Asheron's Call: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 23:49, 5 March 2014

Main game topics:	Getting Started \| Gameplay \| Player Character \| Items \| World \| Patches \| Live Events
Sub-topics:	Asheron's Call \| Player Guides: New Players, Returning Players \| Character Creation \| User Interface \| Glossary \| FAQ

Asheron's Call

Asheron's Call (AC) is a fantasy Massively multiplayer online role-playing game delevoped by Turbine, Inc. released on November 2, 1999.

Please visit our Home Page to explore everything our wiki has available.
New to Asheron's Call? Check out the New Player Guide.
See the Returning Player Guide if you have to decided to come back.

Game Info

See also: List of Categories

The following list is not exhaustive.

Dereth
- Creatures
- Locations
- Lore
- NPCs
- Quests
Gameplay
- Allegiances
- Combat
- Housing
- Magic
- Fellowships
- Game Mechanics
Player Characters

Asheron's Call Updates

Game Release and Expansions

1999 Release	2001 Dark Majesty	2005 Throne of Destiny

Major Monthly Updates

See Patches for a list of all the regular monthly updates made to Asheron's Call.

Event	Main Content/Features
	August 2008: 100th Update Societies of Dereth Land Control 7th Loot Tier New Item Sets
	October 2009: 10th Anniversary Update Quest Journal Gearcrafting Skill Two Handed Combat Skill Trinkets Quest XP Passup
	April 2010: "Big" Update Tailoring Barbers and Hairstyles Aetheria Playable Shadows
	December 2010: "Big" Update Olthoi Play Luminance Void Magic Playable Empyreans
	May 2011: "Big" Update New level 180+ hunting and questing area Contracts Prismatic Ammunition Shield Tailoring Alternate Currency Exchangers
	February 2012: Skill System Overhaul Dirty Fighting Dual Wield Finesse Weapons Heavy Weapons Light Weapons Missile Weapons Recklessness Shield Sneak Attack
	August 2012: "Big" Update Weather Effects New quests and hunting areas Atlan Weapons Update Isparian Weapons Update Exploration Society Letters Update
	February 2013: "Tier 8 Loot and a New UI" New UI Legendary Cantrips were introduced. New Summoning skill introduced. [Tier 8 Loot] Introduced Creature Loot Tiers adjusted
	August 2013: "Tier 8 Loot and Weapon Tailoring" New Tier 8 Loot Hunting Area Introduced - Rynthid Infested Plains Weapon Tailoring Black Markets were updated.
	January 2014: "Tier 8 Area Released" Viridian Rise - New High Level Hunting Ground Released New level VIII Ring Spells Released - New Ring Spells
	February 2014: "Spring 2014" This as indicated by Turbine will be the last Patch for Asherons Call. Enlightenment - A system designed for our most dedicated players, Enlightenment allows a character who has reached the pinnacle of levels and Luminance to let it all go and start over. The process of Enlightenment is certainly not for the faint of heart, but enlightenment will provide an avenue for players to prove that they are some of the most hardcore players of the game. Gauntlet - A brand new coliseum to challenge players and top end characters has been added. Paragon Weapons - A weapon upgrade system that creates Paragon weapons has been added to the game. Characters can slowly enhance their favorite weapons by forging them into Paragon weapons.

Rules

By playing Asheron's Call, all players agree to the following documents:

History of Asheron's Call

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1995 - 1999

Game Development

Development of Asheron's Call began in 1995 after Turbine and Microsoft had entered into a developer/publisher agreement where legal ownership of the property and subsequently-developed properties were owned by Microsoft.
All of the games Servers and the initial beta testing were also hosted on Zone.msn.com as part of the publishing agreement with Microsoft.
"Empyrean" was the code name Microsoft used to refer to Asheron's Call in 1997 when the game was still in development. ^[1]

Click image for full size version.

Early Development Screenshots

1999

Beta Testing and Release

The AC Beta consisted of three phases which spanned from May until October of 1999.
- See the Asheron's Call Beta page for full details and links.

Other important events that occured before and during beta testing:
- Turbine's beta page, http://www.zogblaster.com/tweb/asherons-call, goes live.
  - See the ACCWiki's Zogblaster Archive to take a look back at the site.
- Microsoft's Asheron's Call page, http://www.microsoft.com/games/zone/asheronscall/, goes live.
  - See the ACCWiki's Microsoft Games Archive to take a look back at the site.

November 2, 1999 - AC goes retail, it is the third major MMORPG to be released at this time.

2000 - 2003

Microsoft Gaming Zone

In addition to the hosting of the game Servers, all AC announcements including patch teasers, rollout articles, letters to the players and patch notes were released onto the AC section of the Microsoft Gaming Zone.
- See the ACCWiki's Microsoft Zone Archive to take a look back at the site.
- See also Category:Microsoft Zone Archive and Category:Patch Announcements.

