Announcements - 2010/02 - Winter's Knight

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February 2010 - Patch Page

Teaser Images

Asheron.wikia.com

AC Mystics

ACvault

Dereth.info

Warcry's CoD

Teaser

Original Link - http://ac.turbine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=540-winters-knight&catid=81-2010&Itemid=68

Winter's Knight

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No word… it had been hours since the designated report time. This mission was supposed to levy the fight in their direction, but it was quickly turning into the biggest failure to date. It seemed that eager in his willingness to fight for the colors they wore, another soldier was lost to the night. Now it was time to decide if they should continue trying to achieve this mission, or to cut their losses and accept the defeat.

Jiro Sasaki sighed "The risk is too great. We’ve attempted this mission twice already and have not heard back from either of our operatives. Sending in more will just incur more losses."

Shoici Kimura quickly replied "It is a difficult mission sir. But if we give up now those losses were for nothing, a true tragedy."

Being the head of operations planning was the most challenging job that Jiro had ever attempted. When things went smoothly he shared the praise with his men. But when plans failed, the blame was his alone. Perhaps he had been too ambitious in his latest plans. After commandeering Freebooter Keep and establishing a beachhead on Nyr’leha it seemed these troops could not be defeated. Maybe his over-confidence had cost the lives of those two brave warriors.

"Sir those men believed in the mission as much as they believe in you. We all believe this mission can be a success. We just need the right person. The previous volunteers were rife with eagerness, which masked their lacking skills. Jiro, we must try at least once more."

As he looked at his second in command, his most trusted of friends, Jiro realized that not only was Shoici sure the mission could be completed but he had also already found another candidate. Shoici had been with him through many trials over the past year and he had learned to trust his judgment. Jiro wouldn’t even be here to make this decision if it hadn’t been for the dedicated actions of Shoici during that catastrophe early in their careers.

"So you have picked the new candidate yourself then?"

"This is one of the most highly skilled individuals in the society, with skills proven on many fronts. From the Graveyards of Rytheryn, to the shores of Freebooter Isle, if this one can’t succeed then no one else can."

Jiro waited for the candidate to be brought before him. The question was whether to be direct and let the soldier know how much of the future depended on the outcome or to hide the importance of the endeavor. If this one was as strong as Shoici was convinced of, performing under the weight of the truth would not become an issue. The door opened and the candidate entered with confidence, Shoici followed in behind, shutting the door as he entered and watched for Jiro’s reaction. Jiro Sasaki looked up to see the face of the one who would either be called the failure, or the hero. Unlike the previous candidates it was not excitement that Jiro saw, but determination and intelligence. The future looked brighter already.

"I am sure you know why you are here so I will get straight to the point. This mission you must perform alone. If you should be captured, do not expect to be rescued. The successful completion of this mission is of the utmost importance. Do not fail us."

The soldier nodded, turned, and then left the room with as much confidence as when he entered, and without uttering a single word. All Jiro could do now was wait.

Rollout Article

Original Link - http://ac.turbine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=541-february-rollout-fiction&catid=81-2010&Itemid=68

February Rollout Fiction

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Master Craftsman Takahume walked out of the darkness of his workshop into the light of the coming dawn. "Looks like it'll be another clear day, wouldn't you say, Primus Atamarr?" asked Takahume, as he handed an oversized bottle of Bloodseeker Oil to the large mechanical man waiting outside.

"Indeed it does, Master Takahume, indeed it does," was the massive Gear Knight's rumbling reply.

Gesturing to the container the Gold Gear Primus was now inspecting, Takahume continued, "It's Bloodseeker Oil. It's usually used for refining arrowheads and the like, but in your case, it should help keep the sand out of your gears."

