Announcements - 2010/01 - Reforging the Past
January 2010 - Patch Page
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Original Link - http://ac.turbine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=533-reforging-the-past&catid=81-2010&Itemid=68
Reforging the Past
“There are dark days ahead”
The man rested back against the chair as he spoke this, his eyes showing deep thought as the words flowed out. Jovanni stood in front of the desk. He understood the gravity of the situation well as he had been briefed on it all before.
“If the whisperings are true then there most certainly is, although people will be blinded by the celebrations ahead.”
The man pushed himself forward. His eyes now focused with determination as the plan formed within his head. Loyalty filled Jovanni’s veins making him the perfect face for the operation. Able to follow the commands sent down from above without question, while perfectly instructing those beneath him.
“We are going to need warriors, hardened and ready for battle. The enemy will be stronger than us. We will need sufficient numbers to hold them at bay.”
“I agree, what shall we do?”
“We will offer guidance to those new to these lands. A center they can gather in and be led the way to skill and power. The training will be accelerated for we do not know how much time we have before the enemy strikes.”
“Do you think they can handle it, all that training in a shortened span of time, their powers growing quicker than those who came before? Isn’t there a risk of pushing them too far, too fast? Couldn’t they hit a breaking point and become useless to use, useless to this world?"
The man thought over his plan, training would separate the weak from the rest. True leaders would emerge and rise to the top. In times of great struggle man has to sacrifice, has to bleed, and has to give all of himself to the cause. Those who broke would in turn make the others stronger, more determined to prevail. In a way they were doing their own part, even if it meant they would never be the same again.
“It is a risk we have to take. There will be those who don’t make it, but for the ones that do they will be strong.”
“I understand. It is just difficult to think about, but I know what is at stake. So what are my orders going forward?”
“We need to set up a training center and have plans in the making to direct all new arrivals to pass through. This is stage one of the plan and we need you, Jovanni, to oversee the operation of the facility, to keep an eye on the new arrivals and keep note of any that show promise.”
Jovanni knew he was going to be in command of some part of the operation, never had he considered it would be one of such high importance. Apparently his superiors saw something in him of worth, he couldn’t help but wonder at what it would be. Then he clued in on the phrase “stage one”, his curiosity as to what else might be involved.
“I thank you for that honor and I will not let you down. If I may ask, what comes after stage one?”
“The second stage of the operation isn’t as overt as the first. We have searched out people who will aid us in secret; they will offer a faster level of training to the unwitting recruits as they exit the facility. This way we can continued the increased rate of training while seeing how they perform without direct guidance. This is a crucial step, independence. Now you must depart for the facility at once, new arrivals will be showing up shortly.”
Jovanni arrived at the facility and performed a thorough inspection of both the building and the wardens under him. They seemed a capable bunch and the program appeared to have been well planned out. It was a smooth pipeline the recruits would flow through, it was as efficient as it was innocent in appearance.
As Jovanni made his way back to the entrance of the building he noticed his first arrival making his way down the stairs. He quickly mulled over the speech he had prepared before greeting the young man.
“Welcome. We're an independent group organized to ensure that adventurers are as capable as possible. We are currently working on improving our connections with the Exploration Society. You did get the orb that brought you here from them.”
“We’ve searched out a variety of tests for worthy adventurers and erected a portal network as a support structure. Talk to our wardens, they'll grant access to the portals and tell you what we need done. If you return to us with proof of your deeds we'll see to it that you're rewarded with practical knowledge that will serve you well in future adventures."
“To my left are the easier tasks, to my right are the harder tasks. If you go straight you'll find access to other tasks for which we won't be able to reward you but are worth the effort. Best of luck to you and I wish you a safe journey”
The plan was in motion and the first recruit had already arrived. There was no turning back, no questioning the plan. Only the future knew if the right decisions had been made.
Rollout Article
Original Link - http://ac.turbine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=536-rollout-fiction&catid=81-2010
Rollout Fiction
Master Craftsman Takahume sat at a makeshift desk, poring over documents and maps. “He’s got to be out here somewhere,” he said to his assistant.
“Are we sure?”
“There’s no other place they could’ve placed him.” Takahume nodded at the notes, artifacts, and signs tracking the passage of the Gear Knights once they had arrived in Dereth. The once tidy tent had quickly become overrun by all the records of their ongoing investigation.
