This was a discussion a year and a few months ago. The subject is “Catacombs”, an expansion for DAoC that at that time was still in closed beta, and how it would have affected the rest of game:

HRose:
My first fear is that now the rest of the old PvE world is basically useless. More desolation for the game, useless space and wasted content. This to push the “brand new shiney”. With higher exp bonuses and the like.

Another “plug in” in the game to pensionate old, obsolete content that will still lay around as a “memorial”.

Or the comic sense of the title and the double symbol of above/below <-> old/new: The real “catacomb” is the old world on the surface, as a cumbersome and inconvenient symbol of decadence.

Instead of adding something, this expansion seems to replace, leaving around the remains of the past (above, instead of below). Nothing new, just more of the same as a “flat” expansion. Hopefully a bit more polished and playable but still “replacing” instead of “enriching”.

Walt Yarbrough:
I look forward to your additional commentary when you have actually played the expansion.

HRose:
Hint: Walt was being sarcastic because I’m “reviewing” the exp without having played it even for a second.

You choose. Or I’m longsighted or I’m a moron :)

This is nowadays:

DAoC is no longer a PvE game. You grind task dungeons until you can do battlegrounds, then you do battlegrounds until you max RPs, then you grind for the next battleground. Rinse, repeat until 50. You can mix it up a bit with your Champion and epic quests, but otherwise it’s TD-BG to 50 now.

You can of course buck this trend, but just try getting a group. To say that the original lands are deserted now is an understatement. There are giants in Cornwall who are at this very moment collecting pensions. You can probably kill them by whacking their walkers with a staff. On the downside their loot drops may not be so interesting. Last one I killed dropped a piece of hard candy, a magnifying glass, half a pack of Pal Malls and a Life Alert bracelet.

It seems I was longsighted (and optimist).

I’ll return on this.