It all started around 2001 as my interest in the MMORPG genre continue to build and I was on the verge of joining my first virtual world. At this time there were only a handful of MMORPGs on the market, the biggest by far of course being Everquest, but it never really grabbed my attention.

You see back them my concept of MMORPGs was completely different than it is today. I had this notion that when I finally selected one to play, I would stick with it forever. Because of that I was going to wait for the perfect game and dedicate myself to it. I also didn’t want to come in late and be years behind other players, so those early titles were all ruled out.

Around 2001 there were two big titles on the horizon, Dark Age of Camelot and Star Wars Galaxies, both of which I was extremely interested in. When DAoC launched, it was hard to resist, but I kept telling myself Star Wars is just around the corner. Little did I know that corner would be almost 2 years later after multiple delays. During those 20 or so months, I had picked up DAoC multiple times ready to purchase it, but always convinced myself to put it back and hold out for SWG.

When SWG was finally release, I of course picked up a copy on day one and started off on my journey. Sadly that journey didn’t last long and 3-4 months later I let my subscription lapse. While I enjoyed the game to some extent, it wasn’t what I expected. Even back then I was puzzled as to why there were so many stupid quests and thought it would be more of a free world where players could do whatever they wanted. I didn’t know it back then, but that was my introduction to quest grinding.

Ten years later and I still find myself thinking about DAoC.  Over the last decade I’ve hear nothing but good things, especially about its Realm vs Realm PvP system which was the main reason I jumped on board with Warhammer Online. I didn’t want to make the same mistake twice, of course we all know how WAR turned out.

It’s far to late for me to try it out now as I’d probably hate it for the graphics alone.  But every time I hear an ex-DAoC player reminiscing on the good times they had, it’s like a pin prick to my side reminding me what I missed out on. DAoC will be forever my “what if?” game and my biggest regret for not purchasing it.

They want you back, and they want you now. That’s why Bioware-Mythic started this Return of the Legends welcome back operation for Ultima Online, Warhammer Online and Dark Age of Camelot.

Continued…

One of the most veteran MMOs in the market, Dark Age of Camelot, has released the new Patch 1.106.

This new update includes several features like new  repeatable content and gear in some battlegrounds, granting lots of experience and aurulite rewards from new Aurulite merchants. Celtic Duel Wield is getting some love and characters using that fighting style, will see their hitting power increased. Finally, some dungeons like Tepok’s Mine, Cursed Tomb, and the Koalinth Caverns, are seeing their itemization improved.

DAOC players should be happy to play a game that, after all these years, keeps bringing new content. For the full patch notes, visit The Camelot Herald.

The new DAoC patch has gone live, and Bioware Mythic has plenty to show you.  For starters the new UI (user interface) will allow you to upgrade your skill lines without using any mouse clicks.  A new slider bar has been added that will show you what skills are being upgraded, and how many points you will be spending.  Not only that, but styles and spells will now be immediately displayed to the player so that you can make informed decisions in order to build your character to the best of your abilities.  Stuart Zissu; the producer behind Dark Age of Camelot, goes into more detail regarding the new training UI here.

Here are some other major updates to come with the patches release:

·         Bainshee class balance

·         Increased number of displayed buffs

·         Continued dungeon itemization updates

·         Epic Armor upgrades

For more information about the new DAoC patch, click here.  For all other MMO news and info, remember to follow us at mmocrunch.com

Heroes of the lands of Albion, Hibernia, and Midgard should keep their eyes peeled for merchants offering the spoils of war. In particular, the spoils of the Infernal Awakenings event that occurred last month. The Infernal Auction has been announced by Mythic as the next in a long line of planned Live Events. Resourceful salesmen can be seen in areas around each realm, peddling rare goods and soliciting each passerby.

Continued…

Dark Age of Camelot (DAoC) is a game that many new gamers have never heard of. Why? It is undeniably old, released in 2001 by Mythic Entertainment. Though old, DAoC has an alive and booming server still, because of one reason: Realm v Realm (RvR). No, not that RvR in Warhammer - but real RvR, because DAoC has three realms instead of two, something that I think current game developers have overlooked. You may think that it’s all well and good, but there is no way that DAoC could still be a viable PvP game after all this time. Wrong, in February of this year, Ten Ton Hammer rated DAoC as #1 pay-to-play PVP game. Whether you are a DAoC veteran who hasn’t played the game in years, or a new player, who like many of us, are unsatisfied with PvP and the current MMO options, I will attempt to bring you up to speed on the current state of Dark Age of Camelot.

Continued…

Bioware Mythic has just revealed the new payment options coming to all European Warhammer Online and Dark Age of Camelot players.  Players are told that they will still have the option to purchase game time codes from the EA online store, as well as some new payment methods that may be preferred.  The game time codes will still be sold in 30, 90, and 180 day packages for both Warhammer Online and Dark Age of Camelot.  European players now have the option to set up an automatic billing plan by using a valid Visa, Mastercard, Discovery or American Express card.  Mythic is currently working on a wider selection of European billing options, but in the mean time Mythic will be providing introductory pricing.  This will only stick until they have released their full line-up of billing options.  The current prices have been posted by Mythic and are all in USD with the additional “Added Value Tax”.

Continued…

Michael Knudson, a new member of the Dark Age of Camelot development team, announced today in a developer diary that Dark Age of Camelot is overhauling its classic world drops. This follows a pattern we’ve seen recently with older MMOs revisiting original segments of the game in order to, as Knudson puts it, “breathe new life” into them.

Probably the most famous current revitalisation project is World of Warcraft‘s Cataclysm expansion, but it appears to be something MMOs of a certain age have to go through. Knudson himself mentioned that many of the items in DAoC’s classic world are now completely obsolete, and the same is true of most games that expand on their existing world – the older content is forgotten for all but those just now levelling up. I think maintaining interest in the entire game is a vital step in keeping a game’s population happy and active, so I expect only good things of this news.

