Dark Age of Camelot is a 3D medieval fantasy MMORPG that revolves around the war between three realms at the end of King Arthur's rule: Great Britain's Albion, Scandinavia's Midgard and Ireland's Hibernia. The game was developed by Mythic Entertainment and released on October 10, 2001.

For the majority of players, the most interesting part of the game is realm vs. realm combat (RvR). On normal servers, players cannot harm other members of their realm. They can travel to special areas called Frontiers and fight players from other realms. Most of the DAoC population focuses on RvR, mainly because PvE (player versus environment) can be rather unstimulating or too challenging on many classes (there are, however, some classes who excel at PvE combat, such as the necromancer). There are three role-playing servers, which act as normal servers except you must follow proper role-playing guidelines, a player versus player server, in which everyone is free to attack anyone at any time, and a co-op server, in which there is no RvR. Each server can support up to 3500 online players at the same time. Recently, Mythic Entertainment has introduced "server clustering" - where certain locations (Frontiers, Capital cities) from multiple servers essentially become one location, and players can interact with players from and travel to other servers. In addition, a new server type has been released. These servers, called Classic servers, are similar to standard servers except no content from the Trials of Atlantis expansion is available and all stat-enhancement spells (buffs) can only be cast on players with whom you are grouped and within a certain distance. This new server type was launched after extensive player feedback and irritation with the ToA expansion and the issue of buffbots. As of September 21st, 2005 there are 22 servers, six of which are outside of a cluster, and the rest are spread out among four clusters.

Classes

The classes in the game are:

Albion: Armsman, Cabalist, Cleric, Friar, Heretic, Infiltrator, Mercenary, Minstrel, Necromancer, Paladin, Reaver, Scout, Sorcerer, Theurgist, Wizard.

Midgard: Berserker, Bonedancer, Healer, Hunter, Runemaster, Savage, Shadowblade, Shaman, Skald, Spiritmaster, Thane, Valkyrie, Warlock, Warrior.

Hibernia: Animist, Bainshee, Bard, Blademaster, Champion, Druid, Eldritch, Enchanter, Hero, Mentalist, Nightshade, Ranger, Valewalker, Vampiir, Warden.

Races

The races in the game are:

Albion: Avalonian, Briton, Half-Ogre, Highlander, Inconnu, Saracen.

Midgard: Dwarf, Frostalf, Kobold, Norseman, Troll, Valkyn.

Hibernia: Celt, Elf, Firbolg, Lurikeen, Shar, Sylvan.

Expansions

Mythic has produced five expansions (3 retail, 2 free) for DAoC and is currently in the developmental stages of a sixth (4th retail):

• Shrouded Isles (November 12, 2002) - Added 6 new classes (Neromancer, Reaver; Savage, Bonedancer; Valewalker, Animist), 3 races (Valkyn, Inconnu, Sylvan) and a brand new land for each realm near the size of the old world (in addition to the old world), which also includes epic dungeons.
• Foundations (June 18, 2003) - Added player housing (free expansion)
• Trials of Atlantis (October 28, 2003) - Added 3 new races (Half-Ogre, Frostalf, Shar) and high level content and zones (which are the same for each realm), also includes new terrian graphics for all areas of the game (including trees)

The Trials of Atlantis expansion remains very controversial, many players rejected it because of the difficulty, organization, and time required in Atlantis's epic raids. Also, the expansion featured extremely powerful items known as artifacts, which were very difficult for players to receive and are considered by many to be too powerful. Artifacts were obtained by hidden enounters and are only usefull when activated by finding three certain scrolls horded by Atlantean monsters. Furthermore, the artifacts must gain experince in order to reach it's full potential. once this is completed, Arifacts become some of the most mighty items in the entire game.

• New Frontiers (June 22, 2004) - Remake of the game's realm vs. realm warfare (free expansion, required expansion)
• Catacombs (December 7, 2004) - Added 5 new classes (Heretic; Vampiir, Bainshee; Warlock, Valkyrie), instanced dungeons, and new zones and quests with an emphasis on quicker and easier leveling. Also includes new player model graphics and new graphics for all the games' dungeons (except Darkness Falls).
• Darkness Rising Scheduled for (October 2005) - Upcoming expansion which includes epic (aka Champion) weapons (much like epic armor, quests for the weapons start at level 35), player mounts (horses), Champion Levels (small abilities that are earned by completing tasks with a single group), and new graphics for the game world's models (such as barns, haystacks and forts, this includes the Darkness Falls dungeon and the capital cities) which are following the design ideas presented in Mythic's new graphics for the starting cities.

In July, 2005 Mythic started three new servers, Lamorak, Gareth, and Ector, which do not include the Trials of Atlantis and restrict the use of buff bots. The new servers are meant for those players who rejected the special equipment and abilities in Atlantis, and their potential use in RVR combat.

Mythic introduced a new island, called Agramon, which acts as a central island that connected the frontiers of the three realms. Unlike the Rest of the Frontiers zones, there are no keeps and any player from any realm can open gates.

Storyline

Each realm has a unique but parallel storyline, which is expanded with retail expansions. The European dustributors occasionally add writings about the realms and their inhabitants in detail.

In the original Realm zones, smaller cities in the realm need protection against monsters common to many other RPGs. In particular, Albion is menaced by undead raised by Moragnna and Hibernia is torn apart by the Unseelie court and Siabra.

Shrowded Isles- Each realm is called to assist a smaller allied realm against a large enemy. In Albion, the Drakoran have besieged the final stongholds of Lady Lile's Avalonians. Hibernia has com to the aid of Hybrasil, where the Sylvans face extinction at the hands of the Fomorians. Midgards ancestral home at Aegir has seen the Last of the troll fathers hunted down by the Morvalt.

Catacombs- A nemisis has taken control of the power within the Darkspire, gaining control of most of the denizens of a realm's race. Arawn, previously referenced as an ally of the Avalonians and patron of the Inconnu, has had his realm overrun by revolting dead and enslaved Inconnu. The Shar are only able to hold their ground at the gates of their Otherworld citadel. The Kobolds have been forced to open the secrets of the undercity to outsiders in a desperate bid for survival.

The story of Darkness Rising will be focused on the demons of Darkness Falls, and how the Realm Kings will respond.

External links

• The Official Dark Age of Camelot site
• The Camelot Herald - The Dark Age of Camelot community site
• Vault Network Forums - Camelot Main Boards
• Camelot Vault
• DAoC Catacombs - External character generator
• DAOC site with much useful information
• DAoC Wikipedia (German)
• DOL (DAoC Server Emulator)
• European version of Dark Age of Camelotde:Dark Age of Camelot

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