, an Anniversary Banner, and slices of cake which grant a temporary Fame boost - just make sure to eat them before the event is over!
Albion’s history is the history of its players, so join us for this unique celebration. Check out the full event patchnotes here, and go make some history of your own!
Get Ready for Albion’s Fifth Anniversary Stream!
This weekend marks Albion Online’s fifth anniversary, and you can celebrate with us on a very special livestream on AlbionTV this Friday, July 15!
Starting at 19:00 UTC (noon PST / 3pm EST / 9pm CET), the trusty AlbionTV crew of Shozen, Robinhoodrs and Bogul will be joined by Game Director Robin Henkys, Senior Combat Designer Michael Schwahn, and CTO David Salz to talk about Albion’s Online’s past, present and future. There’s sure to be rare insights into the game’s history, and even a special look back at the game’s Alpha phase, in this one-off event.
Viewers will be also able to claim an exclusive Anniversary Twitch Drop during the stream, so make sure you don’t miss out! (For information on how to receive Twitch Drops, click here.)
Mark the date, and join us on AlbionTV on Friday. We look forward to seeing you there!
