Coming back after... years

Hochete

Hey all,

I used to play DAoC from open beta right up until about a year after it's release. I haven't played since then, and so I'm wondering.... what's changed? I know it's a big question to ask, but it's really difficult to research exactly what's changed since so long ago.. I'm really interested in returning to the game, but I'm worried about it's popularity now, is it still going strong?

Oh and.. are there player mounts now?! And houses?

Cheers.

JulianDracos

As for the population some servers are going well and some aren't.  They are clustered the servers.  This means they share certain zones in common (captials and RvR areas).  You can also teleport between the zones.  This allows for grouping.  You can join guilds/allainces in other servers as well.



There are "Classic" servers.  Not really classic at all, but they do not have the Trials of Atlantis expansion (huge raid content and powerful items) and have distance restrictions on buffs. 



Since you have been gone, here are a few highligts:



Player owned houses (and merchants to sell your wares)

Played Controlled Mounts

Up to 44 classes now

The frontier has been redesigned.

Siege weapons knock holes in keeps instead of having to knock down the door

Towers can be destroyed completely

The last expnasion added the largest Dungeon in an mmo to date out in the front.  In addition to good look and minatour arti facts, it is a good place to RvR.  There is usually good action there and since it is a dungeon it is a different fighting experience than open field or siege.

There are level specific battlegrounds to RvR in.  The most populated one are level 20-24 and 35-39.  You can now fight in the BG up to level 49 and get RR5L0. 

Leveling is insanely fast compared to what is used to be.  I got to level 24 in about 7 hours played.  I am now in the BG and about to hit 1L5 which is the cap for my level.  I will then level up to 35 and get some more rps.

All of the art has been updated.  They are in the process of updating all of the old world/si.  This means they have redone the building art, they have redone the starting cities.  They have added little areas to them.  Added new and better quests. 



If you are thinking of coming back and want to give the game a real shot, do not do the free trial.  Buy the 5th aniversay edition and play for 1-2 months.  That is really the only way to get access to all of the content to give it a shot.

Hochete

Thanks alot for the informative reply!

So, just so I've got this straight, the clustered server thing means that every server now shares certain zones? So certain RVR areas are accessible by members of any server... so you could be on Excaliber, fighting people on Prydwen in a certain zone?

Cheers again.

jeeperz

There are porters that will take you to the other servers within the cluster.  

You can travel anywhere in the other clusters on your server. 

You may only own a house on the server your character was made on though.

Hochete

Originally posted by jeeperz


There are porters that will take you to the other servers within the cluster.  
You can travel anywhere in the other clusters on your server. 
You may only own a house on the server your character was made on though.

Ohhhhh I see! That sounds quite cool, cheers.

The other thing I was wondering was... about buying the 'anniversary edition' thing, can I not just buy the expansions I need seperately? I've already got SI and err, the Catacombs I think, how many more are there after those 2?

Syri

first, a bit of personal advice. sign up for a usa account. the population is higher at euro prime time than the euro servers, and you get all the patches and expansions sooner.

for expansions, everything up to catacombs is free. there's also catacombs, darkness rising and the new one, laberynth of the minotaur.

JulianDracos

Clustered areas and shared by everyone.  This means it is like being on the same server.  Those are your frontier zones and Catacombs.



The non clustered areas, mostly PvE, you can teleport.  I do not know much on the state of the EU servers. 



I know for the US, you can download the expansions and pay for them.  In the US, it would be cheaper I think to buy the complete collection than it is to buy the last 2 expansion.  Not sure about the EU though.  Not even sure the latest expansion is out there yet. 

Kyleran

US classic cluster has the highest population atm..... so if you can live w/o TOA and want to find lots of lowbies to level with...this would be the place.



One other thing... Mythic added a /level feature that let people with level 50 character create new toons and bounce immediately up to level 20 (or even 30 on some servers)..... This destroyed the low end game, esp for new players.... so Classic servers don't have this "feature"...



Also, for the lazy gamer like me... they've added new Aurulite and Dark Spire Armor sets, which are decent gear that is quick and easy to obtain w/o spending countless hours figuring out the perfect spell crafted template...  They are especially nice for leveling up...



Oh yes, transportation.... long horse rides are things of the past.... lots of teleporters in the game now to quickly move around from zone to zone..... plus there are personal horses and bards in every major city that will give you a quick speed boost to where you are going....