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Some thoughts on Albion Online with the final Beta

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The final Beta of Albion Online [Official Site] has begun and the new world design along with all the new biomes have landed and it's looking pretty good.

Everything feels completely different now, especially considering the entire world has gone through a re-design. It's massive, the world map looks far nicer and overall it is a much better experience. I'm really happy the Albion developers decided to delay their official release for so long, as the game is much better for it.

For those that don't know, Albion Online is one of the few true MMO games that supports Linux. It's currently in Beta and they recently released what should be the final Beta before the full release. It doesn't feature your usual fetch-quests like go fetch A and bring it to B, as it's a sandbox experience, meaning you go at your own pace and basically do whatever you want.

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The new world design is utterly massive.

The user interface has been completely re-designed and I think it's gorgeous. It's functional, does exactly what you expect and everything is right where you want it to be. However, I do have two criticisms about the UI, as it's not yet perfected.

Firstly: It would be nice if we could compare gear, as currently you have to click between gear to see their statistics as you cannot have more than one item window open at a time. Hopefully this is something they will also solve as development continues.

Secondly: The announcement pop-ups when you reach a new achievement on the fame board is placed right near the middle of the screen and ends up covering some of the action, it's placement is terrible. It needs to go to the top, ideally.

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The initial introduction has also been vastly improved, with you starting off in a nice and quiet area, with a few initial basic gathering quests to introduce you to the various mechanics. I say quests rather loosely, since you can ignore it and do whatever you want. As you gather materials and craft items the game will actually explain things a little more too, like this:
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There's a lot of little quality of life updates like the explanation screen above, but not everything is big. Simple things, like pressing ESC actually now brings up a small menu for settings, logout and quitting the game.

The world as a whole just feels more alive, with different mobs in each biome and some of them are awesome, like this one:
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They also fixed one of the major annoyances with gathering too, no longer do you need to repeatedly click to gather. You will now keep on gathering until it's all gone, which makes more sense and requires less tedious clicking.

One thing still missing from the game is more PvE content. They did expand this quite a bit with the last update in the form of Expeditions, but it's still lacking for me. Expeditions are simple solo or co-op missions that are actually pretty good so I would really love to see more instanced battles like that made possible.

Here's a quick look at an Expedition I tried, where I was clearly not prepared for it:
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One thing about the combat does bug me, which is where you and your enemy will end up practically on top of each other. They need to work on that a little, it's only minor, but still a little annoying.

It's a game where I am constantly impressed by their level of commitment to community feedback and it works flawlessly on Linux. I think for MMO fans Albion Online is going to be something to seriously look at on Linux. To make something clear though, there will be a player-wipe before the final release, so I do suggest waiting until then unless you really want to test it and give feedback.

You can find all the new changes in the recent Galahad update on this page. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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About the author -
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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niarbeht Apr 14, 2017
Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiny
Skipperio Apr 14, 2017
Wasn't albion online supposed to be F2P ?


Last edited by Skipperio on 16 April 2017 at 6:43 am UTC
Zelox Apr 14, 2017
When I first read about this on gol I was like, Ooh another mmo with pay to win features that will die 6 month after its release. Iv changed my mind after some research on my own.
Cant wait to grabb those mmo needles again, fill them with that neew albion juice, aim it to the arm, and hit it right in the vain. So please dont be another mmo that dies after 6 month :(.
Keyrock Apr 14, 2017
Quoting: SkipperioWeren't albion online supposed to be F2P ?
It will be after full release, afaik. Right now you need to purchase a founder's pack to get into the beta, once it releases you can play the game without spending a cent.
Liam Dawe Apr 14, 2017
Quoting: Keyrock
Quoting: SkipperioWeren't albion online supposed to be F2P ?
It will be after full release, afaik. Right now you need to purchase a founder's pack to get into the beta, once it releases you can play the game without spending a cent.
Nope. It will be a pay to play game at release.
Kimyrielle Apr 15, 2017
Quoting: liamdaweNope. It will be a pay to play game at release.

Which is good thing, IMO. F2P games inevitably tend to put in-game paywalls at every corner, because they need to make money from something. And only way to ensure getting paid is to annoy the player to hell, until they reach for their credit cards (exhibit A: SWTOR). I have yet to see ONE F2P game with a fair business model.

I rather cough up cash up-front and don't get nickled and dimed later on, so B2P is the way to go for me.

That being said, in my experience the "optional" subscriptions tend to be a tad less "optional" than advertised. Usually it's a long list of indeed very optional XP bonuses, but there tend to be a few features hidden in said list that players -really- want to have and are sub-only. Like the famous ESO crafting bag you can't reasonably be a crafter without.
Purple Library Guy Apr 15, 2017
QuoteOne thing about the combat does bug me, which is where you and your enemy will end up practically on top of each other. They need to work on that a little, it's only minor, but still a little annoying.
Don't fix it! Let characters learn wrestling moves! ;)
ison111 Apr 15, 2017
Quoting: liamdaweNope. It will be a pay to play game at release.
That is really awesome to hear!

F2P has always damaged MMO's more so than any other genre in my opinion, due to the fact that a big part of the experience is creating a virtual world with virtual value. Even cosmetic items sold with real money seriously defeats much of the purpose of the game.

I know I haven't researched how exactly it will work in Albion yet, but this really gives me high hopes.
Kuduzkehpan Apr 17, 2017
i m founder for this game. and however streamers and playerbase is decreesed the game promising. EVE online alike economy (player driven) open world pve lots of pvp. good teamplay mechanics. and play to train skill system. that is awesome. and true cross-platform
from symbian,android to 3 main desktop os it has clients. (thanks to unity engine)
Zelox Apr 17, 2017
Quoting: Kuduzkehpani m founder for this game. and however streamers and playerbase is decreesed the game promising.
Doesnt this have to do with how long the game has been in beta and the constant server wipes the game has after every update?
I hope the game becomes more alive when its released, Im not a founder but I will probably get this one when its released.
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