Asheron's Call - Creating A Character Video
 

RPGWatch member Fluent posted a new nineteen minute YouTube video this week that takes a look at Asheron's Call, and how the MMO handles character creation.

More information.

Thanks for posting this, Couch! :party:

Character creation in this game is alone worth the price of entry. There are sooo many ways you can build, just watch the video and see! Truly some great customization and creation aspects in this game. :)

And please remember, if you like this sort of content, you can help my channel in various ways. They are:

#1 - The most helpful is to become a Patron of mine on Patreon. For the cost of a pizza per month ($10), you can help support my channel and help me!

#2 - The option if you don't want to spend money. Press the Like button on the video, leave a comment, tell a friend, subscribe and SHARE the video! This also helps my channel grow and is greatly appreciated.

So, back to the character customization. The game is currently $10 for a lifetime pass, and there is a lot of fun to be had in the customization facets. Love the free character building! Bravo, Turbine!

No problem just keep up the good work.:handshake:

You can make a Lugian character now!? Jeez, my mace warrior used to kill castle-loads of those guys.

So very happy to see this game getting some love!

What server are folks using?

Your making me wish I still had the info on my account. I have no idea what it is anymore tho. When I left I had multiple characters over 100 and my favorite was a melee cestus guy called Toff the Wanderer. Its probably been 10 years since I have logged in to it now.

Well, seems like it's time to start a new character, Toff! :)

I'm on the Frostfell server, which also seems to be the most populated. I have a character named Zhameer. Warning though, I can be a bit anti-social at times, so I won't always be up for a co-op dungeon romp. :D

Oh, and Darktide server seems really interesting. I love the intrigue of a full-blown PvP world. It really raises the stakes.

Never played this game in the heyday but I was debating about giving it a try. When I read Turbine would cease updates and encourage private servers, I became hesitant. Not sure what is going on with the game. With private servers you can get kicked for any and no reason unless you are good friends with the admin. I don't care to play this way. I know the official servers are still up but uncertain how long this will continue. Turbine to my mind has never made a definitive statement about what they will be doing with the game.

Eliot69, to that I just say, "Enjoy it while you can!". Waiting to see what's going to happen is time spent that you could have been playing the game ;).

If the servers disappear one day, it will be sad, but at least you will have gotten some enjoyment out of the game. And for $10, it's really a no-brainer. :thumbsup:

Well, I'm having a ball with this one the past few days! There is plenty of quest content to enjoy here, lots of dungeons to crawl through and creatures to hunt. Plenty of loot and some fun crafting and 'tinkering', as it's called.

It's suggested to find a buddy and try to co-op some of the starter stuff, unless you want to buff yourself to oblivion and back, which seems to be what 95% of new players do. Me, I like the old-school, challenging way, so I use low level buffs that I can afford and then try to either solo the early quests or possibly bring a buddy if I need help. Seems to work well and the game stays challenging and fun throughout.

I built a ranged character who can summon golems to tank for me, and it works really well! The creative possibilities for building characters is truly endless.

Triple post! :giggle:

Don't sleep on this one, guys. It's a perfect time to get back into it. It had an engine upgrade recently, looks beautiful, has enough population to be interesting yet not too much that it's crowded. Tons of exploration through the biggest RPG game world I've ever played in. Lots of great hunting opportunities. Very challenging if you don't use the buff-bots (these take away a bit of the challenge, but you can still die, trust me!) Tons of quests and contracts you can take. Lots of single-player RPG feeling and the level-up system…oh my LORD, is it nice! Ultimate freedom of character building the exact way that you want to. Mindblowing stuff, really.

It's been fun so far, and I'd recommend it to all of you. I've played a lot solo and also a bit in co-op. Some of the community members are really friendly and will help you out. It's purty cool, man. :cool:

You are great here and bring all sorts of insight to what you like and games you have played. But please enough!!!

You made your post awhile back about wanting money and you have a tag linking readers to it. Personally I think that is enough and I don't want to see every time I read a review on a game.

I feel I am just going to have to stop reading your post which I don't want to have to do.

