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Asheron's Call populations still increasing... New island level 150+ to be added this month with mon
Zaxx99
Member Posts: 1,761
Populations are still on the increase in Asheron's Call. Last night, during peak time, Frostfell hit 655 players.. the most I have seen on any server in atleast 2 years.
Great new monthly content is continuing to be added, like a whole new island for hunting for levels 150+ being added next week.
This game is better then ever... and getting better by the month.
To all of those who keep saying and have been saying that Asheron's Call is dead, or going to be gone soon... Eat your words... 'cuz good ol' AC ain't goin' nowhere folks. It has a VERY devoted development team still devoted to introducing great new monthly content month after month after almost seven years now... and in the middle of their big new two games DDO and LOTR Online.
AC>WoW. And AC will prove it by easily outlasting WoW. When WoW has long had it's plug pulled, AC will still be here folks. Why? If WoW and AC were music groups, then WoW would be "The Spice Girls" or maybe "Poison". AC would be The Rolling Stones, or The Beatles. There is a big difference, regardless of age, populations, or graphics.
Only in populations and revenue earned would WoW win. In depth, content, fun, maturity level of players, customer service, value, and challenge... AC going head to head with WoW in any of those categories... AC would absolutely tear WoW to little bity shreds and spit it out. AC is going to be on it's 8th year in just a couple of months. WoW will never see it's 8th year. Guaranteed.
- Zaxx
Comments
I'm happy for you. The worst possible scenario for any gamer is watching your favorite game slowly die. Its exciting too see older games get a second breath of life. I went through something similar with Anarchy Online a couple of years ago. Never did play Asheron's Call....I might check it out myself. Here's to to the prosperity of the oldies but goodies.
"Speaking haygywaygy or some other gibberish with your mum doesn't make you foreign."
-baff
After they cancelled AC2 & DDO was such a pile..... Im not too happy about just giving turbine money.
--
Note: PlayNC will refuse to allow you access to your account if you forget your password and can't provide a scanned image of the product key for the first product you purchased..... LOL
good for you :-) i played AC2 for two and a half years. i really loved that game and i miss it horribly.
thought about going to AC1 for a while, but besides the lore those games are totally different. it would feel like taking a step back in time, which is not so good. have fun there anyway!
im inclined to agree with you, i too am a AC2 refugee wishing to return to a home tha doesnt exist
AC peaks my curiosity, particularly the twitch involved in the combat
but i doubt ill go to AC , i never buy without trying first not to mention i more focused on the future with AoC and potbs
no it doesn't and it drives me nuts. I, as well, want to try it
I admit I am an AO addict, but I have heard the wonders of AC, and have always wanted to play. Too bad too
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Sig image Pending
Still in: A couple Betas
AC is a NICE game. It is good that it is still around. Well, it kinda is forced to be around since it is the only thing keeping what's left of Turbine afloat, and is the collateral (sp) for all the loans they are getting to finance their other failures. So no matter how dumb the people at Turbine are, this fact forces them to not screw up AC to the point of closing it down anytime soon.
AC is both dead and not dead. It's not dead due to the fact it has loooong ago re-couped all of its investment money. It has been making a true profit for many years. The game litterally runs itself, it is a cash cow. Is AC a bonafide success? Yes. Is it a blockbuster hit? No. Why? The game is exceptional. It is because of one of the worse ever marketing departments in computer game history - Turbine desperatly needs to FIRE whoever is in charge of marketing. FIRE all of them. Then hire new blood.
Only one time in history has AC ever had a free trial. It was many years ago, and it lasted for 1 month. Ever since then AC refuses to make an effort to lure new players into its game. Talk about being into Sadism/Machoism!!
Alright, stop with the missinformation. You are actually doing more to HURT AC, than to help it.And this is why AC is dying, and dead.... *sniff*
The current standard for a successful mmorpg is having 50k accounts to have any chance in heaven or hell of re-couping all investment money. Having 100k accounts means a mmorpg is not only successful, but a blockbuster. With this in mind, one REALLY understands why EQ with its peak of 400k accounts was beyond blockbuster. Why CSWG with its 330k accounts was beyond blockbuster.
Enter WoW with over 3 MILLION+ accounts.
Enter AC at current time with roughly 50k accounts. AC at its peak, many, many, years ago was close to 100k accounts for a few months. AC has never come close to re-reaching its peak. (NICE example is UO, which after peaking at over 300k accounts, many years later RE-PEAKED at over 300k accounts!!!)
If WoW and AC were music groups? No... more like AC is a music group and WoW is the RECORD LABEL. AC is the Rolling Stones? The Beatles? WoW is the RECORD LABEL that O-W-N-S the Rolling Stones, AND the Beatles, AND the Spice Girls, AND Poison, AND Michael Jackson, AND Madonna, AND Janet Jackson, AND James Brown, AND Elvis. AND... Black Sabbath, AND Judas Priest.
