Throne of Destiny Weekly Status Update 6/8

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Hey folks! Today I’d like to talk some more about our plans for Preview. Right now we are on track to launch Open Preview in about two weeks. The Preview world, which we’re calling “Destiny”, is up and running with a recent build of the game. We’re working on getting the necessary web pages ready to provide all the instructions for connecting to Preview as well as getting the Preview keys and installer to our download partner.

As we said earlier, we know that most of our existing players aren’t going to want to level up in the usual fashion on Destiny – you’re going to want to jump right in to some of the new high-level content. To that end we’ve created Turbine Vendors and the Turbine Emissary, who will be hand-placed over the course of Preview in the new town of Sanamar. The Turbine Vendors will sell some pretty nice equipment at very reasonable prices. Right now they’re set up to sell all level 7 spells, all four Foci, full sets of Olthoi Armor (all four level breaks), Good and Perfect Isparian Arms, Fallen weapons, all spell components, and Level Tokens.

Level Tokens are the quick advancement we’d mentioned earlier. Buy a level 40 token, hand it to the nearby Emissary, and you’ll be given the amount of experience to go from level 5 (fresh out of the Training Academy) to 40. Then you’ll be given an MMD note to help you get equipped.

We have Level Tokens all the way up to 260, but we’re not planning on having all of them available at the very beginning of Open Preview. Then you would all level to 260 and you would miss all the great content in between! We’ll be placing new Turbine Vendors on landscape with the higher-level Tokens over the course of Preview at pre-announced times.

One other note regarding Preview – in addition to Open Preview, we will be conducting a very limited Closed Preview between this week and the launch of Open Preview. Closed Preview is limited to a very small group of pre-selected testers as well as some media contacts, so please don’t email me asking how to get in. I just wanted to be upfront with y’all about it before any crazy rumors got started.

On the development front we’re still making excellent progress and we’re still on track for the July 18 launch. This week we expect to have final signoff on our retail CD which will be then shipped to our distribution partners at Station Publishing and Codemasters. We do expect there to be a small launch-day patch to resolve a small group of bugs we still have in the queue along with any issues that arise during Preview.

A reminder regarding the AC:TD launch: All players will need to have the new client and new data files in order to play once we launch on July 18, whether or not they subscribe to Throne of Destiny. There will be three ways to get the new client and data files:

• Buy Throne of Destiny and install from the CD. (Obviously, this is the method we recommend.)

• Download the Open Preview. If you have the Open Preview installed on your computer and run the Preview Launcher after the servers come up on the 18th, it will automatically patch to the Throne of Destiny launcher.

• Download the new client. We’ll be publishing a link to the installer before July 18, so that you can download it at your leisure ahead of time and be ready for launch.

Doing any of these will allow you to play the game, but only buying the Throne of Destiny retail box will upgrade your account to allow you to experience AC:TD content such as Rares, levels beyond 126, the Halaetan Islands and more. (Including, as was announced in the Mystics Q&A, a seventh character slot!) In addition only buying AC:TD will let you use the very high resolution textures that we’ll be unlocking in an event after launch.

We’re also continuing our work on the August Event. We’ve been having meetings to go over proposed content additions as well as to set the schedule with QA and NetOps. Obviously one of our top priorities is going to be resolving any issues that come up after the AC:TD launch that may have been missed during the Open Preview.

Many of you asked if we were going to be addressing any major game systems or mechanics in the August event – there will be more on this in the August Letter to the Players but at this point we’re not planning any major changes. As I said, we’re leaving development and bugfixing time available in order to take on any issues that arise after the AC:TD launch.

One last note on the topic of the Live Game: As I mentioned last week, we have been investigating the source of server-side lag on Darktide. On Tuesday we took the step of shutting down the Mausoleum dungeons, and since that time we have not seen the performance spikes that had accompanied the lag reports. It’s still too early to tell whether the issue has truly been resolved, but it is promising. More discussion of this topic is being done on our PvP Discussions forum.

