Taste of Twilight

Gharu'ndim

Sho

Viamontians

Ispar History

Auberean History

Texts

Rumors

From the Zone

Teaser - August 4, 2000

The Cragstone Librarian looked up from her reading as a hooded stranger drew near. “Welcome to the Cragstone Library,”she said, and then paused. Something about the stranger reminded her of a good old book: carefully preserved pages brimming over with fascinating and unpredictable stories. “Can I help you?”

She saw a smile flit across the other's half-hidden features. Sho, perhaps? A gloved hand reached out and gently placed a few dark, round objects next to her book.

“I found these in my travels,”came the stranger's quiet voice. “Take them to a skilled cook who knows the recipes of old Ispar. They may bring a touch of nostalgia to many . . . and now is a good time for people to enjoy the peace.”The stranger stepped softly back.

The Librarian was about to reply, but her eyes were drawn to the long, sheathed tachi at the stranger's side. Like the one who wore it, the plain exterior of the sheath promised something unusual within.

Noticing her glance, the stranger chuckled. “I hardly use that these days; I travel with the wind, and the wind tells me now is the time to relax and rest up -- unless, of course, you're in North Osteth, where more creatures have arrived from the Direlands. Even a few tumeroks.”The last word was said with a faint edge of distaste as the stranger turned for the door.

“Won't you stay a while -- perhaps to read?”called the Librarian, reluctant to see the other go.

“Perhaps another time,”the stranger replied. “But you have reminded me: I was writing something for the Library at Hebian-to. I should finish that before I again follow the winds . . . alas, I am a slow writer, so who knows how long it will take?”There came a chuckle of amusement, and then the stranger was gone.

Fulfilling our commitment to bring players a world-altering event each month, we'll soon be opening August's “Taste of Twilight”! Although volcanoes still rumble and the Isle of Aerlinthe beckons more heroes on to their doom, the remainder of Dereth has come to experience a -- relatively -- quiet moment of peace and prosperity. To celebrate, many a town has spread word of contests they plan to host. Can such celebrations be proof of evil's demise? Or merely of its hibernation . . . Heroes can expect a quiet August in Dereth, a chance to rest, hone their skills, and enjoy the night skies; at the same time, get ready for truly massive events just on the September horizon.

For now, even with celebrations at hand, adventurers should still take heed: the monsters that used to inhabit the Direlands before stronger invaders pushed them out continue their migration eastward. In addition, more powerful monsters have been sighted in the forests and mountains of the far north and south.

Continue your role in this incredible on-going story -- we'll see you in Dereth!

From the Zone

August 8, 2000

And while some have taken to polishing their cookware, still others practice the polishing of their words. Peaceful times this month, it seems, have fostered a true renaissance of skill.

At yet, can it be truly said that all is well? While rest may be taken in August, there can be no doubt that evil does not sleep long. And what of that -- of no new dungeons, no new quests? Sheer falsehood, certain heroes mutter. New tunnels have indeed opened in the ground . . . where corpses will stack at the hands of the dead already there. Although unwilling to disclose this supposed dungeon's location, one hero gave vague reference to a “mark of three towers”.

And then, where is it the killers travel, those men and women wearing the red sash of their particular philosophy? To places where their philosophy can be acted out against one another, says the rumor. Some have proven bold enough to ask them where they go, if it's to this rumored dungeon. The only reply the killers give: Arena.

During this restful renaissance, skilled craftsmen have improved and added to the wares of Dereth. Adventurers, long since complaining of bruised toes and weary feet, have begun to sport new armored boots. And other craftsmen, skilled both in armor and in magic, have worked to improve entire suits -- shadowhunter suits -- of armor. Armor that will soon be needed, desperately. Prepare yourselves now, for August is but a prequel to even more exciting things planned for September; in one month's time, expect several new quests, dungeons, entirely new species of creatures, and more! Look for the first preview article for the September event coming soon. For now, be sure to read the new State of the Code and Build Notes, August, to learn the full scope of the update. Take part in this incredible on-going story -- and we'll see you in Dereth!
 

From the Zone

Build Notes - August 8, 2000

Here are just some of the details from the August 8, 2000 game update “Taste of Twilight”. Notes of greatest importance are listed first.

Not all changes have been included with these build notes -- that would spoil the fun of finding out everything that has been added or changed! Also, some changes provide ways for players to drive our evolving story forward, and thus we won't entirely reveal them here. As usual, though, the Town Criers, Barkeeps, and Scribes may know the latest news. Also, the trades of crafting and selling are always in flux, so changes to prices and abilities of items are not always listed here in their entirety.

Detailed Notes for Builds 2400-2408:

• Please note that the update this month is less major than our previous monthly updates. That's because we are hard at work on an amazing September event -- just part of making sure we celebrate the one-year anniversary of Asheron's Call with a bang! For more information, look for the September teaser article coming soon.
• A new dungeon quest for moderate-level players has been introduced. What is it? Where is it? Do you think we'd come right out and tell you?
• A few quests that have been around for a while have been refurbished so they are more rewarding and easier for groups to complete together.
• The monsters that used to inhabit the Direlands before stronger invaders pushed them out continue their migration eastward. More powerful monsters have been sighted in the forests and mountains of the far north and south.
• Meanwhile, Aerlinthe's denizens have mobilized in response to adventurers exploring there. Beware!
• Some of our newer high-level monsters were a bit too tough, or not rewarding enough, to defeat. We are always re-evaluating Dereth's creatures, and have made some positive changes. Take another look at your old foes.
• Our re-balancing of the Shadow Armor continues. As promised, the armor crafters have regained some of their former abilities, with surprising results.
• Due to a previous bug, the Ravenous Dagger required the Axe skill instead of Dagger to make. This is fixed: all those with the Dagger skill should be able to get their dagger made now.
• Ground Chorizite powder can now be freely exchanged.
• Food has become more varied and useful. New recipes are emerging, and in many cases food has become more valuable, lighter in weight, and more powerful in effect.
• New “arena” dungeons have been introduced for those who want to play “Gladiator”. Of course death in these arenas still hurts as much as death outside them!
• Vendors sell alchemical items (such as alembic) only one at a time by default, to prevent accidental over-purchase. However, you can use the quantity slider to buy up to 50 in one transaction.
• Some bowyers were not selling bolt shafts for quarrel making. This was a problem for crossbow players and has been fixed.
• Branith's Staff missed out on last month's mana-cost reduction. This has been fixed.
• More wonders of the Empyrean are revealed as new lifestones appear in several places.
• New icons for lockpicks and potions indicate their quality.
• Due to an “ID rollover” we are doing this month, examination values for objects have been re-randomized. You may now be able to examine some objects you previously could not, and vice versa. It should all balance out in the grand scheme of things.
• Steel-toed boots have been introduced. Kick someone in the shin today!
• Some fixes were made to hopefully eliminate the “voices from afar” bug.
• The ambient sound upgrade project continues. Towns now sound more populous. Plus, geese!
   

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Writing Contest

August 8, 2000

The theme shall be: “Under Strange Skies: The Isparian Experience in Dereth.” The content and form is yours to decide. Will you submit an epic poem about meeting your spouse in this new land, a conventional narrative about the first dungeon you entered, or a collection of haiku describing members of Dereth's fabulous bestiary? Three exceptional pieces will be selected that represent each Heritage Group -- Aluvian, Gharu'ndim, and Sho. The nine winning texts will be available for sale in the appropriate heritage group library, beginning in September.

