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Is it worth playing at this point in time?
Maelstrom09
Member Posts: 10
Hi
I have never played DAoC before, my first MMO was WoW (yes, terrible game, I know). Basically, I'm interested in trying out DAoC, mainly because I have been looking for a 'Viking' themed MMO and I was informed that the Midgard realm features what I am looking for with lots of Norse mythology etc.
So my question is, is it worth playing DAoC at this point in time, as the title says really. I'm not new to MMO's as such (played lots of the more modern ones) but never played any of the earlier ones such as this, EverQuest, Ultima Online etc.
Thanks for your help.
Best regards.
Comments
The last time I played was over a month ago so take that into account. Mythic just recently clustered the rest of the remaining servers into one cluster where everyone plays on. Some may view this as a bad thing as it does show the declining population as the game ages, but it really sparked new life into the game for the ones that still play. The RvR was quite active, as well as lots of people running around pretty much everywhere I went.
If WoW was your first MMO, then right off the bat you're going to notice the controls and the mechanics are, well, archaic comes to mind. You can get used to it after a while, but it will seem very foreign for a bit. If you're interested in playing Vikings, Midgard is your desired realm. Another important fact; this game is not quest driven. There are quests and instanced tasks (which aren't really that good) but majority of your leveling will come from either slaughtering mobs or players in RvR (realm vs realm). The nice thing about grouping is it allows you to play off each classes strengths, covering their weaknesses, and killing much faster general mobs or taking down much harder ones for sizeable experience.
There are two things with DAoC that you need to keep in mind.
1) It's first and foremost a RvR oriented game. There is a lot of PvE progression, but it's been changed so that RvR can progress in just about all of those areas.
2) The game is on it's 8th year anniversary, and it was made in a different time in gaming. There will be a lot that may irritate you or frustrate you compared to the newer games, at least regarding control.
If you can get past the flaws, it fleshes out into a wonderful game experience.
Hi
Thank you very much for your quick response. I didn't expect to see a response at all to be honest, let alone within 5-10 minutes of my original post, as this particular forum (for DAoC) doesn't seem too busy these days.
I am willing to give it a try as I don't give up on something because it's different and I understand that it is quite an old game now (as opposed to the more recent MMO's) so will take that into account when playing and as you said, it was a very different time in gaming when it was created and released.
But thanks again for your informative response, much appreciated.
Best regards.
No problem. I just happened to be trolling the boards and saw your post. There's a free trial over at darkageofcamelot.com but you need a credit card to verify the account. You can cancel it and still gain the 14 days without being charged, though.
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask or PM me. Good luck if you decide to try it out.
First off DAOC is fantastic if you like Lore and role play, yes it is very old school with it's UI, but let me give you some tips that will make your enjoyment easier to transfer from wow...
1. Use the /qbind command to set up your keys, a pain to do, but well worth it in the long run.
2. Do all the tutorial quests, as you get a horse and nice armor, and shows you how to do lots of things in the game.
3. Do all the quests from your Trainer, as you get epic armor etc.
4. Do all the quests for your King, your Trainer will tell you when to go here.
5. Only do quests that have the new quest setup (unless they are the ones in point 4 of course), you'll know them cause old quests are just text, as new quests have a nice window like the the tutorial ones showing you your rewards, I say this cause these quests put a nice red dot on your map to help you, and this is a great help for a beginner.
6. Do the quests in the catacombs (cave behind Kings area) and collect Aurulite for great equipment.
7. Do alchemy for crafting as you can get really nice pots and potions so you won't need a buff bot.
8. Best exp is killing mobs in the BG, you can be ported there and anywhere from Room before kings throne room.
9. Ooo one final thing, if you make a hash of your skill points, there is a guy outside one of the Frontier castles who will give you a stone ( twice ) so you can respec, use them wisely.
Personally I have played many MMo's including WOW, DAOC is the best PVP/RVR game if you are patient, and embrace it's qurky UI, also what ever class you choose, try out one that can climb walls, the shear excitment of climbing into an enemys castle is beyond explanation here. You will die alot as you get used to the game mechanics, but stick with it, also choosing the right class for you can make all the difference, so try out a few e.g Skald.
Good Luck
Dedan (Midgard)
Hi
Thanks for your response Duvand.
I started playing earlier today, I created a character on the Midgard realm, a Norseman Warrior. I'm currently level 7 and am really enjoying it. I'm still in the tutorial area though I think, and am just following the PvE quests so I don't know when I will leave this area.
But yeah, really enjoying it. I was expecting the graphics to be appalling considering some people say they are really dated and rubbish by today's standards, yet I can't see what people are complaining about. The graphics are pretty good cranked up to the max, ok not as good by modern standards but still fine overall, I've seen a lot worse in recent years to be honest.
So yeah, I will continue playing and see how it goes.
Also, quick question, how do I lock my UI in place? As every time I log back in to the game all of the UI windows have reset and are scattered all over the place yet I had them all set up properly before. So each time I log in I have to start off by rearranging everything and dragging the spell button things back onto the hot bars.
One last thing, are there any dedicated (and still somewhat 'busy') DAoC forums around these days?
Thanks for your help.
