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From the Zone
November 24, 1999
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 . . .
The first major event in the
world of Asheron's Call will take place in early December. Players marvelled
at the widespread changes in the world during the "Fire in the Sky" event at
the end of beta -- meteors ravaged the continent, weird new creatures
appeared, and a fragmented prophesy puzzled thousands. Though not as
apocalyptic in nature, 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.
December 10, 1999
Atop the dune, under the feeble sunset light, Asaina al-Arqis hugged her
thick cloak around her, blew into her hands, and bent and replaced the gem
at the apex of her sensing apparatus. Sunlight glinted from the facets, sank
within, then struck a violent spark at the center. With a crack the light
winked out, the supporting wires loosed their hold, and the suddenly gray
stone fell beside the last two she'd tested. She could not calibrate the
equipment any finer, but she knew enough. A week, perhaps, probably less,
and even the desert would freeze. It was time to give a final report to the
Council.
Expect impressive developments
by the end of next week, including a world-spanning quest and a range of
holiday festivals. To get some idea of the scope of a major Asheron's Call
event, we invite you to check out coverage of the "Fire in the Sky " from
the end of beta. Next week will be just the first of the large-scale events
we'll roll out every month. We look forward to sharing all the excitement
with you in this next great adventure!
December 15, 1999
Murmurs and coughs faded from the Council chamber as the four-foot column of
enchanted ice drained candlelight from the room. "Here is yet another
image," said Asaina al-Arqis to the assembly. "This is what the shard
foresees for Qalaba'r." The stolen light resolved into a view of the
familiar desert town, but it could hardly be recognized: snow was in the air
and lay thick on the ground. "It is time to prepare. Mark me -- tomorrow,
the view outside your own windows will be very much the same."
Details of
the 11/23/1999 Update - From the
Zone
On the morning of November 23rd, Asheron's Call
will undergo its first major update since its public debut.
This update makes some changes to game
balance -- the relative strengths of particular skills, monsters, and items.
We realize that changes can be painful, and we have no intention of
continually shifting the game balance. We are especially reluctant to make
changes that weaken characters. However, we badly needed to curtail the
effectiveness of a few skills for this update to put them on equal footing
with most of the game's other skills. We do not change the character powers
lightly, and we do not intend to make this a common practice.
Below are details on the changes, from Chris
Foster, lead game designer for Asheron's Call at Turbine Entertainment
Software.
CHANGES TO MONSTERS
- Monsters now have more pronounced "soft
spots" in their armor. Choosing the height of your missile and melee
attacks will have a more pronounced effect on the damage you do.
- Monsters now also have clearer "soft
spots" in their magical resistances. Mages must choose spells more
carefully; using a spell to which a monster has natural resistance can
reduce its effectiveness by half or more! Mages who choose proper
spellcasting tactics will do as much damage as they ever did.
- Lugians, Armordilloes, and Gromnies are
somewhat faster and better defended.
- Lugians and some Monougas fit better
through doorways.
- The locations of many monsters have been
tweaked to improve game balance.
- Vats and braziers are now ethereal, so
they cannot be used as safe "perches" for picking off monsters.
- On the landscape, monsters will now be
able to open doors.
- Gromnies will no longer defend their
brethren.
- Shadow creatures and Olthoi have better
defenses.
- Many Monougas will navigate better
around pits.
- Banderling Captains and Tumerok Warriors
were not casting spells; this now works as intended.
- Ice golems no longer take double damage
from fire.
CHANGES TO MAGIC
- Portal spells are now harder to learn,
and the spread in difficulty across portal spreads is also greater.
(This restores portal magic as a goal to which mages aspire.)
- The ranges of Harm and Drain spells have
been reduced, as the ranges made these attack spells more powerful than
anything a War Mage could cast. Beneficial Heal, Regenerate and
Enchantment spells retain their high range. The duration of enchantment
now increases substantially with the level of its spell.
- Vendors no longer hold on to the magic
scrolls they buy, and will only sell their standard supplies of them.
- Minor tweaks: Health-to-Stamina Self II
had the wrong scarab, and the Range for Exhaustion Other I was too
short. Both will be fixed.
- Health-to-Stamina Other spells did not
display their range when examined. They will now.
QUEST ITEMS
Changes have been made to the requirements
for using the following items:
- Acid Axe
- Blue Virindi Gem
- Dagger of Tikola
- Dull Gem
- Fiery Shield
- Fire Spear
- Fire Staff
- Gem of Black Fire
- Green Mire Cuirass
- Green Mire Yari
- Ice Tachi
- Lightning Hammer
- Lou Ka's Yaoji
- Obsidian Crown
- Obsidian Ring
- Orb of Black Fire
- Red Virindi Gem
- Superior Helm
- Swamp Gem
- Sword of Lost Light
- Tibri's Flaming Spear
MISCELLANEOUS
- Miscellaneous portals now have
appropriate level restrictions.
- A small number of traps, locks, and
quest-related items have been tweaked.
- Mattekar hides are now less commonplace.
- The values of jewelry created by the
treasure system have been made more consistent.
- A number of locations where players can
get stuck in or behind objects are fixed.
- A number of minor tweaks have been made
to spell effects and other graphics.
- A number of rumors have been clarified
and/or corrected.
- A number of quest-related and
collector-related behaviors have minor fixes.
- Ale and green tea now work as intended.
- "Healing cheese" is now labeled
everywhere it appears.
- Minor tweaks have been made to improve
server performance.
From the
Zone
 "Sudden
Season" Has Arrived! - December 16, 1999
The forecasts have proven true! Yesterday, like all the days before, the
snow gleamed only on Dereth's far-off peaks, stark, clean, and unattainable,
a symbol of impossible quests. But this morning, Derethians from Holtburg to
the sub-tropical reaches of the southernmost Sho and Gharu'ndim lands awoke
to find snow falling outside their windows. During the intermittent breaks,
the sun beat feebly in the frosty sky. The first adventurers to explore this
strange wonderland were startled by crude snowmen that materialized in a
swirl of ice -- only to cast beneficial enchantments on them. Taking these
kindly creatures as a good omen, citizens declared a holiday vigil for the
sun to regain its strength, and have put aside their usual activities to
invent food recipes and create festive robes, candles, and paper lanterns.
However, many sages are studying the situation under grave doubt, fearing
some baleful magic is at work. In every town, criers announce that the team
of Sir Joffre Tremblant, who sought a fabled mountain city, is overdue to
return. Scouts ranging far afield have brought back reports of new snowmen
of nasty disposition and even a few of gigantic size. Meanwhile, the world
grows colder still ...
Other News
Balancing out their disturbing news, town criers have been happily
announcing the start of traditional holidays for each heritage group (the
Aluvian Solstice, the Gharu'ndim Night Feast, and the Sho Festival of Lights
-- details can be gleaned from Asheron's Lore). They also declared a cooking
contest!
Congratulations to each of our winners, who will have personal information
added to the new in-game Specialty Cookbook for the recipe he or she
discovered.
