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| [Aug 25, 2005, 6:13 pm ET] - Share - Viewing Comments |
A post on the Asheron's
Call 2 Website (thanks
WarCry) has word from Turbine CEO Jeffrey Anderson that their MMORPG sequel
is shutting down: Closing Asheron's Call 2
Dear AC2 subscribers,
In spite of our hard work and the launch of Legions, AC2 has reached the point
where it no longer makes sense to continue the service. We will be officially
closing the Asheron's Call 2 service on 12/30/05. Until then, we plan to run
live events, but we will not be adding any content or features.
We deeply appreciate the many dedicated fans of AC2 who have stood by us over
the years. You have our sincerest gratitude.
Best regards,
Jeffrey Anderson
CEO, Turbine
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| 58. |
Re: No subject |
Aug 26, 2005, 14:02 |
Ray Marden |
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I seriously doubt it.
It...it really is like a casual, easy going online 3D Diablo.
Levels 1-58 Just grind, grind, grind
Levels 58-60+ Repeatedly run the same instances for your armor set or specific items you want. For some items, I ran a specific two-hour instance twenty-five times. The instances are not dynamic; factor in some repetition and boredom.
Level 60++ Just run MC or now BWL. At this point, you really need some of the high end gear and, though I understand its anti-farming purpose, the week-long lockout causes issues for the non-hardcore people. Ultimately, guilds form 40 people groups, cap off new people, and only ever really run with the exact same people.
At this point, you are now playing a MMOG...of 40 people. You have even less variety; you all need to have specific gear, you all need to have relative similar builds, you all have very specific roles, rogues are players you take along out of pity that repeatedly die in one hit ;), etc. Given the time involved for these larger instances, there is much more drama over loot and it really compounds the clique mentality.
Otherwise, giving up on adding story or content, Blizard took the easy route of PvP - let all the kids just beat on each other. I could care less about that, that is what UT or HL2 or whatever is for, but I realize it is a big thing for the less demanding.  But even then, the population is so screwed up that one of the two battlegrounds is never nearly open simply because you cannot find enough horder that are willing, capable, and wanting to play. Back when it was "working" a thirty minute to one hour wait was not unheard of.
Note that I am not even getting into the major, obvious class balance issues. The PvP honor system favors people that do massive damage and that tag a mob. So...high damage and AoE? Holy shit - go mages, go!
In addition to being burned by the greed and pettiness of people, that is why I left the game. 1-60 is a grind, you get your set, and then you basically farm an instance once a week. When you (quickly) get bored, you just go whack on all the other kiddies.
If I logged in today, I would have two options:
a. Go immediately farm money for hours with my warrior and then look into getting into one of just two instance that offer me any items.
b. Go play an alt/make a new character and do the exact same quests over and over and over and over and over and over.
Other little things, Blizzards refusal to deal with ebay farmers and exploiters, the worsening economy, and non-existent customer service increased my negative feeling.
Blizzards last resort is "repeatable quests," ie faction. But that is specifically designed around you repeating the exact same action over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over, usually for weeks on end, just to achieve the one item, reward, or plan you want.
Wow is easy to get into.
Wow is still, ultimately, a Diablo item hunt.
But is it an RPG? Deep? Rife with content?
Hardly.
w3rd
All rambley today (well, ok, every day) :o,
Ray
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