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'''Asheron's Call''' (AC) is a fantasy MMORPG for Microsoft Windows-based PCs, released on November 2, 1999. The land of Dereth and its surrounding islands are a vast, seamless 3D world that is occupied by thousands of players.
General
Gameplay involves earning experience points through a variety of activities, including engaging monsters in combat and fulfilling quests. The earned experience can be invested to improve the character's abilities by spending it on such attributes as 'Strength', 'Coordination', and 'Quickness' or such skills as 'Unarmed Combat', 'War Magic' and 'Melee Defense', among many others. Besides experience points, questing and combat also yield equipment such as armor, weapons, health potions, and spell scrolls. Many types of loot can be improved or imbued with special spells and effects via ''Asheron's Call's crafting system, known as tinkering.
Unlike most other games of this type, ''Asheron's Call'' rarely uses typical fantasy fiction to draw ideas from and instead creates its own, unique creatures. Instead of elves and goblins, a large majority of the monsters in ''Asheron's Call'' are completely original. Examples include insect-like Olthoi, the cat-like humanoid Drudges, silvery giants Lugians and reptilian Sclavus. Many unique races and creatures from ''Asheron's Call'' can be seen in Wikipedia's list of species in fantasy fiction.
The Asheron's Call franchise was unique in providing complimentary monthly content updates or "Events" that added new quests, skills, landmasses, monsters, gameplay dynamics and bug fixes to all subscribers. Epic storylines linked multiple episodes to form distinct "story arcs".
''Asheron's Call'' is also known for its friendly stance toward third-party software, particularly Decal, which allows the creation of gameplay-enhancing plug-ins.
History
AC was developed by Turbine Entertainment Software and published by Microsoft. The first expansion, ''Dark Majesty'', was released in 2001. A second expansion, ''Throne of Destiny,'' which includes a graphics upgrade, new player race and new landmass was released on July 18, 2005. In addition to the expansion packs, the in-game story is advanced by monthly updates, which introduce new quests and gameplay dynamics as part of the subscription package.
While neither Turbine nor Microsoft have been forthcoming in releasing exact subscription counts, it is believed that Asheron's Call peaked in popularity in early 2002 at about 120,000 accounts and has since dropped to below 10,000.[1] According to the Turbine developers, Asheron's Call has far higher than 10,000 accounts, in contrast to Sir Bruce's of MMOGCHART.COM.
In December 2003, Turbine purchased the rights to the ''Asheron's Call'' franchise from Microsoft and assumed full responsibility for content development, customer service, billing and marketing in 2004.
Story
Asheron Realaidain and the Empyrean
The story of ''Asheron's Call'' takes place on the planet Auberean which was ruled by the Empyrean. The Empyrean are tall humanoids with immense life spans and a powerful mastery of magic. Prior to Portal Year (PY) 0, their civilization dominated the surface of Auberean, a feudalistic, religious society that later split into several nations such as the Yalain, the Falatacot, and the Dericost. The main setting of the game is a small island in the Yalain dominion. The island was known in Yalaini as Ireth Lassel.
In PY0, a young Yalaini mage named Asheron Realaidain was experimenting with portal magic when he accidentally opened portals to an alien world. This planet was the homeworld of many monstrous insectlike species. One of the smaller species, the Olthoi, proceeded to invade Auberean via the portals, and legions of black man-sized death machines spewed across the surface of the planet, skewering the corpses of all other inhabitants on their massive pincers, their magic-resistant hides rendering them largely immune to the Empyreans' defenses. Their invasion went almost unchecked and the Olthoi all but annihilated the Empyrean civilization.
In a desperate attempt to save the survivors of his people, Asheron called forth all of his power and summoned many portals, none of their destinations known to him, hoping that one would lead his people to safety. He ushered the last of his race through one of the portals, remaining behind himself to attempt to repair the damage he had caused.
These portals opened to many different worlds, bringing various creatures into Auberean. Most of these creatures were as wild animals, some violent and destructive. One of the portals Asheron opened led to the planet Ispar, the homeworld of the human-like Isparians. The Isparians were sensitive to portal magic and were lured into the portals that appeared there. Upon arrival on Ireth Lassel, they were instantly enslaved by the Olthoi, who were constructing a hive civilization under the planet. As more and more Isparians arrived, some managed to escape slavery and live as nomads, hiding in the wilderness and defending themselves from the Olthoi with weapons of their own fashioning.
Elysa Strathelar and Thorsten Cragstone
Looking to destroy the Olthoi for good, two of the greatest free warriors among the Isparians, two lovers named Thorsten Cragstone and Elysa Strathelar, sought the advice of Asheron. Asheron helped them organize an assault on the lair of the Olthoi Queen. During the raid, Thorsten was struck down by the Queen herself. Enraged, Elysa pulled from her quiver an arrow that Asheron had enchanted for her with an elixir he designed to slay the Olthoi Queen. Elysa let the arrow fly and it struck the Queen in the eye, sending her into death throes that sent waves of primordial fear through the entire Olthoi horde. The head of their hive mind destroyed, the Olthoi domination fell into disarray, freeing the human race from slavery. The player begins as an Isparian freshly summoned from Ispar into post-Olthoi Ireth Lassel, renamed Dereth by the Isparians.
