Albion Online News

The 2021 Deutscher Entwicklerpreis awards took place on December 9 in Cologne, and we're delighted to say that Albion Online took home the award for Best Mobile Game!

The Deutscher Entwicklerpreis (German Game Developer Prize) is the most prestigious industry award in the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), presented to professionals by fellow professionals. Unlike similar awards in other regions, the Deutscher Entwicklerpreis is organized, supported, and juried almost entirely by developers themselves, and is a vital and integral part of the ever-growing games industry here.

Albion Online's official mobile version launched in June 2021, fulfilling a nearly decade-long goal of bringing the full sandbox MMO experience to iOS and Android. And while game development can be a long and difficult process, the mobile launch trailer was decidedly more lighthearted:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Thanks to the jury, the team, and most of all, to the Albion community, without whom none of this would have been possible!

Festive cheer may be spreading across Albion, but the forces of darkness never rest. From the farthest corners of the world, a malevolent energy is stirring. Diabolic figures march slowly across the lands, releasing vicious Hellhounds from their dungeon abodes. As the people revel in Yuletide obliviousness, in the supposed safety of their homes and Hideouts, they’re soon going to face a rude interruption...

Join these evil hordes with a new vanity set for your character, coming next week! With Yuletide celebrations all around, what better time to grab some hellish garments and spoil the party?

Stay tuned to find out exactly what’s on the way with this new set.

The Lands Awakened update launched November 24, ushering in a new era of open-world gameplay in Albion Online. Along with sweeping changes to biome graphics and layouts, dungeons, mobs, open-world objectives and Guild Seasons, the update brought some major quality-of-life improvements to a wide variety of ingame activities. In our latest Dev Talk, UI Designer Moritz Bokelmann discusses some of the biggest improvements to UI and usability that arrived with this latest update.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
No time to watch, or prefer a written summary? Then read on...
[h3]Marketplace Loadouts[/h3]
Loadouts were introduced with the Call to Arms update as a major quality-of-life improvement, and this feature has now been expanded to include the option to directly purchase full Loadouts from the Marketplace. How it works:

• New tab added to Marketplace UI to allow purchase of Loadouts
• Allows users to designate which Loadout to look for, and what quantity
• Marketplace then searches all local Sell Orders for the items, using parameters set in Loadout creation
• Can purchase alternatives if one or more items are unavailable

Once the search is completed, the Marketplace shows a summary of available items and alternatives. Details:

• Shows prices of available items
• Compares each item to market average
• Each entry can be toggled to buy or skip
• Does not reserve the items, so they may be purchased by others. If so:
  • Unavailable items appear on a separate screen alongside alternative suggestions
  • This screen generates a new search if any alternatives are selected

[h3]Farming Usability Improvements[/h3]
Farming is an essential part of Albion's economy, but on a large scale can take a long time and lots of clicks. Alongside small improvements (simplifying animal placement, moving T2 hide animals) the number of clicks farming takes has been greatly reduced:

• All farming actions can now be performed by shift-clicking (double-tapping on mobile)
• Steps are unchanged, but opening the farming interface is not required, reducing clicks/taps greatly
• Shift-click actions include a distinct icon above the crop or animal

New in the UI:

• Animals with growth and production stages now have a “Take all” option
• Can be toggled to pick up the animal and its product or offspring
• Can be set persistently based on the animal

[h3]Party Improvements[/h3]
Lands Awakened brings updated party chat commands for better feedback and easier party formation:

• In addition to using /invite to invite a player, a new /join command sends a request to join another party
• Both /invite and /join now work for entire parties
  • With /invite, the inviting party's leader retains leadership
  • With /join, the leader of the party being joined will stay the party’s leader
• All solo and group invite and join requests can be expanded to show player details

In your Social settings you can now clearly define who can invite you to their group or request to join yours. Additionally, you can always use the /snooze chat command to temporarily suppress all party invitations.

We can't wait to hear your feedback on these changes, and of course we already have more quality-of-life improvements lined up for the next updates, so stay tuned!

A new referral season is here! From now until February 1, refer your friends and claim your very own Festive Reindeer mount skin. This skin transforms your Stag base mount into a dashing, decorated steed – with candles and holly adorning its antlers and a bell around its neck. Once you've unlocked it, it can be used by all characters on your account.

You can also earn huge amounts of Fame for your third and fifth referrals: three referrals scores you a T7 Pile of Tomes worth 100,000 Fame, and five referrals gets you a T8 Pile of Tomes granting a colossal 200,000 Fame. And as always, your first-ever referral grants an additional T8 Pile of Tomes along with the mount skin.

The current referral season lasts until maintenance on February 1, so you've got until then to refer your friends and claim these rewards!


[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.

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!