What could stand improvement? As you might expect, the beta has a few other issues, such as spotty performance. Though I tested the game over a DSL line and had few lag problems, I ran into countless other characters complaining about lag. Even on my connection, when it got to be 5:00pm Eastern Standard Time, the performance went straight down the toilet - every day. Clearly, Microsoft has some performance issues to hammer out, but that is to be expected in a game such as this. Stability does not seem to be an issue, as the game has yet to crash or drop my character from the world. Character saves are frequent though, so if a drop does occur, it's nice to know you shouldn't lose too much progress. Other issues include the conspicuous absence of banks in Asheron's Call. As easy as it may be to get a character up to a decent level in this game, it's still pretty easy to get killed as well. When you die, you lose a random item (or items) and a random amount of money. It would be awfully nice to stash extra equipment and cash away somewhere, so that you didn't always have to live out of your backpack. Generally speaking, however, Asheron's Call is about as rock solid as a beta of any online game can be. The unique experience, allegiance, and magic systems coupled with excellent 3D graphics and a novice-friendly gameworld make this one of the most promising online RPGs I've seen to date.