Announcements - 11th Anniversary Preview

November 2010 - 11th Anniversary Preview

Town Crier - November Event

Original Link - http://ac.turbinegames.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=609:town-crier&catid=39:articles&Itemid=53

Town Crier - November Event

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Here are a couple of teaser images for the upcoming November Event for your enjoyment. Please keep in mind that the event is still a work in progress and some things are still subject to change.

Void Magic and You!

Original Link - http://asheronscall.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=611:void-magic-and-you&catid=39:articles&Itemid=53&NavItemid=53

Void Magic and You!

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As we get closer to our November Update, we will be releasing more information about the upcoming content. This week our Town Crier is spilling all the information about Void Magic. So without further delay...

How much does it cost?
Void Magic skill costs 16 to train and 12 to specialize.

How does it work?
Void magic uses nether damage on all of its attacks. These attacks come in 4 forms:

• Direct cast Damage over Time
• Projectile Damage over Time
• Standard Projectile attacks
• Debuffs

What are the spells and what do they do?
The Top Level spells that Void Mages get are:

• Corrosion – A projectile which does 448 points of damage over 15 seconds
• Corruption – Shoots 5 projectiles which do 357 damage over 30 seconds
• Destructive Curse – Direct cast which does 357 damage over 30 seconds
• Festering Curse – decreases the heal rating of the target by 45 for 30 seconds
• Weakening Curse – decreases the target’s damage rating by 15 for 15 seconds
• Nether Bolt/Arc – A projectile which does 240-310 damage
• Nether Streak – A projectile which does 120-154 damage
• Clouded Soul – A nether ring which does 90-140 damage per projectile

The three types of DoT spells will stack with each other but two of the same DoT spell will not. This means targets can have a Corrosion, Corruption and Destructive Curse applied to them at the same time, but cannot have two Corruption spells applied to them at the same time.

On top of their damages, DoT spells cause the target to take a greater amount of incoming damage from all attacks. The amount the incoming damage is increased is based off of how high of a DoT the target is currently taking.

And Casting these spells?
There will be nether elemental casters in loot which work like standard elemental casters and will increase the nether damage. Slayers will work on the standard projectiles but will not affect the damage of the DoT spells.

After casting a Nether spell, the caster will have a 3-5 second window in which any War spell cast will fizzle due to the conflicting light and dark energies in their body. This also applies when casting from War to Nether.

Creatures under Asheron’s protection take half damage from any nether type spell.

What do I need to cast Void Magic?
As with other schools of magic there is Foci that can be used for Void Magic and an augmentation to get rid of having to use foci to cast spells. There are components that allow a creature to cast Void Magic spells but they are of an extremely rare nature and few have ever seen them.

Bottled Rage – Rage can manifest itself in a physical form if the amount of hate and anger reaches a severe level. Only one being has been known to reach this level of Rage and it led to the corruption of his soul.

Essence of Kemeroi – Since the Kemeroi usually corrupts the mind of any creature who wanders to close causing them to go mad, it is clear why this substance is rarely seen.

Shadow root – Unlike the name would suggest, this substance does not come from a plant. As the dark magic contained within Dereth spreads it looks like purplish-black roots reaching out through the ground. The Light’s magic contains this force deep beneath the surface making it all but impossible to obtain one of these “roots”.

Soul Weed – A dangerous plant that has been mostly eradicated from this world, the soul weed was so named due to the ability to transform the plant into a substance which would literally pull all life out of a living being. It is said this substance is strong enough to even sever a being’s connection to a lifestone causing its soul to be lost forever.

Nightshade – Nightshade is a plant from the Isparian home world and has not been seen on Dereth. Nightshade has the ability to produce a potent poison that will weaken and kill a target over time. It was once common for warriors to coat their blades with the substance to ensure the death of their opponent even if they themselves should perish in battle.

So there you have it! That is Void Magic as told by our friendly Town Crier. You can comment on this Article here.

 

Luminance

Original Link - http://asheronscall.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=612:luminance&catid=39:articles&Itemid=53&NavItemid=53

Luminance

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This week, The Town Crier spotlights one of the new systems coming to Asheron's Call in the next update. So without further delay, let's find out more about Luminance.

With the release of the Empyreans from portal space, much has happened around Dereth. The newly released Empyrean adventurers are not the only Empyreans to travel the lands of Dereth after their long internment. Trapped with the Empyreans were members of an ancient council -- Seers seeking wisdom to read the signs of Light and Shadow and perhaps gain secrets about what was, what is, and what will be. These Seers were visionaries and pariahs, forever separated from the people they represented by their quest for knowledge.

