Dark Age of Camelot - Uthgard 2.0

Afran

Afran

Afran

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I was surprised that there wasn't already a thread dedicated to this. I've seen a few old DAoC players on these forums over the years, so I imagine some of you would be interested in this.

As far as I'm aware, freeshard talk is allowed on these boards as I've seen it elsewhere (such as the legacy WoW/Nostalrius thread), let me know if this isn't the case though and that was just an oversight.

Basically, Uthgard was a Dark Age of Camelot freeshard that ran for around 10 years, with a focus on the classic experience. It held a healthy population but as the numbers began to fall off towards the end with many people wanting a fresh start, the server was taken down and a re-launch was planned.

Roughly two and a half years later, it has been announced that Uthgard 2.0 is finally almost ready, with an open beta starting just a few days from now, on Saturday, May 7th.

Uthgard 2.0 is focused on patch 1.65 and the staff are trying to make it match said patch as perfectly as possible, with very few custom changes. When the server launches, it will be a completely fresh start for everyone, this is what has me excited to play it; the chance to play on even grounds, to be part of that community and play DAoC in what was, in my opinion, the golden era of RvR.

Patch 1.65 released shortly after Shrouded Isles, thus SI will be available on Uthgard. The developers have said that the SI zone(s) aren't ready to be opened when the server launches, but that the SI related races & classes will be available with the zone(s) opening up later.

Information about the game in that state is fairly scattered, but here's a few useful sites:

How to connect & FAQ https://uthgard.org/howto

Uthgard website with open beta countdown & public forums https://uthgard.org/

Patch 1.65 mechanic information http://talsyra.tripod.com/daocmechanics/index.html the growth rate table by realms is especially helpful

Official Patch 1.65 notes http://camelotherald.wikia.com/wiki/Patch_Notes:_Version_1.65

Patch 1.65 Character skill builder http://play.nixian.eu/index.php?page=charbuilder

There's a decent amount of information on the official Uthgard site. The most notable change over live is the fact that no dual-logging is allowed, including buffbots.
 
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Cern said:
Is Darkness Falls included in Uthgard 2.0?
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Certainly. Only thing we don't know yet is whether, on release before any keep action takes place, we will have access to it or not. They've said either everyone will have access, or no one will. Hopefully everyone, can just imagine being amongst the highest levels and slowly progressing towards the imminent opportunity for realms to cross sides and start ganking :p
 
Cern said:
Nice one. Darkness Falls was my favourite zone in DAOC (in any MMO really). I loved the mechanics for unlocking it and the risk-reward for adventuring in there.

I miss DAOC, it's been a few years since I last played on the official servers. If EA dropped the sub price to something more reasonable for such an old game I'd likely still play from time to time. I played a bit on Uthgard 1.0 but levelling was painfully slow (something that didn't need preserving from classic DAOC) but I hear it might be faster in 2.0. Plus it could be fun if everyone is starting afresh.
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I'd have to agree :) I loved DF in it's "prime".

http://www.uthgard.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=36071 is a good thread to read if you're curious about leveling speed etc
 
I've posted my thoughts on the leveling speed on the thread I linked above, but in a nutshell I think it is important for it to be the old pace. Bare in mind, this is Shrouded Isles exp rate, with which you are able to level 1-50 in a group within around 30-40 hours /played (ymmv) on average, but can get there within ~20-25 hours /played if you have solid knowledge of the game, likely even faster with past experience, I'm curious how long it will take me ;)

Much of it is certainly nostalgia, but even looking beyond that the leveling pace and method of leveling faster very much encourages group play, which in turn requires you to be social (at least to a point), I met people I'm still in contact with today in such groups despite it being 13 (!) years later, and found it quite similar on the old Uthgard (which I only played for a few months, but still).

It's also not really logical to think "exping takes too long, won't play" because either way, you will spend an infinite amount more time on your character in RvR than you will do leveling, at least if you intend to play for a decent amount of time, which I imagine most old players are hoping for.

For people who will be playing DAoC for the first time, know there will be a lot to learn and a handful of old mechanics in play that aren't all that similar to the MMO's of today, and you'll likely find movement to be clunky until you get used to it. If the idea of complexity and learning something new intrigues you, you'll have a great time, if it doesn't then I'm not so sure. But as someone else mentioned, Uthgard is free so no harm in trying it out.

Regarding Camelot Unchained, who can really know how it'll turn out. Personally I hope the game is close to what made DAoC so magical and have so much longevity, but I doubt this will be the case given any MMO since DAoC's record, especially with Mark Jacobs. At least he has shown good ideaology so far and admits his past mistakes.

I personally can't wait to start on this server once it launches - I've been waiting for a long time for such a "reset", never thought it would happen really. I'm extremely curious to see how the experience will differ given having extensive knowledge from playing in the past yet returning to those times. Currently only plan to level 1-30ish during the Beta, but that may change depending on what needs testing etc etc.

