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- Conclusion
- Greetings!
- Next, sometimes there will be a Quest of such importance to the world of Dereth that you will know about it as soon as you enter the world. Of course, even with these Quests, there will still be a lot to discover and explore, but we wanted to make sure that players didn't need to begin their AC2 playing experience by going to a website to discover how to start an important quest.
- Finally, we wanted to make a dramatic impact on the environment of the world, so that we could highlight just some of the ways that Dereth may be changing over the months to come. Some of these changes will be set to take place in the interims between the Monthly Episodes. But some will occur directly in response to player activity, and will occur in the middle of the Episode.
- Many players were concerned about how essential a role KvK will play in the future of AC2. The important point to recognize here is that for the "normal" , KvK activity will be completely optional and will not impact most players' experiences in their everyday gameplay. We introduced a KvK dynamic in the Beta Event not only because it would help us analyze the PvP systems in general, but also because we thought players who wouldn't normally engage in PvP would enjoy trying it out in the last days of the Beta world.
- Highlights of the Beta episode include:
* New factional conflict areas that reward those who possess them.
* All characters, new and old, will have their level increased to level 10 if they aren't there already.
* All characters receive 1,600 PK points. Enjoy those Kingdom skills!
All of us want to thank you for participating in the Asheron's Call 2 beta! Your participation and feedback have been, and will continue to be, an integral part of making Asheron's Call 2 the best game it can be. Join us now as we close out the beta with this blockbuster episode!
- This Event showed us both some flaws in the general PvP systems, as well as problems with our specific implementation of the Beta Event design. Such issues as the power of turrets and portal camping will be addressed in future Episodes soon.
- Beta Event
- Camping of Invasion Generals
- Kingdom vs. Kingdom Focus?
- The AC2 teams here at Microsoft and Turbine are committed to providing you, the players, with the most compelling and fun MMPORPG experience possible. We look forward to showing you in the months to come just how exciting the land of Dereth can be. Thank you for playing Asheron's Call 2!
- The first thing you experience when you log into the world for the first time is a short vignette, a stream of images, text, and sound. The purpose of these vignettes is both to recap the events of the previous Episode, but they also set the stage for the main events in the current Episode.
- Player vs. Player Systems
- So those were the main goals of the Event. In the last day we have received a lot of feedback about players' experiences in the Event. Many of you are having a lot of fun, and we're glad that you're enjoying the Event. Some of you have brought up some very good points about what could have gone better in the Event, and we wanted to address some of the major points:
- Too often in AC1, players grew frustrated with having to search for potentially long periods of time to find a specific coveted monster or item that randomly spawned. We also know how painful it is to wait in a long line for a specific statically spawned monster. In the Beta Event, we tried to get the best of both worlds by implementing three versions of each Invasion General in the hopes that this would spread out the spawns wide enough so that camping was not an issue. However, we recognize that there are problems with the current dynamic. In our future content design, we will continue to refine this dynamic to ensure an enjoyable experience for all players.
- First, exploring content and discovering the stories behind the events in the world is one of the main activities in AC2. The process of discovering, exploring, and ultimately revealing the secrets behind the Vaults is going to be a lot of fun for players. We wanted to build upon that theme in the Beta in several different ways.
- When the mortal races left the Shelters, few among them imagined that they would be tested so soon, but now all are resolved not to be defeated so easily. The fight for the future of Dereth begins…
- Normally with each Monthly Episode we'll be releasing a Letter to the Players, in which we explain the reasoning and process behind the changes/features we've made for that month. While we didn't do such a Letter for the Beta Event, we did want to take the time here to discuss what some of our goals for this Beta Event were.
- For this Beta Event, this content appears in two different avenues of play experiences. One of these avenues is the "Player vs. the Environment" theme. There are three sets of invading armies converging upon Shoushi, each army geared towards a different level range. Each army has its own Invasion General for players to find and fight. There have been some reports of the Generals being in more than one place at the same time, although the strange magic they might be using to accomplish this is unknown. In combating the hordes of invading armies, players will have the opportunity to find powerful weapons that they can use against the invasion.
- End of Beta, 10/31/02
The invading forces swept through in the night, a three-pronged attack catching all unaware. What few repairs had been made to the ruins of Shoushi were swept away in the tide of the invaders' assault. When the long night ended, the first rays of sunlight stabbing through the clouds of dust and ash revealed that the invaders were well established in the hills and countryside surrounding the place where Shoushi once stood. Those brave enough to enter the afflicted areas reported that each of the three armies was led by a creature of enormous size and power. Standing at the side of these creatures were giant winged Tyrants, spewing fire at any who got too close.
- Hello everyone. I'm Ken Troop, the Turbine Producer for Asheron's Call 2. Ken Karl, the Microsoft AC2 Program Manager, and I are in charge of making sure that Asheron's Call 2: Fallen Kings is the best MMPORPG experience and service that exists now and in the future. Yesterday we unveiled a precursor to the Monthly Episodes, the Beta Event, for your enjoyment.
- There are still glimmers of hope. Those who have bested the invading creatures in combat have found powerful weapons on the corpses. To some, it seems only appropriate to use the very weapons wielded by the creatures to force them back. There are also reports of strange altars in the Kingdom fortresses standing near Shoushi. These altars reportedly award gifts to those who use them, but only to those whose Kingdoms have bested the altars' guardians. In other areas of the land, creatures out of legend have been sighted. If the tales are true, the people of Dereth once tamed these creatures. Questions abound about who is behind these gifts and the appearance of these creatures, but for the moment, all the people focus their energies on turning back the invaders.
- In addition to making our story visible and accessible to our players, we also wanted to highlight our ability to introduce new and fresh content into the world on a regular basis. Just like in AC1, we are committed to bringing you new dungeons, new monsters, new items, and even new lands to explore, all as a part of your normal monthly subscription.
- The second theme is exploring the "Kingdom vs. Kingdom" aspect of AC2. KvK will be a fun and compelling component of play for many of our players and we wanted to introduce elements of KvK in the Beta Event by having players of different Kingdoms fighting over Altars which granted very powerful weapons. However, while we know many of our players enjoy KvK, we also recognize that many of our players prefer their experience in Dereth to be free of any direct PvP activity. Therefore, we designed this Event so that KvK play was purely optional, set aside from the normal landscape of the Event.
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