(I've got a 70 SK but only 25 DT so, hopefully, someone more familiar with higher-level DT's can chime in and correct me.)

They are close in "spirit of the class" but different how they are implemented. Dark Templars use poison-based and lifetap combos and spells, like a SK, but do not have a pet and cannot use 2H weapons. AFAIK, no class in AoC has Feign Death. Of the three Soldier classes DT's are the most "evil" and I'm surprised that Stygians cannot be DT's. A Stygian DT would be like a Dark Elf or Erudite SK, physically weak but mentally strong.

Guardians are probably better tanks in large groups but I like DT's better for small groups since they contribute more DPS. I think DT's solo better too for the same reason: more DPS.

Guardians can wear heavier armor (=higher [i]physical[/i] damage mitigation) than DT's but DT's have a higher damage mitigation to certain types of [i]magical[/i] damage; not all types though.

DT's extend their life with lifetaps as opposed to number of hit points and defenses. This might make a Guardian a better main tank in a raid against a single tough mob since they have a better chance to survive burst damage but DT's might be better against multiple mobs.

Note that most of the healing in AoC is heal-over-time so burst damage will be a problem for any tnak.

Two CPU's are reported for a single-core CPU if it supports Hyper-Threading (HT).

EDIT: Oops, the above poster beat me to it!  ;-)

I think this would be problematic in AoC for several reasons:

• AFAIK, there are no "safe" zones in a PvP zone so you can't just park your buffbot in a realm-owned keep, for example, while your active characters goes hunting.
• Buffs have limited durations so you'd have to frequently move your active character back to your buffbot whenever they expired and the best buffs have very limited durations.
• Group buffs, AFAIK, have limited range.
• Targetted buffs have a very limited range.

Any bets that the first person to reach 80 will actually be six people that reach 80 nearly simultaneously and all from the same guild?

As a side bet, I wager the guild with be E***L*** for reasons I won't get into here (because they are not nice things to say about another guild, especially one I don't know personally).

Apparently some people think AoC uses instancing like Guild Wars instead of Tabula Rasa, CoX or EQ][. They may be confusing instances (private dungeons/missions) with instancing (creation of multiple outdoor zones when the zone has too many PCs) though the terms are similar so I understand the confusion.

AoC and TR are the same because they both have instanced outdoor zones? That's about as intelligent a comment as the guy that said AoC was the same as WoW because you can get a mount at level 40 in both games. . .

Perhaps the OP doesn't realize that EQ][ (a MMOG from 2004 that is still going strong) has the same feature and almost no one complains about it or that WoW does not, AFAIK, instance outdoor zones and people do complain when zones crash when too many PC's are in it.

 I don't know much about AGP and Radeon GPUs but your CPU, RAM and OS are similar to my machine. I currently run at high settings (w/shadows) averaging 25fps in urban areas (the most demanding terrain) with a nVidia 9600GT. Originally, I was running at low settings with a nVidia 7600GT and the game still looked great. I recommend that keep your existing setup until you see the retail client in action then decide if and what to upgrade.

For the above posters experiencing heavy disk access trying defragmenting your hard drive then use the Repair/Compact Database option with SimpleConfig.exe

My guess is that you'll be able to play at Low or Medium with a few adjustments on your desktop but I am not sure if your laptop will be able to play at all due to the low RAM video card. Only one way to know for certain. . .

In my experience with tuning AoC's performance, defragging my HD did not significantly improve load times but compacting/repairing AoC's database with SimpleConfig.exe made a huge difference.

ps. I have twin 10K Raptors in RAID 0 configuration.

If bandwidth and management costs were the primary motivators for FunCom deciding to outsource then why were all of the Technical Beta Testers -- who already have the General Beta Client installed and patched-up, ready to go -- not promoted to General Beta?

Months ago, I picked Vanguard for $19.95 at a GameStop / EB Games retail store and it was not on-sale, used, clearance or anything special that I could tell. They had two on the shelf and, I am assuming, that since they were not selling and they needed the shelf space (for other products that actually sell) they just lowered the price hoping it would move. Places like BestBuy, Target or On-line stores, places with lots of shelf space, probably still have Vanguard for $49.

Great post!  I'm a long-time MMOG'er (from beta EQ1; back when they were called MMORPGs but no one role-plays anymore   ) and agree that while your top 5 items are stereotypical they are also an accurate profile of many (but not all, obviously) MMOG players today.

