Summer is in full swing, and the Divine Challenge is back! For the entire month of August, earn points for open-world activities, unlock chests to get valuable loot, and claim your very own Divine Owl.

DIVINE OWL: This month's Challenge brings back the Divine Owl, a ghostly white flying mount with a brisk base move speed. This mount has a special ability, Foresight, which creates a shield that gives a temporary speed boost when broken. (Note: like all mounts, the Divine Owl can only move in navigable ground areas and cannot fly over obstacles.)


AVATAR RING: Adventurers who rack up enough total Challenge Points will also earn the Divine Challenge avatar ring, which will frame your chosen avatar in a heavenly golden aura. 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 Divine Challenge chests. In addition to valuable rewards like Adventurer's Tomes and Silver, you'll also have a chance to unlock mystical furniture items like the Mage Statue, Magic Rune Circle, and Glass Sphere.
 
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!

Call to Arms Patch 9, AKA the Season 13 Balance Patch, is now live! This patch brings updates to Corrupted Dungeons as well as combat balance changes and quality-of-life improvements galore. Read on for more...
To keep combat between different playstyles fair while discouraging endless cooldown resets, several changes have been made to Corrupted Dungeons:

• The new Corrupted Mephit mob now appears after a set amount of time and debuffs the first player passing it, allowing some time to adjust tactics while discouraging constant disengages
• Shrine must be activated within 45 seconds
• Healing Cast reduced by a further 10%
• All cooldowns reset at invasion start

This patch includes changes to numerous weapon and armor lines, which are intended to bring some lesser-used items and abilities back into the spotlight and keep combat exciting and fair across a diverse array of builds. Here are just a few of the changes:

• Axes: Bloody Reap reworked into AoE execution tool; Rending Rage and Adrenaline Boost buffed
• Daggers: Deadly Swipe now consumes more energy when used purely for mobility, but is more energy efficient in fights
• Fire Staffs: New Q-ability, Searing Flame, added: shots deal moderate damage, fourth successful shot becomes Furious Flame for greater damage
• Swords: Mobility increase returned to Heroic Charge, various E-ability cooldowns reduced, Hamstring reworked, new Crescent Slash ability for Clarent Blade
• Armors: Energy Drain (Royal Armor) no longer steals enemy energy, renamed Energy Source
• Shoes: Royal March improved, effective uptime of Battle Frenzy and Premonition increased

• Reduced recovery time of items from destroyed Hideouts, halved recovery fee
• Overall zone skipping wait times reduced, as well as the personal zone skip cooldown
• Marketplace notifications improved with clearer information about orders
• Four new ability icons added
• Guild Season Winner popup now only shows for 3 days after season end

As always, you can read the complete list of changes in the official patchnotes.

It's been four years since Albion Online's official launch... and while anniversaries are a great time to take a look back at what happened over the past year, they're also cause for celebration! Log in now and enjoy a nine-day Fame Boost, free fireworks, and the return of a classic 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 26, get 25% additional Fame for all ingame activities.

• At the end of maintenance on Saturday, 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 Monday, July 26

Take advantage of this nine-day Fame Boost 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 keeps its classic terrain and enemy layout, updated with current shrines, loot, and rewards. In addition, those who complete this dungeon will have a chance to score the brand-new Blue Anniversary Banner.

• Defenders of the Past will spawn randomly in T4-8 zones in both the Royal Continent and the Outlands (not in Roads of Avalon)
• The dungeon will spawn in both solo and group 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 Blue 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 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.)

Remember, the Fame Boost ends on July 26 and the classic dungeon and free fireworks end on July 31, so log in today and join the celebration!

Four incredible years have passed since Albion Online's official launch on July 17, 2017. Since then, the game and community have grown in ways that we never could have imagined. To celebrate this momentous occasion, we've got some special ingame events including a Fame Boost and a limited-time classic Keeper dungeon - check out this article for all the details.

Join us as we look back at the major happenings of the past year – Albion's biggest and most successful yet!
On August 12, 2020, the Rise of Avalon update went live. This update brought two massive new features to the world of Albion, the Roads of Avalon and Corrupted Dungeons, as well as new Avalonian Weapons and numerous other changes and quality-of-life improvements.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psUwESfA6yc
The Roads of Avalon and Corrupted Dungeons received further content with the Brimstone and Mist Midseason Update. This mini-update brought new enemies and traps to Corrupted Dungeons, increased fishing opportunities and new fish in the Roads of Avalon, new recipes, crafting and butchery improvements, and much more.
Albion's first-ever Crystal League Championship (which at the time was called the "Offseason Crystal Tournament") took place August 22-23, 2020. Taking place between Albion's Guild Seasons, this championship pits Albion's top 5v5 teams against each other in the Crystal Realm, with massive rewards going to the winners.



