Albion Online News

The Queen Update launched on January 20, 2020 and revolutionized Albion’s Outland gameplay. Our next major focus will be on a crucial aspect of Albion Online that needs more attention: solo and small-group gameplay. In this Dev Talk, Game Director Robin Henkys covers several major upcoming features that address this topic, as well as other changes and improvements coming to the game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSkCbo3tkiU
No time to watch the video or prefer a written summary? Then read on...
[h3]Roads of Avalon[/h3]
The Roads of Avalon are mystical paths through a misty, otherworldly realm. This ever-shifting network of roads connects locations all across Albion, but only lets a limited number of players pass through any given entrance at a time. Furthermore, while the Roads themselves persist, the connections at either end only last for a limited time, providing a huge number of potential gameplay scenarios.



Solo players can explore these roads to discover where they lead, engage in valuable single-player activities along the way, use them for transportation, and share scouted paths with friends or guild members. Some shortcuts through the mists will go directly from the Royal Continent into the deep Outlands, avoiding potential gankers in portal zones altogether – though the Roads of Avalon follow PvP rules, and present dangers of their own.

Small groups will find valuable group content within these pathways, as well as using them for travel. And finally, small guilds will have the opportunity to settle permanently in locations deep within the mists, removed from the fierce competition of the Outlands but still maintaining numerous options for small-group gameplay.
[h3]Corrupted Solo Dungeons[/h3]
The next update will introduce an all-new type of solo dungeon, Corrupted Solo Dungeons. These areas are intended for players who enjoy PvE with a risk of PvP, as long as it’s a fair fight against a single attacker. Corrupted Solo Dungeons are non-linear dungeons filled with creatures that have been possessed by a demon from Albion’s Demonic Planes. The dungeon will “swallow” any player entering it, closing the entrance behind them and preventing other players from following.



Players will have to fight their way out by defeating the demon’s minions, and eventually the demon itself. Those looking for PvP can embrace the demonic powers of this place and use them to invade another corrupted dungeon to hunt for the player inside, facing them in a one-on-one battle.

We’re very excited for this new solo PvP activity, as it is already very fun in playtests – and it will be available in both knockdown and full-loot PvP variants!
[h3]Upcoming Improvements[/h3]
Combat

• Balance adjustments and improvements to the current combat meta as the current season proceeds
• Changes for the next Guild Season starting in May, including:
  • Incentives to attack guilds holding many valuable territories to make these guilds prioritize defense
  • Adding additional incentives for powerful guilds to fight each other, rather than other, weaker groups in the Outlands
• A whole new set of artifact weapons, which will come with their own set of destiny board specializations and give veteran players something new to aspire to

Economics

• Revisiting resource changes made with Queen and boosting spawns of T6-8 resources in the Outlands
• Fixing a number of issues with fishing in the new Outlands, and finally reworking and fixing the seaweed economy for fishermen
• Streamlining and improving craft times in order to correlate them with the actual amount of resources involved in the crafting process (making time-based craft buffs from food more meaningful)
• Adjusting focus cost of artifact items to ensure they make sense to craft with focus as well
• Adding more variety to currently underrepresented slots like bags, offering new choices for players as well as increasing the variety of items to craft

Usability

• A new Mail UI
• Improved map modes displaying useful information like time zones
• A new building UI for buildings
• A quick-equip / quick-buy feature, which will allow you to configure and save sets of equipment you regularly use

[h3]Big-Picture Topics[/h3]
In terms of big features, we know we want to focus on improving the Royal Continent and Faction Warfare. In our vision, Faction Warfare will become a simple and exciting activity to engage in as a beginning player – a training activity for open-world PvP – but will also have enough depth to engage advanced players who prefer the Royal Continent over the Outlands. As such, we see the potential for Faction Warfare to be similar to “Realm vs. Realm” content in other games, where players should really identify with their chosen faction, earning unique rewards and meaningful standings.



In terms of open-world experience in Albion overall, we believe it is finally time to significantly improve the different mounts available in Albion. We want to improve the variety and usefulness of mounts by adding active abilities to different mount types, giving each type a distinct role in the world of Albion.

Finally, work on the mobile versions is proceeding nicely, and we’ll soon be ready to share some significant improvements – including an all-new HUD and joystick-based control scheme, as well as an auto-downloader for patches. That means the mobile release of Albion Online is finally drawing closer, but we will still take the time to iron out all flaws in the control scheme before we move forward with any release date. Still, we’re having a hard time not being excited when we think about finally giving every player the possibility of jumping into their Albion character on their phone!
[h3]In Conclusion[/h3]
Lastly, in regards to last year’s roadmap: while we’ve achieved most of what we set out to do, some things remain unfinished (like better highlighting of PvP hotspots and open-world objectives), which we will continue to work towards. Other ideas from that roadmap have become part of our upcoming features, such as Gathering Dungeons, which are included in our plans for the Roads of Avalon. The same might happen to some of the topics in this roadmap, as things change or are adapted as part of the development process.

That said, we’re really excited about turning our attention towards improving the small-scale PvP experience in Albion Online, along with all the other improvements listed above. We look forward to hearing your thoughts and feedback on our roadmap!

Today's patch brings further changes and improvements to several essential issues. First and foremost is the second part of our previously announced alliance limit test, reduced Silver and Fame for members of alliances with 10+ territories. We've also further improved the loot experience in all randomized dungeons, and added invisibility shrines and additional exits to Outlands portal zones to give players a bit of protection when entering Albion's black zones.

[h3]Alliance Limitations Update[/h3]
Since the launch of the Queen update in January, we've put a great deal of effort into countering the outsized effect of mega-alliances in Albion. Patch 5 introduced a Siphoned Energy Drain on guilds and alliances with 10 or more territories that was intended to force large alliances to consider the costs when claiming large numbers of territories. With today's patch, all players in these guilds and alliances will receive reduced Silver and Fame income.

