Camelot Unchained: Luchorpan!
We're long overdue for a good Camelot Unchained post! Â Mark Jacobs and his team have been publishing regular updates with everything from concept art of races and their origin stories…
We're long overdue for a good Camelot Unchained post! Â Mark Jacobs and his team have been publishing regular updates with everything from concept art of races and their origin stories…
Back in 2010 I concluded that the MMO industry is working backwords. January 3, 2010 I said, "Looking at what the MMORPG’s of the past were able to accomplish, and…
I believe that dedicated crafting classes are one of, if not the most, important features in a MMO. If a game can sustain multiple play styles, that game will have…
The subject of consequences isn't foreign to this blog. We talk all the time about wanting games with more meaningful decisions. Over the past few days, Mark Jacobs has been…
Mark Jacobs has come to the Keen and Graev Community Forums once again. This time he's gathering ideas and opinions about what a next-gen MMORPG crafting system should be like,…
I had the pleasure of speaking with Mark Jacobs this past week about his upcoming project which was just officially announced today. Mark is diving once again into the realm…
One of my favorite things about having a blog is how often I'm forced to think about what I want in MMORPGs. Do you ever stop and think what would…
Would it shock you if I told you that Dark Age of Camelot is one of my favorite games? No, of course it wouldn't. My moniker is 'Keen' after all.…
I have to chime in on this one. Scott Jennings has posted Matt Firor’s recollections from DAOC’s launch day. It was ten years ago. Crazy how time flies while at the same time making no sense… it’s crazy to think at 2001 was ten years ago when it feels like yesterday. Read Matt’s story. It’s fascinating. Mythic has a truly remarkable history that so many of you do not know well enough.
I remember walking into the office one morning towards the end of October. By that time it was obvious we had a smash hit on our hands. Our marketing/sales consultant, Eugene Evans (now the GM of the studio) had a whiteboard near his desk (right by the front door) where he jotted down sales numbers. By October 27 or so, it showed that we were not only the #1 selling PC game for October, but also the #1 selling PC product for that month. Since this was the first boxed retail product Mythic had, I asked him if this success was normal. Eugene, and old industry veteran, looked at me like I was insane and replied, “No, this isn’t typical.â€
DAOC was and most likely will be forever one of the greatest accomplishments in MMORPG PvP.  While DAOC invented and captured lightning in a bottle when it came to PvP, it was also one of the few games to masterfully blend PvE and PvP together with incentive and reward (until ToA). Furthermore, DAOC had one of the greatest communities of any game where you could be playing in a realm of a thousand people and feel like you knew them all — it was magic in every sense of the word.
There aren’t words to adequately describe my desire for another game like it. I would give my time freely to see it done.  It’s sad that games are releasing today with problems that DAOC solved. That says a lot about the DAOC team and about those teams making games today.
I should have commented on this way sooner -- busy, remember? Mark Jacobs, the guy very much responsible for a great deal of Dark Age of Camelot and Warhammer Online…