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
DAoC is one of the MMORPG I regret never playing. It seems that PvPers always bring up this game up when talking about great PvP. Although I doubt I would start playing the game now, if it ever became F2P I’d def give it a shot.
If Mythic announced they were going to close DAoC I would install and play it to its closing day. And if Origins ever comes out, I will resub. If you havent tried it, its a fantastic fantasy RvR game, with excellent PvE and incredible medieval style keep siege gameplay a la Lord of the Rings, that trumps WARs on every level. I know I sound like a bot or paid for reviewer – lol – but it is just still that good of a game.
DAOC blows WAR away in every area. Boggles the mind that games like WAR,WoW,etc… have so many subs and a great game like daoc can’t even fill one server.
Apparently on the Warhamemr VN boards, MJ touched on Origins when he said the following:
“In terms of Origins, I’ve had no comment on it because I’ve got nothing to say on it yet. Frankly, I’ve never had anything to say about Origins so I’m not sure how *I* could hyped it or lied about it.”
Loved DAOC was and still is I think a great game, but I stopped playing for several years and wanted to come back again, but there was too many expansions to get so I was discourage and did not bother with the hassle.
so much satisfaction from being a scout and one shotting unexpected cloth wearers
DAoC is and was the best mmo ever made, its just a shame that greed got into the way of Mythics design. They had to do what ever they could to SELL more expansions. Well, after having wasted a boat load of cash on a CE for WarHammerOnline which never even stood a chnce, right out the gate, I find myself wondering, what could EA Mythic have done with DAOC instead of shoveling all that time and money into a garbage pile of a game like Warhammeronline, way to keep screwing you customers Mythic, I wont be buying anymore of your products.. Ever..
DAOC was one of a kind. In my opinion where things started going very wrong was when Mythic began handing out once very rare drops, like candy. I loved the challenge the game provided in setting proper specs, and how respec stones could only be obtained through very dangerous trials. I think the players became greedy, and wanted games like WoW which allow respec anytime. The changes Mythic made over the years really dumbed the game down for me… and when the servers began emptying, you really began to ask yourself “why am i even wasting my time with this shit”? I am amazed when I check out the herald and see that some of my guildies are still out there scooping Realm points.
I wonder when was the last relic raid? Do they even have relics in the game anymore.
Go hibbies. RIP bendito.
yeah i really have to agree if DAOC was free damn i would jump on that and never ever stop playing… until i got a computer that could play somthing else maybe… but i would still keep it cause it had so many aspects of GAMEPLAY which new mmorpg developer DONT UNDERSTAND… IF YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE AN MMO MAKE IT ABOUT PLAYING THE GAME INSTEADING OF MAKING IT LOOK GOOD.. every single mmo coming out these days doesn’t even close to compare to daoc and i am disappointed.. mythic screwed up with daoc and they didn’t learn a single thing cause warhammer is lame
I played DAOC for 5 years and it was the best game I’ve ever played…. But if this is the way mythic is about their products, then I’ll never buy another mythic game again. How can they just completely abandon a game? Especially since the game still has a lot of potential, they just don’t realize that..bunch of idiots really. Warhammer sucked, I hope it dies and mythic goes bankrupt. EA too.
They are now officially stating that Origins is actively in the works, and will likley be enabled as a second server alternative to the recently announce wingle merge on Ywain. Do a search for the links.
oh man i enjoyed warhammer up until patch 1.3 with the land of the dead which destroyed pvp for that game almost entirely but i cant wait for origins to come out definitely gonna resub
If u’re interested, there’s a free server for DAoC classic. Best of all….. THEY ARE LAUNCHING OLD FRONITER! check out Uthgard server:
http://uthgard-server.net/index.php
Get the DAoC Portal Launcher and play for free!
http://www.daocportal.net/?page=downloads&file=client
DAOC when it launched was an awesome game, easily one of the best. The problem is that (since TOA) Mythic have an unblemished record of being complete retards, steadily making the game worse. Then they released the steaming pile of pure fail known as warhammer.
My guess is that many (most?) ex-daoc players wouldn’t touch a mythic/jacobs product with a 10 foot pole at this point – and they’ve finally admitted to themselves that too much damage has been done.
Agreed, Played Warhammer, it really didn’t measure up.
Came back to DAOC after hearing that a possible Orgins Server was in the works and waited.
After the silence, I will not open my account again… I’m done with Mythic.
I think the new server they just announced is the new “Origins” project. Not sure if the server will include all expansions but it seems like it will be at leat including TOA. Anyways, it still is going to be worht subbing again because that means all current servers will be rolled into 1 and that place will be bumping. Plus additonal people will probably come back just to play it again. It will be very populated.
Well I must say that I have never played daoc and I found that warhammer had some realy interesting concepts. But unfortunately I must agree that mythic lost the plot. They tried to merge daoc with wow and failed. I found that end game rvr was fairly ballanced in war but 1v1 battles where not. I didnt like this very much. Ontop of that wow stole alot from warhammer after release and due to the huge number of bugs, lag and imballances (not nearly as bad as wow) and grafix that where only slightly better then daoc I dont enjoy playing anymore…Sad realy they needed to release war in patch 1.3 not the way they did. Tis a shame and they should have focussed on DAOC sequal and kept the same ballances rather then another project like warhammer offline!btw I am full lv swordmaster in warhammer online
When I played when it 1st came out was pretty decent-then new expensions-cheaters using radar-hacks made it unplayable-TOAdid stink.
But I’ve had great gamming times with it as well.
Had a great lvl-35 scout……
Well enjoy…….