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Question for vets/current players.
Kaioh
Member Posts: 46
Hello everyone,
let me start by saying that I am not a veteran mmo player. I have only played 3 mmos my entire life: lotro, wow and war. I played war from closed beta, until 2 days ago when I cancelled and uninstalled the game. I love the idea of rvr, but there were too many issues with that game and after over 10 months I really couldn't take it anymore.
So it brings me to my question to all you former/current daoc players. Is Daoc worth playing today and still fun? ( I know it's an old game). The only other game with some rvr that I know of is from NcSoft's Aion. I am kind of confused as to which one has better pvp. Also is daoc polished? The reason I ask this is because I had a bad experience with bugs/performance in war, and the game is made from the same guys (Mythic).
Thanks in advance for any help.
Comments
The best RvR will be in Aion, it is also a very stable and polished game already which is why I like it so much. Personally I hate Manga and that shit, but Aion really doesnt feel like that too much for me, there is no Hello Kitties running around, and you can customize your character to not look anime at all.
Check out the siege tutorial video if you havent already. Im impatient for RvR myself, just quit WAR and have considered loading up DAOC too. But Im just gonna bite the bullet and wait for Aion. DAOC is just too outdated for my tastes.
DAOC HAD the best RvR ever. Hands down. However, with a lack of population, the game is a shell of its former self.
The GUI and overall playing experience in DAOC isn't the same as the more modern games (WoW, WAR, AION, etc). Someone used to playing these games will find some similarites and some differences; only the user can determine if this is a good or bad thing.
With the buzz of activity for DAOC, I would wait until a new server is opened (or merges completed) and join then. The in-flux of people at that time, combined with the availability of the remaining expansions (the final race/class is now available for trials) will make a great time to get into the game and see if it is what you are looking for.
I think I'm going to have to play the trial again myself....
Polished is in terms of DAoC a wrong wording, it is an older MMO and that's why it will come across a lot rougher than any new MMO out there but it got something what new MMOs don't have...it's freedom. You decide where to go, you decide how you like to play RvR, PvM and how you like to specc your character.
There never is a golden way, never one lonely way to do it right. Yet it is also 7 years old by now and a community that old follows their own rules, their own kind of ways.
This all said if you are somebody who likes to proof themselves, who doesn't give up lightly and most of all doesn't look for the easy way you might enjoy DAoC. It's graphics aren't colourful and sweet but well, rough and dark. IMO it fits so very well to its title this game gives you a certain feeling this is really "Dark Age of Camelot" and if you bit your way through, the rewards couldn't be creater in a MMO.
Please do not judge DAOC by WAR. WAR is a horrible game. WAR is not the spiritual succesor to DAOC. Think of it this way. If DAOC were food, WAR is what comes out of your ass. That is about as close as the two come together.
You should ignore the Aion fanboys. I am not saying that DAOC is the game for you. That is going to be the real question to answer to determine if you are going to have fun. Here is what you need to know.
1. Polished? Well there really aren't bugs or performance issues. The graphics are outdated in two main areas. Characters, and ground. The water and buildings looks great, trees are decent enough, but the ground is very old and it gives the game an old look.
2. Population? Not a problem. I am not saying there are tens of thousands of players, but there is one server you can play on that has 2500 or so on during primetime and even at 4 am Easter can have 1000-1200 on. There are people that start new characters. Leveling is easy, so there is not a lot of grouping to level up. There is always RvR action going on and with good numbers. DAOC is merging all of their servers together so you should expect a consitently high population once that is implemented.
3. Old games were designed for a different audience than current games. Everything is now very graphical. You have an HUD with a big X or shaded area for quests. Everything you do, you do by clicking something. DAOC is not like that. There is no HUD. There is a map that can provide some guidance of where to go for some quests. These would be new quests and ones that they have updated. Older ones, you are on your own. You will need to read text for the quest and in your quest journal. You will have to follow directions and look around. Some things will require the use of slash commands. You will need to set up some Macros for your common ones like "assist" or "stick." There is an initial, and steep learning curve. However, they have added a tutorial that will cover 85% of what you need to know about the game. The other 15% is pretty easy to pick up.