We as a people at least in Canada are over ran by people asking for money. I can't even go out to hunting and gathering for food any more without some group asking.
Gas stations are always asking for some group, the phone doesn't stop ringing.

I am very sorry Fluent, I really didn't want to say anything as I really do look forward to your thoughts on things.

Celtic, thanks for sharing your thoughts! Your words are considered.

That said, I think reminding people to donate is something I should do if I ever want to get donations ;).

Have you ever watched a PBS broadcast here in America? :lol: The squeaky wheel gets the grease, as they say.

Thanks to my wonderful donors, I'm actually able to buy a new computer. Of course, their contribution is just a tiny part of that, but they definitely helped nonetheless.

I hope some of you will consider supporting me in the future. I hope I am doing and will continue to do enough to warrant that support.

Thanks for your sharing your thoughts, Celtic! Ciao! :)

How about instead of:

"My Patreon Page - Please become a Patron of mine today! "

"If you like my reviews of games please view my My Patreon Page"

Then it is always covered.

Well, for one, asking people directly seems to get the better results. I'm no sales expert, lol, far from it, but I've seen this type of approach be successful for others. :)

You didn't answer my question. Do you know what PBS is? Watch one of their very interesting documentaries and see how they handle the donation aspects.

Not saying I am anywhere close to being as cool as PBS, but they certainly make it known, quite frequently, that they are looking for donations.

And Celtic, if you appreciate my insights, thoughts, videos, articles, etc., then why don't you pledge to me? The donations go directly to bettering all of these things. Better software, better hardware, more games at my disposal, etc.

For $10 a month you would at least be helping an RPGWatch 'employee' to bring you better content, so it's a win-win.

And guess what? My Asheron's Call recent subscription? Paid for by YouTubers who viewed my videos. Yes, I did not have $10 to spend on a game, but once YouTube paid me, I bought the game, made some videos, shared insights, etc.

Still, I will consider what you're saying. I'm open to ideas and criticisms. :)

I do know about PBS, there is only CTV and CBC here as real Canadian TV channels. The rest that are broadcasted here are mainly from the US.

Though my point is more to not distracting from your reviews as I don't know if I am the only one that finds it in your face. It could be that in the 4 years of coming here I am not use to it or want to get use to it.

As for me and my money, next money (March) Couch and yourself most likely will be seeing something from me. I had some very large and one unexpected bills in the last three months. Two boys in hockey never helps either lol….

Please consider giving to Couch first. He brings news to the site and is very important. Sure, my insights, articles, etc., are nice, but Couch really does a lot of work and makes the whole thing work.

I would graciously accept whatever you offer, though, and I'm sure Couch would, too. :)

And the donation thing may seem in your face because no one has really done it on this site. But I think that when you are trying to get people interested in what you're doing, you have to be somewhat in their face. I can't just bury it where no one can see it, right? So, it's sort of a necessary thing that needs to happen if I want to grow my viewership and what not. :)

But anywho, back to Asheron's Call. Great game, for sure! :)

My father loves watching PBS on the weekends for the oldie music offerings. I'm surprised at how much money that channel needs to stay on the air.

PBS has some great shows. I recently watched their local documentary on the town of Pittston, PA, which I live near. They also have other good programming. But yeah, they need lots of money to stay on the air. They are supported by the viewers.

So do you have to buy the game to even try i out?

Yes. They've replaced the previous model of first month trial + sub fee after that, to a one-time payment of $10 for a 50 year (aka lifetime) membership.

Trust me, it's beyond worth it. $10 for the fun I've had so far, I feel I've already got my moneys worth, for sure.

And to all you single-player RPG players out there, yes, you can approach it like a single-player game. There are going to be some undesirables in chat (maybe one guy - squelch them), but overall it can feel like an absolutely massive single-player RPG. I'm talking massive the size of Daggerfall, by the way. Maybe not quite as huge but it's certainly enormous and at least 20 times bigger than the biggest single-player open-world I've ever played in a game. Easily.

