Spring is coming, and the Keepers of Albion are beginning to awaken. For all of March, take the Keeper Challenge to collect limited-time rewards. Earn points for open-world activities, unlock chests to get valuable loot, and claim your very own Grizzly Bear mount.


NEW MOUNT: This month's Challenge introduces the Grizzly Bear, a huge, intimidating mount with an arsenal of powerful spells. In addition to a toggle spell similar to Intimidating Aura, it also gains a speed boost when attacked, giving its rider an edge when enemies are in pursuit.


NEW AVATAR BORDER: Reach your goals to unlock the Keeper Challenge avatar border, which features the stone and leather craftsmanship of Albion's true guardians. This non-tradable item permanently unlocks this avatar border for one character.


SEASONAL SPECIALS: All month, reach weekly goals to unlock Keeper Challenge chests. Get valuable rewards like Adventurer's Tomes and Silver bags, along with brand-new Keeper-themed furniture items.


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 reward. So log in, head out into the open world, gather points, and claim these exclusive rewards while they last!

GvG Territories will be reset this weekend - and we'll be covering it live on the AlbionTV Twitch channel starting Saturday at 17:00 UTC. Join our hosts Lewpac and Shozen as they bring you up to date on the start of the season and cover the Invasion Day madness live!

Starting at 18:00 UTC, guilds will have new opportunities to claim territories and launch attacks. For the complete GvG Season schedule, check out this forum post.

You can also tune in Thursdays at 18:00 UTC for highlights from the previous week. Click here to watch recent highlight videos from the current season.

Here's the full season's streaming schedule:

How did you get started as an animator?

My road to being a character animator started in 2004 when I was a digital artist. I would spend hours each day (and night) at my 2D drawing table, creating sheet-by-sheet animations. Thinking back on those times gives me a good feeling – I really cherished that period, and approaching animation from that place is fundamentally important to me.

Soon enough, it became clear to me that I wanted to become an animator because I had an intrinsic interest in observing and studying my environment - which, in my opinion, is the basic prerequisite for animating. After drawing thousands of individual pictures and making a very short film, which was created as a team, the journey continued to the computer. I thought it would make things easier, but instead it got even more complex. All the possibilities, technical capabilities, and programs... I was overwhelmed by Graph Editor (the most important 3D animation software) and wondered if I would ever master it, and whether choosing this path was the right decision. But over the course of my studies I continued to specialize in animation, especially character and creature animation. Soon enough, I got my first job working on a feature film, followed by commercials and various game productions in England and Germany, which was then followed by more feature film projects.



What was it like to work on Albion Online during its early development?

The question makes me laugh now, because I remember being asked to create a few simple animations for a small project called "Albion" – a project that was just supposed to last only a few weeks. That small project became a massive, complex game, and the few weeks stretched out into many years. For me this is an unusually long time to participate in a production, because I value change. The variety of Albion Online, and the great team working on it, is what has kept me around for so long.

The project had already been going on for a year or two when I came to it, and was being created in a small two-room apartment set up as a studio space. This was the perfect environment for me at that time, having just spent more than six months working on a film project, and I really liked the freedom and openness of the project. We were about seven people, but we grew steadily and soon moved into a new space. It's fascinating to see how the whole thing has developed and what has become of it. First there was only the male player character, later the female, then the wolf, then the bear, and on and on. The game grew and grew, and the characters became more varied and complex.

What is unique about animating characters and creatures for Albion Online?

I've found that the animation for a character or creature is only as believable and expressive as its character design and 3D model. Fortunately, we have Marcus Koch, our very talented art director, on our team. He always succeeds in capturing the fundamental feel and identity of a character in its design. Of course, the rest of the Art Department makes major contributions as well, but I work most closely with Marcus when it comes to refining the animations in detail. It's these small details, the ones that really round out the characters, that I love to animate.



Do you have a favorite character, creature, or spell animation from Albion Online?

There are so many characters that have sprung up over the years that it's hard to name just a few. Some of my all-time favorites are the Giant, the Undead soldier's walk and combat idle, and the Marketplace and Captain NPCs.

What is your general approach to animation, and what specific steps do you take to make animations feel more natural and lifelike?

