Is there any depth and sense of community?Follow

I started playing MMORPGs back in ’97 with Dark Sun Online before moving on to Ultima Online, which I played for several years. After I left UO (all my friends quit, and I simply couldn’t take the bugs and sever instability anymore) I dabbled with a number of games but never really got into any (I also didn’t have time--moved out, went to college, all that good stuff.) I started playing online games again last year, but I haven’t found anything that I like. WoW and GW are both good games in their own way, but they don’t really offer much in the way of depth or any sense of community. Back in UO I was involved in a player run town, owned my own store, participated in player run events (not just dungeon raids), and so on. Back then I joined guilds because they were my friends and I agreed with that they were doing in the game. Now I find myself joining guilds and simply seeing it as a chat channel filled with a bunch of people I will likely never see in game, let alone become friends with. And a “good guild” now is one that has the least number of 13 year olds...

So my eyes are turning back to DAOC, which I originally had every intention of playing. It seems like it has a lot more depth and could possible have the closest feel to UO, but I wanted to find out if this was true and if this is the game for me (for some reason my computer won’t install the trial--it simply crashes when I try--something that happens with about half the game trials I’ve downloaded,) and if basically there's more to the game than grinding and PvP.

My first question is obviously is there a sense of community in DAOC, or are most guilds simply chat channels filled with people who don’t know each other?

How in-depth and complex is crafting?

How is the economy?

Are there player run towns?

How much customization/variety is there? Does everyone look the same, grinding for the same armor and weapons, with the same spells as everyone else?

How good are the dungeons, and is there any reason or excitement in exploring, or are they farm-fests reminiscent of EQ?

Also, by joining this late in the game, will I be at an unrecoverable disadvantage? I’m usually okay at leveling and good at making money, but will I find the economy screwed up too bad to get anywhere in the game without putting in an inordinate amount of time or buying money off eBay?

If I go to a city, am I going to get slammed with “WTB XXX!!111” “~*~*~WTS YYY~*~*~*” “>>**RUNNING TO ZZZ!!**<<” etc.?

Finally, can someone explain to me what PvP/RvR is actually like? What is the point of participating? Is it basically an arena battle (like GW), or do you actually travel to where you are attacking? If it’s not an arena battle, how deep can you travel into enemy territory? How fast paced is the combat? Is it more skill based or equipment based?

Thanks for any help, and sorry this post ended up being so long...

Oh and about the broad chat? No one ever uses that except in the main cities (but no mobs there so no "train" issues to worry about) and in New Frontiers but usually only for seiging purposes.

Lol many questions so my answers are broken up.


No there is not "camping" of a mob in DAoC because of the respawn times and its just not done in DAoC.

****My first question is obviously is there a sense of community in DAOC, or are most guilds simply chat channels filled with people who don’t know each other?
The game is in depth, but each guild is different. It really is hard to quantify this. I am in an alliance that stresses the realm, so when the realm is under attack, normal chit-chat is frowned on in the alliance. My guild chat is very friendly, and some people are what I would call friends that I never met in life.

***How in-depth and complex is crafting? Crafting is not very complex, but it is expensive and boring to do. It is however important in the end-game, or at least most of the crafts (Fletching is the least useful, and weapon crafting is becoming semi-obsolete, but tailoring, Armor crafting, and Spell crafting are all very valuable and Alchemy has a purpose too).

***How is the economy? It is an older game, so there are many people out there with more money then they could ever spend. There is still an active trade economy, and supply and demand still works. Some higher end loot is very expensive, but I would say it is a working economy, although the older servers/clusters have more money in them than they should. If you should choose crafting as a way to make money, Armor Crafting and Spellcrafting will earn you much cash still, although there is an initial investment in time and money that you will need to put in (and I mean a lot of time and money)

***Are there player run towns? I've never played a game with this, so I don't really understand this question.

***How much customization/variety is there? Does everyone look the same, grinding for the same armor and weapons, with the same spells as everyone else? Well, to start, there are 45 different classes you can be, and most classes have at least two usable races for them. Each class has class specific gear that has its own customization (champion weapons for example), and there are many common items that are readily seen. However, you can dye your suit to many colors, and place guild emblems on shields and cloaks. The different races are also very unique from one another. this is the only MMO I've played, but I heard it is better then others and no game has as many classes/races as DAoC. Most classes have class specific spells to them, and some classes are very unique, others more typical fighters.

