I was thinking about trying out DAoC for the 1st time after hearing how great it is but have concerns about how out geared / how hard it will be to get geared to be able to compete. I don't care about 1v1, but simply being able to contribute to the realm I join in a group / guild setting.

Also how hard is it to be able to get into a group / guild as a new player?

And is there still people in the battle grounds at low levels?


Thanks for your help!

I was on Mid before I got my Hib account back. Started with nothing and by about lvl 20 or 30 I got into a fairly big guild man. Full of friendly peeps man who are willing to help. Same thing happened on Hib when I got that one back. Was in thid on my NS and found a good group of people who I run with on my shade all the time now. There's always people willing to help a hand and look me up if you decide to play on hib .

The currently active battlegrounds are Thidranki (24) and Molvik (39) (yes they are available at earlier levels but you really want to be at top level when you go out there). Thidranki is probably a good choice for you to get a feel for the game, aim for that then use "/xp off" to ensure you don't level past 24. Its usually people playing in it, as does Molvik, but by Molvik level people are really templating up and that could likely require a lot of time if you don't already have a high level character to farm with etc.
Join a guild. When you play with folks in a group, get a feel for those you enjoy playing with, then ask about their guild. Let the guild leader know you want to check things out but may not stay. No point in guilding with folks you can't stand listening to

 

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Hey there, and welcome!

DAoC recently has really pushed, in the last several patches, to get people out of the leveling grind and into what makes this game special, RvR. The low level battlegrounds (starting at Claret) are quite populated, to be honest, the most populated they've been in a very long time. This isn't because of the action, but more-so the quests that available in the battlegrounds.

Gear wise, at 50, it is pretty easy to compete with a few days of work. This can also be said about the battlegrounds (20-24 and 35-39), because without a full suit that caps all stats/resists and has some toys, you're going to be cannon fodder for the templated character in there. After this patch goes live, getting from 1-40 should only take a couple to few days to achieve depending on amount of playtime and just familiarization to the game itself (If you're playing 4+ hours a day, then 1-40 could really be a single days work if you're grinding hard).

Guilds in all three realms spam recruit. If you spend enough time in Tir Na Nog, Jordheim or Camelot; chances are you're going to see someone put something in region about: Guild X is recruiting, we are a player friendly guild, with great alliance, etc, etc. My advice is get to a main city, or just in classic area and send out a /reg tell yourself asking for a guild (make it known you are a new player and what you're looking for) and people will contact you about their guilds. For starters, make sure they're a larger guild with decent alliance, so that you get chances to join groups and raid, etc.

To compete at level 50, there are several steps one must take however.
--> Champion and Master levels. Champion levels put 400-500 additional hit points on your character and also allow the use of 'mythirians' that increase stats or bonuses, while master levels really assist your class (and make or break certain classes, i.e Archers and the Sojo line). Getting Champion levels is pretty easy, you start it from the king and then through Emissary quests and just killing anything, you'll accumulate CLXP. MLs are different, they have to be credited, so either you farm 10-15p and buy it from someone, farm glass by killing monsters located in the ToA portion of the game or kill people yourself and buy it with your own bounty points (points gained from killing players, which is also good, because you'll gain Bps from killing people in higher level BGs starting later tonight as well).

--> Getting a template. This is the most important aspect of this game. Sans template, you won't be killing much... and you'll be killed a lot. This can be done by checking the specific VN boards for templates or building you own. Getting the items required doesn't take a lot of time anymore to be perfectly honest. Dragon items can be bought with scales, which entails killing 'dragon' type monsters. The best way to do this I found, apart from doing larger raids where scales are plentiful, it is to kill Drakorans down in the Labyrinth portion of this game with a friend. Each one killed drops 1-4 scales, so for an hour of killing with a friend, each partner can make 100-300 scales depending on kill speed. Glass, as I said previously can be farmed to select bounty point items, these should make up a heavy portion of you first template, because they are not only cheap items but generally they have good uses to them.

--> Getting Ventrillo + making a name for yourself. The first few times you try to RvR, it's going to a be a bit of a pain. Unless your guild or alliance picks you up, it is very rare to be picked up by others in this game. However, stick with it. Try and try again, because that's the only way it's going to happen. Once people start seeing you regularly in raids and in groups, that's when you'll start being picked up, etc.

So, you know, best of luck with the game. It's very fun, but can be very frustrating. If you decide on Hibernia or Midgard hit my up with a personal msg, and I can help you get started up... Albion not so much =o).

 

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You will find that no matter how hard you work developing your character, your template and your techniques DAoC is a numbers game. Way back in the day it was possible to find small fights. As a scout or infiltrator it was reasonably easy to find a one on one fight with another stealther.

Unfortunately no matter what you do now it comes down to what mob of people is bigger than the other mob of people. Granted there are a minority of times when a very clever or lucky smaller group can take down a larger one but that is usually not the case.

Add to the problem is for some bizarre reason those who ask for change are shouted down by the old schoolers saying "It was never meant to be this way!" (The psychological term is called "Agentism" if you care to look it up.)

Lol then the self-annointed experts try and make you feel like they know everything and you are wrong for remembering how fun the game was back when groups were smaller, knew each other better and really learned how to fight as a unit.

The game is fun for a noob. There is genius on the leveling, templating, learning your character that has never been better. But once you reach the endgame it's all about who has the larger group, and that, unfortunately does not look like it will change before the game dies in some years.

