[url=https://www.youtube.com/embed/QugOoOMunsk][img]https://i.imgur.com/Ath54o8.png[/img][/url] In the first Dev Talk since Albion's free-to-play launch, Robin Henkys, Game Director of Albion Online, looks back on the last few weeks and offers a special greeting to those who have just joined the game. He then discusses the changes that the Oberon Midseason Patch will bring to Albion, and gives a preview of what's coming with the Percival update. No time to watch the video? Read on for a summary of his talk: [h1][b]What this talk covers[/b][/h1][list] [*]Albion since the F2P launch[/*] [*]The Oberon Midseason Patch[/*] [*]Next steps for Albion[/*][/list][h1][b]Albion since the F2P launch[/b][/h1] First off, we want to thank all of you for making the free-to-play release of Albion a huge success! Since the release, Albion has increased its player count by a factor of more than 10. The game currently rivals some of the bigger MMORPGs out there in terms of concurrent players, with all of them in one coherent world. The last four weeks have been a blur for us: we’ve been rushing from fixing initially widespread (but thankfully short-lived) network problems to dealing with large fight performance issues, marketplace overloads, and various other problems. Ultimately, we're thankful for these issues, because they attest to the success of this iteration of Albion. We’re now in the final stages of dealing with the large fight performance problem and we feel we’re ready for the second reset reset day of the season. We can’t wait to see the massive battles which will ensue with all the new players joining the fray! [h1][b]The Oberon Midseason Patch[/b][/h1] And this brings us to where we are now: [b]Oberon Patch 5[/b], otherwise known as the [b]Oberon Midseason Patch[/b]. As usual, this patch contains a number of balance changes and improvements, as well as a new Favorite Island feature, which has long been our most requested quality-of-life improvement. Most importantly, this patch contains Albion’s first [b]major land expansion[/b] since its release in 2017. Some of you may be skeptical about increasing land size due to your experience in Beta 2, but we can assure you that Albion has never ever had remotely this many players - and if these players are going to make a home in the world of Albion, they'll need a place to live. This is why the Midseason Patch introduces[b] three new Outland sections, whose territories will become claimable during the regular reset times on the second Invasion day of Season 6 (May 18)[/b]. These territories and any activities in the new Outland section [b]will not contribute any points to guilds competing in Season 6[/b]. Instead, they are an ideal space for new guilds and alliances to familiarize with Albion’s guild vs. guild mechanics and prepare themselves for the launch of Season 7 as the established guilds fight out the rest of Season 6! [h1][b]Next steps for Albion[/b][/h1] With the free-to-play rush and the Midseason Patch behind us, we’re now focusing entirely on the development of the [b]Percival update[/b] and the [url=https://forum.albiononline.com/index.php/Thread/104122][b]roadmap[/b][/url] we announced with the release of the last major update. Work on the [b]solo versions of the Randomized Dungeons[/b] is progressing nicely and we’ll also soon be ready to talk more about the various improvements to [b]character customisation[/b] and [b]vanity options[/b] we’re working on. That's all for today - stay tuned for more Dev Talks coming in a few weeks, best of luck during the next Invasion Day, and stay safe out there on the roads of Albion!