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Ashen Empires - current infos
Morganfey
Member Posts: 2
Here's a little time-line:
Oct 2000 - Dransik launched (the game not website)
Spring 2002 - YCG takes over (didn't last for long)
8 August 2002 - ISO launched
March 2003 - First full ptp
Jan 2004 - Dransik becomes AE (TKO)
Dec 2005 - IWG takes over
In 2005 the game really almost did die. The servers - one or the other - went down every weekend and it was always a question as to whether it/they would come back up on Monday. Pixel Mine Games (then known as Iron Will Games) stepped in at the 11th hour and saved it from a miserable death.
The game is far from dead. The pve server (Legends) is alive & kicking. Many of the players from the pvp server moved to Legends in the past couple of years because game mechanics made it difficult to play on the pvp server unless you were part of a large pvp guild. The pvp server (Heroes) is now the least populated; the most recent patch (11/10) which changed the way buffs are handed down in the faction system may bring some players back from Legends.
If you enjoy crafting, this is the game for you. You can do any skill you want regardless of your build. Your build may make you a little more or less successful at lower levels, but once you get higher level in a crafting skill, build doesn't seem to have that much of an impact.
I've played it continuously since 2002 and seen many many changes. It's had 3 expansions (Talazar's Revenge -snow lands; Sands of Creation - desert areas and housing; Tides of Fate - islands, sea mobs and sailng) ; the land area has increased drastically; many new monsters, bosses and items.
Gear is very important now and provides varying amounts and types of resistances to attacks. Before you go out into the field, you will want to consider what you will be killing, the type of damage (to you) which will be involved and dress accordingly.
Because of "resists", it has become the habit on both servers to carry a lot of your bank with you, especially if you're hunting "dragons", as each type of dragon does a different type of damage. You will drop your back pack on both the pve and pvp servers if you die in most places (except for "no drop" zones). You'll then have to run back to recover your back pack or use the very popular "summon corpse" item which can be purchased for tokens through the game store.
It is free-to-play. You can leave the newbie island (Valinor) and practice all skills with no exp penalty. You can party and join guilds as a free player. The percs of purchasing the "VIP" membership can be seen here: VIP Membership . The monthly grab bag that comes with VIP is very popular.
I have never been able to get used to the graphics of the older game "Dransik". The Ashen Empires graphics are pretty old school and totally can't compete with the big boys and their virtually realities. But they are not bad for the type of game this is. They will actually grow on you. There is "paper-dolling" so you can totally change the look of your avatar with what you wear.
There is a "game store" now through which you can purchase VIP time, expansions, etc.. For me the two best items in the store are "summon corpse" (which I don't use much cause I'm so leet 
) and "teleport stones" which let you port to various towns around the world.
Players come and go but there is a saying in the world of AE "they all come back" and it seems to be true. The game has been around a long time and I've seen people disappear for years to suddenly pop up again. Somebody else in here said the community is what keeps people coming back, and that's probably largely true. You can easily make a name and place for yourself in the world of Ashen Empires (hopefully, good) and even some good, long term friends.
Pixel Mine Games has also produced a popular i-touch/iphone game "Underworlds".
Comments
The game has only gone up hill since then. It has tons of content to keep players entertained for a long time. Alot of the old players have left because they finished everything they wanted to. But new content is rolling out. Its F2P currently with item mall items and perks. They also still have VIP membership as stated.
I can't help but come back to this game when other games fail me. Theres always something to do, and even more now with the new expansions. Its a bit easier to level aswell with the new Tides of Fate expansion out.
You can mine, you can skin, craft, all the things those major games have. But I think the best thing is being able to create your own home... IN A MAP. I mean you make the house, and put your stuff in it, decorate it, put other players heads in it like trophies (literally their heads. :P) and pimp your place out. When you get more gold you can even get an estate which is larger and looks much more sexier imo.
Seriously though, its a great game, and its a shame to see the PvP servers low in people. Sure the PvE server is easier and such, but when is a game fun when you get everything handed to you? I like to earn what I have to the best of my ability.
