Anyone still playing Asheron's Call?

[Lord Craxton]

So It looks like I'm going to have more free time soon, and I was thinking of taking up an MMOG. Problem is, my computer is damn near obsolete and I don't have a chance in hell of running any of the newer games. I used to play Asheron's Call back in the day, and thought it had lots of potential, so I've been thinking of hunting up a copy of Dark Majesty and getting back into it.

Problem is, it's been literally years since I played and I have about a bazillion questions about how things work there nowadays. Things like, what're the best templates these days? Where's a good website to keep up-to-date on things going on? Where in the game are the big community centers to meet people? How's the roleplay scene? What kind of advancement path should I plan out for my character? What are the best/worst skills? If anyone could provide me advice on how to approach the game, I'd like to hear it. Does anyone around here still play?

[Sky]

I quit in beta when they nerfed the fast unarmed punch. It needed it and I reported it, but still. Game just wasn't as fun with out my jackhammer jab (and I wore Golden Gloves ;)).

[ahoythematey]

I haven't played in a couple of years, but I'm pretty certain the Crossroads of Dereth and Maggie Jackcats's websites are your best bet for most information regarding quests, dev chats, stuff like that.  For templates I'm guessing you'll have to lurk over the dreaded vault forums for the most options.

I'm not too certain how much luck you'll have in finding the Dark Majesty box, but a new AC xpac is supposed to hit sometime soon.

[Lord Craxton]

I haven't played in a couple of years, but I'm pretty certain the Crossroads of Dereth and Maggie Jackcats's websites are your best bet for most information regarding quests, dev chats, stuff like that.  For templates I'm guessing you'll have to lurk over the dreaded vault forums for the most options.

I'm not too certain how much luck you'll have in finding the Dark Majesty box, but a new AC xpac is supposed to hit sometime soon.

Ugh. >_< I'd really rather not go to the vault boards- aside from the general stupidity there, I'd get ten different answers and then people would start arguing over them. I remember there used to be a site listing good templates, can't remember what it was called... know if it's still around?

I hadn't heard about a new expansion... Maybe I'll wait for that. I'll check Turbine's website for info.

[Evil Elvis]

www.thejackcat.com is one of hte best news sites. It keeps a listing of every patch,and what was changed/added to the game.

Mages are still the best class, followed by melees (sword>unarmed>axe in that order), and then archers.

You can salvage just about all non-quest loot.  Then you can form bags of salvage from this.  Salvage can be used to increase a weapons damage, increase it's defense modifier, increase the armor level on armor or somethings values, and more.

Another form of salvage are imbues.  You can imbue weapons which give them the effect of up to a level 5 (or 6?) vuln, and it's very possible to put together a suit of armor/jewelry/clothing that will give you all 7 protection spells, and some creature buffs, so you can actually make a non-magic template that's viable.  That's not to say people do that.. characters with magic are still far stronger.

All buffing spells now have the "windup" of a level 1 spell, and you can select yourself, cast a bane spell, and it will cast the spell on all pieces of armor you're wearing.  This makes buffing alot faster than it use to be.  There are also fellowship spells you can get from the Burun/Falatacot quests, but noone really uses em.

They've put in skill sellback, but it's on a 2 week timer.

They have a new expansion coming out which is going to increase the bit-depth on textures, but the changes look hardly noticable, and shouldn't effect your compupters performance.  They're also raising the skill cap to level 275, putting in a new race (smurfs/viamonts), new dungeons, etc.  They're also putting in some kind of gems which you can spend experience on to gain a permanent boost, like you can buy a new backpack slot, or increase your characters strength.  They're also going to add rares into the game.

Turbine bough the rights for the game from Microsoft.  The game is now available for purchase again, and dark majesty is included with all new games (and old copies).  You can purchase the game online now I think, and microsoft handles the billing (no more Zone).

Also, Decal (a 3rd party app) has taken up a huge part of the game.  Unattended Combat Macros are bannable, but everything else goes really.

There's more, but those are some of the biggest changes.

