okeh so lets all pool our moneys together...then we buys the turdbine...then we deletes all the servers except dt...and then reset it! okeh I'll start taking donations after I put out this blunt...
Many years and good times were spent playing AC. Very few bad experiences.
I remember the first time we tried to take on Hoary Mattekars . Our Patron thought it would be a good idea at the time.
Needless to say we all died, and died again trying to retrieve our corpses.
More and more people came along to lend a hand in the progressive retrievals and joined the list of dead.
We spent over 4 hours trying to get everything back and my lungs hurt from all the laughing I had done.
The only other game that came close to the level of excitement I had in AC, was SWG .. pre CU.
I revisit SWG at times but never for very long.
I have to disagree with some comments about the 3rd party programs though. I went back to AC once after they had been abolished.
As a mage.. trying to buff yourself and then 2 others without the help of a 3rd party program was more than a pain and took so much time that you only had about 20 mins left to do anything.
Admittedly... the bot programs were another story.
I have to say though, that if it was updated, I would definitely resub.
Ah I remember the Hoary. Fun fight. I camped that thing for a month. Made over 50 matty robes. I think I was in my 20s or maybe near lvl 30 at that time. All those robes allowed me to trade for anything my vassals and I wanted for the next few months after the Hoary "went extinct". Then after they filtered out among the population I charged 2 motes every time someone wanted me to erase my inscription I put on them. Atlan weapons for all my vassals
If you find a matty robe on Frostfell inscribed by Locrian, I made it!
AC1 was my first MMO as well. One thing that I think really distinguishes it from other MMOs is that there were no transportation methods aside from the portals, and those were limited in how they were used. Exploring really felt like exploring due to not having a mount and having to run everywhere on foot. Yeah, it was slow, but when you got the portal spell, that really meant something. Looking at the map, I remember wondering if I'd ever see some of the far off places simply because they were so far away.
Dumping points in to Jump and Run were fun as well. I may not have been able to kill things very well, but by God, I could jump on buildings.
Add me to the 1st MMO, searching ever since list as well. Everything have played since gets compared to AC1. Nothing has ever come close. Regret ever leaving. Always wanted to see a Tusker Shaman.... BONK ROAR ZAP!
I never played Everquest. But I was introduced to AC by a player who had played Everquest and said AC was far better. And when he said this he was comparing release Everquest to beta AC. So it seems some people don't fall in love with their first. That idea definitely fits me though. AC was my first and no MMO since has captivated me.
Me and said friend have actually started playing AC again as of a week now. After 7 years of being away.
I joined the game just after the Shadow Wars and was devastated that I missed it, listening to the stories that my friend told me of that got me into the game. I played this game with both my parents and still is the best time I've ever had playing a game online.
It wasn't my first MMO, as UO has that card. I enjoyed both games for their completly open and vast worlds to explore. You could participate in PvP, exploration, and socialization in both games. Not to mention that complete freedom with customizing your character with gear, skills, etc.
Except on few occasions you rarely ever saw someone using the same gear, those being GSA, Focusing Stone, Matty Robe, etc. Once you found an upgrade you could pass on your gear to a friend, alt, vassal, etc. it wasn't bound to you only to destroy at some vendor that then no one else could buy. Which leads me to the vendors in that game, like someone previously mentioned you could wait around them looking for something interesting to be dropped off for an upgrade.
I remember seeing someone with the Atlas Sword and wanted it, immedietly. I farmed golems with my parents for a whole week to get all of us the motes we needed and power leveled my Swordsmanship as high as I could. Fully buffed with maybe level V spells at the time, as this was way before VII were available and if you found someone with VI's you were lucky. I barely met the 250 requirement for the Perfect Atlas with 255 Swordsmanship. Went to get it crafted and got the Superb Atlas and was completely devistated. Both my parents got their Perfect Atlas, along with my other friends, while I was stuck with this less than perfect weapon. The next day we all farmed like crazy to get the 16 motes for me to give it another shot and this time found someone in the fellowship to buff me with VI's and I was able to get my Perfect Atlas weapon.
I then proceeded to make countless runs for friends, fellowship mates, and random other people to get the stones and atlas tool to remove the stones. The people in that game, except for the small few that tried to scam, were like none other in any other game that I've played.
I too never experienced Darktide, as I got my PvP from UO that I played with my brother. Played on the Frostfell server which is where my friend played when we joined and had a home there the entire time.
