Why I'm Not Addicted to Asheron's Call 2

Section: 

I want to be playing Asheron's Call 2 right now. I want to slip back into that exciting landscape, find a crew of reckless adventurers, and set off to save the world. I'm longing to be hopelessly addicted to AC2, but I'm not. It's uninstalled and I'm unsubscribed. The game I practically begged to hook me, didn't. I don't know if I'm an isolated case or whether these words will ring true for anyone else.

screen_ac2peep.jpg

I must have deleted all my screenshots when I uninstalled, so here is a picture of the CDs next to a giant stuffed Peep. The theme that ties these two items together is that they are items that I want to like, but don't.  Read more for...well...more.

See I enjoy MMORPGs. I actually enjoy the feeling of being completely obsessed by them. Some people know they've had enough when they go to sleep figuring out where they're going to spend their next skill points or where the best location to level in the early 30s is. That was my happy place. It was my happy place in EverQuest and it was my happy place in Dark Age of Camelot. For a brief period, it was even my happy place in the PlanetSide beta. So when Asheron's Call 2 was released, it took every fiber of self-control not to run out and purchase it. Then the unthinkable happened.

Certis sent me a message one day asking me if I'd take a review copy of AC2 off his hands. Evidently Elysium had already done his time with the game (read why he's still probably paying for it), and I think Certis only plays what Elysium plays. I was next in line. I was getting a copy of the game I most desperately wanted, and all I'd have to cough up was the monthly fee and what would certainly be a glowing review. Months later, Certis is sending me memos and leaving notes on my car to hand in my homework, but I don't want to. It's not that I don't have anything to say. It's just that I've got a few scruples preventing me from finishing the job: I don't enjoy appearing ungrateful for gifts; I don't like saying anything if I can't say anything nice; I don't feel right writing a review for a game I barely played.

Don't get me wrong. I played the game for probably about 40 hours. This is longer than it takes to complete most games. It certainly should have been enough time to try out most of the different aspects of a MMORPG. However, somehow I was able to achieve level 20 or so and still feel like I had no idea what I was doing. I spent only a few of the skill points I had earned, because I had no idea what benefit I would receive by spending them. I didn't try crafting at all, because I had no idea where or how to do it. I didn't daydream at work about how I wanted to develop my character, because nothing in the game gave me any instruction or motivation to work towards any particular goal other than being able to kill that thing that just killed me. Normally in a MMORPG, if I had a question about...anything, I would simply wander into the nearest crowd and ask. This brings us to perhaps the biggest downfall of the game. Nobody's home.

A massively multiplayer game is nothing without massive multiples of players. They are social experiences. Some people even accuse them of being chat rooms with pretty interfaces, and I can't really argue with that. But AC2 was a ghost town. I installed the game on a Saturday around noon and played straight through until the sun went down around seven. On a weekday afternoon, I played for seven hours and did not see a single other player. I talked to plenty of NPCs and stumbled upon handfuls of beasties, but could not find a friend to save my soul. I walked into towns, hung around portals, and ran down what appeared to be major roads. I felt like I was playing Morrowind again. I finally logged off that evening feeling absolutely dejected. Sure I had gained a wad of levels, but it was like winning at solitaire. Actually, it was less exciting than solitaire because all I had done to earn the levels was click on bad guys and go places NPCs told me to go, or collect things NPCs told me to collect.

I was amazed at the experience I was earning for quests. This, at least, was a welcome change from the games I had played in the past. Admiral Joe or whatever the NPC's name, would send me off on some errand, and I would return to veritable oodles of experience. It was the first game I played where questing might actually be done as a primary means of earning experience rather than just something to do in between mob hunting excursions. Of course, the quests that I was given weren't all that different than the usual "gofer" and kill tasks.

Strangely enough, by giving more experience and making it so easy to earn levels, the developers almost devalued the whole leveling concept. While those that cry "treadmill" at every new MMORPG announcement would probably hail this as a step in the right direction, I actually found myself at even more of a loss for a purpose to play. I mean we usually find ourselves "lvling" when not much else is going on in games, including console RPGs. This game practically flung half a dozen levels in my lap for learning how to click the mouse. Suddenly "lvling" didn't seem like such an exciting way to kill time. The only thing I was left with was wandering the countryside looking for something to happen.

