With their monthly updates, including supplementary content, and occasional live "world events", "Asheron's Call" offered "episodic narrative content, periodic new quests, and events that visibly affect the entire world." The game's currency is the Pyreal. The world itself is large at over . Unlike many other games in the genre, there are no zones or "instances" on the world's surface. This means players can cross the world on foot, without loading screens or invisible barriers, and any terrain that can be seen in the distance is a real object in the world. The world is also dotted with a system of one-way portals which expedite travel. Some of the portals also lead to intricate dungeons. Many of the dungeons are part of quests and contain unique treasures. The original magic system had specific formulae for each spell that the caster had to discover through trial and error. Magic was challenging and rare. This system of spell components was later phased out and replaced with a simpler system wherein magic casters would carry a "foci" for each of the magic schools they were trained in (creature, item, life and war) and a series of taper candles and scarabs. Each spell is learned from a scroll, either purchased or found as treasure. The old system was left in the game as an alternative.