King Arthur is dead and the Realm of Camelot is being attacked by the surrounding realms of Midgard and Hibernia. As simple as it is, this is the background story for Mythic Entertainment's upcoming pseudo-historical MMORPG Dark Age of Camelot. The game is based on Briton, Norse and Celtic Mytologies, so it is not too difficult to get into it.  In the current stage of developmet, only the Albion and Midgard realms are available.

The first thing to do is to choose the realm in which your character is going to live. After doing that is the moment to select the remaining characteristics of you alter ego:

First you must select your race. There are 4 available per realm:

- Briton, Saracen, Highlander or Avalonian in Albion

- Kobold, Troll, Norseman or Dwarf in Midgard

Then you choose gender, face and hair colour. One special feature in the ability to set your character's height from short via average up to high, which adds more character customization to the character generation process.

Next thing to do is choosing the base class from one of the following:

- Fighter, Mage, Rogue, Elementalist or Acolyte in Albion

- Viking, Mystic, Rogue or Seer in Midgard

The Acolyte and the Seer are the base classes for clerics or Midgard healers. As usual in these kind of games, depending on your race you have only certain classes available, so you have some stats developed more than others. Besides those, you receive a number of points to distribute on your basic stats like strength, constitution, dexterity, quickness, intelligence, piety, empathy and charisma.

And the last step before entering the game is to name the character; in case you don't feel inspired enough the game provides a name generator.

And it is now that the game opens to any recently created character:

In towns, players will find merchants, trainers, guards and NPC's, that will provide quests. These are the 'good people'. On the opposing side, there are lots of mobs, from the easy to kill plague spider to dangerous giants or giant spiders, and, at higher levels, players from other realms. All game creatures are automatically rated when selected, which is performed by colour codes, like in EQ.

The starting equipment consists of a practice weapon depending on the base class. So it is time to search for adventures to earn some coins and experience.

On leaving the home town, one realizes the map is huge and seamless, so you can travel from one side to another without any loading screen (that is of course, if you do not get killed or tired of running, because the way is really long).

By killing monsters and solving quests, players get experience and treasure. On level ups, you get training points to raise certain skills. Once a player reaches level 5, he must choose an advanced class, for example, the base class rogue characters can become scouts, minstrels (bards) or infiltrators, which adds lots of class variations…

One feature I have always found very interesting in MMORPG's is building player groups. These allow you to see how powerful a party formed by members of different classes can become and how everyone plays his role in the battlefield. DaoC is no exception here. The game encourages grouping, so players can fight stronger monsters and get more experience, even though solo playing is still possible.

One of the major differences between the mage and the fighter base classes has been the fact that mages get new and more powerful spells when they gain levels. DAoC's development team has addressed this problem by giving the fighter classes new combat styles on gaining levels. Combat styles are special attack movements, that inflict more damage and consume endurance the same way spells consume mana.

Another major complaints in MMORPG's is death penalty. In DaoC, it is dealed with in a new way: The most important fact is that equipment never gets lost - so there's no more unprotected trips to dangerous places where one died. Until one reaches level five, there is no death penalty, but after that, players lose experience and get a constitution penalty. This can be recovered praying at the character's grave built at the death place or paying an NPC healer for a restoration service. It is very interesting, that players can be resurrected by clerics without any penalty, making them very valuable.

While exploring around, one realizes that both realms have beautiful landscapes. The downview from a hill or mountain is really impressive, and the map is full of interesting places to find and to explore. Graphics are stunning, especially armour textures and the amazing spell effects.

In other MMORPG's, PvP is restricted to players kill or get killed by other players (EQ & AC) or to everyone fighting anyone else, regardless of skill level (UO). In DaoC, players can only fight characters of opposing realms. So when players get a high level, they start taking part in the defense of their realm and can also attack enemy outposts. Players of the same realm coopertate in RvR (Realm vs Realm) invasions and battles in order to get as many enemy relics as possible. Doing this they will get realm points that will allow, for example, to buy titles.

The beta development is currently testing PvP and with the Celtic Realm and Hibernia as well as trading skills, player guilds and dungeons to be added soon this game seems to be the evolution in MMOPRG's players are waiting for. DAoC could be the next Online Game to be released after Anarchy Online, the second generation in MMORPG's and both will be on top of players' preferences, so they have lots of efforts on their design.