Announcements - 2014/03 - Spring 2014 Update
March 2014 - Patch Page
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Release Notes Edit
Original Link - https://asheronscall.com/en/content/sprin-2014-update-release-notes
Spring 2014 Update Release Notes
- The Quests of the Month have been updated.
- Monthly Kill Tasks have been updated.
- Enhancements and updates have been made to the three societies, the Celestial Hand, the Eldrytch Web, and the Radiant Blood.
- The random rewards for the Viridian Rise have been reworked and most of the consumable rewards have been removed.
- Players can now learn level 7 spells directly from teachers. Stipend spells have been changed from level 7 to level 8.
- Society armor now works with layering kits.
- Asheron's Castle now has specialization statues. Specialization statues have been simplified.
- The cost of major armatures has been adjusted back to a cost of 1.
- Healing animations are now shorter. The heal comes earlier in the animation.
- The value of massive mana stones has been restored. Massive mana stones can no longer be sold.
- Dual Wield has been changed to COORD + COORD / 3.
- Weapon masteries are universal. All characters get the benefit of 5 DR when using a weapon with a mastery, regardless of the character's mastery. Weapon that previously had no mastery bonus at all still don't give 5 DR.
- The number of creatures in the PK Luminance arena have been reduced.
- A brand new coliseum to challenge players and top end characters has been added.
- A weapon upgrade system that creates Paragon weapons has been added to the game. Characters can slowly enhance their favorite weapons by forging them into Paragon weapons. The process that will send characters all over Dereth to prove themselves by completing heroic tasks and gaining Luminance. Though the process is involved, Paragon weapons gain levels and empower the user with substantial benefits. The process can enhance melee weapons, missile weapons or casters. (This process will work on most quest and loot weapons that do not already have set spells.)
- Enlightenment has been added to the game. A system designed for our most dedicated players, Enlightenment allows a character who has reached the pinnacle of levels and Luminance to let it all go and start over. The process of Enlightenment is certainly not for the faint of heart, but enlightenment will provide an avenue for players to prove that they are some of the most hardcore players of the game.
- An enlightened character proves themselves by sacrificing all experience, levels, Luminance, and Luminance augmentations.
- The character starts fresh, gaining a title, an extra point in all trained and specialized skills, and two extra Vitality points. ~ Enlightened characters retain their normal augmentations. They no longer have to spend experience points on those augmentations as they level.
Release Fiction Edit
Original Link - https://www.asheronscall.com/en/content/spring-2014-update-release-fiction
Spring 2014 Update Release Fiction
Their group had started out the size of a small army, but now, only three remained. The old soldier watched on as the young adventurer, so close to the central isle, was attempting to navigate the floating stones to reach the old Deru tree. “Don’t look down!” he yelled sarcastically, as the young adventurer wobbled on the edge of the floating stone.
“Shut up, will you! I’m trying to concentrate!” replied the young adventurer, flailing his arms about in an attempt to rebalance himself.
The old soldier smiled, looked over to the other adventurer who had joined them on their trek into the heart of the Viridian Rise and asked, “Do you think he’s far enough across?”
“He’s past the worst part. One more well-placed jump and he should reach the hollow log. It’s probably the best time to go.”
“I think so as well,” said the old soldier. “Thanks again for your assistance. I’m sorry the rest didn’t make it.”
“No worries, sir. They’re likely already reformed and making another attempt. They’ll make it here eventually. Now, before your friend makes it to the far side, we should go.”
“Agreed,” he said, looking at his young friend lining himself for his next jump. The old soldier walked over to one side, heading over to a statue that the young adventurer had failed to notice in his excitement. He then pulled a small pile of Viridian Essences, and pressed them to the statue’s surface. A moment later, the essences faded, and a pulse of energy surged through the statue, generating a portal. The other adventurer, who had wandered over to where the portal would appear, bowed once to the old soldier, and then stepped into the swirling energies, disappearing from sight.
Soon after, the old soldier entered the portal and was swept onto the central isle by its magics. As he head over to the far side of the bridge of floating stones, he saw the other adventurer enter another portal near the base of the Deru itself.
