Grassroot DAoC Promotion

[Belomar]

The servers are being clustered. The main reason for this is, as we all know, the decline in population that has been ongoing for quite some time (the WoW release perhaps being the most prominent factor here). However, recent competition in the genre has definitely forced Mythic to wisen up, and accordingly they have introduced a large number of improvements to make the game better and also more appealing to newcomers.

In other words, DAoC is a game I would personally recommend warmly to others to start playing.

However, GOA has a notoriously bad track record of promoting the game around Europe. Without an influx of fresh new blood to the game, all these new and nifty features will be lost, and the game will eventually die. The higher the population on the servers, the more we will prolong this from happening, and the more fun we will have in the process (be it hardcore 8vs8 RvR, large-scale warfare, or PvE).

The question is, what can we, the grassroots, do ourselves to help promote this game?

Below is an incomplete list of things, help me out here!

• Recommend the game to your friends (perhaps giving them the full SI copy you got with Catacombs)
• Submit reviews and recommendations to amateur gaming sites
• Troll the forums of competing MMORPGs and drop oblique references to DAoC in relevant threads (might get you unpopular on those forums, though!)
• Organize DAoC giveaways--download the game from the GOA website and burn CDs to give away to random people

Right, that's my imagination exhausted, what else?

 

[Awarkle]

your forgetting that when you actually get these new people to join then you should consider a give away across all three realms to help people get started or actually have some people flagged as advisors people that play single classes across the board.

Its easy to get people to try a game its hard to get them to stick at it when they are low level and noone else to group with.

 

[Dorin]

i would definitely uninstall daoc if i had to play one account without any help at all on lower levels.

Tbh fresh accounts should come with a lvl 24 equiped char (you could chose one when activating account etc) so ppl could try BG's and see hows the games pvp is (you couldnt level this char, only delete when you dont need it . this MAy help a bit, sounds unfair but seriously i know about 3-4 ppl who played daoc till lvl 12, got bored and quit eventually... dunno about the recent changes, but dont think its enough.

 

[Deepflame]

Organize lowbie exping stuff. I've been inviting new players all the time, and so far I managed to get 3 of those new players in. (Nice free months on my account too! )

Every single one of them told me the game was a lot more fun when they were grouped. So I made time free to group up with them. You see, it's a MMORPG, it's not a SP RPG. It's important to play with others if you wish to have a good time. They wont stick if they get bored.

 

[Rediknight]

hmm

only the addled mind of a merc could come up with something this dumb:

How about if all of us elderlies (and enthusiastic n00bs ) stop using the nasty /level business and jus create a load of level 1's and start from scratch? I used to love having to group to stay alive in Mithra or Tepoks, tbh. We see hundreds of posts saying "ML9 RAID" and "POC NIGHT!" and all that gumph, but never anyone saying "Newbie raid - tonight - meet at guard tower just SE of Tepoks, or something..."

Even taking a group down to Barrows is barely optional anymore, as PLers camping it with Necro's or Theurg's make the place suck...

I jus get the feeling even we're abandoning the lowbie parts of the realms, in our quest to get new bits removed/introduced...

 

[Zede]

tbh, more attention should be given to the numerous guilds across the servers, who take on and train the new players.

My first guild, "Imperial Fist" are STILL doing this( since release), and deserve more credit. We need more players yes, but its about keeping them too .


Go to your newbie xp spots and go buff a few sub-L20s( so long as they are not Cata classes ), give em a bit of gold and help em a bit.

 

[Belomar]

That's a good point being raised in the previous posts; not only must we attract the new players, we must keep them too. Yes, Mythic's new features will help make the game more newbie-friendly, but I suppose the players must do their part too.

In other words, take it unto yourself to PM all people between the levels 5 and 20 who are not playing Catacombs classes and check whether they are new players or not. If they are, do your good deed of the day and give them some money, old equipment, and/or buff them for their continued adventures.

 

[Zede]

That's a good point being raised in the previous posts; not only must we attract the new players, we must keep them too. Yes, Mythic's new features will help make the game more newbie-friendly, but I suppose the players must do their part too.

In other words, take it unto yourself to PM all people between the levels 5 and 20 who are not playing Catacombs classes and check whether they are new players or not. If they are, do your good deed of the day and give them some money, old equipment, and/or buff them for their continued adventures.

hehe was doing that last week with a few peeps....waited ages for a reply....until I ended up putting in "press R to type a message back m8"

 

[Rediknight]

hehe was doing that last week with a few peeps....waited ages for a reply....until I ended up putting in "press Alt + f4 to type a message back m8"

although i usually knock people for editing quotes, as its lame, i'm feeling lame and that made me laugh for a few seconds...

