Endless Conquest Update

The launch of Dark Age of Camelot: Endless Conquest, a way to play permanently without a paid subscription, is just around the corner and we are excited to provide you all with this detailed update!

First, we are making excellent headway in our testing phase of Endless Conquest (EC) as well as the rest of Patch 1.126. Further, because the bulk of EC features will not be testable by player accounts prior to the live launch, we expect a relatively short stay on the Pendragon test-server before bringing Endless Conquest to Ywain and Gaheris (yep, both servers!). As you know, anything can come up during the development process but we're very excited to announce that we are currently on track for a live launch in the latter-half of October!

Next, we have continued to iterate on the various privileges and restrictions involved with EC and are excited to announce our planned list for launch! EC accounts will be able to earn max character level and realm rank, Champion and Master Levels, all end-game gear, and so much more! Please follow the link to our Endless Conquest page and FAQ which includes in-depth information and a handy table of all the privileges and restrictions for both EC and Veteran (subscribed) accounts!

We'll follow this announcement up with a special, EC-centered Grab Bag this Friday, so be sure to submit your questions before then!



Click here to visit the DAoC Herald!
DAoC Community Lead
Broadsword Online Games
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Comments

  • Step in the right direction! Im curious to hear what returning players think? I think all classes should be available.

    Also what do veteran accounts get that are current?
  • I personally think all classic classes and races should be available. Expansion classes / races should remain behind the sub wall. Definitely an improvement overall.
    "The grab bag isn't for explaining every single class change decision or reasoning or that's all we would ever do." - John_Broadsword
    "The type of of dev communication of 30 mins a day updates mentioned here just isn't feasible." - Carol_Broadsword
    "Our Studio. Our Rules." - http://www.mythicentertainment.com/
  • edited October 2019 PM
    Also what do veteran accounts get that are current?

    There is a table here for all of the Veteran vs EC privileges.

    Additionally, Veteran accounts will get a monthly repeatable (per level-50 character) quest reward and access to the new Veteran reward system that will reward (one per account) trade-able items for cumulative subscription thresholds. The specific item rewards and thresholds will be announced in the 1.126 patch notes.
    Post edited by John_Broadsword on
  • A patch this complex pushed almost directly onto Live sounds like a terrible idea. Is it possible to test f2p on pendragon w/out Live accounts?
    Currently on Live EV island is causing alot of crashes (1-4 for some of my groupmates) consider fixing that before patches goes live.
  • Interesting. Really like the concepts. The only two hold ups for some might center around the BGs:

    No (non bought) XP/off for EC accounts. This basically makes it all but impossible to stay in a BG on an EC account unless you purchase at the mythril store. Obviously you could either create a new character, suicide a bunch at that last level, or just go to new frontiers as a 50.

    If the intent behind EC is to bring people back to the game (see 180 day non-active requirement), then I think this is a good plan. Create more action in NF and let people come back to the full version of the game. For those who want that more nuanced BG environment, maybe pay a small monthly fee for the tokens. (This could get expensive quickly, however). I also think it's probably a good move because otherwise the natural move for many EC players would be to play in the BGs where they don't have any RR/CL handicap.

    No creation of certain classes (many of which are extremely popular in the BGs). This gets tough, because if you allow these classes up to a certain level (possibly 35) but place a level cap, this sort of gets around the above. Still, they'd be playing (lvl 35 in a 39 bg) at a significant disadvantage. I'm not saying these things should be changed, only that they might be considerations for some players. I also think there should be some real benefits to maintained subscriptions for those willing to do the $15 a mo, so color me intrigued about the longevity awards.
  • KoeKoe
    edited October 2019 PM
    Step in the right direction! Im curious to hear what returning players think? I think all classes should be available.

