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	<th colspan="2" bgcolor="#FDC60D" scope="col">Dark Age of Camelot</th>		<th colspan="2" bgcolor="#FDC60D" scope="col">Dark Age of Camelot</th>
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	<td width="28%">Publisher(s)</td>		<td width="28%">Publisher(s)</td>
	<td width="72%">[[Mythic Entertainment]]</td>		<td width="72%">[[Mythic Entertainment]]</td>
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	<td bordercolor="#FFEEB6">Developer(s)</td>		<td bordercolor="#FFEEB6">Developer(s)</td>
	<td bordercolor="#FFEEB6">[[Mythic Entertainment]]</td>		<td bordercolor="#FFEEB6">[[Mythic Entertainment]]</td>
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	<td bordercolor="#FFEEB6">Release Date </td>		<td bordercolor="#FFEEB6">Release Date </td>
	<td bordercolor="#FFEEB6">2001</td>		<td bordercolor="#FFEEB6">2001</td>
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	<td bordercolor="#FFEEB6">Genre(s)</td>		<td bordercolor="#FFEEB6">Genre(s)</td>
	<td bordercolor="#FFEEB6">MMORPG, Fantasy</td>		<td bordercolor="#FFEEB6">MMORPG, Fantasy</td>
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	<td bordercolor="#FFEEB6">Platform(s)</td>		<td bordercolor="#FFEEB6">Platform(s)</td>
	<td bordercolor="#FFEEB6">Windows</td>		<td bordercolor="#FFEEB6">Windows</td>
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	<td bordercolor="#FFEEB6">ESRB Rating</td>		<td bordercolor="#FFEEB6">ESRB Rating</td>
	<td bordercolor="#FFEEB6">Teen</td>		<td bordercolor="#FFEEB6">Teen</td>
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	However, Mythic has an impressive record of one-paid and one-free expansion per year, and a recent "Come back to Camelot for free!" campaign that allowed players with cancelled accounts to return to the game for free for 10 days shows their desire to get back in touch with players that have left for greener pastures.		However, Mythic has an impressive record of one-paid and one-free expansion per year, and a recent "Come back to Camelot for free!" campaign that allowed players with cancelled accounts to return to the game for free for 10 days shows their desire to get back in touch with players that have left for greener pastures.
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Dark Age of Camelot
Publisher(s)	Mythic Entertainment
Developer(s)	Mythic Entertainment
Release Date	2001
Genre(s)	MMORPG, Fantasy
Platform(s)	Windows
ESRB Rating	Teen

Dark Age of Camelot arose as Everquest's first fantasy MMOG competitor two years after the reigning fantasy MMOG was released. Besides offering better graphics and a nifty player housing scheme, the game's guiding principles capitalized on one gaming aspect many felt was absent in Everquest: truely integrated player vs. player (or "RvR" - realm vs. realm, in DAoC). PvP action, that is, which has tangible impact in the virtual world.

The game introduced one other important technological element to the fantasy RPG scene: for lack of a better term I'll call it "dynamic zone loading." Everquest used what became known as a traditional zone architecture; splitting the world into small zones that must be loaded sequentially while gameplay is suspended. DAoC's "zones"- called regions- are extremely large swaths of terrain that load in a "bubble" around the player; in other words the game constantly loads while the player travels. This, along with a "detachable camera" perspective, makes DAoC a more immersive, epic gameplay experience than its forerunners, as a player cannot easily "zone" to escape from persistant enemies.

Contents 1 World & Mythology 2 Character Creation & Development 3 Harvesting, Tradeskilling, Economy & Housing 4 Groups & Guilds 5 Player vs. Player 6 Travel & Mapping 7 Combat, Quests, Tasks & AI 8 Death Penalties 9 Future 10 External Links 11 References

World & Mythology

The World of DAoC is composed of three realms inhabited by three peoples (Albion (Britain), Midgard (Scandanavia), and Hibernia (Ireland)) and Atlantis' environs (collectively called Trials of Atlantis (ToA) zones), all linked by arcane means or by boat.

Based on the mythologies of Britain's Arthurian legends, the Norse Middas, and Ireland's Celtic lore, the game is staged in the years immediately following the passing of King Arthur. While the game's lore draws strongly upon the mythology of the three realms, fantasy elements are rolled in, and the Mythic development team has not been afraid to pick and choose the lore elements that fit well with the game's storyboard (though the depth of lore research is obvious).

