DARK AGE OF CAMELOT
Or "How I stopped waiting and learned to love Migard"
So lads, Dark Age of Camelot. A game you guys may remember fondly. 3 realms, 45 classes, 21 races, 50 levels of exp, 10 Master Levels, 10 Champion levels and 13 Realm Ranks but just one hell of a game. We currently are fighting for the Midgard realm, a realm of Nordic traditions and such. We are located on the Gareth server cluster, so be sure to choose the right one. The Gareth server cluster is the 'classic' server cluster, which was introduced a while back.
Basically what was happening was that RvR was beginning to be too wild. People we abusing ToA by grabbing all the artifacts and high level gear that pretty much alienated others and made them very tough and it is frustrating when you come across a mage who doesn't run out of power or a tank who simply will not die. So Mythic took a poll and made optional "classic" servers in which the lands, items and races from ToA simply do not exist. It's for the best.
It seems plenty of us are well aware about WAR and Mythic putting out something that we long for, but who is Mythic? They were the ones who back in 2001 released Dark Age of Camelot, which really reinvented PvP back then. Before Camelot, PvP was very premature, what with horrible lag on a 56k modem and griefers and unbalanced classes ahoy, it's no wonder that PvP had some problems but Camelot was one of the few games to do it so damn well so very early on. 7 years later, the game is still going strong and has seen a great number of upgrades, updates, and new flashy fun stuff with still having the best PvP system out there, rewarding players with additional abilities and other tangible rewards instead of a simple title like other games.
Similarities with WAR:
It's not going to be a new thing to find that Warhammer Online will have some features, maybe even easter eggs from Dark Age of Camelot. So, let's go down a short list of what DAoC has that WAR will have, just in case you care to familiarize with the basic mechanics.
+ Great RvR/PvP system. Not quite the same as WAR's but it would be a good thing to get a feel for how the combat works. From a spectator's view, it looks like a bunch of madmen running around, but there is method to the madness.
+ Spec lines. Specialize in whatever you want to do. If you want to be a heavy sword wielding troll, then go ahead and do so or if you want to have really nice AE magical attacks, read up on each of the 45 classes and go from there.
+ Keeps and Sieges! If we level up enough, we can head into some of the RvR battlegrounds and kick some ass that way. Getting siege weapons and other good stuff while we take a battleground keep. Easier said than done.
The Expansions:
Shrouded Isles
A war torn region was added as well as a handful of new graphics to Camelot as it's first expansion.
Trials of Atlantis
Arguably one of the more irksome releases. Mythic essentially created a whole expansion made for high level end game content that people ended up abusing and felt necessary to go through in order to compete in RvR. The old system has been replaced by a new in which you can actually buy artifacts and goods with bounty points you get from RvR. Sounds good to me, no need to amass 40 man raids anymore.
Catacombs
One of the finer expansions, adding 5 new classes and instanced dungeons but the real good stuff is the new player models and new environments. In the capital city you can go down into the lower crypts and other fun spooky places to level up. Instead of doing things as you may have done on the surface a few years ago, catacombs now provides another storyline to follow deep underground if you want to taste something new.
Darkness Rising
Adding plenty more end game, Darkness Rising added champion levels which take your character even further and allowing them to pick up 10 more new abilities as well as champion weapons in a new high level story arc given from the King himself! In this expansion is also the new Darkness Falls facelift and additions as well as great mounts to customize and control.
The Labyrinth of the Minotaur
Often rumored to be the final commercial for Camelot, the Lab added in a fuck-awesome new RvR dungeon called the Labyrinth which is advertised as the largest PvP dungeon in any game, and it really is fricking huge. The dungeon was designed pretty damn well and I have had some of the best action from the Lab. The Lab expansion also comes with a new minotaur race for every faction as well as a new hybrid fighter, the mauler.
Resources!
Download the Free Trial.
CC# required, and if you just buy 1 month subscription, you get all the expansions except for the Labyrinth of the Minotaur and Darkness Rising. DR is simply end game content for the Darkness Falls dungeon and other good stuff while the Minotaur is a new race available to all 3 realms and a new hybrid class, the mauler. Damn good deal to play the game and all it's expansions for just $15 a month, I'd say.