    All classes are available so long as you create them and level them past lvl 17 prior to EC implementation if I read that correctly. So, you'd need to sub at least once if they are not already created. For many people who might return, they already have the toons leveled and rr'd up. So for instance a r8 NS who has not been in game for 9 months would qualify for EC and wouldn't lose anything except her champ abilities (and any further rsp's earned, but would continue to benefit from additional +to skills from rr increases)
    Post edited by Koe on
  • edited October 2019 PM
    Didn't see what the answer was about "downgrading" a paid subscription (veteran) to Endless Conquest. Not interested in making a new free account, but more interested in a free subscription with the occasional mithril payments for extras. I assume this would be a option, given the months of feedback / testing and the state of the MMO genre moving to micro-payments.
    Post edited by Auberne on
  • They should allow the possibility to downgrade your account from a sub to EC account for a fee (for the players that have been active in the last 6 months), something like 15$.
  • I thought it was a stated 30minute timer and now it's been nerfed to 15minutes? Why Broadsword?

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    In defense of the Original Spirit of Daoc
    ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
    True to Miðgarðr c.2001
    daocutils.com/chimp/jlfrthjo
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  • Thjo wrote: »
    I thought it was a stated 30minute timer and now it's been nerfed to 15minutes? Why Broadsword?

    To keep IRC happy
  • There never was any official statement regarding the length of realm timers from Broadsword as far as I know, until now.

    Rather, that number was commonly hypothesized in the discussions amongst the players, where the anti-timer faction would label it a disastrous scenario.
  • A couple of people in game and some on other forums (postcount) have stated they are coming to Ywain and are starting a new account to see what it's like (or have already done so). Are these new accounts (created in the last week I'd imagine) going to be screwed and not eligible for EC as they don't fit the definition of 180 days inactive and also might not fit the definition of "new accounts" when EC goes live?- unclear. If there's any way to allow accounts created or renewed with 180 days inactive as of October 1st going forward (or something like that) I think a few people might appreciate that as the newsletter got them excited enough to pay $15.
  • “New accounts are eligible and previously-subscribed accounts that have been closed for at least 180 days are eligible for Endless Conquest.”

    In my opinion, new is new to EC day of drop. Then any pre-existing accounts 180days. That to me is clear. Your friends might just want to start over day of EC drop, or pay for main sub.

    The part that was unclear to me or maybe that it was clear, I just need further confirmation is, that buffs you cannot get unless in group, and in range.. “except for the Conquest buff potion that can be purchased on the Mithril store.” That means the 30 charge sup pot thats like 2.50$ USD. Just want to make sure that im clear on that pot.
  • Auberne wrote: »
    Thjo wrote: »
    I thought it was a stated 30minute timer and now it's been nerfed to 15minutes? Why Broadsword?

    To keep IRC happy

    Yup to keep the IRC team happy .. We wanted 30 min or more and guess what we didn't get it but other then that every thing looks good to me if these daoc free players want more they can pay for it like the rest of us. But I for see the cheapskates hopping on the forums saying they want more for free always happens on FTP games

  • Badgor wrote: »
    Auberne wrote: »
    Thjo wrote: »
    I thought it was a stated 30minute timer and now it's been nerfed to 15minutes? Why Broadsword?

    To keep IRC happy

    Yup to keep the IRC team happy .. We wanted 30 min or more and guess what we didn't get it but other then that every thing looks good to me if these daoc free players want more they can pay for it like the rest of us. But I for see the cheapskates hopping on the forums saying they want more for free always happens on FTP games

    so they can defend the realm or just get their keep kills --- 15 min will not help the groups tryn to take a keep lol
  • Yes it would. No one would relog to defend a keep and check the status in 15minutes....
  • @xuu I don't know about you guys but we never swapped realm specifically to hit a keep that was being attacked, we have Tuneses in the group that would btch at us if we did.

    We go to keep defense when it is convenient (no action on EV) and to get our siege kills.

    This player swapping to defend keeps I think is just a big story that actually never really happens.

    I think the 15 minute timer is fine to precent swapping for that specific concern.

