Asheron's Call 2 Interview

Part 1

Logan Horsford , 2002-06-07

Asheron's Call 2 is the Sequel to the very popular MMORPG Asheron's Call. It continues the saga in the fantasy world of Dereth, yet many generations in the future. AC2 features the Turbine 2.0 engine which produces impressively realistic outdoor graphics.

RPGDot: What is your name and job title please?

Judith: Judith Hoffman, Executive Producer of AC2

RPGDot: In order to get a first person point of view in AC1, one had to juggle around the keys and kind of 'make it work'. Is first person point of view fully supported in AC2?

Judith: Yes, there is a built in "first person view" option in AC2. No more juggling to get the view you want.

RPGDot: From the FAQ: " How customizable is the UI? Most UI elements can be repositioned anywhere on the screen. Many can be resized to your liking." If we dislike any of the elements on the screen, do we have the ability to alter their darkness (turning them clear if desired) ala DAOC or rid ourselves entirely of any/all of them?

Judith: Some elements of the UI can be toggled on or off, and most others can be rearranged on the screen to suit your preferences. In addition, if you are one of those players who prefers a completely clutter free experience you can hide the entire UI.

RPGDot: Are all of the keys remappable or are there 'fixed keys' (ala AO)?

Judith: There are a few assigned hotkeys, but the majority are fully mapable.

RPGDot: What things are being done to help the newbie? A tutorial like Everquest use to have, etc?

Judith: Characters starting AC2 will find themselves in a tutorial dungeon that will help them acquire all the skills they need to survive in the dangerous world outside.

RPGDot: How many face models are there for each race (not counting the hair)?

Judith: We have six or seven face models for each race, each one of which can be modified by choosing among dozens of styles of hair, beards, etc. The total number of appearances a player can generate goes into the hundreds.

RPGDot: Are there NPCs to interact with? If so, how varied are they?

Judith: AC2 is revolutionary in that there are no true NPCs in the game. Since the game world has recently been devastated and has only recently recovered enough to support adventurers again, there is no place for NPCs to come from! Players will explore, fight, build, and quest by working together and gathering clues from rediscovered relics, talkative monsters, and many other sources that you'll have to see to believe.

RPGDot: How many character models will there be for release?

Judith: AC2 will allow you to customize almost all aspects of your character. Height, build, and many other appearance options are variable, resulting in literally hundreds of different possible looks.

RPGDot: In both AC1 and DAOC, a 'town' consisted of nothing more than a half dozen (or less) buildings tossed together. Can you describe the average 'town' in AC2? How will it be different?

Judith: Well to start with, all the towns will be destroyed! If players want to transform the landscape from ruins to metropolis they'll have to work together to rebuild the once proud cities. How big the towns get depends on what our players choose to do.

RPGDot: Any sort of reputation system built into the game for NPC's? PC's? Is it possible for PC's to get bounties from a game mechanism to go hunt down other PC's who have been naughty?

Judith: There is no reputation system, nor a bounty system. However, once a player reaches a certain level they may choose to join a faction, which will open up many exciting faction versus faction options.

RPGDot: Are there classes? If so, are they the standard fare (warrior, rogue, healer, nuker)?

Judith: There are no classes as such. Each of the three races can develop their combat skills in melee, missile, and magic. Everyone starts with the equipment necessary for each skill, and which way you choose to develop your player is up to you. In addition, there are skill trees that players can take advantage of to enhance their chosen style of play, but since these are highly changeable we don't consider them classes.

RPGDot: Is there a ceiling in place on skills, so I cannot become the "best at everything" and have very real trade offs to choose? [I believe that any system which grants xps for killing monsters and from those xps gained allows one to gain skills is a level based system (rather than a pure skill based system as in UO) - just so that I can define what I am talking about in this question:] What is being done to move us from the widely perceived 'leveling treadmill' that most games (AO, AC, EQ, DAOC) embrace?

