After much anticipation, Sandbox Interactive, developers of Albion Online, have opened their servers for the start of the big Summer Alpha 2015.
From 06:00am New York time, all Legendary Founders are able to play the game and populate and conquer the world of Albion for themselves.
As a Sandbox MMORPG, Albion Online offers the following key features to players:
- Players-driven economy: the world of Albion is entirely built by the players within – all items and buildings are crafted by players, towns and villages are formed and trade routes established
- You-Are-What-You-Wear: As a true RPG, Albion Online offers players many roles to play – be it a warrior, farmer, crafter or diplomant; the twist: there are no classes in Albion, your character can learn how to master every type of equipment, giving players a maximum of flexibility with regards to character customization
- GvG territorial warfare: Guilds can form their empire by conquering the land of Albion from others in exciting 5vs5 Guild-vs-Guild fights, that are ultimately decided by a combination of strategy,preparation and skill.
- Full-loot PvP: In Albion, the winner takes it all – i.e. that the victorious player of PvP fights (that can only happen in dedicated PvP zones) may take all the belongings of the opponent, making „death“ an actually meaningful thing in an MMO.
- Cross-Platform: Albion Online is available on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android tablet and iOS tablet (upon release only), with the same single massive world for players from all countries and platforms to log into.
For this Summer Alpha, Sandbox Interactive has updated the game substantially, including features highlights such as:
- Hellgates: enter hell dungeons and engage in tense PvE fights against the demons of hell as well as 5vs5 PvP battles
- Missions & Factions: players can now do combat, crafting, gathering and transport missions for 4 of Albions factions in order to receive Silver and buy special faction gear
- Anti-Zerg measures: groups larger than 5 now appear on the game’s minimap for easier recognition, new spells dealing higher damage the more targets are hit, hellgates only allow groups of 5 to enter a hell dungeon, etc.
For a complete changelog since the Winter Alpha in January/February, you can have a look at the post of Founder & CEO Stefan „Bercialk“ Wiezorek in the Albion Online forum.
Interested players have the opportunity to jump right into the game by becoming a Legendary Founder on the Albion Online website.
Next to the 1-day headstart for the Alpha (compared to Epic Founders, who will only receive access from Tuesday, 06:00am New York time), the Legendary Founder’s Pack also comes with a whole lot of helpful in-game items, such as a horse, a house or ~$50 worth of Gold.
The Summer Alpha is scheduled to run for 4 weeks and is aimed at testing the updates in a live environment as well as collecting valuable player feedback for the future development.