Chests in Randomized Dungeons are now loot-protected for the character or party that dealt the most damage to the last mob guarding the chest. Note that flagged characters who are hostile toward the character/party that killed the last mob can circumvent this loot protection and open the chest.

The invulnerability bubble in the Underway and all other passageways now behaves as in other open-world zones (expires after 30 seconds or after moving 150 meters). Previously, these areas were classified as dungeons, meaning the buff would expire after 15 seconds or after moving 10 meters.

• Potions can now be used while silenced
• Stacked furniture items now use the ground level as reference, rather than the level of the item below them - this may affect the way some furniture items appear when placed on top of each other
• Loot tables for Lesser Hellgates in blue zones have been adjusted to follow the same setup as other Hellgates :
  • ⅓ of the previous drop chance for fragments (Runes, Souls, Relics)
  • 5x the previous drop chance for artifacts
  • 2x the previous drop chance for faction cape tokens

• Fixed an issue where the loot chest UI would appear empty if the chest was reopened after loot protection expired
• Cooldowns for self-buffs are now bound to the item that triggered them as intended
• Improved tooltips for Whirlwind, Holy Touch, and Tear Apart
• Fixed an issue where the "Tourist" achievement could not be completed
• Keeper Taproots now give progress towards Imbuer's Journals as intended
• Fixed an issue where moved items disappeared in battlevaults during GvGs if character opened battlevault in the GvG cluster before the fight began
• Debuff of Deadly Shot (Warbow) can now be stacked on a single target by multiple casters as intended
• Fixed an issue where casting Freezing Wind with default mouse controls moved the caster toward the spell
• Fixed an issue where all tiers of Hellish Sicklehead had the T5 description
• Additional minor worldmap, UI, terrain, and localization fixes

Viewers of AlbionTV know Shozen as one of the game's most prolific and experienced casters, who (along with his co-host Lewpac) has covered Albion's GvG scene for years. Beginning on May 20, he'll be joining Bogul (a fellow Albion expert, currently in charge of the Albion Online Wiki) for the AO Daily Show, a daily rundown of all things Albion that focuses on a broad range of topics. We talked to him about his history as a caster, his new show, and the current state of the game.

Tell us a bit about your background. How did you get into streaming?

I've worked in video games and entertainment for most of my life. A little over two years ago while on a break, Bogul approached me about creating an Albion Online news show. At the time I was enjoying Albion Online a lot and wanted to do something, anything to make the game better. After a couple months of prep, Albion Informer was born – to this day the greatest Albion Online podcast ever produced in English. After about six months we were no longer able to find the time necessary to keep Albion Informer alive.

Evoque, knowing AI was ending, asked me to join the AlbionTV team and I happily accepted. After a rocky start, AlbionTV found its footing and we have continued to grow for the last year. Now with the success of not only AlbionTV but also the game itself, we have the opportunity to revive Albion Informer as the AO Daily Show. 

The inaugural episodes of the new show launch this week. What's the show all about?

The players. While each day we will be discussing official and unofficial news, recent and upcoming GvGs, alliance and guild changes, and gameplay, the show is fundamentally about the players and their stories. All the news, drama, and in-depth analysis is there for one reason: to give us an excuse to talk about the players that make up this crazy world of Albion Online.

What topics are you starting out with for the show? What topics do you hope to cover in the future?

As we do the groundwork of establishing the show, we'll often give spotlights to players. As we get further into it, we’ll get more into mechanics and do feature highlights, but early on we want to focus on the players and tell their stories. This week we’ll start off by doing spotlights on some of the most prominent Twitch streamers and content creators.



How have the game and community changed since you started hosting AlbionTV?

For starters, it got much bigger. For about the last year both the game population and our audience have been growing and they're really in a good place now.

