Hi all. Hollowtide launched two weeks ago, and since then we've shipped 57 updates, most of them fixes from your in-game bug reports. It's in good shape now, and we'd love more people in Dereth.

**Why play here:**

- **One click to play.**

https://hollowtide.org/

runs in your browser: pick a name and you're in Holtburg. No game files, no Decal, no launcher setup. Prefer an app? It's free and native on Windows, Mac and Linux: https://lumpybutt33.itch.io/hollowtide

- **The plugins are built in.** An assistant in the spirit of VTank (it loads your old profiles and routes), map arrows to anywhere, and a searchable map. Nothing to install or configure.

- **Quality of life everywhere.** A quest Journal that tells you what to do next and points the way, items that compare themselves to what you're wearing, Loot All, a looking-for-group board, clickable names in chat, mail for offline friends, and a Feature Requests board in game where your votes decide what we build next.

- **More to do.** All of Dereth as it was, plus new creatures, dungeons, bosses, an armor set, and seasonal festivals with world bosses.

**Founders:** every account made before November 1 gets a gold Founder's Shirt, a Founder's Banner for your house and the title Founder, for life. One week left.

Come say hi: https://discord.gg/utSfFbTqkS

Not affiliated with Turbine, WB Games or the original game's owners.

Curious if anyone else had a desire to fight something new, or something old in a new look.

Showcasing my new assets IG. Happy to share my edited.dat + weenies if anyone wants to check them out.

Dark Destiny Beta Update: October 23, 2026

Hello Dereth!

We’re a handful of guys who never got over Dark Majesty era Asheron’s Call, so we built the server we kept wishing someone else would. Dark Destiny is in pre-release beta right now. If you roll a character today, it survives our move to professional hosting in early November. You’ll need custom dats to log in.

Yes, we use AI tools in parts of development, like virtually every code-based project being worked on by anyone these days. The ideas are our own, and everything that ships gets played, tested and argued over by actual humans.

What Is Dark Destiny?

It starts as retail Dark Majesty, everything through the 2005 Infiltration patch. Then the timeline snaps and the story goes somewhere darker, deeper, and mapped out to unfold over years. We think it’s where AC should have gone after DM. The Ongoing-Saga channel on our Discord gets a new chapter every two weeks, and each one hints at what’s really going on in the world. Read it, then go find out for yourself.

Two Accounts, Unlimited Alts

You can have two accounts in the world at once, and as many as you like in /sub. That keeps busy areas from turning into bot-army parking lots. Pair up whatever duo fits the job, swap alts in and out of an endless reserve (AC just isn’t AC without alts!), and yes, you can swear allegiance to your own characters.

Builds

Bow, sword, UA and mage don’t run the show here, and the core of AC character building is intact.

We’ve integrated the beloved classic weapon skills with EoR supplementary combat skills, and the possibilities are absolutely amazing. Some effect values are tuned for DM’s lower numbers, and we’re going big first and will dial things back if testing says so. After some heated debate, we made Shield a standalone skill rather than something anyone can equip, both because it’s the natural counterpart to Dual Wield and because every loot-generated Shield in the game mutates with its own unique property based on its type. The two live side by side, with one catch: off-hand Attack and Defense mods don’t count while dual wielding, only the weapon’s damage does, so your main hand matters more than ever.

Bow, Crossbow and Sword cost 8/8 to train and spec. Every other weapon skill is 6/6. To soften that, everyone starts with Arcane Lore trained for free.

We reworked the attribute formulas behind three weapon skills to give them real identities that stand on their own:

• Staff uses (Coordination + Focus) / 3, creating the Monk identity, a build that focuses on defensive combat, particularly effective against foes that use heavy magic.
• Spear uses (Coordination + Focus) / 3, creating the Skirmisher identity, a versatile build that can go all-in on Melee Defense or magic, and can pierce through heavy armor.
• Mace uses (Strength + Self) / 3, creating the Paladin identity, a build that trades Melee Defense for heavy armor, heavy magic, and its own innate property that draws on strength of will in combat.

Virtually every imaginable build is viable here, and our consistently growing playerbase is giving us nothing but positive feedback about how fun it is to experiment with the new options while keeping the full flavor of what makes Asheron’s Call character creation and development the best in any RPG ever. Martyr Life mages see their drains, harms and hecatombs hit harder. Weapon masters can lean on the quirks of each loot-generated weapon type. Alchemists throw potions, work from new formulas and recipes, and can even bottle portal magic in alchemical gems. Pair Alchemy with Healing and you have the best non-magical restoration in the game. Item-only and “mundane” characters with no magic at all can build suits and accessories that provide a full suite of buffs and cantrips, so they never need downtime.

Heritage weapon skills aren’t locked to a single group anymore. Decide before you leave the Academy, and expect Aluvian martial artists, Gharu’ndim dagger-wielders and Sho staff monks.

Magic

Specialize a school and your spells get stronger and last longer than they do for someone who only trained it. More custom spells are coming for people who reach the top of the casting ladder. Elite specialized mages can craft Spell Imprints from scarabs, L7 scrolls and other ingredients, permanently adding a spell to loot-generated armor, clothing, jewelry or weapons. Scriveners in starter towns and capitals sell scrolls, and the rest you find in loot. Trained casters start out knowing the L1 spells in their school, and specialized casters learn the L2 spells too. OG Mages are back, baby!

Gear

Every loot-generated armor type has its own innate bonus, and every loot-generated weapon comes with a special property. Tinkering has an effect associated with every salvage type in the loot table, and the choices at the workbench are genuinely difficult to make! Tailoring is also built into the DM environment, with brand new armor and weapon models and more cosmetic options rolling out all the time.

Pets

Any creature you kill might drop an egg that contains a baby version of itself. Hatch it and the pet grows as you do. Eggs that drop from rare and powerful monsters  are the kind of event you’ll be bragging about years from now. There’s no Summoning skill, because we didn’t want it flattening build diversity.

Housing

Most mansions, plus a sprinkling of villas and cottages, are being moved to the outskirts of towns so allegiances and individuals can claim their town. Plenty of remote dwellings will stay put for the hermits.