Lots of dungeons, lots of creatures to hunt, incredible character building, some fun co-op at times if you're into that, lots of customization and some good lore and questing to round things out. I like it a lot, and it's basically everything I remember from playing 15 years ago, and then some. :)

Ok, just spent 10 dollars, better be worth it…taking your word for it;)

How will I ever do without that lunch from mcdonalds if it doesn't work out…

Be careful with how you create your character. It seems possible to create some builds that will struggle at first with some not-so-efficient choices. :-/

I haven't played a lot yet, but man are the controls bad!

How do you control your character? do you use the keyboard mostly?

It's a game was made for keyboard turners.

The controls aren't bad. Lol. They work fine for me. I even play some in first-person mode and it works good enough, although the mouse axes invert for some strange reason. :)

Other than that I think the controls are fine. You can also remap pretty much whatever you need.

I use the keyboard and I'm starting to use some of the keys, such as quickslot numbers, and I need to remap "scroll through selections" to 2 new keys. I click on most things I want to interact with, and only rarely change the camera angles.

I think you just need to get used to it. It's got a learning curve, for sure. I was stumbling around that training academy like a damn fool, but once I got my feet wet for a few days of gametime, it got better. Now I'm quite used to it, although there is still room for improvement by using the keyboard keys more.

Enjoying yourself, rune? o_O

I'm finding this game utterly addictive, just like I'm 12 years old again playing on my friend's account. I'm now level 24 and the character building is just awesome. Super addictive stuff. I'm in no hurry to level and just enjoying the sights. There's lots of fun quests and good exploration. Even just hunting in the wilds is a lot of fun and rewarding. Really enjoying it!

You on Frostfell server, rune?

Edit - And remember how I said that you could build a 'bad' build? I was kind of wrong. There's opportunities in the game to re-spec your build if you'd like, but also, a new, better weapon makes a huge difference. I was struggling at one point, but once I upgraded my throwing weapon, improved my strength and coordination a bit, it made a HUGE difference. Now I'm able to kill things easier and get decent XP while hunting.

And here's an example of the character building. Every point in your skills is so fun to get! I currently have a 198 in Summoning, and at 220, I get to summon a stronger golem than my current Mud Golem. Once that happens, I will be a much more efficient killer. :) I also use throwing weapons and have enough strength and coordination to survive with those attacks. I also just learned fletching, so if I invest enough, I should be able to create some very nice darts for my atlatl. (You can also purchase arrows from fellow players if you don't want to craft them yourself.)

So with this load-out of skills, things are very fun thus far. I also have enough magic in Creature Enchantment that allows me to buff myself with nice buffs to help me survive in tougher areas. Also, there is an Arcane Lore skill that allows you to equip better magical gear the higher your skill is. This is also extremely fun and addictive, because when you finally reach the Arcane Lore level of a specific item you were waiting to activate the magic on, it's a very rewarding moment. And those buffs on the armor and weapons are going to make all the difference in how you survive in this world.

Great stuff, man. Hope you all consider checking this gem out again. I'll make more videos soon and upload them for you all to check out. Don't sleep! :)

I'm on frostfell….and totally lost. I went into a portal that led to any area with a whole bunch of portals now I'm in another town…I was trying to do one of the blue contract quests….not working so well.

Yeah, played some more tonight…looking for items in a dungeon….respawn rate is pretty crazy….though, I'm getting quite good at killing them. My inventory was at 290%….my character seems to float not run though as he moves around…is that the same for all characters?

I'm wearing the starting plate and I cast spells…I'm thinking that is weighing me down.

Try wearing the starter robe and turning the plate chest piece in to the Pathwarden in your starter town. He/she will give you an item you can use in return for turning in the starter gear that you don't need.

I think your character floats because of the heritage you've chosen. Some of the heritages float, like Empyreans and possibly another one, I'm not sure.

290% burden is way too high! Your character will be extremely slowed because of that. I have a 160% right now and still see a bit of slowdown in my characters movement speed. You may want to increase your strength stat or just not carry everything you see. A good tip in general is to only carry stuff you need + low burden/high value items.

