Daoc Origins
Thanks to @Tyrantanic for sharing this with me, thought it would be good to post this here too, in hopes that we will look back at origins as BS develops their own version.
http://www.postcount.net/forum/showthread.php?166025-Origins-That-server-that-was-going-to-save-us-what-happened
For those that don't wish to read through the posts, here is the producers letter on the subject (in the link as well)
Hello Dark Age of Camelot and fellow Players,
Spoiler!
Many of you have already participated in the new server poll we have been conducting to gauge interest in what we are calling the ‘Origins’ server ruleset, also referred to as an ‘Old Frontiers’ server. I would like to thank everyone who has participated so far, as well as thank those who have provided the incredible amount of constructive feedback we have received through the Herald and through the various message forums relevant to DAoC. My team and I were pleasantly surprised by how much interest this poll has generated. The poll is still available to the public on the Herald, and we are still watching its results with great interest.
We have received numerous questions regarding this poll and ruleset. Our Community Team has been working on a FAQ that is now available on the Herald. Also, later this week, we will be organizing two IRC chats in which members of my team and I will be available for Q&A. The dates will be on Wednesday, June 4th and Thursday, June 5th. One will be held at 6:30 pm EDT for the benefit of our East Coast players, and the other will be held at 9:30 pm EDT for the benefit of our West Coast players. Please watch the Herald for any additional information. You should also note that beyond the IRC chats, we are very interested in your continued feedback. Please feel free to utilize the Herald Feedback Form for this purpose. I plan to dig in and read as many of your emails as I can myself, but please keep the feedback constructive.
I would like to take some time to answer some of the most common questions that I have spotted on the various DAoC forums, as well as to share some highlights of the Origins ruleset. But before I do so, I’d like for you all to know that I am also an avid player of Dark Age myself, having leveled many characters to 50 across multiple servers and realms. For example, I remember the old days of leveling off wolves outside of the Albion portal keep in Odin’s Gate. Over the years, I’ve maxed out all six craft skills and I’ve bought a few houses and I’ve gone on many, many keep and relic raids. Like many of you, Dark Age was my first MMO, and it’s a game that will always have a special place in my geeky heart. I’ve been with Mythic (now EA Mythic) for over seven years. For the entirety of my employment at Mythic, I have never left the DAoC project. My vision for the design of this new server is driven by my and my team’s own understanding of and experience with Dark Age, as well as yours, our Community of Team Leads, players and former players who wish to come back and experience not just the ‘nostalgia’ of this server, but a truly fun and compelling gameplay experience.
The most common question continues to be, “Is this really going to happen?”
Origins has been in development for a couple of months now. We have been working with our Team Leads (as part of the Team Lead program) to work through the various gameplay details, ideas, and issues, while also collecting and reading your feedback. Our schedule requires around four to five months of development. This means that since the server has been in development for two months already, we still have another two to three months before it’s ready for primetime. Right now, launch is slated for the August/September timeframe. However, this is also subject to change. Ideally, I want the server to receive at least one month of internal and external beta testing, but preferably six to eight weeks to allow us time to react to feedback and make changes or additions that will provide for the best play experience possible. This is also why your involvement as a Community is critical to us, and why we’re holding a couple of IRC chats later this week.
Second on the list of most popular questions is, “What is this server all about?”
This server is designed to return DAoC to the great game experience it was in 2001/2002, while also applying wisdom from the lessons we have learned since then. DAoC is still a great game, but this server has its own appeal that we ‘old school’ players really enjoyed, and our goal is to get back to that while also continuing to support the other rulesets. Origins will not exactly replicate the game as it was is 2001; we are keeping as a part of server the ‘best features’ we have put into the game since launch, such as housing, horses, the market explorer, UI changes (to name only a few) and many of the improved systems introduced over the years. However, some of these features and systems will also be tuned up. For example, the ‘portal ceremony’ found in the game at launch will not be making a comeback as it was originally implemented. Instead, there will be a short waiting period (3 – 5 minutes) before players may port together. This will encourage players to go to the Frontiers in groups as opposed to now where players often find themselves heading to the frontiers alone. We are also taking this opportunity to retune realm balance. Many intelligent and experienced minds are focused on this aspect of Origins, and the main question by which we’ve operated during its development is, If we could do this all over again, knowing what we know today, how would we do things differently?
