Should I buy DAOC?

[Talented]

Hi all

I saw a copy of the new DAOC in the shop today and was thinking about giving it a go but before I get it I just thought i'd see what other players think of the game and what makes it good.

At the moment I play Ultima Online and have done so for about 2years but i'd like to try something new as i'm not to keen on the new expansion. I have read a few DAOC FAQs and had a look through the official site and stratics site and it looks like a great game, especialy the graphics which are a huge step up from Ultima Online.

Obviously people who are playing the game will think its great but I would really appreciate a quick post summarising what makes DAOC better than other MMORPGs.

A few questions:
I am from the UK so is a european server available and if so what is the population?
Roughly how many subscriptions does DAOC have?
Is the game newbie friendly?
Is it easy to get into the position where you have done everything there is to be done with nothing left to do?
Is the world as big as people claim?
Is PVP or PVM prefered?
Are there any guilds recommended for newbies?
What race and profession should I start out as?
Can I build my own house like in UO?

Thanks very much for reading and I would really appreciate some feedback

 

[Fafnir]

Originally posted by Talented
Hi all

I saw a copy of the new DAOC in the shop today and was thinking about giving it a go but before I get it I just thought i'd see what other players think of the game and what makes it good.

At the moment I play Ultima Online and have done so for about 2years but i'd like to try something new as i'm not to keen on the new expansion. I have read a few DAOC FAQs and had a look through the official site and stratics site and it looks like a great game, especialy the graphics which are a huge step up from Ultima Online.

Obviously people who are playing the game will think its great but I would really appreciate a quick post summarising what makes DAOC better than other MMORPGs.

A few questions:
I am from the UK so is a european server available and if so what is the population?
Roughly how many subscriptions does DAOC have?
Is the game newbie friendly?
Is it easy to get into the position where you have done everything there is to be done with nothing left to do?
Is the world as big as people claim?
Is PVP or PVM prefered?
Are there any guilds recommended for newbies?
What race and profession should I start out as?
Can I build my own house like in UO?

Thanks very much for reading and I would really appreciate some feedback

Well if you saw the euro version from Goa its all Euro servers, english, german, french. The worlds i pretty large, even larger with the add-on. pvp or pve its up to you, but you need to do alot of pve before you can do pvp with the big boys, relic raids etc. Or just make chars to lvl 24 and go to thid. Guilds hmmmm, most guilds invite you if they like you, or some invite if you ask. Race/class well its up to you what you like to play, tank/nuker/stealther/healer.
Housing is comming with a later patch, but not your own house, goin to be guild housing as far as i understand it.

 

[Armalite]

Don't buy it. Alot of bugs that never gets fixed. Classes get abilites that do not make sense in a roleplaying view. (quick ex. minstrel who wear chain, have the ability to stealth and climb walls). Unless you have a buffbot on second account, you have a great disadvantage. Half of population will prolly leave when SWG comes soon, and the rest will leave when WoW comes.

 

[Madonion Slicer]

Half of population will prolly leave when SWG comes soon, and the rest will leave when WoW comes.

Woo hoo then i will be the only one left, and will rule all 3 Realms

DAoC is excellent, after a year of playing it i still enjoy it.

For those waiting to go to SWG, then enjoy your wait, and if you think DAoC is buggy you going to be in for a rough ride with SWG.

 

[VodkaFairy]

The people that make DAoC aren't exactely doing a perfect job in my opinion, but still, we have lurikeens! That alone is worth the money!

Really it's not expensive, the free month trial is actually about two months (unless they fixed it) and it gives you enough time to see if you like it. Don't pick albion as the people there will scare you away

 

[Gabrial]

I am from the UK so is a european server available and if so what is the population?
There are 2 UK Servers. Prywdn is the unofficial RP server (Templar Knights is the main RP guild that springs to mind)

Roughly how many subscriptions does DAOC have?
Dunno - at peak time (6:00pm - 10pm) I reckon there must be around 600 people in the realm at any one time? Anyone else have a different idea?

