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IN THE BEGINNING
I was first introduced to Asheron’s Call by my then boyfriend (now
husband) in the spring of 2000. Although I had always been an avid RPG
gamer, and an avid online gamer (with first person shooter titles such
as Quake and Unreal Tournament), Asheron’s Call was my very first MMORPG
title. I had worked at Electronics Boutique for years, and had kept an
eye on Everquest, drawn to their fancy Keith Parkinson art covers and
the promise of being able to play as an elf in a seemingly endless
online world. I remember the day of the Asheron’s Call launch as though
it were yesterday. All of my co-workers and I were notified of a
promotion from Microsoft that encouraged us to heavily pitch and sell
the game. The reward? A free year of Asheron’s Call gaming, paid for and
presented by Microsoft.
I must say that I was tempted to carry out my task. I would stand with
the big yellow box in my hand and read the back, debating whether it
looked better than Everquest. Due to the fact that I was a virgin to the
genre, I simply couldn’t tell. I had the blissful naivety of the typical
consumer. To me, I was still hung up on the “pretty elves” of Everquest
to even consider that a fantasy game could succeed based on its own
storylines and merit itself. I suppose I was stuck in the “if it’s not
broke, don’t fix it” mentality concerning the fantasy genre. I knew what
I liked- elves, orcs, dragons. Therefore, why should I change my
thinking for one title?
I swiftly put the box back on the shelf. It was out of sight and out of
mind.
I wouldn’t be faced with Asheron’s Call again until that spring when I
would meet Mike. We were drawn to each other as gamers, meeting in the
environment of Electronic Boutique. In fact, I played on the Quake
server he ran and several of our very first meetings were actually in
game as we passionately tried to kill each other. But I digress.
Mike, who I knew first as “Tebroc”, had picked up Asheron’s Call with
several of his work friends the day that it was released. I remember
visiting his apartment one afternoon to find him running a character,
clad in drab, mismatched armor, down a long stone road. When I look back
on it now, I must say that I was quite impressed with the graphics of
the game and the fact that the world looked so…interesting. Curious
about this new game, I sat down to watch him play, and therefore got my
very first taste of Dereth.
It was an exciting experience. I recall that one of the first things I
did was to /tell one of his friends to say hello. I remember him showing
me the different emotes as he was standing in front of the blacksmith in
the town I would come to know and love- Hebian-to. I remember him
putting on a horned helm and switching his armor right before my eyes.
And I must say that I was very interested to give it a try (although
giving any game “a try” usually leads to catastrophe with my obsessive
compulsive nature).
Later that afternoon, Mike allowed me to create my very first character.
It was an interesting experience to say the least, as I had absolutely
no clue as to what I was doing. I had a grasp of skills as they were
used in other games (like Dungeons and Dragons), but I couldn’t
understand how they were going to impact my character in this completely
original, foreign world.
After much hemming and hawing I ended up creating Caeradwynn (my
affinity for odd, Welsh names was nothing new). After reading the
descriptions of the character classes, I decided that I was smart enough
to make my own character. After all, I had played plenty of RPGs before,
and this one couldn’t be MUCH different, right?
Caera ended up as a disturbingly imbalanced life mage. She had
specialized life magic, trained deception (you know, to sneak around and
hide from enemies), and a plethora of other “skills” what I thought, in
my great wisdom, would be crucial to my survival. It turns out that I
had not the foggiest idea what I was getting myself into.
After running through the training dungeon, I had a basic grasp on how
to target things and how to look up and down. Armed with a wand, a bunch
of herbs, a funky looking healing kit, and a blue gemstone, I was ready
to take on the world. I left the portal at the end, and made my way to a
small building by the side of the road, near a large blue crystal…
It turned out that some guy named Behido-yi lost a gem and really wanted
it back. ‘Piece of cake’ I thought, confidently jogging towards my
destination.
It was then that I saw my very first creature. It was a yellow,
screeching ball of fur with big eyes and a wicked grin. A little shaken,
I clicked on my axe icon in the lower right corner of my screen (I
hadn’t attempted to learn keyboard shortcuts yet) and scanned my spells.
Harm Other I! That would bring him to his knees for sure!
I cast with the confidence of Drizzit Do’Urden himself. I saw the flecks
of red spring from the creature as the “harm”, well, harmed him. But he
kept COMING!
