Editing Announcements - Asheron's Call Beta (section)

=== The Spin from Turbine ===

{{Microsoft Zone
 |  Link = <nowiki>http://zone.com/asheronscall/news/spin11599.asp</nowiki>
 |  Date = November 5, 1999
 | Title = The Spin from Turbine
 |  Text =
Greetings from the living, breathing (and finally shipping) lands of Dereth! When last I wrote, the Asheron's Call team was finishing the last steps before finally releasing AC, and putting the final touches on the beta event. These past few weeks have been about as exciting as you could imagine.
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Asheron's Call has been in development for well over four years, starting all the way back when the number of large-scale, graphical, massively-multiplayer games in development could be counted on one thumb. It's been a long, long road for the team, and we are thrilled to be able to share this game with you.
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And now, after catching up on some well-deserved rest (or just passing out, in a few cases), we've set ourselves to seeing where we can take AC in the future.
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Our plan is to introduce updates to the game approximately twice a month -- to support our ongoing storyline, improve the game experience, or just add new content to the world. Our first update concentrates mainly on our ongoing process to improve game balance.
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As with the release of any game of this scale, Asheron's Call has a nearly endless number of issues that could use tweaking and features that we'd like to add. One of my goals for this page is to give you a fairly candid look at the issues we're facing, how we're approaching them, and why. (I say "fairly" because I can't let you in on everything that goes on here. For example, I can't really tell you what happened to my sandals during Chris Dyl's birthday party... and trust me, you don't want to know.)
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Our first update is currently undergoing testing. Here what's been changed:
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<font color=#ffffff>'''Monsters'''</font>

* A handful of monsters were slowed down TOO much in our last balancing efforts; after the update you'll find Lugians, Armoredillos and Gromnies to be more spry now, and slightly better defended to boot.
* Lugians and some Monougas had trouble getting through some doors. They will be able to get through them now. (Tremendous Monougas will still find doors a wee bit difficult.)
* The "soft spots" in each Monster's armor-profile will be even softer. This gives a greater edge to melee/missile players who choose their attack heights wisely. As part of this change, the weak points on a couple of monsters have been moved.
* We will tweak a number of locations where high-level monsters were a bit too easy to kill, based on the nature of the terrain and their proximity to towns or lifestones. Look for continuing changes in some locations as we further adjust game-balance.
* Some objects in the world, such as vats and braziers, provided safe "perches" for picking off monsters. For now, we're making these ethereal while seeking a more elegant solution.
* Having watched too many Steven Spielberg movies, our monsters have learned how to open doors on the landscape! (If this proves to be fun, look for this knowledge to migrate down to the monsters dwelling in certain dungeons...)
* Gromnies will no longer defend their brethren.
* Shadow creatures and Olthoi were too easily dispatched by magic; they will have better defenses.
* Many Monougas will navigate better around pits.
* Banderling Captains and Tumerok Warriors were always intended to cast spells, but managed to forget them along the way. They will cast spells again! Duck and cover!
* Ice golems were taking twice as much damage from fire as had been intended. They will be hardier.
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<font color=#ffffff>'''Magic: Resistances, Armor, Ranges and Duration'''</font>

