As the final Invasion Day of Season 24 approaches this weekend, guilds are preparing for the final push. Here's a recap of the state of play after the previous Invasion Day:

• Albion Americas: Members of the AZULE alliance have been holding the top two spots, with The Lonely Men close behind. With their allies FAX in 4th, The Lonely Men pose an even greater threat to the top two as we reach the season’s end.
• Albion Europe: The big war between the FFlow and BOBER coalitions saw the fall of Sex and Flex's headquarters, leaving POLSKA GUROM in a dominant position. With the support of their allies, POLSKA GUROM has a clear path to victory, and many guilds are now focused on securing Crystal and Gold rankings.
• Albion Asia: One Gin is on track to surpass 1.3 million Season Points – an all-time Albion record! With a surely unassailable lead, the question is just how many points they’ll gather as this historic season draws to a close.

The final Invasion Day of Season 24 will reset all territories, giving guilds one last chance to earn points before the season ends on October 21 and the final ranks (and rewards) are set. Tune in to watch it all play out live on http://twitch.tv/AlbionTV, with Robinhoodrs, Shozen, Lewpac, Bogul, and Tazzik providing commentary and analysis:

• Albion Asia: October 19, 14:00 UTC
• Albion Europe: October 19, 18:00 UTC
• Albion Americas: October 20, 01:00 UTC

After a short break, Guild Season 25 begins on November 2. For the full schedule, see this forum post[forum.albiononline.com].

Developing your character in Albion Online is a journey with many possibilities, and Learning Points can help you progress essentially five times as quickly. This guide shows how Learning Points work, how to earn them, and how to use them wisely to advance in the areas that matter to you.

Learning points, (LP for short) allow your character to accelerate progress considerably on the Destiny Board.

Once you’ve reached at least 20% of progress in a given node (a mastery level of a specific skill), you’ll unlock the option to immediately complete that level by spending Learning Points. This is indicated by a line in the progress bar of a given node.

• Open the Destiny Board (Hotkey: B)
• Select the node you wish to learn
• Click “Learn” to spend the necessary Learning Points and complete that level

The amount of Learning Points needed to complete a node depends on the amount of Fame that would otherwise be required to complete it. It also scales with the type and level of the node you wish to complete. Each Learning Point counts for more Fame at higher levels on the Destiny Board.

To automatically learn a node without having to go through this process every time, you can activate Auto-Learn. This will use Learning Points in the selected nodes once the 20% threshold has been reached. For this to work, you need to have Auto-Learn selected in both the node you wish to progress, as well as the main Auto-Learn option located at the top-right of the Destiny Board. Here you can also see your current amount of Learning Points.

Learning Points can be obtained in several ways:

• You automatically earn 30 LP every day by having active Premium status
  • With Premium you receive 1 point every 48 minutes, whether you’re online or not
• You will also receive 500 Learning Points the first time you purchase 7 days Premium or more for a character
• Mastery Packs[albiononline.com] contain different amounts of Learning Points, depending on the tier you purchase
• Non-Premium characters can earn 10 Learning Points by completing the daily Adventurer’s Challenge
• You can obtain Tomes of Learning by completing certain Albion Journal missions.
  • These reward a certain amount of Learning Points when used, depending on their tier

There is no limit to how many Learning Points you can accumulate, so you might want to save them for the right opportunity.

Learning Points can be used to progress in most areas of your Destiny Board.

Combat

You can spend Learning Points on Weapon/Armor mastery to unlock the ability to use higher-tier items. If used on the specialization nodes on the outside of the Destiny Board, you can boost your Item Power of each item.

Tip: Since combat Fame is comparatively easy to come by in Albion, you may want to consider using your Learning Points on other areas that you wish to progress first.

Crafting

Similarly to combat, crafting mastery allows you to craft higher-tier items, while specialization reduces Focus costs and increases the chances of crafting higher quality items.

Tip: It is often recommended to use Learning Points to progress through lower-level crafting specializations, allowing you to unlock more valuable, higher-level crafting easily.

Refining

When it comes to refining, the first level within a node unlocks the ability to refine a new tier of materials. After that, additional levels increase your Focus efficiency.

Tip: If you’re interested in refining, it’s often recommended to use Learning Points to increase your specialization and become a master refiner.

Gathering

Gathering nodes work like refining. Reaching the first level of a node will unlock a new tier of gathering tools and gathering armor, while further levels within a node increase the gathering speed and yield of resources within that tier.

Tip: Gathering is a great place to use Learning Points early on. It is often recommended to use Learning Points to unlock the first level of a new gathering tier, so that you can use better tools and gathering armor while starting to progress towards the next tier.

Learning Points can not be used to boost progress through the Adventurer and Reaver nodes, nor on cooking, alchemy, and farming.

How you spend your Learning Points is ultimately up to you, and really depends on the activities you want to do in Albion. And remember, if at any point you’re unsure, you can always hold onto your Learning Points for now and use them later. Happy learning!