I just got the 14 day trial and...

yourmom12192 · December 2005

Hello,

I just got the DAoC trial and i am a little disapointed. The graphics are horrible rite now, if/when i get the epic edition will the graphics better (at least like CoH good)? Also it is really choppy rite now, is that because of my internet, the server, or the trial? I was really looking forward to this game, but another thing i noticed is that there is like no one playing PvE and quests, is everyone doing RvR? I really want to play this game and hopefully u will answer my questions...

Thx

Cheers

JulianDracos · December 2005

You need to update the graphics. Go here:

http://www.darkageofcamelot.com/patches/

The free trial should be the gold edition.

I believe you can also get ToA for free. Go here and follow the directions:

http://www.trialsofatlantis.com/downloads/

If your graphics are chopy then it is most likely because of your vid card/drivers. It might be the internet, but only if you have a really bad connection. So download the latest drivers and make sure you have directx 9.0C installed.

As for not seeing people around, that all depends on the server/realm you are on. If you are playing on the regular servers then you are most likely not going to see anyone around your starting area. Even if you want to play on the regular servers then I would suggest you first begin on Gareth first to get the hang of the game. If you want the most people then pick Hib.

Another thing to take into consideration - the suburband effect. DAOC is huge. So even if you have 3000 people on the server that would be like 1000 in your realm. Then break that up into RvR, BG, and PvE areas. Things are simply all spread out. For example there are 3 starting zones. One where you start at, one in SI areas (through the portal) and one in Catacombs areas if you get that expansion.

I just logged into Gareth on Hib and counted 18 people in the areas where starting characters begin. At least 8 of them were level 5 and under.

yourmom12192 · December 2005

ok, thx

DrAtomic · December 2005

Also master the /who command, it is your friend; examples:

/who 17 (shows all level 17 toons)

/who 17 22 (shows all toons between the levels 17 and 22)

/who bard 17 22 (shows all bards between 17 and 22)

/who tir na nog (shows everyone online in the Hibernia capital city, works for all regions and dungeons)

Also make sure to use your friends list to add people you like and make new friends.

Cheers!

Elnator · December 2005

Another note:
NEW players are best served by choosing to play on Gareth or Lamorak (The two big "Classic" servers) because there are more people online there and there are more low level players there because they're the newest servers.

The only thing the 'classic' servers lack is the TOA expansion areas which are only high level raid content that takes, literally, 12 hours of solid playtime to do. (can't do it in parts, have to actually be at the keyboard the entire 12 hours). Thus they made 'classic' servers because the casual players didn't like TOA.

Anyhow... the "classic" servers have the highest population of new players to hang out with. If you choose not to go on those make sure you pick a server with a high population count during your NORMAL playtime. Don't hop on at some wierd hour and pick a server that's high then. Create your character at a time that you will NORMALLY play the game and choose a server that show's high pop at that time. That way you'll have the most likelihood of having folks to hunt with It's a 4 year old game.

As to the graphics:
Yes, the real game is MUCH better than the trial if you don't download the graphics updates for the trial.

Rylaan · December 2005

Just a quick question (assuming I make any sense in what I am going to type).

I just downloaded the free 14-day trial. Easy.

Then I hit the "check all files" button and had the computer patch me up. Easy.

Now I'm not sure if I need to do anything else in order to make sure I have the graphics upgrade. Confused.

I went to the patch page that was linked to earlier in the thread, but honestly I'm confused with what Gold edition means, what the town graphic update means, whether or not I have ToA or not, etc, etc.

I know I am slow on the uptake, but I could use some guidance here. Also, will there be some indication as to whether or not I have the graphic update? Is there some sort of indication when I boot up the game?

Thank you for your time.

