Mythic destroys towns

[Malderi]

http://www.camelotherald.com/more/2989.shtml

Very interesting! I'm glad they're doing this dragon campaign thing for real, and not just doing some crap that doesn't affect anyone. Destroying three major towns - I imagine permanently, or at least for a very long while - is a big thing for them to do. Can't wait to log on tonight and see what's up.

Props to Mythic for having the balls to do stuff like this.

Edit: I hope this leads up to a destruction/rebuilding (remodeling) of the major capital cities.

[HRose]

DAoC is on life support, but they managed to release a couple of good patches (archer changes excluded). Sadly it's all basically wasted work as the problems to make it again a worthwhile game are largely untouched.

But this event thing? Being brave? They are destroying villages that nowadays are completely deserted and "mudflated" out of the game. They could remove completely ALL the outdoor classic zones and the players would barely notice. And this because they completely destroyed the structure of the game by replacing it with an even more mindless grind (the task dungeons).

Something like this should have been released (and was actually planned and promised) three years and half ago:

- Realizing their Atlantean masters are not returning, four sphinxes have traveled to the Hall of Heroes to offer ML credit, ML respecs, ML experience, artifact credit, and artifact scrolls in exchange for stories from the frontiers (represented by bounty points).

[HRose]

Btw, one idea I'd propose if I was the producer (wink to Walt): plan a mini-expansion to be released this Fall.

- Price: $5.
- Purpose: completely scrap and reprogram/repaint the UI, with the goal of making it scalable (so that it looks the same no matter of the resolution), more functional and organized and buy a readable/polished/aliased font.

Giving DAoC a better "impact" while simultaneously work on the structure (meaning the PvE treadmill and a reorganization of task dungeons) would help greatly to make the game once again presentable and a first step to start drawing new customers.

[Lietgardis]

Dude, when Turbine destroyed the city of Arwic in Asheron's Call, it was the primary economic hub of the entire world map.

Sadly, five years later, I can't find any good links.

[stusser]

Wow! OSI is finally implementing some of the interactivity that they promised for so many years. They do "create worlds"! The battle for Trinsic was truly epic, and the fact that we players determined the resolution means that we can make a real impact on the face of Britannia. This is exactly what UO needs to breath new life into the game and keep it thriving for years to come. I have complete faith that events of this magnitude will continue, and so will my subscription!

respectfully signed,
BustaCapInUrAs <emoterape>, Catskills

[Henry Wilson]

As buggy as it was, I'd play Master of Magic again in a heartbeat if I could get it to run on my computer. I jonesed so hard and tried everything I could to get Pirates Gold! to run on an xp laptop before Sid solved the problem by giving me a dancing simulaor.

And yet I have no interest whatsoever in playing DAOC, which I enjoyed just as much as those two in its prime.

MMOGs have freshness dates.

[HRose]

Originally Posted by Henry Wilson

MMOGs have freshness dates.

If every one is a clone of the other and there is then title that does a much better work, sure.

But DAoC has its PvP flavor that would be still worthy and appealing today, if it wasn't hidden below a pile of ballast.

[Thomas Wilde]

Originally Posted by HRose

DAoC is on life support, but they managed to release a couple of good patches (archer changes excluded). Sadly it's all basically wasted work as the problems to make it again a worthwhile game are largely untouched.

That's weird. Sanya Weathers told me at NYCC that they'd "finally got all the suck out," and encouraged me to give the game a try.

[Michael Fortson]

Not Ardee! Noooooo!

Poor little crabs.

[jpinard]

Originally Posted by Malderi

http://www.camelotherald.com/more/2989.shtml

Very interesting! I'm glad they're doing this dragon campaign thing for real, and not just doing some crap that doesn't affect anyone. Destroying three major towns - I imagine permanently, or at least for a very long while - is a big thing for them to do. Can't wait to log on tonight and see what's up.

Props to Mythic for having the balls to do stuff like this.

Edit: I hope this leads up to a destruction/rebuilding (remodeling) of the major capital cities.

Oh that's pretty cool! Can you re-sign up for a free trial? I'd love to see rampaging dragons decimating cities...

