Asherons Call: Even More Info on the Expansion (More Please)

Here are the details I took away from the AC Expansion Pack panel discussion:

New Maximum Level
The maximum level is being raised to 275!!

All 126+ characters will have their current level recalculated based upon their spent and unspent experience. So basically you should be whatever level treestats says you are.

You will receive skill points for those 126+ levels. The ratio will not remain 1 point/ 5 levels, it is still being discussed.

The caps for attributes, vitals and skills are not being raised (so max base strength is still 290 for example.)

[b]Augmentation Gems[/b]
After reaching 126 you can opt to get Augmentation Gems. No word on whether these are crafted, looted, quested, etc.

However once you have one you can activate it by spending xp and it will give various affects, some mentioned:
- drop less items on death
- another pack space

New PC Race
A fourth PC race will be added, the Viamont. In addition Vaimontian NPC's will be the villians of the expansion pack.

The Viamont's will have their own racial weapon, they have decided what it is, but will not announce it.

A form of racial armor (wearable by all races) will be introduced. It looks like a covenant/plate mix - it looks awesome!

The Viamont culture is being modeled on a middle ages French/Italian theme.

New Island Archipelago
The Viamont will be based on a new archipelago to the NE of Marae Lassel. There will be a starter town within these islands

Graphics Update
The graphics update will move from 16-bit to 32-bit texture buffers and move from DirectX 7 to DirectX 9.

Software mode will no longer be supported. A 16MB video card will be required, 32 MB recommended. CPU requirements are not determined yet but should not be high.

They are redoing 6000 textures.

New Critters
- Make a monster winner, best described as a walking mushroom
- The Eaters, considered the Viamont's 'pets', sort of a walking mouth
- Some humanoid race that uses weapons made of ice.

No Elder Game Land Control
Due to the lukewarm reaction to the land control aspect initially announced, it was shelved.

It will be developed after the expansion pack as a downloaded 'booster' that will be automatically given to everyone with the expansion pack. Slated to be done Fall 2005.

[b]Rare Drops[/b]
The previously discussed rare drops will be incorporated into the expansion pack, and only be available to players that have purchased it.

There will be 5 tiers. Drop rate will be roughly 1000/month for Tier 1 and 1/month for Tier 5.

Note that this is the expected drop rate ACROSS ALL SERVERS. And those are the estimated drop rate not exact.

EVERY creature will have an equal chance of dropping a rare upon death. So a Tier 5 item is just as likely to be found on a Drudge Skulker as a Drudge Seraph Mystic. Since the drop is only a % chance there will be some months when 0 drop and some months when 3 drop.

What wasn't as clear was the exact procedure for when the rare generation is checked. They seem to indicate upon death, so if the corpse is not checked then that super-rare Tier 5 item may not even be found.

All rares will have an icon to indicate they are rare.

A couple of examples of rare items:
- A healing kit with 5 uses that is +500 skill and 10x healing rate
- Elsya's something-or-other that gives the following spells:
Bow Mastery VII
Major Bow
Coordination VII
Major Coordination
Invulnerability VII
Major Invulnerability

I'm guessing that last one there is a Tier 5. Remember the drop rate will be such that after a year only 12 items like this should exist ACROSS ALL SERVERS!

All rares will have no wield or activation requirements. So that Elysa's bow item will be usable by a level 1 noob.

[b]Other Notes[/b]
20+ new quests, including stuff for lower level Viamont rerolls
12 new dungeons
Caveat - I may have those numbers on the dungeons/quests swapped
Town lovin' - some changes to cause towns to become popular again are being coordinated between the live team and expansion pack team

Here are a couple of minor items from the AC1 Dev Q&A

Mansion lovin' should be here sooner rather than later. They will look into removing the buy caps in all towns to make the bindstones in all towns useful