This was a unique game.  There is not one single title on the market with 3 realms that you can literally fully pve in to end game, including epic raids an dungeons, without ever seeing the enemy.  Hence, three games in 1. 

There is not one game on the market where, while being able to pursue epic pve content in your own culture, you can run over to a massive dungeon called Darkness Falls (providing your realm owns the most keeps), and see levels 15-50 with full end game content.  Pvp between all three realms is quite possible here, and tended to occur quite often.  But, unlike other titles that are extraordinarily non-epic, if I want to stay away from the other factions and breath the air of my own country, I can do so without ever seeing the enemy.  Granted, my friends will want me out defending or taking castles, and seeing the banners of our guild flying proudly over them in the event of victory...

There is not one game on the market that has three realms of classes that DO NOT MIRROR one another, and yet, there are over 40 classes to choose from between three realms. 

The concept of NON-cosmetic races is unique to games like Everyquest, and of course, Dark Age of Camelot.  You won't find MC Hammer dancing orcs or Moonwalking elves here. All 20+ races matter in Dark Age of Camelot (or so it did).

ROLE-PLAYING:  I'm not talking erotic or bad Shakespear here or some other twisted fantasy talk while an enemy faction beats up players in front of your Inn.  I cannot express how many times I "yelled" at a player who was strutting in epic gear in WoW, "rp'ing" something silly while a handful of enemy faction was beating the crap out of the place.  I cannot tell you how frustraing it was to log into Everquest 2's RP server (Antonio Bayle?) and be told that there is no pvp - that it's one happy family.  I retorted, "but this is an RP server, you are telling me goblins and paladins group?   Dark Elves and Light Elves are pals, is this Disneyland or an RP high-fantasy mmorpg?"

REAL ROLE PLAYING:  I'm speaking of real roleplaying, where RP meant to go out and battle for your realm. Where you saw your enemy realms as real enemies, and felt your blood boil to see a castle taken or one of your relics gone.  Getting three hundred people into the frontiers and zerging your way to a victory, all the while watching the raid leader calling out orders to specialist groups, stealthers, high Realm Rank 8 man teams, and the like, to go out and cause as much confusion and chaos as possible so your relics made it home.

Defending your realm was real immersion and RP because it made us feel that we were truly a part of something unique and different from our enemies, not seeing cosmetic cut and paste enemies - MY TROOPER FIGHTS YOUR BOUNTY HUNTER WOHOO (no.), or my Pyro spec mage vs your Pyro spec mage - c'mon developers this is laziness speaking! 

The concept of US vs THEM vs THEM.  Reiterating the three realm standard (as opposed to lazy free for all and 2 factional cut and paste), there is not a single title in the market where you get a real feel of US vs someone else.  Every mmorpg seems to go out of their way to prevent immersion.  You never feel any real sense of purpose in pvp other than for personal gain.  On top of all that it's all instanved pvp these days - so you aren't battling for anything that is meaningful to your realm mates.  That being said, in Dark Age of Camelot, when I first saw one of the two opposing realms, I was blown away.  

I felt my blood pulsate as a handful of Midgardian Vikings came storming down a hall in Darkness Falls.  Their armor looked different than mine.  They wore chain and leather, I had on plate, being I was a Albion Paladin.  They had dwarves and trolls, dark elves as well.  An hour later, I saw a group of Hibernians.  Elves mostly, a  tall half-giant called a Firbolg was swinging a 2 handed hammer around.  I saw small halfling types called Lurikeen, mostly casters and rogues. 

Today, like in Rifts, Guild Wars 2, Star Wars The Old Republic, races are just cosmetic.  You got a certain class, but I have the exact mirror as an option.  Your Imperial Assassin has a rifle, my Republic Scoundrel has a pistol.  Yawn.  And on top of it, we play Huttball and other bs that reminds me of why Americans should probably never make mmorpgs while dreaming about being at home watching football.