 

[Shanaia]

My first guild, "Imperial Fist" are STILL doing this( since release)

Afaik Imperial Fist was created long long after release ^^

but that doesn't take away that:

and deserve more credit.

Yes they deserve credit they're a bunch of really nice people.

And I agree ... there might be mountains of new people coming into the game but no-one takes the time to notice it and help them become regulars.

 

[Rediknight]

Afaik Imperial Fist was created long long after release ^^

but that doesn't take away that:



Yes they deserve credit they're a bunch of really nice people.

And I agree ... there might be mountains of new people coming into the game but no-one takes the time to notice it and help them become regulars.

i'm new - will you give me money? hahaha!

 

[Shanaia]

I'll give you anything your little heart desires ^^

material wise ofc

 

[Tilda]

I regularly do /who 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and chat to players, asking if they're new etc. If they are and want someone to talk to/xp with i'll normally roll or log on an alt and go have some fun.

I'd suggest people contributing for a big add on tv or in popular pc mags, but seeing as 80% of daocers are under 18 with no cc of their own, i doubt we'd get enough together.

Tilda

 

[Mey]

I regularly do /who 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and chat to players, asking if they're new etc. If they are and want someone to talk to/xp with i'll normally roll or log on an alt and go have some fun.

I'd suggest people contributing for a big add on tv or in popular pc mags, but seeing as 80% of daocers are under 18 with no cc of their own, i doubt we'd get enough together.

Tilda

that sounds like a really cool idea, but we'd have to get someone good to make it

 

[Deepflame]

Maybe we could make a cool movie or something, throw that around the web to get people interested. Show some nice PvE things, couple of RvR situations, (Not just the FG vs FG things, believe it or not, but it's the keep sieging that appeals to most new players), examples of various classes displaying their coolest effects, etc.

Maybe organize a couple of more eventish things, like, take a newbie zerg out destroying some towers, I don't know. New players are surprisingly eager to take out towers and stuff. Maybe we could organize a couple of newbie rvr things, after all, it's RvR what DAoC pivots about. (It'd be hard to keep the high level people out of it, ganking lowbies, etc. I mean, it's ok if there's a high level player or two there, as long as they don't go around mowing down the lowbies.) Play out an act of war or something.

I don't know if RvR events are even feasible or realistic to be honest. There's a huge cross-realming coordination to be done if you'd want to do that, and I think that's against the EULA or COC or something. But eh, it might be totally awesome for the lower level players to join their higher level friends into battle..

 

[Escape]

Do you have any idea how much a TV advert costs?
It's barely an option for publishers with strong financial backing... let alone a bunch of geeks who cba to contribute £10 to the forums they use.



Take a look at Play.com's All time top sellers, for the PC.

Most notable is Guild Wars at #11, which in just over a month has overtaken WoW(#12)!
You have to scroll down past SWG, FFXI, AO, EQII, D2, MxO, CoH, NWN... before catching a hint of ToA, which was released well over a year ago.


GOA are content with the player base they have and don't see the need to bring in any more(as evidenced by their lack of advertising in the UK, over the past 3 years).

The bigger question is "Do you want to bring in more players?"
The best days of DAoC are over, and that's not the nostalgia speaking. The game has saturated to a point where new players will not share the same experiences of older players. ( Ghost areas in Classic and SI zones, no more epic dungeon farming in SI, limited XP and RvR in DF...)

All they will see is a fraction of what the game has to offer, then spend the next half year learning to build an SC template and farming artifacts for it... before being crapped on in RvR for adding, zerging, not adding, solo'ing in the GvG field, duo'ing in solo areas, leeching at seiges, roleplaying... or whichever fotm whine is plaguing the game.

There was fun to be had in the game, but I don't see it as something which can accomodate new players now. Specially as they will only have access to one realm, further limiting their experience.

 

[TheBinarySurfer]

Do you have any idea how much a TV advert costs?
It's barely an option for publishers with strong financial backing... let alone a bunch of geeks who cba to contribute £10 to the forums they use.



Take a look at Play.com's All time top sellers, for the PC.

Most notable is Guild Wars at #11, which in just over a month has overtaken WoW(#12)!
You have to scroll down past SWG, FFXI, AO, EQII, D2, MxO, CoH, NWN... before catching a hint of ToA, which was released well over a year ago.


