[OT] Dark Age of Camelot!

[Mark]

Please tell me all about this game, if you have a few moments.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

It is an MMORPG that can be played casually. You can solo your way to 50th level, unlike Evequest. Sure, it will take you a long time and it will be easier to group, but you -can- do it.

What exactly would you like to know?

 

[WizarDru]

Tastes differ and opinions vary. I know some folks who've played it, and they returned to EQ. Those in question played both AC, UO, EQ and DAoC. Much of the content was still being formulated in the game at that point. There is a great deal of emphasis on the Player-versus-Player game, specifically the realm versus realm aspect. Some people enjoy this a great deal, and it appears to have a large appeal for those who do. Experience point rewards are somewhat odd in their delivery (which is not necessarily bad, but again, YMMV).

Those friends of mine who did play found the game rather dull, if you weren't interested in participating on said raids on the frontiers. The game is noticably short on quests of the traditional type, and monsters can only be fought successfully based on your level (again, not necessarily bad, but limiting...primarily to prevent the act of power-leveling).

The combat options are more varied than Everquest, but as I understand it, only cosmetically. Ultimately, most of them found it to be an imitator of EQ, with a few innovations to make it slightly different. Since they had already sunk a large amount of time and effort into the game, they saw little point to restart from scratch, so to speak.

I personally find Asheron's Call much more suited to the casual player than either EQ or DAoC.

 

[Mark]

It is an MMORPG that can be played casually. You can solo your way to 50th level, unlike Evequest. Sure, it will take you a long time and it will be easier to group, but you -can- do it.

What exactly would you like to know?

I've got a buddy who's sworn off EQ and I just want to be able to discuss it with him within a general frame of reference. The kind of stuff WizardDru is posting is good (Thanks, W-Dru! ) but also any game mechanics that differ from other MMORPGs, summary of player info (so I can avoid slogging through the process, since I'm not playing myself), personal experiences, etc.

Thanks for the responses so far!

 

[The It's Man]

It's only a model.

 

[WizarDru]

I've got a buddy who's sworn off EQ and I just want to be able to discuss it with him within a general frame of reference. The kind of stuff WizardDru is posting is good (Thanks, W-Dru! ) but also any game mechanics that differ from other MMORPGs, summary of player info (so I can avoid slogging through the process, since I'm not playing myself), personal experiences, etc.

Glad to be of help.


For a frame of reference, how familiar are you with other MMORPGs? This might help to give some references.

As with most MMORPGs, DAoC features the usual assortment of creating a character, fighting monsters, gathering treasure and increasing your skills over time. IIRC, experience is awarded as a point value, similar to Asheron's Call (as opposed to EQ's nebulous 'bubble' system), but rewards for quests scale with the level of the player. For example: performing what EQ'ers normally call a 'Fedex Quest' (the act of taking an Item from one NPC to another, and being rewarded) will give x.p. based on you, not the quest. So if a level 2 character takes bread from the baker to hungry sam, he'll get 50 x.p., while a 25th level character might get 250,000 x.p. Opinions vary on the function of the system, but there it is.

Monsters are classified by color (Green, Yellow, and Red), and that indicates whether you can kill it, or at least get x.p. from it. The idea here is that if you somehow manage to kill a creature far more powerful than you should be able to, you don't get experience for it. I personally don't like this system, but I understand the rationale behind it. On the surface, it appears that a large part of DAoC is designed to prevent power-leveling with the help of more powerful patrons (something that AC actually encourages, ironically enough).

Like EQ's latest expansion, DAoC incorporates horses, but unlike EQ, where they're a possesion (and their value there is another topic entirely), DAoC basically makes them into overglorified Taxis. And unlike the magic portals one might find in AC or UO (and some parts of EQ, I think), you actually have to ride the horse to your destination. If you want to get off sooner, you have to literally jump off.

DAoC has a much more interesting character progression, as far as classes go. Characters can specialize to a large degree, and branch from one class into specialist classes, each with their own special abilities. There are interesting abilities to each class (or so I'm told), and they all have different feels to them.

That give you the kind of info you're looking for?

 

[BiggusGeekus]

I disagree with an above poster that DaoC's combat system mirrors EQ. DaoC's combat styles are very different and things like positioning and weapon choice matter much more.

I LOVE that DaoC uses trivial loot code. One thing that bugged me about EQ is that a player could run around and kill stuff that was 30 levels below him and while he wouldn't get experience he could still loot the monster's stuff. While "realistic" this led to farming where a charcter who was much too powerful for a zone would kill all the monsters for easy loot. This does not happen in DaoC. All the monster loot mysteriously vanishes. (the exception for this would be quest items, but you have to have the quest for the quest item to drop).

