Territories will be reset this weekend, Season Points earned will be doubled... and we'll be broadcasting all the action live!
Tune in to the AlbionTV Twitch channel starting Saturday at 17:30 UTC, where hosts Shozen, Bogul and Lewpac will be broadcasting live with a 15-minute delay.
Starting at 18:00 UTC, guilds will have new opportunities to claim territories and launch attacks. Those in the North and South American time zones can also tune in for the second round of territory resets on Sunday at 00:30 UTC with hosts Bogul, Shozenwon and Robinhoodrs, with territories becoming claimable at 01:00 UTC.
Between the two reset broadcasts, we'll also be broadcasting Level 5-7 Crystal League fights with no delay at 20:30, 21:00, and 21:30 UTC.
For the complete season schedule, check out this forum post.
Check out highlights of the last Invasion Day:
[previewyoutube="mL6F7kRktgM;full"]
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Prowl Through the Night on the New Shadowcat Skin
The brand-new Shadowcat skin is now available in the ingame store! This skin for your Swiftclaw base mount, with its night-grey fur and cold, piercing blue eyes, is perfect for tearing across the open world or stalking stealthily through Albion’s cities.
Swiftclaws are prized for their speed and agility, and the Shadowcat’s sleek yet fearsome appearance befits a vicious yet loyal hunter. With a number of Swiftclaw skins already available, this is a great new option for those who favor this mount for their build.
Like all mount skins, once the Shadowcat is unlocked it can be used by all characters on your account. So ride out upon its back, and turn the heads of friend and foe alike with this breathtaking skin!
New Lands Awakened and Guild Season Wallpapers Added
Our collection of Official Albion Online Wallpapers has been steadily growing since the launch in 2017, with new images all the time. Here's what we've just added:
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:
We're regularly adding more wallpapers, so check back often!
The Frost Challenge Returns
Happy New Year, Adventurers! Start the year off right with the return of the Frost Challenge – earn Challenge Points, unlock chests to get valuable loot, and claim your very own Frost Ram.
Frost-Themed Rewards for Intrepid Adventurers
FROST RAM: This month's Challenge brings back the popular Frost Ram, a sturdy mount with an impressive leap spell. With its relatively fast move speed and ability to carry plenty of weight, it's the perfect companion for gathering missions.
AVATAR RING: Along with the Frost Ram, you can unlock the Frost Challenge Avatar Ring to give your avatar an ice-cold aura all year long. This non-tradable item permanently unlocks this avatar border for one character, or it can be traded for one Adventurer's Token at the Vanity Merchant.
SEASONAL SPECIALS: All month, unlock Frost Challenge chests to get valuable rewards like Adventurer's Tomes and Silver bags, along with furniture items like the snowman and snowball pile, classic ice sculptures, the epic Frost Igloo, and a rare chance for the Rich Noble vanity skins.
Log in now and start gathering, fishing, farming, and killing monsters to earn Challenge Points and unlock your rewards!
2021: Albion's Year in Review
While 2021 may not have brought quite the same level of unprecedented upheavals as 2020, it was nonetheless a year of various challenges. For the Albion Online team, it meant another year of developing the game in an almost entirely remote capacity, during which it saw two massive content updates, the long-anticipated mobile launch, and exploding player numbers. Throughout it all, the Albion community was as supportive as ever, and with the continued engagement of veteran players, combined with ever-increasing new player numbers, the game had its biggest year yet.
Join us as we take a look back at some of the highlights of the past year…
Call to Arms: Faction Warfare and More
In March 2021, the Call to Arms update went live, introducing major new options for small- and medium-scale PvP to the world of Albion. First and foremost, a fully reworked and re-envisioned Faction Warfare system came to the Royal Continent, offering a huge range of PvP, PvE, and transport options for players of all levels. An entirely new Caerleon Faction arrived, which put a unique "bandit-style" twist on the Faction system, and all six Factions received new Elite Faction Mounts with unique, powerful abilities. Faction Warfare came to life across the continent with interactive map overlays, new non-lethal Faction zones, and an unpredictable Bandit Assault event that offered huge rewards.
[previewyoutube="54OBbmUfBP4;full"] Alongside these changes, Call to Arms brought fully reworked Hellgates, with a map-based entry system, ten new layouts, a time-based lava mechanic, and an all-new 10v10 option. The update was rounded out with major quality-of-life improvements including Loadouts, updated ability tooltips, and animated vegetation alongside improvements, balance changes, and optimizations.
