Possible New Player With Questions

Comments

• Nazaros Member Posts: 215

  May 2007

  Originally posted by KinslayerX
  
  I'm in the market for a new(or in this case, old) MMO to tide me over until Age Of Conan comes out. At the moment, it's a toss up between this, Pirates Of The Burning Sea(in beta and enjoying it) or Chronicles of Spellborn. The fact the other two are new games, aren't out for another couple of months and I don't like those MMO launch problems puts DAOC slightly ahead at the moment.
  
  
  
  Basically, a few people have suggested DAOC may be the MMO for me but I don't really know many people who have played it for more than a few days so need some insider info.
  
  
  
  I loved CoH which was my first real MMO and I also like WoW. I didn't mind DDO(great combat system) but found lack of solo play and the fact you stay in the same city all the time frustrating. I played LOTRO all the way through Beta and didn't like that, nice enough but all a little dull. I've played most of the other big MMO's and been pretty much indifferent to them all except for CoH and WoW(DDO to a lesser extent). Here's the main things I'm interested in knowing
  
  
  
  - The Grind. How painful is levelling, is it a soul destroying grind trying to hit the cap so you can do interesting stuff or is the joy of the game in levelling itself and once you hit the cap you may as well roll an alt unless you have 10 hours a day to put into playing your main?
  
  
  
  - Solo/Team play. I love to be in a guild and I love to team but I also solo a fair amount. How is DAOC on both counts and what are guilds like on DAOC? Are they just extended friend lists or do guilds really work together, are they like the dread 'WoW Raid Guild' where they're pretty much like having a second job or are they more laid back? Is the usual Tank/Healer combo compulsory in teams?
  
  
  
  - PvP. I'm not a huge PvP'er but I do dabble now and then, however, I hate PvP that interferes with PvE. They should be seperate and optional as far as i'm concerned and not just about who has the best loot.
  
  
  
  - Classes. What are the classes in DAOC? I'm pretty much a 'mage' player in most MMO's as I love the 'glass cannon' style of play but have also played tank and healer. Not a fan of rogue types or pet classes.
  
  
  
  - Story/Lore. This is actually pretty important to me as I love the storyline elements of games even though I don't RP. Does DAOC have a rich world setting and storyline?
  
  
  
  - Community. The biggest concern for me, how is the DAOC community? Is it full of 14 year old l33t kiddiez who run around waving their E-peens or are those players in a minority. Do the big guilds generally garner respect from most players or are they hated with a passion
  
  
  
  - Challenge. There has to be a challenge in the game. My main reason for leaving CoH was that it was just to simple and easy(spam heal, spam taunt = easy mode) and moving to WoW and fighting some of those end game bosses where you had genuine tactics and tanking and healing where a bit more involved than slapping a single button was a refreshing change.
  
  
  
  - Servers. I'm an EU player so will be playing according to EU time zones. Are there actually EU servers or is it American only? Are there RP and PvP servers or just one type? Which servers are busiest/friendliest?
  
  
  
  Looking forward to seeing the replies and if anyone can point me to a free trial it would be appreciated.

  I've played 3 years total, with all the expansions beside the last one. (Labyrynth of Minotaur) Here's my review:

  Grind: You can currently hit the maximum level (50) in less time then world of warcraft. (About a month if you play 3-4 hours a day) It is rather boring though, since the game is really not PvE oriented. But you get out of it fast, so it's not really a matter anymore.

  Solo/Team: If you choose the right class, you can definitely solo. Only thing is that most of the solo class that do well in PvE, do awefull in PvP. (Necromancer anyone?) And as far as group goes: It's always the holy trinity as usual that works better.

  The PvP (RvR) in Daoc is the best in all the current MMO's. If you don't want to do it, you just don't go where the action is. And you can definitely level up to 50 without having to get ganked once. But trust me: If you don't play that game for the RvR end game, it's kind of a waste of your time, because that's what makes Daoc the best MMO to date. Not it's PvE content.

  Classes: It's one of the most varied game as far as classes goes. About 39 classes separated in 3 realms. I'm sure you'll find one that suits your playstyle.

  Story/lore: Yes. If you like the medieval stuff like king arthur, the vikings, celt..... And the like, you'll get engrossed into it. The graphics are pretty decent too for an old game.

  Community: Most of the Daoc community are good folks with some gaming culture. (Hence why they didn't move in WoW) So i wouldn't fear it. There are always idiots running around, but the community is mostly oriented in the 25+ age, which helps a lot to raise the maturity level.

  Challenge: I can't help you there. I believe MMO's with real challenge doesn't exist. If you want a "real" challenge, go play a shooter or a RTS. There are no mmo's outhere who can claim being a challenge, and i don't care what people say.... Skills always count for between 1% to 10% of your MMO experience. (if you're lucky) I would say Daoc is among those who are the most challenging ones, but i still find it pretty easy. (Like any other MMO for that matter)

  Servers: There are european servers, but the community is almost dead there. If you can find a way to play on american server, it will be better. Otherwise, expect to solo "a lot"........ But you seem to like that anyway

  Free trial of daoc kind of sucks. The engine is not updated for the most part, so it gives you a falls impression of what the game is. Since you can get the game with all of it's expansion for 20 bucks, i say it's worth your money and time by a long shot.