"My thanks to you, Master Takahume. The sand has not been kind to my body, but it is not as bad as other things in this world," Atamarr said, gesturing about at the landscape. "I lost many good friends to the rigors of this place, especially to the north." Atamarr fell silent for a moment, seeming to be focused on cleaning out the Xarabydun sands from his gears. He then moved to testing the oil on his joints, seeming pleased by its effectiveness. The master craftsman watched quietly for a few minutes, musing on how the Gear Knights as a whole kept themselves functional, let alone battle-ready, without constant cleaning. "The mountains of this place cost me one of my best," Atamarr finally said.

"How so?" ventured Takahume, suddenly interested in the path the conversation was taking, and sensing another chance to learn more about his recently rebuilt guest. Since he found the Gold Gear Primus and managed to collect the massive amount of gears, Aetherium and Core pieces needed to reanimate him; the craftsman had been trying every trick in the book to wheedle more info out of the quiet Gear Knight. No matter the tact used, however, Atamarr had remained focused on the present, and his desire to both restore his lost entourage and to learn the real reasons the Gear Knights, led by the Iron Blade, had been invading Dereth.

"One of my entourage, an accomplished tracker named Ordas Myr, journeyed far into the northern lands. He was seeking Yalani survivors who had fled the Olthoi Horde. He wasn't heard from again, so I can only assume that either his Aetherium Core expired, or his body was damaged beyond function while he traversed the mountain ranges," Atamarr said, his tone shifting from his usual regal, driven basso to a quiet introspective tone, touched with sadness. "He was a Primus of the Silver Scope House, and the best tracker I ever knew. He was also a master of the crossbow, true to the name of his House," he finished, as Takahume began writing down observations of the Primus' display of empathy. Taking note of this, Atamarr asked, "I take it you find it noteworthy that my race is capable of emotion?"

Somewhat embarrassed with being caught, Takahume dropped his notes and replied, "I... um... my apologies, Primus Atamarr. There is still so much we do not know about your people." Regaining some of his composure, he asked, "Do you know where in the north Ordas Myr ventured?"

Atamarr thought for a moment, and then replied, "The last report I received from his small scouting party noted that they were about to cross to a mountainous isle. It was somewhere along the northern coast of Dereth. Ordas was always eager to help those in need of succor. He was convinced he would find refugees hiding up in those peaks. Even the barest hope or rumor was enough to set him to the task. He was impossible to stop once he set his mind to something." Still sounding sad, and the task of cleaning his many gears obviously forgotten, he quietly added, "We never heard from any of them again."

"Well, we can enlist the aid of the adventurers that helped me reassemble you. I'll prepare a request to the College of Town Criers, and ask them to spread the word to keep an eye out for signs of the lost party. My people have a knack for finding things, no matter how long they've been lost." Takahume scooped up his dropped parchment, looked a bit sadly at his now sand-filled quill, and continued, "I'll see to it today. The sooner we can find your entourage, the sooner we can find a means to put an end to this unnecessary conflict between our people."

"A sentiment I return as well, Master Craftsman," Atamarrr replied, the vigor returning to his voice as he gestured towards the portal drop area of Xarabydun, "It seems another hunting party has come bearing supplies for us. Let us greet them properly."

Takahume glanced over and saw the first of the fellowship emerge from Portalspace, which was clearly empty ground when the Primus gestured in that direction only moments ago. How does he do that? wondered the Master Craftsman.

Release Notes

Original Link - http://ac.turbine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=537-february-2010-release-notes&catid=81-2010&Itemid=68

February 2010 Release Notes

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Greetings and welcome to the February Release Notes! This month marks the second update of 2010. This year is shaping up to be another great one, and the team has lots of surprises in store for everyone in the coming months. So lets see what is new and exciting this month in Asheron’s Call!