Albion Goes Mobile
In June, the Albion team fulfilled a goal nearly ten years in the making: bringing the complete sandbox MMORPG experience to all players, regardless of whether they played on desktop or mobile. Since the very earliest days of its development, Albion Online was intended to be a seamless cross-platform experience – and on June 9, 2021, after years of development, testing, and optimization, it finally became a reality, with the game launching for the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
To celebrate the occasion, we went all-out with a full live-action trailer that follows a group of highly creative "early adopters" trying to make the mobile experience a reality:
[previewyoutube="7MEvv81i3ek;full"] The worldwide launch, as well as rewards including the Chimera mount skin for cross-platform play, brought countless new players to the world of Albion, and rocketed the game to the forefront of the most popular sandbox MMOs worldwide.
An Ever-Growing Population
Following record numbers in 2020, the active player count in Albion continued to grow into 2021. February saw Daily Average User count hit 135,000, and Call to Arms in March continued this trend even further, pushing the count past 140,000. Then came the mobile launch in June, which completely dwarfed previous user counts with an average of over 270,000 users per day. With the possibility to play on both desktop and mobile for the first time, players had even more incentive to stay active, and many also took the opportunity to return.
These greater numbers can only be good news for the experience of playing Albion, as a more populated world brings depth, unpredictability, and excitement. By the time of the Fourth Anniversary celebrations in July, this popularity was being reflected in ever higher view and subscriber counts on Twitch and YouTube as well.
Albion Awakens
Fall 2021 marked the start of a new era for Albion, bringing the massive, much-anticipated Lands Awakened update. This was perhaps the game's most expansive update since launch, touching 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… the list goes on.
[previewyoutube="0GksQhov0kY;full"] These developments keep the experience of playing Albion fresh, immersive, and unpredictable, and we can’t wait to see what emerges as players put on their War Gloves, declare their Headquarters Hideouts, and fight for Energy Crystals and Power Cores in a fully remade open world.
The Albion Online Creators Program
Along with the Lands Awakened update, November also saw the launch of the Albion Online Creators Program. This new program was created for the many talented individuals who stream and create video content around Albion Online, supporting them and giving them a platform to expand their audience. At the same time, it helps drive Albion Online as a community-focused game, bringing streamers, the wider player community, and the development team together to showcase the best of what Albion has to offer.
The Creators Program celebrated the Lands Awakened release with a Streamer Showcase, as across the world players tuned in to see the new features in action as soon as they launched. This exciting journey has only just begun, and we can’t wait to see what comes from it in 2022.
Guild Warfare: A Year of Change
2021 brought sweeping changes to guild warfare in Albion Online. The year began midway through Season 11, which had introduced the new 20v20 Crystal League. In March, Season 12 brought an increased emphasis on open-world gameplay. Season 13 introduced new objectives in Treasure Drones and Crystal Spiders, and in the final weeks before the Lands Awakened update, the standalone six-week Energy Surge Season offered unique rewards including exclusive avatars and permanent statues in the open world.
Season 14 kicked off just days after Lands Awakened, introducing numerous new features that shifted the emphasis of Guild Seasons from passive territory control to active play, both on an individual as well as a guild level:
[previewyoutube="sg-6Ho_Wuyk;full"] These major new features have breathed new life into Albion's Guild Seasons, laying the foundation for thrilling endgame gameplay for years to come.
Year-End Honors
As 2021 drew to a close, it still had time to bring two very welcome surprises, as Albion Online was awarded the Deutscher Entwicklerpreis for "Best Mobile Game" and the MassivelyOP Year-End Award for "Best MMO PvP". Alongside the jury prize from MassivelyOP, Albion Online also won the readers’ poll in this category. These prizes were a tremendous validation of all the hard work the team put in over the year, acknowledging the highly successful mobile launch in June, and the focus on making Albion's PvP the most exciting, fresh, and competitive in the MMO world. With all the huge developments 2021 saw for the game, to have these recognized is extremely rewarding, and makes us even more excited to bring you what we have in store for 2022.
Looking Forward to 2022
We're already hard at work on the next content update, with some big new features and improvements in the works, and in the coming weeks we'll be bringing you a new Dev Talk. For now, though, we want to extend our thanks to you, the Albion community, for making everything we do possible, and making 2021 the biggest year yet in the world of Albion.
Happy New Year, and we'll see you in-game!
Enjoy a Festive Fame Boost!
As the year draws to a close and the chill winter air settles over the land, the Mists of Albion are rising again! From now until 10:00 UTC on December 30, you’ll enjoy a 25% Fame buff. Think of it as our gift to you! (Note that the buff does not apply to Fame earned via PvP kills and Tomes of Insight, and does not boost the rate at which Challenge Points are earned.)