In Dark Age of Camelot, we took enemy castles.  We had siege warfare.  No instanced button options here.  You had to get out into a frontier and defend, or attempt to take enemy castles - even the relics some contained could be brought back to your own territory, granting bonuses to everyone in your realm.  Everyone saw when a relic was taken or saved.  It was announced - you opened your realm map, you looked at Midgard, Albion, and Hibernia, and you knew where the action was, and how the war was going between the realms.

I want a reboot.  Mythic, you had your time with Warhammer.  Let's go back to something special, a real gem of an mmorpg that has true immersive quality.  I miss guild housing an dpersonal housing.  I miss crafting and having it mean something.  I miss the desire to defend my realm, and the excitement I felt at knowing that even if we were beating out one enemy, that another was always near by.

/signed, a disgruntled gamer with too much education for today's market

/signed

I miss Dark Age soooo much!

http://www.dominusthegame.com/

Have you heard of Dominus? I've received a lot of recommendations for it from DAoC fans. I wouldn't bank on much from Mythic in the future. After the damage that Warhammer Online did to EA's reputation, I have my doubts not only in the premise that the team would even want to put the work into a new MMO, but that EA would greenlight such an endeavor. The Mythic people (Carrie Gouskos, Paul Barnett, etc) are investing too much into the Warhammer MOBA rather than the "boring crap" of your regular MMO.

There is also Secondstar Interactive, which we likely won't see a title from for a good couple of years. This developer is made up of some recognizable names.

• Darrin Hyrup: Founder of Mythic Entertainment.
• Lory Hyrup: Lead Designer of Dark Age Of Camelot.
• Cooper Buckingham: From Warhammer Online, Dark Age of Camelot, The Sims, and Gods & Heroes.
• Tim Cotten: Ultima Online.
• Eric Piccione: Art Director responsible for the look of Ultima Online and Dark Age of Camelot.

Stupid game, ruined me for good it seems.  I expected future MMO's to expand on what made it so great, instead they all went down a dark path and it seems DAOC is to be a once in a lifetime experience. 

Was a fun ride while it lasted, but unfortunately there is no one left at EA/Mythic to build such a title anymore.

Originally posted by Omali

http://www.dominusthegame.com/

Have you heard of Dominus? I've received a lot of recommendations for it from DAoC fans. I wouldn't bank on much from Mythic in the future. After the damage that Warhammer Online did to EA's reputation, I have my doubts not only in the premise that the team would even want to put the work into a new MMO, but that EA would greenlight such an endeavor. The Mythic people (Carrie Gouskos, Paul Barnett, etc) are investing too much into the Warhammer MOBA rather than the "boring crap" of your regular MMO.

There is also Secondstar Interactive, which we likely won't see a title from for a good couple of years. This developer is made up of some recognizable names.

 

• Darrin Hyrup: Founder of Mythic Entertainment.
• Lory Hyrup: Lead Designer of Dark Age Of Camelot.
• Cooper Buckingham: From Warhammer Online, Dark Age of Camelot, The Sims, and Gods & Heroes.
• Tim Cotten: Ultima Online.
• Eric Piccione: Art Director responsible for the look of Ultima Online and Dark Age of Camelot.

Thank you - going to check on this now and praying I'm not about to see a cash shop game.

**EDIT:  I did see this before.  I'm a medieval fantasy gamer at heart but I will keep my eyes posted on this.  Thank  you again.

Originally posted by Omali

http://www.dominusthegame.com/

Have you heard of Dominus? I've received a lot of recommendations for it from DAoC fans. I wouldn't bank on much from Mythic in the future. After the damage that Warhammer Online did to EA's reputation, I have my doubts not only in the premise that the team would even want to put the work into a new MMO, but that EA would greenlight such an endeavor. The Mythic people (Carrie Gouskos, Paul Barnett, etc) are investing too much into the Warhammer MOBA rather than the "boring crap" of your regular MMO.

There is also Secondstar Interactive, which we likely won't see a title from for a good couple of years. This developer is made up of some recognizable names.

 

• Darrin Hyrup: Founder of Mythic Entertainment.
• Lory Hyrup: Lead Designer of Dark Age Of Camelot.
• Cooper Buckingham: From Warhammer Online, Dark Age of Camelot, The Sims, and Gods & Heroes.
• Tim Cotten: Ultima Online.
• Eric Piccione: Art Director responsible for the look of Ultima Online and Dark Age of Camelot.

