Edit: I have moved this from the other community, as I didn't know this "community" existed until after I made the initial post, sorry for the second post.
Note: I'm not a frequent poster here but I am a frequent reader. I also want to say that this is all very raw as I have read the leak a few days ago and the official announcement just in the past bit. I did read everything, though. I read about the timeline, the founder packs, the details, the tradeables, the reservations, etc. I read and watched it all.
To give some context on myself, I'm a player with just about 1000 hours on a single character, and in this time I've played for a short time from my hometown in Eastern USA, from Western EU for a year when I was in a university, and the vast majority in Japan (probably about 800 of the 1000 hours). So I think I can provide a perspective that may be of value here.
I also should start off by saying too that I know there is an upcoming Q&A session, but that is part of the reason I'm making this post, see below my point 3.
First of all, I want to congratulate SBI on reaching such a level that this is even possible, and not only that, but warranted. Albion Online really is growing into a massive game. The current "Albion West" is such a full world now, almost too full. The creation of all the new zones such as the Roads and Mists (including the zones around Brecilien) have made a lot more space but with the introduction of mobile the world is so teeming with life everywhere. it's a great feat. Congratulations to SBI!
That being said, this is not the primary purpose of my post, and I know this is going to be long and potentially jumbled, so my apologies. In this post I want to talk about three things.
1) Whether the creation of the "Albion East" server was really the best solution
2) My personal problem with the new setup
3) Really committing to the new region as much as the original.
Let's get started...
1) Whether the creation of the "Albion East" server was really the best solution
If you ask me (I know none of you did), there were two possible solutions to the current issue. And before we talk about the solutions we must define the current issue. The issue is/was, in my eyes, Albion Online is fundamentally about one shared world for all. But this setup comes at a detriment to people outside of a particular region to varying degrees. Players on the east coast of USA, West EU, and West NA have optimal or satisfactory playing conditions, and those outside of this space have a drastically worse play experience.
Before I go any further I should concede I think Albion handles ping differences and lag better than any game I've ever played. There are so many games that don't have servers in Asia that I want to play but feel extremely punishing to play. Not even playing with friends is a good enough reason for me to play League of Legends on NA East servers because it handles horribly there. I love playing Lethal League Blaze, one of my favorite games of all time, but matching with a person from USA? Forget about it.
Despite Albion being based in Washington DC, and me having 200 ping on average, I have put 1000 hours into this game, and that is as a solo player!
There were two solutions to the issue, one of which was the solution SBI have chosen, the other which was to tie in-game regions to their real world regions. In essence, this would tie a fifth of the zones to NA, a fifth to SA, a fifth to Central Asia/Africa, a fifth to EU, and a fifth to Asia/Pacific. This has some issues, like that 20% of the playerbase probably does not come from each region, but these numbers could be adjusted. It's definitely not an elegant solution, because some type of UI indicator would be required in-game to indicate which zones are tied to which regions, and players would undoubtedly argue over which regions were more valuable than others and why some regions got them but others didn't.
However, the brilliant part of this is that it maintains the thing which makes Albion Online special. What has always made Albion Online special is that it's one world. You, I, and everyone else, share the same history on the world. We all were there when X or Y happened. The guilds that dominated my world, the ZvZ's that were fought over zones were all a part of our world. This kind of thing *doesn't* happen in World of Warcraft or Lost Ark or other MMOs, it doesn't even really happen in Runescape because of the different sandbox nature of Albion Online, although Runescape is still a sandbox.
In this other solution, players would still have the option to play with worse ping, but would never be forced to. And considering the majority of the playerbase has always played with suboptimal ping, there would probably be a large region of the world which would feel good to us!
All this being said, the current path that Sandbox have chosen does not allow for any of this. And it notably does nothing for the EU players, who might be the second largest group of players apart from NA. This does nothing for SA players, and very little for Central Asia. I make these points as someone who has the most to gain by living in Japan.
In conclusion, I think the solution of tying in-game regions to different server regions would have preserved the essenc
e of Albion Online better, while also allowing the improved gameplay experience that the new "Albion East" server provides, too.
2) My personal problem with the new setup
SBI have done a fantastic job with Albion Online. To their credit, they've made not only one of the best sandbox MMO's, but also one of the best full-loot PvP games out there. It's one of the best MMO's of all time, not only in the full-loot or sandbox genre. Allowing this game to be played for free not only for PC players but also for mobile players, who have an absolutely abysmal marketplace of games to play from, is an astonishingly great feat.
All that being said, SBI has a large group of players to thank for making the new "Albion East" server possible, and that is all the people who have been playing and supporting Albion Online for years from this region. We've been paying SBI money, generating buzz, and playing and creating content for their game for years at this point despite the less-than-stellar experience at times (for almost a full year between 2021-2022 there were issues of connecting to the game for numerous Asia regions without VPN's).
It is my opinion, and I can imagine others' as well, that the "fresh start" for all is a bit of a kick in the tooth.
