[2021] [17. March 2021] Call to Arms Update

Call to Arms Update - Version 18.000.1 - March 17, 2021

Version Numbers Simplified

With this update, the version numbers we assign to all updates, patches, and hotfixes have been simplified. These will now appear in the form XX.XXX.X and will increase incrementally and chronologically. As in the past, patches will frequently have names (e.g. "Call to Arms Patch 6", "Brimstone and Mist", etc.) in addition to their version numbers.

Island Move

As Faction Warfare has received a major rework, player and guild islands are eligible for a single free one-time move between cities. This move is available via the Island Merchant, and must be completed prior to maintenance on April 17, 2021.

Update Features

FACTION WARFARE REVAMP

Faction Warfare has been completely reworked and updated:

• In addition to claiming Outposts, Factions can now control entire zones, which grant Defense Bonuses in the form of Faction Points
  
  • Zone control happens via a continent-wide Frontline Battle System where regions bordering a Faction's current territory can be contested and zones cut off from the Faction's city cannot attack
    
  • Faction Warfare view has been added to the world map, showing current Faction holdings, zone values, contested regions and Outposts
    
• Factions now offer 21 total Faction Ranks, including 9 unique Prestige Ranks for each Faction
  
• Personal progress can be viewed on a greatly expanded Faction Screen
  
  • Month-long Faction Campaigns offer rewards for certain milestones
    
  • Weekly Reports give additional Faction Points based on personal performance during the previous week
    
• Enlisting and flagging are now two different steps, and players can remain enlisted without being flagged
  
  • Both enlisting and flagging happen via the Faction NPC
    
  • Players who are enlisted but not flagged can travel to any location, including rival cities, and remain enlisted
    
• Factions with lower recruitment rates will offer Faction Point bonuses for enlisting
  
  • Changing Factions will always result in some loss of Standing, and players can only have Standing for a single Faction
    
• Faction-flagged players receive a Fame / Silver / mob loot buff, which scales with distance from home city and is only active in regions your Faction owns or enemy regions on your frontline (one cluster away = 5%, two = 10%, three (max) = 15%)
  
• Battle Mounts cannot be used while flagged for a Faction
  
• When a Faction loses control of too many blue or yellow regions, players of that Faction receive a Defensive Bonus that reduces damage received from other Faction players:
  
  • 8 blue/yellow zones lost: 5% Defensive Bonus
    
  • 9 blue/yellow zones lost: 10% Defensive Bonus
    
  • 10 blue/yellow zones lost: 20% Defensive Bonus
    
  • 11 blue/yellow zones lost: 30% Defensive Bonus
    
  • 12 blue/yellow zones lost: 40% Defensive Bonus
    
  • 13+ blue/yellow zones lost: 50% Defensive Bonus
    

For information on conversion of existing Faction Standing, see this post: forum.albiononline.com/index.php/Thread/145111

CAERLEON FACTION ADDED

Caerleon is now a playable sixth city in Faction Warfare. To match its identity as a hub of bandits and thieves, Caerleon Faction gameplay differs in several important ways:

• In addition to engaging other Faction players, Caerleon-flagged players can also engage and be engaged by other Caerleon players
  
• Caerleon offers 21 entirely unique Faction Ranks, and shares no ranks with the other cities
  
• Caerleon players receive no defensive bonus for holding land
  
• Caerleon players do not compete directly in the Bandit Assault (see next section), but can use the event as an opportunity to fight other Factions and retake Outposts for points
  

• Caerleon has its own Faction Mounts, the Caerleon Greywolf and Caerleon Elite Greywolf (see Mounts section below)
  
• Trade missions to and from Caerleon added
  
  • Rewards for trade missions that do not require going into fully lethal zones have been reduced accordingly
    
  • Trade mission boxes for all Factions will now always drop in PvP even if the defeated player was only knocked out
    
• Caerleon has its own City Heart, Shadowheart, which can be used to craft a new Caerleon cape and the two Caerleon mounts, or converted into any other Faction’s Hearts at that Faction’s store
  
• Caerleon Cape Ability:
  
  • Instantly resets your Q-slot ability approximately every 30s (actual cooldown scales with IP)
    

CAERLEON / ROYAL CONTINENT UPDATE + BANDIT ASSAULT

The layout of Caerleon has been completely revamped and the Royal Continent has gained 37 new regions. These regions have been balanced with Faction Warfare in mind, including Trade Missions and the new Bandit Assault event:

• Caerleon has been expanded and received a huge visual upgrade – while most major zone connections (including the Underway) remain, some have been moved, and Caerleon's Conquerors' Hall has been removed
  
• 37 new regions have been added to the Royal Continent, and existing zones and connections have been reworked to keep each biome balanced between blue, yellow, and red zones
  
• At irregular times each day, a Bandit Assault will occur in the red zones around Caerleon, with all Outposts taken over by Caerleon bandit NPCs
  
• Factions that take and defend the greatest number of zones during the Bandit Assault will receive huge points bonuses
  

NOTE: All players outside cities on the Royal Continent when the update is deployed will be migrated to the nearest Royal City, and all furniture placed in the open world on the Royal Continent, or in Caerleon, will be destroyed. For more details, see this forum post: forum.albiononline.com/index.php/Thread/144771

ELITE FACTION MOUNTS

In addition to regular Faction Mounts, which have been rebalanced and buffed overall, six new Elite Faction Mounts have been introduced. Each has one ability usable by all riders, and a second Faction Ability that is only usable when flagged for the appropriate Faction, and only affects allies who are likewise flagged. Details:

• Lymhurst Elite Boar
  
  • Regular ability: dash forward, damaging unmounted enemies and knocking them backwards
    
  • Faction ability – Boar Vitality: dismount and give allies a large healing area of effect
    
• Bridgewatch Elite Terrorbird
  
  • Regular ability: “Zig” to a targeted direction, then “Zag” to dash again and avoid attacks
    
  • Faction ability – Desert Breeze: dismount and grant all allies a move speed bonus
    
• Martlock Elite Ram
  
  • Regular ability: reduce damage taken while channeling, then gain move speed based on the number of hits taken
    
  • Faction ability – Highland Resilience: dismount and grant a Max Health bonus to allies in range
    
• Thetford Elite Swamp Salamander
  
  • Regular ability: shed skin to cleanse any negative effects
    
  • Faction ability – Reptile Agility: grants attack speed and damage bonuses to nearby allies
    
• Fort Sterling Elite Direbear
  
  • Regular ability: passive that stacks with each attack, followed by "Winter Call" ability that boosts move speed and slows enemies based on stacks
    
  • Faction ability – Frozen Defense: dismount and grant a defense bonus to allies in range
    
• Caerleon Elite Greywolf
  
  • Regular ability: mark an enemy who then leaves behind a trail; collecting this trail boosts movement speed, with wounded targets offering a greater boost
    
  • Faction ability – Spite: dismount and grant damage reflection to allies in range
    

Additionally, all regular Faction Mounts can now be used in conjunction with mount skins of the same category (e.g. Caerleon Greywolf with Direwolf Skins, Fort Sterling Bear with Direbear Skins, etc.)

HELLGATE REWORK

The mechanics, appearance, and variety of Hellgates have been completely revamped:

• 10v10 Hellgates have been added alongside the existing 2v2 and 5v5 Hellgates
  
• Finding and entering a Hellgate has changed:
  
  • All sizes of Hellgate Entrance now have item power and group size requirements
    
  • Hellgates are now opened via Hellgate Maps, which can be used to reveal the Hellgate location in an adjoining zone, similar to Dungeon Maps:
    
    • Roads of Avalon (zones that allow Hideouts only): all types of maps can be used
      
    • Outlands: all types of maps can be used
      
    • Blue Zone (Tier 4): only 2v2 non-lethal Hellgate maps
      
    • Yellow Zone (Tier 5): all non-lethal Hellgate maps
      
    • Red Zone (Tier 6+): all lethal Hellgate maps
      
  • Permanent Hellgate entrance locations in the open world have been removed (2v2 Hellgate entrances still spawn at random extremely rarely, but do not appear on zone maps)
    
  • Hellgate Maps can either be found as open-world drops or crafted at the Artifact Foundry
    
  • In 2v2 Hellgates only, players now have a debuff that reduces all Healing Cast by 10%
    
• Hellgate interiors have been completely updated with 10 all-new designs, each with unique terrain, environmental/architectural features, and mob layouts
  
• The ten Hellgate layouts exist for all group sizes and are selected at random, though some occur more rarely
  
• A new "rising lava" mechanic forces PvP fights into the center of the zone after a certain amount of time
  
• Hellgate mobs are more varied, and are based on the demonic enemies in Corrupted Dungeons
  
• In addition to returning to the surface after completing a Hellgate, groups can now "chain" directly into a new Hellgate
  
• Hellgates now use an Infamy system similar to Corrupted Dungeons, with higher Infamy increasing rewards earned
  
  • Each Hellgate type (2v2, 5v5, 10v10) has its own Infamy progression
    

QUALITY-OF-LIFE IMPROVEMENTS

• Loadouts allow players to save premade equipment sets based on various self-determined parameters for quick-equip, and can be shared via chat and among guild members.
  
