ATLANTIS

Seasonal Albion Online Concept

Megamind
Super-Secret Canadian Lair
Canada
grevej@gmail.com

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Atlantis – Seasonal Albion Online Concept

Table of Contents

Overview .......................................................................................................................................... 3

Assumptions .................................................................................................................................... 3

Lore.................................................................................................................................................. 4

Economy .......................................................................................................................................... 5

Atlantis: The World ........................................................................................................................... 6

Atlantis: Zone Design ....................................................................................................................... 9

Variances ....................................................................................................................................... 11

Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 11
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Overview
The Atlantis concept is a term that has been thrown around to represent
seasonal Albion Online gameplay. Various forum posts1 suggest that the
Atlantis idea was, at one point, on the Sandbox Interactive radar in at least a
conceptual format.

This document aims to present a functional, high level overview scenario in

which the Atlantis concept can flourish. The Atlantis – Seasonal Albion Online
Concept document touches on all aspects of Albion, and aims to provide an
objective perspective on how this goal could be accomplished, how it would
integrate with the existing world, and what potential risks and outcomes can be
expected.

Assumptions
To provide an argumentative standpoint on topics pertaining to Atlantis, we must
operate on certain assumptions regarding its purpose. The following
assumptions will be utilized when discussing various topics pertaining to
Atlantis:

1. The primary goal of Atlantis is to provide an alternate game

experience to the standard Albion Online, yet still abide by the same
framework laid out by the static world
2. Atlantis should not harm, nor hinder, the existing static world in any
facet (economy, combat, power projection, etc.)
3. Atlantis should aim to bring back players whom have left the game
for various reasons, as well as drive organic growth of new players
4. Atlantis should provide organic means for profit flow to Sandbox
Interactive (gold sales, premium subscriptions, game sales, etc.)
5. Atlantis should fit into the lore of the Albion Online universe while
still being considered seasonal, with a reset/launch like nature
6. Atlantis is a recurring 60-day season, with a 1 month break between
seasons (3-month total rotation, 4 seasons per year)
7. You may only bring items back from Atlantis at seasons end

1 https://forum.albiononline.com/index.php/Thread/83294-Seasonal-server-D/?postID=757754#post757754
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Lore
The lore of Albion Online is something that, while perhaps often overlooked, is
essential to the Atlantis concept being successful. For the game world to feel
natural, especially when creating a new location within the game, the
introduction of Atlantis must fall in line with the lore of the Albion Online
universe.

The currently presented lore2 of Albion Online works in favor of the Atlantis
concept. Specifically, we can reference the “15 Years Ago” section until present
to find an opportunity to introduce Atlantis.

Albion has been peaceful for over a millennium and the magical mists
surrounding it begin to fade. The King feels it is time to begin exploration once
again and sends a group of explorers to scout and report. This description
abides us a sort of reset, or starting point, for the world of Albion in which the
player can perceive; it is just prior to launch.

The “1 Year Ago” instance of the timeline provides the entrance point for both
the Albion Online world as the player knows it, as well as the Atlantis concept
should it be introduced. The colonies are now deemed safe enough to occupy
and the world as we know it begins for the player base, but what has come of
the land in which the King resides since the launch of Albion Online? Where is
this country? Has it progressed? Has Albion surpassed it because of its wealth
of resources? These are all questions the Atlantis concept could answer from a
lore perspective.

As the King is so prominently featured within the lore already, to provide natural
integration the Atlantis concept should have its lore match. Assets similar in
name to beta iterations3 of the game could be used to attain just such a tie in.
The lore behind Atlantis is then as simple as the King allowing return charters
from Albion, forfeiting all goods to the crown prior to your arrival.

2 https://albiononline.com/en/lore/history
3 http://albiononline.wikia.com/wiki/File:Albion_map_part1.png
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Economy
The economic impact in Atlantis is simple to approach. The concept being that
nothing comes with you when you arrive to Atlantis means that the local
economy itself is reset. This scenario properly mimics launch of Albion Online
and levels the playing field regarding currency, materials, and economic
advantage.