Originally posted by zantax OMG I loved this, "Naked Runs", hell I remember playing AC in the first week and not knowing anything about magic. We thought we were doing good being able to kill level 15 shreths...LOL. Making runs to Qulabar were like a death trap before we learnt about portals. I remember the first time I saw a character opened portal, I clicked on it and was whisked away with my mule to a dungeon where I fell 100ft to start. You all know where I was, I thought wow this is cool, I survived the fall because my mule was a previous character. So I walked down the ramp a bit just to see, and I saw a UA attacking what looked like an insect and there were hundreds behind that one. I was like, "COOL!!" untill one chased me back up the ramp, I quickly exited only to be greeted by 3 more outside that killed me very quickly. I didn't even have time to see where I was on the map, so I had to ask around and found out I was at the BDC, and then I had to find a portal there.
Man the times I had in that game, learning magic, taking on my first 100 Olthoi, meeting my first Tusker. Oh yea and being the first Sword fighter on my server to take down a Diamond Golem the morning of the patch. Took me 15 minutes, oh and we can't forget the White Bunny of doom, I still want to know where the holy hand grenade is in AC to kill that thing...LOL.
The times in AC were great, your character was original, it didn't matter what you did somewhere you were different from everyone around you. One person would do the 10/100/10/100/10 type character but everyone would raise skills differently. Truely a one of a kind MMORPG, and still one of the best.
What game have I played that comes close to AC, I have to say nothing. I have played most of the big titles, but none come close. I thought AO was cool but too many problems from beta to release to almost a year afterwards for me. I would think the only MMORPG that seems like it might come close, but I won't know till it is released or I am in Beta will be "The Chronicals of Spellbourn". I am not saying it will be a match but it might come close, it offers you true skill development which seems good so far.
We won't talk about the biggest joke to an AC1 player ever, the release of AC2. Honestly I gave it a chance had 2 max level characters, a Lugi that set up turrets(can't remember class) and a human Mage. In AC1 your character was defined by your skills, you skills allowed you to survive. How many people who played AC1 remember going into a dungeon and dieing like 5 times and loseing everything. Going back with a store bought weapon and a robe buffed by a nice mage, and retrieving all of your crap? I do it happened to me constantly, I think by level 75 I had like 800 Deaths on one character...LOL. AC2 and I have to say EVERY MMORPG out there, your success is dependent on your gear, not on your skills. Side note the Rogue in WOW although powerful with starter weapons in PVP could not go into a high level instance and help kill Rag, In AC1 you could go into MOST dungons with nothing but your weapon and a robe and survive. At least untill hollow weapons were introduced, then that got a bit dangerous.
So the short answer to the question, "What MMO Was/Is Better Than AC1?" is Nothing touches it.
Everything u said here, I agree with. The game was so unique and challenging, no mmo has come close to it. What I loved the most about AC1 was the fact that like in most mmo's u have to be highest level to enjoy the game, Not in AC1 No one was in a big hurry to get to level 121, cuz there was so much friggin stuff to do, it wasn't even funny. I remember back in the days when I was an OG Archer camping in the Umbra and Panumbra dungeon for small shards for a whole week straight. Cuz i was so low level that Umbras and Panumbras would kill me easily and Getting to the lowest level room was an insanely difficult task. And I loved being a PK. Archers were so Overpowered that when I was level 60, I could kill people in the 100's with absolutely no problem. And I would always Aim for the FEET with my Fire, earth, or ice arrows and Kill them in one shot, because they forgot to buff their shoes. I miss this game so much, more so than Ultima Online (my 2nd favorite mmo). I'm glad that I got to experience such a Unique game that no mmo will EVER touch it.
EDIT: Also I forgot to mention that my name was Evilfury in AC1 on the Frostfell Server in the Super Helix Monarchy. I'm still devastated to this day that Super Helix sold his account =(. I miss those days when we would all turn PK and fight against the Animal Monarchy. Oh and I miss going into subway as a PK and start shooting @ people on the head b4 they would materialize from the portal and killing them in 1 hit as they entered, having like dozens of bodies on the floor laughing my ass off and having people praise me. AHHHHHHHH I miss this game.
--------------------------------- UO - 4 years AC - 2 years AC2 - 6 months DAoC - 1 month FFXI - 7 months Diablo2 - 9 months Shadowbane - Beta Tested Lineage2 - Beta Tested Saga of Ryzom - Beta Tested Risk Your Life - Beta Tested World of Warcraft - Currently Playing mmoRPG'er since October 1997
I played AC1 for over 4 years. And it is still to this day my favorite mmorpg. I remember the Fire Atlan Stone dungeon, and the first thing that was siad before you went in was, "Is everyone's graphics turned to minimum?" lol...Then they nerfed it and it became easy. I remember getting stuck in a pit with tuskers and I couldn't jump out so I had to kill the tuskers and raise my jump skill...
And man learning spells was tough, but it was worth it!
I played WoW for about 2 years and outside of graphics...it has nothing on AC1.
