In our last Dev Talk, Game Director Robin Henkys introduced the visual and level design improvements coming with the Lands Awakened update in November. In this newest video, he introduces open-world gameplay changes including mobs that level up over time, updated Static Dungeons, and fully reworked treasure sites.
Mob upgrading system also applies to Static Open-World Dungeons:
The reworked open-world dungeons offer plenty of opportunities for different player types: PvE players can explore them outside event times, while PvP players can rush in during events.
Reworked Treasure Sites
Current system:
New system:
Resource Treasures
Treasure system now spawns resources as well:
More to Come
As you can see, there are tons of new features and improvements coming to the open world with the next update, and many other features as well. Soon we'll discuss new music, major Guild Season changes, HQ Hideouts and more, so stay tuned!
Watch Invasion Day Live on AlbionTV
The standalone Energy Surge Season surges to the next level this weekend, with all territories reset and Season Points tripled.
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.
Be sure to stick around between the two reset broadcasts, as we'll be broadcasting high-level Crystal League fights with no delay.
For the complete schedule of this unique standalone season, check out this forum post.
The next major content update for Albion Online, Lands Awakened, will bring major changes, improvements, and new features to open-world gameplay in Albion. In this video, Game Director Robin Henkys introduces the upcoming visual and structural redesigns planned for Albion's five biomes and discusses how they will affect the overall gameplay experience.
The Lands Awakened update is scheduled to release in the second half of November, after the current Energy Surge Season. Goals:
This is a major undertaking, which involves revisiting all the content that makes up the world of Albion Online. For this Dev Talk, we're starting at the beginning: by looking at how the visuals and layout of the open world will be updated and improved.
Wide-Ranging Biome Improvements
The Lands Awakened update will bring huge visual improvements to Albion's biomes. All 15 sub-biome graphics sets (3 for each of the 5 biomes) will be reworked with the following goals:
Each of the five biomes has a basic theme which increases in intensity and menace in higher-tier zones:
Forest
Swamp
Steppe
Mountain
Highlands
Updating Layouts
The maps introduced during the beta phase have worked fine, but often felt too cluttered or generic. To address this, we've challenged ourselves to completely rework all the open-world layouts of Albion Online, with the following two goals:
More specifically, these goals will be implemented in the following ways:
What about Hideouts?
When the Lands Awakened update launches, Hideouts will be automatically placed as close as possible to their original location. Guilds will have the opportunity to move each Hideout once within the same zone for a short time after the update launch.
Tune in next time to find out about more exciting changes coming to Albion Online with the next update, including new music, major improvements to open-world rewards, and new features for open-world PvE and PvP.
Thanks for watching!
Call to Arms Patch 11 is Here
Call to Arms Patch 11 is live! This patch brings substantial combat balance changes, improvements to the Black Zone map display and Faction Warfare UI, and more. Read on for details...
Combat Balance Changes
Combat balance changes are a major focus of this patch, with numerous weapon line updates. In particular, there’s an emphasis on diversifying the ZvZ meta, with improvements to long-overlooked weapons and adjustments to some already popular ones to keep group fights fair and exciting. Here are just some of the changes:
Black Zone Map Improvements
Black Zone map headers now display the Zone Quality Level when you hover over them. Since this determines the season point multipliers for Territories, Castles, Castle Outposts and mobs, as well as Energy Storage by territory, this change allows this important information to be easily obtained via the ingame UI.
Other Changes and Improvements
As always, you can read the complete list of changes in the official patchnotes.
Watch Invasion Day Live on AlbionTV
This weekend, the one-of-a-kind Energy Surge Season kicks up to the next level, with all territories reset and Season Points 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.
Be sure to stick around between the two reset broadcasts, as we'll be broadcasting high-level Crystal League fights with no delay.
For the complete schedule of this unique standalone season, check out this forum post.
A new referral season is here! From now until December 1, refer your friends and claim your very own Snow Fox mount skin. This skin transforms your Direwolf base mount into a cool and crafty companion - and once you’ve unlocked it, it can be used by all characters on your account.
On top of that, you can 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 you an additional T8 Pile of Tomes along with the mount skin.
The current referral season lasts until maintenance on December 1, so you've got until then to refer your friends and claim your rewards. Remember, mount skin referral rewards will not be tradable until 15 days after the referral season ends.
How to Earn Seasonal Referral Rewards
The Harvest Challenge Returns
Fall has come to the world of Albion... the shadows are growing longer... and the Harvest Challenge is back! For the entire month of October, earn points for open-world activities, unlock chests to get spooky loot, and claim your very own Spectral Bat.
Reap What You Sow
SPECTRAL BAT: This month's Challenge offers another chance to claim the amazing Spectral Bat. In addition to its spooky appearance, this winged menace comes with a powerful Flicker spell that allows you to jump to a target location in the blink of an eye. (Note: like all mounts, the Spectral Bat cannot fly over obstacles or gaps.)
AVATAR RING: Adventurers who rack up enough total Challenge Points will also earn the Harvest Challenge avatar ring, featuring a pair of eerie, grinning skeletons. This non-tradable item permanently unlocks this avatar border for one character, or can be traded to the Vanity Merchant for one Vanity Token.
SEASONAL SPECIALS: All month long, reach weekly point totals to unlock Harvest Challenge Chests. Along with valuable rewards like Adventurer's Tomes, Silver, resources, and other loot, you'll also have a chance to unlock six seasonal furniture items: the Scary Pumpkin Lantern, Friendly Pumpkin Lantern, Halloween Lantern, Halloween Cauldron, Halloween Scarecrow, and Halloween Pyre.
