I'm a Roman history enthusiast, but no historian by any means, and would like your thoughts on the following. I'm now going through the history of rome podcast. In the year of the five emperors, Severus promised to make Albinus his heir if he would accept his rule. Albinus had before made pro republican statements (though who knows how honest he was), and seems to have been both fairly competent and failry integrous.

Sure, the Western Roman Empire will not fall for quite some time, and there are many ups and downs to come. On the other hand, the Severan dynasty was plagued by instability, and the increased exclusion of the aristocracy seems to have played a role in much of the turmoil. Do you think Albinus would have preserved more of the decentralized power? Do you think this would have long term effects on the Empire?