What Comes Next?

[Martok]

It is now almost sixty days since we launched I wonder what comes next???

Folks,

Our two-month anniversary is coming up and I thought it appropriate to say a few (okay, more than a few) words about our game to the players that help make Dark Age of Camelot the unique world that it is today. First, on behalf of Mythic I want to thank all the people who have purchased and are playing our game. You are part of the most successful launch of an MMORPG in the United States to date. We continue to set new records for sales and expanding subscriber count with each day that goes by. We thank you for interest, your support and we hope, for your continued enjoyment of our world. Second, as great as our launch was, no amalgam of software as complex as DAoC is ever perfect. While it would be easy for us to relax now and enjoy the fruits of our labor; that is not what Mythic is all about. I have written about our commitment to our players at length over the years and that commitment will continue to be shown by the amount of effort, time and money that will be spent by Mythic to honor that commitment. So, without further ado let’s get to the heart of the matter, what is coming down the road in the next month.

First, Mythic is the process of hiring additional personnel to continue to help achieve our goal of being the best MMORPG in the industry. From artists to customer service to our first in-house sound engineer, Mythic will continue to reinvest in DAoC and its future. Nothing comes cheaply, certainly not success and that is what we want DAoC to continue to be, the most successful MMORPG ever created by an independent developer. However, that is not good enough for us. We want to be the best MMORPG created anywhere by anyone at anytime. To do this takes time and money and we are willing to spend it.

Second, we will be continuing to squash bugs and game imbalances wherever and whenever we find them. Our #1 priority is a bug-free game. New content is good but we would rather take a little longer (if necessary) to get in new stuff rather than gloss over what is left behind. Both the world developers and the programmers are working diligently in improving this most challenging hurdle in developing and operating an MMORPG. For the purpose of brevity (our new content list at the end of this letter is quite long enough) I am not listing these items here. However, better balancing (including enhancements) the Realms and the classes are obviously quite important.

Third, even with our focus on bugs and balance issues, we will also be putting in a ton of new content over the next thirty days. Please keep in mind that these are things that as of this writing we expect to have in but things can always change in this type of world. However, we are pretty confident that everything contained herein will make it in before three-month anniversary of the game. Also, this is not a full list but just the big things we have planned. So, here we go:

1) Climbing and ladders will be added to the game.

2) You will be able to see arrows and ammo being shot by other players.

3) Shapeshifting will be added.

4) Bounty points (for Realm vs. Realm combat) will be added to the game.

As part of this we will also add a Realm Store where you can redeem

your points. We will also convert each character so that Bounty Points

are added retroactively to your character based on the Realm Points you

have accumulated so far.

5) A new class of weapon effects will be added to the game for things like

flaming swords.

6) Battlegroups will be added to the game.

7) We will look at improving the animations for both water and lava.

8) New weapon animations for skills will be added.

9) More unique NPCs will be added to the game. What we mean by unique is NPCs that require their own special animations/attacks. These are not NPCs whose type exist already in the game (to which we just add new skins) but whole new types of NPCs.

10) More skins for NPCs (as separate from above).

11) Ongoing Realm by Realm, Zone by Zone analysis of all parts of the Realms.

12) Hibernia will get special attention in order to correct what people

perceive it being the “poor stepchild” of the game. In particular all

aspects of the development team will be turning their attention to that

Realm (classes, spells, NPCs, dungeons) to improve it and the player’s

perception of the Realm.

13) Increased itemization of certain dungeons and outdoor areas.

14) Addition of Epic Quests to 40th level across all Realms.

15) Addition of some Epic Quests up to 50th level.

16) Addition of more non-Epic Quests.

So, that’s the list. In January we will be turning our attention to housing, server types and horses as well as lots and lots of other stuff. We have also recently made a decision based on the current workload to plan for our first expansion pack a little later than we had originally considered. We are doing this so we can continue to show our commitment to our current players in delivering a ton of new content as part of the subscription service. Rushing an expansion pack out there could have endangered that effort and thus, we are delaying it by a couple of months. As tempting as it is to get another SKU out, doing so would not be the right decision for Mythic or for the players.

Once again I want to thank you, our players, for your continued support and patronage. We will continue to work hard to deserve it.

Mark Jacobs