Albion Online is hitting login queues as Veteran players get to log in

albion online

Official Site: Albion Online
Studio: Sandbox Interactive
Launch Date: N/A
Genre: Fantasy PvP Sandbox
Business Model: N/A
Platform: PC

Albion Online is hitting login queues as Veteran players get to log in

July 19, 2017 Eliot Lefebvre 4 comments

Launch is here for Albion Online and it’s popular enough that there are queues. Yes, login queues are being login queues. According to the most recent official status updates, the team behind the game is relaxing queues as much as possible, but as the Veteran players are allowed into the game’s launch, it’s still a lot of people trying to get in to a limited space.

Among the complaints are that the stability of the game on Android devices makes playing with a queue basically unsustainable, that it’s preventing guilds from claiming the land plots they want due to the difficulty of logging to alts, and of course, the usual refrain of “why do I have a queue if I paid for the expensive version.” Players are reporting that the queues are far shorter than listed on the game’s front page, but it seems that the launch has been pretty popular so far. (At least one Reddit thread is thanking streamers for that level of popularity.)

Source: Queue Status, Reddit (1, 2, 3), Forum posts (1, 2)

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Albion Online expands its launch rollout

July 18, 2017 Justin Olivetti 19 comments

Some MMOs have launch days, but some MMOs are not Albion Online, which is claiming a good chunk of this week to officially release this long-awaited fantasy sandbox. You see, yesterday only admitted legendary pack purchasers, while today allowed in the epic crowd and tomorrow will see veteran founders join in the fun.

This staggered release is probably helping to keep the game more stable than it might have been otherwise. There were some initial login issues, but the team reports that it (mostly) cleared those up quickly. There have been a few other problems, like missing learning points and players being able to farm gear out of their league, but for the most part it looks like things are going relatively smoothly for this launch.

Conspiracy sidebar: Did Jagex announce RuneScape’s mobile adaptation this week to take some of the wind out of the sails of Albion’s release? Your call on that one.

Anyway, check out the launch trailer and eight quick tips for starting out in this game after the break!

Massively OP Podcast Episode 127: EVE walks no more

July 18, 2017 Justin Olivetti 10 comments

On this week’s show, Justin and Bree recount the odd history of Walking in Stations, debate the Mordor pre-order, tackle a trio of MMO updates, talk with ARK’s soundtrack composer, and more!

It’s the Massively OP Podcast, an action-packed hour of news, tales, opinions, and gamer emails! And remember, if you’d like to send in your own letter to the show, use the “Tips” button in the top-right corner of the site to do so.

Listen to the show right now:

The Stream Team: Launch day adventures in Albion Online

July 17, 2017 MJ Guthrie 11 comments

Today’s the day Albion Online shuffles off its beta coil! Legendary founders pack and legendary starter pack owners get a headstart that started this morning, and Massively OP’s MJ is ready to get life going for real in this sandbox world. Unfortunately, that means bashing and skinning more bunnies and other cute critters if she wants some clothing; hopefully she can move past this part fairly quickly (before she is scarred for life!) and get to more adventuring. Tune in live at 3:00 p.m. for a launch-day edition of OPTV in…

What: Albion Online
Who: MJ Guthrie
When: 3:00 p.m. EDT on Monday, July 17th, 2017

Albion Online raised almost $10M, officially launches today

July 17, 2017 Bree Royce 35 comments

If it seems as if you’ve been hearing about Albion Online for a long time, you’re not wrong. In fact, the game has delayed its testing periods multiple times for major revamps, to the chagrin of testers, but hopefully that’ll make today’s launch all the better. Yep, today the day this buy-to-play, economy-driven, indie PvP sandbox is finally here, at least if you’re in the top-tier of founders and starter pack purchasers.

“Developed by Sandbox Interactive, fantasy MMORPG Albion Online has officially arrived on PC, Mac and Linux, bringing with it a community of dedicated MMO fans. Kicking off their adventures with a clean slate after the beta server wipe, Legendary Founder and Legendary Starter Pack owners have already begun taking their first steps in the sprawling land of Albion, staking their claim on the untamed wilds and free markets therein. Epic Founders and Starters will be the next group to enter the fray, joining Albion’s servers on July 18th at 13:00 UTC, followed by Veteran Founders and Starters on July 19th at 13:00 UTC. Can’t wait to start forging out on your own adventure? Download the client and grab a Legendary Starter Pack to dive in right away!”

In an AMA over the weekend, Sandbox Interactive said it now counts 250,000 founders and almost $10,000,000 in funding.

