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Whats So Good about AC1
logangregor
Member Posts: 1,524
Whats so great about Asherons Call?
Ive never played it but I loved dark ages of camelot, love pvp and semi like crafting.
Ive read people that Liked daoc and ultima BUT even liked this more.
That says alot to me--but can someone sell me on this game.
Thanks
Comments
Could you be more specific? Just read the posts on this forum and you should get some idea. In very short summary, great character customization, large number of quests and dungeons to explore, very very random loot system (good thing), lots of in-game stories and scrolls, wide variety of unique creatures.
AC > ALL
that's all you need to know.
There are a lot of things I like about it, but my favorite is that your character advancement is constant. Unlike games where you gain power only when you level, you get to spend the experience you make as you get it. When you first start out, a specialized skill will cost you about 73 experience to increase once, which is about what you get for a newbie creature. The cost increases each time you raise it, but the things you're able to fight with increased skills and equipment provide more experience as you go. There are levels in the game, 250 of them to be exact, but they work differently than in other games. The main functions of levels are:
1) A general guideline of strength. Everyone of a certain level has about the same amount of total experience, so it gives you some idea of how advanced they might be (though there's no telling which skills they chose to spend that experience on).
2) A means of getting skillpoints, which are used to buy new skills or specialize old trained ones. When you start out, you get 1 skill point every level until around level 10. Then it's every 2 levels, then every 5. This allows you to learn new things as you progress in the game, or allows you to improve some old things.
3) Access to certain portals/dungeons. Some portals are level restricted, usually portals to dungeons. This keeps people from wandering into certain death, and theoretically prevents twinked characters with big buffs from going somewhere ahead of schedule.
Anyway, levels tend to come somewhat rapidly, but not as rapidly as in a game like World of Warcraft. Since you continue to increase your skills all the time, however, it rarely feels like you're stuck in a rut just waiting for that ding.
Another thing I like about the game is that it's not the typical elf, dwarf, orc thing. There aren't any dragons, there aren't any unicorns. Every creature in the game (with the possible exception of rats and wasps) is unique to Asheron's Call. Virindi, shreth, drudges, monougas, banderlings, they're all pretty darned original. All the playable races are different human cultures with their own little histories, religions, societies, architectural style, racial armor, and free starting skills.
Combat is pretty fast-paced, and you may frequently find yourself fighting ten or more creatures. And surviving. Melee and archery do tend to be pretty much autoattack events, but there's still stuff to manage (stamina, health, ammunition, damage type, etc). Magic is a bit more complicated, though not as challenging as it used to be. Spell research is a thing of the past, and spell components have been greatly reduced (though the old system of components is still available for those who prefer it).
Loot. There's just so darned much of it. Average and above average stuff is pretty easy to come by, good stuff takes a bit of searching, top of the line stuff usually involves trading or serious effort. There's all kinds of loot, though. Elemental weapons, magical protective clothing, magic jewelry, tons of different armor types (Leather, studded, yoroi, chain, scale, plate, celdon, amuli, koujia, covenant, chiran, and four or five types I'm forgetting), rare items like skill crystals, pyreal motes, crystal shards, sturdy steel keys, etc. There's no game with a loot system like this one.
Quests. There have been six years worth of story events, nearly all of which came with their own dungeons, their own lore, their own NPC characters, and their own quests. Some quests are as simple as getting to the bottom of a dungeon and collecting a trophy of some sort (pincer from an olthoi, tusk from a tusker), while some require multiple teams to find and pull levers in different sections of the dungeon. Some quests require collecting rare items, then assembling them (shadow armor, atlan weapons, singularity weapons, assault weapons, etc.). Some quests involve multiple locations with multiple types of enemies (focusing stone, Joji's fountain, etc.). The quests in this game aren't your typical autoquest "go kill 7 of these" or "take this letter to this person" quests. They involve story, background information, and a real purpose.