• Based on player feedback, we have added more command shortcuts this month. These new commands are:
  • /ah – allegiance hometown
  • /ls - lifestone
  • /mp - marketplace
  • /hr – house recall
• Trade notes now stack to 250 and no longer have a burden.
• Mana Forge Key Rings can now be crafted.
• The Missing level 8 spells should now be craftable. Defender, Blood Drinker, Spirit Drinker, will have level 7 power but level 8 durations. Spirit Loather will be a normal level 8 spell.
• The Pine Tree Texture has been redone. Make sure you check it out.
• Enhanced Arm/Heart/Mind can now be dyed.
• Master Viamontian robes no longer say dyeable.
• The top two Eater Jaw turn-ins, now share 1/3rd of the xp.
• Stonefists/Killagurg/Azaxis have had some adjustments made to how they work. This change should reduce the chance of these rooms having issues.
• Several typos in the New Player Hub have been fixed.
• The Societies of Dereth have found a way to help their members become more effective in battle. Players who have achieved Master rank will now be able to gain a new blank Augmentation Gem every three weeks through their chosen Society.
• The Gear Knight Storage Box has had its respawn timer shortened.

So there are just some of the things we have in store for Asheron's Call in February. Please remember that along with everything listed here, there are several new quests and exciting things going into the game for the February Event.

Developer Comments

Multi-slot armor

2/9/2010 - Link

Greetings,

For a while now many players have posted concerns about multi-slot pieces of armor and clothing and the ways they are unfriendly to the play experience. In particular is the desire to have the visual impact of certain multi-slot pieces without totally sacrificing stats.

We are working on solutions to make this a little more player friendly. Our goal is to make this better without invalidating current suits or trivializing the process of acquiring armor. I wanted to go over several thoughts we had in our early design stages to let the players give some input.

~ First, shirt and pants clothing (we are not talking armor) would be fixed so any pants and shirt combination gives abdomen coverage. Basically all pants will cover, at a minimum, abdomen and upper legs. This means existing pieces will be extended to cover the abdomen. All shirts would also be fixed so they only cover chest so as not to interfere with pants. This should leave existing player suits intact without additional holes in coverage.

~ Second, a new quest would be introduced so once per month players could, at some effort and/or expense, transform one coat/shirt/hauberk into a breast plate while retaining the visual look of the piece. The piece would be set up so it would still visually cover multiple areas, effectively overriding the visual piece that is already there.

~ Third, a new quest would be introduced so once per month players could, at some effort and/or expense, transform one set of pants into a girth while retaining the visual look of the piece. The piece would also be set up so it would still visually cover multiple areas, effectively overriding the visual piece that is already there.

~ Fourth, we are considering changing all long leather gloves into single slot hands and shorts into single slot abdomen pieces. They would still cover the same areas visually, but they would be single slot armor. Our main concern is some exisiting characters that used these items would now have holes in coverage they would have to fill.

We could also in the future add the capability to the once per month quest to change sleeves into pauldrons and leggings into tassets while, again, keeping the same visual look.

~ Finally, with all this look swapping I am going to look at adding armor coverage into the examination panel when you look at another character. No promises on this; I would need to examine the tech involved.

(We looked at a few other suggestions; for example to allow single slot pieces to be crafted onto multi-slot pieces but they were not feasible with our current tech.)

Sev~

Severlin Producer

Facility Hub & updates to other quests

2/16/2010 - Link

Q: I found that the Male Tusker and Revenant in the Sylsfear Dungeon were given unique names and death messages about their keys, just like some quests that became a part of the Facility Hub. Was Sylsfear going to be part of the hub but didn't make the cut? --An Adventurer

A: When the Hub was added several other old quests with similar mechanics were also updated. Many monsters that drop keys now have unique names and death messages. A few items have more information about what you do with them when you find them also. In general we did a pass on a variety of low level quests when evaluating what was going to go into the hub, as a result of that some minor changes were made to quests that actually didn't end up in the hub.

The general rule for getting into the hub was that there had to be a unique quest reward at the end and it was weighted higher if that reward was of a weapon/armor/jewelry type that wasn't already in the hub. This was after a much larger selection of quests were chosen based on difficulty and game play experience.

Django Turbine Staff