• Send results to contests@asheronscall.com.
• All entries are due by August 28th.
• Entries must somehow relate to the Isparian experience in Dereth.
• Submissions should be in raw text (.txt) format.
• Maximum length of 5000 words. An entry containing 5001 words will be disqualified.
• Any form is acceptable; prose, poetry, verse, etc. MULTIPLE poems or verse adding up to 5000 words are permissible, but only ONE prose piece.
• While the loremasters of Cragstone, Zaikhal, and Hebian-to are certainly mature readers, not all who frequent their libraries are. Unsuitable entries will be disqualified. Please use discretion.
• Entries containing any copyrighted material, including copyrighted names and terms, will be disqualified. However, copyrighted material that appears in the game Asheron's Call or its official supporting documents is allowed.
• Only ONE entry per person will be accepted. You can submit a collection of poems, OR one story -- but not both.
• Turbine/MS reserve the right to make changes, including correction of typographical, grammar, or spelling errors.
• Three winners will be selected to represent each heritage group. The winning pieces will be available in each heritage group's library beginning in the September update.
• You must fill out the following form completely as part of your entry:

Good luck!
 

Cooking Contest Results

August 22, 2000

WRITING CONTEST REMINDER:
The writing contest is still underway! Please see the official rules for details.

QUEST FOR CHOCOLATE CONTEST RESULTS!
We received nearly 500 e-mails in under a week, for everything from the popular chocolate cake and chocolate milk, to that most difficult and rare creation . . . rich iced mocha. Every entry was reviewed for accuracy and adherence to contest rules, and, if judged to be qualified, was added to the pool for the random drawing. Accuracy of the recipe itself, especially concerning the ingredients, was strongly emphasized.

Here are the winners of the Quest for Chocolate:

Bar of Dark Chocolate:
Chen Kenichi of Frostfell

Bar of Milk Chocolate:
Ho Chun of Frostfell, with help from Theran Bakagin

Chocolate Cake:
Rhiannon Morgana of Frostfell, with help from Touryan Kurigsun

Chocolate Ice Cream:
Betty Crocker of Leafcull, with help from Cragstone Farms Catering

Chocolate Milk:
Khallayne of Thistledown, with help from Raynie

Mocha:
Aiyaan Shiefu of Leafcull, with help from the Silver Citadel

Rich Mocha:
Atsushi of Morningthaw, with help from Deckape

Iced Mocha:
Yakamura Shinji of Frostfell

Rich Iced Mocha:
Elanwen of Harvestgain, with help from Jenna.

Congratulations to the winners -- and our thanks to everyone who participated, whether as the cook, the spellcaster who helped buff the cook, or the hunter who painstakingly collected all those many heaps of brown beans for someone else! We hope you enjoyed the Quest for Chocolate Cooking Contest! And never fear -- there will be more recipes coming to Dereth.

Developer's Chat

August 16, 2000

+MrQuazarr@Zone> Welcome to our Monthly Asheron’s Call Developer's Chat. With us today is one of the Lead Designer, Eri Izawa A few reminders of the ground rules:

1. You must have your question typed out and ready to cut & paste when your turn is up
2. Limit one question per person will be strictly enforced.
3. The question *must* appear in the first line you post. If not, you will be moved back to watching.
4. You may support your question with up to 2 additional lines of text.
5. If the developer needs more information, we will move you back to asking.
6. Repeat Questions will not get a response other then “Asked and Answered”. Please watch for your question being asked before you.
7. As always, the Code of Conduct is in full effect during the chat.

This is all in an effort to keep the chat running more smoothly, make it more informative and give more people a chance to ask questions. With that, I will hand over the floor to Eri for introductions and we will be off to the questions.

rei@Turbine> Hi everyone; thanks for coming! I'm Eri "reijin" Izawa, co-lead designer for Asheron's Call and general spec shuffler. With me are: David "Crowley" Javier, game designer, dungeon maker, and dialogue meister. He is also Sausage King of Dereth! Jesse "Nei" Kurlancheek, game designer, scripter, general systems guy. James Cowgill, Producer, will be joining us later. As usual, I'd like to talk about how we answer questions. To give you an idea of our schedule, we are already hard at work on the September event. We generally cannot give you concrete dates or feature details for anything new that we're not pretty sure is going in. Also, because we have so much planned, new requests on the boards or from here may not be implemented til some time after the suggestion is made. But I want to assure you that we are listening! Again, thanks for coming!

+MrQuazarr@Zone> Alright, lets get to the questions.

LillithsJabber> Q: Could you pretty pleeeaasseee, w/ sugar on top and all the fixings, remove been able to refine medium grade ore only once per 60 hours restriction?

LillithsJabber> I needed an alchemist to create some batches of dispel potions but the harsh restriction prevents 10 condensed potions in a ~3 day period. 1 ore = 10 lvl 5 potions(if the alchemist had not likely fail at any)The task of just completing 1 potion takes

LillithsJabber> much time&is very challenging. I now know how a certain squishy mage feels w/out her buffs-that quarry is dangerous! However how is that suppose to last when u get debuffed 10 times in a single hour! Could you remove the restriction from medium grade

LillithsJabber> or change the dispel potion creation process so that we can obtain greater # of potion batches? BTW thanks again Sean for the unique potion/lockpick icons! *waves to Lillith Blanche* Oh & shout out to Zelina-cause it'll irritate her :) *SQUISHY* Done!

nei@turbine> 60 hours? where'd you get that number from? :)

nei@turbine> off hand, i THINK the timer is set @ 16hours... vnei@turbine> might be 18...

nei@turbine> done.

oPerrin> Q: When do you plan to fix (what month) slidecasting, slide healing, and all the motion bugs associated with the fact that hitting a turn key during any extended animation unlocks the ability to strafe?

oPerrin> This bug is abused to no end in Pk an needs to be adressed asap. Suggestion: Modify the dispells so that they dispell all level 6s before moving to 5's etc. Casting Nullify to have it ignore the one spell (imperil 6) I am trying to get rid of is intensely

oPerrin> annoying

oPerrin> done

nei@turbine> a "long" time ago, this was looked at (slide-anything), and was decided that it wouldn't be fixed... more recently, it was looked at again, and thought went into it... "if we make people stick to the ground, how's it help?"

nei@turbine> well... it would toss a big chunk into PK situations... no more unhittable mages/archers... but it would also completely wack out NPK stuffs when MOBs are casting on the player

nei@turbine> the weigh game is played, and in this case, fixing it for PK situations (many of whom i really doubt even want it fixed) and leaving it in for NPK reasons... the PK fix it crowd lost out.

nei@turbine> so slide casting is here. and unless something dramatic changes, it's staying.

nei@turbine> done.

SubChaos> Q : Why can you not have spell components go into their respective bags upon purchasing them instead of them going into main inventory? (** I asked this months ago but was unsatisfied with your answer, please read the following and answer again **)

SubChaos> You told me that this would cause problems should someone do something like sell the bag they are keeping components in, and you compared the situation to one where quickbar items (ie. jewelry) would also return to their bags. But these are not the same!

SubChaos> Can you not have a search performed to find which bag CURRENTLY CONTAINS COMPONENTS OF THE SAME TYPE and place them there? In fact, what stackable item wouldn't benefit from this? An item stacks when placed in a bag, extend the concept to all inventory!

rei@Turbine> No one will argue that it won't be a benefit.

rei@Turbine> People here have wanted it for a long time.

rei@Turbine> The technical issues are the big problem.

rei@Turbine> It's simply not easy to do, and it has to get prioritized against, say, features like Secure Trade and any other development projects.

rei@Turbine> So it is not going to happen any time soon.

rei@Turbine> Done.