• Spell description system has been streamlined and reworked for clarity and readability, and now includes color-coding to indicate categories such as healing, damage, and mobility. All weapon, armor, food and potion spell descriptions have been rewritten, and cape, mount, bag and fish spell descriptions, as well as buff descriptions, will come in later patches.
  
• Attack/Defend Minimap Pings have been added to the map pinging system – these can be performed by Ctrl-double clicking (Attack) or Shift-double clicking (Defend) on the minimap or selecting the corresponding button on top of the minimap
  
• Animated vegetation has been added to all biomes as a visual option to bring Albion's natural world to life
  
• Capes and helmets can now be hidden via the Appearance menu in any scenario where vanity skins are displayed
  

Smart Cluster Queue Changes

• Instanced areas (i.e. Hideouts) and tunnel zones are now included in the queue functionality, meaning players can now skip overcrowded zones outside their Hideouts and can skip into tunnel zones
  
• Cluster Skipping is now possible when relogging into an overcrowded cluster
  
• The Smart Cluster Queue now also activates in all Royal Continent zones:
  
  • This change makes large-scale Faction Warfare battles possible on the Royal Continent
    
  • Each Faction counts as its own contingent
    
  • Cluster Access Priority settings do NOT impact Faction-flagged players
    
  • The queue assigns at least 50 spots per Faction, even if they are vastly outnumbered
    
  • 50 spots are also reserved for non-Faction-flagged players, to prevent Faction players from completely blocking zones for other players
    
• Improved the UI for cluster skipping:
  
  • Now all available zones are immediately selectable
    
  • Opening the world map will no longer cancel cluster selection
    
  • The cluster selection screen now provides more info about the cluster:
    
    • Tier and danger level (i.e. red or yellow) of the target cluster
      
    • Distance to the selected cluster (i.e. how many zones will be jumped)
      
  
  
  

Corrupted Dungeon Changes

• Crowd Control durations of Malicious Imp, Demonic Predator and Demonic Slaver now have a set length instead of scaling with tiers, resulting in a shorter CC duration on higher tiers and little to no CC change on lower tiers
  
• Demonic Harbinger now indicates visually if he starts to use Unrelenting Slaughter for more clarity in his behavior, particularly for builds with medium cast times
  
• Adjusted Infernal Horror:
  
  • Increased duration of Liquid Fire from 12s to 18s
    
  • Tripled damage of Heatseeker
    

World Boss Changes

• Major world bosses (Undead Harvester, Keeper Earthmother and Morgana Demon Prince) no longer reset after being kited too far, and will instead choose another target on their aggro list
  
• Undead Keeper Harvester's Field of Decay can no longer be removed prematurely
  
• Morgana Demon Prince behavior updated:
  
  • Pursuit range: 30m → 20m
    
  • Crush Spirit ability now hits not only its target but also any enemy within 3m
    
  • Before casting Hell Rift, the Demon Prince will knock everyone back
    
  • Hell Rift hits will now also damage everyone within 3m of the target hit by the spell
    
  • Hell Rift damage reduced
    
  • Before casting Ray of Blight the Demon Prince will pull everyone into melee range
    
  • Ray of Blight damage reduced
    

Rare Mount Drop Changes

• Swiftclaw cubs now drop from tier 5 or higher Cougars all over the world instead of from Keeper bosses and loot chests, bringing them more in line with other rare mount drops
  
• Along with this change, drop rates of other rare mounts have been increased:
  
  • Giant Stag: four times higher
    
  • Direwolf: two times higher
    
  • Direboar: six times higher
    

New and Updated Achievements

New Faction Warfare Achievements:

• Conqueror: Assist in completely capturing another city's zone in Faction Warfare
  
• Spring Cleaning: Help repel a Bandit Assault
  

Updated Faction Warfare Achievements:

• Partisan: Now triggered when reaching a standing of 330,000, which unlocks the first Prestige Rank rather than the maximum rank
  
• New Sheriff in Town: Now only requires killing 5 of the 6 Faction Warmasters
  

Discontinued Faction Warfare Achievements:

• Irons in the Fire (Join each of the five City Factions at least once)
  

New Hellgate Achievements:

• I like it...another!: Chain 2 lethal Hellgates without returning to the surface
  
