Dark Ages of Camelot - Advanced Players
Visually each realm is different. They all hold their own atmosphere and ambiance. Playing in each realm is also different. The lands are different, with unique design and their own history. Traveling these massive virtual landscapes is exciting and dangerous! There are many things to do in PvE (Player vs Environment) with hundreds of quests and adventures to be had, and each expansion grants more and more great content. With the most recent expansion, Darkness Rising, players can participate in a quest (for levels 35+) to obtain their very own steed! Obtain a warhorse, unicorn, nightmare, or undead-phantom steed. Advanced mounts are available to Champions of level 45 and above, and can be customized with a unique name, barding, saddlebags, and armor.
The further you immerse yourself in the game the more you can do. There is also an advanced crafting system, so players can create their own wares. Players can also purchase their own homes in the housing zone, where they can sell their crafted items, or plundered loot, to the public. There are different house types and players can choose which type they want, but the higher tier in housing the higher the cost. Players are expected to pay rent each week on their house after its purchase, so if you don't pay it you risk losing it. Each house can be decorated inside and out. You can place interior decorative items anywhere on the areas they are allowed to be on. There are no hook-points for the decorative items. You can purchase merchants for your home, crafting vendors, storage chests, portal merchants and even a bind stone. I could spend all day just decorating my house with the assortment of items available, and thats the honest truth.
The best part of this game, however, is the PvP (player vs player), which is by far the best PvP system I've ever played. The three realms each enter a battleground, with a keep that is owned by one of the three realms. There the three realms duke it out for dominance. These areas are sectioned off by level ranges: The Proving Grounds (Level 1-4), The Lion's Den (Level 5-9) , The Hill's of Calret (Level 10-14) , Killaloe (Level 15-19) , Thindranki (Level 20-24) , Braemar (Level 25-29), Wilton (Level 30-34), Molvik (Level 35-39), Leirvik (Level 40-44). Once you are level 45+ you can begin playing in the Frontiers, battling against the other realms for Relics.
The battlegrounds are a great place to learn your character and practice their abilities more, for battling against other players is far more challenging than in PvE. These PvP battles can be intense, and extremely frustrating, believe me, but don't worry about griefers as much. Enemy realms can't talk to one another, so there is no worry of being spammed to death with insults when you kill someone. Of course they can emote at you, which they will do and do often. Your most likely to have your fallen corpse laughed at or have a 'rude gesture' made towards you. Yet those little actions are half the fun of RvR (Realm vs Realm) and loads better than having to deal with the alternative.
In these places you can lay siege to a keep if an enemy realm controls it, or protect it if your realm owns it. Each battleground is different, the landscapes in each being unique. Traveling around the battlegrounds is dangerous, for not only are there creature mobs to worry about, but also those of your enemy realm, and believe me there are spies hidden where you least expect them. Players can purchase siege weapons from their portal keep's Seigemaster. By right clicking on them you can open their merchandise list. All siege equipment cost different for each battleground level. Once you purchase a siege item, give it back to the Siegemaster and they will follow you for a total of ten minutes. Take them to the place you wish to set up your siege weapon, right-click, answer their questions and they'll set up your weapon. But you have to be careful, Siegemasters can be killed by enemies, and since they are a bit slow they are easy targets.
In the first three battlegrounds (The Proving Grounds, The Lion's Den, The Hill's of Calret) you will not gain any realm points. You can't earn any bounty points in any of the battlegrounds either, that being access able only in the Frontiers. Each of the battlegrounds have a realm rank cap as well as level cap. Once you exceed those caps you will need to move up to the next battleground. Players can lock their experience as well as realm points, so that they don't gain any while in the battleground. That way they can stay there for a longer basis if they wish.
Realm points are gained by killing members of the opposing realms, and when you reach certain tiers in your realm points your realm rank will increase. With each realm rank earned you gain more points to spend on Realm Abilities. These abilities differ between each class, and there are also some unique abilities available only to one single class. You can spend your realm points at your trainer, gaining more special abilities and advance your character that much more in their skills.
Frontier PvP is a bit different than the battlegrounds, but only by a few instances. Yet since I don't have a character in that area yet... that review will just have to wait. :) But from what I've played in the battlegrounds (I've played from The Proving Grounds to Molvik), the PvP can be intense and very exciting. I have to be honest and say that my favorite class was my Hibernian Ranger. Stalking around, shooting people with arrows is very gratifying. Of course, I killed as often as I died, which was nerve racking, but thrilling as well.
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