I have always said, through every MMO that I played since AC1, was how I wish this game had X, Y and Z from Asheron's Call. There are so many things to list about how great AC1 was. Learing spells! Oh man that was my favorite. Before split pea came out learning spells was awesome. Made you feel like you deserved the power. I was a starter template War Wizard and the head wizard of my guild. We would have meetings in the meeting halls where other magic users would ask questions and we would all help each other figure out the spells, best way to learn, tricks of the trade, etc.
And the semi-monthly events! Shadow wars was awesome. I remember when the invasion started. It was a slaughter. We got slautghtered by the shadows. Man. Those where good times.
I am afraid that AC1 has spoiled me. Most other MMOs since then have just not measured up. The quality of dungeons - in terms of complexity, not graphics - just hasn't been matched by anything since as far as I can tell.
Sad thing is AC2 was just a weird follow up to it. Strange character classes. Land masses all changed. Skills and things changed. It wasn't bad really. But it was missing something. Like I said I am spoiled by AC1. Even it's follow-on couldn't compete with it.
Oh man, AC had events that the best of WoW's raids couldnt even TOUCH!
Remember at the beginning of the shadow wars when we had to destroy the crystals to relase Bael'Zharon? To destroy the last one you had to become pvp and a lot of servers held out and had groups of pks protecting the crystal to prevent the 'Zharon from being released.
Thistledown held out so long that the monthly update was almost delayed, Turbine had to bribe (err... recruit) several players to switch sides.
That is simply epic. No quest, raid, story from any other MMO can even come close.
Not to mention the first update ever, the Frore (sp?) quest was sooo much fun, and really hard lol. Lvl 20s were rare back then.
Being that AC was the first MMO I had ever experienced, I am quite fond of it. I loved many things about it, most of which have already been mentioned in this thread. I've played the majority of all p2p mmo's since I left AC. The one game I always came back to because none others could satisfy me was DAoC. It may very well had been AC except AC was already dying when DAoC came out and Turbine did nothing to remedy that.
About 2 years ago I went back to AC because I was just missing that loving feeling. It was a horrid experience. The graphics were far worse than I had remembered them. The population was next to non existant. It was a sad experience for me really. What was once a very fun, living, world was nothing more than a barren wasteland with ghosts of the past echoing through the death cry of a nearby Drudge I laid to waist for old times sake.
Let your memories of AC remain as memories. You will not recapture what it was any more than DAoC will recapture its early years with the upcoming Origins server.
I have replied to this thread once but I just feel like replying again, the reason being I LOVED this game, and still think that turbine should restart the franchise. I read someone's post talking about how AC was a true addiction, and how you thought about it 24x7. This couldn't be more true.
Back in the day around the shadow wars or invasion, I remember a buddy of mine and I were playing quite heavely every night. Each day we would play for a few hours after work then head over to Arbys and get some Arbys roast beef sandwiches. Now the reason we did this was because they were 5 for 5$, not the juniors, the regular Roast beefs. We each would get 10 and eat 3-5 sitting there talking about what we should do in the game next. What the dev chat had to say, or what we figured they should do differently with the game. Then we would go home and start playing untill we were to tired to play anymore, so about 3 or 4 am. The next day work and talk on the phone about it and then that night rinse and repeat. Man we spent alot of time dedicated to this game.
I remember when Counter Strike came out, I took some time and played it ALOT, but I alway kept playing AC, at this time I was just starting to take on the Olthoi Acid dungeon. I remember going down in there and getting to the bridges and rebuffing, and watching others die accross the bridges, I kept at it over and over again. I played both of these games so much I started to have dreams about them...first it was a Counterstrike dream where an olthoi attacked me but I killed it with my MP5 and when I woke up i thought that was a cool dream. Then I had a dream I was my sword fighter in AC, and I was in the acid dungeon, I was taking on tons of Olthoi mowing through them all, and I got to the bridges. Each time I stood up to heal I misty holographic display would apear in my field of view and I could select things from my inventory just by looking at them. In my inventory bag there was a wierd icon I had never seen before but I ignored it, I had Olthoi to kill. Then while on the bridges i cleard out everything near me and saw another adventurer a few bridges over about to die, I stood up and selected thise weird icon then realized I was now scoping in with an AWP from Counterstrike. I quickly sniped the 4 Olthoi on him and he said thanks as I heard the classic "ffft" sound as something respawns, I spun around standing up and saw something that should not be in this dungeon, a Olthoi Noble, I quickly tried to select my sword and sheild and get read for this epic battle but before I could do anything I took 4 lances from his pincers through the shoulders and guts. Everything to pink/blue instantly as I saw a tunnel and materialized at the lifestone naked, everyone looked at me and I said, "$HIT" and ran off to retrieve my stuff. This was when I realized I had to give it up, dreaming about the game is an indicator of being to addicted. So I took the next logical step, I quit playing CounterStrike....LOL
As for going back to the game, yes the world seems kinda bare but my old guild is still there. I played for a month and quit, I was having to many problems with antivirus/vista/ac so untill they fix that problem I can't continue to play.
