Albion Online News

Winter has returned to Albion, and the Yuletide Challenge is back! For the entire month of December, earn points for open-world activities, unlock chests, and earn rewards like an avatar ring, classic furniture items, and the beloved Snow Husky mount.

[h3]Yuletide Greetings[/h3]

SNOW HUSKY: You’ve got another chance to claim the charming Snow Husky, a handsome canine companion that will carry you through Albion’s harshest terrain. Along with its strong base move speed, its Hunting Instinct spell gives a short but powerful speed burst.


AVATAR RING: Along with the Snow Husky, adventurers who reach this month’s total point goal will unlock the Yuletide Challenge Ring, which gives your avatar a cheery holiday look any time of year. And remember: unclaimed Adventurer’s Challenge Rings can always be traded in for Adventurer’s Tokens at the Vanity Merchant!


SEASONAL SPECIALS: Unlock Yuletide Challenge chests to get a mix of holiday-themed prizes, along with goodies like Silver, Tomes of Insight, treasures and resources. Each chest has a chance to give classic Yuletide decorations like Presents and Decorated Trees as well as the Yuletide Candle, Wreath, Lantern, and Candy Boot!


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!

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The Steam Awards are back! This year, a new "Labor of Love" category honors games that have been out for a while, but continue to receive strong development and community support.

Whether you're new to the game or have been playing for years, we'd be honored to have your support! Nominations are open from now until November 28.

Albion Online truly is a "labor of love" for us, and we look forward to supporting and growing the game for years to come. Thanks to you, our Albion community, for your support and for making the game what it is today!

This Saturday is the final Invasion Day of the season - points will be doubled, and we’ll be showing the action live on AlbionTV!

At 13:50 UTC on Saturday 18 November you can join hosts Robinhoodrs, Shozen, and Bogul for coverage of the final round of the day’s invasions on Albion East. Then, at 17:50 UTC, Shozen, Lewpac, and Bogul will bring you coverage of the first round of territory resets on Albion West. Finally, at 00:50 UTC on Sunday 19 November, Robinhoodrs, Shozen and Tazzik will present the second round of territory resets on Albion West. Tune in to make sure you don’t miss any of the action!

For current season schedules for Albion West and Albion East, see this forum post.

With Wild Blood having expanded Albion’s gameplay significantly, it’s already time to look forward to what the future will bring for the game. In this new Dev Talk, Game Director Robin Henkys shares some of our thoughts and impressions about the update, and what that means for Albion going forward.

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[h3]The Wild Blood Update[/h3]
Wild Blood took longer than most updates to produce, for a number of reasons:

• The launch of Albion East, and the various challenges this presented
• Multiple groundbreaking features
  • Shapeshifter Weapons work differently to any previous weapon line
  • Awakened Weapons added new stats to the combat system
  • Tracking brought new quest and spawning systems to the open world
• Working on many features in parallel means they slow each other down somewhat

[h3]New Update Cycle[/h3]
With this in mind, we’re looking at ways to get updates out more quickly and reliably:

• Updates will be tied to the Guild Season schedule, coming roughly every three months
• Updates will be smaller, and targeted at a specific area of the game
• Other changes being worked on can be released as and when they are ready

Updates will therefore vary in size depending on how many features are completed in each cycle, and the next update will never be far off. This way we can focus on the key features of each, ensuring they are delivered to the highest possible standard.


[h3]The Next Update[/h3]
Our first update on the new schedule will release in January:

• It will focus on Guild Seasons
• It will feature a new line of rewards, which expands every season
  • These can be earned by helping your guild climb the season rankings
• The way territories produce Season Points will be reworked
• A new territory raiding mechanic will drive conflict between guilds
• Individual players will be rewarded with a daily Might bonus for successful territory control and raiding

Additionally, there will be various tweaks and rebalancing, including revisiting Hideouts and Headquarter Hideouts, to increase competition for Power Cores.

We’ll have more information for you as we approach January’s release date, so stay tuned for more!

