The Fire in the Sky

Gharu'ndim

Sho

Viamontians

Ispar History

Auberean History

Texts

Rumors

Fire In The Sky - October 25, 1999

A comet appeared over Dereth last week, clouds raced across a smoky sky, and wanderers discovered devastation in and around many of the major towns, most notably Shoushi, which remained only as scattered wreckage surrounding a large, glowing crater. In Glenden Wood, a volcano had erupted, igniting nearby buildings. Soon after, reports flowed from the Direlands that ghostly elementals of living flame stalked the waste, in the company of magma golems. In the following days, decayed parchment copies of an ancient manuscript blew across the countryside, and canny adventurers began to gather and collate them, deciphering an unsettling prophecy. Fire elementals began increasingly to appear in the settled lands, until, late on Saturday, they poured in a torrent from the skies, attacking everyone they met. Citizens of Dereth rallied to oppose them. Eventually, the tide of fire abated, to be replaced by a hail of black stones. Enigmatic collectors appeared, with whom adventurers could redeem certain stones for powerful magical artifacts. Some sages believed that the collectors tried to work with the stones to somehow forestall the ultimate cataclysm. If so, they failed. Oblivion at last descended on Dereth. However, the brave deeds that went before were not in vain. As the cycle begins again, heroes will recall them in dreams; they will enter the mythology of a vital new world, and inspire even more stirring adventures in the bright years ahead.

Screenshots of the Fire in the Sky

Shoushi - Before and After  (click to enlarge)
Glenden Wood - Before and After
Yaraq - Before and After
Elsewhere... The Bridge Near Shoushi
The Direlands - Elementals Regard Their Parent Star

Coverage on Other Sites

Thresh's Firing Squad 

The Valor Knights

From the Zone

The Lost Prophecy Restored!

Congratulations to the intrepid band led by Saffron Dusk (Caeryn Dryad, Sol the Wanderer, Alun Magus, Aliciana, and DeLT), who were the first to gather the damaged copies of the Fire in the Sky prophecy and assemble the following message:

* * *

In the midst of a terrible fever I had this dream. For four days and nights I sweltered, even as the chill wind scoured my sickbed, and visions appeared before me. As I burned, I saw the same befall the world.

There shall come a time of flame and woe unto the land. There shall be no harbinger of this suffering, no warning that we may escape. We have grown prideful, drawing power from the Earth's bones without thought, and for this she will be avenged.

The Earth shall be in turmoil, with great wounds rent in her flesh, and her blood shall burn like brimstone. Mountains of fire will awaken, and the fruited fields shall blacken. A crimson eye shall open amid the welkin and look down upon the ravaged ground. This bloody Witness shall be wroth to see the pain pent in the Earth, and its tears shall fall burning upon the land, bringing cleansing flame.

But the tears of the Witness shall not be as mortals shed: they shall live, and knowing the wrath of he who gave them birth, shall spread despair upon the earth. Their forms shall be those of men, and their might shall grow with the passing of days. They shall brook no thoughts of pity, but shall know only slaughter, and no woman nor man may enter their sight and not feel their rage. And still they will come, for many terrible nights and days.

When finally the Witness's grief is fully spent, its tears shall fall no more, and dark stones shall rain down in their place. In my dream, men laid hands on these stones, crafting magical wonders from them. Yet they shall be chary to use them, lest the Witness weep again.

* * *

Many sages from across Dereth labored long and hard to compose this message. Alas, there could be only one winner. However, an honorable mention, at least, is due the following adventurers, who also completed the entire text:

Staff of the Weeping Witness

In retail, Caeryn Dryad was rewarded with the Staff of the Weeping Witness for solving the prophecy!
 

	Staff of the Weeping Witness
Shoots a shock wave at the target. The wave does 46-90 points of bludgeoning damage to the first thing it hits. Inscription: This staff commemorates the efforts of Caeryn Dryad and her fellowship to decipher the mysterious prophecy of a world before this one. --+Sarneho
Value	4301
Burden	50
Spells	Shock Wave V, War Magic Master Self VI
Range	170 yards
Spellcraft	467
Mana	x/367
Mana Cost	1 pt per 18 seconds
Difficulty	60

Letter to Beta Players

Hello, I'm Matthew Ford, the Program Manager for Asheron's Call at the MSN Gaming Zone. I'm writing to thank all those who helped beta test Asheron's Call and to talk about what we learned in beta.

From the start of our public testing of AC early this year, we have had in mind the creation of a revolutionary game that would give players new experiences and thrills in a smooth, friendly environment. In order to achieve this, we've done a lot of crazy things in beta, and pushed our participation numbers extraordinarily high. All of our experimenting has been a fun, wild ride for our beta testers. On behalf of those of us who are making AC, I want to thank each of you who helped beta test our game. I am very confident that when AC hits the shelves very soon now, you will enter a world that, thanks to beta testing, will be smooth, playable, and fun.

In the last day or two of beta testing, we went nuts generating creatures of every type (some of them not in character), and stressed the system to get some final data and have some fun. We could not give everyone a personal invasion-- we are hoping the Fire Children were enough! Also, as a result of some of our experiments, gameplay was slow at times. We promise not to do this with the released product! We were deliberately pushing our limits, and learned a lot about what those limits are. For our customers, we will stay well within those limits to make sure your experience with AC is as smooth as can be.

There were a few rumors that went around (never officially released by us) that particular towns, such as Holtburg, would be the sites of a "massive attack." We already learned some time ago that we should never center a huge event on one town. The invasion of the fire creatures was deliberately spread out for this reason. If you went to one of these towns on Sunday, you headed into a clump of people far larger than you'll see in the future. The huge number of unique textures, polygons, chat lines, position updates, and other data would overwhelm anyone's desktop machine, and was far beyond what we intend to support on our servers. However, again, the experience gave us valuable information about the limits of our system, and will help us avoid other performance problems in the future.

We hope you had a great time testing AC. We all are especially happy that the last weeks of beta were stable, buzzing with activity, and smooth. This we accomplished even while we deliberately pushed the edges of performance and conducted a breathtaking, world-transforming event. Through it all, you played your hearts out, and gave us a glimpse of the amazing experience we have ahead of us. Once again, you have our deep appreciation of your support, patience, and many hours of testing. We hope to see you in Dereth again very soon -- when our adventure begins again!

With thanks, Matthew Ford, and the AC team.

The Spin From Turbine - December 1, 1999

From the Zone

A Question of Balance
I'll can the chatty banter for this update and get to the heart of the matter.

We've received many complaints regarding the changes to mages. People who had invested many hours (and countless XP) into certain professions have had their characters' power levels drop suddenly. Foes who had been easy kills had suddenly become a challenge. Players who ruled the landscape now find themselves less effective as solo players.

It seems worth taking some time to explain how these changes came about.

Goals Desired, Goals Not Achieved
When the magic system for the game was being designed, it had some clear intentions:

• to provide a fair alternative for combat that required somewhat more thought and planning;
• to provide schools of magic that worked well in concert with other skill sets or other characters;
• to create areas of overlap between schools of magic, where each school had its strengths and weaknesses.

Those were some of our many goals for the magic system. Unfortunately, as our Beta cycle wrapped up, we realized that we had not accomplished these goals nearly as well as we'd hoped.

• Spell resistances were underutilized by monsters, making any projectile spell as useful as any other, and removing a tactical element from spellcasting.
• Given the extreme ranges of Drain and Harm spells, Life Mages were nearly powerful enough to make War Mages obsolete. Life Magic was always intended to be best at giving life, not taking it. (While this makes life mages best suited for group play, this is balanced by making the Life Magic skill -- and other "enchanter" skills -- cheaper than War Magic during character creation.)
• Enchanters were finding that higher-level spells added little benefit, making their schools of magic less appealing.
• Complex Portal Spells were very easy to learn, devaluing something that should have a been a mark of distinction among powerful Enchanters.

The sum total of these concerns was that mages were less interesting to play than we'd wanted, and in some cases, much more powerful than other classes.

The Tough Decision
We've spent the past month or so figuring out how to address the situation -- and a good chunk of that time trying to decide if we should address it at all. We've been tempted to leave things be, but decided that we'd be risking a worst-case situation where every non-mage was frustrated by their disadvantages and every mage became bored with how easy the game was to them.

