Asheron's Call has had a strong player base for more then a few years, which means they must be doing something right. This new expansion, Throne of Destiny continues what Turbine has been doing best: making a game with a compelling story, great goals and rewards, and something truly enjoyable when played with friends. However, it falls short in all the same places as previous titles. ToD greatly improves the graphical engine, but somehow still falls short of competing with games that have been on the market a year or more.

Throne of Destiny places even more distance between the veteran players and new players who need help getting started. Dereth, the world of Asheron's Call is a daunting place to newcomers, and it helps to have others around. However, AC has too few players and no widespread chatting system, making finding other players difficult at best.

There's no denying that the graphics boost did a great deal for the visuals, but Asheron's Call's graphics were nearly six years old. Any improvement would be drastic. The new visuals are still a year or two behind those of the artistic style of World of Warcraft or the crisp EverQuest II. While this upgrade was a very good and very necessary thing for AC to continue to survive, it could have been done much better. Veteran players will notice an amazing difference and love the change, but new players will still believe the graphics display the game's antiquity.

The new areas of the game are a nice touch. The new continent is a spanning land that shows every conceivable variety of ice, and includes some very cool enemies for the formerly max-level characters. There are new dungeons to explore and new rewards to reap. This new land is primarily for characters of the levels newly introduced, which means all of the characters that were max level will be going to the same areas to continue evolving. Not only does this mean the players who have been on the game years will be together again, but that they will now all be on a continent far to the north reaches, even farther from any new players who might need advice or help.

This isn't to say new players won't find any help, just that it won't be directly from experienced players in the game. The best source of info for anyone up to the daunting task of jumping into Dereth is the vast network of fan and guide sites online. While this is a great way to learn things about the game, it doesn't exactly build the immersion into Asheron's Call's environment.

There is one element Turbine has always, and probably will always, beat the competition by leaps and bounds in is the story. Dereth not only has one of the richest histories of any fantasy realm ever, but the story continues to evolve frequently, keeping players around to find new chapters of the novel. In this chapter, the opening of the expansion, the darkly rumored Viamontians have opened the gateway to Dereth from their home world and come to wreak havoc.

The interface and controls have been improved somewhat, but are not truly any different. The interface looks cleaner and has some more colorful features, but there are no major functions or design changes. This could easily be said of the entire expansion.

There are lots of new aesthetic features, but nothing that really changes the game's formula. If Asheron's Call was enjoyable to you at one time, then this is a new way to have that same fun. However, if you tried AC and didn't enjoy it, then this is just more reason to stay away. For current or recent players of Asheron's Call, there is absolutely no reason not to get this expansion; but new players and those that parted with Dereth on poor terms beware.