Both these new systems are part of our current alliance limit test - for more information, please see this forum post.

[h3]Better Dungeon Loot[/h3]
Based on community feedback, we've decided to increase the appearance of higher-tier loot in high-level dungeons to make sure these challenging settings have equally worthwhile rewards. More specifically, T7 dungeons will only have T5 loot and higher and T8 dungeons will only have T6 loot and higher. This was accomplished by shifting the Black Market's allocated Silver to higher-tier items, while keeping the overall Silver value of chests the same.



[h3]Anti-Ganking Measures in Portal Zones[/h3]
Based on community feedback that gankers in Outlands Portal Zones (the very first zones entered when passing through a Realmgate) made these areas far more dangerous than their higher-level counterparts, we've implemented various changes with this patch. It was never intended that any player's first moments in the Outlands should be the most challenging, and as such these features will give new Outlands arrivals a fighting chance.

Here's what's been added:

• Invisibility Shrines have been added to the immediate area around each Outlands portal
• These shrines have also been placed by each exit from the portal zone
• Each portal zone has a total of four exits to avoid bottlenecks

For full details of these changes and the intentions behind them, please see this forum post.

As always, you can read the full list of changes and fixes in the official patchnotes.

Today's patch - part of an ambitious weekly update schedule that started with the launch of the Queen update - brings improvements to the Elite Dungeon experience, lower fast-travel costs, and more.

[h3]Elite Dungeon Changes[/h3]
In the first of several changes intended to improve the loot experience in Randomized Dungeons, the drop rate of Avalonian Artifacts in Elite Dungeons is now approximately double what it was before. And to reduce the time needed to complete these dungeons, the health and damage of all Avalonian enemies has been slightly reduced across the board.
[h3]Knockdown Loot Loss Changes[/h3]
Items without a durability stat, such as resources, will no longer have a chance to be destroyed upon knockdown. This change is intended to help avoid situations where players were confused about what happened to items in their inventory. It should also improve the overall loot experience in Elite Dungeons, where a large percent of loot was previously destroyed by being knocked down repeatedly.


[h3]Travel Cost Modifier Changes[/h3]
With this patch, travel cost modifiers for resources, laborer journals, and luxury goods have been updated, leading to reduced travel and Hideout retrieval costs for nearly all tiers of these items. This is only a first step in reviewing fast travel cost modifiers - we will continue to review these costs, and may adjust them further in future patches.
[h3]Other Changes and Fixes[/h3]

• Cooldown on rejoining an alliance raised from 3 days to 7 days
• Introduced time penalty on repeated respawns in Hideouts to prevent overuse of repeated-suicide defense strategies
• Players can now join the Smart Cluster Queue while mounted

As always, you can read the complete list of changes in the official patchnotes.

Spring is back, and the Keepers of Albion are beginning to awaken... and for the entire month of March, you can take the Keeper Challenge to collect fantastic rewards! Earn points for open-world activities, unlock chests to get valuable loot, and claim your very own Grizzly Bear mount.

[h3]Timeless Treasures are Yours to Claim[/h3]
GRIZZLY BEAR: This month's Challenge brings back the popular Grizzly Bear, a huge, intimidating mount with an arsenal of powerful spells. In addition to its Intimidating Aura toggle spell, it also gains a temporary speed boost when attacked, giving its rider an edge when enemies are in pursuit.

AVATAR RING: Reach your goals to unlock the Keeper Challenge avatar ring, which gives your chosen avatar the stone-and-leather look of Albion's true guardians. This non-tradable item permanently unlocks this avatar border for one character, or can be traded for one Adventurer's Token at the Vanity Merchant. 

SEASONAL SPECIALS: All month, reach weekly goals to unlock Keeper Challenge chests. In addition to valuable rewards like Adventurer's Tomes, Silver bags, and rare resources, this month's chests contain various Keeper-themed furniture and capes.

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. So log in, head out into the open world, gather points, and claim your rewards!

As announced in a recent forum post, we are looking at ways to limit the influence of large alliances in Albion. With today's patch (the fifth weekly patch since the launch of the Queen update!), we have implemented the first part of this test: Siphoned Energy Drain.

[h3]Siphoned Energy Drain[/h3]
This debuff gives reduced Siphoned Energy gains to all alliances and unallied single guilds that have ten or more territories, with each additional territory beyond ten further decreasing energy earned by 5%. Along with adjustments to the Smart Cluster Queue and Zerg Debuff (see below), this change is intended to make larger alliances and guilds consider carefully whether holding higher quantities of territories is worthwhile.

The second part of this test, Fame and Silver Penalties for members of alliances and guilds with over 10 territories, will come with Queen Patch 6. This patch has an expected launch date of Wednesday, March 4.

You can read further details on the official patchnotes page.


[h3]Other Changes and Fixes[/h3]
Patch 5 brings additional changes intended to limit the influence of large armies, as well as fixes and polishing:

• Minimum average IP for Smart Cluster Queue reduced from 800 to 700
• Zerg Debuff ("Disarray") values increase more quickly for larger armies
• Cooldown implemented on rejoining dropped guilds and alliances
• Transmutation times significantly reduced
• Ability to fast travel to "Home" locations
• Ability to retrieve items from Hideouts that can no longer be accessed
• Small Tier 7 and Tier 8 nodes now spawn fully charged
• Removed unnecessary warnings when picking up farmed items

We'll be deploying additional patches in the coming weeks to bring even more improvements and fixes to the game. As always, we welcome your feedback on Discord or our forums!