Albion Online has been Free2Play since April 10th. The entry is said to have been simplified by the latest updates. A good time for our author Alexander Leitsch to take a look at the MMORPG.
I have been accompanied by MMORPGs since I was eleven years old. Although I have played many different games over the years, Albion slipped under my radar due to its isometric perspective and graphics.
Now, with the shift to Free2Play and the huge influx of new players, I wanted to take a look inside. And Albion Online has immediately consumed many hours.
Few character options, but a lot of freedom
From Guild Wars 2, Black Desert, or ArcheAge, I am used to very intensive and detailed character creation. Races, classes, many options for appearance, and details like piercings or tattoos.
Albion Online forgoes exactly these details in character creation. The biggest adjustment for me is the class choice. There simply isn’t one. How you play your class ultimately depends on your equipment choice and the content unlocked on the Destiny Board.
But other details like races or elaborate character designs have also been omitted. You first choose from a selection of new avatars. These are always humans, but with adjusted appearances. Afterwards, you can still choose between details like skin color, hair color, body hair, and underwear.
From the start, everything revolves around grind
After character creation, you land on a small tutorial island. There you will get familiar with the controls and the first tasks. Even on this island, you should collect materials like wood and stone to craft armor and weapons.
These small quests show you directly where a significant part of the gameplay time in Albion Online will be spent. Because to unlock higher equipment tiers, you have to craft the lower equipment again and again.
But you also have to learn to equip your gear first. By killing many enemies with the lower equipment, you learn to be able to equip the higher gear.
All these functions and content come together on the Destiny Board. Those who understand the board know their tasks in Albion Online.
Step by step to higher tiers
After the starting area, quests eventually stop as well. From here on, it’s focus on the Destiny Board!
This is what the Destiny Board can do: Whether unlocking new crafting tiers, new equipment, or more difficult expeditions. Only those who grind the previous tiers reach a higher one. This is still fun in the first levels but quickly becomes monotonous.
For the highest tiers, you have to craft and identify items multiple times. After many hours of farming and crafting, I at least reached item tier 5 out of a possible 8 tiers. However, only in crafting.
Grind also when killing enemies: To be able to equip higher gear, you have to kill many enemies. These must be a certain level or above that level.
So far, however, I am not able to equip item tier 5. And that is mainly because I have hardly found any enemies.
Beautiful, vibrant world
The shift to Free2Play did Albion Online good. Suddenly there were queues and a huge number of players interested in the MMORPG. The world is now said to be even expanding.
However, the interest also has its price, especially when many players gather in the starting areas.
Players make the cities confusing: During my first attempt to reach the auction house, I took almost a minute to find the NPC. Not because he was hidden, but simply because so many players were standing by him.
And the same awaited me in the areas. Finding and defeating enemies in the initial zones was almost impossible. Players kept rushing at the way too few mobs in my opinion.
You have to team up with other players to fully experience the content. This is especially true for PvP.
Arenas and GvGs: If the PvP in the open world doesn’t suffice, you can also participate in a more organized manner. There are PvP arenas, which again require a certain equipment tier.
In addition, individual guilds and alliances can control, conquer, and defend certain areas in the world. These areas comprise the endgame of the game alongside gathering materials and PvE dungeons.
Real money would make everything easier and faster
Exchanging gold for silver: Only towards the end of my test play did I actually break down and buy some gold. For 4.40 euros, you get the first package with 750 gold. This gold can be converted into silver, the in-game currency of Albion Online.
And for 750 gold, you get nearly 1 million silver. And what drama I’ve spared myself with that silver.
Advantages of a money boost at the start: If you carry too much weight in your inventory, you move slower. The same applies to the mount. However, if you want to utilize crafting well, you need many materials. A transport ox helps here. This mount has many more carrying capacities.
But for that, you first need the nearly 10,000 silver to afford the animal. The moments when I was missing a few materials to reach the next tier in crafting could also be comfortably solved with some silver.
You don’t want to know how often I have run between the open areas, the auction house, and the crafting stations, always on the verge of the weight limit. The mount is a must-have!
Premium character as the cherry on top: If you want to go even further, you buy a premium account. More learning points, more resource and harvest yield, more silver from mobs, and a fame bonus.
All very useful if you want to progress quickly and save time. However, such a premium status only applies to one character. Since you are not bound to any class, you can continually adjust that one according to your wishes.
My conclusion
Albion Online was more fun for me than I expected after the first few minutes. The graphics, controls, and grind had always kept me away from the MMORPG.
But while in Guild Wars 2, I sometimes don’t know what to do, the Destiny Board gives me a plethora of tasks. Although they are all connected to grind, those who enjoy having the carrot in front of them have plenty to do in Albion Online.
The PvP battles were exciting, and in the end, I won at least a few of them in the open world. Fairly, I must also admit that I haven’t ventured into the black zones yet.
The topic of real money keeps coming up in connection with Albion Online. A premium status is certainly helpful, but can theoretically also be achieved by exchanging in-game currency for gold. While you benefit from a small boost for a good mount and first equipment at the start, you can sell expensive materials in the endgame and secure the premium status for that. At least if you are willing to take on a bit of extra grind.
However, anyone looking for an MMORPG focused on PvP and who has no issues with losing their equipment will have a lot of fun in Albion Online. I, for one, will also try to further progress my character Sputtele in the coming weeks.
The focus of the areas is primarily on resources, and you need to gather plenty of these to progress.
