Anyone but me starting to feel...

[Das_Hibbie]

That the new anticipated mmorpgs (EQ2 and WoW) might not be affecting daocs playerbase all that much as people first thought? EQ2 seems not to be what it was hoped to be, and I've heard very mixed reviews about WoW also. However WoW seems the stronger of the two (EQ2 and WoW that is..).

Any thoughts/opinions?

 

[Flimgoblin]

what you mean when people shout DOOOOM! DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! it's not actually the end of the world? pah!

 

[Lendan]

Horny - was my guess for the missing word - but I was wrong! Durn!

Of course EQ2 hasn't had much of an impact as it isn't really designed for PVP, which most players of DAOC like (although in different sized doses)

I think WoW will have a bigger impact because it looks like it might provide good optional PVP.

 

[Helme]

I never had much faith in WoW and still dont, will try it out player base is guaranteed to drop when its released but many will prolly return after some time.

 

[Skilgannon]

It's gonna take something really special to kill DaoC, cause despite all the whining there is simply nothing else either in existence or nearing Gold that comes anywhere near it.

The original concept was a masterpiece and I feel that the only serious issue over the course of the last few years has been the somewhat knee-jerk reaction Mythic has displayed to ingame problems. I guess the reason is that Mythic developers/project managers cannot, by the fact that they work, be powergamers and therefore emulate or predict what some will do to extremes.

Can't see DaoC dying as such, and can't see a need for DaoC2 for quite some time. I think Mythic are also gonna struggle themselves with Imperator. Time will tell.

 

[cHodAX]

Getting rave reviews for WoW from my The Last Watch guildmates and also my old comrades at Lords of England. Of the 50+ people I know playing beta there is only one who doesn't think that the game is the dogs bollocks. 50 veteran MMORPG players can't be wrong can they? As for EQ2, well I have heard that it is PvE heaven but of course that won't appeal to everyone. Personally I am waiting on GuildWars before I decided what to play next. For now the NF expansion has made DAoC enjoyable again for me, I expect to be here for another 3-6 months at least.

 

[Fana]

Have access to a friends EQ2 beta account that i can play pretty much when i want, but i only played it the 2 first days i got it, guess that says something about how entertaining the game is for a daocplayer. Have tried WoW beta briefly, and would like to play some more for sure, altough i cant say i got any craving for it - ill buy it when it goes live in europe, wont bother trying to set up a US account as i know many will - DAoC will cetainly keep me buisy until then with NF etc (in essence its like half a new game ).

Then im sure i wont abandon DAoC completly even if it turns out that i like WoW alot - ill be back to try Catacombs for sure. Only way i see me leaving DAoC completly would be if all the people i like playing/chatting with would leave, or they close the servers^^

 

[Gordonax]

The best thing about DAoC is and always has been that it's got the blend of PvE and PvP exactly right. Having zones where you're fair game and having realms which encourage you to play on one large-scale side just works much better than virtually every other system I've seen.

The problem with DAoC at the moment is two fold. First of all, RvR has become stale thanks to being pretty much unchanged since the start, and this is something which NF addresses. Secondly, PvE is rubbish compared to even something like EQ: ToA was an attempt to address this, which failed because far too many of the encounters are BG-sized, rather than group-sized. And, as we all know, BG-scale encounters feel like stupid, simple, "everyone crowd round and whack the mob" things far too often. From what I gather, Catacombs changes this so there's much more 1fg-level content.

 

[Shanaia]

Having played a LOT of WoW the last couple of days I must say it's a great game. But it also became clear to me that it won't be a DAOC killer. Off course a lot of people will switch over. But WoW and daoc are simply to different to completely rule each other out.

I expect a lot of people switching back to daoc after having done WoW for a while and I expect even more people never ever making the switch at all ..

But off course it's fotm to yell daoc will die etc ... Just like it's fotm to make a huge "I'm leaving cause this game sucks-post" when someone leaves ... and that's all the posts we see we never see the "Hmm that other game was bollocks so I'm back-posts"... just as we never see "Hi I'm a new player-posts" .. so over time it looks like people are leaving daoc by the truckloads when in reality the playerbase seems pretty stable if not growing.

 

[[SS]Gamblor]

D0000m ... D0000m .. run for the hills....



Sorry couldnt' hold it in any longer

 

[harm]

Haven't played any of em, but so far out of the first impressions (imo) -

eq2 > wow

It all depends on what type of game you enjoy, ofc.

 

[Teh FnoRd]

When/if it hits retail, Darkfall its the game to retire my sorry DAoC ass.