[HRose]

One last thing and then I'm done.

Since they are retooling with the Frontiers. Redoing the keeps in order to fix LOS and make the game perform better is something I STRONGLY support, but it isn't all that the game needs.

The two most important things from my perspective are:

1- Make once again the keeps the protagonists of RvR.
2- Work to remove stalemates at those keeps so that it's fun to play there.

The bias toward 8vs8 groups made the game unplayable for me and, I'm sure, for many other players. But in particular it killed completely the accessibility for new players. When 90%+ of the RvR is accessible only in specialized groups the consequence is that a majority of players are flat out excluded.

What is left in the average experience is to sit LFG at a keep for hours. Or walk around solo just to feed points to a roaming gank group.

THAT's the FIRST problem in DAoC currently: the game needs new players, and the very few players are turned off by the UI and boring PvE first, and the complete inaccessibility of PvP next.

That kills the game. Checkmate in two steps.

So for me the only solution is to bring back that cooperative feeling and realm pride that we had back then. When people grouped together to fight a shared objective. And when ALL the realm joined up for some crazy battles. Everyone grouped everyone else. Everyone was doing its small part. And there were BOTH specialized groups and casual groups.

So the point is to make the RvR easily accessible and fun once again for all the players, while trying to make the battles a bit more dynamic instead of boring stalemates where you wait, wait, wait and wait.

[Malderi]

Yes, there's a free trial available.

By the way, for those who have played DAOC and are reluctant to come back - the grind is now so incredibly reduced it's not even funny. I went from 42 to 50 in a single weekend of decent groups. My last bulb before 50 was about 20 minutes in a DF diamond group. PvP is still cool, and you can always play on the classic server (where I currently reside.)

It still has its problems, but the balance issues have been largely resolved, especially with today's patch. No more clipping-range archers or forests of animists. I'd suggest another try, even if you just spend 14 days in the free trial.

[Robert Sharp]

Originally Posted by Henry Wilson

As buggy as it was, I'd play Master of Magic again in a heartbeat if I could get it to run on my computer. I jonesed so hard and tried everything I could to get Pirates Gold! to run on an xp laptop before Sid solved the problem by giving me a dancing simulaor.

I've never played Pirates, but I played MoM about a year ago, at the most...in XP. Possibly on the PC I am using now, but if not on my previous one which was also XP.

[Walter Yarbrough]

Originally Posted by Malderi

Yes, there's a free trial available.

/nod

http://www.darkageofcamelot.com/downloads/

And the game being 'dead' - it's not worth debating. We have a dev. team, budget, support base, codebase and fanbase that other MMO's would kill to have.

Given our age, we also have plenty of disgruntled fans soured by their last experience - which is also normal.

-Walt

[triggercut]

DAoC still pwns every MMO I want to play. It's by no means on "life support". In fact, the game has never felt more connected to it's development team than right now. When the player community says "try this", there's a real sense that we're listened to and reacted towards very, very quickly by Mythic.

So here's the recruiting pitch, and feel free to move onwards if you like. Lokust is shaking his head, I know. Dude, we've elminated most (hopefully all, but I'm probably too close to tell) elitist-ness and you folks were among the most fun people we ever played with...

Ok, anyway, here's the invitation pitch to join our tower/bridge humping guild:

After having some decent amount of fun playing as albs, some friends and I are re-rolling once again. Primarily this is due to:

1. Albs are fun at first, but they don't seem to "fit" us.

2. Targets. We'd be running around and someone in Vent would say "Targets west!" followed quickly by: "Nevermind, it's more albs." That happens way too much, and when you do find a single group of enemies, invariably more albs come blundering in to "help" (that is, steal rp's).

3. Midgard is just too much fun. And there's never a shortage of Albs and Hibs begging to be killed.

Actually, we were losing interest fast on Alb. But...one of my friends was screwing around with a 40 Warlock he'd made on a TOA server waaay back in the day. Now, you may remember that Warlocks got hit with the nerfbat pretty hard after coming out of the gate fairly overpowered. What you may not have realized is that the nerfbat applied to the cookiecutter warlock spec....but the "Curse" spell line was left alone. See, no one specs Curse, mostly because the spellcast times take forever, and most folks figure you'll get interrupted long before you'll get that bolt off (which at level 48 specs as the second-highest damage spell in the game, and which does a damage type which most templates are vulnerable to.)