-
Famous Pizza
(Completed! Winner: Dani the Crazed)
-
Fruitcake (Completed!
Winner: Bortin)
-
Spiced Apple Pie
(Completed! Winner: Firedemon)
-
Hot Kimchi (Completed!
Winner: Team of Raszagal and Tassadar)
-
Carrot Cake (Completed!
Winner: Kakori)
We encourage everyone to seek
news of the hapless Sir Joffre, try the *snow angel* maneuver, experiment
with the new winter fashion wear, and follow up rumors of a new "hoary"
mattekar in the northern mountains. We'll be seeing you in Dereth!
From the
Zone
The Spin
From Turbine - December 16, 1999
Highlights of the Update on December 16, 1999
On December 16, Asheron's Call had its second major update. In addition to
heralding our first event and the beginning of our ongoing storyline, this
update includes a number of changes that affect game balance. None of these
will affect any one profession to the degree of our previous alterations to
magic.
Listed here are those items that we think are
of most interest to players. If you want to read about every single tiny
change we've made, look in the News section of the Zone AC Web pages on the
Zone for an article titled "Build Notes, December 16."
Event Changes:
Half the fun of the "Sudden Season" event is discovering for yourself what
has been added or changed, so no details are listed here. There's much more
than just some snow on the ground! Ask around, read the news, and explore.
Monster AI Changes:
We've made a number of changes to how monster AI works, in the interests of
making them behave a bit more intelligently. While there are limits to what
we can do to improve AI in the short term, we will be watching the results
of these changes carefully, to see how they fare.
- Monsters will react more sensibly to
occasional "issued attacks," and will not break off their attacks as
quickly.
- Monsters who fail to hit you with
projectile attacks will continue attacking with non-projectile "harm"
spells, if they have them.
- Monsters will tend to "stick" to their
targets more consistently, and "waffle" less frequently between targets.
- Monsters now are less fixated on getting
extra-close to their target before making a melee attack.
- Monsters were failing to cast spells on
themselves, due to a bug. Argh! Monsters are less dumb now. (Our own
mental faculties, on the other hand, remain unchanged.)
Monster Balance:
- Banderlings and Black Drudges now cast
more slowly.
- Golems in general had Magic Defense that
was too low for their level -- making them easy sources of XP. This has
been changed.
- Skeletons have higher levels, to reflect
their challenge. (We'll probably do the same soon for Mountain Rats, but
they kill us every time we mention the idea . . .)
- Lugians can now throw boulders faster and
farther than before. Duck!
- There were small glitches in the data for
some types of Gromnies, Drudges, Armoredillos, Golems, Olthoi, Mu-miyah
and Virindi, which gave each of them inordinately low or high protection
against a specific damage type. These have been fixed.
- Magma Golems have been learning from the
mages that attack them . . .
Vendor Changes:
- Vendors can now buy back all expensive
trade notes that they sell; this was a glitch.
- Aqua Incanta and Neutral Balm are now
available with many more vendors.
- A number of bowyers should have sold
fletching items, but didn't. They do now.
- You can now sell cooking items to grocers.
Stop abandoning all those sides of beef, kids!
- Vendors (particularly Kuro of Kara) were
buying some inappropriate items. This has been fixed.
Magic Balance:
- Imperil Other can now be defended using
the Magic Defense skill. This was a glitch.
- Players were using portal magic to provide
"short-cuts" through quests. Now, critical portals within quests are set
so that they cannot be "tied" using portal spells. This does not affect
any other portals.
- The Scroll for Acid Bane 6 no longer
teaches Acid Bane 5.
Miscellaneous Changes:
- In some rare cases, the client could
freeze or crash when you were wielding items or otherwise manipulating
your inventory. This should be fixed now.
- Corpses now decay much more quickly when
they are empty. This minimizes clutter on the landscape, which in extreme
cases can cause slowdowns.
- A glitch in the treasure system was found
which caused nearly all treasure to have overly high requirements; in all
future treasure, you should find that most treasure items have lower
requirements for use than in the past. This change is slight for average
treasure, but more significant for powerful treasure.
- An additional character option lets you
turn off most weather effects, to speed up your frame rate.
- A handful of tweaks were made to rumors,
quests, portals, object placement, and graphics.
- Some chests or other places in the game
would stop respawning their items under certain conditions. At least one
of those conditions is now caught, and the spawn will now fail less often,
if at all.
- There was a bug in throwing weapons code
that made them less likely to hit their targets. This is now fixed, so you
may want to give thrown weapons another chance.
- When you attacked monsters that were
resistant to a basic type of damage (bludgeoning, slashing, etc), the chat
log reported full damage, even though you were doing reduced damage. This
is fixed. You are not doing any less damage due to this update; it is just
reporting the damage accurately.
--Chris Foster, a.k.a. "Slapp"
Note: If you want to refer to past
"Spin" articles, look for the "News Archive" link at the bottom of the News
page.
From the
Zone
Recap of
the "Sudden Season" - January 5, 2000
For several weeks an unnatural
winter gripped the world of Asheron's Call. In the first of our monthly
world-impacting events, all players couldn't help but notice the ice and
snow, the enchanted snowmen, and the holiday robes, but only a few of the
most powerful and adventurous experienced the full scope of the designers'
work, which also involved fantastic new castles, a large ice-cave network, a
vast underground city, and recipes for foods with useful new properties.
Here are some screenshots from the event (click each thumbnail to view the
larger picture):
|
|
The undead Gelidites guard the byways to their hidden city. |
|
|
Rime falls like snow upon the gates of Frore, sanctum of the frozen
undead. |
|
|
Born of dark sorcery, an innocent-looking snowman magically girds
himself for battle |
 |
|
Unnatural snowfall, giant moons, and magic portal transform Shoushi into
a dream of meditative wonder. |
|
|
The glow of holiday candles invites travelers to cross the bridge into
Rithwic on a midwinter's eve. |
 |
|
Clad in warm and festive robes, one town crier in Holtburg relieves
another from his shift. |
Quest for Frore Story Contest
From the Bandit Fortress of MacDugal to Lady Tallial's Neydisa Castle and
the desert town of Zaikhal, many brave adventuring parties followed rumors
of the hidden city of Frore. Deep beneath the earth they arrived at their
goal and also at a confrontation with the ghastly Gelidites, necromancers
who had converted the poor Sir Joffre Tremblant to their undead state.
Battling to the very heart of Frore, the heroes faced a huge, sentient
gemstone that blasted all who tried to approach. The artifact claimed many
lives, but ultimately lay in fragments, bleeding out the heat it had stolen
from the core of the world.
The heroes returned to well-deserved
accolades to enjoy the seasonal festivities underway before their departure,
confident that Dereth would soon become warm and verdant once more. However,
all was not settled. On the corpses of a Gelidite Lord and Sir Joffre were
found old books that hinted the defeated artifact had contained some dark
new terror.