I turned and ran. Quickly (or so I thought). It turns out that this
“drudge” could run a wee bit faster than me. He ended up gutting me with
his knife, and I returned to my lifestone. Little did I know that that
shiny blue rock would become one of my closest friends in the years to
pass.
That first day brought much agony for me. I was slammed into the ground
over and over by anything and everything that moved. The only creatures
that didn’t taste my flesh were the rabbits around the training hall,
although I’m sure they could have if they’d have looked up from their
grass to see me there.
By the end of the play session, I was so frustrated that I just wanted
to quit. In fact, I almost did. I ranted to Mike about how much his
“stupid game stunk” and that I’d much rather play Quake. At least I
could kill SOMETHING in that game.
A week or so passed, and I once again found myself watching as Mike ran
his character over the landscape, this time accompanied with a group of
friends. I watched as he swung his sword and easily dispatched those
drudges with ease. The more I watched, the antsier I became. Finally, I
said those three words that would change my gaming life as I knew it.
“Fine! I’ll play.”
Shortly thereafter, I got my own copy of Asheron’s Call. I brought my PC
with me when I came to visit, and we played at his desk, side by side.
After surviving longer than five minutes, my confidence began to grow,
and I actually started to have fun with my character.
As I grew in strength and confidence, Mike decided that it was time that
I ventured out of the training area and run towards town. Now, this was
a huge ordeal for me as I had never been further out than the town of
Shoushi. To take that other route seemed like madness to me. However, he
insisted, and we began our encumbered trot towards Hebian-to.
I thought we were good-to-go when all of a sudden I saw two orange dots
in the road ahead. Mike stopped and froze, and I followed suit, ducking
behind him. Ahead were two giant beasts. They had horns protruding from
their backs, and frankly looked like something I didn’t want a part of.
I turned around to go back to my safe haven of the training area.
Unfortunately, the monsters had seen me try to escape and came after us
in full force, their giant feet thundering on the road behind us. Mike
tried to hold them off himself, but they had already smelled fresh meat
in the form of tender, juicy mage.
I ended up not having to run back to the training area. Shortly
thereafter, Mike’s battered body was unceremoniously dropped next to me
as I rested against the lifestone.
Wonderful. Just wonderful. Now we faced the daunting task of having to
try to sneak back and grab our bodies.
We headed back to our corpses, worried and a bit annoyed. Lucky for us,
we saw a white dot rapidly approaching on our radar. This miracle savior
killed the creatures blocking out paths faster than anyone we had seen
before. Clad in beautiful (compared to ours at least) armor, this angel
asked if she could help us with our bodies. We were more than happy to
oblige.
The woman, name Jyiigo Fredmala, was the very first person (other than
Mike, of course) that I had encountered in game thus far. She not only
helped us recover our bodies, but she cast several spells on us,
shielding us from harm. She then accompanied us to town, where she
picked out some armor for us and took us under her wing. I had read that
you could pledge allegiance to someone in this game, and out of sheer
gratitude I timidly asked if I could pledge my allegiance to her. She
gracefully accepted, and thereby became my patron.
The days after this momentous occasion flew by like a dream. We hunted
regularly at the Hebian shore, fighting terrifying creatures like
gromnies and golems. We ran from lugians and reedsharks. We learned our
spells and learned how to survive (I did at least. Mike already had this
down before I came along). At Jyiigo’s suggestion, I created a new
character based off of her own template. On this day, Ryiinn Gwyndylin
was born into the world of Dereth. I would never look back from there.
Throughout the years I fought with Ryiinn, painfully moving up in the
world, level by level. I learned how to form spells by combining tapers,
herbs, and scarabs, and learned how to protect myself against enemies.
During this time I ventured to many dungeons within the Hebian, Shoushi,
and Cragstone areas. I watched in awe as other characters summoned
portals of their own, and I did foolish things like raising the wrong
skills (like raising jump ridiculously high so that I could jump the pit
in Metos- a scary place that Jyiigo had promised to take me. I wasn’t
going to fall in any acid pits…) and racking up deaths like a mother
racks up coupons.
I remember so many events so clearly in my mind that they are almost
like yesterday. I remember our adventures in the lugian citadel WAY
outside of Baishi, the first time we ventured into the mountains, each
and every monarchy change, and my first Halloween patch. I remember the
pride I felt after casting my first portal, the excitement I felt after
casting my first level four spell, and the first time I was able to jump
up on the shop roof in Hebian. I remember the first crown that I bought
and how worried I was that people would think I was trying to copy
monarchs, the first celdon and yoroi armor that I got, and the first
elemental swords I acquired. I remember hunting for month after month in
Metos, finally accumulating enough motes to get my atlan weapon. I
remember my very first olthoi sighting, and my very first olthoi kill on
the hills outside of Ayan.
