Forget new players, even if they get them keeping them is a must for any game. I haven't played this game in 3-4 years so I thought what the heck free 2 weeks and see what it looks like today. LOL it was worst that when I quit 3-4 years ago. To start, I had forgotten a lot about spec'ing a toon and I had to spec them because mythic changed so much I guess they wiped the spec's I had out. OK I get over that hurdle and find the user interface a pain in the ass (had been playing GW's last three years) and honestly after trying to figure out a keyboard layout I liked, it still sucked. Was just too many spells, actions, realm abilities, arty abilities and other stuff to tie to a layout I found easy to use. Thought about using keyboard macros to make it easier but after finding out that was against TOU I tried my best to make in game macros work for me. Two days later I have a keyboard layout but it is still awkward to use esp. when switching between different classes.

Ok so I figure out champion levels and do quest and quickly get cl 10 to find out its really useless but hey I can get a clockwork horse so lets do that. Still trying to get use to keyboard before doing any rvr which I was looking forward to (altho had this voice in back of my mind that it was going to suck).

I figure I go battle grounds maybe level 20-24 to get my feet wet again I log on to my pimped out warden with max'd everything and 100% quality sc'd armor and head out to see whats going on. 5-6 secs away from keep, 3 mid stealthers gank me and and I am dead in about 2-3 seconds. OK maybe wasn't smart just running straight out of the keep. So second trip I take a side route and bang a bone dancer sends his pets on me and runs in circles nuking me dead in 3-4 seconds that time. Damn pets keep stunning me nothing I could do. Ok so maybe my level 24 pimped out warden isn't such a good idea..

So after more reading to figure out what to do to get this horse for my level 50 warden I see venturing out into rvr areas is involved. I gotta say also that after 4 days back I feel like I have read a small novel instead of enjoying the game just to figure out the respecs the xfers from old servers and figuring out how to level up cl's and what was involved in getting this horse.

So finally I have the horse quest and back to more reading to figure out how to get into the labyrinth for this quest. I find it and get into it after an hour or so reading and running all around the rvr zone getting ganked by 8 man groups and a few stealthers never even came close in winning any 1 on 1 battles, usually died so fast I just wanted to throw my pc out the window, esp after the alb mins beat be like a level 1 with no armor. I get into lab and oh my gawd talk about confusion and poor maps spent next 3-4 hours trying to learn my way around in there and once again stealthers are owning me like a level 1 with no armor. Eventually after getting killed by some stealther using some lighting bolt skill and disappearing on me after I had uncovered him only to come back and kill me in 2-3 seconds I had enough. I had to ask myself why am I playing this game? pvp is not fun, dieing in 2-3 seconds isn't fun in any game. I had invested hours getting to cl10 and I can't even do what it takes to get the quest done. Unless I find a group to help me, screw that(more standing AROUND And waiting on other people).

I don't know the answers to the problems above and I am not interested in figuring it out. If I wanted to be a game programmer I would quit my daytime IT job. Bottom line I just don't care to invest anymore time into a game that requires so much reading to figure everything out, has no rewards for a casual player that isn't a 8 man rvr gank professional, or a player that enjoys playing stealther classes. Good luck figuring it out.

There is a lot to what many are saying.


Many problems that have been mentioned have common roots or are only the tip of the problem and not the root of the problem. Min/Max is the root of the template problem, and one of the roots of many other problems.


Needing a farming toon is a tip of a bigger underlying problem like, why are other toons NOT as adept at making/farming money? Fix that problem and players will not need a farming toon, they can just roll the actual toon they want to play. Also, another root part of the farming toon problem is the runaway economy.


It is unfortunate that Mythic has always used band-aids to fix the surface problems and then ignored the underlying cause or sometimes Mythic actually makes the underlying cause even worse.


As for templating, templating does not really require an in-depth knowledge of the game. All templating requires is access to www sites where others have posted templates and then the casual just copies. Or get access to a template program and let the program build a template. Then google the items in the template to find out how to get the items.


Yes the first template builds require in-depth knowledge but others have always provided that knowledge for the casuals.


As to micro transactions replacing subs, it would not be good for DAoC (and there is no way players would accept both, paying subs and paying for gear/plat/etc.). The game already has a HUGE Min/Max problem and the only way Mythic could make micro transactions profitable would be to increase the Min/Max problem and then charge for the new items needed to complete the new templates. Such a change would push many of the existing players over the edge and the game population would plummet enough that the Frontiers would no longer be viable.


CrzyHawk is totally correct about class utility. It has always been something that Mythic has had trouble addressing. Class utility is a root cause of many game problems.

 

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Most F2P games began F2P, and all though your statement may be true for the ones that switched - they are doing better now than before. For example my brother and I played DAoC together around 2004, he then quit playing. I've been trying for years ever since to come back, but he says "I don't want to pay a subscription fee". Yet he is a big fan of F2P games and occasionally pays for in game Cash Shop items....go figure.





I agree that DAoC would get a horde of new players, but I would have to disagree with the latter. I've played tons of F2P games, and I always come back to DAoC. That tells you I would rather pay than play those games, because I think that DAoC is better. So if DAoC would go F2P, then I believe it would win the masses. I don't believe there are barriers, just a slight learning curve due to lack of information. Hopefully the Wiki will solve that.





I've played off and on since open beta. Although your last sentence may have been true with some of the expansions, this game can not get any easier these days. The only part of DAoC that makes it hard to participate in is RvR. There are to many high realm ranks out there, its hard to get anywhere when you loose most of the fights.


I guess in my eyes the only solution to getting new players would be to go F2P. If they come then EA will hire more staff...If they come EA will open a new server...If they come EA might even give us a worthwhile update...

No one is going to want to play DAoC if they can't complete, and as long as there are in-game items that aren't available, it doesn't matter how good the RvR is - people aren't going to play. Idea: make all in-game items at least obtainable - more players in the endgame, not trying to build templates. Mythic, here's your sign.

 

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Incredibly good 1st post.

 

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You do not need to spend 50+ plat on any thing. If you want the most elite and best gear, you either have to spend the time farming it or yes, buying it for lots of plats. But there are a lot of people who have posted great templates that costs a fraction of the elite templates. So, NO, I don't think templates are what's keeping players from joining DAoC.

I think the most frustrating thing is that certain players are able to cheat. I'm talking about lag casting and other such in-game cheats that are hard to stop. I know that there may not be much to be done about it but I hate it when it takes an enemy tank 2 seconds to get to me through a speed warp when I'm playing my caster, while I can't chase down anything in the same enemy speed warp with my tank.

I've talked about this from the very beginning. Mythic/EA needs to spend some money advertising the game. 10 years old and nothing comes close to the PvP that DAoC provides.

LOL says it all.

yeah lol though he's right. if i didn't already know everything about this game there would be no chance of me playing it and enjoying it

 

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Doubt any one starting brand new today (brand new no friends etc.) will ever hit a decently high RR let alone be templated.

Kinda hopeless now, should start a poll when DAoC shuts down. Maybe spend a couple $ on a website and it would work better then the herald, LOL!

A quest line leading up to lvl 50 that provides you a full set of armor/jewelery would not be a bad idea.

It would be like leaving the training zone with the full set when you first start except this set is for NF

It would only have to be mediocre at best and it would help/allow you to farm for greater items etc.

Endless Mob grinding should never be the only/best way of making money.

 

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