Beyond that we need to consider an accelerated economy because of the

seasonal nature of the game in this situation. Factors such as travelling distance
(time per zone, zones per route, etc.), overall silver generation, resource
availability, population, and world progression (available crafting stations, etc.)
must all be kept in mind when determining proper economic balance for Atlantis.
An example of this is the respawn modifier modification on resource nodes
during beta/release launches of Albion Online. Due to an influx in player
population in starting zones, respawn rates must be modified initially to allow for
proper progression with a massive influx of players. A 60-day season should
allow for minimal resource allocation/cycle time from Sandbox Interactive’s
perspective as the current numbers favor maximum progression in that amount
of time for competitive players and more than substantial progression for
average players.

The economic impact to Albion must also be considered as per assumption 2 in

this document. In theory Albion will experience influxes of economic impact
coinciding with seasons end and the ability to return to Albion with anything
gained on Atlantis. This will provide Albion a more dynamic economy overall
with more fluctuation (actual occurrence of season end vs anticipation of it, etc.)
and potentially help seed the outlier markets (non-Caerleon) as many people
may not wish to move that many items (assuming the return to Albion is the
same as launch and you start in a landing zone).

Should the Atlantis concept come to fruition, you may see more economic
potential in Albion from the player base that enjoys profit generation and
economic stimulation. The season is ending, and all outlier cities have a
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massive influx of goods to move. This also opens great potential for player
contracts should that be developed in the future.

Atlantis: The World

With Atlantis attempting to cater to the progressive player base, the world
design itself is of the utmost importance. Progression itself must be the primary
consideration when designing the world. The following concept4 has, in the past,
been given positive representation from the veteran community as well as hyper
progression focused individuals:

This design was initially presented regarding Outlands feedback on the Round
Table forums. It coincided with additional information and is slightly out of

4 https://forum.albiononline.com/index.php/Thread/49990-Outlands-Feedback/?postID=497830#post497830
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context for the Atlantis purpose as it included potential expansion requirements

for scalar design.

As a result, I have re-purposed this design to the following which I believe to be

sound for the Atlantis concept:

The overall principle being that symmetry provides an equal playing field which
is ideal for competitive scenarios, while straying slightly from perfect symmetry
to allow for outlying factors to come into play (longer but safer trade routes,
remote locations for potentially less competition on resources nodes, etc.).

In the above example I would like to point out the 2 main contrasts to overall
world design in comparison to the Albion world:

1. Resource allocation incentivizes progression due to limitations on what is

available but also doesn’t restrict availability in higher tier zones
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2. The only T8 resources available are in a raid zone with no territory (old
Hollow Heart asset)

With resource allocation configured in this manner, it makes T8 highly

competitive as the entire high-end community will be fighting over the resource
spawns in a singular zone on the continent. In theory this zone will also contain
the only raid content on the continent, likely providing the best fame, and thus
be highly contested for both available materials and fame alike.

Hollow Heart and Hollow Soul are widely regarded as some of the most well
thought out map designs in the history of Albion Online. These T8 zones were
the only source of T8 material in the game during beta phase 1, as well as the
only raid content. Respawn rates were 2 hours and as a result, there was
constant combat in this zone nearly every hour of the day while competitive
teams fought to earn the best materials and fame in the game.

This configuration also allows for biome allocation to become a more prominent
player in resource availability due to the placement of the system owned cities.
Having yellow zone cities being offset on the bias from the red zone cities, we
now incentivize local markets for primary resources. To promote constant
conflict in Atlantis ideally you would see, for example, the south east yellow
zone city having the primary lacking resources of the north west yellow zone city
(and the same for the red zone cities). This ensures constant requirement for
material transportation and the potential for conflict. Varying routes exist
because of the geometry allowing for safer, but longer caravans or alternatively
short yet dangerous caravans.

