Asheron's Call Forum » Game Suggestions » The Future of AC

Hello all I am an original Asheron's Call player. I played that game for years and years. It holds the number one spot in my heart for mmorpg games. On this note I would like to say I have returned recently, to find sadness and emptyness. Hear is what I feel must be done.

I do not know how much turbine really cares to improve AC I do know they keep updating it and are adding two handed weapon skill soon. So they do put effort into it. If they do not want to die a slow lonely death they really need to do a few things.

First and foremost Server Merges, Probably all into one server, besides Dark Tide(PK Server).

Now I have heard many reasons this is not possible, from old code to item ID numbers are the same on different servers. So if Joe blow owns an Item on Leafcull well john smith may own the same item on Frostfell. They have the same Item number and there is not enough room to combine and hand out new numbers.

Also housing, one person might own the exact same cottage or mansion or different servers. And Names, people names may be the same. My thoughts on this are as follows. Names, when the merge happens put the abbreviations of original server after the name So joe Blow becomes Joe Blow LC  (from Leafcull) with the opprotunity to change there name. Housing well there is such a small population of people I think they could pull out 90% of the housing. Apartments, I would be supprised if anyone has one. So out of the Cottages and mansions that are rented, if they are in the same location as another person or clan from another realm. Scoot them over a hundred yards or so, and again give them the opprotunity for a free move.

And with the new rescources from closing 4-5 servers and most the housing that is empty. It would seam you could use a whole server to run a program thatr changes items numbers adding a letter and number combonatin, to create new item numbers.

Hell if all that doesnt work I bet there would be many people that would be happy to merge even if they lost all items that matched. It is no fun to play an empty game.

Secondly...They really need to not be at 12.95 or watever it is per month. Either free to play with an Item mall, including out of game items like old nastalgic ac items shirts ect.  I was goin to say or cost arround 3-5 dollars a month but with games like runes of magic and DDO now being free I dont know if anything but going free to play would work.

My last but least in priority would be some melee and missile enhancement to the game. I like there two handed idea, I think they shoould also add a dual weild for the wayfarer type. Now that doesnt help the missile characters but I am sure they can figure something out.

Anyhow those are just my thoughts. I wish Asheron's Call nothing but the best and hope to see some drastic changes soon.

 well thought

  IMO you are truly Naive first off i will debate your minor tune ups to the game like dual wield for wayfear? do you mean UA toons they cant make them dual weild because they already give out some of the highest damage for melee in game and that would make them unbalanced in pvp also they already added a new missle weapon to the game a while back and that was throwing weapons which is actualy very strong though not many people use it because you dont get the magic bonus you do form xbow or regular bow. now for this server merge there are many people who have houses in face anyone over lvl 20 prolly has a house and many people have multiple accounts so they all have houses in the same town so you can not just move people left and right that would totaly screw up the environment and no one is willing to give up some of their items to play on a more populated server there are 100 people on all the time in AC on almost ever server ya thats only like 800 people on average but that is still enough to keep it going the reason they cant do a server merge is because like they have already explained its a legistical nightmare

I think they need another server and run AC from 2000 with all the new lands unlocked and ban ALL bots that is what would make many players return being able to be lvl 5 with lvl 8 buffs you are lvl 50 in an hour and with many glitches you can be lvl 100 in a day that is what they need to fix but they already have changed their patches to favor the higher lvls with higher content so they cant be mad at people trying to hit 275 asap because that is the only way they can enjoy the full content of the game so go back to the old content where we hunted on eastham and ran away from golems that is what people really want to experience again

          Let's start with the they should lower the price or make it free part. I will assume first off that you are another one of the people who is too cheap to pay for games but wants to play lots of games at the same time. Well too bad, the world isn't going free to play so that you can enjoy everything while being cheap. Now let's take a quick look at lowering the cost, it is a false assumption by people that because a game is not the biggest on the block that it needs to reduce it's prices. It is still expensive to create and run a game, so those sub prices become even more important when you aren't the biggest MMO around.

         So because in your mind you can't think of how difficult it could be to merge servers you feel that it in fact must be easy. That is as silly as it gets. They have repeatedly said a list of reasons on why merging servers is both difficult and not a good idea. Also for your statement "I bet there would be many people that would be happy to merge even if they lost all items that matched" are you kidding me? That right there would cause most of the loyal players to cancel their subs immediately. That is the most ridiculous and close minded statement I have ever heard in my life.

        This really was a poorly thought out approach to changes to the game and to be honest your ideas and reasons for them are just terrible.

Originally posted by wowwzzer

I think they need another server and run AC from 2000 with all the new lands unlocked and ban ALL bots that is what would make many players return ...

There is nothing that will make many players return to this game. Its hard to say this, since I played and loved this game for years. But with the newer, flashier, and more importantly easier games out there today, that also provide much better eye-candy, AC will be a place for old-time players who want to remember what things used to be.

All the die hard fans can argue, rant, disagree and plead their cases (and I'm one of them), but deep inside you know I'm right. And the current subscription numbers don't lie.

Its a great game, and it has its place, but the "Future of AC" is exactly what it is right now.

Originally posted by lobes

Originally posted by wowwzzer

I think they need another server and run AC from 2000 with all the new lands unlocked and ban ALL bots that is what would make many players return ...

 

There is nothing that will make many players return to this game. Its hard to say this, since I played and loved this game for years. But with the newer, flashier, and more importantly easier games out there today, that also provide much better eye-candy, AC will be a place for old-time players who want to remember what things used to be.

All the die hard fans can argue, rant, disagree and plead their cases (and I'm one of them), but deep inside you know I'm right. And the current subscription numbers don't lie.

Its a great game, and it has its place, but the "Future of AC" is exactly what it is right now.

