Customer Reviews

Dark Age of Camelot

5 star:		(119)
4 star:		(40)
3 star:		(22)
2 star:		(18)
1 star:		(32)

 

 

There are many other reviews here and elsewhere on the net that talk about all aspects of the game. Here, I'm going to focus only on how Dark Age of Camlet allows me to make my character different from others who are the same class and race as mine.

For me, one of the most appealing aspects of an MMORPG game is the ability to make a character as unique an individual as I am in real life. In an online RPG, most of us are known by our name and our class - "Hi I'm Brach, level 16 Armsman" - and this is usually the extent of individuation. Furthermore, since most MMORPGs cannot provide more than a handful of character facial and body models, most player avatars look fairly similar (especially once people playing your same class being acquiring the same quest items as you have).

In Dark Age of Camelot, however, the game artists and designers have provided a great number of ways to make your character not only look and feel different, but even play differently than others of your same class and race. Here's how:

1. Realm and race selection. You can choose to be from one of 3 different realms on any given server. Each realm has four different racial types, so you have essentially 12 different races to choose from in the entire game. All are visually distinct, even the four human races of Albion.

2. Body type. Each character can be short, average, or tall.

3. Face and hair. Each gender of each race has about 10 different faces and 10 different hair colors to choose from.

4. Class and Skills. Each realm offers about 10-11 different classes to choose from. Within each class, you receive a set of basic skills which all others of your class also receive. However, as you advance in level you also receive specialization points to spend on advanced skills. How you spend these points is up to you. This means that even if another player has chosen the same realm, race, body, face, hair, and class as you, you might have a completely different set of strengths than that other player. This is true across all classes - for example, one tall blonde Highlander Armsman of Albion might specialize in polearms, while another tall blonde Highlander Armsman of Albion might specialize in using a shield and a slashing weapon.

Furthermore, you might choose to develop crafting skills - adding yet another way to make your character more unique.

5. Weapons and Armor. The choice of weapons and armor is simply staggering. Each realm has its own look and feel for armor. While there is only one kind of cloth armor, there are three different kinds of leather armor, three kinds of studded leather, chain, mail, and plate armors. Visually all are unique, and armor can be mixed and matched among six different pieces (helm, sleeves, gauntlets, jerkin or breastplate, boots, and leggings). There are also a number of different shields available in varying styles, sizes and materials. The two Highlander Armsmen described above could very well look quite different depending on the kind of armor each is wearing.
Weapons add another amazing choice. Even if both characters specialize in the same weapon type - Slashing, for example - there are half a dozen different slashing weapons available, all with differing but balanced damage and speed ratios. Your choice of slashing weapon will tend to suit your style of play - do you want a weapon that is quick but deals less damage, or one that is slow but really packs a punch? The visual models of the weapons are outstanding and people use them - it is entertaining to see some people using short swords, others using scimitars, others axes, while others prefer morning stars or great two-handed swords. And given all other things being equal, no one suffers for choosing to use one weapon over another - all are effective.

6. Cloth Dyes, Leather Dyes, and Armor Enamels.
Right from the beginning of the game you can easily dye your clothing and enamel your armor with colors available from local vendors. No special skill is required - but the richest colors are also for the richest characters - and this allows you to "show off" your wealth, because most players know that if someone is walking around in a royal purple cloak, they must be quite wealthy or have a wealthy patron.

7. Guild emblems.
If your guild is successful enough and powerful enough, they may have enough money to purchase an emblem which can then be emblazoned on cloak and shields. The emblem consists of one of three patterns, a primary color, a secondary color, and one of 40 symbols (each realm has 40 different symbols, unique to that realm). The combination of pattern, colors, and symbols means that there are over 5000 different possible guild emblems. Nothing quite screams "prestige" like a guild emblem.

With so many different ways to visually distinguish your character from other characters, Dark Age of Camelot provides an excellent foundation for creating your own unique avatar and experience of the game - all that's left to do is for you to add a dash of personality and live it up!