Once he got into position on the far side of the bridge, he stepped out so he could be seen from the inside of the hollow log and called, “What on Dereth is taking you so long?”
The young adventurer spluttered, lost his footing, and almost fell off of the edge of the log before catching himself. “Why you! How did you?... Aw, you little... You knew how to get over here *without* making all of those jumps? And you let me risk that?!”
The old soldier smiled, “You seemed to enthusiastic about braving the bridge, how could I take that away from you?”
“Come over here and say that, so I can push you off the bridge,” replied the young adventurer, looking spent from the precarious crossing.
“I have a better idea. Why don’t you come over here and see what your jumping skills have gained you.”
The young adventurer shook his head, sighed, and walked out of the short span of hollow log that made up the end of the bridge on the island’s side. Once he was next to the old soldier, he punched him in the shoulder as hard as he could. The old soldier burst into laughter.
“So, after all that fighting and jumping, what’s here?” asked the young adventurer.
“Well, let’s see,” the old soldier started, looking about. “There’s a platform up there,” he said, pointing to the top of the Deru tree. A thin line of the same small, floating stones traced a spiral around the massive tree, eventually ending at the platform. Most all of the jumps looked a great deal more treacherous than the bridge the young adventurer had just traversed.
The young adventurer looked a bit pale as his eyes followed the path up to the top of the tree. “Perhaps next time... What else?”
“There seem to be a few of the guardians looking for assistance over there.” He gestured to an area where a few other adventurers were having very serious-looking discussions with some of the local guardian creatures.
The young adventurer nodded, “We should speak to them before we leave.” He then pointed at a large golem near the base of the tree. “What’s that?”
“Ah, from what I heard from a few friends of mine that made the trek into here earlier, he’s a smith, who makes gems that can massively empower a weapon if you’re willing to meet all of his challenges.”
“And that portal?” asked the young adventurer, gesturing to the portal near the golem.
“Ah, from what I hear, it’s some sort of ‘path of enlightenment’. It wipes away a lifetime’s worth of learning, and uses it to empower you. Then, you get to start all over again, like a new arrival from Ispar.”
The young adventurer looked at the portal speculatively. “That sounds intriguing.”
The old soldier visibly shuddered. “You’re not serious, are you?”
The young adventurer looked at his friend quizzically, “A chance to start over, to see everything with fresh eyes, isn’t appealing to you?”
“No.”
“Why?” the young adventurer asked, now genuinely curious.
“I’m too old, and I’ve seen far too much, to want to ever start all over again, no matter what this ‘empowerment’ might be.”
“Really? I’d think that all the more reason to take the chance.”
“It’s not like it makes you young and stupid all over again. You still remember the things you remember. It just turns your skill and experience back into potential. After everything I did to learn all the skills I know, it’d seem a waste to throw that all away at my age.”
“I think you’re just scared,” the young adventurer sniffed.
“Bah. Not much scares me in this world anymore. That doesn’t mean I want to learn it all over again though. No, I think I’m going to have a long talk with this golem weaponsmith about his challenges. That sounds far more my speed.”
The young adventurer had turned back and was watching the portal once more, looking thoughtful.
“Are you sure about this?” asked the old soldier, sounding concerned for his young friend. “Your vaunted Society there has been making a lot of advances. They even have some sort of ‘gauntlet’ challenge you could work to prove yourself in.”
The young adventurer looked back to his old friend, “You know, I think I am. I’m curious to see how it goes, and there isn’t much left I can learn on a practical level. Another go at Dereth could be a lot of fun. Besides, it didn’t take me that long to learn this place. It won’t take forever for me to catch back up.”
The old soldier looked a bit resigned as his friend said this. “You seem pretty certain, and as you said, it won’t be forever.”
“No, not forever at all,” he replied. Then, the young adventurer smiled and bowed to the old soldier. “I think I’ll take the risk.”
“Then I wish you luck,” replied the old soldier, giving his young friend a salute. “Until you catch back up, I’ll be focusing on this golem’s weapon empowerment challenges, and whatever the queen needs of me, of course.”
