Albion Online is among the most successful MMORPGs in 2022, focusing on PvP. We provide you with some tips in this guide to help you get started in the game as best as possible in Germany.
What can you expect in Albion Online? Albion Online is a sandbox MMORPG with PvP in an open world, at least when you reach higher areas. In the strongest endgame areas – the Outlands – there is also full loot. You can lose your equipment and your inventory.
Nevertheless, the game enjoys great popularity in 2022. This is partly because the game systems and gameplay are very well thought out. In recent years, many good contents have been implemented, including random dungeons, a revision of the Outlands, and new content for your own hideouts.
In order for you to get started in Albion Online without major problems, we have compiled this beginner’s guide for you. If you want to find out more about the game in general, you can find a current preview report here:
Albion Online – Download, Costs, and Premium Buff
Where can I play Albion Online? You can play the sandbox MMORPG on PC or mobile via Android and iOS. You can find the download on the official website (via Albion Online).
What does Albion Online cost? The MMORPG itself is free to play. After the download, you can start immediately.
- However, there is an optional subscription for 10.70 euros per month, which gives you more resources, gold, experience points, learning points, and a 50% discount on market taxes.
- Additionally, you can buy some special skins in the shop and gold for real money. The gold can, in turn, be exchanged for in-game currency at the marketplace with other players.
Premium players and those who invest real money have an advantage at first glance, but everything can also be earned in the game itself through grind, even the premium buff.
The Start: No Classes, Iso Perspective, and an Unusual Combat System
How does the entry into Albion Online work? At the beginning, you create a character. However, the editor is not very extensive. You choose from 9 male and 9 female models to select a basic character, after which you can choose hair, beard, and accessories.
There are no classes in Albion Online. Your playstyle is determined by the weapons, armor, and the destiny board, which is essentially your talent tree.
After character creation, you can and should play the tutorial to learn the basics. This includes the somewhat unusual controls for MMORPGs. In Albion Online, you view your character from above and control it by clicking with the mouse buttons. By clicking on enemies, you also execute auto-attacks.
The keys Q, W, E are your three standard attacks, determined by the weapon. With them, you primarily deal damage. Further interactions are provided by the following keys:
- R – A skill on the chest piece
- D – A skill on the headpiece
- F – A skill on the shoes
- A – Mount Up
- 1 – Potion
- 2 – Buff Food
What effects do the different armors have? Depending on which armor types you wear, you can expect different advantages:
- Cloth armor has low defense but high damage bonuses
- Leather armor offers a good balance of offense and defense
- Plate armor has high defense but lower damage bonuses
The abilities on each armor are also different. Light armor has more offensive effects, while heavy armor provides more defensive effects. In medium armor, there are useful effects like additional movement speed or invisibility.
What is the maximum armor in Albion? The armor in Albion Online ranges from Tier 1 to Tier 8. Additionally, you can enhance it with up to 3 passive effects. The maximum armor is therefore called Tier 8.3.
How does the overall combat system of Albion Online work? In Albion Online, you must actively select your enemy with a mouse click and then attack them. Normal attacks are performed automatically by the character. You can supplement these with your weapon abilities.
However, in Albion, it’s less about cycling through rotations and mindlessly attacking foes. Instead, you need to constantly dodge the enemy telegraphs and keep moving. It’s also important to interrupt enemies at the right moments. This is what makes the combat system exciting.
Character Development and New Skills: The Destiny Board
How do I learn new skills? Pressing the B key opens the destiny board. This is fundamentally important for all game systems, as it unlocks new crafting levels, new equipment, new skills, and even the difficult expeditions. Those who understand the destiny board essentially know how to play Albion Online.
To unlock a higher level in any area, you often need to repeat the old content:
- If you want to become the perfect archer, you must first defeat enemies of Tier 2 or higher with a novice’s bow until you have collected 5,000 fame. Then you can distribute a learning point and rank up in archery.
- After that, you must defeat enemies of Tier 3+ with a novice’s bow or better until you have collected 25,157 fame. After that, you can rank up again.
- In the end, you can then specialize in a specific bow, such as a longbow or war bow. For that, you must also defeat enemies again.
With each level reached, you unlock new tiers, new skills, and damage bonuses for the respective weapon.
You will experience the same grind with the armor (cloth, leather, plate), gathering professions, crafting professions, and generally adventurer content, to unlock new activities like endgame dungeons.
