Asheron's Call 2

[Asher]

So who else has had the fortune of playing this game yet? It's wonderful. Best looking game on the market (beats UT2K3 hands down), best sounding game on the market (so many soundeffects at once using EAX, with perfect 3D positional surround), and best playing MMORPG of all time.

Only one review exists that I know of, from ctrl-alt-del.com, which gave it a 95%: http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/ac2.html

And IGN has posted a great summary and first impression of the game. It's a good read which summarizes briefly why AC2 is different from AC1, EQ, DAoC, etc: http://pc.ign.com/articles/378/378885p1.html

I'm "Asher" on Solclaim, a level 16 Human Bounty Hunter.

If you play AC2, post your handles and servers here.

Get a load of these screenshots: http://www.microsoft.com/games/ac2/visuals.asp
They look even better in motion, since stuff like tree branches sway and waves move up on the shore, grass sways, etc. Very alive.

[FrustratedPoet]

I was just about to start a thread on this and ask you about it?

I have an irrational prejudice against MMORPG's but I admit that AC2 has got me interested.

Something I got from the IGN preview is that it is far easy to level up in AC2 than in most MMORPG's. That's a dman good thing because playing for several hours to get a single bulb of xp when you are still working your way up is not my idea of fun.
As long as you get frequent opportunities to upgrade and develop your character it should be cool.

How long have you been playing to get to level 16?

ps> this comes out here on friday, assuming the box price includes one months free online time I think I'll give it a whirl soon (although the high-end comp I'd need to run it is scragged right now, so it'll have to wait until the comp is better). If I hate it I can take it back within 10 days and get a refund, so it won't cost me anything.

[Asher]

Originally posted by FrustratedPoet
I was just about to start a thread on this and ask you about it?

I have an irrational prejudice against MMORPG's but I admit that AC2 has got me interested.

Something I got from the IGN preview is that it is far easy to level up in AC2 than in most MMORPG's. That's a dman good thing because playing for several hours to get a single bulb of xp when you are still working your way up is not my idea of fun.
As long as you get frequent opportunities to upgrade and develop your character it should be cool.

It's definitely really easy to level up, up to a certain point. The level cap is currently 50 (and they'll increase this over time as more players get to it -- adding new items and dungeons and monsters to go with it), and each level does take longer to reach -- but it's still nowhere near as slow as the other MMORPGs I've played.

The designers of AC have always said they wanted to make the game fun. So they took a look at what they found was a "boring necessity" in the other MMORPGs on the market and changed it up, too.

For instance, when you die in AC2, you're teleported back to the last "lifestone" you used (save-game point, really). You don't lose any items, you don't lose any XP, you don't lose any gold, you don't need to go back and recover your corpse. You get a 5% "vitae penalty" every time you die, which reduces your health, vigor (stamina/mana/etc), and skills by 5% until you work it off by gaining more XP (depending on your level, 40 XP may reduce your vitae by 1 until you work it off). These do stack, so if you die 3 times in a row without working off any Vitae, you'd have a 15% penalty, etc.

How long have you been playing to get to level 16?

I'll have to check my age when I log in next. Probably around 8 hours, but that's because much of the time I'm not out gaining experience. I spent a lot of time crafting to improve my crafting abilities (which doesn't boost your character XP).

ps> this comes out here on friday, assuming the box price includes one months free online time I think I'll give it a whirl soon (although the high-end comp I'd need to run it is scragged right now, so it'll have to wait until the comp is better). If I hate it I can take it back within 10 days and get a refund, so it won't cost me anything.

Yep, the box comes with 1 month free.

Another thing I love about AC2 is the "Vault" campaigns. Vaults are essentially special dungeons, and when you complete the dungeon you get a ton of experience (usually a whole level's worth!) and a video which furthers the storyline in the game. And the storyline progresses every month. The December update, for example, will add a bunch of new vaults and transform the world into a winter wonderland.

[FrustratedPoet]

Originally posted by Asher
The December update, for example, will add a bunch of new vaults and transform the world into a winter wonderland.

that's so cool.

I'll definitely try this out for a week when it is released, it sounds very much like they've fixed many of the reasons why I hated other MMORPG's.
The screenshots are jaw-dropping.
Pretty.

Another question or two: how much does it cost per month once the free period expires?
Also, if you forget to unregister after the free month will they bill you, or does it automatically lock your account after a month if you don't specifically buy more time (DAOC did this)?

[Asher]

Originally posted by FrustratedPoet
that's so cool.

