In our last two Dev Talks on the Roads of Avalon, Game Director Robin Henkys introduced this major feature, discussed travel and transport in the Roads, and gave a brief rundown of what you'll find in the Wilderness outside the road network. In this third and final Dev Talk on the subject, he discusses living within the Roads of Avalon, an exciting new opportunity for guilds looking for a Hideout of their own. (For more on the Roads of Avalon, check out Part 1 and Part 2.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rij2UFVmwfo
No time to watch, or prefer a written summary? Then read on...
While most zones within the Roads of Avalon consist of the road network itself, some are almost completely Wilderness. In these special zones, you can find energy crystals that keep the mists at bay and allow placement of Hideouts. Guilds can place Hideouts at these crystals during the prime time visible on the zone map. As always, unfinished Hideouts are vulnerable during the first and the last minutes of construction.

Once established, a Hideout will be protected just like in the open world. However, since there are no territories in the Avalonian wilderness, any guild with the required amount of Siphoned Energy can break a Hideout’s defenses at the beginning of the zone’s prime time. They can then attempt to attack the Hideout, but as usual, once a Hideout loses a defense point it will become invulnerable until the next day’s prime time.

This is significant, because no gateway connection to the zone will remain for a whole day, meaning the attacking side must stay in the zone to continue their attack. And as each gateway only lets in a few players at once, even initial attacks are challenging. Other guilds can of course place their own Hideouts in the region, but these will have to be built and defended as usual.

In short, destroying a Hideout in Avalon is significantly more challenging than it might be in the Outlands, making it an attractive option for smaller guilds who want a Hideout of their own.


1. Limited resources and PvE content

Players will have to explore the surrounding Roads to find gateways to the open world to bring in resources and gear, or to export goods they produce with the crafting bonuses of their Avalon Hideout. Each Avalon Wilderness region has its own unique set of crafting bonuses, and while none of them outcompete the deep Outlands, they can still be very attractive for crafters.

2. Limited capacity and shifting nature of Avalonian gateways

If your guild has too many members, you will be competing for the capacity of the gateways, and if your players are not careful, you may get stranded somewhere in Avalon with no easy way back to your Hideout.

3. Lack of territories for Season Point generation

While you can of course still compete in the Crystal League, complete the Guild challenge, and raid territory mages from your Hideout, you will find it hard to claim and hold territories.

That may be a good thing, however, as it means your Avalon Hideout is not likely to become a target of guilds competing for power in the Outlands.


There's no lack of action for guilds living in Avalon. The constantly shifting gateways bring opportunities for exploration and conflict to your front door, especially when a gateway opens to another Wilderness region with an active guild living in it, and we're very excited to see how players adapt to this unique environment

This concludes our series of videos on the Roads of Avalon. Thanks for watching, and we'll see you ingame when the Rise of Avalon update goes live on August 12!

On August 12, 2020, the Rise of Avalon update will bring massive new features including the Roads of Avalon, Corrupted Dungeons, Avalonian Weapons, and more.


The Roads of Avalon are a massive, shifting network of ancient pathways, entered via gateways that spawn in the open world. They present a wealth of new options for travel, transport, trade, and launching (or escaping) attacks. Outside the roads themselves, the immense Wilderness of Avalon offers a whole new realm to explore, with treasures, resource sites, and new creatures and Avalonian enemies to conquer. And smaller guilds looking for a home away from the politics of the Outlands can even place Hideouts and live in the Roads of Avalon.


Corrupted Dungeons allow single players to take on challenging solo PvE in a fiery realm populated with demons, traps, and corrupted beings. Defeat hordes of enemies for treasure and Infamy, or invade other players' dungeons and engage in 1v1 combat to gain Infamy and loot and rise through the leaderboards.


A new line of Avalonian Weapons, each with their own unique skills, brings new dimensions to combat in Albion Online. These weapons can be crafted with new artifacts and Avalonian Shards, and include skills such as:

• Lucent Hawk (Bow): shoot up to four high-impact, long-range skillshots in a row
• Majestic Smash (Two-Handed Sword): knock all enemies around you into the air, then follow with a heavy vertical attack
• Soul Link (Nature Staff): temporarily link two targets together, with effects based on targets' alignments relative to the caster

Additionally, the Destiny Board has been expanded and PvE progression has been overhauled and updated.


