Albion Online: MMORPG I am playing

[Phil Rodrigues]

I am playing the final beta for Albion Online, a fantasy sandbox MMORPG focused on player competition with an entirely player-driven economy feeding a world that is 25% safe zones and 75% full PvP. Matt Plourde is playing with me, as are 200,000 other people in the beta. Its a mix of the fantasy open world and PvP of Ultima Online + the economy of EVE + the action of Diablo + the territory control of Dark Ages of Camelot.

I think many people would enjoy this game. The best summary are these two videos, watch them if you have 5 minutes to spare.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKb8NPs5YDY

1 min 30 sec

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl21oPOawM8

3 min 55 sec

Still interested? The best way to describe Albion Online is to list its influences. It is like:

Ultima Online - PvP in 75% of the world, full loot on death in 50% of the world. Rich player merchants trade in cities, bands of adventurers head into dungeons, player killers roam the wilderness. Massive world with some safe corners for trade and player housing.

EVE - 100% player driven economy, everything in game is built from resources that are gathered by players, refined by players, crafted by players and sold in localized markets. No loot drops from NPCs. Large guilds and alliances fight for control of territories.

Runequest - Sandbox MMO structure without formal questing, players decide their own goals for example taking over a swamp to corner the market on hemp to weave into fabric and sell to cloth crafters. Free roaming mobs, monster camps, dungeons and larger PvE expeditions. 

Diablo - Isometric view of the world with solo or small groups of players wearing gear that provides specific skills and benefits, forming into groups based around the trinity of warrior / caster / hunter. Medium-paced action-RPG combat where positioning, targeting, and skill cool-downs are important. 

League of Legends (MOBA) - Structured 5 vs 5 fights with teams planning gear and spell selection carefully to provide strategic synergies, practicing and refining tactics over time as the game evolves.

Dark Ages of Camelot - Large group raids on enemy-held territory. High level content and resources channel players into open PvP zones. Contested high-level dungeons where you look over your shoulder the whole time wondering if another group is going to attack you halfway through the boss pull. 

Its not like EQ or WoW or Guildwars or ESO or Wurm. Well, you can raise horses and plant corn and build houses so maybe its like Wurm. ;-)

I like Albion Online because of the rush I feel when I fight players, knowing that if I die I lose my stuff. I like thinking about different skill synergies between the pieces of equipment I choose, and I can change skills and try new ones by changing equipment. I like interacting with people in a truly social MMO, because although they are not all pleasant they all drive the game world. I like the mellow routine of gathering resources in safe zones and crafting in cities, and yes you can exist just fine in safe zones without any PvP.

The game releases in mid-July. The cheapest beta pack is $30, which provides access to the game now and at launch. It comes with one month of premium time, which is their subscription, and also 2,000 gold, which can be used to trade for in-game silver or to buy another month of premium time. The economic model is complex but its similar to EVE, with a base game cost and structured trade allowed between real money, in-game currency and extended playing time. 

Here are some more words:

https://albiononline.com/en/home/

 

http://www.mmogames.com/gamereviews/albion-online-final-beta-review/

https://albiononline.com/en/news/galahad-infographic

Want to join us? Email me back. I am a low-ranking recruit in a Top 20 guild with 100+ members, the plan is to be a small part of their world and not spend any time organizing anything. :-)

Phil

[Phil Rodrigues]

Hi all,

This is one of two messages I send everyone about Albion Online, then no more from me. :-)

Matt, Greg, Karl, Chris and I have put over 150 hours into the game over the last two months. We enjoy it and are starting to plan for what we will focus on after the game launches in mid-July.

Now is the best time to join before the game releases. Why? Buying the game in beta gets you more for the same money than buying the game after release. One of the things it comes with now is one month of the "premium time" soft subscription which is enough to last until the end of beta.

They also just released the final major content patch before release. It includes a re-worked tutorial, which is another good reason to join now. 

Here is the best summary video of the game, 4 mins long:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl21oPOawM8

I will send you one last note in late July after the game releases. Enjoy your summer! Its getting cold down here in Australia. :-)

Phil

[Mike]

Sounds awesome that you guys are having fun. For me, MMOs don't entice me much anymore. Games like Zelda & Mass Effect fit in for me so much better.

On Fri, Jun 9, 2017 at 7:30 AM Jason Miceli <jason...@gmail.com> wrote:

Ok that was a compelling video. Hmmm...