“And the information we recovered in our searches of the ruins was accurate?” asked the assistant raising his voice to be heard over the excavations outside the tent. A great many Arcanum researchers were excavating this ruin, in the middle of the Olthoi-infested region of northern Dereth. This excavation site was the fourth such one in the last few weeks, with the previous ones failing to turn up Gear Knights, but providing more clues to their actual location.
“They have to be, or I don’t think we’ll ever find a way to stop this invasion,” replied Takahume, without ever lifting his eyes from the stacks of research notes he was sifting through. “The Gold Gear Primus is our best hope to end this before it turns into full-scale war. We have enough enemies in Dereth, without those damnable Apostate Virindi setting us up with a new one. Especially one this powerful and organized.”
“If we can turn the Gear Knights into allies, would it make that much of a difference?” asked the assistant.
“Indeed it could,” Takahume replied. “If we could even redirect the Gear Knights against their actual enemies, the Apostates, we’d be in a much better situation than we are now. If the Gear Knights are as honorable and driven as Nurino’s findings indicate...”
Takahume’s discussion with his assistant was suddenly interrupted by a startled cry from outside. As quickly as the cry went up, the sounds of shouting and battle erupted from the guards, along with the telltale shrieks of a large band of Olthoi.
“Not now…” sighed Takahume, as he grabbed his casting orb and ran out the front of his tent. Queen Elysa’s guards were stationed around the perimeter, to keep any bands of Olthoi from interfering with the work or killing any of the researchers, and it sounded like their defenses were now being tested. Takahume quickened his pace.
The scene outside was a grisly one. A large party of Olthoi had engaged the Royal Guards on two sides of the site, while a third group had tunneled into the area and attacked the researchers directly. While the guards were fairly evenly matched against their foes, they were hard-pressed to get any aid to the researchers without sacrificing their line of defense.
“It seems we’ve worn out our welcome,” Takahume said to his assistant, while whipping off a spell to heal an injured guard nearby. He may have been mostly trained in arts other than combat, but he had a fair bit of skill at Empyrean Magics, and he wasn’t about to let his less skilled researchers suffer when it was in his power to help.
“It seems so, indeed,” came the reply, as the assistant pulled a cestus from his belt, grabbed a shield from near the tent entrance, and threw himself at a pair of Eviscerators who were tearing apart a group of researchers. “A good many of us will need to be picked up at the Lifestones today, I’m afraid.”
Their conversation was soon lost to conflict, as the stream of attacking Olthoi increased. After several minutes, a large number of guards had died, as well as about half the researchers. The sheer number of Olthoi corpses in the area was impressive, but as was the case when the Olthoi got organized, for every one that fell, two took their place. Takahume began to wonder if their excavations had annoyed a local Matron, or young Olthoi Queen. The Olthoi rarely were this intelligent in their attacks without a Matron or Queen organizing them.
“We can’t afford to lose this site to them!” Takahume yelled to the remaining defenders. “There’s no telling how much damage they’ll do if they overrun us and we need to get reinforcements! We could lose the trail to the Primus completely!”
The researchers were doing their best to stay together in tight groups and defend themselves, but most had little to no actual combat experience. They were mostly surviving by using whatever they could get their hands on as cover. Struggling, those with some skill at Life Magic or Healing were doing their best to keep their defenders alive until the guards could get to them. They had managed to slow the rate of their losses, but more and more were falling to the Olthoi with every passing moment, the spirits of the fallen rushed to their Lifestones. Takahume was also not looking forward to a trip to the Lifestone. He had managed to make it many years in Dereth without ever dying, and it was an experience he had hoped to avoid at all costs.
He turned to provide more healing support to the front line of guards when he heard a sound behind him that sent chills up his spine. A half-dozen Mutilators had gotten inside the lines, and were coming up behind him fast. Behind them was a young Matron, emerging from the tunnel the Olthoi had used to attack the researchers directly. With a certain resigned finality, he turned to face this new threat. Better to slow them down than to let them tear into the guards from behind. Maybe he could even make the Matron more vulnerable to the guards’ attacks before he fell.
As the Mutilators closed in, a rumbling sound arose from the ground at Takahume’s feet. “Oh great, now what…” muttered the crafter. Just then, a gauntleted bronze arm ripped free from the ground, grabbing the closest Olthoi by the leg and spinning it into the remainder of the charging insects. A badly damaged, sparking Gear Knight rose slowly from the ground, shaking dirt from his joints as he did so.