    Swapping will only happen when the action is really unbalanced, because 15 minutes is still a pretty long break.
  • Story time, a certain Hib 8 swapped from Hib to Mid then back to Hib during a Keep siege recently. (Month or so ago).

    Also calling out IRC on here saying they swap “for action” when they just realm swap and side car the Zerg (typically Rescu).

    They should consider setting the timer to 30 minutes as 15 mins is too short.
  • Personally 15 mins is plenty of time to get break port and get set up

    And as of lately irc have been helping my mid bg kill the albs

    Rofl i hope ec resets the relics
  • Shoke wrote: »

    This player swapping to defend keeps I think is just a big story that actually never really happens.

    I think this is the first big laugh I've had this morning.

    Saturday before last we had the Nameswarrior BG going until Names had to leave for some reason, and of all people the leadership fell onto Rhilder!

    So for a while Rhild and his cohorts helped the BG kill the Albs, yes. They took the towers they needed, as expected, then ordered the Mid BG to KM.

    Now, I wasn't born yesterday and kept my eye on him the whole time. The moment Mids were on inner, he Ninja ported to Uppland and I knew what was coming next so I told Pill to watch out. And in came Rhilder's group to try and farm the BG he was just leading a moment ago. Except, this was a miscalculation on his part because there were still plenty of Albs out and his group swapping was enough of a tilt that nearly the entire BG logged.

    So he was left with only Albs on and logged back into Mid to try and lead the BG again.

    I don't approve of their playstyle or underhanded tactics, but I do always get a laugh from it. Know your frenemies. ;-)

    And please, @John_Broadsword consider slightly longer realm timers? I know 12 Hour Realm Timers won't happen, though it would be amazing if it did, but 15 minutes...I personally believe it's a bit short.




  • Too long and people will go do something else. Personally I think 15 is about perfect. It's too long for people to really adjust if you are doing something strategic.
  • Damnit Buffsteria!!! Any longer and there won’t be anyone on for you to complain about!! lol
  • Why exactly is anything more than 15 minutes necessary? People say that they think it is needed but neglect to provide any reasoning for why they think so. For people that swap realms 15 minutes is quite the wrench thrown in the works, but (hopefully) not to an extent where they quit the game, anything longer and they will unless EC dramatically improves action as a whole. Going forward I expect the timer implementation to be reconsidered if there aren't any clear positive effects resulting from it, which initially won't be determinable since they're released alongside EC.

    @Fateboi "IRC" cares about making the most rps when there isn't 8v8 to be had. Roaming the wind sidecaring the biggest zerg is seldom the way to achieve that. On the contrary we nearly always attempt to fight rescu on mid/hib. If there is a group we're fighting or if he simply has too many that may chance ofc.

    Also legit question does the timer start from the last time you made rps or from logout?
  • edited October 2019 PM
    @Buffsteria I agree some players might donshady things but that is a single group out of the entire pop
    Post edited by Shoke on
  • edited October 2019 PM
    must be a crappy BG to disband after one group leaves. to me it seems people do not want any competition. they would rather take empty towers and keeps to complete quest. So when group switches to fight them they want to cry when they lose.

    I hear " they know what we are runinng" - well switch it up. They do.
    I hear " people log in to defend keeps we are trying to take" - so crying you can't win
    I hear " 12 hour realm timers" - I hear I want to run EV with nothing to fight.
    U hear "timers will may more people quit then come back" - I agree

    II know a few people from this game and I have never heard 1, not a single person say ,"I quit because of no timers." I hear because of embalances or nerfs. but never because there isnt a timer.
    Post edited by Minibard on
  • edited October 2019 PM
    Welp @Flik I'm just stating what I've observed the past two weeks plus. IRC doesn't swap "for action" they swap to Zerg (typically Albion) and side car. Not always, but majority of the time in the past 2-3 weeks it's what I've seen.

    We get it you will run w/a zerg then swap when it's convenient like tonight. On Mids for the the Midgard Zerg vs. Hero then guess what swap and flop bro.