This much I can say for Asheron's Call 2. It is a gorgeous game. The landscape is rich in detail and full of life. The grass sways at your feet. The weather and lighting is all dynamic and alive. Then I wanted to move and had to crank the settings down to pre-Luclin EverQuest. Remember when I said I had played for about 40 hours? I neglected to mention that approximately eight of those hours were spent fiddling with the video options. My computer is not cutting edge. However, it well exceeded the minimum requirements (check out the specs here), and I had just chucked in a new video card. But even when I had everything lowered to the point where I could run fairly smoothly, I would still get treated to hiccuping spurts of frames anytime I was inside a vault (dungeon) or in combat.

Combat, itself, was acceptable. It was what we have come to expect from the genre. Point and click on a bad guy and mix in a few hotkeyed special attacks. By choosing different weapons I could choose between a ranged type of attack, a melee type of attack, or a magical type of attack. It was nice having all avenues available to me, but it didn't take long before I realized there was still a "right" type of attack for my character's race. After figuring this out and not having anyone else around to ask questions of, I began to be concerned that I was going to develop my character poorly and have to start over. My earned skill points went unspent for fear that I would spend them on the "wrong" skills and end up with a waste of a character.

Toward the end of my time with AC2, I flagged down Emabulator from EvilAvatar and begged him to let me hang with his crew for a bit. Every month he seemed to be more and more into the game. He was addicted the way I wanted to be addicted. I figured maybe if I got some gametime with him, he could help show me the light. I think our very own FangBlackbone was even there when we finally met up. I will hand it to them. They proved what I had suspected. AC2 can be a lot of fun with other people. And other people can help fill in all the blanks with regards to knowing what you're supposed to be doing. They took me places and showed me things that looked worth exploring. We went on some extensive quests and even plowed through a vault. In essence, they powerleveled me for a time, but it still provided the camaraderie and laughs that had been missing in my desolate AC2 experience. There was a game to be enjoyed somewhere in all that empty landscape. I had just hoped to find it on my own as I did in EQ and DAOC. Instead I had to be spoon-fed the game by some brave players who had already done the legwork of researching in forums and on websites like ac2hq.com and ac2.stratics.com.

Unfortunately, by this point, the damage had been done. I had played for so many hours with so few rewarding experiences. I no longer had the patience nor the energy to try and find the exciting bits that I knew were hiding on those servers. I had to make the decision we are all faced with in this age of pay-to-play gaming. Do I enjoy this game enough to pay $12 a month for? For me, it was sadly too easy to answer. I canceled my subscription, uninstalled, and never looked back.

It would appear that Asheron's Call was built ahead of its time. Not necessarily because it was so revolutionary, but simply because it was built to last. It was built with extraordinary visuals, even going so far as to include a set of optional ultra-high-resolution textures on the install disc just in case you thought your computer could handle it. The lands are immense. When I said that I wandered around for seven hours and didn't see another player wasn't because the server was empty. It was just empty for the amount of real estate it had to offer. I guess Microsoft didn't want to have to be publishing and advertising for AC3 in order to compete with EverQuest 2 so AC2 was built to compete at some future date. The problem was that it didn't scale down enough to compete properly at the date it was actually released. Unfortunately by giving gamers a MMORPG that they could only barely play for the time being, they dug themselves into a hole. Live by your population, die by your population...or lack of it.

- Sway
My system specs can be found here.

Comments

Very nice Sway!  An interesting yet distinct opinion from my own on AC2's short comings.  Some of you're thoughts blend in to my logic and the circumstances surrounding that fateful day with Emabulator fueled days of "what's wrong?" questions for me.

I wouldnt want to steal any thunder but I wonder if management will permit me to write a companion article.  If AC2 gets dealt blows from all ends of the spectrum, there will be no question why nobody plays.

Just about everything in here, I agree with.  I particularly liked how you characterize Certis as the 'follow' to my 'the leader'.  You remember those old Warner Brothers cartoons with the two dogs, the bigger one named something like Spike, and the little one that tags along behind him in a strange and annoying fashion pretty much doing whatever Spike says.  Well that's a good analogy of how Certis is to me.  Just to be clear, I'm the big dog in this scenario.

- Elysium

I'm more like the kitten that slowly claws his way to comfort on the big dog's back.

you guys  should re try ac2, during the time u did back in teh summer our general chat was down so yes it was kinda hard to find some ppl, the sept update has fixed that and they added a whole lot more to do than just quest, get on a server like coldeve where u can fully benifit from your skills and you will see

you guys  should re try ac2, during the time u did back in teh summer our general chat was down so yes it was kinda hard to find some ppl, the sept update has fixed that and they added a whole lot more to do than just quest, get on a server like coldeve where u can fully benifit from your skills and you will see