As we embark on this development project called ‘DAoC: Origins,’ we also continue to focus on our Live servers. We just recently launched a ‘Ghost Keep’ event, which was very well-received, and we thank you for your participation and feedback. We also recently re-envisioned and deployed our new Starter Area to all servers, taking advantage of the previously (and mostly) unused tutorial region; again, the feedback has been very positive. We will continue to deploy new content patches, new features, and new gameplay experiences to all of our servers, regardless of ruleset.
In closing, please stay tuned as development on Origins continues. We are very excited about the possibilities and we hope you are, too. Thank you all for reading. I will keep in touch, and I look forward to our IRC chats later this week.
Best regards,
Christopher Rabideau
Producer, Dark Age of Camelot
Electronic Arts (EA Mythic)
Origins
Spoiler!
'Origins' Server Type Overview
General Overview:
This server type is intended to be untangled from the many free and retail expansion packs that have been introduced over the years, which have significantly altered the original design of the game. Beyond the changes highlighted in the poll itself (no buff bots, no Master Levels, etc.), we are also taking the following measures ONLY on this new ‘Origins’ server:
- Equalizing the number of classes in each realm to 11. This will require that one class in Albion be merged with other classes and/or removed altogether, and that one additional class be granted to Midgard. Keeping balance in mind, and bearing in mind that we are still closely examining this aspect of Origins (which means this may be subject to change), here is what we are considering:
o Removal of the Theurgist class from Albion. This very unique ‘pet spam’ class has historically been one of the most difficult to balance. Removal of this class will allow us to better balance the realms against each other, as opposed to attempting to balance specific classes against other realms or realms against specific classes. Note that we are looking at ‘key’ abilities this class offers (other than the pets) in order to transfer unique abilities to other characters in the realm.
o Addition of the Valkyrie class to Midgard. The Valkyrie class, introduced with Catacombs, provides a unique flavor to Midgard without introducing increased challenges to balance. As it is now, it would be considered a powerful class for this server type, but please keep in mind that we are also retuning balance of all three realms across the board (more on this later). With its melee and mending skills, we believe the Valkyrie will round out Midgard’s abilities fairly well by adding a third healer with heavy melee damage potential to the realm. This will balance the healing capacity between all three realms, whereas before Midgard had only two healing classes and the other two realms each had three. Furthermore, this class will complement Midgard’s strong melee capabilities. In hindsight, this would have been a good class to release when we launched the game in 2001. This is why it was chosen.
- Adding new strategic elements to RvR to include additional RvR objectives. Along with the return of the original Frontiers lands, we will be introducing new gameplay objectives for all players level 20 and above. This means that a level 20 player can enter the Frontiers in order to help his or her realm achieve victory. Here are some of the highlights to this element of RvR:
o No battlegrounds. The focus of this server will be on world RvR. By encouraging players of all levels to participate in RvR, and providing rewards and a stake in the outcome for doing so, we will be able to introduce lesser experienced players to RvR much more effectively. However, we have learned a few things about this type of gameplay over the years and we will add some components to the game based on what we have learned, such as:
§ Grief Protection. Because we are focusing on world RvR, we want to give players who are at least level 20 the opportunity to participate in World RvR events without fear of complete annihilation by players who are significantly higher in level. We are still working through the details of this system, but our goal is to prevent players who are the equivalent of a red or purple con from attacking lower level players unless the lower level player initiates combat first. We are also examining ways to protect lower level RvR objectives and hunting grounds from being ‘griefed’ by higher level enemies.
o New strategic ‘hotspots’. Along with the original keep and relic structures, this server will also provide capturable camps, small towers, and outposts to players who wish to gain access to unique NPCs with unique items and/or quests. Hotspots will be level-range-based in order to encourage players of the appropriate level to capture the hotspots with items and quests they can use. We are also considering adding a village or two to each Realm’s RvR region, as additional objectives for higher level players, which also offer unique items and quests.
o Modified monster camps to accommodate participation and leveling by lower level players.
F.A.Q. (Frequently Asked Questions):
Will archery be reverted to the old system?
No, archery will not be reverted to the old system. This would require technical hurdles we are not prepared to overcome. Both archery systems have their inherent flaws, but I do believe that the newer system, aside from some quirks, is the better system.
Are you going to include Shrouded Isles on this server?
No, unfortunately, we are not launching Shrouded Isles on this server … just yet. We would certainly like to launch SI on this server, and so we are tossing around some ideas internally about what we can do with SI to make it even more compelling than the first round (SI being our best expansion ever). But because we’d like for this particular project to benefit all servers (not just Origins), it will take some time to work on.
Are you going to be doing something about crowd control?
