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So, how well received has AC2 been?
Pratt2112
Member UncommonPosts: 1,636
This well...
I'm sure someone will spin this as a negative. It's the nature of the beast around here. I'm just going to disagree in advance.
To think that a MMO that was taken offline 7 years ago and has been dismissed as being "too old to matter" could actually generate enough interest to cap out the server, is pretty damn impressive.
That said... I wanna play!!! ; ;
Comments
Oh I'm loving it already. Been playing since the day it came back up. I've been one of those people begging Turbine to bring it back.
Was up 'til 2AM this morning playing it lol.
It's amazing to be back.
Didn't have them back then. Could be something they'll implement now, if the popularity keeps up and it's warranted.
It only just launched, so it'd be too early to make any kind of definitive decisions, I'd think. Maybe after the first month or two when they see what it's stabilized to, they'll be in a better position to make decisions going forward.
Way too early to expect that right now.
I'm still trying to figure out who made the decision to bring AC2 back and why? Whoever did, I would like to personally thank them!! Whether it was Warner Bros. trying to make a few extra bucks or a few Turbine guys that were able to convince the higher ups to give it a shot, it seems to be a smashing success.
This is the kind of fresh start and renewed interest that definitely would not have been possible until now. Now that we have run the course with tons of new games in the post WoW era, (the game that stole and ultimately killed AC2 off...) you can see what there is to offer. Either you can go down the same class based themepark design ie SWToR, GW2, Rift type of game or now you can branch off. Game design that offers a bit more freedom and open ended paths may make a comeback now.
How the... Why the f...
Ok, how is it possible AC2 goes online again?
Last server populations in EU I remember of were Server A 250, Server B 200, Server C 200.
This was near release.
Respect if it changed.
To put it simply: What's old is new again.
To elaborate...
I think there's a few things at play here... purely my own opinion.
1. The same thing plagued AC2 that plagues any MMO these days when it has a poor launch. It's difficult to shake that "horrible launch" image. Turbine, despite their efforts and significant improvements made to the game over the 3 years it was out, never successfully shook that stigma and the game suffered for it.
However, 7 years is a looooong time in gaming. An eternity, really. An entire new era - brought in by WoW - has since swept over the genre, and for the past 8 years, we've had a genre that has been flooded with a lot (too many, IMO) of games that were looking to be merely iterative on the basic concepts WoW brought to the table. Each found some angle or element that they could 'call their own', but at the core of it all, it was the essentially like playing the same game.
Though it's grossly mis-used and highly abused, the whole "WoW clone" thing really does have weight.
Many developers/publishers wanting to get into the scene and cash in on Blizzard's success came in playing it safe by trying to emulate their gameplay, their systems and such... hoping to get people playing WoW interested in playing their games as well. The whole "run-off" thing. We can see how that's panned out.
2. I think players are starting to tire of the WoW formula. Not all, but certainly enough. Every new MMO that comes out following the same, repetitive and "safe" design is being regarded with an increasing derision and dismissal. People are sick of having the same old-same old. They're ready for something new and different. There's an increasing request for more open worlds, and less linear "games". People want to be a part of the game's world again, not merely "toons passing through it on their way to level cap".
People like Smedley at SOE have spoken out on this and, for whatever his word is worth, he seems to be recognizing the problem and is looking to address it head-on.
Turbine bringing back AC2 at this time is really great timing because it is a sort of half-step away from the WoW-esque style of play (Fun Fact: AC2 actually introduced several things that WoW made popular) we know now, and the more open-world, sandboxy style of play that was more common before. It's familiar enough to be picked up and played, but different enough to give people a different experience and make them think a bit differently about what a MMO can be, and what the experience of playing one can be like. It brings back the value and importance of a strong server community. It brings back the importance of learning your way around the game world and finding things on your own without having so many in-game "helpers" (!'s and ?'s, map markers for everything, etc).