_Carbo_KNIGHT> Q:would it be possable to set up some way for players to summon portals out to Ayan Baqur that only higher lvl people can use for rides? ie portal or dungeon with a 25-30+ lvl restriction.

_Carbo_KNIGHT> this would keep the newbies some people complain about bein out there away without forcing very long runs for the higher lvl people that want to get there now that Metos and BSD are untieable.

_Carbo_KNIGHT> i understand the conserns of the people complaining about newbies even if i dont share them but think a new portal would be a good compromise. great game BTW youve managed to drag me out of the old MUDs i loved for so long. done.

Crowley@turbine> As it stands now, none of the portals near AB are tiable, so there shouldn't be much issue of low-level characters making it out there without a hair-raising run across the Dires.

Crowley@turbine> All the low-levels there that the high-levels think are lowering the property value got in when the portals were tiable.

Crowley@turbine> So I doubt there'll be many new low-levels coming into AB, unless we missed a portal...

Crowley@turbine> The question of players being able to place level restricts on the portals they cast is not possible with current tech, and probably won't be.

Crowley@turbine> Done

Ostracizor> Q: Will we ever be able to use Item Magic on wands, staves and orbs? It seems to me that it would not be unreasonable to allow us to use Item Magic to improve the performance of magical implements, the same way we can melee weapons and bows. Blood

nei@turbine> unreasonable? no... but the code path to support such a thing is nowhere to be found right now.

nei@turbine> and as such it gets put in the ring with such heavy weights as secure trade... "grr... i'm a huge UI change and i will crush you!"

nei@turbine> done.

Horde_Nest> Is there anything that is going to be done about the lifestone camping? On darktide its next to imposible to get into ab since its being raided every 20 mins. Same thing goes for portal camping. Maybe 10 seconds of protection so you can download the info

Horde_Nest> without being killed. AB is so lagged by the time you get everything loaded up you are pretty much vulned to the hilt or dead. Of course this protection would be null once you cast any spell or make any attack movements.

nei@turbine> we really can't touch lifestone protection (or add portal protection) since it would throw a huge wrench into the cogs of "balance" ... a player could jump through a portal and even if they got 10 seconds of protection, that would be grossly overpowered.

nei@turbine> suggestion: if you're having problems getting into AB, run there... they can't camp the entire perimeter of town.

nei@turbine> done.

Jawyr> Q: What is the exact range of levels the September events are being geared towards?

Jawyr> I'm sure that both myself and other players would like to know where we should develope our characters to, to be able to play a part in the events.

Crowley@turbine> All levels. And we do mean all levels.

Crowley@turbine> As in, there will be big important quest stuff for the sub-25 crowd to do too.

rei@Turbine> And secure trade can be used by anyone. :)

Crowley@turbine> Done

NerdOfDeath> Yo, Vexorg here. Can we expect any hints on unsolved in-game quests such as the SoLL upgrade? It seems that people have given up on this and the Aerlinthe quests by now.

NerdOfDeath> Anyway, Mad props (and -5% ethicality) to everyone on CoD (except Quix, who gets a windmill in his flower box and a troll rating of 2.3)... Bella can go home now and whatnot...

NerdOfDeath> AND WE DEMAND AN EVIL LLAMA TO CAMP FOR Ph@t l3Wt!!!!!111 And a White Rabbit in the middle of Arwic and a good spot to watch from! -Done (moo!)

nei@turbine> No, you can't expect any hints.... just do what's in front of you...

nei@turbine> i think the problem with the soll and wand quests was they got hyped up as just that, soll and wand quests...

nei@turbine> when in reality, the soll and wand stuff are just parts of a greater whole... do the whole

nei@turbine> done.

CyberdudeMQ> Uhg, talk about bad timing :) Same q actually, about the SoLL.

nei@turbine> same answer then!

CyberdudeMQ> Oh well, just wanted to let you guys know that you've got a great game :)

+MrQuazarr@Zone> ;-)

rei@Turbine> Cool, thanks :)

PiccoloDaimaou1> Q: WHY don't we ever know exactly WHERE a monster is hitting us when it deals damage? That would be a great bonus, so we could figure out exactly what armor isn't effective, and what needs buffing! Don't you think you'd know where you got hit? Done.

rei@Turbine> Because that feature hasn't been put in yet.

rei@Turbine> It's on the queue.

rei@Turbine> Hopefully sometime relatively soon.

rei@Turbine> Done.

_2bad4u> Are there any plans to make it so mana charges can be used like healing kits and lockpicks? Use them till the mana is gone....

_2bad4u> Not everyone has the strength to carry so many charges or the funds to buy so many. It would be benefitical to carry a few smaller ones and not have to spend waste currency to buy smaller ones and waste the extra mana.

_2bad4u> That way you would only need a few higher charges and use them on multiple items since not everything takes a full charge to begin with. Crowley@turbine> We figured mana charges had insignificant enough weight that it wasn't a big issue.

Crowley@turbine> We haven't got any plans to change the way mana charges work, especially because it'd require more tech work, and we have things higher up on the priority list.

Crowley@turbine> Done

__MOO__> Q: (i want A) how much effort is being put into new AC graphics as opposed to resources on AC2 engine....

__MOO__> BtW ( m0o0o0o0) can we have spam in the game ( i'm talking about luncheon meat type spam) Hi to Tayway , DiE Kallikrates, Taber & Panayotis thanks for Gyran for question!

__MOO__> LUNCHEON MEAY

__MOO__> meat.. :<

Crowley@turbine> Sausage is close enough to Spam. Especially the way you prepare it.

Crowley@turbine> Done (tho I think James is answering the actual question)

Cowgill@Turbine> The Turbine 2.0 Toolset is very deep in development

Cowgill@Turbine> It has many, many advances in graphics and features.

Cowgill@Turbine> It will rock.

Cowgill@Turbine> That's all the official statement for now... if you're interested in licensing it, contact us :)

Cowgill@Turbine> done

rei@Turbine> (You probably notice we do get new artwork every month in AC)

Mattock_> Greetings! thank you for taking questions today! My Question: Will there be a chance for template bonuses? Templates for vagabonds and such are underpowered as well as under used. Would it be possible to give bonuses to templates, such as daggers that...

Mattock_> can only be used by Vagabonds or wands for Sorcerers? I have a lvl 23 Vagabond who gets snickered at more than I'd like. Lets see top 10 by template too!! DONE :)

rei@Turbine> That would be all new tech....

rei@Turbine> Currently very few primary characters are of a specific template....

rei@Turbine> While to an extent this is a chicken-and-egg issue, I don't think we'll see the feature you're suggesting.

rei@Turbine> That said, perhaps the templates themselves could use some balancing.

rei@Turbine> Oh, and furthermore, AC is a skill-based game, not a profession-based game.

rei@Turbine> (As much as it seems like it's melee vs. missile vs. life vs. warmagic)

rei@Turbine> So template-based content would go against that design philosophy.

rei@Turbine> Done.

