All Worlds Back Online - Link
The patch was completed ahead of schedule. Frelorn had this to say:
one thing I hope that everyone noticed is how quickly the worlds were back up. This is a direct result of new hardware. What does this mean going forward? It means that all of our future updates will involve less downtime for our players. This is something we have been working towards and will continue to try and improve.
So in our next content update you will all more than likely note the downtime window we use will be smaller. :)
__________________
Andy "Frelorn" Cataldo
AC Community Relations
Turbine, Inc
--An Adventurer 10:26, 28 October 2008 (CDT)
October Event Downtime 10/28/08 7am EDT - 2pm EDT - Link
All worlds will be down on Tuesday October 28th from 7am EDT through 2pm EDT for the October event Seeds of Corruption.
__________________
Andy "Frelorn" Cataldo
AC Community Relations
Turbine, Inc
--An Adventurer 14:25, 27 October 2008 (CDT)
Shadowfell server taken down and server migration date set. - Link
"The time has come for us to upgrade our game servers. After a successful test weekend we are ready for the game worlds to get thier new hardware. So on Monday, October 13th at 4am EDT all the worlds will come down. They will remain down until Tuesday, October 14th at 6pm EDT.
"Why will they be down that long you ask? We along with upgrading the hardware, we will also be bringing the game servers closer to us. Currently the game servers are located in Washington state, where they have been since the game launched. As you can imagine, this can be problematic if anything goes wrong or if we need to do some work fast. So we have decided to move the servers closer to us here in Massachusetts. This means we will have to copy all of the data from each world once it comes down and then transfer it the new hardware.
"This will be a time consuming process, but the end result will be the ability for us to provide better service to our players. Our hope of course is to have things back up and running much sooner than the window we have given ourselves, but as everyone knows, things can go wrong. So we have given ourselves some extra time just in case.
"We thank you all for your patience while we go through this transition. - Frelorn"
Shadowfell Server listed, cannot connect
Shadowfell has appeared on the server list, but it cannot be played on yet. A server full message appears after connecting.
File:Shadowfell - Server listed.gif
--An Adventurer 15:23, 4 October 2008 (CDT)
Shadowfell Test Server Delayed - Link
Unfortunatly we have run into some unforeseen issues with getting the server set up tonight. We have decide to call it a night at getting things going this weekend, and we will get some fresh eyes on it this upcoming Monday.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused anyone. This is of course why we do these types of things before we just switch over to new hardware.
__________________
Andy "Frelorn" Cataldo
AC Community Relations
Turbine, Inc
--An Adventurer 19:44, 3 October 2008 (CDT)
Shadowfell Test Server Opens Friday October 3rd - Link
"This will be our first live test of our new hardware that will be used on all worlds. This test server will be a copy of the Frostfell database, but will be open to all players from all worlds.
For this test world we are going to need your help. We want to get as many players as possible on this world as we can to test the limits of this new hardware. In order to accommodate players from other worlds, we will be placing the level up NPC's that were used in the Throne of Destiny testing, in various towns throughout the world. This will allow everyone to level up quickly to participate in all live world events for the weekend.
During this weekend, we will be running several live events. Various members of the team will be in the world throughout the weekend having lots of fun and wreaking havoc to test the limits of the new hardware."
September Patch - Tuesday the 23rd - Link
"On Tuesday, September 23 from 7AM - 1PM Eastern, all worlds will be down for the September event Risks and Rewards."
Changes Coming to Pristine Mana Shard & Mana Forge System - Link
Severlin, Senior Game Engineer posted this on the mana shard and forge system:
The plan is this:
We want the rate to be higher in general, but we want it much higher until someone gets at least 5 chest pulls a week from hunting. At 20 chest pulls a month from hunting it will be competitive with questing. That's our goal.
The numbers we are looking at is this: We want chest pulls from hunting to be doubled what it is now, but for the first 5 chest pulls each week we want the rate to be much higher than it is now: about 5 times the rate. So your first 5 chests a week will be increased by at least 400%.
How we are doing this:
~ All shard drops rates for hunting areas were multiplied by 5. In other words, we increased shard drop rates by 400%.
~ Bosses and higher powered creatures have an even higher drop rate. So big game hunting like Dark Isle bosses have an increased rate of shard drop. We'll let you figure out which mobs have higher drop rates.
~ The mana forges have a quota that needs to be filled. If you are at least level 150, for your first 5 keys per week you get to turn in shards at a rate of 10 per key. This is 5 times the rate it is now.
~ After 5 pulls in the same week (or if you are lower than 150) you have to talk to the normal shard collector and the rate drops to 25 per key. Note that with the increased shard rates this is (not counting increased boss rate) double the rate of pulls that it is now.
With this system after 5 keys in a week you have to decide whether you want to save the shards for the next week, or get even more chest pulls at a reduced rate.
Most quests give out keys; only a few quests will give out shards so most quests won't eat into you hunting rate.
Sev~
Edit: We also cleaned up the chests. The chests drop 4-5 items. The component chest no longer has a chance to drop only money. We took out "horde" items so you don't get as much junk.
--An Adventurer 17:09, 15 September 2008 (CDT)
Asheron's Call Developer's Chat 9/22/08 7pm Eastern - Link
On Monday, September 22nd at 7pm Eastern, Turbine and AC Vault are teaming up once again for a Developer's chat. To submit a question, just go to the AC Vault main page and click on the "Submit Question" link under the "Dev Chat" header on the left.
We are all looking forward to see everyone there!
__________________
Andy "Frelorn" Cataldo
--An Adventurer 10:31, 15 September 2008 (CDT)
New Official AC Website - Link
In advance of the 100th update, Turbine has launched the revamped, brand new Asheron's Call Official website on Thursday August 21st.
--Tlosk 20:01, 21 August 2008 (CDT)
Asheron's Call: Update Interview - Link
MMORPG.com News Manager Keith Cross caught up recently with Andy Cataldo, the Community Manager for AC. In the interview, Cataldo talks about the game's 100th update, an expansion-sized update to celebrate the occasion.
100th Update Teaser Image
Link to a teaser image hosted on turbine's site.
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--Tlosk 18:45, 19 August 2008 (CDT)
Verdatine Completes Sixth Node
The Minion of T'thuun has been dealt a fatal blow! Its connection to the tainted node of Mount Esper has been severed. The node is cleansed, and a little bit of T'thuun's malevolent power recedes from the face of Dereth...
Nothing else appeared to happen beyond what happened previously with the other five nodes. --Tlosk 15:11, 17 August 2008 (CDT)
100th Update Early Teaser Image
Frelorn posted a link to an early teaser image hosted on turbine's site.
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--An Adventurer 15:22, 8 August 2008 (CDT)
2008 Producer's Letter and Nostalgia Blog #2 are now live! - Link
The 2008 Producer's letter is now live! Check out what Dave "Crowley" Javier has to say about Asheron's Call and the year that was!
Asheron's Call Nostalgia Blog #2 is now available. This time around we hear from former Art lead, Matt Elliot!
__________________
Andy "Frelorn" Cataldo
--An Adventurer 14:32, 5 August 2008 (CDT)
Indoor Casting Range Update - Link
The spellcasting range for non-projectile spells was reduced to 30 yards as part of the July 2008 Shattered Lines event. After much player discussion, Frelorn posted this:
So after gathering much feedback and having many internal and external discussions, we have decide to increase the spell range to 50 yards in the next update. We want to thank everyone for the feedback they have given us regarding this change.
__________________
Andy "Frelorn" Cataldo
--An Adventurer 14:50, 1 August 2008 (CDT)