The final match came down to the last few seconds, where June Esports, after mounting an incredible comeback from a 17-70 deficit, pulled out an amazing win:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJ81SchJaaU
Alongside the Crystal League Championship, guild warfare in Albion received numerous updates and improvements over the past year, as well as a unique battle mount for each season:

• Season 10
  • Avalonian Weapons, Hideouts in the Roads of Avalon
  • Season Mount: Goliath Horseeater
• Season 11
  • 20v20 Crystal League, PvE Fame buffs for world bosses, unified castle timers
  • Season Mount: Roving Bastion
• Season 12
  • Rebalanced Season Points
  • Season Mount: Juggernaut
• Season 13
  • Resource and Transmutation Changes
  • Season Mount: Phalanx Beetle

There was plenty of non-guild-related Seasonal Content throughout the year as well, including the monthly Adventurer's Challenge, bi-monthly Referral Seasons, and holiday events for Halloween, Christmas, and Easter.


In September 2020, Albion's population reached a new record of 125,000 Daily Average Users, buoyed by both the Rise of Avalon update and the introduction of two new ingame languages: Chinese and Korean. The trend continued throughout 2020 and into 2021, with a new peak of 140,000 players in March, and has continued since then, with player numbers exploding in recent months to nearly double the previous record (read on for more about that!).
On March 17, 2021, the Call to Arms update went live, bringing a complete ground-up rework of Faction Warfare. Caerleon joined the fight as a sixth playable Faction with its own unique rules and playstyle, and valuable rewards including Elite Faction Mounts became available to those who pledged their loyalty to a single city.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54OBbmUfBP4
Call to Arms also brought major changes to Hellgates, with 10 all-new maps featuring diverse enemies and layouts, an updated open-world spawn system, and all new 10v10 Hellgates for spontaneous midsize PvP. The update was rounded out with major quality-of-life improvements, particularly Loadouts, which allowed players to quickly regear based on easily adjustable presets.


On June 9, 2021, Albion Online reached the final major milestone in its quest to become a truly cross-platform Sandbox MMORPG: the official mobile launch. As a core goal since the earliest days of development nearly a decade ago, the worldwide launch on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store was the next massive step in opening up the world of Albion to countless new players, as well as allowing longtime players to play Albion Online whenever and wherever they wanted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MEvv81i3ek
The worldwide launch, coupled with an exclusive cross-play reward for playing on both desktop and mobile, brought unprecedented player numbers to the game. In the week following the launch, Albion shattered its all-time record with an incredible 270,000 daily active players, nearly doubling the previous record.
With the mobile launch complete, it was time to look to the future. In late June, Game Director Robin Henkys released a Dev Talk summing up the launch and discussing the big changes and improvements coming to the game with the next major update (watch until the end for a quick teaser of further changes as well):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcJcUMVVZyw
The energy and dedication of the Albion community continues to be an inspiration to us as we work toward making the world of Albion better and better. So as we celebrate another incredible year of Albion Online, we want to give our most heartfelt thanks to you, the Albion Online community, for your support. We can't wait to see how the game and its community reach new levels over the coming year (and beyond), and we hope you're as excited as we are for Albion's future.

The brand-new Mistbison skin is now available in the ingame store! This premiere mount skin transforms your Transport Ox base mount into an ancient, mystical beast from the age of Avalon.

With its ability to transport heavy goods and resources across large distances, the Transport Ox is an essential part of Albion's economic game. The Mistbison adds further options for those looking to upgrade their ox's appearance, and joins a growing collection of skins for this popular mount.



Like all mount skins, once the Mistbison is unlocked it can be used by all characters on your account. Pick one up today and travel, transport and trade in style!

With the ever-increasing population of Albion Online, we have noticed a demand for information on game mechanics presented in a concise and detailed manner. This is why we have teamed up with AO FAQ to bring you a series of video guides published on our official Albion Online YouTube channel.

The latest video covers everything you need to know about Hellgates:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtDtW6w8fsk
Leave us a comment on YouTube and let us know what you think of the new Albion Online Guide series and which topics you would like us to cover next. And don't forget to subscribe to our channel as we have more content coming your way!

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!

Call to Arms Patch 8 is here, bringing a range of improvements and fixes. First up, though, there's a new face in Conquerors' Hall...


Congratulations to SUN, winners of Guild Season 12! Check out their brand-new statue at the entrance to Conquerors' Hall in the Royal Cities. The statue also includes guild logos of the second and third place winners, MudHouse and MAHARLIKA. While you're there, be sure to pay your respects to past winners on multiple floors, and click on their statues to read their stories.


The Call to Arms update brought new depth and complexity to PvE in Hellgates. To make the PvE experience in higher-risk Lethal Hellgates more worthwhile, the overall value of chest loot in these Hellgates has been boosted: 

• 2v2: +10%
• 5v5: +20%
• 10v10: +30%

To reduce the number of Marketplace notifications and make them more meaningful, notifications are now only sent when a Buy or Sell Order is completely fulfilled or expires. These mails contain a summary of all relevant transactions in one easily-readable message, letting you check the status of orders on the go without excessive clicks.