So we needed to take action. What to do? One thought was to leave mages the way they were, and give everyone else a commensurate power boost. The problem with that solution is that non-mages, in general, are balanced properly against the difficulties of monsters and encounters in the game, and against the levels of treasure and experience points in the game. If we boosted their abilities, then all of that other data would become unbalanced, and we'd end up having to revise everything in the game. And that's just not practical.

That left us with one option: lower the power of some mages. This is something we approached very, very carefully (as shown by the many long-winded paragraphs above), because we know how much it stinks to have your abilities knee-capped in the middle of the game.

Should these balance issues have been addressed sooner? In a perfect world, they would have been, but the discrepancies between professions only became crystal clear to us towards the end of Beta. We realized then that we had missed some vital game-balance information -- but by that time, we were in the middle of the game's “Release to Manufacturing” process, a long, multi-week process that could only be derailed for the most catastrophic of bugs.

(We know one way to catch these issues sooner in the future is to get more involved with the community. That's why this site was created, why we're showing up more on the fan sites and in chats, and why we're working to get even more involved.)

Careful Changes
The decision was made to alter game balance for mages in the following ways:

• In the last update, Magic Resistances were added to monsters, making War Mages stop to choose the proper spells when attacking their foes. (With proper tactics, players do as much damage as they did before this change.)
• In the last update, Drain and Harm spells had such great range that they let Life Mages strike at foes with impunity, leaving War Mages in the dust. Reducing their range returns these spells from the main benefit of Life Magic to a side benefit, and returns Life Magic to its original intent: a means of providing healing, regeneration, and protection.
• In order to provide greater benefits to enchanters, we lengthened the durations of higher-level Enchantments.
• Advanced portal spells were increased in difficulty, making it harder for low-level Enchanters to cast them.

We understand that in some cases -- particularly for Life Mages -- this has a significant effect on how you approach playing the game. We're sorry that we had to make these changes, but they were necessary to ensure that the game remain fun and balanced for everyone over the long haul.

Future Improvements
That said, we acknowledge that the balance between mages and other professions may still not be as good as we want it to be. Given the many elements that determine how effective a mage is, the way magic behaves differently at different levels, and the many different approaches players take to each school of magic, the perfect balance point is devilishly difficult to determine.

In the future, we will be looking at the results of these changes, and also at other issues that affect balance, such as availability of treasure, balance between different melee weapons, and ability to exploit AI in certain situations. However, there are two guidelines that will shape how we approach all of these concerns:

• With our first update, we made a priority of addressing the most severe imbalances first -- particularly where the changes would end up lowering a player's power. Aside from resolving exploits, our priority going forward is to make changes that only add benefits to players, not take them away.
• We are not going to rush these changes. It's much more damaging to have to make multiple changes to a system due to lack of understanding of the problem. We will look carefully at the issues at hand, test our solutions thoroughly, and try to do them once and only once. We will not allow a situation where your power levels fluctuate wildly over the course of the game.

On the Horizon: Our Next Update
I'll wrap this up with a brief overview of some of the changes being worked on for our next update. While we've focused our efforts on creating a compelling event, we've also made some improvements to the game. Highlights of this update are:

• Monster AI will be getting a slight upgrade, to improve monsters' ability to plan tactics, use enchantments, and respond to attacks.
• Miscellaneous tweaks have been made to improve monster balance. (Some monsters have even been learning from the mages that attack them . . .)
• Vendors will be able to purchase cooking items, and will sell more alchemy and fletching items.
• A rare case that could cause your client to crash or freeze has been fixed.
• Our ongoing storyline is beginning. (Don't forget to bring your mittens!)

Finally, I want to ensure our commitment to improving Asheron's Call. It was a long, hard road bringing this game to fruition, and we're going to keep working to refine it. The best is yet to come.

--Chris Foster, a.k.a. "Slapp"
 

Developer's Chat - November 3, 1999

+MrQuazarr@Zone> ***** WELCOME TO THE ASHERON'S CALL DEVELOPERS CHAT!! *****
+MrQuazarr@Zone> We will be begining in about 10 minutes.
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Reminder if you are in the waiting queue.. this chat is for Asheron's Call. Age 2 Chat has already ended.

cfoster@Turbine> Andy, if you can see this, ZM me!

+MrQuazarr@Zone> I would like to welcome everyone to the first in a line of many Asheron's Call Developer's Chat.
+MrQuazarr@Zone> My name is Ken Karl, aka MrQuazarr@zone aka Mr Quazarr in game. I am the Community and Events Manager for Asheron's Call.
+MrQuazarr@Zone> We have some of the developers from Turbine here to answer your questions about Asheron's Call and it's future.
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Please, we ask that you not ask questions about how to subscribe, when it is available in your town, etc.
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Also this is not the forum for techinical support questions. Please refer to your manual for more information on that.
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Asheron's Call is officially released in the United States. Your stores should have it shortly, if they do not already.
+MrQuazarr@Zone> In Canada, it may take a few extra days.
+MrQuazarr@Zone> To ask a question, simply click on the ROOM menu item and select ASK QUESTION. This will put you in the WAITING QUEUE.
+MrQuazarr@Zone> When your turn comes up, you will be moved to ASKING section.
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Please have your questions typed out on notepad and ready to copy and paste when your turn comes up.
+MrQuazarr@Zone> We must limit questions to one per person to enable us to get through everyone's questions in the hour and a half that we have.
+MrQuazarr@Zone> We will have to stop this chat promptly at 7:00 pm pdt unfortunately.
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Now I would like to introduce our guest:
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Toby Ragaini - auberon @ turbine (AC Design Director)
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Chris Foster - cfoster @ turbine (Continuing AC Development Lead Designer)
+MrQuazarr@Zone> David Namerow - dave @ turbine (Turbine Community Manager)
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Scott Harrington - scotth @ turbine (Continuing AC Development Producer)

cfoster@Turbine> Herrington!
cfoster@Turbine> :)

Scotth@Turbine> Hi, on behalf of Turbine Entertainment - the delveloper's of AC - welcome.

+MrQuazarr@Zone> Toby and Chris would like to say a few things right now. The floor is all yours guys.

auberon@Turbine> thanks for coming everyone
auberon@Turbine> i want to make an announcement of sorts
auberon@Turbine> with the retail release of AC....

cfoster@Turbine> ... get to the good part, Toby!

auberon@Turbine> i'm going to be taking on a set of new responsibilities

cfoster@Turbine> ... yes? And?

auberon@Turbine> i'm transitioning from lead designer to design director of turbine

cfoster@Turbine> ... which means?

auberon@Turbine> Since i wont be full time on AC, i've asked Chris Foster to take on the role of lead designer

cfoster@Turbine> Hi all!

auberon@Turbine> so without further ado, Mr. Foster

Scotth@Turbine> Chris will be posting some designers notes on the zone from time to time which will let you all know what we're working on. Chris, care to say a few words?
Scotth@Turbine> or, maybe a whole bunch?

cfoster@Turbine> I've been involved with AC for the past two and a half years, and it's been really cool seeing the game come together.

rei@Turbine> (He's typing)

cfoster@Turbine> I started out designing the game's interface, and then stepped in to help sort out the last design issues as the game got ready to ship. So I'm really excited to see the game hit the shelves, and help bring AC to the world with new events and, um...
cfoster@Turbine> ... other neat stuff!
cfoster@Turbine> (I also want to apologize for Turbine at this chat... we just shipped, and everyone's a bit giddy.)

+MrQuazarr@Zone> Deservingly so!

auberon@Turbine> *cheers*

Dave@turbine> golf clap!

Scotth@Turbine> I'd also like to let Dave say a few words about our role in the community, if you don't mind, Chris.

jason@Turbine> giddy's the new word for it then chris?

cfoster@Turbine> go fer it, Dave!

Dave@turbine> Hi all, My Name is Dave Namerow
Dave@turbine> I'm the OCM for Turbine

auberon@Turbine> ocm??

Dave@turbine> You'll see me around all over the place

sean@Turbine> Gee, Dave, tell us what that means!