I honestly could go on for hours about all of the wonderful memories I
have had in the game. In fact, I often escape into my own little world
as I sort through my old screenshots and Mike’s old screenshots. I look
at the shadow wars, the spires, and Bael’s arrival and just smile
stupidly. I look at my old armor and weapons and just laugh at how
“uber” I felt when everything that I had was utter garbage.
The Problems Begin
I suppose that my positive outlook on the game and my tendency to “just
play” kept me shielded from many of the problems that were steadily
rotting Asheron’s Call from the inside. I was not and will never be a
“power leveler”. I do not and never think I will ever have “uber gear”.
I tend to simply play as an explorer, hunting where I like to hunt
rather than where I get the best experience and taking time to do the
little things like read podiums of lore throughout the land and re-
running old dungeons just for fun’s sake. In fact, by the time that I
was even aware that there were problems, they were already sweeping the
land like a virus.
THIRD PARTY PROGRAMS (THE RISE OF THE MACHINES)
The first of these problems, in my opinion, that I will touch on is the
heavily debated subject of third party programs.
I had already heard of tools and resources made to make the game
“easier”. In fact, I had used programs like Split Pea myself after a
while, choosing to use a utility rather than use trial and error making
spells. As I look back, I almost wish I hadn’t even used that. Third
party programs unfortunately have the addictive and encompassing
characteristic that makes it only takes a little to just make you crave
more and more. Like a drug, they make you depend on them more and more
until you can’t exist without them or at least feel like the game is
worthless playing if they suddenly stop working.
I believe that the first time I had ever seen an actual decal “bot” was
in the form of a portal bot. I remember seeing them spam that they would
cast a portal to hub, and I remember thinking that this was a wonderful
idea. After all, it sure was easier than having to stand and beg people
to cast those portals, right?
With the onset of bots, I became curious as to what was out there and
began to do research about this new phenomenon. To my surprise, I
noticed that there were many new programs springing up to “help people”
in the game. I began to notice people congregating in mana pools all
over the land, casting spells on themselves repeatedly and gaining
massive amounts of experience by doing so. I noticed people learning
spells at an astonishing rate, and I began to see spells that I had
never seen before being used in excess. The spell economy began to
deteriorate, and I found that my few spells were being diminished in
quality. I began to hear of “money macros” that made people increasingly
richer and richer, and watched as my fellow clan mates and much of the
population in general began to fly through their levels, quickly passing
me and making my character look like a baby once more, even after months
and years of hard work.
Plug-in after plug-in was released. The developers ended up removing the
spell economy, the spell learning process, and turning to scrolls only.
Casting new and powerful spells, a practice that had once been a sign of
hard work and eliteness became an everyday occurrence. It no longer
mattered what spells you COULD cast. It now mattered what spells you
COULDN’T cast. People knew every spell in the game, and I suddenly had
low level characters mouthing off to me when they would beg and I would
buff them with my level four spells. Apparently the magic that had taken
me almost two years to develop wasn’t good enough for them to receive,
because there were now so many people that could cast higher spells that
the lower level spells were deemed useless. Rather than being proud of
my skills, I now felt like a worthless gimp, someone that couldn’t even
effectively help a low level character in the way that my patron had
helped me at the inception of the game.
I began to withdraw from social activities. I never accepted vassals due
to the fact that more often than not these individuals only wanted items
from me, not realizing that I had nothing overly “uber” to give. The few
vassals that I did take on ended up dropping me like a hot potato after
they decided that they could get better items and better buff from
another patron. I began to hunt my solitary dungeons and keep to myself,
my patron, and my husband exclusively.
After the plug-in burst hit so heavily, I admit that I was sucked into
the novel concept of using utilities like Arcane Knowledge to lean my
spells quicker (this was before they killed the spell research of
course). Not that this is any excuse for my actions, but I really did
feel like I was “getting behind” so to speak. I felt like the world was
technologically advancing and I was still sitting in my hut with my
abacus. Plug-in led to plug-in and soon I was using others like sixth
sense to “help” us while we hunted. I suppose I just didn’t realize at
the time how much it was actually hurting us and warping our views of
the game.
