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Revision as of 16:54, 4 October 2019
Asheron's Call
Asheron's Call (AC) is a fantasy Massively multiplayer online role-playing game delevoped by Turbine, Inc. released on November 2, 1999.
- Please visit our Home Page to explore everything our wiki has available.
- New to Asheron's Call? Check out the New Player Guide.
- See the Returning Player Guide if you have decided to come back.
Game Info
See also: List of Categories
The following list is not exhaustive.
- Dereth
- Gameplay
- Player Characters
Asheron's Call Updates
Game Release and Expansions
| 1999 Release |
2001 Dark Majesty |
2005 Throne of Destiny |
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Major Monthly Updates
- See Patches for a list of all the regular monthly updates made to Asheron's Call.
| Event | Main Content/Features |
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August 2008: 100th Update |
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October 2009: 10th Anniversary Update |
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April 2010: "Big" Update
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December 2010: "Big" Update
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May 2011: "Big" Update
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February 2012: Skill System Overhaul |
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August 2012: "Big" Update
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February 2013: "Big" Update |
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August 2013: "Big" Update
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Rules
By playing Asheron's Call, all players agree to the following documents:
- Asheron's Call Code of Conduct (CoC)
- Asheron's Call End User License Agreement (EULA)
- Asheron's Call End User License Agreement (United States)
- Asheron's Call Terms of Service (ToS)
History of Asheron's Call
1994 - 1999
Game Development
- Development of Asheron's Call began in 1994 after Turbine and Microsoft had entered into a developer/publisher agreement where legal ownership of the property and subsequently-developed properties were owned by Microsoft.(source?)
- All of the games Servers and the initial beta testing were also hosted on Zone.msn.com as part of the publishing agreement with Microsoft.
- "Empyrean" was the code name Microsoft used to refer to Asheron's Call in 1997 when the game was still in development. [1]
Click image for full size version.
- Early Development Screenshots
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1999
Beta Testing and Release
- The AC Beta consisted of three phases which spanned from May until October of 1999.
- See the Asheron's Call Beta page for full details and links.
- Other important events that occured before and during beta testing:
- Turbine's beta page, http://www.zogblaster.com/tweb/asherons-call, goes live.
- See the ACCWiki's Zogblaster Archive to take a look back at the site.
- Microsoft's Asheron's Call page, http://www.microsoft.com/games/zone/asheronscall/, goes live.
- See the ACCWiki's Microsoft Games Archive to take a look back at the site.
- Turbine's beta page, http://www.zogblaster.com/tweb/asherons-call, goes live.
- November 2, 1999 - AC goes retail, it is the third major MMORPG to be released at this time.
2000 - 2003
Microsoft Gaming Zone
In addition to the hosting of the game Servers, all AC announcements including patch teasers, rollout articles, letters to the players and patch notes were released onto the AC section of the Microsoft Gaming Zone. Some announcements were also made on the Microsoft Games AC site.
- See the ACCWiki's Microsoft Zone Archive and Microsoft Games Archive to take a look back at the sites.
- See also: Category:Microsoft Zone Archive, Category:Microsoft Games Archive and Category:Patch Announcements.
Solclaim server goes live
The first Asheron's Call server to be added since the game's release goes live on 6th of June 2000.[2]
Wintersebb server goes live
The second server goes live on January 24th 2001 to accommodate the ever increasing population of Asheron's Call.[3]
Microsoft announces the AC expansion pack: Dark Majesty
Microsoft announces on June 25th 2001 that the Asheron's Call: Dark Majesty Expansion Pack will be available later in the year. The expansion pack would include the original Asheron's Call, new additions such as housing and storage, and the new landmass Marae Lassel including many new creatures, dungeons and quests.[4]
Turbine buys Asheron's Call license back
Turbine bought back all franchise rights from Microsoft in 2003[5] 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.
2004
Turbine unlocks Asheron's Call: Dark Majesty for all AC subscribers
Turbine announces that all Dark Majesty content will be available to every subscriber regardless of whether they have purchased the expansion pack in the past or not. [6]
Turbine Green Lights AC Expansion Pack: Throne of Destiny
An announcement is made that fans of the award-winning online role playing game Asheron’s Call® will receive a new expansion pack in early 2005.[7] The name of the expansion is announced at a later time.
History Articles
- The Turbine Story - In depth history written by the founder of Turbine Entertainment, Jon Monsarrat.
- Postmortem: Turbine Entertainment's Asheron's Call - Behind the scenes account of what went right, what went wrong. Written by Toby Ragaini, one of the original developers.
Game Awards
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1999 - Game Industry News' Game of the Year
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Related Articles
- 2001 AIAS Awards - Asheron's Call scores two nominations -- including "PC Game of the Year"!
- Asheron's Call Wins Gaming's Equivalent of the Oscar - At this year's E3 convention, the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences dubbed Asheron's Call the Adventure/Role-Playing Game of the Year. Awards from the AIAS are among the highest honors bestowed in the gaming industry.
- Best-of-the-Year Awards - Gamezilla joins Gamecenter and Gameindustry.com in giving AC top honors.
- More Rave Reviews for Asheron's Call - Gameindustry.com gave AC their 1999 Best Overall Game of the Year award, and several other sites have recently queued up with accolades, too.
- Stellar Review from Computer Games Online - Cindy Vanous gives Asheron's Call 4 ½ out of 5 stars and a detailed critique.
Gaming Website Articles
Reviews
- Computer Games Online - 4.5/5
Previews
- July, 1997 - ZDNet
- July, 1998 - Gamespot
Interviews
Other
- RPG Vault - Special Report with AC Producer Scott Herrington
- Asheron's Call Dark Majesty hits #1 in PC Games Sales
- GameSpy - Top 10 Asheron's Call Items
Developer Diaries
- GameSpy - Developer Diary, Part 1
- GameSpy - Developer Diary, Part 2
- GameSpy - Developer Diary, Part 3
- GameSpy - Developer Diary, Part 4
- GameSpy - Developer Diary, Part 5
Archives
Main Archives
Developer Chats
AC News Archives
- News Archive - 2013
- News Archive - 2012
- News Archive - 2011
- News Archive - 2010
- News Archive - 2009
- News Archive - 2008
- News Archive - 2007
Images
Click image for full size version.
References
- ↑ 1997/07 ZDNet - Let the Online Games Begin
- ↑ 05/25/2000 Microsoft Zone - A New World Soon to Open in Asheron's Call
- ↑ 01/24/2001 Microsoft Zone - Wintersebb Opens!
- ↑ 06/25/2001 Microsoft Games - ASHERON'S CALL: DARK MAJESTY EXPANSION PACK AVAILABLE THIS HOLIDAY
- ↑ 12/17/2003 Turbine Games - TURBINE TO BUY ASHERON’S CALL FRANCHISE FROM MICROSOFT GAME STUDIOS
- ↑ 02/04/2004 Turbine Games - TURBINE UNLOCKS ASHERON’S CALL: DARK MAJESTY® FOR ALL AC1 SUBSCRIBERS
- ↑ 04/13/2004 Turbine Games - Turbine Green Lights AC Expansion Pack