Ceazar_AC> Question: Can we have some quests that don’t involve killing things? (IE a lockpick quest without a single monster but filled with lots of puzzles)

Ceazar_AC> What I’d like to see is the first of many epic “myst” or “zork” like puzzle quest that would send you to various towns collecting information on locating the “lost dungeon of un-nerfed-lockpicks”. There you find a dungeon devoid of anything that would

Ceazar_AC> like to chew on you but is filled with jumps, false walls, switches, gears, use item X on item Y type puzzles. A simple reward (lockpick mastery, T-shirts, a pickable uber-chest on a 1 month quest timer…) would suffice. Thank you for fixing cooking. DONE

Crowley@turbine> I'd love to do more puzzle-like quests, and it's something I try to keep in mind when designing dungeons, but such things usually end up getting spoiled on the internet within a few hours of prop.

Crowley@turbine> But if you want to see more stuff that makes lockpick useful... Sure. That can be done.

Crowley@turbine> Done

LionHe4rt> Q: Will we see any special moves/combos for melee/archers in the near future? - Such as a multi-shot, or arrow spread, perhaps a Beserker barage, or some type of multi hit radius attack for melee, thanks ...

Crowley@turbine> Hrm... Methinks you've been playing a bit much D2, which not an uncommon sin...

Crowley@turbine> I'd love to get in special attacks, yes, things like an overhead chop for axers or a riposte for swordsmen.

Crowley@turbine> But it's a long way away on the tech horizon.

Crowley@turbine> So I wouldn't count on it in the near future, sorry.

Crowley@turbine> Done

Rhynedahll> Q: Does Turbine's game concept include allowing players, as opposed to NPCs ( i.e., Atlan, Shadow Armor, etc) the ability to manufacture (non quest) weapons and armor? Umbris bashing does get old after a while. TRADE(!) skills......

rei@Turbine> We'd of course like to do that....

rei@Turbine> Unfortunately the tech isn't quite set up to make the task easy.

rei@Turbine> Basically, this continues to be on the top features list, but it's not clear when it could be implemented.

rei@Turbine> Done.

MattHawk1> Q: When do you plan to finish the Chocolate Cookbook? By "finish" I mean put the recipes into the in-game book with the contest winners' names attached.

rei@Turbine> Hopefully next month.

rei@Turbine> In fact,

rei@Turbine> I think the winners will be announced sometime this week.

rei@Turbine> Keep in mind the winners are drawn from the qualifying entries ... so just because you were first doesn't mean you'll win.

rei@Turbine> (*tired of going through "Use X on Y to get Foo"*)

rei@Turbine> Done.

alecmuzzy> Do you have the future story plot already written out (like Babylon 5) or are you just playing it by ear, episode to episode with no final chapter (like Star Trek)? PS Thanks for doing these chats, you get a lot of abuse, but I appreciate the effort!

rei@Turbine> Heh, let's put it this way: some of both.

rei@Turbine> There's a lot of stuff that comes up spontaneously, but there's also stuff that has been discussed some time before.

rei@Turbine> Glad you appreciate the chats.

rei@Turbine> Done.

ChatCamper> Q: Is there any chance of ever creating a tool to allow users to transfer characters between accounts that are paid for by the same credit card?

ChatCamper> I realize that zone accounts are linked to game data(tapers, etc), but my problem is that the wife and I started on one account and then, 35+ levels later, we got a new computer and a new account but our mains are still stuck on the same account.

ChatCamper> Basically, we can't play our mains at the same time. Please save us. :)

+MrQuazarr@Zone> While that would be a good service to provide, there are some techinical limitations that prevents that from happening. Sorry.

+MrQuazarr@Zone> done

Sentinell> Q: Do you have any plans to work on the BSD spawn rate to get it back anywhere near what it was before the nerf. I know you have stated that only a small percentage want to see this done, but that represents the vast majority of high lvl players in the

Sentinell> game who inturn keep the game exciting and give the lower players something to strive to become. Suggestion: I think that we can all agree that tusker loot is basically

Sentinell> . How about changing it worthless. When it was on a 2 min spawn there was so much of this all over the place that it had to have caused performance problems in itselfso

Sentinell> that the tuskers are lootless or that when the corpse decomposes so does the loot

rowley@turbine> We have other ideas to give high-level players a Happy Hunting Ground.

Crowley@turbine> So the BSD will probably stay as it is until we get these other areas in and evaluate the impact.

Crowley@turbine> Done

Waffleboy> Q: Do you have the ability to make roaming monsters?

Waffleboy> I'm not asking for herds of mobile drudges, but perhaps having five or so tremendous monougas or other "super monsters" roving the countryside at a time, or randomly following one of maybe twenty pre-determined paths with waypoints.

Waffleboy> Let the creature start at the north of the continent and work it's way down, attacking those that it comes near to, but staying away from towns and other populated areas. I don't think five monsters would put too much of a strain on the servers..

Waffleboy> Have the mob spawn at one of 20 random points to prevent camping, make it drop something worthwhile (quest piece?) to make hunting it worthwhile, and hell, it'd just be fun to cross a ridge and see 50 feet of monouga in front of you.

rei@Turbine> Well, we've definitely tossed around that idea in the distant past....

rei@Turbine> But the way the servers work it's not that feasible, and it's a lot of extra work for them as well.

rei@Turbine> It's not likely to happen, but yeah, it would be very cool.

rei@Turbine> Done.

Prodigus> In line with the recent precedent that you all set by adding a sword to the end of a staff in order to give them the capabilities of a swordsperson, do you plan on developing a ”Dull Sword” for a bludgeoning attack?

Prodigus> It was stated that a bludgeon sword was a “baseball bat” but then again an unarmed person in my experience has usually been “without a weapon”, instead they get weapons of all types with quicker animation.

Prodigus> I know my opinions don’t count for much since I’m not a high level monarch (since you “seem” to cater to the monarchies who get all their XP from vassals not through actual experience L) but I think you all do a Great job anyway.

Crowley@turbine> There will be no bludgeoning sword. Sorry.

Crowley@turbine> Done

Ariok> Q: Can you please give us a good solid hint for the location of Asheron...or if you cant, a push in the right direction for completing Arlinthe? :P

Ariok> It's been 1.5 months and we still haven't finished the island quest...maybe it's time for a good hint or two = ) And please don't respond to my question with, "No." or "But that'll take the fun out of it!" :P GA

nei@turbine> hint:

nei@turbine> Asheron is NOT, repeat NOT, on aerlinthe.

nei@turbine> This should give you enough to both 1) find him, and 2) finish the island.

nei@turbine> done.

_boneyard_> Q: Will you guys place a PK altar and an Asheron's altar near the player killer arena? Or even better that you become a playerkiller when you enter the arena.

_boneyard_> That way people who want to become playkiller only for a fight don't have to go to the existing altars that are far far away.

_boneyard_> De groeten aan alle nederlandse AC spelers! (Alex, Jeroen, Floris en alle andere) done!

nei@turbine> someone said, "this is a you question" and my reaction was to read the bottom line, and thus be quite confused...

nei@turbine> but as to the question....

nei@turbine> will we? maybe... it would certainly stem off many of the issues with the arenas that came up.. but it also would not fix the 3 hours w/o killing time limit imposed on PK- NPK switching.

nei@turbine> there are LOTS of issues involved in making PK more easily accessible .. not in the least of which are the people that get in over their heads and then have more problems.

nei@turbine> i'd much rather a full-fledged, "i require new code" solution to the dueling problem.

nei@turbine> done.

cerebral_vortex> Good evening all. I'm a level 50 with LP skill spec'd. Lockpicking was devasted when Turbine introduced Sturdy Iron Keys and Lock Difficulties that will forever be beyond anyone's capability. What is Turbine going to do to rectify this skill? My charac

cerebral_vortex> character has been flawed by turbine and i'm considering cancelling my acct. I could have taken Life or Creature

rei@Turbine> Yes, there are discussions on putting in more pickable rewards, and there was an earlier discussion on more lockpick-fun dungeons.

rei@Turbine> We do have to be careful to not have problems with chest-camping, though.

rei@Turbine> So that would be our approach.

rei@Turbine> Done.

shadowmnx> Why aren't there any invulnerability items in game? The Superior helm is nice but I'd really like Invuln VI to give my melee D a little boost! -Holsteth. Stick a fork in me, I'm done

Crowley@turbine> There was a bug on Invulnerability items.

