Week Four: The Challenges

The first month has most definitely been a challenge for Sandbox Interactive as a company, as a developer. The criminal activity of some groups in where stolen credit card information has seen the launch of a series of DDoS attacks that has all but crippled the game.

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Week One: Building the Foundation

As we wrap up the first week of Albion Online, we faced a couple of setbacks in our plan due to the poor launch that SBI had but we’re now on an upswing from those setbacks.  On day 1, SBI had a terrible launch that left a lot of people in the dark — literally!  Black screens of death were everywhere and folks could not zone from one area to the next without hitting the “dark” end of that issue.  Myself included.  The original plan was to have me head straight to Caerleon to secure plots as I had the most accumulated gold of all of us — well over 500k. The backup plan was to have Eckhart head straight to Bridgewatch (a town we were the most familiar with from the last beta test) and secure plots there ASAP.  If we got our plots in Caerleon, the plan was to sell the plots in Bridgewatch for 1 mil each right away.  That plan worked brilliantly except for ONE BIG ISSUE —  I did not get credited all the gold I was due once the server reset.  I only got 114k and I didn’t even get my LPs.  Another issue that prevented us from getting the plots we wanted was the lag and black screens — once I got to Caerleon the lag of selling gold there was almost at a dead stop. We made the executive decision to just stick with Bridgewatch since Eckhart managed to secure those plots. The good news was, we got 14 plots secured.  So off I went to start setting up our shops.

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Restarting the TLP Alliance Come Launch

A quick announcement for all concerned:

We will be running our own alliance, as primary alliance administrators. At first we will just be by ourselves or perhaps with some of our old allies, as alliances cost 250,000 silver to create, and then will only be adding guilds that can adhere to our Alliance Charter and Alliance Rules. Collectively working together by identifying guild strengths and weaknesses so that we can more cohesively push forward our goals will be the best way that we can ally together against the bigger, zergier, guilds.

In our time for Beta 1 and Beta 2, we ran the Rest in Pieces [RIP] alliance pretty fantastically until we died off due to the usual “beta burnout” in both those betas.  This beta we decided to try to once again join our old friends, the Undead Lords, in their alliance Exodia.  I feel I did my very best this beta to keep the allies together, keep up all the stations for allies to use after they were transferred to me, tried my earnest to defend the city of Caerleon (successfully three times over – held it for 1.5 months!)

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Preparing for Albion Online’s Launch on July 17th

We are so excited to be finally nearing the release of the long-awaited PvP-centric MMO, Albion Online.  The early-access release for all Legendary packs is set to be on July 17th, probably early in the morning (no time has officially been confirmed yet so stay tuned!), and then for Epic packs on July 18th.  All Veteran packs and new players will be welcomed on July 19th.  I cannot stress how important early release is in this game.  In two days you could be light-years ahead of everyone else.  So I do recommend, if you financially can, an upgrade to the Legendary pack. If you cannot afford them, remember that our guild will do our best to ensure you catch up within the first two weeks.

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Once Again, We Defend Caerleon

Once again our guild comes together to defend the city of Caerleon against incoming attacks. This time The Abyss came fully prepped and ready to rumble and it was an amazing fight!  Mad props to them for a valiant effort. This is OUR strong suit though, no one really to blame there.  We were BORN to do large scale PvP with massive experience in not online Ultima Online, EverQuest, Shadowbane, Dark Age of Camelot, Warhammer, World of Warcraft, and more, but also we’ve been in this game, committed to it, since Alpha 2.  Having said that, however… Abyss hit us hard!  They had the demon shot/meteor/mace root combo on lock down and that shit really killed the heck out of our main raid team several times over.  I certainly will be looking to duplicate that shit next time!

The Developers Round Table: A Chance to Affect Change

In almost all of our previous chapters for MMO games, including UO, DAOC, Rift, and WoW, we’ve been asked to be part of the Developers Round Table. Usually these have been very specific invites, exclusive for certain pilars of the gaming community, but Albion Online has recently decided to add in all the top GMs of the most active guilds to the discussions.  This is really good in my opinion!  The more perspectives we have the better.