Yes, we are looking at crowd control. Our goal is to set it up so that the longest mez spell in the game is no longer than 20 to 25 seconds. This is still in discussion, and we welcome feedback.
When is this server going to be launched?
Our schedule requires around four to five months of development. This means that since the server has been in development for two months already, we still have another two to three months before it’s ready for primetime. Right now, launch is slated for the August/September timeframe. However, this is also subject to change. Ideally, I want the server to receive at least one month of testing, but preferably six to eight weeks to allow us time to react to feedback and make changes or additions that will provide for the best play experience possible. This is also why your involvement as a Community is critical to us.
Will there be a /level 20 command?
The /level 20 command will be disabled for this server type.
Which races will be available?
All races with the exception of the Minotaur will be available. Here is a list of the races for each realm:
Albion: Briton, Avalonian, Saracen, Highlander, Inconnu, and Half Ogre.
Hibernia: Celt, Elf, Lurikeen, Firbolg, Shar, and Sylvan.
Midgard: Norseman, Dwarf, Kobold, Troll, Valkyn, and Frostalf.
What classes can I play?
This is still under discussion and we are considering each class type very carefully so that we can decide which to include in the new server type.
Will we be able to transfer our current characters to the new server?
No, you will need to start a new character.
Will Realm Abilities go back to the way they were before New Frontiers?
The Realm Ability (RA) system will resemble the current form. The system will be modified and some of the Realm Abilities may be supplanted with some Old Frontier Realm Abilities.
Do you have other questions? Please send us your questions using the feedback form.
Some Images:
Spoiler!
http://www.postcount.net/forum/showthread.php?166025-Origins-That-server-that-was-going-to-save-us-what-happened
For those that don't wish to read through the posts, here is the producers letter on the subject (in the link as well)
Hello Dark Age of Camelot and fellow Players,
Spoiler!
Many of you have already participated in the new server poll we have been conducting to gauge interest in what we are calling the ‘Origins’ server ruleset, also referred to as an ‘Old Frontiers’ server. I would like to thank everyone who has participated so far, as well as thank those who have provided the incredible amount of constructive feedback we have received through the Herald and through the various message forums relevant to DAoC. My team and I were pleasantly surprised by how much interest this poll has generated. The poll is still available to the public on the Herald, and we are still watching its results with great interest.
We have received numerous questions regarding this poll and ruleset. Our Community Team has been working on a FAQ that is now available on the Herald. Also, later this week, we will be organizing two IRC chats in which members of my team and I will be available for Q&A. The dates will be on Wednesday, June 4th and Thursday, June 5th. One will be held at 6:30 pm EDT for the benefit of our East Coast players, and the other will be held at 9:30 pm EDT for the benefit of our West Coast players. Please watch the Herald for any additional information. You should also note that beyond the IRC chats, we are very interested in your continued feedback. Please feel free to utilize the Herald Feedback Form for this purpose. I plan to dig in and read as many of your emails as I can myself, but please keep the feedback constructive.
I would like to take some time to answer some of the most common questions that I have spotted on the various DAoC forums, as well as to share some highlights of the Origins ruleset. But before I do so, I’d like for you all to know that I am also an avid player of Dark Age myself, having leveled many characters to 50 across multiple servers and realms. For example, I remember the old days of leveling off wolves outside of the Albion portal keep in Odin’s Gate. Over the years, I’ve maxed out all six craft skills and I’ve bought a few houses and I’ve gone on many, many keep and relic raids. Like many of you, Dark Age was my first MMO, and it’s a game that will always have a special place in my geeky heart. I’ve been with Mythic (now EA Mythic) for over seven years. For the entirety of my employment at Mythic, I have never left the DAoC project. My vision for the design of this new server is driven by my and my team’s own understanding of and experience with Dark Age, as well as yours, our Community of Team Leads, players and former players who wish to come back and experience not just the ‘nostalgia’ of this server, but a truly fun and compelling gameplay experience.
The most common question continues to be, “Is this really going to happen?”
Origins has been in development for a couple of months now. We have been working with our Team Leads (as part of the Team Lead program) to work through the various gameplay details, ideas, and issues, while also collecting and reading your feedback. Our schedule requires around four to five months of development. This means that since the server has been in development for two months already, we still have another two to three months before it’s ready for primetime. Right now, launch is slated for the August/September timeframe. However, this is also subject to change. Ideally, I want the server to receive at least one month of internal and external beta testing, but preferably six to eight weeks to allow us time to react to feedback and make changes or additions that will provide for the best play experience possible. This is also why your involvement as a Community is critical to us, and why we’re holding a couple of IRC chats later this week.
