It's an interesting approach to promoting the product. Unfortunately, I looked at the game initially and felt it was a bit too generic. Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay has some really interesting and innovative classes and a cool class changing system. None of that is in this MMO. #warhammeronline
@Alessar: True. The PnP Warhammer RPG was great. I felt the MMO was just too... generic. Not so much the art style, as I love Game Workshop's art style, but the PvP felt small and like I'd done it a million times before (and done better) and the PvE felt incredibly drab with tons of "kill x of y" and FedEx quests. There were a few bright spots, but not enough to keep me interested and certainly not enough for me to pony up a subscription fee just to hope that it gets better. #warhammeronline
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I really enjoyed WAR, just not 14.99 a month. If this game went the way of Dungeons and Dragons Online, I would be the first to jump back in. The biggest problem I had with the game was not the bugs (I really didn't run into any) or the low end level content (my highest level was 25. My name is Madbassman39 and I'm an Altoholic.) it was the fact that the game did not feel like I was playing an MMO but more of a level progression game. There was no "world" it was just a bunch of levels that you would progressively move up in. Other than that I really liked it from the art design to the graphics. Please make this free to play, and I will be a happy costumer. #warhammeronline
@madbassman39: Technically, the way they're wording it makes it sound EXACTLY like D&D:O, what with the hard cap on leveling and such, not to mention the obvious lockdown from different tiers. #warhammeronline
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@Moonshadow101: It sounds more like LotRO's quick start download. Basically they know you won't be accessing all this non-Tier 1 content, so why force you to download it before you can play? Load in the engine and the first couple zones, then let the rest all stream in download while you play. It shouldn't add any loading screens which aren't already there. #warhammeronline
@TwistedBishop: I really don't think that's it. They're talking about it like its an entirely different client to use all the time, not a quicker way to get started while the regular client gets set up. #warhammeronline
That's actually a cool way to do a trial. It's hard for me to go back to anything but WoW since I have spent so much time leveling those characters. If I had an endless trial I could go dabble in WAR whenever I felt like a different experience and could potentially make a new customer (I haven't ever played WAR so maybe not, but that's what they want to happen of course).
The only other MMO I've paid for is EVE, but that's in its own league and can actually be more of a time sink than WoW once you want to do the cool things or participate in pirating (so I quit after about a month). #warhammeronline
@JesseZao: I quit Eve in a month too, but this story reminded me of it because I went to a paid account not because my trial had expired, but because I needed an industrial ship to gather more resources. #warhammeronline
@fuchikoma: Yeah I went paid before the trial because I wanted to access the better ships and go run missions with my pals. A publisher just needs to know when and why people convert to paid accounts and give out enough bait to lure people in.
I'm pretty burned out from WoW raiding, that I'm not sure I can ever get back into it. Sure, I'm looking forward to seeing how SWTOR turns out next year, but what I would love to see is a polished console MMO (an RPG or give me Borderlands:WoW since we already have BL:Diablo). #warhammeronline
Not worth playing anymore, really. Expansion by expansion, EA marginalized, undermined or flat out removed everything that was original and exciting out of UO.
I have to admit that I've never tried DAoC. I was hardcore into Everquest when it came out and got coaxed into other MMOs since then to play with friends I'd made on EQ.
Could some folks maybe give a mini-review of it? Is there stuff to solo? Do groups require the "Holy Trinity" (tank, healer, debuff/crowd control) to function? How heavy-handed is the PvP? Can I avoid it 100% and still have fun (not to say I will, but my wife dislike PvP in all forms.) What sorts of crafting are there, and are they fun or at least profitable before maxing them?
Basically, how is it similar to MMOs I may've played, and how is it different?
@Squiffy: I soloed to my heart's content dual boxing a necromancer and a buffbot. That's not to say you can't solo with other classes, but I enjoyed nonstop pulling with mana taps - and with the right build (39 sight/37 servant) you could do some serious solo AoE too.
PvP is avoidable, I tended to stay away from it as I played on a server where the Albs tended to be totally disorganized and outnumbers/steamrolled by more coherent groups.