The game should auto remember (do a manual game patch update now and then, file is found in main daoc folder, if you get any bugs), but there are options at the character screen, and in the game itself. I'd suggest you do an advice shout in game to join a guild, and you'll get all the help you need, DAOC has the best Community. As to forums well Alakazam is used by most, but i get my help with the in game /advice...good hunting.
few other things I remembered...
1. Most materials can be bought from a merchant, so leveling crafting is easy to begin.
2. The game saves your character every few mins, and the /q command is best way to quit as you need 20 secs to save all data etc.
3. If you die don't always pray at your grave if it's hard/far to get to, but do click on healer to get rid of rezz sickness and pay for con return, also use the skalds at most stones to give u speed buff for getting around.
4. Every 4 days u get a free level, and try to log out in an area that gives you rested exp like capital city, yep just like wow lol.
you'll pick up the rest :-)
Dedan
The DAoC VN Message Board is the most active forum I am aware of. It has been around since day 1 and has traditionally been the place to talk DAoC.
vnboards.ign.com/default.asp (hopefully that works)
At what point do I leave the tutorial area and join the main game, the RvR/PvP etc? I'm currently level 8 on the Midgard realm.
Thanks.
When you have completed all the quests in the Third town, have your Horse and armor Level 11 I think, head back to your first town and there is an NPC who will port you to the main area's, the game kinda opens up here. You can do BG's at any level for RVR, but some BG's can be more quiet then others and level 50 is when the real RVR starts, but you get a taster in BG's, Catacombs has instant Dungeons etc that will set to your level, and there are lots of quests and crafting to do. If you want to level fast, kill monsters in the BG's.
Dedan
Hi
Thanks for the response Duvand.
I'm currently level 13 and have now left the tutorial area. I left at level 11 with the full armour you get from the token, mount and all quests completed so pretty good really.
I have completed all of the quests in this area I am now in, and am currently in the main city in the Catacombs or something? Like an underground instanced dungeon.
How long does it generally take to reach level 50? Will I be able to get to level 50 before my two week trial runs out? (which started this past Sunday btw).
Thanks for your help.
:-) now this is the usual dilemma, what I did was make two Chars one Alb and one Mid then play alternatively to get best rested exp, also I spent most of my time hunting in the BG's as that seemed to level my character faster. You could power level to 50 in a few weeks, or in a few days if a guild was kind enough, but I would suggest you enjoy the game, take it slow, and emerce yourself in the Lore and stories of your quests, also level up Alc as this will help alot. You won't get to level 50 before the trial runs out, but by now you will know if you like the game or not. One final piece of advice, if the mobs in BG's are too high in level, and Kill you easily, go back to catacombs or an area where monsters will give you good exp, then return to the BG's, however if you are enjoying the quests you can get good exp here too, but I found killing mobs quicker as there was less running from A to B, but quests can also take you to those exp spots.
Also i dont know if this has been explained to you but BG's mean Battle Grounds and they are a PvP area for people of a certain level range e.g. 10-14,15-19,20-24, all the way up to level 49, the best xp is found in these battlegrounds as they are meant to be PvP zones so they can be a bit dangerous, but the low level ones lvl 1-19 are usually quite, from 20+ they get a bit more active. Iv recently come back after months away, its the only game that i genuinely enjoy paying for. Also if you do manage to kill another person in pvp (may be hard if they have crafted gear) then you can get up to half a level at some points in the battlegrounds for it so it may be worth hunting them down sometimes, finally if there are people in the battlegrounds of the same realm, take the keep in the middle as this guarantees at least half a level of xp and you can do it once per level in that BG
Currently playing : Darkfall
Character name : Aeola Anara
Played: Almost every P2P MMO you can get your hands on, notably:
Daoc, SWG, LOTRO, WAR, AoC + Dozens more
I'm glad you are trying DAOC, it's a great MMO. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have in the past and hope to here in coming days. Planning to come back to DAOC myself here shortly, hope things are as great as I remember:).
Level 50 is doable solo in 3-4 weeks. I soloed my ranger to 50 in under a month really easily. Though rangers/scouts/hunters solo real well with the changes though that was.... a year ago and they may of nerfed them down.
Or if you can find the right class at level 50 *cough* bonedancer *cough* to powerlevel you in certain spots, which I won't go into, the BD should know, You can hit 50 in about 3 days.
Same can be done on Albion Side with a Cabby at the Lyonesse tree farms.
Each realm has a ridiculous PL class, Cabby, Necro, Heretic, Anamist, Vampiir, Bonedancer, Shaman any of these classes excel at it. There are others who do it well, but these are classes who can either pull continuously without stopping, or pull massive amounts of mobs at one time and still survive.
If you really just wanna get into the fight super fast, let me know and you can borrow my account for a while if you like, it has level 50's on it of each of the above classes, it actually has a level 50 of every class on it, but you would only need to use the midgard ones.
You can just dual log the game and PL yourself for a month, and once you get your 50's where you want them, just deactivate it or something. I don't use it anymore.
Just a suggestion
Good luck, DAoC is an amazing game, the 7 years I played it, I never had more fun ever!
Long live DAoC!