greetings from the US servers ;)

[old.Breydel]

Hello fellow realm defenders! DAoC US servers are down for a small fix so I thought I would pop in here to say hi, so..... HI!

How are things going on Prydwen? Is Midgard still owning the frontier lands? Did Blej finally got his TL boots? LOL.

For those of you that don't know me (anymore), I started playing DAoC Europe from day 1 closed beta until 6 weeks into retail (had a 42 skald named Breydel on Prydwen). Now I'm playing on the US servers for 5 weeks and I have a 25 scout on Nimue (RP) and 31 warden & 19 eldritch on Morgen Le Fay.

I can see the whining and bitching on GOA's door hasn't changed much. If you got some questions about how life is on the other side of the big water compared to here feel free to ask, I'll try to answer as objective as possible.



Brey

 

[Galatea]

well i suppose the acher classes want to know this, will they be gimped as much as they've been moaning about in irc?

 

[old.Breydel]

I haven't played my scout much since 1.50 (the warden is now my main) but I can tell you this from my experience at level 24 in Thidranki (20-24 battleground).

1. I once one shotted a elven enchanter who was also level 24 and thus conned equal yellow to me. I did about 450 dmg to him with my crit shot. I'm saracen and my dex was capped with items (also put +10 in dex from the start). The bow I used was a self crafted 95% qual longbow that conned orange at 24, I think these are the ironwood bows, not sure. Needless to say I'm very proud at this shot. I one-shotted various blue conning dwarves too (not sure what class they were) but it feels way better shooting an equal con, penetrating his bladeturn.

2. I killed various chainwearing Middies in 2/3 shots. Also most Hibs went down very fast. What I feared the most of these classes were skalds as they usually got to me (on a failed attempt to get them) before I could restealth. Scouts don't get a fleeing speed skill like hunters and rangers.

3. I got owned tons of times by shadowblades. My stealth wasn't that high because I specced shield pretty high for PvE. They never one-shotted me but when you lose 40-50% HP at once and got a poison DoT on your head (with poor specc in thrust weapons) life is over very soon.

From what I heard other scouts and rangers say now is that they are not too happy about the detect hidden feature from assassins. I must agree that in 'scouting' scouts suck compared to infiltrators. I'm not sure what the best role in RvR is now for archers, prolly a bit of both backup reconnaisance and ranged attack. Still I enjoy playing my scout a lot and that RvR in Thidranki was one of the best I have experienced until today.


edit: BTW about penetrating that bladeturn, note that assassins always go through bladeturn but our arrows don't. The bladeturn just has a very small chance of not absorbing a hit (also depending on attacker's lvl vs. caster level) which in my case with the enchanter it did fail. But most of the time you have a miss on your crit shot at a caster. We're supposed to be the class to take out casters but it might be hard. Also with my eldritch now (max light specced) I have a 2300 range nearsight range debuff. I assume that thing rocks against archers (all ranged attackers of course).


But in the end, archers' complaints since 1.50 are nothing compared to the pure mess based classes. With this purge realm ability skill you can get free of any negative effect (mostly mes of course). The VN boards are full of complaints from bards/minstrells/sorcs/healers/... (you know which classes they are).

The influance of the realm ability skills on RvR is enourmeous (especially now that mes is toned down). Also some classes got a kickass unique ream ability while others have something that sounds very poor. Also the level 50 epic armor art, there is a lot of talk about this. But if you compare the eldritch art with the one from the scout... I can't say there is no work needed to be done here. I guess Mythic will now have their hands full balancing the classes once again. I really feel sorry for all those sorcs and bards etc. out there. Having your character gimped like that must be hard.

 

[Aeiedil]

arent shades meant to be the class to take out archers\casters (hence the detect hidden)

as for assasian\bt its only on the hidden attack that bt isnt effective

 

[old.Breydel]

Yes, only on the backstab openers.

Well I don't know, I always tried to find the rock/paper/scissors thing in classes vs. classes. I thought (on paper) archers would take out casters, assassins take out archers, tanks take out assassins and casters again take out tanks. Then it's more or less balanced. But when archers are getting a harder time taking out casters than assassins something is out of balance in my example. But archers do very well against the hybrid classes and some tanks so it didn't bother me that much.

