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.
The depth and breadth of DAoC PvP was absolutely not prevalent in its’ game design within the first few months of DAoC’s launch; it was nothing but a shallow, instanced, non consequential mexican stand-off of players from different Realms. This is why so many left within 3-6months post launch, because the game felt like nothing other than a pve-centric funneled quest grinder with this lazy PvP component early-on.
Instanced?
Dark Age of Camelot is the best mmo ever but it needs a new engine! graphic > gameplay! But i guess daoc never dies :)
I disagree Maxx, I agree it is one of the best (perhaps the best) mmos, but I don’t think a new graphics engine is necessary, there is a charm to the game world that is unique to it, and yes, some games are all about graphics, but this one is about its woderful atmosphere, lore and pvp in the 3 faction war. It was voted best pvp game of the decade, I don’t think I would ever disagree.