[Mi_Tes]

I still have 2 active AC accounts, but wrong time to ask.  For the first time in 4 or 5 years I am considering cancelling my accounts.  Friends are gone from the game, tired of waiting on the expansion, having too much fun with WoW, and doubtful that AC will ever rekindle the flame it once had.  I still think it is one of the best MMO's, I guess I have just moved on. 

As mentioned, Maggie the Jackcat site is awesome.  Vault is still one of the main active places to discuss AC outside the game as well as Turbine's own site.  Sadly, inside the game, other than PK/pk lite action going on at AyanB, selling at the MarketPlace, and individual Monarchy housing, there really isn't a place people hang out - it is extreemly difficult to meet new people in AC now. 

Years of no marketing and no expansion packs have really made the population numbers take a hit in the last year (perhaps indicating where other first generation games are headed soon).  From the last numbers I saw, AC is down over 80% from their peak populations several years ago.

[Cheddar]

So It looks like I'm going to have more free time soon, and I was thinking of taking up an MMOG. Problem is, my computer is damn near obsolete and I don't have a chance in hell of running any of the newer games. I used to play Asheron's Call back in the day, and thought it had lots of potential, so I've been thinking of hunting up a copy of Dark Majesty and getting back into it.

Problem is, it's been literally years since I played and I have about a bazillion questions about how things work there nowadays. Things like, what're the best templates these days? Where's a good website to keep up-to-date on things going on? Where in the game are the big community centers to meet people? How's the roleplay scene? What kind of advancement path should I plan out for my character? What are the best/worst skills? If anyone could provide me advice on how to approach the game, I'd like to hear it. Does anyone around here still play?

I will be soon... within a week.  After a few year break I jumped back into the swing of things on Darktide about 2 months ago; it was not that hard to get back into the swing of things.  Biggest thing to be careful of is the new spawn map on the mainland!  Holy cow does it get rough outside the newbie towns!  Will you be starting  on Darktide or a Non-Darktide server?

[Lord Craxton]

Oh, I'll definately be going to a "white dot" server. I'm not such a great tactician, and had enough trouble just with the mobs back when I played.

Elvis, thanks for the advice. I'm thinking of building an axe character with magic, any template recommendations?

Mi_Tes, if you're leaving, can I have your stuff? ^_^ j/k

[Evil Elvis]

spec axe
spec melee def

train healing
train arcane lore
train item magic
train mana conversion
train life magic
train creature magic

100 str
30 end
90 coord
10 quick
90 foc
10 will


I'd pick up the skills in that order.  Unused credits at char creation now rollover, and you can spec/unspec along with your skill sellback, so you could spec magic defense or life magic later on (the expansion will raise the total credit number some unknown amount too).

Once you're level 10-ish, get to nanto, and hit the Matron Hive.  In fact, you can pretty much level yourself up just from doing the matron hives in nanto->khayyaban->uziz->baishi as your levels progress.  There's also matching level restriced Brood Hive dungeons north of Bandit Castle in what's now called Olthoi North where you can get some decent complete sets of armor, but you'll need at least 1-2 people to help you run those dungeons.

[Lord Craxton]

spec axe
spec melee def

train healing
train arcane lore
train item magic
train mana conversion
train life magic
train creature magic

100 str
30 end
90 coord
10 quick
90 foc
10 will


I'd pick up the skills in that order.  Unused credits at char creation now rollover, and you can spec/unspec along with your skill sellback, so you could spec magic defense or life magic later on (the expansion will raise the total credit number some unknown amount too).

Once you're level 10-ish, get to nanto, and hit the Matron Hive.  In fact, you can pretty much level yourself up just from doing the matron hives in nanto->khayyaban->uziz->baishi as your levels progress.  There's also matching level restriced Brood Hive dungeons north of Bandit Castle in what's now called Olthoi North where you can get some decent complete sets of armor, but you'll need at least 1-2 people to help you run those dungeons.

Thanks a lot. ^_^ What about those tinkering skills, those look interesting. Should I ignore them, or can I pick them up later?