Congratulations to Abrim of Morningthaw, who
won our story contest with the following account of his adventure to Frore:
I knew the end was near. For good or bad,
I had come to the end of my journey. I grieved the loss of my friend Kyoujin,
his body broken by the denizens of this cold, dark place. I knew he would be
all right, the magic of the lifestone had captured his spirit, protecting
him against true death, but it was small consolation to me as I stood there
over his body, wondering how I could go on alone. This was my not my first
attempt to unravel the mysteries of this Lost City of Frore. During the
last, I had come alone, and had been thwarted by the locks of the City. The
Gelidites took great pains in preserving their privacy, in designing and
constructing this place. I wandered, cold and lost, for a long time before
finally using my magic to escape the darkness, planning to return again.
Return I did, this time accompanied by
Kyoujin, an aspiring mage who also had some skill with locks. Together, we
sought to bring an end to the bitter winter that blankets Dereth, not fully
understanding the danger of this place, and the power of the forces within.
Together we fought against the undying guardians, and won our way into the
City. Deeper and deeper we ran, finally coming face-to-face with Tremblant
himself, now transformed into a hideous monster, his dead body reanimated by
some evil magic. Kyoujin was no match for him; Tremblant had broken him, and
had almost destroyed me as well, before I finally managed to bring him down.
Now, as I stood before this doorway, the
blistering heat from within was almost welcome in this otherwise frigid
place. I feared in my heart that I might suffer the same fate as Tremblant,
doomed forever to guard this dark place. I relived in my mind the long
journey that had brought me here: the quest for Tremblant's party, seeking
out the pieces of the mystic rune transcription, the warnings of the
translators, the long run to the Plateau. A sound from within roused me from
my thoughts. The Great Work, perhaps sensing my presence, had begun to stir.
The time had come for me to face this final challenge. As I opened the door,
the heat from within washing over me in waves, I sent a silent prayer to the
Poet, that my death might have meaning.
--Abrim
We'd also like to make an honorable mention
of the runner-up story submitted by Foucault and Ali Zaboo. Thanks to
everyone who participated in this event!
One of the designers from Turbine
Entertainment had this to say about the story contest:
Hey, folks,
On behalf of all of us, I'm popping in to
say thanks to everyone who participated in the writing contest.
Congratulations go out, of course, to Abrim, who has officially become the
first player whose fiction can be bought from a scribe. We enjoyed reading
the entries, and we hope to run another one as part of an event in the
future. Expect a higher word count next time. ;)
On a personal level, as the guy who earned
a nervous tic from designing and re-designing the Frore quest, I'd also like
to thank everyone who slugged their way through the drafty halls of the Lost
City in search
If you're interested in seeing how this all
started, please visit the original
Sudden Season announcement article.
Developer's Chat - December 1,
1999
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Hi and Welcome to our Monthly
Asheron's Call Developer's Chat.
+MrQuazarr@Zone> I would like to remind you all of the rules of this Chat
Room before we begin. All Zone Code of Conduct rules are in place.
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Please do not flame or attack our guests ;-). They are
here to answer you questions to the best of their ability
+MrQuazarr@Zone> If a questions has already been asked, please try to ask
a different question
+MrQuazarr@Zone> To ask a questions, go to the ROOM and select Ask a
Question. You will be placed in the Waiting Queue
+MrQuazarr@Zone> As your turn comes up, you will be placed in the Asking
slot. We ask you have your question typed out in notepad and copy and
paste it over
+MrQuazarr@Zone> This will help the chat go faster and get the most
questions in as possible in the 2 hours we have.
+MrQuazarr@Zone> We will also be limiting each person to ONE question. You
will be moved to Watching after your questions is asked.
+MrQuazarr@Zone> If you ask multiple questions, expect only your first
question to be answered.
+MrQuazarr@Zone> I would like to first introduce the Program Manager of
Asheron’s Call, Matthew Ford. The floor is yours Matthew:
Stucco@Zone> Hello!
Stucco@Zone> First off, I want to invite you to read a new article we have
posted called "The State of the Code". It may answer a lot of the
questions you have about bugs, lag, etc. Click http://www.zone.com/asheronscall/news/ASHEnewscodestate1.asp
Stucco@Zone> We will of course answer questions here, but that will give
more detail than we can state here...
Stucco@Zone> We will be telling all players about this article soon! OK,
I'm done for now. Thanks!
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Now I would like to introduce our
next guest, Scott Harrington, scotth@turbine. He is the Producer on
Asheron's Call.
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Scott, the floor is all yours.
Scotth@Turbine> Hi once again! Let me introduce
who’s here from Turbine
Scotth@Turbine> With me this evening are Dave Namerow, our community
manager
Scotth@Turbine> He works in sync with the designers to give them feedback
about the effects each of their decisions have on the world
Dave@turbine> Hi All
Scotth@Turbine> And Chris Foster (aka Slapp), is the lead designer of the
projec
Scotth@Turbine> probably the guy most of you are wanting to strangle…
cfoster@Turbine> ... project.
Scotth@Turbine> Until you hear what he has to say :)
cfoster@Turbine> Don't hurt me! I'm fragile!
Scotth@Turbine> Remember, violating the CoC will get you booted from
here…. So please, be gentle….
Scotth@Turbine> he's really a nice guy... give him a chance.
cfoster@Turbine> Hi all.
Stucco@Zone> He squeezes nice ;)
cfoster@Turbine> Eek!
cfoster@Turbine> Let's to the heart of it...
cfoster@Turbine> ... we know that some people have been concerned our
first update.
cfoster@Turbine> We've gotten a number of complaints about some changes...
particularly to life mages.
cfoster@Turbine> It seems worth taking a minute and explaining how those
changes came about.
cfoster@Turbine> When we approached the end of beta, we realized that some
of the goals of our design weren't being met.
cfoster@Turbine> In particular, life mages were meant to be best at GIVING
life, not taking it.
cfoster@Turbine> With the incredible range on drain spells, they had
turned out to be better warriors than our war mages.
cfoster@Turbine> We thought for a long time about how to address this.
cfoster@Turbine> Our first thought was: why address it at all? Just
because things don't go as planned, doesn't mean a change is necessary.
cfoster@Turbine> But then we realized we were facing a potential worse
case scenario...
cfoster@Turbine> ... where non-life-mages were frustrated that they'd
chosen the wrong skills, and life mages were bored at how easy the game
had become.
cfoster@Turbine> Then we considered simply boosting all of the other
professions to match life mages.
cfoster@Turbine> However, that would have meant
changing just about EVERY stat in the game, otherwise EVERYONE would have
found themselves rushing through the game and getting bored. That wasn't
practical.
cfoster@Turbine> That left us with the one option that we'd wanted to
avoid at all costs: removing some of life mages' power.
cfoster@Turbine> We're sorry that we had to do it, but it was necessary to
making the game more balanced and fun for everyone.
cfoster@Turbine> *deep breath* okay, that's my spiel. I'm sure I'll come
up with more stuff to say when people start asking questions. Anything to
add, Scott?