However, you need learning points to unlock each node:
- Free-to-play characters can earn a maximum of 10 learning points per day through adventure challenges. These missions include daily gathering, refining resources, or defeating enemies. You will see them directly in the interface under quests.
- Premium players automatically receive 30 learning points per day and can earn another 10.
- After completing the tutorial, you will receive 100 learning points that you can use first.
Can I reset learning points? No, if you have misallocated your learning points, you cannot reset them. So think carefully in advance about how you want to spend the points. There is a button that automatically allocates points, but we would advise you against using it.
Can all skills on the destiny board be unlocked? Yes, but it takes a lot of time and you have to grind extensively. However, there are players who have unlocked all skills.
How do I equip skills? Once you have equipped a weapon, you can choose from various skills for the keys Q, W, and E. You simply click on the equipped weapon. At first, you won’t have much choice, but later you will learn some additional skills until you have unlocked the maximum number of skills at T4.
The same applies to your armor.
Information on Crafting and Trading
How does crafting work exactly? In Albion Online, there are 5 different types of raw materials: wood, stone, ore, leather, and wool. You can easily gather these in the open world or you have to skin animals for the leather that you have previously killed.
However, certain materials are only found in specific areas. The particularly rare resources can also only be found in the endgame zones. You will also need stronger gathering tools later on to obtain the rarer materials.
Keep in mind that you only have a limited number of inventory slots and inventory weight and that you only need to have the tools in the inventory and not equip them.
The gathered raw materials can first be refined at various crafting stations and then processed into new equipment. However, the processing at the smith resembles more of a purchasing system.
Does trading play an important role? Yes, because Albion Online relies on a special crafting system, where you always have to craft the lower-quality items for higher-quality items first. This way, even low-level players can sell their materials well at the trading post, as high-end players do not necessarily grind in low-level areas.
On the other hand, you need a lot of silver at the beginning to repair equipment or buy your own land.
Furthermore, the MMORPG does not rely on classic NPC traders. If you want to make something into gold, you must put it up for sale at the trading post. The marketplaces are not connected, and there are different offers in each city.
The only exception is the black market in Caerleon. There you can sell items to NPCs, who then turn those items into loot from mobs. Depending on the equipment, there is even a chance of getting better prices there than in the player marketplace.
Getting the first mount: In Albion Online, you learn what mounts are during the tutorial and get your first mount for 3 silver. If you want to earn faster mounts later, you can buy them at the trading post.
Shortly after the tutorial, however, the priority should be to get a new mount. Either the faster horse mount or a pack mount if you enjoy gathering and crafting. You can get mounts easiest through the marketplace in the game.
However, keep in mind that you must have unlocked the adventurer’s apprentice on the destiny board to use these mounts.
The Different Areas, First Dungeons, and First PvP Content
How are the areas structured in Albion Online? After the tutorial, you land in the “Royal Continent”. You will be busy on this island for a long time. Areas in Albion Online are instanced and are divided into cities – where fighting is not allowed – and areas.
First, you explore the low-level areas marked blue where there is no PvP and you also do not lose any items. However, over time, this changes:
- Higher areas are marked yellow. There, you can optionally fight against each other if you opt for PvP.
- The red areas are PvP areas. Here, you can expect some action in fights against other players, and you will lose equipment, inventory, and your mount if you are defeated by a player. You keep only your silver.
- In black areas, it’s basically all about PvP. You are automatically flagged and will also lose your inventory, equipment, and mount upon death. However, you can only find these areas in the Outlands, another island in the north of the map.
However, you can only find the best resources in the game in these black areas. This adds a certain thrill.
While you can open the large map with the “M” key, you should also know that you can open the maps for a specific area or dungeon with the “N” key.
What should I do first after the tutorial? Basically, you are well advised to first complete the assigned quests in the first city. They will give you your first tasks and further explanations about the game.
One of these quests will lead you to the first personal expeditions. You can enter these through a portal in the cities.
In the dungeons, you will encounter many mobs and bosses in between. You will also unlock checkpoints during a dungeon where you can respawn. You can experience your first dungeon in Albion Online after about 15 to 20 minutes if you get through the tutorial quickly.
In general, dungeons are a good source of income to quickly earn silver. You can run the first dungeons solo, later group dungeons are also possible.
The next level after the dungeons in the cities are the dungeons in the open world. These are also portals that you have to find first. It is recommended to have a T3 gear set to enter these.