After several months of playing after the big third party eruption, my
husband logged his character into Dereth for the last time. Like me, he
simply could not keep up with the other players who were using plug-ins
to track everything from spells to experience, and people who had
leveling down to an absolute number game. He didn’t want to change his
hunting style just to “number crunch” and grew weary of seeing friend
after friend rocket past us in level. It got to the point that our
friends, who began to play with us, were thirty to forty levels ahead of
us, making group hunting impossible. To even find anyone close to us in
hunting level was nearly impossible. We were quickly being left behind.
He didn’t want to have to constantly monitor another program to play his
game, and felt that using utilities to “help” one play was in fact
cheating. Not wanting to stoop to that level of operation, he gave me
all of his items and logged out for the last time. I was now alone.
THE GREAT DIVIDE
As I struggled to not care about the ever increasing gaps between myself
and other players, I found that hunting just wasn’t as fun anymore. I
found myself turning into one of those number crunchers who knew exactly
what to kill to get maximum experience. Although I refused to hunt in
places like BSD (due to the fact tuskers bore the living daylights out
of me), I constantly got teased and prodded by friends about my low
level.
After Mike quit, change continued to happen in the land. As people got
to higher and higher levels, the developers kept adding harder and
harder content. I soon saw some of my favorite hunting grounds turned
into ridiculous territory where I wasn’t able to survive more than a few
minutes. My Ayan, the place where Mike and I had hunted for months and
months, was eventually turned into a high level playground. I was
constantly forced to find new places to go that would preserve my free-
range style of hunting, because I was NOT going to bend and be forced
into the high yield tusker dungeons on Aphus Lassal just because it was
the popular thing to do. I found that I could no longer hunt the dires
safely, that the Obsidian Plains were almost out of the question, and
that I was severely limited as to where I could hunt semi-safely and
comfortably.
Throughout the community of players there began to be fight after fight
about the code of conduct and third party programs, and this fighting
continues to this very day. Some people feel that they should be allowed
to play as they want, as it is their own money. Others feel that ALL
third party programs should be banned, as they affect all players as a
whole. I am not sure how I stand on this matter as of this point.
I honestly wish I had never gotten involved in the trend myself. I feel
that using utilities, while they MAY make things more comfortable for a
player, has made many people depend too heavily on them. The game has
turned into a mechanized, level hopping science. If you look at any
given message board during patch day, there are insane amounts of people
complaining about Decal not working, and begging people to fix their
Decal. There are often fewer people in game, and many people in game
spend a majority of time begging others for buffs (Level seven buffs,
may I add. Buffs that I still cannot cast even after three years of
play). Our mansion is abandoned, and towns are empty because low and
mid-level players lack the confidence and bravery to dare to fight
without being buffed. They fear losing their “uber” armor and equipment,
and simply wait to be pandered to by their bots when the .xml files are
updated for decal the next day.
I feel that while it is a person’s choice to use these programs, it is
unfortunate that the trend was allowed to continue as long as it has. I
honestly think that the developers are in a bad situation, as the
situation has gotten entirely out of hand. Like I mentioned before, this
issue is like a virus. It spread slowly through the game at an earlier
stage, incubating and attracting more and more people. Now, years later,
the magnitude of its use is just staggering.
I honestly believe that it is too late to put an end to the problem.
Even if the developers clamped down and somehow managed to ban all third
party apps, I think that the player base of the game (which is already
deteriorating) would be drastically reduced, most likely to the point of
non-profitability. Let’s face it: people are simply too dependant on the
technology. I shudder to think about what would happen if decal was shut
down completely and spoiler sites like Maggie’s most helpful website
were taken off line (no offense to Maggie’s site. I admit that I
frequent it quite often and love the work she has done). Without people
getting spoon fed information, many (if not most) would leave. Sadly
Asheron’s Call just doesn’t have the “new” appeal that it used to have.
But I’ll discuss that point later.
To wrap this up, I doubt that the developers CAN nip the third party
issue in the bud even if they wanted to. While I respect the development
team for all of their hard work and dedication, the team is only as good
as the programmers. And the programmers can only work with the code that
is given to them, trying to modify it as they see fit. However, for
every brilliant mind at Turbine lies a brilliant mind outside that will
try to counter their efforts. Much like how Nokia’s games were cracked
within the first few weeks of release and how people crack almost any
application available in the computer world today, every effort made by
the developers will be instantly countered by another person or group of
people. After all, a game is only made up of code, and no code is immune
to modification. (Take note of the chaos that ensued after the Halflife
2 source code was stolen from Valve). I honestly believe that the
problem is simply too big. The source is out there openly (or at least a
good majority of it as is illustrated by the individuals that run their
own Asheron’s Call clients), and unless drastic and potentially
impossible measures are taken to clamp down on these programs, they will
simply continue to spread.
