This week's conversations were quite interesting, covering a wide variety of subjects, from Elder game content, to the Graveyard, to feedback on ideas about new ways to spend xp or earn rewards. And, Django's history in Asheron's Call unfolds further.
ACVault is looking to expand its Quest, Patch Tree and Server News teams! All positions are volunteer, but come with complementary VIP status (custom user name colors, no post timer, all VN Boards Insider features,) custom Board Titles, and a Rewards program (where you can earn things such as signed AC concept art!)
All of our positions are listed here, but I have listed the above positions below for convenience.
Rhyssa_Fireheart has created October's desktop calendar. As always, available in a range of resolutions to accommodate most desktop sizes and is now available for download. You can find October's calendar by clicking on the link below. Enjoy!
This week was patch week for Dark Materials, the September Event. Among the threads discussing the patch, were some interesting threads answering a question suggesting Server merges (short answer: "Not likely"). Last week's discussion about the new Olthoi weapons continued, with some explanations about the tech from Kintani, and Django gave some hints about new titles put in this month.
Ardry crouched in the wide stone hallway, trying to ignore the chill in his bones. He’d found this portal, strangely unguarded and unwarded, in the middle of the Singularity Caul after the Council of Sages had asked him to investigate rumors of Elemental activity in the area.
In a mist-shrouded valley between the Obsidian Plains and the Inner Sea of Dereth sat the ruins of an ancient graveyard. Shambling undead and corruption-tainted rats lurked in the cold recesses of the crypts. Wisps and ghosts glowing with malevolent energy hovered in the open spaces between gravestones. Into this nightmarish patch of land came an even stranger creature, scurrying nervously between hiding places to mask its presence from the roving groups of undead.
Hello there and welcome to the September Release notes. There are many changes coming to Dereth this month. Strange activity on the Singularity Caul, Strange activity in the Harbinger tunnels and other odd behaviors point to something big looming on the horizon. Lets see what else is happening in Dereth this month.
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Turbine will never ask for your account name and password via email. Please forward any such requests to us at fraud@turbine.com for investigation.
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It was a fairly slow week on the forums, which I'm sure was a relief after the past couple weeks of unplanned downtimes, and hectic activity! Frelorn responded to the requests for a "PK only" General Chat Channel, and his update mentioned some "exciting plans for the future." Django again reviewed some of the technical issues of Vissidal vs. Dark Isle, and Severlin commented on the "monster warping to full health" issue.
This week's focus was on the newly added Composite Atlatl, with a fairly in-depth discussion about how these weapons work. For TW users, it is a must-read.
Other items of note: Frelorn provided a very complete weekly update, with some interesting news from the weekend at PAX, and although his camera wouldn't cooperate, he hopes to get photos up from other players soon.
There is also a thread regarding the new Tusker Paw, but as it contains possible spoilers, I merely linked to it following the first question.
This week's focus was on the August Event, Corrupted Sovereigns. In addition to some technical issues encountered with the patch, and the subsequent hotfix on Thursday, we had an unexpected, extended downtime over the weekend. Consequently, the majority of discussions on the forums were related to those things. I have linked to the relevant threads, and posted pertinent information to show the timeline in a broad overview, and I think it is evident that Turbine works very hard to deal with these kinds of problems when they arise. Frelorn posting from PAX at 3am in the morning on Sunday illustrates the dedication the team has. And I for one, appreciate it!
We are planning a Hotfix for tomorrow August 23rd. As of right now we do not have a set time, but as soon as we lock down a window, I will update this announcement. As a result of this upcoming downtime we will be rescheduling the live event planned for Frostfell tonight August 22, 8pm EDT. The new date and time for this event will be Friday August 31st at 8pm EDT.
We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause players who planned to attend tonights event. Unfortunately, the event will not run properly for players due to the issues with this months update.
The updated Schedule of Live events is as follows:
Harvestgain- August 23, Thursday, 8pm EDT
Leafcull- August 24, Friday, 8pm EDT
Morningthaw- August 25, Saturday, 3pm EDT
Solclaim- August 26, Sunday, 3pm EDT
Thistledown- August 27, Monday, 8pm EDT
Verdantine- August 28, Tuesday, 8pm EDT
Wintersebb- August 29, Wednesday, 8pm EDT
Darktide- August 30, Thursday, 8pm EDT
Frostfell- August 31, Friday, 8pm EDT
There is an interesting thread for all you "title hunters" out there, it lists all currently available titles, except for just a few, which Django has given hints about, so whoever figures those out... gets a cookie!
The August event page is live, and includes some Live Events, so be sure to check the schedule.
Also of note: As of the September event, free rent will be a thing of the past so get those writs and M notes piled up, we'll be needing them again!