    My guess is that they don't want to alienate the new f2p accounts so they left it at 15 minutues.

    GL
    Post edited by Fateboi on
  • edited October 2019 PM
    It's a simple fix. Just make it so people who earn 1 rp on one realm are ineligible for kill quests on another realm. So if you earn 1 rp on say Albion you can not earn kills on Hib or Mid towards daily kill quest completions for 1 hour. This is the middle ground imo. With this they are still able to get rps for kills (as all kills still award rps) but not towards their daily quests or their group dailies.

    Edit:
    But there is no longer a realm timer
    Post edited by Daelin on
  • edited October 2019 PM
    Edited for double post
    Post edited by Daelin on
  • Can someone put this in layman terms please? Do we start new characters? on old accts or get our old ones whipped, or keep them and just start in a new character screen. I'm confused. Can someone explain whats new?
    Thanks
  • @Fateboi I'm confused. Are you saying that through your observations you've come to the conclusion that "IRC" likes to stick the biggest zerg and run laps around the island with them chasing lesser numbers? If so I believe you have "IRC" confused with someone else. If there is one giant zerg on EV and no other action we'll usually try to get enough to fight it on a less populated realm. You mention what happened earlier where we formed a couple of mid groups to give Herorius a fight and it's a perfect example of that, and as soon as he logged off we logged off.

    The times we end up on the biggest zerg realm is when we don't care what the zergs are doing and we just roam EV looking for 8mans trying to complete a few quests. Saying that we "just realm swap and side car the Zerg (typically Rescu)" is the exact opposite of what we usually do. In fact it is the behaviour which pro-timer advocates insist many players are constantly doing (swapping to the winning side), but no one actually does.

    I think the way we use realm swapping to usually play the less populated realms is an undeniably positive aspect of being able to swap realms at will which improves overall action. Of course we don't do it due to some noble intention of playing the underdog. We do it because being on the less populated realm means more enemies which means more potential rps for us, but it ends up being positive for action as a whole nonetheless.

    Realm timers will likely be very detrimental to this behaviour btw. Far more likely to stick it out on realm with worse action as opposed to wasting 15 minutes waiting to swap. Let's hope whatever positive effects timers have or EC brings can make up for it.
  • The class restriction should be removed , somes people won't come back because of this .
  • edited October 2019 PM
    Why are you confused @Flik ? If you are IRC you know when and why you swap. Therefore, my observation is moot right? On the daily during US primetime I watch them swap (typically to Alb) and they side car Rescu.

    Literally yesterday was in Midgard side car to the EU Zerg vs Hero.

    This isn’t just me so don’t get offended, literally majority of the people acknowledge that IRC swaps then flops back and forth...
    Post edited by Fateboi on
  • Can someone put this in layman terms please? Do we start new characters? on old accts or get our old ones whipped, or keep them and just start in a new character screen. I'm confused. Can someone explain whats new?
    Thanks

    Check the Herald in a few hours. I believe they are writing some answers to these questions for a grab bag today.
  • Flik wrote: »
    Also legit question does the timer start from the last time you made rps or from logout?

    If I have this right its from when you logout, but only if you made rps during that session.... so yeah, that's probably going to apply to you.
  • edited October 2019 PM
    here is a typical night for IRC.. they log in alb first, roam island until zergs are out. Mostly fighting creaper group.
    then either lead a couple of groups or run with rescue to finish quest. At that time, they switch to a less populated realm, either Mid or Hib depending on time . around 8 or 9 est PIllager zerg starts up so usually they come to hib where they and 1 or 2 more groups kill rescue a couple times and he logs in frustration. then they kill pillager zerg until they take a break until irc logs.

    I dont think EC does anything for daoc. why would someone want a gimped account? and if you are a high RR why would you want to gimp your toons by not subbing for 180 days, only to get a free gimped account? you cant use sup pots, you will lose your house, and RAs and a longer timer, and no guild buffs.
    Post edited by Minibard on
  • oh here is more stuff.


