Turbine is Shutting Down Both Asheron's Call MMOs in January

[ffronw]

Turbine is Shutting Down Both Asheron's Call MMOs in January

//cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/1369/1369067.jpgThe long-running Asheron's Call MMOs are finally coming to an end next month.

Released in 1999, Asheron's Call is one of the longest-running MMOs still in existence today. It was the third major MMO to hit the market (after Ultima Online and Everquest), and was originally published by Microsoft. That's all about to come to an end, as Turbine announced yesterday that it will shut down both Asheron's Call and Asheron's Call 2 on January 31, 2017.

This news comes in the wake of Turbine's announcement [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/169098-Turbine-Hands-Off-LotRO-DDO-to-New-Indie-Studio-Standing-Stone-Games] that Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons and Dragons Online will go forward under the auspices of a new independent developer, Standing Stone Games. When the Asheron's Call games weren't mentioned in that announcement, players feared the worst, and it has come to pass.

This news isn't terribly surprising, though. Turbine ceased all development for Asheron's Call over two years ago [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/132642-], and it's unlikely anyone showed much interest in starting it up again. There was some talk around the end of development about releasing the tools needed for players to run their own servers, but nothing ever came of it.

The official announcement can be found on the Asheron's Call Facebook page [https://www.facebook.com/TurbineAC/posts/10154057619360913]. It says that while new account creation will be disabled, any player that already has an account can play completely free between now and the shutdown on January 31, 2017.

Questions about the shutdown can be submitted at the Warner Bros. Support site [http://support.wbgames.com/].

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[Mirrorknight]

First MMO I really got into. Did Everquest for 3 months, moved to this one, played for 4 years.

*salute*

Farewell, Dereth.

 

[Secondhand Revenant]

Oh wow, I'm sad to hear that. It was the first MMO I ever played, my dad got it and I got to hop on his account and play some when I was a kid. I remember playing the beta for AC2 but my dad never got it and then later on he eventually shifted over to WoW. I'd ask him about his old account to play in its last days, but I doubt he'd remember over 12 years later.

I remember fun times with things like the Gaerlan dungeon and the stupid rolling boulder of death, messing around when they made tables for houses and stacking them way into the sky starting at the top of some tower on the tumerok island... Stupid things like buff bots that stood there and accepted M notes and shit for level 7 buffs and so on xD

I never really thought of going back to it even after hearing it was still operating, but it's still sad to hear the option's not gonna be there ever again. There are good memories associated with that game.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

The only thing I see that AC did that was different for MMO's is that it had a dynamic class system. Otherwise, it honestly just looks like a WoW clone at the end of the day.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

The only thing I see that AC did that was different for MMO's is that it had a dynamic class system. Otherwise, it honestly just looks like a WoW clone at the end of the day.

Technically, that would make WoW an AC clone, since AC came out first.

 

[Secondhand Revenant]

The only thing I see that AC did that was different for MMO's is that it had a dynamic class system. Otherwise, it honestly just looks like a WoW clone at the end of the day.

lolwut

How exactly are you defining 'wow clone'?

 

[Arnoxthe1]

lolwut

How exactly are you defining 'wow clone'?

Technically, that would make WoW an AC clone, since AC came out first.

Sure, but all the same, the combat is very similar, except for magic which just looks annoying since it relies on items. PvP looks super similar. You go on everyday quests just like WoW. You have dungeons. The death in this game is different but it's also super annoying since you lose some of your items, get your stats whacked a la Guild Wars, and I think some other penalties too. Just the stats damaging alone would be incredibly annoying as well. When I was playing Guild Wars, it was one of the most frustrating things about it.

What I'm trying to say though is, there isn't really any reason to play it over other MMO's. Sure, it came first before WoW or Guild Wars or etc., but that doesn't mean what it's doing is actually any good these days.