Aside from the population changes, I just recently looked back at our launch week shows and I was shocked at how few GvGs there used to be. I was amazed at how Crystal Realm Battles and practice GvGs have now enabled more and more players to engage with the GvG process, and as a result the amount of highly competitive teams has increased a lot. That's what has changed the most.

https://clips.twitch.tv/PolishedShinyThymeKlappa

What is your take on the state of the game since the free-to-play launch? Where do you see the game going in the future?

I’m excited to see a new audience play a more polished version of Albion. When Albion launched, it was not the same game as it is today. It's just plain better; the meta is much more diverse. I feel like I say this every month, but i think it's true.

The game has gotten new features at a good rate, and the majority have been well received. The last few patches have done a fantastic job of adding some of the most requested quality-of-life features, and it's made for a more enjoyable experience. I’m happy to be a part of that.

Do you have a favorite memory from your time hosting AlbionTV?

During one of the early invasions, two guild leaders met in the middle of a massive ZvZ with literally hundreds of players. They faced off in the middle of a bridge, and it seemed like their guilds made room for them to fight 1v1 amidst a massive zerg. It was a true "Clash of Titans" moment.

Catch the AO Daily Show Monday-Friday at 12:00 UTC on AlbionTV[/u], and be sure to subscribe to the new AlbionTV Youtube Channel to keep up on past episodes.[/i]

In the first Dev Talk since Albion's free-to-play launch, Robin Henkys, Game Director of Albion Online, looks back on the last few weeks and offers a special greeting to those who have just joined the game. He then discusses the changes that the Oberon Midseason Patch will bring to Albion, and gives a preview of what's coming with the Percival update.

No time to watch the video? Read on for a summary of his talk:

• Albion since the F2P launch
• The Oberon Midseason Patch
• Next steps for Albion

First off, we want to thank all of you for making the free-to-play release of Albion a huge success! Since the release, Albion has increased its player count by a factor of more than 10. The game currently rivals some of the bigger MMORPGs out there in terms of concurrent players, with all of them in one coherent world.

The last four weeks have been a blur for us: we’ve been rushing from fixing initially widespread (but thankfully short-lived) network problems to dealing with large fight performance issues, marketplace overloads, and various other problems. Ultimately, we're thankful for these issues, because they attest to the success of this iteration of Albion.

We’re now in the final stages of dealing with the large fight performance problem and we feel we’re ready for the second reset reset day of the season. We can’t wait to see the massive battles which will ensue with all the new players joining the fray!

And this brings us to where we are now: Oberon Patch 5, otherwise known as the Oberon Midseason Patch. As usual, this patch contains a number of balance changes and improvements, as well as a new Favorite Island feature, which has long been our most requested quality-of-life improvement.

Most importantly, this patch contains Albion’s first major land expansion since its release in 2017. Some of you may be skeptical about increasing land size due to your experience in Beta 2, but we can assure you that Albion has never ever had remotely this many players - and if these players are going to make a home in the world of Albion, they'll need a place to live.

This is why the Midseason Patch introduces three new Outland sections, whose territories will become claimable during the regular reset times on the second Invasion day of Season 6 (May 18).

These territories and any activities in the new Outland section will not contribute any points to guilds competing in Season 6. Instead, they are an ideal space for new guilds and alliances to familiarize with Albion’s guild vs. guild mechanics and prepare themselves for the launch of Season 7 as the established guilds fight out the rest of Season 6!

With the free-to-play rush and the Midseason Patch behind us, we’re now focusing entirely on the development of the Percival update and the roadmap we announced with the release of the last major update. Work on the solo versions of the Randomized Dungeons is progressing nicely and we’ll also soon be ready to talk more about the various improvements to character customisation and vanity options we’re working on.

That's all for today - stay tuned for more Dev Talks coming in a few weeks, best of luck during the next Invasion Day, and stay safe out there on the roads of Albion!

Three major new Outland regions have been added to the world of Albion: Siluria (equivalent in size and value to Cumbria) and West and East Glouvia (equivalent in size and value to West and East Anglia, respectively). While these regions will be claimable during the next Invasion Day (May 18), and will generate siphoned energy and spawn loot chests, they will not contribute season points to the current (sixth) GvG season. They will begin generating season points as normal at the beginning of Season 7.