Housing system. I think AC has one of the best housing systems around, though there's not quite as much freedom as you'd find in a game like Star Wars: Galaxies. There are a limited number of apartments, cottages, villas and mansions. They're in fixed locations around the world, most in little neighborhoods. Some have terrific views, some have very convenient locations, some have neither of these things, and some have both. There are a couple of benefits to this: A) A piece of property can have value based simply on location, and
there's no sprawl like you'd find in games with player-built housing. Another neat thing about houses in AC is that you can actually see out the windows. In so many games, windows are just little opaque textures. In AC, you can put a couch by your window and look out at the ocean, mountain valley, or the back of your neighbor's house (depending on where you live). 
There are really a lot of things I like about the game. There are some things to be aware of, though. The game has a much lower population than it used to. You just won't see more than 500 or so people on any server during peak hours. Given the sheer size of Dereth (it's a huuuuge world), this means you can go quite awhile without seeing another person unless you're in one of the more popular dungeons or towns. Also, the game has largely shifted away from exploration and discovery over the years, and is predominantly about gaining experience these days. I'm hoping the new Viamontian story arc will spark a change in that trend, but it's too early to tell at this point. Also, the only storage in this game comes in the form of a single small chest in apartments and cottages, two in villas, and five in mansions. As a result, nearly everyone is forced to use character slots as "mules," basically wasting that slot for a semi-mobile bank.
I can't say whether or not this game is for you, since I'm not really sure what it is you're looking for. One thing I've found is that this is a game people come back to. I've left and returned several times, and I know many other people who've done the same. There's a certain something in this game that just hasn't been duplicated anywhere. Maybe it's the size, maybe it's the original ideas, maybe it's the monthly content updates (not just bug patches), maybe it's a combination of a lot of things. While I can grow tired of the game every once in awhile, there's just nothing else out there that has ever captured the same quality for me that this game has.
Obviously, take all of this with a grain of salt. For every fan of the game, you'll find a critic. That's just the nature of life, and we all come with a little personal bias. I really do wish the game had a free trial so people could really just decide for themselves, but that is unfortunately not the case. Best of luck in your search.
"For every fan of the game, you'll find a critic"
I'd just like to go over that one little point. In this day and age.
For every game enthusiast/fan you'll fine 2 or more critics. Everyone's a critic this days, not everyon's a fan.
Well looks like im gonna be playing this game soon-- Im trading guild wars to a friend of mine for this game(hes gonna buy ac for me)
As far as critics are concerned--Yeah Ive ran into a few people that didnt like this game at all. But Ive played games like shadowbane and swg and daoc that some people have thought were horrid--and I completely disagreed. Guess its just a matter of opinion.
I like pvp so I take it I should play on the Darktide server?
How does it work with guilds in AC?
Are there guilds or do they call it something else?
Darktide would definitely be your best bet, then, yes. PvP is optional on every other server, but it's full and open PvP on Darktide. I'd definitely try to pre-arrange an allegiance (allegiances are guilds) on the Vault Network's Darktide board before logging in. On a regular server, I'd normally recommend just getting the hang of things yourself, since there's no substitute for experience (and those first "getting to know you" days can be the most memorable in any game). On Darktide, however, there are predators other than NPCs to worry about. The quicker you get up to speed, the better.
The one disadvantage to beginning on Dark Tide is that most people are already very advanced with very good equipment over there, and there's no level restriction on PvP whatsoever. A level 175 in fully tinkered gear could walk right up and kill you in a newbie town. I'm positive there are more than a few allegiances who'd be more than happy to help get you on your feet and give you tips, but you'll likely have around a hundred levels to climb before you can really be effective in PvP.
The disadvantage with regard to PvP on regular servers is that there are only a couple of places where you'll regularly find other PvPers. The advantage is that you can level up to a competitive point in complete safety, but you'll have to look around for someone to fight with when you finally get there. You mentioned SWG, and the PvP activity on regular AC servers mirrors the old Coronet Starport pvp scene; there are groups of people who just hang out looking to duel in a few standard places (Ayan Baqur lifestone, and the Marketplace) rather than running around covert. Darktide, however, is a whole different story.
Link: Vault Network: Darktide
(For the record, the Vault boards are pretty much the primary boards for AC. There weren't any official forums when the game launched, and the developers tended to post there and at a fansite called "Crossroads of Dereth" the most. Turbine does have official boards now, but people have pretty much stuck with what was familiar.)
P.S., Welcome to the game! I hope you enjoy it.