My guess is that the game is simply too old and outdated, for Microsoft
to give the go ahead for Turbine to pour the amount of manpower into
fixing the holes and problems that would be needed to keep all third
party programs from working. And considering that the change would most
likely cause many people to quit, further lowering profits for an
already declining title, Microsoft and Turbine most likely will sit and
ride the train until it just doesn’t go any longer. It’s a tragic
thought, but one that is unfortunately irreversible at this point.
I think I’ve gotten my point across about third party programs, so I’ll
shift my long winded attention to other areas that I feel have caused
rifts in my beloved game.
HOUSING WOES
The next area that I will look at is the addition of player housing.
Although housing was available during the time Mike still played, I must
say that it was one of the pivotal additions to the game that helped him
to form his decision to quit the game.
When Dark Majesty was announced, both Mike and I were extremely excited
about the expansion. We reserved our copies ahead of time, as did many
of our friends. The thought of new content and housing was truly
exciting, and I looked forward to new blood being pumped back into the
game. However, much to my dismay, housing ended up leaving a bad taste
in my mouth.
The first time we realized that housing was available was an exciting
time. Like most things, we were a bit behind the rest of the people in
our allegiance. In fact, I believe my patron mentioned to me that she
had waited outside of her current house for well over a week before it
opened, allowing her to buy it. However, being the idealistic people
that we tend to be at times, we were still thrilled to have the chance
to own our very own houses. No more river and behind-the-tree-in-Baishi
muling for us!
We searched high and low for unbought properties. After several days of
searching, we received an /tell from a friend who gave us coordinates to
a settlement that was free. Immediately we ran out to the cottages,
which were a fair distance from Hebian-to. (At this point I don’t
believe that settlement portals were introduced.) Once we arrived, we
were greeted by our friends, and we “staked our claim” to “our houses”.
Excited, we began to wait for the homes to open and become available to
buy.
I remember this distinctly because it was Christmas. Mike and I were
spending a few days with his mother, and I remember having the computer
connected constantly with my character logged in next to the house.
Christmas Eve came and passed. No house. I left the PC on all night
long, waking up periodically through the night to check on my character
and the houses. Christmas Day came and passed. Throughout the day, I
stepped away from gifts and food to check on my character. Still no
houses open. The night passed slowly as I watched, hoping that the
houses would be opened as a Christmas present of sorts. I was not that
lucky.
For days I waited and waited, keeping my character logged in as much as
possible. I learned of people using “housing macros” that opened a trade
window every few seconds in hopes that the home would be open, but I
never used one having faith that I would be able to get the house that I
had been sitting by for that long. It was to the point that all of us
neighbors-to-be became friends as we sat and talked and waited. I was
never more confident that these people would be living next to me.
Even at work, we kept clients running on our machines in the background,
risking getting reprimanded for the action. Still, the days passed and
no houses opened.
The fateful day when the houses opened is crystal clear in my mind. Mike
and I are both web designers who work side by side at the same company
from 9 am to 6 pm. Several of our other friends (who were also camping
the houses with us) work 8 am to 5 pm. They had already left for the
day, and we were getting ready to leave, as it was almost 6:00. As we
headed home (a half hour drive for us), we received a two-way message
from our friend. Apparently the houses opened sometime between 6 pm and
6:30 pm, and there wasn’t a thing we could do about it.
We flew home, rushing to check on our accounts. I logged in to find my
character at the lifestone with 5% vitae. It seems that my character was
ejected from the house I was camping when it was bought, being ported
back to my lifestone. My guess is that as she stood there unattended
some genius dragged a group of creatures over to the stone, trying to
get away from the nasty mob. I was killed as I stood defenselessly by
the lifestone, and apparently timed out shortly there after.
The incredibly sad thing with this whole story is that my friend who
called me was the person who ended up buying the house I had waited at
for all of those days. He had no choice, as a random group managed to
run to the settlement and buy up most of the cottages that we had all
waited so long for.