Scotth@Turbine> I think we’re ready for questions now. And yes, extending
a question to sub questions counts as multiple questions. We’re trying to
get through as many questions as possible, and want to give each person
Scotth@Turbine> a chance to ask theirs
cfoster@Turbine> Except Scott. :)
Scotth@Turbine> so, let's get rolling with those questions
Scotth@Turbine> erm....
cfoster@Turbine> *tap dances*
cfoster@Turbine> *balances a beachball on the end of his nose*
Scotth@Turbine> Jeff from Des Moins, you're on line one...
cfoster@Turbine> Ta da!
jeffhartsell> Ready...First off...addictive game...great job!! Now...my
comments and my ONE question (sort of) :-) ...
Scotth@Turbine> what's on yer mind?
jeffhartsell> Comment: At one point it was mentioned that players could
learn any spell that creatures cast. I assumed then that Water Golems
would gurgle, "Zojak Quafeth" when they cast acid stream, which is not the
case...
jeffhartsell> I have read that some creatures do use the power words.
Plus, some creatures cast spells that appear to be unlearn-able, such as
missiles, and they don't follow player casting conventions. Now, my
question...
jeffhartsell> Q: Do you have plans for all creatures to use power words
and a focus when appropriate or do you intend to introduce new spells
mainly via scrolls, research, or other nefarious methods? Please
elaborate. Thanks! END
cfoster@Turbine> Hi, Jeff.
cfoster@Turbine> We plan on using a mix of ways to introduce new spells.
Some will show up first on monsters, some in scrolls, some as new
components to explore.
cfoster@Turbine> In some cases, we may do all of those at once, as each
player is likely to find only one of those occurrences. (done)
+MrQuazarr@Zone> candy, GA
Scotth@Turbine> hello candyman, you're on Larry King
Live. What's your question
candyman107> okay ;) I was wondering if you plan on making any changes to
melee fighters in the near future.
candyman107> Its seems like the game is more geared towards mages in the
higher levels. Everything casts high level war spells that does big damage
that a melee has little to no chance on resisting.
Scotth@Turbine> such as?
candyman107> Being a level 42 blade with 255 sword as a specilized skill I
rely on life magic to survive and rarely use sword, espically since the
changes to the sword of lost light making it nearly unusable without
creature magic or rare magic items to increase stats
cfoster@Turbine> Candyman, we're looking in general
at balance across professions and skills as players go up in level.
Scotth@Turbine> The sounds of Chris typing madly echo through the office
cfoster@Turbine> In general, it looks like for many players, professions
stay in sync as they rise in level.
cfoster@Turbine> One thing we plan on looking at is the treasure system,
to make sure that high-level players have access to weapons that make them
even more powerful. Those may be too hard to find now.
cfoster@Turbine> Thanks for the question. (done)
DA_hOsTiLe_DtH> Hi....I was wondering if mabey you guys could create some
kind of NPK ring so all the NPK's can fight in like a match. This would
make the game alot more interesting..and there could be prizes and I was
also thinking of a ranking system. Thanks =)
Stucco@Zone> I can take that
cfoster@Turbine> DtH, don't you know violence is NEVER the solution? :)
Stucco@Zone> We have a LOT of great ideas on the table to keep expanding
AC...
Scotth@Turbine> (and a few lousy ones)
Stucco@Zone> and an arena is one of them! We certainly will want to do
something, as always, different and better than run-of-the-mill...
Stucco@Zone> We won't speculate till we know we're doing anything, but
yes, we do want to find more ways for players to... er... interact ;)
(done)
+MrQuazarr@Zone> ==REMINDER: to help get as many questions in, please
limit to one question and only get right to that question ;-) Thanks
Dave@turbine> suggestions are gladly taken comments@asheronscall.com
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Instar?
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Voiden, you are up
Voiden> Evening all,.last week my charactor went missing, and have had no
assistance with this problem,is this normal not to get responses to emails
to comments and complaints and have other people had this problem with
character loss as well? thanks end .
Stucco@Zone> I'll answer that one...
Stucco@Zone> We apologize but we cannot answer email personally... there
are a LOT of them! But know that we DO read each one. Our "autoreply" was
broken for a while (oops)...
Stucco@Zone> As for that bug, we are looking into it. Make sure you are
looking in the right world. Also, when clicking through the opening
screens, be sure not to click AND press enter...
Stucco@Zone> ...you can click the delete char button then press Enter,
which unfortunately confirms it. We need to change that. (done)
mriell> What is going to be done about the availability of aqua incarta?
Without a good available supply of aqua incarta, then Fletching, Alchemy,
and cooking are useless skills. I ALSO haven't EVER received a response to
any emails I send to customer support!
mriell> thanks. end.
cfoster@Turbine> Answer to first question:
Alchemy Items and Fletching items will be easier to find in our next
update. They ARE too rare now. (done)
_Jericho_X> will all citys (even the little ones) be effected by the
minions of the frost king? in other words will some cities see more action
then others or is there a central location for the battle? ANY info on the
coming event would be awesome!! .......
_Jericho_X> and you guys are doing great,no matter what others might
think,thank you for a great experiance. :)
cfoster@Turbine> Frost King?
_Jericho_X> the coming coldness,there have been rumors
cfoster@Turbine> I guess this is a good time to
reveal a bit more about the event.
_Jericho_X> dont play dumb guys lol
Scotth@Turbine> Event?
cfoster@Turbine> Frost? :)
cfoster@Turbine> The event will take place across the world, but it will
be a little different than our "Fire in the Sky" event from Beta.
cfoster@Turbine> First, it will be a little more contemplative, in the
spirit of the Winter Holidays. No minions of death falling from the sky.
:)
cfoster@Turbine> There WILL be lots of new stuff to play with -- new
items, new monsters, a new look to the world.
Scotth@Turbine> carrots!
cfoster@Turbine> AND there will be a major quest,
spanning Dereth, for players to discover in the game.
cfoster@Turbine> It's one of the biggest quests we've done yet -- at about
the scale of the "Sword of Lost Light" quest.
cfoster@Turbine> (done)
Scotth@Turbine> ok Chris, that's enough! (slaps gag on chris)
cfoster@Turbine> mmnfh!!!
cfoster@Turbine> (hmmnfh)
silku> What is the highest lvl i can get in the game?Great game but 2
easily exploited!!!
Scotth@Turbine> what are you at now?
cfoster@Turbine> With a LOT of work, you can reach level 126.
cfoster@Turbine> That's a LOT of work.
cfoster@Turbine> A LOT.
cfoster@Turbine> Heaps.
cfoster@Turbine> More than is healthy.
cfoster@Turbine> :)
cfoster@Turbine> (done)
kdavid1> I have two good questions, 1) On the Harvestgain World, I and
many others experience "lag" problems. This sudden drop in response time
to our computers during a fight has led the the loss of many good lives in
Dereth. Killed by a drudge(shakes head)...
Stucco@Zone> I can take that (one question
please)...
kdavid1> 2) Why are the grommies and armoredillos faster than normal, I
have a run of 130 and can barely outrun the Grommies.