But...what happens if you change your play style? What if you play in such a way that you usually get that bolt off without being interrupted? What then?

Well, that sucker hits for an average of 550-640 in Thid. It hits for 850-1100 (without a crit) in Molvik. It'll hit a templated 48th level toon in the CV battleground for 600-1000. Testing in CV, on a 49 Curse Warlock I can still one-shot most casters (Avalonians and Luris especially). Now, imagine 2-3 Curse-specced Warlocks assisting each other. Yeah, nasty. Throw in a few more casters. Add a thane (the "caster thanes" absolutely ROCK now.). Maybe a bone dancer (wouldja believe that Boneys are now actually *sought out* for RvR? Wouldja believe that bonedancers kick ass? No really, they do!) Add in some support (a shammie and a healer) and you've got a formidable little group to farm towers and bridges for rps and strategic goals.

So first off: we're not that far in. We have two PL toons, both bonedancers (you gotta see them with the new, hard-hitting pets to believe 'em) but most of us are in our 20's-30's, and we can get you there in a day or two. Another caveat: we love our guild themes, and this one's a doozy: the main guild name is <Frosty Mugs>, of course with the beerstein emblem; we're all frostalfs. To be in the main guild, your toon MUST be a frostalf. We also have a sister guild of other race toons, and we use alliance chat to chatter back and forth when someone's on a troll or kobold or norse. We've got a huge, beautiful guildhouse with every sort of crafting doodad in the world. We've got a lot of seed money.

Second up, here's what we sort of envision: 2-3 Curselocks, a cave/aug shammie, a runie to pass out Nearsight to badguys and then assist the dps casters, 1-2 SM's to PBAE the doors like crazy, a Thane to be on the caster assist train and then shield slam for peels and the like, and a healer specced for healing (cure nearsight is a level 40 spell). We'd basically grab towers and then farm RP's....or then grab bridge towers and farm from there. We're refining the concept, but the idea is to run caster heavy. The curselock is like a big howitzer, and it works best when it's fired from behind cover. We won't be roaming, not at all. We roam, we die.

We normally play between 8pm edt and sometime around midnight...sometimes earlier, sometimes later. We're fairly casual--a couple of guys in the guild only play once or twice per week.

Third up: we're going to be doing this for a while; probably until PotBS comes out, and possibly until Warhammer hits. You don't have to play that long, but if you want to join us for a month or so, we could sure use one or two folks to help us fill out the roster a bit.

FWIW, we're all "testing" ("testing"=having a blast and laughing our asses off most of the evening) our setup in the Thidranki (levels 20-24) and Molvike (levels 35-39) battlegrounds, which are hugely active. We're having a grand time, and the success we're having with the setup is kind of freaking us out a little.

My usual toons are Eckstien the Thane, Musial the Healer, or Stormofthedead if I'm PL'ing/crafting guildies. Come join us if you're interested. Website here:

http://z9.invisionfree.com/Cowbell/i...hp?showforum=2

You have to register to get in, but I'm around and able to activate most of the time.

[DustyTheHamster]

Which server/cluster is this on? It only says ToA server.

[triggercut]

Originally Posted by DustyTheHamster

Which server/cluster is this on? It only says ToA server.

Sorry, classic server/cluster. Most of our toons are on Lamorak and Ector though, since our albs/hibs tend to be on Gareth.

[Ephraim]

Hey, just out of idle curiosity: Have there been any significant changes to Friars?

Ah, the Friar. Such a bizarre class. Suited only to the masochistic and the drunk.

[Malderi]

Originally Posted by triggercut

Sorry, classic server/cluster. Most of our toons are on Lamorak and Ector though, since our albs/hibs tend to be on Gareth.

I have a Thane in the Goon Squad, level 50 now, on Gareth. He's a dwarf, though. I'd love to run with you guys sometime, or do some PvE grouping, or whatever. Thane's name is Malderi, /tell me sometime.