[Cheddar]

Oh, I'll definately be going to a "white dot" server. I'm not such a great tactician, and had enough trouble just with the mobs back when I played.

Elvis, thanks for the advice. I'm thinking of building an axe character with magic, any template recommendations?

Mi_Tes, if you're leaving, can I have your stuff? ^_^ j/k

Sorry I cannot help you then. DT is a completely differant atmosphere.  As far as PvP tactics; really its more like portal in, person starts ganking you as you come out of portal space, die, go wipe vitae, rinse repeat.  I look at DT as more of a challenge in wiping vitae as opposed to any form of social battling.  Unless you join one or two of the largest clans that is.  For some reason I like it.  Perhaps that helps explain my spanking fetish?

[Evil Elvis]

There's 2 type of item enhancement for tinkering: normal tinkering and imbues.

Imbuing has a hard cap of 33%, and normal tinkering which you're going to need to be at max skill if you want to fully tinker an item.  Imbues can hit the cap around 450 skill, which isn't too hard to hit w/ buffs.

if you really want to pick a tinkering skill, you should go with Weapon Tinking.  This will let you imbue your weapons with vulnerability materials, which is what will be most important to you until you hit level 100+, where armor rending/critical strike imbues from Magic Item Enchanging line become better.  It'll also allow you to put a few damage/defense/attack increase tinks on a weapon.

Gharu's also get Item Tinkering for free, since it's their racial ability.  It's not bad for tinkering up your own death items, or if you want to change the race/skill req on something.

Also, they just put in a "salvaging" skill.  The higher your salvaging skill, the more salvage you get when you salvage an item.  If you have a tinkering skill, you don't have to raise your salvaging skill.

You should read these writeups: http://ac.roaringelbow.com/tinkering.html and http://www.aclore.com/hol/pilgrimfiles/tinkering.htm

[Lord Craxton]

Thanks again elvis. You've been a big help. ^_^

[Jacob0883]

Do you have an old account to jump back into it?  I tried jumping into EQ 3 or 4 years too late and it was the worst time of my life.  I couldn't kill a damn thing and I barely made it to level like 15 before I quit.  I can't remember if AC is as group based as EQ is though.  If it is, stay away and save 15 bucks.

[ahoythematey]

AC is at the other end of the spectrum, where for the longest time soloing was more efficient than grouping.  They have made strides towards rewarding groups, but not at the detriment of solo play.

[Lord Craxton]

Well, I haven't even got my account set up yet, and already I've got a gamebreaking problem- I can't type fast enough to get past their ridiculous security measures. See, the account setup page uses one of those annoying systems that sends you a bmp of some letters and numbers and asks you to type them in within a limited time. Apparently, I can't type fast enough and the damn site keeps telling me I entered the sequence wrong. >_<

Why the hell do they even need this anyway? I thought a system like this was mainly used to cut down spammers who use scripts to set up accounts. I can't see how a MMORPG would have problems with that...

[Lord Craxton]

Well, I got to playing last night. The interface is a little akward, but I'm liking the game. You now get experience from quests, which is much more fun then just getting potions for your troubles. Thumbs up to that.

I noticed that the towns are a lot bigger and more "anchored" then I remembered... not just wood houses anymore, we've got stone towers and portals going to various other towns, and the content from the Outposts seems to have been pulled in to the town. I also hear that there's lots of smaller, player-housing villages around the place. Dereth has changed a lot since I left.

First mission I took after the academy was the Holtburg Redoubt. By the time I was done I had made almost 60,000 pyreals and gained two levels. 0_o;;;;;; Geeze, Dereth really HAS changed...

I have to say I'm a little disappointed... I had planned to take the leisurely approach to the low levels... have around the newbie towns, run the quests there, maybe collect a set of Explorer gear... but it's been less then 8 hours total playtime and I'm already level 12. I might wind up needing mules to collect those letters. (BTW, they don't seem to drop as much as they used to... in all 3 Holtburg quests I got only 1 red...)