There's a way I have of putting it into a phrase: It brings the players back into the equation. It makes them a more active participant in their own experience. They're no longer chasing !'s and ?s, but are following map coordinates and looking for landmarks. They're no longer being conviently whisped away, directly to their destination, but are learning AC2's (brilliant) Ringway transportation system. They're no longer running around as a lone-wolf in a world of fellow lone wolves, but are part of an active and (for the most part), supportive and inclusive community (there are the exceptions who pop up, sadly).
On top of that, it does all of this with a game that is based around 100% original lore, races, classes and so forth. No elves, dwarves, ors, trolls or anything of the like. It's a very unique and brilliant game world that Turbine has created; easily my favorite MMO world to date.
So, I think it's really a matter of serendipity. The MMO community has been ready for something new to move on to and sink their teeth into. They've been asking for something "more", all the while developers/publishers keep wanting to give them more of the same, because it's "safer".
I don't know if it was deliberately timed this way or what other factors may have been in play (there are certainly myriad theories already being discussed), but Turbine may have done a brilliant thing by bringing AC2 back when they did.
It just so happens that a game that had been, in a number of ways, ahead of its time back in 2005 is now just the kind of game the genre needs to help take it in a new and - in my opinion - better direction than the one it's been stagnating in for the past several years.
So.. here's hoping this is a positive sign of things to come. How well it's been received and positively people - old and new players alike - are reacting to it certainly seems to bode well.
AC2 is a very deep game, and re-learning it is taking some time, but I am actually enjoying the experience very much. I've been in a few hours, got to level 10, finished my first vault, had a good time.
Will continue playing for a while. I still absolutely love this leveling system. Spending XP as you acquire it to upgrade skills you gain through credits earned from leveling, vaults, etc. is great.
The game is rough around the edges, and not quite as easy to pick up and go, navigate, etc., as newer games, but you'll get the hang of it after playing it a few times. However, if you're all about free movement for combat, just know that you push a button to go into combat and your character automatically walks up and starts attacking, and you can then use skills. I don't mind this personally, but I can see many people having issues with it.
Can't wait to delve deeper into the game as time goes on. It was amazing when it came out, and it's still pretty damn good now.
Well, just like AC1 or any other game, it will appeal to some. It won't appeal to others.
Others, myself included, are having absolutely no problem finding things to do. In fact, I have a backlog of things I want to get done.. armor quests, soulbound weapon quest, finishing up my Osteth vaults and moving on to Omishan, doing a handfull of other quests I want to get done. I'm doing a lot of harvesting/crafting, etc. Mount quests. Leveling up my skills. I've been playing all weekend and have yet to run out of things to do. Others have been going non-stop as well.
Guess it depends on what you're looking for.
Very well stated.
I logged in to AC2 yesterday and it felt really, really good - like re-discovering why I first fell in love with computer gaming many years ago.
So much have changed in ten years, it's incredible. I surely hope that the tide is turning and that the things that made the old games great will return - improved and more polished of course - in the next generation of MMOs.
It would have been impossible for me to have stated it any better than this
. I think you're spot on with that analysis and it's precisely how I feel too. I've spent the last 10+ years searching through the myriad of online rpgs, both young and old, and in that time only a few have really met the stringent qualities that I look for - incidentally, most of them are older, 1st generation mmorpgs. What I love about AC2 is that it takes many of the "old school" qualities that so many of us enjoy, and mixes them with some of the innovations brought on by the early next gen games. One example would be how the game has a class system of sorts, while still giving you a ton of freedom by allowing your to pick and customize your skills (which to me, is the optimum way to go about it). Add to that, the AC1 reminiscent loot system, original races, a dynamic seasonal system, just to name a few, and you have a game that's far different than the majority of cookie-cutter "themeparks" in this day and age, contrary to what some people try and argue.
