Zoning and Flagging System in Albion Online

PvP in MMO game is a challenging prospect than one might think. Very few gamers enjoy getting ganked within the first hour of play, and fewer still are likely to stick with the game over time when doing so involves too few negative repercussions for the player-killers involved.

Albion-Online

One of the ways this is being addressed is with Albion’s current flagging system. In short, the game employs a “pre-attack flagging” system as opposed to a “post-attack penalty”. What that means is that players will need to intentionally choose to participate in PvP, and by doing so, it gives other players some additional feedback to help determine where and how they choose to approach playing the game.

A good example for how this is beneficial for players is that areas can display how many players are currently flagged as criminals.

The post goes on to explain how zones in Albion Online attempt to account for more potential world states than a simple black / white, or PvP on / off system allows for.

From the official post:

Before it was totally black and white. On the one hand (green zone) you had no pvp at all but on the other hand, when entering a red zone, you were directly confronted with the full loot mechanic. Despite the flagging system it really felt like: “Ok, so here, there is no boxing allowed but once you step through this door, feel free to have a real fight with Lennox Lewis.”

There is a large group of people who are extreme hardcore PvP players and where we are happy that they are playing our game but there is an even larger group of players who are not so much into PvP because of various reasons.

And we want our game to be very good at motivating and preparing these people to also try out PvP. So we decided that the first step after the green zone is our current version of the yellow zone where the penalty is a durability loss only.

To continue reading the full post and learn more about how zones and flagging factor into the PvP experience, be sure to visit the official site for Albion Online.

Be sure to read the latest guides, news, and features in our Albion Online Website, and you buy albion online gold here.

Albion Online Guide: If and When a Wipe Will Take Place

One of the most discussed topics about Albion Online is if and when a wipe will take place. In this thread, we want to give some background information. There will be a wipe at the end of closed beta. Closed beta will last at least until 1st August 2016.
We are still not able to announce when exactly the wipe during closed beta will take place. However, what we can share is the criteria that would need to be satisfied for a wipe to make sense.

The game needs to be sufficiently different than the game version we started the closed beta with almost 3 months ago.

In particular, the issues of the game relating to progression, mob and resource distribution and availability of content need to be properly fixed. This goes beyond just changing fame values for the destiny board. While we have come along way here since the start of closed beta, not all changes we have planned to this area of the game are done yet. Check our state of the game post for further info.

Albion-Online-Wipe

On top of that, we have announced the creation of a brand new, immersive game world. This will include a much improved resource distribution, more variation, more unique player cities and different biomes and climate zones. This is more than just cosmetic, as it will also have our new red zones with a crime and reputation alongside a large new continent consisting entirely of black zones. These changes will make red zone the go to zones for smaller scale PvP fights while the new black zones will be perfect for guilds duking it out on a large scale.

In order for a wipe to be meaningful, the above changes would have to be made to the game, at least in early stages. Why?

We are well aware that a lot of players are currently on break as they are waiting for a wipe. On top of that, while we are making the above improvements, we are not doing any aggressive marketing of the game, either. If and when we announce a wipe, it is extremely likely that we will see a huge inflow of players – new players trying the game for the first time, but also a lot of players coming back from their break.

 

Albion-Online

In paritcular when it comes to existing players coming back, and course all players active right now waiting for a wipe, we absolutely do not want to disappoint them – and this means that a significant amount of the announced improvements need to be in the game first. After all, there is only so many times that players will go on a break before losing interest in the game, and if we wipe the game too often, without showing enough improvements between wipes, than patience could run out quite fast.

Finally, as some people are concerned with population numbers: those have been pretty constant during the past 4 weeks and are absolutely sufficient for having an active game world for a meaningful beta test. It’s also not a concern to us as there are at lot of things we could do at a moments notice to push up population – but we do not really want to do it before the above stated improvements are in the game.

As stated many times, we are developing Albion Online for the long term. This does require a degree of patience for all parties involved. There are enough games out there doing a hype, crash and burn due to short-termism, and we certainly do not want to be one of them.

We will be doing a developer video blog soon with some background information on the planned changes, and we will also keep you on in the loop regarding timelines for a wipe.

Albion Online New Context Update Darian Comes in May 18th

The Albion Online team has sent word that the Darian update to the game is ready to roll on May 18th. Darian will bring the Morgana rework, Item Study feature, new spells and more!

albion-online-system

Darian is the last content update before the wipe and start of the next Beta phase, scheduled to happen this summer. This upcoming Beta 2 will include the New World redesign and more!

Darian contains everything that could be implemented before the large world update. Darian brings a reworked Morgana faction to the game alongside Morgana-themed housing drops, new weapon spells, crafting progression, learning point improvements and the typical bug fixes and feature enhancements.

12 new weapons spells will be added to the game.

 

  • Charge on Claymore (slot 3)
  • Fearless Strike on Claymore (slot 3)
  • Bloody Reap on Scythe (slot 3)
  • Magma Sphere on Great Fire Staff (slot 3)
  • Tackle on Great Hammer (slot 3)
  • Black Hole on Great Arcane Staff (slot 3)
  • Tornado on Double Bladed Staff (slot 3)
  • Enfeeble Blades on Demonic Staff (slot 3)
  • Salvation on Divine Staff (slot 3)
  • Battle Frenzy on all Axe line items (slot 2)
  • Sacred Pulse on all Holy Staff line items (slot 2)
  • Sunder Shot on all Crossbow line items (slot 2)

 

You can find out more details on the Albion Online site.

