Lots of Questions!!!!Follow

Okay, WoW player here looking for a change. Been playing WoW for over a year now and i'm growing quite bored with it. Tried several other MMO's as a possible replacement...here's the list of them: Guild Wars, Everquest 2, EVE, Star Wars Galaxies, Anarcy Online, Dungeons and Dragons Online. Needless to say, none of them have caused me to cancel my WoW account. I did cancel for a bit for EQ2, but came back after about 2 months.

Was checking out mmorpg.com, when I saw an add for a 14 day free trial for DAoC. I downloaded and tried it, and it seemed okay. I hear the PvP on it is awesome. However, I do have to say that the graphics on it are quite outdated. Which complaint was quickly dismissed as I read that there is an expansion that updates the graphics on it. So basically, I am left undecided on what to do. I have several questions that I would to ask all you veterans, to hopefully sway me to one game or the other.

1: Graphics. How does the new graphics engine compare to WoW's? I do like WoW's graphics alot, it is fairly pleasent to the eye. There are some very beutiful environments in WoW but i'm not quite sure if DAoC has anything like this.

2: Crafting. Is there any? Cause WoW has none at the moment...at least I don't consider it crafting. I liked EQ2's crafting system alot...very in depth and appeared that you could make very powerful and usable items.

3: PvE. How long does it take to level in DAoC? Now, I don't want a game that will require a year or two to attain max level...but I also don't want to play a game where you can level from scratch in a week (see WoW). Another big concern is the ability to solo the PvE content. I love this about WoW; you can go 1-60 all on your own. This is the main reason I left EQ2...because after level 20 or so...you pretty much had to 5 man simple quests...like killing bears and stuff.

4: PvP. Now this, as I hear it, appears to be DAoC's bread n' Butter. PvP sucks balls in WoW...pure and simple. Long q's only to be steamrolled. And world PvP consists of nothing but ganking. Not quite sure what Realm vs Realm means but it sounds cool. How does PvP work in DAoC?

5: Instances. Again...another thing I like about WoW. I really enjoyed doing the 5 and even 10 mans in WoW. You get good XP...good loot...and is generally entertaining. Are there any in DAoC, and if so, are they any good?

6: Stability. WoW goes down every week...which pisses me off considering the amount of money they are shoveling in. There's also some ranodm bug of something that causes the servers to go down. Now I understand that it's a big job to run one of these games...but if I don't make my payment...my account is instantly shut down...so they can keep the god damn game up. Also, how does the new graphics engine run on older machines. My wife also plays, and her computer is just a tad old. It runs WoW just fine, but struggled with EQ2. Will there be much lag with PvP/raids and such? Her machine runs just fine during large 40 on 40 BG's in WoW...if that gives something to compare it to.

7: Community. WoW's community just plain sucks. If it isn't the Allakhazam jokes...it's some momma joke or something else that's equally stupid and juvenille. Plus, people are just ******** on that game. Are the people that play DAoC older than 12 and will lend a hand to new players without throwing insults around?

I think that's pretty much it. I know it's a long post but I want to be totally sure before I cancel again. Thanks.

1. Never played WoW but DAOC's graphics work very well for the most part. With any game, once you get accustomed to the rendering, you'll be fine.

2. Lots of crafting, but you're limited by class. Not every class can learn every craft. You can also only excel in one craft but can develop some skill in related crafts. All components are store-bought but once your skill is high enough, you can get materials from breaking down found items.

3. Some classes are easier to level than others. Some classes are great soloers and others work easier in groups. Lots of camps service soloers and groups, which is a very good innovation. If you are a soloer and pull from a camp, one mob will come. If you are in a group and pull from the same camp, 2-5 mobs will come (depending on size of the group). One caveat - if you are soloing and someone helps you, for the next few minutes the game treats you as a group and will send at least 2 mobs. If you log out to the character select screen and back in, you will be reset to solo. There are so many options for leveling now that it is not the great grind it used to be. If you follow some of the leveling guides, you could get to max level in a few weeks. However, if you want to explore and experience more than just the few camps leveling guides recommend, it can take you much longer to level. For max enjoyment of the game, I suggest you explore and try a little of everything. Camp bonus experience can make seldom hunted areas lucrative, rivaling the best leveling guide suggestions.

4. As you know, regular servers have 3 realms. You belong to one of them (you can only play one realm per server). Except for duels, you cannot fight folks from your realm. The frontiers and borderlands are where you can fight players from other realms. There is no communication between realms which tends to reinforce the "alienness" of your enemies and defeats in-game collaboration. There are special realm points and abilities that can be earned by participating in RvR. Capture keeps and relics to earn your realm special PvE bonuses.

5. The outdoor instances drop money almost exclusively. They are good to do if you have limited time to play as they are relatively short. Instances in dungeons and in the Catacomb zones have item drops, but mostly seals which can only be spent in the Catacomb cities on armor developed specifically for PvE. These instances are usually longer and more involved than the regular outdoor instances.

6. DAOC is a very stable game. About the only time it goes down is for updates and any problems that may cause crashes are usually handled rapidly with very little downtime.

7. As you're only exposed to 1/3 of the population on the regular servers at any one time because of the realm divisions, some servers can seem particularly empty, especially during non-peak hours. Especially if you will be playing during peak hours, it would be good if you could spend some time playing during peak hours and find a guild. There will usually always be at least a few people online from your guild.

All in all, DAOC can be a great experience. There is no lack of things to do and you don't need groups to do most of them, although there are certain things designed for groups. Have fun!