Stucco@Zone> When is the last time you got lag?
kdavid1> Yesterday at about 8pm
kdavid1> eastern
kdavid1> (done)
Stucco@Zone> If you get a spike of lag, try
contacting an Advocate right away (using /list (town)) so we can track
this. Please read http://www.zone.com/asheronscall/news/ASHEnewscodestate1.asp
Stucco@Zone> ...it will help explain the lag a bit more than I can here.
But please know...
Stucco@Zone> ...that if there is ANY lag that we can do anything about, we
are working hard at it! (done)
Lord_Xorus> [My Comment:] Love the game, yada yada.. =P The 'spell chats'
like "Zojak Quafeth" in crowded/camped areas can be very disturbing and 'laggy'.
An option to disable these messages would be nice!
Lord_Xorus> [My Question:] How about 'Random Events'? - Like portals
appearing throughout the land for a limited time to a temporarily
available dungeon where one could find 'random' items. (More elemental
weapons, enchanted armor, or even a secret town!? =))
cfoster@Turbine> Hail Lord Xorus!
Stucco@Zone> Please send any comments to comments@asheronscall.com; we
read them all!
cfoster@Turbine> Random elements are possible for events, and we're
starting to use them in our first one.
cfoster@Turbine> If it goes well, expect to see them used more frequently
in the future. Thanks for the question. (done)
Spaxillian> If we have fallen victim to the dreaded 'Skill we Didn't want
and didn't click on that we know of' bug, can anything be done to help,
perhaps a sentinel can remove the skill and reclaim points (Maybe with a
penalty of lost experience or level(s))?
Stucco@Zone> I can testify there are some VERY cool
things they can do with existing features for events.
Spaxillian> And in responce to Jason Booth on Cod, "Happy?" Yes, I am :)
Stucco@Zone> Spax, that skill bug is very elusive,
and we can't rule out any number of causes....
Stucco@Zone> I'm afraid that in line with our policy we simply cannot do
an equitable and safe job of restoring characters or objects. I'm very
sorry it happened, and we are urgently looking into it.
Stucco@Zone> (done)
RoBz26> Hey Turbine Guys and MrQ. First off, I would like to congratulate
you guys on the current success of the game. I'm not playing retail YET,
but I will soon, and loved beta :) ...
RoBz26> Anyhow, on to my question. Is it possible to get Magic Defense so
high as to be immune to magic attacks, like with Melee defense.....
RoBz26> In other words, if i keep pumping and pumping XP into it, would I
be able to resist all spells up to a certain point (Like how a level 20
warrior cannot be hit by a skulker :)? Or would it go by luck also? Thanks
in advance.
RoBz26> Oh, and 'hey' to you too Stucco :)
RoBz26> Done
Stucco@Zone> Hey!
RoBz26> And merry christmas
cfoster@Turbine> Hiya RoB...
cfoster@Turbine> There's probably the ability to block low-level spells
totally, but since Magic Defense gets less boost from Magic Defense than
the Spellcasting skills, it's unlikely to completely block high-level
spells.
cfoster@Turbine> (phew -- done)
Drobb2> Any changes in the works to how player corpses are going to be
handled? Between Items vanishing from them, and rumors of loot bugs,
unrecoverable corpses due to lag, is the corpse time going to be increased
(and can they please disapear once emptied?
Drobb2> They're embarassing :)
Drobb2> (done)
cfoster@Turbine> Turns out empty corpses ARE going
to disappear much more quickly, to aid in managing "lag" (actually
frame-rate slowdown). As for the rumors of items disappearing and loot
bugs, please send specifics to an e-mail address that someone else will
now post...
Stucco@Zone> complaints@asheronscall.com
cfoster@Turbine> ... there ya go. (done)
Stucco@Zone> We will not rest until every bug is
gone.
SaberLayne> Great game, Visual (A+), Audio (A+), Interface (A+), Story
(A+). I would like to see a more permanent type residence in Dereth, say
after a succesful quest some place to stash your loot and call home. Has
this been considered for future updates?
Stucco@Zone> I'll answer that, since it's about
future features...
Stucco@Zone> We really want to develop the world and part of that is a
"home"....
Stucco@Zone> For now life is nomadic and we like it that way. But we
certainly are considering doing residences, BUT doing them right... not
creating clutter. (done)
peterwie> i'm wondering if the monster behavior will become more complex
in the future. creature behaviors like territoriality, hunting, flight &
migration seem basic and not impossible to approximate and would really
increase the "reality" of the environment ...
peterwie> (still typing) ...
Scotth@Turbine> jeez, I can hear Stucco typing from
here!
peterwie> think of shreths expanding territory into empty towns and
gettting fought back. banderling guards going off post to hunt for
bunnies.
peterwie> any plans down the line?
peterwie> (done)
Stucco@Zone> I agree that monster AI in all ORPGs is
in its infancy. We have big hopes for where we can go in this area. Some
will come in updates, others we dream of for the farther future. Stay
tuned, we love the idea! (done)
S_t_r_i_k_e_r> Hi!, in any time soon will some of the weapons follow their
reqs as in lets say a sword has no spells but requires 200 sword skill to
use will you not let the swords be equipable or maybe if that is too harsh
maybe to lower the potential...
cfoster@Turbine> Hmm...
S_t_r_i_k_e_r> of the sword like say the sword needs 200 sword skill but
you have 100 so maybe the damage or speed would be decreased by 50% or so?
cfoster@Turbine> The restrictions are intended
solely for enchantments. If an item has no spells associated with it, I
don't think it should have a restriction at all.
cfoster@Turbine> If you have such a treasure item, it should be looked at.
Scotth@Turbine> probably by a jewler
Scotth@Turbine> or maybe a blacksmith...
ShAdOw9d9> Hey, I am an archer, and I number 1...want to make sure the
incanta will be sold as much as mage ingredients are in stores...will this
be the case? or at least like 5 incanta per respawn? I want to make sure
my 200 fletching and 150 alchemy wont be wasted
ShAdOw9d9> Q-Why doesnt coordination affect bow damage as much as strength
to melee..and why doesnt quickness or even swift killer affect bow reload
speed or bar speed?
Scotth@Turbine> Sorry, one question per customer
cfoster@Turbine> I'll take the latter, since the first one was answered
already (they'll be enough).
cfoster@Turbine> Coordination SHOULD do as much to affect missile damage
as it does for strength, I believe. As for the animations, we hooked the
speed only into the attack itself, for technical reasons. (done)
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Zaynder, GA
cfoster@Turbine> (argh -- make that "as strength
does for sword attacks")
Zaynder> um
Zaynder> why are mobs
Zaynder> so much FASTER now?
+MrQuazarr@Zone> We are moving Zaynder up because we
slipped and moved him out of the queue when it was his turn ;-(
cfoster@Turbine> Mobs?
cfoster@Turbine> Got it.
cfoster@Turbine> Some monsters were just too danged slow. They were
getting exploited.