However, I feel assassins are now a whole lot stronger than they were in 1.36 (which is the version I still played the most and have most experience in). Assassins now are very popular. A few days ago I was with my warden in Thidranki and I couldn't keep up ressing the casters that were one-shotted around me. They certainly don't need any improvements anymore.

Been played on both Albion and Hibernia sides in Thidranki, I must say shadowblades seem to be hitting the hardest of them. They seem to be feared more than infiltrators and nightshades in my groups.


server's back up, i'm off to play a bit more but i'll check back tomorrow

 

[Aeiedil]

well sb only do more damage on an opener, i dont fear them when i get the shout ill fear them less, just need to knock them out of stealth and out-melee them

looking at the additions in teh patches i would say that apart from the disguise skill that i would agree, nightshade and other assasians look pretty much all finished which is nice to know

now rock/paper/scissors, ill see what i can come up with

Caster/Archer -> Tanks -> Assasian -> Caster/Archer
Caster <-> Archer

thats all i can think of, apart from that it seems to be like agaist like really

 

[old.Breydel]

well sb only do more damage on an opener, i dont fear them

You obviously haven't met a shadowzerker yet.

 

[[TNN]Aardvark]

Tbh I'd love to see an archer kill a tank, given the current state of archer accuracy/damage (talking even con here btw, so none witter about one shots from purple archers pls)

I have a couple of chars on MLF too, low level champion and eldritch. Guess I'll have to get my arse in gear and catch you up

 

[SFXman]

I one-shot an orange con caster hib in our european version, point being? But anyway, if you play on US go to US boards then and leave us 1.45'ers alone

 

[Cohannyn]

Lay off him SFX

We know what your opinion is SFXMan.. you think they're doing a good job at GOA.

Personally I found the player-input describing how 1.50 works for them from a gaming-point of view rather than just reading the patchnotes very refreshing.

So Breydel, please, tell us more of what we don't have and what your feelings are. Good/Bad/Ok?

Personally I would love to see the low-level Battlefields ASAP, but I guess I'll have to wait a looong time.. or order the U.S. version from dvdboxoffice.com.

 

[tilde]

First i would like to thank u for doing this Breydel very caring
And yes, GOA truly are worthless as distributor.

I've just order US.version (cant wait for the shitty delays, but still gonna stick around here for a while) and was wondering what server u would recommend? Im gonna play hibernia FYI

Sincerly

 

[Danya]

*Readies the delete button for 1.50*. Oh great my classes only real advantages (mez/stun/stealth) all get negated. Thanks mythic. *goes off to reroll an assassin*.

 

[Khalen]

Got any tank friends? Would love to know if we can be more useful later on when the mezz have been gimped more. Because at this moment I hate mezz and stuns (not when we cast them first ). An archer type class can easily solo in frontier or minstrels but tanks are just RP food.

And what about Darkness Falls?

It looks pretty cool in my opinion. Nice big area's to hunt in.

 

[Solid]

Originally posted by Aeiedil
now rock/paper/scissors, ill see what i can come up with

Caster/Archer -> Tanks -> Assasian -> Caster/Archer
Caster <-> Archer

thats all i can think of, apart from that it seems to be like agaist like really

god thats so funny mate

Archers killing tanks is not even funny, well it aint meant to be that way at all, least not for Skalds/Thanes/Warriors in Midgard, zerkers cant do much vs Archers tho.

Also atm the Tank>Assasin is broken as Out of the RvR kills I made very few have been blue con or better Assasins, and as I believe even now in 1.50 Assasins still own tanks, or at the very least tanks DO NOT own assasins.

its Rock Rock Scissors atm, and tanks 'Paper' is kinda non existent

Breydel

good to hear from you mate, so you become and treehuggin hibbie warden uke:

I been keeping tabs on the Viking boards on IGN as well as Camelot main boards and basically Casters are still owning the gam there along with Assasins, all the Archer player base is crying at their nerf, and they are all gonna take Stealth down to 50% after respecc if the game stays as is and max spear out

I am interested to know how the Realm Abilites are Brey, I know they just went in recently, have yoyu got many RP and therefore realm skill points?

I am loving my thane atm, the RvR on Prydwen has exploded with goodness last 2 weeks and the other day we were being pinned into our own PK by albs in emain

Hibs got these 2 diff Shock troop hunting parties that seem to waste anything they come across in Yggdra and Emain, they gettign very good IMO.