I love Albion Online. If not, I wouldn't have played it for 1000 hours now. I have been yearning to have an experience which is more optimal, especially for the PvP side of things. That being said, it is a very, very, very, very, hard choice to start a new character with none of the progression I have built over 1000 hours.
Let me put it this way, I don't know if it's worth it for me to join a more optimal server if it means I have to give up on my one thousand hours of progress on my character.
For there to not be any workaround for this issue is astonishing to me. I would pay money in order to transfer just my character to the new server. (For the record I think it should be a free service, but I think my position here is not one to demand). I wouldn't even be upset about losing all of my silver, all of my gold, all of my materials, my island, all of my armor and weapons, etc. I wouldn't care at all. What I am most upset about is the time and progression on my character I'd be losing.
I frankly don't think it's fair to be forced to make the decision of whether to pursue a better play experience and sacrifice thousands of hours of progression or forego the better experience and keep my progress.
Please add an option for us to transfer just our characters (i.e. name, vanity, and destiny board progress, and that's it) to the new server. (Even if this means we have to wait six months or a year to do so)
3) Really committing to the new region as much as the original.
Finally, and minorly, I think that Sandbox should really show a commitment to the new server. The considerations of the new "Albion East" server's reset time, Crystal League times, treasure spawns, etc. are great. I think these are things they could've skipped over for ease's sake and they have little monetary incentive to do so. That being said, the announcement of the upcoming Q&A session on January 24th is taking place at 19:00UTC. For those of you unaware, that's 4AM Japan time, 3AM Singapore, 6AM for majority of Australia, 3AM for Beijing, etc.
For a Q&A session based on the topic of the new Albion East server, this seems like a mighty bad time slot.
I understand that the optimal time slots for "Albion East" players would be pretty bad for a development team based in Germany, but you are the ones who decided to offer a server to Asia. You clearly know that to properly set your game up for success in the region you ought to consider the timezone shifts, so why have a Q&A session which will allow nearly none of us to watch?
If you want to show your commitment to the region and its health, please offer another Q&A session at a better time for the players most concerned with the announcement, or reschedule the current Q&A time around them.
In conclusion,
I am very thankful SBI has taken this historic step to take the game to the next level. I will undoubtedly play some, but I have major concerns over whether this was the right direction to take (which nothing can be done it now I guess), and I think there are some decisions SBI could still make to ensure a better experience for those most affected by the new decision.
Sorry for the long post, congratulations to SBI, and I hope you all keep things civil in the replies if you even bothered to read this at all.
Note: I'm not a frequent poster here but I am a frequent reader. I also want to say that this is all very raw as I have read the leak a few days ago and the official announcement just in the past bit. I did read everything, though. I read about the timeline, the founder packs, the details, the tradeables, the reservations, etc. I read and watched it all.
To give some context on myself, I'm a player with just about 1000 hours on a single character, and in this time I've played for a short time from my hometown in Eastern USA, from Western EU for a year when I was in a university, and the vast majority in Japan (probably about 800 of the 1000 hours). So I think I can provide a perspective that may be of value here.
I also should start off by saying too that I know there is an upcoming Q&A session, but that is part of the reason I'm making this post, see below my point 3.
First of all, I want to congratulate SBI on reaching such a level that this is even possible, and not only that, but warranted. Albion Online really is growing into a massive game. The current "Albion West" is such a full world now, almost too full. The creation of all the new zones such as the Roads and Mists (including the zones around Brecilien) have made a lot more space but with the introduction of mobile the world is so teeming with life everywhere. it's a great feat. Congratulations to SBI!
That being said, this is not the primary purpose of my post, and I know this is going to be long and potentially jumbled, so my apologies. In this post I want to talk about three things.
1) Whether the creation of the "Albion East" server was really the best solution
2) My personal problem with the new setup
3) Really committing to the new region as much as the original.
Let's get started...
1) Whether the creation of the "Albion East" server was really the best solution
If you ask me (I know none of you did), there were two possible solutions to the current issue. And before we talk about the solutions we must define the current issue. The issue is/was, in my eyes, Albion Online is fundamentally about one shared world for all. But this setup comes at a detriment to people outside of a particular region to varying degrees. Players on the east coast of USA, West EU, and West NA have optimal or satisfactory playing conditions, and those outside of this space have a drastically worse play experience.
Before I go any further I should concede I think Albion handles ping differences and lag better than any game I've ever played. There are so many games that don't have servers in Asia that I want to play but feel extremely punishing to play. Not even playing with friends is a good enough reason for me to play League of Legends on NA East servers because it handles horribly there. I love playing Lethal League Blaze, one of my favorite games of all time, but matching with a person from USA? Forget about it.
Despite Albion being based in Washington DC, and me having 200 ping on average, I have put 1000 hours into this game, and that is as a solo player!
