Trials of Atlantis killed DAoC
Pros:
Nice scenery, decent farming/hunting for lvl 45+
Cons:
Bad storyline, lots of unreachable content for casual gamers, still really a beta release
The Bottom Line:
TOA: Don't buy it unless you are a hardcore gamer or explorer
DAoC: The best MMORPG on the market for the time being
|
|
Overall Rating:
|
 |
|
Author's Review
A little harsh in the title, but pretty true all in all. The newly released expansion for DAoC, named Trials of Atlantis introduces an entirely new continent to the Camelot world, that of the mythical Atlantis. Here you will find riches beyond your wildest dreams, ancient artifacts that increase your powers, and.....a whole lot of camping for very little return.
Let me make one thing clear: if you are a casual gamer, you will get very little out of Atlantis aside from some interesting random drop weapons that aren't highly useful but look cool, and perhaps some nice looking armor that again doesn't help your character very much. If you enjoy exploring and looking at the sights there are some very nice places to go (Stygia, the Egyptian island is nice, and there are some impressive sights under the waters of Oceanus if you like swimming around and exploring), but to get to the high end rewards in Atlantis you will need multiple groups of high level players (speaking mostly about the Master Level tasks and artifact drops). This is not the Shrouded Isles expansion, which brought new content in for all levels and types of gamers, this is a high level, serious gamer expansion.
I won't even go into the constant bug fixes and game alterations going on, suffice it to say there are daily changes made to just about every aspect of this expansion.
Overall this expansion has the feel of Everquest, where players endlessly kill things over and over again, or raid certain dungeons with lots of players. Not a lot of storyline as to why you are doing these tasks and killing things, just go do it then fight over who gets the loot. After only about a month, its already selling for $9.99, down from the $30 - $40 they wanted for it when it released, I think that's indicative of its success.
As far as DAoC itself is concerned, it is still the best MMORPG on the market IMO, however unless the Realm versus Realm expansion (slated for beta in February) makes some nice changes to the game I see a lot of people leaving in the next year due to Atlantis letting the game slip into Everquest-dom.