I never understand the incentive to buy gold. It seems, to me, like you are paying to not play. If you feel the need to pay to not play, maybe you are playing the wrong game. . . 

I played WoW for six months, explored every zone and group instance, got my main to level 60 (max at the time) and felt I had seen it all and done it all, since I'm not really into raiding, so moved on. Even though I do not play it anymore, I still recommend WoW to everyone as their first MMOG. Why? For all the reasons stated above, easy to play, low hardware requirements, polished content, etc.

Bottom Line: I feel that WoW is the best introduction to MMOG's out there today so, if you're interested in MMOG's, you should start with WoW.

I agree with the above posters in that non-graphical (ASCII art doesn't count) MUDs are an artifact of an older era. Seriously, how many people still use (or ever used?) Lynx, a text-based web browser, over FireFox, Safari, Internet Explorer, or other modern graphical web browsers?

If you are interested in creating and hosting a MUD, I strongly recommend you check out Neverwinter Nights 1 (NWN2 is prettier but has some serious limitations in regards to multi-user support). There is a large and active (since 2001!) community of NWN1 Persistent Worlds (PWs) that welcome and support newcomers either as players, DM's, developers or hosts. PW's are like a MUD or MMOG in the sense that they are always (well, try to be ;-) up, characters are created and stored on the server so players can pick up where they left off, there are quests, crafting, PvP, adventuring, socializing and, of course, monster slaying. There is also a DM Client which gives certain users, as determined by the host, a special tool with elevated privileges from which they can "run" an adventure much like a Dungeon Master in D&D or just moderate like a GM/Guide in an MMOG.

The hardware requirements for running a NWN1 server are minimal too. There are several servers still running on Pentium III's with 512MB RAM! The largest ones can support up to 64 (might even be 128 now?) concurrent users -- which is approaching the population of some MMOG's!

Entire modules can be downloaded from sites like NWVault, you can build them from scratch or just download packages you want and can customize them to better integrate into your gameworld/setting and module.

NWN1 (and NWN2) uses Dungeons and Dragons 3rd edition rules but you can, and several have, customized it beyond recognition with NWScript, a C-like (not C++) programming language.

There is, or was, a fairly major Wheel of Time (WoT) NWN1 server out there so you might be able to join their development team and see what it is all about before taking the plunge and starting up your own (competing) server.

Good luck!  

The article mentioned "mercenaries" helping defend the city. Does anyone know if this means NPC's, like DAoC's realm or keep (which can be upgraded by PC's) guards, or allied guilds or a combination of both? I would hope that smaller (=non-uber) guilds could hire NPC's or allow allied guilds to help defend. By extension, I would if guilds can bring in allied guilds (I'm assume no NPC's) to help attack? I would hope that there is a limit to the number of attackers and defenders too so it is more like a raid-encounter and less of a zerg/lag-fest/slideshow; DAoC relic raids anyone?

Originally posted by kiatara

10000 bc? I think thats a remake if im right of a 1960s film starring raquel welsh- it was a dinosaur movie with  no talking in it(all the actors were meant to be neanderthals so they just grunted).Its years since i have seen it but it wasnt great - highlight was raquel in a skimpy outfit!

Originally posted by Deddpool

Problem is alot of people think the beta is there for a chance to play the game early and for free, instead of reporting bugs/problems or w/e.

QFT.

It seems that the goal of open beta these days is primarily for marketing reasons and not to identify bugs or issues before release. Flame me if you want but I feel that most beta testers in open beta are really there to just get a free sneak-preview instead of actually trying to improve the game. I do not blame them, however, as I believe the developer (or publisher) inadvertantly encourages this attitude by not giving testers any guidelines on what they should be doing.

If you like to explore as much as I do I recommend that you do not use EQ2 Maps unless you are really stuck. EQ2 Maps is essentially a spoiler so relying on it extensively takes a little away from the "discovery" aspect of exploring the game by yourself -- if that is important to you.

I am an explorer and one aspect that is really keeping me interested in RoK is studying the landscape, flora and fauna and trying to guess where in EQ1's Kunark I would be. It's nostalgic yet new and exciting at the same time.

Best expansion yet, imo.

ps. I snuck into Chardok tonight to take a look around. The Wheel of the Wind (?) room, the large open area with Iksar and their Scaled Wolf "guarddogs" you may have seen in trailers and promos, is absolutely amazing. It reminds me a lot of the artwork in the upcoming MMOG Age of Conan.