Dave@turbine> feel free to chat with me anytime, I usually go by +Sarneho in side Ac
Dave@turbine> OCM= Online community manager
Dave@turbine> done

+MrQuazarr@Zone> Thanks gang!

Scotth@Turbine> Thanks dave.

+MrQuazarr@Zone> Now on to our first questions...
+MrQuazarr@Zone> MKT, Go Ahead.

MKT_TopGun> * CLAP CLAP CLAP FOR the lovely family of TURBINE* FIRST OF ALL, I WOULD LIKE TO SAY HOW HONORED I AM TO SPEAK TO THE MAKERS! I love you guys!

cpierson@Turbine> Thenkyew.

cfoster@Turbine> *blush*

MKT_TopGun> I WOULD LIKE TO THANK YOU ALL FOR COMMING!
MKT_TopGun> I have one question...

Scotth@Turbine> Our pleasure

letoile@turbine> Shoot.

MKT_TopGun> I never played the game before, *STUPID ME* but i plan on getting it...
MKT_TopGun> Where can you find teh soll?

cfoster@Turbine> Well, _I_ have a SoLL here...

Dave@turbine> heh

rei@Turbine> You can find it if you find the clues and talk to the right people.

Panzoid> Hi
Panzoid> When will the lands of Dereth start to change? Also, will there ever be an expansion pack for AC?

rei@Turbine> Some players may be willing to help you, but I think most people want everyone to work for it.

cfoster@Turbine> Panzoid...
cfoster@Turbine> Our hope is to provide so many new events and content in Dereth, that you don't NEED an expansion pack.
cfoster@Turbine> You should see changes to Dereth in teh next month or so...

+MrQuazarr@Zone> == With this many people gang, we will be moving through the questions as fast as we can
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Please help by having your questions already typed in and waiting

cfoster@Turbine> make that "the..." *sigh*

Scotth@Turbine> Don't worry though, we'll be doing these chats monthly!!!!!

ProfitLoop> Great game, i was playing like mad throughout beta2 and hopefully when i receive my copy of the retail here in Canada(damn city) I'll do the same. I'd like to know what kind of suprises are going to be included for the first month of the game(quests)?
ProfitLoop> noq, thanks

cpierson@Turbine> Hey, a fellow Canuck.

cfoster@Turbine> Pierson and Eri will take this

jason@Turbine> they wouldn't be surprises if we told you..

sean@Turbine> I'm a Canuck too.

rei@Turbine> If you're talking about normal permanent quests, we'll be continuing to add those.
rei@Turbine> Events, however, will also be occurring, and we can't really give those away!

Fallout16483> Hi, first I would like to congradulate you on making a truly monumental game. That said, conserning the problem of many people not being able to be in the same place at one time, does this mean there will be no large battles, or have you found a good...

+MrQuazarr@Zone> Fallout, Go Ahead

Fallout16483> alternative?

cfoster@Turbine> Fallout...
cfoster@Turbine> Our solution to that is what we did with the "Fire in the Sky" event...
cfoster@Turbine> Where we had new content and encounters appearing ALL OVER the world at once.

amr@Turbine> *fidget*

Scotth@Turbine> We'll have encounters & lager battles happening across the entire continent, rather than concentrated in the cities.

Cyberkiler2> If you unsubscribe for a month and then subscribe say 2months later, will your character still be on the server? And what server upgrades and major events due you plan on doing as more people start to play AC? Maybe just a little hint to the first event?

Scotth@Turbine> We'll be doing server updates on a fairly regular basis

rei@Turbine> No hints on the first event. (that's all for me)

cfoster@Turbine> The first update should happen in the next couple of weeks, if all goes well.
cfoster@Turbine> We'll be announcing more about that during the chat.

+MrQuazarr@Zone> == Gang, reminder.. we are going to have to ask that you only ask one questions to help us get through as many people as possible in our limited time.

cfoster@Turbine> next question, please.
cfoster@Turbine> One more thing, Cyber...

dog320> Hello?

cfoster@Turbine> We don't have the server-techs here, so we can't answer the question about the account. Sorry...

+MrQuazarr@Zone> The characters will stay in the DB should you cancel your subscriptions and come back later

dog320> Wow im up hehe, was unprepared..uhmm hmm let me think

cfoster@Turbine> But Ken can! Whoo! :)

dog320> Are there any plans to balance the abuse of the mage system? i.e. mage is basically unstopable in the wilderness

cfoster@Turbine> Yes, Dog.

rei@Turbine> Good question.

cfoster@Turbine> We're working on some tweaks to mages that make it a little fairer for everyone else, and ALSO make it a little more fun to be a mage.
cfoster@Turbine> If it all works out, you'll have to be a little bit more of a thinker to be an effective mage.
cfoster@Turbine> Gameplay! :)

ElectroTechno> hello Turbine !

rei@Turbine> So, yes

amr@Turbine> yay, gameplay!

ElectroTechno> Can you create new unique magic items, spells and creatures ? I'd love to see lot's of unique items and creatures in AC. I mean not just alter existing creatures, items and spells but to create totally new things =P~ And can players build houses or found towns?

cfoster@Turbine> Wanna take that one, Andy?

Dave@turbine> the mighty +Bohemud speaks

cfoster@Turbine> We can add more unique stuff to the game easily.

amr@Turbine> ummm

cfoster@Turbine> New spells, new objects, new monsters -- all with only tiny little downloads.

jason@Turbine> AC was designed to allow new content to be easily added to the game world at any time with little to no downloads.

Scotth@Turbine> Like we did for the end of the beta event (ask someone who was there for the details)

cfoster@Turbine> As for letting YOU make more items and property...

Memorex4> I see many/most spells being "weakened" inevitably by "spoiler sites" on the internet, how will this be combated if at all? What measures will be taken to keep spells fresh? new ones added frequently, some type of rotation???

cfoster@Turbine> It's on our list for future enhancements.

cpierson@Turbine> I'm currently maintaining a big ol' list of possible future spells.

amr@Turbine> we hope to add many new types of spells in the future to keep things interesting

Scotth@Turbine> We're going to be adding stuff constantly, including new spells, features, etc. It just takes us some time to get it all done.

RoBz26> First off, thanks for the great game - Now on to my question... I've been in beta since beta 0 - And I was wondering, what caused you guys to give higher level drudges (raveners, stalkers, etc) magic? ...
RoBz26> With the decrease in loot, it doesn't make a lot of sense to make them harder to kill, especially when most people have low magic defense.

cfoster@Turbine> Rob...
cfoster@Turbine> We needed to balance Drudges, because they were providing too much experience. So we made them tougher.

amr@Turbine> *smile*

cfoster@Turbine> As for the loot, in the end we gave them a bit more treasure at the very end of beta.
cfoster@Turbine> And we're working to keep balancing treasure as the game goes forward.

rei@Turbine> We will be rebalancing monster treasure in the near future.

cfoster@Turbine> next q

HonestRocket> With all the land in Asheron's Call how did you guys develop that large of an area? I read that its over 500 square miles! That must've taken a lot of time! Thanks, BTW, AC is great.

jason@Turbine> it did..

cfoster@Turbine> I wish Pete Macdonald was here to take a bow...

rei@Turbine> We have special systems that allows us to develop that fairly quickly.
rei@Turbine> However, the buildings and forts you see were done by hand.

Scotth@Turbine> brick by brick

jason@Turbine> we have some very cool tools which allow us to make rapid changes to large parts of the world. very cool stuff..

cfoster@Turbine> A lot of Turbine's tech is devoted to making easy to make a little content go a LONG way.
cfoster@Turbine> Hopefully, we need to make content for a LOT of players to have fun with!

Scotth@Turbine> KoLDeron, you're up. What's your question?

KoLDeron> Hail! 1st i'd like to send congrats for AC turning gold from a long time (60+ hours a week) beta tester! w00t! although i won't be playing gold thanx to EB world messing my order up, 4 calls, and 40 min LD charges later I cancelled :(..my question is....
KoLDeron> how has spell consumtion improved in gold version, my mage carried 249 spell components at one time cause of burning them? didn't have room to carry anything else
KoLDeron> noq

cfoster@Turbine> We're looking at component burn. However...
cfoster@Turbine> ... having to carry extra components is one of the ways we balance mages.
cfoster@Turbine> You want to carry more, then consider raising your strength.

jason@Turbine> or having a higher skill burns less components..

cfoster@Turbine> next?

