Others say...

"D Loomis is totally wrong..."
Ok, first off, the whole thing about putting thousands of hours into your character and if you mess up once your done forever is total bogus. You get FREE respecs at level 5, 20, and 40. So if you mess your character up at anytime before 40, it doesnt matter because you can fix it. By the time you hit 40 you have probably learned exactly how you want your character so the chances of messing him up between 40 and 50 are insanely small. And even if you do there are things called MINI-DINGS. These are where once you get halfway to the next level you get FREE specialization points to put on top of your current spec. Plus there are other ways where, no it won't cost THAT much to respec. You go on a dragon raid and get a respec stone. When you kill the dragon it drops FIFTY of these stones. Usually it takes a little more than 50 people to kill the dragon. So almost everyone on the raid gets a stone if they can afford it. And now with the new instance tasks you can make money in no time at all. I made 1000 gold in around 2 hours. Which is about how much money a respec stone costs. So if you've put in 1000s of hours into your character and arent going to spend 2 more to fix him, you got issues.

Number two, it is NOT hard at ALL for a begginer to use. The new classes are extremely powerful in both PvE and PvP. The Heretic, Vampiir, Bainshee, Warlock are all GREAT in PvP. Vampiir is probably the most powerful out of them all. But they all have strong points. The Warlock is a GREAT caster. The Heretic can heal, fight, cast, buff and is the most versatile cclass there is. And the whole thing about being able to INSTANTLY kill someone is untrue. THE ONLY way to one hit someone is either with Critical Shot with a scout or some kind of attack with an infiltrator/shadowblade/assasin. Jsut to let you know, crit shot takes about 7 seconds to use, and if your target is still in range, u can still see him, you havent unstealthed, and no one has hit you then u have a slim chance to one hit your target, providing he is some sort of pure caster. Only about 6 classes out of around 40-50 can be one-hitted. Loomis is wrong again....moron.

All in all i hope i have proved how insanely retarded Loomis is, and how great of a game this is, and don't let him discourage you from buying this title. BECAUSE IT ROCKS MY SOCKS!!

"excellent expansion"
I've been an avid daoc player for 3 years now. I have to say, TOA upset me alot. it bored me and irritated me that the only way I was able to kill people was using gear only accessible if you're willing to go through drearily drawn out quests. Catacombs is completey differant. with great new classes, massive graphics upgrade, new areas (including instance dungeons!) and access to materials to make crafted equiptment even better, this made me a very happy mythic customer.

"Dark Age of Camelot Catacombs Expansion Review"
This game is one of the best MMORPG's i've ever played (and that's saying something). Great graphics, instanced dungeons for training customized to your level and class. Customizable faces, hundreds of weapons, the list goes on and on. I would recommend this game to anyone interested in MMORPG's.

"Piss Poor Loyalty Maintenance"
Don't get me wrong, DaoC is a great game and I have two accounts and 14 toons to attest to this fact. The good news, at least for those just entering the game, is that you'll have an easy time immersing yourself in the game, at all levels. The bad, for long-term gamers, is that Mythic has made all of those levels, Master Levels and achievements that took you months and months of work MUCH easier for noobs to achieve, without actually giving you anything in return (you DO get the nice title of "Elder" if you've player for four years or more). Given the ridiculously exaggerated prices for artifacts and scrolls achieved through Atlantis (now available for free download along with the basic DaoC software and Shrouded Isles expansion at Mythic's site), Mythic has made scroll drops vastly easier, and dramatically increased the cost of repairing artifacts (in addition to adding Epic Armor in Catacombs that comes close to approximating artifact quality, and which anyone can, and almost has to, get as part of general class quests).

It's genuinely sad that Mythic, rather than responding to its long time, loyal customer base, has chosen to pander the game to potential new subscribers. It wouldn't be such an issue if something were done to balance this, like giving long-time players some advantages in crafting (getting an LGM "has never been easier"), or benefits for toons leveled prior to the Task Dungeons of Catacombs (where "leveling has never been easier"). Sadly, this is not the case, and new subscribers continue to join, which is, in some ways, great news. What should concern them, however, is one day they'll be veterans, like the rest of us, and will find out first hand how deaf Mythic can be to that group.


"Mixed Review"
I have played DarkAges since the first day of the games release, across 2 servers and 2 realms (I have not played Albion).

The Catacombs Expansion will give a solo or casual player a much less stressful time levelling and earning decent PvE gear. The instanced hunting can make for relatively fast levelling compared to the old zones.
All in all, it is a good expansion if you like the PvE content of the game. Its not if you only play for PvP.

Regardless, if you are new to the genre or DarkAges in particular there are a few things you should know...
Levelling may be quick with the Catacombs expansion (if you are casual or solo and dont have friends to powerlevel you), but that is less than half the battle. That is the only selling point.

The real flaw in the game comes from the amount of time required to farm gear - very much of it with poor drop rates (soon to be increased, though spawn times will be made even longer which is just robbing peter to pay paul) and excessive camping by people (including guilds that will log in as a mob spawns and steal it). These items however are 100% necessary to the completion of a character. Some characters, such as the warden, are almost useless if they have not done the full run of MasterLevels and ToA farming. The time for this farming is very intense.

All in all, there is a Very Steep entry level for starters.

On top of that, there is a confusing and easy to mess up specialization system, where you spend your skill points. Respecs (rechoosing your skills) for these points are rarely handed out by Mythic (once per year or less), and the stones you need to use to retrain your skills go for insanely high prices that nobody but the most dedicated and equipped players can afford. In a recent statement Mythic said they were happy with this system.
This means once you create a character it will have to stay like that. Once you have put in the time to level, gear out, masterlevel, and then begin the realmpoint treadmill - you will have put in hundreds upon hundreds of hours. If you made a mistake or found you do not like your specialization, or found it to be in poor demand, or would just like a change - you will be stuck with it for good.

The game is plagued with a poor interface, strict class selection for PvP (many classes are unwelcome), finicky PvP (as the interrupt system attests to), and Extremely Fast paced PvP. Literally there are classes that can kill you instantly, and there is almost no give and take in a battle.
The hallmark of the game is PvP, but the pace of it makes it very difficult to enjoy. It is faster than most FPS games. If you do not have a planned organized competitive group you will just be farmed & frustrated.

So in the end, even though I play it to this day, I have a powerful guild and support network to make levelling or getting gear tolerable, and PvP a success instead of being repeatedly killed over and over. Guilds like mine however, do not invite newcomers or people who play less than 6 hours per day.

I cannot, and do not, recommend this title for a beginner or a newcomer.
If you are a veteran DarkAges fan, you may enjoy the solo exp of Catacombs, or the change in appearances (though SI is still the superior PvP engine if you do not depend on healers helper, etc).

Rates are now increased to the same price as Warcraft, EQ2, etc. The President now only promises to support the game as long as the community does, and such a non-committal message does not bode well for the future.

I hope this review was helpful.