Good:
1) Combat system -- no "autoattack button". You have to adjust the height of your attack and the power behind it. It's actually very easy to do, the interface works to your advantage in this case. Further, you the player have to learn to MOVE during combat. Want your shield to count or block something? You'd best have your character moved so the shield is facing that enemy, or it won't count. That's in the PLAYER's CONTROL, unlike virtually every other game. Combat is what you make of it, not some predetermined "click here" or clickfest.
2) Quests. It's been out for what, 6 years. There have been so many world events and stuff added that we'll just leave it at, wow (and I don't mean the game WoW).
3) Diversity of items. Vast would be understating the variety of items in the game world and their conditions. Mind-boggling might be more accurate.
4) Skill/level advancement. You control it completely. Killing/questing results in XP, which you actually spend to improve skiills and attributes. So your progression is literally tied to what you do, and YOU control the progression of your skills/attributes (unlike EQ2, don't know what they're thinking). Again, as with so much else, the focus is on YOU, the PLAYER, choosing what happens to and for your character.
5) Spells. Like items, an incomprehensibly vast array of spells. Unlike EQ2 (to keep ganging up on my current game to play), where you're just handed your spell at the proper point in levelling (removing choice from the character and putting it in the hands of the devs to TELL you what you're taking), YOU CHOOSE. Buy it, find spells in the wild, learn it.
6) Open-ended nature. Go exploring. Dereth is HUGE. The portals make life easier, but the place is still vast. You learn by doing (like EQ1) -- is an area too hard for a 15th-level? You're not going to be artificially corralled away from it. Go right in, get stomped, and learn from that. Come back when you're strong enough and kick their... ahem.
7) Salvage/item creation. Salvage is awesome as an idea. Use a tool on the junk you find in the world and reduce it to bags of raw materials, which you can then apply to your arms/equip. and improve them. Fantastic.
The bad:
1) Graphics. Even after the upgrade, they're... sufficient. Water is atrocious. The character models are blocky. Again, the game is 6 years old. EQ doesn't look as good as it once did, too. The game needs a full revamp or an actual WORTHY sequel (NOT AC2). Don't really mind the graphics, since the rest of the game is so friggin' deep.
2) Quests. This is my BIGGEST peeve with AC, always has been. No, ZERO, quest log. No way to track what you're doing or what you've done with anything resembling ease of use. At best, you'll get notes that you have to keep sorted in your backpack that contain information on where you're going and what you should do there. But then, you wind up with 8000 notes that look EXACTLY alike, so... ick. Desperately need a quest log, given that after six years they haven't implemented one, don't hold out any hope.
3) Banking. Dereth has a wide array of merchants and a good economy... but no banks. No place to store money. No place to store items outside the limited storage capacity of your housing (which you can't get until lvl 20). Means you either create mules using up other character slots or you hoof it with overfilled bags. This is just a dumb oversight, like the quest log, that still hasn't been rectified.
4) Population. AC1, if MMOCHART is even remotely right, has less than 50,000 total subscribers. There's rarely more than a few hundred people on at any one given time. It's... vast and empty. There's always a few people in the starter towns, and weekends seem to pick up, but the game desperately needs more people playing it.
Most desired MMORPG: AC1 Revisited, or AC3: Dereth remade. Keep all the good above and use modern graphics and a quest log and banks. Don't throw away the progression in favor of some predetermined skills tree (AC2) or forcing the skill/spell on you at level-up (EQ2 -- you don't have ANY say in what skills you get or develop, you just get to "improve" what the game gives you). And above all, don't sacrifice the IMMERSION factor. This is unlikely to ever see the light of day, since they're deep in LOTR online and D&D online... and that's a pity and a tragedy, because Dereth and AC1 are as close to being ideal as seems possible.
Housing chests make banking unnecessary. The WoW banks are only marginally more spacious after you unlock all the packs. We don't need a new bank system, when more pack space in our house chest will do the job just the same.
I never thought quest logs were a big deal. The quests are pretty easy to figure out, and you usually get notes on parchment from npcs. They don't take much packspace since they can be thrown away when they are not needed.
I don't think we need a sequel with better graphics. High end graphics are eye candy, and they don't serve a functional purpose that couldn't be just as easily accomplished with sub par graphics.
