Announcements - 2000/04 - Thorns of the Hopeslayer
Material retrieved from original Zone caches available at http://web.archive.org.
Original Link - http://www.zone.com/asheronscall/news/ashenewsthorns3.asp
The Thorns of the Hopeslayer
April 4, 2000
The Shadows, thought by the foolish to be in retreat, reveal that they are merely gathering for a final assault upon Dereth. Reports from spies have been incoherent, as if horror has rendered them senseless. Arm now! Attack may come at any time from any quarter, at first far from civilization, but in danger of stretching nearer to home. Asaina al-Arqis and other scholars have surmised that the goal of the Shadows is not merely victory but the spread of terror and despair. Do not be lulled by early success nor disheartened by the reappearance of the enemy as their tactics change. When the battle is joined, take the fight to their captains, wherever they may lurk, and punish them. All adventurers of all skill levels will be needed, and many can hope to their names written into the annals!
This month's major event, "The Thorns of the Hopeslayer," is upon us. In this pivotal conflict with darkness, the actions of the players will alter the course of events on a scale never before seen in an online game. Players who make special efforts to turn the tide will have their name broadcast for all to admire. This battle is not just for those of high level - some stages will require the participation of less advanced players. Join the defense!
Rollout
'Material retrieved from original Zone caches available at http://web.archive.org.
Original Link - http://www.zone.com/asheronscall/news/ashenewsspin7.asp
Release Notes
Material retrieved from original Zone caches available at http://web.archive.org.
Original Link -
The Thorns of the Hopeslayer
Asheron's Call Build Notes, April 4
Here are all the tiny little details of the game update that was made on April 4, 2000. This list is culled from "check-in" notes submitted by the game developers themselves. Things of greatest note are listed first.
Some changes are not in these build notes, because that would spoil the fun of finding all that has been added or changed! Some changes include major new things players can do to drive our evolving story forward, which we won't entirely reveal here. As usual, the Town Criers, Barkeeps, and Scribes may know the latest news! Also, the trades of crafting and selling are always in flux, so changes to prices and abilities of items are not always detailed here.
Detailed Notes for builds 2311-2318:
- The stage is set for an unparalleled battle! Travelers, beware of Shadows, and look for heroes among you who can determine the fate of the lands of Dereth.
- "Detached characters" (which recently caused some characters to temporarily appear missing) should now be a thing of the past. All characters that were not truly deleted will now appear in your character list. Some long-past characters may show up in this way. In some rare cases, you may have more characters than can show up in your character list. If your character slots are filled and you still think a character is missing, delete an unwanted character and wait for the "temporarily unavailable" label to vanish. This will allow one "overflow" character to show up. If you still feel a character is missing, read the "State of the Code" article.
- "Infused" pyreal ingots (used for Atlan weapons) can no longer be given to others! Before, there was a loophole where a player with a high weapon skill could use a glyph to stamp (or "infuse") the ingot to yield higher quality, then give it to a not-so-skilled player, who could get a superior weapon. We had to tolerate this until we fixed a bug. Now, you can NOT give the infused ingot to anyone else -- the future owner of the Atlan weapon will have to use the glyph on it him- or herself. Note that you can still have a skilled Alchemist form the ingot to begin with, and give the ingot away. In other words, non-infused pyreal ingots still can be traded among players freely.
- Experience point distribution within fellowships is generally more fair and logical. Before, which member of the fellowship made the kill affected how much XP was generated. If the kill was made by a fellow who was much higher level than the victim, the whole group's XP was reduced. Now, just the XP for the higher-level members is reduced. However, the flipside is also true: if a low-level fellow makes the kill on a victim of equal level, that fellow will get a non-reduced share of XP, but fellows that are higher level will get reduced XP. In most fellowship adventuring, less XP will be lost than was lost with the old system.
- Fixed was a recently discovered (by us) bug that justified cries of "kill stealing." We didn't understand these protests before, since the system was designed to give loot rights to whoever did the most damage, and XP division was proportional to the amount of damage done. However, we recently realized that damage above and beyond the victim's remaining hit points were being fully counted! Therefore, player A could fight a monster with 100 hit points, gradually do 60 points of damage, then have player B swoop in, kill the monster with one 70-point blow, and find that player B got loot rights and the majority of the XP. But player B didn't really do 70 points of damage; the monster only had 40 ht points to lose. This is now fixed, and in this scenario, player B will get credit for just the 40 points of damage, while player A will get credit for 60 points, and therefore get loot rights and the majority of the XP. This is not done as a balancing measure: we honestly thought it was working this way all along. It was designed this way, therefore this is a bug that needed to be fixed.
- Due to a bug fix, Crystal creatures are now more likely to attack by using bludgeoning damage. Therefore, during melee combat, Crystal creatures may be a bit more damaging than before if you are not well protected against bludgeoning.
