Filed under: Asheron's Call

ReSubbed Episode 1: Asheron's Call

by Seraphina Brennan Nov 17th 2009 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Asheron's Call, Opinion, Humor, ReSubbed

At this point in time, we probably have you intrigued enough to read this paragraph. You're wondering what this new column is, aren't you? Well, wonder no further, dear readers, as you're looking at the second ever weekly Massively video feature -- ReSubbed.

What's this show all about? Simple -- take willing saps, er, participants, and subject them to a random MMO each week while recording the insanity. It's a preview, a review, a revisit, and a drunken raid all recorded live, hosted by Seraphina Brennan. We go inside the game so you don't have to. Plus, you can laugh at our misfortune. What could be better?

This week on ReSubbed, Sera has recruited Kyle Horner as her wing man as she subjects him to Asheron's Call in honor of the game's 10th anniversary. What happens when Kyle figures out that all of his emotes are bound to the keys of the keyboard? Check it out, right after the break.

(The management would like us to inform you that ReSubbed does contain one instance of profanity this week. So, be warned, we're slightly NSFW.)

Asheron's Call lead designer talks 10-Year anniversary, the MMO market, more

by Tracey John Nov 6th 2009 at 5:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-fi, Asheron's Call, Interviews, MMO industry, The Matrix Online, Casual

Not many MMOs last a decade, and this week marks 10 years since the launch of Asheron's Call, the fantasy MMORPG by Turbine Entertainment. Releasing several months after EverQuest, the game held its own and found its way to becoming one of the top MMOs of its time, providing fond memories for many players.

"I'm very proud of Asheron's Call, even today," said former AC lead designer Toby Ragaini in an e-mail to Massively. "It really broke a lot of new ground and I still have people come up to me saying what a great time they had playing. That's a pretty wonderful compliment after 10 years."

Ragaini, who has since worked on Sony Online Entertainment's The Matrix Online and is now working on a casual web-based MMO called Faunasphere, reminisced about working on Asheron's Call and spoke about what it's like working in the MMO market after 14 years of being in the biz.

Asheron's Call celebrates its 10th anniversary

by Kyle Horner Nov 2nd 2009 at 5:30PM

Filed under: Asheron's Call, Events, in-game, News items

Whenever an MMO hits the big ten-zero, we tend to get a little misty in the ocular slots on our heads. Asheron's Call holds a special place in many a person's heart -- because everyone has a first -- and so this post is for all of you players both past and present who cherish and adore your little personal slice of gaming love.

Turbine has plans to run live events throughout the day as part of their celebration, which includes bringing back some of the most loved (and feared) characters and villains. We hope the event is fun for all, and if any players happen to attend why not take some awesome screens and send them into our One Shots feature? You can do so by emailing oneshots AT massively DOT com.

Asheron's Call gets a slew of new enhancements for the 10th anniversary

by Seraphina Brennan Sep 28th 2009 at 7:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Asheron's Call, Culture, Events, in-game, Game mechanics, Patches, News items

When November rolls around, it's time for Asheron's Call to celebrate 10 years of being online. That's a pretty epic anniversary, so it makes sense that Turbine's preparing a pretty epic set of patches. This anniversary isn't being overlooked in the slightest.

While details are still coming in as to what will be offered, already we know that magic users will be jumping for joy with the new magic infusing abilities in the new augmentations area. Mastering a school of magic will infuse you with its energy, letting you cast spells without holding the Foci or components to cast spells, although you will still need scarabs and tapers. Weapons will work relatively the same way, with new augmentations increasing effective skill with certain types of weapons.

One Shots: Heeding the call

by Krystalle Voecks Aug 20th 2009 at 2:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Asheron's Call, One Shots

The other day we asked which game you'd like to give a graphics overhaul to, and among the many answers we got was Asheron's Call, the subject of today's One Shots. While admittedly it doesn't have nearly the visual details of it's brethren, Dungeons & Dragons Online and Lord of the Rings Online, this bit of living Turbine history still has quite a bit of style. Here's regular Massively commenter Bam! to set up today's One Shots scene:

This Asheron's Call shot was taken in the Darkened Halls, which is a normally very low level dungeon. It has a quest that introduces us to one of the most disturbing creatures in Asheron's Call, the Hollow Minion. Originally created because one of the nemesis races in Lore thought scarecrows were the coolest thing ever, the funny particles about their hands indicate that all the damage they do ignores magical protections both on items and natural armor. Fortunately for me my character has a very good dodge skill!

If you're playing a game we don't see here often - or perhaps have never seen here - we definitely want to hear from you. There are tons of great MMOs out there that don't get nearly enough love, but we need you to send your screens in for them. Just email them to oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a description. Yours could very well be the next one we feature!

Gallery: One Shots

Turbine appoints new chief financial officer

by Seraphina Brennan Jun 1st 2009 at 4:00AM

Filed under: Asheron's Call, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO industry, News items

Let's take a break from all of the E3 crazy for a moment and bring it back down to Earth, as Turbine has announced today that they're putting a new man into the chief financial officer's seat.

