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Dark Age of Camelot takes aim at group finder and bug fixes
An end-of-the-year community Q&A at Dark Age of Camelot revealed that the team has a lot on the docket for Patch 1.117, including the long-awaited casual group finder and a heap of bug fixes. "We think that focusing our development resources on bug fixing for an entire patch cycle is something that hasn't been done in a long time and is something that will make everyone's gameplaying experience that much better!" Broadsword posted. Other topics discussed include freeing up space in quest logs, plans to update the patcher, and ideas to help out starter guilds. The Q&A even revealed that there will be "official Broadsword player reps" and "scheduled raids of all sorts" for trial accounts, although details on those will be coming later.
Dark Age of Camelot grants accounts free playtime for its birthday
Like its sibling Ultima Online, Dark Age of Camelot is currently welcoming old players back with free account time just in time for its October anniversary. Unlike UO, though, DAOC's Come Back to Camelot promotion extends to the most ancient of accounts and runs for two weeks only: All accounts that were inactive on or before September 24th, 2014 are eligible for 13 free days! Simply login to the account center, re-subscribe, and the 13 free days will be applied to your account automatically! This campaign will run until October 31st. Broadsword Online also touted a hot fix that permits a dozen previously unrollable race/class pairings. If you've ever wanted a Troll Warlock or Sylvan Champion, now is the time.
Dark Age of Camelot builds statues of King's Tournament champions
Have you ever fancied the notion of having a giant in-game statue erected in your honor? This egotistical dream may come true for you in Dark Age of Camelot... if you are one of the winners of the October's King's Tournament. This brand-new event in DAoC kicks off tomorrow to commemorate the game's 13th anniversary. Each of the three realms will be tracking RvR stats for everyone in the game, and at the end of the month the top two players from each realm will be crowned champion. These six winners will have a statue of their character constructed in their realm's capital city. To track the progress of the tournament, players can check out an in-game leaderboard which will be updated on an hourly basis.
Dark Age of Camelot passes the torch to a new producer
It's a season of change over at Dark Age of Camelot, as the team is transitioning from former producer Talal Saad to the new one, John Thornhill. Saad said that he's not leaving the studio, but moving into a role that oversees more than just one game. "Rather than serving at the helm of one particular game, my responsibility will be to act as advocate and to use my time and energy to focus on how Broadsword can have a bigger impact, provide more investment, and achieve greater success for multiple products," he wrote. Thornhill introduced himself as the former lead designer for DAoC and outlined what the team would be focusing on for the future. He said that there are plans for the game's 13th anniversary (including new race and class pairings), the release of patch 1.116 around the end of November, the increase to champion level 15, an addition of a casual group finder, and more interaction with the community. "Our focus is going to be updating and modernizing the user experience of Dark Age of Camelot for the foreseeable future," Thornhill promised.
Dark Age of Camelot patch spruces up keeps and relic raids
Patch 1.115c went live on Dark Age of Camelot's servers today, bringing with it a slew of changes to the game's relic raids, keep art, and New Frontiers system. Players will log in to discover that relics are back in the possession of relic temples, bringing back the old raid mechanics for a new age. To steal a relic, teams have to open up certain relic milegates first and then plunder the item from its respective keep. Keeps have also received a visual upgrade and can be captured and upgraded by the three factions. There are several new RvR quests as well as plenty of fixes for bugs that may vex ye, so check out the patch notes and give the updated classic MMO a whirl!
Dark Age of Camelot adjusting New Frontiers again
Sometimes adjustments seem like a good idea right up until they're implemented. That's the case with Dark Age of Camelot's recent changes to New Frontiers. The game's most recent producer's letter states that they were made and quickly proved to not have the desired effects, which means that several elements need to be tweaked and re-balanced. This includes several rollbacks -- Relics will return to Relic Temples, docks will be returned to their original location, and players will no longer be able to port to shore-keeps. The updates to the game in the near future won't be limited to PvP, however, as the development team is also looking for ways to spruce up PvE content by modernizing mechanics and adding in new loot. In the longer term, there are also plans to revamp the game's LFG interface and provide a Champion Level increase. Check out the full producer's letter for all the details.
Dark Age of Camelot brings back character and guild searches
Looking for a particular person or group in Dark Age of Camelot? Fortunately for you, Broadsword has made it that much easier to track those people down for a hopefully not-at-all-creepy reunion. The devs announced that they have brought back character and guild searches to DAoC. Currently, these searches are limited to the Ywain server but will expand to other servers in the future. The team also said that it's going to be adding more in-game lists for realm point earners and champions of the realm in the near future. Character and guild search used to be in DAoC until Mythic took it down several years ago.