Stucco@Zone> I remember "mobs"... DikuMUD vet, me... ;)
cfoster@Turbine> We made a last minute change at the
end of beta to adjust everyone's speed, and some monsters fell out of
whack. We didn't catch the problem until after we were getting the game
wrapped up and off to manufacturing.
cfoster@Turbine> So we knocked them back into line.
cfoster@Turbine> (done)
heIIgo> will the frost event include cristmas presents? or atleast the
equivilent of a flicker (only an ice version of course), btw this game
needs a segen generals warning for "this product my cuase uncontrolable
addiction"...
heIIgo> lower the gromies they worse then mtn rats now adays
heIIgo> there speed sorry
cfoster@Turbine> There will be some neat "presents"
throughout the world, of a sort. And something sorta like flickers, but
different. (Vagueness is fun!)
cfoster@Turbine> (done)
Scotth@Turbine> As we’ve reached the halfway point
of the chat. Please take a second and stop staring at your monitor.
Stretch a bit. Ok, let’s continue.
Scotth@Turbine> Balance is important in life and gaming!
Scotth@Turbine> (done)
cfoster@Turbine> So take a break from this chat and surf the web for a
minute! :)
cfoster@Turbine> (more than done)
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Storn, GA
alecmuzzy> What's a good quest for someone around level 15? I'd like to
find ones with a story behind it instead of some sort of Hack-n-Slash.
(done)
cfoster@Turbine> Dagger of Tikola is good for your
level. Go fer it! :)
cfoster@Turbine> It's a bit tough, but it'll be fun. You might want to
bring some friends, tho'.
cfoster@Turbine> (done)
Scotth@Turbine> The Underground City Glendenwood and the Glendenwood
Dungeon
Scotth@Turbine> (done)
ZA30> yeah my turn... First, great game second I have killed banderling
ravers and gotten nothing and in major towns I get heavy lag what do i do
about these 2 problems (pertiularly the lag)
ZA30> its za's turn its za's turn
Stucco@Zone> I will answer about the lag. If you
read http://www.zone.com/asheronscall/news/ASHEnewscodestate1.asp you can
see a bit about "bandwidth lag", it explains it better than I can here.
Hopefully you are not fighting in the major towns!
Stucco@Zone> (done)
DesignLord> Has there been any thought of adding some sort of coordinate
logging system to AC? It seems to be quite a break in the suspension of
reality provided in AC to suddenly stop and drop your mouse and keyboard
to grab a pen and paper to log coordinates.
DesignLord> Something simple such as logging the coordinates and allowing
the user to add a description would work, seeing as coordinates play such
a large role in navigation of Dereth. (insert customary kissup closing
statement here) =)
cfoster@Turbine> That's a cool idea for enhancing
our maps. It's on our list of ways to expand AC in the future. We're
forming plans to keep the game expanding in lots of neat ways!
Stucco@Zone> Please remember we read everything sent to comments@asheronscall.com,
so if you have a suggestion, send it in!
cfoster@Turbine> In the meantime, there are some excellent fansites with
online atlases. They make navigating easier. (done)
oPerrin> Observation: The best ways to level are finding spots where
you can hit monsters and they can't hit you prefferably with monsters
a good deal higher level than you. However you have already nerfed some of
these spots.
oPerrin> Q: If you are planning on trying to eliminate camp spots, why
since many players find quick leveling and easy kills to be really fun?
cfoster@Turbine> That's a good question.
cfoster@Turbine> Leveling-up quickly CAN be a lot of fun. (I'm playing
Ultima: Ascension at home right now, and I'm enjoying the hell out of its
AI exploits.)
cfoster@Turbine> The problem with these exploits is that they let players
tear through the game much more quickly than we'd intended. While it's fun
now, it risks making the game boring in the long run. We want to keep the
game interesting for the long haul.
cfoster@Turbine> We also want to use these changes to make the game more
interesting overall. For example, expect certain monsters to learn from
the mages attacking them... :)
cfoster@Turbine> (done)
IronWolf92> First of all great game, the emphasis on magic may make me
leave though
IronWolf92> My question
IronWolf92> Why were Dual wielding (which is in your advertising and
material pictured) and two handed weapons left out? Theyve been staples of
RPGs for years now...
cfoster@Turbine> Dual weapons weren't done, mainly
because there was so much more to do. It's something we'd like to consider
adding in the future.
cfoster@Turbine> (done)
oyouno> Are there any plans to improve enemy creature animation skating
problems and rubberbanding during chase scenes in exterior combat?
Currently creatures often travel great distances without animating when
pursuing other players even though at my clien
oyouno> ac rocks :) (done)
Stucco@Zone> I'll take that...
Stucco@Zone> Yes, I've seen that too and it does bug me. Dealing with
latency, while keeping the world accurate, is a big challenge...
Stucco@Zone> All ORPGs can do better with it and I want us to be the best.
We won't ignore it, thanks! Rest assured at least that though it looks
sketchy, the code underneath is quite accurate. (done)
Buffy_Becca> Will turbine create any gender specific armor, clothes,
quests, etc: i mean even UO has female armor. I know about the polygon
problem with flowing clothes but something to distingush gender choices.
Scotth@Turbine> Yup, there will be some gender
specific stuff coming up shortly. Armor though, is actually gender
specific in terms of its look
Scotth@Turbine> already
Scotth@Turbine> (done)
Bytenator> BTW great game! I haven't slept since I got on beta phase 2...
anyway is there plans for "trade skills" like black smitihng (ability to
craft weapons/armor from supplies found), or allowing (high level) players
to make items that cast spells? (END)
Stucco@Zone> Future plans....
Stucco@Zone> ...are vast! We really like the craft skills, and as Dereth
moves out of its frontier days, it makes sense for more skills to become
popular...
Stucco@Zone> ...the nice thing is that we have a great infrastructure to
work with, so expect good things on the way. The hard part will be
choosing what to do! (done)
+MrQuazarr@Zone> War?
war_zealot> during last sundays "freak accident" I was traveling up to the
crater to meet my patron, in the middle of my trip... I froze. (lag) and
watched in horror as a male tusker bounded up and devoured poor gyran, (I
lost a GMC and a sweet sword)...
war_zealot> so, I'm thinking retribution lol, lets say.... hmmmm, well a
new GMC would be nice... but a matt coat would be better, lol. (done) (and
don't be saying you can't do that, because you said you can only do that
once it's in retail, and it is in retail.)
Stucco@Zone> Please have your question ready to
paste in if you can, thanks!
Stucco@Zone> I'll take that....
Stucco@Zone> Well, we never released anything official about doing
reimbursements in retail. If you heard that, it was not from an official
representative...
Stucco@Zone> ...we decided a long time ago that we would not reimburse due
to bugs. There is no way to do it equitably and not create a lot of hurt
feelings, and a lot of work for our staff. No game I have played has done
it well...
Stucco@Zone> ...we need our staff to be helping in other ways. We truly
regret any loss from bugs or lag, and we are doing all we can to prevent
them, but we will not be reimbursing players. Loss must be bourne as best
you can. (done)
Sir_Ralph_I> what lvl will the event quest be aimed at, or character type?
Please more about the Quest.
cfoster@Turbine> I'll take that.
