Catacombs: A Closer Look by: Maia
Tuesday, November 16, 2004


Recently I had the privilege to spend the day with the fine folks of Mythic Entertainment to learn about their up and coming Dark Age of Camelot expansion, Catacombs, and to get a sneak peek at their next MMORPG endeavor: Imperator. So, brace yourself for a lengthy write-up, because when you spend the day with people who have a passion for what they do and love to talk about it, you're in store for a real treat. This article offers an in-depth preview of exiting new features of the Catacombs expansion, and a brief preview of Mythic's upcoming game, Imperator.

The Catacombs Expansion

Overview

In the past, Mythic's President Mark Jacobs has stated that he has neither plans nor desire to create a DAoC 2. However, with this summer's successful RvR renovation through the Frontiers expansion, and the soon-to-be released Catacombs expansion, Mythic has successfully reinvented DAoC with new experiences for both die-hard and casual players.

Some of the new features introduced in the Catacombs expansion are pretty well known at this point, including the detailed avatar appearance customization options and five new classes: two for Hibernia (Bainshee and Vampiir) two for Midgard (Warlock and Valkyrie) and one for Albion (Heretic). Two more character slots have been added, bringing the total number of characters per server to 10. Catacombs also brings a major graphic update to NPC's, monsters and equipment for previously existing areas of the game.

New Zones

There are 30 new static zones added to the game: each realm gets nine new zones and a new major city. The majority of the art for each realm is unique - just zoning into Midgard's Burial Grounds, Hibernia's Veil Rift or Albion 's Roman Aqueducts gives an immediate impression of the unique feel for each realm.

The new zones are laid out to draw players into the ultimate level 50 encounter in Catacombs, the Dark Spire. The Abandoned Mines provide a link between existing dungeons and new areas, and are found in all 3 realms. The mines are geared toward level 20-30 players, and also introduce a new way to travel using mine carts Indiana Jones style. (Don't miss the cart race!)

All three realms get new large underground zones where characters of level 1-50 may adventure. These areas are inhabited by the possessed races for their realm, a major part of the story behind the Catacombs expansion. In Midgard zones such as Frontlines, are inhabited by possessed kobolds. In Albion , the Deadlands is a large underground zone where the possessed Inconnu reside. The Deadlands has sort of a “ New Orleans ” feel, with crypts and tombs all about the area, all in some degree of disrepair. For Hibernia the large underground zone is known as the Otherworld, haunted by possessed Shar. The Shar roam an area marked by ruins, with tears in the veil revealing pulsating veins flowing to the Queens Labyrinth. These zones have been set up to allow lower level characters to pass through and survive as long as they keep their wits about them.

New ways to Gain Experience

The 30 new zones are described above as static to differentiate them from the other major new addition included in Catacombs: instanced dungeons. Instanced dungeons are one of the 3 new systems introduced in Catacombs geared to helping casual players level their characters quickly and with variety. The other two systems are task instanced dungeons and mini-quests. It is these three new leveling systems that I think deserve the most attention, so I spent most of my interview with DAoC's content lead Destin Bales discussing them so that I could glean a good bit of information to pass on to you.

There are over 100 different types of instanced areas in Catacombs, broken down into two main types: instanced adventuring wings and instanced task dungeons. Instanced adventuring wings are dungeon areas which are spawned repeatedly, allowing a group of players to have their own copy of the area to themselves. Instanced task dungeons are similar, but are only accessible through tasks. Task Dungeons are available for levels 1– 50, and unlike regular tasks, there is no limit to the number of tasks allowed. Theoretically one could level 1-50 by just doing dungeon tasks.