  The end.
  
  

  What deserves to be done, deserves to be "well" done...
• Ezekeil Member Posts: 9

  May 2007

  I havnt played it in a while but heres the info i remember
  
  
  
  -PVP: pvp is actually  battlegrounds to a Much larger scale (basically for cap lvls only) there is brackets of capture the keep but thats only in instances. (aka 0 pvp in your grinding areas)
  
  
  
  -Classes: Lots of variety be what you want to be! For mage type classes you choose points in a tree and you get spells from that tree only.
  
  
  
  
  
• Poweruser Member Posts: 33

  May 2007

  - Grind Question : Daoc has a good , dont use the quest system that much , as other MMO (WoW huh) . You can go everywhere u want , and explore new places , new farming spots , new dungeons ... (Well new for you)

  On early game (1-19) you can be solo , but not always . All depents if your character /class/ spec you choosed can affort the damage.

  A normal mage usually cant go solo after 15 level ... Or he have to kill low lvl mobs (green-blue ones) and with bad downtime...

  And some classes , will never be accepted in groups (stealthers) , they always run solo.

  Grouping is the best choise in daoc imo... Leveling is so fun , but there is a secret ... You have to enjoy while you are in "noob" mode , learn how to play , learn your skills, your weakness and your strenght ... Else you will be as the rest of Powerleveling noobs (50 level and they dont know what to do).

  -Solo/Team play question : Guild system is great .  Guilds are there , for Chat and to help you  with your PvE. No daoc isnt just tank/healer ... Every class has one roll in combat , some peoples tank , some healing , some keeping enemies busy , some trying to reduce their abilitys ... And much more as you go on RvR part.

  -PvP question : No , PvP and PvE in daoc is a diff  thing . Not much things to say : Daoc has the best RvR (PvP) ...

  -Classes question : A site telling everything about daoc classes : http://www.classesofcamelot.com/  Mages in daoc , are powerful , but so easy to get killed , if u dont know what to do... You cant cast if something hitting you . And that sometimes will be annoying.

  -Story question : LoL , Daoc story has elements from the real history. Or u preffer something more fantasy as WoW (OMFG) .

  -Community question : Daoc , has the best community , for those who can affort it in first year . All daoc has 2 community levels , the noobs and the elite  As noob it will annoying as you will talk with other noobs or a bit more experienced player . Elite will just ignore you . All you have to do , is to prove yourself worthy .

  -Challenge question : Cant explain how challenging daoc is . Tho you will understand it , in your first day in servers.

  -Server question : EU servers dying ... So better join Us . Best server type for you is the normal one ... PvP isnt for you at the moment.
• JulianDracos Member UncommonPosts: 1,528

  May 2007

  1.  What Grind?  It is easier to get to the max level in the fewest amount of time than in any other game I think.  If you want to grind out the levels you can, or you can go to the battlegrounds and earn XP by killing other players, or you can do quests to level.  In fact just because I do not want to grind though mobs anymore I mostly level by quests.
  
  
  
  2.  Any class in the game can solo is you train correctly.  Some classes do it faster and quicker than others. 
  
  
  
  3.  If anything PvE gets in the way of RvR (PvP).  If you never want to do it then that is fine, or you can do it a huge amount.
  
  
  
  4.  There are 44 classes in the game.  14 of them are pure casters.  This is not counting hybrids or healers. 
  
  
  
  5.  Tons of lore.  You have 3 realms each with their unique lore and a few shared aspects of lore as well. 
  
  
  
  6.  No one really has a problem with any large guilds.  There are hardly any children that play this game.  You need a CC to play DAOC and there are no game cards to by.  Add that with the immature WoW population comes from it being new and hugly popular.  With far fewer than 8 million players, no game cards, and being an older game never attracted the little kids, then you do not have too many problems.  That is not to say you won't run intot he occasional jerk,  but that is just life.
  
  
  
  7.  Challenge?  That depends on what server you play and what you are looking for.  The challenge used to be getting to 50, now that is pretty easy.  Depending on your class and spec your character will have multiple abilties.  For example, if you are a tank you might want to shield slam the target to stun it and then move to the side or back to use positional combat styles that do more damage.  You also will pick styles based on what affect you want done.  Then you have reactionary styles based on what happened, block, evade, parry.  So combat can be interesting.  As you go to different expansions there are different challenges.  The mobs get harder, smarter, and fight better.  So in the original zones things are very easy.  Someone pulls a mob and the couple of tanks take the argo.  Healers keep them healed and then the spell casters destroy the mobs.  This is done over and over.  If you go into the Cats expansion things are different.  The mobs have better AI.  They also have combat styles they will use against you.  They are less likely to keep agro as well.  In one zone, it turns out, that if you simply click to target and it becomes aware of you.  Eventually him and possibly a friend will show up to kill you.  In the SI zones, there are things that fly and hang out in trees and agro on you if you get too close.  There are some invisable mobs and one mob that puts out "bait."  It looks like a low level mob and you go to kill it, then it turns into a high level mob.  There is an epic dungeon, a dragon to slay, new challenges you face in the latest expansion involving the Labrynth, and now the "Cameot Compaigns."  Essentially there is now a free in game content storyline.  A dragon is destroying your realm.  There are quests with unique rewards to do involving this.  New content is added every 1-2 weeks I think.  The actual world gets changed from the dragon destorying it.  The mobs that are involved in the quest have good AI as well.  They actually try and use tactics against you. 
  
