February 2004 - Letter to the Players

Welcome to the February 2004 Letter to the Players! You may be a little surprised at how soon after the January event this letter arrived, and I don't blame you. Several months ago, we decided to move our events to the second week of the month, starting in February. As we needed to delay the January event until the very end of the month, however, this means that there will only be about two weeks between the January event and the February event.

In Dereth, the full power and malice of Ler Rhan-Aerbax's so-called mirror-has been revealed with the eruption of darkness on the Singularity Caul. While the populace looks fearfully to the southwest, High Queen Elysa Strathelar and the council continue working to improve the lives of all people on Dereth.

Now let's take a look at some of the changes coming up in the February event.

Dark Majesty Unlocked For All
I'll cut right to the chase: Starting with the February event, all players will have access to Asheron's Call: Dark Majesty content, whether or not they purchased the expansion pack. That means that all characters will be able to access Marae Lassel, and all characters will have the ability to purchase in-game housing.

We have decided to do this for a number of reasons. The first reason is...well, because we like to give things to you, our fans, who have stayed with us and made our purchase of the Asheron's Call franchise possible. Those who don't have Dark Majesty will now be able to access that content, and adventure with their friends who do currently have the Dark Majesty expansion.

We are also very aware of the current problems with obtaining new copies of Dark Majesty, and we are doing this to help those who only need it to upgrade existing accounts. We also know that our recent announcement has sparked a lot of interest in previous players who are looking to return to the game-some who may have left before the expansion pack was released-and we want to give them more incentive to return.

In the meantime, we are working hard to make copies of the game available to new players. We want new players to join just as much as we want former players to return! This is just a quick fix to one part of the issue. As soon as we have a solution to availability in place, we'll let you know. We're working on it as you read this!

Because this update is done via the game servers, and not via the MS Gaming Zone, it will not change your listed subscription, nor will it change which lobbies you use to enter the game. If you currently use the non-Dark Majesty lobbies, continue to do so. You will be able to access Dark Majesty content even when entering the game via these lobbies.

Allegiance XP Changes
The February event brings with it sweeping changes to the means by which AC's allegiance system creates and passes-up experience.

Please refer back to our article on these changes. We've also posted a follow-up article with some changes and clarifications.

Treasure Changes
February will also see the beginning of a rebalancing of the Asheron's Call treasure system, similar to the monster rebalancing that was done last year. Some of our goals for the treasure system include:

• Creatures in a particular level range should drop loot that is useful to characters in that level range.
• More creatures should drop items that have been modified in some way by the treasure system. There should always be a reason to check a creature's corpse.

As with the monster rebalancing, this is a process that will take several months. This month, you will see small to moderate changes in the loot dropped by almost every creature, as well as that found in many special chests.

Darktide Award
As referenced in this article, we will be providing all characters on Darktide with an award as an apology for the downtime and rollback a week and a half ago. Starting on the day of the February event, all existing characters on Darktide can talk to a town crier for the following one-time award:

• Two random pieces of high-level loot.
• Enough experience to gain three levels. Characters who are level 126 will receive three times the experience required to go from 125 to 126. This XP will not be shared in fellowships and will not be passed up through the allegiance system.

This award must be claimed before the March event. Make sure you leave two empty slots in your backpack!

Quintessence Sickle
The updated Quintessence Sickle has an activation requirement of 325 Axe. This was originally intended to be a wield requirement, and that oversight has been fixed for the February event.

If you are wielding a Quintessence Sickle when the worlds come down for the February event, and you do not have a base Axe skill of 325, the Sickle will be moved to your backpack when you enter the world after the event. If your backpack is full, it will drop on the ground.

To be safe, we recommend that those players who do not meet the wield requirements not have the Sickle wielded when the worlds come down for the event.

Content Revisions
We're continuing our plans of retouching outdated content. In February, you'll be seeing the return of one of Dereth's most elusive citizens, as well as an update to one of its oldest and most legendary quests.

The Future
We're always working on more additions and updates, and we think you'll be excited about them all. Here are some of the larger tasks we have planned for the next several months:

• Additional updates to treasure, such as more mutations for wands and bows, and improved damage-over-time balance.
• A focus on player vs. player gameplay, including general improvements and resolutions to known PvP issues.
• Some magic additions, such as fellowship spells and improvements to the buffing process.
• An assortment of quest and town upgrades.
• Asheron's Call's next story arc!

We'll be providing more information on many of these changes, especially PvP, long before they enter the game. We know you'll have a great deal of feedback for us.

In addition to all of this, we've got some exciting new content lined up for February. See you in Dereth!

- Ibn