Asheron's Call New & Returning Players Guide
If you are a new player and looking to learn a lot about Asheron's Call there really is no better guide than the New Players guide located on the Asheron's Call Wiki. This guide tells you why Asheron's Call is hands down one of the best MMORPGs you can play. If you are looking for a source of information on Asheron's Call check out my AC Helpful Links page.
If you are already playing the game and looking to get started, that's where this page comes in. AC has a steep learning curve and can be a bit confusing for the new/returning player. However, I am here to take out a lot of that confusion and replace it with some kick-ass enjoyment! Before I break the game down for you into level ranges lets take a look at some of the first things you will need to do upon installing Asheron's Call.
1. Download Decal. Decal is single handedly the most important thing you can download for Asheron's Call. Playing Asheron's Call without Decal is like playing WoW without Addons. Never played WoW? Playing Asheron's Call without Decal is like driving a car without a rear view mirror! It definitely can be done but no one would ever want to handicap themselves this badly. Decal Website Link
2. Download Vtank and Get it to work. If Decal is your rear view mirror then Vtank is your side view mirrors. It's the single most useful plugin for the game. Vtank Bundle List
With these two things done you will be able to play the game much like everyone else does. There are still tons of useful plugins to download and many other things you could do to improve your gaming experience but these are your training wheels. With both of these things in play you will be able to enjoy the game much more than you would otherwise.
The next part of this guide is going to be for New Players to the game. As aformentioned earlier on this page there is an amazing New Players guide up on the AC Wiki that I strongly urge any new players to read. It goes over a lot of the game's basics that are essential to know as a new player to the game. Now the first thing most new players are going to ask about the game is, where do I go to level up? There are a few different guides on the Wikipedia Page for Asheron's Call but the one I enjoy the most is Kronik James' Leveling Guide.
This guide focuses entirely on grinding and very little questing. There is another guide that focuses a lot more on questing but certain quests are ungodly hard and will get you killed. The questing guide is written by Taomagicdragon. I actually recommend you follow a bit of each guide as it will offer you the most versatile experience when playing Asheron's Call. Here are the two guides again but in a more formal manner.
Kronik James' Grinding Leveling Guide
Taomagicdragon's Questing Leveling Guide
Leveling in Asheron's Call actually isn't your main/primary focus. Sure it's important to level up but this is actually one of the only games on the market where your level doesn't directly correlate to how much fun you can have with the game. In most MMORPG games you have to race to max level because that's where the game starts. That's not the case with Asheron's Call. Enjoy the ride!
Now before we go any further there is one big thing I need to do with this guide and that is seperate the completely new players from the returning players. If you are a new player that has never before stepped foot into Asheron's Call (or even a returning player that never got over, say level 30) then this part just below is for you.
New Players to Asheron's Call:
What you want to do once you finish the Tutorial and step foot out into the world of Dereth is find a Patron. In the bottom left portion of your screen you will find the chat window. You will want to left click on where it says 'Chat' to bring up a list of options. From here click on 'General Chat' and copy and paste or type in the following message.
Hey everyone! I am a completely new player to AC and I am looking for a Patron who is willing to take me under their wing.
This isn't a normal MMORPG so you will most likely get a tell, a few of them infact. Click on the person who is sending you a tell's name to reply back to them. From here you will just want to chat with whoever messaged you back and if you find the right person they WILL assist you and show you the very start of the game better than I ever could. If no one responds ask again in like 5 minutes. You will find someone to go out of their way and help you in this game.
If you would like to make me your Patron when you log into the game pick the Morningthaw Server. From here type out the following;
/t Almar Winfield, Hey, I am from your website and was looking for a Patron.
Or copy and paste that into chat. If I am not online you can ask on my server in General Chat for a Patron. When I do log on I will help you regardless of who you are sworn too.
Returning Players to Asheron's Call:
So now we can take a look at what to do if you are a returning player to the game. It can be a bit confusing logging in your character after so many years apart. A lot has changed with the game, the key to getting back into the swing of things is taking it slow and working your way up. There is an amazing guide up on the Wikipedia about everything that has changed, you can take a look at that guide before reading this page if you would like a long list.