Crowley@turbine> It started out looking simple but actually needed some codework to fix.

Crowley@turbine> It has been fixed. Hopefully we'll see in in September.

Crowley@turbine> "it" in September, that is

Crowley@turbine> Done

dbradfo> Q:I saw in one of your old game design pics (aquired from the portal.dat file) that you guys where having plans of impleneting spells such as leveitation and invisablitly, do you think you would still work toward these? and others like it?

dbradfo> I mean think of the posablitys, Cast invisablitly and recover a corpse unotices. And do you guys know of the melee bug?

dbradfo> Btw, I think you guys have done a wounderfull job so far. And just so you all know, I am Asheron so stop looking, you found me =) done

Crowley@turbine> What, you haven't found Hamud's Fez of Invisibility yet? Just kidding...

rei@Turbine> Wellll, I guess you're talking about the old placeholder artwork.

rei@Turbine> Placeholder artwork is notorious for having not-so-serious material in it.

rei@Turbine> Basically we are not working toward either levitation or invisibility, especially not as game systems.

rei@Turbine> Done.

ThriftyTuna> With the Attack and Melee D bonuses that weapons can have, is the %age calculated from the base skill, or the buffed skill? I.e., with+5% to Melee D weapon, with a Melee D of 150 base, but 200 with buffs, do I get +7.5 (ie, +8) or +10 added to Melee D?

ThriftyTuna> (And either way, I think the resulting skill value should be displayed in the skill window) By the way, on behalf of the people who really appreciate these Dev Chats, I'd like to apologize for the really lame flames last month; they were uncalled for.

ThriftyTuna> (Lockpick needs some sweet lovin'!) Done.

nei@turbine> off the cuff answer w/o actually looking at the code...

nei@turbine> +% items take into account your buffs.

nei@turbine> done.

Demona_1> : Are there any plans to give dagge some love? Something along the lines of a damage bonus based on coordination or quickness? You can't consider Gertah's in any equations, because it isn't available in game anymore.

Demona_1> A 2-7 dagger TRAINED does not compare to a 2-7 UA TRAINED. MOOOOooooo... Hello to SK, Mys, Tan, Sun and GW

Crowley@turbine> Dagger already has a bonus based on Coordination.

Crowley@turbine> But yes, dagger is underpowered.

nei@turbine> (the same one that other melee weaps get for str)

Crowley@turbine> It would be nice to improve it, but that prickly balance issue comes up. So we'll try and give dagger some love, but don't expect it too terribly quickly.

Crowley@turbine> Done

meolas> will you reduce the dmg variance on atlan daggers ? if so when ( swords were reduced months ago, and the atlan dagger is kinda the joke around town). if not perhaps speeding up the dagger animation to compensate ( it is as light as the unarmed weapons ).

nei@turbine> we can't reduce the animation for dagger alone since all melee weaps use the same base set of animations and changing that is not going to happen.

nei@turbine> as for the dagger Q, refer to crowley's answer above.

nei@turbine> done.

Lord_Raphio> Q: Would you be willing to add posting board sections in the taverns and bars of major towns? ...

Lord_Raphio> I was around during the BBS era, and loved the old games like Legend of the Red Dragon. In those games, they would have "Conversations at the Bar", in which people could post on a board which was geared to seem like a conversation...

Lord_Raphio> Whole discussions could take place between large parties without all of the parties having to be there. Also, people could witness and add to the conversation without having to be "in the right place at the right time"...

Lord_Raphio> The Conversation at the Bar was my favorite feature of the old BBS RPG's. If there was a way to add something like that to the bars and taverns of Asherons' Call, I think it would add to the social nature. This could help to make bars be important for on

rei@Turbine> We'd be willing to add 'em if we had 'em ... some of you may remember the "bulletin boards" from pre-beta....

rei@Turbine> The tech is not in place for them right now.

rei@Turbine> Basically, it would be cool, but are these more important than, say, allegiance communication?

rei@Turbine> Done.

Cryingpan> Q: do you plan on adding any new spells for life or item in the near future? How about a life spell that hurts you for X damage over X amount of time. Or an Item spell that imbues a weapon with an element (acid, cold... ect.)

nei@turbine> *sigh*...

nei@turbine> the X dmg/Y time fits more into war, IMHO... but yes, they've been ballied about.

nei@turbine> as to item adding ele effects, there's no "good" way to do it currently, due to the particle effect changing (among other things)

nei@turbine> but yes... i love my new spells.

nei@turbine> done

malkarx> Q: Have you all considered putting in more quick item slots?

malkarx> Something along the lines of the spellbar with different tabs is what I had in mind but anything would be useful. Having "combat", "buffing", "trade skill", etc. tabs is something many of us would like to see.

malkarx> As always, thank you all for your time and effort and keep up the good work!

Crowley@turbine> Our UI is already getting pretty crowded...

Crowley@turbine> I think this falls under the category of, "Really nice to have, and if we had lots of resources it'd be there in a jiffy, but for now it's gotta take a back seat to higher-priority items."

Crowley@turbine> Done

Akye> Q: When will dagger be brought into line with the other free racial skill staff?

Akye> Dagger is supposed to be faster, but weapon speeds for weapons with base speed under 40 tops out at 190 quickness.

Akye> Also, 2-8 does in no way compare to 9-12 for an atlan, even with the coord affecting damage instead of strength. Max loot dagger should be 4-8 like oswalds.

Akye> done

nei@turbine> see crowley's earlier response.

nei@turbine> done

Black_h0le3> Q: Are there plans to change the "unparalelled" and such descriptions on armor to numbers? So that it would be easier to see how banes actually affect different armor...

Black_h0le3> also, a big "no u" goes out to all my scrubclub friends =D

Black_h0le3> done

nei@turbine> they already have direct mappings (numbers - text)...

nei@turbine> and with a little poking around and testing, you can pretty much determine which words mean what.

nei@turbine> (or you can just harass me on irc sometime and i'll look them up... ) done.

vtrii_too> QUESTION: Please explain (in equation form if possible) specifically how and what statistics (magic school skills, spell level, mana conversion skill, power of spell being cast) are used in determining mana conversion occurence and mana savings amounts.

vtrii_too> Comment 1: Throw us mages a bone with War. We HAVE to be 'Tank Drainers' these days to get a shot on monsters when competing against archers and meelers in attractive fighting areas. War/Life combo magic has become a joke.

vtrii_too> Comment 2: Cut the War fire cycle times in half for PvM vs PvP or cut the RNG on component burning probability in half or change the strength/burden capactiy ratio to give us mages some serious field time like meleers are getting.

vtrii_too> LAST Comment: Thanks for a fabulous game!! This has been the BEST game I have ever played :)

nei@turbine> the equation for how mana C works is far far too long and convoluted to get into in dev chat... because a) it's plain big and b) there'd be so many follow up "what does this mean?" questions that it wouldn't be worth it. it's something much better suited.

nei@turbine> to a FAQ

nei@turbine> sorry -- but it's not conceivable (or possible) to drop that info here.

nei@turbine> done.

mwistrom> About Secure Trade, will it be possible to cast spells on items in the secure trade window? I would consider it a necessity to be able to cast True Value.

mwistrom> Also, being able to buff (or defuff :) someone elses armor w/o them giving it too you would be great. Thats all.

rei@Turbine> If I recall correctly, you probably won't be able to do so in the trade window itself.

rei@Turbine> I'd have to double check that, but I think that's the case.

rei@Turbine> Plus realize the secure trade window goes right in the same place your spellcasting UI goes.

rei@Turbine> If it's not possible, it's for tech reasons.

rei@Turbine> Done.