If you enjoy creating a unique individual in an MMORPG, Dark Age of Camelot provides all the tools you could hope for, on top of an extremely fun to play game.

Unlike the last several MMOGs to come out, this one actually works and works well. I've been in the beta and it has been rock solid for months. The game is beautiful, the 3 realms couldn't be more different from each other, the number of choices you have for your characters is huge.

Hibernia is a 'magical' realm, most of the races have pointy-ears and the feel is a bit "irish" While it's my least favorite of the 3 realms it's still fun to play. Most classes were fun but I'd avoid playing a Hero, choose the Champion and get a few spells instead. The enchanter is also a pretty nifty class that gets overlooked a bit.

Albion is the human land and while it's areas and classes are some of the best it still sits second with me. They've got a good mix of aspects but I'd avoid some of the support classes until you've tried something else. Both magic and melee classes work well but perhaps the Scout, an archer is the best. I'd again avoid a pure melee class and go with one that has a few spell add ons (or at least the highest possible armor if you're going pure melee)

Midgard is easily my favorite realm. I love it's stark land and all the lakes that you come across. The players are the most visualy distinctive with just one human race, 2 small races (blue kobolds and little dwarves...and I have to say those litttle dwarf girls are cute!) and one giant race of trolls (the look very little like 'standard' fantasy trolls more like big rocks.) Each has it's advantages. I've played several troll melees and just love the way they look and move. Here I'd avoid the Berzerker and go with the very flexible hybrid fighters. I'd also avoid healers for Shaman. The healer is just a bit to easy to kill and even in realm combat the less group oriented shaman is needed because he's just a bit more likely to be around at the end of an attack. While billed as the darkest of the realms I actually find that Midgard players tend to be friendly and ready to help out new players even more often than the other realms. Hibernia seems to attract the 'power players' who's main goal selfish advancement. A bad strategy when they enter realm wars and find that solo tactics lose to the better coordinated teams.

This is easily the most fun I've had playing computer games in my life. This is a must have game if there ever was one!

...whatever you want to call it, DAoC is still EQ. It's the same levelling treadmill, loot-based, kill-rest-kill-rest-kill-rest gameplay of EQ.
Its good points:
- Fast levelling: Damn good idea. The best one in an MMORPG. I can level in a few hours if I'm hunting yellows, and, unlike EQ, I know how much XP I'm getting, which is a small but commendable addition.

- Graphics: The graphics, especially the spell effects, blow me away. I'd become so used to EQ's particle graphics that when I saw an Eldritch's Void spell explode in front of my I jumped! When I saw Runemasters at the Druim Ligen gate dropping three or four people with giant spears from the sky, I gaped. Then I saw a wizard's mini-nuke and stared wide-eyed.

- Fighting Styles: There are lots of them, and lots of combos, too. A definite improvement over EQ.

- Tradeskills: Yes, I can make weapons right off the bat now! NO more making hundreds of metal bits, needles and molds just so I can be a beginning blacksmith.

- Detail: From the Condition/Durability/Quality of equipment, to the conning of items, there is a lot more detail accessible to the player base.

- Quests: Quest journals, tasks, and consignments. 'Nuff said. This is my favorite part of the game, because you can do quests at any level, and in Hibernia at least, you have wandering NPCs who can actually tell you what quests are available.

Its bad points:
- Fast levelling: It's still a treadmill, and it still gets boring. Basically, you find a good camp spot, and live there for two or three levels (maybe more if you're in a "good levelling dungeon" like Tomb of Mithra).

- Small world: I swear, sometimes it feels like Hibernia is about as big as West and East Karana combined in EQ. That may be big for running, but it in no way matches EQ's vastness.

- Variety: The lack of it, rather. You see the same damn models everywhere you go. A bleeder in the Tomb of Mithra in Albion uses the same model as a swamp drakeling in Midgard. A Gale in Hibernia looks like a Spriggan in Albion. A grass spirit near Tir na Nog looks like a rotting tomb raider in Albion.

