It’s been a little more than a hot minute since I spent any considerable time in Albion Online. That’s not to say that the MMO hasn’t been on my mind from time to time – it really has! Nearly every update I would pine to get back in there, but then I’d talk myself out of it. And I have excuses for days, but the one that really slows me down is when I start considering how much of the game may have changed and whether I’ve got the wherewithal to push through and get back in there.

Well, the latest update might just be the one to do it! The Abyssal Depths update that launched earlier this month promises a ton of new content and improvements to gameplay – not the least of which is a new player experience. That’s exactly what I aimed to talk about when chatting up Sandbox Interactive’s Head of Operations Christoph Hombergs directly. Read on for the whole interview!

MassivelyOP: As someone who’s played Albion Online in the past but hasn’t logged on in a little while, I’d like to get straight to the first feature that really popped out at me: the revamped new player experience. What made the team decide to re-address this area of the game? Was it largely player-driven feedback or something that had been in the team’s to-do list for a while?

Sandbox Interactive’s Christoph Hombergs: As a game developer, you always want to show your game in the best possible light – there’s no second chance for a first impression, right? And Albion Online is definitely high up there in terms of complexity, vastness, and freedom for players. And yes, it was part of feedback we’d see: “This feels overwhelming, I don’t know what to do after the tutorial.” With so many additions to the game over the past years and that kind of feedback popping up somewhat regularly, it was just the right time to do it.

Can you describe what the team was thinking in refocusing the NPC quests? There was a light sense of direction for new players back when I began, but I can admit to getting aimless after progressing through the first zone or two.

That was definitely an issue we were aware of – that players were kind of dropped into a sandbox with little sense of what exactly they could do next. We wanted to provide a more structured system that introduced new content and greater challenges gradually, without taking away players’ independence and the thrill of discovery that’s so important to a sandbox game. Hopefully the new player journey strikes this balance nicely now.

Can you tell me more about the three tutorial paths: Adventurer, Duelist, and Merchant? This is something I’m kind of excited about to be fair. It certainly sounds like it may guide players towards different playstyles. Please tell me it translates to dungeon quests content, PvP content, and crafting, farming, and building content.

Almost! The Adventurer path is PvE focused, but with open-world as well as dungeon-based missions (not quests). Duelist is indeed a PvP path, with some PvE content thrown in so that players can level-up their combat gear. And Merchant focuses a lot on gathering and fishing. Overall, we want each of these to show players a range of content within that field, while still being achievable in the very early stages of the game.

OK, moving on to some of the content more veteran players can expect to enjoy – the Antiquarian’s Den. This must be some kind of lobby for quickly joining up and taking part in the new content. Can you tell me where this feature originated at?

Gameplay-wise, some of the feedback we were receiving was about how difficult or, rather, “slow” it was to run consecutive sessions of Albion’s hell-themed content (Corrupted Dungeons and Hellgates), as well as how risky it could be to find an entrance in the open world.

With the introduction of the Depths, the new PvP dungeon in the Abyssal Depths update, we wanted to reduce the friction of looking for an entrance, since the entire idea of the feature is a stepping stone for players into full-loot PvP content. That was done more easily with a hub like the Antiquarian’s Den.

Lore-wise – it’s former bathhouses from ancient times, places of community – which makes sense for a hub area.

I tend to not play well with others – I blame poor parenting – so I’m often looking for games that allow me to engage in the gameplay elements without always needing to find a group first. I recall enjoying the Corrupted Dungeons when I did go looking for them. However, those and even the Hellgates have been in Albion Online for years now. Why add them to the new Antiquarian’s Den?

Everything that is “hell-ish,” thematically, is now accessible via the Antiquarian’s Den. This significantly improves accessibility and matchmaking for these content types, and getting into the dungeons is just much simpler and more direct for players with limited time. Corrupted Dungeons are still accessible through the open world, however.

For players who do find this update and decide to begin anew – what sort of an undertaking will it be for them to go from the Adventurer’s or Duelists’ path to being able to join and be successful with the Antiquarian’s Den? Is the Den considered fully endgame content or is it something player’s still on their leveling journey can join?

The Antiquarian’s Den itself is just the hub area, so visiting that immediately is not a problem. When it comes to the content you can access there: there’s non-full-loot, like the Depths and non-full-loot Corrupted Dungeons. Additionally, we’ve seen people enter full-loot PvP areas within their first day of playing – it just took them some skill, a little bit of experience, and some time investment.