Asheron's Call Returning Players Guide
This page here is meant to get you back into the swing of things one step at a time. We're going to start with things that are very easy and work our way up to the more complicated things. This guide will work for players that are above the level of 50 - 70. If you're below that level I strongly recommend you find a Patron and have them show you around first as mentioned before.
Step 1 - Learn the Town Network, Your Character and A lot more!
The very first thing you will want to do upon returning to the game is check your Inventory. Figure out what you have and start to remember what each thing is and each thing does. Here is a quick Checklist of things you can check your Inventory for before you even leave town/your home/whatever Safe Haven you are in.
Do you have an Ust to Salvage things?
Do you have a Wand/Staff/Orb so you can cast spells, buff yourself and port places?
Do you have Healing Kits for when you get into Combat and need Healing?
Do you have Death Items (Items of high value) for when your character dies so you don't lose your gear?
Do you have Mana Stones so you can recharge your gear when it gets low on Mana?
Want to see a video on how the Town Network Works?
If you answered yes to all of these things your character is ready to start adventuring. The first thing we are going to do together is visit Arwic and collect a Stipend from Monroe. To reach Arwic from any town in the game you will want to look for the Town Network Portal. Chances are this was added after you quit the game so it's going to be completely new to you. It works a lot like Subway used to and contains Portals to almost every useful area in the entire game.
Once you find the Town Network enter it and take a look around. It's seperated into four different areas, three for each of the main races and an additional area called the 'Annex' for everything else which doesn't fit under one of the races roofs. Arwic is located in the Aluvian portion of the Town Network but I strongly suggest you spend some time looking around. You're going to be here a lot. Once you learn how the Town Network is setup and find the Arwic portal enter it to, well, be ported to Arwic!
When you arrive in Arwic you are going to be looking for Monroe. He is located inside the town nearby the Lifestone. I am not going to pinpoint his exact location because this is the perfect opportunity to start getting acquainted with how things work again. Check your Minimap and mouse over the NPCs in the town to display their names without having to click on them. Get used to running around again and just get refamiliar with the game. It's going to be vastly different than the other games you're used too.
After you find Monroe and get your Stipend it's time to move onto Step 2!
Step 2 - GCKs and getting yours!
This part of the guide will be for Returning Players only, specifically ones that quit or played before 2008. The reason for this Asheron's Call gave away something called a Writ of Apology. Writs of Apology can be acquired from a Royal Guard in almost any town and turned into another NPC located in Samsur. This Royal Quartermaster will have a bunch of items on him but the one you will want to buy from him is called an Aluvian Casino Key Orders. Don't care about anything else on him, seriously, this is the one you will want.
See a Video Walkthrough for acquiring a GCK (Grand Casino Keyring)
See a Video Guide on what comes from Grand Casino Chests and why GCKs are so amazing
After you acquire the Aluvian Casino Key Orders you will want to go atop the building nearby and hand your Aluvian Casino Key Orders to the Royal Guard. This will return to you a Grand Casino Key. With this key you will be able to open a Casino Chest at a Casino in Holtburg, Yaraq and Shoushi. If you are a returning player and had the max amount of characters on your account you will be able to get quite a few GCKs. Depending on what server you play on you will be able to sell a GCK for on average 350 - 450 MMDs (750 - 1000MMDs on Darktide).
Keep this in mind because this is amazing money for a returning player.
Step 3 - Getting Some Experience!
Depending on what level you are the information throughout this part of the guide can change vastly. You should be at least level 10 if you're reading this, if you are we can get started with some of the basics of how to make good experience and have fun early on in the game. The first and most important thing you need to know about being a low level player is getting your Teleportation Device from any of the noobie towns.
To receive a Teleportation Device you will want to speak with a Society Agent outside of any of the three following towns.
Holtburg - Flinrala Ryndmad (Coords) 42.2N , 33.7 E
Shoushi - Oi-Tong Ye (Coords) 33.5S 73.0E
Yaraq - Mara al-Luq (Coords) 21.7S , 1.6W
Once you speak with them and get the Teleportation Device on the far left side of the cast window left click on the Orb's Icon and then make sure you are also left clicked on your Character. When you click Cast it will port you to the low level hub of the game.
