AC2 is shutting down

Elapsed · August 2005

AC2 is closing December 30, 2005. ::::16:: There was a post on the forums and is on the official page.

http://ac2.turbine.com/index.php?page_id=384

Dear AC2 subscribers,
In spite of our hard work and the launch of Legions, AC2 has reached the point where it no longer makes sense to continue the service. We will be officially closing the Asheron's Call 2 service on 12/30/05. Until then, we plan to run live events, but we will not be adding any content or features.
We deeply appreciate the many dedicated fans of AC2 who have stood by us over the years. You have our sincerest gratitude.
Best regards,
Jeffrey Anderson
CEO, Turbine

spookytooth · August 2005

So, another casualty. And yet I find my cold heart warmed by this news.

Elapsed · August 2005

It seems like such a waste to me, after all the work they put into it ::::30:: The monthly updates, and an expansion. I guess it will bring a few people back to AC1 ::::21::

anarchyart · August 2005

Originally posted by spookytooth

So, another casualty. And yet I find my cold heart warmed by this news.

A casualty vampire then. Saddest form of life in the known universe. Sad that AC2 is dead, I tried the trial and played for 2 straight weeks and I liked it a lot, but the gf didn't think the girls were hot enough. rofl women are insane, you didn't hear that from me. Well what can ya do, bye AC2, I won't forget you.

Kibs · August 2005

My regards to the community, it can be hard losing your favourite game, I hope the last few weeks/months/days will be good for you

-Kibs

VicodinTaco · August 2005

Glad I didn't sink to much time into this one.

You got to wonder what's in store for games like Saga of Ryzom and Horizons....

That's kind of a weird move to release an expansion pack and then can it.

Elapsed · August 2005

I can't believe (or better I don't want to believe ::::16:: ) 2 and a half years of Turbine's development is going to waste. I know this isn't the first MMORPG to close like E&B and MCO. But they weren't open as long as AC2 and had no where near the amount of content that was added to AC2 over the years.

Also to a lesser extent I mind the amount of time some people dedicated to AC2 is going to vanish. The same thing stands true in this case as with E&B and MCO, people have spent more time playing AC2. I know it's going to happen some day with all MMORPG's but I always hoped it would be when 0 people played.

If I had it my way I would stop all updates and remove all staff from AC2. Make one small server and make the game free. There could be a login client with a queue for players to login, since no doubt AC2 would be the best free MMORPG and the server would probably fill up fast. Maybe they could put some ads on the client or even at the bottom of the screen in game to generate a little revenue to cover the servers. It would bring people to discover Turbine and their games. Heck, if people liked playing AC2, they could imagine how good Turbines pay to play games must be ::::28::

Lunar_Knight · August 2005

Thats actually not a bad idea. However, I think Turbine just wants to move on right now.

I find it odd that the sequel is going to be biting it before the original, but everyone thats every played both games knows why.

I'm a little sad, but the seasons change (as they do in Asheron's Call) and games come and go. My only wish is that, in the future, Turbine makes a great next-generation fantasy sci fi MMORPG that has original ideas and story like the Asheron's Call world had. Some thing new and exciting we've never seen before. I think Turbine can do it...and I hope they will.

Nihilx · August 2005

To be fair, anyone keeping an eye on the world of MMORPG's knew this had to happer sooner or later. From day one, AC2 was heavily underpopulated, something the regular updates and the expansions couldn't seem to remedy. I can imagine a lot of players being ticked off, but from the company's point of view I'm pretty sure it didn't make sense to invest more time and money into the game. I played AC for a long time and love it, but I have to admit I too thought the sequel to be rather bland and not very engaging, even though Turbine did their best.

Dark_Mage54 · August 2005

AC2 got owned by the big Bug Zapper LOL!!!' ::::15:: ::::33::

i extend a great big PWNED to all you subscribers that didnt see this coming ::::34:: ::::18::
well at least you got your fun out of the game, thats what you payed for, not the guarantee that the server would be up for ever. ::::20::

Garrik · August 2005

Originally posted by loeslein

Glad I didn't sink to much time into this one.
You got to wonder what's in store for games like Saga of Ryzom and Horizons....
That's kind of a weird move to release an expansion pack and then can it.

Its sad to see this game go for sure as i also played it for a while so farewell AC2. The point i wanted to make with this quote was about The saga of Ryzom, i currently play this game and i dont see any point to your comment, do you know somthing i dont because to me the game seems to be goin very strong and its also one of the top rated games on this site, please enlighten me and not just make blunt comments.

Garrik

Kibs · August 2005

Originally posted by Garrik

Originally posted by loeslein

Glad I didn't sink to much time into this one.
You got to wonder what's in store for games like Saga of Ryzom and Horizons....
That's kind of a weird move to release an expansion pack and then can it.

Its sad to see this game go for sure as i also played it for a while so farewell AC2. The point i wanted to make with this quote was about The saga of Ryzom, i currently play this game and i dont see any point to your comment, do you know somthing i dont because to me the game seems to be goin very strong and its also one of the top rated games on this site, please enlighten me and not just make blunt comments.

