2 years on, thoughts

RavenX

Fledgling Freddie
Joined
Jan 22, 2004
Messages
2
Well, not 2 years for me ... more like 1.5 years, but a whiles anyway.

(apologies for long text, I'm bored ;-))

When I first saw this game I thought 'God that looks boring', but after looking over someone's shoulder for about a month I thought there might be something to it. So, having found the 'kill mob' button (F6) it actually was quite interesting killing the same monsters 10, 100, 10,000 times over. From there on its a little hazy, but then it was a time before BG, SI, DF ...

I remember the first trip into Emain - I wonder if there ever was any active RvR anywhere else ... - as a lvl 30-something n00b following the Zerg, and thinking some dramatic thing had happened when we got through the MG (well, at level 30 it is pretty dramatic ;-). That was a time when to get an RvR group meant being 40-something, preferably 45+. As a cleric you were viable at 45, and Ravenx spent a good 6 months at that level running around Emain, helping out on the odd epic and roaming pennines. There was usually some kind of attack on the relic keep every month, or even week. Usually getting wiped in a few seconds by irate hibs, but it was fun to run through the frontiers rather than the 3-point APK->DC->MPK.

Since then ... graphics updates, a few bug fixes. So no more "gfx bug, relog", but then it was never going to get much prettier than sunrise over Humberton, or sunset behind Jamtland Mountains.

Well playing the Cleric got a little tiresome (and getting 2-shotted by Zerkers), so time to make use of one of those 4 slots ... cabalists were a little played, little understood character with pets. So heading onto a path of matter, single dotting mobs, praying the pet would hit occasionally, running around like some headless chicken while the 6 ticks went slowly past. Somewhere in there BG appeared, with the novelty of flinging spells across bridges, while watching out for side-attacks. There was the amusing time when the doors were upgraded to level 8 (?), which took a little while for elm-rams to take down.

The appearance of SI - then DF - brought the Cleric upto 50 (like trees, only taking half the time). Tangler's made short work of the cabalist's levels, and those pesky lvl 30-40 chaining groups were never to be seen again. And all those unguilded, /anon, cabalists ...

Somewhere in those mists of time crafting came in, rogs appeared, keeps got claimed, relic raiding became the preserve of the alarm clock and log-in, homes were made, and necro's PLed a thousand infiltrators.

I find it odd that - for me - the best and worst of DaoC/excal has played out in the last couple of months. The sheer scale of organisation of relic raiding at prime-time, the deflation of that effort being undermined by underhand attacks, the 3-hour marathons of AMG fights, desperate holds at keep doors. But then, the interest wanes, the fights disappear, the players return to their FotM's and Emain.

Its difficult to think outside of being a long-time player, but it feels like a lot of the gameplay that kept me playing has been chipped away. Item inflation, crafting, buffbots, expansion packs have undermined a lot of the variety, questing and general interest in the 'world'. RvR isn't a challenge, its unbalanced trite. Why does one side win in RvR? Skill? The RA's, crafting, and buffbots? Realm balance? Relics? I die because someone's hitting me for 400 a tick, or they have 3 mates behind them all hitting /assist.

So I guess my tenure here is drawing to a close. F6 no longer holds interest, relic fights are rarer than a French technician at weekends, and the casual player need not apply to RvR.

So I guess the question is - if there is one - am I just bored of this, or has the game gone down-hill?

/salute to the most RvR active server in the world
 

Sissyfoo

Fledgling Freddie
Joined
Dec 22, 2003
Messages
2,814
I think Mythic have made a pretty shoddy attempt at correcting some things and done a good job at fixing others.

SC has totally ruined the end game for most people because now there is no reason to go out and look for items when you can just make an even better one at the forge. Buffbots have made the game totally unbalanced for the casual gamer over the more dedicated player and this is something that mythic should have done something about a loooong time ago...but they didn't because they are greedy bastards like most companies.

They have made an attempt to revitalise the RvR side of the game which is a good move but it still remains to see how it will work out. At the moment RvR is either all about zerging or about which group has the most twinked out players. For a casual player this is a pretty crappy state of affairs because they neither have time to twink out like other people or the inclination to join one of the mindless zergs.

I think the problem I had was mainly due to the players. People have been playing this game too long and they have become jaded and greedy. There used to be a certain magic in the game when I first started playing but now everyone is all about power leveling their latest toon or camping out some epic mob or dungeon with the rest of their guild so that they can claim all the loot. Dungeons are crammed with necros and their afk infi companions. If you accidently pull one of their mobs you get a variety of insults hurled at you until you log off in disgust or move somewhere else. Its like being back at the tanglers but about 2x worse and 1000x more common.

Up till now I was really begining to miss this game but after writing this post and thinking about it, I am really quite glad I quit.
 

