Asheron's Call's numbers are HIGHER then they were a year ago ...
I'm not taking sides on the issue, I'm simply curious as to how you know this, and where your numbers are coming from.
Simply because I would be interested in seeing them for myself. Are they made available by Turbine? I've never seen a company post actuals.
Are you getting them from a third-party site?
Or is this simply your opinion based on playing and seeing the numbers of people around you?
Asheron's Call used to display the number of users on the server on the character selection screen. During one of the expansions they hid that visually from the players, but the data is still sent to the client so people have made plugins that read the information.
Servers have had a significant increase from a year ago.
A major issue with the housing data that Jaguar uses, is the fact that people really only use housing as a means of storage. Turbine first gave everyone 1 new character slot, which in AC is a LOT of extra storage. Then Turbine switched all the non ToD accounts over to ToD, which gave all those users another extra character slot, so even more storage. Now this past update Turbine gave 1 more character slot. They also gave a character slot on the 100th update. So people that used to need housing for the couple of chests it had in it, have way more storage now then those couple chests provide. A lot of people don't like the hassle of paying the upkeep on owning a house, so if you don't need the house for storage why bother with the annoyance?
Two years ago ToD accounts had 8 slots and non-ToD accounts had 7 slots. Now every account has 11 character slots. Each character can hold over 200 items, so that is 600 to 800 more free storage spots per account. I personally never bother to own a house because I just don't need one.
My data includes are all forms of housing (mansions, villas, cottages, and apartments) combined. Mansions and villas may be an annoyance to maintain, but cottages and especially apartments are not. Even though there are more character slots now, people still need a place to drop items. Maybe you're right, maybe a lot of people use their allegiance chests. I seriously doubt many are using the old method of dropping items on the ground or using random landscape chests
Even so, like I said, I don't believe houses aren't representitve of the total number of players on server. I merely said it could be an indicator of losing or gaining players.
The server code is fine. What AC needs is for Turbine to dump the client code and write a brand new client from scratch that operates like the original. With what they know having developed AC2, LotRO, and DDO, this should be a snap. They'd have a new product with only half the work.
This makes a lot of sense.
F2P wouldn't work simple because, as others have said, they're still making money off this. I mean they must be... and i'm sure its not to much from the initial play (cause i think we all can agree no new comers are coming, for the most part). Let's face it, they make monthly updates! new events and activities, every month....not to many MMORPG'S have been this consistent ever, let alone for 10 freakin' years. The people still behind AC are just as dedicated as any OG players from 10 years ago.
This game is, IMO, the BEST MMORPG, and i've played WoW (and loved it), allods, CoH, CoV, and a little of EQ and Runescape. The skill base is unparallel, unique settings/stories/world/backgrounds that are as interesting as this are very hard to find, melee combat being customizable WITHOUT (sometimes silly) special melee attacks and ranged weapons having to hit is really neat.
Obviously the way trade-talents are used and built is pretty cool too, along with countless other things (rewards for tipping cows, a...666 level bunny....etc), but its not enough to keep this game a float for to much longer. To many F2P, and even classic payment MMO's are far outshinning. If the world of dereth and ASHERON'S CALL want to get properly recognized as the amazing game it is, it'll have to be redone.
I think its safe to say everyone here is extremely uncertain with any testimony saying Turbine is acting upon us (almost) die-hard fans. But if they were to redo AC, I believe what they would need is this:
Graphics, obviously....but nothing major, i'm sure they expendature for AC is very limited
Changing leveling- I'm afraid to say it cause i loved this aspect so much but....maybe they should get rid of buffing, baning, and other methods of super leveling *flinch*. It leads to macroing, you can't have that in a big game (i'm sure they don't care now because they like to keep the veterans they have). It's really neat to have that unique leveling possablities, especially when the level cap is so high. People should be leveling through quests and monsters relatively close to their level (maybe have a weak version of buffs), i mean i wouldn't doubt it if i didn't a single quest in that game...
new races?very veryspectable because i think the massiveness of the game is perfect even if highly populated. Adding a race would probably lead to something like ToD where you have to add an area...and i'm not certain how i'd feel about things like orcs and elves rampaging this human based metropalis.
Things like wasp wings and the collectors...cool, keep that. just dumb it down for leveling.
add more legendary items. and make them more legendary-ee...-ee....
add more PVP things, the @pklite was very nice...but something like darkfall (from what i've heard) would be neat, just on one server that is....for the new PK hardcore server.... No city thing though, that sounds extremely confusing and risky.
swimming, that be a nice simple add for players.