Additional features include numerous major UI quality-of-life improvements, an all-new Rogue Adventurer Skin bundle, reduced crafting times, further mobile optimizations, and much, much more.

For further details, check out the Official Update Page.

It's been three years since Albion's official launch on July 17, 2017. Since then, the game, game world, and community have grown in ways we never could have imagined. Over the past months, the game world has undergone massive changes, the player base has reached its highest level yet, and there's much more to come with the massive new Rise of Avalon update releasing next month.

Of course, there are also various ingame events taking place to celebrate the occasion, including a Fame Boost and a limited-time classic Keeper dungeon. For more details on these events, click here.

Let's look at some of the major events and happenings of the past year:
Last fall, as Guild Season 7 drew to a close, a new presence began stirring in the Outlands. A mysterious teaser trailer hinted at the form and scale of this new threat, and soon after, its true nature became clear: an ancient force known as the Avalonians had returned to Albion.



The Avalonians were introduced in stages during a unique Standalone Guild Season that brought Avalonian World Bosses, new tools and foods crafted with powerful Avalonian Energy, and even a new mount, the Avalonian Basilisk. As the strength of the Avalonians grew, their intent became clear: to invade Caerleon and reclaim all of Albion for themselves. The season culminated in the chaotic Battle of Caerleon, in which Avalonian Mages and Constructs laid siege to the city before ultimately being driven back.

Check out Equart's video summary of the event:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t184VajpRKY
The end of the Avalonian Invasion corresponded to the launch of the Queen Update in January 2020, Albion's largest content update since launch. First and foremost, the update brought a completely new Outlands continent, shaped by the magic of the Avalonians. Where the old Outlands spread lower- and higher-tier zones across the whole continent, resources and rewards in the new Outlands increased towards the center. Guilds could build their own open-world homes in the form of Hideouts, self-contained underground bases that allowed guilds to claim their own corner of the new Outlands.



With Queen, those looking for a new type of high-level challenge could seek out Elite Randomized Dungeons, where larger groups could face off against mighty Avalonian enemies and claim artifacts needed to craft powerful Avalonian Armors. The update also brought a whole new guild warfare system, where territory control was now determined via massive open-world battles. And those looking for 5v5 combat could battle it out in the new Crystal League, with victors able to claim valuable rewards and boost their territory's tower level.
The Queen Update was by far the most successful Albion Online content update since launch, confirmed by consistent population growth since launching in January, and a record-high of over 500,000 monthly users in April 2020. Nearly six months in the making, Queen was nothing less than a complete revisioning of Albion's high-level endgame, although the new features and systems it introduced affected players of all levels and playstyles.



For us, as the developers of the game, increased player numbers meant increased responsibility to all our players. In addition to creating a dedicated team for performance optimizations, as well as adding new talent to our ever-growing development team.
In April 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic raging and countless members of both the Albion community and greater worldwide community affected, we launched the Staff of Hermes Charity Pack. Included in this limited-time pack were a unique healing-themed offhand costume item and avatar ring, with 100% of the money collected going to the COVID Solidarity Fund.



The response was tremendous: in the four weeks this special pack was available, the Albion Online community came together and raised an incredible €42,644.94. The outpouring of support for this cause was truly inspiring, and the "staffies" sent in by those who had bought the pack contributed to the overall feeling of community and goodwill.
The Season 9 Patch, launched in May, brought far-reaching mobile improvements to the world of Albion. Systems that had previously been designed only for larger screens were completely reworked for mobile devices, and mobile gameplay was improved with everything from context-based cursors to customizable HUDs to drag-cast spells.



In the months since these major changes were implemented, our team has focused on optimizing mobile performance, with a major Android stability fix launched with Queen Patch 16 and further improvements on the way. Mobile optimizations will continue for the foreseeable future, with the eventual goal of releasing Albion Online in both the Apple and Google Play Stores.
With each passing year, the story of Albion gains new depth and complexity. If you're in the mood to reminisce further, you can always revisit our Second and First Anniversary retrospectives for a look at the major events of the first two years.

And finally, as we celebrate another year in the world of Albion, we want to give our most heartfelt thanks to you, the Albion Online community, for your support. We can't wait to see what the coming year (and beyond) will bring to the world of Albion – we'll have more exciting news and previews of upcoming features very soon, and we'll see you ingame when the Rise of Avalon update goes live in August!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJh0W3_sIis

It's been three years since Albion Online's official launch... and while it's certainly a good time to take a look back at everything that's happened since then, it's an even better time to celebrate! Log in now and enjoy a week-long Fame Boost, free fireworks, and a classic Keeper Dungeon from Albion's beta.
What better way to celebrate another year in the world of Albion than a Fame Boost? Between now and maintenance on July 24, get 25% additional Fame for all ingame activities.