JarJarBinksII> Hello there!! Love the game! When will the Heraldry feature that I read about be added to the game, and when will the ability to buy houses or horses be added?

avalon_grey> Great Job On the game..and thanks so much for the beta...

cfoster@Turbine> Wow! That was an old article! :)

JarJarBinksII> thanks ive been reading

cfoster@Turbine> Heraldry is one of the things we might add in the future. In the meantime, allegiances have gotten pretty creative "striking their colors."
cfoster@Turbine> Matching outfits and such. One person's even been making pictures out of ASCII text in our parchment pages!

jason@Turbine> on that front, I'd also like to add some more clothing/armor options in the future that arn't being used right now..

cfoster@Turbine> As for horses and houses, we're trying to plan out with MS when we might add future features to the game. Let us know what you consider important!
cfoster@Turbine> There'll be a forum set up soon for players to see what updates we're considering, and to comment on them.

+MrQuazarr@Zone> jedi, Go Ahead

JediSmj> I have one question. What is the most Powerful monster in Asherons Call? Thanx for a GREAT GAME too...if only it was out in Australia ;( please tell if u can when its coming to Australia! horses will be good too!

rei@Turbine> Depends on who you are.

cfoster@Turbine> You don't have horses in Australia? :)

rei@Turbine> Depends on if you have armor, have magic def, melee def, missile def, or whatever...
rei@Turbine> what spells you have on you, who your friends are....

cfoster@Turbine> Last I heard, international release of AC might happen next year.
cfoster@Turbine> That's in MS' court, really.

cpierson@Turbine> And there are certainly big baddies we're not gonna tell you about. Yet.

rei@Turbine> ...and besides, you never know if a new nastybad is lurking in the dungeons, one never seen before.

avalon_grey> aack thanks mr.quazarr for putting me back in....
avalon_grey> Great Job On the game..and thanks so much for the beta...
avalon_grey> Are there any changes being planed to introduce more RP elements into the game...its realy quiet most of the time..i see very little RP (beta and retail) Am i just in the wrong places??? (Final night was exception)...

+MrQuazarr@Zone> Sorry about taht Avalon

avalon_grey> Maybe change's in the chat commands to make it easier

cfoster@Turbine> Avalon_grey, a lot depends on where you go, and who you know.

jason@Turbine> if you didn't know, you can use things like /t instead of @tell

cfoster@Turbine> For example, there's one allegiance monarch who was hanging out in Tou-Tou, holding council with his vassals on most nights.
cfoster@Turbine> I visited him once and was blown away by how well he carried himself. It was honest-to-goodness regal. I could see why he had over 500 people in his allegiance.

yazikcr> Great game AC team! ... loved my time online during the beta test period and am ready to get my copy of the real thing! Since we're low on time, just this one question...
yazikcr> This question is for whoever deals with the social issues of AC... I wanted to know what you envision for the role of religion in AC... will there be churches and such (and what role might they play, other than healing places)?
yazikcr> thanks! :)

cfoster@Turbine> Eri, your thoughts?

rei@Turbine> For the most part we have let that be up to the players.
rei@Turbine> The Heritage Groups each have their own beliefs (the Sho, for instance, have a belief in elder spirits)

Scotth@Turbine> Uh oh... it's bad enough there are sorcerers, now we've got to add religion? I can already sense the hate mail...

rei@Turbine> But we aren't going to force the issue with people.
rei@Turbine> So if you want a Revival, go for it!

cfoster@Turbine> That said, it was cool to see people start prophesizing when the world started blowing up at the end of beta. :)

rei@Turbine> Yes, the backstory supports religion, but how it's "enforced" is up to you.

jason@Turbine> oh come on scott, you used to work on Messiah..

Scotth@Turbine> erm....

cfoster@Turbine> oh dear.
cfoster@Turbine> next question, PLEASE! :)

sSs_ThRiLla> Can you list 5 good reasons why my parents should let me get this game (they're not too crazy about the monthly fee)?

cfoster@Turbine> We'll each take one.

rei@Turbine> Friends online.

Scotth@Turbine> Social skills and teamwork

cpierson@Turbine> You get to be part of an ongoing story.

rei@Turbine> if you went to the same kind of high school I did, you'll find your best friends online.

cfoster@Turbine> It gets you in front of your computer, where they can keep their eyes on you. :)

jason@Turbine> Well, I think you'll find that in many cases it's cheaper than many other forms of entertainment, or even gaming. Hour for hour of entertainment, it's probrobly the cheapest thing going..

letoile@turbine> Cheaper than cable...

cfoster@Turbine> Lowfat...

cpierson@Turbine> Cheaper than a couple movies a month.

Scotth@Turbine> good Code of Conduct rules to keep out the internet nasties that your parents worry about

+MrQuazarr@Zone> Cheaper then a one movie
+MrQuazarr@Zone> with treats of course

jason@Turbine> many people play 20-40 hours a week, and thats really cheap when you consider it at $10 a month..

The_Evil_Eye> Hello Turbine, congrats on AC! Best mmorpg so far in my eyes. My question is... how will u tell the story development? Will u use webpages to tell the story like in beta2 or will u connect the story-telling more to the gameplay itself? I missed in beta2
The_Evil_Eye> a real story telling. Ok.. i could read stories & visions on the Zone AC page.. there were 15 parchments of a vision.. but the real story.. how will it be telled?

jason@Turbine> and most games arn't played nearly as long as MMP games are.

cfoster@Turbine> Evil Eye, we'll do more INSIDE the game to tell people about the events as they happen.
cfoster@Turbine> The Beta event was really just a test.
cfoster@Turbine> Look to the festival stones, barkeeps, more parchment pieces, etc.
cfoster@Turbine> Or just call me! My home phone is 555-xxx<cut off

rei@Turbine> Have you found the libraries?
rei@Turbine> Definitely, more backstory in the game.

_EE_ST_Amoeba> Why didn't you make different races or body frames for AC like in EQ? Or are you planning on doing this?

cfoster@Turbine> To be honest, we thought that making facial and clothing variety, as well as different human heritages more interesting.
cfoster@Turbine> But looking back, we probably would have split the variety between those subtle changes and body-types.
cfoster@Turbine> There's a chance we might add it down the road, but it's a lot of artwork to download. We'll see.

_Cyber__> hi people, i tried the game in the 10 days demo and i really loved it, i am hooked, but i dont have a credit card.. will there be other ways to pay for the montly fee (like for Ultima Online, they sold 3 months packs at retail stores)????
_Cyber__> and horses are a good idea to... since the map is soo Huge!

cfoster@Turbine> Um, that's really in MS' court.
cfoster@Turbine> Any thoughts, Ken? What's the deal on having "Asheron's Calling Cards?"
cfoster@Turbine> :)

Scotth@Turbine> Right now, billing for Zone premium games is only with a CC. Sorry...

+MrQuazarr@Zone> Right now there is no plans on having alternative payment methods such as UO

cfoster@Turbine> But remember that you can use debit cards to, depending on your bank.

+MrQuazarr@Zone> Yes we do accept debit cards with visa/mc log on them

DiReCtX4> btw, i think being able to carry an AC card in my wallet would be nice..but onto what i have in notepad............*goes to paste in*

cfoster@Turbine> That's what I'd use (if I had to pay :).

DiReCtX4> I'd like to say *Hi* to all the **Turbinites** and *Hi* To **Ken**..and now my question =) Theres only so much you can do with the events. Monster invasions, town destruction,
DiReCtX4> new monsters and towns, etc. After awhile the events may get..dull. How are you gunna keep people on their toes on the events? it was just WAY too clear with the "Fire in the
DiReCtX4> sky" event that towns would be attacked...it was how and by what, that was unknown. There has to be more than just attacking towns and changing the land...?
DiReCtX4> done :-)

cfoster@Turbine> Fair question, DirectX4.
cfoster@Turbine> (hey, weren't you upgraded?)
cfoster@Turbine> Anyhoo, the events can have MANY facets.

