Coming home... My return to Dark Age of Camelot: Dark Age of Camelot to me was like the hometown that I thought I would always have fond memories of growing up in, but would never return to because I was moving on to new challenges. That feeling changed recently, though, with an email invitation to return and help beta test the Catacombs expansion.
I started playing DAoC "way back when"… so way back that the game was actually in the final days of alpha testing. I played it all through beta, becoming one of their first team leads, and for about a year after the game went live. But one thing that I never really enjoyed about the game was the group oriented PvP, referred to as RvR (realm versus realm). Because this was such a fundamental part of the game, and the real reason for striving toward level 50 and beyond, I knew that DAoC wouldn't be for me forever. When their PvE only server, Gaheris, opened, I quickly created new characters, became the team lead for that server, and was able to find a renewed love of the game. But after finally reaching level 50, seeing all there was to see so much that I could walk from Avalon Marsh to Camelot's gates practically asleep, I retired my characters and closed my accounts.
In the year plus that I was away from the game, two expansions came out. Trials of Atlantis introduced master levels to the game, and the New Frontiers redesigned the world of RvR. While I followed the game news enough to know what was happening, neither was enough to pull me back to the game.
Catacombs, however, is a PvE player's dream. It's brought me back home again. The expansion introduces new classes in each realm, new lands to explore beginning at even the earliest levels, and more quests than I've ever seen in DAoC.
The new classes pose new challenges for experienced players because each has a new ability type or style of magic. Bainshees and Vampiirs in Hibernia twist the magic of that realm into new forms, with the Vampiir being a class unique to the DAoC gameplay. Vampiir's gain their power through draining power from others via melee damage. With a weapon in one hand and spell in another, the Vampiir class takes some time to get used. Even harder to play, in my opinion, is the new Albion class, the Heretic. At first this class seemed like it would be a former smite cleric's dream, but the cloth armor restriction, and learning to combine effective casting and melee, it is far from easy to master. The up side of this new class is that there doesn't seem to be a right or wrong way to specialize, so you don't have to worry as much about how to spend each and every specialization point, and can tailor your abilities to your playing style. I have not yet tried the Valkyrie or Warlock in Midgard, but the concept of having a fighter with magic ability or interweaving spells to be a Warlock intrigues me enough that I'm sure I will at some point at least try those classes as well.
The Catacombs expansion introduces options for small group and solo play as well. Instanced wings in the original Camelot dungeons are a great way for small groups of players to gain experience, spawning for that group or player alone. Instanced dungeons also exist as special "task" type missions that a scale to the ability of the player and provide bonus experience for completion. Mini-quests are a quick and easy way of gaining experience, most with storylines just interesting enough to make you want to stop and read them along the way. Larger quests that expand on existing backstory, or introduce new tales, also exist. The one thing that seems to be missing are quests that are epic in scale, stories that take levels to complete and require you to push the limits of your abilities. But for ease of leveling new characters and experimenting with some new classes, the Catacombs expansion is definitely a must have.
I’ve played computer games since college, addicted first to story type games like Might and Magic. I have 3 children who also love computer games. My oldest son is a typical kid who loves the challenge of pressing the right combination of buttons and levers on a joystick in just the right way to make something happens, and frequently gets frustrated with mom’s slow fingers. ;) We use computers for both education and entertainment, and sometimes even bribery for good behavior.
The “glory days” of computer gaming for me were when games like Spectre Supreme, Pirate’s Gold, the Might and Magic series, the original Prince of Persia… those sorts of games were coming out on a regular basis. Back then I owned a Macintosh and was a die hard Mac fan. I was one of the first in my area to buy an iMac and on it learned the joy of playing games on the internet like daily crossword puzzle and “mind bender” type puzzles. My first online RPG was given to me for Christmas the year EQ was released, and I was hooked from day one. I played EQ for about a year. I started playing DaoC during late alpha testing, and was hooked on it.. well, to be honest I still am. I’ve tried pretty much every MMORPG I can get my hands on, from big names like EQ, to more obscure ones such as Underlight. I’ve been writing for IMGS since the first DaoC guide, and find I love the challenge of learning a game and presenting what I’ve learned (and sometimes my opinions), to other players.
I’m not a very strong player as far as learning PvE or quick reaction times, so I tend to stay away from games where I’m pitted against someone else in a way that requires physical (rather than mental) response. I still enjoy story and puzzle games, and in a way that’s how I still approach online games. I would much rather spend hours working through a quest than 5 minutes in combat against another player. I still get lost in simulation type games, obsessing over them until I’ve gotten them beaten. And I like being able to sit down at the computer when I’ve got less than half an hour and playing through a few levels of a puzzle game. I tend not to like first-person shooter type games, or anything with person to person violence, so I steer away from them unless they are fantasy based settings. All in all, I enjoy computer gaming so much that my life feels incomplete somehow when my computer is down.
