The Significance of Asheron's Call's Shard of the Herald Event (Part 2)

[@sethcatanese4068]

I was there - played a Defender, Callope on Thistledown! Clan of The Dragonfly and friends with Wren the Blurry! I saw lots of familiar names along the way. Thanks for the trip back down memory lane. This was a great video!

[@sethcatanese4068]

Oh my god HisMeat! I remember him just killing himself over and over for the server messages! Hahah! "Virindi Servant beat HisMeat so hard the lifestone flinches!" And so sad to see that Myth passed away? :( Some serious OG's in this video.

[@ChrisPBacon710]

wait your character was calliope? i was Christan Emerson ! was your vassal lol

[@galicredstone]

Yun-Fat of Thistledown here! The OG War Mage from day 1. Never got good at it ;-P

[@spacechemsol4288]

1:38 thats me on the left there, nice that the screenshot i made survived :D. Was pretty easy to recognize my char, since i was one of the few that went for Celdon (pre patch) Shard Armor (not the smartest choice, but somewhat unique) 5:50 i admit, i was part of one attack ;) (if i remember correctly Lo Pan was my patron, forgot the monarch tho)

[@ZapatosVibes]

Imagine playing in a virtual world where your reputation actually matters within your community, and shame actually brought the player and their monarch to return the loot to its rightful owner; instead of instance-hopping away with random ppl youll never meet again to be hand-held in doing the same theme-park content as everyone else. That's what the spirit of the old MMORPGs were about, true, virtual world-building.

[@AlfieCicone]

Very interesting. I played on Harvestgain server, so this was very nostalgic and interesting to hear about another server's experience. There are some pretty poor videos on KZbin where people try to explain what made "Asheron's Call" special. I think a lot of people just get overwhelmed with how much this game did differently than future mmorpg's that they just get tongue-tied and then they don't articulate all the unique mechanics that made AC great. The way you've told this story really does shed some light into how unique AC was as a gaming experience. The fact that players were so directly involved in the way the story progressed and how active the developers were at creating an ever evolving world for us to engage with was really unprecedented for online gaming back in 99-00. Add to that the fact that the skill system, which was not based in your character having a set "class" or "skill trees" made the game so interesting and every character unique. The level/skill system along with the magic/combat system is better than the systems most games use today. You could actually dodge spells, and use the environment to your advantage. There was a much higher skill-gap, which always makes a game more enjoyable if you spend hundreds if not thousands of hours playing. I really wish they would reboot this game, keeping all the core mechanics, and just upgrading the graphics a bit. I'm still waiting to find a game that has the vision that AC had from like 1999-2004.

[@notoriousquinnb]

Harvestgain represent!

[@chalor182]

HG forever.

[@just_an_account_3]

Saw this mentioned in gameranks latest video. This seems like an incredible experience and hearing about it was fantastic.

[@chchannel3508]

Yep me too

[@JayLanham]

Excellent retelling of the defense! Like many others, I partook in the defense for a week or 2 (midway through. I never had to kill any attackers). I'm glad you went into as much detail as possible. I remember the portal glitch, which was paramount to the defense as it likely wouldn't have been possible without it. I remember having to sign a kind of RP note - an agreement - in order to join the defense (given to me by Mythrandia), leveling up Harry by allowing it to kill ourselves over and over again, vitae removal parties, etc, etc.. With the multi-month update lead up, lore focus and lore driven, GM participation, as well as the players taking control over their characters fates... We're likely to never see or experience anything like it again in an MMORPG. I'm glad I played a small part in it. -Djcjr of Thistledown, follower and vassal to Orginal.

[@johandori7795]

As someone who never knew this game even existed until your video was brought up on a gameranx vid I watched by chance, I gotta say this is friggin' cool dude.

[@aarinedwards]

I was in Wren's guild at the time of the defense. It was a big deal, and we felt a lot of pride and rallied to give support (as crafters)! Thanks for the nostalgia tour!

[@ZapatosVibes]

What a great moment in MMORPG game history, especially compared to hand-held, watered down generic MMO experiences we get with most "modern" MMOs today.

[@weaselsfigures9312]

Wow, what a blast from the past . I played on the Morningthaw server for about 10 years and this all brings back so many memories. I play many different MMO's now but none have ever given me the enjoyment that Asheron's Call gave me, maybe it's because it was the first MMO i ever played or the social aspect of the game was greater then them. I would love the return of the game but i doubt that would ever happen. anyways thank you for the trip down memory lane and the roller coaster of emotion that this has given me over the videos you put out, they was well received.

[@DustinTaylorMusic]

Mythrandia was the first monarch I saw outside Fort Teth haha legendary for me as a 11 year old.

[@Steve-nb1pe]

Elite Dangerous is such a good mention. Players seem to be shaping that universe as much as the developers. I honestly can't get into the gameplay but reading about it is amazing.

[@jong2359]

This was pretty interesting how TD handled everything... I was not aware of the herculean effort that took place.

[@jong2359]

@@jdamore8 Yeah, I put a lot of time into Reefcull - but ended up moving to Coldeve. Coldeve (ACE) isn't as good, but has more content. The community is better on Reefcull by far. All things to consider for people rejoining AC.

[@kastimizillion]

Thanks so much for this. I played on TD at this time and with many of the defenders, but didn't participate in the event. You didn't mention the best part, when one of the GM super characters "Black Ferah" got nailed by Blackjack while she was trying to roleplay lore because the dev forgot to set the "invulnerable" flag, as I recall. LOL! - Jun-Tai

[@patrickmcglonejr8163]

I was a defender in FF, man those were awesome days

[@AnAdventurerAC]

Thanks for the video. I wasn't a TD player, so it was interesting to learn about how that server handled its unique situation.

