On September 27th, the all-new update to Albion Online called Joseph will be released. The latter is mainly oriented towards PvP, but PvE is not forgotten, and general improvements are present!
Arena
The big addition in this update is the arena. A new battle mode pitting two teams of five players against each other.
Each team spawns in a camp, used during the game as a base for healing and respawning. Runestones can be captured 60 seconds after leaving camp. This gives each team a chance to pick up their pace and start strategizing.
The Runic Stones can be captured by at least one team member who enters a circle around the Runestone. The color of the circle will turn blue to represent your team. However, the capture process will be interrupted if an opponent enters the circle. Fight your opponents to regain control of the Runestone and continue the capture process. If your team loses control of a Runestone, the color of the circle will turn orange.
Once a Runestone is captured, this one is destroyed. Once all three Rune Stones are destroyed, they will automatically be rebuilt and captureable again.
Each team starts with 150 points. The objective is to get the opposing team to have only 0 points left by eliminating them and capturing Runic Stones. When the opposing team reaches the score of 0, the match ends and the team that still has points is rewarded.
Arena rewards
Each victory will grant you Arena Seals. These can be traded for rewards and even traded with other players. Be careful though, arena seals are limited to 9 per day !
These allow you to get great rewards, such as a new mount, the "Protected Saber-tooth from the Arena Veteran" or even "Protected Horse of the Arena Veteran" (fyou, long as a name!).
Other rewards are of course available!
- Arena Veteran's Eye Patch
- Arena Veteran's Crown
- Arena Veteran's Coat
- Arena Veteran Boots
- Arena Veteran's Cloak
- Modest Arena display
- Large arena display
- Glorious Arena display
- Small Arena Veteran Banner
- Arena Veteran Banner
- Grand Arena Veteran Banner
- Arena Veteran's Protected Horse
- Arena Veteran's Sabertooth Protector
- Master's royal seal
- Grandmaster's Royal Seal
- Sage's royal seal
Treasure sites
Another addition is the treasure sites. The latter have taken the place of the former Relic sites and ten new locations have been added.
These areas will require players to enter the area, either solo or in a group, in order to roam through them and collect tons of cash. Be careful, however, as soon as you set foot in these areas, you automatically enter as « hostile » !
In addition to the many Urns and treasures, you will be able to destroy a sarcophagus that will free a ghost. If you get through the latter, you will get a very large amount of money!
Recharging time for treasure sites is one hour.
“The Three Sisters” Expedition
Through an expedition in search of a missing Royal Guard suspected of being a traitor, you are led to enter an ancient monastery where three eternally young sisters of the cult of Morgana await intruders.
These sisters covet weak-minded men to corrupt them and intelligent women for engaging conversations.
improvements
The update brings a lot of improvements, new gameplay features and even new skills!
The big improvement is the addition of the "smart-cast" (Intuitive launch). Two new options have emerged.
With "Quick cast when button activated" selected, skills with ground targeting will be sent directly in the direction of the cursor when you tap the skill.
If not, "Quick cast when button released" will show an area of effect indicator of the spell at the mouse position when the skill button is activated and held.
These options will be adjustable in:
- Settings> Game settings> Mouse control.
In addition to this new option, five new skills have been added. These last relate to Bows, Daggers, Damned Staffs, Swords and Spears. These skills only apply to the previous items from T5.
The bow's skill is "Ray of Light," which will immobilize the enemy on contact. Daggers gain the "Shaded Edge" skill, which teleports both to an enemy and an ally, and so on.
The other improvements are "minor", here is the list:
- New effects for Ice Storm and Pierce Armor skills
- Additional skill effect improvements
- Dungeons and Monster Camps are given treasure chests for loot
- Essences can be used for making potions
- About ten other minor improvements and countless bug fixes
- Increased fame rate in Open World / Hellgate
- Reduced casting time to leave a dungeon
- Balanced passages for multiple boss fights
- Expeditions will now have an equipment threshold based on tier.
Now all you have to do is discover the update yourself, directly in-game!