Dave@turbine> think snow:-)
cfoster@Turbine> We're not saying much about the main quest yet, but it IS
similar in some ways to our epic quests, like Sword of Lost Light. That's
not for novices. Draw conclusions as you will. (And expect more info in
the future.)
cfoster@Turbine> (done)
Xforn> Wow.. my turn finally. Well, first off, I think AC is a great,
addicting game. I really like the trade skills, but I think there could be
more. I can think of a major one being setting gems into weapons and
armor... (more typing)
Xforn> It could make them worth more, or if a magic gem was set it, it
would give the item magical properties. There has been talk before of
players being merchants (maybe they could own their own buildings for
players to shop in).
Xforn> What new trade skills do you guys KNOW are going to be in the game
eventually(which ones are going show up in the next update)?
cfoster@Turbine> We have no specific trade skills in
mind for the future, but a lot of cool ideas to make trade skills more
interesting.
cfoster@Turbine> For this event, expect to see some of your current trade
skills used in new ways.
cfoster@Turbine> Captain Vague, signing off! (done)
noptov52> Will there be anything done to counteract life mages power
leveling of magmas?, it is really a problem for melee fighters on Darktide...
I love the game... these chats are a great idea *forsees Brad Mcquaid
stealing idea and using it in EQ*
cfoster@Turbine> Hi Noptov...
cfoster@Turbine> Yes, we are addressing that. Turns out magma golems are
attentive AND learn from their foes... :)
cfoster@Turbine> (done)
Scorsha> I rescearch everything befor I buy it or have anything to do with
it. I was recomended Ac from a very good fried. The last week and a half I
have read up on your wonderfull program. You almost have me, but I'm a
little ify on the start up coast of 45 d
Scorsha> dollors. I located a demo to see if it was worth it, but
apprently beta3 is not useable for the ten days any longer? Is this true.
If so, why? By the way, you guys are funny ;) Oh and can Mr.Q get rid of
the enter and exit bits. They bug me.
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Sure can Scorsha... go to OPTIONS,
its an selectable option there for you.
Stucco@Zone> Yes, the demo is no longer active. We may do a demo later,
but we did not want to risk the server load from a demo. I advise you play
with your friend's account a bit and decide....
Scorsha> Can't differn't state
Scorsha> ;)
Scorsha> thanks
Stucco@Zone> I've seen people who have played the
equivalent of 13 consecutive DAYS of AC. That's a lot of value for your
dollar compared to ANYthing else, besides perhaps the works of
Shakespeare! (done)
_7_Cha0s> Please read my short build to my question for many that are
waiting have the same issue and it is a real bad problem in the game code
that needs to be addressed....
_7_Cha0s> Im a level 28 blademaster specialized in sword skill of 205. I
use an Olthio sword with Blood drinker III and Swift killer III making it
6-23 damage speed 6.
_7_Cha0s> I hit a level 11 zombie with the attack bar half way and can
only hit it for 5-15 damage but yet a level 25 archer can kill it with 1
shot.
Stucco@Zone> I've seen your email! ;)
_7_Cha0s> You have taken away the SoLL from every blademan that is trained
in item enchantment. By the time anyone can use it they will be able to
cast those same spells on a sword that hits harder than 5-11.
_7_Cha0s> yes tyou have =)
_7_Cha0s> There is no sword anywhere that hits as hard as a force bolt III
which is 18-35, they are all 5-12 3-10 4-14 Ive worked my butt of on my
blademan to get that SoLL but now that i have it, it is useless to me.
_7_Cha0s> Me and my 2 vassals are all level 28 with the same exact build.
We sat in the hall of the helms for 2 hours trying to get 1 helm but we
never did there were 2 archers in there lvl 25 and 26 killing the guardian
in 2 shots.
_7_Cha0s> We all used a 6-23 speed 6 sword and did barely any damage. I
have screenshots of my super sword that i have in action on a lvl 11
zombie 12,13,23. A goldenback tusker 4,4,5,2,3 same sword mind you except
for 1 difference
cfoster@Turbine> Hail, 7.
_7_Cha0s> This time i have buffed up my sword skill to 227. My question
is....
_7_Cha0s> Why are not all characters created equal? A skill in a certain
class lets say bow 0-100 hits for 20 max sword 0-100 hits 20 max mage
0-100 20 max? that will make it more fair to everyone and give you total
balance. Since the blademen cannot camp on a r
_7_Cha0s> ridge and shoot at mobs that are 50 levels higher than they are.
cfoster@Turbine> We've been looking at balance
between professions.
cfoster@Turbine> And the data is VERY interesting. In many ways, it looks
like on average, characters are all leveling up at about the same speed.
cfoster@Turbine> That makes it MUCH harder to address balance issues like
this.
cfoster@Turbine> One thing we are going to look at is the treasure that is
generated, to make sure that everyone is getting what they need to support
their high-level skills.
cfoster@Turbine> Beyond that, we're going to keep surveying players, and
see what we can do to balance the game for the majority of players.
Changes are possible, but we want to make them CAREFULLY.
cfoster@Turbine> The last thing we want to do is create and endless series
of shifts in game-balance. That's upsetting to everyone.
cfoster@Turbine> (done)
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Azilex?
Azilex> What do you guys have to say and/or comment about the large grief
many PVP oriented players disgust about the "quick-log-out" ability
players have to "escape" from PVP combat? And is this something that will
ever be changed? (Azile is done like dinner)
Stucco@Zone> I'll take that one...
Stucco@Zone> I believe there is already a task item to look into that.
Personally I think it is a bit lenient, but it's not the highest priority
to fix. Do what I do: put him on Friends, and have your friends patrol the
area...
Stucco@Zone> ...keep in mind it does help those who are truly picked on,
and that losing your honor is worse than losing your life. (cue anthem)
(done)
Albuterol> will you be changing the sowrd skill on the soll? i think its a
bit unfair..we need something good ya know :)sword skill is 202 right now
by the time i cane use it i can cast magic on it myself
cfoster@Turbine> Hi Albuterol. We set the SoLL's
restrictions high so that using it would be a sign of prestige.
cfoster@Turbine> Future quest items will probably be a bit more
manageable.
cfoster@Turbine> (done)
Sir_Sherwin> Hi, I've been working on getting the SOLL(sword of lost
light), the day I started the game! I now have the sword but unable to use
it's magic!(latest patch)I would like to know how you'd feel on lowering
the SOLL's Requirements (more typing)
Sir_Sherwin> To Around the numbers of 100 AL and 200 Swr(still hard)
instead of 158 AL and 280 Swr(Way too high). I understand having them
higher gives people a long term goal but when is frustration a good thing?
And about changes to the game let the community vote
Sir_Sherwin> done, thanks
Scotth@Turbine> Hold on, we're huddling back
here....
cfoster@Turbine> (whispers)
Sir_Sherwin> hope it's a good huddle =)
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Sir, as for SoLL restriction, it is
anwered above. You are alway welcome to send comments to comments@asheronscall.com
about improvements or changes you would like to see. We read them all ;-)
Lowgrey> Thank you for taking the time to do this. As a webmaster of
www.pcpunks.com a fairly large AC website I am a little dissapointed in
how this patch was done. Not what was done so much as that people were
never consulted about what was about to be done...
