Albion Online News

Crystal Raiders launches January 8, bringing new life to guild warfare in Albion. In our second Feature Focus, we take a look at the new Crystal Weapons, the changes coming to the Conqueror’s Challenge, and more.


[h3]Crystal Weapons[/h3]
Crystal Raiders introduces three brand-new Crystal Weapons, the first in an entirely new weapon tree.

What are Crystal Weapons?

• Crystal Weapons are powerful new weapons created from Artifacts
• Their design takes a "form follows function" approach with clear shapes and prominent crystal elements
• The Artifacts used to create them are awarded at the end of each Guild Season in Conqueror’s Challenge Chests, meaning the first three weapons will be craftable at the end of Season 22 West / 4 East
• Higher-level chests award higher-tier Artifacts
• Each Guild Season will introduce three new Crystal Weapons, with older Artifacts still given out but in decreased quantities
• Unlike other weapons, the usage and crafting of Crystal Weapons benefits all other weapons in the same Destiny Board tree (Warrior, Hunter, Mage)

What are the first three weapons?

Crystal Raiders introduces the first three Crystal Weapons, each with its own unique spell:

• Infinity Blade (Sword): the "Limitbreaker" ability allows you to charge up your sword and run into enemy forces, then inflict a devastating double strike
• Rift Glaive (Spear): the "Razor’s Edge" ability fires a massive projection of the spear’s blade, which pierces through crowds and deals massive damage
• Astral Staff (Arcane Staff): the "Starfall" ability rains a shower of deadly stars down on enemies

These are just the beginning: as seasons are now synced with updates, each will introduce three additional weapons in this ever-expanding and diversifying weapons tree.


[h3]Conqueror’s Challenge Changes[/h3]
With the Crystal Raiders update, the Conqueror’s Challenge has been updated to directly reward players for both their individual progress and their guild’s progress. The former guaranteed Battle Mount rewards have been replaced with new Conqueror’s Chests, which in addition to potentially still containing Battle Mounts also contain Crystal Weapon Artifacts and other valuable rewards. The value of these chests increases in two separate ways:

• Individual progress in the Conqueror’s Challenge gives access to increasingly more valuable chests
• Guild progress (Season Ranking) upgrades the chests earned, expanding and increasing their loot pools
  • To unlock Guild-based upgrades, players must qualify for season rewards (be part of the guild for at least 51% of the season)
• Players are in this way incentivized to boost both their own and their guild’s progress
• 10% of the rewards from weekly reward chests have been moved into the new Conqueror’s Chests

[h3]Daily Might Bonus and Might Changes[/h3]
Daily Might Bonus:

• For each day in which an owned territory generates Siphoned Energy, all Guild Members get a Daily Might Bonus
• This Might can be claimed via the Conqueror’s Challenge UI
• The Might received depends on the amount of energy generated

Might and Might Level Changes:

• Tracking now grants Might and Favor
• Tracking Might advances the Guild’s Gathering Might Challenge
• Smaller guilds will now have an easier time generating Season Points from instanced PvP content, with the Might needed per level decreased and the Season Points given per level increased for the following:
  • Corrupted Dungeons
  • Hellgates (all sizes)
• Correspondingly, large objectives now require more Might per level, providing an increased challenge to larger guilds. For the following, Might needed per level is increased, but Season Points per level remain unchanged:
  • Castles
  • Territory Power Crystals
  • Hideout Power Cores

[h3][/h3][h3]Crystal Raiders launches January 8[/h3]
The next update is just around the corner, and with updates and Guild Seasons now synced, Season 22/4 begins soon after on January 13. We can’t wait to see how these new features play out once Crystal Raiders goes live!

Read more here:

• Crystal Raiders Update Page
• Guild Season Schedule and Changes

A new Referral Season is here, and from now until January 31, you can claim the Snow Fox with a single referral!

This mount skin transforms your Direwolf base mount into a sleek, sly sidekick, prowling through the chill of Albion’s midwinter. And once unlocked, it can be used by any of your characters on that server, whatever the weather!

As always, there are also big rewards for your third and fifth referrals: a T7 Pile of Tomes worth 100,000 Fame for your third referral, and a T8 Pile of Tomes worth 200,000 Fame for your fifth. And for your first ever referral, you’ll get a T8 Pile of Tomes in addition to the Snow Fox!


[h3]How to Earn Seasonal Referral Rewards[/h3]

• Send your referral link, which you can find here, to a friend. (You must be logged into your account on the website to view this page.)
• Your friend registers an account and starts playing Albion Online (preferably along with you!).
• The first time your friend purchases at least 30 days of Premium, they will trigger a reward for you.
• On top of that, for your very first referral ever, you'll receive a T8 Recruiter's Pile of Tomes, worth a massive 200,000 Fame.

This Referral Season lasts until 23:59 UTC on January 31, so invite your friends today and enjoy these rewards!

Happy New Year, Adventurers! Start the year off right with the return of the Frost Challenge – earn Challenge Points, unlock chests to get valuable loot, and claim your very own Frost Ram.