“You will not have my Lord, vermin!” the Gear Knight bellowed at the Olthoi, as he staggered forward and engaged the insects that moved to protect the Matron. Takahume was stunned, and stood there for a moment, watching the Gear Knight advance. He had come hoping to find the Gear Knights, but he never expected to be saved by one in the process. “Well,” he said to himself, “I guess we’ve finally found what we were looking for.”Release Notes
Original Link - http://ac.turbine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=532-january-2010-release-notes&catid=81-2010
January 2010 Release Notes
Greetings and welcome to the January 2010 Release Notes! This is our first update for the New Year and we have some exciting things planned for this year. New players are getting some much needed love this month, and we feel this will make those early levels much more user friendly. This among other things will make this month a great way to start off the New Year. So let’s see what is new and exciting this month in Asheron’s Call!
New Player Hub
The Asheron’s Call team is always trying to improve the overall experience that players have when in Dereth. Over the years there have been many changes that have affected how new players experience the game. Due to the increasing average level range of players, more stress has been placed on having a smooth process for advancing new characters. Where it was once accepted practice to float around Dereth as a drifter for weeks finding new quests with other players in your level range, now players must first ascend to a higher level to meet the average player. Due to this we’ve decided to introduce a more guided New Player Experience that introduces players to the land and stories of Dereth using pre-existing quests. This update also introduces significant additional rewards for running these quests.
Upon exiting a starter dungeon or interacting with an Exploration Society greeter the player will receive an orb. This orb has hints of a greater cause but requires the player to advance to level 10 before they’ll be able to equip it and see where it leads them. Upon reaching the 10th level a player will be able to use the orb’s innate spell on themselves to find what lies ahead.
Coming out of portal space the player is introduced to a group of adventurers who have banded together with the cause of assisting new adventurers in attaining the experience they need to defend Dereth from the greater dangers it faces. The Facility Steward will explain to players the functions of this Portal Hub. Portal Wardens stand vigilant watch waiting for new players to tell them of adventures and ask of them proof of their deeds. Each Portal Warden watches over a portal that leads to near a specific quest and asks proof of that quests completion in exchange for bits of practical knowledge (also known as experience).
The Hub is separated into seven different areas. Each Hub is intended to increase the player 5 levels across the span of three quests. The Hub also provides access to other non-associated quests that are worth running, namely Pincer and Tusk quests from level 1 to 40, as well as a portal to Dryreach with directions to the Tumerok Camp sites. At any time a player may use their orb to return to the Hub.
Portal Wardens are only interested in seeing items you have found on your adventures in exchange for rewards, they allow you to keep anything you show them. A player who completes all the quests in the hub and shows each warden proof of their deeds will find themselves nearing the level 50 mark.
We feel this is a tremendous step in the right direction not only for our existing players, but also for any new players coming into Asheron’s Call.
Miscellaneous Changes
Game Quest Timers have been standardized. The longest quest timer is now 27 days.
We have fixed an issue with the Gift Box Quest.
The Niffis on Freebooter Isle has been rebalanced to be a bit more difficult based on the matching the quality of loot it drops.
Poison Health has been removed from Sclavus due to some warriors feeling they are too squishy to handle this.
Ries Woron now offers a yes/no dialog if the quest has been running for more than 5 minutes.
Ries Woron will trade a piece of Thug armor for the same piece, to allow people to get rid of their pieces that they have used Ivory on.
Cleaving should now always hit the target that the player has selected instead of everything but.
Aqua Vitae has had its stack size increased to 1500.
Several bugs/issues with Mhoire Castle have been fixed or adjusted based on player feedback.
New command shortcuts for the slow typers among us.
- /all = /allegiance
- /cor = /corpse
- /hou = /house
- /lif = /lifestone
- /mar = /marketplace
- /pka = /pkarena
- /pkl = /pklite
- /pla = /pklarena
- /hor = /house recall
- /hom = /house mansion_recall
- /hoa = /house alleg_recall
- /alh = /allegiance hometown
- /allegiance commands - br = broadcast ch=chat ho=hometown
- /house commands - re=recall ma=mansion_recall
This month we have also gone through several quests to give them an XP overhaul. We have also changed how the XP will share Pincer and Jaw turn-in quests. As of the January update 1/3 of the xp from these quests will be given as shareable XP, the rest will be given out as no share.
For example if you turn in a Pincer that gives 21 million XP, 7 million of that would be shared. Your character would then see the message:
- You've earned 7,000,000 experience.
- You've earned 14,000,000 experience.
Here is a list of the updated quests and the XP they now give out.
