Nimue is coming! The fifth major post-release content update for Albion Online arrives November 21, bringing several major new features, numerous quality-of-life improvements, and various updates to creatures, combat, and the open-world experience.


Enter the Crystal Realm and face off against other guilds in full-loot, 5v5 battles over valuable rewards and energy. With a huge number of daily battles and all participants receiving a proportional share of the loot, this system gives new GvG teams a chance at the spoils of guild warfare. It all takes place in the Crystal Realm, a new arena featuring a gorgeous art style imbued with light and color.


The Party Finder is an all-new lobby system that allows solo players, small groups, and guilds to create and join parties and participate in a broad range of open-world activities. And in addition to the ability to preview guild logos in various contexts and change them after creation, Nimue also brings numerous other quality-of-life improvements, including:

• Prearranged parties remain after Arena / Expedition end
• Keyboard shortcut to move items without stacking
• Gear locking in duels
• Guild account logs for Silver and Gold transactions

Guardian Aspects are smaller versions of the current Raid Guardians, which spawn randomly in the open world and offer an opportunity for smaller groups to earn valuable resources. And the five new Mob Faction capes (created with special crests dropped by elite mobs) complement diverse combat builds with unique passive spells such as:

• Undead Cape: Invisibility (Escape / Utility)
• Keeper Cape: Damage Increase (Bruiser / Tank)
• Demon Cape: Lava Pool (DPS)

• Reworked Farming and Furniture Placement - Farming and furniture placement have been streamlined, allowing you to place crops, herbs, animals, and furniture at the mouse cursor's position.
• Improved NPCs and City Buildings - Numerous merchants and craftspeople have new character models, animation, and voiceovers, and city buildings have new lighting effects for improved nighttime visibility
• Arena and Faction Outpost Improvements - These systems have been reworked to improve queuing and small-group experiences.
• Additional Improvements - Nimue also brings Outlands resource rebalancing, numerous bug fixes and combat balancing updates, visual improvements throughout the open world, and much more.

For a detailed list of everything coming with Nimue, visit the update page.

With Halloween over, darkness has fallen over Albion... and with the new month comes a new Adventurer's Challenge! For all of November, take the Grim Challenge and claim a piece of the darkness for yourself. Earn points for open-world activities, unlock chests to get valuable loot, and claim your own unique plague-themed mount to sow fear and confusion among your foes.





NEW MOUNT: November's Grim Challenge introduces the Pest Lizard, a fast-moving mount with two different poison-based attacks that confuse and disorient enemies. (Note: while they are not officially battle mounts, Pest Lizards cannot be used in GvGs due to their unique poison spells.)
 

NEW AVATAR BORDER: This month, reach your goals to win the Grim Challenge 2018 avatar border, a thematic decoration that will grimly frame your avatar for all eternity. This non-tradable item permanently unlocks this exclusive avatar border for one character.
 

SEASONAL SPECIALS: Unlock Grim Challenge chests to get a mix of classic and new vanity items. We're bringing back a classic costume set that matches the pestilential theme, and introducing two new furniture items sure to bring menace and gloom to even the cheeriest setting.




Starting this month, Fame earned through farming now gives Challenge Points as well! Now you can earn points through PvE, gathering, fishing, and farming as you work toward weekly and monthly rewards. The formula for earning points has also been adjusted to bring high-end and low-end Fame values closer together, and the daily bonus has been increased to reward regular play. And as an added bonus, you'll now have a chance of getting City Heart resources with each chest you open.

And finally, with the start of this second challenge, the UI has been updated to show all past challenges. You can now view previous months' challenges via tabs in the Adventurer's Challenge UI, so if you've unlocked something in a past month but never claimed it, your rewards are safe.

Log in now to earn Challenge Points and unlock these exclusive rewards!

The Steam Halloween Sale is here! Whether you've waited until now to join the world of Albion, or are looking to upgrade with an Epic or Legendary pack, we've got you covered: the base game and all DLC packs are now 34% off.

With a major content update on the way in November, there's never been a better time to join the world of Albion. This sale won't last forever, so be sure to take advantage of it while you can!