Their choice for the position has been M. Beau Paradowski, an experienced 17 year financial veteran who has previously held the CFO chair for Optasite Inc. and Clearwire Technologies.

Paradowski is excited to step into his new position at Turbine, which will oversee all of the company's global financial operations and everything related to Turbine's three big IPs -- Lord of the Rings Online, Dungeons and Dragons Online, and Asheron's Call.

Can a LotROCON work?

by Shawn Schuster Apr 8th 2009 at 5:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Real life, Asheron's Call, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Lord of the Rings Online, Culture, Events, real-world, MMO industry, Opinion

SOE has Fan Faire and WoW has BlizzCon, but could a convention centered around Lord of the Rings Online (or all Turbine games, for that matter) evoke enough interest? Many fans seem to think it's about time they had their own company- or game-specific con as a place to meet others who enjoy the work Turbine has done with LotRO, DDO and Asheron's Call. Perhaps the biggest advocate is a blogger by the name of the LotRO Follower, yet the original idea came from Moormur at the LotROCast podcast. Other members of the LotRO Blogging Collective have thrown in their own two cents, like The Middle-Earth Adventurer who makes the point that it doesn't have to start off large, as in time it will grow.

So as the general MMO-playing public, we'd be curious to hear what you have to say on this subject. Have the success of the other topic-specific cons shown that it can be done with others, or should Turbine fans just get together at other major cons like Dragon Con, PAX or GenCon?

Turbine shuts down servers/forum for problems once again

by Shawn Schuster Apr 6th 2009 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Asheron's Call, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Lord of the Rings Online, Forums, Server downtime

Server maintenance is common in many MMOs, and it's something we seldom report on at Massively. Usually, by the time a post would be written, linked, scheduled and posted, the server maintenance would be done, or the problem would be fixed. This doesn't exactly seem to be the case with Turbine lately.

For several weeks, many of Turbine's servers have experienced problems, whether it be with Dungeons and Dragons Online, Asheron's Call or Lord of the Rings Online. In today's latest downtime, the rubberbanding or "invisible wall" problem has been running rampant in LotRO, causing the servers to be taken down and curiously enough, the forums to be locked down with a special status message, according to a recent Turbine Twitter message. Rest assured though that the dev team is on the case, and hopefully these issues will be completely resolved soon. What can you do while you wait? Why, read our LotRO Lore articles, of course!

Turbine offers compensation for Asheron's Call and Dungeons & Dragons Online downtime

by Kyle Horner Mar 31st 2009 at 5:00PM

Filed under: Asheron's Call, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Server downtime, News items

Players of both Asheron's Call and Dungeons & Dragons Online have until very recently been experiencing a significant amount of unexpected server downtime. Being right gentle- uh, developers (gentledevs?) Turbine is offering up significant compensation to players as a way of apologizing. While simply extending all player subscriptions by the time lost (one day) would've been enough, it doesn't end there.

Here's the breakdown of the additional goodies players are getting:

Asheron's Call
Bonus rare drops!
+25% bonus XP

Dungeons & Dragons Online
+25% XP
+1 bonus to loot
A special in-game item when Mod 9 launches!

Those will be for the coming weekend, so if you were a lucky player who's been too busy the past 24 hours to even notice the downtime... lucky you! We envy your uncanny ability to receive wonderous gifts. Hey, can you hook us up with some four-leaf clovers?

Turbine recruits new operations of VP into its fellowship

by Kyle Horner Mar 10th 2009 at 11:00AM

Filed under: Asheron's Call, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Lord of the Rings Online, News items

News on the wire is that Ken Surdan has been appointed as Turbine's new VP of operations, and will oversee worldwide operations of Lord of the Rings Online, Dungeons & Dragons Online and Asheron's Call. His previous gigs include senior vice president for technology for TripAdvisor, chief operating officer at Smart Bargins and a member of the "Lord of the Rings: One LARP to rule them all" group. If we had to guess, we'd say Ken probably played as Gandalf -- because that guy managed just about everything.

Okay, in all seriousness, Surdan is bringing quite a lot of operations experience to Turbine. For a company that seems to be looking at expansion in the coming years, it's a very smart hire. The only thing we're not entirely clear on is whether or not he's replacing anyone or is filling an until-now empty position.

Don't pay in gold, barter instead!

by Seraphina Brennan Jan 27th 2009 at 5:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Asheron's Call, Culture, Economy, Game mechanics, Endgame, Opinion

Of the many things that developers have to balance in MMOs, the economy is perhaps the least understood. Where damage over time and powers can be easily tweaked to bring them in line with the rest of the game, virtual economies can bounce around more than a hyperactive kid with a super ball. Even if you think you can find a "fix" or a "tweak" to bring your virtual economy to where you think it should be, the economy can throw you a curve ball and react completely differently.

