Albion Online News

Last month, Albion's best 5v5 teams faced off in the first-ever offseason tournament. The finals came down to the last moments, with June Esports pulling off a stunning victory. (You can read the full rundown of the tournament here). We're very excited to announce the return of this high-stakes Crystal League competition with the Season 10 Crystal League Championship.

Like the last tournament, this one will take place between Guild Seasons, on Saturday November 28 and Sunday November 29. This time around, we've updated the entry requirements to include more teams while still representing Albion's highest-tier 5v5 players: the Crystal League Championship will be open to any team who wins one Level 9 match or two or more Level 8 matches.

Prizes for the first- through fourth-place winners are as follows:

• First Place: Each player on the winning team will receive the extremely rare Sabertooth Rex Swiftclaw skin unlock item and 10,000 Gold
• Second Place: Each player will receive the White Tiger skin unlock item along with 5,000 Gold
• Third Place: Each player will receive the Jousting Horse skin unlock item along with 5,000 Gold
• Fourth Place: Each player will receive the Armored Bonehorse skin unlock item along with 5,000 Gold

Regarding first-place prizes, our current plan is to offer a new first-place skin every calendar year. This means that this championship will be the final one where the Sabertooth Rex is awarded, and an all-new skin unlock will be introduced for 2021.

We'll be publishing more details on our forums soon, so stay tuned!

Back in May, we reported on the massive population growth that Albion Online saw in the first part of 2020, starting with the Queen Update in January and growing further with worldwide quarantine measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, even as many of these measures are easing, the ingame population continues to grow: this month we surpassed the lockdown population peak to achieve a new Daily Average User count of over 125,000 players.

This boost comes in large part from the Rise of Avalon Update, which launched on August 12 with a host of massive new features like Roads of Avalon, Corrupted Dungeons, and Avalonian Weapons. The update also introduced Chinese and Korean language support to the game, which has brought a huge influx of new players from these regions and grown the Albion Online community into a truly global one.


[h3]Expanding the Royal Continent, Working Toward the Mobile Launch[/h3]
As mentioned in our last update, we've been focusing not only on supporting the content introduced with the Queen and Rise of Avalon updates, but also on improving the gameplay experience for all players as population numbers increase.

In tandem with new features and upgrades coming to the world of Albion over the coming months, we've set our sights on an expansion of the Royal Continent. The ongoing growth of the player base has made Albion's blue, yellow and red zones fuller than ever, and we're currently hard at work on a comprehensive plan to expand these Royal zones while deepening the gameplay experience they offer.

We're also hard at work improving and streamlining the mobile version of Albion Online, with continual improvements to mobile-based controls and menus being rolled out since the Queen launch, and more to come. We'll soon have further updates on the mobile version, including the next steps towards a Play Store beta launch in the final leadup to the official Apple and Google store launches, which will finally fulfill our vision of a truly cross-platform MMORPG experience with platform-optimized content updates. For now, though, we're focusing on making the mobile experience as fun and intuitive as possible.

Thanks for being part of the ever-growing Albion Online community!

We're very excited to announce the official release of Albion Online: Rise of Avalon OST. This new addition to the official game soundtrack features six new songs from the world of Albion, created for the massive expansion of the gameworld that began with the Queen update in January and continued with Rise of Avalon in August.

This new batch of songs includes two songs by Jonne Valtonnen, composer of the original Albion Online soundtrack, and four songs by Marie Havemann, Audio Designer for Albion Online. She describes her process for creating these new tracks:

"The goal of the music was to capture the essence of the new faction and locations, and to give the players a hint of how to feel about them. We also went further with the interactivity and had the music adapt more to changes in settings and situations in the Roads of Avalon as well as the Corrupted Dungeons. Thus we have a darker and more primal feel in the Mists, and a sense of order and Avalonian influence on the Roads. Similarly, the music in Corrupted Dungeons changes if there is an invasion."

You can listen to these new songs on Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, Amazon, and Deezer- click here to see all the links in one place. (And check out the first official soundtrack release, featuring 22 orchestral tracks by Jonne Valtonnen, here).

And for those who prefer to listen on YouTube, we've also uploaded the whole soundtrack as a playlist.

Check out two new tracks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnx_ZJva5UA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwFHEHX8TLQ

The chill of fall is beginning to creep into the air... and the Heretic Challenge is back with a whole new mount! Earn points for open-world activities, unlock chests to get valuable loot, and claim your very own Heretic Combat Mule.
[h3]Mighty Mules, Heretic Decor, and More[/h3]
HERETIC COMBAT MULE: This month's Challenge introduces a brand-new war machine from the twisted minds of Heretic saddlers. The Heretic Combat Mule fires a powerful cannon shot that knocks back and slows targets, but watch out for its massive recoil!

AVATAR RING: Adventurers who rack up enough total Challenge Points will also earn the Heretic Challenge avatar ring. This non-tradable item permanently unlocks this crazed, ramshackle avatar border for one character.

SEASONAL SPECIALS: All month long, reach weekly goals to unlock Heretic Challenge Chests. In addition to valuable rewards like Adventurer's Tomes, Silver, resources, and older Heretic-themed furniture, you'll also have a chance to unlock three new furniture items: the Heretic Lantern, Heretic Junk Pile and Heretic Construct.
 
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 rewards. So log in, head out into the open world, gather points, and claim these rewards while they last!

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