Second on the list of most popular questions is, “What is this server all about?”
This server is designed to return DAoC to the great game experience it was in 2001/2002, while also applying wisdom from the lessons we have learned since then. DAoC is still a great game, but this server has its own appeal that we ‘old school’ players really enjoyed, and our goal is to get back to that while also continuing to support the other rulesets. Origins will not exactly replicate the game as it was is 2001; we are keeping as a part of server the ‘best features’ we have put into the game since launch, such as housing, horses, the market explorer, UI changes (to name only a few) and many of the improved systems introduced over the years. However, some of these features and systems will also be tuned up. For example, the ‘portal ceremony’ found in the game at launch will not be making a comeback as it was originally implemented. Instead, there will be a short waiting period (3 – 5 minutes) before players may port together. This will encourage players to go to the Frontiers in groups as opposed to now where players often find themselves heading to the frontiers alone. We are also taking this opportunity to retune realm balance. Many intelligent and experienced minds are focused on this aspect of Origins, and the main question by which we’ve operated during its development is, If we could do this all over again, knowing what we know today, how would we do things differently?
As we embark on this development project called ‘DAoC: Origins,’ we also continue to focus on our Live servers. We just recently launched a ‘Ghost Keep’ event, which was very well-received, and we thank you for your participation and feedback. We also recently re-envisioned and deployed our new Starter Area to all servers, taking advantage of the previously (and mostly) unused tutorial region; again, the feedback has been very positive. We will continue to deploy new content patches, new features, and new gameplay experiences to all of our servers, regardless of ruleset.
In closing, please stay tuned as development on Origins continues. We are very excited about the possibilities and we hope you are, too. Thank you all for reading. I will keep in touch, and I look forward to our IRC chats later this week.
Best regards,
Christopher Rabideau
Producer, Dark Age of Camelot
Electronic Arts (EA Mythic)
Origins
Spoiler!
'Origins' Server Type Overview
General Overview:
This server type is intended to be untangled from the many free and retail expansion packs that have been introduced over the years, which have significantly altered the original design of the game. Beyond the changes highlighted in the poll itself (no buff bots, no Master Levels, etc.), we are also taking the following measures ONLY on this new ‘Origins’ server:
- Equalizing the number of classes in each realm to 11. This will require that one class in Albion be merged with other classes and/or removed altogether, and that one additional class be granted to Midgard. Keeping balance in mind, and bearing in mind that we are still closely examining this aspect of Origins (which means this may be subject to change), here is what we are considering:
o Removal of the Theurgist class from Albion. This very unique ‘pet spam’ class has historically been one of the most difficult to balance. Removal of this class will allow us to better balance the realms against each other, as opposed to attempting to balance specific classes against other realms or realms against specific classes. Note that we are looking at ‘key’ abilities this class offers (other than the pets) in order to transfer unique abilities to other characters in the realm.
o Addition of the Valkyrie class to Midgard. The Valkyrie class, introduced with Catacombs, provides a unique flavor to Midgard without introducing increased challenges to balance. As it is now, it would be considered a powerful class for this server type, but please keep in mind that we are also retuning balance of all three realms across the board (more on this later). With its melee and mending skills, we believe the Valkyrie will round out Midgard’s abilities fairly well by adding a third healer with heavy melee damage potential to the realm. This will balance the healing capacity between all three realms, whereas before Midgard had only two healing classes and the other two realms each had three. Furthermore, this class will complement Midgard’s strong melee capabilities. In hindsight, this would have been a good class to release when we launched the game in 2001. This is why it was chosen.
- Adding new strategic elements to RvR to include additional RvR objectives. Along with the return of the original Frontiers lands, we will be introducing new gameplay objectives for all players level 20 and above. This means that a level 20 player can enter the Frontiers in order to help his or her realm achieve victory. Here are some of the highlights to this element of RvR:
o No battlegrounds. The focus of this server will be on world RvR. By encouraging players of all levels to participate in RvR, and providing rewards and a stake in the outcome for doing so, we will be able to introduce lesser experienced players to RvR much more effectively. However, we have learned a few things about this type of gameplay over the years and we will add some components to the game based on what we have learned, such as:
§ Grief Protection. Because we are focusing on world RvR, we want to give players who are at least level 20 the opportunity to participate in World RvR events without fear of complete annihilation by players who are significantly higher in level. We are still working through the details of this system, but our goal is to prevent players who are the equivalent of a red or purple con from attacking lower level players unless the lower level player initiates combat first. We are also examining ways to protect lower level RvR objectives and hunting grounds from being ‘griefed’ by higher level enemies.
