Asheron's Call Forum » The Tavern (General) » Producer's Letter

http://ac.turbine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=522:november-2009-letter-from-the-producer&catid=39:articles&Itemid=53

Some interesting information in here, such as the possible new playable races in the future. In an ask the devs thread they have going they've also mentioned likely increasing the level cap and adding more skill credits in the future as well.

Looks like the cool additions to the 10th anniversary are just the beginning and they are really trying to add some new neat features to this old fun game.

Allowing people to swap armor stats is a huge mistake. I'm all for making the game more approachable, but that makes putting together a decent suit of armor ridiculously easy.

Originally posted by -Jaguar-

Allowing people to swap armor stats is a huge mistake. I'm all for making the game more approachable, but that makes putting together a decent suit of armor ridiculously easy.

It's not any easier, it is easier to have a good looking useful suit and that's it. They described it as being able to take a specific slot piece and essentially buying in game a new art style for that piece. The stats from the old piece get applied to the same slot new art piece and it is the same piece but with different art. That is the system.

I should have been more clear, it makes obtaining a matching armor suit fairly easy. I It used to be a big accomplishment. Like my complete matching major plate suit that I worked a long time for. It's actually not worth much now with epics, but it was a big accomplishment two years ago. I'm a bit appeased to know that you can only transfer from the same slot. It sounded like you could take any slot and put it in any other slot.

What exactly is an accomplishment these days? Leveling is easy, quests give tons of xp. Top tier loot is easy to obtain, they added way too many MF Key quests.

I think the toughest thing now is actually getting titles. Title count is something to show off.

Originally posted by -Jaguar-

I should have been more clear, it makes obtaining a matching armor suit fairly easy. I It used to be a big accomplishment. Like my complete matching major plate suit that I worked a long time for. It's actually not worth much now with epics, but it was a big accomplishment two years ago. I'm a bit appeased to know that you can only transfer from the same slot. It sounded like you could take any slot and put it in any other slot.

What exactly is an accomplishment these days? Leveling is easy, quests give tons of xp. Top tier loot is easy to obtain, they added way too many MF Key quests.

I think the toughest thing now is actually getting titles. Title count is something to show off.

There is the small percentage that want to have a matching cool looking suit that they worked for years to make. Then there is the whole rest of the community who want to have fun and look nice. Anytime a game changes something to make it more accessible to the masses there will be some people who don't like the change.

Once upon a time AC was hardcore and very grindy, and although there were a lot of players at the start but they slowly left, a lot of which was because they knew they could never reach where they wanted. Now the game is more setup to allow people to get in and have fun without months of work first.

One last thing to think about is they can easily make it so all quest armor looks have to be gained through those quests, and they can even leave certain loot colors only available in loot still. This leaves some special armor looks that people have to work for still. That way people who want a decent looking set can use the new transfer, and people who want the worked for sets can still hunt them out.

I'm sure the whole rest of the community wants to have fun and hit 275 on all their characters. Why don't we just hand out free level 275 gems? You have to draw the line somewhere. This is crossing the line.

They are doing this too much now. It's similar to the rare and component exchangers. Don't like what you have, just switch it out! Why do I even have to switch it out? They might as well just popup a dialog and let me enter the stats of the item I want and then spit it out into my inventory. That makes the game more friendly for everyone!

Originally posted by -Jaguar-

I'm sure the whole rest of the community wants to have fun and hit 275 on all their characters. Why don't we just hand out free level 275 gems? You have to draw the line somewhere. This is crossing the line.

They are doing this too much now. It's similar to the rare and component exchangers. Don't like what you have, just switch it out! Why do I even have to switch it out? They might as well just popup a dialog and let me enter the stats of the item I want and then spit it out into my inventory. That makes the game more friendly for everyone!

You're a dying breed of player. Nobody wants the super hardcore I have to spend a minimum of 40 hours a week in game to have any success game anymore. It's just not fun.

I like the component and rare exchanger, it allows a person who doesn't macro rare gems in a dungeon a chance at getting ones they can use and have fun with the game.

But so far the majority of the response to the armor art switch has been in favor, so clearly the players of AC want a system like this in place.

They are turning AC into a graphical chat room. It's getting too easy. Matching armor is not unattainable, just as spell components were not unattainable. It just takes time. It's a challenge.

You don't like putting in time? Have you tried Hello Kitty Online? I would have said WoW, but it will actually take more work to get a matching good armor set in WoW than AC after this change is implemented.