• Balance changes to Axes and Maces
• Faction Warfare: improved feedback when capturing Outposts, and Outposts no longer claimable while mounted
• Corrupted Dungeon tutorial popup no longer appears each time a new dungeon is entered
• Various localization, animation, and terrain fixes

For a complete list of changes, check out the official patchnotes.

It's been an exciting few weeks for Albion Online: after years of anticipation, the game has officially launched worldwide on the App and Play Stores. In our newest Dev Talk, Game Director Robin Henkys takes a look back at the mobile launch and gives a preview of some of the big changes coming to Albion with the next major content update.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcJcUMVVZyw
Prefer a written summary? Then read on...
Albion Online's mobile version officially launched June 9, bringing hundreds of thousands of new players to the game. Albion's player population shattered its previous record this month, and tens of thousands of new players continue to discover the game daily. For those who have not yet tried the mobile version, the Chimera Mount Skin Cross-Play Reward remains available for logging into desktop and mobile with the same account.

• For more information about the launch and rewards, and to watch the new live-action trailer, click here
• For device requirements and store links, click here
• Read answers to Frequently Asked Questions about the mobile version

Guild Season 13 is also now underway, bringing various balance changes and improvements and giving veteran players the chance to show the newcomers how it's done.
The next major content update for 2021 has the major overarching theme of bringing open-world gameplay back to Albion. Note that all features discussed here are still in development, and may change greatly over the coming months.

• Biome appearance upgrade: upgrading old graphics to look cleaner, further defining the visual identity of each biome
• Improving graphics of higher-tier areas to make these stand out and feel more exciting
• Reworking region layouts, making them easier to navigate while adding strategic choke points for PvP
• Ensuring each biome type has a clear theme recognizable from the region map

• Treasure sites changed from static locations to dynamic spawns, rewarding players for actively roaming the world
• Open-world mobs will also receive a general rework, with a chance to upgrade into stronger versions over time, increasing value of unexplored regions
• Upgraded world map with different overlays which show the current availability of resources and high-value creatures

• Elite levels which allow players to spend Fame credits to further push weapon specializations
• Mastery levels displayed to others upon inspection
• New personal challenge concurrent with guild seasons:
  • Players can earn points for participating in various PvP and Outlands PvE activities, which can be spent on additional rewards
  • Points earned this way will improve their guild's season score as well, so players can contribute to their guild’s success while earning personal rewards

• Power Vortices appear unpredictably in the Outlands and produce a power crystal
• Picking up a crystal makes the player its carrier and forces dismount
• Crystals can be carried to Territories or Hideouts to boost their level or crafting bonuses, respectively
• The carrier’s position will be marked on the region map
• Other players can pick up dropped crystals, creating “capture the flag” type gameplay in the Outlands

That's all for today, but there’s much more coming, which we'll cover as development continues.

Thanks for watching!

Saturday marks the beginning of Albion's thirteenth Guild Season, with numerous updates to open-world gameplay and an incredible new battle mount, the Phalanx Beetle, as a season reward. The recently released Season 13 Patch introduced new and updated open-world content including two new high-level enemies, increases to Fame and Season Points for killing open-world mobs, greatly increased resource and enchanted resource spawn rates, updated castle layouts and loot, and an adjusted Crystal League schedule.

And to celebrate the upcoming season, we've created a brand-new trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIzB8ap_sjY
Guilds that reach a high enough rank can claim fantastic rewards including an avatar, avatar ring, and the mighty Phalanx Beetle mount. This mount will be awarded to guilds who reach Silver Rank or higher during Season 13, with increasingly higher stats and epic appearance with each successive tier.

As always, the winning guild will receive a statue among the past Guild Season winners in Conquerors' Hall, and qualifying guilds will also receive a Fame Bonus and furniture items. For full Season Rewards details, see this article.


Season 13 doubles Fame earned for killing Siphoning Mages and open-world mobs, and introduces two new open-world enemies: the Treasure Drone and the Crystal Spider. Gathering has been boosted with increased resource enchantment rates, and the loot of Castle Outpost chests has been doubled. Further adjustments have been made to Disarray, Castle layouts, and the 20v20 Crystal League to keep seasonal guild warfare competitive and fair.

Season 13 brings big changes, including:

• Resource and Transmutation changes
• 20v20 Crystal League schedule adjustments
• Disarray curve adjustments
• Shield bubbles from instances shortened
• Combat Balance adjustments
• ...and much more

For full details of these changes, see this forum post.


The action kicks off on AlbionTV this Saturday, June 19 at 17:30 UTC, when hosts Shozen, Lewpac and Bogul bring you full coverage of Invasion Day.

At 18:00 UTC, guilds can 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, June 20 at 00:30 UTC with hosts Shozen, Robinhoodrs and Bogul covering the next round of claimable territories starting at 01:00 UTC. All open-world fights are broadcast live with a 15-minute delay.



For the complete Season 13 schedule, check out this forum post.