  
  
  Add on to all of the Trials of Atlantis.  It is a raid based expansion that used to take forever.  With the upcoming patch, however, things are going to change.  Almost all of the raid content will be gone.  It can all be done by at most a full group.  These encounters are very challenging and can involve far more than just killing a mob.  Some of them require you to use tactics, some require you to get keys before hand to open doors, to do things in a certain way, etc  They are also adding new enemies to those zones as well. 
  
  
  
  Is that enough?  Not to mention it is an older set game.  Take LotRo for example.  You start off with a quest and you can keep going with those sets of quests and never do anything else.  Well, in DAOC it is an open game world meant to be used and explored.  You have to go exploring and looking for things to do.  There are quests around, but the game doesn't lead you to them all the time.  It will at the begining and then there are some Epic and Champion quests the game will encourage you to do. 
  
  
  
  There are EU servers.  daoc.goa.com/en/
  
  
  
  I do not know the population status.  Also they are a couple of patches behind.  You can play on the US servers.  There is a decent EU population.  I was going to suggest the regular servers, but I think if you play the US servers you might need to go classic for the population at the time you are going to play.  Check here during your play time to see how many people are on a cluster.  www.camelotherald.com/index.shtml
  
  
  
  5 server types: RP, PvP, Co-Op, reguler, and "Classic."  Classic is a bad name.  It is the same game without the ToA expansion, restrictions of the distance buffs work (to help with bots) and no free characters are level 20 (the other servers once you get to 50 then many classes can be made and you can start off at level 20 if you want). 
• Jetrpg Member UncommonPosts: 2,347

  May 2007

  Lots of people are posting with old info, which is fine alot of it is still true to some degree but alot is not.
  
  
  
  
  
  1) i love the exp in daoc ... call me crazy , i disliek the quest system (it can be good but its always the same).
  
  In daoc you can level in one of 20 different places for any level, knowing them its the problem
  
  
  
  I mainly grind (kill stuff alot) the noob quests are ok use the /map option make things easy
  
  
  
  at about 10 end into catacombs to go into the first instance red on map to farm soem aurulite to get nice equipment. bg and pvp dungeons are fastest places to pve level and tds are the easiest places to level. (unless your  a caster)
  
  
  
  i roll alts like freaking mad.
  
  
  
  2)
  
  its a team game, the population hurts this , but its still not too hard to find helpers.
  
  solo play works find most classes solo find , prime healers proably have the most issues soloing but still dependign on spec soem solo well.
  
  
  
  3) yes you can totally avoid pvp in pve if you wish i personlly love it in daoc tho.  As you levbel there are many pvp areas for all levels in 5 level grousp so you can most often at least put up a fight.
  
  
  
  4) DAoc = best classes in any mmo ever. It would be hard to disagree i think , there are liek many have said so many different classes soem similar to other some totaly different within each class there are different spec line some make the class very different other keep them similar.
  
  For ease of leveling a mage type, i woudl recomend a mage /pet class (no worries pet classes nuke as well as non pet classes often.)
  
  
  
  Alb: body cablist , mind/body sorcerer, thruegist  air or cold (odd to play but thye are fun)  You may even find a rejuv /enchament heretic fun. (but they are not nukers they are pewww pewwwers)
  
  
  
  Hib: light/mana menatlists are soooooo mazing they are a giant freakign gun with pets, heal over times and and power regen buffs. They are my all time fav. casters for hib. Enchanters are pretty cool too.
  
  
  
  Mid: dark spiritmasters are very insaine casters.
  
  
  
  Just about every caster i listed is a pet caster why they make soloing easy mode.
  
  
  
  5) I think its weaker than before i can remeber loggign into certain areas and being wow this is a crazy world... only mmo that every really gave me a positive feeling to such. but it seems like this has lessened
  
  
  
  6) Most peopel on your own side are nice other realmers will spit on you when you die ... or bow .. all depends... you are tryign tro kill each other so...
  
  
  
  7) It is ever one person said i don't know how these old player react like that ... its true no mmorpg to date will reward you for your skill and effort as much as daoc.  Sometimes i feel bad in pvp at low levels becuase i can tell im fighting a noob or less experienced player... sometimes i feel mad becuase someone is out skilling me.
  
  
  
  8) You can play on US or EU .. EU are a few patches behind like others have said and i prefer US.
  
  
  
  
  
  Sorry for my poor typign skills its genetic

  "Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one ..." - Thomas Paine