WOW Forum

[Kirin]

hmm.. i wouldnt nescessarily say we`re disbanding the guild, but i think it would be safe to say that for a number of us, our Daoc days are over

[Zutroy]

yeah, we had a good run

while cleaning my bookcase the other day i found my original daoc manual and flipped through it. It made me miss the old days running around camelot hills and salisbury as a noob scout. I don't think any game will ever match that experience... it's too bad mythic has run the game into the ground the last year.

[Sodom]

Problem is, all the things they're intoducing into DAOC are attempts to "catch-up" with other games: The Catacombs graphic updates, the NPC-quest indicators, instanced dungeons, all of it. And I'm sure that for someone experiencing the game for the first time, they're welcome additions. But they're not "new" or innovative. DAOC is good for what it does, but what it does is stale (at least to me). WoW, at least right now, is the least "vanilla" of the fantasy MMORPGs on the market, and I'm enjoying the change in flavor for the time being.

[Rosslyn]

Nice summary Sod, I agree w/ that.  

The thing that finally turned me off to DAoC was how artifacts and MLs became absolutely necessary in order to compete.  They said that wouldn't be the case, but we know how it turned out.  Since my preference is not to spend hours upon hours of farming mobs for scrolls, ML steps, and actual artifacts (many of which you can't do w/o the help of many many people who either decrease  your chances of obtaining the object you need or are somehow helping you out of the goodness of their heart instead of participating in the endgame), I'm left with few options.  I can continue to be barely adequate in RvR groups while trying to counteract the stun/nuke and pbaoe tower campers, or I can try my hand at something else.  

WoW is at least a fresh experience, with good game mechanics, apparently less "gimp" specs, and anyone who calls the graphics cartoony hasn't spent much time in DAoC Hibernia.  I enjoy the familiar Warcraft I-III storyline that's woven into the game through quests and even just things you stumble across during your journeys.  I cracked up the first time I found a bunch of orc NPC's clearing a forest, hehe.  There are plenty of tongue-in-cheek references too (zeppelin master called Hin Denberg is probably the most obvious).

Anyway, for me it's made me really look forward to logging on again, which is probably how a game should be.

[Bolldar Bloodaxe]

I think they are definately cartoonish from the screen shots ive seen and have had several people who have played it tell me the same. Funnily we have all played DAOC Hibernia which doesnt lookl cartoonish at all by comparision. Nor would I say the things that DAOC is doing are playing catch up at all, its coming out only weeks after WoW and graphically is far better and was under developement at the same time.

So far im yet to hear anything innovative about WoW either, leaving aside corny jokes and their absolutely sucky distribution policies.

[Lifesbane]

to give you my perspective, ive logged into daoc once sence i got into the WoW beta. i just have no interest in playing it anymore.

i thought the WoW graphics we're cartoonish from the screenies too, but once i actually played the game i really started to like them. the world is very immersive, and the WC plot is put very well into the quests, zones, mobs, ect. also, ive have yet to experience video lag ONCE in wow...sure beats the hell out of daoc in that department.

edit - and i only need 1 (yes thats right, one) account to play effectively! wheee

(Edited by Lifesbane at 12:15 pm on Dec. 8, 2004)

[Sodom]

And the people who don't like WoW's "cartoony" graphics probably also disliked the "cartoony" graphics of the latest Legend of Zelda game. It's a stylistic choice that impacts the gameplay experince little if at all. And right now, WoW offers a superior gameplay experience, to my mind.

Bolld, I know there are a number of Aussies playing the game: Is the game not being sold there? Or is it that they don't have any Aussie-specific servers?

[Rosslyn]

"Funnily we have all played DAOC Hibernia which doesnt lookl cartoonish at all by comparision"

I wasn't trying to start a debate about this, but I have played both and DAoC Hibernia is laughably cartoonish.  I guess it depends on what your definition of "cartoonish" is, but they're all animations and in my opinion they made fewer strides toward animated reality in Hibernia than they (meaning Mythic's artists) did in either of the other two realms.  

To me, the WoW objects are detailed renderings of the animation style used in the various preceding Warcraft games, which themselves got more detailed in succession.  I think the physical animations (i.e. realistic movement) is probably much more advanced in WoW, and I did play Catacombs beta.  Catacombs is definitely an improvement graphically over regular DAoC, but if so I think it supports the notion that original DAoC was just as cartoonish if not more so than other games.  Maybe cartoonish isn't the best word to use, maybe we're looking for a word more like "primitive" or "non-photorealistic".  

One example for me, regardless of the color pallette you prefer or find visually engaging, is that the character models in DAoC are comprised of nicely detailed skins over fairly simple/generic skeletons, especially in the area of facial features.  I think WoW's skeletons/frames are more detailed, which enhances the appearance to me.