I honestly don’t know what could have been done about this issue. All I
know is that I was so upset at the manner that these houses were
released that I almost wanted to quit the game altogether. I had bought
this expansion pack with the intention of buying a house, and was
brutally disappointed. I can see the logic to make houses a supply and
demand item, but the releasing of the houses should have been done
differently, perhaps in a “buy a deed from the Arcanum” or even on a
first-come-first serve basis. I suppose hind sight is 20/20, but I do
believe that this was a large disappointment to many.
Did you know that Dark Age released their housing expansion FREE of
charge? This Foundations pack was a free download! They could have
easily waited to release it with the Trials of Atlantis pack to get more
people to buy it, but they didn’t. Perhaps it was the realization that
if they sold the feature with the knowledge that players wouldn’t all be
able to own a house, that it would cause problems for them?
VILLAS AND MANSIONS
I eventually ended up with a beautiful little cottage, and eventually a
villa per wedding gift from Jyiigo. While I thoroughly enjoy owning my
own dwelling, I am a bit puzzled with many aspects of the housing. To be
honest, I almost enjoyed the layout of my cottage better than that of my
villa. The floor plan of the villa is simply too large and empty, with
hooks being located in odd places on the walls, floors and ceilings. In
addition to the odd upstairs layout, the basement is a total mystery to
me. There are rooms I never use due to lack of hooks and out of the way
locations, and the need for such a sprawling underground area is beyond
my comprehension. There are still only two chests and a limited number
of hooks. To be honest, I would rather use my upstairs hooks, poorly
placed as they are, to display my items and trophies than some
subterranean room that no one sees but me. I know I have these items.
Why would I want to show them off to myself?
Being the kind of person that enjoys building houses in the Sims (but
not playing the game beyond that construction phase), building levels in
Unreal and other games like Neverwinter Nights, and using architectural
software to randomly build dwellings and buildings, I don’t really
understand the thought process behind the layouts of these sprawling
estates. The cottages were lovely, with hook placement that was almost
perfect. The villas and the mansions, however, have much to be desired
in the functionality standpoint and the aesthetic standpoint.
This brings me to the topic of mansions. While I greatly appreciate a
guild house that allows members to gather and converse, I feel more than
a little sad that the towns themselves have gone from being bustling
hubs to mere vendor locations. In fact, people have even suggested
adding hookable merchants to mansions like in Dark Ages of Camelot. I
shudder to think of the implications if such a wish were granted.
THE LOSS OF THE TOWN - THE TOWN CRIER CRIES
In any fantasy world, taverns and towns are VITAL to social interaction.
There is so much focus on level crunching and power hunting in these
times that stripping the game of its already declining social gather
centers is most unfortunate. While groups like our AC Roleplayers make
it a habit to meet in towns throughout Dereth, the number of people that
even visit towns for purposes other than selling items and buying
supplies is few and far between (and with salvaging condensing most
materials it’s even worse).
What happened to all of the people that would sit by the Hebian rock and
just chat? Where are all of the people who met in the Shoushi square for
quests? Even hub itself has become a mere alleyway for people to
instantly get place to place. There aren’t people meeting and trading
there. There is NOTHING there. The marketplace, filled with automated
characters spamming endless messages about the over-inflated garbage
that they have for sale is the closest thing to social gathering that is
left in the game. I honestly don’t think I have interacted socially with
a single person (not in a dungeon, at the mansion, or in marketplace)
for months. This is disturbing to me. Asheron’s Call, my beautiful, fun,
exciting Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game has become simply
a “Massively Online Game”. Even struggling to keep AC Roleplayers afloat
in this dying world is difficult as more and more of the true
roleplayers leave for other titles that are more receptive to social
interaction and roleplaying.
SPOONFEEDING AND THE SPOILED PLAYER
Once again, I digress. I honestly believe that while mansions may have
served to bring guilds a bit closer together (although this is debatable
due to the fact that allegiances used to meet in towns), they have done
more harm then good, and have almost destroyed the value of towns at
all. Why bother to run to a town when you have a mansion to recall to?
Why bother to go to town at all when your mansion has anywhere from two
to three buff bots (that also cast two portals each)? It’s tragic that
so many players have just been spoon-fed for so long that they just ask
for more and more and more. I suppose this proves the point that once
you begin to give so much, more and more is expected. Like I’ve
mentioned, hookable vendors have been called for. People have already
requested hookable portals. Can you imagine? If you had hookable portals
PLUS bots, you could have a tie to anywhere! Have one tie to hub, one to
shadow hub, and you can go almost anywhere instantly. Maybe “/recall
dungeon or town name” should be added next. Why not? Heaven forbid that
one should have to actually RUN anywhere and explore! Even after three
full years of playing I STILL find completely new things when I run
around on my own. It’s a pity that others cannot learn to appreciate
what we have in game rather than begging for the developers to further
dumb down an already over simplified game.