OMG I loved this, "Naked Runs", hell I remember playing AC in the first week and not knowing anything about magic. We thought we were doing good being able to kill level 15 shreths...LOL. Making runs to Qulabar were like a death trap before we learnt about portals. I remember the first time I saw a character opened portal, I clicked on it and was whisked away with my mule to a dungeon where I fell 100ft to start. You all know where I was, I thought wow this is cool, I survived the fall because my mule was a previous character. So I walked down the ramp a bit just to see, and I saw a UA attacking what looked like an insect and there were hundreds behind that one. I was like, "COOL!!" untill one chased me back up the ramp, I quickly exited only to be greeted by 3 more outside that killed me very quickly. I didn't even have time to see where I was on the map, so I had to ask around and found out I was at the BDC, and then I had to find a portal there.
Man the times I had in that game, learning magic, taking on my first 100 Olthoi, meeting my first Tusker. Oh yea and being the first Sword fighter on my server to take down a Diamond Golem the morning of the patch. Took me 15 minutes, oh and we can't forget the White Bunny of doom, I still want to know where the holy hand grenade is in AC to kill that thing...LOL.
The times in AC were great, your character was original, it didn't matter what you did somewhere you were different from everyone around you. One person would do the 10/100/10/100/10 type character but everyone would raise skills differently. Truely a one of a kind MMORPG, and still one of the best.
What game have I played that comes close to AC, I have to say nothing. I have played most of the big titles, but none come close. I thought AO was cool but too many problems from beta to release to almost a year afterwards for me. I would think the only MMORPG that seems like it might come close, but I won't know till it is released or I am in Beta will be "The Chronicals of Spellbourn". I am not saying it will be a match but it might come close, it offers you true skill development which seems good so far.
We won't talk about the biggest joke to an AC1 player ever, the release of AC2. Honestly I gave it a chance had 2 max level characters, a Lugi that set up turrets(can't remember class) and a human Mage. In AC1 your character was defined by your skills, you skills allowed you to survive. How many people who played AC1 remember going into a dungeon and dieing like 5 times and loseing everything. Going back with a store bought weapon and a robe buffed by a nice mage, and retrieving all of your crap? I do it happened to me constantly, I think by level 75 I had like 800 Deaths on one character...LOL. AC2 and I have to say EVERY MMORPG out there, your success is dependent on your gear, not on your skills. Side note the Rogue in WOW although powerful with starter weapons in PVP could not go into a high level instance and help kill Rag, In AC1 you could go into MOST dungons with nothing but your weapon and a robe and survive. At least untill hollow weapons were introduced, then that got a bit dangerous.
So the short answer to the question, "What MMO Was/Is Better Than AC1?" is Nothing touches it.
Everything u said here, I agree with. The game was so unique and challenging, no mmo has come close to it. What I loved the most about AC1 was the fact that like in most mmo's u have to be highest level to enjoy the game, Not in AC1 No one was in a big hurry to get to level 121, cuz there was so much friggin stuff to do, it wasn't even funny. I remember back in the days when I was an OG Archer camping in the Umbra and Panumbra dungeon for small shards for a whole week straight. Cuz i was so low level that Umbras and Panumbras would kill me easily and Getting to the lowest level room was an insanely difficult task. And I loved being a PK. Archers were so Overpowered that when I was level 60, I could kill people in the 100's with absolutely no problem. And I would always Aim for the FEET with my Fire, earth, or ice arrows and Kill them in one shot, because they forgot to buff their shoes. I miss this game so much, more so than Ultima Online (my 2nd favorite mmo). I'm glad that I got to experience such a Unique game that no mmo will EVER touch it.
EDIT: Also I forgot to mention that my name was Evilfury in AC1 on the Frostfell Server in the Super Helix Monarchy. I'm still devastated to this day that Super Helix sold his account =(. I miss those days when we would all turn PK and fight against the Animal Monarchy. Oh and I miss going into subway as a PK and start shooting @ people on the head b4 they would materialize from the portal and killing them in 1 hit as they entered, having like dozens of bodies on the floor laughing my ass off and having people praise me. AHHHHHHHH I miss this game.
Couple of things got me on this..
By the time you were 60, archers weren't gods anymore. There was no earth damage.