Garrik

Agreed, ryzom is going from strength to strength atm, the game is on a high after the latest news involving outposts and ryzom ring. They even gave the players a month free play

bakon2 · August 2005

It is sad. I loved this game. To me it was pretty fast paced and the gameworld was absolutely beautiful. Going to be hard to find another. Not that I want too.

Made a lot of friends. Most of the community was great cept for the few token tards. Anyway, good luck to all that were playing this, and have fun.

sschrupp · August 2005

This is sad news. I haven't played it in quite a while, but I really enjoyed my time while I was there. I enjoyed Earth & Beyond too, and that went belly up. And I was really excited for Ultima X: Online and that was toasted before it even came out. Man, I'm just cursed or something.

mlang1 · August 2005

If you want a game that won't shut down until the developers die of old age...

http://www.eve-online.com

Recent dev quote "we have at least 7 years of updates to go with this game until we even start thinking about an EVE 2"

The whole company exists to produce one product and one product only. 64,000 subscribers and rising:

http://www.mmogchart.com/Chart3_files/Subscriptions_12180_image001.gif

It's sci-fi not fantasy, but it's the gameplay that counts in the long-term anyway, and from what I've seen of AC2 it might appeal to many of those who like AC2.

Very sorry that it's shutting down, this is one thing I'll never have to worry about with Eve I think.

Tenchiro · August 2005

After watching them alienate most of the AC1 fanbase when they released this game, I can't say that I am sad to see it go.

VicodinTaco · August 2005

Originally posted by Garrik

Originally posted by loeslein

Glad I didn't sink to much time into this one.
You got to wonder what's in store for games like Saga of Ryzom and Horizons....
That's kind of a weird move to release an expansion pack and then can it.

Its sad to see this game go for sure as i also played it for a while so farewell AC2. The point i wanted to make with this quote was about The saga of Ryzom, i currently play this game and i dont see any point to your comment, do you know somthing i dont because to me the game seems to be goin very strong and its also one of the top rated games on this site, please enlighten me and not just make blunt comments.

Garrik

Nope, I don't know anything, so I cannot enlighten you. I've never played the game, but I will when some essential improvements are made. I wonder how many subscribers SOR has. It did appear however that AC2 had more subscribers than Horizions. I dunno, I would suppose it all comes down to developer commitment.

There are a lot of very unique games coming out over the next year. I beleive almost all SOR subscribers will try at least one of them. Can we guarantee SOR will be around 1 year from now?

Classicstar · August 2005

Originally posted by Kibs

Originally posted by Garrik

Originally posted by loeslein

Glad I didn't sink to much time into this one.
You got to wonder what's in store for games like Saga of Ryzom and Horizons....
That's kind of a weird move to release an expansion pack and then can it.

Its sad to see this game go for sure as i also played it for a while so farewell AC2. The point i wanted to make with this quote was about The saga of Ryzom, i currently play this game and i dont see any point to your comment, do you know somthing i dont because to me the game seems to be goin very strong and its also one of the top rated games on this site, please enlighten me and not just make blunt comments.

Garrik

Agreed, ryzom is going from strength to strength atm, the game is on a high after the latest news involving outposts and ryzom ring. They even gave the players a month free play

Most mmorpgs are give months free or try get old players back they all suffer from WoW whole mmorpg community suffer from wow.

hercules · August 2005

Well i always thought AC2 was one of the most under rated mmorpg in history.It certainly deserved way more then the 10k or so subs it had.

But yes AC2 was probably making a loss for way over 2 years.

Now it is possible that turbine having 2 big licences to hold on to and produce ie lord of the rings and dugeons and dragons had to conserve as much money as possible to see this games thru as they are potentially very big winners.

Turbine knows name>game play.And lets face it DDO and LOTRO have to be a really terrible mess not to break a descent number of sales.

It always amazed me how turbine who to be honest had online one successful product -AC1(which at its best times never passed the 120k mark) got this 2 licences oer say EA or SoE with more successful games.

However while they might save money by closing AC2 i am not sure it does good for their reputation .

It is sad to see AC2 die and will probably re activate my account for the last day just to see hello and final goodbye to one of the greatest,most mature and friendly guild members i ever played with(even though last i chatted with them via email only 7 were left).And maybe an end of world event who knows

Nibelheim · August 2005

Originally posted by Dark_Mage54
well at least you got your fun out of the game, thats what you payed for

Actually what I *paid* for that whole time was proper spelling of the word "paid." Man, I just can't win these days!

Moboid · August 2005

Slight devils advocate but there are some similarites between AC2 and Ryzom

Both games launched missing promised key features. eg. (Town re building/Outpost)

Both games have merged servers. (fairly early on in the games lifespan)

Both games had to re balanced heavily after lunch upsetting a portion of the player base.

Both games content/patching scheduals were interupted to bug fix etc. (Spring clean )

Both games have lost players, however ryzom unlike ac2 never posted server pops so it's hard to call.

ok these problems apply to a lot of MMO's but both Ryzom and AC2 did seem to take a fair old mauling from them.

