Tuesday 13 July 2004

Pic of the day: Sights to make you forget the Dark Ages.

Forgetting DAoC

Given how much Dark Age of Camelot has figured in my journals for the previous couple of years, it seems almost unnatural that it should fade so completely. Yet it has. I have dropped my two European accounts now, where I used to play two characters together. It was a nice experience, and I am going to try it again with City of Heroes. But I'm not going to keep paying every month for two accounts I don't use at all, and hasn't really used since April.

I try to play every second or third weekend on my American account, where I have my level 50 paladin on the cooperative server. He is parked in an area where there is often need for resurrection, but where the monsters are not dangerous at his level. Each time I have a hard time remembering the keys to control my character. Actually this effect set in during the CoH beta, I believe. It is amazing how fast I have grown used to the easy, intuitive controls of CoH. I thought DAoC controls were pretty good until I tried CoH, though. I played for a couple years without problems. It is just that I've grown used to having so many choices right there on the screen and yet only taking up space when I want them.

I see DAoC now boasts a much improved frontier, where the realm wars take place. This is good. They should have moved right on to New Frontiers and skipped Trials of Atlantis, which are unbalancing and out of character. ToA seemed inspired by EQ and its never ending stream of new expansions, where people's worth as a player is determined largely by the expansions they can afford (and the newer computers needed to run them). DAoC wasn't like that, and it has now returned to its roots. The strength of the game was the realm wars. Sadly for their prospects of having me as a customer, I hate all forms of PvP (Player vs. Player fighting) and I hate war and all glorification of war with a vengeance.

Lately, I have found during my visit to Camelot that it seems dark, forbidding and claustrophobic. In part this may be because I am parked in a cave, although an immense cave (Darkness Falls, as big as many games until recently). But in part it is the atmosphere, I think. CoH has ... hope and glory, I guess is the best description. There is an underlying optimism. In part it could be because most such games are medieval, but CoH is set in the 21st century, seemingly just a little bit ahead of us. And of course, being able to fly adds to the sense of freedom too! ^^

So ... I know people have questioned the lasting value of CoH, and I see some people are quitting. Perhaps we just look for different things. Except for the sentimental value, I would probably have left DAoC already and moved entirely to Paragon City - "Birthplace of Tomorrow". That's just the kind of guy I am ... in my dreams, at least.