In conjunction with this expansion and the redistribution of Outlands portals, Energy Manipulator NPCs have been added close to the Realmgate in each of the Royal Cities.

For more on these changes and a list of portal/city connections for each region, click here.

Players can now remove their portal binding (i.e. the lock to a particular city's Outlands portal) once every 30 days. This allows some flexibility with portal locks, while ensuring it only occurs for important reasons (guild moves, major strategic changes, urgent access to a new territory, etc.). The option of switching city bindings by traveling across the Outlands to a different-colored portal remains in effect.

With the release of this update, the connections for the Siege Camps in No Respite and Carpet of Bones will be switched from Caerleon to Martlock and Thetford, respectively. The newly introduced Siege Camps in Desecrated Sands, Torn Earth and Badbury Bog will be connected to the remaining Royal Cities. This change should make it significantly easier to compete for control of the Royal Cities.

By popular demand, players can now set certain islands as favorites in the Travel Planner UI, making them easily accessible without searching.

To reduce overcrowding, a second Marketplace cluster has been added to Caerleon, accessed by walking directly south from within the Bank of Caerleon. Both clusters give access to the same Marketplace, including all for-sale items, buy orders, sell orders, and purchased goods, and can be used interchangeably.

• Adjusted Hellgate spawn settings to compensate for the Outlands expansion:
  • Spawn waves now produce more Hellgates throughout the world (50 → 80)
  • Hellgate Guardian mobs no longer despawn after 29 minutes, and instead remain in place indefinitely
  • 2v2 Greater Hellgates now spawn only in odd-tier red and black zones (i.e. T3,T5,T7)
  • 5v5 Greater Hellgates now spawn only in even-tier red and black zones (i.e. T4,T6,T8)
• Optimized overhead text messages (damage numbers, etc.) for better overall performance during large fights
• Silver dropped by players upon knockdown is now hard-capped at 700 Silver per item (this should only affect high-end gear)
• Reduced objective item value of Arena Sigils from 64 to 6 to decrease repair costs for crafted Arena items
• Updated animation for Artifact Foundry NPC
• Removed gallop sounds in cities
• Adjusted and polished sounds for all Sword, Bow, and Crossbow spells according to their intensity and fixed several missing sounds
• Rites of Spring items have been removed from the Vanity Merchant

Arcane Staffs

• Time Freeze (Great Arcane Staff):
  • Freeze Duration: 3s → 4s
  • Cooldown 1200 IP: 34s → 30s
  • Cooldown 1700 IP: 30s → 26s

Axes

• Life Leech (Passive):
  • Heal per Attack: 5.10 → 6.10

Bows

• Poisoned Arrow (all Bows):
  • Range: 11m → 13m
• Speedshot (all Bows):
  • Range: 11m → 13m

Crossbows

• Auto Fire (all Crossbows):
  • Damage per Tick: 37.00 → 30.00
  • Explosion Damage: 89.00 → 82.00

Cursed Staffs

• Cataclysm (Damnation Staff):
  • Damage: 120 → 160
  • Debuff Duration: 8s → 6s
  • Cast Range: 10m → 12m
  • Cooldown: 45s → 30s

Daggers

• Life Leech (Passive):
  • Heal per Attack: 3.73 → 4.50

Fire Staffs

• Flame Tornado (Blazing Staff):
  • Tick Damage vs Players: 51.00 → 60.00

Frost Staffs

• Freezing Wind (one-handed Frost Staff):
  • Damage: 160 → 174
  • Standtime: 0.6s → 0.2s
  • Root Duration: 1.57s → 2.00s
• Ice Storm (Glacial Staff):
  • Damage vs Mobs: 16.70 → 20.00
  • Damage vs Players: 35.00 → 45.00
• Ice Crystal (Permafrost Prism):
  • Cooldown: 45s → 30s