Emyrn · August 2005

I'm not that surprised AC2 is shutting down, it seemed to miss something that was in the first one. Turbine might have shut down AC2 in order to get more people into AC1 which is a bigger success than AC2 ever was, in my opinion. Any of you AC2 subscribers going to go to AC1 when AC2 dies or are you moving to WoW or EQII or some other mmorpg?

Falconoffury · September 2005

I'm pretty surprised this game is shutting down with the extremely high quality patches that have been recently released. This game could have used more aggressive advertising and a friendlier newbie experience. The first 15 levels are not that great. Over half the newbie quests are geared for groups, but there weren't enough people for groups at those levels.

nomadian · September 2005

Lol looking at other boards all the comments were;
* They changed everything around, nerfed everyone to bits
* no endgame
* Great potential but poor development
* Bad crafting system
* Not enough Content
* Being a sequel messed it up
* Bad Beta.
* Lots of doubt about Turbines new offerings.
That sums it all up.

iSacrifice · September 2005

Hello all you AC2-anits!!!

I would like you to know that I feel for all you peeps that put in all that time to building and mantaining a community. I know that is sucks and that maybe they have left a very bad taste in your mouth for doing what they did. I hope that just because they did this you are not going to swear them off 100%. They are doing this for a reason obviously and it was not a personal attack against you.

If you are all looking for a new place to call home. There is a great place that you can call home it is DAoC most of you have most likley heard of it. DAoC is a community that is well developed and has been maintained for years and years. So come on over and give the 14-day trail a shot. I think that you will be surprised with how great the game has gotten since release. Mythic is about to release ANOTHER Expansion.

In a way we are kinda in the same boat as you guys. Mythic pulled the plug on Imperator and we were all looking forward to is. But there is a bright side to every bad event. Since the plug got pulled on Imperator they took ALOT of the developers from that project and reasigned them to DAoC. Which means that they are going to be working on CONTENT like mad and will be upgrading the games over all LOOK and FEEL!!

So I hope that you can move on after being punched in the kidney!!

Rustypipe · September 2005

Well first I will start with the good before the bad.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

The Good:

To start off I would like to say that I was a devoted fan to AC1 for almost 4 years and some of my best video game memories are of AC1 with my friends on pvp darktide server. Ac1 was such a great game with depth, lore, exploration, items, and character creation. When you built your char you planned it from the get go and when you where done you where proud of your accomplishments unlike many of the games out there to day. Also AC1 was the best MMORPG PVP engine to date in my own opinion and nothing has even come close to there pvp engine where you can actually dodge spells and arrows :O really some developers need to crack open a dictionary and look up the word Dodge and figure out what it means again. Anyhow I had nothing but high praises for AC1 before it started getting stupid with bad patch after bad patch. This is where I think they went wrong with ac2. In AC 1 they almost never nurfed anything. They just kept on putting higher and higher content in. Stronger and stronger content until it was unbalanced as hell. Then instead of nurfing they just put STRONGER stuff in to balance it until it spiraled into the LVL 150+ range to compete or do anything, utterly destroying the game in my opinion. I think they went the reverse route with ac2 from what I hear with the nurf bat, but I never played it overly long to find out because it was horrible, which takes me to the bad.

The Bad:

Well the shutting down of AC2 only proves that there is a god. This game was such an incredible let down to me and all my friends from AC1, it was truly sad. The only good part of ac2 was the graphics, the rest of it could be flushed down the toilet. I really don't know what the developers where thinking but right from beta it seemed doomed to fail. They didn't stick to ANY of there AC1 roots other then some lore and some monsters. They changed the entire combat engine to some piece of crap engine. They changed the character building system to a cheap rip off Diablo 2's skill system. The game felt like Diablo 2 and EQ meshed together instead of AC2. Why would you create an entirely different game when you have something good as a predecessor, and then expect your fan basis to stay ? This just baffles me to this day. If they would of just taken the general game mechanics from ac1 down to the world / character template / depth and just put a new graphics engine with some new tweaks, ideas, stories, quests, races, ect, It would still be going today.
After buying AC2 3 months later I discontinued my subscription and used the cd as a coster as it was the only thing I could think of that was worth the money I spent on the game. All though it does make a good coaster as I still use it to this day. The sad part is I took a few more cracks at AC1 and have NEVER EVER looked back at ac2.

Truly sad it is.

But I hope that Turbine has learned a lot from there mistakes and will use it to better there future up coming games. With that all said I can only feel for the devs as well as it would be hard to shut down such a project, and with the shutdown of AC2 I only hope that one day they will make AC3 and truly get it right.

Lessons learned

- With a good product a person may tell 1 other person about maybe 2 if your lucky. With A bad product the person will tell everyone he knows how much it sucks.

- Sequels only split your subscription / population basis when you create an entirely different game. Ive taken the liberty of posting a link where the definition of sequel can be found - http://www.thefreedictionary.com/sequel

- Listen to you community and try your best to stay on the fence as much as possible when it comes to the decision making time.

- Dont release an expansion then shutdown the game. This just angers the locals :P

me

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