The three realms are locked in an indeterminate struggle for supremacy. Each includes an exclusive set of races (six a piece for a total of 18), matching the historical, legendary, and purely fictional makeup of the different lands. For example, Albion has the historically factual Saracens and Britons, the legendary Avalonians, and the fictional fish-like Iconnu.

DAoC's mindblowingly-varied 39 character classes are built not only from realms and races (though a few classes are shared between realms and many classes are shared between the races), but also by gender (e.g. Midgard's Valkyries and Hibernia's / Albion's Bainshee are only playable as female characters).

Character Creation & Development

DAoC introduced branched classes to the fantasy MMOG world. Your Albion mage, for example, at level 5 has the chance to choose between becoming a cabalist (offensive "nuker") and a sorceror (offensive caster with the ability to summon pets). Click here for more info on the various DAoC starting classes. Players choose attributes (such as Wisdom, Empathy, Intelligence, and Strength) that compliment their class, though all players will value a strength value greater than 50 and a decent amount of constitution points.

Developing your character through the levels occurs in the traditional manner, by killing NPC monsters and by completing tasks or quests. Note that RvR combat is not designed to level a character, but rather to Realm Points (which can be exchanged for greater abilities).

Developing your character's combat abilities is primarily accomplished by exchanging spec points (won on a one-point-per-level basis when you reach a new adventuring level) for new and enhanced spells and styles at your class trainer. These points can only be spent once and are not refundable, so player must choose carefully from level 1 on! Each class has the ability to specialize in several class abilities, however you'll only typically have enough skill points to max out one and half of another. Some classes have more skill points then they'll ever need, while others must carefully choose how to diversify their character. A Midgard Runemaster, for example, must choose between the Darkness skill line (small Direct Damage ("DD") spells & group buffs), Suppression (enemy "debuffs" & and movement lessening spells), Runecarving (heavy hitting DDs), and "staff" weapon skills, while a Hibernian Ranger needs only keep his recurve bow and Pathfinding skill line maxed.

High level players can earn Master Points by completing the various Trials of Atlantis, by which high-level characters can further distinguish themselves from "classmates."

Harvesting, Tradeskilling, Economy & Housing

As far as harvesting goes, what you can't find on a NPC vendor or a monster's dead corpse, you won't need to do tradeskills (player's cannot harvest from the environment, as in other games).

Tradeskilling (armorcraft, tailoring, weaponcraft, and the RvR-mainstay siegecraft) must be done in large cities, as finishing your items usually requires an implement such as a forge or loom. Some new additions to traditional tradeskilling: finished items can be "salvaged" to regain some of the original components (useful if you're just crafting to gain experience), and "consignment tasks" are available from your craft's master. Consignments are mini-quests that ask that you make an item and deliver it to a nearby NPC for more coin than you would get by selling crafted items outright. You can find these NPCs by asking the guards to point you in the right direction. Consignments are the way to progress through the early levels of tradeskilling without losing too much money, but you'll still need a hefty stash of coin to get started in tradeskills.

Player housing was a stunning innovation when DAoC's free "Foundations" expansion was released. DAoC features actual, non-instanced player housing via purchasing and building on lots in each realm's housing areas, which are initially sold via reverse auction and afterwards resold or repossessed. Houses may be furnished with eye-candy tables, chairs, etc. and with tradeskill implements such as forges, etc from a merchant interface in each house. While pricey in every sense, player housing offers a way for players to feel more at home in the virtual world.

Groups & Guilds

No matter what MMOG you play, travel and adventure are somewhat safer in a group. DAoC offered a new experience reward system, however. If all players in a group are equal in level, each player gets an equal amount of experience from a defeated mob. If one grouped player is fighting trivial monsters (that present a challenge to the rest of the group members), no one gets any experience points. If one member is noticably weaker than the other group members, all other players will get an even split except for the weak player, who receives noticably less.

Guilds, for the first time, get some visual treatment (outside of a "tag" above players heads) in DAoC. Guilds can pay to design heraldry for their shields, cloaks, and banners (banners for use in marking held outposts & guild halls). Guilds play an important role in RvR play; a closely knit band of players has an easier time scheduling, planning an executing a raid in enemy held territory. Realm points and personal gold can fortify outposts, grant special abilities, and buy siege equipment (including warships).

Player vs. Player

PvP (or RvR, Realm vs. Realm, as DAoC devs took to calling it) action is DAoC's crowning glory among its peers in the fantasy MMO world. Nowhere else (before Star Wars Galaxies) could you do things such as conquer and fortify an outpost for your guild (manning it with NPC guards), cut off an enemies supply lines, assault an enemies shores with fast attack- and siegeboats, the list goes on and on.