Hammers

• Iron Breaker: (all Hammers):
  • Hit Delay: 0.5s → 0.4s
  • Standtime: 0.6s → 0.5s
  • Resistance Reduction: 0.12 → 0.15
• Ground Breaker (Polehammer):
  • Stun Area Width: 1.5m → 2m
• Life Leech (Passive):
  • Heal per Attack: 5.86 → 7.00

Maces

• Threatening Smash (all Maces):
  • Hit Delay: 0.6s → 0.5s
  • Standtime: 0.7s → 0.6s
• Vendetta (Camlann Mace):
  • Now also stuns all pulled enemies
  • Damage: 113.96 → 62.00
• Removed the spell Stalling Slam; added the new spell Sacred Ground in its place:
  • Creates a 3m radius area in front of you. The area lasts for 6s and silences all enemy players within (ignoring crowd control resistance). Creatures in the area are silenced for up to 2.8s. (NOTE: Tooltip will list duration as "8 seconds" until the next patch is deployed.)
  • Cast Time: 0.8s, Cooldown: 7s, Energy cost: 6% of max energy
• Life Leech (Passive):
  • Heal per Attack: 5.86 → 7.00

Nature Staffs

• Revitalize (all Nature Staffs):
  • Energy cost per tick: 8 → 6
  • Energy Gain per tick: 10 → 8
  • Health per Tick: 60 → 80

Quarterstaffs

• Separator (basic Quarterstaff):
  • Standtime: 1s → 0.6s
• Life Leech (Passive):
  • Heal per Attack: 4.17 → 5.00

Spears

• Life Leech (Passive):
  • Heal per Attack: 4.81 → 5.80

Armors

• Haste (Hunter Jacket):
  • Damage Increase: 10% → 20%
• Electric Field (Stalker Jacket):
  • Cooldown 60s → 45s
• Life Steal Aura (Hellion Jacket):
  • Minimum Heal: 7.02 → 8.80
  • Maximum Heal: 23.09 → 29.9
• Fury (Soldier Armor):
  • CC Duration increase per stack: 7% -> 4%

Helmets

• Emergency Heal:
  • The effect is now applied to up to 5 allies in a 4m radius

• Fixed an issue where items could become invisible after being moved from one container to another under high ping
• Fixed an issue where chests in Randomized Dungeons had no loot when the party had "Free Loot" enabled or when loot protection wore off
• Master's Fawn is now tradable in the Marketplace as intended
• Additional minor graphical, UI, terrain, animation, audio, and localization fixes

Since Albion Online's free-to-play launch on April 10, the player base has grown tremendously, as new and veteran players alike set their sights on new regions and activities. To adjust for this massive influx of players, and to ensure that combat remains vital for all players, Oberon Patch 5 (AKA the Oberon Midseason Patch) will bring a major new Outland expansion, portal binding and siege camp changes, the ability to set favorite islands, and more.



To give up-and-coming players (and smaller guilds both old and new) a chance at territory ownership, three major new Outland regions have been added: Siluria (equivalent in size and value to Cumbria), and West and East Glouvia (equivalent in size and value to West and East Anglia, respectively). In the interest of fairness to teams currently competing in Season 6, these territories will be claimable beginning on the second Invasion Day of Season 6 (May 18), but will not contribute season points until Season 7.



In conjunction with this expansion and the previous redistribution of Outlands portals to the Royal Cities, the following changes changes will take place:

• Players can now opt to remove their portal binding once every 30 days. This long cooldown period allows for occasional cancellation of bindings due to unforeseen circumstances, while preventing unfettered access to all Outlands clusters. Players can still cross the Outlands to a different-colored portal in order to reset their bindings with no cooldown.
• To increase competition for control of the Royal Cities, the connections for the Siege Camps in No Respite and Carpet of Bones will be switched from Caerleon to Martlock and Thetford, respectively. The newly introduced Siege Camps in Desecrated Sands, Torn Earth, and Badbury Bog will enable attacks on the remaining Royal Cities.
• To further strengthen the connection between the Royal Cities and the Outlands, and for the convenience of all players, Energy Manipulator NPCs have been added to the Royal Cities. These new merchants can be found near each city's Realmgate, and offer the same services that were previously available only in Caerleon.

