Servers: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 13:41, 18 September 2020

Note: This page contains historical information about the retail servers. It does not pertain to emulated servers.

Retail Servers Edit

At release, the following 6 servers were available: Darktide, Frostfell, Harvestgain, Leafcull, Morningthaw, and Thistledown. Solclaim was the first new server to open on the 6th of June 2000. Wintersebb was the second new server to open on the 24th of January 2001. Verdantine is the latest server to open on the 9th of June 2004.

Darktide was a Player Killer only server. All other servers defaulted characters to Non Player Killer, but also allowed characters to change to Player Killer, and, later, Player Killer Lite.

As part of the publishing agreement with Microsoft, all of the retail servers (excluding Verdantine) were originally hosted by Microsoft and accessible via the Microsoft Gaming Zone. Turbine bought back all franchise rights from Microsoft in 2003 and consequently took responsibility for server hosting. The servers remained at a facility in Washington State until 2008 when all server hardware was replaced and relocated to a facility in Massachusetts near Turbine headquarters. Due to various quality of service issues that caused extended downtime the servers were moved to a new facility on March 30th, 2009.

For more information on each server, see:

Planned Servers Edit

In August 2004, Turbine announced that it had signed a deal with Jolt Online Gaming Ltd to operate the running of AC in Europe. This included the new Dawnsong server that would go live around the same time as the release of the Throne of Destiny expansion. Unfortunately, plans to launch the server were eventually cancelled due to fears it would further spread players out and split existing communities.

Test Servers Edit

Vanguard - A private test server where a select few players tested content prior to it going live to the retail servers. This server existed, presumably, for the entirety of the retail game.

Shadowclaim - A public test server that was available from April 26th, 2003 to April 28th, 2003 to stress test some new server hardware. The character database was an exact copy of Solclaim, hence the name Shadowclaim.

Original Link: http://zone.msn.com/asheronshadow/default.asp

Destiny - A public test server that was available from June 22nd, 2005 to July 12th, 2005 as an open preview of the upcoming expansion pack Throne of Destiny. The character database was an exact copy of Leafcull.

Shadowfell - A public test server that was available from October 4th, 2008 to October 6th, 2008 to stress test new server hardware. The character database was an exact copy of Frostfell.

For more information on other test servers and programs (circa 2000) see: Backstage at Asheron's Call.

Beta Servers Edit

Like their retail counterparts, the Asheron's Call Beta servers were hosted via the Microsoft Gaming Zone.

Beta World Red was the Beta 0/1 server - the first world to be be brought online for the Asheron's Call Beta.

Beta World Green was the Beta 2 server. It was online from 08/03/99 to ?? and was announced as having "many new features" over the previous red world.