Bishibosh

Fledgling Freddie
Joined
Jan 4, 2004
Messages
291
I can remember taking my first char, a lvl 15 arms to emain, where he was one-hit killed by a ranger. This totally pissed me off, and to start with I thought "Ok im not going back til 16 or 17, then I decided instead to roll a scout as they could 1 hit kill people from a loong way away and it was so overpowered (yes i was a dissilusioned FOTM). I think it was the only time in history that a S/S arms has failed to block an arrow from the front (i was grey tho admittedly :)), and I now wish that it had been a nightshade that 1 hit killed me and id rolled an inf instead ;}
 

Shneddi

Fledgling Freddie
Joined
Dec 22, 2003
Messages
167
Sissyfoo said:
I think the problem I had was mainly due to the players. People have been playing this game too long and they have become jaded and greedy. There used to be a certain magic in the game when I first started playing but now everyone is all about power leveling their latest toon or camping out some epic mob or dungeon with the rest of their guild so that they can claim all the loot.
yeh.. that sums it up .. sadly :mad:
 

Bishibosh

Fledgling Freddie
Joined
Jan 4, 2004
Messages
291
basicly DaoC - Been there, done that, installed the cash-in expansion.... been to about 3 areas in it, seen all I need to see... right, emain again. Thats my feelings towards Daoc now, theres nothing truely new anymore
 

M® Zîllâ

Fledgling Freddie
Joined
Jan 22, 2004
Messages
155
2 years on and i havent got a clue what keeps me intrested in the game :mad: well thats a lie the odd solo or duel fight in odins gives me a buzz :clap: shame them damn hibbys wont stop ganking me bah!! ;)
 

Night

Fledgling Freddie
Joined
Dec 23, 2003
Messages
749
I agree, but dont agree this is most rvr active server :p
Lyonesse has 19 rr10's and 19 rr9's in hib alone :eek2: some are even on thier second rr10 =/
 

Archeon

Fledgling Freddie
Joined
Dec 29, 2003
Messages
2,047
The single biggest whine i have about playing DAoC was the Realm Abilities.

I mean its a joke, lets take the classic example - IP. It heals for more than the Healers 100% instant heal (which is based on HP Before Buffs according to our good friends at GoA & Mythic). Ok, so its double the timer but its still fuckin rediculous.

Lest we forget BoF, SoS, GP, PR (i'l err on this one, as i lack a better Mid specific example), MoC. Even the previously lesser known ones such at Det, MoA and such are slowly becoming notorious as 'must have' RA's

And then you get the weak ass class specific ones, I.E. Static Tempest - i mean its crazy. I seriously hope Mythic sorts their shit out when they finish the RA review, though that said the 'style review' they did a while back hasn't exactly got me brimming with confidence.

And yet for some freakishly devilish reason, i still enjoy playing. I still like going out to RvR, i still like wondering around the epic dungeons (roll on 1.65 so i can do TG raids again w/o worrying about focused mobs :D). I won't say that games like WoW don't have me tempted. Hell, i'm definatly going to check it out when its released in europe. But for the moment for all its flaws, bugs and whiny bitch ass players (you know who you are ;)) i still enjoy DAoC.
 

Sohan_thc

Fledgling Freddie
Joined
Jan 21, 2004
Messages
111
Yeah been here about good 1,5 year little longer.

remeber the time with NO s.c. NO d.f. so ppl did fight about drops
now ppl salvage it.

Gobbo hill and as an arms i had to cripple those little one's CRIPPLE FFS !!! ;)
First run into rvr was around 40 man swetty mouse here and ofc killed like insta :twak:
Lots have changed for good and for bad , si was a good upgrade to the game.
s.c. has ruiend the drop system but for the economy were we pay houses etc from it is great. only thing we mis is tho have effects like flames to be added to youre weapons.

Most odd thing i see is, there are lots of ppl comming and going all the time,
but the ppl who managed to get some form of level in RR stay along for long time. ppl change from guild to guild or even realm but the player base contains lots of really long players.

Lets see what toa brings , think we be having some fun till the summer time.
could use some new rvr ground , running around emain done for a year , odin is still some fun , and HW is still hard to find :)
 

Boobz

Loyal Freddie
Joined
Jan 5, 2004
Messages
317
Well im still playing, after all this time.
I have quit and come back more times than i care to count, my current stint being one of the longest.

I wouldnt say i still get the fun out of it that i used to, but i enjoy it to a point. When i dont, i do something else, and here lies the key. Most people say "god im bored of this" and im like "hey, you have been logged in for 7 hours straight...what do you want for £8 a month?"
No game will keep you occupied for 14 hours a day, every day for 2 years +, but DAOC came pretty close.

My favourite thing in the whole game has got to be the Music at Humberton :D This alone reminds me of my first day playing, which was a lot of fun, if not a little overwhelming. Luckily i had other members of the Brotherhood to help out!