I like the kill quests. In EQ if you get a quest to kill a monster, you go, you read the cheat boards to find out where the monster is supposed to spawn (or get fantastically lucky), and then perhaps wait in line for the monseter to show up. In DaoC everyone in the group that kills the monster who has the quest gets the quest item. This leads to odd things like everyone in the group getting the head of a given guy. However, there are far fewer hard feelings in DaoC than in EQ.

That's actually the big selling point for me. DaoC is more of a game. EQ tries to simulate a fantasy experience.

But, as they say, your milage may vary.

 

[Mark]

That give you the kind of info you're looking for?

Absolutely! This kind of insight is bringing me up to speed much more quickly than otherwise possible. Thank you very much!

I LOVE that DaoC uses trivial loot code. One thing that bugged me about EQ is that a player could run around and kill stuff that was 30 levels below him and while he wouldn't get experience he could still loot the monster's stuff. While "realistic" this led to farming where a charcter who was much too powerful for a zone would kill all the monsters for easy loot. This does not happen in DaoC. All the monster loot mysteriously vanishes.

My buddy mentioned this as one of the main reasons he is switching games to DAoC.

(the exception for this would be quest items, but you have to have the quest for the quest item to drop).

I like the kill quests. In EQ if you get a quest to kill a monster, you go, you read the cheat boards to find out where the monster is supposed to spawn (or get fantastically lucky), and then perhaps wait in line for the monseter to show up. In DaoC everyone in the group that kills the monster who has the quest gets the quest item. This leads to odd things like everyone in the group getting the head of a given guy. However, there are far fewer hard feelings in DaoC than in EQ.

My friend described this differently, though he's new so he may be mistaken. It's his take that only one gets the quest treasure, but groups form around these quests, since several people might be on the same quest but only one can get the prize. He's says that the quest and its prize regenerate after a period of Real Time, and the group goes out again to get a quest prize for the next person in line in the group. They continue this process until everyone has gotten their quest completed. At least, I think that is how he described it.

That's actually the big selling point for me. DaoC is more of a game. EQ tries to simulate a fantasy experience.

It certainly seems like DAoC is at least trying to avoid some of the major complaints leveled against EQ.

Thanks to you both for the info. If you think of anything else, please, let me know.

 

[SJGiant]

One thing they are forgetting

The one thing everyone has forgotten so far is the point of the game. You can compare the major games out, but DAoC was all about two things in the end. Being a crafter, or PvP. It was really easy to get close to 50 playing casually and in theory hitting that 'end game'. I won't bother going into the other points of the game since everyone else has already.

Levels 1-40 literally fly by. Find yourself a group and one of the many good camping grounds and you will level a few times a weekend, even at the higher levels. Once you do that, you can now camp the high level dungeon for your equipment (with the other 100 people on the server). Now you are ready to go on raids and kill the other realms.

Their big selling point was taking over keeps and the like, but they failed to mention.. there is no point to it. The keeps are insanely easy to take with a medium size force of people if they are unoccupied with realm members of any number. If the other realm is there, forget it, its impossible to take even with siege equipment. It got very boring quickly this way.

The other side of the coin was crafting, which could be fun and a way to make money (at least it was until they toned down the profits) got insanely boring and extremely tough at the higher levels. Once you got close to the 600 skill mark, it would take anywhere from 6-10 tries at 1+ minutes each to finnish the item you were making and that wouldn't even guarantee you any types of skill gain. If you lost any materials, you could very easily take a loss on that assignment. The high level crafting was left to the guilds that could afford to cash hunt or a very dedicated crafter that leveled, cash hunted the bigger critters and crafted as well.

I don't mean to sound like the game isn't fun, it is and can be for awhile, but it quickly falls into aggrevating frustration. If you like to read books, be a crafter and get lots of reading done. If you like large battles where little to no skill is needed, you will enjoy the PvP system. Some solo PvP is possible, but with the aggro system of the monsters, its a major chore for anyone but archers.

Sorry for being so long winded, just wanted to show you the other side. I would still try the game though, I enjoyed it for a time during beta and my first 4 months as a skald and thane.

J~

 

[Mark]

Thanks, J~! Sounds like good stuff to keep in mind. I'll pass all of this info onto my buddy if he wants it. If not, at least I'll understand what the heck he's talking about!