- New technology enables players to affect worldwide properties as part of major events. You thought events were good before? That was nothin' compared to this stuff. And this is just the beginning.
- New technology to enable announcement and log-recording of players who accomplish major tasks in worldwide event quests.
- Exitless room in Ancient Lighthouse dungeon -- added a lever to this room!
- Door facing wrong way in Mountain Fortress dungeon -- fixed.
- NPCs now will give items to you, even if your option is set not to take items from other players.
- There are rumors of a bloody assassination of a well-known master of his art . . . Surely this is not the end of this drama.
- PK players can't heal monsters with healkits anymore. This was an annoying loophole that allowed PKs to harass NPK players.
- Pyreal Motes, Slivers, Nuggets, Bars and Ingots now look like they should on the ground and in their icons. They didn't used to. They all looked like Twinkies. Now they all look different.
- Fixed the bug where locks always appraise as "trivial."
- Spring long past sprung; Bunnies not so busy.
- Night ambience is now brighter, by around 12%.
- Mana Stones now have icons that better reflect their power levels. This applies mostly to charged stones you buy from vendors. Instead of looking the same in their icons, making it harder to tell them apart in a bag of stones, they now have icons that reflect the power levels.
- Sho & Gharu'ndim bowyers buy fletching items. The bowyers in Al-Jalima, Stonehold, and Yaraq sold lockpicks as well as bowyer stuff. They will also buy lockpicks along with bowyer/fletching stuff.
- Now only you hear noise when you sell something to a vendor. You won't hear the sales of others.
- Rope bridge supports are no longer see-through in dungeons.
- Magma Golem light is brightened towards red more.
- Most Atlan Staff weapons were being held incorrectly. Too far towards the base. Fixed.
- Shoushi Grotto -- Reduced lighting in several rooms and most hallways. This dungeon was too bright.
- The undead Baron of Colier no longer leaves his Electric Long Sword on his corpse.
- Added missing acid pool to a pit in the Incunabula dungeon.
- Special vats, fonts, pools, fountains, and wells now cast their old spells on players when used. When a flask is used on these objects you will get a flask of water. Double the usage, double the fun!
- Casting portal recall spells now make you play some purple bubbly physics scripts for about two seconds before blipping you away.
- Target drudges in festival grounds don't give old cheese for loot now. Oops. Yes, the days of free cheese are sadly at an end. Blame the Shadows.
- Amullian coat no longer has humpback.
- Flowers have been thinned out Dereth-wide.
Recap
'Material retrieved from original Zone caches available at http://web.archive.org.
Original Link (now dead) - http://www.zone.com/asheronscall/news/ashenewsthorns3.asp
Field Report on the Shadow Invasion
April 11, 2000
As you know, Asheron's Call has the unique distinction of providing its players with a world that undergoes major changes each month, immersing everyone in a grand plot. The wicked work of the Gelidites plunged Dereth into a sudden winter, which was stopped when brave players shattered the Great Work, a crystal that was sucking the heat from the land. A beautiful spring spread over Dereth, and a huge obsidian bridge, apparently concealed by the ancient Empyrean, appeared over the River Prosper, much to the delight of travelers. However, a new scourge arose, perhaps also triggered by the destruction of the Great Work: deadly Crystal Fragments and horrible Shadow creatures beset adventurers in the wilderness. Sages uncovered clues enabling them to reconstruct the ancient Atlan weapons, forged of old to defeat a similar invasion of Shadows. Skilled smiths examined the weapons and used certain principles of their design to create new armor, using the gemlike substances left behind by Shadows and Crystals. Meanwhile, menacing spire citadels erupted from the earth to loom over several towns, and some swore that a chilling, invisible presence teleported them up into these spires to ask maddening questions. Doubts as to the sanity of the “abductees” remain.
This month, the world seemed to grow calm for a time . . . but it was the calm before the storm. The gibbering of long-range scouts led some to suspect the worst was yet to come. They were justified in their fear. Read the following tale of a Blademaster who saw the action firsthand.
Our greatest fears have been realized. The cursed Shadows have invaded Dereth in their greatest show of force to date! A chill went down my spine as my fellowship and I heard the following whispers: “In the dark of the obsidian wasteland, where great magics wrought destruction long ago, the Shadows stir and awaken. The Hand stretches forth once more . . .”Obsidian wasteland? That sounded like an apt description of where we were: the Obsidian Plain in the southern Direlands! In fear, not wishing to be anywhere near this “stretching Hand,”we ran northward. Just as we were starting to feel foolish for our flight, the sizzle of emerging enemies surrounded us, and we were staring into the blank faces of the Shadows, voids which walk in human form. We fought bravely, but soon, battered and drained, we retreated pell-mell to Fort Tethana, which was massed with defenders. After I recovered somewhat, I went to a local mage and was just in the process of buying mana stones, when a great commotion erupted. A dread Shadow Captain appeared within the walls of the Fort! We quickly found it to be as strong as a Panumbris, and just as in my previous encounters with an enemy of such might, I was quickly dispatched to a Lifestone.