I'm glad you brought this up, been watching this one for awhile. They promise alot, and the game hasent been hyped up too much, so Im crossing my fingers.

I would encourage any DAOC vet to watch that title.

Vanilla DAoC + CryEngine 3 + Updated Combat System + XML Based UI = Success

Originally posted by MMOExposed
Never going to happen. Mythic is now owned by Bioware, which from leaks, also suffered from a Corp dismantle . Also keep in mind it's all controlled by EA. so the original team is long gone.

I agree with you.  The one thing EA learned from Dark Age of Camelot was that it's best to siege your enemy and take his castle (EA vs Mythic), so that he can never raise a sword again.

EA took over an opponent that they potentially saw as a competitor to Warhammer....my opinion of course, but remember you DAOC fans that a server called Origins was about to be delivered to us which would have brought a lot of the "I play Warhammer but man I miss daoc - if only they released a fresh start server..." players back....Electronic Arts could NOT afford to lose more players from the sinking Warhammer ship. 

Hence, DAoC was bought out, valued staff were fired (September of 2009), a pack of lies about putting real RvR into Warhammer ensued, and guys like Warhammer's "used-car salesman" Paul Barnett rolled his eyes as hordes of players quit over aoe glitches.

Even now, with the issues that a very broken Dark Age of Camelot has (the folks that run it - all 4 of them, are doing the best that they can with interns and the like), if Origins server was released, you'd see a packed title overnight.  But, Origins not only stopped in production, but mysteriously, no one was allowed to speak of it. 

In a few minutes this thread will die.  But for those few who saw it and posted a few words /salute to a special game, an amazing community regardless of what server you were on (/waves at Percival Midgard, Guinevere Hibernia, etc).

R.I.P.

1. Take the current DAOC.

2. Update the engines and graphics and all that.

3. Remove the stealth feature and all the stealther classes.

4. When tweaking classes for balance, make many small changes frequently, in order to continually work towards a good balance. "Small changes frequently" is opposed to "big changes infrequently." Big changes are usually bad and have unforeseen consequences. Infrequently making adjustments to balance is also bad, especially when the changes are big, not small. Balance can be achieved by frequent small changes.

5. The game is reborn and is awesome now.

6. I will subscribe for a long, long time.

I would love to try DAoC!  I am very sad I never have...  If they updated the graphics engine I'd be all over it.

Originally posted by Jimmac

1. Take the current DAOC.

2. Update the engines and graphics and all that.

3. Remove the stealth feature and all the stealther classes.

4. When tweaking classes for balance, making many small changes frequently, in order to continually try to achieve a good balance. "Small changes frequently" is opposed to "big changes infrequently." Big changes are usually bad and have unforeseen consequences. Infrequently making adjustments to balance is also bad, especially when the changes are big, not small. Balance can be achieved by frequent small changes.

5. The game is reborn and is awesome now.

6. I will subscribe for a long, long time.

I agree.  However, with number 3. Remove the stealth feature and the stealther classes...

As you know, once you had realm rank on most classes you could tear apart most rogues.  Tank determination + stoicism meant no CC from a rogue, add in Ignore Pain and Purge and you were healing and stepping through lifebain and an opening perf without issue.

Stealth meant the option for just running around soloing on a bridge was a world for them - stealth offered eyes in relic raids, and was a difficult nuisance when a team of archers jumped your realm's attempt to support a raid to begin with. 

Stealth, in DAoC, was almost a 2nd wild card (where the first wild card effect was that we had 3 realms, and no matter how stagnant or stalemated a realm might have been, a third realm could walk in and destroy everything two other realms worked for).  You never got to be lazy - with rogues, it was the same.  You never knew what could be coming for you.

King RIchard the Lion Hearted, the Bane of the Muslim Empire and the Seljuk Turks that would one day take Constantinople, was taken down by a crossbow bolt (though it was a single shot that went gangrenous).

/salute thank you for posting.