Prestige And How You Play

Level 126 isn’t the end, it’s the next door. Prestige Medals come from teamwork, exploration and live play. Spend them with the Prestige Officers on character and equipment upgrades that push you into new and totally customizable tiers of power. Every playstyle is welcome here, but medals are earned at the keys, so there are no macro cubicles for farming them. Unattended play still has its place for XP, salvage and loot.

Content

• Raids and quests: Raid-style bosses with real mechanics. More than 15 starter quests across Holtburg, Yaraq and Shoushi hand out gear that grows with you to 126, where loot-generated, tinkered gear becomes mandatory. Dozens of custom quests for all level ranges are waiting to be found, and more are added by the day.
• Time-Twisted monstrosities: Seams are tearing open across the land, and twisted versions of local creatures crawl out, scaled to level-appropriate players. Dozens of quests, landmasses and dungeons are touched by it.
• Direlands Bounty Hunting: Mutated horrors that wiped out whole battalions of the Queen’s soldiers are now marked targets. Hunt them with friends for Prestige Medals.
• Communal content: When the community finishes it together, the whole server gets perks and rewards.

Dark Destiny Mission

The dev team is active, and the updates, fixes and new content just keep coming. Our mission is to pull the Dark Majesty nostalgia lever as hard as we can and build endless opportunities to recapture the magic of turning a corner in a dungeon, or cresting a rise on the landscape, and saying, “What the heck is that?!” Asheron’s Call was always about exploration, discovery, secrets and word of mouth, and an official wiki would spoil all of it. So there will never be one. Go out and find it!

Get Started Today!

The beta mirrors the official release, so what you play now is what you get at launch. Nothing wipes on migration, so your progress carries over. We’re building this to last.

Come fulfill your Dark Destiny today: Dark Destiny Discord

-The Dark Destiny Team

It's been a wild ride over the past three years, but The Tower is officially V1! I don't post often, but as we hit a major milestone, I felt it was a good time to do so. First and foremost, I want to thank everyone who's stuck with me, as well as everyone who's played and provided feedback to help improve the server over the years.

The Tower is now content complete!

Key Features

The Tower is a unique server designed around solo play. You can have two accounts logged in at the same time, fellowship with others, and run content together, but all content is designed to be soloable.

This server offers two unique ways to play.

The Tower: Linear progression through a tower climb, with each floor leading to the next after you defeat the floor's boss.

The Island: The Halaetan Isles have been reworked into an open-world progression option where players must discover rifts (floors) and defeat their bosses in sequence.

You can switch between the two, so if you prefer one playstyle over the other or don't want to start over, your progress isn't lost. Keep in mind that you can run floors, rifts, and other content with anyone, regardless of whether they're progressing through The Tower or The Island.

Additional gear is no longer obtained through random loot drops. Instead, gear is acquired using Monster Shards dropped by monsters.

There are 40 unique and challenging floors. Upon completing Floor 20, the Guild is introduced, unlocking the Frost Kings raid and four additional outdoor zones connected to the Guild.

As of the V1 release, you'll find 174 unique armor sets and 378 unique weapons!

• Realm-Based Experience: Explore The Tower floors and rifts solo or go public for a shared experience. You can switch between modes anytime using a Tower Soul Stone.
• Innovative Mods: We leverage mods to offer a fun and unique gameplay experience.
• Auto Loot: Say goodbye to manual looting—items will automatically flow into your inventory.
• Melee Magic: Unleash your inner Melee Mage or Void Knight with our new melee magic system.
• Spell and Missile Mechanics: Spells and missile weapons now have cleave effects, allowing for enhanced area damage.
• Fletching Rework: Unlock enhanced abilities when using missile weapons, provided you have the Fletching skill!
• Weapon Tinkering Rework: Unlock enhanced abilities when using melee weapons, provided you have the Weapon Tinkering skill!
• Multiple Classes: Choose from a variety of classes to fit your playstyle.
  • Rogue: FW/DW multi-hit daggers
  • Guardian: LW hammer and shield, designed for tanking and AoE
  • Alchemist: Throw potions at your enemies to deal damage and apply debuffs
  • Berserker: HW/DW cleave with three unique on-hit spells
  • Necromancer: Life Mage with multiple summons
  • Void Mage/War Mage: Caster classes
  • Void Knight: Melee caster
  • Monk: Melee caster
  • Missile Weapons: Four options, each with its own cleave capabilities
  • Weapon Types: 2H/HW/LW/FW options
  • Lancer: Choose between a one-handed spear or a two-handed lance
• Hardcore Mode: Embrace the challenge with only one life! If you fall, your time isn't lost—you can return as a non-HC player. Hardcore is not recommended for your first playthrough. Get familiar with the server and its challenges before taking on the ultimate test of survival!

Quality-of-Life Improvements

• No-Drop Gear: All armor and weapons are no-drop, so you won't lose your gear upon death.
• Integrated Spells: Spells are now linked directly to your gear, eliminating the need for separate buffs. Item and creature magic have been removed for a more streamlined experience.
• Recall Gems: Quickly travel back to your last floor using recall gems.
• Unlimited-Use Items: Enjoy unlimited use of many items, including kits, arrows, and summons.
• Free Housing: Take advantage of free housing, now offering apartments and mansions!
• Free Character Respecs: Adjust your character's abilities at no cost.
• And Much More!

What's Next?

While the server itself has officially reached V1, The Tower will continue to grow with additional floors and new islands to explore. Life may slow progress down at times, but I have no plans of stopping!

There will always be work to do, whether it's tackling my ever-growing to-do list, making adjustments based on player feedback, or adding new content. However, I have a few new things planned for the future!

First up, I plan to work on additional classes now that The Tower has officially reached V1, along with achievements that will reward players with fun cosmetics and housing items.

There's so much more to explore, but the best way to truly appreciate the server is to experience it for yourself. Whether you're new or haven't played in a while, now is the perfect time to dive in.

Thanks to valuable player feedback, the server has evolved significantly over the years and continues to offer exciting new experiences.

Begin your climb today!
Type: ACE
Name: The Tower
IP: the-tower.ddns.net
Port: 9000

https://discord.gg/XKTzn8ejJE | https://thetowerac.fandom.com/wiki/The_Tower_Wiki

As always, thank you for being a part of the server. I'm excited to see where this journey takes us next!

~Zeb

haven’t posted an Aetherium update since October 1
apparently my solution to that was to just keep adding things until the update became too large to post
so anyway

Willow has a brand new model and new animations now
yes, that meant getting an actual Blender/ACME pipeline working so we can start making new models and animations for AC
no, putting a wizard hat on the dachshund was not technically required
but look at her
she’s doing her best

so what actually changed in the last few weeks?
a lot.
casting feels way better
I’ve spent an unreasonable amount of time chasing all the tiny things that made retail casting feel like retail casting.
turning to targets, release timing, movement during casts, chaining spells, animation timing, reacquiring moving targets…
all the annoying little things where you immediately know something feels wrong even if you can’t explain why.
it’s getting really, really close.

movement and physics got another beating
players, monsters, falling, ledges, dungeon geometry, collision, corrections, chasing…
basically continuing the ongoing project of convincing everyone in Dereth that gravity is real.
less rubber-banding
less weird movement
less monsters having spiritual experiences after walking off a ledge

a ton of normal AC stuff got fixed too
loot and corpses
stacking
housing/chests
salvage and appraisal
doors
friends
emotes
contracts
missile combat
fellowships
magic absorption
lifestone protection
inventory weirdness
login/logout behavior
and approximately 900 other little things nobody notices until they’re broken
which is honestly the point

character switching/login got a bunch of work
there was a particularly impressive feature where you could log out to character select, pick another character and the server would basically go:
yep that’s probably enough loading
SEND HIM IN
that is considerably less stupid now.

we’ve also been doing actual live events
Halloween has decorations, costumes, rewards, random attacks and other questionable decisions happening around towns.

then there’s Willow’s Way Home, where players escort Willow to Holtburg.
players said it was too easy.
so naturally her attackers are now increasingly angry dachshunds.
the boss is called Big Weenie.
I remain committed to historical accuracy.
and the new model/animation stuff is probably what I’m most excited about

we can now start going beyond just using the original models exactly as they existed.
Willow is one of the first proper examples.
new model
new animations
still a tiny menace
this opens the door for a lot of fun stuff later.
the launcher has been getting work too
easier setup, multiple accounts, client/update handling, compatibility fixes, performance improvements and a bunch of general cleanup to make actually getting into the game less of an archaeological expedition.

the goal is still the same:
make Aetherium feel like retail AC
smooth movement
combat that feels right
all the tiny behaviors people remember
real players actually playing it
and fast turnaround when somebody finds something broken

and since apparently this still comes up:
no, Aetherium is still not fake
yes, Aetherium is still in development
those are not mutually exclusive lol
real people are playing it right now
they find bugs
they tell me something feels wrong
I go down a rabbit hole for 14 hours
something gets fixed
someone immediately finds something else
repeat forever

Aetherium is live
aetherium.ac

anyway I’ll try not to disappear from Reddit for another 3 weeks
no promises… but…

I do have a wizard dachshund now…

AI disclosure because apparently we live in this timeline:
yes, AI helped me clean up some wording and make the crayon nonsense look even more unhinged.
no, AI did not build Aetherium.
no, AI did not animate Willow.
no, AI did not spend 14 hours figuring out why some 2004-era movement quirk felt 3% wrong.
that stupidity is still handcrafted.

Open World Threads

Thread gems now open outdoors as well as underground: 24 wilderness sites and 12 cities, each a private copy for you and your group. Monsters are in the buildings, the boss waits on the landmark or the town square, and a ring of purple wisps marks the edge. Solo or with up to 20 friends.

Knots: weave your runs into a pinnacle fight

Cleared Threads drop Fibers. Weave 10 into a Knot and take on Grael solo, scaled to the level of the fibers you found. Prepare yourself for a unique and challenging fight. As of this post, only 2 players have beaten this boss!

Rewards

Every win drops a Drift Atlan Infusion to upgrade your weapon, a stack of MMDs and Promissory Notes, and one custom rare.:

• Mirrorglass Orb - Potato 2.0. +100-200% self buff cast speed. Malediction, Brilliance (other), and legendary buffing cantrips.

• Shield of the Rose - pile on shield armor (and Thorns with it) in exchange for max health.

• Gauntlets of the Frugal Hand - reduce cost of stamina and mana every swing and spell costs.

• Glass Turtle Bracelet - the wrist you wear it on decides the trade: damage for defense, or defense for damage.

• Drift Atlan - Atlans and Isparian (for Blood Mage and Void) can be upgraded with this new infusion. They become the equivalent of OD+10 with no tinkers, but you can roll custom mods to greatly enhance their power.

The higher the Knot, the stronger the rare can roll. Rares can be traded.

AI Disclaimer As a software professional for >20 years, LLMs are a part of my standard tooling and were used in the creation of this server. Also I'm terrible at visual art so I have an occasional AI generated image (including the www.acdreamweave.com background splash). My work is open source and available for any other server to adopt. Low-effort slop is low-effort slop, regardless of whether an LLM is used. This server is the result of months of dedication by myself, 2 other admins, and >200 unique players through contributing to the Alpha & Beta testing effort as well as our first weeks live. Give DreamWeave a try and see how high-effort and thoughtful this slop truly is.

https://www.acdreamweave.com/ - Instant web market, char planner, salvage simulator, suit builder, char sheets

https://discord.gg/KFnBFpFQV

play.acdreamweave.com:9000

Hi, Asheron's Call fans. I've been working on a custom ACE server like everyone else and their mother. That said, hopefully it's a unique take. The server philosophy is to add as many quality of life changes as I can to make the game enjoyable to play without plugins and automation. Our target audience is players who want to play at keys. There are plenty of servers out there which support high-automation play, and this is not that. The secondary goal is to tweak existing skills to try to open up new build paths. You'll hopefully see the influence of these goals in some of the features listed below.

What do I want? I'm looking for players to test out my changes and give feedback. Basically, closed alpha testers. There's only so much I can do on my own. Functional testing is one thing, but proper balance testing takes creativity and reps.

If you are interested in playing and sharing feedback, especially if you like the goals I laid out, shoot me a message and I'll get you connection details. Everything has been tested exclusively on ACUnreal, but should work with the retail client as well. The roadmap includes Enlightenment changes, Tier 9 content, team-based Unstable Portals, and eventually expanding the lore involving REDACTED. As of now, the game scales to retail limits.