GOA are content with the player base they have and don't see the need to bring in any more(as evidenced by their lack of advertising in the UK, over the past 3 years).

The bigger question is "Do you want to bring in more players?"
The best days of DAoC are over, and that's not the nostalgia speaking. The game has saturated to a point where new players will not share the same experiences of older players. ( Ghost areas in Classic and SI zones, no more epic dungeon farming in SI, limited XP and RvR in DF...)

All they will see is a fraction of what the game has to offer, then spend the next half year learning to build an SC template and farming artifacts for it... before being crapped on in RvR for adding, zerging, not adding, solo'ing in the GvG field, duo'ing in solo areas, leeching at seiges, roleplaying... or whichever fotm whine is plaguing the game.

There was fun to be had in the game, but I don't see it as something which can accomodate new players now. Specially as they will only have access to one realm, further limiting their experience.

DOOOOOMMMMMMM.Sorry i did have a big useful post here full of reasoned arguments and info, but i preferred this one.

 

[Escape]

I don't know what's more ironic, your inability to promote DAoC or the fact that you were introduced to the game via Ebay.

Above, I did not make a "d0oo0o0oom" post. It's a simple question, does DAoC have anything to offer to new players?

 

[Rookiescot]

DOOOOOMMMMMMM.Sorry i did have a big useful post here full of reasoned arguments and info, but i preferred this one.

Yeah cos we all know that life in DAoC is rosy.
Thats why we are getting clustering.
Someone takes the time to try and post some comments about how the game can be stretched to other MMO players and all you can do is post "DOOOOOOOMMMMM"
Maybe try the VN boards..... think they will be more to your taste.
Life is good here on DAoC .....keep those denial posts coming Binary.
NOT.

 

[UndyingAngel]

I don't know what's more ironic, your inability to promote DAoC or the fact that you were introduced to the game via Ebay.

Above, I did not make a "d0oo0o0oom" post. It's a simple question, does DAoC have anything to offer to new players?

thats a harsh. but then again I dont know if the person has level his/her own levels 50's and b4 you make a smart ass remark I leveled 6 of my own 50's only mypally was ebay P ~I would hope he/she had.. I wouldnt take away leveing my cleric to 50 for the first time when I stared playing 3 years ago the first time is the best

 

[TheBinarySurfer]

I don't know what's more ironic, your inability to promote DAoC or the fact that you were introduced to the game via Ebay.

Above, I did not make a "d0oo0o0oom" post. It's a simple question, does DAoC have anything to offer to new players?

Wheee origional comments again...Ok lets take them one at a time

1) FYI ive been playing since beta in various forms across the realms, had more 50's OF MY OWN than i want to count overall...So i was not "introduced by ebay"...If youre going to poke at me at least do it with an origional post that makes me sit up and go "ooo witty".

2) Why should i promote it? Yes it has problems, yes its past its prime, no they wont make it more accessible for newer players as that will mean a reduction in the timesink element of the game, which is what keeps you subscribed for a long time, keeps their money coming in, and keeps you buying the new releases.

3) Some people like it the way it is on the whole...And fucks sake lighten up its called a joke, if you cant take one the joke is on you.

4) I help out with new players more often than you might think or know about, i just dont see the need to shout about it...Although i do get annoyed when i see a L20 char wearing dyed black SC'ed armour asking me for gold...

 

[TheBinarySurfer]

To summarise:New blood wont be introduced easily, the best bet mythic has of increasing the community numbers is to provide incentives to bring old players back, which they are now attempting to do /rant.off

 

[UndyingAngel]

Wheee origional comments again...Ok lets take them one at a time

1) FYI ive been playing since beta in various forms across the realms, had more 50's OF MY OWN than i want to count overall...So i was not "introduced by ebay"...If youre going to poke at me at least do it with an origional post that makes me sit up and go "ooo witty".

2) Why should i promote it? Yes it has problems, yes its past its prime, no they wont make it more accessible for newer players as that will mean a reduction in the timesink element of the game, which is what keeps you subscribed for a long time, keeps their money coming in, and keeps you buying the new releases.

3) Some people like it the way it is on the whole...And fucks sake lighten up its called a joke, if you cant take one the joke is on you.