Tracking is a new open world activity that sends you and your group out into the open world to pursue rare creatures.
[h3]Tracking 101[/h3]
To begin Tracking, you’ll first need to unlock the Trainee Tracker node on the Destiny Board, which you can do by getting a small amount of PvE fame. This will allow you to use T3 tracking toolkits. These can either be crafted at a Toolmaker, or purchased directly from the Marketplace.

There are a total of seven types of creatures that you can encounter, each coming in a small version for 1-3 players, and a larger version for 4-8 players. Hunting in a party bigger than these designated sizes is not possible.
[h3]Starting the Hunt[/h3]
To initiate the hunt, you will first need to enter a red or black zone. You can then use the Tracking Toolkit either by clicking on it in your inventory, or with a hotkey (default: U).



This will reveal any readable tracks in your vicinity. A T3 tool can reveal Panthers, Sylvians, and Spirit Bears, with each tier after that adding one more type of creature. Higher tier Toolkits also increase the radius in which you can discover new tracks. Go to one of the tracks you have revealed and interact with it to start the hunt.

Now you will be directed to a specific area to search for further clues. This can be within the same map, but could also lead you to a neighboring zone. Search the marked area, and you will either discover tracks or the creature itself.
[h3]Finding and Interacting with Tracks[/h3]
When you find your target’s tracks, you will need to interact with them in order to progress the hunt. The tracks will be surrounded by a small circle and may have some mobs around them protecting it. You’ll first need to clear these mobs before you can interact with the track.


[h3]Engaging the Target[/h3]
If you find the target itself you will need to fight it in order to progress. You may not be able to kill it on your first encounter, as the creature may flee after receiving a certain amount of damage, after a time limit has been reached, or if too many players are nearby.

But don’t worry, any damage you’ve dealt to it will carry over to the next encounter. If you end up killing the target it will drop various items, ranging from rare ingredients that can be used to craft potions, to powerful artifacts which are necessary to craft the new Shapeshifter Weapons.


[h3]Rewards[/h3]
Any step of the hunt after its initiation will award Tracking Fame to you and your party members if you have a Tracking Toolkit in your inventory. Tracking Fame progresses the Seasoned Tracker node on the Destiny Board and its related specializations. This allows you to use better Tracking Toolkits and hunt more efficiently.

Each creature can drop new items which can be used for crafting and enchanting:

• Animal remains: Enchanting Potions
• Rare Ingredients: New Potions and Shapeshifter Weapons
• Artifacts: Artifact Shapeshifter Weapons

Note: for the first few months after the Wild Blood launch, more tracks will spawn for small groups. These additional tracks will drop Black Market loot instead of rare ingredients and artifacts.


[h3]Different Tiers of Tracking Toolkits and Specialization[/h3]
Unlocking and using better Tracking Toolkits has many advantages. Not only does it allow you to track higher rarity creatures, it also rewards more Fame, speeds up interactions with tracks, and increases the search radius in which you can find new tracks.

Here’s an overview of the types of creatures that can be found and interacted with, as well as the Fame bonus you receive, depending on the tier of your toolkit.

In addition to better Toolkits, you can also increase your specialization in tracking each type of creature. This will further boost your Tracking Efficiency as well as increasing your chances of encountering your target at each stage rather than another track.


[h3]Tracking in a Party[/h3]
The size of your party matters. Not only does each creature come in two different difficulty levels offering different rewards, there’s also a benefit to hunting a rare creature that you may not be able to track down yourself yet.

• Small creatures for 1-3 players are easier to kill but offer lower rewards when killed. The Tracking Fame given is the same no matter whether you’re solo or in a group, but rewards will be shared between all party members.
• Large creatures for 4-8 players are much harder to kill and offer a higher chance of rare ingredient and artifact drops.

Additionally, the more party members interact with a track, the faster the interaction will channel. During this process, the interaction speed bonuses of each member are added together.

When starting a new hunt, you want the member with the highest specialization to interact with the track, as it will use their specialization levels for the entire hunt. Even if you don’t interact with a track, as long as you’re carrying a Tracking Toolkit you will earn Tracking Fame and progress your Destiny Board.