The Dark Age of Camelot (DAoC) is a 3D medieval fantasy MMORPG, released on October 10, 2001 in North America and in Europe shortly after through a GOA partner. The game combines Arthurian knowledge, Norse mythology and Celtic Irish legend with a bit of high fantasy. This is set in the period after King Arthur's death and his kingdom has been split into three parts that are in a state of constant war with each other. DAoC includes a battle between Player vs. Environment (PvE) and Realm versus Realm (RvR).
It was announced on February 5, 2014, that game development will be transferred from Mythic Entertainment to the newly created studio (Broadsword Online Games) which will take over all future development of two remaining Mythic MMO games, the other being Ultima Online. Mythic was then closed shortly thereafter on May 29, 2014.
Video Dark Age of Camelot
Development
The decision to develop the Dark Age of Camelot was made in late 1999, with it originally conceived as a graphic MUD. Mythic Entertainment president Mark Jacobs proposed the idea of ​​using Arthurian legend for being in the public domain and thus the company would be free of any license issues. The total development cost does not include equipment rental of around $ 2.5 million and takes 18 months with a team of 25 full-time developers. 3DS Max and Character Studio are used to create all in-game models and animations.
Towards the end of development, Mythic finds himself in a difficult financial situation: Since he never borrowed money, he did not have enough credit ratings to hire the Dell servers needed to run the game. After being denied a lease by Dell, Mythic had to buy each server using its development fund. Securing publishers is also a difficult task; every publisher that Mythic initially approached refused the game except one, Vivendi Games. In 2014, Jacobs still thanks Vivendi for taking a chance in the studio.
During the prime of the game, Mythic operates 120 Pentium dual-processor servers running Linux. Of them, groups of six servers are devoted to running one world, or as players view it, one server. The servers are designed to handle 20,000 players simultaneously logged in at certain times, however, Mythic limits them to about 4,000 each to keep the world from getting too messy. Mythic founder Rob Denton stated, "If you have too many people, the world becomes too crowded, the last thing you want is to crash into thousands of people." Most game codes are also stored on the server, with user clients more focused on loading graphics and textures based on unlimited data streams of up to 10 kbit/s per player.
In December 2017, Broadsword Games announces Dark Age of Camelot: Endless Conquest, a non-subscription style game account that lets players play games for free, with some restrictions on available servers, character classes, and some in-game services. Their schedule at this update site was released in fall 2018.
Maps Dark Age of Camelot
Gameplay
Control characters, mostly, via mouse or keyboard. 'Quickbars' of 10 slots each can be matched with spells, weapon attack 'styles', or macros, and can be clicked or selected with a number pad to activate. Players choose from three realms: Albion, Hibernia, and Midgard, each based on different mythologies. Every world has a different race. Although each realm class differed in certain abilities, the DAoC class split into four common RPG archetypes: soldiers' tanks, spell casters, rogues using stealth, and clergy healing. The hybrid class, which combines the skills of the two archetypes, also exists in all 3 realms. The DAoC class is balanced at RvR level rather than direct comparison with other natural equivalence classes. The DAoC class is very rigid with a special role, play style, and specialization point allocation.
The Guild offers social, economic, and PvE/PvP benefits that contrast with or exceed solo and 'pick-up' games. Each union comes with its own chat channels, in-game ratings system, territorial claiming ability, guild banking system, guild housing, symbols, and reward system in the form of reward points and achievement points. Each guild leader (or leader, as provided by the game for some leaders) can determine their own set of rules and goals. The union leader (s) may adjust the privileges, (such as inviting new members, speaking in a chat alliance, and claiming the Captured Tower for guilds) of any rating in the union. Furthermore, an alliance can be established between guild players, which offer a combined chat channel for all guilds in an alliance to communicate.
Realm versus Realm is the main focus of the Dark Age of Camelot. The storyline revolves around what happened after the death of King Arthur and his fallen kingdom. Albion, Hibernia, and Midgard are in a three-way war against each other and constantly fighting to control the relics, towers and strong towers, as well as control over the entrance to Darkness Falls.
Server type
- Normal (Ywain) This server is the main set for playing games. PvP is limited to the specified area and allows players to better control what they want to do. Now these are the rules that make up the Ywain cluster, the result of merging with all the remaining traditional rule servers into one.
- Classic (Closed) - where region, ability, and PvE items of Atlantis expansion experiments have been disabled. The character enhancement spell system has also been altered so that the characters that receive this spell should be grouped and remain relatively close to the caster. Due to the recent grouping with classic players and the normal ruleset player, this server type has been removed since then.
- Players vs. players (Closing April 2013) - The single server (Mordred) has been set up to allow free-for-all PvP battles in almost any area. Realm Affiliate has been removed so unlike regular servers, it's possible for players to visit the area in all 3 of nature. Players on these servers can attack each other regardless of class, race, or origin region. Newly created characters are safe through level 10, where their secure PvP flag is turned off. Players who want to act immediately can turn off this flag before reaching level 10, although this change can not be undone.