Over at the Warcry Network, Jonathan "Ithelsa" Steinhauer has pitched the concept of going back to a barter economy, similar to the one that Asheron's Call accidentally stumbled upon. Instead of relying on money sinks and economic controls, the barter economy places the value onto items and craftable materials -- thus providing wealth that can easily increase or decrease over time and naturally sink out of the system as they are incorporated into other items.

The full article is worth a read, especially if you're interested in the tricky issue of virtual economies, or just general game design of virtual worlds.

Turbine hiring for Microtransaction Manager

by Krystalle Voecks Jan 1st 2009 at 12:00PM

Filed under: Asheron's Call, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Lord of the Rings Online, Business models, Economy, MMO industry, News items

We've seen a steady growth in the arena of microtransactions over the last several years, with more and more Western companies noticing the lucrative practices Eastern MMO companies have; offering item malls to their players. After all, you really can't ignore the growth of companies like Nexon who are raking in more and more money each year with their free-to-play microtransaction model games. Recently, we've seen Sony Online Entertainment testing the waters in EverQuest and EverQuest II by including a small number of items available for players in their pilot in-game item malls, with promises to add more in the future.

Now, it appears that we're starting 2009 with another Western company heading in the direction of adding microtransactions to their in-game landscape. Turbine, despite recent job cuts, has added several job postings in other departments. The one that caught our eye, however, was a recent posting for a "microtransaction/e-commerce manager" who will be in charge of "delivering and maximizing the revenue derived from Turbine's micro-transaction-based in-game store." They've kicked around the idea of adding microtransactions in interviews before, but this posting seems to support a definitive move in that direction.

The origins of Turbine, as told by its founder

by Shawn Schuster Dec 19th 2008 at 10:00AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Asheron's Call, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO industry, Academic, Education

Have you ever wondered how some current game studios were first created? Who started them? What was their initial aim? Many of these most successful companies were founded on the success of console games in the 90s. Take Blizzard, for instance. They started out in 1991 by three guys who had just received their bachelor's degrees from UCLA the year before. Ironically, they also created one of the early Lord of the Rings ports, as well.

With Turbine, the story is very similar. Jon Monsarrat, as the founder, CEO and officially Turbine's first employee, writes his narrative on the founding of the company back in 1995. Initially funded by some insurance money Jon got from a car accident, Turbine eventually evolved from the creator of Asheron's Call four years later, to the behemoth that it is today. This website is quite dated, and is listed in Turbine's official wikipedia entry, but the story is filled with some great tidbits that can only be told by the man who experienced it all, and it's certainly worth a read if you're a fan of any of Turbine's projects.

[Thanks Bam!]

News From the Wider MMO World: September 23, 2008

by Akela Talamasca Sep 23rd 2008 at 4:00PM

Filed under: At a glance, Fantasy, Asheron's Call, MMO industry, Pirates of the Caribbean Online, News items, Free-to-play, Chronicles of Spellborn, Grand Chase, Secret of the Solstice

The MMO genre is more than World of Warcraft, Age of Conan, and Warhammer Online. Here's what's going on in the rest of the world.

Secret of the Solstice gets new patch with new content
Outspark's Secret of the Solstice, the free-to-play fantasy MMO, has updated its client with a new patch. Available for both new players and veterans alike is a brand-new zone featuring new quests and a lush jungle landscape. Furthering the overarching storyline is a new initiative to pursue GM Alastor across the Emperonie Plateau and the Aserphel, Cretino, and Turmeit deserts. Finally, players can now view all of an NPC's available quests at the same time and choose which mission to undertake. Download the new patch at the SotS website.

New Warlock class available to Grand Chase players
KOG and Ntreev, publisher of Grand Chase, the side-scrolling fantasy brawler, has announced an update to the character class known as Arme. Arme, in addition to her Mage and Combat Alchemist jobs, now has access to a third: Warlock. The abilities of the Warlock job include summoning the spirits of earth, wind, fire, and water, to produce spectacular effects and fight with greater power than ever before. Before deciding if you want to switch jobs to the Warlock class, make sure to check up on the job's requirements on the Grand Chase website.

The Daily Grind: It's expansion season!

by Samuel Axon Sep 6th 2008 at 8:00AM

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Asheron's Call, EverQuest, EverQuest II, Lord of the Rings Online, Expansions, Opinion, The Daily Grind

It's expansion season in MMO-land. World of Warcraft will of course see the Wrath of the Lich King, which will add the continent of Northrend, a prestige class, and numerous enhancements. The Lord of the Rings Online will open up the Mines of Moria -- a massive dungeon environment for levels 50 and up. There will also be two new classes, and yes, numerous other enhancements.

Then there's EverQuest II's The Shadow Odyssey, EverQuest's Seeds of Destruction, and Asheron's Call's just-released 100th update. If you've got long-inactive accounts with any of these games, the devs are trying to win you back! If you're still there, they're trying to keep you from leaving for Warhammer Online or from freeing yourself from the genre completely.

Are any of these expansions going to do the job for you? And if so, which ones?