 

[Zorewin]

im in the closed WOW beta trust me its so much better then daoc even now its completer and its even a fricking beta /bow blizzard IMO

 

[CorNokZ]

I was WoW beta tester and it's not as good as ppl say.. Tbh I think DAoC kicks its arse!

And EQ2... uke:

 

[Deepfat]

Going to leave for WoW if not that then something else games wise.

In a recent "How many accounts do you have?" thread we worked out that on Hib/Pryd at least the number of actual active accounts showed no decline. This was offset by the volumes of players with multiple accounts (from whatever source) leaving a roughly net decline of roughly 20% year on year of actual player base.

Trouble is if I as JBloggs log-in every month and JBloggs2 suddenly appears as a new subscription one month the system won't relay that JBloggs2 is prolly JBloggs as a buffbot/cross realm account etc. Indeed, why should it? From a business point of veiw it's more income so why see it any other light? After all it all looks the same on a balance sheet - the very same balance sheet that convinces the majority of players and assuages any fears that a game has reached market peak and saturation point.

This might sound like a doom'n'gloom post but in actuality this prolly gives 18 months to 2 years before eventual shut down which is, in reality, a very good acheivement for a game already 3 years old and prolly exceeds predicted expectations at inception.

If anyone's bothered I'll try to go find the Prydwen.net thread this applies to. Although given a little thought I'm sure most people would agree this is the state of the game as it is now. There's lots of time left and I'm sure that (personal opinion here) WoW won't kill DaoC. Sure alot of folks will leave but alot will come back too

 

[gervaise]

Helme;
<I never had much faith in WoW and still dont, will try it out player base is guaranteed to drop when its released but many will prolly return after some time.>

Now prior to DAoC being released it was:

"I never had much faith in DAoC and still dont, will try it out player base is guaranteed to drop when its released but many will prolly return after some time."

The game that people left at that time being EQ / AC / UO.

So firstly: lots of people didn't go back. EQ numbers didn't actually climb but the stellar growth it had seen up to that point was halted.

It should also serve as a reminder that lots of people came from EQ.

Now the first US magazine reviews of EQ2 are out and - having seen them - it a) looks stunning b) they are very, very positive. Still under NDA of course so no wealth of play testing to make a judgement but the signs are that the EQ2 behemoth has teeth. Not everyone wil like it; but if it doesn't take and keep some of DAoC's current playerbase I would be amazed. (Mythic will be talking up the graphics in Catacombs I suspect).

As for WoW - well we have a lot pf player reviews already. Overall these are very strong.

As stated there are other games as well like Guild Wars - and another not mentioned City of Villains.

Will DAoC die. I doubt it. DAoC was not the EQ killer that many had talked about. EQ came back and has gone on to better things coming up with instanced dungeons etc. The market today though is much tougher and DAoC at its peak / now (doesn't really matter) has only about 250,000 subscribers compared to the c. 450,000 that EQ had at the time of DAoC's launch. (TAnd to put things in context EQ now has c. 750,000 so it's 'new playerbase' (of 300,000 exceeds DAoC's 'new' playerbase of 250,000.

Anyone who doesn't think that Mythic is acutely aware of November 15th is dreaming. The impact ... we will see.

 

[Icebreaker]

EQ2 is teh Grind Game

No PvP

Lots of Quests (90% of them are like: Go out and kill 10 Threearround for all, 30 neverseen, 50 Ultrarare)

All Fighter, Healer, Mage, Stealth Classes are the same. (They balanced the Game making all Classes the same. So all MAge Classes are the same, all Fighter Classes, etc)

You don't train. You can't develop your Char like Daoc. (The only difference is the Equipment you wear and the power of your spells, styles)


The good things are:

Nice Graphics

Intensive Battles (You mostly Roam, no gay Daoc Style Mob Camping)

Instance zones


EQ2 isn't the Next Generation MMORPG Sony announced. In many Points it is a Step backward.

Won't beat Daoc

Btw, the NDA is lifted ^^

 

[GReaper]

Getting rave reviews for WoW from my The Last Watch guildmates and also my old comrades at Lords of England. Of the 50+ people I know playing beta there is only one who doesn't think that the game is the dogs bollocks. 50 veteran MMORPG players can't be wrong can they?

Considering all old players from Lords of England quit DAoC ages ago, they won't be affecting the DAoC subscriber base now. Also The Last Watch is a PvE based guild. If PvE orientated players want new challenges then they either have to wait until the next expansion, or switch to a new game which will have an entirely new set of challenges to keep them busy.

50 veteran MMORPG players aren't going to be as loyal to any particular game they're currently playing. Didn't LoE switch from DAoC, to Planetside (for a short while?), then to Star Wars Galaxies?

WoW may reduce numbers a little bit, but not as severely as some would hope.