Well, it is coming up to a year since Turbine announced the major changes to the future of AC and AC2. The March 2014 Patch was the last scheduled patch for AC.
With this patch, the changes were announced shortly thereafter that AC would be going buy to play and they would be looking at turning over the executables to the players for player run servers in the future.
Unfortunately, WB laid off a number of Turbine employees and pretty much left a skeleton crew available for AC/AC2.
With that result, it has taken a very long time to try to package up the AC environment into a form viable for player run servers.
There have been quite a few players returning with this now model. The game is still very enjoyable to play and there are generally quite a few quests going on at any time.
I have been following the forums and one of the issues there that I have noticed is that the chatter on the player run servers has almost come to a complete halt. It is hard to plan and present futures when there is no information to base best guesses on.
We are getting to that point where the players need some additional info to get fired up on.
My take on building up some expectations would be the release of the SQLServer database, tables, views, keys, triggers, indexes, stored procedures, etc that exist along with any documentation that may exist. We don't need data. The raw layouts would be more than enough.
This would give the tech players more than enough info to allow them to go to town on understanding the structure of AC. We would then be able to load the SQLServer environment and develop the screens for maintenance to the databases and get that process out of the way.
With this release of information, the players would be fired up again and be very occupied for the next several months.
We all understand that, with the limited resources, it is taking an extra long time to package the actual system and get all the pieces functioning correctly.
There is also a concern that the lawyers are tasked with providing legal documents that are necessary to protect WB and Turbine. It's sad but that is the world we live in.
Meanwhile, I will continue to play and enjoy all of my characters on the worlds.
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Its getting time to prep for private servers
While I do not plan on installing a public/private server, I do have plans to create a private server for myself and my son and grandkids.
With that in mind, I have a number of constraints that I plan on implementing on this server.
1. No Decal or 3rd party apps.
2. Tweaking of the database where possible for events and options from the past.
As we really do not know anything right now about the contents and formats of the database tables, that will have to wait until its time.
What I can do is build some characters and play AC without any Decal to see how characters can evolve and survive in these new worlds.
I have started out with a War Mage template. I kept the attributes standard and dropped MC from spec to trained.
Robins Mage started in Sanamar and hit the Penguin Dungeon and followed that up with the Wasp Beacon Quest. I looted everything of value and arrived in Holtburg with some coin to hit up the level 2 spells for War and Life.
I then hit the Holtburg Drudge Hideout to get some XP and loot. At level 2, the spells were taking down the drudges quickly. I picked up the seeds and the head and returned to town to turn them in.
I am now about ready for the Facilities.
Before that, I decided that I needed a second character to help me level and recover corpses. I went to anothe raccount and created a Bowmaster called Robins Archer. I retained the attributes but modified the skills to be a complete Missile character. I dropped the Finesse weapons and Shield and specced Fletching. Robins Mage had picked up a 130 Xbow that would work well to start out his journey. I also made this character a Tumerok.
I swore Archer to Mage and started him on his initial journey.
At level 12, I sent Archer into the Facilities to try his luck. He acquired the Ice Tachi and levelled. I then gate the Tachi to Mage for his levelling, Now I need a mule. Again, I went to another account and created Robins Mule and swore him to Mage. I then handed off some loot from Archer and Mage to Mule.
Archer decided to go to the dungeon and get the daggers. I had trained Alchemy on Archer in order to make oils. I had been able to get some Bloodseeker oils made and applied to some Frogcrotch heads.
I headed off to the dungeon from Facilities and started through the quest. I was doing pretty good until I got to the Sclavus at the end. They mopped me up quickly and I suffered my first death.
OK, I got a reality check that I needed a few more levels to be successful in there. I headed off to Shoushi to the Shoushi Grotto for some serious Drudge thinning. I was very successful and gained a couple of levels.
With that in mind, I have a number of constraints that I plan on implementing on this server.
1. No Decal or 3rd party apps.
2. Tweaking of the database where possible for events and options from the past.
As we really do not know anything right now about the contents and formats of the database tables, that will have to wait until its time.
What I can do is build some characters and play AC without any Decal to see how characters can evolve and survive in these new worlds.
I have started out with a War Mage template. I kept the attributes standard and dropped MC from spec to trained.
Robins Mage started in Sanamar and hit the Penguin Dungeon and followed that up with the Wasp Beacon Quest. I looted everything of value and arrived in Holtburg with some coin to hit up the level 2 spells for War and Life.
I then hit the Holtburg Drudge Hideout to get some XP and loot. At level 2, the spells were taking down the drudges quickly. I picked up the seeds and the head and returned to town to turn them in.
I am now about ready for the Facilities.
