Albion Online announced something that surprised us. The game which was first announced as free-to-play title will change the model at launch. The developer Sandbox Interactive didn't say whether the new model would be buy-to-play or pay-to-play though.
Why they change the business model? The dev explained:
Making the game ready for a free to play model would take up significant development time which we would much rather use to make a better game. Free to play would also create a lot of risks for the game - spamming, botting, world too small, etc - which we do not want to take if it can be avoided.
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On the other hand, the game confirmed to extend closed beta until at least August 1, 2016. At the same time, the team will be working on the following content and improvements.
Major Game ImprovementsNote: the below does not list all the changes planned. Also, not everything listed below will make it into the final game.·
New, Expanded and Immersive Game World· Significantly increase world size
· Make cities and zones more unique
· More and better dungeons
· Different biomes (snow, swamp, etc
·
Zone Rework· Introduce Reputation and Crime System for yellow and red zones
· Strongly increase the number of black zones
· Remove fast travel to non-safe zones
· Introduce “naked” teleport as an alternative to fast travel in PvP zones
·
PvP · Introduce an Ultima Online inspired Reputation and Crime System for yellow and red zones
· Special perks and titles for virtuous and evil characters
· Armor System Rework
· Enchantment Rework
· Tons of new items and abilities
· Kill mails
· Conquerable/Destructible open world structures
· Improved ranking system
· Scouting mechanics and items
· GvG respawn timer
· Larger variety of Hell Gates and better rewards
·
PvE · Allow lower tier mobs to provide fame towards combat progression
· Increase the number of higher tier mobs
· Fame bonus for group play
· Make dungeons and gateway dungeons more rewarding
· More and better dungeons and boss fights
· Random spawning of special mobs
· Armor System Rework
· Enchantment Rework
· Tons of new items and abilities
· Rework faction and mission system*
· Introduce Expeditions*
· Introduce unique item blueprints and expedition maps as special drops/rewards*
· *details to follow in seperate developer update
·
Gathering · Introduce special items and abilities supporting gatherers
· Provide gatherers with better stealth and escape options
·
Economy · Remove excess supply of items from the market via training option at crafting buildings.
Sneak Peak· Fast Travel Rework
·
Farming · Animal produced fertilizer to increase plant yield
·
Fishing· Details to follow in seperate developer update
·
Player Made Open World Structures· Details to follow in seperate developer update
·
User Interface and Quality of Life Improvements· PC optimized HUD
· Friends List
· Repair all button
· Fast Salvage
· Shift Click to move items
· Smart Casting
· Spell Range/Skillshot Indicator
· Guild management improvements
· Improved rights management system for guilds
· Auto-sort/stack for banks
· Allow items to be stackable
· Better “mute” system to combat spammers
· Outline characters/mobs that are hidden by objects
· Bank asset overview
· Transaction Log
· Improved Mount/Dismount
· … and many many more