Sent from my iPhone. Please excuse the brevity and any grammatical errors.

[Phil Rodrigues]

Hello all,

Some of us have been playing Albion Online for the last three months. The game came out of beta and launched one week ago, and since then there are over 150,000 characters in the world. 

Matt, Karl, Greg, John and I belong to a guild that has about 1,500 characters in it. It's large in order to raise a defensive force big enough to hold multiple territories, and its large because one of the officers is a well known streamer on Twitch. 

We spend our time in small groups, guarding each other while we hunt animals for skins, chop trees for wood and quarry stone. There are nearly constant small raiding parties in our territories, which are quickly repelled by the Guild's roaming defensive force. When we kill an enemy they drop all of their hard earned equipment, and we take to use or sell. 

Matt and I have participated in large battles when other organized guilds have attacked trying to take our territories. Matt was one of the few healers keeping 130 members of the guild up and fighting. I was in a small flanking squad that took out enemies from the largest guild on the server, who happen to be hordes of Russians. 

Matt is raising horses for us to ride and Karl is crafting plate and leather armor. We still sell most of the resources we gather because we can take advantage of good prices from the large number of crafters in the game or in our guild. Remember, everything that is gathered or refined or crafted or sold or bought or dropped in the world is all made by players. 

Early reviews for the game are out, more will follow. Here is one:

http://www.gamerevolution.com/review/342263-albion-online-review-a-breath-of-fresh-sandbox-air

It's the best MMO we have played for a very long time. I have not experienced anything like this since Dark Ages of Camelot 16 years ago. 

Phil

[Eric Jansson]

Better dead than red,  maybe I'll break off a little time this weekend

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[Phil Rodrigues]

Hi all,

Albion Online was released one month ago. Since then Matt, Karl, Greg, John and I have been playing continuously and really enjoying it. Someone else is joining us soon. When will you join us?

What do we do? We login and equip ourselves in the central city, form into small groups and head into the territory that our large guild controls. Some days we gather in peace, working on our skills and mining, skinning and harvesting resources. We collect those resources in outdoor cities that we help defend. Every few days we team up and haul those resources back to the safe city where our crafters turn them into weapons, armor and potions. In the city we shop on the auction house, either buying or selling equipment or making various investments. Other days our first journey into the territory is immediately dangerous and buzzing with active teams of enemy players trying to ambush us on the road or lure us into traps. Sometimes we are the wolf hunting for poachers on our lands, and other days we are the sheep being hunted while we work. 

Who are we? Matt uses nature magic for healing, raises horses, and gathers fiber for cloth - and poisons his enemies and watches as they die as they try to flee. Karl is an intrepid miner and stone quarrier who vanishes if he sees an enemy or burns them with his spells if he has the advantage. He has also crafted the majority of our armor and built most of our buildings. Greg is a woodsman who makes staves and then spins in a red circle of death with them, stunning people and knocking them off their horses. I dunno what John does, but he is richer than me. And me? I am a warrior in plate mail who rushes people and stuns them with my great hammer, and who tends my farm every day and sell the crops on the auction house. 

What have we accomplished? Together we have been in groups that killed 255 people, with 30 kills credited to us specifically, and only died 18 times. That's an amazing 10:1 kill to death ratio in groups which is one advantage of belonging to the large guild. We have all settled into our respective roles which we chose ourselves and can change anytime by equipping different weapons and armor. We adjust our strategy and tactics to the evolving sandbox, for example Matt and Karl recently buckled down and started to raise higher level armored horses, which is becoming a necessary defense versus the increased number of attackers we see in our lands.

To join us you need to spend $30 on the base game, which allows you unlimited play. That initial $30 also comes with two months of "premium time" which is the optional soft subscription. You can refill that monthly by making enough silver (Matt has made enough in the first month to fund four more months) or by paying aprox $12.

We have been playing for four months, including beta, and will continue playing for a long time.

Here is a 2 minute video I made of Matt (Sorsha) and I (Moll) attacking some enemy poachers that we caught on our lands. The music is a shout out to our Shield of Vendamor days. 

https://youtu.be/iCdC0y9pARo

Here is the best official video summary of the game, 4 mins:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl21oPOawM8

Phil

[Phil Rodrigues]

Albion Online has been out for just over 2 months. 8 of us are playing and have put a grand total of 1,000 hours into the game since launch. I think we like it. :-) (Its not divided evenly, but if so it would be 2 hours per person per day.)