The Camelot Herald!
This is the official website if you want to find out more or give feedback or anything else.
Players List:
"Luckycynic" played by Me.
"Praey" played by Draeven.
"Angorn" played by Last Son.
'Maraxuck" played by Maraxus94.
"Figgums" played by Fig-D.
"Myrai" played by CmdPrompt.
"Kalharath" played by SmokeScreen.
"Khazrak" played by KingMole.
"Narrbot" played by Robothero.
"Lorkun" played by Murphy.
"Elerrus" played by urahonky.
"Thronk" played by Dissociator.
"Talaryn" played by Murphy.
Also, More of Mole's Alts.
Svirn the Skald
Kesselis the Berserker
Khrazak the Runemaster
Iskestal the Shadowblade
Cunovirioem the Warrior
Kessral the Spiritmaster
IMPORTANT!
Oh, and one more note, currently I and others are in the Midgard Tutorial zone. Mythic created a new tutorial for Camelot not too long ago, and since have exploded it into a full sized zone, though it is separate from the rest of the realm and you cannot re-enter once you leave. This is a good way to get from level through 10 or so and I suggest that we all stick together.
Posts
Midgard gareth right ?
Also My main chr on Gareth sharvalla is a guild leader for the "fancy lads" was a pa guild when we did a game on for Daoc about 2 years ago.
Go to the downloads section of the camelot website and be sure to download it, it's a good way to get refreshed and into camelot again.
I don't know if I'll get the chance to play today or not, though.
We should probably take advantage of the free month referrer a friend thing if at all possible.
Whooops, fucking clipboard. Fixed.
Downloading now. Will be playing a shaman.
we should prolly start compiling names here once we get a few more people on.
I'm way out of date. Last time I played was just before ToA came out. Leaning towards a 32/14/41 Heal/Aug/Sub build right now, though.
Btw, I managed to get in on some RvR in a dungeon. it was quite fun, got 3 kills in the mini darkness falls level 5-10 dungeon.
That there is me and the other savage, Maraxuck
I've played all the classes listed, or wasn't interested in them back then, so chomping on the new stuff would be nice.
EDIT: You can now also go down into the catacombs and enjoy beautiful catacombs player models as well. As seen in the before and after pictures above.
Whoops, that's right. Lemme fix that and add you assholes to the thread.
EDIT: Alrighty, all of us Middies are added to the thread. If anybody is missing, just post in the thread; my inbox is too full.
Should we begin arranging for how we should do RvR and such? There are ways and commands to turn on/off so we can reject exp and free levels. So we can maybe get up to level 24 or whatever and stay at that battleground. If we go up to 50, then we really risk some problems like assholes who are Realm Rank 10 and have all their uber abilities steamrolling over us, not to mention making people play for probably more than a month.
FFBE: 898,311,440
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/dElementalor
I'm actually rather enjoying the trip down memory lane. The only thing I'm not liking is the UI. It isn't terribly intuitive, like where the hell are my Option Menus? And sometimes when I get a quest I don't know I have it, just a lack of visual/audio notification. I did discover /quickbar 2 1 gives you anotehr quickbar to play with.
We really could use more magic casters, so a BD would be great, accault.
Btw, your quest journals are really handy. They really are sort of a mini tome of knowledge. In some quests, they actually will hold items within them. Like I have a disguise I have to put on, but the NPC doesn't directly give it to me to my inventory, they put it into my journal to which I open it up and can use it, without it taking up inventory slots and such. Just do /keyboard guys and set things up/memorize them.
Open up your journal, "J" IIRC, and then open up the bullet point and there should be a 'disguise' there and then click it and it will appear in your actual inventory and then /use it or equip it or whatever. This is a new feature that they added since people were having issues with quest items and full inventories and other stupid crap.
I bet that the WAR tome of knowledge will do something very similiar.
Actually it's $14, IIRC.
They also give you like bulk savings. Buy 3 months, they charge you all at once but it averages to be about $13 a month or so. 6 months and it's like $12.
But...
just like every other modern mmo on the market. yes.