The next major content update for Albion Online, Nimue, is coming soon. In this Dev Talk, Robin Henkys discusses some of the major changes and new features this update will bring.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiQ3B-44kSU
Don't have time to watch the video? Read on for a written summary of his talk. For more context you can also read the full details of the current Albion Online Development Roadmap in this forum post.

In the last couple of weeks we’ve already delivered some of the new content, rewards and improvements promised in the roadmap:

• Adventurer’s Challenges
• Guild Warfare Season Rewards
• The return of season points for mage killing
• Limits on guild hopping

So what can you expect next?

Next up is the release of the Nimue content update in late November. (If you're wondering, it's named after the mythical “Lady of the Lake” in Arthurian legend.)

Nimue will be an opportunity to roll out a long list of quality of life improvements you’ve been asking for. This includes:

• The ability to change your guild logo after guild creation and to preview your guild logo in a variety of different contexts
• The ability to mark a player or NPC as a target in battle
• The ability to see your party members' combat roles (tank, healer, damage dealer, etc.) while in the open world
• And many other changes

In addition, Nimue will be an opportunity to roll out two major features from our roadmap:

Crystal Realm Battles provide a daily opportunity to enter the magical Crystal plane and fight other guilds attempting to do the same thing in a GvG-style battle. Of all the features in Nimue, we’re most excited about this one, as it will significantly increase the number of GvG battles to well over a hundred battles every day, opening lots of opportunities for new GvG teams to make a name for themselves.



The second is the Party Finder, which is a lobby-style system that allows players to publicly post and join activities. This should make finding parties for all activities in Albion significantly easier, as well as serve as a tool for organizing activities within guilds.

Both these features as well as the other changes coming with Nimue will be the subject of upcoming dev talk videos.

Finally, of course, you can also expect Adventurer’s Challenges to continue - and we’re already thinking about what rewards and changes there will be for GvG Season 5!

We’re already deep in development for some larger features beyond Nimue, the biggest of which are random dungeon entrances. This brand-new feature will be nothing short of a redefinition of open-world PvE in Albion Online.

Here's what the feature entails:

• Not just the location of the dungeon, but the structure of the dungeon itself will be randomized and unpredictable
• Dungeons will be generated dynamically when the first player enters, the mobs in them will not respawn, and the dungeons will collapse after being cleared
• This will enable a roaming style of group PvE, where you look for dungeon entrances in the open world and you actually explore an entire dungeon before starting the next
• Due to the unpredictable placement of the entrances, these dungeons will be significantly more safe from PvP, since gankers will have to scout the entrances first
• In terms of risk vs. reward, we aim to make them a far better PvE activity than hardcore expeditions

Since this change will have such a big impact on Albion, we’re taking our time to get it just right.

That said, we’re making good progress and we’ll keep you posted as development continues.

That's all for today - we hope this talk gives you a good idea of what we’ve been working on, what you can expect to see in the Nimue update, and a little preview of what to expect beyond.

We'll be bringing you more Dev Talks soon, where we’ll get up close and personal with Crystal Realm Battles, the new Party Finder system, and the many quality of life improvements coming with the Nimue update. Thanks for watching!

• Disallowed furniture placement around orbs in Watchtower territories
• Increased number of guards in Watchtower territories
• Siphoning Mages:
  • Alert radius: 10m → 25m (this means that mages will now call for help from the surrounding guards)
  • Fame: 597 → 4588
  • Energy drop on kill reduced by 10%
  • Season points on kill reduced by 10%
• Guard (Soldier)
  • Warcry spell reworked:
    • It is now only triggered when at least 6 enemies are on its aggro list
    • The spell now increases damage and defense of other guards (this stacks up the more players are on the aggro list and the more guards are in combat at once)
  • Fame: 153 → 306
  • Pursuit radius: 25m → 45m
• Guard (Archer)
  • Fame: 138 → 276
  • Pursuit radius: 25m → 45m

• Disallowed furniture placement around portals and Expedition NPCs

• Fixed a visual bug where treasure urns would reappear briefly after being destroyed
• Fixed an issue where channeling a spell while mounted would interrupt movement
• Mad Shadowmask (Hardcore) and Mad Fuzzy will now execute players as intended
• Fort Sterling Cape now triggers correctly while mounted
• Numerous additional graphical, animation, texture, environmental, audio, and localization fixes

A new referral season starts today! From now until the end of the year, refer your friends and get three exclusive items: the Recruiter's Fox Crop, the Recruiter's Hunter Statue, and the Recruiter's Dire Fox.