Elnator · December 2005

Originally posted by Rylaan
Just a quick question (assuming I make any sense in what I am going to type).
I just downloaded the free 14-day trial. Easy.
Then I hit the "check all files" button and had the computer patch me up. Easy.
Now I'm not sure if I need to do anything else in order to make sure I have the graphics upgrade. Confused.
I went to the patch page that was linked to earlier in the thread, but honestly I'm confused with what Gold edition means, what the town graphic update means, whether or not I have ToA or not, etc, etc.
I know I am slow on the uptake, but I could use some guidance here. Also, will there be some indication as to whether or not I have the graphic update? Is there some sort of indication when I boot up the game?
Thank you for your time.

Go to the link that was provided up above. Full file check will NOT pull down the optional installs. They left them optional because it's a pretty huge bunch of files to update you to the Catacombs engine and graphics. Failing that go to http://www.camelotherald.com and go to the downloads page there.

Enjoy!

JulianDracos · December 2005

The free trial is the Gold Edition. I wish they would update their site with that info. So you need those files. You do not have any of the "optional" download stuff. So no new town art unless you download it.

So unless you have downloaded the files on purpose you do not have the graphical update.

Rylaan · December 2005

Understood. Thanks guys. It is appreciated.

Looks like I have some more downloading to do!

ArghosODF · December 2005

Originally posted by Elnator

The only thing the 'classic' servers lack is the TOA expansion areas which are only high level raid content that takes, literally, 12 hours of solid playtime to do. (can't do it in parts, have to actually be at the keyboard the entire 12 hours). Thus they made 'classic' servers because the casual players didn't like TOA.

Now now, Elnator, let's don't be misleading...ToA's not THAT bad .

First off, although much of it IS high-end raid stuff, there are areas in the ToA lands where characters from level 30 on up can engage in solo or group adventuring to farm experience, items and cash (ToA cash is VERY nice). There are even level 20ish quests in one area, but those are more a "meet Atlantis" thing than serious levelling options for characters of that level range. As you get higher in levels, the number of areas feasible for both soloing and grouping increase greatly.

Secondly, while it's true that early on ToA raids tended to be extended affairs, as people learned their way around and figured out the best way to do things, the times involved with doing them dropped dramatically. (By way of example, it's possible now, on several of the encounters that used to take 100 people an hour or two to do by simply trying to zerg their way through it, for one group of the right class mix to complete an encounter in a matter of minutes.) Now the average Master Level raid will usually run 2-4 hours if you have enough people and the raid leader knows their stuff. It's also not true that you need to sit through the entire raid. It's more practical and time-efficient to do so, but not required as, contrary to your statement, yes, you CAN do it in parts. You can get credit for having done any encounter now, regardless of your current Master Level and what order you do them in. So, it's theoretically possible to do one Master Level encounter per day (most run between 5-30 minutes to complete, with exceptions in both directions) and in 10 days complete an entire Master Level....although it's admittedly not really practical to do it that way.

Finally, when the next patch is released, obtaining, activating and leveling artifacts and completing Master Levels will be far easier than it is currently. If things go the way they're currently planned according to the patch notes on the test server, the time involved in completing ToA activities will be SUBSTANTIALLY reduced. Enough so that the casual player will once again be able to compete in RvR with the powergamers (and yes, the powergamers who want their "I Win" abilities to remain exclusively their own are already crying about it...how wonderful.) Hopefully this will bring back a lot of the casual gamers who left because of ToA to the normal servers and revitalize then for new players.

Was ToA a poorly thought out, unbalancing time sink when it was released? Absolutely. But Mythic seems to have finally realized that alienating the casual gamer is bad for business and is working to rectify the mistakes they made with ToA. Hopefully the expansion will now become what it always should have been...an area with interesting, challenging raid-oriented PvE content with rewards that are useful in both PvE and RvR.

