Asheron's Call 1 & 2 F2P, player-run servers

Arkael

Lord Nagafen Raider
70
5
I'm excited about it. I played this game for years and nothing else is like it. Don't think anyone is surprised they're not patching anymore but the private server thing is great news. Hopefully someone knowledgeable in both their software and the old school AC pvp game puts something together.

I tried going back to the game a year ago but it's just not the same. Years of shitty patches have ruined the pvp experience and the remaining playerbase is unique to say the least. The grind is also pretty silly to get back into it, you're looking at 1-2 months of 24/7 grinding (everybody bots) to max out a character. Everybody just buys accounts and currency now.

I'm sure bots/scripts will always be part of AC (not a bad thing imo) but if someone can rewind the game back to 2002 (with a few balance changes) and get some trustworthy people running it I wouldn't be surprised to see a few thousand people in 1 server again. There's going to be a huge skill gap though, the animation breaks people can do on a mage in the game now are pretty crazy
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bayr_sl

shitlord
715
0
I wonder if we will ever see a more classic AC than the current and rather obscene thing it has become. Don't necessarily have to go back to having to research spells (even though it was bad ass) but just less botting/automation/endless grind would be nice
 

Furiouss1_sl

shitlord
64
0
Now that turbine won't be relying on monthly subs to keep the game running, I can only hope that the main botters will be banned. I also heard something about player run servers. As of right now, Frostfell server is teeming with returning players. Portal storms are becoming frequent in some towns again. If there are any other returning players to Frostfell, look me up as Sorionis.
 

Felmega_sl

shitlord
563
1
Played it for about a year from release. It was my virgin MMO, and will always be in my heart. I had no idea what a mmorpg was but I always loved RPG games. The moment i realized how big the world was, and that other players were running around in it, I was hooked.

The world was massive and some of the mobs were truly memorable.
 

Arkael

Lord Nagafen Raider
70
5
They said the servers are going to keep running but the monthly updates will stop. Pretty cool they've kept updating with new content (for better or for worse, lol) for this long even with the tiny player base. I think a player run Project 99 for AC could be pretty big. If I remember right, the servers back then had something like 3k-4k concurrent. There's no way that would happen again but I wouldn't be surprised to see 1k or so. The game was pretty amazing for pvp. Mages were op as fuck but with a few balance tweaks and a decent population it could be really fun to fight over xp spots and towns again. Who knows how far off all this is though. Someone's going to put a server up eventually but it could be years off.
 

Palum

what Suineg set it to
23,359
33,427
They said the servers are going to keep running but the monthly updates will stop. Pretty cool they've kept updating with new content (for better or for worse, lol) for this long even with the tiny player base. I think a player run Project 99 for AC could be pretty big. If I remember right, the servers back then had something like 3k-4k concurrent. There's no way that would happen again but I wouldn't be surprised to see 1k or so. The game was pretty amazing for pvp. Mages were op as fuck but with a few balance tweaks and a decent population it could be really fun to fight over xp spots and towns again. Who knows how far off all this is though. Someone's going to put a server up eventually but it could be years off.
Mages, melee and archer pretty much always played a giant OP leapfrog. The only thing was mages who could properly interrupt their animations and move while casting could always come out on top. Also complicated was the initial builds where people did not understand MRES' power (or didn't spec war because it was 'expensive'). Then Chorizite and streaks and L7 spells and req weapons and rends and yada yada always changed the power struggle.
 

Arkael

Lord Nagafen Raider
70
5
Ya things changed frequently but I had in mind the Era of full bane faran robes where melee had no chance. Then came hollow... I think my favorite time in ac was the era of building major suits and monthly Aug. Before epic/legendary and lum xp. Mages still used weeping, melee/Archer had cs/cb and it felt like every class had a chance. Was a lot of fun trying to put together the perfect suit. Edit: fuck 2H melee. Also in early ac there was no movement fizzle and Max range drains which in hindsight was hilariously broken
 

Crone

Bronze Baronet of the Realm
9,707
3,210
Necro Bump!!!

What was said above was true, and they finally shut down the servers in late January 2017.

The Emu scene isn't huge and thriving like a P99 or nothing, but it's not bad, and there's a couple of different servers up and going. I guess the thing now is to bot/macro all 9 for a fellowship? So there's a lot of that around, but there always was. I'm hoping to get in with a cool Monarchy, and have some nostalgia moments. Rolled up a Life Archer!