- Cooperative - The single server (Gaheris) is similar to the Normal server, unless the specified RvR zone has been modified. Instead of RvR, the three domains work together and attack the NPC control, located in the RvR zone, and other PvE areas. A high percentage of PvE action takes place in the basement of Darkness Falls. High level enemies retain the location where PvP gameplay will normally take place. All classes and races are opened to players and teleportation is possible between nature.
- Roleplaying (Closed) - A server where players are encouraged to retrieve and portray the identity of their characters. The point is to create another form of interaction between players, extending the knowledge presented in the game. This is one of the original server types when the game was first released. This server type is no longer present when the server grouping occurs. Players can still mark themselves as player-roles on a normal server (Ywain), however.
- Test - There is a test server available (Pendragon), which lets players test different capabilities that may become possible in the upcoming changes in game mechanics before Mythic applies them completely.
- Origin (No longer in development) - In June 2008, Mythic announced their Origin server project. This server is meant to return DAoC to the gaming experience that occurred in 2001/2002 due to the large number of requests. It will have some key features like "Old Frontiers" brought back and the game will be playable and similar to the pre-expansion state, with the exception of improvements made over the years such as market systems, housing, mounts, class balance and UI changes. On January 23, 2009, Mythic mentions this server in their weekly capture bag stating that, while no information can be shared, more information will come in the coming weeks. This is the first news about this server, from Mythic, in more than 6 months. On January 20, 2009 it was announced that Electronic Arts had laid off 10% of its workforce and this could explain the lack of news. On March 6, 2009, Mythic's Mark Jacobs announced on Warhammer Online that VN Boards is planning on Origins servers for DAoC being held indefinitely.
To combat the ever-diminishing population problem, Mythic began to start the server group. This involves grouping multiple servers together, allowing players to interact with them from other servers. The server emulator project, Dawn of Light, allows Dark Age of Camelot clients to connect to unregistered gaming servers publicly listed. These servers can run a different set of rules and have special behaviors. However, this server is not supported by Mythic and using them violates the Dark Age of Camelot EULA.
Expansion
Each field has a unique but parallel storyline, which is expanded with retail expansion. European distributors sometimes add their own writing and searching of nature and its inhabitants.
In the original Realm zone, the small towns of the world need protection against the same monster with many other RPGs. Albion was threatened by the living corpse raised by Morgana, Hibernia was ripped apart by the Unseelie and Siabra Courts, and Midgard by the dangerous Blodfelag.
- Shrouded Isles - Each domain is called to help the smaller allies against the big enemy. In Albion, Drakoran has surrounded the last fortress of the Avalonians Lady Lile. Hibernia has come to help Hybrasil, where the Sylvans are facing extinction in the hands of the Fomorians. Midgard's ancestral home in Aegir has seen The Last of the Troll Fathers being hunted by Morvalt. This expansion is now free.
- Atlantis Exam - The ruins of Atlantis have been found, as well as portals to other planes where ancient Atlantis underwent their temptations. How does Atlantis come to its end and what forces are left behind? The test remains in rotating form by the passage of time and departure of the inhabitants of Atlantis. Ancient artifacts are waiting to be discovered and have their powers and secrets expressed by the learned. Familiar figures from Greek and Egyptian mythology made their appearance on new ground waiting to be discovered. This expansion is now free.
- Catacombs - An enemy has taken power within the Darkspire, controlling most of the underground races. Drawn, previously referenced as an ally of the Avalonians and protector of Inconnu, has ruled his territory by revolting Inconnu who is dead and enslaved. Shar can only hold their land at the gate of their Otherworld castle. Kobold has been forced to unlock the secrets of arbitrariness for outsiders in a desperate attempt to survive. This expansion is now free.
- Darkness Rises - The king of the kingdom has returned to fight the growing uprising. Further investigation will reveal a conspiracy with the dark forces behind the insurgency. To become a Natural Champion, players must defeat the evil evil behind the riots and restore peace to the ground. This expansion is now free.
- The Minotaur Labyrinth - The ancient races of the Minotaur have returned to the land of Albion, Midgard, and Hibernia to reclaim the powerful but corrupt relics long hidden by their ancestors. The desire for this relic once brought the downfall of the powerful Minotaur kingdom and their evil influence now threatens the kingdom of Man. This expansion is now free.
Reception
Critical reception
Commercial revenue
When the DAOC was first launched in October 2001, Mythic sold 51,000 copies of the game in the first 4 days, beating their initial expectations by 30,000. In the United States, the Dark Age of Camelot sold 300,000 copies and generated $ 10.4 million in August 2006, after it was released in October 2001. It was the country's 63rd best-selling computer game between January 2000 and August 2006. The combined sales of all Dark Age of Camelot games released between January 2000 and August 2006 have reached 780,000 units in the United States on the latest date.
References
External links
- Official website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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