Here are the details:

• At the end of maintenance on Friday, July 17, the Mists of Albion buff will be automatically enabled for all players
• This buff automatically grants an additional 25% Fame for all activities
• The buff does not apply to Fame earned via PvP kills and Tomes of Insight, and does not boost the rate at which Challenge Points are earned
• The Fame boost ends at 10:00 UTC on Friday, July 24

With the Rise of Avalon update coming in August, now is the perfect time to level up your combat, crafting, and gathering!


From now until July 31, you'll have a chance to revisit the Defenders of the Past dungeon, a classic Keeper dungeon from Albion's beta. This dungeon has retained its classic terrain and enemy layout, and has been updated with current shrines, loot, and rewards. In addition, those who complete this dungeon will have a chance to score the brand-new Red Anniversary Banner.

Here are all the details:

• Defenders of the Past will spawn randomly in T4-8 zones in both the Royal Continent and the Outlands
• The dungeon will spawn in both solo (green) and group (blue) versions, with enemies and loot balanced accordingly
• The dungeon entrance will appear as a portal flanked by Anniversary Banners
• The final boss chest will give a chance to receive the Red Anniversary Banner along with other loot

This limited-time dungeon will only be playable until July 31 at 10:00 UTC, so head out into the open world and revisit a unique piece of Albion's past!


Albion's cities have been decked out with special anniversary decorations – and to help celebrate, we've sent red, blue, and yellow Anniversary Fireworks to all players. Just log in between now and July 31 at 10:00 UTC to receive an in-game mail with your rewards. (Note: the mail will only be sent to characters created before July 17.)

And last but not least, we're running a "Strike a Pose" contest over on the forum. Get decked out in your best armor and costumes, find your favorite ingame spot, and get creative, and you could win fabulous prizes! Prizes will be given for the best solo, group, and guild entries.

Remember, the Fame Boost and forum contest end on July 24 and the classic dungeon and free fireworks end on July 31, so log in today and join the celebration!

In our last Dev Talk, Game Director Robin Henkys introduced the Roads of Avalon, a massive new system coming with the next update. In this video, he discusses what you'll find when you leave the Roads and head into the Wilderness. (To watch Part 1, click here.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKoORR1oyJE
No time to watch, or prefer a written summary? Then read on...
A zone map of Avalon shows that the Roads form a very distinct rune / symbol shape. This makes it easier to recognize areas you've already visited and helps you find your way through the ever-shifting network. There are also paths outside of the Roads, which are called the Wilderness of Avalon.

The Wilderness hosts a variety of different locations:

• Forest paths
• Resource sites
• Avalonian camps
• Randomized Dungeon entrances

Forest Paths
These simple paths wind through the forests and ruins of Avalon. You can use them as shortcuts, or to avoid the main roads if you're concerned about encountering other explorers.
Resource Sites
These locations have a high concentration of resources as well as elemental spirits guarding them. Unlike in the open world, elemental spirits in Avalon also appear in Veteran and Elite versions that are harder to defeat but give much more raw material. You may even encounter new Tier 7-8 Aspects and Guardians, which yield extremely valuable resources and may be enchanted all the way to level 3.

Resource sites are marked on the map, but it is up to you to discover their Tier and the strength of the spirits protecting them.

Avalonian Camps
In certain locations, Avalonians and their constructs are collecting artifacts and treasure from the deserted ruins. Players can attempt to take these treasures, but the chests will only open once all enemies at the site have been defeated. These camps appear from Tier 4-8 in the following difficulties:

• Regular (solo players)
• Veteran (small groups)
• Elite (groups of about ten players)

Avalonian Camps are also marked on the map, but again, you will have to explore them to discover their Tier and what sort of treasure they hold.

Randomized Dungeon Entrances
These entrances lead to the same Randomized Solo, Group, and Elite dungeons as you'll find in the open world, but with a significant buff to Fame and loot. They are also significantly rarer than those that spawn in the open world.