But other than that AC.. great game.. DT most fun PvP experience EVER
Personally, I love the customizablility of games, I can't even touch games where everyone looks the same and the armor does too, the old one I can do that in, sadly is Diablo 2, but, it's not that popular anymore and the only game that stands up to AC for me is CoH/CoV. the game play is different in both the games but I find that it is the only other game that stacks up with AC. The thing I love and hate about AC is the fact that it sets the standard for me, this is a game that I believe everyone should play and then from there should go off and try to find a game that stack up with it. It is really hard to find another game where the armor of people doesn't look the same (atleast colorwise) and the heads aren't just 3 generic looks with no flexiablitiy on color. The next thing that AC brought to the table is non linear quests. It's not like most games where it's like go and kill and get your reward and the quests come out of nowhere, it's you choose what quests you want to do and you can do them all on one character. The only except to this is whether or not you kill that one person (forgot the name of the quest >.<). The last and one of the most important ones is the reskill/restat quest. THIS SHOULD BE IN EVERY GAME!!! I loved how you could gimp yourself to the extreme, mooch XP until you were level 20 and then you could just go and fix yourself in the the 2 temples. I don't know why people in developement of games haven't clicked on to that one. But in all seriousness, CoH/CoV is the only other game in my mind that stacks with AC
PS: I left AC after hitting level 155 >.<;; it was great and everything but, that is the point in time where the grind would take 3 hours and I would jsut have my good old friend... I can't even remember the plug-ins name lol but I used it for killing the the olthio ><;; until they introduced the ninjas... DAMN YOU NINJAS!!!! lol but seriously... if I didn't get bored of the grind, I would have kept playing AC, it was so much fun and it took me forever to get way up there... I was going to rejoing AC:DM but... I heard from someone that I should wait until AC:ToD and I was like... K, did that and all I got from people was like o.o OMG, it's a viamontian and he is such a high level and all I could think to myself was, my patron was higher level and my friend was also a higher level and they were viamontians aswell
PSS: Karesta in HG is the best Monachy ever! lol Praise be to her when I caused such greif and never got banned ><;;
Comments
okeh so lets all pool our moneys together...then we buys the turdbine...then we deletes all the servers except dt...and then reset it! okeh I'll start taking donations after I put out this blunt...
This is a trick question there has been no better MMO than AC, now or previously.
거북이는 목을 내밀 때 안 움직입니다
I used to play WOW and recently are looking for a new game. Maybe AC cannot be called new, but to me, it is!
Like many other here, AC was my first MMO.
Many years and good times were spent playing AC. Very few bad experiences.
I remember the first time we tried to take on Hoary Mattekars . Our Patron thought it would be a good idea at the time.
Needless to say we all died, and died again trying to retrieve our corpses.
More and more people came along to lend a hand in the progressive retrievals and joined the list of dead.
We spent over 4 hours trying to get everything back and my lungs hurt from all the laughing I had done.
The only other game that came close to the level of excitement I had in AC, was SWG .. pre CU.
I revisit SWG at times but never for very long.
I have to disagree with some comments about the 3rd party programs though. I went back to AC once after they had been abolished.
As a mage.. trying to buff yourself and then 2 others without the help of a 3rd party program was more than a pain and took so much time that you only had about 20 mins left to do anything.
Admittedly... the bot programs were another story.
I have to say though, that if it was updated, I would definitely resub.
Ah I remember the Hoary. Fun fight. I camped that thing for a month. Made over 50 matty robes. I think I was in my 20s or maybe near lvl 30 at that time. All those robes allowed me to trade for anything my vassals and I wanted for the next few months after the Hoary "went extinct". Then after they filtered out among the population I charged 2 motes every time someone wanted me to erase my inscription I put on them. Atlan weapons for all my vassals
If you find a matty robe on Frostfell inscribed by Locrian, I made it!
UO (pre:trammel) in my opinion beats AC1
Just my opinion
AC1 was my first MMO as well. One thing that I think really distinguishes it from other MMOs is that there were no transportation methods aside from the portals, and those were limited in how they were used. Exploring really felt like exploring due to not having a mount and having to run everywhere on foot. Yeah, it was slow, but when you got the portal spell, that really meant something. Looking at the map, I remember wondering if I'd ever see some of the far off places simply because they were so far away.
Dumping points in to Jump and Run were fun as well. I may not have been able to kill things very well, but by God, I could jump on buildings.
My 1st experience with an mmo, was AC1. And I have been searchin eversince.
Add me to the 1st MMO, searching ever since list as well. Everything have played since gets compared to AC1. Nothing has ever come close. Regret ever leaving. Always wanted to see a Tusker Shaman.... BONK ROAR ZAP!
none
Everquest was.
I tried both.
The funny thing is that every single person I spoke with about those two games STRONGLY preferred the one they first played for any length of time.
