I’ve been unable to get Anarchy Online to run on our new computers, and my wife tried Everquest as a replacement and hated it, so we wound up with Dark Age of Camelot.
I really like it so far. The previews seemed unappealing to me but I’m fairly addicted now. You can really tell it’s based on a MUD that ran for over three years, because all the classes and skills seem really balanced and refined. The graphics are nice, some say they are better than AO, I’m not sure about that but I’d say they are better than any other MMORPG out currently. The game has tons of atmosphere, and lifts a lot of stuff from real mythology.
For those who haven’t read up on it, the game is set after the death of King Arthur, though in a fantasy realm with only a few nods to actual history. There are three realms you have to choose from, Albion (based on Britain), Hibernia (a land based on Celtic mythology), and Midgard (Norse, obviously). Each of the three realms has four races you can choose from for your character - Albion has Britons, Highlanders, Avalonians, and Saracen. Hibernia has Celts, Firbolgs (half-giants), Elves, and Lurikeen (tiny faery creatures), while Midgard has Norsemen, Dwarves, Trolls, and Kobolds. You choose from one of four base classes at the beginning, they have different names for the different realms but they are all basically Fighter, Cleric, Mage, and Rogue. When your character gets to 5th level you have to choose which of 2-4 paths your main class can take - Midgard fighers can choose to become a Berserker, a Warrior, a Thane, or a Skald, as an example. I really like this way of building characters, as it gives newbies a chance to see how things work before deciding on the long-term path their character will take. Throughout character development you can split points you get every level between a few different skills for your class, so not every 20th level Thane is alike.
When you get to 15th level your character can go to the borderlands of their realm, or invade the borderlands of enemy realms, where you can encounter players from the opposing sides. The game is based on player vs. player combat, and has a lot of interesting design features to make it work better. For one thing, there is no way you can communicate with someone from another realm. When you see them it doesn’t even tell you their name, just their class, i.e. ‘a dwarven berserker’. When you die to another player there are no negative consequences (when you die against an NPC you lose some experience and constitution points). Best of all there are various keeps on the borderlands that you can raid and conquer, and when your realm does well in battle against the other realms ALL the players in your realm get bonuses. There are various relics that give realm-wide bonuses when they are captured. I haven’t got to the level yet where I can get into realm vs. realm combat, but I’m really looking forward to it.
Oh yeah, trade skills are well-implemented in the game. You can build up skills in things like leatherworking, metalworking, etc., and eventually be able to make fine armor, weapons, and siege weaponry. You can make a LOT of money doing this as most people prefer to shop from live merchants instead of the NPC ones - since the cost for materials for gear is usually around 50% of what a store would charge for the finished product, most players sell stuff pretty cheap, many will sell stuff at cost because they are more interested in building up their crafting skills than in making a profit. You can also get really good at crafting items without gaining experience in combat and gaining levels - if you, for some reason, wanted to play a master weaponsmith and never leave the city gates you could. My main character is just starting to work on his skills to build armor, but I’m not sure how far I will pursue it, at this point all he can do is make cloaks and brass studs (can’t use them to make studded leather yet though).
Any other DAoC players on these boards? My main character is a 7th level Dwarven Warrior on the Percival server. My wife had a level 5 Warden on Ign-something but she’s started over with a Dwarven Healer on Percival.