This is the perfect opportunity to unlock Elite Levels or work on that new weapon line you’ve been thinking about. The buff is automatically applied to everyone so there’s nothing extra you need to do. Just head into Albion and get active!
With the Yuletide Challenge in full swing, Uncle Frost visiting the dungeons, and the current Referral Season giving you the opportunity to get a Festive Reindeer, there’s a lot going on in Albion this month. So get involved, and we’ll see you out there.
[previewyoutube="tNLQlZSDwSA;full"] Happy holidays from all at Sandbox Interactive!
Albion Online named best PvP MMO by MassivelyOP
MassivelyOP have announced their end of year awards for 2021, and we’re delighted to say that Albion Online has received the prize for best PvP! This follows the Deutscher Entwicklerpreis for Best Mobile Game received last week, making it Albion’s second award of the year. This particular award had not been given out since 2017, but this year the jury decided to bring it back, and we’re extremely proud that they chose to recognize the PvP experience of Albion Online in what was a very competitive field.
Explaining his choice, jury member and MassivelyOP writer Chris Neal stated: “Albion actually enticed me to enter some PvP zones by giving me good PvE and crafting reasons to do so. That’s not something I can say about most PvP-centric MMOs.”
With one of the goals for Albion Online, particularly with the Lands Awakened update, being to encourage players to populate the open world and risk PvP in the pursuit of ever-greater rewards, it is especially heartening to hear that these efforts have been appreciated. Thanks are due to the jury, to everyone on the team who has worked so hard to create a unique PvP experience, and most of all to the players who truly make Albion such an exciting world in which to play.
You can read the full article on MassivelyOP here, where you can also participate in a readers’ poll for this category.
We can’t wait to bring you even more new developments next year to continue making PvP such an enjoyable and competitive experience in Albion. See you out there!
Watch Invasion Day Live on AlbionTV
Territories will be reset this weekend - and we'll be covering it live on the AlbionTV Twitch channel starting Saturday at 17:30 UTC. Join our hosts Lewpac, Bogul, and Shozen as they cover the Invasion Day madness live! All fights are broadcast live with a 15-minute time delay.
Starting at 18:00 UTC, guilds will have new opportunities to claim territories and launch attacks. Those in the North and South American time zones can also tune in for the second round of territory resets on Sunday at 00:30UTC with hosts Bogul, Shozen, and Robinhoodrs, with territories becoming claimable at 01:00 UTC.
Between the two reset broadcasts, we'll also be broadcasting Level 5-7 Crystal League fights with no delay at 20:30, 21:00, and 21:30 UTC.
For the complete Guild Season schedule, check out this forum post.
Here's a video from the last Invasion Day, which kicked off Season 14:
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Wreak Havoc with the new Demonic Warrior Vanity Bundle
The new Demonic Warrior Vanity Bundle is here! This premiere bundle is available in the ingame store, and includes a full costume set plus a matching Saddled Hellhound Mount Skin for your Direwolf base mount.
The bundle will imbue your character with dark, magical forces to wreak havoc upon Albion. Encased in armor, with burning eyes that glow behind a ghastly pointed helmet, you will strike deathly fear into the heart of anyone who crosses your path. The bundle also includes a skin for your Direwolf base mount to transform it into the terrifying Saddled Hellhound, with flames cascading from its snout as it prowls through the world.
The Demonic Warrior Bundle includes the following vanity skins, which work on male and female characters alike:
[video autoplay="yes" loop="yes" muted="yes" playsinline="yes"]http://assets.albiononline.com/uploads/media/default/media/dd6b5b7ea4f0263efe332d9355044d1b1049ebfe.mp4[/video] As with past bundles, you can use all costume 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.
Get this premiere bundle today and bring darkness to the lands of Albion!
Uncle Frost Returns to Albion
The air is crisp, Adventurers are contesting the Yuletide Challenge, and festive decorations adorn Albion's cities. It all points to one thing: Uncle Frost is back!
This strange, bearded figure has a chance to appear at the end of any T4+ Solo or Group Randomized Dungeon across all factions and zones between now and December 30 - just look for Christmas trees as you approach the end of a dungeon. If you manage to find and defeat him, you can unlock the final chest for a chance at special Yule-themed items including snowballs and the rare Yule Stag mount skin!
Celebrate the Occasion
Uncle Frost has a benevolent side as well, of course, so to mark his arrival and celebrate the festive season, he’s sent fireworks and snowballs to all players! To claim them, just log into the game before December 30 at 10:00 UTC. There you’ll find an in-game mail containing snowballs and three colors of fireworks, available to all characters who have completed the tutorial.
So grab your gifts, head out into the streets and join in the festive spirit with a snowball fight or a spectacular light show. Uncle Frost would be delighted!