***How good are the dungeons, and is there any reason or excitement in exploring, or are they farm-fests reminiscent of EQ? Anyone new to the game will enjoy the Master Levels and Trials of Atlantis areas, as well as other dungeons in the game. Some dungeons are instanced for your leveling purposes, others are nearly never entered anymore (old world dungeons b/c loot is so out of date and useless and other areas offer better xp). However, there are still some fun dungeon areas (Darkspire) that offers great loot and is not farmed. Artifact encounters are no longer camped and farmed b/c of the change to credit awarding procedures and how artifacts are obtained. The real end-game in DAoC is the Realm vs. Realm aspect of it.

***Also, by joining this late in the game, will I be at an unrecoverable disadvantage? I’m usually okay at leveling and good at making money, but will I find the economy screwed up too bad to get anywhere in the game without putting in an inordinate amount of time or buying money off eBay?
You will be at a disadvantage until you acquire some minimum gear to compete. Certain toons and experience at how to farm the rarer items are all you need to get a place in the economy. Buy a house and your items can be displayed on a cluster wide market explorer so that all your items will be seen by any who are searching for it. It will take some work to get to this level though. You will not know your way around, and unless you know people that do, you will have to have patience or a good guild to help you learn the game. You will not be at an unrecoverable disadvantage, and even less so if you go to a classic server, but you will be at a disadvantage initially to sum it up.

***If I go to a city, am I going to get slammed with “WTB XXX!!111” “~*~*~WTS YYY~*~*~*” “>>**RUNNING TO ZZZ!!**<<” etc.? Most people use the Consignment merchants and the Market explorer to do their shopping. You sometimes hear requests for wtb and wts on guild or alliance chat channels or in city wide broadcasts, but it is not too bad on any server I played. You sometimes get an *** or two and have to ignore them, and that is easy enough to do (put them on /ignore list so you don't see anything they type)

***Finally, can someone explain to me what PvP/RvR is actually like? What is the point of participating? Is it basically an arena battle (like GW), or do you actually travel to where you are attacking? If it’s not an arena battle, how deep can you travel into enemy territory? How fast paced is the combat? Is it more skill based or equipment based? The point of Realm vs Realm is to kill people from the other two realms. You get realm points from these, and the more you have, the more realm ranks you have. For each realm rank in skill you get, you get a realm skill point which can be used to "purchase" a special ability or even upgrade your stats (for instace, you can buy 2% resistance to magic or increase your strength by 4 points). Each realm has 7 keeps, and two relic gates. The relic gates can be opened by taking certain keeps, but this is not an easy task. Relic raids can have upwards of 500 people involved. Smaller scale keep and tower raids also exist nearly everyday, and usually the purpose of this is just to create action and gain realm points. 8-man groups roam about looking for other 8-mans to fight and stealthers and other soloing classes have their own battles/war. It is all done in the same "arena" though, but it is a huge area. Maps show where recent battles have occurred to help you or your group find the action. It is hard to explain it all, but it is something that no other MMO game has. The actual PvP server is player versus player, and in that server, you can kill anyone, even people from your own realm.



Edited, Jun 20th 2006 at 10:30am EDT by thuri

Well, to new people I always suggest the classic servers, b/c the player base there is newer (since the servers are about a year old, you won't be as far behind). Ector and Lamorak are very casual servers and willing to take in new people.


Casters are good starting classes b/c they are cheaper to level then tanks, healers or stealthers. They are less gear dependent since the idea is to kill any mob before it touches you (and thus even if you are wearing low level gear, it does not matter much). A tank you need good weapons and armor.

For a caster that is easy to level and a good farming toon (so that you can later level something else you might want to play), maybe try a bonedancer (midguard caster) or a Spiritmaster (they are fun, have a pet, and tons of utility). Wizards are kind of blah in this game unforutnately, and although dealing good damage, have very little tools besides damage. Runies are similar, but with a bit more utility. Cabbies are excellent casters also, and all three I recommended have pets to help you with the leveling (since the pet getting attacked does not affect your armor quality). If a BD, go suppression spec, and if a cabby, I would say matter spec until you are higher level.

If you want to play a shadowblade or hunter afterwards (mid stealth classes), you could after your BD earned enough cash to supply those toons with decent armor/weapons.

Just a though, people have started on every toon the game has to offered and ended up fine, but some are definitely easier to level up along the way.


By the way, classic servers don't have the ToA dungeons and ML's I mentioned earlier, so they may not appeal to you if you want to experience the entire PvE side this game has to offer, but the classic servers are more newb friendly and easier to get into a guild that will help you. Also, the damage output in those is less (since they don't have the uber items ToA brought to the game), so it might be an easier learning curve for you in the RvR side of the game.

Inside the housing zones, either at the markets to each zone or the entrance to housing.