[triggercut]

Originally Posted by Malderi

I have a Thane in the Goon Squad, level 50 now, on Gareth. He's a dwarf, though. I'd love to run with you guys sometime, or do some PvE grouping, or whatever. Thane's name is Malderi, /tell me sometime.

Absolutely. I think we were running with a couple of Goons in Molvik over the weekend. Good times!

[bloo]

Originally Posted by Lietgardis

Dude, when Turbine destroyed the city of Arwic in Asheron's Call, it was the primary economic hub of the entire world map.

Sadly, five years later, I can't find any good links.

sssshhh. you'll wake the shadows.
http://archive.gamespy.com/articles/...nt/index2.shtm
http://ac.warcry.com/index.php?conte...vents/contents
http://ac.warcry.com/index.php?conte...gleaming/intro

[Athryn]

Originally Posted by Ephraim

Hey, just out of idle curiosity: Have there been any significant changes to Friars?

Ah, the Friar. Such a bizarre class. Suited only to the masochistic and the drunk.

No no no, Paladins were for us masochists. :P You friars were most certainly drunk though!


I miss my Paladin, and get the occasional twinge, but I know that going back would never be the same for me, cos it was the community and people that I had on Nimue that are gone forever.

Maybe Warhammer Online will do well. I still have friends at Mythic, and I would like to see them do well with another game.

[HRose]

Originally Posted by triggercut

Sorry, classic server/cluster. Most of our toons are on Lamorak and Ector though, since our albs/hibs tend to be on Gareth.

Oh, yeah. I always said I'd resubscribe if I could join a known group and play casually here and there.

I don't feel like supporting Mythic right now, but the idea of forming (or joining) a decent group is always tempting, no matter of the game. In WoW I currently just solo, so I wouldn't mind some old party-play and RvR. DAoC is the one game that is still excellent as long you can rely on a party and not just indeterminately sit LFG.

Is this proposal also open to me (because, you know, I'm the special case)?

I have a minstrel on Lamo. I wouldn't mind buying the expansion either, even if I'm dreadfully against it game design-wise.

Btw, the Goon squad is where Lum plays? Midgard? I'd love killing them ;)

And on my past to-do list I still need to see the end of Darkness Rising and the Darkspire.

EDIT: I guess I mistaken the thing. You are also in Midgard..

[Walter Yarbrough]

Originally Posted by Ephraim

Hey, just out of idle curiosity: Have there been any significant changes to Friars?

Ah, the Friar. Such a bizarre class. Suited only to the masochistic and the drunk.

1.87b
Friars

- A new line of Concentration based Haste buffs has been added to the Friar's Enhancements spec line.

Level Name Effect
2 Imbue Lesser Haste Target hasted: 8%
10 Imbue Haste Target hasted: 10%
20 Imbue Greater Haste Target hasted: 12%
31 Imbue Lesser Alacrity Target hasted: 15%
40 Imbue Alacrity Target hasted: 17%
50 Imbue Greater Alacrity Target hasted: 20%

1.87
Friars

- Friars will now receive 1.8 spec points per level.

- As a result of the both the increased number of specialization points available to Friars and changes made to their specialization lines, all Friars have been given a forced respec. Those who play Friars should take a moment to redistribute their specialization points.

- The Blessed Encouragement line of group Healing Over Time(HoT) spells in the Rejuvenation Spec line is now castable while moving and in combat.

- Power costs on several of the Friar's spells have been changed from a percentage value to a flat value, or have been lowered.

- The progression of the Friar's Armor Factor and Absorption spells in their Enhancements Spec line has been changed. The new values are as follows:


Level 5 Blessing of Resilience 3 Absorption
Level 10 Blessing of Hardiness 6 Absorption
Level 15 Blessing of Sturdiness 9 Absorption
Level 20 Blessing of Stability 11 Absorption
Level 25 Blessing of Abation 13 Absorption
Level 30 Blessing of Absorption 14 Absorption
Level 34 Blessing of Dissipation 15 Absorption

Level 1 Shield of Faith 14 Armor Factor
Level 3 Shield of Piety 16 Armor Factor
Level 7 Shield of Devotion 20 Armor Factor
Level 11 Shield of Grace 24 Armor Factor
Level 16 Shield of Justice 35 Armor Factor
Level 24 Shield of Zeal 40 Armor Factor
Level 33 Shield of Holiness 58 Armor Factor

[triggercut]

Originally Posted by Ephraim

Hey, just out of idle curiosity: Have there been any significant changes to Friars?