Dark Age of Camelot was basically a coop Skyrim for me which is why it was the best MMORPG I've ever played obviously. It would have to be. Skyrim is amazing. Didn't even care about the endgame RvR. Just loved the PvE and the lower level battlegrounds. In Skyrim, you don't focus on the main quest. You eventually get around to it, sure, but the game's focus can be on whatever you want it to be. If you want to get immersed in a conflict with petty bandits, then go right on ahead! That was what Dark Age of Camelot was like for me. No other game has been like that either because every other MMORPG you level too quickly to get to know anything for very long (in modern MMOs, that is).

So YES I want a Dark Age of Camelot 2! Call it Dark Age of Camelot: blank or something. Make it a THROWBACK title. Enough time has passed for there to be one.

I guess Mythic is just a skeleton team now though. So if a Dark Age of Camelot 2 doesn't come out maybe another company can make something that works.

Just for the record, I hate RvR. I want players to form their own alliances. I do not want to attack other players just because I'm a Darkelf and the other guy is Highelf. I want to be able to have Darkelves and Highelves on the same account.

BUT

I have to admit that if someone would do RvR, DAoC is the way to go. Have at least three completely separate realms. Have everyone have individual classes, that work differently for each realm. This way it makes sense.

And NOT like its done, for exmple, in SWTOR. Two realms and both sides have the same classes (except for different names for the same thing). WoW made this scheme popular (even if at release, only Alliance had Paladin, and only Horde had Shaman, a last hint of diversity - but they dropped that later), but I frankly dont get why.

You do NOT want a DAoC reboot. NO, just NO. Let it be dead with dignity. Don't forget where the license is today. Not after Warhammer and SWToR. And sure as hell not when backed by EA.

I glad though that some people are starting to bring the amazing 3 faction PvP back. GW2, TSW and Planetside 2 and the less known Dominus.

I find DAOC-RVR the best PvP System so far.
A reboot or DAOC 2 would have been great but i dont see it coming for many more years.
I started to play again DAOC a year plus x or so back but as European Player i did not get good support in the Credit Card debacle and they lost me as Player again.

Now, as i am a Simulator-Fan, i am looking forward to Mechwarrior Online, which offers even more RVR in a SciFi-Setting, with a Universe that is full of Lore and Detail with Tech Read Outs and Novels about it, hoping MWO will start small and become over time big.

If somewhere at that road DAOC 2 appears, i would be happy to take a look at it!
But its no longer the only hope...

Originally posted by Adamantine

Just for the record, I hate RvR. I want players to form their own alliances. I do not want to attack other players just because I'm a Darkelf and the other guy is Highelf. I want to be able to have Darkelves and Highelves on the same account.

BUT

I have to admit that if someone would do RvR, DAoC is the way to go. Have at least three completely separate realms. Have everyone have individual classes, that work differently for each realm. This way it makes sense.

And NOT like its done, for exmple, in SWTOR. Two realms and both sides have the same classes (except for different names for the same thing). WoW made this scheme popular (even if at release, only Alliance had Paladin, and only Horde had Shaman, a last hint of diversity - but they dropped that later), but I frankly dont get why.

You don't get why WOW made having identical classes popular, probably to stop player whining about balancing issues .  Also part of reason why they eventually gave each side the other's unique classes, though making it easier for pve raid balancing was probably the greater reason.

I wasn't a huge RVR fan either and spent more time on the FFA PVP server Mordred, which has almost no chance at a comeback unfortunately.

Originally posted by wormywyrm

I would love to try DAoC!  I am very sad I never have...  If they updated the graphics engine I'd be all over it.

I know it's a matter of taste, but the graphics really aren't that bad. If you really want to try it, please don't let that hold you back.

Originally posted by ironhelix

Originally posted by wormywyrm

I would love to try DAoC!  I am very sad I never have...  If they updated the graphics engine I'd be all over it.

I know it's a matter of taste, but the graphics really aren't that bad. If you really want to try it, please don't let that hold you back.

True, the graphics really arent that bad. I tryed the game for the first time a few months back and it looked pretty good imo, even if it is an old game. So unless you are a graphics whore i would go ahead and try it.