Aside from the eye candy, I think the PvE gameplay is a huge improvement.  Granted, they've had some time to do it better, but I think they've managed to strike a nice balance between killing mobs and questing for xp, and they've also managed to make each player uniquely valuable in a group setting, yet still viable in a solo or duo situation, which is no small accomplishment.  I can't really speak to PvP balance at this point since I haven't tried that yet.  I think the crafting systems are preferable to the ones available in Camelot, although at this point I think that high-end Camelot crafters as a whole probably have more possibility of using their craft to make a significant amount of money than their counterparts in WoW.  

I think they're both good games, but for me DAoC has run its course (barring any new developments), and WoW is a fresh thing with new ideas and new combinations of older ideas.  Give it a try, you might like it.

p.s.  for those who truly value a "realistic" graphical experience, I'd suggest buying Riven or Myst or something like that.  

[Axecleaver]

I am having a lot of fun in WoW so far, and don't really feel like playing DAOC anymore. But I think that at some point, I'm going to be more interested in PvP, as the treasures of the new world can't hold my attention forever. At that point if the pvp sucks I can see going back to daoc for the pvp aspect. Although I am not sure if there's a lot of good pvp left there to be had anyway.

I understand your desire to move on, a deserted guild is depressing. Do what you think will net you the best game experience and if you decide to try WoW anyway, we'll be there waiting for you.

[Sodom]

Speaking of PvP, I was in Ashenvale the other night in a pickup group doing quests. For those not familiar with the geography, Ashenvale is an Alliance zone in the west (mostly dark elves) and a Horde zone in the east. As my group was completing a quest not 5 seconds run from an Alliance village, one member of my group spotted a duo of dark elves with their PvP flag on. It was two level 30's vs. 4 low-20's and we schooled them quickly and effectively. I would attribute this to them being suprised (their druid was in manatee form the whole fight), though we were just as suprised as them.

I'm not sure if we earned any "honor" for the fight, I'll have to see if I can find it on a stats page someplace.

Also, fyi: If you aggro the guards at an Alliance outpost, your PvP immunity flag will be turned off. I'm pretty sure this is only temporary, but it also effects anyone you're currently grouped with.

[Rosslyn]

do you think that includes getting pwned by the superl33t guards at Southshore in Hillsbrad?  Damn, I got just a little too close the other day, and they let me know in pretty clear terms that I shouldn't be there.

[Zutroy]

"for those who truly value a "realistic" graphical experience"

If that's your only criteria, go play SWG. They actually used motion capture for their character models and the amount of customization - not only on the characters themselves but the clothing as well - is amazing. There's actually a profession dedicated to image design.

...but beneath all that is a horribly unbalanced game with probably the worst dev team in the history of MMORPGs.

[Bolldar Bloodaxe]

Blizzard as I understand it only released WoW in the USA and Canada. Ive heard talk via third parties of Australian servers but im fairly certain they dont exist and since they didnt even release it here making servers would seem a slim possibility. It's certainly not on sale in the stores and ill admit I find the fact that US players always get a head start in these games quite annoying. Im also not impressed that they will not let European playes play WoW on American servers even if they buy it from the states. Nydian who is Scandanavian told me this, apparently they can track the IP address and determine roughly where it comes from, I believe its so they can start European servers eventually but with the exophobic attitudes displayed by their PR man towards anyone outside the US who knows.

Speaking of graphics, if you like WoWs graphics then more power to you, I find them very cartoonish and your right I dont like the Zelda graphics. The new Hibernian characters in Catacombs are extremely lifelike as are all the new toons even down to having animated facial expressions. Ross are you sure you had the Catacombs graphics turned on?? It didnt turn on automatically and the differences were pretty dramatic when it was.

Emme is playing because her boss bought the game for her but doesnt sound overly impressed by it as of yet. If she decided to try it I might do so too but as yet that is a mute point since its unavailable to buy here and im not that keen that I can be bothered to mail order it.

At moment im pretty much alone when I play so not sure what I will do. But I rarely ever see a guildie anymore other than Emme.

[Zutroy]

"It's certainly not on sale in the stores and ill admit I find the fact that US players always get a head start in these games quite annoying."

It's called home field advantage. 12th man > australia.

[Legellyn]

I originally thought the WoW graphics were a bit cartoonish.  The keyboard config definately took a bit of getting used to over DAoC.  But I too have only logged into DAoC once since WoW release.  

I actually find it refreshing.  My lvl 10 preist can actually take a lvl 10 or 11 mob.  My friar couldn't do that til lvl 35 practically.  I also like the detail to the graphics.  Facial expressions, if you type 'lol' you actually laugh.  If you do a /s you actually have movement from your character.  These are all simple little things.  But they are refreshing and offer something DAoC hasn't yet.  I'm still going to get catacombs, but we'll have to see which one keeps my interest.  As of now, WoW definately has my attention.