Hi there everyone. Let's get right into what's going on today.

The November update Ashes and Dust has gone live and all appears to be well.

We did have one issue to report with the Glenden Wood Recall Orb. It appears that when you use the Orb in a dungeon to recall to Glenden Wood, you get stuck in attack mode and cannot interact with anything or switch weapons.

As it stands right now the only way to resolve being in this state is to relog your character.

As far as we know this is the only issue with the November event.

Everyone have a good night. See you in Dereth!
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Andy "Frelorn" Cataldo
AC Community Relations
Turbine, Inc

Hi there everyone. I hope you are all having a good day so far.

There is not much to report today. As far as we know at this point the only issue with this month's event has been on the Glenden Wood Recall Orb. As far as we can tell there is an issue when crossing landblock/server boundaries.

In order to give you a better understanding of what happened I have asked Lupus Argenteus to give a more detailed explanation.

That is about it for now. Everyone have a great day!
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Andy "Frelorn" Cataldo
AC Community Relations
Turbine, Inc

Re: Daily Update - 11/17/05 (by Lupus Argenteus)

Thank you, Frelorn,

After the November update went live, players discovered that the Glenden Wood Recall Orb had a bug where you could not exit casting mode once you had used the recall spell. After research and assistance from players, we identified that it is the act of recalling across a server boundary which results in the bug.

In our test environment, we attempt to simulate the live worlds as closely as possible. However, some factors are unable to be simulated by a test environment. In this instance, our recall tests (we did multiple) all worked successfully, because the character performing the recall happened to be on the same subserver as Glenden Wood due to our test world's load balancing. Some people have pointed out similarities to bugs involving Recall the Sanctuary and Aerlinthe Recall, and after a brief amount of research thus far, the root cause of the GW bug appears to be similar to, but not exactly like, the Sanctuary/Aerlinthe issue.

One thing we strive to do is not to make the same mistake twice. Although in some cases (such as cantrips) we have our issues, overall we have prevented repetition of many serious bugs. This is a test case which we have not in the past thought to perform, but it is very clearly a necessary one. We will be adding it to our repertoire for future use whenever we introduce a new portal or recall spell.
 

Hi there everyone. Is everyone ready for the weekend? I know I am.

Not alot to report on today. We have not found any other issues with the November event, so things are looking good.

I would like to put out the reminder once again to make sure that you do not use any links posted ingame on General or any other kind of chat. Anyone who is caught sending malicious links through any form of chat will be banned permanantly in the game and on our billing system.

That is about it for now. Everyone have a great weekend!
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Andy "Frelorn" Cataldo
AC Community Relations
Turbine, Inc
 

Hello there and good afternoon everyone! I hope everybody had a great weekend.

Not much to report today. Things are looking good so far for the December event and we are on schedule.

Over the next few days I am going to attempt to clean up the forums a bit. One thing I want to do is reduce the amount of sticky threads we have up there right now. There may be a few other minor changes made, but I will let you all know when and if they are made.

That's about it for now. Everyone have a great day!

(in a bit of ironic humor I mention that I want to reduce the stickies as I am putting another on up...)
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Andy "Frelorn" Cataldo
AC Community Relations
Turbine, Inc
 

Good afternoon everyone. I hope everyone is having a good day so far.

Not much to talk about today so I will get right to it.

I have started the process of cleaning up the forums a bit. If you noticed, there are a lot less sticky threads now. I have pruned and condensed the ones that I felt didn't need to be on their own anymore. I will be continuing to do this on all of the forums as the days go on.

The daily update threads that I have been doing as of late are going to change. From now on I will be doing a weekly update instead. Unless there is something really important that we need to let you know about. This way it will help the forums stay less cluttered, and you won't have to click on the thread, just to find out there is nothing new for that day.

If this new system of weekly updates doesn’t work out, I can always go back to the daily ones, but I think the weekly updates will be much better for everyone.

That’s about it for today. Everyone have a great night.
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Andy "Frelorn" Cataldo
AC Community Relations
Turbine, Inc
 

Hi there everyone. I hope that everyone had a great weekend. I know I did as I gorged myself on as much Turkey as my body would allow. Since this was a long weekend I figured that on top of the update on what we are doing this week I would answer some of the questions that were brought up. So without further delay, let’s get right to it.

These questions are in no particular order, so don’t put any meaning into the order that I answer them.

When will ToD be an online download with a CD key?
I spoke to our marketing team today about this and the ball is now rolling on getting this done. While you can download the actual game client already, the ability to purchase CD keys online is coming. As soon as I have a solid date, I will let you know.

Why don't monsters level anymore?
This was changed a while back when the skill system was redone. A creature having the ability to level was a side-effect of the old system. When we redid the skill system a long time ago the side-effect was lost. When it was brought up it was decided that due to the fact that some boss creatures could level beyond the player abilities to kill them, it was best to just leave that ability out.

What happened to the Darktide Hardware? Any update on this?
At the time this was announced to the community the makeup and personnel of the team was entirely different, and I wasn’t in on these discussions. I have put the question out to the appropriate members of the staff and as soon as I have an update on this I will let you know.

