Albion Online News

Albion Online's 11th Guild Season starts on Saturday, December 5. This season will bring major new features along with changes to existing systems. In our newest Dev Talk, Combat Designer Michael Schwahn discusses these changes and how they will affect guild warfare in Albion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Do-WTEBSQw
No time to watch or prefer a written summary? Then read on...
[h3]20v20 Crystal League[/h3]
This Season introduces the 20v20 Crystal League, allowing all players to join fair and exciting 20v20 battles.

• Tokens can be bought at the Energy Manipulator and used for one of 3 slots each day
• Match rules are similar to the 5v5 League, where both teams need to control and hold more orbs than the enemy
• 20v20 matches will use an entirely new map with a layout similar to the old city fight map
• As in the 5v5 League, Level 1 matches are knockdown only and offer perfect training for newcomers
• High-stakes, full-loot matches are also available, increasing toward the end of the season

[h3]Crystal League Point Limit[/h3]
To make sure the Crystal League doesn't dominate the entire season at the expense of other activities, we're rebalancing its Season Point rewards and introducing a daily limit for Season Points gained via Crystal League. The limits are separate for 5v5 and 20v20 matches, and vary based on the amount of points available on a given day. This keeps high-level matches rewarding while ensuring seasons can’t be won solely via elite Crystal League squads.


[h3]World Boss Raid Zones[/h3]
To add high-value open world objectives, we have overhauled World Boss Raid Zones:

• World Bosses now spawn every hour
• Defeating a World Boss gives every team member a PvE Fame buff while remaining in the zone, as an additional incentive for groups to stand their ground when they meet an enemy group
• To further make these areas into Fame Farming hotspots, their Elite mobs are now much stronger, but also way more rewarding, and they respawn much faster
• These spots are limited, which should lead to more small and midsized open-world fights

[h3]Castles[/h3]
With Season 11, Castle and Castle Outpost timers will be the same for all clusters in the game. This means treasure spawning and scoring now occur independently of the cluster prime time.

• Castles score every 6 hours
• Castle Outposts score every 3 hours
• Castle Chests appear on Saturdays at 12:00 and 18:00 UTC and Sundays at 00:00 UTC
• Castle Outpost Chests appear every 6 hours

We've also increased distances between Castles by removing tunnels and cluster connections to ensure they are always at least four zones apart.

These changes will put pressure on bigger power blocks to split their forces if they want to contest more than one objective. This will hopefully lead to fewer overcrowded cluster battles.
[h3]Skip Overcrowded Clusters[/h3]
The Cluster Queue was originally designed as a tool to handle edge cases with too many players, but queued battles have become more and more frequent and many battles now revolve around this system. This is especially frustrating for players who might not get a chance to participate in the fight at all.

To improve this, players can now skip overcrowded clusters. You can now select any connected entrance to jump to, and find new battles instead of waiting outside as a potential backup. This essentially allows two battles at once: one in the overcrowded cluster, and another between queued players.

The queue entrance range will also increase, letting players travel further without leaving the queue. And if two clusters in a row are overcrowded, you can skip through both.


[h3]Combat Balancing[/h3]
Finally, for Season 11 we will also roll out a combat balance update. This includes the new Axe ability Rending Rage, a combo where you swing your blade and then leap forward and root the enemy. This gives Axes a Q-slot option for mobility and crowd control. This patch also contains buffs for Axes, Spears and Arcane Staffs along with various adjustments to other abilities.

There are quite a lot of changes in Season 11, and we are excited to see how players interact with them. Hopefully we'll see some fierce competition for the top spots this season.

Thanks for watching!

The wait is almost over: the Season 10 Crystal League Championship is this weekend! Starting Saturday at 17:00 UTC, tune in to AlbionTV to watch all the action live. Winners will receive huge Gold rewards and rare mounts, with the first-place team walking away with the ultra-rare Sabertooth Rex Swiftclaw Skin.

Join hosts Shozen, Lewpac, and Tazzik as they bring you live coverage and commentary on these high-action fights. Here's the weekend's schedule:

• Saturday, November 28: 17:00 - 20:30 UTC
• Sunday, November 29: 17:00 - 22:15 UTC

(Note: the above end times are approximate, depending on how long matches run.)

For team breakdowns, full rules, and the final schedule, keep an eye on this forum post.

