Now that the upcoming Into the Fray content update has been announced by the Albion Online team, we’re starting to get some deeper info on what this will mean. This week, there’s a new dev talk with Game Director Robin Henkys and Combat Designer Michael Schwahn giving us new info all about the upcoming magic staff overhaul.
The system that covers all of the possibilities of magic staff use is the one of the most extensive weapon systems in Albion Online. There are six weapon lines for staff users, Fire, Holy, Nature, Cursed, Arcane, and Frost with over 220 related items and 90 spells. The magic staff group is, in comparison with the rest of the weapon systems in the game, about one-third of all weapon options. So this is a bigger overhaul than some people might expect. First up will be Fire, Cursed, Holy, and Nature updated with Into the Fray, but Arcane and Frost to follow later.
The Albion team wants to change and update the gameplay experience, make using a magic staff feel like a powerful choice on the battlefield, and make things rewarding and more strategic.
Expect upgraded graphics and visual effects, reworked player animations for staff users, and even new audio effects for each spell. They've modernized the staff models, adjusted some of the shapes and colors so that they're more quickly identified in combat, and made changes to distinguish the strategy and feel between a one-handed staff from a two-handed staff. Many abilities are being reworked or even new abilities added.
Each staff type will have different approaches to their reworks, so something like Holy staff gets several smaller adjustments with the goal of making things feel more dynamic. One example here would be the added ability to move slowly when using Holy Beam. Nature staffs get a new W spell, Brambleseed, which will do damage when thrown and then knock enemies into the air and cause some more damage.
For full details, including planned changes for the first three types, head to Albion Online.