Install Guide: GDLEnhanced

Old Builds that are still basically relevant: AsheronsGuide.com - The Guide to Asheron's Call

AC Reddit isn't totally dead: r/AsheronsCall
 
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Crone

Bronze Baronet of the Realm
9,707
3,210
I did enjoy the very little AC2 that I played.
Never really got into AC2 , so I'm playing on a AC1 Emu. Apparently Life Vulns/Imp isn't necessary anymore, as the vulns just got built straight into the weapons. So much for my Life Archer spec, but you can respec in game now. So that's cool.
 

Crone

Bronze Baronet of the Realm
9,707
3,210
Got into a huge 1500 person Monarchy on the Coldeve Emu server. The server allows up to 9 toons logged in at the same time if you wanna just go ham. Character/account creation takes just minutes, so it's pretty easy if you wanted to do this. Right now it's just the wife and I , and already having a blast just figuring things out again.

We figured out that Rend weapons exist, and basically have built in Vuln/Imp, so no reason to spec LIfe magic anymore. Re-specced into Fletching, Healing, Missile Weapons, and then will train Melee D, Item/Creature/Life Magics, Mana C, and I forget what else.

Already enjoying the community which is huge for me, and the entire Monarch system with patrons and vassals leads to people wanting to help you right from the start. It's fantastic!
 

Elidroth

Trakanon Raider
539
1,245
I thought researching spells in AC1 was pretty damned inventive.. Problem with that today is literally everything is out on the Internet, so people don't have to actually learn anything for themselves, so it really cheapens that experience.. I never really understood why AC1 didn't get a bigger audience.. It was a very good game, and they were really ground-breaking in making their world a living, breathing, and changing experience.

AC2 on the other hand was just plain broke as fuck.
 

Ukerric

Bearded Ape
<Silver Donator>
7,910
9,544
I thought researching spells in AC1 was pretty damned inventive.. Problem with that today is literally everything is out on the Internet, so people don't have to actually learn anything for themselves, so it really cheapens that experience..
Even then. I think it took less than a year before the SpiltBeans program would simply ask for your login ID, and spit out every spell combination (which was generated based on a CRC of your account name).
 

McCheese

SW: Sean, CW: Crone, GW: Wizardhawk
6,889
4,248
I thought researching spells in AC1 was pretty damned inventive.. Problem with that today is literally everything is out on the Internet, so people don't have to actually learn anything for themselves, so it really cheapens that experience.. I never really understood why AC1 didn't get a bigger audience.. It was a very good game, and they were really ground-breaking in making their world a living, breathing, and changing experience.

AC2 on the other hand was just plain broke as fuck.

AC1 had shit graphics and a world that was too bland and weird. I just think it wasn't appealing enough on the surface. It was great once you got down into mechanics and actually exploring stuff. Most people (myself included) didn't give it enough of a chance based on surface appearance.

Why would I play one of three shades of humans and fight weird bug creatures when I could make a badass troll shadowknight in EQ and slay dragons?
 
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RobXIII

Urinal Cake Consumption King
<Gold Donor>
3,661
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AC1 had shit graphics and a world that was too bland and weird. I just think it wasn't appealing enough on the surface. It was great once you got down into mechanics and actually exploring stuff. Most people (myself included) didn't give it enough of a chance based on surface appearance.

Why would I play one of three shades of humans and fight weird bug creatures when I could make a badass troll shadowknight in EQ and slay dragons?

Yeah I remember trying this while everyone else was on EQ1. It looked generic, I ran around, found a weird swirly portal and died to weird cat things that didn't meow quite right (was like Maooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww). Also did not give it a chance.
 

Crone

Bronze Baronet of the Realm
9,707
3,210
Well, there's auto re-logging now, so if the server crashes or something it'll get you back online. Took advantage of this, and the generosity of my patron and left it going all weekend while the family and I went camping. Came from to level 147. Today the wife and I spent 9.4 billion experience, and are pretty good now! Casting 7's, using deadly prismatic quarrels/arrows, and hunting at EO killing Olthoi bugs!

Currently in a fellowship doing 280M exp/hour. Just hit level 150! Pretty good stuff and can't wait to start getting into all the old quests and stuff this week.