No need for mounts when you can run faster then a Audi R8 on steroids (seriously keep that...its freakin' awesome)
maybe pets? i don't think fighting pets would be the best thing with skill based like this...just to fluff up the game a bit
Building your own house maybe? clear the mobs a bit so this is possible....eh nevermind i doubt this would work out.
trade bots aren't too bad....that might be something that can stay ya know?
Back to the buffing/baning thing....i feel like enchanting a weapon is REALLY REALLY frekain cool especially when temporary....ya really have to keep the enchantment stuff around...just weaken it maybe.
I think just about everything else should be kept EXACTLY the same, portals, world, jumping super high, special house items, dyes, guilds, etc etc. and i mean EXACTLY the same. This game is FREAKING amazing. where else do you kill bunnies to make your very own pair of bunny slippers you can walk around with....i mean really! WTF!.
I really REALLY REALLY hope to see a revival in this game. I stopped...more than twice i believe (but only 2 major sessions really count, rest was when i was a youngling.) and just could not get back on now....its too late....i hear theres only roughly 300 players online during primetime on any given server...
Drudge charms FTW.
actually maybe an UNDEAD race...they're ALWAYS fun....
This makes a lot of sense.F2P wouldn't work simple because, as others have said, they're still making money off this. I mean they must be... and i'm sure its not to much from the initial play (cause i think we all can agree no new comers are coming, for the most part).
This is poor logic. You could have said the same thing about DDO. "Turbine must be making money because DDO is still running. F2P wouldn't make the game more profitable." Obviously that's wrong. DDO has more players and subscribers now that is is F2P. The success of F2P DDO has lead to Turbine making LOTRO F2P even though LOTRO is already profitable.
Remember, F2P doesn't mean totally free. There are still options to subscribe and there is an item store. When games go F2P, I doubt many of the current subscribers downgrade their accounts. Most probably keep their subscription. F2P just brings in more players on top of the existing players.
An item store for AC might be a lot of work. Making a portion of the game F2P would probably be more realistic.
I imagine the majority of today's MMO players won't try anything new unless it's new. There is nothing anyone could do to revive this game, or EQ, or Ultima, or DAoC. Players today just want what's new, no matter how bad it is.
Vault-Tec analysts have concluded that the odds of worldwide nuclear armaggeddon this decade are 17,143,762... to 1.
It depends what you mean by revive. If by revive you mean return the game to the popularity it had in 2000 or 2001 then you're right. There will never be 2000 peple playing on each server again. Still, F2P could bring new players and could keep the game running longer.
I've played several MMO's including WoW (had a sub there since a year after its release), Eve Online, EQ, EQ2, UO, and many many more that I don't bother trying to name and I always keep coming back to AC. Yes, The graphics are dated. So what? Do you know how many people still go back and play Final Fantasy 7? I don't wanna think about the number of people ^^
yeah p2p is kind of annoying for such a old game but the content is always worth it. (at least for me it is) going p2p might bring in maybe 100 - 200 new players who knows, but then it wouldn't really be AC if they made you pay real cash for IG items (for me its never worth it, maybe for you it is.)
Really got no point to this now so im shutting up ^^;
update the engine to Turbine Engine 2.0. Every computer out there should be able to handle this now.
Carry through the storyline, rework the arc to make it tie into AC2 bridging the two games and eventually explaining how things became the way they did circa AC2.
Re Release the Knorr continent the was AC2 had it. Its not just a dungeon. Its a continent.
Build up to some epic Cataclysm as you arc the story. Over time have the actions of people in epic events reminiscint of Bael'Zharons attempt and the Sudden Season effect how things develop, as players gradually work their ways into the underground areas where only a few of them will survive.
Well, the Viamontians are ingame (for better or worse) so we may as well start exploring portal space.
What are the Virindi doing? Obviously the Virindi are to blame for the upcoming Cataclysm. How? Why? Player involvement with them seemed to cease at the Singularity Caul. More quests involving Virindi.
Open up the Virindi as a playable race. Give them a home area in portal space.
Open up the Drudge as a playable race. Give them a home area in portal space.
Open up the Lugian as a playable race. Give them a home area in portal space.
Open up the Tumerok as a playable race. Give them a home area in portal space.
Beside the graphic engine, not much, just makes the game run with Vista or Windows 7 without having to turn off security features. I tried to come back to the game last year but the graphics are just too bad now, i got eye strain just playing it now.
A good thing would be to totally relaunch the game with a new engine, i know i'd go back in a heartbeat.
My husband and I have tried to play this game several times over the years, since we played EQ1 back in the day and never tried AC. However we are unable to connect to the game, something to do with being in the UK and modern ISPs (I haven't looked into it for a while, but we tried everything possible besides calling our ISPto ask them to alter settings as that seemed a bit much).