There have been some highs and some lows along the way.

We belong to a mega-Alliance named "Kings" which is formed of 3 large allied guilds. It peaked at 3,000 characters and held approximately 20 territories. Each of those lands were won by our officers while grouped into a combat team, and defended by hordes of us including Matt, Greg, Mike and others who rallied most nights to fight off waves of other players. Joining 40 guild-mates to kill 40 enemy players is a great rush.

Numbers have dwindled since the peak due to normal attrition of new players who wouldn't last, and also school starting (many are in college). This means the Alliance is down to 2,000 characters, which means fewer offensive combat teams and less people for defense. An enemy guild called "Black Mamba" (founders of the "Hate" Alliance) have invaded our continent and taken territories along our eastern border. We continue to be pressed along the western border as well, and found two enemy spies in our voice channels! Our territories have dwindled down to 9.

Two nights ago Kings fielded a group of about 40 people in the field but they were crushed by a group of 60 from Hate. All 40 people died and all of their equipment was taken by Hate. They were able to initiate an attack on our most precious territory, a land called "Roostcliff" which is a portal into our lands and our historic home. That meant 5 of our officers from Kings had to face 5 Hate officers in battle, and if they lost the fight then the territory would be taken from us.

The guild was low on the enchanted resources needed to make combat equipment. Our officers wear very expensive rare gear into battle. Losing a fight means dying four or five times and losing four or five sets of gear, which costs more in a single fight then I have seen the entire game. The call went out for supplies, so the 8 of us in the small Fleetwood team had a quick debate. We decided to pull together our most precious raw resources and Mike loaded them up on his Ox. He called for assistance and one of the officer's rode out to meet him to escort him through dangerous lands (where players wait to ambush riders), and he made it safely to our guild city to deposit the supplies.

Last night the officers of Kings won their fight and successfully defended the territory, which means we keep control of the portal and can continue to gather safely in those lands. Our resources helped make the gear they needed to win that fight. Tonight the Alliance needs to successfully defend the territory again.

This morning we continued the war. Mike, Karl and I jumped on our armored horses and rode into enemy territory, where we watched out for enemy players, hunted animals, and gathered the enchanted hide, ore and hemp we need to make leather, metal and cloth. We survived the 1 hour trip, but its a risk. We have died 8 times on similar missions, losing everything we wore and everything we gathered.

I checked before I logged off. My character uses a hammer and plate armor make by Karl, a cape and bag made by Mike, and rides a horse raised by Matt. Greg, Andy and I refine the raw resources needed to make that stuff. Eric is still wandering around learning the ropes. :-)

We are a team of friends, within a larger team of guild-mates, and we all need each other to survive.  

Come and join us! We will be playing this for a long time...

[Phil Rodrigues]

Scott D, here is the starting info:

Install Discord and join our server:

https://discord.gg/Gtb44u 

On the server is "saved info" with this thread posted:

If you are new do this in order:

0) Read everything first. Check the Google Doc to see our skills, and also the Reddit FAQ, both available in the Saved Info channel. 

1) Buy the game via a referral link so we all make money. 

https://albiononline.com/?ref=ZYE6XVZQ5T 

2) Make a character with a name that is vaguely in-character. No one likes "CoolGuy69"

3) You will start in a random location. This is Ok for the first map. Complete that map and move into the starter city. 

4) This is the most important step. Once you reach the starter city immediately sell all of your stuff and use the Ship Captain to fast travel to Steppe Cross. If you do this now then you save yourself a long trip later. 

5) Complete the entire starting quest in Steppe Cross from the NPC with the glowing outline. You are done when you get a starting donkey. 

6) Load up your donkey with all your stuff and move to Bridgewatch. This is the best city to base yourself in until T3 or T4. 

7) Once you are comfortable with the game and your basic build, and have hit T3 or T4, then drop all of your stuff in the chest in Bridgewatch, find the blue-flagged fast travel man, and fast naked travel to Caerleon. This is our main city. 

8) Tell us you are in Caerleon and we will lend you the silver for your first island, one island upgrade to get a farm plot, and initial seeds. Start planting and harvesting daily. 

9) Congrats, you are no longer a new player.