One thing that HASN'T changed is the annoying xp whores who see a low-level character and say "Sw33T! New Vassal!" I tried to start a conversation with one of these to show him how little he really had to offer. Bad idea. He took that as a sign I needed a little convincing and I couldn't get rid of him. -_-;;;;;;; I finally started acting rude and he seemed to get the idea. I hate telling people off. It feels good but I feel guilty about it later. Even if it is some annoying snot who probably has "need a patron?" macroed.

So far, the game's very enjoyable. It runs like a dream and from what I can see has more content then 90% of the MMORPGs out there. I'll probably be sticking around here for a while.

(Now, about that Decal thing...)

[SurfD]

As a collector/explorer type player, AC is a veritable monster wet dream.  There is enough shit to see and collect in that game to keep you running abouts Dereth for years, literally.  All the neat little things you can decorate your hovel/cottage/house/mansion with, the sweet decorative orbs and other goodies.

IF it wasnt for the fact that i am utterly certain they have purged my character by now, and all my sweet loots are gone, i would probably go back just to check out new content.

[schild]

Surf, I thought the same thing about SW:G. But after 8 months, there was nothing left to do but hold my head in shame while bathing my ass in fire:

[Soukyan]

AC1 is a mighty fine game. If I had the time to do so, I would be playing it again. Glad to hear you're enjoying it, Craxton.

[Alkiera]

Um, whoa.  That's an interesting image bug, there.  Maybe upgrading to firefox 1.0.1 wasn't a good idea afterall... or maybe schild used an interesting variant of BBCode to post it.

EDIT: Hrm.  Reloaded the thread after posting, and it looks fine now.  Before, the image was hanging down over Soukyan's post, but I could see the text of Soukyan's post and schild's .sig over top of the image.  Craziness.  Perhaps excercising early in the morning is making me hallucinate.

Alkiera

[WindupAtheist]

Ah, Asheron's Call, the only other member of the former "Big Three" that was not evil.  I played you for only a week, but I wish you well.   

[Mesozoic]

There seem to be some ToD screenies up.  Marginal improvements IMO.  I hope that character models see more of an upgrade. 

Interestingly, the FAQ still points towards a Q1'05 release.

[Evil Elvis]

They aren't upgrading any of the player models.

Honestly, there's few "tangible" things coming from the expansion which one wouldn't expect from the average AC content patch: the level cap increase from 126 to 275, rare items, experience-point purchasable bonuses (like stats, skills), and a blue-hued playable race.

And there's some caveates in those, even.  Right now, even though your level caps at 126, you can continue to gain experience which you can pump into your skills.  There are tons of players out there with enough experience put into skills that they're be level 240 the second the expansion comes out.  And the rare items were originally going to be part of the monthly content patches, I believe.  The new race is just a blue-skinned rehash of our current models.  And the expansion is touted to have 4 months worth of monthly content patches.  What they don't say is that they've had to cancel AC's monthly patches for the next 3 months to get the expansion out this year, after missing their original release date.

From what we've seen of the texture upgrades, the changes are barely noticable.  Unless they've managed to fix some of their color palette problems, it looks like a monumental waste of time.

They've said they were upgrading the GUI, but it turns out that they're just rewriting the underlying code, and that there's going to be very little visual change.

They've stated that they're moving to DirectX 9, but they haven't mentioned any ways in which they're going to take advantage of DX9.  It's looking to just be a tagline they can slap on their box.  Now, if they're managed to rewrite their ancient partical system, and can keep my FPS from tanking like a lead weight during busy scenes, that alone would be worth the expansions price tag.  But since they haven't made any mention of such changes, there's probably not much to hope for.

It's really looking more and more like an excuse to get a box with the AC logo back on the shelves.  Not that I'm against it, really.  The game's in a state of affairs where if it doesn't start getting some new blood, the games future if pretty bleak.  But as a consumer, they're not doing a very good job of selling me on the expansion.

[Alkiera]

Those linked pictures looked like they did a decent upgrade to textures.  The 'new' screenshots looked a LOT better, especially the plants, grass, and trees.

Alkiera