Crafting was a money sink with little return.
Things have changed, I played it some awhile back and the newbie experience was greatly improved compared to where it was in 2002. If you want to check it out you'll find it a bit more welcoming/hospitable than an old school MMO.
@Squiffy: It's large scale, purposeful PvP between 3 countries/cultures. Its big selling points were the combat engine (which isn't intuitive but has great depth and is very rewarding) and the PvP.
It was the scale of the PvP that nothing has matched. If you check YouTube you'll probably see some ridiculously large battles and the sieges could rage on for several evenings. Because the PvP space was so large, with so much to do (12 continuous zones of non-instanced fun) you had a ton of options from sieges, surfing with zergs, looking for 1v1s, small skirmishes and solid 8v8 fights, which were all different. My favourite was to take a guild group and capture a tower in enemy lands for our own little L4D Survival experience and see how long we could last out.
There was a high skill ceiling compared to most MMO's PvP and coordinated groups could really tease apart massive zergs, or in some cases, catch them by surprise and annihilate dozens of players.
Some of the higher end PvE encounters were wonderfully imaginative but you wouldn't pick it up for the PvE. The UI is too clumsy by today's standards for anyone to just pick up and enjoy.
@evslin: Cool, thanks. I may give it a go. Any idea if it's playable on dialup? I can borrow a friend's high speed to download the client, but where I'm living currently (and temporarily, thank god) doesn't have any high speed availability.
I had figured Everquest would be, since the game began in the dialup days, but I guess the network code's bloated over the years...
Looking for something to ease my MMO fix while I'm stuck out here in the boonies ;)
@Squiffy: One other question to current players (my edit button seems to not work.)
Do people group up during the early to mid levels these days? I'm honestly kinda tired of being forced to solo all the time in modern MMOs because it's more profitable or whatever. I enjoy meeting people and having fun with them. Not just solo grinding to max level before any meaningful grouping happens.
Soloing in DAOC is very easy for leveling, I don't think even my Healer required a group to get to 50. Lots of things to kill, and most players can point you toward the best areas to hunt in. Some classes are harder, but anything with magic is a cakewalk. Groups don't really need the "holy trinity" depending on what you're doing. Done fine even in PvP with no healing classes (though obviously they make everything easier). Dragons and dedicated RvR groups need a good mix but that isn't hard to find.
Crafting is pretty much exactly the same as I've seen it everywhere else. Buy parts, click button, watch bar go across screen, repeat. Later levels need drops of monsters. Doesn't actually take too much cash to skill up, and once you hit Legendary Crafter you make a lot of money off people who need crafted armor and such. Lower level crafts still useful for making things for battlegrounds (below). In all, you can craft armor, weapons, potions, and gems to enchant said weapons/armor to customize them with just the abilities you want.
The only "sticking point" I have with the game is that the PvP is not very forgiving. Short of playing a Bonedancer/Warlock/Vampiir, you have to work at it to catch up to the hardcore players. You will die, repeatedly, and often with no chance of fighting back. Thankfully the battlegrounds offer some toned down PvP (lower levels, limited endgame abilities) that evens it up a little bit. I almost never play the "real" PvP anymore, just battlegrounds. To Mythic's credit, it really does emphasize teamwork by not making each person nigh-unto God (see: WoW) but rather keeping the balance and not giving every class everything they want.
You don't have to RvR in order to enjoy DAOC, there are plenty of things to do without ever fighting another player. Lots of zones to explore, lots of interesting things to see. Atlantis in particular had a lot of interesting things I'm still surprised at now and then. I don't RvR much anymore, mostly just wander and explore all the areas I'd neglected running through the same RvR zones over and over.
Hope that helped, assuming this comment goes through. Sorry about it being so long, but you asked a big question : P
@Squiffy: They broke that social aspect of the game quite a few years ago with an expansion that generated instanced dungeons for you to grind cash/XP in. The most productive use of time became to disappear down a hole and have no contact with the rest of the server. Prior to that it was like EQ1 in that there were no hubs full of quests to grind and you were given heavy XP incentives to form a full group and roam about looking for things to kill.