Midgard is still up there for sheer numbers of level 50 guys, but I am still seeing loads level 50 albs out there.

I am hitting 50 before this weekend and can't wait for the chore of XP'ing to be over.

Lots going on with my guild too Brey, some intresting developments, I will e-mail you regarding some things.

Till then, happy hunting Brey and don't be a stranger

 

[old.Bull]

Originally posted by SFXman
But anyway, if you play on US go to US boards then and leave us 1.45'ers alone

pffff...nice attitude SFX

Instead of you bugging Breydel, you should actually try to read what he writes, hes trying to help! And since youre a scout and is one of the classes who will get raped by SB's especially in 1.50 you might wanna listen to him.

Nice to hear from you Breydel, I would like to hear a bit more info, fx. how is the RvsR considering you being 7-8 hours ahead? Is there an (un)official european server, heard that MLF is the one, is it true? Any PK camping?....I was so close to join you when you left, still thinkin about it once in a while, I like the Prydwen server, but it really need some more action imo :sleeping:

 

[SFXman]

Re: Lay off him SFX

Pffffft.... notice the smilie anyone? Maybe it was a joke? Some people get so damn serious around here.

Originally posted by Cohannyn
We know what your opinion is SFXMan.. you think they're doing a good job at GOA.

Lately my opinion has slightly changed after witnessing a few things (such as french/german getting more info etc.) and now I am not so sure about the situation except I am sure that I am still immensly enjoying the game.

Originally posted by Bull
pffff...nice attitude SFX

Instead of you bugging Breydel, you should actually try to read what he writes, hes trying to help! And since youre a scout and is one of the classes who will get raped by SB's especially in 1.50 you might wanna listen to him.
B]

Smilie... smilie.... see it yet in my earlier post? Bit of a joke perhaps, no?
Well now I am just concentrating on the current state of this game, only thing that worries me is this damn uncovering thing that assassins get. I also feel sorry for sorcs, since my cousin is one (Layl).

 

[1234Taz]

I moved to US server aswell about 1 week ago currently have a lvl 24 Kobold skald on Guinivere RP server. About RvR and been on differnt time zones well its not to bad in the morning in the BG there is still anuff ppl to have fun and the ppl logging on picks up about 3pm GMT. When I played on prywden there wasnt many ppl about in emain in the day anyways and if there was would just camp albs PK and the only time I noticed was on weekends.


Realm Skills,

They are great althought some of the class only realm skills are poor but most are worth adding atleast one realm skill in. I can't really give much info on these because I only have two of the skills Aug Str/Aug Con which adds about extra 6/8 Str/Con and cost 1 point each.

Darkness Falls,

This place is great you dont need to be level 40 to fight in there, you can kill the low lvl mobs around lvl 20. At about lvl 25/26 you can solo the 1st mobs that drop seals and the drop rate on the seals is very good. The items you buy with the seals are quite good to, there are class only items which are nice. The item range is around lvl 30 and above from AF 66 to AF 98, you can also buy jewery which was one of my biggest problems getting good jewery. Cant comment to much really not been very far in.

Item info,

One of my fav changes when I moved across when you shift + i on the items you get alsorts of stats even on none magicals like base AF , Clamped AF , Effected AF and they now show what lvl weapon proc.

Spell Effects,

Almost all Spells have had there effect changed and they look very nice even the skald effects are very nice.

Level 50 Epic armours,

Well there was lots of flamed on IGN boards when some of the armours where first seen but I've seen most in game and they all look very nice, problem was ppl was posting pics of the armours and dyed them all sorts of gay colours.

Battlegrounds

I've only been in the Lvl 20/24 BG and Its a great laugh you only get between 1 and 4 RPs for a kill and you can gain a max of 350 RPs in BG 20/24. Its very small with 3 PK's , 3 Bridges, 1 Keep. This is how it seems to work on my server. A realm takes the keep so they camp the keep and the other 2 realms fight over who takes it next. Some good battle in there because there is no purps or greens so its quite even.

US players...........

One of the thing I got told before I moved was OMG US PLAYERS SUCK, WHINE AND ARE KIDS........

Well all I can say is thats totaly wrong most the ppl Ive meet have been very nice dont get me wrong there are idiots there but there are no matter where you play. Like last night was in DF and there was a lvl 50 Shammy who gave me and my bro some nice buffs till she got to her group moved out to EXP.

