by Mythic Entertainment

Member Reviews: Review Dark Age of Camelot Yourself!

Pros
•  realm versus realm (RvR) combat continues to shine
•  solid graphics that continue to improve significantly 
•  constantly adds new content and features
•  huge selection of classes and races 
•  great premise by being based on different myths and lore

Cons
•  not enough ability to change characters 
•  classes are too frequently altered
•  separate realms and separate servers make its harder to form solid communities 

The Bottom Line - Solid MMORPG that relies on its RvR concept to continually attract new gamers. 

Link: Official Site

Review

Make no mistake about it, DAoC has been one of the most popular and critically acclaimed MMORPGs over the last couple of years for a reason. That reason? The game has the same basic structure of Everquest, but it has gone beyond Everquest and created a hook that few other MMORPGs have. Instead of wondering what you will do when your character reaches its level cap, you have the opportunity to take your well-honed character against other high level characters of the two competing realms. This dominant feature of the game provides endless replay value as you learn that you might not be as strong or as tough as you thought you were. In other words, you essentially have two games in one.

Besides that obvious feature, Dark Age of Camelot also stands out as a well-executed MMORPG. Not only is it great to look at, but it also allows for varying gaming styles. Unlike Asheron's Call 2 (AC2) where you are pretty much regulated to missile weapons or magic, DAoC allows players to create strong melee characters along with missile and magic reliant ones. Two examples of strong melee classes are the savage and the berserker, although both have been toned down. 

Furthermore, DAoC does not have a very high learning curve. You can pick up on what is going on very quickly because the towns have plenty of people to ask questions and the helpful monster color system. Want to attack a certain monster but not sure if it is too tough for you or not? That is not a problem here because each monster has its name highlighted in a certain color. Grey, green, and blue monsters mean that they are below your level and should be easy to kill. Yellow monsters are the same level as you (or close to it) while orange monsters are a little above you. Definitely do not attack any red or purple monsters on your own or they will hand you back your head in short order. 

All that said, there is not much downside to this game. The only real problem with DAoC is that your characters do not have the flexibility that other MMORPGs like AC2 have. When the developers rebalance a class, you are essentially stuck in the same class with the same skills. For example, Mythic recently altered the aforementioned savage because people had been complaining that savages were too strong. Ok fine, but give me the option to change my class immediately if you decide to dramatically alter my class. Instead, players were only given a puny single line respec (only available at certain levels).

Casting that one little beef aside, DAoC remains a great MMORPG for both MMORPG veterans and newbies. Veterans have a new frontier to explore with RvR, while newbies should catch onto the game quickly. Add in the fact that Mythic continues to add features and content with expansion packs like the Trials of Atlantis and you have one of the premier MMORPGs in the genre.  

Game Ogre's Rating (out of 10):

8.75

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