Do yourself a favor...

Finally!  I've found a game to live up to my rose-colored memory of Asheron's Call.  Yup, you guessed it, the game is Asheron's Call.

AC was my first MMO.  I originally played full time from launch to around 2002.  I continued to play AC on and off for a few years thereafter all the while trying a other early MMO's.  Llike a lot of people, I ended up making World of Warcraft my MMO home for a few years and following that with a string of failed WoW clones and the like.

By now I'm a veteran MMO'er.  I've raided everything worth raiding and looted more than my fair share of epic drops.  Over the years I think I've tried just about every major MMO released.  All the while I've been searching for a modern MMO to give me the same satisfying feeling that AC ingrained into my MMO DNA years ago - to date no other game I've played has come close to the size, scope or depth of play that was the majesty of Asheron's Call.  

In 2009, for a few days, I tried to go back to Dereth... but did not stay.  I've always told myself that game-play was better than eye-candy, but I was still a graphics whore at heart and could not fathom playing a game that at the time was 10years old.  I also told myself that the servers were empty... and that was true to a point. 

Flash forward to 2013.  Nothing has changed.  I'm still looking for that "old school" game play with the next new graphics engine.  I've pinned my hopes on Everquest Next and truly hope the devs can capture the old magic with that game.

That said, after moping around the past few weeks and failing to find a game to hold my attention longer than the time it takes to install... I wound up on the old AC forums and noticed there were a few peeps still playing and some even beginning to stream game play on twitch. 

One thing lead to another and before I knew it I had the game installed and patched.   I did not bother trying to dig up my old account information, as I'm sure my old Microsoft/Turbine account was likely long gone.  The account I created in 2009 was a trial... so I essentially started over on the Frostfell server with a brand new account and character.   I spent the first night just playing with character creation and looking around on the AC Wikki...

It's been a month or so since I returned.  Let me go on the record and say that FINALLY!, finally I've been basking in the golden glow of all that any MMO could hope deliver.  Asheron's Call is still the game I remember and love.  I've been like a kid at Christmas these last few weeks, geeking out and playing all night and loving every minute of it.  It's as if I've been craving a steak and potato meal and all I've been given over the years was tofu.  Finally I'm getting that MMO itch scratched... and it is in spades.

The Frostfell population is healthy and the game-play is fast paced and loots are a plenty.  I've been using the Facility Hub quests and hit level 50 in no time.  In short,  let me say that if you've been longing for an old school, sandbox style MMO... do yourself a favor and give AC a try.  Use the wikki site and the new player guides.  Roll a couple characters and give it a try.  I'm sure you will enjoy your stay...