Finding a guild isn't hard. Finding a good guild is.

There is a pretty steep learning curve and the game isn't really growing or getting significant updates any more. Not sure I'd recommend it for a newcomer.

 

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That an understatement. When I started the game, the UI was very difficult to use and it took a while to master. I would strongly recommend joining a good guild and have them teach you some of the game.

 

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Your friend was wrong, you can respec as many times as you like. The stones which let you do so are actually cheaper than ever. As for leveling the scout, I've heard that max bow all the way to 50 is the way to go. Good class choice as well, you'll level fast.

Hi, I'm going to take some time to answer your questions more clearly than others have. I recently returned to this game after a 5.5-6 year break.

For the most part, this game is newbie friendly. EA-Mythic recently realized that people only play DAoC for RvR and it's in their best financial interest to make getting new and old players into RvR as quickly as possible.

With that said, gearing up to be RvR ready will take a lot of work on your part, but it's 1/20th the grind we old timers face.

Other people have mentioned templates without telling you what this means. Templates are the weapons, armour, and accessory items (necklace, bracer, rings, etc) that your character wears. These provide benefits like health, casting speed, your ability to damage, etc. Obtaining the desired items for your character is easier than ever in DAoC, but it can still be frustrating to a newly returned player.

There are two kinds of in game currency items that you will need to farm: dragon scales and Atlanian glass. Dragon scales are dropped by most monsters in Dartmoor (Albion), Cursed Forest (Hibernia), and Malmohus (Midgard). You can also farm them in one level 48+ dungeon in each realm, but only Avalon City (Albion) is worth mentioning because the others are unplayable. If you farm solo, you should expect to earn about 100/scales per hour. A decent template will require that you farm about 3,500 dragon scales to buy specific items.

Atlantian glass drops from any monster in a zone that was added by the Trials of Atlantis expansion. If you're familiar with the NPCs (non-player characters) that can transport you between game zones, you should know that [Oceanus] is the starting point for all Trials of Atlantis zones. I personally find farming glass to be far worse than dragon scales. You will need to farm roughly 7,000 glass to buy the 3-4 artifacts (items you buy with glass) that most templates use plus a whole lot more for your Master Levels through 10. It's probably easier to just farm the gold to buy your master levels, which should cost about 10-12 platinum in game currency, from another player. Players who want to do this frequently send messages in /region or /advice similar to this: "WTS bounty points. ML1-10 12p PST." Here, WTS = want to sell and PST = please send /tell to the character's name.

I don't recommend spending the extra gold or time to farm glass to buy Master Level experience scrolls - you will quickly earn Master Level experience in RvR combat.

The item templates you will see on class boards can be difficult to understand even for long time players. DAoC is a very complex game and making a good template requires a LOT of work and knowledge of the game. You won't understand it all in one week or even one month, so don't worry too much about the templates you see not making sense.

You also asked about in game respecs - they're now very easy to get. At one time, Mythic was a nazi about this and refused to make any kind of respec available for the first 2 years of this game. They later added them as extremely difficult to get items, but these days are long gone. However, I suggest that you head over to http://daoctb.sourceforge.net/Charplan__EN.htm to download a computer program that allows you to easily plan how skill points are spent on your character. This program allows you to easily see what skills and spells are given at each point level invested and will help you decide how to specialize your character.


One last note regarding templates: the templates people post on the VN boards are made using a program you can download at http://sourceforge.net/projects/kscraft/ . This software allows you to input the items you have and plan crafted items made by other players around these values. This software will let you easily see what character stats and skills you need to build your template around to achieve optional results.

 

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As many have said, the game is still ok for noobs. There are guilds that will help and there are still many players that will assist you. There are some who look down on noobs but I think that you will find that in any game. Keep trying and you will find nice people to play the game with.


There is only one download install version of the game and it contains all expansions. All of the expansions are free as is the basic classic game. The only cost anymore is the monthly sub fee. Also, the game has a free trial.


The UI needs some work but if you have some patience you will learn to deal with the idiosyncrasies of the UI. I would check out the UI board and load a custom UI as quickly as you can. A custom UI can help a lot.


Welcome to the game.





That was a very good and informative post, worthy of being a sticky. You should put it in the wiki.


The part that I quoted I disagree with.


The vast majority of MMO players are PvE centric. The RvR/PvP centric MMO player is a very tiny minority. Just look at DAoCs population and look at the PvP server population.