Elnator · December 2005

Originally posted by ArghosODF
Originally posted by Elnator
The only thing the 'classic' servers lack is the TOA expansion areas which are only high level raid content that takes, literally, 12 hours of solid playtime to do. (can't do it in parts, have to actually be at the keyboard the entire 12 hours). Thus they made 'classic' servers because the casual players didn't like TOA.
Now now, Elnator, let's don't be misleading...ToA's not THAT bad .
First off, although much of it IS high-end raid stuff, there are areas in the ToA lands where characters from level 30 on up can engage in solo or group adventuring to farm experience, items and cash (ToA cash is VERY nice). There are even level 20ish quests in one area, but those are more a "meet Atlantis" thing than serious levelling options for characters of that level range. As you get higher in levels, the number of areas feasible for both soloing and grouping increase greatly.
Secondly, while it's true that early on ToA raids tended to be extended affairs, as people learned their way around and figured out the best way to do things, the times involved with doing them dropped dramatically. (By way of example, it's possible now, on several of the encounters that used to take 100 people an hour or two to do by simply trying to zerg their way through it, for one group of the right class mix to complete an encounter in a matter of minutes.) Now the average Master Level raid will usually run 2-4 hours if you have enough people and the raid leader knows their stuff. It's also not true that you need to sit through the entire raid. It's more practical and time-efficient to do so, but not required as, contrary to your statement, yes, you CAN do it in parts. You can get credit for having done any encounter now, regardless of your current Master Level and what order you do them in. So, it's theoretically possible to do one Master Level encounter per day (most run between 5-30 minutes to complete, with exceptions in both directions) and in 10 days complete an entire Master Level....although it's admittedly not really practical to do it that way.Finally, when the next patch is released, obtaining, activating and leveling artifacts and completing Master Levels will be far easier than it is currently. If things go the way they're currently planned according to the patch notes on the test server, the time involved in completing ToA activities will be SUBSTANTIALLY reduced. Enough so that the casual player will once again be able to compete in RvR with the powergamers (and yes, the powergamers who want their "I Win" abilities to remain exclusively their own are already crying about it...how wonderful.) Hopefully this will bring back a lot of the casual gamers who left because of ToA to the normal servers and revitalize then for new players.Was ToA a poorly thought out, unbalancing time sink when it was released? Absolutely. But Mythic seems to have finally realized that alienating the casual gamer is bad for business and is working to rectify the mistakes they made with ToA. Hopefully the expansion will now become what it always should have been...an area with interesting, challenging raid-oriented PvE content with rewards that are useful in both PvE and RvR.

How will that help the casual gamer though? Raids, by their very nature, require a lot more time than a casual player has.

JulianDracos · December 2005

Most artifact encounters do not require raids to get the artifact. So the new changes will make it easier to acquire and level artifacts. While ML abilites are powerful, artifacts are often the unbalancing issues here. So fixing that will do a lot to help the casual players out.

I do not think the changes are enough. I like almost all of the raid content from ToA needs to be removed and made solo/group. This is not just to help out the casual player, but to make doing them easier and quicker. The less time I spend in ToA the better.

For me a lot of why I do not like ToA is: boredom, impact on crafting, time involved, distance, and level/agro/XP of the mobs.

I would like to see ToA as a place to go besides to get an item or farm gold. That is fun and easy quests. Doing ML being far more casual. New content out there. Lower level areas for 20-40 to hunt in that is as attractive, safe, and rewarding as catacombs zones.

Unknown · December 2005

i know i did it to

ArghosODF · December 2005

"How will that help the casual gamer though? Raids, by their very nature, require a lot more time than a casual player has."

Well, that depends on exactly how casual a player you are. If you log in for 30 minutes, log out and watch an hour of TV, log in for 30 minutes, log out and take a shower, log in for 30 minutes....etc., etc., then it won't help you a bit. Nor will you find yourself very welcome in a group anywhere after a while . However, as JD said, artis are simply not that hard to get anymore (I've soloed many of them, duoed several more and trioed quite a few also)...the only real issue as far as raids go are Master Levels, and I can forsee guilds of casual players running single-step raids that might take 45 minutes to an hour. If that's still too long, or you just absolutely abhor raids of any flavor, as JD seems to, well, I'm afraid nothing's gonna help you very much when it comes to ToA.

There are some of us however that DO enjoy it (for the most part at least) and don't mind taking a couple hours out of our day to accomplish something with our characters that doesn't involve killing another player...hehe. Don't get me wrong, I love RvR as it's done in this game, but I refuse to limit myself to any one aspect of a game with so much depth and so many different activities to engage in.