No. WoW would not win. WoW would more than win - if there is such a thing. WoW litterally would be a "deathstar" vs an Apollo Rocket. AC litterally cannot be compared to WoW in numbers of accounts, and amount of true profit made. What AC has made over its ENTIRE life, after being out for years longer than Wow..... WoW has made in litterally 2-4 months!BTW.... did you know... WoW is still... *ulp*... growing? It has in the past 2 months added over 8 new servers!
This here is entirely debatable. Which means it cannot be proven nor disproven. Fans of AC will automatically say AC has more content, etc.. Fans of WoW will automatically say WoW has more content, etc...
Ahh.. but what about fans of BOTH games? Fans of BOTH AC and WoW will tell you at minimum both games have the same level of content, and depth. (My favorite example is how many, many, MMORPGs have oceans, lakes, rivers, etc... which takes up a large percentage of the gameworld map. BUT they have little to NO underwater game content. WoW is the only MMORPG with in insane amount of underwater content, as well as traditional content on land. This fact alone makes WoW easily match older mmorpgs in amount of content and depth.)
As for fun, that is entirely up to each individuale player. IF you Zaxx have more fun in AC then that is NICE!!! If other players have more fun in WoW, then that is ALSO nice!!
MMORPGs are a buisness first, and games second. Investors, suits and ties, make up 50% or more of the picture. Enough said. It does not matter if AC stays out longer than WoW. BTW... there is some evidence you overlooked in the longevity discussion. Blizzard has had more online games continously online non-stop for over 10 years now. This easily blows away the 7+ years AC has been continously online.
Since Blizzard's OTHER online games have been continously online for 10+ years, it is more than safe to say they will keep WoW online more than 8 years.... that yes indeed, WoW will see its 8th year.
The fact that you feel the need to compare AC to... WoW? Out of the roughly 30+ mmorpgs that are out says far more for WoW than for AC. In the future, SIMPLY state what is good, and NICE about AC, then leave it at that. Let AC stand on its own merits!
Are you wearing your 'Pwnt by Blizzard' shirt again?
I'm glad AC is still hanging in there, and I'm happy for the players. But, who cares if any game outlasts another? Why try to compare WoW to AC?
Ico
Oh, cruel fate, to be thusly boned. Ask not for whom the bone bones. It bones for thee.
I've got Asheron's Call with expansions on my shelf. I have yet to give it a try. I am an Everquest fan, and I still play it along with Everquest II. I am finding those game to be fun, but I can't help but be curious about AC after hearing so many good things about it.
I really wish there was a free trial, I'd hate to start yet another subscription. Also, I am still a big fan of World of Warcraft, and often feel like playing that. The "newer" game, although necessarily better, seems to have more appeal for me because of the graphics and advances in gameplay and features.
I wish there was another one of me so I could play more mmorpgs.
Yes, it frustates me beyond belieft that Turbine so boldly refuses to offer free trials of Asheron's Call. I think that they would likely double their population if they'd only offer a simple 2 week trial or something for atleast like 6 months.
Xplor - I know that you cannot compare WoW and AC in terms of financial success. And I stated that. My point is only hmmm let's say IF every person that plays WoW were to give AC an honest trial... I bet a good number of them would be converted... or at minimum give AC a lot of respect. A lot of them would be turned off by the older graphics sure. A lot of them would be turned off by what they would likely consider "harsh" death penalites. But a helluva lot of them would probably also love the hundreds of unique dungeons, the tinkering, the 7 years of content added almost every month, the PvP, the level of maturity of AC's player base, etc, etc. This is another reason that it drives me nuts that Turbine won't offer a free trial of it's granddaddy game.
I have 3 nephews.. Ages 8 to 13. They spend a lot of time (especially in the summer) over at my house where I have 2 online computers and a couple of online PS2s. Last summer, I won a $50 BestBuy gift card at work, and decided to let them pick out a new mmorpg. They wanted to buy RYL or some gay crap. I instead showed them the shiny World of Warcraft box and ancouraged them to try it. I also wanted to give WoW a trial. ALl 3 of my newphews immediately fell in love with WoW, having only played Guild Wars, EQ2, and Saga of Ryzom before it. Then as this summer came closer, I encouraged them to give Asheron's Call a try. They looked at the dated graphics and made sour faces and said things like "no way, I'll stick to WoW". I advised them that I would only be paying for one of the two games this summer and they needed to atleast try it so they could make a knowledgable selection of which game they wanted me to pay for. They all tried AC one Saturday and before the day was even halfway over.. they all had changed their minds that AC was a lot more fun then WoW. They were all surprised that such an old game could capture them like AC did. They all play AC a lot now, and this is what I'm talking about when I say things like AC>WoW. In so many ways... it is. Sure there are many who would disagree. There are also many of those who would disagree just to disagree and would have absolutely no experience with AC what-so-ever.