[@Wowraider4life]

Thank you for your wiki contributions!~

[@EdgarVerona]

These are a great trip down memory lane, thanks for making them.

[@h4l0g3n]

I remember this! AC was my first MMO experience; I loved that game. I don't think I've ever experienced anything close to this in any other game to date. I was in Wren the Blurry's monarchy during this and would rush home to get on. I had to take breaks (submarine deterrent patrols) since I was in the Navy, but I remembered thinking about the game while I was underway, lol.

[@Informant777]

Hey I remember you :) Bester/Bester's Informant

[@h4l0g3n]

@@Informant777 Bester the Banderling?

[@Informant777]

@@h4l0g3n Yes sir

[@AdumbroDeus]

I played this game a little while as a kid, I wish I had been able to stay on long enough for this event honestly.

[@lkmdude8094]

Came here because of a fact fiend video, really cool story that was told incredibly well. Especially liked your rage in vid 1 about how people didn't get the message. Would have been mitigated if the GM's gave actual rewards for not killing the living gems.

[@chalor182]

The shard defense is the only thing that ever made me sad I was a HG guy and not another server. Wish I could have added to TD's last stand.

[@TheRetroChallengerV]

I was playing in Frostfell at the time. I was also only 18yo. Great times indeed. I was called Pog Lockbane NunchuksWithGuns aka NuN Decayed Soul

[@MootRed]

Thank you for this. I'm trying to make lore videos for the game. It's so comprehensive!

[@Journeyman107]

Deserves thousands of views

[@CodeeXD]

Kinda lame how the devs just reset the shard to kill it. Spits in the face of the defenders, and they murdered Harry. He had attained sentience and they killed him 😢

[@richardhicks5031]

The fact that the shard refused to power down should have been enough to sway the outcome

[@Mike-om4tv]

I almost came when i saw the guy in the geledite robe. Oh my how this game rocked me as a child lmao.

[@sharymshadehood9762]

Thanks for the story. It was very interesting and well made.

[@patrickmcglonejr8163]

My og account was Dark Ninja and Archer of Hope

[@subarashiionions8696]

This is fantastic

[@patrickmcglonejr8163]

Btw Blackjack is playing on Coldeve

[@thomasjohnson4002]

Well done, and big thanks!

[@pvcvalley]

I played on the Heaven's Gate server at Jonestown. Good memories.

[@jasontube22]

I was Jason the Sorcerer on Frostfell and led huge groups including my loyal vassals who were on par with me through these awesome monthly quests. Me and my 2 vassals both got the final shard off BZ to create the staffs & helmets of BZ and went on to become Frostfell legends. Was one of the best times ever. Why would you ever want to defend the mob to stop the quest chain? That seems like over thinking everything....

[@richardhicks5031]

Because players should have the power to shape their own story

[@TheAntonbacon]

The dev's did not win, they could not kill the shard in game they had to reset the server in fact load an earlier version of the shard. The reason things were done the way its was it they wanted the shards to fall so they could have their big ashron vs balezron event. I remember at the time talk of two difrent time lines running but ultimately it would not work because of the way they updated the story on the servers. I did not participate as I was only level 28 at the time. I dont remember what PvE server I was on but I played on darktied and a pve server. The event was a big PVP event on the PVE servers and I dont think a lot of people cared to participate. I was neaver confused about what was going on kill the shard to realise balzeron but the shadow people wanted to realise him. I think a lot of people killed shards and undead because they would attack you.

[@davidmiller268]

I was there

[@Nitero_]

Think you kind of just dropped it with a whoie other quarter to go.

[@DengarSW]

Can you elaborate? It's a 2 part series that covers essentially the game's first updates (luckily this was the 1st story arc) to the Shard's demise here. Not sure what "quarter" is missing.

[@Nitero_]

@@DengarSW So first off, and I am really sorry I didn't START with this. Great videos. Both of them were very well done and the commentary is spot on. But to me personally, I think some of the best parts of the event were after the stone was broken and we first SAW asheron and Baal running around, to me that was the whole last segment of this event. Just a personal opinion and as a fan my perspective is perhaps a bit clouded. Great job though and I apologize if my off the hip remarks were taken at face value.

[@eagle3909]

damn it was so interesting

[@FirstTuber123]

I’m still as lost as before. I came here from the Gamerranx video. The narrator in the video said he wouldn’t be able to explain it, and should just watch these videos. But like I said, I’m still lost.

[@quiptheip]

Very late response, but I can came from the Gameranx video as well and this is my overall understanding: TLDR: This is the first (and only?) time a player base forced the creation of a story arc that wasn’t controlled by the developers. The developers allowed it to happen and supported it. Though they ultimately had to bring all the servers back a consistent state, they player created story arc became a permanent part of the story. The devs of Asheron’s Call were way ahead of their time in the creation of a player interactive story arc. They were able to use the lack of lore knowledge, player’s loot greed and normal player gameplay styles to naturally advance their story arc to introduce the importance of understanding the game lore. The Thistledown server was able to splinter the canonical story arc which forced a player driven story arc. The devs then chose to interact with the splintered story arc instead of forcing their canonical version. Ultimately (from reading the comments), due to the way the servers updated, a splintered story arc couldn’t be maintained and the server had to reset to an earlier state to bring the servers back into a synchronized stare but the player created storyline arc had such an impact with the player base it became a permanent part of the game lore and story.

[@a7734999]

Yee!

[@DengarSW]

...were you in ASK?

[@ipoopmuffins]

Great video. I still think my favorite patch was when they introduced hollow weapons. I remember logging in on patchday (I played DT) and there were just bodies everywhere and mages had no idea why they were getting wrecked. Fun times.