Maia: Factions? Are they in this expansion?

Destin: We actually did not do a lot of faction work in Catacombs. Wasn't any real reason why, they just didn't turn up. Basically you got the good guys, the players, and the bad guys, hordes of possessed and so forth.

Factions are something that we generally set up if we have an underlying goal for quests, or something along those lines. We could always add them if the players want them, we could certainly add them. It's not difficult to do.


Maia: Besides instancing and new dungeons, what does Catacombs bring to the players?

Destin: Basically we want Catacombs to the best place for players to level. ToA is the best place to get gear and artifacts; Shrouded Isles has a lot of large scale guild epic dungeons, so Catacombs we want it to be a nice easy spot for players to level. You never have to find monsters, they're right there for you. In addition that, there are the mini- quests, which are also there to help accelerate leveling, and then the dungeon task system.

Catacombs is basically the complete opposite of Trials of Atlantis. Everything can be completed quickly; most things can be completed solo or with a friend.

Maia: Any concern that power gamers, and those who live for raids, might not be happy with this expansion?

Destin: They might and they might not. Shrouded Isles, while it was content for levels 1 – 50, the majority of it was high level stuff. A lot of it was large dungeons that required raids and so forth. ToA is entirely that, so I can see for some people it may not be for them, but I think this will hit an area of players we have neglected for a while.

The Next Project: Imperator

While getting a closer looking into the DAoC Catacombs expansion, I was also provided a sneak peek at Mythic's next project Imperator, a sci-fi MMO set in an alternate earth future 2500 years from now. The story is based on the assumption that the Roman Republic never became an Empire, and thus never fell. The Roman Republic has spread to become the dominant society on earth and created a galactic empire.

The conflict in the game centers a round a war between the Roman Republic and the Mayan Empire. The idea being that the Mayan society continued to grow as well while in the Americas . They became the antagonists when the Roman Republic and the Mayans have a falling out and the Mayan's left earth to conquer some of Rome 's out lying colonies in space.

Game play for Imperator will focus on player versus environment, where the player will be on the side of the Republic, protecting it from the Mayans. Unlike the large scale realm versus realm conflict offered in Mythic's current game, Dark Age of Camelot, there will only be small elements of player versus player, confined to the coliseum for gladiatorial contests and such.

Mythic is working hard to make this game stand apart from existing MMOG's. Unfortunately I can't share any details of their plans with you because 1) they'd kill me and 2) the game is in early production and things are bound to change. But, if they can successfully implement half the neat stuff they showed me, Mythic is sure to have another hit on their hands come Spring 2006. For more information on Imperator, and to follow it through its development process, check out the Imperator website, bookmark it even, this is one game worth keeping an eye on.