JulianDracos · December 2005

I am pretty much anti-raid.

I will say that I do enjoy going on the occasional dragon raid and I used to enjoy Galla raids when people did them. I have never enjoyed a ToA raid.

There are two big reasons why:

1. ToA requires too many people and/or too many people show up
2. Most of the time on ToA raids I am just along for the ride because there is nothing for me to do. On the other raids there is something for me to do regardless of what class I bring along.

Elnator · December 2005

Originally posted by ArghosODF
"How will that help the casual gamer though? Raids, by their very nature, require a lot more time than a casual player has."
Well, that depends on exactly how casual a player you are. If you log in for 30 minutes, log out and watch an hour of TV, log in for 30 minutes, log out and take a shower, log in for 30 minutes....etc., etc., then it won't help you a bit. Nor will you find yourself very welcome in a group anywhere after a while . However, as JD said, artis are simply not that hard to get anymore (I've soloed many of them, duoed several more and trioed quite a few also)...the only real issue as far as raids go are Master Levels, and I can forsee guilds of casual players running single-step raids that might take 45 minutes to an hour. If that's still too long, or you just absolutely abhor raids of any flavor, as JD seems to, well, I'm afraid nothing's gonna help you very much when it comes to ToA.
There are some of us however that DO enjoy it (for the most part at least) and don't mind taking a couple hours out of our day to accomplish something with our characters that doesn't involve killing another player...hehe. Don't get me wrong, I love RvR as it's done in this game, but I refuse to limit myself to any one aspect of a game with so much depth and so many different activities to engage in.

That's not too bad then. I am a 'casual' player in that I typically only play 1-2 hours a night. Though lately it's been more because I've become quite addicted to the game. If you can accomplish TOA content in 45 minutes to 2hrs I could see myself doing it. I may have to make an alt on one of the big 'normal' servers to check it out. Maybe I'll make a 'tic on one. I really like the heretic... it really fits my playstyle well.

JulianDracos · December 2005

The 2 hours can be deceiving. Take it as an average. Here is what I mean:

1. You need to get everyone there.
2. People need to get grouped up.
3. Some people will need water potions.
4. Which ML raid are you going on?
5. How many steps need to be done in BG for that raid?
6. How good is the ML leader?
7. Do you stop and let people do group steps along the way?
8. How many people go LD and do you wait for them? If so then how long?
9. Then after you need to divide up the loot. This can often take longer than the Raid.

So if you are going on a ML 1-3 raid with a good leader then it might be short. People show up early enough and you leave on time. Most people do not go LD and you only give them 2 min to get back. You do not let them do group steps along the way. Last you do not stick around for the loot at the end.

If that happens then you are looking at 1-2 hours total time spent at most.

On the other hand, you have higher level ML raids, a bad leader, you stick around for loot, etc. Then you are looking at 4+ hours.

Things have gotten better over the years - much better. But I just do not want you to think that ML raids are something quick. They involve someone planning them. You have to schedule your game time around the raids. You need to sit there and wait before it starts. You then have to wait on LD. You have to deal with people wanting to do group steps. You have to wait around for the items to be lottoed off. All of those things add up.

I guess another thing I have about ToA/raids in general is that I need to plan my life around them. It is not like I have 4 hours to play and go lets do a raid or two that I need to get done. Nope. I need to check the calender of my alliance. I have to clear my schedule and remember to be on at that time. When important game content means me having to schedule my life around it, then that content should not be in the game.

Elnator · December 2005

Originally posted by JulianDracos
The 2 hours can be deceiving. Take it as an average. Here is what I mean:1. You need to get everyone there.
2. People need to get grouped up.

Yeah that's my problem with raids. Typically 1&2 alone burn up over an hour... usually 2 unless you have a very well organized guild.