The new referral season lasts until January 1, 2019. There are three ways to collect referrals and earn a Dire Fox:

• The easiest way is by sending Trial Keys to your friends. Each key redeemed on an account without a key on it will count toward your referral season progress.
• Additionally, any Starter Pack that you buy and that gets redeemed on an account without a key will also count toward your progress.
• And last but not least: if a friend registers through your referral link, then buys and redeems a Starter Pack on their account, you’ll also progress.

To get an overview of your current progress this season, and to see the FAQ for the referral system, click here.

The past few months have seen an influx of excellent videos chronicling solo black zone play in Albion. The selection below showcases everything from single-player duels to treasure hunting to solo ganking, and even some good old-fashioned trolling.

We start off with Zulmer, who shows off some excellent Warbow skills in PvP:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSNDRhaqKMM
In a similar vein, Nausk, perhaps Albion's best-known Warbow player, returns with another episode of his Black Zone Tales series:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STjRgFmIDaw
Helgulfr, guild leader of Gypsies (recently profiled here) shows off some impressive Heron Spear PvP skills:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRr8NqxJMDU
Next up are two videos from Gugusteh, whose videos present interesting high-level solo-play narratives set in Albion's ruthless Outlands. Here's "Albion Online: A Solo PvE Story":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TvZ4vlycQ8
And here's the more PvP-centric "Albion Online: A Solo Adventure":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEQiva0mLd4
Does honor exist in the lawless Outlands? Join Elsa for a high-stakes 1v1 black zone duel with a surprising outcome:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfSxTddtjEE
Renzgar Pangrim uses the Bloodletter to deadly effect as a solo ganker:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5_aJODI4xA
And finally, as a bonus, join Readytime for a masterclass in black-zone trolling:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9r5ZvNgGKw

Guild name: HustlinHitmans
Alliance: POE
Guild leaders: Norgannon
Date founded: August 10, 2017
Number of members: 250+
Primary language: Spanish

Founded just after the game's launch, HustlinHitmans is one of Albion's foremost Spanish-speaking guilds. With a powerful ZvZ presence and a focus on exclusively black-zone content, the guild takes an all-in approach to combat, dungeon diving, and a wide range of other activities.

Tell us about your guild. What sort of activities do you focus on? What sort of members are you looking for?

We are a guild focused on PvP although we cover all the activities offered by Albion: ZvZ, ganking, raiding, Hellgates, GvG, gatherer caravans, resource guardians, almost neverending rounds of Fame farming in the open-world dungeons, and even a few HCEs (haha). We are looking for Spanish-speaking players who want to progress and play in a group.

Where is your guild primarily located? What regions in Albion do you focus on?

We are a 100% black-zone guild. Our city is in Cumbria but we don't just limit ourselves to there. We are mostly in Mercia and Cumbria.

What were some of your most memorable battles/activities?

Damn what a difficult question. I have been playing for over a year now, we have had many incredible ZvZ battles in OOPS in their golden moments when WOKE still stomped and even after they dissolved.



What does your guild do for fun?

All types of content offered by the game. We are a very active guild, so at any given time you can find a dive party, a ganking party, and maybe several Hellgate groups.

What is your guild's approach to the game? Do you have any sort of overarching philosophy?

Our foundations are to have a community based on respect and friendship. Objectives are to have strong GvG teams and our solid zerg.

What are your goals for the future? What is your ultimate goal in the world of Albion?

Beat the Syndic team in a scrim lmao. No, we really do not have ultimate goals, we plan to play Albion for much longer and keep on having fun.

Anything else to share about your guild?

If you are fluent in Spanish and want to find a place to develop and learn about Albion in all its aspects, you are more than welcome!

Check out HustlinHitmans in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6AbwVyM-ac

Fall is in the air, and Halloween is coming! Halloween decorations have returned to all of Albion's cities.

