Asheron's Call

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It was one of the best MMORPG'sever created. Much better than EQ1 ever was. The only reason EQ was bigger was because it launched first and MS did totally nothing to promote AC.

1. Biggest world ever created for it's time. About the size of RI i think

2. Totally seamless world. No loading or zoning anyhwhere. Not even into dungeons. EQ was still zone based crap.

3. Innovative magic system that challenged the player. You had to actually LEARN spells through trial and error.

4. Skill based progression system

5. Very fast paced action combat and running speeds

6. One of the best in-game communities ever

Too bad Turbine made that sorry excuse of game called Asheron's Call 2 and didn't have even the slightst ccomon sense to make a true sequel.
 

I didn't actually play myself but spent many hours observing a friend play - several times I tried to "get into it".  I'm not one to demand great graphics or sounds but both on AC were pretty lame. 

And while it's regarded as one of the best games ever made I was personally turned off by the number of bots I saw on his screen...I remember one time I wanted to go grab some food and figured he wasn't going because he was playing AC, but apparently his buff bot was going and it'd take like 20 mins for their group to auto-buff.  That really seemed worthless.

I still wish I'd been there to get on that ship though, I'd probably still be playing.  Pretty hard to get into any game once it's been out that long.

I did try AC for a short period when it first came out but didn't go much on it tbh. Though perhaps I do wish I'd have played it a bit more. I did have another try just after AC2 but by then it's graphics were sorry to say it but horrendously ugly.

Asherons Call HAD a lot of respect back in its day but Turbine stopped treating it with "respect" and kicked it to the curb in favor of all its new "golden children".

I played AC back in its prime when the gmae had a very large pop and it WAS a great game but now...its not much of an MMO without a population. Its mechanics are dated and it uses a lot of conventions that frankly just don't work anymore. The Buff system alone is an issue that has needed addressing for like 10 years now. Which leads directly to the next issue...bots. Only in AC will see as many bots as L2 only in AC they are legal for the mostpart except for the combat macroers. Trade bots, buff bots, portal bots...yup rather then fix these issues with the game Turbine just let it go to hell.

Not to mention the graphics are pathetically dated and will never draw in anyone these days. The UI is an antique from the late 90's, there wasn't even a basic quest journal so if you forgot what you were doing because oh...maybe RL called for a day or 2...you were just SOL. It had a lot of great quest BUT is was also very grind intensive. On and on.

And lets face it, the MMO genre doesn't need any more fantasy games right now. I think they got that covered.

AC1 did have some problems, but compared to the simplified, quest centric, class based linear drivel we're being served up now - it remains a superior game to every single one of them. After recently canceling WAR, I'd probably go back to AC1 again if only Turbine could figure out a way to merge servers (apparently there are some technical obstacles to doing so). I could care less about the graphics. But it's just too lonely for me in that game currently - having been there to see the glory days.

Terrific features AC1 had, but which you never see anymore:

- Random lewt and crafting generation. You never knew what fantastic and totally unique item might drop off the next mob while you were grinding, and the marketplace (just the IGN server forums in the early days) was always a fun and truly dynamic place to visit. Or you could even hang out at the AI merchants and directly buy things from them the higher level players were dumping on them to get quick coin.

- Multiple damage types and weaknesses. Yes some MMORPGs may have a few these days, but it never really seems to matter much anymore. In AC1 you'd need to check your monster database and arm/armor yourself according to the situation you'd be facing. Damage types were blunt, slash, pierce, fire, acid, cold, and hollow (ignored armor). And it was great fun planning and collecting the items needed which could help you win against these differing challenges.

- Multiple rare drop types. These could be used in special ways, and they created fun alternate trading economies in themselves. Things like motes, shards, chest keys (many different types), and a few more I'm forgetting the name of. And another interesting challenge was simply trying to determine what dropped where, or off exactly what. But everything is made easily 'understandable' for the players in MMORPGs now.

- Skill based character generation. w/both skill level and attribute level manipulation being possible.

Bah...., I could keep on going but what's the frigging point. It just serves to make me angry, and nothing is going to change. AC1 was a MMORPG created when the average player had a brain they didn't mind using, and when the average player age was 30+. But times have changed.

"You can never go home again." - Thomas Wolfe

(Zarin of the Eternal Conclave, Harvestgain saying hi if any of you old squidgelums are still alive!)

Originally posted by TenSpotting

<Mod edit>

It was one of the best MMORPG'sever created. Much better than EQ1 ever was. The only reason EQ was bigger was because it launched first and MS did totally nothing to promote AC.

1. Biggest world ever created for it's time. About the size of RI i think

2. Totally seamless world. No loading or zoning anyhwhere. Not even into dungeons. EQ was still zone based crap.

3. Innovative magic system that challenged the player. You had to actually LEARN spells through trial and error.

4. Skill based progression system

5. Very fast paced action combat and running speeds

6. One of the best in-game communities ever

Too bad Turbine made that sorry excuse of game called Asheron's Call 2 and didn't have even the slightst ccomon sense to make a true sequel.
 

I agree with most you say, but then you trash ac2 your topic failed miserable.

Ac2 has failed mostly also by MS released it to soon on market.

Most could not play it becouse pc could not handle the game it stills look very good today.

And most AC tought it would be AC with grafhics update well it was not.

Still it was a good game but most did not give it a chance and with lack MS its died:(

But ac1 soon prolly die anyway with Darkfall comming some big clans from AC gonne play Darkfall and not a few but many:)

Well being a person who LOVED AC when it was out and who eventually got 3 characters to max level, I feel that I know a bit about the game, not everything but alot.  To correct a previous post Hollow weapons did not "ignore armor" instead it "ignored magic" if you had a robe on that had no armor value and you buffed it with level 6s at the time thinking your tough, and a level 20 newb with a hollow weapon came up and managed to hit you with it, your magic means nothing he is hitting only to your robe armor level and if that is 0 then you are most likely going to screem..LOL.  Anyway probably just a mistype but i wanted to correct that.

As for AC2, while there were aspects of the game I enjoyed, and I did have 2 max levels there, a lugie and a human mage I disliked the idea that your gear made your character.  That was one of the biggest drawbacks for AC2, the biggest one being no skill system instead we saw the birth of the talent tree but they tried to make it seem like a skill system but it really wasn't.  I couldn't take that system, it was just crap to me after AC's nice no limits system.  Turning everyone into a "class" is what annoyed me the most, I liked in AC being a sword fighter with creature/item/life and melee d.

Man the good old days...I want to play it again if they figure out the problem with antivirus programs-vista and ac then I will be back because nothing as of yet comes close to AC.  If and when Darkfall comes out I think that will be a good replacement.

I agree imo AC is the best mmo ever made. And turbine are still adding comtent every month.I did play the game many years ago,it was mt first mmo.I  played for about 3 years and then I did cancel my accounts and went on with other games.Well few months ago I had canceled the game I was playing and I could not find any new game I wantet to play and it was several months till next releace so I made some effort contacting turbine about revoke my 2 old AC accounts(when I left AC it was still managed by M$)and in just few houres they confirmed that both my accounts were intact. I resubscribed and have been having very fun revisiting AC.I still think AC is the best mmo ever made but it is very complex and has long learning curve.

Long live Asherons Call.

Take care and have fun what ever game you are playing.

Asheron's Call (AC) will always be the icon to beat when it comes to deciding on buying into any other mmorpg..

Microsoft (MS) did a great job on the creation of AC, combined with the imagination of TURBINE