Five Seers were trapped apart from their people by chance. Each of these Seers gathered in ancient times to discuss the secrets of this world and perhaps others. These five Seers each represent one faction of the ancient Empyreans and each studies the mysteries of Light and Shadow in a different way.

These five Oracles have gone forth into the far corners of Dereth as both students and teachers. Although they still seek mysteries in the world, each is willing to take on students. By studying with these Seers, the most learned and powerful students can learn to focus Light into Auras that infuse their form. Each Aura strengthens the student a small amount, but the student can learn many things in total. You must be level 200 to learn to earn and use Luminance.

The Seers are also craftsmen and craftswomen in their own right and can fashion items from the Luminance of the world. They can gift them to students, but doing so dims the Luminance of the students until the students can go forth and earn more from Light or Shadow.

The first Seer to escape portal space is also the easiest to find. Nalicana, the Seer of the Yalain, will take on those willing to learn of the Light as students. Speak with her and she will teach you how to focus your own Light to build an inner strength that the Oracles call Luminance. Once she teaches you to recognize and empower your own Luminance, you may gain Luminance from the most powerful creatures and the most dangerous quests.

Nalicana has many things to teach you. When you learn to use Luminance, you gain the ability to slowly build it through questing and hunting. You can gather up to 1,000,000 Luminance points before you must spend some by training at the Oracles to earn Luminance Augmentations and gain power. This limit is only the maximum number of points you can accumulate at any one time; you are free to gain more Luminance after your spend your points. So remember to spend your Luminance and stay below the threshold, otherwise you may miss out on Luminance gains as you quest and hunt in the dangerous wilds of Dereth!

The remaining four Seers are bitter rivals of one another. They do not relish teaching students who follow the guidance of another Seer. Though all the Seers accept (some begrudgingly) Nalicana’s hand in training, they will teach no student who carries the Aura of a rival Seer. Some say their teachings are opposed in nature. Whatever the reason, you cannot learn from more than one at a time. You may seek guidance and power from any Oracle at any time, but if you accept their teachings you will lose any Auras you gained from the other, rival Seers. Although all of Nalicana’s Auras and teachings will remain with you, students who chose to learn from the four remaining Seers may only learn from one.

The four remaining Oracles have traveled to various areas in Dereth and students will have to explore the land to find them. Each of these Seers represent an ancient Empyrean people.

The Shade of Lady Adja is all that remains of the Seer of the Light Falacot.
Ka’hiri is the Seer of the Dark Falacot.
Liam of Gelid is the Seer of the Dericost.
Lord Tyrager is the Seer of the Habraen.

Your training starts with Nalicana, the Seer of the Yalain. She empowers students with the ability to gather Luminance and has many Auras to impart to students who have earned enough Luminance. Because of the many pieces of knowledge she has to impart, some say it can take years to learn all she has to offer. Others claim that the intrepid adventurers of Dereth are too strong-willed and some will wrest the ancient secrets from her quickly. Who can say how long the path will take?

The first step in your training is to finish Nalicana’s quest to begin earning Luminance.

Once you start earning Luminance you may speak with Nalicana to learn how to focus that Luminance into Auras and to craft items of power from the very Light of the world.

Aura of the Craftsman
Cost: 100,000 -> 150,000 -> 200,000 -> 250,000 -> 300,000
This Aura increases the effective skill for all of your Tinkering skills by 1 for each purchase of this Aura. The Aetheria chance to surge will be slightly increased each time you purchase this Aura. You may purchase the Aura up to 5 times for a total of 5 skill points to your effective skill when crafting.

Aura of Aetheric Vision
Cost: 100,000 -> 150,000 -> 200,000 -> 250,000 -> 300,000
This Aura slightly increases the chance for the Aetheria you have equipped to surge. The Aetheria chance to surge will be slightly increased each time you purchase this Aura. You may purchase this Aura up to 5 times.

Aura of Glory
Cost: 100,000 -> 150,000 -> 200,000 -> 250,000 -> 300,000
This Aura increases your critical damage rating by 1 for each level. You may purchase this Aura up to 5 times for a total of 5 critical damage rating to your attacks.

Aura of Mana Flow
Cost: 100,000 -> 150,000 -> 200,000 -> 250,000 -> 300,000
This Aura decreases the mana usage of your magical items, decreasing the cost by a rating of 5 for each level. You may purchase this Aura up to 5 times for a total decrease of 25 rating to your mana usage for items.

