Disclaimer: I am not you. This is how I, Dulu, would *fix* Dark Age of Camelot.

If you don't think it needs to be fixed, then skip over this thread.


#1 Problem/Solution:

Population - DAOC's population is down to roughly 2,500 active subscriptions, of which I would bet 400 are bot accounts.

The quickest fix would be to remove the monthly fee.

Well, how would EA make money then? Simple - they would actually make more money by being a Free-2-Play game, and advertising during load screens, and opening up a cash shop.

DAOC would no longer be competing with World of Warcraft, RIFT, Aion, etc. Instead, it would be competing with Runescape, Allods, Runes of Magic...


It would instantly become the top Free-2-Play game on the market.


Contemplate this: Runescape has (currently) 256 million players and growing. That is over half the population of the United States. The game is horrible. It pales in comparison to the depth and fun of Dark Age of Camelot.


If DAOC could get just 1 million more people to play, by being free to play, then the money they could make from advertisements and cash shop would far surpass the money they make from $15/month subscriptions from 2k-3k people.


Problem #2: User Interface has aged..

Dark Age of Camelot released at a time when its prime competitor was Everquest. Back then, clicking on items, dragging them to a merchant, talking to NPC's and "Saying" key-words was the norm. Today, its a hassle and most players are turned off by this.

The way we interact with NPC's in-game needs to be brought up to 2011..

One quick example, the Buffer NPC in NF.. Instead of buying a token, opening your bags, and handing him the token for buffs - you should just talk to the NPC - click "I want buffs", and get your buffs for 20g. Same applies to the Boat NPC in NF.

Also, Bob's UI and other player made custom UI's have a lot of great features that should be made standard to help retain new players.

Another point about the UI that needs to be updated, is the tooltips for items. Simply hovering over an item should bring up its full description.. shouldn't have to hover - right click - click info, etc.


Problem #3: TOA Master Levels, Champion Levels, Artifact credits etc.. redundant.

Solution: Make Artifacts a reward from doing one quest. All of the artifact quests should be doable with half a group or so. Get quest -> Kill NPC -> get artifact.

Scrolls and credits and their respective vendors should just be removed from the game.

As for Master and Champion levels... Champion skills should just be GIVEN to the player once they hit 50. If they want the weapon, they can go do another quest. You should choose a Master Level path once you hit 50, and just start gaining XP for it right away. Credits should be deleted.


Problem #4: Darkness Falls has lost its emphasis. Sure, some people still go here to level alts, or do some ganking.. but I'd like to see some of the best loot shifted back to Darkness Falls to provide an incentive to go here.


Problem #5: The tutorial is horrible. Not only do players learn very little about the game, but its BORING! Horribly boring. I had actually never played the tutorial until a few days ago (I started with the release of SI).

I was trying to get my fiancee to play the game, so we did the tutorial together... and I found myself saying, repeatedly "Don't worry honey.. uhh, this isn't REALLY what the game is like..."

Just delete the tutorial all together, let players start in the old racial starting zones.


Problem #6: There needs to be more emphasis on RVR, which means a much faster leveling curve. The crown jewel of DAOC is PVP. Grinding on mobs and doing quests is boring. Let players level up about twice as fast as they currently do.. particularly at the 40-50 range.

Task Dungeons are great XP, but are absolutely horrible. Boring, bland, buggy.. Just delete these from the game and drastically increase XP gained from everywhere else. Maybe put "Task Masters" in every zone, that will reward you for killing certain NPC's over and over.. if you must.


Problem #7: "Servers" I don't understand the purpose of having the 10 Ywain servers anymore. Is it just for housing purposes? My main complaint is having to "/send stinkynewb-ywain8 hey dude" just to see "That character does not exist!", because he is actually on Ywain9, not Ywain8. Simply allowing us to message people without having to type their server name would be a huge help.

Problem #8: "Auctions" Related to problem #7, but this one is such a pain it deserves its own point.. Having to go to the housing area, talk to the merchant and search through that horrible search UI, just to have to teleport to a different server, run to a guys house.. its bad. Not something that should be in a 2011 MMO.

Solution: Remove the +20% cash penalty for buying directly from the merchant, and allow people to buy items from merchants regardless of which server they're on. Also.. improve the auction UI.

[moderated for trolling]

EA will never do this... ever... they will shut the servers down before they make it F2P





this late in the game, with as little revenue as it brings in... a complete UI overhaul is impossible, because it would require re-writing the code at a base level to change the interaction between players/npcs





the artifacts are already a reward for doing one quest... but its done kinda backwards... go kill the quest objective, then go talk to an npc whats the problem there?
and doable by half a group... even during the peak of TOA's hardcore mode most of the artifacts were doable with 4 players or less, hell i used to do SoM with just 3 people all the damned time... now they've all been nerfed... wich i think is the wrong way... they should be harder, not easier... to promote inter-realm co-operation and team work to build bonds that improve the community... making them easier would just make the already poor community in daoc deteriate even more.

i agree with removing credit from vendors, as again it hurts the community... but even i, who love PvE and enjoy grinding for hours on end... hated the randomness and rarity of alot of scrolls.. so scroll vendors i say keep those...