Will there ever be a Dev chat again?
We would love to do this again. Right now the biggest obstacle for doing something like this is time. The team is very busy and free time is in short supply these days. It is something we would love to do in the not so distant future. With that being said, as soon as we can find the free time to do something like this, we will give you all plenty of notice.

Weekly Update
And finally let’s get to the update for this week. During any cycle we do things can change as new issues or goals come up, so this will be a rough idea of what we have planned for this week without getting too much into the specifics of things.

This week the team is working on resolving issues that popped up for December. This is a week that a lot of testing gets done. The team puts in lot of work to make sure that when these events go live, they are as good as they can be. As some of you may know, when you introduce new code into existing code a lot of interesting things can happen, sometimes in unexpected places. So a lot of time is spent checking out everything we can to make sure that there are no surprises when the event goes live. Unfortunately this process isn’t perfect, but we are always trying to find ways to improve on this so that things that have gotten through in the past don’t get through again. The process of working on the January event will also begin this week.

That’s about it for now. As always if anything important comes up we will make sure to update you on it. Have a great day!

Update: In September, we changed the next billing date for subscribers who potentially could be affected by Katrina till Jan 1st 2006.
For the month of November, however, these customers were charged. We have since refunded these subscribers for the month of November.

Update: Due to popular demand we have decided to extend the date on the migration of accounts until January 10, 2006. After this date, players will no longer be able to migrate old accounts.
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Andy "Frelorn" Cataldo
AC Community Relations
Turbine, Inc
 

Quote:
Frelorn, was this discussed in a meeting yet ?

Actually, yes it was. We are going to be changing the timers on alot of older quests as well as the new ones to a 27 day timer. Which will effectively mean that when that date comes up the following month, you will know your timers are up and you will be able to do the quest again on a more set schedule.

For the new quests, this change has already begun, as far as older quests go we will let you know what quests are changed and when.
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Andy "Frelorn" Cataldo
AC Community Relations
Turbine, Inc
 

Hi there everyone. Yes, it’s that time again, time for the weekly update post!

Let’s get right to it then. This week we will be continuing to test and fix any bugs that we come across for the December event, as well as fixing some already existing bugs. The planning for January has also gotten underway. The plans are by no means concrete, but we know the direction we are going, and the design plans are well underway.

Now on to something that I want to try and do every week with these updates, which is to answer a few questions that have come up over the previous week.

Can you make the Ashbane sword from the Dark Lady quest Ivoryable?
I checked with the team on this, and they don’t see a problem with getting this done in a future update.

With all the male mages complaining about that Fiun robe that looks like a dress is there any chance of having two versions of it one for the males (hooded) and one for the females?
This is actually something that was discussed the other day in our meeting. While we didn’t initially have any plans to do this, it may be something that we can take another look at.

Live Events Feedback.
We do appreciate all of the feedback we have gotten from you thus far as we have gone forward with the current story arc. One of things that was brought up was posting a schedule online somewhere so that players know when to log in so they can participate. We are actually a bit divided on this topic. On one hand we understand that everyone who is interested in these events would like the option to know when these events are taking place, so they can try to be there. On the other hand, one of the wonderful things about Dereth is that you never know when something interesting might happen.

That being said, we will be re-evaluating how we handle things the next time we want to push the story forward with live events.

And finally I just wanted to give you all a heads up that some time tomorrow we will be posting an announcement about the AC1 team.

That’s about it for now. Please keep an eye out for that announcement tomorrow. Everyone have a great week!
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Andy "Frelorn" Cataldo
AC Community Relations
Turbine, Inc

Hi there everyone. As stated yesterday in the daily update, we have some exciting news about the AC1 team, so let’s get right to it.

The first thing we would like to announce is that our very own Dave “Crowley” Javier has been named the new Producer for AC1. As many of you know, when Calandryll agreed to take over the job, it was on a temporary basis until things calmed down a bit. Well, things have calmed down and Dave has graciously agreed to take over in this key role for us.
What does that mean for AC? I will let him explain that in his own words. He will be posting on this thread shortly just to briefly re-introduce himself to you.

The other announcement is that we have filled the once available content design position for AC1. Without further delay, I would like to announce that the new content designer is our very own Eric “Kintani” Deans. Eric has been here for a while now as a QA associate on ToD, DDO, and more recently the AC1 live team. We feel his experience in gaming will be a great addition to the team. Eric will also be posting in this thread to introduce himself to the community.

This is an exciting time to be part of Asheron’s Call, and we are all looking forward to the future and what we can bring to the game.

Thanks everyone. See you in Dereth!
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Andy "Frelorn" Cataldo
AC Community Relations
Turbine, Inc

Hey everyone,

As Frelorn said, I've moved into a new role on the AC Live team. I've accepted the position of AC Live Team Producer. I’ll also continue to contribute to the team's content and design work. Personally and professionally, I feel like I've finally settled down after the tumult of the move back from LA to Boston (I finally got Internet and satellite TV at my apartment!). In this new role, I'm planning to stake a more public presence on the boards as the team moves forward with our beloved game. As I've mentioned in the past, I've got a long track record with AC and the AC franchise, dating back to the original incarnation of the Live team in 1999.