First I try to understand the character or creature, particularly its role in the game and the reasons behind its outward appearance. Thanks to our longtime collaboration, Marcus and I understand each others' viewpoints (relatively) quickly, and from there we try out wild, exaggerated animations to make the character express itself and take form. Along with the Game Design team, we work out the exact technical details such as timing and animation lengths, either right away or in iterations. Once I have all the important information together, it's all about arranging it all and letting it settle in, so I like to take a quiet moment to relax and become more involved in the role of the character. This often affects the way I see the world, and sometimes even affects the ways I act and move.



Certainly, the study of animation principles (on computers, on paper, and above all in real life) is a basic requirement, along with understanding the tech and observing the world with a discerning eye. These things are certainly important, but for me it has more to do with being "in the moment" to create a state of flow in which the movements emerge on their own.

Once that state is achieved, it works unconsciously and I can focus on what is essential: to truly feel the character, and to express that feel through technology.

It's also important to animate in all three dimensions, to use the full spectrum of each joint in all directions, to rotate one axis less, another more. As a result, the possibilities of the rigs will be used to their fullest and the animations will not be stiff or rigid, but natural and lively. The animations become even more believable in the small details, which are not immediately visible, but show up in the overall motion. I try to keep an overall creative approach and to make sure the animation always works as a whole.

Stay tuned for more articles on the individual developers behind Albion Online in the coming weeks.

Nimue Patch 7, AKA the Nimue Balance Patch, is here. While the patch includes a broad range of updates and fixes to weapons and armor, the most noteworthy changes are those to overall Hitpoints, Energy, and Movement Speed:

• The Hitpoint pool has been increased by 20% across the board to increase the time needed to kill an enemy. Along with other adjustments, this should prevent one-shot builds.
• To complement the higher Hitpoint pool, the overall Energy pool has also been raised by 20%.
• Movement speed has also been increased, which will make combat more fluid. It will also allow faster travel across zones, improving the overall game feel.

We've made a couple of ability reworks to further increase the variety in builds: swords can temporarily become purge immune, Fire Staffs have a zoning tool on the Q slot, and the Guardian Helmet now can remove DoTs, for example.

In general, we are looking forward to a new and exciting meta and are excited to see what builds you will come up with. The complete patch notes can be found below, as well as on our Updates page.




Starting with this patch, Albion Online will now include Easy Anti-Cheat. This program is used by numerous well-known online games, and will offer an extra layer of protection against the most egregious forms of cheating. For more information about Easy Anti-Cheat, please see this forum post.

• Performance improvements for aura spells to make spell detection more accurate and improve combat performance
• Improved visual feedback for all sword skills - impacts now include a brief white glow for improved visibility
• Improved audio effects for various combat abilities
• [Android/iOS] Optimized audio load settings to improve audio stability for mobile devices

General Balance Changes

• Base Max Hitpoints: 1000 → 1200 (bonus HP from melee weapons remains unchanged)
  • This increases the general Hitpoint pool by 20%
• Base Max Energy: 100 → 120
  • This increases the general Energy pool by 20%
• Base Movement Speed: 4.8 m/s → 5.5 m/s
• In-Combat Duration: 30s → 20s
• Cap for Auto Attack Max Damage Increase: 200% → 300%

Arcane Staffs

• Frazzle (all Arcane Staffs)
  • Damage Taken Increased: 40% → 30%
• Time Freeze (Great Arcane Staff)
  • The freeze can no longer be cleansed
  • Duration: 3.5s → 3s

Axes

• Rending Strike (all Axes)
  • Energy Cost: 3 → 2
  • Healing Reduction per stack: 7% → 5%
  • Hit Delay: 0.4s → 0.2s
  • Standtime: 0.4s → 0.3s
• Rending Swing (all Axes)
  • Hit Delay: 0.2s → 0.3s
  • Energy Cost: 2 → 3
  • Healing Reduction per stack: 7% → 5%
• Deadly Chop (all Axes)
  • Damage: 174.04 → 152.00
• Adrenaline Boost (all Axes)
  • Movement Speed Increase: 40% → 50%
  • Damage Increase: 20% → 25%
• Removed the ability Battle Frenzy (all Axes)
• Added the new ability: Battle Rush
  • Charge toward a target (ally or enemy). Enemy Healing Received is reduced 20% for 4s in a 5m radius. Ally Healing Received is increased by 20% for 4s in a 5m radius.

