Albion Online’s Season 17 will begin on September 17th. This season will be a week shorter than usual and will bring some changes to loot, the Crystal Arena ranking system, and more.
The next guild season will incorporate some changes based on community feedback and what the devs have learned since making changes in the previous Into the Fray patch, and subsequent updates. Season 17 will bring extra substeps in the Crystal Arena ranking system that will increase the steps between the ranks. While the number of points to reach maximum rank will stay the same, adding steps in between increases the number of chests that you can qualify for during a Crystal Arena season.
Another big change coming with Season 17 is that after one season ends, Arena rankings will not fully reset but instead for the next season you'll get a partial rank down and have a chance to rank up from there. The example given by the team in the announcement is that someone at Crystal rank will start at Silver I. Any rewards that are skipped by the new placement you'll get in your mailbox.
Other changes are coming to Headquarter Hideouts and guild rewards, with the biggest change being to HQ boosters. Each guild will start the season with a booster and must meet the required Season Points threshold to use it, but if they choose to use that booster, it will trigger a 90-day cooldown. The purpose of this is to help smaller guilds and new guilds establish a Headquarters Hideout in the Outlands and not feel like it's impossible to consider.
Loot changes on the way include large open-world treasure chests getting more valuable loot at the cost of becoming a rarer spawn. Small open-world treasure chests will take three minutes to open instead of five, meaning smaller groups and solo players have a better shot at getting them.
For the complete list of changes to expect and season scheduling, read the announcement at Albion Online.
