Still wishing it was 2001...

[Griffith]

TL;DR - I miss Enclave, I'm canceling ESO and I miss Enclave.

At the risk of sounding desperate and perhaps a little whiny (pathetic), I've come to the conclusion that it may be impossible to achieve what we had in DAoC. I'm sure most of you came to that conclusion years ago, but I've held on for a bit longer. I believe this was because of how quickly and easily it came together back in 2001. It was the continued belief that because it happened so easily the first time, it was achievable a second time. It was almost effortless and I realized even back then (though maybe not right away) that it had little to do with anything I was doing. Hindsight naturally makes me wish I had made some different decisions.


Currently, I face canceling my Elder Scrolls Online subscription. Not because it's a bad game, far from it, but because I just can't seem to find people that I connect with. In fact, it feels like it's a complete waste of time to play an MMO if you don't have a group of people that you enjoy playing with.
ESO came close for me, as far as providing gameplay that I enjoyed in the same manner as DAoC. PvP wise you had grand campaigns at the start of the game that lasted 90 days in a huge awesome frontier. What you achieved, seemed to matter. Bonuses were provided to your entire faction (if they were in your campaign) that transferred over to PvE, much like in post-vanilla DAoC. There was a whisper of "pride" at the very most, but at least it was there. However, there are a few compromises that have been made by the developers. You can play for any realm/faction with an appropriate timer preventing you from joining the same campaign you were in with an opposite faction. Campaigns have become more and more fragmented with each game update. Recently they released their third content update which introduced campaigns lasting as little as 5 days. For me, it cheapens the experience. For others, I imagine this is a very casual and fun feature.
Previously, I felt like you could defend or siege a keep and feel like you've made an impact. However now it feels like nobody blinks an eye over any achievement in PvP other than becoming Emperor (I won't go into that either...which imo has created a mess in and of itself).
It forces me to think back to defending Bledmeer Faste in Odin's Gate. Preventing an enemy from taking that keep made you feel like you've just prevented an invasion. It was an intoxicating feeling, knowing that you had a chance to collapse their entire effort with one solid defense. Conversely, I can think of just as many defeats in an enemy frontier...
To anyone reading this, I'm sure this sounds a lot like "rose tinted glasses". There were challenges in DAoC and just outright frustrating elements.
Which brings me back to my point...
Enclave is what made DAoC great for me. In Midgard and Hibernia...(sorry surge!). Even the frustrations were mitigated by having cool people to play with.
Midgard was special and I took that for granted. Hibernia was special too and it turned into a bit of a love triangle! Ultimately, a lot of good people were in DAoC, even non-Enclave. I've often asked myself, what has changed? Is it just because we're older? some of you were my age when Enclave formed in DAoC so I'm convinced it's not necessarily an age thing. I could speculate on that topic for awhile so I'll just stop now.

Surge/Rerox's clever caption at the top left of this page is almost mocking me now. There is a piece of me that really does wish it was 2001. From a gaming perspective at least. I want to boot up my computer into Windows 2000 or Windows 98 SE, adjust my CRTs and slog around in DAoC waiting for a skald to log in to run me around.

I found a notebook that I used to write in when I was planning out things for the guild. It had everything from descriptions of guild ranks, lists of players and how to group them, crafting notes, people's e-mail addresses, a "kill" list of players I would look for etc...
I never led a relic raid for Midgard but I did for Hibernia so I even had keep taking strategies as well as siege numbers. It was embarrassing yet amusing to read through it (though let's be honest, it was mostly embarrassing...).

I've finally concluded, as I started to say at the beginning of this message, I likely won't see another Enclave in an MMO again. My attempts to revisit DAoC in its current form as well as Uthgard have convinced me of that further. Those experiences only succeeded in solidifying my convictions that I'm chasing the wind. Camelot Unchained may bring about some of what I'd like, but I'll believe that when I see it.

I hope there are still some of you that come back to read the forum for a bit of nostalgia now and then. I write this knowing that nobody may read it though I will continue under the assumption that everyone will!
I miss Enclave and to a lesser extent, I miss DAoC.

I will return in 4-6 months to re-post the same thing all over again I imagine when the nostalgia hits me.

[surge]

Enclave is what made DAoC great for me. In Midgard and Hibernia..

In Midgard and Hibernia..

Hibernia

All joking aside (ok I'm not joking, fuck you traitor [jk I <3 {no really, EAD fgt}]) I feel the same. And just to pile on the list of things preventing Daoc-like Enclave again...

Trophy/achievement generation: So many people want hats or pets (guilty! [only out of boredum...i swear]) or random points/awards it detracts from the central game. Daoc, at the prime, simply had realm ranks. The rewards were marginal past a certain point so even the "I'm not getting enough RP/sec" guys didnt take hold as the primary group-think. But in todays games everyone is so concerned about "wasting time" if they are not working towards some bar on their character. I feel like I'm in the minority where I just want to "beat the other team" and that is satisfaction enough.

Time: In college/first job I would come home and daoc until bed, wake up, daoc until I had to leave, repeat. Rather unhealthy now that I look back, but fun as shit. It's not to say everything else being perfect we still cant find time to play, but the gaps are much wider now which in turn make it harder to coordinate and do the kinds of things we used to.

Friends: Peoples wants change. Friends absolutely make the game and not the other way around. However finding a game that appeals to every friend is difficult. Some just want to PVE, some want to craft/build, others want to PvP. Then you have different skill levels within each type. Min/maxers vs lolpvp pew pew lolol I died! I want to be on a competitive team/squad/clan but others might not take things as seriously so you "settle" and just try to have fun with the group. Then theres cliques of friends. I like dudes from clique A and B but A and B dont like each other, ugh just play nice and kiss!