Hell in EQ I've seen raids take 3-4 hours to get going. Was one of the main reasons I ended up quitting EQ. I always loved doing raids, be it dragon, planar, whatever. I just hated the 'sit around for 2-3 hours waiting for everyone to friggen get there'. And the really organized guilds typically don't cater to the 'casual' players. So folks like me who love to raid but hate waiting around have a hard time getting into the really organized guilds....

Unfortunately no game that has raiding is going to get around #1 and #2... no matter how good the game is you're dependant on the players to get to where they need to be in a timely manner. The "Be there in X more kills when I ding" syndrome is a royal pain.

Guess I'll stick to the casual servers... Don't have to worry about it there

mockingbyrd2 · December 2005

I'm on the free trial, too. I'm a bit disappointed, but maybe its because the really fun part comes in at higher levels, in RvR. Could someone explain to me exactly how RvR works? I might get into this game.

nthnaoun · December 2005

Originally posted by JulianDracos

Most artifact encounters do not require raids to get the artifact. So the new changes will make it easier to acquire and level artifacts. While ML abilites are powerful, artifacts are often the unbalancing issues here. So fixing that will do a lot to help the casual players out.
I do not think the changes are enough. I like almost all of the raid content from ToA needs to be removed and made solo/group. This is not just to help out the casual player, but to make doing them easier and quicker. The less time I spend in ToA the better.
For me a lot of why I do not like ToA is: boredom, impact on crafting, time involved, distance, and level/agro/XP of the mobs.
I would like to see ToA as a place to go besides to get an item or farm gold. That is fun and easy quests. Doing ML being far more casual. New content out there. Lower level areas for 20-40 to hunt in that is as attractive, safe, and rewarding as catacombs zones.

I'm not flaming you so don't take this the wrong way. But why do you play an MMO? An MMO is supposed to take years to develop your character. Quests are not supposed to be easy and quick. I mean come on. You have years to play this MMO, why do you want to complete everything in a day? I'm talking about a quest ofcourse. I'm a casual player myself, but I want a game that will provide content that lasts for years like a MMO should, not an MMO that makes us rely on PVP or creating new characters to get further enjoyment out of it. Or were you just being sarcastic?

nthnaoun · December 2005

Originally posted by JulianDracos

The 2 hours can be deceiving. Take it as an average. Here is what I mean:
1. You need to get everyone there.
2. People need to get grouped up.
3. Some people will need water potions.
4. Which ML raid are you going on?
5. How many steps need to be done in BG for that raid?
6. How good is the ML leader?
7. Do you stop and let people do group steps along the way?
8. How many people go LD and do you wait for them? If so then how long?
9. Then after you need to divide up the loot. This can often take longer than the Raid.
So if you are going on a ML 1-3 raid with a good leader then it might be short. People show up early enough and you leave on time. Most people do not go LD and you only give them 2 min to get back. You do not let them do group steps along the way. Last you do not stick around for the loot at the end.
If that happens then you are looking at 1-2 hours total time spent at most.
On the other hand, you have higher level ML raids, a bad leader, you stick around for loot, etc. Then you are looking at 4+ hours.
Things have gotten better over the years - much better. But I just do not want you to think that ML raids are something quick. They involve someone planning them. You have to schedule your game time around the raids. You need to sit there and wait before it starts. You then have to wait on LD. You have to deal with people wanting to do group steps. You have to wait around for the items to be lottoed off. All of those things add up.
I guess another thing I have about ToA/raids in general is that I need to plan my life around them. It is not like I have 4 hours to play and go lets do a raid or two that I need to get done. Nope. I need to check the calender of my alliance. I have to clear my schedule and remember to be on at that time. When important game content means me having to schedule my life around it, then that content should not be in the game.

You must of had some pretty crappy raid leaders if it took you 4 hours on most these raids. I can't remember which is the worst, but I think it was 4. But which ever it was it was the worst because it took forever which was around 3-4 hours. Now the rest only took around 1hour to 1 and a half hours including the loot rolling and the ld, and etc. Another option you have is to only do a few steps and to finish the rest of the steps another day. Again...you have years to do this so there is no need to rush doing a full raid at once if you don't trully have the time for it. It's an MMO, what do you care if it takes you 2 months to do ML1. It shouldn't matter unless you are just an impatient person. If you are patient you can wait. Remember MMO's are around for years. No need to try and finish everything in a month or three.