Considering that the Depths, which you can access from within the Den, are within the new PvP rule set where you only lose inventory but not your gear, you could, if you wanted to, dabble in it right out of the gate without much risk. To be successful? With 4.1 gear, a friend for coordination, and a basic understanding of team compositions and counterplay, you should be able to see some success at least.

Is there a place for more merchant-minded players in the Den?

Currently, the Den only operates as a hub for entry into the different hellish content types. As a merchant, you benefit indirectly – more participants in content means more demand on the Black Market, as well as gear destruction – which means more demand for crafted gear.

But there is a different Den for the merchants out there! Smuggler’s Dens, which came with the previous update, are hubs for the Smuggler’s Network. This is an Outlands trading system, giving players the opportunity to sell items to PvP-hungry, Outlands-based players for potentially great profits.

Finally, let’s chat about the Depths! Where did this new game mode come from and who is it for?

It came from the Depths of hell… ahem, sorry. It’s a new game mode that mainly serves as a stepping stone for players who are afraid to take the plunge into full loot PvP. Losing only your inventory, and not your gear, means there’s a limit to what you risk – while still offering the thrill of meaningful combat with loot at stake. We know that “full-loot PvP” is a scary thing to see or participate in – the Depths aim to show that it’s not that scary.

Now, when I first read about the Depths I was immediately seeing a replacement for extraction RPG players. I’ve played in more than a handful of them and while I enjoy playing them for a bit; they always leave me wanting more. That’s where I could see Albion Online bridging the gap. Was extraction RPG gameplay a factor at all?

We’re all gamers at Sandbox, with also different tastes in genres that we play. We always think from the perspective of what would work in our setting, or to achieve the design goals we currently have. And while there are definitely some similarities, nobody said “Let’s do an extraction mode in Albion Online.”

Personally I really like the idea of going in to gain rewards without putting gear on the line. Honestly, from a player perspective I think it makes a lot of sense. You’d think the best fights would pit the best players fully geared up in their best sets together but in full loot drop PvP you’ll rarely see that happen. However here – it’s a possibility. Was that a factor in your development of the Depths?

It’s a possibility, yes. But at the same time, we have a soft Item Power cap, i.e. beyond a certain Item Power level, there’s significant diminishing returns on the added power. As this content is also supposed to be a stepping stone for newer players, we didn’t want to tarnish that, by allowing people with more playtime, more skill specialization or more expensive gear to have an unmitigated advantage.

Since I haven’t played in the high endgame PvP in Albion Online, I do not know all the tiers of pain (regarding full or partial loot drop). Still, is there a chance of updating some of the game’s open world zones, or possibly adding new zones, that feature the Orange PvP ruleset?

We don’t like saying “never.” Currently, there are no concrete plans of doing that, though.

And on one last topic that spins us back around a bit: the quality of life and leveling journal updates that impact the newbie experience and veterans alike. What was the motivation to make some of the updates players are going to see here?

Finding your way (or your way back, if you’re returning) into a game as complex as Albion Online is always a bit tricky. We wanted to give better clarity on what you can do with the journal update. And all those UI quality of life features? The game got more complex throughout the years, we always need to make an effort to present the information a player needs or might want in as much of a cleaned up way as possible.

Certainly when I first took a crack at leveling up in the Journal I was overwhelmed and a bit lost with where Learning points were and weren’t best used. Will this update help out a basic boy like me?

We hope you will feel it helps this basic boy! We were trying to make it feel more rewarding to level a skill with learning points – you now see the increased progress speed as you play. … definitely use them when you’re leveling up gathering.

Last question, is there anything else new players can expect on the horizon that we haven’t already talked about here?

We still have one or two things that we’d like to make even clearer in the guided New Player Experience. And with the next update, we’ll tackle Faction Warfare, which historically also served as a stepping stone towards more “endgame” PvP activities – something that we want to emphasize even more.

Thank you again so much to the team at Sandbox Interactive and Christoph Hombergs for your time and patience in answering my questions! Abyssal Depths is live right now; you can jump into Albion Online for free on both Steam and mobile.

Every other week, Massively OP’s Sam Kash delivers Fight or Kite, our trip through the state of PvP across the MMORPG industry. Whether he’s sitting in a queue or rolling with the zerg, Sam’s all about the adrenaline rush of a good battle. Because when you boil it down, the whole reason we PvP (other than to pwn noobs) is to have fun fighting a new and unpredictable enemy!