There’s a lot of valuable treasure and Fame to be found in the Wilderness of Avalon. Some can be claimed on your own, but some is so valuable and difficult to acquire that you may want to tell your friends or guild about it. As the path you found to get there will probably disappear within a few hours, you'll have to be quick to tell others, and if you claim valuable treasure or resources you'll still have to safely bring them home or to the Marketplace.
That's all for today – in our next Dev Talk we’ll discuss how you can build your own Hideout in Avalon and what it takes to live in a constantly-shifting labyrinth of ancient gateways and paths. Thanks for watching!

The Rise of Avalon update arrives in August, bringing a host of new features to the world of Albion. In our newest Dev Talk, Game Director Robin Henkys introduces the Roads of Avalon, a new system that will massively expand the gameworld and bring new opportunities for travel, exploration, and even settlement.

Note: Due to the complexity of this feature, today's Dev Talk is the first of three talks on this feature.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt1stGAcR7o
No time to watch the video, or prefer a written summary? Then read on...
The Roads of Avalon are a network of ever-changing paths through the ancient kingdom of Avalon. They allow players to do three things:

• travel across vast distances in Albion
• explore a new environment full of resources and treasures
• live within a new environment away from the Outlands

They are ideally suited to small group gameplay, since they have unique mechanics that limit the number of players that can enter at one time.

This video covers the first topic, travel, and is split into two parts: how to find and enter a Road, and how to use it to get around the world of Albion.
To enter the Roads, you will have to find a gateway to Avalon. They have a limited capacity for how many travellers can pass through them in each direction, and must recharge before additional players can enter or leave. The smallest will only let two players pass before its capacity is depleted, while the larger ones will allow small to medium size groups to pass.

The gateways also have a limited lifetime, so be sure to check how much time a gateway has left if you plan to return to where you started.

Once you enter a gateway, you’ll find yourself in the ancient kingdom of Avalon, specifically its road network. These ancient roads were built aeons ago by the Avalonians, who are now reactivating the mechanisms that power the gateways and the paths that connect them.
The Roads themselves connect different possible gateway positions, and are kept free of enemy creatures by Avalonian magic. You can also use the power imbued in the roads to speed you along as you move between gateways.

Each gateway connects to one of three places:

• an Outlands zone
• a Royal Continent zone
• a different section of the Roads of Avalon

Exploring will uncover shortcuts through the world of Albion, which you can use for numerous purposes, including:

• transport
• trade
• outmaneuvering enemies
• accessing resources and dungeons far from your starting position

You will have to keep track of the remaining lifetime of each gateway you pass through, as the Roads of Avalon are constantly shifting and any given gateway may soon disappear forever, only to re-open to a different location in Albion.
This concludes our introduction to the Roads of Avalon. Join us for the next Dev Talk, where we’ll discuss what happens when you leave the Roads and venture into the wilderness beyond. Thanks for watching!

This weekend brings the final reset day of the season, with all Season Points doubled... and we'll be covering it live on the AlbionTV Twitch channel starting Saturday at 17:30 UTC! Join our hosts Lewpac, Bogul, and Shozenwon as they cover the Invasion Day madness live.

Starting at 18:00 UTC, guilds will have new opportunities to claim territories and launch attacks. Those in the North and South American time zones can also tune in for the second round of territory resets on Sunday at 00:30 UTC with hosts Bogul, Shozenwon, and Robinhoodrs.

Between the two reset broadcasts, we'll also be broadcasting Level 5-7 Crystal League fights with no delay at 20:30, 21:00, and 21:30 UTC.

For the complete Guild Season schedule, check out this forum post.

This week we launched the fifteenth patch of the Queen update, with a particular focus on mount balancing. Here's what's new:

• Players who are force-dismounted are cleansed and temporarily immune to crowd control to prevent perma-stun
• Base mount top speeds slightly increased, and time until gallop slightly decreased
• Speed mount top speeds slightly decreased, and time until gallop slightly increased

Here are a few of the other changes and fixes implemented with this patch:

• Players who re-queue for a zone after being removed via the Smart Cluster Queue are now immobilized to prevent the queue from "dropping" them
• Chests updated in T8 Undead World Boss zones (Unhallowed Cloister, Black Monastery, Deathreach Priory, Camlann)
• Most AoE spells cast by mobs in Hellgates no longer trigger damage reflection

As always, for a complete list of changes, you can check the official patchnotes.