A SINKING SHIP
I logged in last night to the first day of the November patch after
reading my patch notes and investigating what content people have
already discovered in game. For the first time in many months I just had
a sinking feeling as I ran around the Hebian area. It was a feeling akin
what one would feel like if they were in a canoe with a hole in it. You
row and row, trying to bail out water as fast as you can to keep your
beloved boat afloat, but eventually you just grow weary and either sink
with the vessel or jump out of the boat and swim away.
I am almost at the point of diving out and swimming away. I never, in my
three years of playing this game, thought I would ever be saying this. I
look at people’s retirement posts with sadness and often laugh, knowing
they will be back. I’ve spent a phenomenal amount of my free time
building websites to further bring Asheron’s Call to life for me and
other people. I’ve dreamed and planned to place my resume at Turbine in
hopes of joining their team someday. However, I am afraid that the land
of Dereth is on a decline that will only continue to steepen and my
beloved game will eventually crash into the brick wall at its end.
As the content and dynamics of the game constantly change, people
continue to leave the land. Due to the age of the game, the limited
graphics engine (let’s face it- people often want bigger, better, and
prettier in games), the lack of sales of the game (considering I have
not seen a single copy of Asheron’s Call or Dark Majesty in any store in
my area for almost six months or more), and the low populations in the
servers, the odds of getting a refreshed player base is NOT very likely.
I read Slashdot games this morning on my daily reading cycle and found,
to my surprise, that Final Fantasy XI has neared Everquest in
subscription numbers, hitting sums above 450,000 subscribers.
Wow. If I see 1,000 logged into Thistledown at any given time I am
amazed.
I can understand the arguments that state that Final Fantasy has had a
huge following and is a new game. However, my eyes zipped to the second
part of the Slashdot statement: NEARED Everquest in subscription
numbers.
If you remember, Everquest was the pretty box that I held in my hand
even before Asheron’s Call. What are they doing differently that STILL
makes them so attractive? I played the trial version a while back and
simply didn’t like the basic Everquest (which is comparable or worse
than the graphics of the old Asheron’s Call). But obviously some people
do, as is apparent by their numbers. Asheron’s Call easily has the
talent, the originality, the caring developers, and the loving player
base behind it to make it a smash hit. Why isn’t it as popular as
Everquest? Or any other major title for that matter?
I honestly believe that a major factor that makes Everquest constantly
appeal to people is the religious release of expansion packs. It is true
that Asheron’s Call is updated every month, but the average person,
doesn’t realize that. They never see a new box out on the shelf and
therefore discount it as an “old, crappy game”. The new expansion packs
from Everquest not only add great amounts of content, but they also
often contain engine updates and other features that make people want to
buy each and every expansion.
The subject of a new Asheron’s Call expansion pack has been dodged for
many months, even after an overwhelming petition to release one. I can
understand that this may be Microsoft not funding the project, or it may
be that such a pack IS underway and is top secret. However, I believe
that without a new expansion pack, Asheron’s Call will not survive much
longer. I think people may continue to play out of habit and because of
friends that they have made (I am a guilty member of this thinking. I
tend to play only because of my patron and out of hope for the future),
but after affluent people begin to leave for new and better titles (like
Final Fantasy XI, World of Warcraft, and other eagerly awaited MMORPGs)
the unsubscribe effect will be like dominoes. I can only hope this is
not the case, but I have a sinking feeling that it will be.
As I ran around last night, looking at the plethora people with chickens
on their heads and banderling arms wielded like swords, I couldn’t help
but feel sad. I, a typical packrat, felt no desire to go out and get all
of this new “stuff”. I loved the masks of two years ago, but I am bored
with them now. What will I do with them? Wear them in the empty towns
when I am not hunting? Put them on the trade bot that I don’t have? Take
something off of the already filled hooks in my villa to display them to
invisible people that never even run by my house and don’t really care
what I have displayed anyway? Frankly, I am sick of boring, silly
content. Ironically, I was one of the people who spoke out saying that
they LIKED the new housing items and fun items. However, enough is
enough. I can’t wear 15 or more masks at the same time. I don’t have
enough hooks to hold my silly housing items. I don’t have the pack space
to deal with all of it. I don’t need new backpacks that look different
but hold the same number of items. I don’t need any more floating books
or unusable machines to aimless display.
