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Dark Age of Camelot Journal One
Huh, Maybe we should have Documented This Code
I decided to go with large weaponry as my combat skill of choice. With DAOC being in its infancy, there were many areas of the skill system that were still a mystery to players. One of those was how Large Weaponry skill affected damage. In Albion a person who put points into two-handed weapons and used a two-handed sword, also needed to put skill points into the sub-skill of blade to have the most efficient damage output. Players argued back and forth whether Large Weaponry had the same restrictions. No matter how many players pleaded to Mythic, no answer was forthcoming on the subject. At one point a team lead was reported as saying that Large Weaponry did indeed need points into sub-skills, and that a developer had told him this. Because of that statement many players put points into blades or blunt to supplement Large Weaponry.
As a veteran of past MMOGs I decided to save my points until a conclusive answer was given. So many players rely on data based on perception. Someone thinks because they see a difference that the difference truly exists. A classic example is in Everquest when people thought plate armor absorbed more damage than chain. On the EQ Cleric board posters would swear they had seen it with their own eyes. Eventually, Verant would announce that there was no damage absorption stat in EQ.
I'm not sure why Mythic refused to answer or chose to ignore players, but whatever the reason months later they announced that Large Weaponry did not depend on sub-skills. Why didn't Mythic let players in on this at the beginning? Mythic's community mouthpiece, Sanya, said it was because she was unaware that people wanted to know! To which I call shenanigans. The question was asked at least 3 times a day on the vault forums. There is no way anyone at Mythic missed it. I still don't have a logical explanation, the best I can come up with is that no one at Mythic knew the answer until the announcement. It sounds strange, but it wouldn't be the last time that Mythic was clueless about their own game.
The problem was greater than just people realizing they were wrong. Many Champions now had wasted half of their points into skills that were not helping them and they couldn't get those points back. It was a permanent blight on their character. Because Mythic's lack of foresight in beta, no matter how much I or other people told them they needed a system to do allow for the reallocation of skill points, Mythic blissfully ignored us. It is just a fundamental point of a game where characters take months to create. A system has to be in place for players to fix mistakes, and this has been proven now because Mythic and Anarchy Online both had to go to a system of skill point reallocation. Star Wars Galaxies and Asheron's Call 2 both have systems already built in to the game. Why Mythic and Funcom didn't see this problem looming is mostly arrogance. They think their system is flawless and don't need respecs, unfortunately for Jacobs and company, their ego cost them subscribers.
My champion was advancing very well. I had kept Large Weaponry and Valor (the champion spell line) maxed, and saved the remaining points. I solo'd most of the time because grouping in DAOC was a nightmare. I was in a guild, but it was now a month later and all my friends were now bored with the game or tying to find fun in another realm. So basically I just had to use the old standby of begging for a group or starting one myself. DAOC did have a 'LFG'(Looking for Group) flag, but it rarely helped facilitate getting a group.
The problem was that the world was divided into three realms. That meant while there was 2500 people online, you only saw about 400 of them in your realm. So the pool of places and people to hunt with was greatly reduced. Through in the usual level restrictions for groups, and that melee slots in a group fill up fast, you are left with the rather difficult proposition of locating a viable group. Luckily there were ‘kill tasks’ up to level 20. Kill Tasks basically were quests handed out by guards to kill a specific creature and in return for that service would reward the player with a hefty amount of experience. The best kill tasks were ones you could do with little running and hunting for the target. For example, the Hibernia area of the Shrouded Isle expansion has kill tasks literally just five steps from the guard. It is a great place to level as a newbie.
Back to grouping for a moment, my main beef with grouping in DAOC and other games is that other players are slow. If you’re in a group or invited into a group, do not dally around, do not go A.F.K(Away from Keyboard), or whine you’re not getting enough experience. Starting a group has its own problems, the biggest one is that you need a healer. So now you have to find a healer around your level who isn’t in a group, again this goes back to the small population size in each realm. Then if you do get a group, you’re back to the first problem of people constantly going A.F.K or simply being slow and holding the group back. For me, this really stood out in DAOC more than it did in EQ. My best theory for this is EQ was a harder game. It required more teamwork than DAOC. In EQ you had to have people all playing a role, in DAOC the action wasn’t as intense or deadly, there were never trains from runners, adds were always consistent based on group size, and ‘hold monster spells’ lasted a long time. So in EQ, a group had to be on its toes, in DAOC the atmosphere was too relaxed.
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