My First Impresstions

[jimmyh]

After spending almost 12 hours downloading the 14 day trial i got to play for a short period this morning before I went off to work. Although i think the trial is just for the US servers.

My first impressions are mixed...I am comming from WoW where I am now bored of it...I'm more into the RPG side of things than actually hack and slash...so owning a house is an important part of any mmorpg, which is why i'm trying this game.

I started out as an Albion Fighter as i like to use heavy armor...I'm a little confused as to what the different attack icons do in the top left corner of ths screen....I've upgrade one skill which was Slash...now how do i know which attack move is the best one...do different attack moves do more damage

I'm not overly impressed with the animation of the models...it seems to be to slow and they slide around on the floor...the graphics are nice tho.

I've also heard that u get drops from mobs which can be used at the level u are at...which i like the idea of.

Cheers.

 

[Ning]

- do the new Catacomb's quests. You can xp with quests only with the Catacomb add-on (dunno if it is included in the trial though) like with WoW.
- to know what an attack/spell do, clik on its icon et press shift + i . Same thing for the armor and weapons.
- at level 20 and above, go to the battlegrounds. It's really funny and you can xp easily by killing other players.

 

[Dallas]

Just so you know, the game isnt minded for rpg-ing really, its more of an hardcore pvp/rvr game.. IF you want casual questing, i wouldent reccomend this game, but if you like fighting other people, this is probably the best game around still for that..

Sure you got housings, and catacombs added alot of questing and such, but i wouldent reccommend that since that part is kinda weak in daoc compared to wow..

But if you wanna continue, then as mentioned above, there is something called battlegrounds wich is a pvp area, the most populated one at the moment is the level 20-24 one.. So id suggest getting to level 20 atleast so you could get a taste of pvp, and see if its something for you..

 

[Belomar]

While this certainly is not the wrong forum to post things like this, you will find that the Newbie forum (URL below) is even better: https://forums.freddyshouse.com/forumdisplay.php?f=19

In there, you will also find lots of additional information on all aspects of the game.

 

[old.Whoodoo]

Basic combat is fairly strait forward until your spec in that line gets higher and you get "chain" styles.

Firstly, to help you understand these styles a little better, take a look at http://daoc.catacombs.com/cbuilder.cfm which tells you all the styles and available spells and things for each class you go for.

As youve gone slash, Ill try an example. Put the icon for your weapon style called Ruby Slash in one of the slots on your quick bar. Now right click that icon, then press shift+i. This should display the information about this style. This will say something like "Damage = High, Fatigue = High". This means good damage, and high endurance use. Other things you will see are the results of each hit on a style, like Hindered, Stunned and Bleed. Then you have either positional or reactive styles, like "Side" or "You block / Parry", I hope its obvious when to use these.

Lastly your chain styles, these will say "Opening: XXX", these you use after landing a successful opening style.

Most mobs do drop items for your level, or more to the point their level. A level 1 mob might drop level 1-3 gear, a level 5 4-6 gear and so on to level 51. The instance dungeons also drop material called Aurulite, which can in turn be exchanged for armour in the main Catacombs cities, but this isnt until later on (with the cata expansion too!). Or you can tap up a friendly crafter to make you some armour, which at low level costs next to nothing.

Join a guild too if you can, I know you are only on the trial, but its great to have ppl to talk to and pass the day and get advice from. There are lots of friendly ones around, so dont be afraid to ask.

Also one command that may help, I dont see many on it these days, but type /advice and a list should appear of ppl volunteering to give advice and help with pointers.

The Euro servers also have a 14 day trial by invitation, so if you know someone in the game, ask them to send you an invitation.

DAoC has things WoW doesnt, and vice versa, tbh its not good to try and compare too much, but once you hit RvR, youll certainly know the difference.

Good luck and happy hunting.

 

[Kami]

If in doubt type in /help (if you've not got it bound to a key) I still end up using this after years playing the game as it has lists of all the slash commands and tons of other information. Otherwise do /advisor and send one of them a PM if you have a question. That's what they volunteered for after all

/advisor (shows lists of those online)

/a <playername> Hello could you please tell me how to <insert question>

 

[Feyd]

I would also like to explain some of the difference between WoW (as i understand it from others, havent tried it myself).

The major difference between DAoC and WoW must be the RvR (Realm vs. Realm) war in DAoC.