 

 

I disagree, the reason I still play AC is because of how stupidly easy all modern day games are. I can't stand easy, and I can't stand games where I can max level in 3 weeks from when the game launches.

Now if there was a modern graphics, skill tree based, open ended, repeatable quests game that was challenging; then I would probably play it over AC. But no company has even come close to that.

Will the biggest numbers always be with the easy games? Yes of course, too many people can't handle using their mind to figure things out and needing to learn a game to do well in it. But that doesn't mean there isn't a large enough group of people who like challenging solid games for one to be made and profit. That is exactly why an AC with modern graphics and some tweaks to a few of it's systems would be profitable.

That is also why after 10 years AC is still being played, along with UO and EQ. It is still fun and challenging.

 

I disagree, the reason I still play AC is because of how stupidly easy all modern day games are. I can't stand easy, and I can't stand games where I can max level in 3 weeks from when the game launches.

 

Now if there was a modern graphics, skill tree based, open ended, repeatable quests game that was challenging; then I would probably play it over AC. But no company has even come close to that.

 

Will the biggest numbers always be with the easy games? Yes of course, too many people can't handle using their mind to figure things out and needing to learn a game to do well in it. But that doesn't mean there isn't a large enough group of people who like challenging solid games for one to be made and profit. That is exactly why an AC with modern graphics and some tweaks to a few of it's systems would be profitable.

 

That is also why after 10 years AC is still being played, along with UO and EQ. It is still fun and challenging.

But don't you see, I think you have only proved my point. AC is a great game, but its for people that love complex character builds, difficult learning curves, and other not-so-easy to accomplish tasks. People like yourself, and me, and just enough others that AC can continue on.

However, I don't think there are enough to warrant the risk of updating the entire game with modern graphics and other major game tweaks to try and reclaim the subscription numbers of the early 2000's. That would simply incur too much cost, with no guarantee of success when its all said and done.

Originally posted by lobes

 

I disagree, the reason I still play AC is because of how stupidly easy all modern day games are. I can't stand easy, and I can't stand games where I can max level in 3 weeks from when the game launches.

 

Now if there was a modern graphics, skill tree based, open ended, repeatable quests game that was challenging; then I would probably play it over AC. But no company has even come close to that.

 

Will the biggest numbers always be with the easy games? Yes of course, too many people can't handle using their mind to figure things out and needing to learn a game to do well in it. But that doesn't mean there isn't a large enough group of people who like challenging solid games for one to be made and profit. That is exactly why an AC with modern graphics and some tweaks to a few of it's systems would be profitable.

 

That is also why after 10 years AC is still being played, along with UO and EQ. It is still fun and challenging.

 

But don't you see, I think you have only proved my point. AC is a great game, but its for people that love complex character builds, difficult learning curves, and other not-so-easy to accomplish tasks. People like yourself, and me, and just enough others that AC can continue on.

However, I don't think there are enough to warrant the risk of updating the entire game with modern graphics and other major game tweaks to try and reclaim the subscription numbers of the early 2000's. That would simply incur too much cost, with no guarantee of success when its all said and done.

 

I think you are very off with your numbers. You don't have to be #1 or even #5 to make a good profit. Sure Coke is the most drank soda in the world, but that doesn't stop there from being a huge number of choices to drink, because they're all profitable. Can use the same example with many different forms of products too.
 

Now look at MMOs, AC, UO, EQ. The original big three are all still running, and one would assume running at a profit since they're still open. That is with 10 year old games, outdated graphics and systems.

 Now look at more focused titles like Darkfall, and Fallen Earth. Two independant game companies putting out MMOs that are doing well for their size and scope. So take the numbers from all those different areas and now consider it with a well established MMO IP. That IP would now have graphics to rival all the other new MMOs, plus it would have it's systems tweaked from 10 years of experience. Combine that with a company that has 2 other MMOs doing well, so it has the knowledge on how to make MMOs.

The truth is it would be profitable. The problem being it probably wouldn't be considered by the company  to be as profitable as grabbing another big name non MMO IP and creating an MMO world around it. That is why there is most likely no movement on it.

But don't be fooled that because a game like WoW holds the number one spot that now that is the only type of game people want to play. Warhammer showed it wasn't true, it is so much like WoW but it's numbers dropped like a rock and people weren't happy with it.

People want different. And there are different groups of people who have the numbers to make a different style game profitable.

I really don't disagree with anything you've stated. Obviously it must have the numbers to stay profitable. And it certainly has it niche, as do the other games you mentioned.

If you see what I quoted in my first post, what I disagree with are the statements that by updating the graphics, or making it free to play, or various other recommendations, that it will return to its former glory, and players will come back in droves, and make it like it used to be.

I just don't ever see that happening.

I will say, however, that if it was F2P, I would be the first to download and fire it up.

AC needs a proper sequel, like EQ.........none of that crap like EQ2 or AC2 (sigh)
And please will some developer with balls re-make Ultima Online 2010 version
 

Turbine and SoE really need to go back to basics and give the games that made their name  famous a decent remake.
Honestly I truly believe that AC and EQ don't have much left, the grqaphics and mechanics are very ancient.
But the gameplay can be imported in a new version of both games..............so that's what Turbine should do.

As an old-school AC player I prefer to remember it for the fantastic game it was and not the sad echo you see today. I like the fact that they are keeping it going for people who want to play but it has had its time as MMORPGs go.

As for a sequel/revamp, yeah would love to see it of course (I'd even like to see AC2 restored) but I doubt that's going to happen. If that can't happen then I'd like to see them roll the clock back to the original 1999 story-line and start over as free to play or rolled into a LoTR sub as a freebie (a bit like some of the SOE subs).