On April 10, Albion Online switched to Free2Play. This change gave the MMORPG a significant boost, both in its own client and on Steam. However, the success also has some drawbacks.
How is Albion Online performing on Steam? In the news about the success of the Oberon update, we have already looked at the official player numbers of Albion. And now, additionally, the MMO from Germany is available for free on Steam.
And even there, the MMORPG is doing well. According to Steamcharts, Albion Online averages around 1,141 players in the last 30 days and peaked at 9,573 players (April 14, 2019, 09:38). However, the MMO has only been free since April 10. The average has been significantly higher since that day, as you can see from the following graph.
This means that Albion Online is even more successful in player numbers than at its Steam release. Back then, fewer than 3,000 players logged in at peak times.
How is Albion Online performing on other platforms? Besides Steam, you can also play Albion Online via its own client, on Mac OS or Linux. There are even versions for Android and iOS, but these are not fully supported yet.
The total player count is thus likely higher than those currently on Steam.
Even before the Free2Play release, interest in Albion significantly increased, as shown by the graphic from the developers of Sandbox Interactive. However, it is important to note that this does not refer to players online simultaneously, but rather the active players spread throughout the whole day. Therefore, it cannot be compared with the simultaneous players on Steam.
The many players also bring problems
The fact that a large number of players does not only have positive aspects is something the developers are experiencing firsthand. Currently, there are queues and also some lags and even exploits.
How long are the queues in Albion Online? Already at our announcement about the Free2Play release, MeinMMO user mmogli reported that he is currently in the queue in position 1,812.
Even in the Steam reviews, the queue is frequently mentioned as a negative reason. And this in combination with the premium account.
It is noted that especially Free2Play players are queuing. Premium users can skip the queue. The developers justify this by stating that they do not want to scare away loyal players with the influx.
Alone on April 10, this led to 485 negative reviews for Albion Online, most of which revolved around open PvP or queues. In contrast, there were also 309 votes that rated the MMORPG positively.
I have been playing the game for several hundred hours outside of Steam. It’s not for everyone. Very grind-heavy, the graphic style is an acquired taste, there is only one server, and it is located in the USA, which gives us Europeans a slight disadvantage regarding ping. But the completely player-driven economy and the thrill of running for your life in the Blackzone, not to lose all your gear and gathered resources, make the charm of the game for me. Apart from Eve Online, I haven’t found another game that offers these possibilities. Albion just packages this in a fantasy setting.
Gauntlet on Steam on April 12, 2019
However, the developers have acknowledged that the queues are a problem, even though they were announced in advance. Even now, Albion is trying to improve the situation.
This is what Albion Online is doing against queues: To reduce waiting times and also to curb the lags in the MMORPG, improvements were made to the network infrastructure yesterday.
These improvements are primarily intended to curb packet loss, which in turn should eliminate lags. At the same time, the number of possible players should have increased.
In fact, the queue on Saturday, April 13, at 3:00 PM was very short, and we were able to start playing within a few minutes.
How the developers are addressing exploits: With additional players, the chance of bugs being discovered also increases. A gold exploit was found, which has since been fixed by the developers.
There was an emergency maintenance on Wednesday. However, the developers refrained from resetting the servers because only a few players were affected and the problem did not cause significant damage to the game’s economy.
All accounts involved in this exploit have been temporarily suspended. Additionally, accounts that benefited from the low gold prices without having applied the exploit themselves will also be reviewed.
The developers want to clarify what penalties the players will receive on a case-by-case basis.
What’s next for Albion Online? Even before the latest Oberon update, the developers gave a preview in March of the future of Albion Online.
A variety of improvements are planned, especially on the Outland map and generally in PvP. Hotspots are also to be created where players will meet more frequently for duels. Additionally, adjustments in GvG are also planned.
What is Albion Online?
Albion Online is a sandbox MMORPG where players have many freedoms. There is no fixed quest or class system. Who or what you are is largely defined by the equipment you wear.
You write your story through your actions in the game world:
For getting started in the MMORPG, we have summarized some tips for you:
