DAOC: Are you still loyal to your realm?

Czzarre

Fact is I havnt played DAOC in a while. Yet I compare every MMORPG experience I have to what I experienced in DAOC. There is something about DAOC....the Esprit des corpes that just has NOT been matched by any other game Ive come across.



I'm MIdgard to the end! I cannot think of myself in any other way.



Am I alone. All who have played DAOC, do you feel the same way?

Is there any other game that has this kind of dedication to a faction?



Torrential

Orthedos

Originally posted by Czzarre


Fact is I havnt played DAOC in a while. Yet I compare every MMORPG experience I have to what I experienced in DAOC. There is something about DAOC....the Esprit des corpes that just has NOT been matched by any other game Ive come across.



I'm MIdgard to the end! I cannot think of myself in any other way.



Am I alone. All who have played DAOC, do you feel the same way?

Is there any other game that has this kind of dedication to a faction?



Torrential

I was midguard (percival) to the end.

I had tried to return, but all guys I know were gone.  I had doubts if I want to restart from scratch.  RVR is definitely the best PVP I have tried.  No other PVPs I tried comes close, and in general I am a PVEer.

chirpyboy

Well i use to stick to 1 realm till my 8man got bored and moved servers and realms. Was fun but was back in the day when it took a while to lvl up and gear up. But Yes high realm loyalty out of any game. Plus the RvR is the only reason i came back ebcause no other game matched up.

JulianDracos

I am, but most people are not. 

Thomas2641

Midguard FTW! And till the end!

Illius

This is one of the reasons I stopped playing in June.  I am a loyal Midgard player to the end.  Always have and if I ever go back I will play Midgard again.  The problem is that there were no timers for the switching between realms when I left.  I think the instituted a timer but I don't think it's long enough.  The people left in the game will just basically go where they think they can do the most and just throw "fun" by the wayside.  The realm pride is degrading/eroding quickly and I don't think it will ever get to the point where it was when the game was at it's peak.

Czzarre

So the realm pride is only in those players who left the game? Somehow I have a feeling that people who do still play the game still consider themselves "I am a Hibie/Midie/Alb".

Torrential

Arawon

Cross realming is VERY common and MYthic doesen't care to limit it.Some players will even play two realm at once...one character spying for the other character or their main guild.

Cabe2323

While I have played the other realms on Gaheris, in RvR I have and will always be a Hibbie. 

JK-Kanosi

I started playing DAOC in 2002. At the time, Realm pride was the norm. But what you need to understand is that the game has been out for years now. Most people have played for a long time and have switched realms out of boredom.

There are cross realmers who do so only to be on the winning side, but there are guilds out there who genuinely switch realms every now and then to mix things up.

There is nothing wrong with switching realms, but I don't like it so much how it is done. Back in the day, people might play Mids on one server and Albs on another and then Hibs on yet another. When the servers weren't clustered, this didn't matter. But now that they are clustered, people exploit them by spying. Not everyone does. but enough cross realm to make it an issue.

I think the great community that was DAOC is gone now. I've been back recently, and while there are some small guilds that remind you of the old days, the majority of the community are elitists and rude...sort of like what the community in WoW is referred to. This didn't start until WoW came out either, so go figure.

Anyhow, I've found that Midgard is among the smallest yet most loyal communities in the game. They are also generally more mature and enjoy that espirit de corps you were talking about.

Illius

Anyhow, I've found that Midgard is among the smallest yet most loyal communities in the game. They are also generally more mature and enjoy that espirit de corps you were talking about.

I'll second that.  I've played hib for a while but mid most of all and I've found good people on both sides.  Still I prefered mid over the other realms especially albion.  I've tried on many occasions to start up in alb but I just couldn't do it.  I found mid to be more down to earth, more relaxed and easy going but still serious enough when the need arises.  I also liked the feel and lore of mid more then the other realms.  I never really cared about Arthur, camelot or any of that crap.  Vikings are where it's at.  I know if I ever return I'll go back to mid but that's unlikely to happen.

JK-Kanosi

Originally posted by Illius

Anyhow, I've found that Midgard is among the smallest yet most loyal communities in the game. They are also generally more mature and enjoy that espirit de corps you were talking about.

I'll second that.  I've played hib for a while but mid most of all and I've found good people on both sides.  Still I prefered mid over the other realms especially albion.  I've tried on many occasions to start up in alb but I just couldn't do it.  I found mid to be more down to earth, more relaxed and easy going but still serious enough when the need arises.  I also liked the feel and lore of mid more then the other realms.  I never really cared about Arthur, camelot or any of that crap.  Vikings are where it's at.  I know if I ever return I'll go back to mid but that's unlikely to happen.