By popular demand, players can now set certain islands as favorites in the Travel Planner UI. This often-requested quality-of-life change allows players quick access to their most-visited islands without needing to search for them each time.

While this was one of the most-requested updates based on community feedback, the game's UI will also receive additional improvements and streamlining over the coming months - so please keep your feedback coming!



The Oberon Midseason Patch brings numerous balance changes to weapons and armor. This set of changes has two specific goals in improving Albion's combat meta:

• Increasing the variety of tank builds in 5-versus-5 fights (GvGs, Hellgates, etc.)
• Bringing more variety in damage-dealing during ZvZs, and buffing some underutilized ZvZ weapons

As always, the overarching goal of these changes is to keep combat in Albion fair and vital, and to keep builds for specific combat activities from becoming too stagnant and entrenched.

And speaking of combat, in case you missed it, you can now see every weapon, offhand, and tool in the game in one place - click here to check it out.

The Disciples of Morgana have emerged from the shadows... and for the entire month of May, you can take the Morgana Challenge to collect limited-time rewards. Earn points for open-world activities, unlock chests to get valuable loot, and claim your very own Morgana Raven mount.


NEW MOUNT: This month's Challenge introduces the Morgana Raven, a fearsome, fast-moving mount with an area-of-effect spell that sends nearby foes into a state of panic. (Note: the Morgana Raven requires the same terrain pathing as all other mounts, and cannot fly over gaps or obstacles). 
 

NEW AVATAR BORDER: Adventurers who rack up enough total Challenge Points will also earn the Morgana Challenge avatar border, a menacing, fiery ring that will give your avatar an aura of dread. This non-tradable item permanently unlocks this avatar border for one character.
 

SEASONAL SPECIALS: All month long, reach weekly goals to unlock Morgana Challenge chests. These chests contain valuable rewards like Adventurer's Tomes and Silver bags, along with brand-new Morgana-themed 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!

Name: Robinhoodrs
Channel: https://www.twitch.tv/robinhoodrs07
General Streaming Schedule: Monday-Thursday 13:00 UTC - 23:00 UTC
Main Focus: Helping new players, solo content both PvE & PvP

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

I’ve only just got into streaming actually. I started in early April after successful growing my YouTube channel, and with the F2P launch I wanted to help all the newer players understand the game better. Over the last two weeks the support has been insane, I got Twitch Affiliate within a week and hit over 1,400 followers and 85+ subscribers in my first two weeks of streaming. The Albion community is GOD TIER! 

How is streaming Albion different from streaming other games?

I wouldn’t know too much about this, but from a viewer standpoint the game is full loot PvP and there can be stream snipers, etc. So covering up your minimap and zoning area is highly important for anyone streaming Albion.

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

It all depends on where I left off the day before, I started a whole new account that’s 100% SOLO content, so both PvE and PvP, and it’s completely from scratch. So one day I might be up a couple million Silver so I can go out and PvP all stream, or if I die a lot it’ll be a rebuild stream, which is also good to show newer players how easy it can be to make money in Albion. But I love Albion because I can zone out from a city and do whatever I want, it’s completely up to you what you wanna do and when you want to do it.



Any ideas of new content for future streams?

I really want to get into streaming large scale Zerg vs Zerg fights with Blue Army, hopefully within a couple weeks we’ll be seeing that content on my channel.

But for now I wanna focus on my solo build account and see how far I can get it, as I’m nearly Tier 7 on my build.

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

Make sure you cover your map and other areas to limit stream snipers, engage with the chat and show off the content Albion Online has to offer… that’s SOOO MUCH different content to show others and for others to enjoy.