First off, a brief note: Mages already have a number of challenges to face in the game -- chief among them component burn and the spell economy -- but it's clear that at the moment, they have an unfair advantage when compared to other player-professions. Our challenge has been to balance their abilities relative to other classes, while still keeping them fun to play.
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So in addition to some lowering the impact of mages in some respects, we've actually raised it in others, and looked for ways to reward those mages who approach spellcasting as more of a tactical art. Needless to say, we'll be looking at the effects of these changes carefully in the weeks that follow.
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* Portal magic was meant to be a sign of status among higher-level mages, but they've been a bit too easy to learn. With this update, higher-level portal spells will be a greater challenge to learn and cast.
* Harm/Enfeeble/Mana Drain spells and Drain Health/Stamina/Mana spells had excessive range; this is unbalanced since these spells were never intended to be more effective than war magic spells. The ranges of these spells will be reduced, but the range of BENEFICIAL spells (Heal, Regenerate, Enchantment) will remain high.
* The durations of spells which remain in effect over time did not vary enough as their level increased. With this update, powerful players will be able to triple the duration of their spells by casting higher-level versions of them. (Enchanters, your time has come!)
* Changes are afoot for monsters and their ability to resist magic. Mages will STILL be able to do as much damage to monsters as in the past, but will have to choose their spells more carefully; with this new system, using a spell to which a monster has natural resistance can reduce its effectiveness by half or more! This brings mages into line with warriors who have always had to choose weapons carefully when attacking monsters; mages who choose proper spellcasting tactics will do as much damage as they ever did.
* Vendors have held on to the magic scrolls sold to them, making it too easy to gain new spells. Vendors will not hold on to the magic scrolls they buy, and will only sell their standard supplies of them.
* Minor tweaks: Health to Stamina Self II had the wrong scarab, and the Range for Exhaustion Other I was too short. Both will be fixed.
* Health-to-Stamina Other spells did not display their range when examined. They will now.
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<font color=#ffffff>'''Quest Items (including the Sword of Lost Light)'''</font>

Upon reviewing our unique treasure items we realized that, given how powerful they were, they needed some additional restrictions. In general, we hope to avoid making changes to items you've already acquired, but these were just too powerful in their current incarnations. In general, weapons and armor will require higher skills to be used effectively, but will require less Arcane Lore.
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If you have one of the following items already, expect them to change in the near future:

* Acid Axe
* Blue Virindi Gem
* Dagger of Tikola
* Dull Gem
* Fiery Shield
* Fire Spear
* Fire Staff
* Gem of Black Fire
* Green Mire Cuirass
* Green Mire Yari
* Ice Tachi
* Lightning Hammer
* Lou Ka's Yaoji
* Obsidian Crown
* Obsidian Ring
* Orb of Black Fire
* Red Virindi Gem
* Superior Helm
* Swamp Gem
* Sword of Lost Light
* Tibri's Flaming Spear
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<font color=#ffffff>'''Other Issues'''</font>

* Miscellaneous portals (including some associated with quests) will have appropriate level-restrictions added to them.
* A small number of traps, locks and quest-related items will be tweaked.
* Mattekar hides (your source of free'n'sturdy leather armor since 10 P.Y.) were appearing too frequently on Mattekar corpses; they are now more of a collector's item.
* Minor tweaks were made to the values of jewelry created by the treasure system, to improve the consistency of treasure found in different locations.
* A number of locations where players can get stuck in or behind objects will be fixed.
* A number of tiny spell effects used the wrong colors, animations and such. These will be fixed.
* A number of rumors will be clarified or corrected.
* A number of quest-related and collector-related behaviors will have minor fixes.
* A handful of other minor graphical fixes will be done.
* The behavior of ale and green tea will be fixed.
* Certain pieces of "healing cheese" will have a unique name. The veil of secrecy surrounding magic cheese is no more!
* Minor tweaks have been made to improve server performance.
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Whew! That's our first update. There are a number of other issues that we're working on. Here are some highlights:

* As mentioned earlier, there are locations in the world where it's a bit too easy to take on monsters, because of the nature of the terrain. While we've fixed some specific areas in the current update, we're looking at ways to address the issue on a broader scale.
* We are aware that many monsters seem to provide too little treasure for the effort required to take them down. The treasure-generation system is very complex, so this is taking a while to address, but we are working on providing more loot for your hoarding pleasure.
* We're considering one more change to mages which will make the level of damage/effect provided by magic to be more variable, bringing it in line with other weapons and tools in the game. Our goal would be to add a bit more suspense to magic, as well as to improve game balance.
* And don't forget our first "live" event! We'll try not to hurt Shoushi too much this time. :)
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As we're still looking into these, your input can help a lot. Please watch this space; we are working with the Zone to place a message forum here where we can discuss updates and design issues together.
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Now I'm off to get my butt kicked on the PK world. Bye!
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-- Chris Foster, a.k.a. "Slapp"
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[[Category:Event Announcements]]