My favorite realm is Albion, because I prefer the lore behind it, plus they are the only realm with plate mail. I also like Hibernia, because I like their Elven and Celtic lore. I try and stick with Albion, but it is tough. The community is not anywhere close to solid as Midgard's and Hibernia's is. Contrary to all of this, my first lvl 50 was a Thane on Lancelot. My first character, a Paladin, made it to 42 before I had to deploy. When I came back, I decided to try a Thane out and fell in love with that class. The community was great also. But I can't call Midgard my home, because I think it is an ugly realm.

I returned about 9 months ago and joined a Hibernia guild and was having a blast. Brought a Champion up to level 48. Things didn't feel right in that realm, but I am an Albion at the core, but when I tried Albion the community was horrible. Every realm has their elitist snobs, but Albion was the worst. Mostly you heard arguments over what class is overpowered, who can beat who even though they are in the same realm, and which spec is the best and everything else is gimped. Hibernia had some of the same stuff, but to a lesser degree. Hibernia had numbers and that was its saving grace. Because they had numbers, they also had more and larger guilds that reminded me of the old times. I quickly regretted leaving my Hibernia guild, but I know I can't really call Hibernia my home. My favorite classes are the Wizard and Paladin.

I found a cross-realm guild once. It was nice because I could make friends and not lose them by playing on a different realm that day and because I like at least 3 classes in every realm. In fact, I like the majority of classes offered in DAoC.

Hell, I am ranting and rambling. I'm only on these forms right now, because I miss DAoC. I was thinking of returning, but I know I will never get back those first 3 years. This game went downhill for me when Catacombs killed grouping. Grouping up to go xp and dungeon crawl was my favorite part of the game. I left after I bought Catacombs to see what it was all about, but finding out that the TD's people were obsessing about were boring as hell. I tried going back after leaving, but I quickly learned that once you leave and experience other MMORPG's, there is no going back.

Deep down, I still hold hope that this game will recover well enough after WAR is released to be worth coming back to.However, I feel that the old community will never return and chances are, they all don't even play MMORPG's anymore. Sad really, but what can you do? You can't turn back the clock.

walker68

Originally posted by Czzarre


Fact is I havnt played DAOC in a while. Yet I compare every MMORPG experience I have to what I experienced in DAOC. There is something about DAOC....the Esprit des corpes that just has NOT been matched by any other game Ive come across.



I'm MIdgard to the end! I cannot think of myself in any other way.



Am I alone. All who have played DAOC, do you feel the same way?

Is there any other game that has this kind of dedication to a faction?



Torrential

  Amen

  ive tryed or played around 10 mmorpgs in my time  and on a scale of 1-10 Id rate DAOC a 30 and all the others under 5.

Illius

JK-Kanosi did bring up a point which I think holds the most water.  I think that the majority of the people who played DAoC during it's peak no longer play MMOS at all.  Many of them have either gotten married, gotten a career or both and no longer have the time to invest in games, especially mmo types.  I know since I started working full time I come home too tired and have almost no will to do anything much less sit infront of my computer while being very tired.  That would just get me very frustrated and annoyed and kill whatever joy I could get out of it.

But what are ya gonna do.... You can't make people play just so that you can gave a good time.  Sadly I don't think I'm ever gonna get that same experience as DAoC first provided.  This realization makes me wonder if I should even bother getting excited about any of the games because I know I don't have time for any of it. 

JK-Kanosi

Originally posted by Illius


JK-Kanosi did bring up a point which I think holds the most water.  I think that the majority of the people who played DAoC during it's peak no longer play MMOS at all.  Many of them have either gotten married, gotten a career or both and no longer have the time to invest in games, especially mmo types.  I know since I started working full time I come home too tired and have almost no will to do anything much less sit infront of my computer while being very tired.  That would just get me very frustrated and annoyed and kill whatever joy I could get out of it.
But what are ya gonna do.... You can't make people play just so that you can gave a good time.  Sadly I don't think I'm ever gonna get that same experience as DAoC first provided.  This realization makes me wonder if I should even bother getting excited about any of the games because I know I don't have time for any of it. 

Meh, when I was playing DAoC hardcore I was working 12 hours a day, married, and had a kid. Sadly, I gave up family time and some sleep to play. Fortunately, I've learned from my mistakes, but I have loads of free time now, since I am going to college for a career change and don't work.

I've played practically every MMORPG on the list and DAoC and Pre-NGE SWG was the best games I ever played. After Classic Servers came out, I came back to DAoC. Couldn't get that feeling back though, plus people weren't the same since CAtacombs. Like I said before, people started to solo when Catacombs came out.

