DAoC

Another part on the same topic because I wasn't able to fit all I wanted to say in the other post. In this case more opinions directly on the features of the expansion.

To begin with: noone is writing about the expansion on a forum beside the specialized ones about the game. This says a lot about the appeal of this expansion towards new or returning players.

Then, from what I read, everyone has taken "The Labyrinth" as an RvR dungeon. I don't know from where that idea is coming because after I read the expansion details that thought didn't even pass by my head. I don't know if my brain just refuses to accept bad game design, but if that dungeon is an RvR dungeon then it's really a bad idea.

This is one of those things that are obvious to just *everyone*. The game definitely doesn't need more space where to fit the RvR. It needs LESS. And everyone KNEW that already when "New Frontiers" was in the design stages, with everyone wondering why the hell Mythic didn't reduce the number of zones. It was just stupid.

When I read that announce I thought it was just one massive dungeon, maybe even instanced, but just for PvE. The press release doesn't specify it's "RvR" and, if true, it would be a so bad idea that I didn't even contemplate it.

The games HAS ALREADY a massive RvR dungeon. It's called Darkness Falls and it is already largely ignored by the players. If you wanted to give some weight to this aspect of the game then it would have made sense to revitalise it (and not just graphically). I really dislike when the game design isn't well polished and new ideas goes right to overlap and crowd another part of the game that shares the exact same purpose.

As I wrote in the last discussions about PvP, the PvP needs a "convergence". More locales only damage the game, in particular when so much space is already there wasted and without a purpose.

In those ideas that I had suggested for the expansion I also proposed to add a new RvR zone, but with a significant difference that can be used as a template to judge similar attempts about adding more space. In that idea the new zone was designed to be "alternate" to the RvR frontiers. It was planned to be sealed for most of the time, so with the players forced outside of it. While, when open, it would become the focus, with all the players converging there. It was the frontier OR the new zone, not both together at the same time.

So it wasn't just another zone always available, but a new space that "triggered" under certain conditions. So that its role didn't overlap nor replaced the standard zones.

If the rumor is confirmed I would really like to know what's the purpose of that new RvR dungeon. In particular when they underline so much that it is going to be the biggest dungeon ever. I imagine the slogan: "You will never meet the same player two times". A great feature for a PvP game.

By definition a "labyrinth" is PvE. Not really the best layout to host some PvP action. Maybe I'm wrong but when Mythic says "largest single dungeon in any MMO" I suddenly imagine the exact same corridor cut and pasted ad infinitum. Already with Darkness Rising they went with those huge locales but thin on content. Advertising "size" today is like a warning, as people know that worthwhile content isn't proportional with size. You don't want to be "Dark & Light".

While I was thinking about what could be possible with a labyrinth and some PvP I started to think about moving walls, traps, the possibility to rotate entire sections of the labyrinth to trap the players inside or made them lose orientation and so on. I even thought of walls that become progressively more solid over time, like graphically fading in and out. Then I also thought about group of players trapped within certain sections and then respawn directly in the dungeon if killed. There could be some interesting possibilities to explore, adding some dynamic elements and give some player control over them. But I seriously doubt that it's what Mythic is trying to do. And no matter how good these ideas could be, the problem of adding too much space when the game is already too spread thin would still cripple whatever you may add.

In all the cases, all the ideas I imagined were about the players and not about respawning mobs. Noone likes to PvP in a dungeon crowded with monsters. The game has already PvE/PvP dungeons. One is Darkness Falls, the other is the underground tunnel in the frontiers. Both largely ignored. Adding one more? Why?

The dungeon will be located under Agramon and my suspect is that it will inherit is uselessness. So, instead of worrying about the damaging effect it could have on the RvR population/concentration, the risk is that it will instead go completely ignored already after a few weeks it will be patched in.

AT LEAST the rumor about instanced RvR revealed to be false. And if it was a feature-cut, then god bless it.

This dungeon will be also populated by mechanical creatures. Here only a note to make because I'm kind of used to the superficiality/carelessness with which Mythic implements things (they are usually quick and respect the deadlines, but the results are poor): mechanical things, even before how they look, need special animations. I put my hands forward here because I've seen one screenshot of a pet you can get, and it's just an animal model with a mechanical skin. As a style I would pick something more odd and awkward, with mechanical things that move and attack oddly, instead of just taking the standard monster types and reskinning them to look metallic.

About the new race and class I don't have much to say because I wrote about them in the other post. The fact that the minotaur can use a two-handed weapon with one hand doesn't really shock me because I know that the designers will have to compensate it somehow. It's a bad idea to advertize the power of a new class in a PvP game because it only leads to players screaming about unbalances already before the game is out.

DAoC usually had quite original and diversified classes to offer. That's a merit. For now there isn't much about the "Brawler" class that makes it look like something really interesting.

About the lootable relic/artifacts idea I won't comment either, for now. It's one that I know really well because I've juggled with it for a few years. So I know quite well the risks and purposes of it. I'll wait to see the details before adding my comments (if I'll be around by then). I'll just say that the idea fits an expansion well. There's always the problem that you cannot touch the RvR with "optional" content. But in this case these items are unique (at least in my idea), so while they will influence ALL players, those who use/carry them are still unique cases. You just need one player with the expansion who can loot/carry the item, then everyone else can play around. It doesn't unbalance the game or is felt as "unfair" from that perspective as it cannot be made mandatory for all players as it happens instead with the ToA items and abilities, which are "farmable".

And finally we have the new item slots and the Champion levels. About the Champion levels I can only grimace a bit. They are neither bad nor good, I will have to see how they continue the paths. I also cannot comment much because I never went about the first level, as I didn't finish the last PvE encounter and the kills in RvR didn't give enough points to see the bar moving.

The items slots have the problematic implication and risk to become another ToA. And people would hate this already on the principle. I continue to believe that DAoC NEEDS PvE, and that some PvE can be good IF MADE ACCESSIBLE. But even here I don't have enough elements to comment. Those item slots could be just reserved for the relics (I doubt it), but in every case it's too soon to rant about them.

Lastly a feature that isn't in the feature list and that I want to discuss exactly because it isn't there. All previous expansion with the exception of the last included new technology. New engines, graphic restyles and upgrades. The biggest leap forward was with Shrouded Isles with the whole new engine that partially fixed a mean memory leak that corrupted the screen after a few hours of play, then the higher res textures and a bunch of other details. After it we had ToA with another new (laggy) client, SpeedTree, new multi-layer terrain textures and the support for some new pretty effects. Catacombs didn't change much in the engine (that is noticeable) but it brought the all-new character models (with mixed results). And Darkness Rising didn't introduce any new technology either but it accompanied the reskin of Darkness Falls and the capital cities. Minor graphic reskins have continued with the Live patches, but this new expansion won't bring anything from that perspective. No better technology, no restyles. And I underline this because DAoC's client is really, really bad and would definitely need work. Even if most of its fault are due to Netimmerse/Gamebryo (the engine they licenced). For example the awful performance and stutter if you play in windowed mode, the impossibility to resize/maximize the window and so on. And you can add the UI to the list.

But that kind of development isn't competence of DAoC's current team, I suspect. Those who can touch those sort of things would be already busy with Warhammer.

Btw, if you remember Sanya said that the delay of the announce was also because they were granted more resources and so they could re-add features that were cut. Well, with a second glance at the feature list I really wonder what they were going to put in the expansion if the plan was to add even less than that.

And, quoting from the other post:

However, we've got some things coming down the pike that will almost certainly have an impact on those numbers.

I hope it wasn't this expansion. Because I seriously doubt it will have even a slight positive effect on the population of the game.