AI disclaimer: I use coding agents. The design concepts and goals are my own (for better or worse...). I hand-rewrite all names, descriptions, dialog, etc. over time as well. You may see some placeholders I've missed, but the goal is to have all the flavor be hand-crafted in the finished product. I also review all changes, and revise them frequently, so we're not just full-send. That said, if you don't want to touch anything that has been graced by the Hand of Slop, I understand.

Universal Portal Magic

All adventurers possess innate mastery of essential portal magics from arrival, completely decoupled from Item Enchantment skill requirements and component costs.

Core recall, tie, and summon spells cost zero mana and may be cast in Peace mode without holding a wand or focus. Convenient chat shortcuts are available for all travelers, such as /ppr (Primary Portal Recall), /lr (Lifestone Recall), /1pt (Primary Portal Tie), and /sp1 (Summon Primary Portal). You can also just cast them normally, I think? Note that, because /pr is already used by the base game, Portal Recall is actually /dsk. If you know what that refers to, you are a true AC nerd!

Starting Core Spells

To remove the early grind of hunting basic spell scrolls, all characters begin their journey already knowing Tier 1 through 7 core spells taught by the five magic professors (Creature, Item, Life, War, and Void Magic). Standard casting requirements, components, and mana costs still apply when casting these spells. Basic spell scrolls have been removed from general loot tables to ensure drops focus on equipment, salvage, and treasures.

Unstable Portals

Explorers can discover consumable Unstable Portal Gems across Dereth. Using a gem opens a private, instanced dungeon populated by unusual combinations of foes and a boss, along with some difficulty modifiers. Enemies in these dungeons will not drop items, but do reward experience

Vanquishing the dungeon boss unlocks an exit portal and reveals a triad of reward chests. Choosing from one chest claims its riches and removes the remaining two. Leaving an Unstable Portal for any reason causes it to collapse. They cannot be re-entered. Dying in one of these alternate timelines will not cost you any items, but the other normal death penalties still apply.

Permanent Self-Buffs

To eliminate the constant tedium of repetitive buff routines, eligible self-cast attribute, skill, and protection enchantments last indefinitely until dispelled. Temporary buffs received from other players, items, or external sources still supersede weaker permanent buffs while active, smoothly reverting to your permanent enchantments upon expiration. The Archmage's Endurance augmentation has been redesigned to enhance spell potency rather than duration. Also...

Enduring Enchantment

All characters are granted the Enduring Enchantment augmentation at creation, preventing the loss of spell effects on death.

Alchemy Improvements

Alchemy has been expanded into a fully realized combat and support discipline. Skilled alchemists can craft and throw three distinct families of phials: * Volatile Phials: Explosive projectiles that detonate upon impact, delivering direct elemental damage and outward splash damage. * Solvent Phials: Corrosive compounds that inflict stacking damage-over-time on tough adversaries. * Stimulant Phials: Friendly infusions providing physical shields, magic absorption, life protection, or DoT cleansing.

New alchemists are given a recipe guide on arrival. If you spec into alchemy later in your journey, I dunno, see if you can copy their homework or something.

Mageblade Conjuration

Item Enchantment casters can manifest and wield ethereal Mageblades. Every caster carries a permanent focus item capable of conjuring blades suited to their base Item Enchantment skill. Mageblade attack accuracy and melee damage scale from the caster's Focus and Coordination attributes, and casters may conjure up to two blades simultaneously for dual-wielding. Masters of the craft can seek out ancient incantations to unlock devastating Tier 8 manifestations. Your foci is hard to replace--it's really a piece of you--so I strongly recommend you don't show it to a Garbage Barrel.

Summoning Revamp

Summoning now accommodates a dedicated summoner archetype while balancing hybrid summon play: Players may now control up to two combat summons simultaneously. While two combat summons are active, the player deals no personal damage, relying entirely on their minions (which I guess technically includes eager vassals...). Controlling a single combat summon carries a 35% penalty to personal damage output to balance the overwhelming supremacy of hybrid summoners at end of retail. Since summons were OP, double summons are probably going to be turbo-OP, so expect changes here over time.

Life Magic & Blood Well

Specialized Life Magic practitioners unlock the Blood Well, a vital reserve that captures excess vitality drained from foes, overflowing full health. This well acts as a shield, absorbing incoming damage before health is lost. Absorbing damage through your Blood Well temporarily empowers subsequent Harm and Martyr spells. In addition, Harm spells deal bonus damage against critically wounded adversaries. Life Magic is really hard to balance as a damage mechanic, so expect changes here over time.

Thorned Shields

Shield bearers can imbue their shields with Obsidian salvage to forge Thorned Shields. When a melee attacker successfully strikes a thorned defender, the shield lashes out, reflecting piercing damage back at the assailant. The reflected damage scales with the shield's effective Armor Level and the defender's Shield skill, offering a formidable counter-offensive option for sturdy frontline combatants. Of course, if you just dodge everything, well, you're not gonna be thorning much.

Leadership & Loyalty

Passive experience passup through allegiance hierarchies is disabled in favor of active fellowship cooperation between patrons and vassals: * Patron Guidance: fellowshipped (is that a word?) Vassals adventuring within radar range of their patron enjoy accelerated Stamina and Mana regeneration, plus bonus kill experience when lower level than their patron. * Vassal Devotion: Patrons adventuring alongside their loyal shipped... I mean... fellowshipped (?) vassals gain increased Damage Resist Rating based on their highest-loyalty meat shield.

These are intended to be either used on dedicated characters that you co-play with friends/family or learned/unlearned conditionally, rather than fire-and-forget ways to juice mules or whatever.

Assess Creature & Lenses

Assess Creature lenses serve as powerful offensive tools for coordinated hunting parties. Casting Expose Weakness with an equipped lens cascades all seven vulnerability curses (Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, Bludgeon, Pierce, and Slash) upon the target simultaneously. Expose Weakness strips enemy armor significantly more effectively than standard Imperil spells, and master evaluators can craft formidable high-tier lenses with higher defense stats than retail.

Assess Person & Aetheria

Investing in the Assess Person skill harmonizes the wielder with equipped Aetheria. As your Assess Person skill meets higher tier thresholds, you gain increased surge proc rates and elevated surge potency across all equipped Aetheria. This synergy rewards dedicated investment in Assess Person with more frequent and impactful surge effects during battle. This does not affect set bonuses from Aetheria.

