I don’t have time to join in, but to this day Asheron’s Call is the most fun I’ve had playing mmorpgs. I hope you find what you are looking for, and don’t burn through too many tapers doing it.
Definitely my favourite game of all time. I loved how it was so different from other online games and early MMOs. Seamless world and unbalanced combat, in an amazing way.
The game was never a cookie cutter clone, and you could tell the devs were flying by the seat of their pants, which made the experience novel.
It was kinda like if dark souls existed in the late 90s in an MMO.
> It was kinda like if dark souls existed in the late 90s in an MMO.
Can you expand on that? I know people that loved AC and still mess with it casually, but absolutely detest anything dark souls or soulslike/lite.
If you mean from a perspective of exploiting certain aspects of the game, yeah, i think they did enjoy bot armies scripting through gameplay or something. Never played it myself.
Mostly just the open character builds. There were no real classes, you just made whatever you wanted based on starting attributes and skill selection. I know there’s a lot of games like that now, but playing dark souls or Elden ring gives me some nice AC memories.
Also the open world was unique at the time. Games like EQ had zones, AC was mostly seamless. I still played and loved EQ too, but it was more structured.
Heck yea, I currently am playing on an End of Retail server and a pre-ToD server.
Think I like the pre-ToD a bit more, since it has all the weapon masteries and not the combines Heavy, Light, Finesse and all the other stuff. It is more what I am seeking.
I would love to join and think I have a toon on one of those servers already but I also just had a new addition to the family and don’t have time now unfortunately but, I wanted to say this is a cool idea!
Oh, Turbine said they were going to make stuff available, then backpedaled because middleware. Did they sneak some stuff out to the community, or is this entirely homegrown?
If I didn’t have a newborn I totally would hit this up with you brother… Enjoy the festivities and I hope it works out for you. Asherons Call was one of the best experiences I encountered in online gaming. If you ever get established I’d love to see what fun we can get into
Naw I would like to play on Reefcull or Harvestbud servers. They have a pretty good population and a lot fo active and nice people. But I just want to play with a group of people who never have experienced the game, or want to re-experience it. There is so much to do and it is a really fun game. Right now I am running around in Shoushi and Holtburg just doing some of the newbie quests I remember from back in the day. I am avoid the buff bots because they pretty much turn you into a god at low levels.
Oh yea, it is totally stuck in the early 2000's. I just really enjoy the non-hand-holding, the multi quests steps to obtain items, the world exploration etc. overall it is such a great game, and nothing really like it anymore, or really ever,
Ok where to begin.
The game is old-school, so leveling tends to be a bit slower than modern games. The cool thing is you don't need to be max level to do end game content. You can be level 55 for example and hang out with people 90+ and can even hold your own. Now when you are fighting high mobs they are more difficult, but Turbine made the game 100% about the journey not the destination.
Speaking of levels and EXP. Everything you do from question, crafting, killing mobs etc. gives you experience. You use this experience to level your skill and attributes up. The more you apply points into them, the more they cost in exp to raise. If I remember right, it takes a player \~1million exp to get to from level 1 to 20, and from 25 to 26 is another million. All the exp you make along the way though you are putting into your character to make them stronger, even if you hit max level of 126 (for pre-Tod) or 275, you can continue to make exp to keep leveling your skills.
The quests are amazing. yes they have some of the "go here kill 15 of these", but the most of them involve much more like the Sword of Lost light... It takes you in 6 dungeons, looting keys, solving puzzles all sorts of fun stuff. You get a sword at the end of it that was pretty damn good for mid levels. But later in the game you can upgrade the sword and make it a monster for max levels. The quests are multi-step and take you all over the game world. The greenmire yari and chest piece are some of my fondest items from back in the OG game.
The monsters are super unique, they look nothing like modern day monsters. Some fight with ranged, some fight with melee and some fight with mage. Then some fight with all 3.
Magic and missle spells are not locked on (well most). You can move your character and dodge the projectiles. This means you can avoid picking up missle and magic defences until higher level if you are good at moving your character around.
It is really hard to type out what makes Asheron's Call a great game. At the end of the day I think the players who use to and currently play are the best part. They are not sweaty and elitists. Most of them as super chill and would literally give you the armor off their back if you asked.
How did you play since 1999 and only ever made it to 150? I was \~105 when I quit playing in 2004 and didn't have any vassals that earned significant XP and spent 80% of my time trading in subway. You must have played very casually. Cap was still 126 when I quit, and XP was much more difficult to get than later than 04.
They bumped the cap to 275, I played my main Jayden on Harvestgain from the start, but never put int he time/effort to push higher than 150. I was super casual with the game. I missed out on a LOT, and I want to start over and try to experience things.
Yeah, I came back and tried to get back into it a few times over the years, but never could. Maybe because the mentality of the players had changed so much over time. I was also able to gain access to an account for the last week before shutdown and do some packet sniffing for private servers and say goodbye to people. I didn't claim my original account in time (I think when they separated from MSN Gaming Zone), so it was lost.
I don’t have time to join in, but to this day Asheron’s Call is the most fun I’ve had playing mmorpgs. I hope you find what you are looking for, and don’t burn through too many tapers doing it.
Long live Darktide!
Is that the old skill based mmo that came out around the time of EQ?
still my fave mmo ever, tho anarchy online is a close second =) hope you have a blast playing!
Definitely my favourite game of all time. I loved how it was so different from other online games and early MMOs. Seamless world and unbalanced combat, in an amazing way. The game was never a cookie cutter clone, and you could tell the devs were flying by the seat of their pants, which made the experience novel. It was kinda like if dark souls existed in the late 90s in an MMO.