AC1 feels like home to you guys, Everquest felt like home to me
I never played Everquest. But I was introduced to AC by a player who had played Everquest and said AC was far better. And when he said this he was comparing release Everquest to beta AC. So it seems some people don't fall in love with their first. That idea definitely fits me though. AC was my first and no MMO since has captivated me.
Me and said friend have actually started playing AC again as of a week now. After 7 years of being away.
I joined the game just after the Shadow Wars and was devastated that I missed it, listening to the stories that my friend told me of that got me into the game. I played this game with both my parents and still is the best time I've ever had playing a game online.
It wasn't my first MMO, as UO has that card. I enjoyed both games for their completly open and vast worlds to explore. You could participate in PvP, exploration, and socialization in both games. Not to mention that complete freedom with customizing your character with gear, skills, etc.
Except on few occasions you rarely ever saw someone using the same gear, those being GSA, Focusing Stone, Matty Robe, etc. Once you found an upgrade you could pass on your gear to a friend, alt, vassal, etc. it wasn't bound to you only to destroy at some vendor that then no one else could buy. Which leads me to the vendors in that game, like someone previously mentioned you could wait around them looking for something interesting to be dropped off for an upgrade.
I remember seeing someone with the Atlas Sword and wanted it, immedietly. I farmed golems with my parents for a whole week to get all of us the motes we needed and power leveled my Swordsmanship as high as I could. Fully buffed with maybe level V spells at the time, as this was way before VII were available and if you found someone with VI's you were lucky. I barely met the 250 requirement for the Perfect Atlas with 255 Swordsmanship. Went to get it crafted and got the Superb Atlas and was completely devistated. Both my parents got their Perfect Atlas, along with my other friends, while I was stuck with this less than perfect weapon. The next day we all farmed like crazy to get the 16 motes for me to give it another shot and this time found someone in the fellowship to buff me with VI's and I was able to get my Perfect Atlas weapon.
I then proceeded to make countless runs for friends, fellowship mates, and random other people to get the stones and atlas tool to remove the stones. The people in that game, except for the small few that tried to scam, were like none other in any other game that I've played.
I too never experienced Darktide, as I got my PvP from UO that I played with my brother. Played on the Frostfell server which is where my friend played when we joined and had a home there the entire time.
<? while (!$i['care']) echo '...'; ?>
Everything u said here, I agree with. The game was so unique and challenging, no mmo has come close to it. What I loved the most about AC1 was the fact that like in most mmo's u have to be highest level to enjoy the game, Not in AC1 No one was in a big hurry to get to level 121, cuz there was so much friggin stuff to do, it wasn't even funny. I remember back in the days when I was an OG Archer camping in the Umbra and Panumbra dungeon for small shards for a whole week straight. Cuz i was so low level that Umbras and Panumbras would kill me easily and Getting to the lowest level room was an insanely difficult task. And I loved being a PK. Archers were so Overpowered that when I was level 60, I could kill people in the 100's with absolutely no problem. And I would always Aim for the FEET with my Fire, earth, or ice arrows and Kill them in one shot, because they forgot to buff their shoes. I miss this game so much, more so than Ultima Online (my 2nd favorite mmo). I'm glad that I got to experience such a Unique game that no mmo will EVER touch it.
EDIT: Also I forgot to mention that my name was Evilfury in AC1 on the Frostfell Server in the Super Helix Monarchy. I'm still devastated to this day that Super Helix sold his account =(. I miss those days when we would all turn PK and fight against the Animal Monarchy. Oh and I miss going into subway as a PK and start shooting @ people on the head b4 they would materialize from the portal and killing them in 1 hit as they entered, having like dozens of bodies on the floor laughing my ass off and having people praise me. AHHHHHHHH I miss this game.
---------------------------------
UO - 4 years
AC - 2 years
AC2 - 6 months
DAoC - 1 month
FFXI - 7 months
Diablo2 - 9 months
Shadowbane - Beta Tested
Lineage2 - Beta Tested
Saga of Ryzom - Beta Tested
Risk Your Life - Beta Tested
World of Warcraft - Currently Playing
mmoRPG'er since October 1997
I played AC1 for over 4 years. And it is still to this day my favorite mmorpg. I remember the Fire Atlan Stone dungeon, and the first thing that was siad before you went in was, "Is everyone's graphics turned to minimum?" lol...Then they nerfed it and it became easy. I remember getting stuck in a pit with tuskers and I couldn't jump out so I had to kill the tuskers and raise my jump skill...
And man learning spells was tough, but it was worth it!
I played WoW for about 2 years and outside of graphics...it has nothing on AC1.