Keep in mind, about the re-spawn rates, some areas are designed to have a higher re-spawn rate to increase challenge in that specific area/dungeon. I just got out of a Banderling den that had an insane re-spawn rate, and I died multiple times trying to clear it. Other areas have a lower re-spawn rate and aren't as bad.

You may want to ask someone in chat if you can have some Town Portal gems. They are invaluable for moving around the world. With those gems, you can open a portal to the town portal network, which then allows you to fast-travel to whichever city you would like. If you don't want to fast travel, just forget this advice. :)

Blue contracts are good for starter characters. You can also do some hunting in the wilds to gain XP and get better gear, or just explore dungeons and stuff. Try not to die too many times or you'll get a heavy vitae penalty. Easier said than done. :)

If you plan on playing for awhile, you may want to ask someone to be your Patron. They will get a cut of your gained XP, but in return they take you under their wing, outfit you with better gear, help you out, etc. Now, you can get plenty of help from helpful players without the Patron system, but in the Patron system you are almost guaranteed to be well taken care of, making the game easier for starter characters.

Oh, you should probably use the buff bots in Holtburg, too. These are 'bot' characters that will automatically buff you with level VII buffs which last 2 hours, so at the start of your play session it makes good sense to get your buffs, which in turn make the game easier for you (but not too easy, you can still die.). :)

Have fun, and if you have any questions, feel free to leave them in this thread. :)

Thanks for the info…for sure going to take off the plate.

What does encumbrance actually do in this game? Just slow you down?

Here's a site that you will definitely want to check out at times - http://acpedia.org/wiki/Home

A quote about burden from there:

"Once you pass 100% burden, your character will become overburdened. When this occurs, you will notice the burden meter, and your Character Information Panel icon at the top right of the screen have turned yellow. This will put an impairment on your Run, Jump, Melee Defense, and Missile Defense skills according to how overburdened you are.(See table below)
At 200% your character will no longer be able to jump, and will drain stamina when walking or running. Your burden meter, and character information panel icon will become red.
At 300% you will receive no further detriments, however you will not be able to carry any more items. This is the limit of your burden bearing capacity.
Burden % Reduction in skills
100-109 10%
110-119 20%
120-129 30%
130-139 40%
140-149 50%
150-159 60%
160-169 70%
170-179 80%
180-189 90%
190-300 100%"

http://acpedia.org/wiki/Burden

Anyone else decide to jump in yet? Just curious. :)

I find this game to be scratching that ultimate character building itch, along with it being a massive, MASSIVE open-world. I just love exploring random areas and coming across tougher enemies to hunt. When you see that XP increase by a good amount and you're able to apply that to your build in a meaningful way, it's basically RPG heaven. :)

And yes, this is by far an RPG, not an MMO action game or something. This is dice-rolls, pen-and-paper-esque questing, deep lore, lots of world interactivity and great character building and customization, all rolled up with a social aspect to it. It's great!

If you're anti-social, it's cool, you can quest alone thanks to the buff system that allows you to buff up your character a bit. When you're feeling more social, it's nice to interact with the mostly nice community.

I probably sound like a broken record at this point, but I def think you guys should check this one out. The character building aspect alone is worth the price of admission here. :)

I'm now level 40 and the character building is quite nice! I recently raised my base Summoning skill to 220, which was very challenging and took a lot of XP to do, but it's worth it because I can now summon a more powerful golem to help me. Very cool! :)

I'm now working on getting my Fletching and Missile Weapons base skills to 250, in order to wield a very nice, powerful throwing dart weapon. With the Fletching skill, you can fletch your own arrows, darts and throwing weapons. To gain access to the best throwing weapons, you definitely need the ability to fletch your weapons!

I am going with a throwing weapon build, which also requires some Strength to do proper damage. So, you can definitely specialize and focus on whatever build you'd like to create. There are a lot of intricate facets that can be built in different ways.

There's also Tinkering skills, which allows you to apply salvaged materials to weapons, items and armors. I have tinkered a few things in my arsenal and it helps a lot. The loot system is also robust and there is plenty of customization and different effects that can help define and enhance your character build more.

Fun stuff! ^^