The Daily Grind: What was your favorite Mythic memory?
It's been a little over a week since Mythic Entertainment went out with a whimper, and as a former Warhammer Online fan, I'm still feeling a little sad about it. I appreciated the studio's enthusiasm and vision, even if I wasn't as much into PvP as some of those devs were. But at least a couple of the studio's former charges live on -- as do our memories. So what was your favorite memory involving a Mythic game, the studio, or the dev team? Let's raise a virtual glass and give a fond toast to yesterday's tales. Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Mythic closes, 'end of an era' for former MMO studio
We saw this coming, but it doesn't make it any less regrettable: Long-time MMO studio Mythic Entertainment has been shut down by EA. "We are closing the EA Mythic location in Fairfax, Virginia, as we concentrate mobile development in our other studio locations. We are working with all impacted employees to provide assistance in finding new opportunities, either within EA or with other companies via an upcoming job fair," EA told Kotaku. Former Mythic lead Josh Drescher tweeted his reaction to the news: "Condolences to everyone at Mythic today. It's the end of an era, but you were all part of something amazing." Mythic shuttered Warhammer Online last December, while Ultima Online, Dark Age of Camelot, and many Mythic developers moved over to Broadsword Online Games this past February.
Dark Age of Camelot plans New Frontiers tweaks, player polling
Broadsword Online continues its push to revitalize the veteran games it took over from EA earlier this year, including Dark Age of Camelot. The studio recently released yet another question-and-answer session with players, this time focusing on the new New Frontiers patch and ending with a soaring explanation of what makes the game so great after a dozen years. Some of the highlights: There are plans to revamp PvE after the New Frontiers content is properly tweaked. First on the PvE list is the top 10% most rewarding and difficult encounters. On the flipside, the devs agree there's too much PvE emphasis in the RvR Frontiers. The team is still looking at incentives for keep, tower, and relic defense. Shards will not be usable in housing zones. Legendary weapon updates are still on the table. Finally, there's a note that the game will ultimately benefit from in-game polling systems as opposed to relying on feedback from just the vocal minority of players. "You will be heard. Count on it," Broadsword promises.
Steam Greenlight spans Grave to Ultima Online in latest batch
You never know quite what you're going to get when a new list of Steam Greenlight-approved games shows up. For example, the latest batch of 75 includes both Ultima Online and Dark Age of Camelot, two of the most classic Western MMORPGs, both of which are under the care Broadsword Games. Among the other 73 games given the A-OK for a Steam release are Arcadecraft, Firebase's 1980s-styled arcade management sim, and Grave, Broken Window Studios' survival horror that takes place in a Salvador Dali-inspired wasteland. The Greenlight approval caps off a good week for Broken Window Studios, who saw the game funded on Kickstarter with days to go, meaning it's trekking its way to Xbox One as well as Windows, Mac and Linux. For the full list of inductees, head over to Steam Greenlight. [Image: Broadsword Games]
Dark Age of Camelot plans character transfer service and new art
Dark Age of Camelot's grab bag -- written by Sir Grabford B. Bagsworth III Esq., no less -- is back, and at the top of the most pressing questions is the issue of character transfers. Broadsword said that these are indeed in the works: "We would like to provide the opportunity to allow consolidation. This will be among the many updates and upgrades to the Broadsword account center that is currently underway. Currently, it's planned as a premium service –- but there are no details on the prices as yet." Broadsword mentions how art improvements have been going in the game following the studio's acquisition of DAoC. "We have renewed investment in this area, and we're really excited about updating art for various features in DAoC. Things we're currently discussing are: fixes for art-related bugs, new maps, UI skins, new items, monsters, and more!" Other topics in the grab bag include the return of in-game surveys, the status of the new website, and details of the next patch. The studio teased that it will be adding "a new long-term live event with a very cool surprise" with the update.
Ultima Online, Dark Age of Camelot embark on Steam Greenlight campaign
Since its acquisition of Ultima Online and Dark Age of Camelot in February, Broadsword Online Games has not been content to let the titles sit around merely getting older. Earlier this month, the team hosted a large state-of-the-game chat about the future of UO's design, and now the developers have posted their latest ambitions: a spot on Steam bathed in green light for the venerable old MMORPGs. "We are in the process of getting UO on Steam but need your help. Please go here and vote for UO! Thank you for all your support!" wrote UO Producer Bonnie Armstrong on the official site today. DAOC's Steam Greenlight campaign is likewise now live. You heard the lady. Chop, chop.