Bows

• Enchanted Quiver (Bow)
  • Auto Attack Damage Increase per stack: 25% → 35%
• Explosive Arrows (Bow)
  • Capped the number of potential triggered effects at 25: each Rain of Arrows hit can now activate up to 5 Explosive Arrows, each of which can hit up to 5 targets
• Magic Arrow (Warbow)
  • Projectile Speed: 15.33 m/s → 16.08 m/s

Cursed Staffs

• Cursed Sickle (all Cursed Staffs)
  • The ability is reworked to a skillshot with a boomerang-like trajectory.
  • Cooldown: 3.5s → 5s
  • Hit Delay: 0.5s → 0.2s
  • Standtime: 0.3s → 0.4s
  • Range: 21m → 16m

Daggers

• Sunder Armor (all Daggers)
  • Hit Delay: 0.2s → 0.1s
  • Standtime: 0.4s → 0.2s
• Slit Throat (Dagger Pair)
  • Damage: 430.74 → 443.05
• Lunging Stabs (Bloodletter)
  • Damage for targets below 40%: 306.63 → 330.00

Fire Staffs

• Replaced the spell Fire Bomb (Q-Slot)
• Added new spell Burning Field (Q-Slot)
  • Sets the ground in a 3m radius for 4s on Fire. Dealing magic damage on ignition and additional damage for enemies inside the area. This is a ranged spell, which you can cast on the ground.
  • Cooldown: 0s → 4s

Hammers

• Power Geyser (all Hammers)
  • Hit Delay: 0.6s → 0.5s
• Grasp of the Undead (Tomb Hammer)
  • Reworked the ability: A giant Undead Hand comes out of the ground, hitting enemies in a 2.5m radius. Dealing 110 physical damage and stunning for 2.9s.
  • Cooldown: 15s → 14s
  • Hit Delay: 0.4s → 0.5s

Holy Staffs

• Desperate Prayer (Holy Staff)
  • Max Heal Value: 177.69 → 200.00
  • Cooldown: 20s → 15s
• Salvation (Fallen Staff)
  • Radius: 6m → 5.5m
• Celestial Sphere (Redemption Staff)
  • Max Number of Jumps: 14 → 10
  • Heal per Jump: 51.5 → 80.00

Nature Staffs

• Rejuvenation (all Nature Staffs)
  • Heal per tick: 7.75 → 7.9
• Revitalize (all Nature Staffs)
  • Instant Heal: 57.59 → 75.00
  • Removed the Heal Over Time effect, instead it now instantly restores 15 energy of the target
  • Cooldown: 7s → 10s
  • Energy Cost: 9 → 10
• Circle of Life (Nature Staff)
  • Zero Charge Heal: 56.62 → 91.00
  • One Charge Heal: 90.60 → 114.00
  • Two Charge Heal: 135.89 → 148.00
  • Three Charge Heal: 192.52 → 193.00
• Ruthless Nature (Blight Staff)
  • Cooldown: 30s → 25s
  • Heal per Tick: 29.50 → 33.00
  • Energy Cost: 18 → 15

Quarterstaffs

• Separator (Quarterstaff)
  • Cooldown: 20s → 15s
  • Energy Cost: 17 → 13
• Hurricane (Iron-Clad Staff)
  • No longer knocks mobs away
  • It interrupts Mob spell casts instead
  • Damage per tick: 23.20 → 32.00
  • Cooldown 100 IP: 23.8s → 36s
  • Cooldown 1700 IP: 19s → 20s
• Overpower (Double Bladed Staff)
  • The ability was renamed to Crescent Slash
  • Reworked the animation, it is now a jump with a fixed duration
  • Cast Range: 11m → 15m
  • Standtime: 0s → 0.3s
  • Damage: 69.64 → 80.00
  • Radius: 5m → 6m

Spears

• Inner Focus (all Spears)
  • Movement Speed Increase per stack: 6% → 8%
  • Buff Duration: 5s → 6s
• Reckless Charge (one handed Spear)
  • Range: 11m → 13m