- Solo dungeons shine green on the map
- Group dungeons shine blue
The first expedition of the day will also reward you with a seal that you can either sell at the marketplace or keep for later armor upgrades.
But be careful: In higher areas, players who flag for PvP can also join a dungeon and attack you. This can be a lot of fun but also annoying. After all, you might lose your equipment upon death.
Why is losing equipment in Albion Online not so bad? Equipment in Albion Online is seen by many more as a resource, similar to potions in other MMORPGs. In Albion, you can quickly advance to T4 or T5 armor.
Many players use this gear to gather in red and black areas. With T4 armor, you have unlocked all available skills. If you lose it through PvP, it doesn’t hurt as much, and you just build a new one.
The higher and stronger armors are then used for playing content where you do not lose the equipment or where the rewards are so great that the risk is worth it. Otherwise, they just stay permanently in the bank.
As a rule of thumb: Do not go into a zone where you could lose your gear that is worth more than 10% of your total money.
Housing in Albion Online
What does Albion offer in terms of housing? In Albion Online, you can buy your own island. You will need a premium account for this, but only for the purchase itself. It can then expire, and you will keep your island.
After the purchase, you can build buildings on the island, including crafting buildings like a forge or agricultural areas like fields or herb gardens. However, you will need a lot of silver and various materials for this.
Alternatively, there are lots in cities that you can acquire and build a house on. However, space is limited, so you have to wait for auctions.
General Tips for Beginners
In this section, we gather some general but short tips for newcomers:
- You can see which resources you can find in the respective area on the map.
- Generally, it is cheaper to buy a mount in the marketplace than to breed one.
- If you hold down “ALT,” you use abilities on yourself, such as healing.
- With the “V” key, you open an interface to change your appearance or that of your armor.
Important Settings You Should Make
What is important in the settings? Basically, you should adjust your settings in a way that works best for you. However, we can recommend a few useful settings.
- Under General, it’s advisable to check the box for “Skip Intro Video” after the first view to get into the game faster. It’s also usually more relaxing for your eyes to uncheck “Screen Shaking,” as the shaking can be very tiring.
- In the Controls section, you should switch the mouse pointer to “Crystal”, as this is the most visible. It’s also useful to check the option “Double Click to Attack.” This prevents you from accidentally attacking an enemy when you actually just wanted to run.
- In the Social section, you should disable duel invitations if you are not interested in them. It is also advisable to activate “Automatically Decline Guild Invitations.” Invitations are often spammed, but especially at the beginning, you should not join a guild as this is linked to taxes and the benefits for you are rather minimal. You can also activate or deactivate a profanity filter there.
Useful Chat Commands: If you enter /fps in the chat, you can permanently see your frames per second bottom left on the map. With /ping, you can activate or deactivate the ping display.
Typing /help also provides many explanations about the game itself.
What Does the Endgame of Albion Online Offer?
The endgame of Albion Online is somewhat what you make of it. After all, Albion prides itself on being a sandbox MMORPG. This aimlessness can lead to losing fun in the game. Therefore, we reveal what you can generally do in the endgame.
Endgame PvP: Albion offers a rich array of PvP content in the endgame. For example, you can:
- Run alone in black zones and gank other players
- Fight with a guild for control of outposts
- Play in the Crystal League. This involves 5v5 arena battles where the equipment level doesn’t play too strong a role.
The pinnacle is leading your own guild or PvP team.
Become a Crafting Expert: One of the special features of Albion Online is its economic system. Even the drops in the open world were made by players who then sold their items on the black market. Therefore, crafting plays an important role.
Many players therefore focus entirely on the gathering/crafting aspect of the game.
Farming PvE content: There are also several tasks for PvE fans.
- You can generate a steady income through the dungeons in blue and especially the T5 dungeons in yellow zones without risking losing your items to other players.
- There are hardcore expeditions in the cities that are difficult and have no PvP.
- If you want it really hard, you can also run T7 to T8 dungeons. However, there is PvP here.
- Furthermore, there are the Avalonian Dungeons for groups of 12 to 20 players. PvP also exists here.
Additionally, there are now mobs in the open world that become stronger the longer they are left untouched. These can also be farmed as a solo player or in small groups.
What do you think about Albion Online? Do you enjoy playing this MMORPG? And do you have any more tips and tricks for beginners that we could add? Feel free to share them in the comments.