Dark Age of Camelot eyes mail system
Grab bag Q&As are special, because you never know what you'll get. Dark Age of Camelot has a new one up on the site with seven pressing questions from the community. One big revelation is that the team is strongly considering adding a mail system to the game: "It's (high) on our list of priorities! Mail opens up the possibilities for many many other things so we definitely want it in the game sooner rather than later." The topics covered include the devs' speculation on how upcoming changes to RvR conflict will play out, gear with specific bonuses, improvements to the server list screen, and titles for crafters.
Dark Age of Camelot trims up paths, docks, and portals with a new patch
Are you looking to take a trip to scenic Agramon in Dark Age of Camelot? Then you'll definitely want to check out the latest patch notes. Agramon has been somewhat revamped with new docks and new paths into the center of the land, both from these new docks and from the milegates of each realm. And those aren't the only dock-based changes in the patch, at that; merchant docks have been moved further inland and renamed mainland docks, center keep docks are gone, and the rules for capturing mainland docks are different. Strength Relic Towns have also seen the addition of a new portal ceremony as well as various protections to keep the towns from being too easily captured. Players can also pick up new quests from the Agramon dockmasters involving killing players within Agramon... assuming, of course, that your realm controls one of the docks in Agramon. For the full details, read up on the official patch notes.
New Dark Age of Camelot developer promises game upgrades and player polls
If you're a Dark Age of Camelot die-hard, you might be interested in Mythic community manager Carol Kenny's question-and-answer post published yesterday. It covers everything from inventory adapters to hard-coded screenshot key binds to upcoming community initiatives. "There's a wealth of content in Dark Age of Camelot that deserves an upgrade in mechanics, difficulty, and rewards," the post says. "Look forward to polls and questions from Carol as to which encounters we should start with, and what kind of rewards you would like to see."
The Game Archaeologist: The care and feeding of older MMOs
When an MMO has reached a certain age and dwindled to a certain player population, what do you do with it? Do you put it out to pasture, nurture it, or put it down? With some of our older graphical MMOs approaching their 20th anniversaries, the question of what studios should do with aging titles is becoming very important. It's not just important for the games in question but as a precedent to the population of games that will one day become just as old. Lately we've seen different studios act on this topic in a wide variety of ways, all of which I find fascinating. Some of these games have seen tragic ends, while others may be entering into the enjoyable golden years. If nothing else, it's shown me that there isn't just one set answer for this and that some devs are hoping to do the right thing by their companies and their players.
Jukebox Heroes: Top 40 MMO themes, #40-31
MMO main themes hold the potential to be some of the most powerful and magical pieces of music, partly because we associate them with particular games more than anything else. A great theme will dredge up intense memories or euphoria by the third note, and I see composers putting in their all with many of these themes. A long time ago I did an MMO theme countdown of 20 tracks, but since then I've heard a lot more and have wanted to do the list all over again. So this week in Jukebox Heroes, we're kicking off a countdown of the top 40 MMO themes -- in my opinion, of course. I listened to over 150 themes and spent hours ranking them to create this list. Because these choices are bound to be a little controversial and stir up debate (which is encouraged!), I set down a few rules that I wanted to share here. I limited myself to just one theme from a particular title, even if there were multiple themes in a game. Entries had to be a main theme or the closest equivalent of that; they had to be from MMOs, not from MOBAs; and I had to divorce my weighting of the track itself from the popularity of and my experience with that game. So no points added or subtracted based on the love of the game; I'm counting down the best music, period. Let's see what numbers 40 through 31 have in store for us!
Dark Age of Camelot gives free week of game time to lapsed accounts
Is it time for you to return to Dark Age of Camelot? It just might be, as the game is handing out a week of free game time for players with lapsed accounts! The Return to the Realms promotion is crediting a week of game time to any account that hasn't been used for more than 60 days. This game time includes access to the test server, where Patch 1.115 is being brewed and refined. Dark Age of Camelot and Ultima Online were recently acquired by the newly formed Broadsword Online Games.
Mythic devs form new studio, take over DAoC and Ultima Online
Dark Age of Camelot and Ultima Online are moving out from under Mythic Entertainment's management and into a new studio: Broadsword Online Games. Today Mythic announced that 14 members of its team, including co-founder Rob Denton, have left to form Broadsword in order to take over daily operations and development of Mythic's two remaining MMOs. Broadsword will continue to work with EA for the games' billing and account services. The new studio said that it will be releasing more information about plans for UO and DAoC shortly.