Scotth@Turbine> Who says events have to deal with monsters or invasions, or town distructions?

cfoster@Turbine> The prophecy-puzzle was just one way to make them something other than big monster-killin' sprees.
cfoster@Turbine> We'll be finding more cool ways to involve groups of players in events.

jason@Turbine> don't forget the disco.. haha..

rei@Turbine> Everyone thank Jason and the interns for the disco.

cfoster@Turbine> There'll also be smaller, more social events, hosted mainly by players with help from the Zone staff.

BBQ_Bob> Do you have any special offers for your loyal beta testers? ;) really though, will the retail version have events, you know, big ones? BIG, like the apocalypse in the beta? Town melting big. Yeah. Hehehe...
BBQ_Bob> Can I have a cow--- you know, in the game. Not a horse, a pet cow, that follows me around. Mesun the Sane will return!

cfoster@Turbine> Bob, try attacking a cow, and you'll get your pet.
cfoster@Turbine> As for events: we have BIG stuff planned.
cfoster@Turbine> That's all I can really say.

rei@Turbine> We have enough backstory to choke ... a cow.

cfoster@Turbine> The beta was only a warm-up.

Dave@turbine> it's gonna be awesome

cfoster@Turbine> next q?

MTF_S_L_> hi, will there ever be any type of banking system to store some of your stuff in so you might not lose as much if u die? I like that horse idea tho, that'd be better than going by foot :)

cfoster@Turbine> We implemented horses in the game, but they all run away. Sorry. :p

MTF_S_L_> thats my Q

cfoster@Turbine> As for banks, that's on our list of possible future features.

amr@Turbine> mmmm.... future features!

cfoster@Turbine> When we take a look at property ownership, we'll be looking at storage as a feature of houses, too.

Zen_Skier> First off, as I played the Beta I got more and more involved, meeting new people and making allegiences. IT sucked me in and I got hooked.. Just what you like to hear I know. =) The End of the World was great, except for the few MAJOR LAGS that happened
Zen_Skier> as you pushed the system. But it was the best RP I had seen and I even liked just standing there chatting, since I couldnt move. I wish I would have seen one of the giant monsters, but anyway my question:
Zen_Skier> Just before the End of the World I found the Archmage tower, and inside he sold me 2 scrolls, the flame blast and volley.. I read them and learned the spells on the first try.. Now my problem.. I tried that exact sequence of ingredients MANY times and cou
Zen_Skier> could not learn the spells, is learning off a scroll different than testing them yourself??? I am hoping that you make magic totally unique to each person and that they can trade their flame bolt spell for yours via scrolls.. (IE: same spell different in
Zen_Skier> ingredients???) This way you can introduce new spells via scrolls no prob, (maybe a new skill scribe, to write/trade the higher level spells) and cheat sites cant be made, since you need to read the scroll to actually learn a spell you didnt create/invent yourself.

amr@Turbine> if you have the wrong target selected while testing a spell it'll fizzle

amr@Turbine> that sometimes gets me

cfoster@Turbine> As for the lag on Sunday, yes, that was a drag...

Scotth@Turbine> but that's what a stress test is all about

cfoster@Turbine> Exactly. And that's NOT anything we're planning in the live game.
cfoster@Turbine> We have better ways to make our invasions and assaults happen.

MoonW> What incentives do you plan to offer to veteran players which will make a lasting impression on the community such as housing? For instance, in the BETA, it felt difficult to make a place for yourself in the world, though I am sure this will change.

cfoster@Turbine> MoonW, I guess that depends on your perspective.

+MrQuazarr@Zone> === Remember gang... please limit your questions to 1.

cfoster@Turbine> Some people made significant impacts by forming lasting allegiances.
cfoster@Turbine> (like that person in Tou-Tou I mentioned before)

rei@Turbine> (we're in awe :)

sean@Turbine> Home is where your friends are.

cfoster@Turbine> That said, property ownership and such are being considered for the future, as are ways for people to rank themselves against other players.

Silverion> Guys first i must say that i was amazed with great planing and tehnology already seen in geame it was a way to go thanks to all! Allegiance sistem in PK world can show its real strenghts it needs a sistem to take over a city or allegiance main base, ..

cfoster@Turbine> Nothing like a little competition... :)

Silverion> and also a sistem to guard city against attacks, for resolving a problem of not all members online at all times a takeover can be scheduled only once in a week so all allegiances can concentrate its forces to get a major battle on. Do you plan any similar

cfoster@Turbine> Silverion, making the PK experience more interesting is something we'd like to do in the future, and not only in the PK world.

Silverion> sistems of massive takeover of cities soon? :)

cfoster@Turbine> We're watching to see how the systems play out with thousands upon thousands of players involved, to see how you all want them to develop.

jason@Turbine> I personaly do most of my playing in the PK world. While it's much more dangerous and annoying sometimes, you see some really amazing things happen..

cfoster@Turbine> And then we'll rip off all your ideas. :p
cfoster@Turbine> next q?
cfoster@Turbine> hi war_zealot, you're on.

war_zealot> I already know amr as I told him a story of my friend eddie who worked on starcraft, and if nei is advocate nei then I know him too, anyway to my questions, A. what has changed from beta? will there be new base equipment any time soon? (please one more q)

cfoster@Turbine> Right now, we're focusing on making the game run smoothly for our first group of customers, and balancing game systems. We'll probably start bringing in new content with our first event.

war_zealot> base equipment as in not magic, not gold, just different stuff from chain plate and yoroi

cfoster@Turbine> That's possible in the near-future. Gotta keep rolling. Next question?

war_zealot> and is AC based on the game dagerfall, they are remarkably similar

cfoster@Turbine> Not really. We're all just RPG's.

Scotth@Turbine> Please have your questions ready, and one question per customer. Don't worry about not getting it answered tonight as we're doing these every month to let you know what's going on.

war_zealot> oh ok thanks

cfoster@Turbine> And we both like big landscapes. Next question?

Loviegal> Yesterday, I created a sho unarmed + lifemag specialized, creature

ench+mag/mel def+manacon trained adventurer, and I am wondering whether or not this would be a good setup at higher levels(Id hate to find out my char is worthless at lvl35)

Loviegal> I am currently level 9, and really want to know whether I should make a more specialized character since I have the chance now... btw thanks for a great game so far

cfoster@Turbine> (wow, lots of stats. My brain hurts!)

Scotth@Turbine> no.

cfoster@Turbine> ScottH, hush!

Scotth@Turbine> erm,... yes?

Dave@turbine> I like that setup
Dave@turbine> you should be able to go far

cfoster@Turbine> So stick with it! Next question...

Loviegal> heh

Adreis> Hello fellow Canuck's at AC (Canadians are the best!), I would like to know what ever happened to the Dynamic Load Balancing thing that I read so much about? Also please comment on why Canadian pre-orders are taking so long. GA

jason@Turbine> depends. Each person has thier own stratagys, I tend to specilize in thh beginning and branch out..

cfoster@Turbine> Last I checked, it's working. :)
cfoster@Turbine> We do restribute load across different servers, and it works pretty smoothly...

Adreis> I mean that that there is only one dereth

cfoster@Turbine> Ah.

Scotth@Turbine> Canadian mail is holding it up. Apparently we've got a huge fan base made up of Canadian postal workers....

cfoster@Turbine> There was some misinterpretation in our earlier interviews, I think.

jason@Turbine> having only one dereth is more of a content- user ratio problem than a server problem..

LordKrutex> Thank you. I would like to know, is there any plans for a trial version of AC to be made? Obviously there is the free month, but people still have to buy the game in the first place for that, and $50 isnt free, so a trial would probably draw...

cfoster@Turbine> What Jason said. When we were talking about "one Dereth," it was before we realized how popular MMP's could be! :)

LordKrutex> more people who didnt have the chance to play the beta like myself;)

cfoster@Turbine> LordKrutex, a downloadable version of the client is possible.

