Played all 3 realms to about 20 on a couple toons to get an idea of where I will start at release. IMO I have to say the Albs are the most all around friendly and helpful server. They always have groups going at all levels. Toss out buffs and extra gear to Noobs. Mids is a close second. That other realm isn't worth mentioning, which saddens me because I loved my Chanter and Druid! I wanted to play the Bard I had heading to 20.

Populations are what most expected during NA times. Mid has way more peeps. Then Alb and then them other guys. Unless of course there are a lot of anon people on one server.

Fun to relive the old DAOC days.

I have leveled at least up to 15 on each realm.

Albion - By far the most friendly. I received many free hand outs without even asking. Random trade window would open up and give me gold or a new item. I suspect this is because people want to encourage you to stick with Albion given the uphill battle of population and general imbalances towards the other realms (i.e, no endo etc.). Guild chat was helpful. Just seemed like a more mature crowd.

Midgard - I was a Shaman so was easy to get a group. Groups were your typical style of Tanks and Healers and DPS. Was pleasent to play primarily because I know the realm layout so well. The realm is very over populated when compared to Albion. I suspect Midgard will be the supreme realm due to their powerful group set ups and their superior numbers.

Hibernia - Terrible experience. No groups what so ever UNLESS you are a mana enchanter, mana mentalist, druid, or bard. For giggles, yesterday I saw that 312 people were online for Hib (about 1,100 total for server). I did a /who ment, /who ench, /who druid, and /who bard. Total tally was ... 49 mentalists, 45 enchanters, 42 druids, 38 bards. That is about 56% of the entire population that was online. Obviously, this is due to the overpowered nature of focus pull leveling. If you arn't helpful in focus groups, get outta here ... you are not wanted.

I will probably go with Albion at Live (leaning towards 50 instrument / 32 stealth / 29 slash while auto training just to level 20 in instruments). I don't think I can handle full AT to 48 without a group lifting me up.

I've normally mained midgard since daoc release as well as on Uth 1.0 until I rerolled due to mid being overpopulated.

1. Started midgard I see tons of groups going and no one is being shunned from groups. Not even those dirty thanes. Midgard also appears to have a slight population advantage. I probably won't play here even though its my preferred realm as it appears to be headed back toward it being overcrowded.

2. Rerolled Alb (which I also did on Uth 1.0 after suffering through being on hib). People group and assist other players often. Seems pretty friendly since I've been there for a while now. Hopefully we have some standout leaders or "brain albs" I think is what they used to be called. This will make alb much more competitive in the RvR front.

3. I had rolled hib on Uth 1.0 after getting 2 chars to 50 in mid I got multiple chars to 45+ on hib. The general attitude of Hib then keeps me from rolling there again as it was a pretty toxic elitist realm overall when I played hopefully this changes.

Mid best melee

Hib best caster

would never play alb ever

ever

Hey, alb IMO has the best stealth


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Lucilius- wrote:Hibernia - Terrible experience. No groups what so ever UNLESS you are a mana enchanter, mana mentalist, druid, or bard. For giggles, yesterday I saw that 312 people were online for Hib (about 1,100 total for server). I did a /who ment, /who ench, /who druid, and /who bard. Total tally was ... 49 mentalists, 45 enchanters, 42 druids, 38 bards. That is about 56% of the entire population that was online. Obviously, this is due to the overpowered nature of focus pull leveling. If you arn't helpful in focus groups, get outta here ... you are not wanted.

What you're describing will only be the case for the first few weeks. Ench pets are superior tanks at the moment because they don't rely on equip. As soon as there are crafters around to provide decent gear for tanks this will change.

I'm surprised by this thread. I've only rolled on hib thus far and have had a pretty good experience. However I will agree, that the focus pulling groups shunning other classes is an issue. I am a druid though, so that could easily be why I am having a good experience. Will see as my Hero gets higher level.

Nef Melody wrote:

Lucilius- wrote:Hibernia - Terrible experience. No groups what so ever UNLESS you are a mana enchanter, mana mentalist, druid, or bard. For giggles, yesterday I saw that 312 people were online for Hib (about 1,100 total for server). I did a /who ment, /who ench, /who druid, and /who bard. Total tally was ... 49 mentalists, 45 enchanters, 42 druids, 38 bards. That is about 56% of the entire population that was online. Obviously, this is due to the overpowered nature of focus pull leveling. If you arn't helpful in focus groups, get outta here ... you are not wanted.

What you're describing will only be the case for the first few weeks. Ench pets are superior tanks at the moment because they don't rely on equip. As soon as there are crafters around to provide decent gear for tanks this will change.

tanks will never be able to compete with hib focus pull grps... even with sc and buffs, you wont be able to tank in the way the pet does. not only get you hit harder, you also have more problems of holding aggro vs multiple mobs (and plz no "you have to be skilled then" statements - that would be ignorant). ofc there are situations where having actual tanks are better, but those are very rare.

one consequence can be seen already - many tanks 40+ already left the realm (probably towards migard, and who can blame them).. if this will also be the case at launch, the following rvr will be interesting.

i think hibs need to realize that tanks and even stealthers are important and should be supported... playing with focus pull grps is good, but you dont need 8 for them to work out.. you just need 5 at best, and the other 3 slots can be given to other classes

Its something that troubles me as a hib aswell simply because i actually want to play enchanter in rvr later :-/

Propper guilds will push their tanks. No worries.

If you are a casual player with limited time, I would go Alb for the best PvE/BG experience. Shortly after the game goes live, the 8 vs 8 elitists will be using Teamspeak to RP farm the F out of one another to quickly obtain RR10+. Within a few months, it will become completely pointless for casuals to try to compete in RvR against these very cohesive, high realm rank teams. It has happened on other servers, and it will happen here again - old news. This server can still be a very enjoyable PvE/BG experience though, and Alb provides the best of such an experience.

pweet wrote:Propper guilds will push their tanks. No worries.

yes, but those will probably only grp with their guilds... so it is +/- 0

If they ever fix xp being broken due to level difference I'll probably be PLing a lot of stealthers and autotrain classes wherever I end up.

Shinyuka wrote:

pweet wrote:Propper guilds will push their tanks. No worries.

yes, but those will probably only grp with their guilds... so it is +/- 0

not if the staff implements PL properly i.e. make it meaningful to always have a full group.

Shinyuka wrote:tanks will never be able to compete with hib focus pull grps... even with sc and buffs, you wont be able to tank in the way the pet does. not only get you hit harder, you also have more problems of holding aggro vs multiple mobs (and plz no "you have to be skilled then" statements - that would be ignorant). ofc there are situations where having actual tanks are better, but those are very rare.

It's only due to Uthgards not properly working BAF system. Once you attack a mob with your ench pet in a larger grp of people the other adds should spread randomly onto grp members. Idk how uthgard handles this but it's quite weird, most of the BAF mobs go directly onto the pet.
If it would be working as livelike then you would have a really hard time getting aggro onto the pet in the first place, because it frequently misses vs red+ con mobs, whereas tanks can easily taunt.
Once you've healed a grp member without the mobs hitting the pet with dmg shield before you'll never loose the aggro again because a blue pet cannot take it