Rating: 
Summary: DAOC
Review: played DAOC for almost a year, purchased every expansion pack including Trials of Atlantis and all I can tell you about the experience is that it was always VERY DISAPPOINTING!! Especially in TOA, you will spend literally Hours and Hours to get one artifact. I am not exaggerating when I say that most of the creatures you will need to confront to get your artifact will only spawn every 8-12 hours or more, and then there is no guarantee you will get the artifact drop, and it is very likely that some punk will come out of nowhere and steal it from you after waiting all those hours, and what does Mythic do about it? Absolutely nothing! I had several friends who also played online with me but we all canceled our accounts because Mythic just won't do anything to back up their so-called user agreement. Unless this expansion corrects all of the mistakes they made with Trials of Atlantis, you will find this game to be very frustrating. A waste of time and money in my opinion.
Rating: 
Summary: This expansion is a slick-looking lifeline to new players!
Review: After playing this for a few weeks, I want to thank Mythic for a job well done.
The graphics are now even better, but my older 1.6 ghz athlon system with 512 RAM is now having trouble at times, even with a newer 128 vid card. This is not Mythic's fault. Rather than make us all abandon our powerful characters, their gear, and years of memories in order to experience a new game with sharper graphics and more developed quests, etc. (like Sony's Everquest), Mythic simply improves the existent game.
The quests that come in these new subterranean zones are plentiful and INTERESTING-- not just go out and gank mob X (tho that remains a staple of many). These zones are real eye candy.
Most importantly, the instanced dungeons and quests mean that once you log on, you can be grinding XP and getting loot in a couple minutes, and are not dependent on waiting around to cobble a group together if you do not have a long play session. I am a parent of a toddler, and I appreciate the chance to do something fun with an MMORPG when I can't commit to 2+ hours.
In fact, I was so impressed by how this expansion, coupled with Mythic's new autoleveling mechanic (kinda like "matching funds" for leveling), means someone COMPLETELY NEW to the game can jump right in and get their toon up fast. The previous reviewer is right. I successfully introduced two of my friends into the game for the first time and they are having a blast.
For people who have a full slate of level 50s on each server, this may not offer much, but for those of us who do not, and want to level up alts it's killer.
Rating:
Summary: Buy this Expansion!!!!
Review: After reading some of the reviews I felt this Expansion needed some explaining.
This Expansion is for ALL the realms within DAoC to enjoy not just the Albions as noted in a previous review. The reference to the name Catacombs just means that the game will now have Instanced Dungeons. This is something that was made popular with games like EverQuest. It just means that a group of people can have a undisturbed encounter in which just their group can participate in a dungeon adventure without another group stumbling into the encounter. The other reason to buy this and the most important is the character graphics upgrade. I feel it is the best look in the online games so far. To many times only the world is made to look realistic and the character suffers. Not here!! It will blow you away the detail made in a truly 3D rendering. So now not only does the world in DAoC look great due to the Trials of Atlantis expansion but now you can have a character thats looks like they fit in that world(TWO THUMBS WAY UP!!!!)
Rating:
Summary: Solid expansion that makes game more fun
Review: Catacombs is a great addition to the mature MMORPG, Dark Age of Camelot. In addition to the new graphics, which puts DAoC on par with all but the most resource-hogging MMOs out there, Catacombs significantly cuts the leveling grind that DAoC has been known for in the past. Catacombs features generous mob drobs, adds mini quests that can be completed in a few minutes for mucho experience, and it adds instanced dungeons where solo players or small groups can hunt. Catacombs makes soloing for casual gamers much easier than in the past. All in all, a big improvement to the game.
Rating:
Summary: Don't judge a book by it's....
Review: cover. Or in this case a PC game that has a lot of potential. Noone thought EQ or FFXI would make it very far but look at them now!!!! Mythic is there too!! Mythic is doing this all by themselves. EQ and FFXI had help from other companies. Also MOST IMPORTANTLY, alot of things change at launch....that is why they send out closed betas and open betas to ensure the maximum fun!!! I have worked in entertainment for a long time and can tell you that this expansion will Knock the pants offa any RPG out there!! RED HOT!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Don't judge a book by it's....
Review: cover. Or in this case a PC game that has a lot of potential. Noone thought EQ or FFXI would make it very far but look at them now!!!! Mythic is there too!! Mythic is doing this all by themselves. EQ and FFXI had help from other companies. Also MOST IMPORTANTLY, alot of things change at launch....that is why they send out closed betas and open betas to ensure the maximum fun!!! I have worked in entertainment for a long time and can tell you that this expansion will Knock the pants offa any RPG out there!! RED HOT!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Those who don't like MMORPGs should stick to Unreal & Quake
Review: Dark Age of Camelot (DAoC) is, arguably, the best MMORPG currently available due to its unique focus on 'realm' (i.e., large-scale player v. player - PVP) combat. It *loosely* weaves Arthurian, Celtic and Viking lore into a world in which the three are always in conflict. However, in its effort to combine character development (i.e., largely player v. environment - PVE) with PVP, it has attracted a core of players who want nothing more than to have the game become a first-person shooter - ala Unreal Tournament. While most players aren't big PVE fans, we can understand appreciate the importance of 'investing' some time and effort to develop a persona in a MMORPG environment to progress to an end-game goal, which includes defending your lands (by slaying 'invaders' played by other people). It makes good business sense if you're trying to keep a monthly subscriber base. It's a shame that the featured responses are panning a very good game and giving you a warped sense of its merit based solely upon their selfish desire to turn DAoC into yet another mindless first-person shooter game.