Based on community feedback, the following cooldowns now apply:

• After joining a guild, you may not join another guild for 48 hours.
• After joining an alliance, your guild may not join another alliance for 48 hours.
• LEAVING a guild or alliance does not trigger any cooldown period.

This change has been introduced during the early phases of Season 4 to shake up GvG combat, keep the season interesting, and put smaller and newer guilds on more even footing with larger and more established ones.

Additionally, also based on community feedback, killing Siphoning Mages will now once again yield season points. In order to prevent exploits, this means that we're also removing the ability to place Siphoning and Rogue Mages for energy. This change should serve to keep the current season vital, while also leaving the possibility open that mages will be further updated or replaced with a new system in future seasons.

Warhorses are a new item available from the Vanity Merchant in major cities. These mount overlays can be combined with any T5-T8 Armored Horse to create a visual upgrade that keeps the stats of the original mount while prominently displaying the owner's guild logo.

• Fatal Blade (Black Monk Staff)
  • Cooldown now scales with item power. (Example values: 1200IP → 18s / 1700 IP → 16s)
  • Slow now always lasts the intended 6s, and no longer scales with ability power

• Numerous open-world maps now include more choke points to allow for a broader range of combat options
• Respawn bubble behavior has been updated:
  • Players no longer receive a protection bubble on login
  • Players no longer get a protection bubble on respawn, i.e. after death
  • Expeditions now have a separate protection bubble type which lasts for 10 seconds or a distance of 10 meters, whichever ends first
• The two final mages in the Hardcore Expedition "Preaching to the Dead" are now further from the boss to make the last encounter slightly less difficult
• Bonecrusher Berserker (red version) no longer uses Sunder Armor, and Smash should now be easier to avoid
• Bonecrusher Hulk's War Stomp, Boulder, and Kick skills should now be slightly easier to avoid

• Fixed an issue where loot was incorrectly protected during city GvGs
• Fixed an issue where character movement would stop when a targetable spell was activated and then canceled
• The standtime for Frazzle (Arcane Staff) has been reduced from 0.4s to 0s (i.e. eliminated) as intended
• Fixed an issue where hitting "Esc" would not toggle game menu in upper right corner
• Fixed Veteran Obsessed Aspirant aggro reset in Hardcore Expeditions (the mob was always resetting aggro, making it impossible to kill)
• Numerous additional graphical, animation, texture, environmental, audio, and localization fixes

With the fourth Guild Warfare Season already underway, GvG warfare has once again come to the world of Albion. The Season 4 Patch, coming October 10, will bring an important change that has long been requested by the Albion Online community: limits on guild- and alliance-hopping.

After maintenance on the 10th, the following rules will apply:

• After joining a guild, you cannot join another guild for 48 hours.
• After joining an alliance, your guild cannot join another alliance for 48 hours.
• LEAVING a guild or alliance does not trigger any cooldown period.

We've received a great deal of feedback on this issue, with the general sentiment that the ability to jump from guild to guild with no penalty helps larger guilds maintain their holds on territories and contributes to stagnation of GvG seasons by maintaining the status quo. As such, we're introducing it during this early phase of Season 4 to shake up GvG combat, keep the season interesting, and put smaller and newer guilds on more even footing with larger and more established ones.



Additionally, based on community feedback, killing Siphoning Mages will now once again yield season points. In order to prevent exploits, this means that we're also removing the ability to place mages for energy. This change should open up the possibility for players to contribute to their guild's season success outside of GvGs and reset days.



Also coming with this patch are Warhorses, a new item available from the Vanity Merchant in major cities. These mount overlays can be combined with any T5-T8 Armored Horse to create a Warhorse, which keeps the stats of the original mount while prominently displaying the owner's guild logo. Warhorses are perfect for large-scale guild battles, allowing you to stay visible to fellow guild members, rally fellow alliance members, or intimidate your foes – and look good doing it.

Based on community feedback, we've also updated numerous open-world maps to include more choke points, which allow for a broader range of combat options. Whether you're an attacker or a defender, make sure you're aware of these lower-mobility spots and use them to your advantage!

All the details of the Season 4 Patch will be published soon in the Feedback Testserver forum.