Is the game newbie friendly?
Yes - if you struggle give me a tell (Gabrial on Prywdn, Albion) if thats the realm / server you choose

Is it easy to get into the position where you have done everything there is to be done with nothing left to do?
Hmm not if you enjoy rolling new chars. I've had numerous ones since I started over a year ago and just came back to my lvl 39 cleric now.

Is the world as big as people claim?
Its pretty large. Can take an age to run from one place to another - i would guess 10 mins by horse and running to get from one end to the other.

Is PVP or PVM prefered?
PVP in my opinion is naff. Too many pkers like Felucca where peeps camp the gates.

Are there any guilds recommended for newbies?
Order of the Knights Templar (for roleplaying), The Rigante, The Knights of the Round Table (all on prywdn, albion)

What race and profession should I start out as?
What do you want to be?

Can I build my own house like in UO?
Not yet

 

[VodkaFairy]

Remember these few commands:

/advice

Gives a list of advisors online

/advice [name-of-advisor] [your message/question]

remove [ and ], with the above command your question/message will reach the advisor

r [your reply]

When someone sent you a private message (they're shown in blue-color) you can reply with 'r'.

/send [yourmessage]

This is how you send PM's to other people

Oh and one more thing:

the 'c' key will make you sit down. The first 5 times (I think) you sit down a help box will pop up that gives you some usefull info. Check a class you like on a website (search for 'daoc characters' or something) and post it here, so people can give you some tips about how to play/start it

Also, you can check the character builder for exact info.

 

[Cap'n Sissyfoo]

Its a fun game but will quickly suck your life away if you don't have any will power.

Euro servers are good and there is generally very little lag on the British servers. On top of that they are installing new servers. Woo!

Don't judge the game by the opinions people have about it on this forum (in general, not this thread). If they hated it so much they wouldn't be playing.

Urr...thats about it.

 

[Elixir]

daoc is nice in some circumstances, but in others you will hate it, for example, leveling really fast, you will like, leveling slow at 43-50 you wont.

 

[Armolas]

I think you should just go ahead and try it, as vodka says, it's not to expensive, and you can give up after the free month or two.

Your questions:

There are 2 UK servers (although you will find a fair few are from other parts of europe, mainly scandanavia but we have people from all over)

Each of the servers are divided into 3 "realms" you pick one, and it is kind of like a mini server, you can only talk to others in the same realm, poputaltion in peak time will be roughly 300 - 400 for the underpopulated realm (hibernia) to 600 or 700 for the most populated realm (albion).

Most people you play with will be alts, so you will find some knowledge assumed, but if you explain you are a newbie and not an alt, most people will be helpful, explain stuff, give you a little cash and so on.

You can reach level 50 (highest level) quite fast nowadays, most of the best exping techniques and places have been sussed out now, and along the way you can earn enough to buy good equipment, but this isn't rally all the game has to offer.

The world isn't huge, especialy by UO standanrds, but it is big enough.

THe core of the game is PVP, or rather Rvr (Realm v Realm).
Where the server is divided into 3 realms, you cannot kill or injusre others in your own realm (except in duels, which are just for fun, and have no consequences), so you can level in a friendly environment without putting yourself at risk, unless you choose to do so. However when you don't want to level/craft etc any more, you can move to the frontioers or battlegrounds, where the emphasis is on fighting the other realms - in essence, it is team based pvp, with 3 large teams, so not random ganking and so on - in this stage there are plenty of sub goals, like taking control of keeps and defending them, also raiding other realms for their relics, which when captured give an advantage in combat to the capturing realm, or just everyday skirmishing.

You will find this is the best part of the game, as you use tactics and strategy (or just join a huge army and roll over all opposition until another army forms to stop you), and the larger relic raids can be awe inspiring, the ultimate is to lead a successful relic raid, with 200+ people coming together (hopefully) under your command, defeating an equal amount of the enemy and coming home in triumph.
You won't get to this stage overnight, you need to do a lot of people work to get the respect needed for a leader etc as well as the experience of seeing how raids work and what needs to be done.

As for race and class, well I'd say the easiest to play at the start would be any of the fighter classes, these are always in demand, but really it is up to you - try a few at low level and pick one.