Seifer_Rules> Hey turbine is there a black armored robe quest on the horizon, me and everyone i know would love to see a black robe quest like the one worn by the le rahn shadow. PLEASEEEEE... and dont put a hood on it, ;) i hate hoods.. i have a nice kabuton already

Seifer_Rules> picked out... also it would be cool if you added something like the flaming fez of invincibility,

Seifer_Rules> that made you invisible, all people could see is a little flaming fez hovering around

Seifer_Rules> great job have a nice day =)

nei@turbine> black robes? ....

nei@turbine> yeah... i guess we could do something like that....

nei@turbine> as for armored robes, that's a whole other icky can of worms

nei@turbine> (again, read things into the ..., it's fun!)

nei@turbine> done

Kardal> Are there any plans to add leggings with good elemental protection, high AL, and buffability (like the matty coat) for all of us who missed the GSA? BTW, I'd like to see that detailed FAQ on mana conversion : ) (Done)

nei@turbine> leggies with good (granted, not brokely great) ele protects already exist in-game...

nei@turbine> done.

Kakori> Would it be possible to set up a web-based allegiance tracking system? Something that can chart the tree for you, maybe even allow ZM communication, so that you don't have to e-mail or poll ten dozen people.

Kakori> Take a look at town.uo.com/guilds/ to see how UO's site handled keeping tabs on guild info. It updates every few days. It's one of the few things UO did right. (needless jab ^-^)

Kakori> If this is more of a "zone" question, I'm sorry. It still might be worth discussing. Alot of allegiances out there have communication and information problems.

Kakori> Something like this might help, and might be easier than it sounds (top 10 lists).

Kakori> Basically, it was mentioned before that it would be hard to add this sort of thing in-game. So, why not try to set something up outside of the game?

+MrQuazarr@Zone> A great idea. One that I have seen a lot of fansites support already, and a lot better then we could every dream of ;-) It would be nice to tie it into Zone Friends, but that probably is not possible.

+MrQuazarr@Zone> done.

spechko2> In order to make the game more immersive, and involve more role-playing, will you be adding significantly more story content and backstory, given how well the new lore content went over this month?

spechko2> Thanks for the new story and backstory content this month. It's been great. However, it's just whet our appetite. Give us an epic, make creature races have more depth,

spechko2> Make them respond to our actions (we abuse lugie mines, they dig deep pits, and line em with spikes. We flee the bone lords, they expand NE). Even if the changes come a month later,

spechko2> A late reaction is better than none. And we're pretty predictable... put responses to predicted actions on a timer.

spechko2> done

Crowley@turbine> New backstory on the way soon.

Crowley@turbine> And we came up with some pretty clever ideas to give characters more depth, though keeping track of player actions and having monsters respond is a little tough for us, given the size of our team.

Crowley@turbine> It's something we've done in the past, like Lugians developing anti-magic weapons, but it won't often happen in a month's reaction time.

Crowley@turbine> Simply because of the way our scheduling works.

Crowley@turbine> But we'll keep working on it.

Crowley@turbine> Done (Rei has something to add I believe)

rei@Turbine> I think Davej covered most of it....

rei@Turbine> Basically we'd like to put in some more story-quests and develop some of the monsters more fully.

rei@Turbine> Also wanted to remind that content we put in can't be world-specific.

rei@Turbine> Done.

alleviate> Q: Can you randomize dungeon entrance portals in direlands with some signs in a big perimeter around it? (Like small portal storms indicating adventurer is approaching to a dungeon or parchments scattered around it). I do not see any point of adventuring

alleviate> in direlands when you can find any point of interest with a click in Acexplorer map. I also think you should have NPC scattered in direlands giving hints like town criers in direlands when you can find any point of interest with a click in Acexplorer ma

alleviate> I just want direland be more direcharmed:) done

rei@Turbine> Do you mean make the portals randomized and take some signs with them?

alleviate> yes the entrance to dungeons be randomized with a time period

rei@Turbine> We can make dungeon portals non-site-specific, and in fact it'd be fun to do some day... having signs spawn in strategic places around the portal, though, with useful directions, is not likely.

rei@Turbine> The other limitation is how to distribute the randomly appearing portal... the geographic range might be quite broad.

rei@Turbine> It would also be very random in terms of where it appeared. Still, it would be an interesting experiment.

rei@Turbine> Done.

Gr8one1> One sec hit the send button too early

Gr8one1> On the boards lately I see that many people think UA is more powerful than

Gr8one1> Sword at high level, In you r opinion

Gr8one1> Is this true and will it be balanced

Gr8one1> in the near future?

Crowley@turbine> There's been anecdotal evidence supporting both sides of this debate, so it's still something we have to investigate.

Crowley@turbine> For the most part though it seems sword users are pretty happy with the weapon, so don't expect any balancing there soon.

Crowley@turbine> Done

boardsofcanada> What does the future hold for mage quests or other things to keep us interested?

boardsofcanada> There have been anti-magic dungeons added, atlans,hollow and ravenous weapons, and countless other meleer quests, but only a few really crappy wands and streak spells that are for PK's and hard to cast rings and walls.

boardsofcanada> And it seems that the fluxation of the spell economy is your way of nerfing mages, cuz its been going on for a long time.(shadows sucking our mana flow)done

Crowley@turbine> There is a mage quest coming soon, or at least a quest with a reward that mages will dig.

Crowley@turbine> We still haven't touched the spell economy.

Crowley@turbine> Fizzle rates are either observer error or hiccups in the number generator, and the glut of high-level spells making magic less effective is entirely within the spell economy...

Crowley@turbine> and how it is supposed to function.

Crowley@turbine> Done

Karconis> Q: Is there a plan to give archers "hollow" capabilities?

Karconis> =)

Karconis> done

nei@turbine> a plan? yes...

nei@turbine> as to when it manifests itself? harder to say. . .

nei@turbine> (takes this as a chance to note this will not take TONS of dev time....)

nei@turbine> it's more of a "jesse needs to play an archer to sufficient level on DT to make the call" issue.

nei@turbine> done.

SpectreRealms> Are there plans to provide more quests for other armor items such as the superior helm quest (I would like to see something for solls, gaunts, and shields that is worth getting unlike the Fiery Shield) soon? Even no drop ones, so I dont lose em?

SpectreRealms> done

Crowley@turbine> More quest armor on its way. Can't comment on specifics, sorry. In the meantime, put on your steel-toed boots and kick some, uh, shins.

