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Bonjour,
Les patch mensuels reviennent enfin dès la semaine prochaine.
August Letter to the Players
Posted By Ibn on 08-Aug-2005
Welcome to the August Letter to the Players!
This month marks the first content update since the launch of Throne of Destiny and we've got quite an event in store for you. We've been very happy with the reception that AC:TD has received from all of you, including a large number of returning players, and we think you'll be very happy with what you'll be seeing in this event. The August event, "Friend and Foe," is currently scheduled to go live on Wednesday, August 17th. But before we go into details, there's one other announcement I'd like to repeat.
Providence AC Player's Lunch
On Saturday, August 13th, there will be an Asheron's Call fan lunch at the Dave & Buster's in Providence, Rhode Island. This is a combined event for Asheron's Call and Lord of the Rings Online fans, and is completely fan-sponsored and fan-organized! I'll be attending, representing the AC1 Live Team and the Santa Monica Studio, as will Calandryll (Turbine's Director of Community Relations) and members of the LOTRO team. For more information on date and time, as well as how to register, check out Paraduck's post on the official AC Forums.
Now let's take a look at what's coming in the August event and beyond!
Coming Soon
(These are the items that we plan to implement in the August event.)
Tumerok Art Upgrade!
In August we'll be using our new graphics engine to upgrade one of Asheron's Call's original monsters, the Tumeroks! This upgrade is similar to the Skeleton upgrade that was done for the Throne of Destiny release. Tumeroks will have more detailed models and textures and will be found wearing stylized armor. This upgrade will impact the Hea, Renegade and independent Tumeroks. The Aun Tumeroks, who have a more recent and more unique look, are not being upgraded at this time.
That's certainly made Hea Arantah happy! He's very proud of his new look!
New Loot Weapons!
For the August event, we're adding new styles of melee weapons, missile weapons and casters to the treasure tables! From new weapons like the Spine Glaive and Compound Bow to the return of old favorites like the Board with Nail, players will be able to find these new items in loot. They'll be fully tinkerable and imbueable and will be comparable to other weapons in their class, with higher damage wield-requirement and elemental bonus damage variants also available where applicable.
Withered Expansion!
The creatures found in the Withered Atoll – creatures that are immune to all non-projectile magic – are spreading north and southeast along the Direlands coast in the August event. And there are new camps and new quest weapons to be found!
As we've said in the past, the Withered Creatures are one step in our long-term goal of providing a rewarding play experience for those high-level characters that choose not to use offensive Life Magic.
New Quests!
We've got a lot of great new quests lined up for the August event! We thought we'd tease you with a handful of them:
* Fort Tethana Tug of War! Characters level 60 and above can investigate rumors that King Varicci is attempting to capture Fort Tethana through covert means. Will you help prevent the fall of one of Dereth's most well-known towns, or will you aid the King in his bid for expansion?
* New Hunting Quests! Over a dozen new NPCs order characters to hunt specific creatures on landscape. New tech lets you keep track of how many creatures you've killed and how many more you need to complete your quest! There are Hunting Quests for starting characters all the way up to characters over level 140!
* Sepulcher of Nightmares! What is the Order of the Raven Hand doing on the Singularity Caul? What hideous servants of the shadows will they unleash? Characters over level 100 can investigate and try to put an end to their latest plot!
* The Books of Grael! Both a Viamontian Royal Agent in Sanamar and an Aluvian scholar in Cragstone seek the mysterious Books of Grael, the records of an ancient barbarian warrior. Characters over level 50 can seek the books and choose whom they wish to help. But wait, why does a Sclavus seek the Books as well?
* Ricardo's Blood Gem! A Viamontian Rebel named Ricardo tells of Varicci's pursuit of a powerful Falatacot artifact known as the Blood Gem of Rikt Zir. Characters level 80 and above can seek to capture the Gem before the Viamontian King does!