The Season 10 Crystal League Championship will take place on November 28-29, with Albion's top Crystal League players facing off for tremendous prizes including the ultra-rare Sabertooth Rex Swiftclaw Skin. The entry requirements have been updated to bring in more teams, and matches will run on shorter timers than usual to ensure a steady stream of exciting fights throughout the weekend.

The basic rules:

• Teams who won one Level 9 match or two or more Level 8 matches during Season 10 are invited to participate
• Participants must use the same team and characters that qualified during the season
• Each team can allocate one substitute
• Each team must assign a Captain as the main contact point
• For full rules and the final schedule, keep an eye on this forum post.

[h3]Watch the Action Live on AlbionTV[/h3]
Like last time, you can watch the action all weekend long on AlbionTV, the official Albion Online Twitch Channel. Join hosts Shozen, Lewpac, and Tazzik as they bring you live coverage and commentary on these high-action fights, where the difference between victory and defeat hinges on lightning-fast reflexes and flawless teamwork. The reigning champions will be crowned and receive their prizes at a ceremony after the final match on Sunday.

Get ready for Albion's highest-stakes tournament yet, and keep an eye on our forum for updates!

There's just a short time left to unlock the brand-new Panda mount skin: the current Referral Season ends at maintenance on December 1. For just a single referral, you'll earn the following:

• Panda Mount Skin (permanently unlocked for all characters on your account)
• 500 Gold
• an additional Recruiter's Pile of Tomes worth an incredible 200,000 Fame for your first-ever referral

You can get all the details of the current referral season, as well as your personal referral link to share with friends, by clicking here while signed in to the website:

[h3]REFER FRIENDS[/h3]

Brimstone and Mist launched on October 21, bringing significant improvements to Corrupted Dungeons, the Roads of Avalon, and large-scale combat. In our newest Dev Talk, Game Director Robin Henkys discusses major improvements coming to Faction Warfare and Hellgates with the next content update.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOiprC3H1Cc
No time to watch the video, or prefer a written summary? Then read on...
[h3]1. Faction Warfare[/h3]
We’ve long wanted to expand Faction Warfare into a major activity for players of all levels. We want players without large guilds to experience the excitement of massive battles, while also allowing maintaining Faction Warfare as a valuable and rewarding activity for experienced players.

To achieve this, we’re changing the following:

• Faction Conquest: In addition to Outposts, factions will be able to conquer entire zones. To provoke large-scale battles, Factions will only be able to attack Outposts and zones that border another Faction.
• Faction Points: Points will be awarded not only for taking Outposts and zones, but also for killing enemy defenders. Loyalty to a faction will become more important via Faction ranks and weekly/monthly Faction Campaigns with valuable rewards.
• Core System Changes: To encourage beginning and mid-level players to participate, Faction Warfare in blue/yellow zones will be non-lethal, instead allowing knocked-out players to rejoin the fight from their nearest Outpost. At the same time, the red zones will contain the highest-value Faction Warfare areas, and will offer a unique red zone battle event to encourage high-value, full-loot Faction Warfare.

With these changes, we think Faction Warfare will become the perfect way for new Albion players to get their first experience of large-scale warfare, while offering a deep and interesting activity for veteran players who don’t have an Outlands guild or want to enjoy large-scale warfare even when their guild is not currently fighting.


[h3]2. Hellgates[/h3]
Hellgates are an integral feature of Albion Online, letting players participate in high-stakes PvP in a challenging but balanced battleground. Hellgates were developed during the Alpha phase of Albion Online, and it's finally time to give them the attention they deserve.
Goals of the new Hellgates:

• Make them more accessible by adding Hellgate maps, which lead to a Hellgate in the open world (similar to Dungeon Maps) whenever your group is ready.
• Make them more rewarding by adding a ranking system and an Infamy-like system that boost your rewards as your ranking increases.
• Make them more competitive by reworking the matchmaking system, ensuring you get matched with challenging opponents and don't receive rewards without fighting. We’re also adding all-new 10v10 Hellgates.
• Make them more polished via a complete rework of their visuals and their PvE experience. The new Hellgates will offer varied PvE challenges and rewards while waiting for an enemy team, as well as a variety of different Hellgate layouts.

I hope you’re as excited about these major improvements to Faction Warfare and Hellgates as we are – we’ll share more details as development continues.

In the meantime, you can look forward to our upcoming Play Store beta as well as major changes for Season 11 (including updates to Season Point scoring and the Outlands map) which we’ll cover in an upcoming Dev Talk.

Thanks for watching!