Crowley@turbine> Done

FyreC> Q: Can we ever get wandering merchants, that travel roads, and sell really nice stuff for a lot of pyreals? That way there could be another use for pyreals besides comps and mana stones/charges. One day, just sorta throw it in between 2 towns connected...

FyreC> ...by a road and have it wander between the towns a few times. Make sure it's slow enough that everyone can get to it. : ) Done.

rei@Turbine> Wandering NPCs is something that we are highly unlikely to get... if you mean physically walking along the road.

rei@Turbine> A randomly appearing NPC is more possible.

rei@Turbine> It also depends on what you mean by "really nice stuff" -- there will never be old-GSA level stuff just for sale, for example.

rei@Turbine> Done.

DeHaanian> hehe hey NEI, your ale is in the mail, heh now... please take some burden off my poor poor mage, he is at 150% all the time!! and he started with 40... grr..... The 2 solutions I see are.......

nei@turbine> that question had a very good start...

superkinder_egg> Hi I have a suggestion. Most of use mages and other fighter classes love the matty coats but kinda get tired of all looking the same. So I propose that a quest to die leather craftable good be made. It could go like this…

superkinder_egg> a person would have to travel far and wide to obtain a packet of color die. Then before giving a hide to the leather crafter he/she would give the crafter a color packet. This would set your flag. Then he/she would give the skin/hide and POW…

superkinder_egg> you have a green , blue , red . whatever matty coat. I think this would add a lot of fun to the game and let a lot of use not feel like we just look like everyone else. You could also eventually add Greater or Magical color packets that could add…

superkinder_egg> a protection spell to the armor, be it a very low lvl protection spell. So my question is, is this something that is possible and if it is will you please keep it in mind for future updates. Thank you (DONE)

nei@turbine> you mean you don't like matty coat grey?

nei@turbine> keep your proverbial shirt on, the fashion police are going to have their hands full one day soon.

nei@turbine> (ooh vague answer...)

nei@turbine> done.

Syfaa> Aerlinthe seems TOO hard (lvl45=Death) as of the latest patch, entrance portal is camped, the corals which were the best part are gone :( and the silver tuskers cant be hit by magic, is there any plans to fine tune the balancing there? for melee vs mage?

Syfaa> Also since there are now monsters in game that cant be harmed with magic, can we have some that coan ONLY be harmed with magic to balance things out?

Syfaa> done

rei@Turbine> No immediate plans to alter Aerlinthe... and we don't really know what you mean by "corals ... are gone"

nei@turbine> they're there... i've camped em.

rei@Turbine> I am interested in general Aerlinthe monster feedback, but changes soon are not likely.

+MrQuazarr@Zone> Reminder: One question only.

rei@Turbine> Done.

WhIp_My_Tool> Q: Are you planning on making Blue/Red/Purple heumes added into the uber loot? it is hard to be color coordinated with the new shadow armor without a matching heume PLEASE ADD THIS i want a red plate suit :) !!!!DONE!!!!

nei@turbine> hmm.. cooks up another vague answer: uber loot isn't necessary for purty colors..

nei@turbine> done

EBWolfMiG> Are there any plans to make Magic D focus+self/5 since all the new creatures use magic alot and are basicly impossible for anyone to resist so the little boost would help

nei@turbine> no real plans no... too many balance things come up doing this. /5 is one less than /4 (the magic schools divisor)... and for a free skill, magicD isn't going to be that easy.

nei@turbine> done.

jmoney454> I know this has kind of been asked just above with no answer, but is there any chance that you will either reduce component burn or decrease component weight?

jmoney454> It seems that hollow weapons have swung the balance too far towards melee, and many mages are really upset about their characters losing viability. This may help even it out, and would actually help almost everyone since most have at least one

jmoney454> school of magic. And btw, thanks for these chats and responding on the message boards, it's nice to know that we are heard.

jmoney454> Done

nei@turbine> any chance for burn dropping? no... any chance for weight dropping? it's possible...

nei@turbine> done.

VettMan> Q Why are there no ingame hints/clues/notes regarding SoLL upgrade and wand quest? Archers were "given" there "god bow" and now this? You made the island impossible to explore now, btw, with the framerate and lag problems. Not asking for hint, just ingame

+MrQuazarr@Zone> Asked and answed a few times aboved.

sec_21> Q: Will Armour Level 0 gloves, hats and shoes ever be wearable under armour? You can wear AL 0 pants and shirts, can't see why is shouldn't be the same for AL 0 gloves, hats and shoes...

sec_21> BTW, thumbs up to MrQ on the new rules for the chat, the chat is so much better now :) *Done* /Kamikazee of Leafcull

Crowley@turbine> Very unlikely.

Crowley@turbine> As always, there'd be new weenie code involved.

Crowley@turbine> And as always, we have a priorities list to consider. So we have to weigh the development cost against the overall gameplay benefits.

Crowley@turbine> Done

nn0madd> Why is life so hard (real life) ? Why am I not a Q ? (star trek) .... blah and Mages are too strong and it's too easy for them (Especially in PvP). Done and good evening. Nice chat.

Crowley@turbine> lol

+MrQuazarr@Zone> ;-)

rei@Turbine> Well, you see, it's because....

nei@turbine> i love you.

rei@Turbine> n/m

SirBlasko> Hello Turbine , i am King Blasko The destroyer and i was wondering if you could add something more to pk can i collect bones of my enemys and make stuff with them or can i stain my matty coat with the blood of baalzevuv when i kill him

sean@Turbine> I hated Q...

SirBlasko> something like Ears in diablo 1 , oh and people in iconoclast monarchy suck

Crowley@turbine> I like Blasko's style...

rei@Turbine> Gosh, you would've liked the old idea of collecting enemy heads.

rei@Turbine> ...and being able to put them on your mantle.

Crowley@turbine> We've been drifting into the area of the grotesque lately, what with lugian sinews and ravener guts...

Crowley@turbine> And I'd love to continue the trend.

sean@Turbine> Not to mention sausage!

nei@turbine> (this is something i really really want to do...)

Crowley@turbine> So hopefully we'll see more bloody trophies.

Crowley@turbine> Done

+MrQuazarr@Zone> S_Chip will be our last question followed by an important announcement.

S_Chip> Will you conider making some more powerfull or different item spells? there has been additions to the other schools, have new things for item been added but just over looked? I believe a vampire weapon spell that acts as a drain spell would be cool...

S_Chip> done

nei@turbine> consider? of course... item is too limited right now (excepting portals), but finding that elusive, say it with me now, "new code" is an adventure.

nei@turbine> there are lots of snaptastic things that i want to do, but they're all non-standard and as such get stuck into the "what do we do now?" blender.

nei@turbine> done

+MrQuazarr@Zone> And now an important message from our Producer, James Cowgill...

Cowgill@Turbine> I would like to remind everyone that you can send questions to "faq@asheronscall.com" They will be collected and used to post answers on the zone. We will begin posting sometime in September. Thanks.

+MrQuazarr@Zone> Great.