My least favourite thing so far was the recent Mid Alarm clock raid which successfully took our relics. I dont want this to be another Bash the mids thread, or RR whine thread, its just this particular incident really left me feeling disapointed, and im sure anyone who helped win/defend these relics/keeps on occasions prior to that can identify with me on this.
Im not saying they were wrong or right, although anyone who knows me knows how i feel about it. I just felt slighted, that we didnt have the chance to defend.
What this raid did do though, was give us a week of insane RVR action, along with a daily crashing of the servers. Still a lot of fun though.

Anyway all in all im still enjoying it. And probably will for a while to come.
 

Hercules-DF

Fledgling Freddie
Joined
Dec 22, 2003
Messages
227
game seems to of lost is awe factor now everythings been seen and done and seeing a lvl 50 isnt a big deal anymore, i still have nightmares about gobbos tho, "CRIPPLE!" and the hit sounds. urh urh urrrrrh. ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH
 

Auriel

Fledgling Freddie
Joined
Jan 7, 2004
Messages
375
About 1.5 years here too. Every so often I look at one of Kirstena's maps and go off somewhere I've never been before... especially deep in the frontiers, I've still not seen everything. I remember finding an albion NPC called Rob Ria in Forest Sauvage who sold me arrows despite me being a Hib! Good ol' neutral faction merchants ;) I'm still finding surprises!

Lots of things have kept me interested... RvR ticks over nicely, and I'm still learning new tricks... alts can be a breath of fresh air, and I'm tempted to make something in Midgard / Pryd too sometime.

I'm about 80% happy with my class... although the other 20% is seriously shafted :m00: Expansions / patches have brought a ton of new stuff, some good, some bad, but all of it interesting... ToA is going to be a good and bad thing, but Frontiers sounds mostly good at the moment. There's at least another year in it before I'll get bored :cheers:
 

chipper

Can't get enough of FH
Joined
Jan 15, 2004
Messages
1,874
ill never forget the very first time i logged on in open beta it was my very first 3D mmporg and i was awe struck i fell in love with daoc the quests runnin around gettin chased by shit meetin people it was magic and fun and i made some great friends who i really miss.
i loved daoc i wanted to play it all the time there was a real sense of challenge getting to level 50 you where well chuffed if you got a rare piece of armour there was a sense of camaraderie, if a relic got attacked EVERYONE went if you where attacking EVERYONE went, no one used to give a shit about adding in a fight in rvr

the magic is gone out of DAOC which really is saddening ill never forget how great that game used to be and the ppl i met and the way i used to feel when i played it


i do believe the most fun i had in this game was in <praetorians>right up to where we got SI then it started slipping
:drink:
heres to all the old krew hope your all havin fun in whatever your doin
 

AngryKid

Fledgling Freddie
Joined
Dec 30, 2003
Messages
342
My thoughts on this matter follows below. I must say I Have played this game in soon to be two years, with almost 8 months semi away from daoc. Only playing a month last summer, then I was out of the game to start of september last year. I've back now, and enjoy the game still. It has some features I don't like, and some that I do like.

The ones that I don't like are the rudeness of some peoples in this game. Alot of whine comes out from rude people and I don't like that very much. The game has it flaws, which of recently has stroke my guild mostly, cause we get dragged into the mud by someone calling the entire guild for cheaters. Fair enough, I can live with that.

In the beginning, I was introduced to this game by my very good friend Meekur/Meeka. Some of you might have heard or seen him in game. He was one of the first kobold hth savages. He was called a gimp when he started, and was laughed at. Great to see that he now is a fotm :-D

Anyway, I sat on his bed looking at his screen when he was lvl 30 something with his first character, a hunter. I pointed at a wolf and said: kill that one. He laughed at me and said it was a red con, no way he would be able to kill it. I didn't understand what a red con is, so I just laughed with him. Now I know what a red con is, and the one thing that never seems to amaze me, is how different it is from the early days.

Seriousl, if you got hit by a red con mob, you would most likely loose shitloads of HP! Now, it's not more than 5% of your hp, if your armour and resists are resistant to it.

Oh well, I go off mumbling by myself here now. The fun things in daoc are still the nice peoples from every realm, those makes the game more fun than anything out there today. I've been roaming in Odins lately with CE, and my oh my we get some good fights. We try not to add on fg vs fg fights, and we try not to add on stealthers vs stealthers. at least we try. Not everytime we can do it, but when we does, it makes me actually feel good for not ruining the gameplay for another fellow player.

Sure there are some differences between the realms, and we always, without question, loose against high RR hibs. That is the one thing that keeps me going, for on the first day of defeat of that hib group, I will most likely be exhausted after a long fight!! And it will be a good fight also.

That is one of my goals in this very game. So DH. :) Challenge is up some day.

Think I've been going on enough now. I still miss the old days of daoc, but I won't return to them. I feel fine here in this version of the game, where I as a shaman (low dmg output) still manages to kill red con mobs. And who would've thought that back in the early days of DAoC :)

Signing out, more RP's tomorrow. Stay safe, and sleep tight.
 

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