“Until then, good luck with the challenges. Oh, and expect that I’ll come looking for your help again when I get to that damnable dungeon full of liches. I’m still not sure how you ever got me to the bottom of that thing.”
The old solder laughed. “Oh, sure. Go run off and forget everything I taught you, and then expect me to save your butt all over again.”
The young adventurer smiled, “Of course,” he said with an exaggerated bow, and then he walked over and stepped into the portal.
Letter to the Players Edit
Original Link - https://www.asheronscall.com/en/forums/showthread.php?62779-News-about-the-next-update
News about the next update
Greetings.
I know players are anxiously waiting for an update about the state of Asheron’s Call. (This is probably because I promised to have an update early this week.) We want to have an honest discussion about our future plans, even though we still have outstanding challenges to solve before we can put those plans into place.
We are working hard on the February update, and we hope to have the update finished this week. We are aiming for a patch a week from Tuesday, on March 4th. As always, if we run into bugs or problems that date might have to change. This caveat is why we generally don’t release dates before the patch is approved, but in this case I suspect players would rather have tentative information than none at all.
February includes some cool new features:
- The random rewards for the Viridian Rise have been reworked and most of the consumable rewards have been removed.
- A brand new coliseum to challenge players and top end characters.
- Enhancements to the three societies, the Celestial Hand, the Eldrytch Web, and the Radiant Blood.
- Paragon weapons. Characters can slowly enhance their favorite weapons by forging them into Paragon weapons. The process that will send characters all over Dereth to prove themselves by completing heroic tasks and gaining Luminance. Though the process is involved, Paragon weapons gain levels and empower the user with substantial benefits. The process can enhance melee weapons, missile weapons or casters.
(This process will work on most quest and loot weapons that do not already have set spells.)
- Enlightenment. A system designed for our most dedicated players, Enlightenment allows a character who has reached the pinnacle of levels and Luminance to let it all go and start over. The process of Enlightenment is certainly not for the faint of heart, but enlightenment will provide an avenue for players to prove that they are some of the most hardcore players of the game.
- An enlightened character proves themselves by sacrificing all experience, levels, Luminance, and Luminance augmentations.
- The character starts fresh, gaining a title, an extra point in all trained and specialized skills, and two extra Vitality points.
- Enlightened characters retain their normal augmentations. They no longer have to spend experience points on those augmentations as they level.
- The cost of major armatures has been fixed.
- The value of massive mana stones has been restored.
Once this next update is in the hands of the players, the updates to Asheron’s Call will be limited. We intend to fix critical bugs and continue maintenance and support on the game. While there is always a chance we will put out a small update if time permits, players should have the expectation that updates will be limited to maintenance, bug fixes, and perhaps balance iterations of February content such as the new Coliseum.
Let me reiterate that we have no plans to close Asheron’s Call. We plan to keep the game open and the servers running.
Although this change of focus is necessary for our company, we love the Asheron’s Call games and we want them to live forever. We understand that players who have been enjoying our monthly updates will be disappointed at the change to Asheron’s Call. Our long term plan is to make the game free to all active accounts. We are working on a date in the not-to-distant future where all active accounts will be able to play the game for free. Asheron’s Call and Asheron’s Call 2 will be a gift to our loyal players.
In addition, we have been working within the company to start an initiative sometime near the end of the year to allow players to run their own Asheron’s Call servers. We intend to put the call out to tech savvy enthusiasts that love Asheron’s Call to create a community for players who want to run their own Asheron’s Call servers.
Unfortunately, setting up and running an AC server is not a user friendly experience. Enthusiasts would need some knowledge of running an SQL server, setting up the network, using our tools to configure the SQL server, installing the Asheron’s Call server with our complicated tools, and distributing the client. Our intent is to help these players build a community so these processes can be created and distributed to people interested in running an Asheron’s Call game. If that works out we can look into releasing tools and data files that would allow players to modify game data and create alternate content for their own Asheron’s Call games.
Thank you for being part of the Asheron’s Call community.