Some other stuff we have and you should have is /appeal this is great, like last night there was a hibby ranger using a bug to clime up the bridge pillars so we all appealed against him and he was removed from the BGs . Camelot Herald is great its updated all the time with upcoming patch info and lots of other stuff aswell. Open test server anyone with a US acc can make a char on here and Mythic are testing Server Clones to help with testing so you can transfer you main char over to the Test server. Some other good news is Closed Guild beta testing of the new PvP server should start soon( Next Week ) then other guilds will get invites to test if they signed up for the testing. So we should see the PvP server in a couple months maybe less.

Is the Grass Greener on the other side.........

Well no its not because its still the same game "DAoC", but its upto date and with better support.

 

[old.Gombur Glodson]

hmm kinda tempting.
But how is it to get into the community?
Guilds and all?
How do you avoid feeling outside?

 

[old.Bull]

Re: Re: Lay off him SFX

Originally posted by SFXman
Pffffft.... notice the smilie anyone? Maybe it was a joke
Smilie... smilie.... see it yet in my earlier post? Bit of a joke perhaps, no?

weee...smilie saves everything...You truly have a good sense of humor sfx....Try putting yourself in Breydels position, helpful and all and then some guy tells him to bugger off.....smilie or not, rude imo

 

[Keri]

Originally posted by Gombur Glodson
hmm kinda tempting.
But how is it to get into the community?
Guilds and all?
How do you avoid feeling outside?

I only played on a US server for a month, and found people to be friendly and helpful, and mature .. no whiny, bratty kids where I played. At lvl 3 or 4, I was buffed like crazy then offered a group with several other lvl 4s with a couple of high lvl characters to look after us. Ten minutes later, I was asked if I would like to join a guild ... theirs. It seems the rest of the group were all alts of high lvl characters in the same guild. Seeing as they seemed a friendly helpful bunch (I was given 5g before even being asked to join the guild), I accepted. I was given a reasonable weapon and armour, and off we went at lvl 5 to Mithra Tomb, and had a blast levelling in there to lvl 8.

All in all, I found US server players very helpful, and more than willing to help new players, or players new to their class. I think that as long as you don't try and hammer in the fact that you are not from North America (and that you hate "Yanks" .. why do so many Brits hate the US and Americans?), then you will be accepted. In this game, people can only know you by your actions, and the words you type. Try not to be an idiot, and you won't be thought of as one. And yes, MLF is the "unofficial" UK players' server. Just take a look at the server population .. MLF is always higher during early evening GMT than the other servers.

To sum up, I found US server players friendly and helpful .. if you want to play with other UK players, try MLF ... play nicely and you will be treated nicely. And no, I'm not moving to the US servers.

 

[1234Taz]

I had a mate who plays US DAoC so I got in his guild. I prob wouldnt have moved if I was on excal Mig/ But you should try Prydwen Mig it sucks and isnt any fun. So if I had to start again why not US server with uptodate patchs

 

[SFXman]

Re: Re: Re: Lay off him SFX

Originally posted by Bull
weee...smilie saves everything...You truly have a good sense of humor sfx....Try putting yourself in Breydels position, helpful and all and then some guy tells him to bugger off.....smilie or not, rude imo

Actually.... a smilie is not usually present when a comment is serious, my comment was a 100% joke to be taken very lightly... Of course I think this information is quite interesting...

Originally posted by Melodia
One of the thing I got told before I moved was OMG US PLAYERS SUCK, WHINE AND ARE KIDS........

Well all I can say is thats totaly wrong most the ppl Ive meet have been very nice dont get me wrong there are idiots there but there are no matter where you play.

Take into consideration that you do play on a RP server, it surelöy makes a difference in the "average maturity" side of it.

 

[Solid]

Hold your horses Melodia

Saying a Server /Realm sux is essentially saying the people sux, and I dont like to be thought of as sucky.

I remember teaming with you a few times in our guild groups and you were a nice gal.

Just so you know Prydwen has better RvR than Excalibur it seems, even excals take their hats of and say so now and then.

The albs are essentially up there with mids, just not as many level 50 as we have.

Usually I see more yellow and Blue Con Albs than green and grey indicating a lot of em are now level 40+.

There are a fair share of level 50's too.

