Albion Online News

This weekend brings the final reset day of the season, with all Season Points doubled... and we'll be covering it live on the AlbionTV Twitch channel starting Saturday at 17:30 UTC! Join our hosts Lewpac, Bogul, and Shozenwon as they cover the Invasion Day madness live.

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.

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.

This week we launched the fifteenth patch of the Queen update, with a particular focus on mount balancing. Here's what's new:
[h3]Mount Changes[/h3]

• Players who are force-dismounted are cleansed and temporarily immune to crowd control to prevent perma-stun
• Base mount top speeds slightly increased, and time until gallop slightly decreased
• Speed mount top speeds slightly decreased, and time until gallop slightly increased

Here are a few of the other changes and fixes implemented with this patch:

• Players who re-queue for a zone after being removed via the Smart Cluster Queue are now immobilized to prevent the queue from "dropping" them
• Chests updated in T8 Undead World Boss zones (Unhallowed Cloister, Black Monastery, Deathreach Priory, Camlann)
• Most AoE spells cast by mobs in Hellgates no longer trigger damage reflection

As always, for a complete list of changes, you can check the official patchnotes.

The Rise of Avalon update arrives in August, bringing major new gameplay features to the world of Albion. One such feature is Corrupted Dungeons, a new type of single-player dungeon that will bring new dimensions to solo play in Albion Online. In this Dev Talk, Game Director Robin Henkys discusses what these dungeons are and how they work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V0yKOzmitE
No time to watch the video, or prefer a written summary? Then read on...

The all-new Corrupted Dungeons arriving with the next update are a response to those players who have been asking for more solo PvE and PvP content for Albion Online. But what are they exactly, and how do they work?
[h3]The Basics[/h3]
To find a Corrupted Dungeon, you’ll need to explore the open world and find a Corrupted Dungeon Entrance. These spawn like regular Solo Randomized Dungeons, but they look a good deal more sinister.

When entering a Corrupted Dungeon, you can choose your difficulty level:

• Hunter: lower rewards, knockdown PvP rules, relatively low Item Power softcap. A good difficulty for anyone learning the basics of 1v1 PvP in Albion.
• Stalker: full-loot PvP rules with significantly higher rewards, but still a low Item Power Softcap. A good level for veteran PvP players.
• Slayer: even greater rewards, full-loot PvP, a bigger PvE challenge, and a much higher Item Power softcap. This is the elite level aimed at advanced players.

[h3][/h3][h3]What's Inside?[/h3]
After choosing your difficulty level and entering the dungeon, you’ll find yourself in a place infested with demons and corrupted creatures. To complete the dungeon, you'll have to cleanse these creatures. Each creature slain will award Infamy points. Different enemies will yield different amounts of infamy based on their difficulty.

When you’ve collected enough Infamy points, the final boss in the dungeon appears. By defeating it, you can lay claim to the loot rewards of the dungeon. In addition, the Infamy gained will remain with you, showing your place in the Infamy rankings as well as permanently boosting your rewards in Corrupted Dungeons.

Finally, at the end of a dungeon run, a portal to another Corrupted Dungeon appears and allows you to start another dungeon right away - or you can leave and take your loot back to the city.
[h3][/h3][h3]How Does PvP Work?[/h3]
In every corrupted dungeon is a demonic shrine which players can use to sign themselves up to invade other players. Once a player has signed up, the game will regularly check for a potential invasion target. If such a target is found, the invading player will be pulled from their dungeon into another player’s dungeon.

The defending player now has two options:

• they can rally and fight the invader, or
• they can try to destroy the demonic shards which appeared in their dungeon along with the invader.

If they succeed in destroying enough of these shards, the Invader is banished and the defender can continue playing their own dungeon.

If either player kills the other, the victim loses some of their infamy, and the killer gains some of it. This allows players to gain very high infamy numbers and rise in the ranks for their own  prominence - and for significant boosts to future dungeon rewards.
[h3][/h3][h3]Special Features of Corrupted Dungeons[/h3]
To add tactics and depth to these encounters, there are a number of special features players can use to try to outsmart their opponents:

• NPC positions are marked on the minimap, allowing you to guess your opponent's position based on the creatures they’ve already slain
• Watcher demons will mark any player they encounter on the minimap for their opponent to see
• And last but not least, there are a large number of traps and hazards which you will need to avoid, or actively use to outsmart and defeat your opponent

[h3]In Conclusion[/h3]
As you can see, there's a lot to this feature, and we hope you’re looking forward to exploring and fighting in the Corrupted Dungeons when the Rise of Avalon update launches.

That's all for today - you can also look forward to our next Dev Talk, in which we’ll go in-depth with the Roads of Avalon and their impact on the world of Albion Online.

The dead just won't stay buried! For the entire month of July, take the Undead Challenge to unlock fantastic rewards. Earn points for open-world activities, unlock chests to get valuable loot, and claim your very own Spectral Direboar.
[h3]The Afterlife Goes On[/h3]
SPECTRAL DIREBOAR: This month's Challenge brings back the popular Spectral Direboar, a ghostly mount with a unique spell, Glimpse of the Other Side, which renders you temporarily invisible. Use it to evade your enemies... or to launch a sneak attack!

