The closed beta will be extended until at least 1st August 2016

The game will not be free to play at launch



Of course, all founder's will automatically get full access to the game on release as well.

Major Game Improvements

Note: 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





Dear Fellow Adventurers,now that the closed beta test is in full swing, we have a very important announcement to make.Our goal is for Albion Online to be a long term success, therefore, we only want to release the game when it is truly up to its potential. The extension of the closed beta period will allow us to make significant improvements to the game.For this reason, we are putting the free to play plans on hold as well. 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.When the game goes live, current founder’s packs will be discontinued and replaced with starter packs, which will give full access to the game but offer less value for money than the founder’s packs as this is only fair to all founders who help us in making the game.We are truly overwhelmed by the success of Albion Online thus far and would like to thank all of your for your ongoing support and feedback. Together, we will make sure that Albion Online will be a great game made to last.Your Albion Online TeamKind regards,StefanPS.: Thank you from the whole "Albion Online Team" for your support!