I’m excited for the future possibilities with Asheron's Call. I hope you're all enjoying the game, and I look forward to working with you all on our future development.

Cheers,

DaveJ/Crowley
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"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." -- Hunter S. Thompson (RIP)

Allo everyone,

My name is Eric, or Kintani, if you prefer chat handles, and I've been asked to come here and introduce myself and explain a little about my past and my experiences. Up until my recent position of Designer on AC1, I worked at Turbine as QA on the AC:ToD Expansion Pack, as well as on the D&D Online project. I have some skill as an Artist, having worked as a Web Designer and a 3D Modeler in the past. I've been gaming, in one form or another, for a little over 20 years, including most of the popular Tabletop games, MMO's, and PC Games.

As for my experiences with Asheron's Call, I've played the game since it was first released in 1999. During this time, I served as an Advocate for a little over a year, and have tried my hand at many, if not all, of the aspects AC has to offer. I've played most of the popular and not-so-popular templates, tried my hand at Darktide, and run through most of the quests in the game.

I hope to bring my experiences and skills to bear to add to this game, as well as to bring enjoyment to all of you, the players. Without you all, there wouldn't be any game.
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Kintani
AC Content Designer
Turbine, Inc.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Shao Majii
I have two now:
What were some of your favorite patches and why?

What were the patches you disliked the most and why?

Tough to choose a favorite... let me choose three.

I thought the December 2000 patch was awesome. That's when Bael'Zharon got to run amok, and I got to play BZ a few times! I terrorized Hebian and Ayan Baqur. It was also pretty stunning to see the gathered mass of the Bloods on Darktide kneeling to Bael'Zharon, and seeing these hard-core PK players telling each other to be respectful. No, I wasn't playing BZ for that one, but I was watching.

I thought the Tusker Island patch in November 2002 was awesome for the broad range of content it offered, and the many quirky and clever details about the island. How can you resist the nanners?

I liked this year's August patch because I think we leveraged our extra dev time into a pretty astounding amount of content and changes that hit all over the world. And because I really like Grael (one of meanbeard's ideas), and that's when the legend of Grael was introduced.

I don't know that it's a good idea for me to comment on patches I disliked, sorry. Too many people have put in too much toil, time, and effort on each and every patch for me to casually toss judgment on one or two.
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"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." -- Hunter S. Thompson (RIP)
 

So I was talking with the team a bit earlier, and the subject of our favorite quests came up. So then the idea came to us... Let's ask the players what thier favorites were/are.

So here is the question. What are your favorite quests and why? Perhaps a top 10 list. This is more out of curiosity than anything, but it will also give us an idea of where you the players would like to see things go.

So I will start out with my favorite quests that are in the game right now.

1. Aerlinthe
2. Gaerlan
3. Any of the Ancient Temple quests.(I love the jumps, I am a glutton for punishment)
4. Bobo
5. Sword of Lost Light(Just really cool)
6. Atlan Stone Tool
7. Focus Stone
8. Green Mire Grave(I still remember my days as a noob fearing this quest)
9. Queens quest
10. Shadow Captain's Heaume( This was one that my allegiance did alot. I loved the dynamic of havin 2 different level groups being need to complete the quest. It made it so everyone was involved.)

So there is my list, what quests would be on yours?
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Andy "Frelorn" Cataldo
AC Community Relations
Turbine, Inc
 

I can't really name favorites, as it almost feels like a conflict of interest to pick a favorite quest, in a way that picking a favorite update isn't...

I do have fond memories of the times, back in the early days, when I used to sit on the other side of the locked door in Green Mire and asked people to tell me knock-knock jokes to open the door for them. The best response I got was this one:

"Knock knock."
"Who's there?"
"My corpse."
"My corpse who?"
"My corpse who's stuck on the other side of the door, now open up!"
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"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." -- Hunter S. Thompson (RIP)
 

Hmmmm...

Favorites... A tougher question than it sounds.

(In no particular order, only 5 listed)
The SoLL Quest series
Frore
The Major Atlan stones
Aerlinthe
Dooming Nuhmudira (I never saved her )
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Kintani
AC Content Designer
Turbine, Inc.
 

Hi there everyone, sorry that this update is a day late, we had a couple members of the team out sick yesterday. Anyway, let’s get right into this weeks update.

When will you guys fix the hotkey bug?
We have good news on this pesky bug. We have fixed this bug for the December update.

When is the December event going to happen?
Right now we are scheduled to have the event take place on Tuesday, December 20th.

When will we see the Letter to the Players?
My plan is to have this out to you this Friday, the 16th.

Will the Spec/Unspec quest changes be implemented in December?
Yes they will be.

Now onto what we have planned and what we are doing this week. Our QA team will be continuing to check out the December event for any issues that might occur. The live team is also very busy getting things done for the January event. This includes the first stages of implementation and testing as well as putting the finishing touches on the design specs. As for me, I will be working on the Letter to the Players and all things associated with the launch of the December event.

That’s about it for now. I hope everyone has a great week!
__________________
Andy "Frelorn" Cataldo
AC Community Relations
Turbine, Inc