Nowadays the leveling is a non-issue as they changed the XP rates. It practically levels itself. The most fun would be to level off the PvP in the battlegrounds. They are full of people and non-instanced, so they act like a small scale introduction to the end-game.
They are soon merging all existing servers into one server so I'm guessing there will be a surge of new players at lower levels soon.
Google is failing me! Someone please point me to the page with all the stories by "balan." I believe that was her name. I remember enjoying reading about the trapped chest in a chest in a chest in a... and other tricks and fun. :^)
It is amazing that this game is still going strong enough to warrant another expansion after all these years. I played a lot when the game was first released, but it feels dated as hell now.
@KillerBee: I'm often tempted to try it out again, just to see what it's like now. But it's been so long, I don't even remember how it was played (not that it would matter much anymore, I guess, a lot has changed it seems).
I don't even remember there being actual quests when I played :P I do, however, remember my log cabin out in the forests of Minoc on the Catskills 'shard'. ;_;
@Venny: There were no quests except the "I will take thee" NPCs. And it was great! You weren't given a theme park to follow around, you were given an open world and the ability to do anything to anyone, and so was everyone else. I miss old UO... and believe me, Darkfall ain't cuttin it.
@Venny: Sup neighbor! But yea, every once in a while i get the urge to go back, but so much has changed in the 10 years since i played. Also the reason i play MMOs is for the social aspect, and I doubt anyone I used to play with is still around, and if they are they probably don't remember me.
@KillerBee:
I miss my house outside Britannia on Great Lakes :( I'm sure it decayed after I stopped playing about 10 years ago, but I remember all the time I spent looking for a spot that had enough space for it.
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@Koztah: Ah, yes! The 'I will take thee' quests, hehe. I used to do a little online comic for my guild, and I'd address such topics as "grooms" and "brides" standing around in the middle of the wilderness. I also remember such RP intensive macros as "Vendor Buy the Guards a Bank!" and my first encounter with a PK near launch, they had a barricade set up outside Trinsic and thoroughly trounced any lowbie (such as myself at the time) who dared take that road.
*reminisces*
Dammit, I want to play now. hehe
11/06/09
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11/06/09
11/06/09
11/06/09
In exchange, you get to have loading times! What fun! #warhammeronline
11/06/09
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11/06/09
The only other MMO I've paid for is EVE, but that's in its own league and can actually be more of a time sink than WoW once you want to do the cool things or participate in pirating (so I quit after about a month). #warhammeronline
11/06/09
11/06/09
I'm pretty burned out from WoW raiding, that I'm not sure I can ever get back into it. Sure, I'm looking forward to seeing how SWTOR turns out next year, but what I would love to see is a polished console MMO (an RPG or give me Borderlands:WoW since we already have BL:Diablo). #warhammeronline
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11/06/09
09/29/09
Also "only the computers it is played on will be slightly more expensive and prettier to look at."
Burn!
09/29/09
09/28/09
Player-run shards are the only way to fly.
09/28/09
That was the main thing that convinced me to check this out. Well played.
09/28/09
08/13/09
Could some folks maybe give a mini-review of it? Is there stuff to solo? Do groups require the "Holy Trinity" (tank, healer, debuff/crowd control) to function? How heavy-handed is the PvP? Can I avoid it 100% and still have fun (not to say I will, but my wife dislike PvP in all forms.) What sorts of crafting are there, and are they fun or at least profitable before maxing them?
Basically, how is it similar to MMOs I may've played, and how is it different?
08/13/09
PvP is avoidable, I tended to stay away from it as I played on a server where the Albs tended to be totally disorganized and outnumbers/steamrolled by more coherent groups.
Crafting was a money sink with little return.
Things have changed, I played it some awhile back and the newbie experience was greatly improved compared to where it was in 2002. If you want to check it out you'll find it a bit more welcoming/hospitable than an old school MMO.
