DAOC - My Favorite PvE MMO

Cherise

While many praise DAOC's RvR, I usually hear little praise for the PvE and was wondering if I was really one of the few who loved DAOC for it's PvE.  I had my start in EQ1 where I stayed a few years, moved onto SWG for awhile and then settled down in DAOC.  By that time I'm sure the game had already changed from how it was at release, ToA was already out, etc. and they also released a coop server which was where I started.  Just a few of the things that I personally enjoyed about DAOC over other mmo's at that time (and still today actually):

- Tons of dungeons.  There were open dungeons in the overland zones, instanced dungeons within those dungeons, more dungeons in the Catacombs expansion, and then the mission dungeons.

- Small group content.  Most all the dungeons I did with two or three people.  Even our epics could be done with a casual duo or trio.   Gameplay wasn't so gear-dependent, but more class, spec, and skill.

- Great starting areas, big open, beautiful world with lots of exploration.  The hometown castles and keeps and surrounding areas I think are still beautiful by today's standards.  There are just so many leveling options (on coop server in particular), it's overwhelming.

- Housing.  I love the huge housing zone, having your merchant set up just outside, the lights on and chimney smoking when someone is inside.  Not a lot of furnishing options, but out of all housing in mmo's, this is my favorite.

I could go onto more small details like the mounts and personalized barding, unique armor, etc, but all of it combined just created a really fun PvE experience for me.  Honestly, it was only because they didn't continue to add any further content that I left at all.  Friends in other mmo's that I spoke to years later thought it was a forced PvP mmo and never gave it a try.  I always wondered if they had advertised the coop server and continued to add content if they might have gained more subscribers.  It almost seemed like after ToA (which I didn't care for either from a PvE perspective), they were afraid to add any sort of PvE content.

Anyway, I still miss DAOC and wish they'd re-energize it.

Kyleran

I'll agree, I enjoyed the many PVE elements in DAOC, often unheralded in light of its RVR reputation.

I used to love crafting items that other players really wanted to use (I really felt valued as one of the top spellcrafters on my server), the houses were cool, especially if your guild staked out a claim and you met regularly there.

I too would love to see DAOC reinvented, but, and this is important, not built along the traditional theme park model of today.  I doubt EA/Mythic could resist "WOWifying" the new game however.

Thorqemada

DAOC was the best mix of pve + pvp.
EQ was better advertised all the time and GOA in Europe and Mythic did not a good job in doing that for DAOC.
EQ i.e. always hat a good advertising page in every computer game magazine i have read while DAOC was absent.

DAOC 2 is not on the horizon, an oportunity for a launch window will close for some years after SWTOR, TERA, GW2, TSW, Archage, WoD and what else in the near or middle future get their release.

lorteged

Originally posted by Kyleran

I'll agree, I enjoyed the many PVE elements in DAOC, often unheralded in light of its RVR reputation.

I used to love crafting items that other players really wanted to use (I really felt valued as one of the top spellcrafters on my server), the houses were cool, especially if your guild staked out a claim and you met regularly there.

I too would love to see DAOC reinvented, but, and this is important, not built along the traditional theme park model of today.  I doubt EA/Mythic could resist "WOWifying" the new game however.

 I had my best gaming years by far playing DAOC, and if thay were to re-launch it in any way, i would be back in a second.

But sadly, i dont think we will se a game anywhere like it, in manny years, or probally never.

Wow have made a game, everyone else try to copy, and people who started with Wow as their first Mmorpg, like probally 50% of the mmorpg population now days, are to used to Instanced dungeons, instanced Battlegrounds, phasing and so on...

DAOC was great because BG's , RVR , Dungeons and so on , werent instanced, and up untill the Buffbot era, people were grouping 24/7 in the diffrent dungeons, you were forced to socialize and make friends if you wanted to get anything.

But DAOC was released in a time where Mmorpg's wasnt for everyone and thay diddent advertice enough.. And their downfall was imo, expansion packs that remade to much of the normal content that the vet's loved.

Damn.. This game was my second life , in good and bad, i dont think any game will ever get me that addicted.

Tkyle

  This is one of my all time most loved games and I never touched the pvp. I played on the coop server and had enough pve to keep me busy for ages! I don't think most people even new there was a pve server and I really wish Mythic had advertised it that way later. I miss it and still think about going back but I know nothing is being done with it anymore. =(

Naqaj

It appears that GuildWars 2 might be a spiritual successor to DAOC, with realm-vs-realm-vs-realm PVP and with cooperative PVE world design. It certainly has a bit of the vibe old DAOC used to have.

Doonya

 I too love the pve aspect of daoc, I played from euro release before moving to the pve server and still drop in from time to time - probably would more but 2 young children and studying take most of my time at the moment.

I might be crazy but I often find myself thinking, randomly, of places in the game. For me the whole world is something very special and allows mw somewhere in my head t o disappear when rl gets too much lol