As Atlantis is considered the originating location of the King prior to the Albion
expeditions and eventual settlement, it makes sense to reuse assets from the
beta period. I understand the assets themselves in a technical sense are unable
to be reused as is, but recreating them or their likeness would go a long way into
reinvigorating the community. The alpha/beta period of Albion Online is its
history, and as such it makes sense to utilize that value within the lore as well –
this is a value add for the historic population we are attempting to draw back to
the game.
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Atlantis: Zone Design

Zone Design is another widely contested topic in Albion Online, with the
consensus that zone size increased too much and geographically the world
became “large squares devoid of diversity”. With Atlantis we aim to fix that by,
again, reimplementing features found in Albion’s history. Below are previous
zone designs taken from various tests:
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Features of note in the previously shown images that current Albion zone design
lacks today:

• Zones that were populated with home territories had many more territories
in them (6-8)
• Resource plot only zones also had dungeons/chests/warcamps/altars in
them to make them attractive/conflict ridden
• Geographic designs of the zones themselves favored combat tactics that
don’t exist in Albion (single entrance single exit routes, routes that are only
available if the territory is owned, i.e. Ichordew, etc.)
• GvG map variation because of resource plots that were specific to
resource type (mines/forest/farm/silver)
• Home plots in every zone color starting from yellow
• Overall zone size reduction

The above-mentioned features cater to progression vastly more than the current
Albion world does. Allowing guilds to have a home plot in a safe zone (yellow)
allows them to have a proving ground and base of operations to assist in
progression. The concept is that if you are new or smaller or just learning, you
would settle in yellow and fight those settled around you. As you build up
confidence and material bank/gear sets, you perhaps decide to push into red.
The same situation then reoccurs should you attempt to push in to black zones.

Of course, the territory rush at the beginning of the game is often considered the
most fun few days in Albion’s history and as such will almost always be
dominated by seasoned players, unfortunately I see no way to avoid this. With
that in mind, this system at least allows for a slower start without being so
crippling to overall progression. It also provides an avenue for players who are
entirely content with remaining in a yellow zone to have a home as opposed to
dwelling on a guild island in a city. It affords them a sense of pride and
ownership in the world outside the city, and it is something they will avidly
defend any time a threat is imposed.

This is the kind of conflict and feeling that Atlantis will strive for.
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Variances
A few defining features of Atlantis will assist in ensuring open world strife and
conflict occurs that ties in with the lore as mentioned in the Lore section of this
document. These items have not been covered previously within this high-level
overview:

• Relics are crafted at altars found in the open world as Atlantis has yet to
develop artifact foundries due to its lack of resource abundance
• Veteran/Elite dungeon availability is reduced to entice conflict
• Mob respawn timer in dungeon is increased to entice conflict
• Expeditions don’t exist
• GvG window can slide within a preset timeframe (4-hour window, 2 hours
dictated by primetime to ensure zone overlap, the other 2 hours
determined by the guild as to either be before or after the primetime
window)

Conclusion
The Atlantis concept is something that could create a large draw to both an avid,
yet retired, player base as well as providing organic growth because of a slightly
varying rule set that caters towards a progression based reset concept. While
the document itself should be considered a work in progress and open to all
critique, I believe it is a solid foundation for additional work moving forward.

The information presented within this document is compiled from multiple

sources and has been vetted amongst a large amount of competitive and
veteran players alike. With more and more forum threads5 being created
regarding something seasonal, perhaps it is time to take a more refined
approach towards the idea.

5https://forum.albiononline.com/index.php/Thread/83571-What-would-it-take-to-bring-YOU-back-to-AO/
https://forum.albiononline.com/index.php/Thread/83294-Seasonal-server-D/
https://forum.albiononline.com/index.php/Thread/50613-How-is-this-game-going-to-make-it-longterm/
https://forum.albiononline.com/index.php/Thread/46298-What-do-you-feel-about-global-seasonal-new-servers-
and-special-extra-rare-drops/
https://forum.albiononline.com/index.php/Thread/40248-Seasons-will-solve-your-problems/