Looting & Crafting Overhaul

Crafting and inventory management have been overhauled for a cleaner, more rewarding loop: * Expanded Tinkering: Items now support up to 20 total tinkers and Workmanship. Failed tinkering attempts no longer destroy the target item, only consuming salvage and 1 point of Workmanship. * Streamlined Loot: Unenchanted filler gear and loose junk have been pruned from drops, replaced by filled full salvage bags found directly on defeated foes.

In short, you don't have to salvage, and manually looting has less to wade through. Tinkering is also less punishing, so you should have less incentive to hoard materials and rely on tinker mules and more incentive to throw stuff on items as you go for a smoother progression (especially on your first character).

Account Bank System

Pyreal stacks and trade notes can be securely managed through an account-wide banking system shared across all your characters. Use /bank to view your current balance, /deposit to instantly sweep inventory coins and trade notes into your vault, and /withdraw to pull out currency. Vendor purchases and sales automatically transact against your account bank.

Loot Highlighting

Defeated monster corpses containing notable treasures emit a visual effect, allowing adventurers to spot valuable drops at a glance without opening every corpse. Corpse highlighting triggers for valuable items such as salvage bags, epic/legendary cantrips, suit sets, high gear ratings, and high-tier Aetheria or cloaks. Players can customize or toggle these notifications at any time using the /lh command. These are nowhere near as detailed as plugin-based item filters, so this is less a complete replacement and more an optional partial-time-saver for people who like looting. Plus, we'll probably add more server-side filter rules based on feedback.

Account Quest Bonus

Every unique quest flag stamped on any of your characters permanently enriches your entire account. Each new quest stamp contributes an incremental, permanent bonus to quest experience, trophy turn-in experience, and quest Luminance. Enemy kill xp is not affected by this, so it rewards questing, but not 24 hours in Egg Orchard. All current and future characters on your account share this cumulative bonus. Use /qb to check your total account stamps and active bonus percentage.

Dungeon Kill Fatigue

Dungeons feature a dynamic kill fatigue system designed to encourage world exploration and deter relentless, static camping in a single location. Defeating sustained waves of monsters inside the same indoor dungeon gradually scales down monster kill experience and Luminance after extensive fighting. Fatigue naturally decays over time when resting or venturing elsewhere, and outdoor areas are entirely exempt. Use /fatigue to check dungeon status at any time, or keep an eye on messages noting when fatigue sets in. There's also a way to instantly clear your fatigue, but at a cost.

Town Founder Quest

In keeping with our streamlined crafting and salvage systems, the Candeth Keep stronghold founder quest in Wai Jhou has been simplified. Adventurers looking to assist the settlement need only deliver a single filled salvage bag of the appropriate material family to each of the three collectors (Human, Lugian, and Tumerok) to complete their tasks. You're going to want to get to the treetop, too.

New Imbues

Rare and previously neglected salvage materials unlock powerful crafting avenues: * Nether Rending: Onyx salvage imbues weapons and casters with Nether Rending, amplifying the devastating damage-over-time effects of Void Magic. This rend has no effect on bolts, rings, etc., so you don't get to just be a better War Mage at lower cost and gear complexity. * Chaotic Reforging: Rare gem salvages allow adventurers to re-roll implicit weapon or armor attributes, or risk corrupting equipment for unpredictable, potent augmentations (if you're a Path of Exile fan, we basically have Vaal and Blessed Orbs).

Universal Tinkering

All characters receive all four tinkering skills (Armor, Item, Magic Item, and Weapon Tinkering) trained for free upon creation. Every adventurer can modify, reinforce, and personalize their own equipment throughout their journey without maintaining secondary crafting characters or transferring gear between mules. If you didn't know this when you made your character and you chose that Tinker Lyfe (tm), you got refunded those credits. So you don't have to reroll. Yet. For that reason. It's coming though, right? The urge is always there, in the back of your mind, waiting for a moment of weakness. Do it, the urge says. You know you want to try Light Weapons!

Eldritch Weapons & Shields

Light weapons and shields can harbor the mystical Eldritch property, weaving mana into martial combat: * Eldritch Weapons: Successful strikes have a chance to deal additional attack damage based on your current mana. * Eldritch Shields: When absorbing incoming attacks, an Eldritch shield can convert incoming damage into mana drain, protecting your health pool. * Crafting: Turquoise salvage allows artisans to imbue weapons and shields with this property.

Marketplace Vaults & Bag of Holding

Every account has access to storage vaults located in the universal Marketplace, organized into dedicated chests for Weapons, Armor, Magic, Salvage, and General items. All characters receive a Bag of Holding. Using this magical pouch on items in your inventory instantly deposits them directly into your account's Marketplace vaults from anywhere in Dereth, making inventory management and gear sharing seamless. Check the SE room of Marketplace for access to the vaults. Also, don't give away your Bag of Holding. Seriously. And don't try to Bag of Holding one of your Bags of Not-Holding. We thought of that.

Life Magic Casters

Blood Batons are dedicated Life Magic casting weapons appearing in loot starting at Tier 4. Wielding a Blood Baton requires Life Magic skill and amplifies the power of all offensive Life Magic spells, including Harm, direct projectiles such as Martyr's Hecatomb, and Health, Stamina, and Mana drains. Only blood turns the wheels of history.

Item Mana & Gear Maintenance

The whole thing with recharging mana on your items was quite tedious, wasn't it? Equipped items no longer consume mana passively over time, and therefore no longer needs recharging. As such, Mana Stones no longer spawn in loot. Because the innate spells on casters still consume mana, you can still purchase Mana Charges from vendors, or find them in their respective loot. You're welcome.

Offline Catchup Reward

If your account is offline for 6 or more hours, you will receive a Writ of Respite on the character you next log in. This rewards XP and Luminance based on the time you were offline (up to 14 days) and scales from the highest level character on your account. It cannot be transferred between characters, so log in with the character you prefer to receive it. Luminance awarded this way on characters who haven't completed Nalicana's test will be retained and accessible once the test is completed. In other words: it's okay to go to bed, work, or a combination of both.

Custom Currency & Vendor

Elderglass Fragments are a reward currency earned through server events and quests. Seek out Its Emissary at Candeth Keep (yep, you'll need to get up there) to exchange your fragments for useful rewards, as you ponder what Elderglass is and where it may have come from.

