Dark Age of Camelot
Adrian drops by to deliver his thoughts on the phenomena.
Dark Age of Camelot (from hence-forth to be referred to as DAoC) by Mythic Entertainment, manages to set new standards for the Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game (MMORPG) Genre. Following in the footsteps of the giants that came before, namely the big three: Ultima Online, Everquest and Asheron’s Call; DAoC manages to borrow and enhance elements from each across the board, resulting in a game that is horrifyingly addictive and a total blast to play.
Online Roleplaying games, where the player purchases the game (usually with a free month) and then pays to play each month there after, are really beginning to come into their own. Mythic Entertainment, a relatively small and independent software development house, but with a solid resume of other titles behind it, has really thought hard about it’s latest contribution to the online genre. The result, DAoC, is beautiful to behold, fun to play, and challenges the player with a world with an absorbing storyline, smart computer opponents, and even the option of blasting or whacking other players in real-time.
Set in the period following the death of the legendary King Arthur, the game world of DAoC is separated into 3 different realms: Albion, the ancient kingdom of Arthur, Hibernia, a magical land loosely based on the Celtic myths of Ireland, and Midgard, based around the legends of Valhalla in the lands of Scandinavia. Each of the three realms has its own look, quests and equipment, resulting in a brand new way to extend the “freshness” or replayability of the game.
Players must first choose one of the 16 servers to call their “Home” and then must swear allegiance to one of the three realms. Once selected, that server and its four empty character slots are forever tied to that realm (preventing possible cheating by players with an inside knowledge of an enemy realm). Now the player is ready to select and create their character and prepare to enter the game world.
Character creation, where the player fleshes out his or her online persona is done very well, detailing information and options for the player and his chosen profession or “class”. Each character starts life at the first level of experience in one of the realms base classes. Although each realm has variations, these are typically split between the fighter class (those who specialize in hand to hand combat) the rogue class (Those who specialize in stealth and sneak attacks) the healer class (Those who heal, obviously) and the Mage class (Those who forego physical defense and attack skills to specialize in mystical arts). The character is further fleshed out at the 5th level of experience by further specializing in a subclass – for example a fighter could become a defensive warrior who masters armor and shields, a hybrid between a spell caster and a fighter who can heal as well as bear arms, or a lightning fast master of combat who concentrates on offensive damage at the expense of his (or her) own defense. To go into each of the separate subclasses would take far too long, and is best explored by visiting one of the many excellent fan-sites that have sprung up around this game.
Comments
I have had countless arguements with my girlfriend about the amount of time I spend in this game!
Fortunately I have got my wife addicted too. Life is much more peaceful now :)
I have been playing DAOC for about two weeks. I really got into it. Played for long periods of time. The game requiers massive amounts of time to make progress. The multiplayer aspect realy gives the game a new demension traditional RPGs do not have. BUT!!! The bottom line is this game is just like every other RPG I have ever played. The basic premis is Hack Hack the monsters over and over again until you gain a level. Rinse repeat. Do this over and over for hours and days on end. For those that like this type of game you will be happy with DAOC because there is no end to it. It goes on and on.
All games of this type are hack an slash but what really shines in this game, is that it's not* the only thing that you can do.
Trade skills, for example. Given a starting capital of 50 silver, even a level 1 can become a master crafter.
Quests: Not the boring EQ style quest, but quests that give you the warm and fuzzy feeling and sense of accomplishment after.
Tasks: Can be done to level 20 for money and experience. There is much more to it than hack 'n slash.
Most have commented that this game is fabulous, and they are entitled to their opinion, but what I find so utterly unappealing about this game is how all the NPCs and quests seem rather, well, plastic. The dialogue isn't that great, and the quests and storyline is not at all involving or gripping. A true roleplayer wants a world that has a system of politics, that is immersive, and that makes the individual feel as though he makes a difference. I don't get that feeling in DAoC. On the contrary, after you've killed enough things and worked out the "system," you eventually either make a character ideally suited to RvR, or you make one that is more for frontier battling. If you do the latter, you'll be bored out of your mind eventually. The game IS beautiful, but it gets so old once you've hit the mid 20s to 30s if you're NOT in it for RvR. So, plan on that being what you really want from this game, because everything else falls flat over time.
I'd say he pretty much got it all right. I've been playing since the beginning of Nov. 2001. I
would like to make one comment though. When it comes to RvR they (Mythic) have it right already.
You don't need an area for lower levels to go out on the frontier. As it is you can get to the
frontier with a 5th level as well. You'll get slaughtered more than likely, but it is the frontier.
Would you send a six year old to play football on a high school varsity team? No. There's a reason
RvR stands as high as it does.
While I believe that the system in place for Realm point rewards is first class. Lower level and casual players should be able to feel some of the thrill of victory.
My main is level 33, and I rarely if ever see any opposing realmers con lower than Red.
By introducing a "sandbox" style zone for casual RvR Mythic would be opening up a whole new avenue for people to get a glimpse of the main event.
Living in the UK I haven't yet tried the game but from what I've seen and heard it's very good.
I've clocked quite a lot of time in EQ and have to say that it can become very tedious at times. The fact that quests can be used for the purposes of decent quantities experience is pleasing and the idea of RvR conflict will no doubt remove the boredom that could often set into EQ.
My only question is: does DOAC remove the need to sit around in dungeons for hours at a time because that is the only place to get up levels?
I've played the game since it's release. At first I thought I finally found a home in the online RPG world. Well the honeymoon is over and I'm having buyer remorse.
RvR the highlight of this game isn't that great. It's about who can mez/stun the other guy first. Not to mention the lag is so god awful you'd be lucky to get 4 fps with a cable modemn and a high end machine.
Tradeskills are great until you find out higher level players have no need for player made goods. The "drops" they find in dungeons are far better then what any person can make.
The character balance is very lacking. Most of your melee classes find RvR almost impossible to play. To RvR succesfully you need to either be a caster or archer.
The game has unlimited potential but Mythic has been very slow on adding content. It still has problems from launch they have yet to correct. I only hope they get there act together and add more content before there player base starts to see how shallow of a game this is.
Until the game gets much needed attention from Mythic programmers I'd advise any potental buyers to wait awhile before purchasing this game.
Dungeons, as you'd expect, are very good places to get xp, however there are also lots of places one can go in the wilderness to find some very nice XP spots.
One thing I didnt mention in the review was the "Camp Bonus" this is an Exp bonus for killing creatures in a camp in a new area. THe more you move between camp to camp, the better the exp.
I have never found a problem in finding good xp groups. :)
This game is an 100% improvement over anything currently in the market to date. And like it's predecessors DAoC will also eventually fall to the Next Generation MMORPG, but untill then do not contemplate, aquire DAoC and play! As we speak the game is being updated, patched and improved. However you intend to interact in DAoC, RvR (Realm vs. Realm) is the centralized theme.
I NEED TO PLAY IT ... BUT IT WON'T WORK...help me!
yes... i've tried to get the updating thing to work... but it screws it up. I haven't played it at all cuz it says my connection is bad. How did u get it to work?
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One amazingly addictive game I just play it all day (age 14 on Summer holidays) :D
is there 1st person veiw
Dark age of camelot is fun ~ ;;
Dark Age of Camelot is outstanding, I love it!!
I think that Dack Age Of Camelot is a realy cool game and have a god game plat to. I have try'd it, and think it grade. now i want it my self. I love it. bøsser og stiv pik
does this game cost ? i mean
when you have bought it . does it have an internet cost ? tell me !
u suck
my computer crashes and lags witch prevents me from playing camelot
nothing
OUTSTANDING i just play way to much ;)