While games like Everquest and even Dark Age of Camelot add new, fun
items to the game (I think back to the witch/wizard hats in DAoC), the
item additions are added in such a manner that the items are few and far
between and are thrown out as a “treat” to the players. The items are
not a monthly occurrence, which merely bombards players with more and
more useless stuff to make up for content. Their actual expansion packs
are meaty, filled with new lands, new races, and other new features that
draw people right back in- even ex-players who had once quit. It’s a
proven fact that once someone loves a game (or mostly anything else),
they will pay special attention when something changes in it, even if
they had quit and moved on. For example, whenever Halflife released it’s
expansion packs, people bought them. They obviously weren’t as good as
the original, but people STILL paid money in the hopes that they could
relive some of the fun they has experienced in the past. The same goes
for movies. Look at the crazy success of the Friday the 13th movies and
the Nightmare on Elm Street series. Even Batman! People WANT to love
their past favorites. They just need to be given an incentive to give it
another try. Yes, there is a risk in the fact that people will not be
very forgiving if a sequel is released with hype and it fails miserably.
But at this point, isn’t it worth a try?
CAN IT BE HELPED?
Asheron’s Call really needs to seriously give people something that is
worth playing for. I feel that the developers should stop kissing
player’s butts by giving them more and more powerful items and silly
trinkets and actually create something that will attract new people- not
just appeal to the old. If anyone would have told me that a triple minor
necklace would be easily available two months ago, I would have thought
they were full of baloney. If anyone would have told me that a minor
would be available on AL 400+ armor two years ago I would have looked at
my AL 100 armor and wondered what I was doing! There is no excuse to
keep beefing up the game like this. It will eventually hit a cap and
fizzle out.
I can’t even describe how upset I am to think about the amount of
ridiculous imbalance in this game at this point in time. Why can I, a
gimpy level 67 sword fighter, kill a large group of level 100+ creatures
BY MYSELF? Go to any other game and try that. See how long you last.
People in Asheron’s Call create god-like characters, built up in a
matter of weeks, and just destroy things they ought not be able to
touch! I honestly think that it why so many people stay. It’s so easy
that it’s nearly mindless. My friend (one of the originals from the
beginning of this winded tale) restarted an archer on another server. He
went to level 100 before dying ONCE. I look at my deaths and can only
shake my head. I myself started several new characters, and none of them
have over ten deaths! How is THIS possible? I used to die more than any
other individual I knew! It’s because (like I’ve mentioned repeatedly)
that we have the game down to a science. We know where to go, what to
do, where to step, and how to succeed in doing it. For many players,
Asheron’s Call has become more of a habit than an enjoyable game.
A FINAL THOUGHT (FOR NOW)
It’s truly frustrating for me to think about, and it ties my stomach
into knots. I ponder how good the game used to make me feel to play, and
of all the fun I’ve had playing it. I relish all of the memories of
franticly fleeing from monsters, questing all day to get one silly item,
and being able to truly feel that my actions made a difference in game
(whether helping people, advising people, or just trying to survive).
But to me, alas, they are mere memories. I can never relive that pre-
plug-in sensation of being a “noob” again. My husband will never return
to the game to hunt by my side. I no longer have that appreciation for
new items, as I see them spread all over the land within a week or less.
It is a sad day for me. I know in my heart that it is a mere matter of
time before I too click on that “unsubscribe” link on my familiar navy
and gold page, never to turn back. I can only hope that something
drastic will happen to change my mind, but sadly, as I envision myself
as a level 70 swordfighter (still), wearing al 600 no buff armor,
wielding a 30-50 +20 +20 bludgeoning/armor rending/monster obliterating
sword, striking down level 500 monsters in a single blow, I simply don’t
see that drastic change in the near future.
I feel as though I have failed a good friend, or perhaps that a good
friend has failed me. Only time will tell.
Until then, I will continue to plod through my mindless routines with my
constantly re-rolled characters, and will try to suck what little
nourishment I can from my withered and dying first MMORPG love, hoping
that some day it will revive itself and sweep me off my feet once again.
Although I am not usually one to give up the faith, I am not too hopeful
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