Dark Age of Camelot

Rating:
Summary: Dark Age of Camelot (do not buy)
Review: After playing since beta I can easily say that this game was the most awaited in a along time AND the biggest dissapointment.

Incredibly poor customer service, realm inbalances and a horribly long grind to level your characters = a game better left on the shelf.

Rating:
Summary: also, alot of promises about the game fall short
Review: I forgot to add this to my first "review." Mythic promised skills and abilities that they never implemented and seem to not be ABLE to implement.

1. Disguise
2. Tracking
3. Spellcrafting

are just a few.

Others were put in the game, but in a way that quite frankly wasn't in the advertising. They added these skills as "Realm Abilities" as opposed to based of of your characters training as first indicated in the Strategy Guide, the Book that came with the game, and Mythics on web site.

All of these problems have been because they turned out "harder" or "more difficult" than they first thought. Yes this has been 8 months after the game went gold. Most people that have played for more than a month have noted that the game should "still be in Beta." Just a word of caution. Be VERY wary of what their Spokespeople post, they usually turn out to be false within the week. That is probably not their fault, since they most likely are only allowed to say what Mythic allows them to say.

Kunkoh

Rating:
Summary: Great potential, but very poor game overall
Review: Standard Middle Age hack and slash RPG. Looks nice, they made some improvement to EQ, had some great Ideas but it is a game that unless you are buying to join friends I don't recommend. Even then I recommend waiting for another game.

Why?
1. The Realms are for the most part balanced in power, however they are unbalanced on MOST servers by population. What does this mean? The "end game" is supposed to be RvR (realm vs realm), however if your outnumbered by 2 or 3 to one on ever occassion it gets frustrating. On the other side, if you outnumber the other realm all the time it gets borring. Albion generally has the most population for many reasons (Camelot, paladins, etc)
2. Some classes are great, lots of fun balanced classes, others are very underpowered to the point of being a wast of time in both RvR and PvE (Player vs Environment).
3. 8months out EQ had quite a bit more content. You can play another realm, sure, but then you loose friends. Then you also notice that some realms were planned out quite a bit better than others. Albion, the realm with Camelot, for instance is much more complet than the other 2, which makes since.
4. They are constantly changing the game. Note I did not say improving. One day the class that you have been playing is fun, and does well, the next day it is worthless (42days wasted). That can be VERY frustrating. Some weapon styles may be very good one week, and the next they are not, or they change one that was a complete waste to be the best in the game.
5. RvR as End Game = Lots of Lag, Tactics = Zerg (you'll see), and Mez. That is it. So whoever has the larger force or gets off the most Mez wins. Then they take a keep and go to the RvR Dungeon for Loot (Darkness Falls). Or they zerg around Emmain Macha in Hib (all servers do this). Same thing over and over, with lots of down time sitting around waiting for 5 minutes of fun.

If you DO deside to buy the game anyway, please do this.
1. Go to the Camelot Herald and CHECK out the Server you plan to go to. Don't worry about Keeps or Relics (unless one realm has all), they change every week. Check for Realm Points over last 7 days, and Top Guilds over last 7. This will show you which realms are currently dominant.
2. Check out your character by doing research on it.
3. Most classes that sound like they should be good, or the best at something are NOT, avoid them unless you like a hard time. (no i'm not being sarcastic) Spiritmasters, Blademaster, are masters of nothing. Runemasters and Enchanters usually don't spec in their namesake skill. Paladins aren't useful in RvR. Shaman are only used as buffbots. Scouts can not scout. Etc.
4. If you want a good all around character: Alb- Smitecleric, Armsmen, Any caster but Cabalist. Hib: SpearHero, Bard (can be boring at times), Casters. Mid: Thane, Skald, Runemaster.
5. Be prepared for your class to be drastically changed in 3 months with no way of fixing it but to start a new character.
6. Just go through the BattleGrounds and ignore the end game. Less Zerg, Less Mez, Less Lag, Less Downtime = more fun.

Rating:
Summary: A well-thought out game with a very responsive company
Review: First of all, be careful of the reviews you hear about how a game of this sort is "unfinished." I am yet to see ANY games of this sort to be "finished." It is true there were many aspects to the game were yet to be implemented at release, but the company has diligently worked to implement items into the game in an orderly fashion (though timely is matter of perspective.)