LordKrutex> thanks, nfq;)

cfoster@Turbine> (Some people used such a thing during beta)
cfoster@Turbine> But it's still pretty huge at this point. Don't know of any plans to use it with the shipping game in the near future.
cfoster@Turbine> next question?
cfoster@Turbine> Cheeseman!!!!!! :)

Cheeseman_BOTS> oh whops i wasn't paying attention stupid me
Cheeseman_BOTS> k here goes
Cheeseman_BOTS> a few things.... first whats the maximum level you can attain.... second, whats the maximum you can pump up your stats?... and lastly... about player heros... will there ever be a tikme (as i heard a rumor there could be) a single person or group of players that could be worldly known heros by something they do or find or anything?

cfoster@Turbine> That's Eri's question. (SEVERAL questions, actually. :) Go for it!

rei@Turbine> You can technically go over level 100, but it's pretty difficult to do so.

Scotth@Turbine> Foster, I think Cheesman has been going though company email about the hero idea....

Cheeseman_BOTS> NO! i have been detected!

rei@Turbine> Player fame: we're looking into how we can make some players famous. (not rich, but famous)

jason@Turbine> Dr. Jay estimates at least 2 years before someone reaches the cap, of almost solid playtime..

Cheeseman_BOTS> :)

cfoster@Turbine> Heh heh heh...

jason@Turbine> people want fame more than fortune..

cfoster@Turbine> next question?

_Cyren_> Why were the player & monster models made with such low polygon counts and somewhat undetailed textures? The parts of the models also seem unconnected from the whole (they don't "stretch") Other than that I love the game, thanks!

cfoster@Turbine> Hi Cyren!

_Cyren_> Ichi jin-rai of Tou Tou wanted to know what prize the monarch of the largest allegiance would get in the final.

_Cyren_> thanks, noq

cfoster@Turbine> First question only. Cyren, when we started AC, we were trying to support software renderers and slower machines.
cfoster@Turbine> As a result, some of our graphics are a bit restrained. In future games, we'll be aiming at a higher processor/3D standard, and things will get much snazzier.

sean@Turbine> But we HAVE retooled some of the models in recent months, so many are much higher poly-count than they used to be. We will probably enhance as we go.

cfoster@Turbine> WHat he said. next q?

jason@Turbine> there's also huge advantages to the system we have in terms of memory and creatures on teh screen at once. We can have a lot more animation, and a lot more creatures...

cfoster@Turbine> The cleric of Cork!

CorkCleric> Congratz on a ground breaking game. Beta was a smash in Canada and the UK. I loved the disco in soushi. Suggetions: need to add HP info in fellowship window to aid cleric's role. Need to raise fellowship limit from 20 to 45 for big war parties. ....
CorkCleric> Congratz on a ground breaking game. Beta was a smash in Canada and the UK. I loved the disco in soushi. Suggetions: need to add HP info in fellowship window to aid cleric's role. Thiefs need pickpocket and steal equipment. Clerics to weak. Police/To

cfoster@Turbine> Fellowships are actually smaller than that.

CorkCleric> myself.Is it possible for me to be a merchant? A farmer?

cfoster@Turbine> As for larger parties, I recommend using allegiances.
cfoster@Turbine> Only one Q to a customer. Sorry -- next q?

Robmagi> First off I loved the beta - had never played an online rpg before it! The screen shots I saw on your web site looked awesome and even though mine didn't look like that I am hooked on AC. My question in on 3D accelerator support..
Robmagi> Will AC support specific 3D chipsets (like the ATI Rage 128) or rely on DX7/OpenGL for that 3D acceleration checkbox (under options/setup?)??

rei@Turbine> Go Jason

cfoster@Turbine> Jason?
cfoster@Turbine> Jason?! Someone check his pulse!

jason@Turbine> we use dx6, actualy, and support any chipset that fully supports dx6

Robmagi> thx noq

cfoster@Turbine> (ah. thank goodness... :)

jason@Turbine> the nvidea cards are my personal favorites..

Lord_Xorus> AC is the BEST! I love you guys!!! =P The beta R0CKED and I can't wait to get my hands on the retail! (D@mn Expensive International Shipping!) I hope to play this game for YEARS to come! :)

cfoster@Turbine> Thanks!

Lord_Xorus> Q: What about the possiblity of adding more 'domestic/roleplaying' features in AC like the ability to buy houses/castles? And could I get big church wedding in AC? =P

rei@Turbine> Again!

cfoster@Turbine> THere's been some weddings in AC already.

Scotth@Turbine> I just want to let everyone know that we are looking into property onership, horse ownership (yeah, we'll look into cow ownership too)

Blaze_Xavior> Will there be the same effort put into creating quests and the such on the PK server as on the normal servers...I have seen a lack of this kind of support on PK servers in other games, in particuar a game made by a company known as Erantvay (pig latin)...

cfoster@Turbine> As for houses, we'll be having a separate horses/houses chat next time. Keeps things moving. :)

Blaze_Xavior> 2 more points. 1. We need a PvP event switch and 2. Scotth is the man! that's all!

cfoster@Turbine> Blaze, the events should take place across ALL worlds.
cfoster@Turbine> One thing we'll be watching is how these events work on a PK world.

Scotth@Turbine> Thanks blaze!

Infomage> Thanks for the great game. With 38,000 or so combonations for spells and i think about 1,600 active spells it is safe to say you will be adding spells in the furture. will there be any kind of notice that new spells have been added or are we on our own to
Infomage> figure out the new spells

cfoster@Turbine> Look to events to clue you in on new content like this.

Infomage> thanks

cfoster@Turbine> Or call Chris Pierson at 555-43<cut off

jason@Turbine> for instance, you might see monsters casting the new spells..

Scotth@Turbine> You'll be hearing a lot more from the design staff in the coming weeks. We'll be posting our notes as to what things we're tweaking, what we're considering changing, and any other significant things you should know about. We'll include a forum for Winstons55> What is the funnest class/type of character to play in your opinion/experience(personal fav?)? Also, is there an Ac patch for withdrawl? :)

Winstons55> done

Scotth@Turbine> your comments and suggestions as well. We'll have it up on the zone pages, and will continue to look at polls on the fansites as well as newsgroup discussions to see what we need to address.

Dave@turbine> I like alchemist/chef myself :-)

jason@Turbine> well, zboog had a character strickly focused around run in beta0 - he had a 240 run skill..

cfoster@Turbine> I like cooking, personally. Nothing freaks out new players like dropping some chocolate-chip cookies on them! :)

rei@Turbine> Cooking!

Dave@turbine> you can make some really wierd food!

rei@Turbine> Dave gets tons of pies.

sean@Turbine> Cooking! I like making sushi!

letoile@turbine> I'm a Ghau'n vagabond specialized in healing/lockpick/staff.

cfoster@Turbine> I'm a meat-and-potatoes blademaster myself.

Dave@turbine> hearty mana rabbit pie!

cfoster@Turbine> (gotta get that Sword of Lost Light! :)

K_A_N_E> Eagerly waiting AC in Can. here and i wanna know if i can customize more (IE: have a few more faces, and be able to choose ALL your skills instead of being stuck with Dagger, Unarmed etc. in future and for new armors weapon types whats going to be added

cfoster@Turbine> next question?
cfoster@Turbine> (whoops, Kane)
cfoster@Turbine> You can choose ANY skills for your character.

sean@Turbine> But you can't have them all in the beginning

cfoster@Turbine> As for additional faces and such, that's content we can add down the road fairly easily.
cfoster@Turbine> Next question?

jason@Turbine> we probrobly won't add new faces - thier not noticable enough as it is. However, I definately want to add some new clothing options..

K_A_N_E> thanks

rei@Turbine> You can get a "freebie" skill depending on Heritage Group.

Loops79> Hiya gang! I was wondering if the monsters' level would better represent their strength. Two critters that come to mind are mountain rats and gold phyntos wasps, both level 12 i believe, but MUCH stronger than most level 20 or so creatures..
Loops79> Also can something be done about the creatures' stamina levels? They seem way too high as compared to any character of similar level..noq

sean@Turbine> Jason's right. We'd rather concentrate on body styles than more faces.

cfoster@Turbine> Eri?