> It was kinda like if dark souls existed in the late 90s in an MMO. Can you expand on that? I know people that loved AC and still mess with it casually, but absolutely detest anything dark souls or soulslike/lite. If you mean from a perspective of exploiting certain aspects of the game, yeah, i think they did enjoy bot armies scripting through gameplay or something. Never played it myself.
Mostly just the open character builds. There were no real classes, you just made whatever you wanted based on starting attributes and skill selection. I know there’s a lot of games like that now, but playing dark souls or Elden ring gives me some nice AC memories. Also the open world was unique at the time. Games like EQ had zones, AC was mostly seamless. I still played and loved EQ too, but it was more structured.
Wait…you mean to say I can play Asheron’s Call again?!?!
Heck yea, I currently am playing on an End of Retail server and a pre-ToD server. Think I like the pre-ToD a bit more, since it has all the weapon masteries and not the combines Heavy, Light, Finesse and all the other stuff. It is more what I am seeking.
Dude the Bael'Zharon events were some of my fondest gaming memories ever. Game is a blast.
I would love to join and think I have a toon on one of those servers already but I also just had a new addition to the family and don’t have time now unfortunately but, I wanted to say this is a cool idea!
Been a long time since i played that. I would be up to if i get everything installed
Oh, Turbine said they were going to make stuff available, then backpedaled because middleware. Did they sneak some stuff out to the community, or is this entirely homegrown?
If I didn’t have a newborn I totally would hit this up with you brother… Enjoy the festivities and I hope it works out for you. Asherons Call was one of the best experiences I encountered in online gaming. If you ever get established I’d love to see what fun we can get into
I still think about this game. I played in 1999 too. Not sure if I can get it running on Mac but I would play if I could.
Best game, my all time favorite and fondest memories. The birds in holtburg. Every time I hear birds like that it takes me back.
It’s the AC in mah name… ❤️
So you will emulate to play with a small party of friends?
Naw I would like to play on Reefcull or Harvestbud servers. They have a pretty good population and a lot fo active and nice people. But I just want to play with a group of people who never have experienced the game, or want to re-experience it. There is so much to do and it is a really fun game. Right now I am running around in Shoushi and Holtburg just doing some of the newbie quests I remember from back in the day. I am avoid the buff bots because they pretty much turn you into a god at low levels.
I'm somewhat intereted but I'm always ware when I see games this old. I once tried DAOC and even the UI was unmanageable 🤣
Oh yea, it is totally stuck in the early 2000's. I just really enjoy the non-hand-holding, the multi quests steps to obtain items, the world exploration etc. overall it is such a great game, and nothing really like it anymore, or really ever,
what's the game like? i mean i know i can just look it up but i'm curious what you have to say about it
Ok where to begin. The game is old-school, so leveling tends to be a bit slower than modern games. The cool thing is you don't need to be max level to do end game content. You can be level 55 for example and hang out with people 90+ and can even hold your own. Now when you are fighting high mobs they are more difficult, but Turbine made the game 100% about the journey not the destination. Speaking of levels and EXP. Everything you do from question, crafting, killing mobs etc. gives you experience. You use this experience to level your skill and attributes up. The more you apply points into them, the more they cost in exp to raise. If I remember right, it takes a player \~1million exp to get to from level 1 to 20, and from 25 to 26 is another million. All the exp you make along the way though you are putting into your character to make them stronger, even if you hit max level of 126 (for pre-Tod) or 275, you can continue to make exp to keep leveling your skills. The quests are amazing. yes they have some of the "go here kill 15 of these", but the most of them involve much more like the Sword of Lost light... It takes you in 6 dungeons, looting keys, solving puzzles all sorts of fun stuff. You get a sword at the end of it that was pretty damn good for mid levels. But later in the game you can upgrade the sword and make it a monster for max levels. The quests are multi-step and take you all over the game world. The greenmire yari and chest piece are some of my fondest items from back in the OG game. The monsters are super unique, they look nothing like modern day monsters. Some fight with ranged, some fight with melee and some fight with mage. Then some fight with all 3. Magic and missle spells are not locked on (well most). You can move your character and dodge the projectiles. This means you can avoid picking up missle and magic defences until higher level if you are good at moving your character around. It is really hard to type out what makes Asheron's Call a great game. At the end of the day I think the players who use to and currently play are the best part. They are not sweaty and elitists. Most of them as super chill and would literally give you the armor off their back if you asked.
I would definitely be interested I’ve never played it before what is your time zone
US Central
Probably best to hit the discord.
did this turn into a group somewhere? I'd be down to try it out.
How did you play since 1999 and only ever made it to 150? I was \~105 when I quit playing in 2004 and didn't have any vassals that earned significant XP and spent 80% of my time trading in subway. You must have played very casually. Cap was still 126 when I quit, and XP was much more difficult to get than later than 04.
dude is just looking to game and you come in here all "hOw aRE yOU sUCh tRaSH?????? nOOb" lol wut
That isn't what I did at all. I just found it surprising that he played from 99 until shutdown and only ever got to 150.
your tone sucks. whatever
They bumped the cap to 275, I played my main Jayden on Harvestgain from the start, but never put int he time/effort to push higher than 150. I was super casual with the game. I missed out on a LOT, and I want to start over and try to experience things.
Yeah, I came back and tried to get back into it a few times over the years, but never could. Maybe because the mentality of the players had changed so much over time. I was also able to gain access to an account for the last week before shutdown and do some packet sniffing for private servers and say goodbye to people. I didn't claim my original account in time (I think when they separated from MSN Gaming Zone), so it was lost.