Albion Online News

Guild name: ROLL BACK
Alliance: French Baguette Inquisition (FB1)
Guild leaders: Ophyte
Date founded: May 2019
Number of members: 168+
Primary language: French

Tell us about your guild. What sort of activities do you focus on? What sort of members are you looking for?

ROLL BACK was formed by Majiik. We didn't really have any goals until we realized the potential of the French community. We decided to open our enrollment to everyone who wanted to be a part of a fully French-speaking guild. We are mainly in the EU timezone and focus on every possible activity in the game: ZvZs, ganking, Crystal League, PvE, Hellgates, gathering, and more. We have a spot for any French player willing to make a long-term commitment who is ready to show the world that the “frogs” can be competitive and remain strong together.

Where is your guild primarily located? What regions in Albion do you focus on?

We are located primarily in the eastern part of Thetford, where we work closely with our alliance FB1.



Do you have any particular rivalries or ongoing quarrels with other guilds?

Not at the moment. We try to maintain good relations even if we have to fight against a friendly guild. We have great respect for the few French guilds that exist, though competition is always a good thing.

What were some of your most memorable battles/activities?

There are many. When we recently kicked our founding GM Majiik, we were all in T4 gear with Bedrock Maces trying to kill him in a 1 vs 40+ fight. There were some epic fights when we left ARCH and went to Fort Sterling. We were the little guys who fought Black Order, there was one castle fight where we rushed them and won with no casualties.

https://youtu.be/9wwvtW-Mdi0

We've always known we have potential, and it's very rewarding to see ourselves improving in all aspects of the game.

What does your guild do for fun?

We have a few events like a donkey race with rewards where you have to run a certain distance, like around Avalon, and come back alive. We do a Zero to Hero event where we start with low-level gear and have to loot our way up, and we have fun with ganking and gathering sessions too.

What is your approach to the game?

Our guild tries to improve in every aspect of the game but mainly ZvZs and Crystal League, since we want to make a home for all French-speaking players who want to join us. Our main focus is to unite all our members in the fun and competitive world of ZvZ.

What are your goals for the future?

To achieve Gold rank, keep having fun, and show Albion how strong the French community can be.

We welcome players who meet our requirements:

• French-speaking
• 15M PvE Fame / 3M PvP Fame
• Be respectful of both your friends and your enemies
• Have a microphone and Discord

Join us and be a part of one of the few full French guilds active in Albion!

Watch ROLL BACK in action:

Season 10, Episode 1 (Training Day):

https://youtu.be/7KQ5wrcVdB4

Season 10, Episode 2 (Ashes of the Phoenix):

https://youtu.be/SN36Ybi-IT8

Season 11, Episode 4 (Spectre):

https://youtu.be/BGU2uTZOUxE

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.


[h3]Frost-Themed Rewards for Intrepid Adventurers[/h3]
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 new 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!

2020 has been... something else. It has been a year of unexpected challenges. Challenges for our own team, and challenges for the entire Albion community as a whole. Despite the adverse conditions, we've seen an incredible community-wide outpouring of creativity and resilience, which has given us a great deal of inspiration and strength as we head into the new year.

Join us as we take a look back at the highlights of this terrible, wonderful year of 2020...
[h3]The Queen Update: A New Era for Albion[/h3]
2020 began with the massive Queen update, Albion's biggest content update since the game's launch in 2017. Six months in the making, Queen was nothing less than a complete re-envisioning of Albion's endgame, as well as a chance to introduce a host of quality-of-life improvements and far-reaching optimizations.



How did the Queen update revolutionize Albion Online?

• New Outlands: A completely reworked continent with higher-value zones at the center, giving guilds the option of living completely in the Outlands
• Hideouts: Autonomous homes for guilds, upgradeable with Marketplaces, Artifact Forges, Energy Manipulators, and Guild Halls
• Open-World Territory Battles: A new opportunity for large-scale combat supported by zerg balancing and the Smart Cluster Queue, allowing guilds of all sizes to compete in the open world
• The Crystal League: A new realm of high-level 5v5 fights, with the added ability to upgrade your guild's territories
• Elite Dungeons and Avalonian Armor: Face Albion's newest faction in 20-player dungeons with incredible rewards and a new armor line
• Wardrobe Skins: A long-requested way to use costume items in the open world without losing them or giving up combat readiness

[h3]COVID-19: The Albion Community Responds[/h3]
By Spring 2020, much of the world was in partial or total quarantine. While these lockdowns would bring increased player numbers to the game, they also created tremendous challenges for the development process as the team adjusted to working from home.



