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Asheron's Call: Dark Majesty Expansion Pack

Asheron's Call: Dark Majesty Expansion Pack

List Price: $19.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: AC & AC Dark Majesty is the best game i have EVER Played
Review: I have been playing AC & then AC Dark Majesty for 4 years now. I am completely hooked and am ALWAYS in complete amazement on how the developers create this World of "Dereth". The development of the player creations, player levels and 'Growing' in every aspect of your character person as you gain experience (XP) points, creatures (their levels) the towns, the housing (I have my own Cottage with furniture and storage), the mysteries to unfold, the allegiance monarchy's, weapons and weapon developments, the magic schools, spells and levels, trading, chatting, etc etc!! Is by far the most amazing creation I have ever seen. My son who is 7 has literally 148 games and none compare to the complexity and intelligence that Microsoft/Turbine developers have created with AC Dark Majesty. I HIGHLY recommend it...be prepared to be hooked for life and make alot of new friends when you join AC DM. It's not for the simple minded player though...alot of adults play this because of it's sophistication and complexity. But if a kid wants to play then they can play also they just may need a little here and there help if under the age of about 13 or so.
GET THIS IT IS WORTH MORE THAN THIS PRICE !!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Lots of fun - but combat macroing and xp chains are a bummer
Review: I've been playing since beta2 of Asheron's Call and I have to say during the first 2 years the game was the most immersive online roleplaying game I've had the joy of experiencing. It's still in my opinion one of the better MMORPGS out.

This game has the most content for any online MMORPG (and you get more of that with Dark Majesty) to date but many of the quests are poorly documented in game (hard to find without other people or having to look on 3rd party websites).

What ruined the immersiveness for me is the online community moving away from the roleplaying aspects and playing the game for experience and hunting. From my perspective what ruined the closeness that people used to have was many factors but mainly xp chains which factors around monarchys for experience points rather than friendship (People in the olden days didn't know about xp chains and joined on the basis that you liked your patron not because you had to pledge to him/her for xp chain placement). Combat macroing has also ruined this online world because it also adds to this moving away from playing the game for exploring, friendship and immersiveness. Combat macroing is for experience points and that's all.

~~~PROS~~~

-Rich lore (story line) that sets up the story of why you're here and why these Empyrean people that used to live in this land of Dereth (Aubrean) have disappeared.

-Low system requirements - I'm still able to run the game on a pentium 166mmx with a voodoo1 card. The system requirements may say minimum 300mhz but I'd say 300mhz is more of a recommended requirement because 166mhz with a voodoo1 and 64megs of system memory run the game fine! And though the game may be 4-5 years old it looks much better than screenshots give credit for.

-HUGE world and HUGE amounts of content and always getting more content through monthly patches

~~~CONS~~~

-If you move away from the games story line and immersiveness (which is easy to do if you run into the xp oriented people) the game becomes a hack/slash fest and all there really left to do is kill things (Look beyond that and you'll have fun).

-Combat macroing ruins quest dungeons and immersiveness.

-XP chains ruin the player interaction and makes the game move to a mindless kill the same monster quest. XP chains have had a chain effect slowly moving people away from forming groups around friends to making these groups formed around greed, and the soul purpose of forming the groups for self based XP.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Fun!
Review: I bought this game 4/11/02 and have had nothing but fun! Very social!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great game but with some drawbacks
Review: Asheron's Call is a great game. It is very addictive, and offers a variety of gameplay (magic casting, solo or group hunting, archery, melee fighting.....). I have played AC well over a year now and have had tons of fun in Dereth.

Pros:

1) Dereth offers a diverse geography and there is MUCH to discover. There is a large variety of lore and quests to go on.

2) Experience system; in my opinion is better than some of the other game. Experience is easier to obtain and level comes quicker than most other games.

3) Large variety of unique and intresting monsters to engage in combat.

4) Easy to learn and master, Their is not a complex rule system and controls are basic and well planned. Players will feel at home within a few hours of play.

Cons:

1) Unbalenced power. AC leans much more towards mages, rather than a balence. Most players will find the new island in ACDM is geared toward the mage community. Instead of a good blend of strengths and weaknesses, mages seem to far surpass melee characters in power.

2) Housing. Housing promised in ACDM was a joke. The demand is nearly three times the supply. Turbine's theory of releasing only a few houses at random times has only lead to more problems. Many people simply camp housing lots for days even weeks to get a chance to get a house.

3) Melee weapons. As I stated earlier, melees are not nearly as strong as mages in AC. Some of the weapons skills themselves are not worth even looking at and need MUCH work. In my opinion, swords, daggers, staffs, and Unarmed combat weapons rule Dereth. Many of the other skills (Thrown weapons, Axe, spear, mace) need a LOT of work.

Overall, I would give AC a great rating as it has been an outstanding game, with only a few flaws.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Its simply Stunning
Review: From graphics, playability to social aspect this game really owns. I met some of the best people in AC. Met most of them in real life. They become some of my best friends.
Now back to the game.
Game offers wide variety of quests that suit players of each level.
Some people wonder if they start fresh and new that game is boring at the beginning (like most other online games). Well, even if you are new to game you will find a TON of content that will keep you occupied.
I personally find more fun in groups of friends and going around with em.
Socia laspect of game is very developed: information exchange, trades, hunting, alleigance meetings etc..
Player killing may seem somewhat cruel, but well its the way of living in AC. :)
And map? Can you say BIG? I mean really big. Even with "leet" fast running skill its till biggest map compared to any online game today
Downside: Some melee weapon skills (Spear, Crossbow, Axe) didnt get much attention so far so if you choose em you wil be considered a "gimp" in game.
Worst downside of all is that mages are far most powerful in game. No real balance in that.