2003

Turbine buys Asheron's Call license back

Turbine bought back all franchise rights from Microsoft in 2003^[2] and consequently took responsibility for server hosting. The servers remained at a facility in Washington State until 2008 when all server hardware was replaced and relocated to a facility in Massachusetts near Turbine headquarters. Due to various quality of service issues that caused extended downtime the servers were moved to a new facility on March 30th, 2009.

2004

Turbine unlocks Asheron's Call: Dark Majesty for all AC subscribers

Turbine announces that all Dark Majesty content will be available to every subscriber regardless of whether they have purchased the expansion pack in the past or not. ^[3]

Turbine Green Lights AC Expansion Pack

An announcement is made that fans of the award-winning online role playing game Asheron’s Call® will receive a new expansion pack (Throne of Destiny) in early 2005.^[4]

Turbine Jolts Asheron's Call® and AC2: Fallen Kings® in Europe

Turbine Entertainment Software Corp., a premier provider of online subscription entertainment, announced today that it signed a deal with Jolt Online Gaming Ltd., Europe's largest independent online gaming network, to operate the company's critically acclaimed Asheron's Call® franchise games in Europe.^[5]

2014

Turbine ends updates to Asheron's Call and Announces F2P

Once this next update is in the hands of the players, the updates to Asheron’s Call will be limited. We intend to fix critical bugs and continue maintenance and support on the game. While there is always a chance we will put out a small update if time permits, players should have the expectation that updates will be limited to maintenance, bug fixes, and perhaps balance iterations of February content such as the new Coliseum.
Let me reiterate that we have no plans to close Asheron’s Call. We plan to keep the game open and the servers running.
Although this change of focus is necessary for our company, we love the Asheron’s Call games and we want them to live forever. We understand that players who have been enjoying our monthly updates will be disappointed at the change to Asheron’s Call. Our long term plan is to make the game free to all active accounts. We are working on a date in the not-to-distant future where all active accounts will be able to play the game for free. Asheron’s Call and Asheron’s Call 2 will be a gift to our loyal players.
Link to Original Article
Severlin - Producer

History Articles

The Turbine Story - In depth history written by the founder of Turbine Entertainment, Jon Monsarrat.
Postmortem: Turbine Entertainment's Asheron's Call - Behind the scenes account of what went right, what went wrong. Written by Toby Ragaini, one of the original developers.

Game Awards

Gaming Website Articles

Reviews

GameSpy - 84%

Adrenaline Vault - 4/5

Computer Games Online - 4.5/5

Daily Radar - Hit

Eurogamer - 8/10

Eurogamer - 9/10

Firing Squad - 4/5

Gamecenter - 8/10

Games Domain

GameSpot - 8.6/10

Happy Puppy - 9/10

IGN PC - 6.4/10

RPG Vault - Special Report

Previews

GameSpy - Should the Stars Fall "Dream Event"

Gamespy - Twilight's Gleaming Event

Daily Radar

Desslock's RPG News

Firing Squad

GA-RPG

Gamecenter

IGN

RPG Vault

July, 1997 - ZDNet

July, 1998 - Gamespot

Interviews

GameSpy - Sean Huxter, Art Director

Crossroads of Dereth - Chris L'etoile

Desslock's RPG News - Toby Ragaini, Lead Designer and Jon Grande, Product Planner

ActiveWin - Scott Herrington

Computer Games Online - Jon Grande and Jeremy Gaffney

Dr. Twister - Jason Booth

Eurogamer - Scott Herrington, Producer

IGN PC - Toby Ragaini, Lead Game Designer

RPG Vault - Patricia Pizer, Lead Designer

RPG Vault - Eri Izawa, Designer

Other

Developer Diaries

Images

Click image for full size version.

References

↑ 1997/07 ZDNet - Let the Online Games Begin
↑ 12/17/2003 Turbine Games - TURBINE TO BUY ASHERON’S CALL FRANCHISE FROM MICROSOFT GAME STUDIOS
↑ 02/04/2004 Turbine Games - TURBINE UNLOCKS ASHERON’S CALL: DARK MAJESTY® FOR ALL AC1 SUBSCRIBERS
↑ 04/13/2004 Turbine Games - Turbine Green Lights AC Expansion Pack
↑ 08/30/2004 Turbine Games - Turbine Jolts Asheron's Call® and AC2: Fallen Kings® in Europe