In WoW you have afew 'contested areas' where the players can run around killing the other side.
In DAoC you have 3 frontiers and 2 RvR dungeons where the 3 realms (where WoW only have 2) also run around killing each other.
The difference is that in DAoC RvR have a purpose. You take keeps, owning a keep gives you a bonus on xp, rp (realm points, points you get from killing players of other realms).
In DaoC RvR you also fight over 6 relics, where the owning realms get a bonus to either Melee or Magic.
Also the realm who own the most keeps (and in the US keeps and towers) get access to 1 of the RvR dungeons (Darkness Falls), where access is only granted to 1 realm at a time, but if you are inside the dungeon when it changes hands, then you can get killed by ppl from the other realm(s).

afaik there is also some towns in WoW contested areas that you can fight over, but that they fall back to being neutral after a while. Keeps and Relics in DAoC belong to 1 realm until 1 of the 2 others take/retake them.

The full scale RvR is mainly for lvl 45-50, but as someone else mentioned then you have battlegrounds where you can go with lower level toons and fight against other ppl at the same level range.

old.Whoodoo's explanation of the fighting system is a a good plain and simple explanation.

But since you are on a 14 day trial, then you dont have access to Catacombs, so the fastest way for you to xp is to go to a guard and "/whisper task" to him. He will then give you a 'kill task' that is a simpel task to kill 1 mob around your own level. The task gives good xp and coin.
Then when you hit level 20 (which shouldnt take long), then you can try out the Battlegrounds, where you from level 20 to 24 can fight in the most active battleground Thindranki.

 

[Kami]

It's a real shame that you probably wont get to try Thidranki it's a lot of fun and gives you such a good idea about full blown rvr. Granted it's not exactly the same but you get the same sort of buzz from it

 

[Ogrelin Blodig]

Get the full game on the EU servers and come here, if you live in europe and play on he US servers you will end up playing most of your time when the US-ppl are at work..

Also the ghrapics will be much better than the Trial-version.

 

[Kami]

yup I played US servers for about 10 months just after it was released there, getting groups was hard (even when people DID group) due to low numbers playing during the day. Ended up playing a healer since there was never any - only way I was able to level

 

[Flimgoblin]

full game:
http://www.play.com/play247.asp?pa=sr&page=title&r=PC&title=593823

 

[Flimgoblin]

cheaper option - go buy pc zone or whatever it was that has the 14 day free trial on CD and save the downloads

unless someone takes you up on your offer of Pming.

 

[Tilda]

I've sent you an email for a trial, i also sent myself one out of curiosity, if you'rs hasn't come i'd check your spam filter, or PM me with a non web-based address. Mine arived 10 mins after I sent it.
As has been said, play EU as theres plenty of people around atm due to PCG trial etc etc, also the times will fit you better!

Tilda

 

[Kittyfantastico]

Hi there I am also a newbie to this game, and have been playing for 4 months now. I disagree with some of the views on this post that DAOC is not a good RPG game, it's an excellent RPG game it's just that most people in Europe are more interested in the RvR side of it .

Myself, my husband, and some of our friends have recently moved to the U.S.A servers due to the talk on clustering. So far we have found them lots more populated than the european servers *what ever time of the day or night*. The people are very very warm and friendly and welcoming we have more offers to group than you can shake a stick at, we have been given plat by people we don't know, not copper, silver or gold, PLAT!!!.

We have managed to join two fabulous guilds and are having a blast. Also lag does not seem to be a problem what so ever, it's more that the new improved graphics in the more recent patch, maybe are a little too strong for our PC's at the moment. *memo to me may need to upgrade my pc *

As a new player I strongly suggest you read the clustering threads here, and on the europe site before deciding between American and European servers.
In essence if clustering goes ahead, you will only ever be able to play one realm at a time, unless you join now. Meaning that you are paying the same for the game and subscription but actually only being able to play one third of it, or at best if you join now 2 thirds.

This means should you wish to switch realms you will have to delete characters that you have spent time building, and lose your accrued coin, equipment and artifacts.
Clustering I dare say for old players is a good solution, as new players me and my husband found the idea of our choices limited to such an extent abhorrent.

Please before you decide, if you decide to play at all, please read both american and european sites and make sure you are fully informed. Otherwise you may find that like myself and my husband we have had to pay for the game twice and it's exspansion packs.
As well as leaving characters we had invested 4 months of our time leveling.

Kitty