• Neither Demon nor Man: Chain 5 lethal Hellgates without returning to the surface
  
• Rip and Tear: Chain 10 lethal Hellgates without returning to the surface
  
• Been Through Hell: Gain 100,000 Infamy in any Hellgate type
  
• Hell is My Home: Gain 250,000 Infamy in any Hellgate type
  

Updated Hellgate Achievements:

• Tonight We Dine in Hell!: Now requires defeating a team of enemy players in a Hellgate
  

Other Changes

• Instead of regaining all Defense Points after a successful defense, Hideouts now regain only one Defense Point
  
• Resource Aspects have been adjusted to compensate player Reaver bonuses with additional armor instead of health, like all other mobs
  
• Outlands Banks now appear in Royal Continent zones as well, and have been given the more general name Storage Posts to reflect this change
  
• Reduced the volume of the Heretic Mortar: reddit.com/r/albiononline/comments/gqai2z/albionirl/
  
• [MOBILE] Attacks and single-target spells can now also be dragged to select a target around your character
  
• [MOBILE] Adjusted spell and attack button layout to better fit drag-targeting
  

Combat Balance Changes

Arcane Staffs

• Magic Shock (all Arcane Staffs):
  
  • Cooldown: 4s → 5s
    

Axes

• Rending Strike (all Axes):
  
  • Damage: 60.33 → 54
    
• Rending Rage (all Axes):
  
  • Time window until combo resets: 3s → 2.5s
    
  • Damage: 50 → 62
    

Bows

• Magic Arrow (Warbow):
  
  • Reduced the size of the hitbox of the projectile and adjusted the projectile position to better match its actual hitbox
    
  • Projectile Speed: 16.1 m/s → 17.7 m/s
    
• Rain of Arrows (Longbow):
  
  • Damage per Tick: 50 → 60
    

Daggers

• Slit Throat (Dagger Pair):
  
  • Cast Time: 0.4s → 0.3s
    
  • Standtime: 1s → 0.4s
    
  • Now also reduces the enemy's Healing Received by 20% while the bleed is active
    

Holy Staffs

• Holy Blessing (all Holy Staffs)
  
  • Physical Resistance: 0.4 → 0.3
    
• Divine Intervention (Hallowfall)
  
  • Resistance Buff Duration: 4s → 2s
    
  • Resistance Increase per Stack: 0.18→ 0.09
    

Maces

• Sacred Ground (all Maces):
  
  • Mobs are now always silenced for a flat 3s, and become immune to another Sacred Ground for 6s, effectively limiting it it to being active 50% of the time
    

Nature Staffs

• Ruthless Nature (Blight Staff):
  
  • Caster's move speed is now increased by 15% during the channel
    
  • Max Ticks: 6 → 8 (Heal value per tick stays unchanged)
    
  • Tick Interval: 1s → 0.8s
    
  • Total Channel Duration: 6s → 5.6s
    
  • Max Healing Targets: 5 → 10
    
• Soul Link (Ironroot Staff):
  
  • Link Duration: 10s → 7s
    
  • Changed the targeting so casting on different targets now works via shortcuts
    

Quarterstaffs

• Vault Leap (new E-slot ability on regular Quarterstaffs): Leap to the targeted position, dealing physical damage in a 5m radius. Throws all enemies into the air for 1s. Cast Time: 0.7s (uninterruptible)
  
  • Cooldown: 15s
    
  • Cast Range: 15m
    
• Empowered Slam (all Quarterstaffs):
  
  • Now also purges any shields available on the target
    
  • Hit Delay: 0.4s → 0.2s
    
  • Standtime: 0.4s → 0.2s
    
• Separator (all Quarterstaffs):
  
  • The ability is moved to the W-slot and now available on all Quarterstaffs
    
  • Cooldown: 15s → 20s
    
  • Root Duration: 2.5s → 1.6s
    
  • Damage: 149.18 → 75
    

Spears

• Reckless Charge (One-Handed Spear):
  
  • Minimum Jump Distance: 0m → 9m
    
• Spear Throw (Heron Spear)
  
  • Damage: 148 → 186
    
  • Energy Cost: 17 → 18
    
  • Hit Delay: 0s → 0.2s
    
  • Standtime: 0.8s → 0.6s
    
  • Projectile Speed: 16 m/s → 20 m/s
    

Armor

• Energy Emission (Robe of Purity):
  
  • Cooldown: 30s → 40s
    
• Self Ignition (Specter Jacket):
  