Quests:
- Banderling Shrine - 8million
- Crafting Forges - 100% PXP capped at 10/20/30 million depending on the dungeon you run
- Enrico's Betrayal - 100% PXP (spread across 3 turn ins so 33% 33% 34%) cap 15 million
- Mukkir Orb - 100% cap 10 million, 50% cap 15 million, 33% cap 23 million, 33% cap 33 million
- Snow Lillies - 100% cap 20 million
- Balor's Rescue - 10million note 20 million fur
- Darling's Collar - lvl restriction lowered to 100. 17 million
- Crypt of Adhorix - 23 million
- Renegade Mace - 100% cap 29 million
- Blood Gem - 100% cap 15 million
- Pincers - Lowered to 1 week timer. 100% cap 500k/750k/850k - flat 1 million/2.5 million/5million/8 million/11 million
- Tursh Totem - 100% cap 11 million/23 million/ flat 30 million/45 million
- Refulgent Bracelet - 50% cap 4 million bracelet (non wearable version), 25% cap 2 million for each note
- Olthoi Chasm – 3 million/10/15/20/25
- Sword Bellenesse - 100% cap 40 million for handing in the attuned sword
- Suzuhara's Care Package - 2.5 million each step (5million total)
- Dark Spiral - Log Book 100% cap 13 million, Lore Book 100% cap 57 million
- Necklace of Elemental Adepts - 45 million note turn in
- Tusker Tusk - shortened to 1 week 100% pxp 100k/200/350/500/750/850/1 million/2.5 million - flat 3.5 million/5/6.5/8/11/20
- The Moars - 100% 500k/1 million/4 million flat 8 million/15 million
- Yanshi Shield – 30 million, extra 15 million first run
- Tethana Tug of War - 5.3 million
- Gaerlan's Citadel - Sword turn in @ level 40 -100% cap 3 million, @ level 80 60% cap 20 million @ level 80 22 million
- Littlest Niffis - 100% cap 20 million
- Gareth Dain - 100% PxP cap 18 million on translation
- Decrepit Tower - 33%(34%) cap 2.5 million each tassel turn in (100% cap 7.5million)
- Heart of Innocence - 100% cap 30 million
- Temple of Stirring Shadow – 10 million mace 5 million book
- Head of Baron Entemarre - 15 million
- Tanada Storm - 15 million
- Tanada Earth - 15 million
- Whispering Blade/Rossu Morta boots - 25 million
- Eater Jaws - shortened to 1 week. An extra eater jaw was added to the high level eater so it now drops 2 different jaws. The original jaw is still turned in for an augmentation gem on the 3 week timer; the new jaw is turned in for xp. 100% cap 2.5 million/ flat 8 million/15 million/35 million/40 million
- Frore - Token from end chest turn in at Mairisa bint Fuda - 100% Cap at 18 million
- Oswald's Dirk - Token from end chest turn in at Aaminah - 100% Cap at 18 million
- Overlord's Sword - Token from end chest turn in at Lieutenant Rothe - 100% cap at 18 million
- Orphanage - Token from end chest turn in at Arcanum for - 30 million
- Collegium Occultus Ring - XP for shard turn in - 45 million
Society Tasks: DI = Dark Isle; GY = Graveyard; FB = Freebooter; MC = Moarsman City
- DI Delivery to the Deep - 10 million
- DI Ruschk Boss - 15 million
- DI Black Coral - 10 million
- DI Reports - 15 million
- DI Scout - 10 million
- GY Boss Kill - 15 million
- GY Jaws - 15 million
- GY Wight Mage kill task - 15 million
- GY Cave tracing - 15 million
- GY Supply Delivery - 10 million
- FB Bandit Boss - 40 million
- FB Jungle Flower - 15 million
- FB Jungle Lily - 20 million
- FB Moar Gland - 20 million
- FB Moarsmen kill task - 20 million
- MC Coral Towers - 20 million
- MC Moarsmen kill tasks - 20 million each
- MC Spawn Pools - 20 million
- MC High Priest - 40 million
- MC Artifacts - 15 million
Developer Comments
VoD Spawn Dynamics
Q: I'm doing the VoD Virindi kill tasks and there are not enough Quidiox.
A: Back when I was hunting VoD a lot one of my favorite features was that as long as you stayed in an area the same creature type would respawn in that location, even if you killed the entire spawn. Best day I ever had in VoD was 6 spawns of Virindi all close enough that they never shifted, I think I did at least 12 hours of killing Virindi that day.
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Django Turbine Staff |