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Dark Age Of Camelot: Darkness Rising Review
Dana
Member Posts: 2,415
Staff Writer Erich Von Hase took on the latest expansion to Dark Age of Camelot in a exclusive MMORPG.com review. This article looks critically at the new expansion's highs and lows.
;) But enough about the pretty, the real matter at hand is the content.
Darkness Rising has added player driven mounts, a Champion level system of quests and rewards, and my personal favorite Subclassing. The mounts are all horses, regardless of race and realm from what I have seen, but you get to ride them at a pleasant pace. They are faster than running which is good for any class that does not have a movement speed buff and not too shabby for those that do. You can get the basic horse at level 35. At higher levels, you can upgrade your horse so that you can add barding to it. A really cool feature is that you can cover your horse in your guild colors. Who would you not want to? All in all, I have to say that this is a much needed and overdue addition, but they did it as well as any other game that has player driven mounts, and it is arguably much better looking. The horses look great. Best of all, you cant fall off if you accidentally hit the spacebar. |
You can read the full review here.
Dana Massey
Formerly of MMORPG.com
Currently Lead Designer for Bit Trap Studios
Comments
I really wanted to get into DAoC but the character animations were just so damn bad i simply couldnt. Are there any plans to upgrade animations?
_____________________
I am the flipside of the coin on which the troll and the fanboy are but one side.
Frankly I think that EQII graphics are better looking.
But for a game engine that old, graphics like that are a minor miracle!
Ch3cksix
Yes good reading , except tottaly absurd claim that DAOC now has best graphic in MMORPG's
"Before this battle is over all the world will know that few...stood against many." - King Leonidas
Bad when did you last play? its by far the best looking game around at the moment.
As for EQ 2 looking better i would have agreed with you pre catacombs but Daoc is simply a fantastic looking game only real downside is you really need at least 1 gig of ram and a semi decent GFX card or you will have nothing but FPS issuies.
It's true. Daoc: Epic edition plus all graphics set to max = >>> all others.
The trial version does not give you the latest graphics but an older (prehistoric) engine i believe.
Dont ask me why they dont give out the full version of the game for a trial, but do know that if you have the trial you are still missing plenty.
Bought DAoC platinum pak i think and played up till lvl 28 or something. Is there any raid content in this game ? If so, how is it basically ?
IS your primary focus fighting computer generated MOBS (PvE) and doing so with all your buddies? If so, there is a lot for DAOC to offer, from leveling characters or doing quests or obtaining artifacts and doing Master Levels in Trials of Atlantis. They are pretty amazing encounters. That said, other games might do PvE better or as well and have more people that are PvE focused. DAOC has some PvE focused players but . . .
DAOC is THE BEST MMPORG out there if you are competitive and like to fight other real people (PvP) out in the "Frontiers" where players from three realms collide and fight. This might mean 1v1, 2v2, 8v8 or 80v80 fights or battles. I have NEVER heard anyone ever say that any other MMPORG has comparable PvP action or dynamics.
So if you like PvP action, DAOC is the game for you. WoW is popular, but the end-game PvP sounds relatively lame by comparison.
And don't worry if you are just getting started. First, DAOC has gotten MUCH easier for the casual player to level to 50 Second, DAOC is in the process of making it even easier to obtain artifacts and good gear and Master Levels, so even a casual player can acheive these milestones on their character. And the Darkness Rising Champion Levels are fun to obtain and not very time-instensive.
There ARE high-level characters out there. BUT many long-time players play low-level characters. And there are lots of lower Realm Rank (earned in PvP) out in the Frontiers. So don't be intimidated. And if you are hard-core, it simply wont' take long for you to shoot up in Realm Ranks so that you can compete with anyone. One nice thing about DAOC is that in groups or big battles it might be nice to be high Realm Rank, but it isn't necessary to have fun and contribute to your group or realm's success. (Obviously, there are hard-core solo'ers and "gank groups" around, but you are talking only a tiny % of players in the Frontiers at any time.)
So if you like the idea of competing against other real people in PvP, come to DAOC and leave those other MMPORGs behind.
PS - DAOC isn't perfect, but it's improving all the time, in terms of PvP and PvE dynamics and fine-tuning of balance.
I question whether or not this reviewer actually tried playing in Darkness Rising.
People that actually played it spent the first several days doing nothing but screaming about bugged quests and bugged characters. They're fixed now, but they were certainly no where near ready when DR was released.
The graphics are very nice on this engine using an NVidia A6600GT with effects on full - easily comparable to EQ2.