your ideas on MLs and CLs are just horrible... MLs should still have to complete the trials... because again it builds realationships that are important to a healthy community in the game... CL's are already redicously easy.





this i agree with, they should both update DF's loot table as well as switch DF to being controled by keeps not towers, that way people have to band together both to take control of DF and to complete the encounters in there to get the new loot, wich would improve the community in the game by making more people work together.





i agree to a point, the tutorial is kind of stupid, i like the idea of starting all the newbs in the tutorial zone though, i just wish they'd make the quests and stuff better.





no, just no... no no no... your just out to completely ruin any form of co-operation and community in the game arent you...

they need to DECREASE the exp gain for solo play, remove the exp penalty for grouping, force people to group up again to level so they get to know there realm mates

add new quests that require groups to achieve the objectives.





the way the housing zones work, means mythic either needed multiple housing zone instances (so multiple servers with the way housing is coded) or to make rediculously large housing zones ... i wish they'd have gone with the rediculously large housing zones option instead... but that would of been harder so they went the quick, easy and dirty route sense they already had the clustering code done up...





i have difrent views here as well... i think there should be a price markup by the npc... to train money out of the game, and to help stem some of the mudflation in DAoC prices are rediculously out of control in camelot, items costing more money then players can actualy hold on one character...

i think the option to buy directly from the players house merchant should be removed, and all prices players set are subject to a 10% transaction fee, so instead of coin just passing from hand to hand of the players and never leaving the game, more of it is leaving the game to help lower item costs because people have less money...

but they should rework it so you dont have to search on seperate servers, it should be universal between all the clustered servers, and i think the market search npcs should be in difrent zones as well... instead of just in housing, they should be in the capital cities, towns in TOA and SI, as well as key locations around mainland areas.

but recoding the market search npcs to function that way would require reworking the housing code at its base level... wich is an investment cost EA is unwilling to do for DAoC

 

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It has more than 2500 active subs.

You might be able to make F2P.


How? Adding commercials into the game. Like Elves at the bar drinking Miller Lite.

its probly closer to 25k active subs.. sense the prime time population on all servers is over 3k...

 

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U.S is around 310 mill peps atm.

Runescape has maybe 1 mill paying people playing, rest is inactive. Maybe 5 mill people free to play.
So 256 mill people is way way off.

the 256number is probly total created accounts, and sense they are free, they never lapse like subscription games.

 

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Not a new idea. Making DAOC F2P has been tossed around repeatedly here. The central problem is this. It's not as simple as just not charging players' credit cards once a month. The cash shop would have to be designed, programmed, tested, and maintained. One server wouldn't be enough to hold all the players plus their bots who would try to play a F2P DAOC, so they would also need to open at least one more server. That would require more money for hardware, bandwidth, customer service, and maintenance. The only way I could see EA being willing to put the money into DAOC to take it F2P is if they were interested in using that model for TOR but wanted to test it on older games first. But there's been no indication that TOR will be anything other than a monthly subscription.

 

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Posted this on Ywain a while back:

1) Create a free-trial account system that allows users to play up to level 24.

2) Implement classic-esque buff range caps. Put in NPC buffers into BGs - very, very few new players would pay 30 bucks a month to play this game. I just hate running multiple clients to play a freaking game, and for those coming from another MMO, they will too. Possibly even put in two buffers for each realm (ie - Shaman buffer, Healer buffer).

3) Make those new EA Game cards apply to DAoC subscriptions. I know a lot of people that use the WoW cards they buy at the store instead of paying with CC. EDIT: These do apply to DAoC subs, but you have to go to the EA Game Store. They need to make it applicable in the account management area on Mythic's website.

4) Do this stuff: http://img201.imageshack.us/f/featuresi.jpg/

5) Grant BPs for battleground kills - this will allow for people to gear a bit easier.

6) Allow for BPs/Glass/Scales to buy all higher level content, such as ML10, Dragon, ToA, etc.

7) Add mail system and revamp auction system - make this similar to Warhammer, WoW, Rift, etc. Sucks that if I want to sell something, I either have to constantly spam or buy a house.

8) Add incentive to play away from bridges/portal keeps - create weekly zone bonuses, lessen RPs/BPs by zone depending on number of people in the zone - unless there is major keep warfare going on. This would mean that if 200 people were in Odin's and no keeps were under attack, RPs would diminish greatly. At some point, RPs could be as low as 50% and BPs could be 0%.

9) Make Darkness Falls open to all realms all the time.

10) Create gamewide battle objectives. For example, a server wide message come up saying that Nottmoor Faste is now neutral, and whichever realm takes it first gets something good. Maybe a 5-10k BP reward depending on contribution. Make all kills grant 2x BPs within a certain radius of the keep.

11) Run Mythic-sponsored events. Maybe have an 8v8 zone where BPs are 2x on Agramon for a 48 hour period for groups of 8 - perhaps change the zone regularly (as stated above).

12) Advertising...

13) Do some of these, and give anyone who has ever had a DAoC account 30 free days to try it. Maybe even reduce sub fees for the first month of renewals.

 

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