In summary, ugh to games!

[Griffith]

lmao I love it. The only thing that could have made it better if you had this in before the final exclamation.



Good points all around. In Midgard I felt like we had a mix of people that liked different things. But even in the time of need, OUR FORCES WOULD ASSEMBLE WOULD THEY NOT?!
But I suppose I could partially attribute that to the fact that the only bar you could progress after hitting 50 and maxing your gear was your realm rank. So in place of achievements and fluff content you either rolled a BG character, rolled a new character, farmed gold or hit the frontier.

You really nailed it with the "game that appeals to every friend" thing. I mean I saw that a decade ago. I had left DAoC and others didn't want to leave (some still haven't). I get it though, you have too much invested and you'd rather not leave it behind. I honestly don't remember what finally made me leave it behind...I want to say it was Warcraft, lulz.

As far as keeping a guild running...
I recall attempting to get Enclave going in Warhammer. I'm really not sure if it was the mix of people or what, but I had a really difficult time dealing with some of the bullshit that goes hand-in-hand while running a guild. There were challenges in DAoC but I didn't seem to have the same problems as I did in Warhammer.
I thought maybe it was the 5 man group or the fact that you had content that was exclusive to smaller groups. Whereas in DAoC we would zerg dungeons just for the semi-crappy drops and hanging out or go kill some world boss stuff. It could also be that I had just softened up a bit and wasn't able to assert myself when someone was whining.

Nowadays, the only MP game I'm into is Battlefield 4. And that's only on the weekends with 2 real life friends.
Even knowing that my game time in DAoC was unhealthy, I still look back and feel a longing for it. It's frustrating and pathetic.

[surge]

Even knowing that my game time in DAoC was unhealthy, I still look back and feel a longing for it. It's frustrating and pathetic.

I wouldnt have made the capture what I did if I didnt feel the same

I barely play anything these days... been doing http://tagpro.gg/ and http://curvefever.com/ for work breaks

[tellerin]

OMGZORZ why you guys so nostalgia?

Miss all of you wonky bastards

I've been playing some World of Tanks and Diablo 3 recently. Pondering console action in Destiny.

Mryellow in WoT if any of you ever drop in.

[surge]

worse is I subscribed to this forum and instantly loaded it up when you replied!

hi

[Griffith]

Ah sweet, a reply from Tellerin. That made my month.
I haven't dusted off Diablo 3 in a while. I played through most of the recent xpac but without friends to play it with it was lacking any lasting fun factor.

Is Brian still playing WoT? I recall he posted about that a long time ago.

Which console do you have Tellerin?

[tellerin]

Honestly, I'm incredibly bored by everything that's out right now. I'd rather play golf but the season is winding down and I've been too busy at the office to get out much.

I'm looking forward to Wasteland 2, Project Eternity and the Witcher 3.

Don't have either of the next-gen consoles but I was looking at using a PS4 as the entertainment center in my man cave. Then I started reading reviews of Destiny and after seeing some gameplay have decided against it for now.

Haven't seen Larao on WoT but I just fly solo in there anyway. I remind myself of a young and angry (gs)Howard when I play the tonks. The wife is disapproving. I call people scrubs/asshats/fucktwats etc., I probably yelled at Larao without knowing it too.

[Griffith]

I have Wasteland 2 and Witcher 3 on my wishlist. I game 1-2 hours at night and sometimes not at all. I'd say my gaming is winding down a bit for a change.

I'm still playing BF4 on the weekends with some real life friends which has been a good time. I was banned from a server recently because they were certain I was hacking. They cited my stats as being "inconsistent". I've never been banned from a server before unless I've just been an asshole to an admin. It's strange to me that someone can assume I'm hacking based on my stats. The irony is that they said I'm hacking because my stats took a dive over the last few months. Apparently if you were doing really well and then starting doing really poorly, that means you're a cheater.
Anyway, I'm certainly not behaving how I was back in the CS days in (gs) lol. I'm still ragey but definitely a little more laid back. Plus I get a glare from the lady if I get too loud.

Full disclosure, I used to get so upset during CS that I went through numerous keyboards and pretty much destroyed most items within reach. It was bad...thankfully those times are in the past.

I love the rage tales. I can't imagine you being that way for some reason. You've always been a solo army of destruction though.

[Laraogord]

Hi guys!

I have been busy with life stuff, but I do get some play time. I am also not excited about any of the new games out. I played Rift until I leveled a toon to cap. Then I played Neverwinter Online for a bit, not quite bringing a toon to cap. I still play DOTA 2 from time to time. I also jump on DayZ mod and go bandit. Shooting bambi's and flying around in helicopters.

I stopped playing WoT since August, but I am currently downloading it once again. All the time I put in to getting two Tier X, 2 Tier IX and the other 30 tanks in the game, I might as well casually jump in from time to time. I will friend Mryellow once I log back in. My nick is Grungemaster.

I am also looking into creating my own DAoC shard (which is what made me check the forums!) due to also feeling that same nostalgia.

I haven't touched WoW in a couple years now. It just got too tiresome and cumbersome for me.

I never did contribute to the Unchained founders kickstarter, but I will definitely give it a go. I might purchase a Builder tier though.

I hope everyone is doing well and I look forward to gaming with everyone again!

Bri