+MrQuazarr@Zone> === Just a reminder: 15 minutes left... we will have to stop this at the top of the hour

rei@Turbine> We're looking into monster balancing in general.

jason@Turbine> If people feel creature levels are out of whack please let us know on the message board. Specifics and suggestions are always welcome..

rei@Turbine> We'll be addressing issues as they come up.

cfoster@Turbine> next q?

Djobo> Hi there, and congrats for all your great work guys! I would like to Know if the demo version of the game will be transferable to a full version (with a full subscription) once the 30 days are finish...

jason@Turbine> also, keep in mind, whats hard for one person may be easy for another due to differences in thier characters..

rei@Turbine> (re: feedback: the more specific and constructive, the better)

cfoster@Turbine> DJobo, you have to uninstall the Beta before playing the full game.

Scotth@Turbine> Sorry Djobo, you've got to start up a new character

cfoster@Turbine> And for the moment, there are no demo's planned.

rei@Turbine> Really, folks, uninstall cleanly before re-installing!!!

cfoster@Turbine> But you can continue your characters after the free month, if that's what you're asking about.
cfoster@Turbine> And brush your teeth after every meal! :)

+MrQuazarr@Zone> You are required to buy the CD. You will have to use the subscription coupon on the back of the jewel case to enable your subscription

cfoster@Turbine> Hello, Tafflehos.

Tafflehos> Will archers be given something in the way of a bow that will at least put them on a semi-equal footing with all the warriors carrying around a couple of SOLL'S. And expect to see a strong Lost Order of Akalabeth presence ingame as well. :)

cfoster@Turbine> The SoLL is pretty cool, huh? :)
cfoster@Turbine> We're going to be spreading around neat quest items as the game goes forward.
cfoster@Turbine> next question?

Tomas_Krieger> Since mages are overpowered, grouping with a mage is pretty worthless for a melee fighter. IE. No exp and no loot. How are you going to solve this? And how many lines does the game code consist of? :-)

cfoster@Turbine> Tomas, there are three lines of code, but they're REALLY long.

jason@Turbine> last count about 2 million lines of code..

rei@Turbine> Lots of semi-colons.

cfoster@Turbine> As for mages, we'll be posting details as to our plan for rebalancing mages in the next few days.
cfoster@Turbine> And we want your comments!
cfoster@Turbine> next question?

Shags_on_AC> after playing an archer for about a month and getting to a high level i was almost forced back to fighting low level drudges after you "fixed" my bow, i was wondering how your planning to balance out the archer class, and if any new kinds of bows will

cfoster@Turbine> Hi Shags!

Shags_on_AC> added that will be part of quests like the SoLL and others that can be found that are better, and as for horses i say you make an animal taming skill, then you could just go and capture something good, and maybe you could like attack with it too,
Shags_on_AC> i cant wait to go taim some otholi queens and ride them into town hehe

cfoster@Turbine> Shags, only one question.
cfoster@Turbine> As for archery, we DID increase archers abilities in the end.
cfoster@Turbine> Make sure you have a cool bow, and up your coordination.

avandegrift> Hey, great game but I have 1 complaint. No secure trade window will hurt player to player economics, do you plan on implementing one in the future? noq.

jason@Turbine> archers rely more on magic bows now..

Luc1f3r> It's a pleasure speaking with you people :) I've never played this type of game before, and I am looking for something of the type, AC seemed to catch my eye though....What sets AC apart from the others (makes it special)?

cfoster@Turbine> Secure trade is a possible future feature.

Luc1f3r> wow i'm on, hehe

cfoster@Turbine> thanks
cfoster@Turbine> Hmm...
cfoster@Turbine> AC has lots of social features that are unique, and we can update the world dynamically.

sean@Turbine> Plus it's darned cool!

cfoster@Turbine> Events are going to be a big deal as AC goes forward.

jason@Turbine> thats one of the biggest things abotu AC tech - we can change our world without having to create a huge patch to download..

cfoster@Turbine> Also, we hope to do more with the allegiance system as the game develops...

Scotth@Turbine> and cow ownership...

Gerwin03> What does the real game have to offer that is different than the beta testing (And are the beta characters dead?)?

cfoster@Turbine> Right now, I think we have the most potential to create TRUE massively-multiplayer gameplay.
cfoster@Turbine> Um, True.
cfoster@Turbine> (stop laughing, Rei.)
cfoster@Turbine> The real game has a future! :)

sean@Turbine> Not to mention we have cool dance moves!

rei@Turbine> The game's core and heart is about people.

cfoster@Turbine> The real game will have more cohesive and expansive events, and new content as the game goes forward.
cfoster@Turbine> Also, it'll have a larger audience, which means more potential for neat social interactions.
cfoster@Turbine> Next question?

aFrog_fr> Hello there ! I'm wondering how much does a game like AC cost to develop and maintain ?

cfoster@Turbine> (checks his wallet)
cfoster@Turbine> A lot.

jason@Turbine> more than you can imagine..

letoile@turbine> $1.37

rei@Turbine> A lot.

sean@Turbine> You mean the financial cost, or the cost in human lives?

cfoster@Turbine> Next question...

jason@Turbine> or aging costs on the developers?

johnski0> There is a sword-specific quest for the Sword of Lost light. Can we expect similar quests/items for non-sword skill characters, i.e. MACE hint hint , bow, etc. etc., equivalent to the SoLL?...

rei@Turbine> I feel old :)

cfoster@Turbine> John, yes.

rei@Turbine> I think we touched upon this?

cfoster@Turbine> We're looking at making sure everyone has their all-powerful, envy-inducing trophies.
cfoster@Turbine> We'll even have some in the game, too! :)

Aabott> Will the monster's AI routines ever be altered? providing new challenges for us all...Thx. for the open Beta, very enjoyable.

letoile@turbine> I'm already plotting some of these uber-weapon quests. :)

cfoster@Turbine> next q?

+MrQuazarr@Zone> ==== 5 minutes left

cfoster@Turbine> Aabott, we're looking at making monsters more interesting in the future.

rei@Turbine> Ayup.

cfoster@Turbine> Look for interesting stuff to happen as the game develops...

StormFa11> Will your (more dynamic, GM-controlled) events occur during (say) US peak time, and if so,
StormFa11> what about those non-US players who need to sleep outside PST peaks? :)
StormFa11> Are we resigned to static events like parchment searches :P

jason@Turbine> they'll occur during large time spans, sometimes spanning several days or longer..

StormFa11> *drinks more coffee*

cfoster@Turbine> StormFa11, we can only schedule so many large events at a time.
cfoster@Turbine> We will spread them out as much as we can, tho'.
cfoster@Turbine> Also look for smaller, socially-oriented events to happen around the clock.
cfoster@Turbine> next question?

Raistlan> Right to the point: How do you guys feel about muling? I.e., creating a character to hold items/ID/do trade skills/sacrifice possesions for your main character? BTW, great game! You have created many addicts. :)

sean@Turbine> (Not the least of those addicts are us!)

cfoster@Turbine> Raistlan, that's a fact of life I guess, without a LOT of tricky coding/designing...

cfoster@Turbine> (To be honest, we almost considered calling them "Squires...")

jason@Turbine> I remember watching ping play a squire - some of the best RP I've ever seen..

Sharkboy_> Thanks for the killer game guys... YOU ROCK!! I have no life, all thanks to you... *sniff* it's beautiful... Having a friend fedex it out of the US for me =]...
Sharkboy_> All I would like to know is if there is a possibility of incorporating a 2-handed weaponry skill in certain classes in the future... perhaps as a trainable skill for higher level characters...
Sharkboy_> Such as a sword in each hand, sword & dagger etc.

cfoster@Turbine> Pierson!

rei@Turbine> Pierson!

letoile@turbine> Pierson!

Scotth@Turbine> Pierson?

+MrQuazarr@Zone> Pierson!

sean@Turbine> Actually an animation question too.

