With ArcheAge on the horizon I look at wow nerfs and DAoC updates

Ye ole battlegrounds on venerable mmo Dark Age of Camelot

While Trion announced that ArcheAge is being released on Sept. 16, the open beta begins tomorrow and I am highly tempted to become a sponsor to begin testing it out early, albeit after all the early beta events. Just not sure I want to dump $50 into an untested game, no matter how high the hype is as I have been burned before with trial runs. However, I have not really played a game from beta since the start and the idea is appealing, especially since I have been looking for an alternative to my D&D games as many of you gamer monkeys already know.

I did roll a new hunter toon on wow because the expansion is only a few months out and I though starting out with a new orc character from level 1 might be fun. Things sure have changed since I last visited Durotar though including these disturbing wow nerfs:

Scorpions and other mobs in Durortar in the valley of the trials (horde starting area for orcs) no longer aggro, at least  not in the early quests, and neither do the vile familiars outside of the Burning Blade Coven.

I remember when they used to gang up on you but now that leveling is not the primary part of the game, raiding has become the focus,  so end game is what most players log on to do. I wonder why we need to level at all?

Oh yea, with Warlords, I guess you won’t have to if you don’t want to since you can start a character at level 90.

Just about all the mobs are nerfed and it doesn’t take much to kill them!

If I remember correctly, I read on mmo champion a while back that hunters don’t run out of ammo like they once did.

when I was a wow n00b around 2008-09 I can’t remember how many times I died starting out, but today I was able to level 10 levels without even tasting death once!

if you are in a cave or instance like the Burning Blade coven, in case you are too dense to find the mini boss by yourself, there is a skull on the map which marks your target,,,how lazy can we be? Wow leads you by the hand and is so by the numbers, you feel like you are on autopilot going through the linear quest lines. Yet, I go back because it is so familiar to me and because I like the lore in the game.

At least in DAoC Pve, the mobs will still attack you if you get close, and the color con system ensures that if you want a challenge, you can attack a higher level monster. In wow, there is no con system, all the mobs are there for window dressing and as quest fodder.

Speaking of DAoC, a lot of changes occured in that game when Braodsword Studios took the game over from Mythic. Some of the more significant include:

• Character and guild search
• Updates to the frontiers, docks and keeps
• Battleground events and bonus xp on holiday weekends

Damn I miss Dark Age of Camelot, I may have to resub and roll a toon on Gaheris.