AVATAR RING: Adventurers who rack up enough total Challenge Points will also earn the Undead Challenge avatar ring, featuring a spooky skull-themed design that will strike fear into the hearts of your foes. 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 goals to unlock Undead Challenge chests. In addition to valuable rewards like Adventurer's Tomes and Silver, you'll also have a chance to unlock spooky furniture items like the Candelabra, Lantern, and Memorial of the Fallen, as well as rare and valuable Undead Vanity Skins.
 
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 / avatar ring reward. So log in, head out into the open world, gather points, and claim these rewards while you can!

The next major content update for Albion Online, Rise of Avalon, will arrive in August (watch the new teaser trailer for the update here). In our newest Dev Talk, Combat Designer Michael Schwahn discusses the all-new Avalonian Weapon lines that are coming to the game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBkTCxPu5sg
No time to watch the video, or prefer a written summary? Read on...
[h3]Overview[/h3]

• Albion Online's first major weapon expansion since the release of Level 3 artifacts
• The weapon lines were first conceived when we began designing the Avalonian faction
• Includes 15 artifact weapons (one for each weapon family) and 3 offhands
• Each item will be available from T4 to T8, for a total of 90 new weapon models
• Will completely shift the meta

But how exactly will they change the meta, and who are they for? First off, unlike Level 3 Artifacts, Avalonian Weapons are useful for a wide variety of applications and situations, from solo play to small-group PvP to large battles. The weapons will come with a wide variety of exciting new mechanics that will keep combat in Albion fresh and unpredictable.



Let's take a look at some examples:

1. Lucent Hawk (Bow)

Upon activation, you can shoot up to four high-impact, long-range skillshots in a row. You only have a short time window between each shot to fire the next arrow. This ability temporarily turns you into a deadly sniper, but you'll have to be very careful to not get interrupted, or you'll lose the remaining shots.

2. Majestic Smash (Two-Handed Sword)
Next we have the two handed sword, the Kingmaker. Its ability lets you swing your blade and knock all enemies around you into the air, then follow with a heavy vertical attack which deals massive damage along a line. If you're correctly positioned when using this ability, you'll be rewarded by hitting multiple targets with it, dealing tons of extra damage on top of the CC effects.

3. Inner Shadow (Cursed Staff)
This ability can be cast on any player (ally or enemy). It draws a shadow ghost out of the player, which inflicts an AoE attack. The type of shadow depends on the armor of the target:

• Cloth Armor: summons a mage shadow which creates a lightning area that deals damage
• Leather Armor: shadow creates a life steal aura which heals the caster
• Plate Armor: summons a tank that slows enemies and shreds their armor after a short delay

Since the summoned shadow depends on the armor of the target and not the caster, it allows for a lot of versatility and interesting decision-making during combat.

4. Line Breaker (Spear)
The Avalonian Spear is a one-handed lance. After a short cast time, you charge at your enemies, during which you are unstoppable and immune to any kind of CC. When you hit an enemy, you purge all their buffs and deal a large amount of damage.

As this is a one-handed weapon, you can combine it with all sorts of offhands for different effects. In fact, many of the new weapons are one-handed to allow for more interesting offhand combinations on higher artifact gear.

5. Soul Link (Nature Staff)

This ability temporarily links two targets together. The effect of the link depends on the targets' alignments relative to the caster:

• 2 Allies: damage taken is now evenly shared between the two targets, and their healing received is also shared and amplified
• Ally / Enemy: some of the enemy’s Healing Received is stolen and transferred to the ally
• 2 Enemies: damage taken is evenly shared, and also amplified

As you can see, these unique new abilities bring exciting new opportunities to combat in Albion. Keep in mind these abilities are still in production, and the final behavior may still change during testing.


[h3]Crafting[/h3]
So how can you obtain these new weapons? The weapons can be crafted with the use of new Artifacts. In addition to being obtained directly, these artifacts can also be forged from Avalonian Shards.

Essentially, the crafting works just like with the Avalonian Armors. However, with the next update we will also increase the availability of Avalonian Shards, and you will be able to find Shards when exploring the upcoming Roads of Avalon.
[h3]Destiny Board[/h3]
With the Rise of Avalon update, we are splitting the Destiny Board artifact specialization nodes into one node per artifact. This applies to both combat and crafting. The Fame requirements will be adjusted so that each artifact specialization node levels at the same pace as a regular node.

All the existing Fame that players already have in their artifact specialization nodes will be evenly distributed into the specialization nodes for the individual items in that node. This means if you have the Artifact Sword Combat Specialist at level 70, the Fame of that node will then be split evenly into the three new specialization nodes for the individual items: Clarent Blade, Carving Sword, and Galatine Pair. The new node for the Avalonian Sword would start at zero.


[h3]Balancing[/h3]
In addition to these exciting new weapon lines coming with the next update, we are also adjusting the 1v1 combat balance for the new Corrupted Dungeons, which feature 1v1 PvP. We'll discuss these dungeons much more in-depth in an upcoming video.

That's all for today - thanks for listening, and stay tuned for more Dev Talks in the coming weeks!