[1] 1997/07 ZDNet - Let the Online Games Begin

[2] 12/17/2003 Turbine Games - TURBINE TO BUY ASHERON’S CALL FRANCHISE FROM MICROSOFT GAME STUDIOS

[3] 02/04/2004 Turbine Games - TURBINE UNLOCKS ASHERON’S CALL: DARK MAJESTY® FOR ALL AC1 SUBSCRIBERS

[4] 04/13/2004 Turbine Games - Turbine Green Lights AC Expansion Pack

[5] 08/30/2004 Turbine Games - Turbine Jolts Asheron's Call® and AC2: Fallen Kings® in Europe

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 * New to Asheron's Call? Check out the [[New Player Guide]].
 * See the [[Returning Player Guide]] if you have to decided to come back.
-[[File:AC_Tod_Logo.gif|320px]]
+[[File:AC_Tod_Logo.gif]]
 === Game Info ===
@@ Line 119: / Line 118: @@
 * [[http://acpedia.org/wiki/Loot#Tier_8 Tier 8 Loot]] Introduced
 * Creature Loot Tiers adjusted
-|
 |-
 | [[File:Emotions Unbound Splash Screen.jpg|250px|link=Emotions Unbound]]
-| '''August2013: "Tier 8 Loot and a New UI"'''
+| '''August 2013: "Tier 8 Loot and Weapon Tailoring"'''
 * New Tier 8 Loot Hunting Area Introduced - [[Rynthid Infested Plains]]
 * [[Tailoring#Weapon_Tailoring|Weapon Tailoring]]
 * [[Black Market]]s were updated.
+|-
+| [[File:Forces of Nature Splash Screen.jpg|250px|link=Forces of Nature]]
+| '''January 2014: "Tier 8 Area Released"'''
+* [[Viridian Rise]] - New High Level Hunting Ground Released
+* New level VIII Ring Spells Released - [[Infused_Amber_Collection#Items|New Ring Spells]]
+|-
+| [[File:Spring 2014 Splash Screen 1.jpg|250px|link=Spring 2014]]
+| '''February 2014: "Spring 2014"'''
+This as indicated by Turbine will be the last Patch for Asherons Call.
+<br>
+* [[Enlightenment]] - A system designed for our most dedicated players, Enlightenment allows a character who has reached the pinnacle of levels and Luminance to let it all go and start over. The process of Enlightenment is certainly not for the faint of heart, but enlightenment will provide an avenue for players to prove that they are some of the most hardcore players of the game.
+* [[Gauntlet]] - A brand new coliseum to challenge players and top end characters has been added.
+* [[Paragon Weapons]] - A weapon upgrade system that creates Paragon weapons has been added to the game. Characters can slowly enhance their favorite weapons by forging them into Paragon weapons.
 |}
@@ Line 182: / Line 193: @@
 ==== Turbine Jolts Asheron's Call® and AC2: Fallen Kings® in Europe ====
 Turbine Entertainment Software Corp., a premier provider of online subscription entertainment, announced today that it signed a deal with Jolt Online Gaming Ltd., Europe's largest independent online gaming network, to operate the company's critically acclaimed Asheron's Call® franchise games in Europe.<ref>08/30/2004 Turbine Games - [http://web.archive.org/web/20041016101748/http://ac.turbinegames.com/index.php?page_id=37&pagebuilder%5Bmodule%5D=article&pagebuilder%5Bdisplay_item%5D=150 Turbine Jolts Asheron's Call® and AC2: Fallen Kings® in Europe]</ref>
+=== 2014 ===
+==== Turbine ends updates to Asheron's Call and Announces F2P ====
+Once this next update is in the hands of the players, the updates to Asheron’s Call will be limited. We intend to fix critical bugs and continue maintenance and support on the game. While there is always a chance we will put out a small update if time permits, players should have the expectation that updates will be limited to maintenance, bug fixes, and perhaps balance iterations of February content such as the new Coliseum.
+<br>
+Let me reiterate that we have no plans to close Asheron’s Call. We plan to keep the game open and the servers running.
+<br>
+Although this change of focus is necessary for our company, we love the Asheron’s Call games and we want them to live forever. We understand that players who have been enjoying our monthly updates will be disappointed at the change to Asheron’s Call. Our long term plan is to make the game free to all active accounts. We are working on a date in the not-to-distant future where all active accounts will be able to play the game for free. Asheron’s Call and Asheron’s Call 2 will be a gift to our loyal players.<br>
+[https://www.asheronscall.com/en/forums/showthread.php?62779-News-about-the-next-update Link to Original Article]<br>
+[https://www.asheronscall.com/en/forums/member.php?14917-Severlin Severlin] - <font color=red>Producer</font>
 === History Articles ===
@@ Line 339: / Line 360: @@
 === AC News Archives ===
+* [[News Archive - 2014]]
 * [[News Archive - 2013]]
 * [[News Archive - 2012]]
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