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That's right YOU. Yes you, behind the monitor. I can see you... put some pants on please.
Why don't you play Asheron's Call?
Is it because of the graphics (despite how bad of an excuse that is because susbtance is better than form when it comes to video games)?
Is it because it isn't F2P?
Is it because it is old?
Is it because it has free monthly content? Ok, you caught me on that one.
I am curious as to what keeps people from playing Asheron's Call. I played it at launch, I play it now. To me no other game has ever matched it yet so much of the MMO audience has never stepped foot inside the wonderful world of Dereth. Let me know. This isn't a post where I'm trying to bait people into attacking them or anything like that, I am genuinely curious.
And question #2: No matter what your reason may be, what is stopping you from at least trying it FREE for 14 days to see if can surprise you? I myself have tried several games I wasn't sure I'd like once they had a free trial, after all there is nothing to lose by doing so.
Thanks for reading and posting.
Comments
Partly, population.
Partly because I know that they removed a lot of the features that made AC great, to make it more WoW like.
And lastly, and most importantly, Turbine is a horrible company and I refuse to give them money.
This isn't a signature, you just think it is.
What happens when you log off your characters????.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFQhfhnjYMk
Dark Age of Camelot
I'd play it in a heartbeat if they updated the graphics / UI and some of the mechanics. As it is though I don't see it being worth nearly the same monthly fee as a newly-released MMORPG. Hell, most of THOSE aren't even worth a monthly fee anymore.
If the game went F2P I'd consider it. Until then, no thank you.
It also doesn't help that Turbine are a bunch of goddamn thieves and liars.
I will accept your reasoning of population but bots do not outnumber actual players so I wanted to correct that statement.
You won't necessarily run into people because of a few reasons:
1) World Wide global chat, no need to be in any specific region instead of hunting or questing where you like.
2)The world is physically huge with a lot of solid hunting places. Once you hit top tier hunting (luminance) players are confined down to 7 or so hunting grounds so they bump into each other more. However here are still lots of luminance quests so people are still spread out.
3) Allegiances. Players tend to be in an allegiance. Those allegiances typically have a mansion and everyone in the allegiance has a mansion recall. So allegiances typically hang out at their own mansions and talk in allegiance chat.
I am curious as to point #2. Having played both games plenty, I don't see any correlation between the two. In what ways do you think AC is like WoW?
Pretty sure no one is playing it, and the game feels extremely dated. I guess it is shallow to criticize the graphics, but they were bad for 1999. For heavens sake, the game looks like an over-the-shoulder Runescape. Oceans and lakes are just giant blue textures that make a splashing noise when you walk over them.
Even if the game had more of a population, it would consist of old-school diehards. It's just not as fun playing alongside a community who has been playing for years. The magic is gone, and you realize you're the only one ever discovering anything new. It would be practically impossible to catch up to the veterans at that point.
They smoothed over a lot of the more interested/obscure features to make them more conventional.
Classes. Levels. 'nuf said.
I was hoping for specifics as being someone who played AC at launch and plays it now I don't see features that have been made more conventional or more WoW like.
You can setup the game so that you have mouse look and move with the standard modern keyboard setup. Essentially you can move around just like in any other MMO.
Rofl. It's not the same and you know it. Character feedback is so important to a good experience these days, back then it was ok to suck in that department. Games have grown since then and I find it severely lacking in AC today. If they release an AC2 revisited or AC3 with today's modern trappings, then I'll be there as the other aspects of the game intrigue me.
3 or 4 years ago I did some research into playing AC, but decided against it for the following reasons,
1) Decal - Seems everyone uses this plug-in manager to load a plethora of different add ons and I don't really care for games that do this. (One thing I don't like in WOW is the mods system)
http://ac.wikkii.net/wiki/Plugins
2) Box price (?) of $19.99 ($9.99 these days) plus a monthly sub fee of $12.95 which I felt at the time was too high for a game that didn't appear to be having a whole lot of work done on it in terms of adding new content. Felt like all I was doing was funding their new titles such as LotRO.
3) Turbine - not my favorite Development house, still think they screwed the pooch with LotRO, what a glorious title it should have been with that IP, instead, just another themepark. (and DDO, let's not go there)
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
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Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I didn't get into it when it was new...I prefered UO/EQ...So doubt I would now.
Asherons call was a great game, but that was a long time ago. MMOs sadly dont age with dignity.
If they ever make a AC3 things might be different though.
I guess it's because the art doesn't appeal to me?
I couldn't give dated graphics as a reason. I still play PSX RPGs (FF7-9, Chrono Cross).
And also the subscription.
I simply enjoy World of Warcraft more. It was a better fit for me.
That is not a knock on AC, I enjoyed it greatly.
You don't have to pay a box price. You can download the free 14 day trial and just start paying a subscription when the trial ends.
I'm not sure how you interpret it as not having a lot of work done in terms of adding new content, it adds new monthly content every month and has done so for 13 years straight. They also do 2 big patches each year that add new features, skills, major hunting grounds etc. So you actually get more new content (and on a regular basis) than just about any other MMO out there.
As far as decal goes, I can understand that but I personally have never used Decal and have no problems doing anything in the game. Every single MMO that exists has plugins that work for it. A lot of players just like to code up plugins to streamline or improve their MMO experience and AC is no different in that aspect. They are not needed to play the game though.
So I've seen a lot of responses to question 1 but not question 2.
Question 2 is: Despite any reason you have for not paying to play the game, what stops you from trying the free 2 week trial?
You have nothing to lose and the worst case is that you find the reasons you didn't want to play the game hold up and you leave at the end of the trial. Best case you find you've been overlooking a great game that you find fun.
Well I did a launch. About the most perfect game ever released and the only game to ever, let me say the again!, EVER have dynamic events.
Why don't I play it now? Well no longer a turbine game and turbine went for the money. Also, little dated.