Rollout Article
posted on 14-Jul-2004

Fanzen San walked quietly back into the Hebian-to library. He had spent the better part of a week traveling along the shores and inland areas of the Vesayen Islands. He was tired and worn out from a long, yet fruitful trip. The trip had been something that he meant to do for years now, but time had never been in surplus. But recent events, witnessed just outside of the city, had given him a reason to venture out into the wilds of the island.

He returned to the confines of the library a little wiser and little better worn for his efforts. He knew that others would follow his steps and would be pleased with his findings.

Many of this month's changes have already been described in detail in the Letter to the Players. There are three other topics that we'd like to discuss in detail.

Gibbering Claws
In this month's event we have added a quest timer to the Gibbering Claw, to make it difficult for players to prevent other players from getting a Claw. This does affect existing Claws. If you pick up a Claw - even one you currently own - you will not be able to pick up any other Claw for 14 days.

Example: I have a Gibbering Claw on my character, and another one in my residential quarter's chest. If I put the Claw in my inventory on the ground and then pick it back up, I will not be able to pick up the Claw in my chest for 14 days. However I will be able to drop and pick up the first Claw again as many times as I like.

Software Mode
One of this month's new dungeons uses new and more detailed graphics for some items that will not display properly if you are playing Asheron's Call without hardware 3D video acceleration. After an informal poll last month, we felt that this is acceptable. Players without hardware 3D acceleration will still be able to enter this dungeon, acquire the items, and play normally; they simply will see flat colored polygons instead of the expected item textures.

We may introduce more items like these in the near future, and we'll be presenting more information on the topic of Software Mode soon.

Turbine Nation
We're currently taking registrations for Turbine Nation 2004, to be held August 7 at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence, RI. We'll be revealing exciting details about the upcoming Asheron's Call expansion pack, having Q&A sessions, giving away door prizes, and sitting down for lunch with our players in the annual Asheron's Call Player Luncheon. We're also running two exciting contests - the Make-a-Monster Contest and the Make-a-Movie Contest.

Get your ticket today!