So, that’s the news on Throne of Destiny development, Open Preview, and the next Event. Very exciting times up ahead!

-- Ibn
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Alex "Ibn" Beckers
AC1 Online Community Relations

Throne of Destiny Weekly Status Update 6/2

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Hey folks! This update is heavier on the “status” side than the “news” side, but sometimes you spend more time working on what you’ve got than starting new things, right?

The next major milestone in Throne of Destiny development is RC0 – “Release Candidate Zero”. This is the stable build that we’re proposing for our Gold Master, along with all other required GM package files, such as the launcher and installer. As of this writing, we’ve got an RC0 build and it is undergoing end-to-end testing by Quality Assurance to ensure that it meets our needs to go on the CD.

We’re also working very hard on getting the Preview World ready for the launch of Preview later this month. Everyone is involved in this – development, QA, NetOps, etc – so in addition to the player feedback we expect to get from the Preview, launching it is a good dry run of the procedures we’ll need for the full AC:TD launch on July 18. We should have all the planning for Preview nailed down within the next week or two, which will let me answer many of the questions you’ve been asking. For example, I said that we’re going to provide a means to rapidly level your characters – the immediate question was, “How?” We’ve got the “How” nailed down from a tech point of view and we’ll be releasing more details on that before Preview starts. Other aspects of Preview that we’re working on are the different pipelines that you’ll be able to use to send us your feedback – special Preview forums for discussion, feedback and bug reporting, and an email address for bug reporting that’ll go straight to QA.

In other cool planning news, we’ve started planning for the August Event, the first Event after Throne of Destiny’s launch. Because we know that Preview and launch are going to be our primary focus, we’re starting August development a bit early. That way we can switch our focus back to Throne of Destiny for the Preview and Launch without cutting any development time from August. The Event is tentatively scheduled for early August. We’ll be talking to you more about the August Event after the AC:TD launch.

While we’re talking about the Live game: I wanted to make a quick note that we are very actively investigating the recent severe lag reports on Darktide. We know that many of you believe the lag to be connected to the Mausoleums, whether its people macroing there or the corpse piles inside the dungeons or at the punishment “landing zone”. The Mausoleums are the primary focus of our investigation but we don’t have proof yet that they are the cause. Our hardware monitoring shows us that there is definitely something unusual going on that matches the many player reports of severe lag on Darktide that we’ve received recently. We’re gonna get to the bottom of this, and if it means turning the Mausoleums off in order to temporarily fix the lag issue, we’re prepared to take that step. We just need to do more investigation first.

So that’s the news – AC:TD launch and Preview work is humming along, and we’re starting preparation for the transition to Live that follows. I hope you folks are as excited as I am!
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Alex "Ibn" Beckers
AC1 Online Community Relations

We've just posted the full list of Augmentations that can be acquired in
Throne of Destiny. Read the full list here!

We've also put the Throne of Destiny intro cinematic up for download!
Check it out at our Downloads page!

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Alex "Ibn" Beckers
AC1 Online Community Relations

Hi folks! It’s been a few weeks since our last update, and there’s a lot of exciting news that I want to tell you about.

First off, you’ll be seeing updates like this much more frequently. Once a week I’ll be posting a status update with news about where we are in the launch process as well as any other news, and possibly even some guest entries from other members of the team!

That's right! The first person to solve the puzzle will receive an EQ2 Hat and Viewfinder! The clues have been given out on our forums.

Five levels there are, and only five in me
I am warrior, I am priest, I am mage, I am scout
Then a final challenge shall eliminate doubt
To the first that can list the name of Test Two
I give my utmost respect and yet another clue

Think on the words and the pattern it means
Each level the pattern does change
Match the grid to your mind and thunder will sound
And the harps from the final arrange

The sequence you seek to unlock the first door
Is but the final mark of the warrior's bleat
The most simple pattern and yet no more
Will light your way to the priest's retreat