Hibs been active too and even attacked our Notmoor faste the other day, all in all its got much more lively these last 2 weeks

 

[Keri]

Originally posted by Melodia
But you should try Prydwen Mig it sucks and isnt any fun.

I played Pryd/Mid through beta and the first part of release. Far too many powerlevellers there for my liking (miss a day's play and you were too far behind the rest of the guild to hunt with them any more). I left at lvl 11 and moved to Excal/Hib and have never looked back. In fact, my alt is in Albion/Pryd .. I deleted my Mid character.

 

[Flimgoblin]

Not sure I go with this rock/paper/scissors thing... it should be more subtle than that.

Tanks should be there to stop other tanks killing the casters. Casters should be nuking the other casters to stop them nuking/mezzing their tanks.

Archers are no longer the solo-snipers in 1.50 - previously they could pick off people around the realm gates for hours on end, and never be found.

Now they have to use cover etc. to stay hidden so they are much reduced in power...
Compared to what they were before they seem pretty gimped. Compared to every other class they're not so bad.

Minstrels get it a bit hard I guess, losing the cloak of invincivisibility and having a counter to the stun/mezz combo of doom.

That said you can still run like hell from me (well if I wasn't in the same realm ) and you're invisible to all but the assassins.

Another note - assassins won't be able to sneak into a group, one shot someone and then sneak off again.
They'll sneak in, one shot someone, and then be seen by everyone and killed (unless they have some friends around the corner yelling abuse and wiggling their arses braveheart style of course... distractions are ace)

Purge is nice... but it's only one use per 30m... Just means that mezz ain't the be all and end all of battle now.

1.50 means a lot of people need to change their tactics in RvR. No longer is the solo sniper the be all and end all. The solo assassin killing people in groups and escaping unscathed is also a no-go. The big battle tactic of 'mezz, pick em off one by one' will be different.... 'mezz, oh hang on they're awake... STOP THAT TANK!' ....

We live in interesting times (well we will once it gets over here)

All we need now is a way for tanks to slow each other down. Bring on the shield walls. Anyone know if trip (snare) is negated by damage?

 

[old.Iunliten]

Solid, I find the RvR much better on exc then on prydwen.

Only missing a mids sometimes, but it is definetly better on excalibur.

I haven't even got the chance to see the alb PK yet

//Weirdeus from Klan Nidstang on major hold.

and to aeiedels

archers<-->casters

I have made a blue con run from me as caster so far (which means I con red), yellows take me down in one to two shots,excluding bladeturn which just prolongs my doom halfway through quickcast when I get the doom arrow.

 

[Flimgoblin]

Oh yeah, whilst I remember...

Breydel (if you ever come back now the servers are back up ) - is Volley any good?

what sort of damage would (say) 4 archers firing volley from the keep/milegate walls do to an enemy force?

 

[old.Breydel]

Ack, too many replies.

***

Aardvark, feel free to message me in-game. I'm usually on with my warden Breydel.

***

Hi SFX, nice to see you are still you.

***

Tilde. If you're moving to DAoC US I would STRONGLY suggest to choose MLF as one of the servers you often play on. It is indeed the unofficial Euro server @ US (lots of Spanjards on) and what makes it great fun is that all 3 realms are so nice balanced.

***

Dannyn,
Nah, don't delete your char. Remember how unpopular assassins were in the early days and how strong they've became now? The impact of the realm skill abilities (especially purge) is huge, just look at the pendragon 1.50i patch list how many things of them are still changing. But people complained AE mess was too powerful (with which I agree) no Mythic nerfed mess. But I'm sure the classes that were highly mess oriented will get some lovin soon.

***

Khalen,
Aye, it is my general idea tanks got most lovin in 1.50 because of the realm abilities. Nerfed mess alone already makes tanks stronger. And there are some realm abilities (like Avoidance of Magic for example - great to decrease caster dmg to you) that are really nice for them.

Also throwing weapons got beefed in some previous patch (dunno if that one is on Euro already or not).
So if you play a warrior now hang on, I think they will be a lot more fun in 1.50 than they are in 1.45.

***

Solid,
Hey my buddie! Saw you got to 48 already, grats! How did you spec your thane so far?

As for realm points, with my scout Zippora I have 110 RP and with the warden only 5. Gaining RP in the BG is VERY slow, you only get 1 RP per kill that you or your group makes. With the warden I already have 1 point to spend and with the scout 2. I didn't bother doing the BG that much with the warden because I wanted to level fast (to go out on real RvR again and get more RP for those neat abilities and get a bit deeper in DF).