In other words, AC2 is a unique beast, and I think it's something that many of us have been yearning for, over the years. For me personally, it's pretty crazy that I've been spending years, jumping from one unsatisfying gaming experience to the next, only to stumble on the revival of what is perhaps one of the most impressive mmorpgs in the genre (imo), after it spent 7 long years in proverbial limbo. It was one of those "screw anything else I've been playing, this is getting my full attention as of now" moments, heh. Here's hoping they can iron out the bugs/lag, and help this game become the success that it should have been before
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As for the genre in general, I can only hope that you're correct in your speculations, and that these games finally start going back in the direction of what they were originally about in the first place - online worlds designed with the intent to challenge and captivate your mind, while acting as an all-encompassing escape into immersion, rather than the instantly gratifying, homogenized cash grabs, that so many of them have devolved into today.
Edit: A few corrections
Indeed! Well said!
I'm really curious to see how this unfolds and what Turbine plans to do with it.
A "fear" I have is that they're gonna say "Okay, we need to make this more popular, so let's make it more "accessible" and "mainstream", and add a cash shop... It almost seems like Publishers and the "suits" can't help themselves from doing it anymore.
That would likely drive me away, sadly, because they'd be gutting a huge part of what the experience is about. But I'll cross that bridge when I'm forcibly dragged across it, kicking and screaming.
In the meantime, it's great to be back in AC2's Dereth.
Ha, it's funny that you mention that. I was having that exact same train of thought earlier this morning. I'm with you in that if they end up trying to turn this into another mediocre copy of <-insert generic themepark of the month here->, I'll be gone as quickly as I came. I'm hoping though, that since they have a game that somewhat targets that demographic already (namely LoTRO), and since they have, for the most part, kept the first Asheron's Call the same in terms of "sandbox-ish elements", that hopefully they will show the same respect to the fundamentals of Asheron's Call 2. I know I can only speculate here, but I have a feeling that the majority of people trying or returning to AC2 are doing it for very similar reasons to our own. To push AC2 into a pure, modern-day themepark direction would be to trivialize much of what makes the game so interesting and unique. We just have to hope that Turbine understands that.
For now, I'm just going to hope for the best and continue on with the good times and inevitable sleep deprivation
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Hello, my name is Rocky, and I'm an AC2 addict. I am man enough to admit that when I logged into AC2 for the first time in 7 years, I actually teared up. I have so many fond memories of this game that I just can't shake the "school girl" feeling every time I logged in. The first time I relogged in, I honestly logged back out, pinched myself, logged back in, rinse and repeat until I had a bruise on my forearm. I played AC1 from 1999 until 2004 and off and on since then. I played AC2 from beta til the last day it closes, and I cried then. And now, man... I don't have the words for it.
But after taking some time to play and remember a lot of the reason why I loved this game, I became upset. Not at all about AC2 or how Turbine mistreated the community. But how the MMORPG community credits blizzard for so many things that AC2 has accomplished. I'm also pissed that after relogging back into AC2, there has been no been significant milestone or advancement in the technology field when it comes to MMORPGs. We've seen more games start using a F2P or P2Advance platform that most Asian based games were building off of, and yet nothing has gone beyond AC2 in regards to advancements.
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I get why this appeals to people who played it when it was new, but I'm sorry, this is beyond horrible now.
The presentation is worthless. In a genre where immersion is king, I mean that quite literally...
But again, this does not apply if you've played it when it was new. It doesn't help, but I guess it doesn't detract as much either.
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You're entitled to your opinion, but I couldn't disagree more. This game is one of the most immersive that I've ever played, and it has nothing to do with that fact that I played it when it was new. I barely even played it back then because I was already so enamored with EQ at the time, so that point is moot, in my case anyway.
The game has held up surprisingly well, and assuming they update the UI a bit (which I'm sure they will) it will be leaps and bounds ahead of most of the crap that's released these days - my opinion, of course.
This game is more immersive than many of the "modern era" mmos currently on the market. It's not a quest hub driven game. There are a few quest series you can complete, but you are not required to. Exploration is rewarded with interesting dungeons to clear out (most have treasure caches in the bottom), and some neat little side quests that are again optional.
The minimalistic UI is also nice, and skill cooldowns quickly become muscle memory. So you spend more time looking at the world instead of UI. There's plenty of reasons for groups to exist as well.
Ironically, when people are looking for certain features in their modern mmos, the Asheron's Call series (1 and 2) have already delivered.