It’s hard to believe it’s been 10 years since the world of Dereth first opened up to the masses, unless you look at screenshots, in which case it’s extremely believable. When launched it completely failed to steal away huge numbers of players from Sony Online Entertainment’s EverQuest, which released earlier that year. I played a little bit of AC when the game first launched, though real life saved me from getting too hooked, and I soon moved on to other things. The game is still soldiering on, with the most recent live event introducing a new crafting profession to the game in Gearcraft, which is a fancy way of saying engineering.

In celebration of today’s anniversary, Turbine will be holding live events in the game all day long, which I would imagine should draw in record numbers of new and returning players. Granted record numbers isn’t that much for AC at this point, but hell, the game outlasted its own sequel by four years, so you have to give respect where it’s due.

The latest update introduces a new faction system, two new PVP controlled towns, new areas, and level 8 spells. It’s a mighty hefty amount of content for a game I was almost positive didn’t exist anymore.

Release Notes – August [Asheron's Call via Eurogamer]