Nierro · December 2005

Ryan your an idiot. This is the best mmo out there..to bad your to much of a noob to like it.

nthnaoun · December 2005

Originally posted by Elnator

Originally posted by JulianDracos
The 2 hours can be deceiving. Take it as an average. Here is what I mean:

1. You need to get everyone there.
2. People need to get grouped up.

Yeah that's my problem with raids. Typically 1&2 alone burn up over an hour... usually 2 unless you have a very well organized guild.

Hell in EQ I've seen raids take 3-4 hours to get going. Was one of the main reasons I ended up quitting EQ. I always loved doing raids, be it dragon, planar, whatever. I just hated the 'sit around for 2-3 hours waiting for everyone to friggen get there'. And the really organized guilds typically don't cater to the 'casual' players. So folks like me who love to raid but hate waiting around have a hard time getting into the really organized guilds....

Unfortunately no game that has raiding is going to get around #1 and #2... no matter how good the game is you're dependant on the players to get to where they need to be in a timely manner. The "Be there in X more kills when I ding" syndrome is a royal pain.

Guess I'll stick to the casual servers... Don't have to worry about it there

I played Mid on Lancelot and I didn't have these problems. Our Alliance would schedule a raid and if the people didn't show up on time they didn't go. We never had the problem of being short on people either. We only waited a couple minutes on LD's also. Everyone knew the itinerary too. They knew which steps would be done and how loot would be distributed afterwards. All this was posted on our Alliance forums usuallly a month in advance. These raid leaders would run these raids around every month and a half and took a lot of time organizing these things. So we always had plenty of people to show up ON TIME and all went well.

razzielle · December 2005

posted by mockingbyrd2-I'm on the free trial, too. I'm a bit disappointed, but maybe its because the really fun part comes in at higher levels, in RvR. Could someone explain to me exactly how RvR works? I might get into this game.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You can actually experience rvr at level 1 although I must warn you at that level peeps like to use seige weapons instead of their skills since weapons like the ballista can pretyy much one shot a lowbie of that level. Level 15-19 BG (battleground) is when the action starts comingin a little more. You earn realm points as well as experience. After aquiring so many realm points you receive a realm skill point which you use to improve your character further. When you talk to a trainer you can see the area beneath your skills that has small deals like augmented <stat>, Mystic crystal lore, charge, etc. Some of these are pure crap and some will make a world of difference, especially in rvr.

Level 20-24 the battleground is Thidranki and is one of the most popular. Here is where you will truly see the reasons to RVR. The point is to make a grp (you can solo but theres alot less survival) and go out to fight enemy groups who have the same purpose. you want to make you skills in whatever you do as effective as possible for your party. Now while you can go around running from area to area to your hearts content theres a few other fun things to do.

The way each map is set up is each realm has a starting player keep located on the edge of the map and in a triagle formation so theyre apart from each other. Don't run up to the enemy keeps unless you want a instant death although it is fun to zerg them and place bets on who gets closest to the door. From these keeps you run out into the battlefield where other players and mobs chill. In the center of the map is the center keep. It is each realms goal to take this keep and the current ck holder responsibility to defend it. Kinda like capture the flag on steroids. When you take the keep you earn alot of experience and realm points. In the later bg's your guild can actually claim keeps and upgrade them making it harder to take. Ay time during a seige you can utulize a trebuchet, ballista, catapult, and ram (or a battlebarg in the level 41 all water map and make people crap their pants!)

It is possible to level in the bg's although not recommended. Even though alot of mobs tend to be in out of the way corners certain players love to go around and check EVERYTHING. I will say though that on every map there is a special monster that drops really nice magical items.

So overall all rvr is about killing other players and showing them who's boss. Just do us a favor and dont be mean with the emotes or you might find someone like me who makes it theyre sole purpose the rest of the game to kill you and only you no matter what the cost.

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