o New strategic ‘hotspots’. Along with the original keep and relic structures, this server will also provide capturable camps, small towers, and outposts to players who wish to gain access to unique NPCs with unique items and/or quests. Hotspots will be level-range-based in order to encourage players of the appropriate level to capture the hotspots with items and quests they can use. We are also considering adding a village or two to each Realm’s RvR region, as additional objectives for higher level players, which also offer unique items and quests.
o Modified monster camps to accommodate participation and leveling by lower level players.
F.A.Q. (Frequently Asked Questions):
Will archery be reverted to the old system?
No, archery will not be reverted to the old system. This would require technical hurdles we are not prepared to overcome. Both archery systems have their inherent flaws, but I do believe that the newer system, aside from some quirks, is the better system.
Are you going to include Shrouded Isles on this server?
No, unfortunately, we are not launching Shrouded Isles on this server … just yet. We would certainly like to launch SI on this server, and so we are tossing around some ideas internally about what we can do with SI to make it even more compelling than the first round (SI being our best expansion ever). But because we’d like for this particular project to benefit all servers (not just Origins), it will take some time to work on.
Are you going to be doing something about crowd control?
Yes, we are looking at crowd control. Our goal is to set it up so that the longest mez spell in the game is no longer than 20 to 25 seconds. This is still in discussion, and we welcome feedback.
When is this server going to be launched?
Our schedule requires around four to five months of development. This means that since the server has been in development for two months already, we still have another two to three months before it’s ready for primetime. Right now, launch is slated for the August/September timeframe. However, this is also subject to change. Ideally, I want the server to receive at least one month of testing, but preferably six to eight weeks to allow us time to react to feedback and make changes or additions that will provide for the best play experience possible. This is also why your involvement as a Community is critical to us.
Will there be a /level 20 command?
The /level 20 command will be disabled for this server type.
Which races will be available?
All races with the exception of the Minotaur will be available. Here is a list of the races for each realm:
Albion: Briton, Avalonian, Saracen, Highlander, Inconnu, and Half Ogre.
Hibernia: Celt, Elf, Lurikeen, Firbolg, Shar, and Sylvan.
Midgard: Norseman, Dwarf, Kobold, Troll, Valkyn, and Frostalf.
What classes can I play?
This is still under discussion and we are considering each class type very carefully so that we can decide which to include in the new server type.
Will we be able to transfer our current characters to the new server?
No, you will need to start a new character.
Will Realm Abilities go back to the way they were before New Frontiers?
The Realm Ability (RA) system will resemble the current form. The system will be modified and some of the Realm Abilities may be supplanted with some Old Frontier Realm Abilities.
Do you have other questions? Please send us your questions using the feedback form.
Some Images:
Spoiler!
"...the best thing to do if you disagree (or agree) isn't to ask us why (which is rhetorical)...." -John_Broadsword
"the patch [1.127] is later this year" -Carol_Broadsword, aka "constable paddy biehbien of the **** local community Enforcement force "
send a message with your wallet
Comments
Besides, Broadsword does not have the resources to redesign the game in any significant way. They can toggle expansions on/off, but I wouldn't expect much more than that.
https://www.engadget.com/2009/01/22/so-what-ever-happened-to-daocs-origins-server/
The Origins server was being developed and slated to release Fall 2008 but never released. Mythic focused their resources into WAR and never went back to Origins likely due to EA not wanting to fund it.
I brought it up because some of the ideas were interesting at the time regarding CC and class balance. However, I also don't expect Broadsword to develop a custom classic server from the ground up considering how EC went. We are more likely to get a patch rollback server with some minor class adjustments.
"The type of of dev communication of 30 mins a day updates mentioned here just isn't feasible." - Carol_Broadsword
"Our Studio. Our Rules." - http://www.mythicentertainment.com/
With that being said, someday a person with a bit of financing and some insight will take Dark Age of Camelot's 2001-2002 experience (with some logical tweaks) and create an Unreal Engine equivalent upgrade. Sadly all we have to look forward to is Camelot Unchained, which has long ago forgotten what made DAoC so special in the first place. So, waiting on a new project one of these years where an imaginative, 3-realm mmoRPG is made. Perhaps by 2030?