I couldn't disagree more about the banking issue. Sure, adding more packs might help a bit, but I'd be completely astonished to learn of a player who didn't use at least half of their character slots as semi-mobile banks, and that goes for players who own villas with two chests. Figure the average player uses four character slots (each with six packs) to hold their stuff, that'd mean housing chests would need to expand by 24 packs and increase the base storage area to the equivalent size of a character's main inventory in order to alleviate the current "mule" problem.
This is a loot-oriented game with a loot-based economy. As a result, people stockpile whatever good stuff they can find, whether to cover failed tinkering, to give to vassals or other allegiance members, to use for rerolls, or any of a number of reasons. It's true that the storage system in World of Warcraft (a game I'm not really a huge fan of) is only slightly larger than what's available in AC, but there is never any need to use a character slot as a mule in that game because the limited storage made available provides ample space for the average player's needs. That just isn't the case in AC, nor has it ever been.
I love this game as much as anyone does, but that doesn't mean I can't see its faults, and storage is definitely a weak point. The fact that so many of our character slots on a given server are essentially "unplayable" characters is a design flaw, not a feature. It's not enough of an issue to ruin the game, but it is an issue for anyone looking to play a variety of characters on one server without buying multiple accounts.
Hehe you guys might think it funny but the graphics not being the greatest on this game is good for me.
At the moment I have a low end computer--and I can play wow and some other mmos but graphics being a little lower quality might mean a little less lag for me. Hopefully anyways.
Hopefully by next week I will be trying it out for myself.
Thnks for the great info
If 24 packs is needed to fix the storage problem. I think it's easier for them to just put those 24 packs into your house chest rather than building new tech for banks. I've just come to accept muling and it doesn't bother me much. We get 7 character slots per server now, in case anyone reading this didn't know.
While the looks of AC is not as good as some games, the function of the game engine is more interesting. It's possible to dodge projectiles such as war bolts or arrows. It's possible to get monsters stuck on terrain if you are running away from them so they don't kill you. It's possible to perch on castle walls and fire arrows or war spells on monsters in a position of safety. The physics behave more like a first person shooter like half-life than a typical mmorpg.
On a different note, the newest Letter to the Players for August is up.
Some new things coming, new ideas implemented and a glimpse in to the future!
One player's great game is another players derisive snort!
http://www.darthmyr.com for free guild forums
And monthly updates like that are exactly why I do love this game so much.
The intended ideas for September's update look particularly good. Optional global chat will help make up for the lower population in recent years, and the level VII enchantments on loot will certainly help out anyone who doesn't want to play a mage or a 3-school melee/archer. Very positive changes, overall.
The news about the level VII spells in loot really surprised me. I have been playing a 1 school character since a few months after the game came out, so this will be a big deal for me.
Yeah, the level VII's on stuff should be nice for those non-3schoolers! I've always liked 3 schools, but it takes awhile to get there, especially with an archer! Having some level VII's to tide ya over til ya get that last school will be nice! Having cantrips on clothing and jewelry is a nice change too!
Enmity
First thing I'm gonna try when those come out is a one school axer!! will leave a lot more exp for my main "hunting/killing/survival" skills because I wont have to worry about putting exp into magic schools
Unvi2, you might like the level VII loot items so much, you won't even need to take the last school.
The thing that appeals to me is the originality of the lore. It's not your carbon copy dwarf, elf, gnome etc. fantasy game. The skill based system is also a huge boon. Tons of quests and the ability to fight huge amounts mobs simultaneously.
asherons call is like a god game. you can make yourself stronger/faster/jump higher.. take on huge groups of mobs at once (slamming your stamina and heal kits).
-death hurts a bit more ive heard -they made vitea scale for the newer levels.. you as well drop items from your self and inventory (Death items are a must or your going to loose your wep or armor and other good things.. make sure to run back to your corpse.)
the new highest level is 275.
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the quests however unlike the current wow or eq2 arent straight forward,, there isnt really a direction to them and sometimes your not even sure your in the right place or on the quest you thought until you look it up on maggies site.
---im thinking about coming back buying TOD and leveling my 62 gimp on morningthaw---
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