- Repetitiveness of combat: Even the fighting styles are boring. With fighters, it generally boils down to hitting your most powerful style over and over, except on those rare occassions when you'd parry or block an attak, in which case you'd hit the appropriate style.

Bottom line:
DAoC, so far, has been a fun game for me. I feel like my actions have a tangible result in the end. This may be because DAoC is so closely related to the real world (being based on real myths and all), but I like the game's atmosphere of feeling grand and heroic no matter what level you're on.

For example, take the low-level dungeons. In EQ, you have dungeons like BB and CB that, if anything, LOOK and SOUND low-level. They remind you everytime you enter the place that you are only a newbie. The mobs drop cloth armor, rusted weapons, and coins.

In DAoC, however, you have dungeons like the Tomb of Mithra, which has the look and feel of a high-level dungeon, even if it's only the names of the mobs and the loot that they drop. I feel a much greater sense of accomplishment killing a dreadful cadaver and getting an Armorpiece of the Forlorn and a Ceremonial Scimitar than I would killing a gnoll and getting a piece of cloth armor and a rusted dagger.

This sense of accomplishment is practically the only reason I'm playing DAoC instead of EQ, because otherwise the two games are essentially identical.

I first got my hands on DAoC about five months ago during the early beta stages and it was an instant addiction. The landscapes were lush and beautiful (or grim and menacing if you play the dark realm of Midgard), creatures and player models were well designed with new ones being added every patch, leveling was fun and easy and new things kept popping up with every step. These are the things that most positive reviews address and it's all true. However, after you've been around for a few months this is not something you will pay a lot of attention to. You will see all the landscapes a hundred times, you will kill the same creature a thousand times over, and nothing new will please your eye for a very long time, if ever. This is what it will break down to:

The leveling grind; fun with gaining levels stops around 30. After that it's a slooooooow process that gets simply unbearable after level 40. At that point it will take about a week to gain a single level (provided you don't die too often), a week spent killing the same creatures in the same setting over and over and over until either you level and finally move somewhere else or quit altogether and start from scratch on another realm to maybe once more experience that "it's all nice and new to me" feeling.

But wait, what about the much talked about revolutionary realm vs. realm system? Those huge battles, where armies of players from each realm struggle for domination, leaving for everyone a chance to earn for himself fame and glory and rich rewards through skill in combat? Please. RvR (for short) is for people over level 40. Period. Any "younger" group, no matter how large/experienced/organized will get slaughtered by a single high level character because of the enormous gap between levels. Balance between classes is also a joke in RvR, dividing everyone into three categories: archer, assassin, and fodder. You either shoot people from very far away for huge damage while hidden, or you sneak up while hidden and backstab them for the same effect, or you serve as a target dummy for both because there isn't a thing you can do.

No, wait, you can, of course, go on raids so let me define that concept in terms of the DAoC world. In a group of 8 you run around the enemy's frontier (which is where all the fighting is) and kill everyone you can find. Since most people are there to level (past level 30 there is nowhere go other than hostile frontier zones) they never even see you coming and fall prey to your group without ever knowing what hit them. Even if you are on the dealing end of this situation you get bored after a while.

You could take keeps, but again you'll need to be pretty high up there to do it and there seems to be no incentive whatsoever for you to do so. Keeps allow safer passage through a particular realm, something that people leveling there could benefit from greatly, but by the time you get to take some over you will no longer care about that aspect of the game. As a result hardly anyone bothers to take keeps, and nobody ever bothers to defend them.

In short, RvR is only fun for very high level characters against which nobody lower has a fighting chance. To get there you must spend (at the very least) a month pressing the same pattern of buttons over and over to kill the same creatures the sight of which you already could not stand before you even hit 30, the level where it all slows down to a crawl. There is also an extensive system of restrictions in place that prevents you from going up faster than a certain pre-set speed (slow) that includes everything from monsters only a few levels about you being virtually immune to your attacks (both magical and physical), same monsters not giving you any experience beyond the pre-set "cap" should you somehow manage to kill them alone (preventing which seems to be the only job of the AI), and giving you even less experience should you get a high level character to help you.