    Chat

    Can Endless Conquest accounts access all in-game chat channels?

    Yes. However, public-chat channels including /region, /advice, /lfg, and /trade have a 30-second cooldown between each message sent.

    GUILD
    Endless Conquest accounts will be able to speak and hear in guild, officer, or alliance chat, wear guild emblems, and claim outposts. No other privileges will be allowed, including inviting, removing, promoting, or editing guild ranks. Even if a guild rank is setup to allow many other guild privileges, Endless Conquest accounts will not be able to use them.

    BUFFS

    What are the restrictions on character buffs?

    Endless Conquest characters can buff or be buffed by others but must stay within 4,000 in-game units AND remain grouped with any other character that they buff or are buffed by for the buffs to work.

    Endless Conquest characters can freely use NPC-based buffs and item-based buff charges but cannot use any buff potions except for the Conquest buff potion that can be purchased on the Mithril store
  • The EC proposals are tone deaf to the fact that $15 per month is wildly out of place in the current video game market.

    A diminishing cost profile for sad bastsrds like me, too, would be welcomed as I have nine I could subscribe but won't at that price.
  • $15 isnt even a night out. Its like a lunch. Price haant increased in over 15 years. U going to spend nmore on mithril sup pots.

    But enjoy your rr7 toon i guess
  • edited October 2019 PM
    Lowering the price won't bring players back since many of them left due to the radical changes Broadsword made. This game isn't comparable anymore to what it was 5+ years ago. EC may attract some old players since they can check the state of the game without spending money. However, for it to truly work they need to bring in new players which means they better advertise beyond throwing a banner up on MMORPG.com. Steam would get traction but that's a dead end because of EA. Sadly, EA hasn't even put the game up on Origin after all these years.

    They need to expand the class / race choices to all classic classes / races. Realm skill cap should be 100 points. Conquest potions need to be 99 charges for their price point. Bountycraft didn't need to be implemented the way it is now. It should just be a BP merchant like the Infernal Merchants except always up. It made sense when items were proposed to be bound on equip but they're tradeable so why make the process annoying? Increase the BP cap and make them account wide. The item database is great to have but we still don't have a template builder nor a character planner. We are extremely lucky Utils is still running and that we have Excidio despite them both being outdated. Speaking of which, when is the new website slated to be released? I hope before EC.

    If EC is meant to deter a diminishing playerbase, then it needs to be functional on its own. As it stands, I don't see it working like we all hoped for.

    Edit: RIP BGs
    Post edited by Tyrantanic on
    "The grab bag isn't for explaining every single class change decision or reasoning or that's all we would ever do." - John_Broadsword
    "The type of of dev communication of 30 mins a day updates mentioned here just isn't feasible." - Carol_Broadsword
    "Our Studio. Our Rules." - http://www.mythicentertainment.com/
  • They need a new server for this. The EC toons will be at such a disadvantage that they won’t have any incentive to sub. Level the playing field and you’ll get more to join (and maybe add another class to the options).
  • Lots of good points on this thread. Like some others on this topic, I have seven accounts and at the moment all are subbed and I'm enjoying the game a lot, except for some issues with my main class, Hunter, that I'm hoping to see improve with EC. I don't know if this will happen but I can always hope.




  • edited October 2019 PM
    Gimped accounts getting rolled by IRC “8” who constantly side car the Zergs. They won’t stick around for long IMO retaining probably 10%.

    Why would anyone dump $ into Mithril if you are getting insta rolled the minute you step outside of the Zergs...
    Post edited by Fateboi on
  • People get insta rolled because all they do is zerg.

    Take the US prime mid zerg, we manage to find 1 to 1.5 fg running to the zerg, think they will fight our 8, and all they do is blow all possible cooldown available to them and flee to the 4 fg zerg (when there is 16 people tops on other realms in the frontier).

    If people weren't so scared of learning and improving, this game wouldn't be in such a bad state.