I have always said, through every MMO that I played since AC1, was how I wish this game had X, Y and Z from Asheron's Call. There are so many things to list about how great AC1 was. Learing spells! Oh man that was my favorite. Before split pea came out learning spells was awesome. Made you feel like you deserved the power. I was a starter template War Wizard and the head wizard of my guild. We would have meetings in the meeting halls where other magic users would ask questions and we would all help each other figure out the spells, best way to learn, tricks of the trade, etc.
And the semi-monthly events! Shadow wars was awesome. I remember when the invasion started. It was a slaughter. We got slautghtered by the shadows. Man. Those where good times.
I am afraid that AC1 has spoiled me. Most other MMOs since then have just not measured up. The quality of dungeons - in terms of complexity, not graphics - just hasn't been matched by anything since as far as I can tell.
Sad thing is AC2 was just a weird follow up to it. Strange character classes. Land masses all changed. Skills and things changed. It wasn't bad really. But it was missing something. Like I said I am spoiled by AC1. Even it's follow-on couldn't compete with it.
Oh man, AC had events that the best of WoW's raids couldnt even TOUCH!
Remember at the beginning of the shadow wars when we had to destroy the crystals to relase Bael'Zharon? To destroy the last one you had to become pvp and a lot of servers held out and had groups of pks protecting the crystal to prevent the 'Zharon from being released.
Thistledown held out so long that the monthly update was almost delayed, Turbine had to bribe (err... recruit) several players to switch sides.
That is simply epic. No quest, raid, story from any other MMO can even come close.
Not to mention the first update ever, the Frore (sp?) quest was sooo much fun, and really hard lol. Lvl 20s were rare back then.
I have to admit AC1 was my best MMO experience to date, I wish they made a newer one just like AC1 but with Grathics like Age of Conan
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
Being that AC was the first MMO I had ever experienced, I am quite fond of it. I loved many things about it, most of which have already been mentioned in this thread. I've played the majority of all p2p mmo's since I left AC. The one game I always came back to because none others could satisfy me was DAoC. It may very well had been AC except AC was already dying when DAoC came out and Turbine did nothing to remedy that.
About 2 years ago I went back to AC because I was just missing that loving feeling. It was a horrid experience. The graphics were far worse than I had remembered them. The population was next to non existant. It was a sad experience for me really. What was once a very fun, living, world was nothing more than a barren wasteland with ghosts of the past echoing through the death cry of a nearby Drudge I laid to waist for old times sake.
Let your memories of AC remain as memories. You will not recapture what it was any more than DAoC will recapture its early years with the upcoming Origins server.
I have replied to this thread once but I just feel like replying again, the reason being I LOVED this game, and still think that turbine should restart the franchise. I read someone's post talking about how AC was a true addiction, and how you thought about it 24x7. This couldn't be more true.
Back in the day around the shadow wars or invasion, I remember a buddy of mine and I were playing quite heavely every night. Each day we would play for a few hours after work then head over to Arbys and get some Arbys roast beef sandwiches. Now the reason we did this was because they were 5 for 5$, not the juniors, the regular Roast beefs. We each would get 10 and eat 3-5 sitting there talking about what we should do in the game next. What the dev chat had to say, or what we figured they should do differently with the game. Then we would go home and start playing untill we were to tired to play anymore, so about 3 or 4 am. The next day work and talk on the phone about it and then that night rinse and repeat. Man we spent alot of time dedicated to this game.
I remember when Counter Strike came out, I took some time and played it ALOT, but I alway kept playing AC, at this time I was just starting to take on the Olthoi Acid dungeon. I remember going down in there and getting to the bridges and rebuffing, and watching others die accross the bridges, I kept at it over and over again. I played both of these games so much I started to have dreams about them...first it was a Counterstrike dream where an olthoi attacked me but I killed it with my MP5 and when I woke up i thought that was a cool dream. Then I had a dream I was my sword fighter in AC, and I was in the acid dungeon, I was taking on tons of Olthoi mowing through them all, and I got to the bridges. Each time I stood up to heal I misty holographic display would apear in my field of view and I could select things from my inventory just by looking at them. In my inventory bag there was a wierd icon I had never seen before but I ignored it, I had Olthoi to kill. Then while on the bridges i cleard out everything near me and saw another adventurer a few bridges over about to die, I stood up and selected thise weird icon then realized I was now scoping in with an AWP from Counterstrike. I quickly sniped the 4 Olthoi on him and he said thanks as I heard the classic "ffft" sound as something respawns, I spun around standing up and saw something that should not be in this dungeon, a Olthoi Noble, I quickly tried to select my sword and sheild and get read for this epic battle but before I could do anything I took 4 lances from his pincers through the shoulders and guts. Everything to pink/blue instantly as I saw a tunnel and materialized at the lifestone naked, everyone looked at me and I said, "$HIT" and ran off to retrieve my stuff. This was when I realized I had to give it up, dreaming about the game is an indicator of being to addicted. So I took the next logical step, I quit playing CounterStrike....LOL
As for going back to the game, yes the world seems kinda bare but my old guild is still there. I played for a month and quit, I was having to many problems with antivirus/vista/ac so untill they fix that problem I can't continue to play.