***

Bull,
Hi man, been a while, nice to hear from you as well.
Yes on the 2 servers I play on (Nimue and Morgan Le Fay) RvR is on all day long. People are taking keeps all day to get access to DF. Even on Nimue (which is a rather low populated server) I got into one of the biggest Alb guilds and had access to the alliance chat. Those people there RvR all day long.
In Europe people were mostly doing quests, crafting, exping etc in the afternoon. In the evening they were more doing RvR and late at night numbers decreased on the servers. Well, on the US servers people from all time zones seem to be playing so there is usally RvR on like I said, all day long.

***

Hi again SFX, even more nice to see you are not you anymore.

(I'm just reading down replies and typing here as i go through them )

***

Melodia
Hey, welcome to DAoC US. Nice post but I slightly disagree about the realm skills. Many of the passive/active skills that all classes gain access to are kickass, even if they are not unique to your class. Assume you're a Midgard warrior, what would be more fun than getting extra resistance to caster spells, remove a mess (purge ability), END regen during combat or self-heals / HP regen? (just to name a few). With my warden I'm seriously considering investing high in passive skills or go for that 14 points Thornweed Field skill (our unique ability, a 30 sec AE DoT trap on a 30 min timer). But since people say it's so much fun to use AND it just got beefed up in 1.50i on Pendragon I think I'll save my first 14 points for that. But I definately want some of that passive stuff too (like END regen, power regen, increased resistances).
Fully agree on what you say about DF and item info. And those spell effects, aye, most definately. My warden's base great heal and AF buffs look so cool.


BTW I am already going to hit the reply button here, will continue the other Q's in next reply.

 

[Xtro]

Hi Bredyel glad to see you are enjoying the US as I knew you would .

For people wanting servers with a notable euro presence I would (personal experience only of course) recommend:

Bors - for Midgard
(lot of Scandinavian, Israeli, and general euro players. Also has a few GREAT extremely friendly powerful guilds on there who aren't l337 d00ds).

Morgan Le Fay - for Hibernia
(lots of Euros especially spanish, Hibs really kick bottom on there and its VERY friendly)

Palomides - for Albion
(fair amount of Euros but a LOT of friendly guilds with players from all over the world).

Remember its not just euros and americans - you have japanese, israeli, australian - the world .

Anyway whatever you do - good luck and chill.

 

[old.Breydel]

OK, part 2.

I fully agree with Melodia about the people playing on the US servers. Guys, I really wish you could have seen how people helped me out with Zippora when she was level 6 exping killing river spritelings close to Cotswold (Albion). I think that single level about 10-15 (I'm not exaggurating) casters (wizzies, theurgs) stopped by to give me that dmg add buff. It was funny seeing messages like this all the time...

You fire your bow and hit the river spriteling for 12 damage.
You hit the river spriteling for an extra 30 damage.
The river spriteling dies.

Also on Hibs same scenario, enchanters can buff you up so well you can solo reds at level 5.

About item giving, same with me. My warden now has a really nice magic 16.2 DPS blunt weapon with a magic proc, I also got a body armor, boots and shield which now con red/red/orange to me at level 32. These items were given to me by high levels. Lots of people just give items they can't use away. Same scenario on Nimue Alb, really. Of course there are still lots of people selling items in /broad from the main city but that just happens everywhere I think. Can still make some nice deals there though.


***

Gombur,
Well this is IMO the exact same as your first day on Europe. You don't know anyone, you got to get to know people. Ding to 5, level up a bit, start finding people to group with. Add people you have a lot of fun with to your friends list, message them to group when you need players. Now at level 32 my warden still is unguilded but I already got lots of offers to join a guild. On my friends list are a handful of players I really, really enjoy playing with a lot. After a while, you get to hang out with those people that play on the same hours / same days as you and that's when it starts getting fun and you find your 'regulars' to group with.

Like I said, I'm not guilded yet but I definately don't feel 'outside'. I'm trying to get to know as much people as possible or group with the ones I grouped with regulary.