The Rise of Avalon update arrives in August, bringing major new gameplay features to the world of Albion. One such feature is Corrupted Dungeons, a new type of single-player dungeon that will bring new dimensions to solo play in Albion Online. In this Dev Talk, Game Director Robin Henkys discusses what these dungeons are and how they work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V0yKOzmitE
No time to watch the video, or prefer a written summary? Then read on...

The all-new Corrupted Dungeons arriving with the next update are a response to those players who have been asking for more solo PvE and PvP content for Albion Online. But what are they exactly, and how do they work?
To find a Corrupted Dungeon, you’ll need to explore the open world and find a Corrupted Dungeon Entrance. These spawn like regular Solo Randomized Dungeons, but they look a good deal more sinister.

When entering a Corrupted Dungeon, you can choose your difficulty level:

• Hunter: lower rewards, knockdown PvP rules, relatively low Item Power softcap. A good difficulty for anyone learning the basics of 1v1 PvP in Albion.
• Stalker: full-loot PvP rules with significantly higher rewards, but still a low Item Power Softcap. A good level for veteran PvP players.
• Slayer: even greater rewards, full-loot PvP, a bigger PvE challenge, and a much higher Item Power softcap. This is the elite level aimed at advanced players.

After choosing your difficulty level and entering the dungeon, you’ll find yourself in a place infested with demons and corrupted creatures. To complete the dungeon, you'll have to cleanse these creatures. Each creature slain will award Infamy points. Different enemies will yield different amounts of infamy based on their difficulty.

When you’ve collected enough Infamy points, the final boss in the dungeon appears. By defeating it, you can lay claim to the loot rewards of the dungeon. In addition, the Infamy gained will remain with you, showing your place in the Infamy rankings as well as permanently boosting your rewards in Corrupted Dungeons.

Finally, at the end of a dungeon run, a portal to another Corrupted Dungeon appears and allows you to start another dungeon right away - or you can leave and take your loot back to the city.
In every corrupted dungeon is a demonic shrine which players can use to sign themselves up to invade other players. Once a player has signed up, the game will regularly check for a potential invasion target. If such a target is found, the invading player will be pulled from their dungeon into another player’s dungeon.

The defending player now has two options:

• they can rally and fight the invader, or
• they can try to destroy the demonic shards which appeared in their dungeon along with the invader.

If they succeed in destroying enough of these shards, the Invader is banished and the defender can continue playing their own dungeon.

If either player kills the other, the victim loses some of their infamy, and the killer gains some of it. This allows players to gain very high infamy numbers and rise in the ranks for their own  prominence - and for significant boosts to future dungeon rewards.
To add tactics and depth to these encounters, there are a number of special features players can use to try to outsmart their opponents:

• NPC positions are marked on the minimap, allowing you to guess your opponent's position based on the creatures they’ve already slain
• Watcher demons will mark any player they encounter on the minimap for their opponent to see
• And last but not least, there are a large number of traps and hazards which you will need to avoid, or actively use to outsmart and defeat your opponent

As you can see, there's a lot to this feature, and we hope you’re looking forward to exploring and fighting in the Corrupted Dungeons when the Rise of Avalon update launches.

That's all for today - you can also look forward to our next Dev Talk, in which we’ll go in-depth with the Roads of Avalon and their impact on the world of Albion Online.

The dead just won't stay buried! For the entire month of July, take the Undead Challenge to unlock fantastic rewards. Earn points for open-world activities, unlock chests to get valuable loot, and claim your very own Spectral Direboar.
SPECTRAL DIREBOAR: This month's Challenge brings back the popular Spectral Direboar, a ghostly mount with a unique spell, Glimpse of the Other Side, which renders you temporarily invisible. Use it to evade your enemies... or to launch a sneak attack!

AVATAR RING: Adventurers who rack up enough total Challenge Points will also earn the Undead Challenge avatar ring, featuring a spooky skull-themed design that will strike fear into the hearts of your foes. This non-tradable item permanently unlocks this avatar border for one character, or can be traded to the Vanity Merchant for one Vanity Token.

SEASONAL SPECIALS: All month long, reach weekly goals to unlock Undead Challenge chests. In addition to valuable rewards like Adventurer's Tomes and Silver, you'll also have a chance to unlock spooky furniture items like the Candelabra, Lantern, and Memorial of the Fallen, as well as rare and valuable Undead Vanity Skins.
 
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 / avatar ring reward. So log in, head out into the open world, gather points, and claim these rewards while you can!