Yet if you are looking for a game that offers great amount of fun with people online, AC is right choice for you.

Dr0l (level 100 Battlemage on Leafcull)

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great, well executed game, but....
Review: Asheron's Call is one of the best online RPG's I've ever seen. The Dark Majesty expansion has only made it better. Once you first play the game, you'll be immediately addicted because it's very easy to learn the controls and you become involved in the plot of the story practically moments after starting. Gaining experience and levels is easier than in almost any other online rpg. However, ACDM does have it's drawbacks:

1. The monthly fee: most people don't mind paying ... a month to play ACDM, but for others, it is a major hurdle to get over, especially if you don't plan to play it that often.

2. Lag: the temporary slowdown of the game due to the number of people online can be annoying. If you're in town, you may be disconnected from the game, and if you're fighting, you can expect to be looking for your corpse fairly quickly.

3. Favoritism in weaponry: Blades and magic are totally supreme to all other types of weapons. Blades deal the most damage and rarely miss. Magic doesn't require a "weapon" and deals great amounts of damage consistently. Other weapons such as bows have a greater chance of inaccuracy and don't deal as much damage.

4. The Housing System: Houses were a great idea. Now when you had extra stuff, you could dump it somewhere where no one could take it. Except for the fact that they're ridiculously expensive and hard to come by.

All in all, however, ACDM is a great game, and worth your time and money.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best MMORPG ever made.
Review: Screw EQ, this game is where it's at. I have been playing AC1 for around 4 years, had three accounts, countless vassals, and made great friends.

The gameplay is smooth because the graphics are just complex enough not to slow things down too much. There are always people on playing, huge guilds, people to hunt with, fellowships, great loot, great economic system, towns packed with people and countless quests. With monthly updates and patches, and a new expansion coming soon with a whole new server and an extra character slot per server per account, its definitely worth the monthly charge. I have tried EQ and DAoC, and went right back to AC1 after my trial was up... it's just that good.

Buy this game! (Just NOT USED, because once the subscription coupon is used, you cant get an account with the disk) and look me up on the Morningthaw server: Alani al'Aqbar.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Absolute Best Game
Review: This game is very addicting. It is a lot of fun, because there are tons of people to interact with. There are some rather rude people, but overall most of them are nice. Quests are fun with groups, but mainly I like to just hunt solo or with a friend or two. I highly recomend this game.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The best game
Review: This is the best game. To back this up I have played it for 2+ years and they keep introducing new content.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Best MMORPG I have Played.
Review: Asheron's Call 1 was my first MMORPG and as such it will probably always have a special place in my heart. I think this is true of many first games I have played in a genre. Doom, WarCraft II, and Super Mario Brothers (for NES) all hold similar positions.

At the same time AC1 has many things that led me to leave it for AC2. Unfortunately I found AC2 even more disappointing. One of my main issues with AC1 was how far behind I was.

I had heard of graphical MUDs back in the days I played real MUDs. At the time however they were very unimpressive. I ignored the genre until a friend of mine asked me to help make a patent relating to MMORPGs. As research I got a copy of my first MMORPG, AC1.

Back in my MUD days nobody cared what sex a character was. In fact many of the MUDs I played had three sex possibilities, male, female, and neuter. As a Joan of Arc fan I often prefer female characters. So when I joined AC1 I played on Morningthaw as Coventry Joan.

Coventry Joan was a spec UA, run, healing. At the time, I had no clue what they were but had read somewhere those skills would be useful. I got to level 35 with this character. Many times I had been told I should re-roll because it was a badly designed character, which was true.

After getting to about level 15 my wife started playing, on the same account, on HarvestGain. It was quickly found we couldn't share the account if we both wanted to play so I bought a new account, and a new computer. Great excuse for a computer btw. I bid farewell to my MT friends (Clan Wartorn) so I could join my wife's server. One of the things that bothered me about playing on that server was that most people thought I was a woman IRL, including my monarch. Instead of correcting them and at the same time humiliating them I was glad to move on to another server to play a male character.

In HarvestGain I quickly met new friends like Jocasta. As I got up in levels I wanted more and more to take part in PK. What I found was that PK on white servers was very unbalanced. Really, the only people who I could fight would almost always mop the floor with me even with my improved character design (4 school mage w/ mana C. spec) because only really high players went red.

Another thing that always bothered me about AC1 is the exploiting. Around the time I left it was at it's peak with combat macros, Insta-OG plug-ins, and XP chains. Also I had such a late start there was no possible way I could build a powerful character that could compete. So when AC2 came out I was very relived to not only get into a PK server but to get into a server from it's very beginning.

When AC2 let me down I did consider returning but because of all the reasons I had left plus the things that pampered me in AC2, like better graphics and actual music, I could not. All in all though it is the best MMORPG I have ever played.

I give it an 8 out of 10.

Player Information:
Coventry Joan of Morningthaw
Miyamoto Yoshi of Harvestgain
U Know Who of Darktide


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