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!
Season 13 and Crystal League Championship Winners Announced!
With the Coalition’s war against the Empire already well underway when Season 13 began, some wondered if declarations of Blue Army’s victory were premature. Others, however, believed that the return of several veteran players all but ensured their triumph. And indeed, by the time the season ended Blue Army had amassed more points than any guild had previously managed, surpassing one million season points while also earning second place for their secondary guild Blue Army Freemen. At the end of the season the Coalition was defeated, with their forces disbanded, destroyed, or simply moved along. In the final days only Elevate and Guildzinha remained standing. While the rest of the Coalition folded, Yur Mum stayed to fight.
Here are the season’s top ten teams: 1. Blue Army - 1,142,391 points 2. Blue Army Freemen - 751,245 points 3. Reject Sanity - 579,181 points 4. I DOOM I - 473,263 points 5. Aesirs - 417,168 points 6. SUN - 328,043 points 7. Elevate - 273,952 points 8. Iron Hand - 270,359 points 9. GOSTOP - 266,870 points 10. JUST4 FUN - 263,926 points
Season 13 Video Roundup
In the 5v5 Crystal League, few teams are as respected and feared as Cargera’s - referred to as The Meta or The Final Boss - and it is rare to see them challenged. In this match, Rafikon’s team gives them as much as they can possibly handle in an absolute brawl:
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In a season full of incredible fights between the forces of POE and Elevate, this battle may have been the best. POE has Elevate surrounded but Elevate have the high ground and control of two choke points:
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Every season new faces join the war, and in this interview Shozen talks to Monjp - GM of Rising King and shot caller for the SIX alliance:
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Naptime Takes the Crystal League Crown!
Season 13’s best 5v5 teams faced off over the weekend in the latest Crystal League Championship, and the results are in. Naptime has claimed the top prize!
Participation in the Crystal League Championship is a mighty achievement in itself, of course, so big congratulations are also due to the 2nd-4th placed teams:
Once again, massive congratulations to Naptime and to everyone who took part in our showcase 5v5 event. Here are the weekend’s final brackets:
Check out the grand finals:
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Thanks to the whole AlbionTV crew of Shozen, Lewpac, Tazzik, Bogul, and Robinhoodrs, as well as Community Manager Nesnes, for their great work and for keeping everything running smoothly. Next up is a special, shorter Energy Surge Season, which kicks off on September 25th. Check out the schedule in this forum post and get ready to earn your HQ Hideout!
The Energy Surge Season Starts Saturday
The next guild season starts Saturday, with a shortened 6-week schedule and steadily increasing Energy and Point Multipliers. The top 600 guilds will also earn the ability to designate an HQ Hideout in Season 14, and ranking guilds can earn unique avatars, a one-of-a-kind winner statue, a Fame Boost, and more.
HQ Hideouts and Other Fantastic Rewards
As previously announced, the ability to claim HQ Hideouts with Season 14 will be based on total Season Points earned during the Energy Surge season, based on the following rules:
[table] [tr] [th]Season Point Threshold[/th] [th]Max Zone Quality Level[/th] [th]Max Zone Tier[/th] [/tr] [tr] [td]200,000[/td] [td]6[/td] [td]8[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]120,000[/td] [td]5[/td] [td]8[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]80,000[/td] [td]4[/td] [td]8[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]40,000[/td] [td]3[/td] [td]7[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]20,000[/td] [td]3[/td] [td]6[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]10,000[/td] [td]1[/td] [td]6[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Note: Only the top 600 guilds of the season can qualify for an HQ Hideout.[/td] [/tr] [/table] Guilds that reach a high enough rank during the season will receive the powerful Tower Chariot battle mount and Energy Surge Season Avatars. Additionally, the top five guilds will receive a 90-day Fame Buff and the top three will each receive a statue permanently placed in Albion's open world!
Watch the Season Kickoff Live
The action kicks off on AlbionTV this Saturday, September 25 at 17:30 UTC, when Shozen, Lewpac and Bogul bring you full coverage of Invasion Day.
At 18:00 UTC, guilds can claim territories and launch attacks. The North and South American time zones can also tune in for the second round of resets on Sunday, September 26 at 00:30 UTC with Shozen, Robinhoodrs and Bogul covering the next round of claimable territories starting at 01:00 UTC. All open-world fights are broadcast live with a 15-minute delay.
The Energy Surge Season starts September 25, featuring a shorter 6-week structure, accelerated point multipliers, and unique one-of-a-kind rewards for the top guilds. In anticipation of this unique standalone season, today's patch brings changes to Guild and Faction Warfare, quality-of-life improvements including new Nametag options and better Usage Fee notifications, and new artifact drops in the open world.
New Artifacts Added
As part of the brand-new War Gloves weapon line coming with the next major content update, new artifacts have been added to mob and chest drops in the open world.
These artifacts cannot yet be used for crafting, and only appear in limited quantities for now, but they already offer economic and PvE players a new item line to start collecting and trading.
For more on War Gloves and these new artifacts, watch the latest Dev Talk.
Guild and Faction Warfare Changes
Quality-of-Life Improvements
On top of the changes listed above, there are also numerous Combat Balance Changes, bugfixes, and other improvements. As always, you can read the complete list of changes in the official patchnotes.