Make My MMO: Star Citizen’s derelict ships’ Firefly and Star Wars inspiration (July 15, 2017)

July 15, 2017 Bree Royce 26 comments

This week in MMO crowdfunding, Star Citizen released a new cinematic trailer featuring characters checking out derelict ships in-game, both on the surface and in space. Note the scope of the vessels, voiceovers, music, and female toons (finally!), not to mention the distinct Star Wars/Jakku vibe and Firefly inspiration.

Meanwhile, Crowfall talked up its building parts, Valiance Online teased its alpha, and Brad McQuaid mused on Pantheon’s philosophy.

Read on for more on what’s up with MMO crowdfunding over the last week and the regular roundup of all the crowdfunded MMOs we’ve got our eye on.

Betawatch: Destiny 2 previews and preloads (July 14, 2017)

July 14, 2017 Eliot Lefebvre One comment

Fans hotly anticipating Destiny 2 will be able to start testing the game on consoles next week, and you can pre-load the game now… assuming, of course, that you paid for it in advance. You can also check out a preview of its PvP, and if you believe Superdata, it’s going to be a big deal when it launches. Not that you needed an analysis firm to tell you that, of course.

Other beta news? Aw, heck, I guess we can do that.

I think it’s time for another OrbusVR closed alpha test. The seventh, in fact; it is here and features pet dragons and hair. Hopefully not in the same space at the same time; dragons tend to not go well with hair. Burning smells and all that.
Good news for those of you hoping for a self-proclaimed massive online sandbox RPG to drop out of the sky with little to no forewarning – here’s Citadel: Forged with Fire. Yes, that’s how it’s selling itself. Early access slated for later this month, which hopefully will be enough time for you to stop blinking in confusion. Perhaps reading about how magic will work might help?
Speaking of sandbox titles, Tree of Life has quietly ambled along in early access for some time, but it’s exiting that stage of life and going into full launch in August. No exact date has been given, but August only has so many days, right?
Riders of Icarus launched! I mean, sure, it had already launched a while back in every practical sense, but now it really launched officially. There are no backsies on that one.
Last but not least, Albion Online celebrates its final week before a full launch by addressing a mild snafu regarding its founder packs. Hey, that ends things on a classy note, I’d say.

List of games in testing? Yeah, that’s here, just like always. Things are running normally, there is no need to be alarmed, the cat is on the mat. You can let us know if you like the betas you’re playing or if something slipped into a new test phase without us noticing in the comments, too. Familiarity is welcoming.

Massively Overthinking: Consumer protections in the MMORPG industry

July 14, 2017 Bree Royce 49 comments

Veteran Massively OP reader Miol says he’s exhausted by a recent string of stories in which MMO companies screw gamers over, one after another: ARK Survival Evolved, Albion Online, Skyforge, and now Black Desert all figure into his list, just from the last week.

“I want to ask what more can gamers do to protect themselves and everyone else as consumers than speak up? It feels exhausting to always stay vigilant and feel upset all the time, since games, as an everchanging medium, give devs so many opportunities to screw us over with every single patch or update. And the worst immediate consequence seems many times a meek apology for what they’ve done, only for them to try out something different that maybe could go over unnoticed.

“You guys have reported about this UK watchdog group ASA, who investigated No Man’s Sky, but even they dismissed the tons of complaints about false advertising. Steam did declare some changes to advertising on their platform, but I still don’t see them taken place. If even those big negative stories don’t have that much of an impact, what hope is there for all the smaller communities, spread thin globally? There was a recent wave of gamers imploring each other to not pre-order, but that ebbed away fast enough, when the next shiny pre-order advantages over other players were presented. But even so, this still can’t protect you from what may happen after the launch!

“As said by Bree many times: Merely quitting won’t help either, as the studio will never know why most of the times. But also sending feedback for nine whole days didn’t help Skyforge players to make its devs to scramble! So what else could we do? Or should we just take rotating shifts to call them out?”

We’ll take the first shift right here in Overthinking.

Albion Online devs apologize for starter pack snafu

July 10, 2017 Bree Royce 9 comments

The Albion Online founder community has been none too pleased about Sandbox Interactive’s original decision about what non-founders would get in their starter pack when the game launches a week from today. Albion’s devs intended the starter packs to cost the same as founder packs but offer less value, but as the community flames suggest, the veteran players believed that starter pack folks were getting better stuff than they were, and that wasn’t going to fly.

