Back in February of 2001, we took a look at Dark Age of Camelot by Mythic Entertainment in its early beta stages. A little more than year later we revisit those lands so embroiled in chaos.
The setting of Dark Age of Camelot (DAoC) is Northern Europe towards the end of the first millennium. There are three realms players can create characters in: Midgard (Vikings), Britain and Hibernia (Celts). The Vikings are conquering lands across the seas in their longboats, King Arthur has died with no heir leaving Britain in chaos and the Celts want Europe to return to the old ways and the old gods. You are invited to choose a realm, defeat the hoards of monsters in your home territory and venture forth in conquest of foreign lands.
The most recent addition to the "big four" Massive Multi-player Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG) a mere nine months after its release, Dark Age of Camelot is counted among giants Ultima Online, EverQuest and Asheron's Call. What is remarkable is that this small company from Fairfax, Virginia entered the market and challenged the big boys with no big backing. So how did they do it? They looked, they listened, they made a game that people wanted to play and they made it playable.
In the words of Sanya Thomas, Internet Relations Manager for Mythic Entertainment, "[Dark Age] is meant to be accessible on multiple levels like a good novel. You can just crack it open and play it, read it, be in it and have it be no more to you than a video game; a fun video game. We tried to take out a lot of the aspects that suck in terms of like downtime, losing your stuff, being stuck in places and unstickable for hours on end." Some of the features that eliminate things that "suck" are set bind points that anyone can use, there is no corpse recovery, downtime between combats does not require a Nintendo Gameboy to lessen the boredom, there is minimal "farming" of equipment in dungeons, trade skills produce equipment that is usable and even better than some found adventuring, player versus player combat has a purpose, and many others. In fact, future editions of EverQuest and Asheron's Call will incorporate many of these evolutionary features. When asked how this copying would impact Mythic, Sanya waved off the issue as not a problem. She explained that Mythic was a small, nimble company. They will continue to innovate and improve their game faster than the big companies can adapt.
Of all the MMORPGs out there, DAoC has absolutely the best offline user facilities available. Mythic has been wonderful in developing tools that allow webmasters to incorporate aspects of the game into their own of guild and community sites. They also have near real-time updates of the status of the game across multiple factors. Want to see which realm holds which keep on any server? Want to see who has the most realm points (for player versus player combat) on any server? Guild standing? Crafting levels? Guilds, their members, their levels, and their realm points? All of that information is available on the web and most of it via XML so that webmasters can customize their own sites and keep it up to date with little effort. The critical information is updated every 30 minutes (mostly keep and relic details) while some of the guild and player information is updated every other day.
DAoC deserves its place among the top four MMORPGs on the market today. It is fun, it is easy to use, there is incredible player and community support, they keep adding to the environment and they keep their promises. The only failing is lack of an in-depth background storyline. The designers did a fantastic job in researching the histories, armaments and mythologies of the three realms. The research is reflected in the names of the monsters and their accurate portrayal, the names towns and the zones. Yet, all use of the research stopped there. None of the actual history is reflected in the plots or quests with any real meaning.
Based upon the game title, one might expect a dark and dangerous environment steeped in history and filled with intrigue. Unfortunately, there is little. For example, the reasons for inter-realm combat are not even disguised as role-playing events. The purpose for taking keeps is clearly explained in real-world terms and the player is provided with no role-playing reason. When Mythic introduced an entire new area to the game by inline download, there was only the merest hint of storyline. There was no explanation as to how it was discovered or why it is set up the way it is (it connects to all three realms). They simply announced the new area, how to gain access to it, the loot system and an excuse for the vendors to be there. If Camelot is in decay, where is the decay? Where are the ravages of war and internal disruption? All of the cities and towns look to be in perfect repair. Where are the Barons, Earls and Dukes vying to fill the power void left by Arthur's death? In Midgard, where are the warring chieftains trying to gather the best farmland unto themselves or fighting over trade routes? Why is there no strife between villages and towns in any of the realms? Where is the "dark" in Dark Age? Europe has libraries of history and myth yet little appears to have made it into this game it is supposedly based upon.
DAoC was designed for two levels of play. The first level is as a video game, a sort of medieval Quake (the beta system specifications even recommended a joystick!). The second level of play is a community built, maintained and run by the players, while heavily supported by Mythic. The third level, the real depth of plot, history and story does not exist. "That is for the real, true hardcore," Sanya commented, "and those hardcore people are really the only ones who are going to appreciate it...The game is supposed to be accessible for the casual, fun people. There doesn't need to be deep meaning for everyone. We also don't have the staff." Sometimes it sucks to be hardcore.
There is a glimmer of hope. Mythic is releasing an expansion to DAoC due to hit the shelves in late 2002. The expansion entitled Shrouded Isle includes a new graphics engine (NetImmerse 4.0 by Numerical Design Limited), new zones, new characters, new classes and more quests. The good news is that Mythic has doubled their staff dedicated to quest design and other content, moving from three people up to six. "That is one lesson we did learn with our launch," explained Sanya, "Our launch may have been flawless, but we were a little thin on the content." An oversight they intend not to repeat.
DAoC is a wonderful, intriguing and fun game. The designers added game-play features to the MMORPG arena that were desperately needed to broaden the market. According to statements made by Sanya Thomas, Mythic has created the game they wanted: a game that you can pick up and play anytime, for any length of time that includes a community environment that will keep you coming back. The only question is about the background storylines. Is there enough there to keep the game going for many years, or will players get bored and move on as soon as new ones start publishing? There are some heavy titles on the horizon and new editions of the big three which incorporate the evolutionary features of DAoC. We hope that Mythic will be able to adapt and stick around. They certainly deserve to.
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