So, being able to connect would get us playing, F2P or P2P.
I'd be back in an instant, happily paying the fee, if the connection code and technology were updated to allow for modern broadband and cable setup. The NAT vs NAPT problem has stopped me getting back into it and with the state of games nowadays, AC is still the best thing out there by a long shot.
You hear me Turbine?! Sort out the connection problems - I and dozens of others on forums everywhere want to give you money!
This.
I would still be playing AC, as I did for nearly 5 years from beta and launch, if the netwrok code issues would be resolved.
I had no problem connecting to AC until I moved and the whole NAT/NAPT would no longer allow me to do so through my new provider. I worked with Turbine and my ISP for nearly a week trying to resolve it with no luck. I know many people that have this issue and most of them would come back in an instant if it were sorted out, myself included.
As for what else would revive the game, graphics update IMO. The core mechanics of the game are solid. While they work on the graphics update, they could revise the UI so that the 3rd party apps would no longer be necessary. I never thought they were and never used them, but it's clear many people do.
Einherjar_LC says: WTB the true successor to UO or Asheron's Call pst!
I never returned because I wasn't able to connect due to the router issues. The recent fix did patch it up, just been swamped. Been seriously debating finding my old account info and subbing back up.
I started from the beginning with this game and returned after a break, then got bored again. After pretty much trying out every mpog out there I still find myself liking the system set up for AC the best. Also the actual people were fun to hang around with. I have not found a game similar to the experience that is AC.
Problem I had was the population was really thinning. I enjoyed the fact I could solo if I wanted but still help others out etc. It was a complete Sandbox type feeling. I remember some of the dungeons that were so camped to death people would be struggling and fighting to stay alive in there and there were dozens of us. I also remember there used to be main gathering areas which would shift according to the game. That one remote fort near the shadows .. I forget the name, but then it became "subway" and who knows what there is now. It was so much fun. You could even gamble at a casino.
The whole fun of camping golems to just get 1 mote and combine them into a bar and then go through all that to get a sword was so fun. You could kill stuff twice your level.
The whole elastic band effect and sliding effect of mobs that youv'e clearly run away from really pissed me off though.
The magic system was the best in any MPOG still to this day hands down, although now you don't have to figure out the spells I guess like we had to at the beginning.
I am considering coming back but what I really need to see is a serious graphical overhaul. If they just basically redid the graphical engine but keep the exact same mechanics, places physics etc and drew more people I'd come back.
1) Graphics - it really does make a difference to people who like to explore
Comments
Asheron's Call used to display the number of users on the server on the character selection screen. During one of the expansions they hid that visually from the players, but the data is still sent to the client so people have made plugins that read the information.
Servers have had a significant increase from a year ago.
A major issue with the housing data that Jaguar uses, is the fact that people really only use housing as a means of storage. Turbine first gave everyone 1 new character slot, which in AC is a LOT of extra storage. Then Turbine switched all the non ToD accounts over to ToD, which gave all those users another extra character slot, so even more storage. Now this past update Turbine gave 1 more character slot. They also gave a character slot on the 100th update. So people that used to need housing for the couple of chests it had in it, have way more storage now then those couple chests provide. A lot of people don't like the hassle of paying the upkeep on owning a house, so if you don't need the house for storage why bother with the annoyance?
Two years ago ToD accounts had 8 slots and non-ToD accounts had 7 slots. Now every account has 11 character slots. Each character can hold over 200 items, so that is 600 to 800 more free storage spots per account. I personally never bother to own a house because I just don't need one.
My data includes are all forms of housing (mansions, villas, cottages, and apartments) combined. Mansions and villas may be an annoyance to maintain, but cottages and especially apartments are not. Even though there are more character slots now, people still need a place to drop items. Maybe you're right, maybe a lot of people use their allegiance chests. I seriously doubt many are using the old method of dropping items on the ground or using random landscape chests
Even so, like I said, I don't believe houses aren't representitve of the total number of players on server. I merely said it could be an indicator of losing or gaining players.
This makes a lot of sense.
F2P wouldn't work simple because, as others have said, they're still making money off this. I mean they must be... and i'm sure its not to much from the initial play (cause i think we all can agree no new comers are coming, for the most part). Let's face it, they make monthly updates! new events and activities, every month....not to many MMORPG'S have been this consistent ever, let alone for 10 freakin' years. The people still behind AC are just as dedicated as any OG players from 10 years ago.