Beta World Blue was the Beta 3 server and was open to the public. It was online from 10/18/99 to 10/24/99 and was using the new September game build.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-All of the severs allow players to be [[Player Killer]]s, [[Darktide]] is exclusively [[PK]], the other servers default to [[Non Player Killer]] and also let players do [[Player Killer Lite]].
+{{RightToC}}
+''Note: This page contains historical information about the retail servers. It does not pertain to emulated servers.''
-All of these servers used to be hosted on Zone.msn.com as part of the publishing agreement with Microsoft. [[Turbine]] bought back all [http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20031217005309&newsLang=en franchise rights] from Microsoft in 2003 and consequently took responsibility for server hosting. The servers remained at a facility in Washington State until 2008 when all server hardware was [http://forums.ac.turbine.com/showthread.php?t=40220 replaced and relocated] to a facility in Massachusetts near Turbine headquarters. Due to various quality of service issues that caused extended downtime the [http://forums.ac.turbine.com/showthread.php?t=42014 servers were moved to a new facility] on March 30th, 2009.
+== Retail Servers ==
+At release, the following 6 servers were available: Darktide, Frostfell, Harvestgain, Leafcull, Morningthaw, and Thistledown. Solclaim was the first new server to open on the 6th of June 2000. Wintersebb was the second new server to open on the 24th of January 2001. Verdantine is the latest server to open on the 9th of June 2004.
-__ToC__
+Darktide was a [[Player Killer]] only server. All other servers defaulted characters to [[Non Player Killer]], but also allowed characters to change to [[Player Killer]], and, later, [[Player Killer Lite]].
-== Live Worlds ==
+As part of the publishing agreement with Microsoft, all of the retail servers (excluding Verdantine) were originally hosted by Microsoft and accessible via the [[Microsoft Zone Archive|Microsoft Gaming Zone]]. [[Turbine]] bought back all [http://www.gamespot.com/news/6085702.html franchise rights] from Microsoft in 2003 and consequently took responsibility for server hosting. The servers remained at a facility in Washington State until 2008 when all server hardware was [http://forums.ac.turbine.com/showthread.php?t=40220 replaced and relocated] to a facility in Massachusetts near Turbine headquarters. Due to various quality of service issues that caused extended downtime the [http://forums.ac.turbine.com/showthread.php?t=42014 servers were moved to a new facility] on March 30th, 2009.
-=== Darktide ===
-* [[Darktide Allegiances]]
-=== Frostfell ===
+For more information on each server, see:
-* [[Frostfell Allegiances]]
+* [[Darktide]]
+* [[Frostfell]]
+* [[Harvestgain]]
+* [[Leafcull]]
+* [[Morningthaw]]
+* [[Solclaim]]
+* [[Thistledown]]
+* [[Verdantine]]
+* [[Wintersebb]]
-=== Harvestgain ===
+== Planned Servers ==
-* [[Harvestgain Allegiances]]
+In August 2004, Turbine announced that it had signed a deal with Jolt Online Gaming Ltd to operate the running of AC in Europe. This included the new Dawnsong server that would go live around the same time as the release of the Throne of Destiny expansion. Unfortunately, plans to launch the server were eventually cancelled due to fears it would further spread players out and split existing communities.
-=== Leafcull ===
+* [http://web.archive.org/web/20041016101748/http://ac.turbinegames.com/index.php?page_id=37&pagebuilder%5Bmodule%5D=article&pagebuilder%5Bdisplay_item%5D=150 Turbine Jolts Asheron's Call® and AC2: Fallen Kings® in Europe]
-* [[Leafcull Allegiances]]
+* [[Dawnsong on the Horizon]]
+* [[Announcements - 2005/09 - Under Cover of Night#Status of the Dawnsong (European) Server|Status of the Dawnsong (European) Server]]
-=== Morningthaw ===
+== Test Servers ==
-* [[Morningthaw Allegiances]]
+[[Vanguard]] - A private test server where a select few players tested content prior to it going live to the retail servers. This server existed, presumably, for the entirety of the retail game.
-=== [[Solclaim]] ===
+[[Shadowclaim]] - A public test server that was available from April 26th, 2003 to April 28th, 2003 to stress test some new server hardware. The character database was an exact copy of Solclaim, hence the name Shadowclaim.
-* [[Solclaim Allegiances]]
+* Original Link: http://zone.msn.com/asheronshadow/default.asp
-* Solclaim was the first new server to open on the 6th of June 2000.
-=== Thistledown ===
+[[Destiny]] - A public test server that was available from June 22nd, 2005 to July 12th, 2005 as an open preview of the upcoming expansion pack [[Throne of Destiny]]. The character database was an exact copy of Leafcull.
-* [[Thistledown Allegiances]]
-=== Verdantine ===
+[[Shadowfell]] - A public test server that was available from October 4th, 2008 to October 6th, 2008 to stress test new server hardware. The character database was an exact copy of Frostfell.
-* [[Verdantine Allegiances]]
-* Verdantine is the latest server to open on the 9th of June 2004.
-=== Wintersebb ===
+For more information on other test servers and programs (circa 2000) see: [[Microsoft Zone Archive/News & Events/Backstage at Asheron's Call|Backstage at Asheron's Call]].
-* [[Wintersebb Allegiances]]
-* Wintersebb was the second new server to open on the 24th of January 2001.
 == Beta Servers ==
-=== Blue ===
+Like their retail counterparts, the Asheron's Call Beta servers were hosted via the Microsoft Gaming Zone.
-=== Green ===
-=== Red ===
-Beta World Red was the first of the Beta servers on the Internet Gaming Zone for Asheron's Call.
-== Test Servers ==
-=== Shadowclaim ===
-This server was available for all players initially from the 26th of April 2003 to 28th of April 2003 to stress test some new server hardware. The character database was an exact copy of Solclaim, hence the name Shadowclaim.
-Original Link: http://zone.msn.com/asheronshadow/default.asp
+'''Beta World Red''' was the Beta 0/1 server - the first world to be be brought online for the Asheron's Call Beta.
-=== Throne of Destiny Open Preview ===
+'''Beta World Green''' was the Beta 2 server. It was online from 08/03/99 to ?? and was announced as having "many new features" over the previous red world.
-This server was available for all players from ??/??/?? to ??/??/?? as an open preview of the upcoming expansion pack [[Throne of Destiny]]. The character database was an exact copy of Leafcull.
-=== [[Shadowfell]] ===
+'''Beta World Blue''' was the Beta 3 server and was open to the public. It was online from 10/18/99 to 10/24/99 and was using the new September game [[Announcements - Asheron's Call Beta#1999/9/17 Build Notes|build]].
-This server opened October 4rd, 2008 after being delayed a day and remained open until October 6th, 2008 to stress test new server hardware. The character database was an exact copy of Frostfell.
-=== Internal Test Server ===
-As mentioned in numerous posts by developers, Turbine has an internal test server. It is currently not available for players, supposedly.  There has been some active players granted access to the test server to test content prior to it being delivered to the general player base.
 [[Category:Turbine]]