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Kowtow to a dying good game
Elikal
Member UncommonPosts: 7,912
I know, I know... its not dying... people keep coming back... stuff. IMO its dying. The most crowded server has 1000-2500 players, spread over vast lands and most hide in instances since the addon Catacombs came. All other servers starve at 100-200 players, and logging into any of them is... depressing. Running through all those bare, empty lands just depressed me SO.
I tried the trial, and I must say it still looks nice and has quite a decent game system. It was and technically is a good game, but they really should merge those servers to 2 or 3 servers. Still, its on the verge of death and I really ponder why the make an addon still. Ok I know people keep games subscribed far longer than they play, but the few people who are there are either in the high end areas or most in the instances, so pretty much everything that makes an MMO fun - the living, buzzing life all around you - pretty much is gone.
From what I see it is a great game, but its the end of days, Ragnarok coming. It may run many years, don't get me wrong, but I can't advise any new player to start it now, alas. It's a pity for a real good game, but thats how I feel about it after the 14 day trial.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Comments
From the looks of the new addon, all that seems to be happening is just another instance or another cave for players to hide in causing the world itself to feel even less empty!!
Maybe in the future, with the corporate money Mythic wil lsoon be receiving, they can offer another expansion to update graphics, possibly lower the subscription price, consolidate more servers, and possibly start an aggressive advertising campaign to get people back in the world. I'd love to continue subscribing to this game, it just depresses me too much to long in :
FFXI: Gauhar - Odin
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
But I agree... most people just do instances.. as alot of DaOC players are not that interested in the PvE part and just want to level as fast as possible to go PvP. So for a new player it might be hard to find groups willing to explore the world.
As for starting as a new player on this game.. heck why not.. I myself only started last year.. tried WoW too, but tbh I hate questing and WoW seems to be catered for people that like quests / PvE.
The only suggestion I'd make to new players.. roll on the Gareth server (classic). On that server you won't find buffbots as rampant as on the other servers (buffbot = 2nd account with a toon on it that can buff your main toon). And it is also the highest pop server where alot of people level from 1-50 (whereas on the other servers, if you have a 50 on your account, you can instantly create a level 20, meaning very few level from 1-20).
The classic server has no access to the ToA zones though.. so you miss out on some content (the content is nice, but it provides for alot of very powerful items, which according to some are way too powerful).
A tip for people wanting to try it: you don't have to run to a store to get the complete game. Just download the 14-day trial.. and if you like it continue with that. All the expansions can be activated/bought in-game.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Mythic gave DAOC the death blow in Oct 2003 with the release of TOA. In a month, the amount of online players at peak times was cut by 1/3 after 6 months by more than 50%. The death blow that is TOA is still there and continues to hurt the game. They setup servers with no TOA to breath new life, but that only bought them some time, not a loyal fanbase.
They made a critical mistake in changing their core game. Pre-TOA, DAOC was awesome, I played is since release. After that, it was just wacked, never been the same.
I agree that DAoC is a dying game. And, I don't think Mythic understands why.
They had a great thing going in the beginning, it was fun and I always looked forward to logging on. Then they added TOA and created this huge extension of pretty much nothing new but scenery, making it time consuming for groups to get together and more time consuming for them to agree on a place to hunt. So, everyone started to RvR because it was easy for everyone to just stay at their main RvR portal keep. They split all the newbie characters into towns miles apart and since the more experienced players were out at RvR, the new players had nobody to group with and didn't know where to find other players if they wanted to. Basically, since TOA, they just kept adding band-aid fixes to try to make things better. I think they missed the point of why people played the game in the first place.
Basically, I think most people enjoy online games, after the initial amazement at the graphics and newness, because of the dynamic nature of it, if indeed, a dynamic nature is allowed to exist or is programmed into the experience. If you're in a group with seven or eight other people, it's those people who make it fun. Not the mobs, not the bright shiny lights and, dare I say, not even the XP, it's the people you play with who inevitably make your experience enjoyable. They make it enjoyable because they create a dynamic environment that is, by definition, constantly changing without any real effort or programming. After the newness wears off, people and their dynamic personalities, and how they are allowed or discouraged from interacting, make or break a game.