[video]http://assets.albiononline.com/uploads/media/default/media/video_/media/63aef1090e372_720.mp4[/video]

[h3]Frost-Themed Rewards for Intrepid Adventurers[/h3]
FROST RAM: This month’s Challenge brings back the popular Frost Ram, a sturdy mount with an impressive leap spell. With its relatively fast move speed and ability to carry plenty of weight, it’s the perfect companion for gathering missions.


AVATAR RING: Along with the Frost Ram, you can unlock the Frost Challenge Avatar Ring to give your avatar an ice-cold aura all year long. This non-tradable item permanently unlocks this avatar border for one character, or it can be traded for one Adventurer’s Token at the Vanity Merchant.


SEASONAL SPECIALS: All month, unlock Frost Challenge chests to get valuable rewards like Adventurer’s Tomes and Silver bags, along with furniture items like the snowman and snowball pile, classic ice sculptures, the epic Frost Igloo, and a rare chance for the Rich Noble vanity skins.


Log in now and start gathering, fishing, farming, and killing monsters to earn Challenge Points and unlock your rewards!

With Crystal Raiders on the horizon, it’s time to take a closer look at some of the update’s main features. Here, we delve into the changes coming to territories, with Raiding, Control Costs, and more.
[h3]Territory Raiding[/h3]
Crystal Raiders introduces Raw Energy to Albion’s territories. This is generated by Siphoning Mages and refined into Siphoned Energy over time, but it also brings an opportunity to other guilds, as it can be stolen in Territory Raids:

• Each day at prime time, a territory’s Energy Storage becomes attackable
• A territory can be raided during prime time if all Siphoning Mages and the Sentry Mage are defeated
• After a successful Raid, 50% of the Stored Energy is stolen in the form of four Raw Energy Cores, which can be transported back to another guild’s territory
• However, if they don’t reach a new territory within 30 minutes, these Raw Energy Cores will revert back to their original territory

With higher frequency than other territory warfare mechanics, Territory Raiding opens new avenues for Albion’s guilds and encourages action throughout the day:

• Since each Raid has to happen in a territory’s prime time, there is a good chance of a defending force amassing, leading to a battle
• However, since these are happening every day, across all prime times, they are more likely to have smaller defending forces than territory invasions
• This brings greater opportunities for impromptu, guerilla-style warfare in the Outlands

[h3]Further Territory Changes[/h3]
Changes have been made to territory prime times, to ensure territory-owning guilds are not under pressure to defend their territories around the clock:

• Territory prime times have been reduced to one hour
• Siphoning Mages can now only be attacked during prime time
• Territory Attacks can now only be scheduled during prime time

Territories now also have Control Costs associated with them:

• Territories closer to Portal Towns have higher Control Costs
• Once a Control Cost of 15 has been exceeded by a guild or alliance, the Siphoned Energy Drain applies, and when a Control Cost of 25 is exceeded all individual members face Fame and Silver penalties
• In this way, large guilds who seek to dominate the outer ring of the Outlands will be punished, and encouraged to compete further in
• This in turn gives newer and smaller guilds a better chance at finding a foothold in the outer ring

Further changes also address the relative value of territories:

• The Siphoned Energy and Season Point output of territories has a more pronounced weighting towards the inner circle of the Outlands
• Territory attack costs increase with a region’s quality and tower level
• Territories begin a season with a certain amount of Stored Energy depending on their region quality level

And the way Stored Energy is paid out has been changed:

• After each prime time, a percentage of Stored Energy is paid out as Season Points and Siphoned Energy, depending on region and tower level
• Conquering or giving up a territory no longer reduces Stored Energy
• There is a new, fourth and final Invasion Day at the end of each season, where all Stored Energy is paid out directly as Season Points
• Prior Invasion Days no longer pay out Stored Energy

All this will encourage guilds to compete over valuable territories deep in the Outlands, whether through outright control or unexpected Territory Raids, and bring ongoing conflict to Albion’s Guild Seasons. We’re excited to see how this plays out with the start of the next season on January 13, along with the other big changes coming with the update. For a full season schedule, click here, and stay tuned for another Feature Focus coming soon!

It’s festive season in Albion: the cities are bedecked with decorations, and strange old Uncle Frost is back to his old tricks!

Dive into any T4-T8 Solo or Group Randomized Dungeon and you have a chance of encountering this figure. Should you see Christmas Trees while you’re down there, Uncle Frost awaits! Defeat him, and he might leave you some special yuletide furniture and vanity items, including snowballs and, if you’re lucky, the ultra-rare Yule Stag mount skin!



Uncle Frost is around for the following times on each server:

• Albion East: December 21 at 23 UTC to January 7 at 23 UTC
• Albion West: December 22 at 10 UTC to January 8 at 10 UTC

And so that everyone can enjoy the festive season, all players will be sent fireworks and a load of snowballs to mark the season. To claim them, simply log into the game during the times listed above - all characters who’ve completed the tutorial will receive a mail containing these treats.



So dive into the dungeons and say hello to your old Uncle Frost - he doesn’t visit very often!