Dave@turbine> Pierson!

auberon@Turbine> pierson!

cpierson@Turbine> I pester people on a regular basis for two-handed weapons.
cpierson@Turbine> Pierson!
cpierson@Turbine> Oh, wait.

cfoster@Turbine> (in the game, Pierson)

cpierson@Turbine> Again, we're looking into it -- I even have stats all made up for the two-handers ... :)
cpierson@Turbine> next q?

cfoster@Turbine> It's a definite possibility for the future.

sean@Turbine> The cost in extra animations would be fairly enoromous both in time creating the animations, plus memory for loading them all in. However, it's something I think we'd all like to see added.

Tharcarious> What will you do if we have to open clinics for the people deathly addicted to AC? (I need help, free me for AC's grasp!!)

jason@Turbine> personaly I'd rather see houses and stuff come in first..

rei@Turbine> at least you can't drive and play AC at the same time (I think)

cpierson@Turbine> Ask for a cut of the clinic fees, of course.

Scotth@Turbine> Ummm, can we charge monthly rates???

cfoster@Turbine> I hear Spades is fun...

sean@Turbine> Laptops, Eri!

rei@Turbine> "AC-alyzer testing"?

cfoster@Turbine> next q?

+MrQuazarr@Zone> === AND our luck.. last questions of the evening belongs to mrname:
+MrQuazarr@Zone> lucky even

mrname> will you be adding more spells anytime soon? And why don't spells become more mana efficient as you increase their level? Also, have all of the spells currently in the game been discovered? I'm sure that you can see the spell economy for any spell anytime
mrname> i'm so lucky!
mrname> :)

cfoster@Turbine> Wow, only seven questions at once! :)

cpierson@Turbine> As far as the spells becoming more mana efficient ...

jason@Turbine> mana conversion skill reduces your mana costs on spells..

mrname> thought i was going to have to ask for special privelege next time :)

Scotth@Turbine> I think we caught some of those answers earlier

cpierson@Turbine> Wow. Thanks for finishing my sentence, Jason. :)

cfoster@Turbine> Look at our notes on upcoming updates for more details.

cpierson@Turbine> So if you train Mana Conv as you go up in level, the mana costs _will_ go down.

Scotth@Turbine> not all the spells ahve been found

cfoster@Turbine> Folks, thanks for supporting AC! Hope to see you all in Dereth!

Dave@turbine> Thanks everyone for coming! Hope to see you in Ac!

+MrQuazarr@Zone> I will turn the floor over to Turbine for soem closing words:

rei@Turbine> It's been a long many years. Thanks all!

+MrQuazarr@Zone> On behalf of Turbine and Microsoft I would like to thank you all for coming out this evening.

sean@Turbine> Folks, thanks for coming, and thanks for your questions! Thanks for helping make AC a success. After all, it's a Role Playing Game, it would be nothing without you all!

+MrQuazarr@Zone> We look forward to seeing you in Dereth!

rei@Turbine> Yeah!

cfoster@Turbine> We'll be holding these chats regularly, so we hope to see you all again here soon!

+Deltan@AC> Yay :)

cpierson@Turbine> Testify.

Dave@turbine> by the way I'm looking for vassals!

letoile@turbine> Can I get an Amen?

cfoster@Turbine> 'Night!

sean@Turbine> I'm looking for a good sword. ANyone got one?

+Deltan@AC> You can be my Vassal Dave :Ž

jason@Turbine> And remember, if you have ideas or would like to see changes post them in the newsgroups and message boards. Specifics are good, we're listening..

rei@Turbine> *specifics* *constructive*

cfoster@Turbine> Eri *subliminal* Izawa, ladies and Gentlemen.

jason@Turbine> rants can be fun, but they tend to be ignored..

cfoster@Turbine> As Jason knows... :)

+MrQuazarr@Zone> Night everyone!

jason@Turbine> haha

auberon@Turbine> thanks

cfoster@Turbine> bye

sean@Turbine> 'Night all!
 

Annals of Dereth

An Asheron's Call Newsletter - December 1999 (#1)

	Annals of Dereth

In this issue: 1 -- OUR SAGA THUS FAR . . . 2 -- MAJOR EVENTS 3 -- COMMUNITY HERALD

ANNALS OF DERETH The Asheron's Call Newsletter December 1999 Play it on the Zone! http://zone.msn.com/asheronscall

---

Inaugural Issue
Welcome to the Annals of Dereth, the newsletter for the Asheron's Call role-playing game! We will be bringing you this bulletin every month to give you a wide view on Dereth's evolving community, events, and features.

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1 -- OUR SAGA THUS FAR...

As many of your know, before the Asheron's Call public release in early November, we had a long beta test period of constant updates and ad hoc events. When the developers needed to test server-load capacities, minions of evil assailed the major towns to attract hordes of valiant defenders.  To test game balance, the developers needed to periodically level the playing field by erasing all the characters (don't worry, they won't do it again!), which prompted spontaneous vigils for "the apocalypse."  In the final days of testing, the developers flexed their content engine with a scenario involving a killer comet, a plague of flaming humanoids, volcanic upheavals, and meteor impacts. For coverage of these experiments, go to Events on the Asheron's Call Zone pages:
http://www.zone.com/asheronscall/ASHEnews2.asp

Some who weathered the tumultuous beta have remarked that Dereth seems more static now. However, this is not so.  Among developers and players alike, profound creative forces are gaining momentum to transform the world of Asheron's Call. This game is as much the creation of its community as its developers, and the AC staff has been taking careful note of player activities, amending their plans to best suit the social climate. Already they have made several careful updates addressing opportunities and problems that the limited beta environment could not reveal. Now, in the coming weeks, they will start their long-planned project to unveil the larger story of Dereth with the first of many spectacular interventions. We are glad you've joined us in the adventure.

Sincerely,

Bob Kruger (aka bob@zone)
Asheron's Call Web Site Editor

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2 -- MAJOR EVENTS

THE WORLD GROWS COLD…
"Atop a hill overlooking Zaikhal, Asaina al-Arqis placed a crystal apparatus on the ground, aligning it to the setting sun.  The light caught within its facets, held, and the delicate mechanism began to gently spin. She frowned and tapped the base of the device. Over the past three days, the portents had been clear. Portal runners from Hebian-To and Cragstone confirmed it: the temperature was slowly, steadily falling, and showed no signs of stopping . . ."

Early this December a major, unmistakable change will be wrought on Dereth. Though not as dire as certain upheavals of the recent past, it should be no less interesting. This event will continue our commitment to having a major event every month, advancing and developing the story of Dereth, and giving players new challenges. Some of these developments follow a plotline covering many months. Great things are yet to come! We look forward to experiencing them with you.

DEVELOPER CHAT, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 1
Join us from 5 to 7 P.M. Pacific Time in the Zone Theater Chat Room, where you can put questions to the staff of Turbine Entertainment, developers of Asheron's Call. Attendees will include Lead Producer Scott Herrington, Lead Designer Chris Foster, and Turbine Community Manager Dave Namerow. We hope to see you there.

---

3 -- COMMUNITY HERALD

---

SEND THIS NEWSLETTER TO A FRIEND, AND LET THEM KNOW TO:

PLAY IT ON THE ZONE!

---

If you have any problems with Asheron's Call or the Zone, check out our Troubleshooters and Frequently Asked Questions and find the answer to your problems there.

Troubleshooters:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/games/zone/asheron/tshoot/default.asp
http://support.microsoft.com/support/games/zone/tshoot/default.asp

Play it on the Zone!
http://www.zone.com/asheronscall

You registered to receive this newsletter on the MSN Gaming Zone. To unsubscribe, do the following:

1. Go to MSN Newsletters:
http://g.msn.com/0NL33946/117

2. Log in with your Zone ID (not your AC character name) and password.

3. Uncheck the box that's labeled "Send me the Asheron's Call newsletter every month to: (your e-mail address)."

THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. The information contained in this document represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation on the issues discussed as of the date of publication. Because Microsoft must respond to change in market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information presented after the date of publication. INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED 'AS IS' WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND FREEDOM FROM INFRINGEMENT. The user assumes the entire risk as to the accuracy and the use of this document. This document may be copied and distributed subject to the following conditions: 1. All text must be copied without modification and all pages must be included 2. All copies must contain Microsoft's copyright notice and any other notices provided therein 3. This document may not be distributed for profit.

c2000 Microsoft, Inc.