* Lunnum's Pyre! A pyre burns in honor of the last female Fiun to survive the Eaters' onslaught and flee to Dereth. The pyre's guardian seeks characters above level 100 to restock the pyre's fuel, so that the memory of Lunnum is not lost.
* The Hunt for Muldaveus! Ten months ago, the Burun named Torgluuk turned on Niarltah and Muldaveus, the leaders of the Tumerok and Lugian Renegades. Since that day, their whereabouts have been unknown. Level 80 characters and above are being recruited by a wanderer who seeks to follow the Lugian Warlord's trail!
And, of course, there are many other new quests, creatures and items to be found in the August event!
In Development
(These are the game changes that we are working on for the September event. None of these items are guaranteed to be added for September as scheduling and priorities can change. These changes are in addition to the new quests, dungeons and items that we'll be introducing in the September event. Your feedback on these topics is particularly valuable.)
Additional High Level Hunting!
In September we plan to add further hunting environments for high level players. We'll be creating additional versions of some of the existing dungeons, such as the Path of the Blind, in much the same way that there are multiple Black Spawn Dens and Lugian Citadels. We'll also be tweaking the experience rewards of some high level hunting dungeons to make them more valuable. In addition, we plan to add some new and unique high-level landscape hunting. Keep your eyes peeled for some of the teaser screenshots we expect to release in late August or early September!
Treasure Improvements!
We plan to add some new loot items to the treasure system in September as well as upgrade existing items. These include:
* Crowns, hats, shoes and gloves that spawn with much higher Armor Level than can be found currently! Now you can wear that Major Strength crown into battle!
* Cantrips on jewelry and clothing!
* Level 7 spells on loot!
* Increase the damage on elemental wands through spells or tinkering! That high Melee Defense wand will no longer be the best wand in your arsenal!
* Improved elemental protections on Leather, Studded Leather and Scalemail armor, plus clothing!
Global Chat Channels!
Remember when I talked the enormous amount of work that went into the new User Interface back-end, and how this would allow us to much more easily make improvements to the game?
Yeah. Oh yeah.
In September we plan to introduce four global chat channels as well as new Chat UI improvements! The four channels will be:
* General
* Trade
* Looking for Group
* Roleplay
Players will be able to join or leave these channels in much the same way that they can join or leave their global Allegiance chat channel.
We'll be providing more information about these new systems in a separate article around the same time as the September Letter to the Players.
In Concept
(These are the game changes that we are thinking about for October and beyond. We cannot guarantee when – or even if – any of these changes will be added to the game, as scheduling and priorities can change. These changes are in addition to the new quests, dungeons and items that we'll be introducing in each monthly event. Your feedback on these topics is particularly valuable.
If not mentioned elsewhere in this Letter, topics listed as In Concept in prior articles have not changed status.)
Chat Windows!
To make it easier to manage the new Global Chat Channels, along with the many existing forms of chat, we are working on new chat windows. These will be floating, transparent, movable and resizeable windows that can be configured to show any of the existing chat types or channels. This is in addition to the main chat window, which will stay in its current location and gain the ability to have various chat channels and types added to it or removed from it.
Fellowship Improvements!
We are working on major improvements to the way in which information about your Fellowship is displayed. This includes radar improvements to allow you to more easily find members of your Fellowship and a floating window to allow you to more easily track the health and other vitals of your Fellowship members.
Friends Panel!
We are also developing a new Friends UI panel to allow you to more easily manage your friends list and communicate with the players on said list. This will be in addition to the existing /friends command-line functionality.
To see a list of prior In Concept articles and topics, check out the Current and Past Development Topics web page.
Well, there you have it – our plans for August and beyond. New quests, new content and new features& it's a great time to be playing Asheron's Call!
See you in Dereth!
- Ibn
Que du bons pour les deux prochains mois.
__________________
Shachi, Isabelle, Skald forever !!
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10/08/2005, 08h02