In the warm, smoky tavern of the bustling Aluvian town of Arwic, a man approaching middle age sat alone at a table by the fire. His wide shoulders and bulky arms marked him as a warrior. His alert eyes and wary posture, even as he nursed a mug of beer, marked him as a sensibly paranoid man in a time when strange disruptions were occurring all over Dereth. His name was Girion the Unlucky, and he was about to be surprised, despite his best efforts.
Hello there and welcome to the Release Notes for the august event, Corrupted Sovereigns! Dereth is once again on the cusp of something big occurring. The Olthoi in the north have undergone some odd changes, and there have been reports of more strangeness surrounding Bobo. Let’s see what else is going on this month in Dereth.
Hello there and welcome to this week’s edition of the Asheron’s Call update!
The August event, Corrupted Sovereigns is scheduled to go live on Tuesday August 21st. We will be having the normal downtime window of 8am EDT – 3pm EDT. As always, this date is subject to change if we find that we need more time.
A reminder that PAX is creeping up on us fast, so if you are going and would like to meet some of the people who make Turbine great, please feel free to stop by our booth on the exhibition floor. Also, if you want to take part in the AC dinner that Gouru is putting together, please let him know soon. You can read all about that dinner here.
The forums are being scheduled for an upgrade and an update in the coming weeks. Among the features we are planning to add, is the CMS system, which will allow us to place news and updates on the front page of the forums. You can view an example of how this will look by checking out http://forums.lotro.com/. We feel this will help us get news and important announcements out to the community much easier. We will also be adding an infraction system to the forums that will allow us to moderate and keep track of things much easier. Once this new system goes live, we will give you all of the details.
When the September event goes live, we will no longer be paying the housing maintenance across all worlds. We want to be sure that everyone has plenty of notice on this, so we will be adding this announcement to the launcher, including the actual date that this will happen. Please make sure that you make arrangements to pay your maintenance once we have stopped doing so.
Last but not least, we will be running a series of live lore based events for the August event. We have a set schedule for these events, but we will also be running them randomly as well. Our goal is as always, to let as many people as possible participate in these events. The scheduled events are as follows:
Frostfell- August 22, Wednesday, 8pm EST
Harvestgain- August 23, Thursday, 8pm EST
Leafcull- August 24, Friday, 8pm EST
Morningthaw- August 25, Saturday, 3pm EST
Solclaim- August 26, Sunday, 3pm EST
Thistledown- August 27, Monday, 8pm EST
Verdantine- August 28, Tuesday, 8pm EST
Wintersebb- August 29, Wednesday, 8pm EST
Darktide- August 30, Thursday, 8pm EST
Thats about it for this week. Everyone have a great day, and see you all in Dereth!
Much of this week's comments were spread out over several threads about the same thing, most especially the threads relating to Geneva's Trade Requests. For ease of reading, I condensed them, and put them in one place, linking the main thread.
Frelorn's update contained some interesting information, and Django had a good explanation about how rares work.
Hello there and welcome to this week’s edition of the Asheron’s Call update!
First and foremost I would like to remind everyone that Turbine will once again be at this year’s Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle, Washington. The people from Turbine attending this year will be some names you know from AC, some from LOTRO and some others from DDO. Those folks we have lined up as of now are, in no particular order: Orion, Annuvin, Patience, Saffron, Quarion, Frelorn, Marketroid, and more. So please feel free to stop by our space at PAX and say hello. This is one of the few times during the year that they let us out of our cages.
Also, don’t forget that our friend Gouru has taken on the task of trying to gather all of us AC players in one place for dinner. If you would like to attend this dinner, please let him know. You can find all the information about the dinner in this thread.
This week the team is busy working on things for August event, as well as going into the beginnings of what we want to do for September and beyond. We are very pleased that the server issues have still not arisen again. This of course means that everyone is back to focusing on compelling new content, and improving the game. Some of the guys are a little tired and burnt out after doing so much extra work the last few months, but they are very excited to get back to focusing on new content and features.
We are continuing to advertise Asheron’s Call in a variety of places. The latest being Beckett Massive Online Gamer magazine. You can pick up the latest issue of the magazine at newsstands everywhere, or you can head over to their website.
Next week we will be announcing the title and date for the August event, as well as releasing the teaser images. We are undergoing some policy changes with how these things are distributed and announced, so that they will come on a more regular schedule going forward. This should help not only the players, but those great folks who run the fan-sites as well. I know firsthand how frustrating it can be waiting on something you really have no control over. It’s not exactly what I would call fun.
That’s about it for now, everyone have a great day and see you all in Dereth!
__________________
Andy "Frelorn" Cataldo
AC Community Relations
Turbine, Inc
A shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a man who does not exist!
Rhyssa_Fireheart has created October's desktop calendar. As always, available in a range of resolutions to accommodate most desktop sizes and is now available for download. You can find October's calendar by clicking on the link below. Enjoy!
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