Yes the Shadow Wars were an *absolutely unparalleled experience* in MMOs for myself as well.
The only other MMO that came close to AC1, ex post facto, was Star Wars Galaxies - and even that fell short via virtue of bugs and incomplete content.
-- xpaladin
[MMOz]
AC1/2, AO, DAoC, EQ1/2, SoR, SWG, UO, WAR, WoW
Everything u said here, I agree with. The game was so unique and challenging, no mmo has come close to it. What I loved the most about AC1 was the fact that like in most mmo's u have to be highest level to enjoy the game, Not in AC1 No one was in a big hurry to get to level 121, cuz there was so much friggin stuff to do, it wasn't even funny. I remember back in the days when I was an OG Archer camping in the Umbra and Panumbra dungeon for small shards for a whole week straight. Cuz i was so low level that Umbras and Panumbras would kill me easily and Getting to the lowest level room was an insanely difficult task. And I loved being a PK. Archers were so Overpowered that when I was level 60, I could kill people in the 100's with absolutely no problem. And I would always Aim for the FEET with my Fire, earth, or ice arrows and Kill them in one shot, because they forgot to buff their shoes. I miss this game so much, more so than Ultima Online (my 2nd favorite mmo). I'm glad that I got to experience such a Unique game that no mmo will EVER touch it.
EDIT: Also I forgot to mention that my name was Evilfury in AC1 on the Frostfell Server in the Super Helix Monarchy. I'm still devastated to this day that Super Helix sold his account =(. I miss those days when we would all turn PK and fight against the Animal Monarchy. Oh and I miss going into subway as a PK and start shooting @ people on the head b4 they would materialize from the portal and killing them in 1 hit as they entered, having like dozens of bodies on the floor laughing my ass off and having people praise me. AHHHHHHHH I miss this game.
Couple of things got me on this..
By the time you were 60, archers weren't gods anymore. There was no earth damage.
But other than that AC.. great game.. DT most fun PvP experience EVER
Currently playing Real Life..
http://i36.tinypic.com/2uyod3k.gif
For all your stalking needs..
http://www.plurk.com/Random_
only UO was better... but both it and AC are crap now...and so is everything else...
go darkfall!
Remember Old School Ultima Online
Personally, I love the customizablility of games, I can't even touch games where everyone looks the same and the armor does too, the old one I can do that in, sadly is Diablo 2, but, it's not that popular anymore and the only game that stands up to AC for me is CoH/CoV. the game play is different in both the games but I find that it is the only other game that stacks up with AC. The thing I love and hate about AC is the fact that it sets the standard for me, this is a game that I believe everyone should play and then from there should go off and try to find a game that stack up with it. It is really hard to find another game where the armor of people doesn't look the same (atleast colorwise) and the heads aren't just 3 generic looks with no flexiablitiy on color. The next thing that AC brought to the table is non linear quests. It's not like most games where it's like go and kill and get your reward and the quests come out of nowhere, it's you choose what quests you want to do and you can do them all on one character. The only except to this is whether or not you kill that one person (forgot the name of the quest >.<). The last and one of the most important ones is the reskill/restat quest. THIS SHOULD BE IN EVERY GAME!!! I loved how you could gimp yourself to the extreme, mooch XP until you were level 20 and then you could just go and fix yourself in the the 2 temples. I don't know why people in developement of games haven't clicked on to that one. But in all seriousness, CoH/CoV is the only other game in my mind that stacks with AC
PS: I left AC after hitting level 155 >.<;; it was great and everything but, that is the point in time where the grind would take 3 hours and I would jsut have my good old friend... I can't even remember the plug-ins name lol but I used it for killing the the olthio ><;; until they introduced the ninjas... DAMN YOU NINJAS!!!! lol but seriously... if I didn't get bored of the grind, I would have kept playing AC, it was so much fun and it took me forever to get way up there... I was going to rejoing AC:DM but... I heard from someone that I should wait until AC:ToD and I was like... K, did that and all I got from people was like o.o OMG, it's a viamontian and he is such a high level and all I could think to myself was, my patron was higher level and my friend was also a higher level and they were viamontians aswell
PSS: Karesta in HG is the best Monachy ever! lol Praise be to her when I caused such greif and never got banned ><;;