This game is, IMO, the BEST MMORPG, and i've played WoW (and loved it), allods, CoH, CoV, and a little of EQ and Runescape. The skill base is unparallel, unique settings/stories/world/backgrounds that are as interesting as this are very hard to find, melee combat being customizable WITHOUT (sometimes silly) special melee attacks and ranged weapons having to hit is really neat.
Obviously the way trade-talents are used and built is pretty cool too, along with countless other things (rewards for tipping cows, a...666 level bunny....etc), but its not enough to keep this game a float for to much longer. To many F2P, and even classic payment MMO's are far outshinning. If the world of dereth and ASHERON'S CALL want to get properly recognized as the amazing game it is, it'll have to be redone.
I think its safe to say everyone here is extremely uncertain with any testimony saying Turbine is acting upon us (almost) die-hard fans. But if they were to redo AC, I believe what they would need is this:
Graphics, obviously....but nothing major, i'm sure they expendature for AC is very limited
Changing leveling- I'm afraid to say it cause i loved this aspect so much but....maybe they should get rid of buffing, baning, and other methods of super leveling *flinch*. It leads to macroing, you can't have that in a big game (i'm sure they don't care now because they like to keep the veterans they have). It's really neat to have that unique leveling possablities, especially when the level cap is so high. People should be leveling through quests and monsters relatively close to their level (maybe have a weak version of buffs), i mean i wouldn't doubt it if i didn't a single quest in that game...
new races? very very spectable because i think the massiveness of the game is perfect even if highly populated. Adding a race would probably lead to something like ToD where you have to add an area...and i'm not certain how i'd feel about things like orcs and elves rampaging this human based metropalis.
Things like wasp wings and the collectors...cool, keep that. just dumb it down for leveling.
add more legendary items. and make them more legendary-ee...-ee....
add more PVP things, the @pklite was very nice...but something like darkfall (from what i've heard) would be neat, just on one server that is....for the new PK hardcore server.... No city thing though, that sounds extremely confusing and risky.
swimming, that be a nice simple add for players.
No need for mounts when you can run faster then a Audi R8 on steroids (seriously keep that...its freakin' awesome)
maybe pets? i don't think fighting pets would be the best thing with skill based like this...just to fluff up the game a bit
Building your own house maybe? clear the mobs a bit so this is possible....eh nevermind i doubt this would work out.
trade bots aren't too bad....that might be something that can stay ya know?
Back to the buffing/baning thing....i feel like enchanting a weapon is REALLY REALLY frekain cool especially when temporary....ya really have to keep the enchantment stuff around...just weaken it maybe.
I think just about everything else should be kept EXACTLY the same, portals, world, jumping super high, special house items, dyes, guilds, etc etc. and i mean EXACTLY the same. This game is FREAKING amazing. where else do you kill bunnies to make your very own pair of bunny slippers you can walk around with....i mean really! WTF!.
I really REALLY REALLY hope to see a revival in this game. I stopped...more than twice i believe (but only 2 major sessions really count, rest was when i was a youngling.) and just could not get back on now....its too late....i hear theres only roughly 300 players online during primetime on any given server...
Drudge charms FTW.
actually maybe an UNDEAD race...they're ALWAYS fun....
This is poor logic. You could have said the same thing about DDO. "Turbine must be making money because DDO is still running. F2P wouldn't make the game more profitable." Obviously that's wrong. DDO has more players and subscribers now that is is F2P. The success of F2P DDO has lead to Turbine making LOTRO F2P even though LOTRO is already profitable.
Remember, F2P doesn't mean totally free. There are still options to subscribe and there is an item store. When games go F2P, I doubt many of the current subscribers downgrade their accounts. Most probably keep their subscription. F2P just brings in more players on top of the existing players.
An item store for AC might be a lot of work. Making a portion of the game F2P would probably be more realistic.
I imagine the majority of today's MMO players won't try anything new unless it's new. There is nothing anyone could do to revive this game, or EQ, or Ultima, or DAoC. Players today just want what's new, no matter how bad it is.
Vault-Tec analysts have concluded that the odds of worldwide nuclear armaggeddon this decade are 17,143,762... to 1.
It depends what you mean by revive. If by revive you mean return the game to the popularity it had in 2000 or 2001 then you're right. There will never be 2000 peple playing on each server again. Still, F2P could bring new players and could keep the game running longer.
i loved the game so much. still do. I hope they don't do the store thing...that'll kill me inside
I've played several MMO's including WoW (had a sub there since a year after its release), Eve Online, EQ, EQ2, UO, and many many more that I don't bother trying to name and I always keep coming back to AC. Yes, The graphics are dated. So what? Do you know how many people still go back and play Final Fantasy 7? I don't wanna think about the number of people ^^
yeah p2p is kind of annoying for such a old game but the content is always worth it. (at least for me it is) going p2p might bring in maybe 100 - 200 new players who knows, but then it wouldn't really be AC if they made you pay real cash for IG items (for me its never worth it, maybe for you it is.)