As I ran back to Tethana, I heard new words on the winds: “The darkness has been checked in the Northern Direlands. The brave defenders of Fort Tethana have prevailed!”I even heard the name of the mage that laid the killing blow to the Shadow Captain. (He belongs to a rival allegiance, so I hesitate to add to his glory.) However, I also heard this dying utterance from our foe: “The tides of war shift . . . another captain shall appear, perhaps in a different settlement . . .”I soon arrived back at the fort, where the fallen were visiting their corpses alongside me. As we talked excitedly about this turn of events, my patron sent me a message: though the Shadows were slowing their attack near Tethana, presumably due to the death of their Captain, a new invasion had begun in the desert and the swamps of the Direlands. Then my friends from afar told me they saw waves of the enemy near the northern bridge from the Direlands to Osteth. “The Shadows are reaching eastward!”cried a sorceress. Her alarm only added to mine, and I sensed a panic among those who wanted to flee the invasion, and a frenzy among those who wanted to resist it. My fellowship and I wanted to fight, and as we traveled, we heard the rumor that another Captain -- or the same one, back from the dead? -- was terrorizing the town of Plateau.
My stout vassal, herself an axe warrior, hefting her newly acquired Silifi of Crimson Stars, urged us to skip Plateau, for surely the battle against that Captain would be over before we arrived. “Where will they strike next?”she mused, as we all seemed to instinctively know that epic events come in threes. She scrutinized her map. “Tethana . . . Plateau . . . What is next in line?”We said together: “Stonehold!”We ran onward, sped by a helpful enchanter who lightened our feet. As we traveled, we heard ringing in the air another pronouncement that my patron had defeated the Captain in Plateau, and that now Mt. Esper was under threat. I sent hasty congratulations, but I ached for a battle of my own, despite the doom that awaited me.
As we approached Stonehold, we met again with the armies of the void. We were seized by bloodlust -- or lust for whatever flowed in those things -- and fought more skillfully than we ever had before. We scarcely paused to loot the fallen as we made for Stonehold. The town bustled with adventurers girding for battle, but none stayed for long -- they ran off to fight their foes in the surrounding countryside. We remained close to town, helping frightened folk too ill-prepared to survive the trek outward, but always returning to the main square. Just as we were doubting the wisdom of our plan, we heard a sickening crackle, and suddenly, right next to me, stood the negated form of the Shadow Captain.
Why I did not run I do not know, and even less do I understand how I survived. I owe my life to a selfless Life Mage who healed and refreshed me over and over, bringing me always back from the brink of death. In my frenzy I slashed the Captain again and again, buffeted by her spells, but determined to beat my enemy or die trying. My fellowship dug in as well, though the Captain seemed only to desire my blood. Finally, with one mighty blow, I cleft her in twain. This time I heard my own name trumpeted to the skies, and along with the cheers of those around me, I received messages of congratulations and wonderment from seemingly everyone in Dereth. I have never felt so exhilarated.
This final blow seemed to bring an uneasy peace to the land; no new waves of Shadows appeared anywhere. Soon we went to work cutting through the lingering Shadows, who thankfully now did not regenerate after we laid them low. In this way we made safe passages for travelers to and from Stonehold.
I hear the spies, who were unwisely ignored before, now mutter that the leaders of the Shadows know better than to keep showing up in towns, and have been doing so in order to distract us. The real quest, they say, will take us far from the safety of streets and houses. They say that there are mightier foes to come, and that they will seek better-fortified vantage points from which to command their armies. They say that only by running away from the leaders may we come to them. Then, with a nervous glance upward, they fall into a demented silence . . .
The best is yet to come, everyone! Stay vigilant, for no one can tell the day when the next blow will fall, or from where. One hint though . . . we will never make masses of monsters invade a town! Though it is an exciting notion, to do so creates “hotspots” of player density that have a negative effect on gameplay. Fort Tethana was not singled out for “invasion,” having only the usual random scattering of foes nearby, but everyone in the Direlands ran to the Fort with Shadows on their tail, thereby making it look like the invasion they feared! If you are looking for an intense battle with the smoothest play, seek it out in the open, not in a crowded town. Yes, for drama there may be times when an enemy or two appear briefly in a town, but it won't be easy to figure out where -- and as our story above relates, the invasion leaders can shift tactics at any moment. Keep adventuring abroad, come to town to restock, and head out once again into the breach!