Bounty Board

Looking for purposeful adventure or daily goals? Visit the Bounty Board in Town Network's South Wing lower-level bar area. Adventurers of all levels can claim a daily bounty tailored to their experience tier, including Kill Tasks, Assassinations, and Item Deliveries. Completing a bounty rewards scaled XP, Luminance (level 200+), and an Elderglass Token for use at Its Emissary in Candeth Keep. Only one bounty may be active at a time, resetting on a 20-hour cooldown from assignment. Use the /bounty command to check your active objective, tracked progress, or remaining cooldown.

Defense Events

The following event may occur periodically: defend an Elderglass Spire appearing in a town against waves of the Nameless' attackers and defeat the final boss to secure rewards including scaled XP, Luminance, and Elderglass Fragments. Events will occur simultaneously in Medium, High, and Uber difficulty tiers, so players of many level ranges can meaningfully participate. Participating in an event below your level (aka, showing off for the noobs) will lower your rewards. Curios, though. Where are the Spires coming from? What does Grael have against them?

These are manually triggered at the moment for testing purposes. If and when the server is opened up, these events will probably be automatically fired off based on timers and server population.

Nemesis Encounters

When clearing groups of seasoned overworld monsters (level 50+), the defeat of the final creature has a rare chance to provoke the emergence of an imposing Nemesis. Nemeses manifest in a dormant state, providing an opportunity to prepare for the encounter. Only the adventurer who struck the triggering blow may activate the Nemesis. Once awoken, a Nemesis towers over its normal kin, shrouded in blood-red hues, and boasts substantially increased health, damage, and combat ratings. Overcoming this challenge rewards percent level XP, multiplied Luminance (if applicable), upgraded loot, and a chance for an Elderglass Token.

This one is mechanically operational, but the enemies are not very difficult yet.

Not sure how useful these are to folks anymore, but figured I would share them here in case.

• https://savedly.net/f/abu34f3e
• https://savedly.net/f/exhv528b

JawnTide opens its doors today, Friday Oct 23, at 5 PM EST. JawnTide is a red server, a successor to DocTide, and is forked from DocTide with much of the content plus new features and balance. Thanks to Spacemonkey, Dr. Zaius and other contributors to DocTide for their much appreciated service over the years!

• Town Control over Holtburg, Shoushi and Yaraq: allegiances fight to hold towns
• Arenas for dueling
• World Boss events
• PK quests
• A season leaderboard

Loot and content opens up in stages: we're starting at Tier 6 and moving up through later stages, so the economy grows with the server instead of being maxed out on day one.

Rules: max 2 accounts logged in at a time per person, and no VPNs or proxies.

Server Info:
*ACE Server
Server Name: JawnTide
Server IP: play.jawntide.com
Server Port: 9000
Discord: https://discord.gg/f4CM9yqGbF

Allegiances interested in Town Control: hop in the Discord,; monarchs need to be whitelisted to take part.

See you in Dereth!

I picked up a "new" version of AC years ago in the box before the shut down. I'm thinking of getting it graded and protected just for my own collection. The box is shrink wrapped though. It honestly looks too clean. I have a feeling someone may have shrink wrapped it. I don't remember old big box games being in plastic. Was the original big brown box actually in shrink wrap?

I've been running AC without any problems but suddenly last week I get "fatal Direct X" messages and can't log in. I had not downloaded any other programs. It just quit on me. I downloaded the latest Direct X with no improvement. Any suggestions?

No Rest for the Wicked | Wicked Inside Showcase | Class System | 1.0 Launch Preview

Is anyone else following No Rest for the Wicked development? The direction that Moon Studios took to make classes almost class-less reminded me a lot of Asheron's Call and playing a CLaW mage, but on a whole different level. Looks like a lot of fun.

Hello Dereth,

We’re a small team of dudes who love Dark Majesty era Asheron’s Call, and we’ve spent a long time building the server we always wished existed. Dark Destiny is in pre-release beta right now. If you start today, your character will not be wiped when we move to professional hosting on November 1st. Players will need custom dats to play.

A fork in the timeline

Dark Destiny begins as retail Dark Majesty, with the full content implemented through the Infiltration patch. Then it breaks away. The storyline branches in a new direction, and it’s deep, dark and storyboarded to unfold over years. This is the direction we think Asheron’s Call should have gone after DM.

The Ongoing-Saga

Head over to the Ongoing-Saga channel on our Discord, where narrative chapters await you. The saga is always expanding, with new chapters dropping every two weeks. Each one hints at what’s actually happening in game, and together they set the whole community on a crash course with its Dark Destiny. Read the story, then go out into Dereth and find the truth for yourself.

Every skill is viable

We rebuilt how classic weapon skills and supplementary combat skills fit together. The attribute formulas for several weapon skills were reworked, so each one has a real identity and a reason to exist. Play anything you want, because everything is viable:

Pure Martyr Life mages who see the effectiveness of their drains, harms and hecatombs increased. The Healer identity is real, and it’s awesome.

Multi-skill weapons masters who take advantage of the unique perks of every loot-generated weapon type in the game

Walking fortress Mace-wielding Paladins who lean on strength of will, heavy armor, tower shields and magic instead of Melee Defense

Potion-flinging Alchemists who can even capture the essence of portal magic with their knowledge of science

Item-only and mundane, no-magic builds that meticulously build suits of armor and accessories which never require downtime

Bow, sword, UA and mage don’t dominate here. Attributes and skills synergize in ways they never did in retail, but the core tenets of AC character building are intact.

Pets that grow with you

Every creature kill in the game might drop an egg. Hatch it, and your pet grows alongside you as you progress. Common creatures give you common companions, but the rare mob eggs are a different story. Finding one is a truly legendary event, the kind of drop you’ll still be talking about years later. Every kill is a lottery ticket, and the hunt for the rarest eggs gives you a reason to explore every corner of Dereth.

There’s no separate Summoning skill here to break build diversity and force homogenization. Dark Destiny is all about unique build identities and character customization.

Tailoring, taken to a new level

Tailoring is integrated right into the DM environment, and we’ve added brand new armor and weapon models that take it to a completely different level. Your gear can look as unique as your build plays. The cosmetic upgrades and tailoring options are growing by the minute.