Swords

• Heroic Strike (all Sword)
  • Heroic Charge now also gives a 10% Attack Speed Bonus per stack
  • Standtime: 0.4s → 0.3s
• Heroic Cleave (all Swords)
  • Reworked the ability:
    • Deals physical damage to all enemies in a 6m radius around you.
    • Creates one Heroic Charge if you hit at least one enemy.
    • Creates two Heroic Charges if you hit three enemies or more.
    • Each Heroic Charge increases your move and attack speed by 10% for 6s. (stacks up to 3 times)
    • Hit delay: 0.4s → 0.3s
    • Standtime: 0.3s → 0.2s
    • Radius 4m → 6m
    • Energy cost: 3 → 3.5
• Iron Will (all Swords)
  • While the buff is active the caster becomes now immune to purges
  • Activating this ability no longer gives an extra Heroic Charge stack
  • Resistance Increase: 25% → 35%
  • Duration: 5s → 4s
• Mighty Blow (Broadsword)
  • The ability now jumps towards the target.
  • Range: 3m → 10m
  • Hitdelay: 0.4s → 0.3s
  • Standtime: 1s → 0.8s
  • Damage: 267.84 → 276.00
  • Resistance Increase: 0.36 → 0.24
  • Energy Cost: 14 → 11
• Spinning Blades (Dual Swords)
  • Max Hitpoint Damage: 5% → 8%
• Soulless Stream (Galatine Pair)
  • Max Hitpoint Reduction: 10% → 6%

Armors

• Purging Shield (Mage Robe)
  • Cooldown: 60s → 45s
  • Duration: 6s → 5s
  • Energy Cost: 12 → 10
• Life Steal Aura (Hellion Jacket)
  • Now also increases Healing Received by 10%
  • Duration: 10s → 8s
• Windwall (Knight Armor)
  • Cooldown: 40s → 30s
• Force Shield (Judicator Armor)
  • Resistance Increase Factor: 0.35 → 0.32

Helmets

• Ice Block (Cleric Cowl)
  • Cooldown: 60s → 40s
• Inner Corruption (Cultist Cowl)
  • Cooldown: 50s → 30s
• Meditation (Assassin Hood)
  • Channel Duration: 2s → 3s
  • Max Cooldown Reduction: 10s → 15s
• Growing Rage (Royal Hood)
  • Damage Increase per stack: 10% → 8%
• Stoneskin (now available on all Plate Helmets)
  • Removed the damage and healing penalty. It is now a straight resistance increase
  • Resistance Increase: 60% → 50%
• Emergency Heal (Now only available on Guardian Helmets)
  • Reworked the ability:
  • Instantly heals 10% of your max health and removes any damage over time effects.
  • Cooldown: 60s → 40s
  • Instant Heal: 5% → 10%
• Electric Discharge (Judicator Helmet)
  • Cooldown: 60s → 45s
  • You can now keep moving during the activation of this skill

Shoes

• Vengeful Sprint (Hellion Boots)
  • Damage Increase per stack: 5% → 4%
• Defensive Sprint
  • Removed from Graveguard Boots
  • Added new ability Battle Frenzy instead:
    • Increases your movement speed by 80% and makes you immune to any movement-impairing effects for 5s. Does not make you immune to forced movement effects like knockbacks.

Passives

• Efficiency (Cloth Armors)
  • Energy Cost Reduction: 8% → 12%
• Efficiency (Cloth Helmets & Shoes)
  • Energy Cost Reduction: 3.5% → 6%

Offhands

• Normal Shields:
  • Crowd Control Resistance Factor: 0.36 → 0.60
• Mistcaller:
  • Cooldown Reduction: 15% → 14% (on 1700 IP)
• Leering Cane:
  • Cooldown Reduction: 0% → 6% (on 1700 IP)
• Eye of Secrets:
  • Max Energy Factor: 0.4 → 0.5
• Muisak:
  • Now increases Damage and Healing significantly, but also increases energy costs.
  • Bonus Damage: 20% (on 1700 IP)
  • Bonus Healing: 20% (on 1700 IP)
  • Energy Cost Increase: 25% (on 1700 IP)
• Taproot
  • Max Health Factor: 0.5 → 0.42

Capes

• Heretic Cape
  • Root Duration: 4s → 6s
• Keeper Cape
  • Health Threshold for activation: 60% → 70%
  • Cooldown: 100s → 80s (on 1300 IP)
• Lymhurst Cape
  • Cooldown: 120s → 130s (on 1300 IP)
• Martlock Cape
  • Cooldown: 140s → 160s (on 1300 IP)
  • Bonus Defense: 66.66% → 50%
• Thetford Cape
  • Damage (80.44 → 92.00)
• Undead Cape
  • Health Threshold for activation: 20% → 25%