This game has a lot to offer and can even give you that feeling of true accomplishment I know you have been searching for in other games. Nobody knows who you are on WoW or Runescape (Zezima has that game on lock) Etc. Make something of yourself! This is a game where people will remember you for your greatness.... or doucheness if you're into that :P
My name is Lord Ending and I play on the Heroes PvP server. Come join us!
https://secure.pixelminegames.com/Welcome.aspx?AffiliateID=9676
I have to agree, we have tried so many other games including WOW, but we always came back to Ashen Empires. We found Legends Server is very family oriented. My favorite is leveling at our own pace, most games do not have that option, sometimes I don't feel like hunting creatures and just want to craft. I've made noobies with no subscription and managed to make enough Power Hours to get a subscription for free, took awhile but it was fun. Take care and have fun =D
https://secure.pixelminegames.com/Welcome.aspx?AffiliateID=2611
my homepage........in the works =P http://ashenempirescrafters.hpage.com/
This must be my 9th time coming back to AE.. I always stopped playing because it seemed like the game was left stranded, nothing new in the website and lots of ppl complaining about that in the forums, like no updates and the fact it always tooked a long time for the devs to fix simple things. But I have to agree with you. In AE, you always have something new to do.. and the classic medieval look and the background music are great. All the times that I came back to AE I started a new character because Valinor (the starting island) is great!! The quests, the conversations, the tasks, the goblin invasions... all good! I wish more ppl came to AE, I miss the player interaction..
The Shadowed Mare - A Tavern North of Caldera and an Elder Scrolls Online Fansite and Forums.
+1 I was a master farmer from way back. I was one of the earliest players to get level 100 planting
(I think I was 3rd or 4th) My guildmates loved me, since I supplied the cooks with anything they needed. I used to spend hours just digging holes and putting stuff in it 
By far the best farming in any game. Other games have gardening or some minor form of farming, but AE has always been the best.
This isn't a signature, you just think it is.
theres some pros and cons to this game, mostly cons as of late.
Pros:
1. A huge number of skills you can level and make use of in most character builds.
2. Ability to make game currency from tradeskills to buy item mall products.
3. It will certainly occupy your time.
Cons:
1. After doing all the non-endgame stuff for so long getting to the endgame, theres only one monster group for endgame, dragons. After grinding 32,000 dragon kills to use a fairly weak weapon compared to the one that people trade for basically hundreds of dollars that a level 50 can use, its kind of weak, and after getting slayer it tends to become a habit versus a desired gameplay endgame funfest.
2. Bosses are on timers for the entire server, if someone continuously kills the boss and camps the timer, you will never see the boss. This is especially annoying with bosses that are on 8 hour or longer timers, including Graal, a dragon boss that spawns basically once a week.
3. A dwindling player base. Most players are at endgame, and the influx of newer players has slowed down dramatically.
4. A dying in game economy. The only things that sell well are extremely difficult to get, unless you are terribly lucky. If its not endgame, it isn't worth much. And you guessed it, most of the bosses that are camped, drop said gear.
5. Glitches and bugs that have not been fixed in YEARS. That moment when you try to heal yourself and can't switch a rune, because it is bugged out, and you die, losing all your gear is horrifying to deal with.
6. LAG. The lag issue has been off and on (mostly on) for years. There is no reason I should lag on a poor graphics game like this, to the point of screen tearing and "teleport" walking, with a ping of sometimes 2,000 or higher, yet have no lag and run at 92ms on a game like world of warcraft, at full settings, on a more complex graphics system.
7. Grind grind grind grind...... The quest system is horrific. In able to level quickly you must purchase a VIP subscription (120 tokens from the item mall) to do large mercenary quests, as an example a 1000 demon quest, which can generate you up to 9-10 million experience. While this sounds like a lot, when you scope out that each level after 105 takes 230 million roughly, you can get a good idea of the amount of grind or time invested to level the character. Without VIP you can expect each level to take a month or longer.
8. PvP- The pvp system is horrifying. Any skill based PvP'er will find this game especially annoying when it comes to pvp, for the simple reason, that it is unbalanced and gear based, rather than skill. If someone the same level as you has a better weapon, you basically will never kill them. Also, leveling on the pvp server is especially difficult since you basically get farmed and unless you want to spend several hundred dollars a month on corpse summons (80 tokens from the item mall) or no-dropping your gear (75 tokens per piece of gear, from the item mall) you might find you lose all your gear quickly when it gets looted. ( by the way, If you should decide to sell an item that is no-dropped, you must first remove the item no-drop from it which costs you guessed it, 75 tokens from the item mall)
While I do not wish to discourage people from this game, since it CAN be fun IF you have people to play with (or if you really enjoy spending months grinding a single tradeskill) it can be terribly boring if you find yourself alone often (which does happen with the mass amount of banksitters on there)
I think with a bit of fixing and a larger variety of new endgame content, mid level content and lowbie level content, it would draw some players back and maybe spur on new growth. Until then, I'll be finding other games with better less tedious systems and more content that do not lag.
The DEVS have long since stopped updating at this point. This once great game is dead.
"Pixel Mine" who was once Iron Will Games, in a stroke of irony saved this game and instead of it dying they gave it a long, slow death by preferring to pour their funds into using the engine to create phone games.
I tried so many times in the older forums to warn "OneEye". Time after time I told him about so many small fixes that would really help the game. He never listened.