The Facility Hub, How to Reach It, How to Use It & additional Information
Inside this hub you have portals to the old school Olthoi/Tusker dungeons and also portals to a bunch of major early level quest hubs. It's strongly recommended you play through these quests, it's pretty good experience to do them as you are leveling up and it will certainly show you a lot of the world of Asheron's Call as most of the quests have you porting around to places you would have never otherwise visited. If you are looking to level quickly focus on those quests that are straight forward. Ones that have you kill stuff or kill a boss at the end of a dungeon. They're generally the easiest of the lot.
List of Good Kill Tasks to do throughout your journey of Dereth
A List of Leveling Guides on the AC Wikkii
Step 4 - Getting to the point of Buffing yourself
Buffing yourself in Asheron's Call is probably the most important part of the game. You can't depend on Buff Bots forever since they may not always be online or around. The first and most important thing you need to know about buffing yourself is to get all of the Magic Skills required and raise them appropriatly. You will need the following Magics to begin buffing yourself:
Life Magic
Creature Magic
Item Magic
Raise each of them to 310 - 330 and you will be able to buff yourself. Once your magics start to get up there you will need to collect your level 7 spells as well. You can do this in almost any dungeon with monsters that are level 140+. The Insatiable Eaters are a good place to do this and also needed in part of the next step. I highly recommend you venture here if you are looking to complete two things at once.
Step 5 - Blank Augmentation Gem
This part is for returning players only. If you're a returning player above the level of 120 you will probably want to get this out of the way as soon as possible upon reaching or passing 150. The reason you will want to wait until level 150 is because that level is the required level for some of the best gear you can wear in the game. It may take awhile to build a suit for yourself with all the appropriate Epics/Majors but it is definitely something you will want to consider doing.
There is a useful tool for helping you build a suit in Asheron's Call. You will need Decal to use it but it is called Mag-Tools Suit Builder. You won't be getting much gear on your own unless you use some of the GCKs (Grand Casino Keyrings). It may be pretty easy to get some pieces if you keep an eye out while you're hunting or if you find a good Patron willing to assist a returning/new player out.
Now let's do what brought us to Step 4 in the first place. We need to grab the Insatiable Eater Jaw from the Insatiable Vault (97.4N 48.0W near Eastwatch) to get flagged for killing Sir Bellas. Obtain an Insatiable Eater Jaw from one of the four that drop the jaw at the bottom of Insatiable Vault near the exit portal. You will want to grab both jaws from these eaters, the other half gets turned in for XP so hang onto it until you can turn it in.
Sir Bellas will probably be hard for you to take down depending on your gear and your character. If you can't kill him don't worry too much about it, just come back at a later time.
Step 6 - Acquire Both Quested Skill Credits
Both of these quests are extremely important for all players to do. They will award you with Skill Credits that are vital in specializing and training every skill you need to make your character as powerful as he possibly can become. The first and easier of the quests is Hunting Aun Ralirea. Below is a link to the wikkii page for the quest, I strongly urge you read up on the wikkii about the quest and how it is done.
The second quest you can do is called Chasing Oswald. It is a bit more difficult than Hunting Aun Ralirea but equally as important for you to complete. Instead of requiring level 35+ like Hunting Aun Ralirea does, Chasing Oswald will require 90+. Despite Chasing Oswald being the more complex of the two, Hunting Aun Ralirea will most likely take up more of your time to complete.
After you finish both of these quests you will have an additional 2 Skill Credits.
Step 7 - Flagging
For this quest you may not be able to solo much of it, however you definitely will be able to collect the materials you need before hand. For this quest you will need a Yellow Jewel (can find from Virindi around Ayan Baqur), a Pyreal Bar (can find Motes and combine them from golems around Ayan Baqur), a Swamp Stone from Mosswarts and a Sezzherei's Lair Portal Gem from 'Fallen' creatures in VoD or Sing Caul.
This is probably the hardest flagging you will be soloing at this point (if you can even solo it). It's equally as hard if not slightly harder than the Vissidal Flagging Quest.
Completing the Town Founder quest allows you to use the Tree Top merchants in Candeth Keep. It's extremely important to do because these merchants have the best sell/buy ratio and also amongst the three of them they will buy all of your goods. The quest is extremely easy to do so don't worry about it being hard even in the slightest. You could actually probably do it without buffs!
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