Camelot Unchained - Mounting DAoC's corpse or legitimate project?

[Gurkog]

http://citystateentertainment.com/camelotunchained/

It seems that Mark Jacobs, of DAoC fame, has decided to try Kickstarting a more hardcore PvP MMORPG in the same vein. This new project is dubbed, Camelot Unchained. I still play DAoC now and then so I am frothing at the mouth in anticipation mildly interested in it's promise to return to DAoCs roots and creative a hardcore, community driven PvP experience.

The site list some developer comments that could just be buzzwords meant to give nostalgia boners, but if there is an ounce of truth to his claims it just might be a less odorous pile of shit diamond in the rough.

Foundational Principle #1 – Be willing to take risks, even if fortune doesn’t always favor the bold
Foundational Principle #2 – RvR isn’t the end game, it’s the only game!
Foundational Principle #3 – You should always hold the hands of your little children while crossing busy intersections but… …our players are not children and this is not an intersection crossing.

February 6, 2013 Over the years I’ve gotten a ton of “Please make another MMORPG!” (sometimes accompanied by “A good one this time!!!!”) or “Please make a DAoC 2” requests as well as lots of other interesting requests that seem quite anatomically impossible. However, after the “challenging” years of 2005-2009, I needed time, circumstances and stars to align before I was ready to make the decision to jump back into the MMORPG pool. When Mythic Entertainment set out on Dark Age of Camelot just about everybody in the industry said we would fail. That leading our little team against such major companies as Sony, Microsoft and Electronic Arts, who had their own (or were backing) MMORPGs, was nothing short of insanity. After all, even with a strong vision and a young and hungry team, we were told we had no chance of success. Well, despite the odds, only 2.5M in total development funding, 18 month cycle, and a tiny team (about a dozen full-time developers when we started), we created one of the best MMORPGs of all time, Dark Age of Camelot. As I’ve said many times elsewhere, I’m eternally grateful to that team because without their dedication, effort and creativity Dark Age would have been just another idea I got while taking a shower. However, in the immortal words of the great philosopher Timon, “You’ve got to put your past behind you.”

Holy shit, they made DAoC in less time, money, and employees than most single player games. I guess it just goes to show that huge production values and massive divisions are not necessary to make an enjoyable multiplayer experience. I seriously doubt he could be lucky enough to shit another gold brick, and so i will remain cautiously pessimistic.

EDIT: Shit, the title is supposed to be Camelot Unchained... so much for my proofreading abilities.

 

[Thane Solus]

No PVE. PvP with no PvE its just like that shit Wrath of Heroes. I like my sandboxy PvP, which this wont be, acompanied by in depth crafting and character system, territory control, housing. I dont want Wrath of Heroes...

Anyway will see how it goes...

 

[Hobo Elf]

Mark Jacobs was a tool for selling out to EA and I called him out for it on the Warhammer Alliance forums. What guarantee do I have that he won't cock this one up just as bad?

 

[Rahdulan]

Mark Jacobs was a tool for selling out to EA and I called him out for it on the Warhammer Alliance forums. What guarantee do I have that he won't cock this one up just as bad?

Man, I remember when Warhammer Alliance was still relevant and then fell silent when WAR flopped. Good times were had before the game actually got released.

Kickstarted MMO, that's going to turn out well.

 

[Sergiu64]

I do think focusing on either PvE or PvP (like they're doing with this one) is the right way to go. It seems to go wrong every time they try to make a game where both paths a viable, lots of balance issues creep in.

 

[Veelq]

 

[Gurkog]

Sounds a lot better than I was expecting. Might be worth keeping an eye on.

 

[Veelq]

Maybe some questions gonna repeat, i don't remember exactly but still nice interview.

 

[e-mailio estevez]

DAoC is in my mind the greatest MMO ever made. To this day I still post on my DAoC server message board something like... what, 10 years later? The community that game built is just that strong.

I doubt that there could ever be another true successor... it was the perfect storm at the time. There were no modern-day staples in DAoC... no instances, no queues, no auction house or any of that. There were no guides, everyone had to work together and there was this huge sense of discovery and community built into the game. It had a crafting system that allowed the players to make the best gear available (at least, pre-TOA), but only with the cooperation of other players. The fact you couldn't understand other realms only added to the element that you were fighting an 'alien' force. And when your relic was in enemy hands it was amazing to see the entire realm band together and work towards a common goal... we're talking 100+ players all smacking keep doors and hunting for excalibur. I am very doubtful such a thing could ever be reproduced.

And yet, despite the large-scale PvP, there was a lot of depth to simple 8v8 combat. I was lucky enough to be in one of the better 8-man groups on my server, and fondly remember wiping out something like 40 hibernians in open-field combat thanks to a good group make-up, good teamwork and a dash of overpowered realm abilities.

Goddamnit I loved, DAoC. It's a shame what Mythic has become these days

 

[Gurkog]

The kickstarter campaign for Camelot Unchained starts in 17 hours.