But! (there is always a but you know). Playing on the US servers, picking the right server is definately important too. On Nimue Albion is the weakest realm which also makes the 'atmosphere' a bit dark too. Might also be because it's an RP server, dunno. On Hibs MLF people seem to be a lot more joyfull than they are on Nimue, I think because Hib there isn't as 'surpressed' in RvR as Alb is on Nimue. I checked the DF status on Nimue a lot the last 2 weeks and never did I even see Alb own DF (which makes people in the realm even more stressed because everyone wishes to go there too). Well, it might also come because of that Hippie Hibbie feeling, LOL.


***

Bull,
Never mind. When I posted my goodbye thread on the old GOA boards I got a lot of flames too. Would have expected a lot more flames here as well. But I took SFX's post very lightly, I didn't think he ment to be rude or so.

***

Keri,
Aye, I can only agree on what you wrote about people buffing low levels and acting friendly & matture. Heck, if people treat you nice, you treat others nice too. When I'm doing quests or just passing by lowcons while knowing I won't zone immediately I also buff them up, even helped a poor bard doing a questmob kill that conned yellow to him a few days ago. Soon I'm going to clean up my vault and give the stuff I don't need anymore away too.

***

SFX,
Well this might be surprising (it is to me too) but I can't say I find people to be more matture on Nimue (RP) than on MLF. I wanted to start on an RP server just too see what it was but after all I prefer a normal server more. Chatting in grouping is a lot more fun when you can tell OOC jokes too all the time.

* enchanter : damn that buggy pet of me, why doesn't it heal me?
* other player : if you don't like your pet, put it on EBay.

Can't have that kind of fun on an RP server, can you?

***

Fingoniel...

1.50 means a lot of people need to change their tactics in RvR. No longer is the solo sniper the be all and end all. The solo assassin killing people in groups and escaping unscathed is also a no-go. The big battle tactic of 'mezz, pick em off one by one' will be different.... 'mezz, oh hang on they're awake... STOP THAT TANK!' ....

Aye, man, well said. 1.50 shaked RvR up quite a bit, it's now time to see what works and doesn't, how the new features affect the strategic game etc.

Volley requires 24 points (10 for longshot and 14 for volley itself) and I only had 2 (only 110 RP from BG1). Since my main is now my warden my scout is more or less on a hold. But whenever I get a bit tired of Hibs I'll go back to playing her. You might want to check the IGN Alb rogue boards. Lot's of whiners there but ask this question and you'll get some decent replies too.


So far for part 2 of answering Q's.


BTW I posted a few threads at the Brotherhood of Dawn forums about the new features in 1.49 and 1.50 and the battlegrounds (along with some screenshots). If you want to check out those posts see here. The first one includes what I as a lowbie mostly enjoyed in 1.50.

April 6 post, DAoC US report

April 21 post: Thidranki report (Battlegrounds) (incl. shots)

April 21 post: Darkness Falls report (incl shots)

May 9 report: patch 1.50 (incl. shots)

May 10 report: patch 1.50 armor tests (inc. shots)

Now some words to finish off (I really wish to go play now ).

For me the most fun things in DAoC are now the battlegrounds and normal RvR, Darkness Falls and realm abilities. I remember when I was playing 1.36 on Prydwen with Solid he kept telling me that 1.45 was a completely different game (Solid has/had a US account too back then. Well as 1.45 arrived, sure the epic zones etc were nice but it didn't feel like a new game to me. But now 1.0 does add a lot more cool content. The BG, DF, realm points, epic armors, new spell graphics, new tweaks and fixes etc really make the game a lot more fun. Does it feel like a new game? No, but it does feel like DAoC v1.5. I honestly can't wait for player housing, trying the PvP servers and the new 3D engine (presented at this year's E3 BTW).


So if you move from DAoC Europe to DAoC US, you'll have a great time. I you stay here, after a longer time, you'll prolly get that too. But by the time GOA has 1.50 running I think we already have 1.60. They don't seem to be able to keep up with Mythic. Also setting up PvP servers (if they even do) will most likely be taking a lot of time. Knowing GOA, it'll prolly not go smooth either.

I didn't regret spending 5 months on the Euro servers though, after all, I got to know a lot of great people there. One thing I have learned though, that I will never ever even think again about playing an online game that is distributed by a third party.

I like it here now, I can see I'm going to have a lot of fun on MLF Hibs. I payed 3 months ahead here in case you wondered and prolly never return to DAoC Europe. But I'll keep an eye on GOA's actions, you'll never know, do you...