Need advice....

Solarm

So I played DAoC quite awhile ago and I'm now in the market for a new game.  Looked around at some things, did a few trials and it seems like much of what is out there is garbage so I'm thinking of coming back:)

I'm just not sure how the game has changed so I want to see if this is still a viable game for me.

IS casual play possible?  I've heard it has added more high-end raid content.  If I'm rather restricted on my play time, IS this even a viable game anymore?  I couldn't get into EQ and similar games just because I hated that unless I had several hours set aside, there wasn't even a point in logging on.  I don't want to have to spend 8 hours on a raid in order to have a viable character.  Lots more important stuff going on in my life, so me spending more than 2 hours straight in a game is quite rare:) 

I'm not worried about leveling extremely fast or anything...I'm fine with it taking me ages to get to the end game as long as there is stuff to do along the way and I CAN make progress.  I just don't want my character to be completely unviable and useless because I can't/don't want to play for 4+ hours a day. 

My big complaint with the other MMORPGs is that the community has been terrible (WoW is just an embarassment) and I remember DAoC being one of the most mature communities I've seen in a MMORPG....is this still the case?  Where might be a good place for me to get back into the game and find some nice, reasonable people to hang out with?  I've heard good things about Lamorak....I greatly enjoyed my time on the PvP server before, but I understand that is almost abandoned now?  I come from an old school UO server so open PvP has an appeal, but its not worth playing on an empty server for. 

Lastly.....TONS of new classes out there since I played.  Any recommendations on class choices good for a casual player (who ends up soloing a fair amount because of that)?

Thanks so much for the help, I really appreciate it:)  Not POSITIVE I'm returning to DAoC yet but everything else I've been trying has paled in comparison.

Elnator

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Originally posted by Solarm

So I played DAoC quite awhile ago and I'm now in the market for a new game.  Looked around at some things, did a few trials and it seems like much of what is out there is garbage so I'm thinking of coming back:)
I'm just not sure how the game has changed so I want to see if this is still a viable game for me.
IS casual play possible?  I've heard it has added more high-end raid content.  If I'm rather restricted on my play time, IS this even a viable game anymore?  I couldn't get into EQ and similar games just because I hated that unless I had several hours set aside, there wasn't even a point in logging on.  I don't want to have to spend 8 hours on a raid in order to have a viable character.  Lots more important stuff going on in my life, so me spending more than 2 hours straight in a game is quite rare:) 
I'm not worried about leveling extremely fast or anything...I'm fine with it taking me ages to get to the end game as long as there is stuff to do along the way and I CAN make progress.  I just don't want my character to be completely unviable and useless because I can't/don't want to play for 4+ hours a day. 
My big complaint with the other MMORPGs is that the community has been terrible (WoW is just an embarassment) and I remember DAoC being one of the most mature communities I've seen in a MMORPG....is this still the case?  Where might be a good place for me to get back into the game and find some nice, reasonable people to hang out with?  I've heard good things about Lamorak....I greatly enjoyed my time on the PvP server before, but I understand that is almost abandoned now?  I come from an old school UO server so open PvP has an appeal, but its not worth playing on an empty server for. 
Lastly.....TONS of new classes out there since I played.  Any recommendations on class choices good for a casual player (who ends up soloing a fair amount because of that)?
Thanks so much for the help, I really appreciate it:)  Not POSITIVE I'm returning to DAoC yet but everything else I've been trying has paled in comparison.

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Casual play?  Absolutely.  DAOC is one of the better games out there for casual players.  Especially so on the Classic Servers.  On the TOA servers the higher end content is certainly not all that casual player friendly though the rest of the game is.  TOA content requires pretty significant chunks of time, especially for the "Battlegroup" events you have to do.  Which is why I prefer Classic servers. 

Levelling has been eased up greatly.  Even at level 40 it's possible to get a mini ding every couple hours now.  It's not days like before.

Community:  DAOC is still top notch though the 'newbie' guilds can get a bit silly at times.  (DAOC now has a newbie guild you're automatically joined to when you create a character).  They're great for new players though.  But they can get a bit raucous.  The normal guilds are all quite mature, however.

As to which class:

Standard answer #323423409:  What role do you want to fill in the game?

 

flea1

if playing midgard once reching 50 unless in a solid pvp guild that runs 8 mans you must be 1 of 3 classes to generally get in a group.

pac/mend healer or trispec

47aug mend shammy

skald

all other classes will stand for hours spamming lfg and just log out. Sad yes but midgard doesnt run zergs just soilid 8 man teams.

flea1

casual play can be fun. If ya can find groups to lvl with solo task dungeoning can get bland but fastest way to lvl. Bgs to stop and enjoy lions den 4-9 thidanki 20-24 Molvik 35-39 they are played hevily and will be fun to pvp in.

Elnator

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Originally posted by flea1

if playing midgard once reching 50 unless in a solid pvp guild that runs 8 mans you must be 1 of 3 classes to generally get in a group.

pac/mend healer or trispec
47aug mend shammy
skald

all other classes will stand for hours spamming lfg and just log out. Sad yes but midgard doesnt run zergs just soilid 8 man teams.

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Explain to me then why I never have problem getting my thane in groups for either PVE or RVR?

1) Get to know people as you level up.

2) Be good at your class

3) Spamming LFG is a LOUSY way to get a group.  I've posted before on the best ways to get into or form a group.  I'm not getting into it again in this thread but suffice to say if all you do is /yell LFG or even /AS "LFG" then you're never going to get into a group.  Take the time and put forth the effort to find a group.