Ah, the Friar. Such a bizarre class. Suited only to the masochistic and the drunk.

Glad you asked! My main toon on Alb Lamorak is Eckstein The Friar. Still my favorite class in the game.

When did you last play your friar?

About a year ago, to increase Friar "groupability", they introduced staff styles that proc spreadheals, and a buff that procs a Heal Over Time. The level 50 staff style, Excommunicate, works like a charm for Eck--his dps is off the charts with it (some friars have trouble landing it, and complain vociferously; you have to min/max your dex from creation onwards to make it work, I guess).

Friars have also always been a 1.5 xp toon--that is, for every level they got 1.5 times the skill points to spend. Last patch that got upped to 1.8, and it definitely made a big difference for Eck. There's also some talk of raising the friar damage table, but frankly I think the class is already overpowered enough.

I can't tell you how much fun it was to run through the final BG--Cathal Valley--solo, trying to draw out stealthers. They'd pop, thinking they had a squishy caster, and we'd proceed to the "You got your asses kicked" part of the program. Best ever was getting jumped by three shadowblades and killing them all.

[Athryn]

Originally Posted by triggercut

I can't tell you how much fun it was to run through the final BG--Cathal Valley--solo, trying to draw out stealthers. They'd pop, thinking they had a squishy caster, and we'd proceed to the "You got your asses kicked" part of the program. Best ever was getting jumped by three shadowblades and killing them all.

Funny thing was, last time I played (shortly before WoW came out) friars were just as easily taking down stealthers. Weird.

[triggercut]

Originally Posted by Athryn

Funny thing was, last time I played (shortly before WoW came out) friars were just as easily taking down stealthers. Weird.

Um, yeah. Like I said, my friar soloed down three hapless shadowblades who thought they had a caster....

[Ephraim]

Originally Posted by triggercut

Glad you asked! My main toon on Alb Lamorak is Eckstein The Friar. Still my favorite class in the game.

When did you last play your friar?

Thanks Walt and triggercut.

I last played my Friar a couple of years ago, and I see the changes made since are pretty significant. The improved self-haste was already in place, if memory serves (unless it's an even better improved haste). The rest are new to me.

Solo the Friar is an excellent class, I'm not surprised by your anecdotes of nice little ambushes, triggercut, I'd done similar things with my decently Realm Ranked Friar on Igraine. The problem was always in true group RvR, they really didn't bring anything to the table that wasn't better done by another class. For damage, they were glass cannons but they needed to be in melee range to do their harm, unlike a caster. Melee range with Acolyte hitpoints and leather was a dangerous, dangerous thing. And they were healers without the spreadheals and instants of the Clerics. All they really were useful for in group RvR was the elemental buffs, back then.

Making the HoT instant and combat castable is a good fix, if the healing values were increased, too. They were really low, if memory serves.

I really do miss DAoC, for exactly the reasons listed here. Good groups of people, with sense of "realm spirit". I have hopes that Warhammer Online will be equally compelling, the Mythic folks can certainly do the job right, but I'm not sure that I want to hop back onto the PC gaming bandwagon. I'm waiting for the console-based MMO that attracts the same kind of dedicated and fun people I used to hang out with in DAoC.

[Athryn]

Originally Posted by triggercut

Um, yeah. Like I said, my friar soloed down three hapless shadowblades who thought they had a caster....

No, my point was is that it's interesting how things go around in cycles in RvR. 2+ years ago, Friars were pummeling stealthers, and then for a while they weren't. Now they are again.

[AndrewM]

Originally Posted by Henry Wilson

As buggy as it was, I'd play Master of Magic again in a heartbeat if I could get it to run on my computer.

DOSBox is your friend.