+MrQuazarr@Zone> I want to thank everyone for coming out this evening. Thanks to the Developers for spending a few hours with us

+MrQuazarr@Zone> We will see you all next month!

rei@Turbine> Thanks a lot everyone!

rei@Turbine> Have a good night :)

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Annals of Dereth

The Asheron's Call Newsletter August 2000 (#9)

	Annals of Dereth

In this issue: 1 -- OUR SAGA THUS FAR . . . 2 -- MAJOR EVENTS       TASTE OF TWILIGHT       STATE OF THE NETWORK       MOST RECENT DEV CHAT       CONTEST RESULTS       TOP 10 LISTS 3 -- COMMUNITY HERALD       RELATED LINKS       PLAYER FICTION       THE ALLEGIANCE HALL       PORTAL SPACED (HUMOR)       ADVOCATES STILL WANTED 4 -- GAME TIPS

ANNALS OF DERETH The Asheron's Call Newsletter August 2000 Play it on the Zone! http://zone.msn.com/asheronscall

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Welcome to the Annals of Dereth, the newsletter for the Asheron's Call online role-playing game! We bring 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...

Shivering under a steady downpour, two hungry heroes of Dereth sat camped around a fire, while a third stood stirring a cooking pot. Hungry, gnashing teeth shone in the light.  On the beach of Northern Osteth, they had recently returned from an expedition to nearby Aerlinthe Isle.

"Hurry up, will ya?" the seated life mage, or her belly, growled.

"Just you wait! It takes time to prepare a dish.  Not like chomping raw apples, you know." The vagabond cook sneezed directly into the pot; he'd caught a cold in the rain.

"Time -- and skill," the life mage retorted.  "Ever since you found those brown beans, it's been nothing but sweets. Remember the hearty chocolate beef noodles disaster?"

On the face of the other sitting hero, a gromnie-coated warrior, a violet glow flared briefly. Another drudge had just been summoned to the world.

"I'll take care of it," the warrior muttered, rising to his feet. Drawing his sword, he stumbled over to the water's edge, rudely hacking down the intruding drudge with two quick strokes. Bending over, he searched the corpse.

"This campsite isn't safe." The life mage shook her head. "Anything?" she called over to the warrior.

"Brimstone-cap mushrooms. Can we use 'em?"

The vagabond cook thought a moment. If the dish failed, they would just be chomping raw apples. "Well, let's find out. Throw 'em in."

The warrior staggered back over, dropping three filthy mushrooms into the pot. "I'm so hungry, I could eat that dead drudge," he said. "Hey -- how come you never learned to cook those?"

True mysteries have occurred this month in Dereth, leading many to question summer's supposed innocence. Adventurers, returning from their quests on Aerlinthe Isle and at the Soul Fearing towers, have come across certain heroes rolling, bloated, on the ground -- their bellies filled with new chocolate treats. And healers have seen stranger wounds than chocolate-induced upset stomachs and golem burns from the volcanic caldera -- they've also noticed a rash of damaged, bloodied shins (not to mention backsides), derived no doubt from the entrance of steel-toed boots into the world. And then there are those nighttime stars streaking across the celestial plane. Astronomers, having studied their portentous journeys for quite some time now, have begun to frown and warn of impending events.

3 -- COMMUNITY HERALD

RELATED LINKS
As a reminder, just as we take great pride in our game, we understand that players take an equal amount of pride in their characters and allegiances. Many have devoted their time and efforts to the creation of both ornate and informative AC fan sites. If you run an AC fan site, and would like to be included on the Related Links page, please submit your URL address for review to: website@asheronscall.com. Please note: sites MUST be complete at the time of submission, or they cannot be included. Several new links have been added this past month, including sites for Asia, Australia -- and the AC "Singles Club"!


PLAYER FICTION
Space has been reserved in the past for player fiction on the Player Chronicles page. While this page has been filled for some time, that just means that it's time for some new blood. Please note that we cannot accept direct fiction submissions; however, if you run a fan site or an allegiance site, feel free to send in links to fiction pieces you currently host on your site. Again, URL addresses can be submitted for review to: website@asheronscall.com; and, as always, content must be appropriate for Microsoft's Zone or the piece cannot be included. Submission Guidelines for fiction pieces have also just been posted
(http://www.zone.com/asheronscall/SubGuides.asp).


THE ALLEGIANCE HALL
In recent days, several new monarchs have advanced to Rank 7 in their respective pyramids. yet at the time of this writing, one monarch has successfully ascended to the top of the list. Congratulations to Skystreak Cloudrider, the first Rank 8 monarch in Dereth! Skystreak has provided one of the most recent monarchy interviews; be sure to look for the next interview from Zacantos of the Illuminati. At the moment, we are attempting to arrange interviews with the latest monarchs; if you are a monarch who has just been added to the list, look for an invitation to arrange an interview in the days to come!

Also, our most sincere thanks for remembering to send in those screenshots with the monarch updates. As always, please be sure to send updates at least once every two weeks, or you may be removed from the list without notice.

The Allegiance Hall now boasts well over 200 links to excellent allegiance sites, organized by server world. Almost a dozen sites have already been posted for the most recent world to open, Solclaim, and we've just added our first Norwegian site: Klan Nidaros to Thistledown! When submitting your allegiance site for review, please be sure that the site is complete, the content is appropriate, and the server world you play on is indicated; then, send all URL addresses to: website@asheronscall.com. For the list of highest ranking monarchs and the list of allegiance sites, look no further than the Allegiance Hall: http://www.zone.com/asheronscall/hall.asp


PORTAL SPACED
My Five Minutes on Darktide: The following begins a hilarious account of one adventurer's brave expedition. to the dark side. Written by Dr. Sparky of Harvestgain, the following can be read in its entirety at Asheron's Call Sage: http://www.acsage.com/players/stories/five_minutes.htm

"Well, I had to try it. We all have had that little voice in the back of our heads saying "do it, try Darktide". So I figure why not. I have had fun playing my assorted non-PK characters on Harvestgain. I have a basic understanding of intricacies of the game, so I did it.

"No special thought given to template characters... I figured that this was only an experiment anyway. Follow the generic blademaster default with a few slight tweaks to give me a little more health, as I thought that that might come in handy. I was wrong."


GI Joe vs. Aliens: Two of Turbine's artists, Sean Huxter and Sean Dickinson, have put together an absolutely brilliant photo story. Check it out at:
http://staff.turbinegames.com/sean/gijoe-photostory-aliens-page0.htm


Taste of Twilight Falls Prey to Parody: Alas, not even the humble writers of AC are safe! The following was posted the day our official August event teaser went live, and can currently be found in its entirety on the CoD news archives (http://cod.xrgaming.net/11news.shtml), under "Zone Teaser Parody":

"Fulfilling our commitment to bring players a world-altering event each month, we'll soon be opening August's "Taste of Twilight"! "Taste of Twilight" will provide what Dereth needs best, a chili cook-off! Although volcanoes still rumble and the Isle of Aerlinthe beckons more heroes on to their doom, (Doom! Doom! Doom! You're all doomed!) the remainder of Dereth has come to experience a -- relatively -- quiet moment of peace and prosperity. (Peace and prosperity brought to you by the Asheron Party. Vote Asheron in 2000!) To celebrate, many a town has spread word of contests they plan to host. Corn-shucking days in Yaraq! The First Annual Drudge Tossing Contest in Mayoi! The Direlands 300 (Brought to you by Asheron's Armor Cleaner.)! Three-Legged Shreth Racing in Lytlethorpe! Can such celebrations be proof of evil's demise? Or merely of its inability to get its DSL connection working?"


STILL CALLING PROSPECTIVE ADVOCATES
If you own the game, currently play, and are interested in helping your fellow adventurers as part of the Asheron's Call team, we'd like you to contact us. The advocates are our first and most valuable help resource for many new players. See the following article for more information and a link to an application form:
http://www.zone.com/asheronscall/tips/ASHEtipsadvocate.asp