Problems about LP and Fame in Albion Online

There have been some talk about learning points being able to unlock progression with ZERO fame gained. But in my opinion there are lots of LP and fame problems in Albion Online, the biggest problem is that LP and fame are not linear and higher you go more efficeint it is to use LP instead of grind. For example:

albion-lp-vs-grind

It’s clear from this graph that it’s more efficient to grind your way throught first masteries but once you reach last few, LP is way to go.

Other problem is that Weapons,armors, helms, boots, have different LP costs. But all require same fame.

Extra data some of you might find interesting:
Legend:
First of I separated average fame gained per hour in to 3 categories
10k/h= solo yellow zone low gear
30k/h= group dungeon runs
100k/h = T6 portal running

T8.6/8.5/8.4 = means unlocking all items in given line
MAX OUT = 10/10 full mastery on main and support line

Helms/boots/shields:

Fame per hour T8.3 T8.6 T8.6/8.5/8.4 MAX OUT
Full grind 10K/hour 931h 10637h 17445h 75123h
30k/hour 310h 3546h 5815h 25041h
100k/hour 93h 1064h 1744h 7512h
20%grind 80%LP days worth of LP 6.2 days 21.4 days 44.1 days 101.2 days
10K/hour 186h 2127h 3489h 15025h
30k/hour 62h 709h 1163h 5008h
100k/hour 19h 213h 349h 1502h
only LP days worth of LP 23 78 162 371

To unlock 2h weapon:

fame per hour T8.3 T8.6 T8.6/8.5/8.4 MAX OUT
Full grind 10K/hour 931h 10637h 17445h 75123h
30k/hour 310h 3546h 5815h 25041h
100k/hour 93h 1064h 1744h 7512h
20%grind 80%LP days worth of LP 24.6 days 85.4 days 176.4 days 404.6 days
10K/hour 186 2127 3489 15025
30k/hour 62 709 1163 5008
100k/hour 19 213 349 1502
only LP days worth of LP 90 days 313 days 647 days 1483 days

FULL GEAR (helm, chest,boots,2h weapon):

fame per hour T8.3 T8.6 T8.6/8.5/8.4 MAX OUT
Full grind 10K/hour 931h 10637h 17445h 75123h
30k/hour 310h 3546h 5815h 25041h
100k/hour 93h 1064h 1744h 7512h
20%grind 80%LP days worth of LP 49.2 days 170.8 days 352.8 days 809.2 days
10K/hour 186h 2127h 3489h 15025h
30k/hour 62h 709h 1163h 5008h
100k/hour 19h 213h 349h 1502h
only LP days worth of LP 180 days 626 days 1293 days 2967 days

Albion Online Video: Creating a New World

The Albion Online team has released a new video to show how the creative team worked together to overhaul the world map. Creative Director Jörg Friedrich, Art Director Marcus Koch and Level Designer Max Mellhage discuss why the change was made and let players know that it will be deployed in this summer.

The world will consist of different continents. Whereas the Royal continents will be a fairly safe zone for adventurers to roam the land, the Lawless continent will cater more towards hardcore PvP-players. Here, guilds will fight for their own piece of land and no rules apply.

Check out the Albion Online site for more details.

Albion Online Guide on Targeting

Today I will talk about my ideas about targeting in Albion Online.

 

albion-online

 

I recently joined and I have been doing only PvE so I cannot speak about PvP experience. But in pve, targeting enemys is somewhat difficult when there is only a few mobs and lots of loot bags on the ground. Trying to get the target and but keep getting loot window open right in the middle of my screen.

So I have a couple ideas:

1. Make silver picked up automatically with out clicking, or completely remove silver drop and make it goes in to the bag directly(direct deposit)
Silver is shared in a group anyway and I don’t think there is anyone who doesn’t want extra silver coins. If somebody really and absolutely doesn’t want extra silver, maybe we can have’not accepting silver’ option in a group.

2. No tab auto targeting but ctrl/alt/shift targeting help keys.

  • In my understanding tab-targeting is auto targeting? correct me if I am wrong.
  • What I am suggeting instead is keep the game click-targeting based but use ctrl/alt to change target group.
  • Normal click will select anything while ctrl+click will select only friendly target and nothing else.
  • Alt+click will select only hostile target so you won’t get loot bag instead when you don’t want it.(Or in pvp which I don’t have any experice on yet, you won’t accidentally picking a resource)
  • Shift+click for target your opponent but you don’t move toward target. Maybe useful for ranged ambush.

Video: Albion Online director Talked Over the Darian and Beta 2

Albion Online Game Director Robin Henkys sat down together with Creative Director Jörg Friedrich to talk over what is happening behind the scenes of Albion Online.

This time, they are discussing the preparations made for the wipe and next beta phase, Beta 2, such as hiring a whole host of new people to work on the New World. Speaking of which, the preview you are all waiting for is coming in the near future!

They also talk extensively about the last update before Beta 2, named “Darian”. Coming in the second half of May, Darian will include a collection of new spells, the Morgana faction rework, as well as neat features such as Item Study and Learning Point improvement.

 

New Vanity Items in Albion Online Next Context Update

Albion Online will release the content update Darian later this month, and then you can use these new vanity items to make your island, territories. What types of furniture can you expect?

Furniture-Morgana-Mob-Camp

Torches and Standards
Your cozy camp of demon worshippers is not complete without a campfire or two to warm up the place.

Stone Pentagram
Home is where the demon-summoning pentagram is!

Weapon Crate
Rocking the Morgana faction logo, this crate will keep your items safe from harm.

Morgana’s Army Tent
Make sure people don’t confuse your camp for a pile of things, by adding this majestic tent.

Prison Cell
Pesky adventurers are better off locked away. For their own safety, of course.

Siege Ballista
Last but not least, scare foes away with this majestic siege ballista.

More information please click the official website.