Rating: 
Summary: Both Highlighting and Degrading the Beauty of the Realms
Review: Envrionmentally, the graphical upgrade Catacombs offers is fantastic, and the new classes are welcome. The new character models, for the most part, are a graphical improvement without any change in style. However, the character models of the Avalonians and Elves, while graphically superior to their predecessors, have undergone a drastic change in style. Gone are the lithe and eerily ethereal Elves of the Dark Age of Camelot I used to know, replaced by the standard long-eared, tanned, shapely, bulky Elves similar to the EverQuest franchise. Gone are the delicately studious Avalonians, suffering the same new affliction of weight gain that the unfortunate Elves have. It is truly a travesty.
Mysteriously, the other races are, apparently, stylistically unchanged.
Character creation itself is a disappointment, with extremely limited flesh tones, hair colours, and hair styles (about four for each race/gender). If Mythic's reasoning for this is a matter of resources, I would have recommended waiting a year or more to do this well, rather than releasing such a minor improvement in appearance customisation with such a major change in the aesthetic style of the Avalonians and Elves.
Rating:
Summary: Facts instead of bashing?
Review: I Beta'd Catacombs, after wearying of the 'grind' DAOC had become. What a welcome surprise. Much like WOW - a dedicated player can reach 50 (and the endgame) within two weeks using Catacombs - and there IS an endgame to look forward too. Instancing is done very well. The graphics upgrade is good, but the age of the game does tell in older areas. This expansion is entirely dedicated to PVE (player vs enviroment) and Mythic has done a good job of it.
Rating: 
Summary: Mixed Review
Review: I have played DarkAges since the first day of the games release, across 2 servers and 2 realms (I have not played Albion).
The Catacombs Expansion will give a solo or casual player a much less stressful time levelling and earning decent PvE gear. The instanced hunting can make for relatively fast levelling compared to the old zones.
All in all, it is a good expansion if you like the PvE content of the game. Its not if you only play for PvP.
Regardless, if you are new to the genre or DarkAges in particular there are a few things you should know...
Levelling may be quick with the Catacombs expansion (if you are casual or solo and dont have friends to powerlevel you), but that is less than half the battle. That is the only selling point.
The real flaw in the game comes from the amount of time required to farm gear - very much of it with poor drop rates (soon to be increased, though spawn times will be made even longer which is just robbing peter to pay paul) and excessive camping by people (including guilds that will log in as a mob spawns and steal it). These items however are 100% necessary to the completion of a character. Some characters, such as the warden, are almost useless if they have not done the full run of MasterLevels and ToA farming. The time for this farming is very intense.
All in all, there is a Very Steep entry level for starters.
On top of that, there is a confusing and easy to mess up specialization system, where you spend your skill points. Respecs (rechoosing your skills) for these points are rarely handed out by Mythic (once per year or less), and the stones you need to use to retrain your skills go for insanely high prices that nobody but the most dedicated and equipped players can afford. In a recent statement Mythic said they were happy with this system.
This means once you create a character it will have to stay like that. Once you have put in the time to level, gear out, masterlevel, and then begin the realmpoint treadmill - you will have put in hundreds upon hundreds of hours. If you made a mistake or found you do not like your specialization, or found it to be in poor demand, or would just like a change - you will be stuck with it for good.
The game is plagued with a poor interface, strict class selection for PvP (many classes are unwelcome), finicky PvP (as the interrupt system attests to), and Extremely Fast paced PvP. Literally there are classes that can kill you instantly, and there is almost no give and take in a battle.
The hallmark of the game is PvP, but the pace of it makes it very difficult to enjoy. It is faster than most FPS games. If you do not have a planned organized competitive group you will just be farmed & frustrated.
So in the end, even though I play it to this day, I have a powerful guild and support network to make levelling or getting gear tolerable, and PvP a success instead of being repeatedly killed over and over. Guilds like mine however, do not invite newcomers or people who play less than 6 hours per day.
I cannot, and do not, recommend this title for a beginner or a newcomer.
If you are a veteran DarkAges fan, you may enjoy the solo exp of Catacombs, or the change in appearances (though SI is still the superior PvP engine if you do not depend on healers helper, etc).
Rates are now increased to the same price as Warcraft, EQ2, etc. The President now only promises to support the game as long as the community does, and such a non-committal message does not bode well for the future.
I hope this review was helpful.
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