Mounts

• Ox:
  • Base Speed: 35% → 40%
• Pest Lizard:
  • Base Speed: 120% → 110%
• Morgana Nightmare / Spectral Bonehorse:
  • Gallop Bonus: 125% → 123%
• Direwolf Mounts (includes special mounts with the same stats)
  • Gallop Bonus: 140% → 130%
• Spectral Bat / Husky:
  • Gallop Bonus: 140% → 132%
• Moabird Mounts:
  • Gallop Bonus: 135% → 127%
• Cougar Mounts:
  • Gallop Bonus: 130% → 125%
• Rageclaw:
  • Gallop Bonus: 145% → 132%
• Husky Sled:
  • Gallop Bonus: 125% → 123%

• Spell and buff fixes:
  • The Hellgate buff can no longer be purged
  • Fixed an issue where Empowering Beam buff stacks would drop briefly - they should now be more stable for the duration of the spell
  • Battle Frenzy is no longer resistant to silencing
  • Fixed an issue where Tackle and Reckless Charge could be resisted by the target after the initial hit
  • Fixed an issue where the displacement effect of Reckless Charge was incorrectly resisted
  • Mortal Agony now reveals stealthed characters as intended
  • Field of Death now reveals invisible characters under Mark of Sacrifice as intended
  • Battle Frenzy no longer offers immunity to Wind Wall
  • Royal Banner now increases normal attack speed and reduces cooldowns as intended
• Improved tooltips for various abilities, clarifying spell behavior and/or adding missing information
• Corrected jump and roll animations for male characters - offhand weapons now stay attached to hand
• Fixed an issue where the tooltip for Silver costs in the crafting UI was not displayed correctly
• Regional production bonus UI now displays only valid items
• Additional minor graphical, UI, animation, texture, terrain, audio, and localization fixes

A new referral season starts today! From now until April 10, refer your friends and get three exclusive rewards: the Domesticated Hog, the Recruiter's Grey Wolf Cape, and the Recruiter's Grey Wolf.


The new referral season lasts until April 10. There are three ways to collect referrals and earn your very own Grey Wolf:

• 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.

Name: Gugusteh
Channel: https://www.twitch.tv/gugusteh
General Streaming Schedule: Mostly weekends, plus weekday evenings (EU time)
Main Focuses: Solo roaming, live ZvZs

How did you get into streaming? How long have you been an Albion streamer?

I started streaming only a few months ago (I think around October). I first started streaming some city GvGs, some really short streams. I later started to watch videos a lot on the side while roaming. I wanted to watch Albion videos on the side, but not many people were streaming during the hours I usually play. Since people enjoyed the videos I did about my solo roaming, I decided to show it live and be the one doing the show that other people could watch while they roamed.

How is streaming Albion different from streaming other games?

Albion is a hard game to stream since there is a lot of downtime between PvP action or interesting moments. You also take some additional risks when playing alone, and you need to hide a lot of information when streaming ZvZs since it’s really easy to locate a streamer.

The experience is, however, really positive in general: the community is really enjoyable when you get to know it, having a PvP encounter is even more thrilling on stream since you don't want to make mistakes and get a free ticket back to the city.

In Albion almost everything is unexpected and you can go from a calm ambiance to a really exciting moment just in a second.

What is your general approach to streaming? Do you plan out activities in advance, or head out into the world and see what happens?

I usually turn on the stream when I feel like it, that's the reason why there is no precise schedule. When I come back from work I log in to Albion and based on what I want to do, I'll either turn the stream on or not. Since I can do anything, my gameplay can vary a lot.

Sometimes, however, I plan some precise streams, but I don't force myself to do only one activity: Albion is a sandbox and I want to profit fully.



In addition to streaming on Twitch, you've created lots of Youtube videos with pretty high production values and editing. Do you plan your Youtube videos in advance, or create them based on spontaneous footage?

My videos are usually about an event that happened recently but I usually don’t “rush” them. For some cases I do the editing just after it happens in-game (for example, ZvZs) but if I don’t like the outcome, I rework it another day.

In general I have 2 kinds of videos:

• The ones that I try to upload within a week
• The “special projects” requiring more footage and editing that I upload later.

In general I try to show people how the game can be enjoyed, and all the special moments that are worth a deeper look.

Do you have any favorite moments from your streams?