The Staff of Hermes fundraiser launched in early April. This unique charity bundle included a limited-time vanity staff and matching avatar ring, with 100% of the proceeds going to the COVID Solidarity Fund. The community came through in force, raising an incredible €42,644.94 for those in need and looking great in the process.
[h3]Summer 2020: Anniversaries, Updates, and a New Tournament[/h3]
On July 17, Albion celebrated its third anniversary. (Can you believe it's been three years already? The time just flies...) You celebrated this anniversary alongside us with a week-long Fame Boost and the ultimate throwback: the return of a classic Keeper dungeon from Albion's beta, Defenders of the Past.



In August, the Rise of Avalon update, the second massive update of 2020, went live. It brought with it a gigantic set of new features like the vast Roads of Avalon, Corrupted Dungeons for challenging PvE and intense single-player PvP, and a new line of Avalonian Weapons alongside improvements to UI, crafting, and cooking. In addition to bringing new depth and complexity to the world of Albion, the update introduced Chinese and Korean language support, further expanding Albion's worldwide community.

The following week, Albion saw its first-ever Crystal League tournament, soon to be known as the Crystal League Championship. Over two action-packed days, the greatest 5v5 teams in the game competed for incredible prizes including the ultra-rare Sabertooth Rex Swiftclaw skin, with a final showdown that came down to the last seconds:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJ81SchJaaU
[h3]Fall 2020: Brimstone & Mist, Mobile Improvements, and an Ever-Growing Population[/h3]
In October, the Brimstone & Mist Midseason Update went live, bringing new enemies and traps in Corrupted Dungeons, increased fishing opportunities and new fish in the Roads of Avalon, updates to Disarray and the Smart Cluster Queue, crafting and butchery improvements, and much more. This update also brought delta patching to Android, allowing players to update the game without a full download - a crucial step toward the full launch of the mobile version, which was further advanced by November's Play Store beta.



Meanwhile, the ingame population continued to grow and grow, reaching an unprecedented 125,000 daily average users. This increase occurred in spite of the overall easing of worldwide lockdowns, and was due in large part to the large number of players who joined the game with the Rise of Avalon update.
[h3]Looking Ahead to 2021[/h3]
2021 will bring massive updates to Albion, starting with the next major content update. Faction Warfare will be completely reworked, offering new activities, rewards, and fair and challenging large-scale battles for beginner and veteran players alike. Hellgates will also be completely re-envisioned, with varied layouts, challenging PvE, rebalanced PvP, and a new 10-versus-10 mode, while Loadouts will allow players to save their favorite gear combinations for re-gearing and Marketplace purchases.



In addition, 2021 will also bring the long-awaited official launch of the mobile version for the iOS/Google Play stores. This launch is the culmination of years of iteration and optimization for handheld devices, from combat to crafting to menu displays, and will fulfill our goal of making Albion Online the first truly cross-platform Sandbox MMORPG.

If you missed it, you can check out our final Dev Talk of 2020 here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxosGPJl3f4
We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to the entire Albion Online community for making what we do possible, particularly during such a challenging and difficult year. We're very excited for what 2021 will bring to the world of Albion – Happy New Year, and we'll see you ingame!

- Your Albion Online Team

2020 was Albion's biggest year yet, with numerous patches and updates, a host of major new features, and an ever-growing player population. In the final Dev Talk of the year, Game Director Robin Henkys looks back at the past year in the world of Albion before looking ahead to what's coming in 2021.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxosGPJl3f4&feature=emb_logo
To take the year-end survey mentioned in the video, click here.

No time to watch the video, or prefer a written summary? Then read on...
[h3]2020: Albion's Biggest Year Yet[/h3]
The past year brought some major changes, improvements, and new features to the world of Albion:

• Complete Outlands overhaul
• Introduction of Hideouts
• Open-World Territory Battles
• Avalonians and Elite dungeons
• Crystal League
• Avalonian Weapons and Armor
• Roads of Avalon
• Wardrobe Skins
• Corrupted Dungeons
• Outlands Banks
• Updated UIs
• 2 new languages
• Combat Balance Improvements
• Mobile improvements: New mobile HUD and control scheme, auto-updating, beta of the Google Play Store version
• 20v20 Crystal League battles and other Season 11 adjustments