Before that, I decided that I needed a second character to help me level and recover corpses. I went to anothe raccount and created a Bowmaster called Robins Archer. I retained the attributes but modified the skills to be a complete Missile character. I dropped the Finesse weapons and Shield and specced Fletching. Robins Mage had picked up a 130 Xbow that would work well to start out his journey. I also made this character a Tumerok.
I swore Archer to Mage and started him on his initial journey.
At level 12, I sent Archer into the Facilities to try his luck. He acquired the Ice Tachi and levelled. I then gate the Tachi to Mage for his levelling, Now I need a mule. Again, I went to another account and created Robins Mule and swore him to Mage. I then handed off some loot from Archer and Mage to Mule.
Archer decided to go to the dungeon and get the daggers. I had trained Alchemy on Archer in order to make oils. I had been able to get some Bloodseeker oils made and applied to some Frogcrotch heads.
I headed off to the dungeon from Facilities and started through the quest. I was doing pretty good until I got to the Sclavus at the end. They mopped me up quickly and I suffered my first death.
OK, I got a reality check that I needed a few more levels to be successful in there. I headed off to Shoushi to the Shoushi Grotto for some serious Drudge thinning. I was very successful and gained a couple of levels.
Players are getting restless
Its been a while since I have posted. So many games to play and so little time.
I have been spending a good amount of time in AC. My son and grandsons are even back into the game. They are finding that there is a lot to learn after being away for several years. Their characters were all there and waiting to get back into the world.
I have actually activated 11 accounts now. That breaks down to 110 characters per world outside of DT. It is really more than I can account for. These were old accounts that I had tried out over the years so they are eligible for the weapon tokens and weekly levelling.
I have found that I enjoy playing a mage when I use Decal and Vtank. I do not do unattended macroing as I would have to set the character up some place and walk away. I use these functions to run wild across the countryside and run XP dungeon quests. It helps in not having to maintain health and mana manually.
It used to be a few years ago that a 128 was a god. Then changes were and and a 275 was a god. Now you need to be fully lumed and outfitted to be able to even try the top tier critters and content. You can actually get fully set up and reset your level and start over while retaining much of your capabilities. There are several that are doing that very thing. Only time will tell how that comes out.
We have been waiting to find out the fate of the Private Servers and the lifespan of AC and AC2. WB had some severe layoffs this year and they did yet another one this week. Sev has been working on trying to get the Private Servers coding completed. We re hoping he is still at Turbine.
Players are starting to get very anxious about the future and need to see some results and know what the future is going to be for the next year.
Right now we do not know what will be needed for servers and software to run a Private Server and what kind of capacity and options will be available.
I just keep on playing AC, AC2 and LOTRO and hope for the best.
With LOTRO, they released Update 15 yesterday and it introduce the Boerning. They are a human like character with melee and an attitude. I have created a guy and have started to level him. Right now he islevel 12 and pretty much done with the Bree area. He does lay waste to any opposition and I have not given him anything yet.
I think he may be a lot of fun to play and will level fast in the game.
I have been spending a good amount of time in AC. My son and grandsons are even back into the game. They are finding that there is a lot to learn after being away for several years. Their characters were all there and waiting to get back into the world.
I have actually activated 11 accounts now. That breaks down to 110 characters per world outside of DT. It is really more than I can account for. These were old accounts that I had tried out over the years so they are eligible for the weapon tokens and weekly levelling.
I have found that I enjoy playing a mage when I use Decal and Vtank. I do not do unattended macroing as I would have to set the character up some place and walk away. I use these functions to run wild across the countryside and run XP dungeon quests. It helps in not having to maintain health and mana manually.
It used to be a few years ago that a 128 was a god. Then changes were and and a 275 was a god. Now you need to be fully lumed and outfitted to be able to even try the top tier critters and content. You can actually get fully set up and reset your level and start over while retaining much of your capabilities. There are several that are doing that very thing. Only time will tell how that comes out.
We have been waiting to find out the fate of the Private Servers and the lifespan of AC and AC2. WB had some severe layoffs this year and they did yet another one this week. Sev has been working on trying to get the Private Servers coding completed. We re hoping he is still at Turbine.
Players are starting to get very anxious about the future and need to see some results and know what the future is going to be for the next year.
Right now we do not know what will be needed for servers and software to run a Private Server and what kind of capacity and options will be available.
I just keep on playing AC, AC2 and LOTRO and hope for the best.
With LOTRO, they released Update 15 yesterday and it introduce the Boerning. They are a human like character with melee and an attitude. I have created a guy and have started to level him. Right now he islevel 12 and pretty much done with the Bree area. He does lay waste to any opposition and I have not given him anything yet.
I think he may be a lot of fun to play and will level fast in the game.
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