In this Dev Talk, Game Director Robin Henkys introduces Horizons, Albion’s next major update. This update brings new features to the Outlands, introduces more challenging PvE, and brings long-awaited quality-of-life improvements. Today, we focus on the key changes coming to the open world.
Outlands Changes
Horizons makes the Outlands more accessible and rewarding for solo and small group players, while keeping them worthy of guild conquest.
S.A.F.E. Portal:
- New solo teleport system located in Portal Towns, offering instant access to random Outlands regions within a certain range
- The portal charges a Silver fee based on weight
- The player can return through the portal for a limited time
- Certain actions, like collecting items from containers or performing trades, will cause the return portal to close
- With their introduction, the inner-Outlands will become more active and accessible
Crystal Creatures:
- New creatures: Crystal Beetle and Crystal Cobra
- Higher spawn rates for all Crystal Creatures
- Now marked only in proximity to players
- Their rewards have been adjusted, but increased availability makes them a reliable income option for groups
Other Outlands Changes:
- Region Quality Scaling will increase the rewards and difficulty of Outlands regions as you get closer to the center
- A new Player Count Indicator shows a range of active players in a particular region to help players assess PvP risk and find fights of their desired scale
PvE Changes and New Challenges
Dynamic Solo & Veteran Mob Camps:
- Camps shift location periodically and are only available for a limited time
- Players must earn Fame by killing mobs protecting the camp to unlock a personal chest
- They can only be cleared once, encouraging open world exploration
Mob Power Rebalancing:
- Mob power has been adjusted, with damage and health increases from T5 (+9%) to T8 (+42%)
- These adjustments don’t apply to:
- Elite enemies
- Avalonians
- Corrupted Dungeons
- Hellgates
- These adjustments don’t apply to:
- Rewards have also been increased proportionally for these mobs and chests
- Veteran Dungeons rewards have been rebalanced to suit their intended group size
- Completing these dungeons in a group grants bonus rewards
- Dungeon entrances will close shortly after entry, allowing players to focus on PvE
Other Changes
Royal Continent Changes:
- Some T5 Yellow Zones have been upgraded to T6, and some T4 Blue Zones to T5
- T5 and T6 resource output from these regions will remain negligible in comparison to more dangerous zones
- This expands the content available in safe zones, without diminishing the appeal of full-loot PvP zones
Resource Hotspots:
- Resource Hotspots offer large amounts of resources for a limited time in random locations
Stay tuned for more Dev Talks soon, where we'll dive into the new Journal categories and groundbreaking QoL features coming with the Horizons update!