08/13/09
It was the scale of the PvP that nothing has matched. If you check YouTube you'll probably see some ridiculously large battles and the sieges could rage on for several evenings. Because the PvP space was so large, with so much to do (12 continuous zones of non-instanced fun) you had a ton of options from sieges, surfing with zergs, looking for 1v1s, small skirmishes and solid 8v8 fights, which were all different. My favourite was to take a guild group and capture a tower in enemy lands for our own little L4D Survival experience and see how long we could last out.
There was a high skill ceiling compared to most MMO's PvP and coordinated groups could really tease apart massive zergs, or in some cases, catch them by surprise and annihilate dozens of players.
Some of the higher end PvE encounters were wonderfully imaginative but you wouldn't pick it up for the PvE. The UI is too clumsy by today's standards for anyone to just pick up and enjoy.
08/13/09
I had figured Everquest would be, since the game began in the dialup days, but I guess the network code's bloated over the years...
Looking for something to ease my MMO fix while I'm stuck out here in the boonies ;)
08/13/09
Do people group up during the early to mid levels these days? I'm honestly kinda tired of being forced to solo all the time in modern MMOs because it's more profitable or whatever. I enjoy meeting people and having fun with them. Not just solo grinding to max level before any meaningful grouping happens.
08/13/09
Soloing in DAOC is very easy for leveling, I don't think even my Healer required a group to get to 50. Lots of things to kill, and most players can point you toward the best areas to hunt in. Some classes are harder, but anything with magic is a cakewalk. Groups don't really need the "holy trinity" depending on what you're doing. Done fine even in PvP with no healing classes (though obviously they make everything easier). Dragons and dedicated RvR groups need a good mix but that isn't hard to find.
Crafting is pretty much exactly the same as I've seen it everywhere else. Buy parts, click button, watch bar go across screen, repeat. Later levels need drops of monsters. Doesn't actually take too much cash to skill up, and once you hit Legendary Crafter you make a lot of money off people who need crafted armor and such. Lower level crafts still useful for making things for battlegrounds (below). In all, you can craft armor, weapons, potions, and gems to enchant said weapons/armor to customize them with just the abilities you want.
The only "sticking point" I have with the game is that the PvP is not very forgiving. Short of playing a Bonedancer/Warlock/Vampiir, you have to work at it to catch up to the hardcore players. You will die, repeatedly, and often with no chance of fighting back. Thankfully the battlegrounds offer some toned down PvP (lower levels, limited endgame abilities) that evens it up a little bit. I almost never play the "real" PvP anymore, just battlegrounds. To Mythic's credit, it really does emphasize teamwork by not making each person nigh-unto God (see: WoW) but rather keeping the balance and not giving every class everything they want.
You don't have to RvR in order to enjoy DAOC, there are plenty of things to do without ever fighting another player. Lots of zones to explore, lots of interesting things to see. Atlantis in particular had a lot of interesting things I'm still surprised at now and then. I don't RvR much anymore, mostly just wander and explore all the areas I'd neglected running through the same RvR zones over and over.
Hope that helped, assuming this comment goes through. Sorry about it being so long, but you asked a big question : P
08/13/09
Nowadays the leveling is a non-issue as they changed the XP rates. It practically levels itself. The most fun would be to level off the PvP in the battlegrounds. They are full of people and non-instanced, so they act like a small scale introduction to the end-game.
They are soon merging all existing servers into one server so I'm guessing there will be a surge of new players at lower levels soon.
08/14/09
08/13/09
08/12/09
Oh, and...
This game is still alive?
08/12/09
08/12/09
08/12/09
08/12/09
I don't even remember there being actual quests when I played :P I do, however, remember my log cabin out in the forests of Minoc on the Catskills 'shard'. ;_;
08/12/09
08/12/09
08/12/09
08/12/09
I miss my house outside Britannia on Great Lakes :( I'm sure it decayed after I stopped playing about 10 years ago, but I remember all the time I spent looking for a spot that had enough space for it.
08/12/09
*reminisces*
Dammit, I want to play now. hehe