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Thinking of playing this game, need help...
BobBrunk
Member Posts: 35
I am a big fan of MMO's. I have played WoW, COH and SWG. I have been playing WoW for about a year now and am really starting to get bored with it, so I am looking for something different to try out, at least until LOTR comes out. I have read a lot of good stuff about this game, but my only question is this, what is the population like on the servers? I know that this game has been out a while so that is why I am wondering. I have played SWG for a while and the last time I played it the game was empty, so I was just wondering if this game has plenty of population on the servers or what. Any feedback would be great. Also, what server has the best population? Thanks...
Comments
Gareth has the largest population with around 2200-2500 people
In order to resolve the population issues that face older games, DAOC has clustered many of the servers. What this means is that there are shared areas that all of the servers use. These are your capitals, RvR areas, and catacombs zones. You can also teleport to the other servers in order to group with players. For an entire cluster the population can range from 2000-3400+ players.
If you play on the clustered servers, it will appear more empty than if you play on Gareth. This is because of two reasons. The first is that people are spread out of 4-5 servers. Second, there are not that many people leveling low level toons around, espically at the starting areas.
DAoC was my first MMO, I started it in the summer of 2002 and have been playing it off and on since then. I'm not sure if you will like this game or not or will stay with it. It is my belief after playing 10 MMO's to capture that original feeling of when I first started DAoC, that you won't capture that feeling again. It is my belief that the game you start with will be the game you keep going back to as well. So while you may try out DAoC and may even like it for a while, you will go back to WoW, once the boredom of that game has been forgotten.
Anyways, the Classic servers are not what they appear to be. Most see the word "classic" and think that they are the oldest servers in the game. However, these are actually the newest servers on the game. People voted for the kind of server "classic" is because they wanted to RvR without having to buy two accounts (one for your main and other for your buff bot). The other reason is because they didn't want people to have the ability to auto level to 20, which made the newbie zones empty, which was unfriendly to the newbies. The last and most important reason the classic server was voted on for implementing, was that they didn't include the Trials of Atlantis (TOA) expansion areas, which forced players to raid at the end game for special skills called Master Levels, which took roughly 3 hours. The ToA zones also forced people to get artifacts that took sometimes 24 hours plus to get by camping the same spot waiting for a spawn. These artifacts were neccessary to compete in end game RvR.
Being new to the game, you will find that you will be at a serious disadvantage by going to the normal servers, because most people have several 50's already, can auto level to 20, and have all the ToA gear they need to compete. This takes months to do, sometimes over a year for some people. On the Classic server you will find people of all level ranges to group with and a more active/populated community. However, like the previous poster stated, the servers start to get busy around the evening hours USA EST.
Gareth is the server you should join if you decide to play. If you have the money, I would advise you to buy the Epic Edition, which is $29, rather than playing the trial. The trial doesn't offer the Catacombs expansion to try out, which is where most people are leveling. So without that expansion the world will seem empty for you.
If you have any further questions, feel free to ask. But remember what I said in the first paragraph. It took me 5 years to figure that out.
I'm not sure how the online d/l works. You may be able to download the Epic Edition online. I would check Fileplanet.com for more information or camelotherald.com under the downloads section.
Once you research these two options, please post here with the results for future reference. If this doesn't work, I would just suggest buying it at your local Wal-Mart, eBgames, or Gamestop (if you have any of those 3 near you).
I'm not sure, but downloading the game and then the Catacombs and Darkness Rising expansions off the camelotherald.com site may be the same price. Good luck to you.
1. Go to Wal-Mart I think it is $20
2. You can download it from Mythic. Load the game but do not go into a character. Select the "no thank you" option. Then click on account info. Then click the view expansions. You can purchase and download the expansion there. ToA is free now. The other two expansions will cost you money. I am unsure as to the current pricing, but it used to be $19.99 each or both for $29.99.
Even if the price would be the same as the epic edition, I would still get the epic edition because you will get 1 free month of game play versus 14 days.
Yes you can upgrade and download the expansions from inside the game (catacombs and darkness rising) bundle is priced $29,95 i believe.
I miss the good ol' days when nerds were actually intelligent.
Thanks,
D