Asheron remains present to guide the human people from the shadows, hopeful that they can restore his world to its former glory.
The Viamontian Invasion
In '', players are thrown into a bitter civil war...
A race of humans called the Viamontians managed to find their way to Dereth from Ispar during a war back on the homeworld. The violent Viamontians, led by King Varicci II, were trapped on an island hub for eight years. With the help of a mage named Nuhmudira, the barrier around the islands was destroyed and the Viamontians were unleashed upon Dereth.
Players are able to choose from this new race of blue-skinned people and can interact with the world around them.
The Viamontians have always been at war with the Aluvians (High Queen Elysa's people) and upon seeing that they ruled over Dereth, declared war.
Players must now choose to support the self-declared Queen of New Aluvia, or the violent King Varicci II.
Game Terms
Pyreal
'Pyreal' is a metal found on the planet Auberean. It is generally an alloy of precious metals combined in some ratio with pure mana.
In the game, the Isparians (humans), the one race to which all player characters belong, collect the metal and use it for various purposes. The Isparians' main source of pyreal is from the enigmatic golems that roam the countryside. These creatures are constructions of the planet's previous master race, the Empyreans, and motes of raw pyreal serve as their brains.
The Isparian unit of currency, the pyreal, is stamped from this metal. Pyreal is also the chief constituent of the powerful Atlan weapons, named for Asheron's father, their inventor.
The coins used to weigh one BU (burden unit) each, and with characters often carrying thousands of them at a time, the load could grow quite heavy. In response to player feedback, the weight of the coin was changed to 0BU, eliminating the effect of the coins on a character's burden level. In addition, the coins used to stack up to 5 K per stack. Player feedback changed this to 10 K per stack and later, 25 K per stack.
There are also rings and other types of weapons and items that are made from the material Pyreal.
Vitae
Vitae, the Latin word for "Life Force," is the vital statistic penalized temporarily upon death. A "vitae penalty," known colloquially as "VP", "vit" or simply "vitae" describes the effect of a temporary reduction in character strength upon death. This penalty results from the (intentionally) imperfect link between Isparians and the ''Lifestones'' which resurrect them. Said "imperfect link" refers to the magic Asheron has employed to siphon a portion of every Isparian's life to keep the trapped Empyrean alive, which happens with every death to the Lifestones. If a character is not bound to a Lifestone, they will still accrue vitae from death. As the character increases in levels, so too does the Vitae Penalty.
Player Killers
Player Killers (PKs) are those who choose to change their status to enable them to attack another PK in Player vs Player combat. On death they drop some of their items and the winner of the fight is allowed to take them. One server, Darktide, is dedicated exclusively to this style of gameplay.
The lore reasoning behind this mode of playstyle is attributed to Bael'Zharon, the Hopeslayer. In swearing allegiance to him, the character sheds Asheron's protection from attacking each other and devotes themselves to warfare serving (preferably) the Hopeslayer. In many instances, people have shed Asheron's protection solely to stand against those who attempt to do evil things. Examples of this include the destruction of the ''Shard of the Herald'' and the coming of the ''Burun Kukuur''.
Player Killer Lite
Non-player killers can change their status to player killer lite at will. This allows them to attack other PKLs, but a death will not result in item loss or vitae penalty. However, you do lose all buffs that were self-cast or cast upon you, which can, in time, lead to a costly amount of expended components. This function is not available to player killers or on the Darktide server.
This ability, according to the lore, was granted by Oswald to the barbaric Isparians in an effort to give them a less damaging means by which to fight each other.
Islands of Dereth
Vesayen Isles
An archipelago of lush jungle islands, the Vesayen Isles are named after Vesayen Hylin, a refugee from the Olthoi who led a band of nomads to take shelter on the islands, which are located just off the coast south east of Ireth Lassel. The islands are home to many foul and dangerous creatures, such as Moarsmen, Niffis, Wasps, Zefirs, Idols, and powerful Undead, to name a few.
Aerlinthe Island
The volcano-island of Aerlinthe, located north of eastern Ireth Lassel (also known as Osteth), is the home of a powerful undead of the Dericost clan, Lady Aerfalle. Many dangerous creatures are found here, such as golems, tuskers, wisps and shadows.
Aphus Lassel
Aphus Lassel, another tropical island chain, is overrun with Tuskers. They have a village near the portal to the island called Oolutanga's Refuge. Aphus Lassel is known to be the home of the Tuskers, and is commonly called Tusker Island, Monkey Island or simply AL.
Singularity Caul
This mysterious, circular island, located off the south-west coast of the Direlands, is a place of legend. It was here that Bael'Zharon, the Hopeslayer, put to trial his aspiring champions and granted them the power of the Shadow Stones. It has since been overrun by the Virind'i, mysterious, antagonistic beings of pure energy and a hive-mind society, Tuskers, and deadly Hollow Minions.