The only reason the vast majority of today’s DAoC players are RvR centric is because Mythic mostly ruined the PvE side of the game so PvE centric players departed this game looking for better PvE elsewhere. Because the PvE in DAoC is so horrendous it is true that most players “only play DAoC for RvR”, that does not make focusing on such a tiny niche a good idea.


It was never necessary to destroy the PvE side of DAoC to have a good PvP/RvR game. In actuality, the more PvE centric players the game has the greater the Frontier population (PvE centric players also RvR from time to time).


Look back to when the game had 250k players when some players almost never RvRed but instead spent days and days crafting and building a crafting rep. Back then huge numbers of PvE players would jump into RvR while trying to gain control of DF (so they could PvE in DF). Then there were the PvE centric players that would RvR 20% to 30% of the time (250k players RvRing 20% of the time is a huge boost to the Frontiers). There are all those PvE players that would instantly suicide and log into the Frontiers at the first “Call to Arms”. Finally there are those that would PvE or craft while waiting for their friends to show up so they could group up and go to the Frontiers to fight.


Having a good PvE game is tremendously important to the health of DAoC.


Rapid leveling has not helped the game population, just look at the graphs. Also, rapid leveling has allowed players to create large numbers of fully outfitted toons in each and every realm, which contributes to realm hopping. Back when it took almost a year for a casual to level a single toon to 50 very few ever seriously considered leveling toons in more than one realm. Faster leveling has not increased population, the population is still shrinking.


It is the exact opposite of Mythic’s “best financial interest to make getting new and old players into RvR as quickly as possible”. If “EA-Mythic recently realized that people only play DAoC for RvR and it's in their best financial interest to make getting new and old players into RvR as quickly as possible” then Mythic has not learned much over the last 10 years of screwing up DAoC . . . . and then using those same ideas to screw up WAR.


Lets hope that Mythic has learned more than that.


The rest of your post is gold and should be very helpful to any noob.

 

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I see your point and agree with your point of view. I too think it's a shame that PvE in DAoC has been entirely replaced by solo leveling up via battlegrounds quests and using AFK pet classes to farm glass for artifacts and master levels The loss of DAoC's PvE component definitely hindered the game in many ways, which included the ability of new players to make in game friends. My first level 50 character took about 30 days /play time to make (30 days * 24 hours = 720+ in game hours for you new people), but this is no longer possible in today's game market. When DAoC was a young game, it was the norm and most old timers agree that if nothing else, killing tanglers and trees for hours on end let you build up in game contacts.

My statement about people “only play DAoC for RvR” was incorrect, but I firmly believe that having the option to participate in RvR combat at any time is the major draw of this game. The player community that flourished in DAoC was the other major factor in this game's peak success, and old school DAoC's long and sometimes tortuous PvE system helped build the community. I lead a few Caer Sidi raids myself back in the SI heyday and was elated by their success and frustrated when we wiped at the Litch Lord three times in a row =\

 

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I should clarify how easy it is to now get a respec. You will be given a free respecialization options at levels 20 and 40 (use /respec SkillName and then visit your trainer) now and you should also have one free respecialization option by level 50 (/respec Mythic). There is also a Non-Player Character on the frontere side of your realm's portal keep (Svasud Faste, Castle Sauvage, or Druim Ligen) with a name similar to Royal Accountant who will give you one free respec stone per character. If you right click on the stone and then click 'info' you will see the name of a NPC in your capitol city to take the stone to for a respecialization option. You can also purchase character respecializations via the /respec buy (cost is 3 platinum AKA 3.000 gold)or by buying a specific kind of stone from a merchant in the player housing section of the game. I don't know the stone names off hand, but searching Google for "daoc respec stone" will give you a list of the different respec stone names.

 

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this game is not noob friendly

 

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Nightshade zergs in thid make me cry.

 

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Compared to other MMO's it is very easy to get geared in this game, however it takes time to read up on what you need. You cant just slap on the highest level of gear and be ready.

To get groups can be hard if you are the wrong class, it is hard when you dont know anyone but after a while when ppl start to get to know you it is easier. Or ytou can just become one of those ppl that starts your own groups.

Guilds i dont know. I never had a problem but thats WAY back and the last few years i played i only played with IRL friends or ppl i played with for years.

About BG's i dont know.

But the hardest thing for new players i would say is the controlls and the UI, they are primitive as hell. Going from playing WoW or any newer MMO to DAoC controlls and UI will feel like trying to create fire with a banana and a peach.