I'll definitely try this out for a week when it is released, it sounds very much like they've fixed many of the reasons why I hated other MMORPG's.
The screenshots are jaw-dropping.
Pretty.

Yeah, it's gorgeous. It requires a fairly hefty system to run on.

The highest detail it can go at is "Very High" (requires 128MB video card and 512MB system RAM). But on my Athlon 2100+ w/ GF4 Ti4600, it's only truly playable on "High".

My P3 800 w/ a GF3 runs it on "Low" and it's still choppy in crowded areas. Good thing it doesn't really affect anything, just annoying... "Low" is still awesome, though.

Another question or two: how much does it cost per month once the free period expires?

$12.95US, so it'll be somewhere in that range in europe. IIRC, Asheron's Call 2 can bill in local currency finally too. It does for Canada at least.

Also, if you forget to unregister after the free month will they bill you, or does it automatically lock your account after a month if you don't specifically buy more time (DAOC did this)?

It's a subscription, so it keeps going until you tell it to stop. It's not like some other MMORPGs where you can buy like 12 months in advance or something either, it's just a strict month-by-month thing. It requires you to enter your billing information even for the free month, but essentially all it does is start your subscription up and charge you $0.00 for your first month.

Canceling the account is painless though.

[FrustratedPoet]

Thanks for the info.

It's quite likely that I'll bombard you with gameplay questions once I actually have the game.

[Asher]

I'll be happy to answer them. You'd probably get a lot more/better answers from the AC2 Vault forums: http://vnboards.ign.com/default.asp?cat=15769

There are some major geeks in the game that know everything and tell all about it.

Another thing to keep in mind is that, even after you cancel your account, the characters are saved for six months incase you change your mind or just needed a break.

[FrustratedPoet]

In my experience the IGN forums are a seething cess-pool of flaming nerds (how's THAT for a mental image! ), although a quick browse of the AC2 forums there tells me it hasn't degenerated too much yet.

IGN still has the most butt-ugly forums on the 'net, though.

It's good that they save your characters you 6 months.

[Asher]

The IGN forums tend to really suck, and there's still a bunch of flaming nerds in the AC2 forums, but there's also lots of really good information there.

[dudemanjack]

Have you tried any player vs player combat? I only ask because killing the same old monsters over and over and over and over and over, etc. gets boring quick. I think I read about there being pvp servers, but was curious if you had experienced any fighting.

Although since I'm scratching the new computer and just getting an XBOX it doesn't really matter.

[Asher]

I haven't tried PvP, but there's a few different flavors of it in AC2.

Most servers are standard servers -- in these areas, the majority of the area around you is a "Peace" area so you cannot be attacked by other players. You enter some regions and it'll notify you if it's a Kingdom Conflict region (there are 3 Kingdoms in the game, and you basically you can only hurt people in other kingdons) or if it's a FFA area. And even then, the only people who can be attacked are those with a PK rating, meaning you wentt and did a quest to become a PK willingly.

Then there's the Kingdom Conflict servers. In all areas, at all times, you can fight players if they're in another Kingdom.

Then there's the free for all server (Darktide), where at all areas, at all times, you can fight anyone you want.

[Kc7mxo]

I've been playing on Winteresb server. Haven't had much time the past week or so though, what with final projects and finals.

AC2 is cool, though it kinda surprised me in how badly it runs on my system. (tbird 1000, geforce 3 ti200). I'll be upgrading after finals though. Am currently rather annoyed with the lack of reedshark spikes, as well as a number of other trophy items which drop almost never on monsters who give me zero exp, yet i still need to craft with.

[Grumbold]

Some people I respect from my AC1 days have been pretty uncomplimentary about the game, but I do plan to give it a try. Unfortunately the whole Micro$haft insistence on locking down your credit card payments so that imported US versions of the game are unplayable (correction, unpayable for, so you can't play, even though you could beta test) has got a lot of people pretty pissed.

I normally buy the US version of most software but in this case I have no choice but to wait for the UK retail copy. Luckily there will be an UK release in the not too distant future - people in many countries won't be so fortunate.

[FrustratedPoet]

Originally posted by Grumbold
Luckily there will be an UK release in the not too distant future - people in many countries won't be so fortunate.

It's out now. My brother bought his in a store in Oxford on Friday.

[FrustratedPoet]

I've been playing this game since yesterday.

I'm currently a Level 9 Human called Elbereth who specialises in melee fighting.

So far I'm enjoying it, the crafting system is good (I've mastered all the initial recipes) and I like the way that you can convert items to gold from your inventory screen.

I've done one of the first 3 Vaults so far, which was pretty cool.

How are you doing now Asher?