WoW is a good, soild, and fluid game. But when compared to any of the older games like AC, UO, or EQ(1).. or even DAoC.. it simply can't compare depth and content wise. WoW's success isn't so much because of it's quality being so much better then every other mmo out there. It's success is much more because of the Blizzard brand name, it's high level of marketing/advertising, and nowdays it is just a mere popularity "fad" of the mmos. It's almost like wearing "Levis" in school. Everyone's gotta wear own atleast a couple of pairs of Levis to be "cool". Hehe.
- Zaxx
Lmfao. Bob Dylan is respectable. Hehe. I'll buy that for five bucks. If he was so good long ago, his music is somehow "not good" anymore and it just somehow magically transformed into "crap"??? Come on now. Hehe. And the "Now we all just wish he'd just die" made me laugh really hard. Too funny. Thanks, I needed that!
- Zaxx
Lmfao. Bob Dylan is respectable. Hehe. I'll buy that for five bucks. If he was so good long ago, his music is somehow "not good" anymore and it just somehow magically transformed into "crap"??? Come on now. Hehe. And the "Now we all just wish he'd just die" made me laugh really hard. Too funny. Thanks, I needed that!
- Zaxx
Ha ha, did you ever see that documentury about him when he was giving a live radio interview? That guy is a real A-hole for sure, thus the "wish he would die" part.
As far as AC goes I really can't judge the game because I've never played it, I just couldn't resist replying to the SPice Girls/Rolling stones analogy.
I know the thought is mind-boggling, but I do believe it to be true.
Erm point of correction: AC is currently significantly below the 50k account mark. As of March they stated they had about 30k accounts. MMMORPGCHART.COM doesn't believe them though and thinks they're closer to 15k accounts. Personally I suspect they're probably in the 22k to 25k accounts range.
Either way... AC players better hope that the subscriber count is what's growing, not just the 'active player' count. (note: Those are two entirely different animals)
And, I say again: If Turbine wants AC to have a snowball's chance in "H...E... Doulbe L" of growing they need to put out a free trial. Even then the graphics are SOOO outdated that a lot of people will be turned off by them. The engine is over 7 years old and has never been upgraded. They did a re-skin of the artwork but you can only do so much with a 10 year old graphics engine.
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Sig image Pending
Still in: A couple Betas
Asheron's Call is indeed growing. I've ran across a lot of new players the past couple of months that say that this is their first time ever in the game. The ones I've seen are a little overwhelmed with everything that has been added to the game like tinkering and the trade market and stuff. I guess since there is no free trial, the credit for any growth must be given to the downloadable client available at direct2drive.com or whatever it is. Still, that really makes you think that if turbine would simply offer a free trial that they might really see a growth in a pretty stale mmo market these days. A lot of people are looking for a deeper game experience and holding out for games like Age of Conan or Warhammer. These people just might find a very nice home in AC1 if only they had a free trial available to them.
While I agree with zax that AC is a much better game then is WOW, you really cannot compare them. They are both mmos, but they really are completely different games and are tageting completely different audiences. AC1 would never see the numbers WoW has seen, even if it was given a whole new next gen engine and graphics resotration. Granted it would see a lot of growth if it did such, but would likely still not see over 300,000 players even with such an exhaustive overhaul.
I love AC myself, and will be there until it's final day. I have played it for over 6 years now without ever canceling my subs. By comparison, my WoW account lasted only 4 months before I reach level 50 and was bored out of my mind. WoW was a good relaxing game for mindless PvE. I'd play AC when I really wanted a real adventure and be on the edge of my seat as I tried to tink that uber piece of armor with a 10th tink and praying that I didn't blow it up. lol. The PvP in AC is definately exciting even after the 10 billionth battle! I still get on the edge of my seat when in unexplored dungeons that I still havent ever been to and WoW from level 1 to 50 has never, ever put me even close to the edge of my seat.
Stupid question,but why don't they take the good bits from AC2 and stick it in AC?
No annoying animated GIF here!
AC is a great game. It is my all time favorite, but the game won't last much longer because Turbine is doing absolutely nothing to attract new players. Turbine needs to combine all of the carebear servers onto one and figure out a way to allow a free trial without players exploiting the rank bonus. If Turbine doesn't take action AC won't make it much longer.
I used to have mad respect for Turbine, but after the horrible job they did releasing AC2 and the POS they made of DDO, I don't think I'll be trying anything else by them. They have just ignored AC for the past 4 years; why?!
