Dragonfire awakens Albion's dragons on August 31

Albion Online now has a date for its next major update: Dragonfire arrives on August 31 and, as the name hints, it awakens the dragons that slept in Albion's ancient past. Sandbox Interactive is promising the most epic battles yet, previously unseen realms to explore and unexpected encounters out in the open world. The details came via a new Dev Talk in which Co-Creative Director Michael Schwahn walked through everything on the way.

During the Keeper Uprising, the Ashborn raised strange portals across all of Albion. Those portals lead to a long-forgotten realm: the Ancient Lands. There are portals of different sizes for different party sizes —including solo players— and entering one matches you with similarly sized groups, so the challenge scales to how you want to play.

The Ancient Lands are a cluster of floating islands linked by further portals, which you activate by defeating enemies to unlock deeper exploration. Once active, a portal becomes visible to every player inside the zone, opening new routes and letting you track rival groups' movements. The deeper you push, the more valuable the objectives get: Ashborn mobs, powerful Drakes, treasures and new Lore Fragments.

Inside the Ancient Lands you'll find tradable maps that lead to the Dragon Sanctuary, a brand-new raid dungeon. Only one party can enter at a time and it's entirely PvE: challenging mobs that demand strong gear and high-level coordination, capped off by a powerful new boss.

Beating that boss brings you closer to the ultimate goal: Azaryon, the Fire Dragon. It's the first dragon fight in Albion's history and, per the studio, the game's most ambitious PvE encounter yet: it asks for the highest levels of coordination, mastery and teamwork. In return, if your group pulls it off, the rewards are enormous (more on those below).

Now awake, the dragons don't stay confined to the Ancient Lands —they also attack Albion itself. Dragon attacks can happen on the Royal Continent and in the Outlands. On the Royal Continent they hit with very little warning; in the Outlands they're flagged further in advance, giving guilds time to mass their forces.

Anyone nearby can jump into the fight and everyone who contributes earns rewards, so even solo players can take part. It's a way of bringing large-scale PvE to every kind of player out in the open world.

Dragonfire brings a fresh haul of loot, starting with the highly coveted Drake Eggs, obtained by defeating Azaryon. With patience they can be raised into what may be Albion's most impressive mount yet: the Fire Drake. To get there, the egg has to be nourished with other mounts, like horses.

The list goes on: Dragon Bones and Dragon Wings can be crafted into armor pieces with unique abilities; a previously unknown breed of fish from the Ancient Lands cooks into food that boosts healing; and strange new ingredients yield a potion that revives your allies. On top of that, the update adds a new vanity set, Avatar and Avatar Ring to show off to friends and foes alike.

Dragonfire lands on August 31 and is shaping up to be Albion's most epic content yet. Until then you can follow the details on the official update page and wait for more Dev Talks on these features. The info comes from the Steam announcement and the studio's official Dev Talk.