I've been playing online games for about twenty years and I've come to believe that, all 'n all, people go where people are and they do it for that reason. To have fun with other people, in a constantly changing 3D world, from behind the solitude of the glowing and flickering monitor in front of them. As to achieving that simple goal and trying to do it in Dark Age of Camelot, Mythic expanded the territory of the game at a time when most of their core players were achieving level 50. Basically separating the core players from new players and giving core players no reason to even acknowledge newbie’s. Depriving newbie’s of experienced help and companionship and making it very difficult for them to find other players to create a dynamic experience. Here, Mythic often depended on or perhaps hoped for help from guilds. But guilds, I'm not sure why but perhaps it's a little like freedom of religion (not that there's anything wrong with that), seem to isolate people from each other rather than unite them. People tend to talk to their guild mates and not many others.
Take away the inherent dynamic nature and fun of playing in a full group with other players and people begin to look for other ways to play. They can fall into the black hole of RvR and it's certainly, by default, a dynamic environment. Leveling alone is certainly not a dynamic environment after you've achieved about your twenty-second level. Then it's simply repetition and very often dull. Well, unless you're drinking heavily and then it can very well seem dynamic.
So now Mythic is convinced that RvR is the way to go and their planning the release of Warhammer, a game that sounds to be focused on RvR and not much else. Which to me sounds a little like saying, "Well, all of the food in the house has gone bad so let's eat next door." I'd guess they're expecting most of their core players from DAoC to go to Warhammer and then what? Maybe EA-Mythic games, and they certainly have the experience for it, is looking for a way to save DAoC after the fall. (Actually I can't think of an example where EA has saved anything, but I can think of many examples of them doing the same thing over and over again only with different scenery. Kind of like leveling. And EA games has surely leveled far, far beyond 50. )
Anyway, I think Mythic should focus on encouraging players to play with other players. Give them a few shiny flashy things and let people make their own dynamic environment and they will. The first rule of online game development should be, "People go where people are, but there's no reason to make it difficult for them".
post-script: I know hind-site is 20-20, next time I'll post some ideas for improving things
The bad thing about DAoC is when RvR isn't going on there really isn't much to do. Their PvE is nonrewarding, and just flat out boring. After level 20 even a newbie is as familiar with their class as they are going to be, until they get real experience in RvR. PvE doesn't bring any challenges, nor rewards. So, I think during that RvR downtime a lot of people just don't sign in, and that makes them end up cancelling.
Another bad thing is servers with low populations have a really boring frontier. On lamorak and ector cluster rvr just flat out sucks. There is action for about 30 minutes a day. This always drives players away. Again the boring rewardless PvE isn't going to keep people playing.
DAoC is a great game when there are people in the frontiers, and there aren't any casters around.
Most peaple that play DAOC dont play for the PVE they play for the PVP/RVR which is the best out ther now untill warhammer comes out any way
I'm afraid DAoC remains the best concept and execution of any pvp mmorpg regardless of the developers numerous attempts to screw it up.
I know this game is dying. I blame buffbots on this more than anything else. Why? Because back in the old days you had to find a group just to level. You had to learn to work with people. In rvr it was a MUST to get in a group, unless you were a stealther.
Then stealthers started using the buffbots and became overpowered. But since everyone started buying a second account to get a ONE UP on everyone else, mythic decided to allow buffs outside a group and any range to continue. I believe this killed those who couldnt afford 2 computers to run effectively 2 accounts or even had a powerful computer to run 2 at the same time.
If the buffbot issues had been taken care of lots of people would have stayed. TOA didnt kill this game.
But opinions aside, NO GAME IN MMORPG HISTORY can claim to have the excitement and drama of DAOC back in the old days. I remember fighting 300 mids at one mile gate and 200 albs on the other, alot of times causing teh servers to crash in the process. Everything was hectic and fasted paced! The battles were HUGE AND EPIC! 100's of peeps working in unisen to fight the good cause of protecting thier relics and keeps! Many a times I felt like I had just watched my team win or lose a superbowl after I logged off the game. Many a times I felt like I was IN IT!
What is even sadder is that no game comes close to the pvp it has. Not even WoW.
/salute DAOC of old.
End of Line.