Which FF Character Are You?
AC2 was even worse
DDO is a bomb, though it may survive just on name recognition from the looks of things
And god only knows how LOTRO is going to turn out. I mean... if you can screw up DDO .....
Anyhow... I don't have a whole lot of respect for Turbine.... AC1 is their only claim to fame and, lets face it, it's a decent game... but certainly not all that impressive when compared to it's competition. It never even caught UO, let alone EQ and DAOC.
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Sig image Pending
Still in: A couple Betas
I agree with you on most of what you say Elnator... especially the fact that Turbine should advertise, market and have free trials available for Asheron's Call and to not do so is beyond idiocity on their part.
But you continue to rank AC only by the population numbers it has recieved over the years. Come on man, you are a very smart guy. You know damn well that a games popularity has absolutely NOTHING to do with how good of a game it actually is. In this instance, Asheron's Call was 3 out of 3 back in the EQ/UO/AC days... But why? Exactly as you say is a BIG part of that. The fact that they didn't offer free trials and nearly as much advertising as did EQ and UO. Compare how many people tried EQ ro how many people that ever tried AC. The numbers for the people who tried EQ would probably blow away the number of people that tried AC. In fact, I have nothing to back this up, but I'd be willing to bet that if you could look at the percentages... I bet a lot higher percentage of the people that tried AC stayed with AC as opposed to the percentage of people who tried EQ and stayed with EQ. Again, this reflects back to a lack of advertising, free trials, and marketing.
I'm not flaming you Elantor, or even attacking you. I agree 100% with most of what you say. But you seem to be taking away from Asheron's Call "quality of the game" score because of it's lack of population numbers compared to other mmos. Seriously man, if AC has 20,000 subs and WoW has 7 million subs... does that really mean that WoW is a 350 times better game then is AC simply because 7 million is 350 times as many players as AC's 20,000?
If that's the case, I would disgree. In fact, I would argue that AC is a much better game then is WoW. And let me give you an unbiased, more logical reason to that statement....
AC > WoW. A more logical reason to explain why I say this then to simply say which ever one has a higher population is the best follows:
Look at this forums game ratings now. AC1 is getting an 8.1 score. WoW is also getting an 8.1. AC1 is much older and because of this, is lacking way behind WoW in the graphics scores. As it should. But despite this, AC is still averaging the same overall score mainly due to the scores that matter in categories like FUN, VALUE, ROLEPLAYING, and even customer service. So depite AC being 5 years older then WoW and despite it having considerably lower resolution and appetizing graphics, AC still is averaging the same overall score. That says a LOT more then simply pointing at popularity numbers to say which is the best. Sure, you can say only fanboys are giving AC such high score. But on the same token, are you gonna tell me that WoW doesn't have just as many..if not more... fanboys rating WoW with infalted numbers? Each game has its own high rankers and haters.. and in fact mmorpg throws out the extreme high and low ratings.
AC is atleast as good, if not a better game then WoW. Despite the graphics and age differences. Believe it or don't. Point at the numbers all you want. I still say that average overall player ratings for each game is a much better indication. WoW has the advatnage due to it being 5 years newer. And AC matches it's score. That, to me, says much more then how many people play.
- Zaxx
What is soo hard about simply talking about what is good about AC, and leaving it at that?
Letting AC stand on its own merits?
An idea - list in numerical order some of the many features about AC that make it a NICE game!
I see. It's okay for there to be 103 threads of Guild Wars -vs- WoW. And about 987 threads of EQ2 -vs- WoW. but somehow a thread comparing the differences and qualities of AC -vs WoW is somehow forbidden?
Besides.. AC is a much better game then WoW. If you don't believe me... just go ask anyone who is playing AC!!
Hehe.
- Zaxx
I see. It's okay for there to be 103 threads of Guild Wars -vs- WoW. And about 987 threads of EQ2 -vs- WoW. but somehow a thread comparing the differences and qualities of AC -vs WoW is somehow forbidden?
Besides.. AC is a much better game then WoW. If you don't believe me... just go ask anyone who is playing AC!!
Hehe.
- Zaxx
I fully agree with you here, I also don't agree with the million "WoW vs [insert name of game here]" thrreads either. Or other variations. What I am trying to get at, is if any game is good, everyone should simply list in numerical order what the good qualities are, then let the game stand on its own merits. AC is a NICE enough game with tons of features, that make AC stand out on its own. It can attract players without the need to "attempt to bash" other games. By listing what AC has, players will automatically see that other games do not have it (not just WoW)., and then be curious to check out AC.
Last if you and your nephews are true fans of AC, I was wondering, have you guys ever thought of rallying the AC fans on the Turbine forums to get Turbine to start offering 1 month free trials? Or at the least 2 week free trials?