Turbine just randomly decided to make a post on their forums today announcing that the old school MMORPG Asherons Call 2 is back. AC2 closed down in 2005 after being up for only a couple of years. Apparently it could not achieve enough subscribers to be viable back in the day — oddly that connects us to yesterday’s post quite nicely.
If you own and subscribe to Asheron’s Call 1, Turbine will let you log into AC2 with that same AC1 account and play on a brand new AC2 server.  There are a ton of reasons why this is awesome.
- Fans of AC2 can return to play once more.
- This will drive sales of AC1 and get people playing a fairly inexpensive game to maintain.
- Turbine looks like a hero to the fans.
- AC2 can serve as a proof of concept, allowing other companies to see the results and hopefully re-release or at least connect older games to their new ones.
You know what would be awesome? I’d love to see more older MMORPG’s return.  I want to see a true classic DAOC server, an official EQ1 server, and even SWG brought back.
Having people buy one of your other games is rather ingenious, and I see nothing wrong with it. I would gladly re-purchase a handful of titles to play them again.
If Bioware were to say “Buy a SWTOR subscription and we’ll let you log in to this new classic DAOC server,” I would happily do so. When SoE eventually gets around to launching EverQuest 3, I hope they decide to one day attach an EQ1 membership in there. Heck, drive sales of your new game by allowing people access to all your other games (Station Pass).
Very clever way of not only reviving an older titles that fans want to play, but coming up with another great application for the subscription model.
I loved AC1 to the extreme and it remains my all time favorite MMO but I never played AC2 cause why should i? At teh time i was happily playing AC1.
Now that this is open I will get to try out something I always wish I got to try. Glad Turbine is doing this but something smells a little fishy here, I am hoping an announcement of a soon AC3. God would that just simply rock!
I think this is really cool. I never played AC2, but I can only imagine how happy someone who loved this game is right now. A chance to play a game that you thought was gone forever.
It would be nice if more older MMOs were brought back. I don’t think SWG would make the cut though, because my impression was that the huge barrier to continuing the game was renewing the rather expensive Star Wars licence from LucasArts.
This is pretty amazing. AC2 was a pretty amazing game. The live events like the undead invasions and the Waraths was always incredible to be a part of.
What was so special about AC2? I played AC and really enjoyed it – and I even tried AC2 when it first released but I thought it failed miserably…did they turn it around? I am curious about it now – how did the game develop over time?
Hmm classic DAOC server? they tried it before and kinda flopped so they closed it down
i think going back to DAOC or SWG is a step too far people have moved on too much but i think going back to AC1 or AC2 is feasible
@Fidjet: But maybe Disney will sell the license for cheaper!
Bringing back old games is good.
More choice is better.
Its just to bad you do not get the community back with it.. the one you remember from back then.
Keen, point 4 only works if AC2 is successful.
Why would a game that failed spectacularly in 2005 succeed now? It’s not like AC2 built up a huge following over the years like DAoC, and had many drift away over time. The number of people who actually enjoyed AC2 is tiny.
Maybe in the current market people will see value in AC2, but my guess is it will be even less popular than it was back in the day, and shut down once more.
@SynCaine: If it drives sales for an older game like AC1, and the revenue exceeds costs, then it is worth it. And yes, of coarse, it will only serve as proof of concept if it succeeds. My wording sucked.
I think the market is changing. Older players like myself and many of those I game with are realizing that today’s games are lacking. Many of us have stopped playing altogether. If this brings those players back, and can drive revenue, then why the heck not?
@Zyler: I don’t know if I agree. SWGEmu and EQ Project 1999 are able to bring abck those communities because they are bringing back the actual original players themselves.
@Zugzug: They never released a true classic DAOC server, and never truly supported the half-baked attempt they made.
It would be interesting if AC2 is even a mild success, because it would further reinforce the notion that, on average, MMO players are getting really tired of generic themeparks. Clearly back in 2005, they were not, but if a meh game like AC2 can come back and actually do well, it would show that tastes have changed. Something to keep an eye on at least.
I watched a friend play last night, and I saw more people online than I ever saw back at the official release. Looks good so far.
I did not play the classic daoc server when they brought it back. Was it original frontiers and pre-TOA? What was wrong with it. I don’t remember what I was playing at the time but remember thinking about it but then everyone told me that community on it was shitty and by the time I looked at it again it was dying
@Zugzug – No the classic severs were not classic they were DAoC servers minus TOA that’s all. Still they wer great servers to play on and I played them on and off again since 2005 until they were taken down. I’d probably still be playing them if they were up.
Also the problem with EMU servers like P99, SWGemu and Uthgaurd are they aren’t true classic servers either they are just the best classic experience EMU servers can create.
When I found out last night that AC2 was back I immediately resubscribed to AC1 and downloaded the game. I was the person Keen was watching stream AC2. The game was very innovative for its time and although I made the mistake of passing it up on its initial launch, I am very glad I get to experience it now as not playing it before is one of my biggest MMO regrets I have had.
@damage
So it was new frontiers?
If I were to pick I would make a classic server just after SI, maybe fix Savage quad attack “feature” and couple other things but that was my favorite era. The earliest playable classic they could do is when Mid got end regen I think that was 2-3 month before SI.
But I would even sub if they went back to the time when RAs first were introduced, dust out my healer aoe mezz 😮
They would need to do some really clever marketing to get people to show up though. One thing is to guarantee that server will be up for at least couple years, fix herald etc.
Unfortunately I think time for all of that is long passed.
The “Classic” DAoC servers were anything but classic DAoC. It was DAoC+SI+NF+Catacombs (Expansion AFTER ToA). The artifacts were removed, because ToA was removed. However, the exact same bonuses were still available through Cata items. The largest change was that there were no longer MLs.
It was a pathetic attempt, honestly.
That said, I don’t think “classic” servers for any MMO are a good idea. Every single patch of an MMO has problems, so which one do you pick for your “utopia”? There is no right answer. Actually, there are probably hundreds of different answers from all kinds of people.
And simply using DAoC as an example… does that classic server that got rid of ToA (most agree they hated that expansion) simply sit idle now, no more patching? Or should patches happen? Should expansions still happen? Won’t people grow restless if the game is just stagnant, no development?
I don’t think there is a right way to bring back an old game, or an old version of a game.
Heh, i started with AC1 in 1999 my first of these type of games. I was in awe. Played Ac2 for awhile not so much awe and remember why it failed which I wont go into. However, I remember the in game jam sessions with instruments. coolest thing ever back then.. Searched you tube to see if any vets got anything going with them with the relaunch and found this gem posted last night..
check it out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTGufd1dhMY
To me graphics are less important than game play, but it seems to be a major factor in other gamer’s decision to play an MMO. How outdated do the graphics look in this game?
Same engine as LotRO and DDO I believe. Looks really close to DDO in terms of graphics. It has held up surprising well.
AC2 has a small but devoted fan base. We have spent years wishing for it to return. IMHO it is the best MMO I have ever played. So many names in cht tonight that I remember from the I days. A lot of happy people, my entire guild included.
@rawblin ahh I c thanks, that is pretty damn far from classic lol