Anyhow, 34 hours until I hear this soundtrack <3 http://www.etaew.net/daocdb/sounds.php?play=humberton.mp3
 
Cern said:
Admitting past mistakes is a major step forward for any game designer / studio. I like what I'm reading about CU in the developer newsletters. I'm a beta backer, so hopefully soon will get a chance to see how it's shaping up.

It's worth remembering that they still got a lot right with the original DAOC. Most of DAOC's problems outside of class balance were on the PVE side of things, even before ToA. Which is why I'm skeptical about why Uthgard seems so intent on preserving the PVE 'experience' (aka grind).

Yes, back in the day it encouraged folks to group up and I too made a lot of friends that way, some of which last to this day. But that was then, things move on. I don't think I have the same tolerance for standing around for hours endlessly farming camps of mobs for small xp gains, even if the company is enjoyable.

Yes Uthgard is free, but available time isn't limitless, as many of us have come to realise in the 15 years since Daoc launched (ouch, was it really that long ago?).

But if it's possible to level in the battlegrounds on Uthgard purely from RvR kill xps, then I'm happy with that.
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I can understand that, some people are going to enjoy that aspect and some just aren't. I personally found the tolerance to still be there on my visit to Uthgard about 4 years back; even so late into the servers life I found grouping to be a pleasure, for the most part.

Again though, this is targetted at SI leveling pace - I forgot to mention that said patch strongly rewards roaming to make full use of camp bonus. I think a lot of people are remembering sitting down at Lyonesse trees for 5 days straight, which was far from the optimal leveling strategy even at that time. An ideal leveling group will do loops around zones rather than camping a single spot :)

It's true though that you're going to need to engage in PvE to get very far, at least in the first months given the fresh start since there will be no crafters available and what not. Worth noting that during patch 1.65, and as will be the case on Uthgard, RvR kills do not award any money.

As for leveling in the battlegrounds, the old ones of that era will be available:

Abermenai - Levels 15-19 - Highest allowed realmrank: 1L2
Thidranki - Levels 20-24 - Highest allowed realmrank: 1L3
Murdaigean - Levels 25-29 - Highest allowed realmrank: 1L5
Caledonia - Levels 30-35 - Highest allowed realmrank: 1L9
 
Linwig said:
Any self buffing classes will have a bit of an advantage solo due to no buffbots rule.
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Absolutely. Friar is going to be a complete beast for solo'ing without buffbots, which is strongly enforced both by their no dual-logging allowed system and limited range on buffs.
 
Level 17 Mercenary so far, been great fun finding out where to go for both exp, loot & coin since all important when server launches with nothing in the economy. It's awesome loot drom dungeons etc actually being meaningful again and nice sense of progression.
 
You need not worry about "tinkering" with such things, they are first found to be bugged and are only changed with hard evidence then adjusted to fixed values. In the case of bolts, they were absurdly broken and as far as I know now, they are working as intended, largely people reporting them doing little damage don't know how much damage they did back in this patch and aren't even actually speccing for them.

As far as leveling goes, I found 1-15 to be quite rough as many low level mobs were not dropping loot properly, and it took some time to re-learn the good spots to level up at and which quests are efficient to complete. Later knowing the spots however, and being in a full competent group, leveling goes by at quite a generous pace. I'm level 43 as of this post whilst having spent a lot of time testing random things and with our group being the highest in Albion, we've had plenty of mobs that drop nothing at all and many that don't spawn properly or spawn in correct numbers, it will be smoother for groups leveling behind us in this beta and of course smoother in the future as we've been reporting these issues as we've leveled and seen most, if not all of them, fixed swiftly.

It's worth noting that leveling on Alb is slower than Mid & Hib due to those realms requiring less classes to form the core of a group and the lack of decent exp spots at 40+ on Alb pre-SI compared to the other realms. Darkness Falls is the best place to go at our current level and we managed to open it for Albion tonight for the first time, to find many of the spawns there bugged too, so hopefully they're fixed by tomorrow.
 
Yeah? With it being free, you shouldn't feel like you have to play a lot for it to be "worth it"

Early in the beta we leveled (me and a friend) 1-50, with 1-25 being a duo and about 70% of 25-50 being in somewhat of a set group within less than 5 days /played, all whilst exploring and reporting bugs and whatnot. That said, played time required to max level could easily be several multiples of that if is your first time playing the game/intent on completely soloing (which for leveling is quite a bad idea ^^)
 
Not a clue :p saw a few mentioning each realm, going hib myself as it's the only realm I never played in that era, plus bard/bm is a really fun duo.
 
Yeah, I'm a backer of Camelot unchained. Been in development for a long time already. Hopefully it really is the successor to daoc but I doubt it ;p
 
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