    Upon a pale horse do try, they usually run a bit more than 8 to compensate for their "casualness" but at least they try. Props to them.

    Asatruar is just turning into a gigantic pile of trash right now, totally breaking late US prime RvR.
  • Shoke wrote: »
    Asatruar is just turning into a gigantic pile of trash right now, totally breaking late US prime RvR.

    Asatruar is the best darn guild in the whole entire game. You're yelling at clouds at this point.
  • You're confusing RvR with PvP @shoke. I understand people want fair fights but that isn't how the game is setup. Hence my suggestion for instanced PvP.
    "The grab bag isn't for explaining every single class change decision or reasoning or that's all we would ever do." - John_Broadsword
    "The type of of dev communication of 30 mins a day updates mentioned here just isn't feasible." - Carol_Broadsword
    "Our Studio. Our Rules." - http://www.mythicentertainment.com/
  • Game is RVR any sub set of that is made up and the points don’t matter.

    That said Hib is a buncha no skill Zergers with the exception of Creaper’s 8 man.

    See now you feel better ?
  • I guess I did not express correctly. I was mainly saying that rvr lost all its diversity.

    Daoc rvr is nice because it is a blend of 3 realms doing multiple things, saying that daoc boils down to strictly zerg v zerg is oversimplifying this great game's concept.

    This probably came out as a rant (it mainly was) but the underlying message was that while a couple months ago there was still diversity in rvr, the last month has strictly revolved around zergs.

    Do you guys know how many visible Albion players were out in the frontier last night? 0, nada. Not a single soul to be found.

    Do you guys know how many visible hibs were on? 2 and a half groups, not running together. Did voltron for 5 minutes to kill the Asatruar zerg.

    Do you guys know how many mids were on? 5 freakin groups running stuck to each other. How is that healthy behavior for long term?

    Thisnis kind of getting off topic, but endless conquest, in its current format, will only feed the zergs. Is that good for long term?
  • It really comes down to which play style is more appealing to a general populace. DAoC itself only appeals to a niche market due to its mechanics and "endgame" content. The zerg play style likely attracts more casual players than the other play styles as it's more relaxed than 8man, small man, or solo. The burden to perform well is effectively lifted when you're surrounded by other players. It's the only play style that I see which brings in large numbers. Is this good for the game? I think so.

    What some may not realize or may not want to accept is that the zerg play style has always had a larger player base than any other play style in DAoC. That is the major selling point of the game. Massive fights. No other MMO offers this experience (until CU releases). The problem recently is that we don't have the population to sustain all play styles. That doesn't mean other play styles are inferior but it should be blatantly obvious by now that they are the first to suffer with a diminishing population because they are inherently less popular.

    Despite all that, there are caveats to zergs. The main problem I see with zerging is how those who lead zergs choose to utilize their numbers. Ideally, zergs should be going after objectives (i.e. keeps, relics, other zergs) and not roaming aimlessly around a single zone pretending to be the fire brigade. Broadsword has promoted this behavior by adding towers and a keep to EV along with quests that can only be completed on the island. I understand trying to consolidate action to one area when the population is low; however, it effectively kills all other play styles. Therefore,EV should be removed entirely. Let the island be as it was (i.e. Agramon) and bring back the invasions.
    "The grab bag isn't for explaining every single class change decision or reasoning or that's all we would ever do." - John_Broadsword
    "The type of of dev communication of 30 mins a day updates mentioned here just isn't feasible." - Carol_Broadsword
    "Our Studio. Our Rules." - http://www.mythicentertainment.com/
  • edited October 2019 PM
    They need to remove the perma buganne from vannin .
    Post edited by Hellblast on
  • Lol jebus....crying about zergs...today...like your argument has never been made in the last 15 years at least 100 times a week.

    Yeah, I'm not going to sub. It makes me sad but this game is dead. I'll just stay in EVE (which btw, is 1000x more skill based than DAOC ever was).
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