Aura of Mana Infusion
Cost: 100,000 -> 150,000 -> 200,000 -> 250,000 -> 300,000
This Aura increases the mana your Mana Stones give to your items, increasing the rating of those uses by 5 for each level. You may purchase this Aura up to 5 times for a total of 25 mana rating to your mana stone uses.

Aura of Protection
Cost: 100,000 -> 150,000 -> 200,000 -> 250,000 -> 300,000
This Aura reduces the damage of any attack by 1 damage reduction rating for each level. You may purchase this Aura up to 5 times for a total of 5 damage reduction rating against all attacks.

Aura of Purity
Cost: 100,000 -> 150,000 -> 200,000 -> 250,000 -> 300,000
This Aura increases the effect of any healing upon you by 1 healing rating for each level. You may purchase this Aura up to 5 times for a total increase of 5 healing rating.

Aura of Temperance
Cost: 100,000 -> 150,000 -> 200,000 -> 250,000 -> 300,000
This Aura reduces the damage of any critical hit by 1 damage reduction rating for each level. You may purchase this Aura up to 5 times for a total of 5 damage reduction rating against critical attacks.

Aura of Valor
Cost: 100,000 -> 150,000 -> 200,000 -> 250,000 -> 300,000
This Aura increases your damage rating by 1 for each level. You may purchase this Aura up to 5 times for a total of 5 damage rating to all of your attacks.

Skill Credits
Cost: 1,000,000 -> 1,000,000
The inner understanding of the Light and Shadow of the world lets you purchase up to 2 additional skill credits. Each skill credit costs the full 1,000,000 Luminance. You may purchase up to 2 additional skill credits in this fashion.

In addition, Nalicana is a superb craftswoman and specializes in weaving the Light around her into small items of power. For those Empyreans who have gained many Auras yet still seek Luminance, this Seer has small consumable items that are crafted from Light to purchase.

The Shade of Lady Adja is all that remains of the Seer of the Light Falacot. She offers her students two additional Auras.

Aura of Invulnerability
Cost: 350,000 -> 400,000 -> 450,000 -> 500,000 -> 550,000
You must have 5 levels in your Aura of Protection to purchase this Aura.
This Aura increases your damage reduction rating by 1 for each level. You may purchase this Aura up to 5 times for a total of 5 damage rating to all of your attacks. This Aura stacks on top of Aura of Protection.

Aura of the Specialist
Cost: 350,000 -> 400,000 -> 450,000 -> 500,000 -> 550,000
This Aura increases the effective skill level of all your Specialized skills by 2 for each level. You may purchase this Aura up to 5 times for a total of +10 to the effective skill level of any Specialized skill you possess.

Ka’hiri is the Seer of the Dark Falacot. She offers her students two additional Auras.

Aura of Destruction
Cost: 350,000 -> 400,000 -> 450,000 -> 500,000 -> 550,000
You must have 5 levels in your Aura of Valor to purchase this Aura.
This Aura increases your damage rating by 1 for each level. You may purchase this Aura up to 5 times for a total of 5 damage rating to all of your attacks. This Aura stacks on top of Aura of Valor.

Aura of the Specialist
Cost: 350,000 -> 400,000 -> 450,000 -> 500,000 -> 550,000
This Aura increases the effective skill level of all your Specialized skills by 2 for each level. You may purchase this Aura up to 5 times for a total of +10 to the effective skill level of any Specialized skill you possess.

Liam of Gelid is the Seer of the Dericost. He offers to his students two additional Auras.

Aura of Destruction
Cost: 350,000 -> 400,000 -> 450,000 -> 500,000 -> 550,000
You must have 5 levels in your Aura of Valor to purchase this Aura.
This Aura increases your damage rating by 1 for each level. You may purchase this Aura up to 5 times for a total of 5 damage rating to all of your attacks. This Aura stacks on top of Aura of Valor.

Aura of Retribution
Cost: 350,000 -> 400,000 -> 450,000 -> 500,000 -> 550,000
You must have 5 levels in your Aura of Glory to purchase this Aura.
This Aura increases your critical damage rating by 1 for each level. You may purchase this Aura up to 5 times for a total of 5 damage rating to all of your attacks. This Aura stacks on top of Aura of Glory.

Lord Tyrager is the Seer of the Habraen. He offers to his students two additional Auras.

Aura of Hardening
Cost: 350,000 -> 400,000 -> 450,000 -> 500,000 -> 550,000
You must have 5 levels in your Aura of Temperance to purchase this Aura.
This Aura increases your damage reduction rating by 1 for each level. You may purchase this Aura up to 5 times for a total of 5 damage rating to all of your attacks. This Aura stacks on top of Aura of Temperance.

