As Season 23 reaches its climax, it’s time to announce Albion’s next major update, coming in July: Paths to Glory. At the heart of this update is the Albion Journal, which presents players with challenges and offers valuable new rewards. But this update also contains a host of other features, including some specific requests from the community. In this Dev Talk, Game Director Robin Henkys shows us around some of the features and improvements that you’ll be able to enjoy when Paths to Glory releases next month.
Guild Island Improvements
- Guilds can now own multiple islands
- Up to one island for each Royal City, plus Caerleon
- Guild Islands now visually reflect the biome and atmosphere of their parent city
Weapon Changes
- Players can double-overcharge their weapons in combat
- This prolongs the overcharge duration
- However, it also increases the risk of the weapon breaking afterwards
- Players can now use all spells on weapons of Tier 4 and above
- This will increase gameplay variety for lower tiers
Roads of Avalon Changes
The most common request we heard was for changes to the Roads of Avalon. Many players said they couldn’t find the content they were looking for in the Roads, but our data showed activity there to be higher than ever.
For this update, we decided to focus on the core experience we had in mind when designing the Roads: an extension of the open world, creating interesting connections between places and offering opportunities for small groups. In the meantime, we’ll continue to think about other ways to provide the kind of small-scale PvP content that players are looking for.
Here’s what’s changing in the Roads:
Zones
- Mob tiers standardized in each different Roads area
- Adjusted connections from the open world:
- Blue and Yellow Zones usually lead to Tier 4 Roads
- Red and Black Zones usually lead to Tier 6 Roads
- Tier 8 Roads are now exclusive to Deep Roads and Raid Clusters
- Number of Raid Clusters is being increased
- This means Hideouts connect to Raid Clusters more frequently
- They also have a few connections to non-Hideout regions, to increase competition
Content and Rewards
- The Roads contain fewer areas dedicated to gathering
- Resource respawn rates are increasing, to keep the total resource output the same
- More PvE areas have been added
- These offer less Fame than before, to balance their leveling potential with other content
- To compensate, they offer more loot instead
- Tracking has been added to the Roads
- This includes a new target that can be hunted here and in the open world: the Shadowmask
Activity-Based Spawn Rates
Activity-Based Spawn Rates is a significant new feature coming to the Roads and the open world.
- Each server’s activity levels will be measured ongoingly
- Spawn and upgrade rates for treasures, mobs, and resources will adjust based on this metric
- During Prime Time, it should be easier to find content
- During low-activity periods, it will be more challenging and competitive to find massive rewards
This adjustment will not be too strong, so periods of low activity will still offer more resources per player, but resources will be better distributed across time periods.
New Crystal Weapons
Paths to Glory will introduce the third batch of Crystal Weapons.
- Twin Slayers (Daggers): creates a ring of spinning blades that return to the caster, cutting through all enemies in their path
- Dreadstorm Monarch (Mace): creates a growing storm around you, slowing enemies and shredding their resistances
- Exalted Staff (Holy Staff): can remove areas like Sacred Ground
Other Improvements
- The Party Ready Check function lets party leaders see when their group members are ready for action
- Corrupted Dungeon Maps allow you to easily open entrances to these dungeons
- Three new activity events for Roads of Avalon, Tracking, and the Mists
- Improved filtering in the Rankings UI
- Rescaled Destiny Board with improved zoom functionality for desktop users
All this is coming to Albion next month when Paths to Glory launches - and that’s not to mention the heart of the update: the Albion Journal. Join us for another Dev Talk soon, where we’ll take a look at this new feature and the unique rewards it brings to the game!