Considering coming back after 5 years, could use some advice!!!

guinness74

I've seen a few threads from people with similar sentiments, so I apologize in advance for the repetition

DAoC was my first MMORPG back in 2002.  I remember playing it on my laptop with a 16mb integrated card.  My weak specs greatly limited the size of groups I could join but I remember have a TON of fun nonetheless.  I remember spending hours with my Assassin scaling walls of opposing realm keeps in RvR to stealth stab an unsuspecting victim, then scrambling for dear life hoping that my stealth skill would kick in in time for me to make my escape.

Well, now I have come back with a beast of an upgraded PC (6600 Core2, 8800GTX, 2GB RAM, etc.).  Since my days at DAoC I've played COH/COV, SWG (pre-nge), GW.  Recently, I've been getting antsy for a new MMO experience, so I've trialed EVE, WOW, EQ2, LoTRO, among others.  They all were ok, but none really kept my interest.  Then it got me thinking of why each of these games, while great in their own right, somehow fell flat for me.  It hit me that perhaps I didn't need to try something new, but instead needed to go back to the game that got me into MMOs in the first place - there must have be a reason why it was so fun.

That said, I have some big reservations...

 - Are the graphics really outdated at this point?

- I've seen that there are many expansions, will I be completely lost if I try to join now, and how would I best re-immerse myself?

- Has the gameplay changed dramatically since launch (both PvE, RvR) that may potentially cause me to dislike the experience?

- Is the subscription base still large enough to enjoy myself, and if so, are they filled with all experienced players that make it difficult for a pseudo-noob to get back into the swing?  (any server recommendations?)

- Are there more classes with the expansions that will allow me to experience new gameplay (while I enjoyed my old characters, something new would still be nice).

Other than that, I'd love to hear your overall opinions on the state of the game an whether its worth getting back into at this point.  Thanks for your feedback!

HensenLiros

- I've seen that there are many expansions, will I be completely lost if I try to join now, and how would I best re-immerse myself?

After 2002, they released Foundations, Trials of Atlantis, New Frontiers, Catacombs, Darkness Rising and Lab of the Minotaur.

As a whole, the main things that were implemented were: player houses, artifacts, a new frontier map (the high-level place where sieges happen), instanced dungeons (which made leveling much easier), and some new dungeons, races and classes. IMO you won't have many problems to adapt to those changes, specially with the classic servers around: if you don't like the artifacts and the other Trial of Atlantis features at all you can just play on those servers. But you'll notice that leveling is somewhat way too fast now, and sometimes it can get boring.

- Has the gameplay changed dramatically since launch (both PvE, RvR) that may potentially cause me to dislike the experience?

The PvP/RvR nowadays is mainly based on battlegrounds and NF (New Frontiers), which is still pretty fun, and the main arenas are very active too, so I guess you won't have many problems at all.

- Is the subscription base still large enough to enjoy myself, and if so, are they filled with all experienced players that make it difficult for a pseudo-noob to get back into the swing?  (any server recommendations?)

Classic cluster would be my recommendation. It's easier to find groups due to large playerbase, which will make things easier for you.

- Are there more classes with the expansions that will allow me to experience new gameplay (while I enjoyed my old characters, something new would still be nice).

They implemente 6 classes at total after the Shrouded Isles xpack (which implemented 6 new classes just by itself). Most of these classes are very fun to play and offer new gameplay styles, with some very interesting hybrid classes.

Other than that, I'd love to hear your overall opinions on the state of the game an whether its worth getting back into at this point.  Thanks for your feedback!

The game still kicks ass, and I bet you'll have tons of fun, specially if you start out on the class cluster. And the champion weapons and player mounts are very fun too.

tilelan

Best advice from someone who just restarted themselves is to just activate and try it out. There have been loads of changes in that time period. Just give it time to get used to the playstyle and I think you will be ok. Try the Trial download on camelotherald.com If im not mistaken has the expansions included. I think all of them up til catacombs are now free but I could be wrong about that.