[AC] Weekly Update 8/31/06 Late Edition

[Ziv]

[turbine]

http://forums.ac.turbinegames.com/showt ... hp?t=31215

I know it is already Thursday, but better late than never.

First off PAX was a great time for everyone. It was great to get a chance to meet alot of present and former Asheron’s Call players, as well as hopefully some new ones. This was my first game related show, and it was definitely not my last. Getting the chance to talk to that many people about the game we all love was something I had been looking forward to for a long time.

So let’s get on with how things went. We had two stations set up so people could either log into some pre- created characters, or they could log into their own accounts if they wanted to, since these stations were connected to the live worlds. During the show there was almost never a time when these stations were not being used by someone, which of course meant that I never got to eat lunch during the two days the show floor was open.

On Sunday after the show was over, I had the chance to sit down with about 30 or so people at the Seattle area AC Dinner. This was truly fun for me, though I was a bit nervous. There is no tougher crowd than a room full of AC players. This is where I started to loose my voice finally after 3 days of talking to everyone who would listen to me about how great Asheron’s Call is. While at the dinner I pretty much gave away everything that wasn’t nailed down. Including shirts and some signed game boxes as well as a nice little silver Lugian I found hanging out in the office. Everyone there made sure he went to a good home.

Alot of people have asked me to confirm what was said at the show and over the weekend so I will no try to remember everything that was said.

Of course the big feature of the weekend was the Pets demo that I was showing off. The two particular pets being shown were the healing Penguin and the dispelling Olthoi. Both of these pets were in there just to show some of the things we might be able to do going forward with this new ability. Right now the pets just cast randomly, but we are working on trying to get things more controlled. We also announced the four pets that will be available upon release: Drudge, Armoredillo, Thrungus, and of course the Ursuin. Players will be able to own all 4 pets but they will only be able to have one out at a time. These little pets will be non- combat, and they will in no way be able to block doorways or other entrances. For now they will be cute and cuddly companions for everyone to have if they so choose. But who knows what else we might be able to do with them going forward.

We also discussed something that can sometimes be a sensitive subject around here, advertising. We announced that the premier issue of a new MMO magazine, Massive Magazine, will feature Asheron’s Call on the back cover with a special offer for new or returning players. We also announced that the online ads will also be appearing soon to help continue to drive up the population of Asheron’s Call, which has been steadily rising for the last several months now. All of us here are very excited about what the future has in store for Asheron’s Call.

There were a couple of other smaller things I let out there, but I figured I would save those for next week’s update since this one is coming out so late.

We will hopefully have some pictures of all the fun posted as soon as I sort though all the photos that we took. All in all it was a great weekend for everyone involved.

That’s about it for now, everyone have a great weekend and for those of you in the US enjoy the long holiday weekend. I know I will.

See you all in Dereth!
__________________
Andy "Frelorn" Cataldo
AC Community Relations
Turbine, Inc