 

[Gurkog]

The kkickstarter campaiign just started and is already over 400k, so go contribute if you want to make this mmo a reality.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/13861848/camelot-unchained?ref=live

 

[Zed]

they're making an mmorpg with unity?
they haven't developed a prototype with netcode supporting an mmorpg?

fuck that.

 

[Snerf]

I want to believe.

But that nagging voice keeps screaming VAPORWARE in the back of my head.

 

[Gurkog]

Meh, Mark Jacobs orchestrated the creation of DAoC with a smaller budget than he plans to achieve with the kickstarter (plus private investment). It might be really rough upon release, but I have no doubt that it will get done.

EDIT: First update - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/13861848/camelot-unchained/posts

 

[Gurkog]

looks like they have well over 750k total now. It could reach the final goal. Last time I checked the average backer donated $161...

 

[Mangoose]

I'm mostly worried that it'll be more like WAR then DAoC.

 

[Gurkog]

I never played WAR, but ifrom everything I heard it will be like DAoC pvp, but probably better.

 

[Jaesun]

Watched the Pitch video... seems ambitious. The Crafter class seemed interesting (to me). Still seemed kinda vague. The Apocalypse stuff was kinda cool though.

 

[felipepepe]

I get a bit butthurt that this game has 750k is so short time, while bros at Larian are stll fighting for the 400k....

 

[Gurkog]

The initial pledgers were throwing large sums of money at this. Averaged $161 dollars per backer for more than a day.

 

[Exar Kun]

I don't really understand how they can make a quality MMO for 2 mil. These guys are obviously talented, but are they miracle workers?

It will be fun to see how this turns out. Kickstarting single player games feels fine, but an MMO just has so much shit involved with hosting servers etc..

 

[Jaesun]

It will probably be better than that shitty Star Wars MMO disaster.

 

[Exar Kun]

It will probably be better than that shitty Star Wars MMO disaster.

It would be quite a feat if it turns out to be good. Comparing the budgets is unbelievable.

SWTOR = retarded hundreds of millions budget which gave us a subpar MMO but found a niche playerbase of KOTOR storyfags and SW fans. All the money probably went to the 8 full size class and planet stories, although it probably didn't take much QA because the choices are don't really impact the world in any real way so who the fuck knows where the budget went....

Camelot Unchained will probably reach 2-3 million bucks on kickstarter, probably throw in some Mark Jacobs cash money but thats about it. If they can even make a working MMO on that that would be incredible.

Completely contrasting games mechanically as well, one is a bioware storyfag fest with subpar mmo elements, and the other is a hardcore MMO with a crafter class and huge RVR battles which the hero engine couldn't even handle on Ilum despite the retarded budget.

Its also a positive sign to see that Camelot Unchained is being made for a specific niche and they know it. SWTOR ended up being a niche game but they failed to see that when they were designing it somehow.

 

[Garod]

Please stop calling this an MMO"RPG" there is nothing RPG about this, it's offensive to all the people who think of story, character development etc to call this an RPG.
Arthurians, Vikings and Tuatha (Sidhe) fighting each other, I mean seriously couldn't they come up with something a little more original or better? Yes there were Viking raids in the 1100 as well as there are some who say that this is also the time of the Round Table, the Sihde were written about in the 12th century and are an Irish folk legend getting fllimsy here but ok 12th century and Great Britain. But still the setting of this game is paper thin since they honestly have very little to do with one another but adding a "magical" race is interesting...
Aside from that there is no story in this game, it's 3 faction slug fest and that's all and you could have taken whatever you want and still had the same type of game and result.

Also this game is sporting a subscription model which doesn't even offer it's founding backers a lifetime subscription plan and then goes so far as to insult them with adding things into the higher tier pledge amount like 2-10% discount on the monthly subscription. I mean geez you spend 3k on a game and they give you 7% discount on a probably 10$ monthly subscription? Yes that's about 70cent 0.70$ per month.

If you like PVP/RvR then this may be for you because that's all there is. Oh sorry I forgot the crafting class, yes right you get to be a crafter who probably grinds killing cows for leather, digs ore for stones and then makes stuff for PVP and supports on the battle field in some form or another by building structures while everyone has fun around you.
Aside from that if you like PvP then this is probably an interesting game for you, and it will probably do that aspect very very well, they better do since it's the only thing they have got.

In conclusion:
If you like RPG's then this isn't a game for you point period paragraph, go look at Torment, Project Eternity, Divnity Original Sin etc for your fix.
if you like PvP/RvR and are willing to spend the $ on a monthly basis or back this for insane amounts then this may be for you.

 

[Cyberarmy]

It will probably be better than that shitty Star Wars MMO disaster.

Even Age of Conan and Warhammer Age of Reckoning without patches are better than ToR.

not going to back KS for this one but if they deliver " less bugy and a bit balanced good RvR", consider me sold.