Editing Announcements - 2006/01 - Reprisals (section)

== Producer's Letter ==
{{Turbine 2005
 |  Link = <nowiki>http://ac.turbine.com/?page_id=433</nowiki>
 | Title = Producer's Letter
 |  Text = I'd like to wish everyone a Happy New Year as we enter 2006. I think we've got a good year coming up ahead of us.  We have brought together a solid team that mixes crafty veterans with gutsy newcomers.  The team is back in the groove of monthly content development, and we have plans on the board for some intriguing new features.  We're in the middle of a rich storyline that mixes ancient lore and new arrivals, and promises to compel players to make meaningful decisions about their characters' true loyalties.  I think there's a great deal for Asheron's Call players to look forward to, and we the devs are happy to have the opportunity to continue to work on this well-loved game.
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I know that there are a number of specific issues that people would like to know our future plans on, so let's get into those:
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'''PvP Enhancements:'''<br>
PvP is a tricky issue.  I don't think it is a good idea to make changes that would radically alter the way PvP works, or PvP balance.  For every person who wants a dynamic changed, there are others who like the dynamic the way it is, and would be upset with any changes.  With that in mind, we do have plans for additional PvP content.  We have plans to give PvPs new things to fight over and new enhancements for PvP combat.  One of the most common complaints about PvP seems to be that it simply takes too long to resolve a fight, because of super-high-health templates and equipment.  One goal we are working on, and are debating solutions for, is to make PvP fights shorter and more exciting.  Whatever we do is going to be based on feedback from the dedicated PvP community, starting with my recent "Looking for PvP Feedback" post on the PvP board.
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'''Storyline:'''<br>
The Viamontian Conflict storyline is going forward full steam.  We've introduced new lore and killed off a major lore character.  There seems to be a strong sentiment to have this storyline lead to meaningful character decisions.  I agree that, in the midst of a story about civil war, characters should make hard choices.  We plan to continue with the theme of opposed quests that we had in Throne of Destiny, where you could choose to undertake quests for Sanamar or Silyun.
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'''New Features:'''<br>
Our development schedule gives us some amount of leeway to work on new gameplay features or enhancement to current features.  Each of these requires a good deal of work and testing, and often spread out over several months.  While I cannot talk about specific features, the kind of things we are discussing are along the lines of expanding existing systems or offering new twists to existing content.  We are not going alter the fundamental personality of the game, but add to existing elements to deepen or broaden the gameplay that is already available.  The proposals we have on the table are pretty exciting.  During the development of Throne of Destiny, we spent a lot of time overhauling the game engine, freeing us to do some things we were not able to do before.  You've already been told about the new Friends panel that's coming in January.  You can expect us to steadily add more great features like that in the months ahead.
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'''High Level Concerns:'''<br>
I know a lot of people were looking forward to Land Control as a new way to enjoy high-level gameplay.  I was sad that we had to make the decision to shelve those plans, but the system just demanded too much tech and design work to realistically expect to be able to do it.  When we developed the "booster pack" plan to implement Land Control outside of the development of Throne of Destiny, the plan was to have one engineer and one designer work solely on Land Control for six months to a year. Unfortunately, our current resource planning does not allow us to properly focus on a project of that size.  We are very eager to improve the experience for our longest-running and most loyal players with content beyond high-level hunting grounds, and we have some intriguing proposals on how to do this.  However, we will have to continue to be careful about the way we manage our resources.
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'''Advertising and New Players:'''<br>
Quite a few people on our message boards have expressed concern about the lack of advertising for Asheron's Call.  For reasons I'm sure you can appreciate, our marketing team is focused on other projects.   Our strategy for Asheron's Call is to rely on fan loyalty and word of mouth to grow the game.  You, the players, can help by getting your friends to join you in Dereth, or to encourage friends who have left Dereth to come back and check out all the great stuff we've added.  You've already been doing a great job with this.  New players are still signing up, and we've seen even more players coming back.  I realize people have had difficulty finding the game at their local store.  To help fix this, we are working on making Throne of Destiny available via download.
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<nowiki>********</nowiki>
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We stated a few months ago, when the decision was made to bring the team back to Boston, that we would have a smaller team and, as a consequence, the updates would be smaller.  This has not changed, but Turbine is still looking to grow the team a bit more.  It is difficult to find strong talent, and especially difficult to get people to come to Boston in the middle of winter.  I fully expect that, as we add talent, and as team members become accustomed to new roles, we will be able to create more content for our updates.  As you can imagine, it's not a quick process to ramp up to work on a game as complex and with as rich a development history as Asheron's Call.  In my time on the original Live team from 1999 to 2001, I was learning new skills until my last day.
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I recognize that some of our players are dissatisfied with the size of the content updates and with the postponement or shelving of previously announced plans.  I can assure you that none of the decisions we made were made lightly.  I can also assure you that we are doing our best to keep improving this game with new and entertaining content.
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I was pretty sure we were going to get some negative feedback on the statement about Land Control in Frelorn's January 4 update.  While the news was unwelcome, it was also honest information, and I hope that people will recognize the spirit of honesty that drove it.  I didn't want to make vague promises of future goodies, but to instead tell you, in a straightforward manner, what was going on.  I will continue to be as honest as I can, and to avoid making big promises that we won't be able to fulfill.
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As for our plans for Asheron's Call, I'll reiterate that there are no plans to turn off the servers.  We as a team are committed to continuing to develop our ongoing stories, provide entertaining content, and add cool features to the game.  We have some fun and exciting ideas that I think people will enjoy.
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I'd like to thank everyone for their continued support and feedback.  Asheron's Call is a labor of love for every team member here.  We're excited about the future of the game, and we hope you are looking forward to questing and adventuring with us.
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