So yes, it is noob friendly, just not end-game friendly at all. No skill to speak of, just numbers.

I recently returned to the game after a long time so I'm pretty much a noob again. I'll break it down into categories for you.

Getting into a guild: Easy as pie. Just ask in /region in game.

Picking your class: This is the hardest part for me. If you're playing with one account then you'll be a little more limited as far as stats go and what PvE encounters you can handle yourself. If you're planning on one account you should try a Friar, Heretic, Vampiir, Cleric, Druid, Shaman or any of the archers since all of those classes get self buffs or can function decently with Realm Buffs(paid NPC buffs in the frontier) in the case of the archers. You can also just ask for buffs in /region chat or use realm buffs for other classes as well but you'll probably get some clown making dumb comments every time you ask. If you're running 2 accounts, pick what you like. FWIW, I play with one account and do alright sometimes.

Leveling: Very easy. With the battleground quests going all the way up to level 40 now it won't take long. 40-50 I'm not sure what the best method is. I did a mixture of killing mobs in the frontiers/BGs, farmed some kill task items, and did some plain old grinding in task dungeons. I would only recommend the task dungeons if you only have 30min to an hour to play. They're just easy to get to, xp is better in the frontier.

Gearing: I would say medium difficulty. It seems like everyone is running around in close to perfect gear which is fairly expensive. If you have a decent amount of time and get into a friendly guild then it shouldn't be too bad. If you're here for the RvR and your time is worth more than farming currency, just buy plat. I'll probably catch some flak for that but I think a lot of us have better things to do and want to RvR.

RvR: There are multiple types of RvR.

Zerging - Probably the easiest form of RvR for a new player. Large groups of players fighting other large groups of players, usually taking keeps/towers/relics. This is pretty much what the game was designed around and will be what really gets your attention. The cool kids will call you names if you admit to doing it though (I do it, it's fun).

8v8 - This, along with soloing, I believe are the hardest kinds of RvR, especially for new players. Groups of 8 (whether formed by guilds or pickup groups) roam various zones (usually Agramon Island) looking for other groups of 8 to fight. There is tons of strategy involved in which classes/abilities/tactics etc. are used. This is where you'll find a lot of the really good players as well as lots and lots of realm points.

Small Man - Difficulty depends on what you come across, however I find this the most fun type of RvR. In my mind this is 4 or less people but really it could be anything less than 8. There's still thought put into group composition and all that but it's more or less just group up and stomp whatever you come across. I'm lumping duoing in with this.

Solo - Like I said above, one of the most difficult types of RvR (when facing good players). Just like it sounds, no one but you vs. the world. You'll die quite a bit, especially at first, but beating someone 1v1 is actually very rewarding and definitely gets the adrenaline pumping. I can't say I've had the same amount of satisfaction from any other online game except when you almost die on hardcore mode on Diablo 2. Most of the people you'll find actually solo (no friends lurking nearby) will be in top notch gear and will usually know their class inside and out.

If there's anything else, just ask.

So you've decided to try DAOC? Then I shall give you a completely honest answer, at least in my opinion.

These days, the community is not as close-knit as it used to be. A few years ago, you could say you were looking for a group and people would invite you just because - NOW, you must be the right class, and have the right gear, and have the right ML line, and have the right spec/RAs. There are still VERY many friendly players, but more and more these days I see people who act as though their online status gives them the right to be complete and total douchebags. Another problem you may run in to... we have a LOT of foreign players on our servers now, because of the massive decline in population. This isn't usually a big deal, but good luck finding a group at 9:00 a.m. when the only people online are French and you don't speak their language.

Your best option, as with any MMO, is to meet people and become their friends. Find a guild, and you will always have people to talk to and group up with. If possible, try to get into a guild that has a strong Alliance.

As far as gear and leveling goes.... This is all so easy now that I consider it a joke. I can get a new character from 1-50 in about 10 hours of play time, whereas my first 50 (before Shrouded Isles expansion) took me a full month, leveling EVERY DAY. Master Levels, artifacts, overpowered weapons, etc are practically (and annoyingly) all just a click away. You shouldn't have too hard a time getting templated and geared up.

 

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I'd like to add that the UI isn't super friendly for most newcomers. Having brought 2 new players into the game recently I was reminded of this fact. The learning curve is also pretty steep but that's mostly a side effect of the clunky UI. Still friendly guilds out though that are more than willing to help.

Again though, I'm willing to help out with questions if I can.

Don't listen to this cat, just a lot off QQ because he wants DAoC to be like WoW and all the other clones out there. Something known as 'sheep', look it up. Smaller numbers can conquer greater numbers when played correctly, there are still very well played small and normal sized groups running around.

Zerging will, and of course, always has been part of this game (If everyone remembers being lagged out of existence in Emain, just because of the masses kicking around the gate). Players have learnt to adapt, others have just learned to complain about it.

This game is highly enjoyable. Don't let people like ^^^ above meh make it feel hopeless, because there is a TON of fun to be had playing DAoC.

 

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Thanks for all the helpful replies. At this point I'm starting to get a bit worried about the learning curve. My friend said that you can't re-spec in this game so I would want to know what I'm doing before I start putting in skill / stat points. Does anyone have a good Archer (scout) build? My friend said he got to level 30 as an Alb and he liked it there so I was going to try that out. I'm not too worried about having a template with gear at this point since there is no way I would know what it all meant. I was looking on the forums and I saw a couple posts which appeared to be a template which looked to be a foreign langue to me.