Few months late, figured it'd give them some time to polish it, but I finally bought this game. I loved DAOC, but it seems like whoever's in charge of the real decisions at Mythic simply has no idea what made DAOC such a great game. They get that it had something to do with that RvR business, and maybe the spec lines thing, maybe even crafting - but what exactly, they don't know. They copy the gist, but toss out too many of the ingredients that made it work. 

I'll never understand how they could have made such a great game, while being so clueless.  It's like they just got lucky.  Either that, or it's just that the people who were behind the original good ideas are just long gone.

As for public questing, the one spark of ingenuity?  Just proof that they did read VN boards afterall, once upon a time.  I remember more than one DAOC forum thead about the idea, before WAR was even on the drawing board.

I to played the snot out of DAoC, will probably start playing again this summer. The first thing the Devs said about WAR was they were not going to make it DAoC 2. You have to come into the game thinking it's a total new game, and notice some of the DAoC influences.

They do make some DAoC references in WAR though. If you are playing Destro and you go to the North East corner of IC, and go into the chaos portal there, you go into the "Winds of Chaos." If you keep going through the portal you will have the chance to visit Cots in the WAR engine. It's pretty neat. Also if you get the chance to play in the Black Fire Basin Scenario, you can see Cetus frozen in the middle of the map.

 

I didnt want  daoc II. I wanted a game that took the better points of this game, Some new thinking , it is several years later,  and offered a gaming  adventure with the warhammer lore that was fresh.

Well it is fresh, but they seem to have created a world that doesnt really keep me wanting to come back, a very limited world with fewer options of how to spend  my time than old school  Daoc.  The world and game play doesnt make me want to keep coming back as Daoc did.

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To me, the biggest thing that is lacking in WAR is realm pride. Perhaps that just not something that you can code into a game. I dunno. I did seemlingly endless keep raids in DAOC and I loved it, yet in WAR it seems lackluster.

Perhaps WAR needs to add Hibernia...now thats something we can all Hate!

I have to admit though, that is one thing the game is lacking. There needs to be some kind of NF implemented with homelands that can be defended. I'm not sure how they will be able to pull it off, but it needs to be done. There also needs to be some RVR dungeons.

As it stands right now, there's no real benifit to owning keeps. Other than the guild that owns the keep geting XP. Owning Keeps in the WAR NF could give stat bonuses and such. This keep increases WS by 2%, this one increases Int by 2%, and so on. Then by capturing the other realms keeps you could increase your stats even more. So in essence bring the NF system from DAoC to WAR. That is probably the aspect of that game that I enjoyed the most.

Agree completely with your points OP, and could add a dozen of my own, but there's no reason, WAR was coded for a broader audience than DAOC so most of the changes are simplifications a la the WOW forumula to make the game more appealing to players who are looking for more a game, and less of a world.

Doesn't make it a bad game, in fact its fun for many people and they love the gameplay just as it is.  I suspect they did not /would not have cared so much for DAOC's gameplay.

I've resigned myself to the fact our only real hope is for Origins to come out one day and give us back a little bit of that old time magic, even if its only for a brief while.

Originally posted by Abisbowa

I to played the snot out of DAoC, will probably start playing again this summer. The first thing the Devs said about WAR was they were not going to make it DAoC 2. You have to come into the game thinking it's a total new game, and notice some of the DAoC influences.

Wasn't really hoping for a DAOC 2, but hoping just maybe they'd keep some of the key elements that made it work so well.

Originally posted by Czzarre

To me, the biggest thing that is lacking in WAR is realm pride. Perhaps that just not something that you can code into a game. I dunno. I did seemlingly endless keep raids in DAOC and I loved it, yet in WAR it seems lackluster.

Think a part of that is the two realm system - it has a totally different psychological effect than a three realm system.  Also, the aforementioned lack of benefits to being part of a realm that's winning makes for less reason to care about the realm itself.  Sure, that had its obvious downsides, but overall, DAOC was more compelling for it.

Originally posted by Kyleran

Agree completely with your points OP, and could add a dozen of my own, but there's no reason, WAR was coded for a broader audience than DAOC so most of the changes are simplifications a la the WOW forumula to make the game more appealing to players who are looking for more a game, and less of a world.

I disagree that the cheap imitation of the WOW formula makes for the more popular game.  Seems like simple math, but I think there's more to Blizzard's success than just making that formula - but also, part of that formula involved a very tight, solid package, something most devs, obviously including Mythic, don't have the resources for.  To me, WAR doesn't feel like a game of equal quality at all, but more like a F2P-quality knockoff, with scraps of the RvR thing tossed in.

I've said it too many times, but I'll say it again, I think the WoW formula clearly only works for Blizzard.  Other devs would do better to set themselves apart than make yet another weak failing stab at imitation.

In DAOC, I felt like I was living in a world and my actions impacted the world.

In WAR, I felt like I was playing a game where nothing I did mattered.

That is the differerence for me and why I count WAR among the biggest disappointments (for me) in a long time.

I miss Emain... I dunno, the RvR is just not even close. I think a major factor was that 3 factions as well, to always be hunted by two factions against your one... It made it a lot more exciting.

And then I agree, in DaoC it felt like I, and my actions, mattered... In WAR I am singleplaying with some WoW PvP instances.

lot of people may hate to admit it, maybe that's why mythic is so confused about this, but a big part of daoc's formula was the pve.  it was pretty solid, and did a lot to hold up the rvr.  in war, the pve is awful.  i couldn't even get past it to see if the 'rvr' was any good.