Judith: Experience in AC2 is applied towards skills, but because player levels will be capped, each person will be working with a finite amount of experience. This will force players to make choices and tradeoffs. Because you can choose different combat styles, you can choose what you want to excel in and what you want to have as supplemental skills.

RPGDot: Is combat open ended, like I.C.E.'s system use to be? [I like a PvP system where the uber PK stumbles on someone obviously their inferior, and of course attacks. However due to extraordinary luck (on the order of 1 in 10000) the newbie pierces the PKs eye, killing the foul beast. THIS would make being a PK fun, since you NEVER know if you have a sure win.] Or are high levels virtually immune to low level damage (ala EQ)?

Judith: Critical hits exist in AC2, but nothing as dramatic as you describe. If you are a lower level character, it will be very difficult for you to score damage against an extremely high level opponent.

RPGDot: Is the game set up so ONLY someone seriously gimped for fighting can obtain enough skills to become a master crafter, and thus create (notice I said create) the uber swords (etc) of the game.

Judith: The AC2 craft system is completely independent of the combat skill system. The way you advance in crafting is by using your crafting skills, not by going out and killing monsters. On the other hand, killing monsters can definitely help you find items and that will improve your craft skills.

RPGDot: Will PC tradesmen be forced to compete with NPC merchants?

Judith: There are no NPC merchants in AC2 at launch. Because we can easily dynamically update our world, who can say what the future may bring.

RPGDot: From the FAQ: " Items may be won in combat from the many dangerous creatures roaming the land. They may also be created by characters who develop their crafting skills." It appears that PC craftsmen will be in competition with monster dropped items. What is being done to make the tradeskills worth doing, or are they merely a time sink/money sink/window dressing/hobby of the rich?

Judith: Crafted items will be a cut above the standard items you find on the monsters you are fighting. Many of the creatures in Dereth are merely carrying relics of the past, while the returning heroes of Dereth will be able to create items that both the common adventurer, and the leaders of factions, will prize. The craft system will have many gradations, allowing for the casual player with little to no interest in crafting to gain rewards, while also providing interesting challenges for the truly hard core crafter.

RPGDot: Player housing seems to fall into one of these categories -which most closely matches AC2 housing?
* Preplaced, can't be owned.
* Preplaced, can be bought or rented, already furnished.
* Preplaced, can be bought or rented, can be furnished.
* Predefined structures can be built only on preselected sites.
* Predefined structures can be built anywhere.
* Custom built structures can be built anywhere.

Judith: The world that the player is entering in AC2 has been destroyed, so at first there will not be any housing in the post-apocalyptic environment. The basic answer is that Player owned housing will not be in AC2 at launch.

RPGDot: From the FAQ: " A patron can only acquire a certain amount of allegiance-granted XP per level." Clearly, in order to be seen as worthwhile, the percentage would have to be fairly decent. If only (for example) five percent of ones xps per level were able to be gained in this way, players would be less motivated for active recruitment. Can you give us an idea of what sort of percentage of xp per level the team is looking at?

Judith: We capped this in order to prevent the phenomena of players leveling entirely due to experience passed on to them by their allegiance members. To make each level a true challenge a significant portion of the experience earned must come from the players own effort. At the same time, putting too small of a cap on the amount of experience that can be passed on through an allegiance will discourage people from allying with each other. This is such a sensitive area that we are still tweaking it, and won't settle on a final number till we see how the beta goes.

RPGDot: Assuming no mishaps with mobs or players, how long would it take me to circumnavigate the world (if go from end to end if the world is flat)?

Judith: A long time. To visit every part of Dereth would take days of real time, at the very least.

RPGDot: Could I even do so? Might I need to build a city, then build a ship, then cross an ocean, etc...

Judith: No need to rebuild civilization to go on a trip. Your legs should suffice to get you from place to place, and if you tire you can always turn to the portals that connect to even the most distant areas of the world. You also can use portals to move between the three continents in the world.

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