As a tank, I hate that casters can hit me for 500+ from across the yard....I cry myself to sleep nightly over this.


While you're revamping the interrupt system that occurs if i'm able to somehow make it to you before you drop me, can you also revamp the fact that i'm not able to do anything to you until i reach you, while taking this 500+ damage every second?


Not saying it's perfect, just the other side of the coin.


Thanks!

 

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Let me rephrase that, my little grammar nazi: the average players sucks at this game.

And I have to disagree with CrzyHawk.
While most players are bad at this game (don't know styles, don't know casts, can't stun when a mob hits the druid) due to its complexity i assume, this wouldn't be the road for a "good" mmo.

Easy games attract alot of players at first, but can't hold people for long, because no one wants to play a game 10 years in easymode. It's no challenge.

While 8man can run down a zerg with bombs, even me the average zerger has the chance to go out with his guild and take a shot at zergbombing. you'll die,... but it's a challenge, it's fun... and everyone playing daoc could do it.
that's why I love daoc and play it for 9 years.. it can be challenging if you want it to be.

Semi, when you post more than one sentence of hatred, it's a real pleasure to read your post. I couldn't agree more on what you said.

Mate, you group with the wrong people. you're not supposed to do that
It's the bard's job to interrupt, or the elds... not yours. It's your group's job to keep the casters busy until you arrive and take down the clothies.

Daoc is all about rock paper scissors... and you are rock.

My comments in blue

 

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I realize you disagree with me but WoW has managed to hold it's subscribers for quite some time. it's my belief because the same bad players that can't cut it in DAoC play WoW because they can be successful at it. It might not be the game for you and me, but the 7 1/2 million subscribers paying 15 bucks a month for the right to play a steaming pile of dung are giving Blizzard millions of reasons a year why dumbed down games are cash cows. remember, games are businesses first, and people like us who remain playing DAoC are the minority. They key, is to find a balance we can all live with and have fun with.

The elitist attitudes have gone a long way towards leaving us with the population we have now.

 

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I guess I should look into grouping......

 

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Yes, I agree. Some things get past those that test and some things that are put into the game get used in a different way than expected.


Instead of saying, “Mythic seemed (seems) to enjoy ticking off players.” perhaps I should have said that Mythic seemed ambivalent or that they were not interested in the overall health of the game if the games health conflicted with Mythic’s agenda. But saying it that way does not really do justice to Mythic’s actions.


I based the rant, “Mythic seemed (seems) to enjoy ticking off players.” on what I saw when I was testing on Pendragon vs. what went live.


There were a many bugs that I stumbled on when testing on Pendragon, bugs that were fixed before things went live. Some of the developers were on Pendragon leading some of the testing. Some of the developers created unique and interesting ways of solving reported problems.


There were many bugs that I stumbled on, and reported, that were not fixed before an Xpac went live. Some of those bugs were never fixed. Often those doing the testing would discuss problems and often the following comments would crop up, "They aren’t letting that go live like that, are they?” “Did you report that problem too?” “I’m reporting it again to make sure it is not overlooked." "It would suck if that went live the way it is now". Any that did extensive testing will say similar things about reported problems/bugs going live anyway. A reported problem/bug going live was a normal thing to have happen.


Some testers did not report evaluations that showed OP gear/characters but often testers would be objective and report OP toons or OP abilities. There were testers that would swing a new ax 10.000 times against different characters and/or mobs (or cast a spell 10k times), collect the data logs, evaluate and compare the data to existing axes in the game and hand the compared data to Mythic with an overview evaluation and suggestions for nerfing/improving the item before letting it go live.


Some of the Pendragon testers, and Xpac beta testers, were dedicated and very serious when it came to giving Mythic accurate evaluations. Some that were in the Beta of an Xpac were only there as lookieloos but many of those doing the testing were seriously interested in helping the game.


Often after an OP class went live the VN boards would fill with angry player posts of how the new character was OP. Testers would almost always post on those VN threads about how Mythic had been warned that the class needed to be adjusted down before launch but Mythic ignored the data and suggestions.


While some players only gave Mythic anecdotal evaluations based on the feel of a new character or new ability, some testers spent long hours collecting detailed data.


When a class or gear or ability went live, if the class/gear/ability was just generally OP, Mythic knew. Mythic was almost always aware the class or item or ability was OP and I can only think that Mythic intended it that way to entice players to purchase the Xpac.

 

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The biggest problem with all the "analysis" about why games hold people is that everyone is using WoW as the barometer. WoW has so many factors (polish, tons of money to throw at it, years of lore and a loyal established game following, etc) as to why it has 7.5 million, 10 million, 15 million or whatever number Blizzard is spitting out this week subscribers that you can't use it as a comparison. WoW is a freak event and an anomaly. There have been dozens of games come out since WoW went live that copied WoW trying to steal some of it's success. They've all failed and some of them have failed horribly.

WoW isn't my kind of game but I won't say it's a bad game. It's got great polish and if you're interested in the Warcraft lore and storyline it's a great game.

As far as normal MMOs go you have to admit that DAOC was a huge success. Other than WoW, MMOs have always been a niche in the gaming market and a game having 250k subs like DAOC was and still is outstanding. Even getting 250k subs in today's market would be considered a run away success. Somewhere along the way Mythic lost their understanding of why their game was great but at what point that happened is going to vary depending on who you talk to on any given day. Implementation was part of that loss of reference point as well. Mythic has done a good job, in a very vague sense, of giving the player base what they wanted at any given time. Implementation has always been the issue. ToA was made when the player base asked for more epic PvE. New Frontiers was made when people asked for a different RvR experience. I don't think Mythic has ignored the player base so much as they've misunderstood or been unable to execute what they came up with to fulfill the players' wishes.

 

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To be fair, DAoC has a pretty fair amount of lore as well, going back to Arthurian legend, and the Saxon/Danish invasions of Britian. Where the lore fell apart when when they brought in Greek Atlantis. As an MMO, I believe that WoW is a fair comparison, because Warhammer had every single thing that you threw out there and it epically flopped as well. You pretty much HAVE to use WoW as the gold standard that you try and get to. The bottom line is, Blizzard has done a lot of things right that appeal to an awful lot of paying customers.

Identifying what those right things are, then applying them to a game with a DAoC like feel is the key to success.

 

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There's a huge difference between Arthurian lore and having years worth of gaming lore built up. Arthurian lore didn't provide a ready made player base. Warcraft's lore did because gamers had already been playing the game for years, in both tabletop and video game form.

If you try to achieve WoW's popularity you are doomed to fail off the bat. No other game out there can touch it. The only way you can do something is to make something new and different or remake something old that is unique like DAOC. If all you're doing is playing a copy of WoW then why wouldn't you just play WoW. That's why all the other games that are trying to be WoW failed. Had Games Workshop and EA allowed Mythic to make WAR like DAOC I think it would have been a big hit. Warhammer is the only IP out there with as much lore as Warcraft. Instead EA tried to beat Blizzard at its own game and they got slapped to the ground hard. I played WAR from the first session of closed beta till release and I knew from the first day that WAR was doomed. Nobody is going to try something new when they're already playing the same game and they are established already in the old game as long as the established game's population is solid.

WAR is a perfect example but it's a perfect example of what not to do. To stand out and keep people playing you'll have to give them something new and different. Recycling WoW is just beating your head against the wall because the best version available is already out there.

 

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