All Major features coming to Albion Online with Crystal Raiders update

Crystal Raiders is a significant update coming to Albion Online on January 8, 2024, re-envisioning Guild Warfare and introducing several new mechanics and avenues to obtain power in the title as rewards. This update will also include numerous quality-of-life features, like a region quality overlay for the world map, combat balance changes, and optimizations for different playstyles and players on all levels.

In a recent Dev Talk blog, Albion Online's Game Director Robin Henkys discussed plans to transition the game's patch cycle to a seasonal model in 2024. The Crystal Raiders update marks the beginning of the game's new three-month seasonal patch cycle.

This article will list every major feature confirmed for the Crystal Raiders update in Albion Online, as outlined in the official developer blog post.

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All major features in Albion Online Crystal Raiders update

Territory Raiding

With the introduction of Territory Raiding to Guild Warfare in Albion Online, guilds can steal Siphoned Energy from their rivals' territories without notifying them. This new feature will add more depth and complexity to the territory control aspect of gameplay. Raiding also requires less risk and costs than conquering territories, incentivizing guilds to actively engage in this system.

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Crystal Weapons

New powerful Crystal Weapons are being added to Albion Online with the upcoming Crystal Raiders update. These weapons will require unique Artifacts as crafting components that can be obtained from Conqueror's Challenge Chests, with the higher-level chests rewarding the rarer and more powerful versions of these items.

The following are the new Crystal Weapons introduced with this update:

• Infinity Blade (Sword): Delivers a double charge-up strike that devastates foes
• Rift Glaive (Spear): Deals massive damage while piercing through crowds
• Astral Staff (Arcane Staff): Rains a shower of deadly stars down on enemies

As updates now follow a seasonal cycle, each new season will introduce three additional weapons similar to the Crystal series.

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Conqueror's Challenge Rework

The Conqueror's Challenge system in Albion Online is being overhauled in the upcoming Crystal Raiders update. With the revamped system, players' progress in the Conqueror's Challenge will grant them access to more valuable chests that contain rarer loot as they level up. Simultaneously, their guild's Season Ranking will upgrade the chests acquired, expanding the loot pool with rare and highly valuable rewards.

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Territory and Hideout changes

The following are the changes made to Territory and Hideout in Albion Online with the Crystal Raiders update:

• A percentage of stored Energy is converted to Season Points and Siphoned Energy at the end of each day.
• After the fourth Invasion Day in seasons, a percentage of stored Energy will be converted to Season Points.
• The cost to attack Hideouts will now scale with their age, rewarding guilds who can defend their base longer.
• The Power drain of Outlands Hideouts will be doubled for guilds that don't control the zone.
• Hideout Production Bonuses will be greatly affected by the Hideout's Power Level.

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Additional new features in Albion Online include the Daily Might reward that players can acquire from their active claim notifications. There will also be new elite targets for tracking that will drop Silver and loot. Fame acquired from these targets will progress a new Rare Quarry Tracking node on the Destiny Board.

Besides these features and the quality-of-life changes, Albion Online will receive combat adjustments to increase build diversity by fine-tuning underused melee abilities and builds.