Welp, you can stop griping; they hear you. In their apology letter, the Sandbox devs wrote that they “simply messed up.”

“The best answer to that seems to be that we were so deep in the echo chamber of finally getting the game out of release that we simply lost the outside perspective along the way,” a forum post from late last night says. “We have previously communicated that Starter Packs would be comparable to Founder Packs, but would have less value for money. We felt that with the 10% extra Gold, the Founder’s house and all the little other founder’s perks we had kept that promise, in particular given that the founder’s gear would no longer be available post launch. We have underestimated how much the looks of the starter mounts matter to many of you.”

Make My MMO: Star Citizen’s alpha 3.0 has been delayed again (July 9, 2017)

July 9, 2017 Bree Royce 148 comments

This week in MMO crowdfunding, Star Citizen dropped more than just its work on procedural planets and moon: It also posted its 3.0 production schedule report, which shows that Cloud Imperium will once again delay the release of alpha 3.0, chiefly from a desire to polish and work on the UI. 3.0 is now scheduled to go fully live in late August following a month in the hands of the elite Evocati player testers, which lines up nicely with Gamescom.

Meanwhile, Shroud of the Avatar raised another $100,000 during a stream, City of Titans demoed its costume-building, Mystic Worlds narrated a ton of Star Citizen fanfic, OrbusVR recapped its sixth closed alpha test, and Albion Online is gearing up for launch in just over a week.

We also added the wacky OARPG Global Adventures to our watch list; its Kickstarter is live now. You might remember studio SubaGames from its revivals of both Luna Online and Dream of Mirror Online!

Read on for more on what’s up with MMO crowdfunding over the last week and the regular roundup of all the crowdfunded MMOs we’ve got our eye on.

Betawatch: Albion Online gets ramped up for launch (July 7, 2017)

July 7, 2017 Eliot Lefebvre 4 comments

It’s really just about time for Albion Online to launch, isn’t it? Less than two weeks to go, now, so the title is winding down its beta on July 9th in anticipation. That also means certain founder packs will no longer be sold after Sunday. There’s a big beta finale planned, though, so don’t worry that it’ll pass without incident.

Of course, betas on a whole aren’t hitting any sort of finale. Look, we’ve got more news about them just below.

The alpha server list is available for Wild West Online, with a closed alpha planned for some time around the end of the month. More on that as events warrant, possibly appended with a “what in tarnation” for flavor.
After a long time in early access, ARK: Survival Evolved is finally going live in August… and it’s also gotten more expensive. Apparently sitting through testing problems is worth a lot of karma on pricing.
Crowfall has shown off the overhauls to its skill tree while assuaging players upset at large land prices by stressing that the biggest plots are meant for guilds. That’s trying to assuage concerns, anyway. It remains to be seen if it succeeds.
Open beta for Mu Legend arrives in September. That’s it; no snarky comment, no strange observations, just the facts. Sometimes that’s all you need.

And yes, Virginia, there is a list of games in testing just below. Did something slip into a new test phase or tacitly launch without telling us? Then please, let us know in the comments. Or talk about betas you’re involved with, that’s also cool.

The Stream Team: Albion Online’s beta winds down

July 5, 2017 MJ Guthrie 3 comments

It’s been a long while since Massively OP’s MJ has explored Albion Online, and she’s eager to get back in before the beta doors close for good! Soon, the game will launch and she can play for keeps, but for now she’ll remake a character and poke a bit to show off how the game has changed. Tune in live at 7:00 p.m. for a last look at beta in…

What: Albion Online
Who: MJ Guthrie
When: 7:00 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, July 5th, 2017

Albion Online plans huge beta finale ahead of July 17 launch

July 5, 2017 Bree Royce 19 comments

Albion Online is finally making the transition from beta to launch this month. Sandbox Interactive has posted a timeline of events leading up to the formal July 17th release date, beginning with an invasion event this Friday, a treasure hunt on Saturday, and a castle siege event on Sunday. Following the conclusion of Sunday’s event, the beta servers will close, so these are your last funtimes before the launch.

The game’s new launcher has also rolled out as of this morning, complete with server monitoring, game news, and fast-access to bits and bobs like the forums and profiles.

Founder packs (and upgrading) will also become unavailable on July 9th. Founder pack buyers will be granted an additional 10% gold when the game launches, above and beyond previous promises. Do note that the game will not be free-to-play at launch, and presumably the launch game won’t come with the same goodies, so plan your wallet-opening accordingly.

We’ll be streaming the game later today on OPTV, so stay tuned!

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