Hi there, Maggie. I just got done reading Jessica Mulligan's letter about the expansion pack and the schedule for retail release.

I understand that Turbine will need to forgo the regular patches for the months of March and April. The expansion will be released in May (Jessica said), and then she plans to return to regular monthly updates starting in June.

Here's what I propose: Let's allow Turbine a one extra month of catch-your-breath time! They will have done a lot of hard work. We've had 52 continuous months of updates, (as Jessica was careful to point out) and, what the hell.

We can start regular monthly patches again in July.

And, er, maybe you could mention to Ms. Mulligan that a small gift, placed in my backpack after the expansion, would not be unappreciated. ;)

Ned Cleversun of TD
Level 108

Hello, my wonderful vassal -
That sounds reasonable enough to me. Although a lot of people are crying and moaning about a few missed patches, I can't complain! It will finally give me a chance to catch up on all the quests I haven't done! Patches always suck up my limited play time because I'm so busy updating the site, so this will be a nice break.

As for small gifts, I know you're angling for that spell-casting bow, but I can tell you... never gonna happen. I'll do what I can, however, to get on the Devs' good side. You just never know what surprises are in store! ;-)

- Maggie

Hey Maggie!
Atamagaokashii of TD here. I just thought I'd give ya probably the best thing that has happened to me and my brother, Berdock, inside AC. About 4 years ago -- Fall 2001 -- Berdock and I joined the game. We were part of a small clan known as the Thunder Dragons, and once housing was introduced, we actively camped out a whole Settlement, later named Meerthus Square -- near Cragstone -- and most of us got our houses. The Butte Rangers -- a group of us that lived within 20 minutes or so of each other -- Falkon, Terra the Rose (my patron at the time) and Pinetree, all people Berdock and I know in real life - and Berdock and I all acquired houses.

For about a year we all quested together, met together, and partied together in that settlement. Then Berdock and I left AC while everyone moved over to AC2 and Star Wars Galaxies. Just 6 months ago, Berdock and I rejoined, and were delighted to find our original characters still there, waiting for us to return, but our cottage was not, and neither were our friends of old. Just yesterday -- 2-17-05 -- we journeyed back to Meerthus Square to pay remembrance to our friends. To our surprise and delight, our cottage of old was vacant! And in an even bigger surprise, it had hooked above its door an Aegis that could be wielded by one person -- me! We rushed about for awhile scrambling to vacate our replacement cottage in the Al-Arquis Settlement of Al-Jalima, and bought our cottage back :)

I apologize for the length of this story, but I thought you would like to hear it, especially since you're on the same server and all. Good Hunting Maggie, hope to see ya sometime :)

Atamagaokashii of TD
Level 64 Dagger

Hi Atamagaokashii -
That's a very cool story. I can't believe your Aegis was still over the door! It's fate! I had housing luck myself a few weeks ago. My mule account has been living in an apartment for years. But finally, for the first time since I can remember, a house opened up in my settlement. My mules now live just two doors down! It's great having all my peeps together in one place.

Welcome back to Dereth. :)

- Maggie the Jackcat

February 2005 - A Tribute to the Devs

First, let me just explain a little about myself. My name is David and I have been playing Asheron's Call off and on since 1999. Since then, I have seen a lot of the developers come and go and plenty of them hang around. Not to mention I have played at least thirty different characters and gone through roughly six accounts. My current main is Sheik Yabuda of Morningthaw.

A lot of the times when I think about AC, these people's names come up:

Allan Maki
Chris L'etoile
Dave Javier
Dave Namerow
Jason Booth
Jesse Kurlancheek
Ken Troop
Les Nelken
Nik Davidson
Sean Huxter

I would like to dedicate this short-film to them as thanks for all the great work they have done. This is my first actual short-film of any kind, so bear with me, as it is a little rough. Sadly, the process of making it took three attempts. About two hours into my first attempt of stringing together .avi's, they were deleted. After that, I had to go back and re-tape all the scenes I had before. After doing this, I started stringing the .avi's together again. Eventually I had something that looked half-way decent. It was certainly not what I had before, but it would do. So I made of some title scenes, cropped some music files and added credits. I was done.

..or so I thought. It turned out I made a few typos that really should not be in there. Since I didn't save my WIP, I had to go back and re-do the music section of the film and edit out the typos. The final product is a little bit better than my first attempt, but I suppose it lost a little flavor. Anyways, enjoy (...hopefully).

Thanks again to Maggie for hosting the film and to pointing out some of the typos. *shake fist*

-David aka  Sheik Yabuda of Morningthaw

You can find the video here! (17.8MB - right click to save)

Hi Sheik Yabuda -
I'm happy to host the video. I enjoyed watching it! Nothing can compare to those early days in AC, that's for sure. And I know the more behind-the-scenes devs are included in your sentiments. Although I often peer back on the past through my rose colored nostalgia glasses, I've loved watching AC evolve and grow. I think the game is, dare I say it, the best it's ever been. The newer devs have had some big shoes to fill, but I think they've been up to the task. I've personally developed a fan-crush on the creator of the recent Niffis quest, whomever it was. It was just so twisted and cute! With a very traditional AC flavor.

If I have any complaints about the previous devs, well, they should have documented their code better! But what can you expect from a buncha guys working out of Mom's basement. ;-)

- Maggie the Jackcat

February 2005 - A Thanks from Iraq

Hey Maggie,
I just wanted to send you an e-mail saying thanks for running this site. Besides being a treasure chest of information while playing, it's the only place I have to check the happenings of Dereth while I'm in Iraq. Thanks again and keep up the great work.

Stinmark al-Dar of LC

Hi Stinmark al-Dar -
You're welcome! And thank you in return. I get quite a bit of mail from AC players who are over in Iraq and wish I had more time to write back to people. Sadly, I'm a notoriously bad correspondent! I hope you don't mind if I use your letter as the opportunity to send a hello to all of them. We're all wishing you a speedy and safe return to Dereth!

- Maggie

February 2005 - Great Training Spots!

Thanks a bunch for the recommendations of the training spots, they're just great. You helped me get from 1-41 in about two weeks! All of the training places are accurately described and the suggestions work well! I just wanna say thanks for all you've done for me and fellow ACer's out there!

Thanks,

R-P-S II of TD
Level 41 Archer

Hi R-P-S -
I'm glad to hear they were helpful to you! I haven't updated that section in a while and it's been on my endless "to-do" list of things to attend to, especially with the expansion coming up in a few months. It's good to know that it's not as outdated as I had feared!

- Maggie the Jackcat

February 2005 - The AC Museum

Hi Maggie,
Been enjoying your site for years. Recently found out about the AC museum on FF. Noticed that you didn't have a Bronze Spear. My villa at 38.4N, 24.1E has a wide variety of Spears on the walls and various Banderling paraphernalia. It is open to the public, so feel free to visit anytime and grab some screenies.

Bester of TD
Banderling Representative to the House of Windsor Monarchy
Level 119 Spear

Hi Bester -
Thanks for the invitation! It's nice to know of other players on different servers who have items on display. I love the Dereth Museum. Damien Sarin worked on it for months and months and months, and I'm proud to be one of the curators involved in the project. I encourage anyone who hasn't seen it to roll up a newbie on FF to take a look! It's very cool. AC players rock!