Also be careful of reviews that say that Mythic is in the job of nerfing. They spend a significant amount of time trying to balance the game. If there is an "uber" template, that template won't last very long. (Unlike Asheron's Call where EVERYONE is a magic-user.) With each new addition, skill change, class change, monster change, equipment change, (which happen rougly every two to three weeks) it is difficult to predict in which direction the game balance will turn. They gauge the balance through the success rate of the various professions and customer feedback. After some study, they make a change... It may be true that at some point in the game a certain class or realm has an advantage, but by analyzing data and customer feedback, that advantage may be short-lived or possibly long-lived, depending on the extant of the imbalance, but rest assured, it's not permanent.

Also, this game is incredibly dependent on the intelligence of the user. I recall a time when Albions (a human realm) outnumbered Midgards (dwarf, trolls, kobolds) in a realm vs. realm battle, about 16 players to 8 players. We (Albions) had been regularly trouncing them just through sheer numbers. The Midgards stil came back for more and more. Unfortunately for the Albions, we were getting rather over-confident and the Midgards came from a direction where we were not looking and using their party of 8, wiped out a party of 16 (technically two parties of 8). My hats off to the Midgards for using their brains and taking advantage of our overconfidence.

Rating:
Summary: Not too bad...
Review: I've been playing DAoC for about 6 months now. I purchased this game after Verant/Sony [messed] over their Everquest customers and forced many of us into retirement. Although DAoC isn't better than EQ, it is fun to play has alot of pluses.

First off, the players in DAoC are alot nicer than they are in EQ. I have yet to meet anyone in game with an attitude. It's not uncommon to see a high level player give large amounts of money or items to low level players to help them out.

The graphics aren't quite as good as EQ, however, Mythic is doing an expansion slated for later this year which will include a graphics change.

Unlike EQ, there is no camping in DAoC. The moment a quest NPC is killed, he respawns within the hour, sometimes alot less. This is a big plus. No more sitting around and camping a rare NPC for hours on end.

There are no GM's in DAoC. I have yet to experience a problem where they are needed. If you have a technical problem in game, there's one way to solve it...relog. No more arguing with GM's and waiting forever to get help.

Customer service is there, unlike EQ. I have e-mailed customer service only twice with minor problems and questions and have received a helpful response within 4 days. That's pretty impressive being that Verant NEVER returns customer inquiries.

When it comes to comparing EQ with DAoC, I would have to say DAoC is better. I would definately choose this title over anything put out by Sony/Verant. And with all the MMORPG's coming out within the next year or so, it's only a matter of time before EQ becomes obsolete.

Rating:
Summary: Dark Age of Nerfs Alot
Review: This game was released before the developers even finished. The classes are not balanced, Mythic keeps nerfing the classes based on their mistakes and on the whinning of dissatisfied players. Now they are introducing an expansion pack. Sheesh... They don't even have the basic game fixed yet. It is a good game but would have the potential to be a fantastic game if they would fix the classes.

Rating:
Summary: Daoc great game but
Review: if you plan on buying this game for pvp..you better pick Albion realm.The game is set up so that Albion always wins has better casters better archers better stealthers better everything..So pick albion realm or you will be very disappionted

Rating:
Summary: A game that gets a "WOW"
Review: WOW! This game rocks socks. You can hunt solo and with groups but if you are a magic character then I suggest you should hunt in a group. The trade skills are awsome even though I am sort of upset that you can only buy materials in shops and can't find them off monsters and stuff like in Ultima Online. The game has about 1/4 as much lag as Asherons Call and Everquest and it has 1/8 as much lag as the 3D Ultima Online. I have played every MMORPG such as Asherons Call, Ultima Online, Everquest, and Anarchy Online and this one is my second favorite (my first favorite is asherons call). And wen the hunting gets boring you can go into frontier and fight players from other realms in team based warefare and you can also create siege weapons even though they are extremely hard to make. Frontier is sort of like Team Fortress Classic but it is an RPG, it is about 100 times bigger with around 500 players (at least), it requires a lot of team work, and it is much harder to get up again and get back to where you were when you die. If you are a fan of Everquest, Ultima Online, Asherons Call, or Anarchy Online (if there are any) then you should definately get this awsome Online RPG.

Sincerely,

Mafila in Albion on the
Guenivere Shard.

Rating:
Summary: cool game
Review: this game has great graphics and its on the internet so you can meet new people i love it

Rating:
Summary: DAoC
Review: This game is pretty fun but it can get repetitive after awhile because you advance levels so slowly that you can't fight many different things. The forced grouping of the game can also be a little tiresome especially if you don't get along with someone in your group, but grouping does allow you to fight higher lever creatures and have a chance of surving it plus you get more experince and loot.