Marae Lassel
Marae Lassel was introduced in the expansion pack , in September of 2001. It is a fairly large island to the north of the Direlands, and west of northern Osteth. It is most famously the home of the new Olthoi Queen and her brood, replacing the queen slain by Elysa Strathelar. Also residing on this island are nomadic groups of humans who attack travelers, dangerous, feral Prairie Dog-like creatures known as Carenzi, and two warring clans of Tumerok: The Aun and the Hea.
Vissidal
Vissidal island is relatively new to the landbase of Dereth, it is set off the NE coast of the mainland just off the Olthoi North.
Getting to Vissidal island is restricted to higher level players 130+, and after completing a long and difficult quest called the Gateway to the Deep.
The individual XP rewards per creature ranging from 700k to 2 m for a single kill. There are only a few categories of creatures and they are:
★ Moarsmen
★
★ Grimey Moarsmen
★
★ Mucky Moarsmen (kill quest)
★
★ Scummy Moarsmen
★
★ Gold Moarsman (gold item quest/6.5mil xp)
★ Shallows Sharks
★
★ Shallow Shredder
★
★ Shallows Gorger (kill quest)
★
★ Gold Shallows Shredder (gold item quest/6.5mil xp)
★ Niffis
★
★ Benek Niffis (kill quest)
★
★ Astis Niffis
★
★ Gold Niffis (gold item quest/3.5% Level xp, cap 8.7mil xp?)
★ Remoran
★
★ Remoran Sand Stalker
★
★ Bloodmouth Remoran
★
★ Remoran Sea Raptor (kill quest)
★
★ Gold Remoran (gold item quest/3.5% Level xp, cap 11.4mil xp?)
★ Golems
★
★ Aqueous Golem
★
★ Wave Golem
The Deep
Mage characters who have chosen to not take "melee defense" may find Vissidal very tough to hunt on, and to make things harder, there is an area called The Deep, where you must run to get the xp from the trophy items. This area has a very highest concentration of monsters spawned in groups around it. The Deep is basically a strange energy source with 4 NPC humans nearby. Several "kill task" quests are based from the deep and yield good XP on completion. A well coordinated group of 3-4 people can easily handle it, if they are experienced players with good communication. For higher level melee characters, (200+) Vissidal doesn't offer a whole lot of challenges, unless you venture inland and get into thick spawns.
Dark Isle
In July of 2006, a new island opened up for characters of level 150 or higher. The island has several varieties of previous monsters, and some new monsters as well. New Shadows, Ruschks (higher level than those on Vissidal), Remorans, and Mukkirs are new variants of old monsters. Sleeches (a type of Niffis) are new to the game.
This hunting ground is unique from others because of the technology used with the monster spawns. The spawns typically consist of 4-5 monsters, but one of them is flagged as a "trigger" monster, and when it dies, it spawns two additional monsters, along with a "boss" monster, who has quite a bit more health and power and drops a trophy that is turned in for experience. There is no way to tell which monster is the trigger.
Once you get a trophy off a boss creature, you have 3 choices - either give it to 'The Deep' (located on the Dark Isle), or give it to one of Varicci's soldiers or Elysa's soldiers (NPCs). Each NPC gives a different piece of armor after 100 trophies. Each NPC gives a different armor set (style, enchantments differ).
The armor given by the NPCs is called "Relic" armor, and once fully assembled (all five parts) it affords the user a multitude of enchantments, some of which are not available on any other item in the game.
Only one trophy boss spawns per group, so some players engage in "cherry picking", (killing creatures only until the boss spawns, then killing the boss and heading to the next spawn.) This is particularly prevalent as the normal monsters are worth only 1/3 to 1/4 the XP of the Vissidal island creatures.
The general consensus is that this island is more "mage friendly", but most melees find they can make more money/xp on Vissidal island, so this island seems to have balanced things out some.
With the introduction of the "Royal Runed" Weapons, (which cast Gossamer Flesh (Level VII Imperil) on strike), the island is now more melee-friendly. For example, using the Royal Runed Weapon, the player will hit a few times for 80 - 200 damage points each swing, and then chances are good that the Gossamer Flesh is cast upon the monster. It is a random "proc" spell, so not 100% reliable. After the spell is cast, the player will hit for 600 - 800 damage per swing and critical hits can be up to 1800.
Software Architecture
Asheron's Call uses Microsoft SQL Server for persistent game data.
See also
★ Asheron's Call 2
External links
★ Asheron's Call official website
★ Asheron's Call Vault
★ Warcry's Crossroads of Dereth
★ Maggie the Jackcat's Kick-Ass Fabulous AC Site
★ AC Mystics
★ The Loresraat's Ultimate AC Resource Site
★ Nakamuro Zataki's Archive
★ The Last Dynasty Clan Website
★ The Regulators of Darktide - PvP Guild Website
★ PK Hunter - PvP Ranking Plugin & Ladders
★ AC PvP - An Online Directory of Player Created PvP Videos from AC:Darktide
★ Decal (Third party plugin system for Asheron's Call)
★ Sucamarto's AC Heaven (Third party plugin listing)
★ Alliance des Seigneurs (guild and resources for French players on FF)
References
1. http://www.mmogchart.com/Chart3.html
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