I think my favorite moment on stream is the roleplay session before every reset day. It’s a really particular moment since I have to deal with the comms and the stream at the same time, but I try my best to make it appreciable. Every Invasion Day we mass early on our guild island and do a “ceremony” with the whole guild. It’s a really fun time.

Aside from that, I've had some really good moments on stream discussing various things in chat. For example, regarding certain Albion mechanics, the opinions are not always the same and discussing that is always interesting.
https://youtu.be/jKzfcgSXXIU
Any ideas for new content for future streams?

I plan to redo one kind of stream that I’ve already done: an “AMA stream” where I try to explain the game to new players / people discovering it while leveling up a new character from zero.

Also I’ve had multiple ideas for events and I really want to do some of them on stream, but I need to think further about that.

Do you have any advice or tips for other players who are considering being Albion streamers?

Always have multiple sets when you go into PvP zones: you will die, just make sure that you don’t have to spend those five extra minutes at the auction house.

The community in Albion is really strong but it might be hard at the beginning, just don't get disillusioned by the first troll and you will enjoy your time.

Anything else to add?

If you're just starting the game or want to know a bit more about it, feel free to contact me anywhere: Discord, Twitch, YouTube, forum, Twitter... I’m always glad to help people to get into the game.

Can you share some of your favorite clips with us?

Some funny arena matches with friends:
https://youtu.be/MlH7tQuZ4SY
Baby Mammoth drop:
https://youtu.be/ThutpKLHSpM
PvP compilation (all done on-stream):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbmhWFjiCrk
Enjoy the clips? Be sure to follow Gugusteh on Twitch and YouTube and stay tuned for more upcoming Streamer Spotlights.

The Steam Lunar New Year Sale is here! Whether you've waited until now to play Albion Online or are looking to upgrade with an Epic or Legendary Pack, we've got you covered: the base game and all packs are now 34% off.

With the Oberon Update on the way this spring, 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!

Carnival season is here! During the month of February, take the Carnival Challenge to collect limited-time rewards. Earn points for open-world activities, unlock chests to get valuable loot, and claim your very own Saddled Terrorbird.

Check out some of the rewards coming your way this month:


NEW MOUNT: This month's Challenge introduces the Saddled Terrorbird, a speedy mount that can cover large distances quickly. Hailing from the sandy steppe, this fierce avian has a combination invincibility/speed dash spell that's perfect for evading attackers.


NEW AVATAR BORDER: Reach your goals to unlock the Carnival Challenge avatar border, a decoration that will keep your avatar festive all year round. This non-tradable item permanently unlocks this avatar border for one character.


SEASONAL SPECIALS: All month, reach weekly goals to unlock Carnival Challenge chests. Get valuable rewards like Adventurer's Tomes and Silver bags, along with both new and classic masquerade-themed costume sets.

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

In a recent Dev Talk, Game Director Robin Henkys gave a brief rundown of some of the new features coming to Albion in 2019. Two major new features, Hidden Entrances and Randomized Dungeons, will be introduced with the Oberon update this spring. 

Hidden Entrances are gateways that spawn at random throughout the open world, in all zones and at all times. Their frequency is such that a party of five should be able to find an entrance readily enough. Though their location is not revealed on the minimap, they are accessible to all players for as long as they remain open, meaning multiple parties can enter at one time.

Within these discoverable portals are Randomized Dungeons. These dungeons are created procedurally based on numerous parameters, influencing everything from mob type to room and corridor layout to bosses and loot.

Each dungeon will only last for a limited time, and will begin to lose stability the longer it remains open. The transitive nature of these dungeons provides an incentive to move through them quickly - not only to claim the loot within, but also to avoid being transported back to the overworld along with any hostile players within.



These features bring an entirely new source of open-world PvE to the world of Albion. The unpredictable nature of both Hidden Entrances and the Randomized Dungeons they conceal makes them a much more varied experience than anything previously seen in the game, falling somewhere between the safe fame-farming of Expeditions and the high-risk PvP of static dungeons. The dungeons introduced with the Oberon update will be for a five-person group, but soloable dungeons and other types of content will be introduced with later updates.

While Randomized Dungeons, at launch, will mostly feature known factions and mobs, these will be reworked and optimized, and some new enemies will be introduced to the game as well. In the long run, the combination of Hidden Entrances and Randomized Dungeons will give us a platform for introducing entirely new types of PvE content into the game, including entirely new mobs, dungeons, and experiences.