This is how I experienced the first battle against other players
For higher gear, you need higher resources. And to get higher resources, you will eventually have to venture into higher areas. Albion Online has a very easy to understand system:
- The lower areas have a blue marking. There is no PvP here.
- Higher areas are marked with a yellow marking. There you can optionally fight against each other.
- The red areas are PvP areas. This is where the first action happens.
- In black areas, it’s almost entirely about PvP.
The PvP in Albion Online is particularly interesting because it includes full loot. Who dies drops their equipment and the opponent can pick it up. This is incredibly annoying when you just equipped your first T4 gear.
My first experience was in a yellow area and is quite comical. I actually only wanted to chop a tree. But right in it stood a player. I clicked on him and accidentally attacked.
Before I knew it, the player of course retaliated. And I was powerless. When killed, you have two options:
- Wait 3 minutes and respawn at the same spot
- Respawn at a safe, distant location… and lose all equipment
I waited the three minutes, and kindly the other player did not strike again to loot me completely.
How I learned to fight in Albion Online
The Skills in Albion Online: In a fight, you can access four weapon skills and two utility skills in addition to the auto-attack. More are not available to you. Which skills you can use is determined by your equipment.
They depend both on the armor class and the selected weapon. In the inventory, you then have various skills to choose from by clicking on your equipment.
Dodging and Interrupting: Only in PvP and expeditions did I learn that you should evade enemy attacks through skillful movements or interrupts. The mobs from the first areas didn’t really demand that, which is why I got my ass kicked in my first PvP duel.
The entry into the combat system of Albion Online is initially quite relaxed. However, anyone who fights against other players should be familiar with both their skills and those of the opponent.
Housing and endgame of Albion Online
What is housing like in Albion? Also, shortly before writing this report I bought my own island. For this, you definitely need a premium account. You can gradually expand the island and build buildings there.
This includes houses that you can decorate, crafting buildings such as the smithy, and agricultural facilities like fields or herb gardens for food.
You will also need silver and a variety of materials to erect these buildings. You can access this island from the capitals. However, these often already have crafting buildings. As there is no bank and auction house on the island, I see no reason to buy it other than for personal design.
Additionally, you can acquire plots and houses in the cities themselves. However, since space is tight, you have to wait for auctions. And even though I haven’t seen any, the purchase will likely not be cheap.
The expeditions in Albion Online: I have had a lot of fun so far with the expeditions. These are dungeons that you can enter either alone or in a group from a city.
However, expeditions require certain equipment tiers, so you can’t experience all of them immediately. The lower tiers have been a lot of fun, though.
I have not been impressed by the difficulty so far. But that might still change at the higher tiers.
Random dungeons: However, what was not manageable in terms of difficulty were the randomly generated dungeons that came with the Oberon update in March. At least for me.
If I had had a group with other players, my run would probably have been much more successful. But that’s also one of the key points of Albion.
You have to team up with other players to fully experience the content. This is especially true for PvP.
Arenas and GvGs: If the PvP in the open world doesn’t suffice, you can also participate in a more organized manner. There are PvP arenas, which again require a certain equipment tier.
In addition, individual guilds and alliances can control, conquer, and defend certain areas in the world. These areas comprise the endgame of the game alongside gathering materials and PvE dungeons.
Real money would make everything easier and faster
Exchanging gold for silver: Only towards the end of my test play did I actually break down and buy some gold. For 4.40 euros, you get the first package with 750 gold. This gold can be converted into silver, the in-game currency of Albion Online.
And for 750 gold, you get nearly 1 million silver. And what drama I’ve spared myself with that silver.
Advantages of a money boost at the start: If you carry too much weight in your inventory, you move slower. The same applies to the mount. However, if you want to utilize crafting well, you need many materials. A transport ox helps here. This mount has many more carrying capacities.
But for that, you first need the nearly 10,000 silver to afford the animal. The moments when I was missing a few materials to reach the next tier in crafting could also be comfortably solved with some silver.
You don’t want to know how often I have run between the open areas, the auction house, and the crafting stations, always on the verge of the weight limit. The mount is a must-have!
Premium character as the cherry on top: If you want to go even further, you buy a premium account. More learning points, more resource and harvest yield, more silver from mobs, and a fame bonus.
All very useful if you want to progress quickly and save time. However, such a premium status only applies to one character. Since you are not bound to any class, you can continually adjust that one according to your wishes.
My conclusion
Albion Online was more fun for me than I expected after the first few minutes. The graphics, controls, and grind had always kept me away from the MMORPG.
But while in Guild Wars 2, I sometimes don’t know what to do, the Destiny Board gives me a plethora of tasks. Although they are all connected to grind, those who enjoy having the carrot in front of them have plenty to do in Albion Online.
The PvP battles were exciting, and in the end, I won at least a few of them in the open world. Fairly, I must also admit that I haven’t ventured into the black zones yet.
The topic of real money keeps coming up in connection with Albion Online. A premium status is certainly helpful, but can theoretically also be achieved by exchanging in-game currency for gold. While you benefit from a small boost for a good mount and first equipment at the start, you can sell expensive materials in the endgame and secure the premium status for that. At least if you are willing to take on a bit of extra grind.
However, anyone looking for an MMORPG focused on PvP and who has no issues with losing their equipment will have a lot of fun in Albion Online. I, for one, will also try to further progress my character Sputtele in the coming weeks.