I'd suggest Hib/Excal as one of the best realms, with friendly (for the most part) people, but everyone else will suggest thier own realm and server, so just pick one at random realy (just not Alb/Excal they have too many people already ).

Not too many guilds are all newbies, most are high level now, but our guild is friendly, and welcoming, like many others, or wait and see what guilds the people you regularly team up with are in.

Houses have been on the to-do list for years, and they may eventually turn up, but don't hold your breath.

 

[old.tRoG]

http://www.classesofcamelot.com/

To help you pick your class.

 

[Elixir]

btw dont pick skald <looks at trog>

known him since the game went gold, hes still not 50
(hes a skald btw)

 

[old.tRoG]

Being a Skald has nothing to do with me being the slowest leveller on EkXcaWiBuR!

*Is quite upset*

 

[Elixir]

mate your not upset your just jealous i have almost 3 level 50s and you are still fighting for one

just kidding mate, if you need a hand anytime ill get my shaman....yes..thats shaman not buffbot....out to help you level.

i know i keep saying this but sometime soon ill actually act upon it.

(oh AND buy daoc)

 

[Talented]

Thanks all

Hey all, thanks very much for all the info, its all very helpful!
I guess i'll give it a go, nothing to loose

I'll post later about joining a guild, hope to see some of you in game!

 

[old.tRoG]

Here's a hint: Join Midgard/Excalibur.

 

[Fex]

I wub these type of threads, not only does it make me think about how good the game can be it also shows how good the Euro community actually is

:wub: To you all

 

[Gabrial]

Shut it Fex

(J/K)

 

[Fex]

 

[old.Trine Aquavit]

I am from the UK so is a european server available and if so what is the population?

There are 2 normal English servers (Excalibur & Prydwen) and one PvP server (Camlann). Server stats for the Euro servers can be found here

Roughly how many subscriptions does DAOC have?

I think it has about 200K worldwide, though it's not easy to tell as US, Euro, Italian and Korean servers are run by different companies.

Is the game newbie friendly?

It's probably the most newbie friendly MMORPG I've come across (though AC2 gives it a close run)

Is it easy to get into the position where you have done everything there is to be done with nothing left to do?

Yes and no. Levelling can be a bit of a slog. Most people take approx 20 days /played to level their first character to 50, though that figure may have reduced these days with more cash, equipment and content available. Once you've got to 50 there are EQ-like epic mobs and, of course, Realm vs Realm battles to keep you busy.

Is the world as big as people claim?

There are bigger worlds in MMORPGs. EQ is much bigger, I think. The problem DAOC has in this regard is that it's split up into 3 realms so you only have just over a third of the game world available to any one character. It's big enough, and likely to get bigger.

Is PVP or PVM prefered?

Either, really. You have to do a fair bit of PvM before you can do any big-time PvP (though there are lower level battlegrounds to PvP in). Apart from on the PvP server and duelling all PvP is actually RvR (Realm vs Realm), so it tends to be large scale - skirmishes, keep taking/defending, relic raids. There is very little one-on-one PvP. End-game PvM has recently got a lot better with a lot more high-level zones and more interesting AI (example: 'angler' monsters that use lower level monsters as 'bait' before appearing from nowhere to pounce.

Are there any guilds recommended for newbies?

There are plenty of newbie friendly guilds. Some guilds have a level requirement, but only a few RvR-focussed guilds require that you be very high level. It's generally best to go unguilded for a while and see who you enjoy playing with.

What race and profession should I start out as?

Depends how you want to play. If you enjoy grouping with others then play a healer-type class or a tank as you'll find it easier to get in a group. If you can't always play longish hours I'd recommend a class that can do some soloing. Of all the classes I've played I think the best starting class would be a Druid. They are wanted by groups for their healing, but they also have a decent pet, buffs and a damage over time spell which will allow them to solo (at least in the early levels).

Can I build my own house like in UO?

Mythic (developers of DAOC) are working on player housing as the next big feature. They are planning on implementing player housing zones rather than let you build anywhere. The houses are unlikely to be as customisable as UO's, though.

Hope this is useful. DAOC is a fun game with a good community, it's well worth trying.

 

[old.tRoG]

Erm.... What Trine said