My Top 3 Favorite Things About DAoC

Plasmicredx

1. 
   Music - Dark Age of Camelot has a loading screen intro song with trumpets that always made the very idea of DAoC a golden and majestic one. All memories of playing it in the past or thoughts of playing it even now in the future give that same feeling because of those trumpets (because I always hear that song when I think of the game).
2. 
   Setting & Artwork -  As I shopped for Dark Age of Camelot in the store back in time long ago, I found that its box artwork was just as cool as all the artwork in the game. The original create class backgrounds and interface were my favorite. Even to this day I miss the original artwork for the game. Midgard, Hibernia, and Albion all felt like real places. The game's graphics were not the best. You had to use your imagination some. Even though the game was fantasy it was still a very believable world. The game drew me in by asking me to help Albion (or Midgard, or Hibernia) become a safer place for its people. The world was very dark and the game was very hard as well.
3. 
   Classes - Each class is handled with distinction so that there are no two classes alike even in each realm. The game recognizes that there are more roles instead of the traditional tank, healer, caster. There's two more - Melee and Musical. Melee were just rogues who can't stealth so they hit very hard and wear medium armor to compensate a little bit for not stealthing. Musical classes were there for regenerative powers to give movement speed and mana regen. For Albion to begin with, there was Armsman, Paladin, Mercenary, Infiltrator, Minstrel, Scout, Cleric, Friar, Wizard, Sorcerer, Theurgist, and Cabalist. This was made up of 3 fighters, 1 assassin, 1 musical support, 2 healing support, and 4 casters of which 2 were pet classes. The other realms had even more classes with abilities that made them feel like they weren't the same even if they were the same role.

 

I used to play this in hopes that Mythic would allow the realms to invade each other's land in a patch or expansion. Even WAR doesn't allow that too much. I played WAR and all it did was make me want this patch or expansion even more. Unfortunately Trials of Atlantis forced me out of the game and I could never play Dark Age of Camelot ever again.

 

Any here that would say that they were players of this game? What were YOUR top 3 favorite things about this game?

Garvon3

The setting and storyline and artwork, I loved the realistic dark ages armor and weapons, as well as the realistic setting with a hint of fantasy elements. Albion and Arthurian legend is ripe and needs to have more games/MMOs centered on it. 

The RvR - PvP unmatched to this day, in terms of scale and how much skill factors into things. A good archer could hold off a group of 10 people from a keep, with everyone at equal level and gear. Now that's knowing your class. 

The group based leveling/PvE, as well as balancing of raids and crafting. The game was great to dungeon crawl in, as grouping was the fastest way to level and everyone was very social. The quests were spread out, immersive, and they made sense. The raids were some of the hardest content in MMO history, but it wasn't NECESSARY to complete because you could get comparable gear via crafting. So guilds that liked PvE could do raids for neat looking items. People that wanted to PvP could just pay a crafter and get going. 

Plasmicredx

Originally posted by Garvon3

The setting and storyline and artwork, I loved the realistic dark ages armor and weapons, as well as the realistic setting with a hint of fantasy elements. Albion and Arthurian legend is ripe and needs to have more games/MMOs centered on it. 

The RvR - PvP unmatched to this day, in terms of scale and how much skill factors into things. A good archer could hold off a group of 10 people from a keep, with everyone at equal level and gear. Now that's knowing your class. 

The group based leveling/PvE, as well as balancing of raids and crafting. The game was great to dungeon crawl in, as grouping was the fastest way to level and everyone was very social. The quests were spread out, immersive, and they made sense. The raids were some of the hardest content in MMO history, but it wasn't NECESSARY to complete because you could get comparable gear via crafting. So guilds that liked PvE could do raids for neat looking items. People that wanted to PvP could just pay a crafter and get going. 

The RvR - Yeah, DAoC PvP sometimes you weren't just fighting each other on the ground, sometimes you were fighting people from the top of a stone wall through windows or ramparts.

The group based leveling/PvE - Yeah, or just get the Epic Quest line done for the full set of epic armor that had like 99% Quality so it wouldn't ever break from durability damage/repairs.

prowess

Good thread!  I'll jump in!

1. The LORE!  Every NPC, every location, every quest, all taken from folk tradition!  No game can ever outdo it when it comes to immersion!  The game is definitely worthy of voice acting. 

2. The diversity!  So many games are reduced to a science...  In that there is one way to do something and that's just the way it is...  in DAoC, rolling a new character meant basically relearning how to play the game!  of course, modernity has set in and power gamers have figured out amazingly efficient class combos and each realm has power-farming available, but you're still able to progress to max level in a completely unique way depending on class.

3. The obvious!  Player vs Player.  don't really have to say much more than this, yes?