Anything else to add?

Just wanna say thanks for the massive support on both my YouTube channel and on Twitch from the Albion Online community, it really has been a crazy couple weeks and I’m loving every minute of it. And thanks to the developers for making such a fun game to play and stream!

SQUAKKKKK!!!

Can you share some of your favorite clips with us?

Blue Army [20] vs [81] EGO Alliance - Battle For Deathmarch Expanse:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfrR5x9-ipU
SQUAD Smashes PAX Alliance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxDkn2Ett_U
HOW TO: Use Runes, Souls & Relics To Improve Your Weapon & Armor Guide!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E2r9FGsruc
Stay tuned for more spotlights in the coming weeks, and be sure to follow Robinhoodrs on Twitch.

Dear Community members old and new,

As many of you know, we’re currently planning a massive rework of the Outlands later this year, which also intends to increase the world size. We feel it would be unfair to make new players wait until we finish that rework to have a chance to claim their own piece of Albion, so in the meantime we’ve decided to launch an expansion of the world based on the current map layout.

For this reason, we’re planning to add three new regions to the current Outland map: Siluria (equivalent in size and value to Cumbria), and West and East Glouvia (equivalent in size and value to West and East Anglia, respectively).

These new regions will launch during GvG Season 6 (we’re currently aiming for early May), and the territories within them will become claimable in two waves on the second Invasion Day of Season 6 (May 18th).

To ensure this land expansion has a minimal effect on Season 6, all territories, mages and castles within it will not contribute season points to the current season and will only start doing so for Season 7. They will, however, generate siphoned energy and spawn loot chests, so they are a perfect place for new guilds to establish themselves and try their hand at territory conquest in preparation for Season 7.



Access to these zones will happen via the city portal system. Each city’s portal network will be extended to gain additional access points in the corresponding zones.

• Martlock: 3 portal exits in West Glouvia, bordering West Anglia to the north
• Bridgewatch: 2 portal exits, 1 each in West and East Glouvia
• Thetford: 2 portal exits in East Glouvia, bordering East Anglia to the north
• Lymhurst: 2 portal exits, 1 each in East Glouvia and Siluria
• Fort Sterling: 2 portal exits in Siluria, bordering Cumbria to the north via a bridge
• Caerleon: 1 portal exit in East Siluria, bordering Mercia to the north via a bridge

Start gathering your guilds together and get ready to claim your piece of Albion!

The Rites of Spring have begun! Chests containing Fool's Golden Eggs have appeared throughout the world of Albion. Break them open to gather eggs, which can be traded for costume items at the Vanity Merchant in all cities.

You can trade egg tokens for limited-time rewards, including:

• The "Bunny Stalker" armor set, plus the Bunny Stalker and Snow Bunny Stalker hats complete with summonable rabbits
• A placeable egg-shaped chest for your house
• A special vanity pack to carry your eggs

These rewards are only available during this one-week event, so head into the wilds of Albion and hunt some eggs!

• Adjusted guild change timer back to 48 hours (was reduced to 30 minutes during F2P launch week)
• Greatly increased buff provided by Silver shrines in Randomized Dungeons to be more rewarding - their bonus will be increased from 50% to 400% for the duration of the buff
• Removed the indication area from Contagious Fire to improve performance and remove a flickering bug
• Spell buttons are no longer greyed out while a toggle spell is running

• Identified and fixed an issue with display of character name tags that was affecting client performance, which should stabilize frame rate during gameplay
• Fixed incorrect rotations of some spell indication areas
• Corrected tooltip descriptions of Gold and Premium in character selection screen
• Fixed World Map "Reset Camera" button
• Fixed a bug where executing a downed player failed under very high ping conditions
• Fixed a bug where the Fame reward for capturing an outpost was wrong in the UI when a Fame buff was active
• Additional minor graphical, UI, terrain, animation, audio, and localization fixes