Here's a quick rundown on the current state of Hidden Entrances and Randomized Dungeons:

• Both features are already working code-wise (randomized generation of dungeon layouts and placement of Hidden Entrances in the world)
• Game design is currently balancing mobs and loot levels to provide a rewarding player experience
• Level design and art are creating the necessary connectors and highlights for each dungeon type
• Heretic and Morgana dungeons are finished, and Keeper dungeons are underway
• Game design and QA are performing regular internal playtests to iterate on dungeon progress

We'll have much more info on these features in our forthcoming series of Dev Talks, so stay tuned!

Nimue Patch 6 launched today, bringing several important economic updates along with audio upgrades and an assortment of combat and spell changes.

Most significant among the changes are the higher travel cost modifier of certain laborer journals and the increased local refining efficiency bonuses of the Royal Cities. These changes bring the time and risk involved in transporting goods more in line with the rewards, and, conversely, offer greater rewards to those willing to put in the time to transport goods.



For full details of Nimue Patch 6, see below.

• Royal Armor can now be enchanted with the corresponding Runes, Souls, and Relics
• Further improved Arena matchmaking to more equally balance skill levels between teams
• GvG and Crystal Realm match result notifications changed from pop-up windows to white text to avoid hindering gameplay
• Audio improvements:
  • Redesigned Holy and Nature Staff auto-attack and impact sounds
  • Reworked sounds for Direboar, Moabird, and Impala mounts
  • Added idle sounds to Alchemist
• Animation improvements:
  • Updated effects for Fire Aura and Razor Cut

• Fast travel costs have been increased for laborer journals used to produce resources or refined resources
  • The cost is now roughly the same as it would be to transport the corresponding resources (calculated at 100% laborer happiness) directly
• Local refining efficiency bonuses in Royal Cities have been raised to make transporting materials to these cities more worthwhile. (Note: these bonuses are only part of the formula that determines total return rate in a given crafting location.) Here is how the boost to local production bonuses affects resource return rates:
  • Current (old) resource return rate: 30% without focus / 50% with focus
  • Patch 6 (new) resource return rate: 35% without focus / 53% with focus
• Watchtower Attack Range: 15m → 20m
  • This change should make it harder to tower dive - for example, in forest territories, the watchtower should now cover the whole circular platform
• The behavior of the Sacrifice skill has been updated for cases where the caster is below 15% Max HP:
  • Casting on self (changed): now heals before dealing damage, meaning you can no longer commit suicide by casting the spell on yourself
  • Casting on an ally (not changed): heals the ally and deals damage to yourself simultaneously, meaning you can still die when casting the spell on others
• Christmas decorations have been removed from cities

• Fixed an issue where GvG result notifications were sometimes sent to the wrong team
• Fixed a bug where furniture items could not be destroyed inside buildings
• Fixed an issue where material/resource items trashed by a player before dying were still included in total kill fame
• Fixed an issue where items in Enchant view would stay locked when switching to Transmute tab
• Updated loot bag visuals for red-flagged players in parties: loot bags no longer appear claimable
• Changed the primetime of Mudpool Steppe from 05:00 UTC to 01:00 UTC as intended
• Spell fixes:
  • Fixed a bug where spells would still go on cooldown even after failing due to target being invisible
  • Fixed a bug where AOE spells could damage players getting up from a knockdown
  • Tear Apart now spreads Bleeding stacks even when the target dies
  • Fixed an issue where Fearless Strike triggered multiple sound effects and damaged targets twice when caster was slowed
  • Fixed an issue where Threatening Smash's hit direction could be changed just before impact
  • Fixed an issue where explosive mines did not deal damage to any character when triggered by a damage-immune character
  • Replaced energy cost of "free" with "0"  in all spell tooltips for consistency
• Frost Ram is now invincible for the duration of its leap as intended
• Unnecessary "item is no longer required" message no longer appears when upgrading buildings
• Fixed an issue where the Party Finder could not be used when a character disconnected while in Arena or Expedition
• Fixed an issue where party roles could not be changed in Crystal GvGs or custom matches
• Fixed an issue where GVG ally invitations were not canceled when the invited player disconnected
• Additional minor graphical, UI, animation, texture, terrain, audio, and localization fixes

For the full archive of current and past changelogs and game updates, visit the Updates page.