Quests are also rather boring and repetitive and are composed under the archaic (yet still the only) "go kill this creature or talk to this guy and bring me what he gives you" system. Interesting at first, those quests quickly turn into errands you do to get new stuff, often without even reading the story behind them. To prevent, yes, forcibly prevent, not ameliorate, this unfortunate situation, many quests will send you out with very vague instructions that you will most likely not be able to finish without asking somebody who did the quest before, having himself stumbled upon the solution by pure luck...

To summarize all the ramblings, if you get this game prepare to be amazed by the quality of the product that in your eyes will blow all competitors out of the water. Visually pleasing, rich, intense, and, above all, new and refreshing world of DAoC will suck you in and become an addiction faster than you can flip through the last few pages of the manual. But if you think this feeling will last all the way up to the end, you are dead wrong. The high level content is dull, frustrating and in essence empty, taking you away from the beautiful and exciting world of exploring and interacting with a rich and skillfully designed immersive universe of DAoC and landing you into that of an endless grind where the only reward you see over the faraway horizon is finally getting back at (the lower level realmmates of) those who have been making that grind ever more tedious. A MMORPG is supposed to be an investment and this is exactly what Dark Age of Camelot isn't. `Nuff said.

I've been BETA testing this game for a month now and I have got to say it's been extremely stable and very playable. My friends just got into the BETA last week and we have been in groups every night since. How good is it? I just pre-ordered it. I'm definitly going to play this game. My EQ guild is wondering where I am. Spectactular graphics, great gameplay. They say that they are concentrating more on RvR than on PvE, but man, PvE is very nice. There won't be any 'grief players' in RvR because you won't know who is who in RvR.

Camping? No! There is no reason to camp specific mobs. Everyone doing the same quest and needs the same mob. Group up, everyone gets the quest item on the kill. Quest items and loot items are on seperate tables. THAT ROCKS. You can do low level quests that you haven't done, that you have found and still be able to complete them even if you are too high for the level intended.

Rain? Sure it rains, but it's not all fog and can't see, heck there are even breaks in the clouds.

There is so much I can say about this game I would definitly run out of room. But this game, look at all these reviews, this game ROCKS.

I've started to be pretty pessimistic about games. When I go out and put the plastic down to buy one, I figure if I play it a few weeks to a month, I've gotten my entertainment value. Sometimes I play it a few times and it doesn't appeal, well, that's a shame. (And sometimes it's Anarchy Online, the installer bluescreens my PC, and the company is so unresponsive I issue my first complaint ever to a Better Business Bureau.)

And with luck, you find a game that you play day after day, week after week, month after month. Everquest was that game, since I started playing 6 months ago, I have probably averaged playing 5 days a week, almost every one of them pure pleasure. I bought DAOC figuring I'd play a month to check it out and then it would probably join the other games on my shelf. Instead a week later I find myself cancelling my Everquest account in favor of DAOC.

Dark Age of Camelot is, by far, the best MMPORPG on the market today. It has taken the best aspects of Everquest, Asheron's Call, and Ultima Online, taken out all the things that people hate about the genre, and combined them with a very responsive and customer friendly company to produce a game that is clearly the industry leader.

The specifics about gameplay can, at this point, be found on dozens of sites. It's not hyperbole. This game is addictive and enjoyable. It's not hype. If you're a current MMPORPG player, this is the game you've dreamed of. If you're not, don't bother with the others, start out with DAOC, it's the best.

That's not to say that there aren't problems, but one of the biggest pleasures of DAOC is the company's attitude. Customer Service stats posted for the public. Apologies for problems. Explanations of future plans. It all equals a company that makes you feel like you're valued as a customer and that they will do what it takes to keep your business.

I hate writing reviews that compare one thing to another, but since I a have experience in both Everquest, and Dark Age of Camelot, and since Everquest is the MMORPG groundbreaker, I'll have to use it as a basis of comparison.
With that being said, let's take a look at how these games match up and differ.