There were two solutions to the issue, one of which was the solution SBI have chosen, the other which was to tie in-game regions to their real world regions. In essence, this would tie a fifth of the zones to NA, a fifth to SA, a fifth to Central Asia/Africa, a fifth to EU, and a fifth to Asia/Pacific. This has some issues, like that 20% of the playerbase probably does not come from each region, but these numbers could be adjusted. It's definitely not an elegant solution, because some type of UI indicator would be required in-game to indicate which zones are tied to which regions, and players would undoubtedly argue over which regions were more valuable than others and why some regions got them but others didn't.
However, the brilliant part of this is that it maintains the thing which makes Albion Online special. What has always made Albion Online special is that it's one world. You, I, and everyone else, share the same history on the world. We all were there when X or Y happened. The guilds that dominated my world, the ZvZ's that were fought over zones were all a part of our world. This kind of thing *doesn't* happen in World of Warcraft or Lost Ark or other MMOs, it doesn't even really happen in Runescape because of the different sandbox nature of Albion Online, although Runescape is still a sandbox.
In this other solution, players would still have the option to play with worse ping, but would never be forced to. And considering the majority of the playerbase has always played with suboptimal ping, there would probably be a large region of the world which would feel good to us!
All this being said, the current path that Sandbox have chosen does not allow for any of this. And it notably does nothing for the EU players, who might be the second largest group of players apart from NA. This does nothing for SA players, and very little for Central Asia. I make these points as someone who has the most to gain by living in Japan.
In conclusion, I think the solution of tying in-game regions to different server regions would have preserved the essenc
e of Albion Online better, while also allowing the improved gameplay experience that the new "Albion East" server provides, too.
2) My personal problem with the new setup
SBI have done a fantastic job with Albion Online. To their credit, they've made not only one of the best sandbox MMO's, but also one of the best full-loot PvP games out there. It's one of the best MMO's of all time, not only in the full-loot or sandbox genre. Allowing this game to be played for free not only for PC players but also for mobile players, who have an absolutely abysmal marketplace of games to play from, is an astonishingly great feat.
All that being said, SBI has a large group of players to thank for making the new "Albion East" server possible, and that is all the people who have been playing and supporting Albion Online for years from this region. We've been paying SBI money, generating buzz, and playing and creating content for their game for years at this point despite the less-than-stellar experience at times (for almost a full year between 2021-2022 there were issues of connecting to the game for numerous Asia regions without VPN's).
It is my opinion, and I can imagine others' as well, that the "fresh start" for all is a bit of a kick in the tooth.
I love Albion Online. If not, I wouldn't have played it for 1000 hours now. I have been yearning to have an experience which is more optimal, especially for the PvP side of things. That being said, it is a very, very, very, very, hard choice to start a new character with none of the progression I have built over 1000 hours.
Let me put it this way, I don't know if it's worth it for me to join a more optimal server if it means I have to give up on my one thousand hours of progress on my character.
For there to not be any workaround for this issue is astonishing to me. I would pay money in order to transfer just my character to the new server. (For the record I think it should be a free service, but I think my position here is not one to demand). I wouldn't even be upset about losing all of my silver, all of my gold, all of my materials, my island, all of my armor and weapons, etc. I wouldn't care at all. What I am most upset about is the time and progression on my character I'd be losing.
I frankly don't think it's fair to be forced to make the decision of whether to pursue a better play experience and sacrifice thousands of hours of progression or forego the better experience and keep my progress.
Please add an option for us to transfer just our characters (i.e. name, vanity, and destiny board progress, and that's it) to the new server. (Even if this means we have to wait six months or a year to do so)
3) Really committing to the new region as much as the original.
Finally, and minorly, I think that Sandbox should really show a commitment to the new server. The considerations of the new "Albion East" server's reset time, Crystal League times, treasure spawns, etc. are great. I think these are things they could've skipped over for ease's sake and they have little monetary incentive to do so. That being said, the announcement of the upcoming Q&A session on January 24th is taking place at 19:00UTC. For those of you unaware, that's 4AM Japan time, 3AM Singapore, 6AM for majority of Australia, 3AM for Beijing, etc.
For a Q&A session based on the topic of the new Albion East server, this seems like a mighty bad time slot.
I understand that the optimal time slots for "Albion East" players would be pretty bad for a development team based in Germany, but you are the ones who decided to offer a server to Asia. You clearly know that to properly set your game up for success in the region you ought to consider the timezone shifts, so why have a Q&A session which will allow nearly none of us to watch?
If you want to show your commitment to the region and its health, please offer another Q&A session at a better time for the players most concerned with the announcement, or reschedule the current Q&A time around them.
In conclusion,
I am very thankful SBI has taken this historic step to take the game to the next level. I will undoubtedly play some, but I have major concerns over whether this was the right direction to take (which nothing can be done it now I guess), and I think there are some decisions SBI could still make to ensure a better experience for those most affected by the new decision.
Sorry for the long post, congratulations to SBI, and I hope you all keep things civil in the replies if you even bothered to read this at all.