In total we released 29 updates and patches with the majority happening out of our homes. Albion now consistently has over 500,000 active players every month, and player numbers are still growing.
[h3]Looking Forward to 2021[/h3]
Major changes coming in the next year include:

• A complete Faction Warfare rework to bring open-world warfare to every player
• Improving Hellgates to make fair, smaller-scale PvP widely accessible and rewarding
• Loadouts, which allow you to save, share and quick-equip item sets on your character

Improvements to the open world and world design of Albion:

• Reworking the fundamental building blocks of the world
• Improving visual quality while reducing dead ends and nonsensical layouts
• Improving open-world locations like large static dungeons, making them high-value hotspots
• Making treasures appear less predictably to trigger smaller-scale fights as intended
• Improving the world map with more information about ongoing activities

Quality-of-Life Improvements:

• Loadouts for quick-equipping items
• Additional functionality to quick-buy Loadouts from Marketplaces
• Adding better information about actual costs to crafting UIs
• Tackling long-standing convenience issues like a “Use All” functionality for Tomes and Silver bags

Combat improvements:

• Giving each type of mount, even non-rare mounts, their own spells and abilities
• Further expansion of equipment choices available to players

Mobile version:

• 2021 will be the year Albion Online officially releases for phones and tablets
• Will launch on both iOS and the Google Play Store

Additional goals:

• Long-needed Castle improvements
• Siege equipment and defensive structures
• Roaming mob improvements
• Additional content and exploration goals for the Roads of Avalon

Game systems:

• Expansion of options and visual improvements for Destiny Board
• Trade contracts allowing players to offer Silver for item delivery
• Revisiting the role of laborers and offering additional features and variety on player islands
• Legendary item crafting to leave a permanent mark in the world of Albion
• New mounts and equipment (gathering mounts, potential new resource tier)

Goals for PvE, guild leaders, and data enthusiasts:

• More lore and quests
• Special collectible rewards for completing quests
• Increased capabilities for guild management
• Improved Web API

For guilds in general, we want to expand on Hideouts with additional open-world buildings guilds could use to protect territories, collect resources or provide combat support in the open world. And for beginning players, we want to introduce a mentoring program called the Albion Academy.
[h3]We Need You![/h3]
As usual at the end of the year, we’re looking for your opinions about Albion Online. What are we doing well? What do we need to improve? And what features would you like to see? You can tell us in our end-of-year survey which we’ll be sending to active players who have opted-in to receive the newsletter in the coming weeks, or fill out our Roadmap Survey here.

Your feedback will help us decide which features to prioritize as we continue our journey to make Albion Online the best Sandbox MMORPG in the world.

Thank you for your continued support, and we'll see you in 2021!

Decorations fill the cities, the Yuletide Challenge is in full swing, and the mysterious Uncle Frost can be found lurking in Albion's dungeons. And for one week, the Mists of Albion will return, granting an additional 25% Fame! Read on for details...


[h3]Uncle Frost Returns[/h3]
The mysterious spirit known as Uncle Frost – sometimes benevolent, sometimes evil – has returned to Albion. Last year he was only in Keeper dungeons, but now he can appear in Solo and Group Randomized Dungeons of all factions. Watch for Christmas trees near the dungeon's end, and defeat him for a chance at special loot including Snowballs, Yule-themed items, and even the rare Yule Stag mount skin!


[h3]Celebrate the Season[/h3]
To help celebrate (and show there are no hard feelings), Uncle Frost has sent fireworks and snowballs to all players. To claim them, log into the game before December 30, 2020 at 10:00 UTC. Details:

• Rewards will be attached to an in-game mail, and consist of:
  • Fireworks (3 colors)
  • Snowballs
• Reward will be sent to all characters who log in during this period and have completed the tutorial

Claim your rewards, then hit the streets of Albion to launch some fireworks or start a snowball fight!


[h3]Holiday Fame Boost[/h3]
Finally, we're rounding out the year with a week-long Fame Boost. Log in between December 23 10:00 UTC and December 30 10:00 UTC for the automatic Mists of Albion buff, which grants an additional 25% Fame for all activities. It's the perfect time to unlock another gathering tier or max out a weapon line! (Note: Fame Boosts do not apply to Fame from Tomes, and do not accelerate Adventurer or Guild Challenge progress.)



As the year winds down, we want to thank the Albion community for making the world of Albion more vibrant than ever. Stay tuned for a year-end wrapup covering the major events of 2020!