Aura of Invulnerability
Cost: 350,000 -> 400,000 -> 450,000 -> 500,000 -> 550,000
You must have 5 levels in your Aura of Protection to purchase this Aura.
This Aura increases your damage reduction rating by 1 for each level. You may purchase this Aura up to 5 times for a total of 5 damage rating to all of your attacks. This Aura stacks on top of Aura of Protection.

 

Developer Comments

New Playable Races Delayed

07-28-2010 - Link

New Race Status

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Greetings,

As we continue our day to day development of monthly patches and we race towards our big November anniversary update, I wanted to give you an update on the status of the new races.

First, the bad news. The next new race will be coming out with the big November update. We wanted to squeeze another race in August, but we simply won't have enough time to do all the adjustments we wanted to. Our schedule was thrown off and the next big race will be with the November update.

Second, it is likely that we are looking at the introduction of not two but three additional races if everything go right. The first will probably be available for November, the second for January, and the third for the March.

I apologize for the delay but we would rather take the extra time to deliver the race as we envision it than cut corners.

Thanks,
Sev~

Severlin Producer

07-28-2010 - Link

Q: Are the playable Olthoi counted as one of the new playable races?

A: Olthoi play is not considered one of the new races.
Sev~

Severlin Producer

Playable Olthoi

07-28-2010 - Link

November Update: Design Diary

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Greetings,

With the team working hard on plans and designs for the big upcoming November event, I wanted to give the players some insight into our design thoughts and allow them feedback on some of our plans in the early stages of development.

To be clear, what I am about to discuss is a *potential* feature for our upcoming November update. As the proof of concept is developed it may prove technically unfeasible or we may still abandon the plans entirely.

So why discuss it at this stage? One thing players have told us is they like to have feedback about upcoming features. We have decided to discuss this to give players feedback as early as possible. The risk, of course, is that if we decide this feature cannot be put into the game for technical or performance reasons we have potentially disappointed players. We believe the the positives of giving players insight into our design process and early input into a feature will overall be positive for the game and the community.

We have been discussing a new feature for AC, tentatively planned for the big November update.

Our goals for this new feature are as follows:
~ Allow new players to try PvP without months of investment.
~ Add some fear back to Olthoi as a story element.
~ Introduce a new way to play AC.
~ Allow larger PvP live events.

The idea is this. Players would be able to create Olthoi as a playable race, but instead of making traditional characters starting at level 1 the Olthoi characters would be more like open world monster play. You'd pick one of two templates (probably spitter or ripper to represent acid manipulation and melee) and be able to run around the world as an olthoi in the 150-180 range.

Details:
~ Olthoi would be powerful enough to PvP, but less powerful than high level characters who earned their way through. Maybe 380 hit points, with decent armor, throwing acid effects equivalent to level 7 spells.

~ Olthoi would always be PvP flagged, even on white worlds.

~ Olthoi could not enter the travel hub, but would have alternate portals in the high level Olthoi area they could recall to and use to go to different parts of the world. There might be Olthoi invasion events where they gain access to the travel hub and housing portals are suppressed.

~ Olthoi could not choose skills or gain experience except to reverse vitae. Skills would be pre-chosen and pre-trained based on their template.

~ Olthoi could not talk to normal NPCs and could not take quests. There might be some Olthoi only NPCs.

~ Olthoi have their own chat channel. Local broadcasts come out in garbled clicks to non-Olthoi.

~ Olthoi could not wear equipment. Everything they pick up becomes attuned and bonded. Olthoi can salvage equipment (by spitting acid on it) to create a special substance that can be traded for small chitin upgrades which they can equip.

~ Olthoi monsters would be seen as friendly to player Olthoi.

~ An Olthoi that did not have vitae might drop some kind of loot or token for players that killed them, possibly based on the number of players they killed since they last died. In addition, a new Olthoi would not drop loot until it had killed at least one other player.

~ Players killed by Olthoi will gain Vitae, but their corpse can't be looted by other players. It will be as if they were killed by a non-player monster.

~ Olthoi can't join a fellowship.

All new Olthoi would have their own starting area that would be inaccessible to normal players. This area might be a remote island or a series of tunnels with an Olthoi central area and areas with hostile creatures. Olthoi can run around in this area, fight each other, and kill things as a way of trying the game.

In order to leave the Olthoi area, an account must be at least 16 days old. Trail accounts can make Olthoi and try them out in the Olthoi area, but only paying accounts can pass through the portal into the world at large and look for players and monsters to kill.