Each of the realms have zero interaction with one another, no chat back and forth, and absolutely no ability to have characters in more than one realm with one account. It was the developers' intent to make players of opposing realms as much like NPCs as possible. Enterprising players can however communicate with "emotes" (non-verbal communication via phrases like "Couriant points to the north!" and "Wisohhan shakes her head.").

Most of the RvR action occurs in the "frontier" zones (leaving the "home" zones relatively safe for low- and mid-level development). Frontier zones are high level intensive, extremely dangerous for anyone under level 40 to enter. With "Shrouded Isles" and subsequent expansions, devs created five-level-range exclusive "battleground" areas to make the PvP areas more open to lower level players, matching a shift in the player population's preferred hunting grounds. "Realm points" which measure a player and guild's success in destroying players of opposing realms and holding outposts and strategic areas, can only be earned in the true frontier zones and level 15+ battlegrounds.

You may not attack players in your realm in any normal sense, but you may agree to duel them.

Travel & Mapping

Some of DAoC's most compelling innovations came in the form of making travel less painful, and even involving vehicles in combat. Incipient at launch were horse routes, which (for a small fee) you'd be transported between two popular environs on horseback. There is no controlling the horse, but you can jump off without penalty anywhere along the way. With the second expansion, if you wished to sortie to an area distant from the horse routes, "hasteners" are provided that will grant your character a bonus to speed for a slightly higher price than horseback.

With "New Frontiers" and "Trials of Atlantis" came a need for seagoing transportation, both as simple transportation and as a means of supporting ground combat and siege support (true naval warfare has yet to be implemented, as ships can only be attacked and sunk from shore). Players may travel on free "ferries" through the ToA zones, or purchase a reusable 9- or -32-person-capacity personal boat. One-time-use warboats, some featuring siege engines, are also purchasable in the "New Frontiers" zones.

Mythic has provided as excellent out-of-game map resource called MapAlot, but there are no official in-game overhead map features. UI mod afficianados can download in-game mapping systems from sites like DAoCmods.com.

Combat, Quests, Tasks & AI

Experience comes from defeating monsters. Monsters that are grouped, or spawns that haven't been killed in some time grant experience bonuses. Spawns that are heavily "camped" begin to degrade in experience offered, to a max of 20-30%.

A quest journal is provided to keep track of outstanding quests and "tasks" (auto-generated quests given by NPCs which ask that you deliver something to another NPC or kill a certain number of mobs, available until level 20).

Enemy AI is pretty much run-of-the-mill in DAoC. Mobs come solo or in groups of up to 4, each enemy class maximizing on its talents. As mentioned before, group bonus experience is awarded for defeating linked mobs.

Death Penalties

DAoC presents a modified approach to handling a character's death. Instead of the old, EQ-style, strictly "experience loss + return to your corpse to regain equipment" scheme, you'll keep your items when you die & revive at a bind point you create at certain "bind stones" scattered throughout the world (binding is available to all classes). You will lose a portion of your experience, though this penalty is cut in half the first time you die each level. The experience penalty can be additionally cut in half by returning to where you died and "praying" at your gravestone. You'll also lose "constitution points" each time you die; the cumulative effect of which can be to seriously lower your hitpoints. You must pay an NPC healer, typically situated close to bind stones, to regain constitution points.

Note that these penalties only come into effect with level 6. Levels 5 and under experience no death penalties whatsoever.

Future

The feeling in the industry is that Mythic overdeveloped the high-end game in recent years, strengthening the content for extant hardcore gamers but leaving low- and mid-level zones barren of potential groupmates. Without a community to grind alongside, a newcomer has a harder time progressing to the point where he or she can group with the game's population, nor has much reason to purchase the recent expansions (which, outside of aesthetics, are by-and-large tailored to 40+ players).

However, Mythic has an impressive record of one-paid and one-free expansion per year, and a recent "Come back to Camelot for free!" campaign that allowed players with cancelled accounts to return to the game for free for 10 days shows their desire to get back in touch with players that have left for greener pastures.

External Links

• DAoC Death Penalty Guide
• Dark Age of Camelot: Mapalot
• The Camelot Herald
• DAoC FAQ
• Dark Age of Camelot Forum at TenTonHammer.com
• Dark Age of Camelot News
• Official Dark Age of Camelot Website

References

Prima's Official Strategy Guide: Dark Age of Camelot, Melissa Tyler et.al., Random House, Inc. Copyright 2001.