Crafting and tinkering without limits

The tinkering system builds on the original with effects and properties that force real, difficult choices. We think it has more depth than anything that’s come before. There’s more character and gear customization here than even the most disturbed min-maxer could ask for, plus a lifetime of cosmetic and statistical options.

The long road of Prestige

Level 126 isn’t the end, it’s simply another door to walk through. You earn Prestige Medals through teamwork, exploration and live play, then spend them with endgame Prestige vendors on character and equipment enhancements. They can launch players into tiers of ability that were previously only theorycrafted. The medals are meant to be earned at the keys, so there are no set-it-and-forget-it macro cubicles. Unattended play still has a place for loot and XP, but it won’t get you far with Prestige.

Challenge you haven’t seen on an AC server

Raid-style boss fights with real mechanics

Custom quests that put retail AC to shame, and a dark storyline that reveals itself piece by piece

More than 15 unique starter quests across Holtburg, Yaraq and Shoushi that get you acquainted with questing and progression on Dark Destiny. They reward gear that grows with your character up to level 126, where loot-generated, tinkered gear becomes mandatory.

Dozens of unique custom quests waiting to be found, alongside the complete suite of beloved Dark Majesty content that already exists through the 2005 Infiltration patch

Additional quests and content are being developed all the time

Exploration and discovery are at the heart of everything. Secrets are hidden around every corner, and teamwork and critical thinking will carry you through.

Individual players and groups can both leave their mark. Solo achievements matter, and so do the ones that take a whole crew.

Communal content that rewards everyone

Some content on Dark Destiny belongs to the whole community. When players come together to complete it, the entire server unlocks incredible perks and rewards. No one climbs alone here. What you do in Dereth can change things for everyone.

Two accounts, unlimited alts

You can run 2 concurrent accounts. That means unlimited alts, and it also keeps high-traffic areas from being flooded. It encourages building the most effective duo for any situation. You can even swear allegiance to your own characters.

An active team, and no wiki on purpose

The dev team is active and always working on something. Updates, fixes and new content never stop.

There will never be an official wiki. The magic of Asheron’s Call was always turning a corner and finding something mysterious, and Dark Destiny is all about recapturing that magic. Go find it yourself.

Why now

The beta environment already mirrors the official release, so what you play now is what you get at launch. With no wiki, no handholding and a story that unfolds in real time, there has never been a better time to be here from the start. With no wipe on migration, the progress you make today carries over. We’re building this to last for years.

Come say hello and tell us what build you roll: Dark Destiny Discord

Hey folks. Weekly update from AC: Dreamweave. Two weeks in, and this one's big: PvP is open. Rated arena duels, a free-for-all brawl, and the headline act - Battlegrounds, team fights for up to twelve players over a hill or a line of crystals. And nobody gets to win it with their bank account.

First, if you've never heard of us

Dreamweave is a custom AC server built to add a layer on top of an already magical game. Brand new mechanics, lore and content that preserve the original game while adding unique enhancements to play.

Custom class abilities that never lock you in. Eight class trainers, each with a tree of real mechanical abilities. Abilities have affinities - their magnitude scales off retail skills you've actually trained, so your build feeds your class instead of replacing it.

Custom crafting with new mechanics that visibly change the item. Equipment mods, weapon mods, spell rerolls - and exceptional crafts receive a visual effect to broadcast their power. Yes, your craft can add particle effects to the wielded weapon.

Quality of life beyond any other server. Account-wide banked pyreals. A personal vault vendor you can summon with /mule. A trade market that works in game and in your browser. Swappable builds on one character with Facets. Threads - retail dungeons emptied and rebuilt fresh every run, solo or with up to 20 friends. Live character sheets you can link anywhere. Marketplace stations for salvaging, forging, reforging, respeccing and spell tutoring.

Player feedback shipped daily. Not "on the roadmap." Bugs and suggestions posted in the Discord are regularly fixed, tested and live the next day.

This week's highlight: Battlegrounds

The problem with PvP in AC has always been the gear. Whoever farmed the longest, rolled the luckiest and stacked the most buffs walked in already winning. We wanted fights decided by the person at the keyboard, so we built the fix into the door.

Pre-made fighting rigs. Balanced, regardless of your main character's strength. When you queue, you pick a template - one of seven purpose-built combat rigs: Two Handed, Heavy Weapon, Light Weapon, Finesse Weapon, Bow, Crossbow or War Mage. Step into the match and the template takes over: its attributes, its skills, its vitals, and a full kit laid out for the job - armor, weapon, shield or Aegis, a Weeping wand, an Eternal Health Kit, food, a Draught of Revitalization, and its buffs. Weapon rigs even carry an Acidic, Electric, Flaming and Frozen version of their weapon, so you can switch element to fit the fight.

Your level doesn't follow you in. Your class abilities, equipment mods, weapon mods, speed bonuses and combat pets stay at the door. A level 50 who just cleared their first Thread and a level 400 veteran pick up the same Heavy Weapon rig and stand on the same hill with the same numbers. The only thing you bring is how well you play.

And it all comes back. Your own gear waits safely in your pack, nothing is lost on death, and when the match ends you walk out exactly as you walked in. The kit even weighs nothing and gets dyed in your team's colours, so you can tell red from blue across the field at a glance.

Two ways to fight - King of the Hill - in the Marketplace. Hold the hill alone and your team scores every five seconds; step on it together with the enemy and nobody scores. First to 300 wins - and the hill moves mid-match, so a team that digs in gets dragged into the open. - Attack/Defend - in the Abandoned Mines. Attackers break three Warding Crystals in order; defenders hold them until the clock runs out. Kills near the open crystal chip it or heal it, and defenders who pack in tight take less damage, so every push turns into a brawl over the line.

Built to be fair, end to end - Solo queue, balanced teams. Four to twelve players, split evenly by rating. No six-stack rolling the queue. - Respawn and get back in. Thirty seconds in the pen and you're back at full vitals. - No AFK riders. Idle players get a warning and then get removed. Low contributors and feeders earn nothing - and healing counts, so support players are never punished for not topping the kill chart.

