Hey guys. I played a bit of AC back in its prime, and have been thinking of coming back for quite some time. I would just like to ask those of you still playing a few questions if possible.

1. What servers have the highest population now?
2. I am trying to get my cousin to start with me. If I talk him into it, and one of us plays war mage while the other plays melee or archer; what would be a good combo as far as life/creature/item/etc? Also for solo what works well now? I/We will not be using buff bots, because I would actually like to enjoy the epicness of the amount of content available.
3. I know there are new mobs and areas available now after all these years, but can you still find good gear in chests? I love the exploration stuff like finding keys to open them for chances at rares.

I might come up with more questions as we go, but if you guys could please shine a little light that would be great. Thanks.

Frostfell and Darktide

I played AC when it first came out and loved the game (played for about a year). In fact over 10 years later and having played so many different games, I still think AC was one of the best MMO that was made. To that end I rejoined the game last year to give it another look. I was disappointed that they had dumbed down the magic system. Finding what tapers you needed for a spell was great fun, but that has now gone with universal tapers. The graphics were also fairly basic in todays terms, but that is something which can be overlooked. My main problem with the game was simply lack of other players. I felt like I was the only player on the server. Indeed it seemed more like a single player offline game.

Though I'm not trying to put you off, but rather suggesting you dont go back to the game expecting it to be the same. Anyway, I still think AC has the best character development of any game I've ever played. And its worth a look if only for a month.

I just did the same, and brought two RL friends with me.  One who has played before, and one who was a complete noob to the game.  We've been playing on Darktide, so I've honestly been all for having a buffbot.  It just makes things so much less painful, and since you die A LOT, it helps a ton.  One of us is like lvl 43, and the others are 35 and 36.  It's been going pretty smoothly other than the 30+ times we've been PKed.  But that's just part of it.

There would be a lot more players back online if Turbine would update their server tech to handle modern broadband!

I've exhausted 3 trials jumping through hoops with port forwarding etc but to no avail. My old hunting group are all poised to rejoin, but all get stuck at the update vial - shame as AC is still the best MMO we've ever played.

Originally posted by maxtlion

There would be a lot more players back online if Turbine would update their server tech to handle modern broadband!

I've exhausted 3 trials jumping through hoops with port forwarding etc but to no avail. My old hunting group are all poised to rejoin, but all get stuck at the update vial - shame as AC is still the best MMO we've ever played.

I don't think the problem is as difficult as people say it is.  My noob friend who had never played the game before just bought a new PC, and had some port issues when first attempting to sign in.  Made a few port changes after we googled the problem, and bam.. worked first try.  Maybe you are not changing the correct thing, or setting it to the right number?  An entire group of people having issues just screams that there is something you're probably missing.

Originally posted by maxtlion

There would be a lot more players back online if Turbine would update their server tech to handle modern broadband!

I've exhausted 3 trials jumping through hoops with port forwarding etc but to no avail. My old hunting group are all poised to rejoin, but all get stuck at the update vial - shame as AC is still the best MMO we've ever played.

 I just came back after a few years of not playing. I have switched my home network a few times since being gone. I had not a single issues... Not even with windows 7 as some have had issues with that also...

Logged in updated started playing.

Essentially AC sends information back and forth from different addresses. Back 11 years ago people didn't really have an issue with this but modern network programming suggests against doing this.

Certain brands of routers have decided to completely block this type of communication which is where people run into connection issues.

Usually port forwarding will solve it but sometimes you may have to switch the modem from NAPT to NAT.

Other then all that it is a good time to come back. They have a big May Update coming up (on top of the traditional monthly updates) and also just released a list of player suggestions they plan on implementing soon. The current team has really kept this game moving along and improving.