1) PLAY-TIME: EQ requires an enormous commitment to get just about anything accomplished. Most players in DAOC that approached the game with the same type of commitment reached level 50 in less than 6 months. DAOC requires far less game-time to reach the high level content than EQ does, so it caters much more to the casual gamer, or the more adult gamer who has to work, spend time with children, etc.
2) DOWN-TIME: To me, one of the most frustrating things in EQ is the horrible amounts of time sitting, waiting for a camp spot to respawn. Though there is downtime in DAOC, it is GREATLY reduced. So much so that the camp will probably respawn before you are even ready to pull another monster.
3) PURPOSE: The purpose in EQ was always to get XP, so you can hunt harder mobs, to get loot, so you can get more XP, etc. etc. DAOC is much different. There is purpose in gaining levels. You are working towards the end-game goal. RvR! PvP with a purpose... what a concept.
4) QUESTING: having a quest journal in DAOC makes doing these much easier. No longer do you have to fill up pieces of scrap paper with obscure NPC names, and cryptic lists of items. It's all there for you anytime you need to see it.
5) GRAPHICS: This goes without saying. DAOC blows EQ out of the water here. Spell effects are fluid and gorgeous, the environment is rendered beautifully and the character models look like real people, not cartoon characters.
6) GUI: I always found the GUI in EQ to be obtrusive and aggravating, even with the upgrade in Planes of Power, I still found it to be in the way 90% of the time. DAOC has removed the bulky obtrusive GUI and replaced it with a sleek, easily navigated system that takes up next to no screen space. EQ should take a hint from this. Cleaning up the GUI is something it desparately needs.

The only real problem I had with DAOC is only being able to have 4 characters per server. But, this is getting revamped before Shrouded Isles goes live. They are raising the character limit to 8 so all us old fogeys can try out the new classes without deleting our characters. DAOC also now has 2 PvP servers where you can kill anyone you want (besides guild and alliance members) and Geheris will go live soon, which is a coop server. No PvP at all, and the ability to adventure in all three realms. In response to some of the other reviews here:
1) Mob models have been drastically updated, so mobs do not all look the same anymore.
2) Ambient sound has been added, making the realm feel more real and enveloping.
3) You can now duel people in your home realm to the death, with no fear of XP or Con loss.
4) Advanced tradeskills of spellcrafting and alchemy have been added, allowing far more customization of armor and weapons.

I fall somewhere between the casual gamer and the hardcore gamer, so it took me about a year to get my character to 50, but I also have 4 characters in the mid 20s, so my time was split. I plan to play this game for a long time. I haven't given up EQ completely, since it is the classic mother of all MMORPGs, but DAOC, in my opinion, has the best designed system and gameplay I've seen in an online title. It's definitely worth a try.

Mythic didn't dissapoint too many fans when it released "DAoC" -- but it definately didn't pioneer too much in the field of online gaming. For those new to the online gaming field, this is an excellent game to get and will definately give you a feel for the environment and experience you will get while playing a "Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game".

First of all, this is not a traditional roleplaying game in the sense of the word. There are really no "Online Role-Playing" games out today (arguably some old MUD's and stuff are) -- but you won't find traditional roleplaying in DAoC or Everquest.

The problem with all "MMORPG's" currently out today is they are insanely time intensive. If you want to be successful in the online community you are playing in, you will have to spend ALOT of time doing so.

Now, DAoC is better on time than Everquest. In Everquest, 12-24 hour raids are the normal, and are *required* for you to play the "end game" (getting the best equipment, stuff like that) -- and DAoC definately edges Everquest out in this department. You can log in to DAoC for 30 minutes and get something accomplished (whether it be advance a little to your next level, do something for a quest, or craft some armor/weapons or items, you CAN do it in DAoC) -- and in Everquest you pretty much need to dedicate at least a few hours to do anything really.