For more information, visit the Camelot Herald site.

DAOC Origins: 6 Months of Silence

A long time ago old Dark Age of Camelot fans were rejoicing when Mythic announced that they were going to be releasing their “Origins” server. Many of the game’s original fans had become disenchanted with DAOC after the release of some controversial expansion packs, and fans had been longing to relive that original DAOC experience.

On June 2nd, 2008, Mythic announced on the Camelot Herald the Origins project and revealed their plan:

“This server is designed to return DAOC to the great game experience it was in 2001/2002, while also applying wisdom from the lessons we have learned since then. DAOC is still a great game, but this server has its own appeal that we ‘old school’ players really enjoyed, and our goal is to get back to that while also continuing to support the other rulesets. Origins will not exactly replicate the game as it was is 2001; we are keeping as a part of server the ‘best features’ we have put into the game since launch, such as housing, horses, the market explorer, UI changes (to name only a few) and many of the improved systems introduced over the years.”

The announcement also goes on to lay out their timeframe for the project:

“The most common question continues to be, “Is this really going to happen?”

Origins has been in development for a couple of months now. We have been working with our Team Leads (as part of the Team Lead program) to work through the various gameplay details, ideas, and issues, while also collecting and reading your feedback. Our schedule requires around four to five months of development. This means that since the server has been in development for two months already, we still have another two to three months before it’s ready for primetime. Right now, launch is slated for the August/September timeframe.”

On July 29th, 2008, Mythic amended their stance regarding their plans for origins by releasing another announcement:

“Initially, we had an aggressive timetable we wanted to meet in order to get this into the players hands as soon as possible. Now, looking at all the feedback and re-examining our own internal goals and objectives for this server, we realize that it’s better to take a step back and take our time with Origins. What this means in practical terms is that you won’t be seeing Origins in the original Aug.-Sept. timeframe. When we are happier with the overall design and functionality, we will begin talking about a launch date. Until then, we thank everyone for participating during this phase of the Origins project.”

It has been almost 6 months, and DAOC fans are left scratching their heads wondering, “Is this really going to happen?” Mythic has yet to give their fans any official updates on the status of the project since then, and now it appears that Mythic has been hit by personnel cuts EA has made due to economic concerns. Mythic no doubt has their hands full with Warhammer Online, which has been wrestling with its own issues. Mark Jacobs made this comment on the Warhammer Alliance regarding the layoffs in regards to Warhammer support:

“It isn’t any more complicated than that other than to say that we have a very large studio and pretty much every person there has been and will continue to work on WAR for quite a while (meaning we haven’t started work on another game yet),” he continued. “When we launched, we had over 400 people working on the game in one capacity or another so it’s not like we had a small team at launch or even a small team now.”

There definitely seems to be a demand for Origins, and you would think that given that demand, Mythic would recognize the opportunity to generate some more revenue from their DAOC brand. I find it amazing that there hasn’t been much of an update on the official site in almost 6 months, and one has to wonder if the revenue opportunity is getting smaller the longer they remain silent.

Hopefully the economic turmoil and layoffs have not derailed Mythic’s original plans to give their old fans a taste of DAOC’s original glory.  Perhaps Jacobs is telling the truth about “pretty much everyone” working on Warhammer, but you owe the DAOC customers who made your company successful at least some form of an update on if and when this project will see the light of day, or if it has been canceled.

Paragus

Co-Leader of Inquisition

www.inqguild.com

It seems that when it comes to MMORPGs most of us prefer the fantasy genre.  This is evident by not only by looking at the top MMORPGs (Wow, GuildWars, LoTRO, Runescape, EQ, Lineage, DAoC, FFXI), but also by the fact that most of the MMORPGs that are created are fantasy based.  Is this a case of developers giving us what we want or is the fantasy genre being shoved down our throats?

I believe this is a case of supply and demand.  For most of us, including myself, it is much much easier to go from one fantasy MMO to another fantasy MMO.  In the most recent case for me, jumping from Age of Conan to Warhammer Online.  There’s already a built in system that I don’t have to relearn.  Warriors carry melee weapons, mages have mana and spells, orcs and goblins are evil.  I already know who my friends and enemys are before I create my first character.  Not so with the sci-fi genre.  Jumping from Starwars to Eve Online to Tabula Rasa to City of Heros is a learning experience each time.  Sure we all know the Starwars story and that superheros fight super villains, but not so with most other sci-fi games.  We must learn a new story line, new weapons, new races, new powers, which makes the learning curve much steeper.  There’s something to be said about knowing where you’re headed.  Same goes in real life, most of us have a favorite bar or restaurant we always go to and while we don’t mind trying something new, it’s always nice to be somewhere you’re familiar with.

Apart from the comfort factor with fantasy MMORPGs, there also seems to be many more big fantasy properties out there that already have a following and lore.  Lord of the Rings, Warcraft, Conan, Warhammer, Camelot, D&D, Final Fantasy, Ultima Online to name a few.  Most of us, being a bit on the nerdy side (or could just be me), already have at least some knowledge of almost all of these story lines.  Which again makes it easier for us to join that universe.  While sci-fi does have some big properties that have been made into MMOs, it doesn’t seem any of them have reached a level of success that the big fantasy MMOs have.

Does this mean that a sci-fi or other non fantasy MMORPGs can never become the top MMORPG?  Absolutely not.  In fact the next MMORPG I’m looking forward to is a sci-fi one which I wrote about a little while back, JumpGate.  Even though I do prefer fantasy, it does get a bit stale after a while so I need to switch it up from time to time.  How about you?  Fantasy, Sci-fi or other?