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Thinking of coming back to the game.
figcoinc
Member Posts: 31
Well, coming back isn't really true. I played the game about 2 years ago for about 1 month. So it's more of I'm a new player who is thinking of joining up. Though I heard about the graphics upgrade and all the other stuff and it peaked my intrest. WOW, EQ2, FFXI and others haven't given me the fun I wanted. Though this game was a pleasent experience for the short time I played. I just have a couple questions.
1) How is the low level content?
2) Is there a big population of players still?
3) How hard is it to find a group and get along in this game?
4) I know PvP is a big thing in this game but how is the PvE content if I don't feel like PvPing at the moment?
5) How newbie friendly would you say the game is?
6) How has the community faired?
7) The structure of the game, class balances and whatnot; are they pretty balanced?
8) Is the game still pretty supported? Are the developers still doing as many updates and they once were? Or has it just become a sit and wait for the next expansion for the new stuff kinda thing?
Thanks all for answering these questions. It's been a long time since I played so I know a lot can change in a MMORPG during that time.
Thanks all. 
Comments
Hello Figconic,
I was in the same boat as you or close to it. I haved only played ONE MMO and that was City of X. I am thinking of returning here and have had ALOT of questions answered for me.
2 Threads I would direct you to is mine i posted a couple days again titled Brand new thinking of joining DAoC. Alot of the veteran players gave me alot of good and bad feedback there. then a
levles above me there is a FAQ question one posted by juliandracos that was very informative. It may be more informative to you because you have already experienced this game a little bit.
I hope that helps you some. but i did ask alot of the same questions.
SURGE
I'll look around some. I usually do that when I'm new to board but I was kinda half asleep when I typed that up...lol.
Oh well, if anyone can answer some of those questions or leave a comment....GREAT!
I'll search the board for other info......something my half-asleep behind should have done from the start.
I have only been playing the game for a little over a week, but I can answer some of your questions from my own noob's perspective. FYI I have played a lot of FFXI, WoW, and a couple weeks worth of EQ2. This one I can tell is going to be my favorite of all the fantasy mmo's that I have played.
1. There is a lot you can do on your own. There is a lot wilderness to explore, and if you have the expansions, you will get catacombs tasks which pay good and give good exp.
2. I purposely picked one of the smaller servers when I choose a server. It suits my taste so far.
3. Groups are easy, even on my small server. Guilds are eager to take in new recruits also
4. All I have done so far is PVE. there are plenty of quests, and you also have the catacombs tasks.
5. My guild is helpful
6. They seem to be mostly mature people
7. There are many, many classes to choose from? Im pretty sure they are balanced, but I havent played enough to know for sure.
8. Yes it is supported very well. Updates and patches are very common.
I would just tell you to go out to gamestop and purchase the $20 version with the expansions. You probably wont regret it. The biggest complaint I have so far is the lag when I ride a horse, or when you see a boat sailing by. The controls were a bit confusing, but now that I have them tweaked with my 6 button mouse they are great. The graphic engine is obviously old, but the game still looks very nice with the catacombs update.
The low level content is actually in the middle of being updated and redone. The starter towns were all very recently updated with new artwork and some new quests. A new tutorial was added a while back that does a great job imo. More major changes are still planned for the low level content and community as well.
Big is a relative term really, depends on what you consider big. I feel the population is still more than adequate to enjoy the game, and it is growing quite nicely as of lately.
All depends on you really. If you're one of those people who just stand around and expect a group to fall into their lap, then yeah, you might have a hard time finding one. But if you take the time to find a really good guild who fits your playstyle and is part of a large active alliance then finding a group shouldn't be a problem at all.
The PvE content is great imo. And the best thing about the game is they're completely seperated. Only in very limited areas do the PvP and PvE aspects of the game mingle. Generally if you are in the mood to PvE then that is ALL you have to worry about, unlike some of the other PvP games out there where you constantly have to look over your shoulder for someone 20 levels above you coming to gank you...
Well, as with any 4+ year old game the community as a whole has aged/matured. The average level is a lot higher than some of the newer games on the market. But in my experience I've found the community to be very newbie friendly. It is commonly considered to be one of the best communities on the market as far as friendliness and helpfulness go.
See above. The answers about Population and to #5 pretty much cover this one I would think...
In a game with 44 different classes Balance naturally isn't the easiest thing to achieve and maintain. A lot of people look at it wrong... Balance in DAoC isn't done for the most part on the Class Level, but rather on the Realm Level. Are there some issues that need to be worked out still? Probably, but then again, I don't think there's a perfectly balanced game on the market nor will there ever be unless both "sides" have the exact same classes/skills/abilities/items/races/etc. And really, what fun is that?
Still greatly supported, I mean heck, they pay me to read forums and answer questions like yours, can't beat that.
There are still patches coming down the pipe all the time, with some very nice content in them. A lot of classes are going through some major changes right now, in the positive manner, and thats all being done in patches and updates. Definitely still some good stuff going on with the game. 
Hope those helped answer your questions, if you have more please don't hesitate to ask.
Richard J. Cox
"There were much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible, and not a little of that which might have excited disgust."
Balance is not something people will agree on. They are making improvments to the assassin classes with the next patch and you will find people complaining because assassins are already too strong. Most of the time you will find some people (usually those that hang out at message boards espically at say VN) that will always insist that one class (or realm) is unbalanced.
Balancing is hard. Balancing is also hard for players to see. I mean not only do you have the class issue, but there are also players skills, realm rank, coordiniation between players, and the number of players participaiting in RvR that needs to be taken into account. Any or all of these can make some players think the game is unbalanced.
Ok I just joined up again. I have a few questions. Mainly of the interface.
1) Is there a way to increase the font size of the chat window. I see in the options menu a option to go to normal to small. It's all small to me. I don't want to blow up my resolution to just read the text without hurting my eyes.
2) I Want to edit my windows. Though I looked in the manuel and didn't see anything. I want to shrink on part and increase another. Is that possible.
So far all I've found to edit the interface is the transpancery option and the hold shift and left click to drag windows around.
Thanks all. I was to get back into the game but some things are really irking me. If I can't handle the interace then I won't enjoy myself.
To change the size of SOME windows you can click and hold on the top corner then drag it bigger or smaller. Another option to solve a lot of interface problems is using a player-made custom UI. Derida's is probably the most popular and it can be found here: www.derida.de
Richard J. Cox
"There were much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible, and not a little of that which might have excited disgust."