Anyhow, I am still contemplating on returning, but I feel I am too far gone to return. I'd need to roll a new character, so I'd be too poor to afford anything on the economy for one. For two, I'm not sure there is room for people like me in DAoC anymore. I am the player who you seen arguing in favor of all race/class/spec combinations and seen the use for them in both PvE and RvR. I don't fit well with the elitists and I don't like to solo, so I'm not sure if I will be able to find enough people to keep me playing.

Anyhow, here's for the good times we had! <cheers>

CactusmanX

I guess so, I did not play on any other realm than Midgard.  And if I were to play again I would stick with my dwarf.

Czzarre

Illius, I agree that some who playued DAOC may not play MMORPGs anymore. However, I was able to support a career, wife and (now 2) children. However I will add, WoW is probably the most Family UNfriendly MMORPG Ive played to date. I honestly think pure PvP games which does not have an emphasis on equipment grinding can work very well with casual and family life.

Perhaps thats why DAOC worked so well, RvR was in and out, you can leave at any time and not screw an entire guild. NO 4 hour commitments with 95% attendence requirements. BEst weapons and powers  could be obtained through individual achievements or crafting.

I hope Blizz keeps that in WAR. I Loved daoc, and I will play WAR because of it.

Torrential

Kyleran

Guess I'm just different than most.  I started out in DAOC as an Alb, and had some great times.  But then I switched over to Mordred, and since there were no 'realms' to speak of I grew to consider myself a member of all 3.

I played characters of each type, so when I returned to the Classic servers I had no problem choosing Hibs for the 2nd time around....

But I left shortly afterfwards......Classic servers were fun but just didn't equal the fun I had on Mordred back in its heyday.....

 

Illius

Most of my real life friends will never go back to daoc unless it is the last mmo on earth.  They have had their fun and are now looking elsewhere, futely I might add but they are still looking.  This makes me sad.  I would go back in a second if they came along because I had some of the best game memories to date.  We took DAoC and made it our own.  We grouped together in small groups and spent tons of time ambushing people at mile gates and outruing zergs.  Every so often we'd go on some raids just to get better gear but as mentioned before it wasn't really the focus.  That was the good part.  We did come and go as we pleased and at one point our full group held out in a tower against 40 albs and 40 hibs taking turns assaulting us for a good 4 hours.  We had genuine fun.  None of the 4 hour raiding and having idiots bicker about who gets what.  It was never done as a job like what WoW turned into.  Also the somewhat mandatory grouping to get experience was one of the good things in DAoC no matter what anybody told you.  It made people come together for a greater good.  You could be exposed to random and different people and make friends that way.  WoW took the guild mentality to the limit.  It was always the same people, maybe using alts but they were still the same.  There was never any new people to inject new humor, fresh ideas and just the randomness that made the game good.  The severe gear dependance also turned me away.  And the whole Honor thing was a joke compared to realm points.  All the realm points I've accumulated over the many years actually ment something to me, made me want to go out and fight.  WoW made me not want to do much of anything. 

These are my opinions and the way I saw things.  If I could turn back the clock and go back to the glory days of Camelot then I would in a second.  Screw most of the games DAoC will be my #1 for a long time to come.  Even if I never again play another mmo I can rest easy knowing that at least I played DAoC when it was big and good.

Trand

Originally posted by Illius



If I could turn back the clock and go back to the glory days of Camelot then I would in a second.  Screw most of the games DAoC will be my #1 for a long time to come.  Even if I never again play another mmo I can rest easy knowing that at least I played DAoC when it was big and good.

That sums it up for me perfectly! And Alb/Merlin forever .

 

Illius

Alb Merlin eh?  I might have fought you a time or two for all I know.  I had mids on Merlin, Hibs on Igraine and no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't get into Alb. 

Tenamor

Albion all the way!  I could never get into the other realms, the classes were interesting and i wanted to try them but I could never get into it!  Albion just hit the nail on the head for what I was looking for in a faction I guess, Theurgists FTW :D:D

Illius

I hate theurgists with a passion.  I had to get tons of AOM on my warrior just to survive.  Someone needs to fix that class and limit them to a smaller number of pet spam.  Blowing an entire mana bar is a bit retarded if you ask me

 

JulianDracos

They are limited to 15 pets now, but I think that is still too many. 

Czzarre

I echo the anti-theurg sentiment. Many, those guys can be a $%#^@!. 'Couse, I say that with some degree of jealousy

Torrential

eveisme

When I played back in the day I was albion to the core.  It has been so long and so many changes though and I have no clue what the game is like anymore so my loyalty is wavering...  I am comminng back to DAOC in a matter of hours and I will be ALBION and to pray it still has the same characteristics and community it once did!