What you play for - Marks of the Hopeslayer from every battleground: 2 for a win, 1 for a loss, no daily cap. - Four Hopeslayer vendors in the new PK room on the Marketplace's lower level, selling cosmetic weapons, armor, clothing and Perennial dyes. Cosmetic only - PvP never buys you power out in the world. - Guise of the Hopeslayer - The pinnacle of Arena dominance! Wear Bael'Zharon's own likeness. Reserved for proven fighters: 100 battleground wins, or a 1700 peak rating on any ladder. - Nineteen PvP dailies and a weekly from three new NPCs in the PK room, plus a rating ladder for every mode.

Prefer it smaller? The PvP Arena runs alongside: rated 1v1 and 2v2, and the Tugak Brawl, a five-to-fifteen player free-for-all where the only weapon is Curse of Raven Fury.

Getting in takes one Thread. Clear any Thread - the Thread-Guide's first one counts - then type /arena join bg from anywhere.

Keep your main. Try us on the side.

We're not asking anyone to walk away from the server they call home. Keep your main right where it is. Roll a Dreamweave character on the side, clear one Thread, and come take the hill. You don't need a perfect suit to win a battleground here - that's the whole point.

Come play

• Server: play.acdreamweave.com:9000 (server name: DreamWeave)
• Tools, market and sign-in: https://www.acdreamweave.com
• Wiki and patch notes: https://wiki.acdreamweave.com
• Discord: https://discord.gg/p2h3yca4BD

The team reads everything. If you run into friction or have a great idea, say so - there's a decent chance it's different by the weekend.

Hi all, an update on Hollowtide since last Friday's post.

Asheron's Call is now in your browser, one click, nothing to install: https://hollowtide.org/

Pick a name and Male or Female, and you are standing in Holtburg. You don't need the original game files: the server sends everything. It needs a keyboard and mouse: phones won't work, but an iPad with a keyboard and mouse does (one of our players plays that way).

Like it? Click "Keep your character" to give it a login. The same character then works in the free desktop app (Windows, Mac and Linux), which runs smoother and draws further: https://lumpybutt33.itch.io/hollowtide

**There's a Discord now:** https://discord.gg/utSfFbTqkS (news, help, bug reports, finding a group). Its #in-game channel is linked to the game's General chat both ways, so you can talk to whoever is playing from your phone.

**Founders:** every account made before November 1 gets a gold Founder's Shirt, a Founder's Banner for your house, and the title Founder, for life. No one who joins later can have them.

Also new:

- New characters are safe from other players until level 5, and a gold arrow points you to your first hunt

- Skip the Training Academy if you like, and start in town with the Academy's coat and portal gem

- A looking-for-group board in game: press F4

- Loot All and multi-select on corpses and chests

- Chat: click a name for Tell, Invite or Add friend, a tab for each conversation, item links, and /mail for friends who are offline

- A built-in assistant in the spirit of VTank: auto attack, loot, buffs and routes. Your own VTank loot profiles and routes load as they are

Ill be online in Holtburg after work at around 7PM and through the evening if you want to say hi. It's early and you'll hit bugs: press F7 in game and it reaches me with everything I need to fix it.

This is a painting I was commissioned to make a long time ago for someone. I thought I would share it here. Thanks for looking. Hope it brings back good memories.

(Just was informed by a very nice commenter that the painting was missing a few details and then I realized this wasn't the finished painting! I was scrolling through old memories and came across this painting and posted it not realizing it was a work in progress picture! Sorry about that I feel so stupid. I just posted a picture of the actual finished painting in the comments! I need to go get my eyes checked!🤣😭)

thank gosh I don't have to scroll through all the project and server posts to find the 1-3 posts per week.

I’ve been running around Dereth for the last few days trying to find my next farm. Been striking out! Singularity bore has carried me to 93 basically. I’ve got it dialed to about 30 million an hour. I’m looking for 50-60 million + an hour.
War mage.
Does anyone have any spots they’d share? I prefer dungeons.

The main issue with running AC fullscreen is that Windows does not like how the login screen goes from a fixed resolution of 800x600 to whatever resolution you have the game set to (likely well above 800x600). This causes the infamous DirectX Error that crashes the game.

A way to get around this is to use DXVK, "a Vulkan-based translation layer for Direct3D". nVidia, AMD, and Intel all ship Vulkan drivers when you install the graphics driver for your card/chip.

Download the latest version here (https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/releases/latest) You will need something such as 7-Zip to open the .tar.gz file (open the .gz and then open the .tar to view all the files).

From there, find the x32 directory (because AC is a 32-bit game) and copy the d3d9.dll into your Asheron's Call folder. Now, log into AC, hit Alt+Enter to toggle fullscreen and you should be good-to-go.

Hi all. For the past several months I've been building webAC, a from-scratch Asheron's Call client that runs in your browser: https://playwebac.com

No install, no DAT downloads, no launcher setup. Pick a world from the list (the same Servers.xml list ThwargLauncher uses), log in with your existing account, and you're in. It streams only the game data it needs, so you're usually in-world in well under a minute.

What works

• ACE servers (end-of-retail), classic/Dark Majesty servers, and AC1999
• GDLE: login, character creation, NPCs, vendors and chat work; combat, magic and trading are still being tested there, so expect rough edges
• Character creation, combat, magic, inventory, vendors, chat, fellowships, portals, death and corpse runs
• The UI, fonts, art and sounds come straight from the original game data, and the goal is to match retail exactly, quirks included
• Chrome, Firefox and Safari on a desktop or laptop with a mouse (not phones)

Your account and data

• Your login goes from your browser to our relay over an encrypted connection, and the relay passes it to the world's server using AC's own protocol, the same way the original client sends it. It's never logged or stored.
• We have no accounts database. Your characters stay on the server you play on.
• We keep basic connection logs (IP, which world, session length) and anonymous crash reports. No analytics, no cookies, no trackers.
• Your settings, keybinds and UI layout are saved in your own browser.

It's a beta. Expect bugs, especially on less common servers. Please report them at https://github.com/jakemmarsh/webac/issues or in this thread.

It's free and open source (AGPL-3.0): https://github.com/jakemmarsh/webac

Credits: webAC stands on years of community work: the ACE server project (its source is the reference for the protocol and game rules), GDLE, ACViewer (DAT formats), the AC1999 project, and ThwargLauncher's server list. Thank you all.

AI disclosure: I built this with heavy use of an AI coding assistant (Claude). Everything you see and hear (art, UI, fonts, sounds, game data) comes from the original game files, not AI generation.