Lowgrey> to their game. They are also very frustrated with the product
support. The Senitels are given about no authority or power. This is how a
lot of people ended up on AC from EQ. Is this what we can expect in the
future? (done)
cfoster@Turbine> Lowgrey, the patch was announced
well in advance. We covered the changes being considered.
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Reminder gang, we are only going to be able to answer one
question per person.
BoaBoa> First off this game tops 'EQ' hands down I.M.H.O, and I see more
potential here, keep it up! Now for my Question...
cfoster@Turbine> We also explained some of the
rationale behind the changes, but in retrospect I think we could have
given more explanation. We've drafted another "Spin from Turbine" article
that gets into more detail.
BoaBoa> Will it be made so that all levels can participate in all dynamic
quests in some way and not geared to the high level characters? This was a
major problem in EQ where you needed to be close to level 40+ to stand a
chance!
BoaBoa> And add some true dragons to the game! It just doesn't seem right
without having huge dragons crashing down on a party in an adventure game
; ) And Gromies don't cut it! (Done)
cfoster@Turbine> (done)
cfoster@Turbine> Events are designed to cover a broad range of players --
high level and low, lone-wolves. fellowships and allegiances.
+MrQuazarr@Zone> A Reminder, we have 15 minutes
left.
cfoster@Turbine> The Beta event was a good sign of this (typing quickly!),
where there were fire children for EVERYONE to play with! :)
cfoster@Turbine> (done)
blueheeler> 4 q's 1 why alt tab never work, i can get out but not back in
2 what is up with the arcane lore , why so high, lev restric and wepon
skill seems like a better way to go 3 i am waiting and looking for
something in zackhail what the deal? 4 2&3rd tapers.mor
blueheeler> seem random what is up with the randomness also love the books
fav is "to be a shadow" think that is name
+MrQuazarr@Zone> We are only going to be able to
answer the first question. Sorry.
Stucco@Zone> I will cover #1
Stucco@Zone> If you cannot alt-tab out and back in, it is likely a
configuration issue. Most people are able to. Please use the technical
support on the inside cover of the manual. Also make sure you have latest
video drivers, they may be the culprit. (done)
JamesWeb> Thanks for the great game! I'm totally addicted (ask my wife).
One observation - Dillos are now faster than Matts! ;-) Now my
question....
JamesWeb> There have been rumors that Turbine has found the politics in
Darktide interesting at best. Are there any plans specific to PvP or the
DT server? I know about the much needed Jump/heal and Jump/Log bug that
will be fixed in the next patch...
JamesWeb> i.e. monarch radar colors, more defenable fort towns, etc....
(done)
cfoster@Turbine> We DO find the PvP situation on
Darktide cool, and a good source of inspiration when planning future
features.
cfoster@Turbine> Our challenge is not just to make the PK world cooler,
but to find ways to take its elements of social risk and player-conflict
and bring them to ALL players...
cfoster@Turbine> ... without making the game an exercise in frustration
for devoted NPK's.
cfoster@Turbine> Suffice to say there are cool ideas on the table...
(done)
wirthit> I am concerned that this is going the way of EQ and UO with
constant changes. When people get a strategy it is gone and they are
weakened or forced to group. This game was advertised exactly the
opposite. Is this what we are to expect?
Stucco@Zone> I'll give Chris a break here...
Stucco@Zone> ... we do NOT want or plan to shift the balance a lot. We
know "other games" have done that a great deal. It's very hard to have
perfect balance from the very start....
Stucco@Zone> The tweak we did was necessary to the long-term health of the
game, an extreme case. We did all we can to make the big shifts in the
first update only. We take this seriously, and hope you have faith in us
for the future.
Stucco@Zone> (done)
+MrQuazarr@Zone> OK, Wyvern101 will have to be our last question for this
evening.
wyvern101> Greetings, will it be possible to wear clothing over ones armor
instead of under it. There are many different types of clothing in the
game and it seems a shame not to use them. If not all clothing, maybe the
use of surcoats or vests (done)
Scotth@Turbine> Chris, busy typing like a court
stenographer on ampetamines….
Scotth@Turbine> says...
cfoster@Turbine> Wyvern, there are technical limits right now to how armor
and clothing interact. Placing clothing over armor isn't easy, but we ARE
considering other types of clothing to wear. Cool stuff. I've seen it. :)
cfoster@Turbine> (done)
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Before we go, Dave@turbine +MrQuazarr@Zone> ops... ignore
that little glitch
Dave@turbine> heh
Dave@turbine> anyway
Dave@turbine> We are always looking for feedback from our fan base, please
send comments to us
Dave@turbine> Or if you see me in game, please say hello .....I'm +Sarneho
Dave@turbine> WE hope this has been helpfull to you all... thanks for
coming.
+MrQuazarr@Zone> I want to thank everyone for coming this evening. We hope
you enjoyed yourself.
Stucco@Zone> and remember to read http://www.zone.com/asheronscall/news/ASHEnewscodestate1.asp
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Thanks to our guests. We will be holding these monthly.
Look forward to an announcement about the December chat coming soon.
cfoster@Turbine> Thanks much for coming!
Stucco@Zone> and write comments@asheronscall.com or
complaints@asheronscall.com
Scotth@Turbine> Goodnight folks!
+MrQuazarr@Zone> For those who did not get a chance to ask a question, you
can send your comments to comments@asheronscall.com
+MrQuazarr@Zone> Thank you and good night!
Annals of Dereth
An Asheron's Call Newsletter -
January 2000 (#2)
 |
Annals
of Dereth
|
|
|
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.
1 --
OUR SAGA THUS FAR...
1 -- OUR SAGA THUS FAR... The Sudden
Season has fallen, and adventurers all across the isle have been following
rumors of its source to the lost city of Frore, home of the necromantic
Gelidites. News has come in of adventuring parties making successful forays
into Frore, but it remains to be seen what they have accomplished.
With the snow still relentlessly falling throughout Dereth, it may be a bit
premature to discuss future upheavals, but we want to prepare you. We've
consulted with Asaina al-Arqis and her scholarly cabal, and while they
believe that Dereth's heroes will rescue the island from its magical winter,
they suspect that these events are a mere prelude to a greater threat. They
say that by thwarting the denizens of Frore, the heroes may have released
some shadowy evil from confinement. We will keep you updated.
Meanwhile, the Asheron's Call team is really excited about the progress of
the community. The monarchies keep growing and becoming more sophisticated,
and Dereth has inspired our diligent fan sites to develop excellent stories,
articles, and even freeware reference tools. We're especially intrigued by
this concept of "pyrealware" advanced by Circeus, and are busting our brains
to figure some way of taxing him.... Read on to find out more.
-Bob Kruger (aka bob@zone)
-Asheron's Call Web Site Editor
2 --
MAJOR EVENTS
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:
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2. Log in with your Zone ID (not your AC character name) and
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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.
|
Look for previous
patch information under the
Auberean History link to the left. |