4. RvR is divided into three areas. The first area are battlegrounds, or BG. These are level specific areas. There is a central keep to fight over. The second is the Frontier, or NF. It is a large area open to anyone, but pretty much you will be 50 (max level) when you go out. There are lots of keeps and towers to fight over. If you take one, your guild can claim it. The guild can spend merit points to improve the tower or keep which will make it more difficult to take. In addition, there are relics. These provide a bonus to your realm. Each realm has two. In order to take a relic, you need to open a relic gate. This requires the taking of certain keeps. If you do that, then you can attack the relic keep and take it back to your realm.
5. Battles in NF are two types. You have zergs that are mostly used to take keeps. This will involve siege weapons. You knock holes into keeps or level towers. You then need to put a ram on the inner doors. Finally, you have to fight your way inside and kill the captain of the keep. The second type of 8 man groups. They roam around looking for other groups to fight.
5. There are RvR dungeons which is the third area. Darkness Falls, or DF is a dungeon that is open to the realm that has the most towers in NF. Passage of Conflict, PoC is in NF and links the three realms via a set of tunnels that you can use to access each realm. Then there is the Labrinth of the Minotaur. This is a huge dungeon in NF with mini-relics. Mini-relics have different effects. Once a person has one, it makes them a target on the map directing people towards that area.
6. DAOC is a pre- WoW community. Every game from WoW on that I have played has some type of general or regional chat. In it is filled random conversations and tons of insults. This is not in DAOC. You can ask a question and get an answer. You don't here all the annoying chatter and bs that exists in newer games.
7. WAR and AoC both have small zones. Each zone is seperate from other zones (going back to EQ). Outside of dungeons and the capital cities, DAOC is an open area. There are no roads you must follow or mountains in your way. This makes getting around easy - you just need to avoid the mobs. There are also mobs with factions.
8. The entire game and all of the expansions are now free and available through an easy download. You get 10 days free so you should take a look.
Sorry, had to respond to the Aion poster. If graphics are your thing, yes Aion has great graphics. I will not dis the game, for it is probably the best Korean games to come out. Sitll, their are four classes and eight specialized classes. Compare that to DAOC, Everquest II, or WOW. In my opinion, DAOC and Everquest II offer a richer, more in depth gaming experience then any other game I have tried. As others have said, DAOC still offers the best PvP of any game. My only regret is the population has fallen so low. There are so many nice dungeons to explore, but when you can't find anyone else to group with, they are not really made for solo play. Additionally, I ventured into Darkness Falls, hope I got that name correct, it was barren except for the people lurking to gank people. I fondly recall when you got killed in DF, you would immediately get tells asking where and your realm would come and hunt down the person who killed you. Oh well, I regress.
LOC
Since you mentioned population, I can't stress this enough to pick a server on the Devon cluster. The other ones do not have a viable population which is why they are going to merge them. This should mitigate some of the issues people may have, but not all. In some cases, you can have all the population you want and people just do not want to do some content for whatever reason.
This really covers everything you need to know. I'd just add that the animations are outdated as well, along with charcter/ground textures. But the game is still fun.
Thank you all for your answers.
Which Final Fantasy Character Are You?
Final Fantasy 7
Hands down one of the most enjoyable MMos ever made in its time. The only issue I ever had were the botters. Think the people who botted in DAoC are the same people who raid for a living in WoW.
Are we talking same type of botters? I never seen a botter in all my long time in DAOC....now people with buff bots ofcours e tons but just like some killing bot I never did...not saying it never happened just saying in DAOC I never ran across killing bots!
I just re-activated my account for DAOC after 5 years of complete inactivity. This game was one of the best I agree. The graphics update they did lately is great. There are buff bots around sure, but no harm, no foul. I am back enjoying the game and it's 2200+ players on during EST evening hours.
Everything else I have played and blows, waiting on Star Wars TOR or maybe Earthrise.
Peace
LOL, my Inflitrator awaits you. Come get some.
You mean to tell us you've never seen or heard of the chinese plat farming powerlevelers that runs up to 8 characters all at the same time, getting people's characters from level 1 to level 50 in about 6 hours for $28?
You've obviously not been around the game much, or long. One or the other. There have been up to 4 groups like that online in the same zone (Passage of Conflict and/or the Darkness Rising zones) at the same time. (They were worth about 8,000 realm points each time I killed one solo. Long range AoE > them. )