4) I help out with new players more often than you might think or know about, i just dont see the need to shout about it...Although i do get annoyed when i see a L20 char wearing dyed black SC'ed armour asking me for gold...

so you havnt looked at the 1.75 with the new intro vid which shows new plays the game, we now have faster Xping than ever, with catacombs new players have access to instances just for them, you have the new tutorial for the game which btw iv had a go at.. its quite good.. its voice driven and helps youg et the basics. compared to what we had when we first started the game... the new player is dam lucky, I remember waiting for hours for a trees grp back b4 SI, there is so much in the game for a new player to experance.. the only thing the game is lacking is

1, Promotion
2, People willing to help

I remember b4 ToA/SI if you wanted help with epic you put up a time to your alliance/guild.. and you would get 4 or 5 FG's come and help you.. beucase ppl used to help each other out... it was all about the game and the RPS experance.. much of that is lost in the game now due to the l33t ppl... and some of the old'er members becoming bitter.. but this is just my opinion.

 

[Deepflame]

2, People willing to help

And as shown in those previous posts, people are more interested in flaming eachother than trying to think of an interesting idea. I had a pretty cool Mithra group last night though, my reaver went from 7 to 11, and so did a bunch of other players. Started off with a cleric and me, and as we went along more people joined up.

 

[Koyochi]

@first few posts : What they should add to the game is a special distinction for new players. Just like transport or quest npcs have something special on them too. For example, if an account is less then 2 months old, and they dont have any char above lvl45, they could have a small glowing aura beneath their feet. And it should only be visible to players that have an account that is more then 6 months old, and has at least one lvl50 char on it.

I guess most ppl dont mind helping new players, if only they knew wich chars are real newbies and wich arent. Mostly you can only tell the difference if such a player joins your guild and you get to know them and hear his story, but wich a special distinction this barrier is removed. So hopefully new players will be guided a lot more, given some gold and lowbie xp gear and such. It's ofcourse open to abuse too, maybe some ppl dont want to group with such inexperienced players, but thats only a minority I think. If implemented well, this could help new players a lot.

 

[TheBinarySurfer]

@first few posts : What they should add to the game is a special distinction for new players. Just like transport or quest npcs have something special on them too. For example, if an account is less then 2 months old, and they dont have any char above lvl45, they could have a small glowing aura beneath their feet. And it should only be visible to players that have an account that is more then 6 months old, and has at least one lvl50 char on it.

I guess most ppl dont mind helping new players, if only they knew wich chars are real newbies and wich arent. Mostly you can only tell the difference if such a player joins your guild and you get to know them and hear his story, but wich a special distinction this barrier is removed. So hopefully new players will be guided a lot more, given some gold and lowbie xp gear and such. It's ofcourse open to abuse too, maybe some ppl dont want to group with such inexperienced players, but thats only a minority I think. If implemented well, this could help new players a lot.

No i havent seen the vid, might have a mooch at it now though if its been well thought out.

(about the above) Nice idea actually...

A good addition to that would be giving a large xp and cash bonus per kill all for characters on an account until there is a level 50 on it...And for gods sake lets make it so all your characters have master level, artifact, and scroll credit on an item once ONE character on an account has it.

Although truthfully i still believe the main growth could come from providing return incentives to old players...

 

[AngelHeal]

The game is to far for newcomers..

we needed a druid in gg, so we pl´ed some1 etc

30tm50... :x
ml 1tm8 asap
artifacts..

the ml 1tm8 and 30tm 50 took us 1 week..
the artifacts we are on 50%, and took us 3 weeks:x

for a newcomer its

1tm50 (NO PL)
ml´s will take ages, due no `pro` player...
he´ll meet to few people on lower levels, soloing to 30 is teh suck.. so he´ll quit at the end of the free days...

and says to his friends THE GAME SUXXORSZ BECAUSE ALL ARE STEALTH!

 

[Earl]

Advertising on TV can't cost that much, just look how often that fucking crazy frog ringtone was advertised, it was on EVERY single adbreak on every damn channel, and people can't seriously have bought the damn tone ..

 

[AngelHeal]

Advertising on TV can't cost that much, just look how often that fucking crazy frog ringtone was advertised, it was on EVERY single adbreak on every damn channel, and people can't seriously have bought the damn tone ..

an advertisement like that frog etc.. will cost maybe 40.000euros everytime u see it.

 

[Ethild]

an advertisement like that frog etc.. will cost maybe 40.000euros everytime u see it.

Probably more. A full page printed spread in FHM magazine for a month, ie a static print for a bulky ad-full magazine is around 30k euros.