As a result of this addition,  I am re-launching our “Submit Your Feedback” program.  You will need to be registered on this site to do so, but you can submit your feedback and suggestions below.  This form will be exported and delivered to the developers at our Round Table discussions.  Not everything that you submit here will be addressed or implemented, but some of it might be.  As we have done before, and as a partner with Amazon, those that submit concrete, detailed suggestions and those suggestions get implemented into the game will receive a $25 Amazon Gift Card from The Last Prophecy Gaming, Inc.

We really appreciate your involvement in this program.

 

 

Thanks,

<3 Dani

 

When The Going Gets Tuf

There is always something to be said about the power of the internet.   After so many decades doing this, the MMO thing,  I can truly say that there are people in the world that will undoubtedly disappoint you.  But just as stark a contrast are the people that you bump into that will also inspire you and touch your heart.   I have had the amazing pleasure to make some very long-lasting friendships across the world,  as part of TLP.   The people you see here, in this screen shot…  I am so proud to say embody those friendships.  All for very different reasons!  What we have here in this guild, in this gaming family, cannot be easily duplicated.  And there is a real strength in that.  One that far supersedes mere pixels on a screen. 

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Beta Burnout is Real

A lot of our core players have decided to take a break because we know that this beta is getting extended; probably will not see a release until the first quarter of 2017.  Due to that fact a lot of our core is taking a break from the beta.  This has traditionally been a real stickler for us.  When we play a beta, we expect to be able at some very near future see the release of the game. In both instances, we’ve been bitten and now are twice shy.   Speculation has us delaying this beta for quite some time based on the post here by the CEO of Sandbox Interactive, known as Korn.

First of all, I’d like to point out that we have always been very clear about our philosophy with regards to Albion Online: the main goal is for the game to be successful in the long term. The game will be released when we believe that it’s able to achieve that goal. Every time we gave an indication for a release date, we always made that clear.

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Built to Fight: TLP Forms Alliance, Rest in Pieces

Much like we did in the first beta, we continue to foster friendships and collaboration by focusing our members to fight against the horde that is [REIGN] who continues to stomp out any that cross their path. Some of the smaller guilds are going to have to make some very tough choices — either they learn to work together or start thinking about merging into bigger guilds.  Albion seems to be no place for the small, tight knit groups of the past because we’re being forced out of existence.  It’s time to organize and centralize to put forth an effort to not be engulfed by, or eaten alive in some instances, the zerg.

We have always created alliances in every game we have played, Albion is no different.  In our first beta, we had the name Rest in Pieces (long before there was ever a guild with the same name) for our alliance.  It was one of the first things we did.  Now, we dust off the name and put it back to good use as we form the [RIP] alliance of Redwater.  We’ve aligned ourselves with some great guilds that have for the better part moved into Redwater Bend and plan to make this place their home — at least for the duration of this final beta.

With events, GvG practices, dungeon crawls, and more organized and led by competent leaders, we think we have a good shot at holding our own.

Final Beta is Live Now!

The wait is over! Final Beta has now officially started and adventurers are already making their way through the King’s and Queen’s Isles.

What Can You Expect in Final Beta?

Are you already on the Final Beta hypetrain? Find out what’s coming your way in our latest video!

Final Beta starts with the server wiped clean, and a brand new world to explore, as well as many new and reworked features. Here is a quick overview of what you can expect:

  • New World: Royal Continents and The Outlands
  • Biomes: Swamps, Steppes and Mountains
  • New Powerful Artifact Weapons, Off-Hands and Armor Sets
  • Reworked Guild vs. Guild Battles
  • New Reputation and Crime System
  • Reworked Destiny Board
  • … and more!

Want to learn more about the upcoming Final Beta? Check out the Final Beta update page here!

Your Adventure Begins Now!

Legendary Founders have immediate access to Final Beta, while Epic Founders will be able to join tomorrow, August 2, at 12:00 UTC, and Veteran Founders can hop on the live server on August 3, at 12:00 UTC.

Not yet a Legendary Founder? Purchase your Founder’s Pack or upgrade your current pack in the Albion Online shop to get immediate access to the Final Beta!