Really got no point to this now so im shutting up ^^;
Asheron's Call Characters
Darktide:
Lemon-aide - level 119 Mage
Darth Evader - Level 50 Bow
Thistledown:
Paragod - Level 113 Battle-Mage
Chaotic Dragon II - 75 Bow
Chaotic Dragon - 68 Unarmed
N i g h t C r a w l e r - 40 Sword
To bring AC back you would need to:
update the engine to Turbine Engine 2.0. Every computer out there should be able to handle this now.
Carry through the storyline, rework the arc to make it tie into AC2 bridging the two games and eventually explaining how things became the way they did circa AC2.
Re Release the Knorr continent the was AC2 had it. Its not just a dungeon. Its a continent.
Build up to some epic Cataclysm as you arc the story. Over time have the actions of people in epic events reminiscint of Bael'Zharons attempt and the Sudden Season effect how things develop, as players gradually work their ways into the underground areas where only a few of them will survive.
Well, the Viamontians are ingame (for better or worse) so we may as well start exploring portal space.
What are the Virindi doing? Obviously the Virindi are to blame for the upcoming Cataclysm. How? Why? Player involvement with them seemed to cease at the Singularity Caul. More quests involving Virindi.
Open up the Virindi as a playable race. Give them a home area in portal space.
Open up the Drudge as a playable race. Give them a home area in portal space.
Open up the Lugian as a playable race. Give them a home area in portal space.
Open up the Tumerok as a playable race. Give them a home area in portal space.
Laudanum - Romance. Revenge. Revolution.
Crappy, petty people breed and raise crappy, petty kids.
Beside the graphic engine, not much, just makes the game run with Vista or Windows 7 without having to turn off security features. I tried to come back to the game last year but the graphics are just too bad now, i got eye strain just playing it now.
A good thing would be to totally relaunch the game with a new engine, i know i'd go back in a heartbeat.
My husband and I have tried to play this game several times over the years, since we played EQ1 back in the day and never tried AC. However we are unable to connect to the game, something to do with being in the UK and modern ISPs (I haven't looked into it for a while, but we tried everything possible besides calling our ISPto ask them to alter settings as that seemed a bit much).
So, being able to connect would get us playing, F2P or P2P.
f2p is the only thing that would save this game.
This.
I would still be playing AC, as I did for nearly 5 years from beta and launch, if the netwrok code issues would be resolved.
I had no problem connecting to AC until I moved and the whole NAT/NAPT would no longer allow me to do so through my new provider. I worked with Turbine and my ISP for nearly a week trying to resolve it with no luck. I know many people that have this issue and most of them would come back in an instant if it were sorted out, myself included.
As for what else would revive the game, graphics update IMO. The core mechanics of the game are solid. While they work on the graphics update, they could revise the UI so that the 3rd party apps would no longer be necessary. I never thought they were and never used them, but it's clear many people do.
Einherjar_LC says: WTB the true successor to UO or Asheron's Call pst!
I never returned because I wasn't able to connect due to the router issues. The recent fix did patch it up, just been swamped. Been seriously debating finding my old account info and subbing back up.
I started from the beginning with this game and returned after a break, then got bored again. After pretty much trying out every mpog out there I still find myself liking the system set up for AC the best. Also the actual people were fun to hang around with. I have not found a game similar to the experience that is AC.
Problem I had was the population was really thinning. I enjoyed the fact I could solo if I wanted but still help others out etc. It was a complete Sandbox type feeling. I remember some of the dungeons that were so camped to death people would be struggling and fighting to stay alive in there and there were dozens of us. I also remember there used to be main gathering areas which would shift according to the game. That one remote fort near the shadows .. I forget the name, but then it became "subway" and who knows what there is now. It was so much fun. You could even gamble at a casino.
The whole fun of camping golems to just get 1 mote and combine them into a bar and then go through all that to get a sword was so fun. You could kill stuff twice your level.
The whole elastic band effect and sliding effect of mobs that youv'e clearly run away from really pissed me off though.
The magic system was the best in any MPOG still to this day hands down, although now you don't have to figure out the spells I guess like we had to at the beginning.
I am considering coming back but what I really need to see is a serious graphical overhaul. If they just basically redid the graphical engine but keep the exact same mechanics, places physics etc and drew more people I'd come back.
1) Graphics - it really does make a difference to people who like to explore
2) More people, activity etc..