I miss the 3rd realm.

I miss Emain rvr, I miss DF and the rvr we fought to keep it. 

I miss grinding for exp (thats right).

I miss Stat based chars, not just gear based.

I miss the days of when glowie weapons were truely hard to find and absolutly rare.  

I miss the lore.

I miss Thidranki.

I miss lvl 1-10 grind fest dungeons. I miss 45-50 grind fest areas.

I miss a true heal based class, a pure support type char. Not these  dps/healers or whatever.  (that compared to all post wow games)

I miss the all nighters and the captivating feeling of Dark Age.

What I miss the most:  addiction.

But,

I came to WAR hoping for modified versions of these concepts and i got a few good things out of it. In the end, i am still not sure about WAR. There is still tons of things to update and improve in WAR. I am sure it is the tip of the iceberg. ( hoping) Ill keep playing for now but if Origins ever does come out, ill likely hit it.

Originally posted by Loky

I miss the 3rd realm.

I miss Emain rvr, I miss DF and the rvr we fought to keep it. 

I miss grinding for exp (thats right).

I miss Stat based chars, not just gear based.

I miss the days of when glowie weapons were truely hard to find and absolutly rare.  

I miss the lore.

I miss Thidranki.

I miss lvl 1-10 grind fest dungeons. I miss 45-50 grind fest areas.

I miss a true heal based class, a pure support type char. Not these  dps/healers or whatever.  (that compared to all post wow games)

I miss the all nighters and the captivating feeling of Dark Age.

What I miss the most:  addiction.

But,

I came to WAR hoping for modified versions of these concepts and i got a few good things out of it. In the end, i am still not sure about WAR. There is still tons of things to update and improve in WAR. I am sure it is the tip of the iceberg. ( hoping) Ill keep playing for now but if Origins ever does come out, ill likely hit it.

Definetly some good points there Loky and if half of what you mentioned was in the game, well, the game would kick ass.

Dont get me wrong, I enjoy WAR, I wish I could enjoy it more, but it still missing some key elements to make it very addicting. The game has serious potential to be AMAZING, it just need some TLC from the developers to implement more ideas that DAoC had.

Hopefully a  goes off in the developers.. But to me, the game doesnt suck like haters make it out to be...

I agree with you OP.  I loved having to make the choice between a ML raid or defend a hib/mid assult on a relic.  At the time i didnt much like the 16 hour ML3, but now I have to say that i miss the "edge of my computer chair" feeling of OMG, i hope i dont get lost, I better keep up.  Now ToA is so watered down anyone can do it.  There was something to be said for having to "work" for your gear.

I miss calling in sick cause DANG!, they (hib/mid attacking us) just wont go to bed, they have been beating away at this keep all weekend!  man, those where the days.

I'll tell you one thing I really miss.  8 man groups.

I loved 8 mans, and no game today has groups near that size. Heck, back in the day, many of us hoped they'd increase them to 10 mans, but it never happened.

No doubt, nothing was quite as fun as running in a well made 8 man and crushing the enemy.

(even if you got crushed instead)

Originally posted by Kyleran

I'll tell you one thing I really miss.  8 man groups.

I loved 8 mans, and no game today has groups near that size. Heck, back in the day, many of us hoped they'd increase them to 10 mans, but it never happened.

No doubt, nothing was quite as fun as running in a well made 8 man and crushing the enemy.

(even if you got crushed instead)

 

I miss 8 mans.. great point.

TBA i rolled a caster tonight, went out and que'd up... played scenarios till i got lvl 3 rr3 , and i gotta say i had a lot of fun. I guess it is a game where you do not race to 40. If you enjoy what is presented to you at lvl 1, and take the rvr when it is there, it is 10 times the fun.. maybe i have just re-rolled lol!

Originally posted by Popingay1

People just need to accept the simple fact this game is not, nor was not, ever intended to be DAOC2.  Does it have some influences from the game and maybe some similarities ?  sure -- but DAOC2 it is not.

Well of course it is'nt DAoC 2, nor that we want it to be. DAoC is a entity itself and waiting for Origins.

However back to WAR..

Just simply stating that some of the features that DAoC has would definetly work great with WAR.

You simply can't roll over and hope the developers think of a new concept that is'nt in any MMO right now. Use what was successful on any prior MMO's and work off of it. DAoC concepts would be accepted, its the same company anyways and why not, they would just be biting off themselves.

All MMO's have the same idea's, just some implement it better than others.

However, converting games like a sandbox (SWG) to a linear style like (WoW).. Now this is BAD BAD.. and should not be attempted at any cost.

Mix and Little DAoC ideas with WAR and you will = A Kick Ass Game! ---> imo

Granted, maybe they did want to do something completely different than DAoC, but I expected it to at least be on par with DAoC in terms of quality.  Frankly though, I found it shocking how mediocre it was, like some random game from some struggling little development company, not a relatively big-name dev, with such a solid game behind them.  It's not really the ideas that are so bad, they ARE very DAoC-like, but almost unrecognizable due to all around shoddy implementation.

"Land of the Dead Opens (June): The deserts of Nehekhara open to players with the addition of a new RvR-gated dungeon zone. To gain access to the Land of the Dead, opposing Realms must battle for control of the zone to access dozens of new Public Quests, instanced lairs, and a massive new Tomb Kings dungeon to plunder in search of the Casket of Souls. "
 

I guess this is our Darkness Falls .....