  • The True Damage to enemies now ignores any damage modifiers
    
  • True Damage to enemies: 45 → 66
    
• Requite (Armor of Valor):
  
  • Channel Duration: 3s → 2s
    

Helmets

• Emergency Shield (Guardian Helmet):
  
  • Shield Value: 400 → 300
    
• Motivating Worker's Song (Miner Cap):
  
  • Now also makes immune to silence
    
  • Removed CC Resistance Increase
    

Shoes

• Shield Charge (Knight Boots):
  

• Shield Value: 350 → 250
  

• Evasive Jump (Royal Shoes):
  
  • Range: 9m → 12m
    
  • Jump Duration: 0.9s → 0.86s
    
• Flee (Miner Workboots):
  
  • Cooldown: 60s → 120s
    
  • The ability now always silences the caster, even if they are immune to silence by another effect
    
  • While silenced, the caster will also be unable to use potions
    
  • This also fixes an issue where using Flee after being force dismounted did not cause user to be Silenced
    

Potions

• Invisibility Potions:
  
  • Invisibility now ends when changing a cluster
    

Mounts

• Flaming Trail (Morgana Nightmare):
  
  • The fear now only works against players on foot
    
• Saddled Moabird:
  
  • Time Until Gallop: 4s → 2.5s
    
• Saddled Winter Bear:
  
  • Direbear skins can be applied now
    
  • Mount Health: 2365 → 3379
    
  • Armor: 253 → 304
    
  • Magical Resistance: 253 → 304
    
  • CC Resistance: 505 → 404
    
• Saddled Wild Boar:
  
  • Direboar skins can be applied now
    
• Saddled Bighorn Ram:
  
  • Mount Health: 1352 → 1689
    
  • Base Move Speed: 45% → 60%
    
• Saddled Swamp Salamander:
  
  • Swamp Dragon skins can be applied now
    
  • Mount Health: 676 → 1014
    
• Saddled Direwolf:
  
  • Mount Health: 405 → 681
    
  • Gallop Move Speed Bonus: 130% → 132%
    
• Saddled Swamp Dragon:
  
  • Move Speed Bonus: 90% → 103%
    
• Saddled Direbear:
  
  • Mount Health: 2847 → 3797
    
  • CC Resistance: 394 → 526
    
• Grizzly Bear:
  
  • Mount Health: 2686 → 3582
    
• Saddled Terrorbird
  
  • Time Until Gallop: 4s → 2.5s
    
  • Flash:
    
    • Move Speed Bonus during Flash: 300% → 100%
      
  
  

Battle Mounts

• Rhino:
  
  • Cracked Earth:
    
    • Cast Time: 1s → 0.7s
      
    • Standtime: 0.4s → 0.2s
      
  • Breakthrough:
    
    • Cast Time: 1.2s → 0.8s
      
    • Cooldown: 50s → 30s
      
  
  

Miscellaneous

• Reflected Damage is no longer affected by any Damage Modifiers, and the following Reflect Values of existing abilities have been adjusted to accommodate for this change:
  
  • Deflecting Spin: 80% → 100%
    
  • Parry Strike: 100% (unchanged)
    
  • Frost Shield: 10% → 15%
    
  • Inferno Shield: 30% → 38%
    
  • Protection of the Fiends: 50% (unchanged)
    
  • Retaliate: 70% (unchanged)
    
• Reflecting True Damage will now cause the reflected damage to also act as true damage
  
• Players can no longer be debuffed to the point where Healing Output is entirely nullified:
  
  • Minimum Value of Healing Received Bonus: -70%
    
  • Minimum Value of Healing Cast Bonus: -70%
    

Fixes

• Spell fixes:
  
  • Guard Rune (Maces) now has a unique spell icon as intended
    
  • Flaming Phoenix (Dawnsong) tooltip now correctly uses Healing Cast (previously Healing Received)
    
  • Fixed an issue where Rotten Fish (all Fisherman Caps) would not decrease the damage of magical normal attacks
    
  • Fixed an issue where Raging Storm (Bow of Badon) area effect could incorrectly be cleansed
    
  • Concussive Blow (all Quarterstaffs): reduced the max stacks of Concussion Stack from 3 to 2 as intended
    
  • Lunging Strike (all Spears) now deals physical damage as intended
    
  • Hide Animal Poison (Skinner Garb) now deals magic damage as intended
    
• City guard towers now only fire when valid player targets are present
  
• [MOBILE] Fixed an issue where some settings were not accessible on mobile when displaying Asian languages
  
• Numerous additional graphical, animation, terrain, audio, UI, and localization fixes