Another notch up on Everquest that DAoC has is its PvP (or Player vs. Player) environment. PvP is totally optional in DAoC (although you WILL get involved, its like buying a car and only driving it in first gear) -- and it is pretty well developed. Those who enjoy PvP will like this game much much more than Everquest.

Mythic Entertainment also provides much better customer support than Verant. Verant was almost infamous in the market as being extremely unhelpful and lost ALOT of customers due to their poor service. Now that Verant finally has some competition, they have revamped their customer service and it's a bit better.

Mythic is constantly updating DAoC to try and make it better for their player. They communicate well (and exponetially better than Verant) to their player-base and try to keep them informed.

Now for the cons. -- Dark Age of Camelot is time intensive and may be lacking content and an overall "sense of accomplishment" in the end.

Everquest has far more actual "content" than DAoC at the moment, mainly because EQ has been out for 2 more years than DAoC, and also because 2 expansions have been released for EQ. But never fear, Mythic is releasing an expansion soon that looks good.

Unfortunately, as I said before, to be successful in any of these games it will take a lot of your time. Theres really no way around this, but be warned that the game might become addictive!

Overall, I believe DAoC is a better overall game than EQ, and will offer a more rewarding experience both socially and role-playing wise.

4 Stars for DAoC.

I've played other massive multiplayer online RPG games (MMPORPGs), like UO, EQ, AC, and AO, and this is the most smooth product so far. The first thing I noticed was how very stable this game was from the first day of release. I only got booted out of the game once in my first five or so hours of play. (Those of you have tried the other games on launch before will appreciate how rare that is!) and I have experienced minimal lag and disconnects since then. Overall, I'm having great fun with it, and it's now my MMPORPG of choice. Breaking down by feature:

Graphics: Always a very personal choice, some people find the graphics slightly weak, but I like the spell effects, and overall the graphics are the equal of the other games out there (with the exception of Anarchy Online, which has other issues.)

Sound: Music is good, other sounds are minimal but usually nicely done. (Though I *hate* the footstep sound my character makes.) The sounds characters and monsters make during combat are well done.

Player vs Player: By far the most well-thought out of any MMPORPG out there. You choose one of three realms, and can either stay within that realm and avoid PvP altogether, or go to the borderlands and engage in realm vs realm combat.

Non-combat based play: There are lots of quests and tasks that, unlike other games, are truly rewarding when done. The trade skills also are much deeper than other games, and can be fun to engage in. It's finally possible to role-play a non-violent character who will actually level-up!

Character options: Based on the old Rolemaster RPG system, which I loved, your character development is skills-based, and the character classes have lots of variety and are very well thought out.

Overall, this is a wonderful, fun, and STABLE addition to the MMPORPG field.....I think you'll enjoy it if you get it.

Having played all of the other major Multiplayer Online Games (Ultimate Online, EverQuest, and Asheron's Call), in my opinion "Camelot" is the best.

It is clear that the designers spent a great deal of time studying all the other games, especially EverQuest (the most popular in the U.S.) and came up with real improvements in every area that EverQuest was weak.

Example: "down time" (when you are recovering from a fight) is a maximum of 90 seconds, and usually a lot less. Having been in large groups, down time is usually less than 30 seconds.

Example: trade skills. It is fun to make things in Camelot, you can become a master of one skill without doing any fighting, and the items you can make are better (and cheaper) than you can buy from game-controled merchants.

Example: player graphics. You can customize your look to a huge degree (even more than in Ultima Online). You can easily create a visually distinct look for your character that makes you different in the game from the vast majority of other players.

Camelot looks great, the buildings are very "accurate" (for their time period which is Medeival England and Viking era Scandinavia), the player races are all great looking, the animations are smooth.

Down side: Some realms (Hibernia) are not "finished" in that large areas are not well populated and very few "dungeons" can be found. However, the company is committed to adding more content to the game from here on to the future. Also it is hard to know how to price items that you make (minor nit).

I could go on about what a great game this is and how well put together it seems but I won't. I will say that I haven't been this happy playing a game in years.