When Albion Online first released the Mists, they were far from perfectly balanced but they at least served a purpose. The Mists created a place for solo players to farm Fame and Might at a decent level without having to be part of a top-tier black zone guild and it created a fun playground for PvP focused players. Unfortunately, the Knightfall update to Albion Online has disrupted the ecosystem within the Mists and potentially ruined the experience for most players.
When the Mists were first introduced, they were the Wild West of Albion Online. Brand new events would pop up and players would flock to them like lambs to the slaughter. The first few days were brutal and many people racked up millions of silver in lost gear while others made out like bandits. Powerful, mythical creatures were being slayed by a lucky few and new armor was sold at incredibly inflated prices. Not everyone was having a good time, but at least the Mists were still exciting.
As Sandbox Interactive released updates targeted at the Mists things became a lot more balanced, and I personally felt like they soon landed in a good spot. Once player deaths and Arcane Spiderling spawns appeared on the mini-map based on proximity instead of being zone-wide, there was more incentive to roam around the map and take duels without worry about 10 other players converging on you. Player names were also turned off to conceal identities and reduce the way in which players could team up in Solo Mists.
For a while, things felt great. The Mists had a balance of risk versus reward. The fame farming was decent and the Might gains were only second to high-tier black zones. The mob camps had rewarding bonuses and the events provided tons of silver and Might as well. This incentivized PvE players to farm camps or find safe ways to snag event drops while PvP players usually knew where to look for their prey. This created an ecosystem of content that was not perfect but it at least rewarded everyone.
Unfortunately, it seems like all good things must come to an end. The latest Albion Online update, Knightfall, made a ton of changes to the Mists and added in some new content. Unfortunately, that came at the expense of nerfing old content. The Might and Favor rewards for escorting Weakened Wisps across the map were cut nearly in half. Treasure chests spawn less frequently and the rewards for clearing mob camps were greatly reduced as well.
These resources were ‘moved’ into caches for clearing mob camps and coffers that appear based on proximity instead of being map events, but these new rewards pale in comparison to the old ones. Based on what I’ve looted from these so far, most of the items in them are barely even worth picking up and the Might reductions have made the Mists significantly less competitive.
The lessened rewards have clearly impacted the incentive for players to farm them. While roaming around looking for the new Knightfall Abbey dungeon, I barely ran into any other players. Previously, it was nearly impossible to farm in the Mists without constantly running into someone else, but the content feels half-dead now.
The dungeon itself is a cool addition to the game, but it doesn’t appear often enough to justify venturing into the Mists to experience it alone. I spent nearly two hours actively looking for Knightfall Abbey before I found it for the first time. Furthermore, while the rewards are pretty good and it’s fun to play in a new biome, there’s not really anything we haven’t seen before. There are the same mobs we’ve seen before, some buff shrines and treasure chests. It’s a cool experience but nothing that anyone has to play on an existential level.
Thankfully, the Knightfall update isn’t all bad news. There’s finally a use for Brecilien faction now, which goes all the way up to Venerated requiring 10 million standing. This unlocks the option to buy items for new mounts and capes, and new Avalonian capes were also added that can be purchased with Favor. The Brecilian Cape has an ability that absorbs damage and removes debuffs while the Avalonian Cape unleashes magical damage on nearby damage while also reducing the damage they deal. I’m definitely a fan of having more gear options, especially in the cape slot.
While there are some positives and negatives with this latest update, I’m overall not a big fan. As someone who was an avid player on the Mists content in Albion Online, I’ll likely be avoiding it until SBI either rolls back some of the nerfs or makes Knightfall Abbey spawns more frequent. It’s not fun having to run around just hoping the newest content will spawn while also knowing that the content you used to enjoy isn’t worth doing anymore.
Did Knightfall Abbey kill the Mists for good? Guess we’ll have to wait and see.
