Albion Group Pulling in Avalon City, DAoC 2003

[Morreion]

I was a level 48 Cleric, the primary healer in this spawn camping group of 8 in Avalon City, pulling dry'aks. I know it sounds odd today, but there were no quests or events involved- a group would go out and find a good spawn camp of mobs and kill them. You can see that the composition of the group changed over time as people joined and left. There was a Minstrel generating endurance & mana, there was a Sorcerer doing crowd control, a Theurgist and probably a Wizard for damage, and melee classes (Armsmen, Mercenary, Assassin, Scout- no Paladin, which was unusual, though there was a Friar for melee & backup healing) to deal with all of the aggro and add damage as well. The Scout would pull with his bow. Healing with 1 healer took some attention and timing, though by now there were those spread heals that would heal the group according to the need of each member if I remember right, which made things easier (too easy?).

Evident was the dye color system that you could use to customize your looks, and cloaks and shields displaying one's guild emblem.

I liked how each class brought special abilities and roles and worked well together as a unit. DAoC had great classes unique to each realm. The trinity model isn't as popular today, but it made for some good times and competence among players. You were part of a unit that had a job to do.

[Regolyth]

Dirty Albs...

[Morreion]

Hah! ;D

I played all 3 realms- Hibernia the most, Midgard the least- but Albion I have to admit probably had the most developed world in terms of being a well-fleshed-out landscape. You'll remember that Mythic tacked on Hibernia pretty quickly at the end of the game's development, and that they were accused of favoring Albion since that was the signature 'Arthurian' realm that many seemed to default to playing in. Midgard was thought by some to be a harsher/colder landscape that may have attracted less people than Hibernia's 'golf course' landscape. But Albion had the most varied and interesting landscape in the game for me.

The classes were interesting in Albion too. Sure, Albs were The Zerg, so I understand the attitude

Man, I'm getting all nostalgic again for those times! *wonders about checking out Uthgard again*

[Regolyth]

I hate Albion. Even when Midgard took our (Hibernia's) relics, I hated Albion more. And I do agree, and think, that Mythic favored Albion more (at least initially). I specifically didn't play on that realm because everyone else did (plus I didn't find as much variety in the races/classes as I did in Midgard and Hibernia).

Midgard was my first home, followed by most of my time being spent in Hibernia. When I left Hibernia for new grounds, I went back to my original runnings in Midgard and built up quite a lot there. I eventually created some Albion characters, just to explore that side of the game as well. Although I loved my Hibernia, sometimes I just had more fun being the biggest troll possible with a huge weapon. Heh... completely opposite of my stealthy, quick fighting elf.

[Morreion]

If I remember right, Albion had less classes than the other 2 realms? That was seen as a slight weakness by Albs anyway.

DAoC had more replay value in an MMO than any other I've played. All of the classes were unique in each of the 3 realms, and each realm had multiple races & starting areas. Devs ought to take note of this- lots of unique classes and starting areas mean players stick around longer. 2 factions with the same classes don't cut it anymore, that's been done to death. 3 is the magic number- plus unique classes in each realm.

[Regolyth]

Actually, it was Albion who had the most classes, and the other two realms less; which played into the whole "Mythic likes Albion more thing."

Albion starting classes (12): Armsman, Cabalist, Cleric, Friar, Infiltrator, Mercenary, Minstrel, Paladin, Scout, Sorcerer, Theurgist, Wizard
Hibernia starting classes (11): Bard, Blademaster, Champion, Druid, Eldritch, Enchanter, Hero, Mentalist, Nightshade, Ranger, Warden
Midgard starting classes (10): Berserker, Healer, Hunter, Runemaster, Shadowblade, Shaman, Skald, Spiritmaster, Thane, Warrior

Albion SI (2): Necromancer, Reaver
Hibernia SI (2): Valewalker, Animist
Midgard SI (2): Bonedancer, Savage

Albion Catacombs (1): Heretic
Hibernia Catacombs (2): Vampiir, Bainshee
Midgard Catacoms (2): Warlock, Valkyrie

Mythic gave Albion only one new class in Catacombs so that Hibernia could have an equal amount, leaving Midgard behind only one class, instead of two.

In a way, the lack of classes in Midgard made them stronger overall. In an effort to balance all classes, with Midgard having less, the classes they did have ended up having more abilities than the ones in Albion (which you could argue are "watered down" due to them having only a few abilities, as opposed to Midgard's many).

You know, something really has to be said for the amount of classes (variability) that DAoC had. And on top of that, the amount of effort it took to balance them all with one another (which ebbed and flowed from patch to patch).

[Morreion]

I really enjoyed all of those classes. I remember the Hibernia classes appealing to me because they had a fair amount of utility in the casters- like Mentalists being able to DD, DoT, mana regen, charm, and heal. Balance was the challenge, but kudos to Mythic for doing it that way. I'm convinced all of that variety helped me stick around for 3 years.

[Regolyth]

You only played for three years? I thought you played way longer than that. I put in six (the last three being pretty much solely RvR). I agree with you, I think the diversity of classes, races and mythology kept me playing for a long time. That and the great balance and fun to be had in RvR. Still, to this day, there is no better PvP game than DAoC (although I really enjoyed WAR).

My favorite class would be the Ranger or Warden, but I really enjoyed my Warrior and Berserker too. As well as my Druid, Paladin, Thane and Valewalker. LOL - I kind of enjoyed the whole game I guess.

Oh yeah, I left out the Labyrinth of the Minotaur class they added (across all three realms), the Mauler.

[Morreion]

3 years it was for me, I started playing a month or so after release and I bounced back and forth from a couple other games like Horizons and Planetside there for a while, and when WoW released I was there on day 1 and only made a couple of visits back to DAoC after that- though in retrospect DAoC was the better overall game.

I liked multiple classes too, leaning towards hybrid classes- the Warden of course, mana Mentalist as a support caster, Cleric (smiter for a while!), Skald, Shaman...

I'd say my biggest reasons for playing DAoC longer than any other MMO was:

1) community- the RP servers had great, solid communities across guilds, I mean server-wide. I doubt that will ever happen again outside of small niche games.

2) variety- the 3 realms with dozens of classes to try out. Hard to balance? Yes, but very worthwhile and interesting.

I liked RvR but didn't live there like some did, I was more of a PvE kinda guy that liked RvR on the side.

DAoC was awesome indeed!

[Rakul]

The best!

Keens rule! AROO!