In addition, existing accounts would be limited in how often they could delete characters to 2 per day to prevent people from recreating Olthoi over and over to try to exploit the system.

We envision a game where a group of players could all create Olthoi and log into Darktide to go on a rampage with a swarm of Olthoi. New players could create an Olthoi and run around the starting area doing PvP with other Olthoi. Finally players who want pure PvP just for fun and make Olthoi and run around the Olthoi starting area to PvP with Olthoi at the same power level.

To reiterate, this is a system that is early in the design phase. There is a lot of tech to implement to bring this system to life, and it is quite possible that we will still decide to not implement this system. We are making the design available so players get early feedback and insight into our future plans.

Comments and feedback welcome.

Sev~

Severlin Producer

Information on New Playable Races

07-30-2010 - Link

Design Diary: New Races

[Wiki editor's note - thread was updated on 08-28-2010 to change references of crossbow to assess creature. The old content has been greyed and striked out here.]

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Update: Edited racials for Assess Creature.

Greetings,

We have had a lot of players chomping at the bits about our future racial plans. Many players want to plan out what they want to play and are waiting on creating new characters to do so. We recognize this and want to help them make those decisions by releasing some early designs on our racial roadmap.

First let me say that, like all Design Diaries, these plans are extremely early in their development cycle. We might have to abandon races if the art and animation tasks are not technically feasible. Although we are sharing our early design thoughts, this is in no way an actual feature announcement.

That said, we have some goals:
~ Introduce some cool new races.
~ Keep the races interesting but balanced.
~ Make existing races more compelling by providing some options.

We will be introducing new races, but we also want to give existing races some options to help with diverse play styles. To facilitate this, each race will have a sister race or a counter race with which they can adopt the racial skills of the race instead of their own. This second set of racial skills represent another facet of the racial culture that is reflected in the sister race. This will be done through the Temple of Forgetfulness; there will be new options to allow a race to change their existing racial skills to those of one other kindred race.

The new races will likely be the following, not necessarily in the order of release:

Empyrean
Players from this magical race are recovered from imprisonment in Portal Space, and have been weakened from their ordeal. They have taken refuge upon their return with the Isparian peoples.
Skill: Arcane Lore (Specialized)
Augmentation: Infused Life Magic

Undead
Players from this race are the walking dead from House Mhoire who once bore the curse of Rytheran. These undead have found an alchemical way to stave off the twisted magic curse that destroyed their House. Thanks to this purifying alchemy, they now walk the lands with free minds and hearts.
Skill: Alchemy
Augmentation: Critical Protection

Tumerok
Players from this hunter race are outcasts from the Hea Tumerok, free from enslavement at the hands of the Virindi.
Skill: Crossbow
Skill: Assess Creature (Specialized)
Augmentation: +3% Critical Damage

Lugian
Players from this large earthen race are disgruntled members of the Laigus caste who have left Lugian society to travel among Isparians and improve their lot in life. The Lugian who leave to live among the Isparian races are sometimes drawn to learn skills of magic that are forbidden to the Lugians in their society.
Skill: Thrown Weapon
Augmentation: Increased Burden

In addition, all races now have another race that acts as their mirror. This sister race either shares an affinity with the race, or has a culture or nature that reflects another side of the race. For whatever reason, players can go to the temple of forgetfulness and trade racial skills with one other race.

The racial pairings are as follows:

Aluvian (Dagger, Assess Person) can change their racial skills to Crossbow.
Aluvian (Dagger, Assess Person) can change their racial skills to Assess Creature (Specialized).
Sho (Unarmed Combat) can change their racial skills to Deception.
Gharu'ndim (Staff, Item Tinkering) can change their racial skills to Thrown Weapon.
Viamontian (Armor Tinkering, Loyalty) can change their racial skills to Mace.
Umbrean and Penumbraen (Deception) can change their racial skills to Unarmed.
Gear Knights (Mace) can change their racial skills to Armor Tinkering, Loyalty.
Empyreans (Arcane Lore - Specialized) can change their racial skills to Alchemy.
Undead (Alchemy) can change their racial skills to Arcane Lore - Specialized.
Tumeroks (Crossbow) can change their racial skills to Spear, Assess Person.
Tumeroks (Assess Creature Specialized) can change their racial skills to Spear, Assess Person.
Lugians (Thrown Weapon) can change their racial skills to Staff, Item Tinkering.

Again, this is all very early in the design stages. It may very well be that we need to cut some of these out or change them substantially. We felt players would benefit in this case from an early glimpse into our future plans.

Sev~

Severlin Producer