Mythic’s Matt Firor delves into the world of Dark Age of Camelot’s Catacombs

By Michael Lafferty

“The new classes will be the hit of this expansion”

Since its release in 2001, Dark Age of Camelot has been a consistent player in the massively multiplayer genre, drawing thousands of gamers into the realm that combines the historic with the fantasy settings.

Drop by the Camelot Herald Web site (www.camelotherald.com) and check out the numbers playing the game and at any given time you are likely to see well over 22,000 worldwide playing on the 18 shards and one test server, defending the realm.

The game itself has seen expansions, from the Foundations expansion, which redefined housing and the Shrouded Isles and New Frontiers, which have taken realm fighting to new levels, the DAoC team at Mythic Entertainment has continually evolved the title to give players the experience they want.

But later this year, DAoC will likely undergo the biggest transformation in its history. The Catacombs expansion will not only give players more to do in the three realms of DAoC, but will also upgrade the graphical elements to make DAoC as pleasing a piece of eye candy as any title on the market.

The new character models (left) are a major upgrade from the existing ones (right).

Matt Firor, Vice President of Development and Executive Producer at Mythic Entertainment, talked with GameZone about the latest expansion to the game.

Question: The game opens up a new area, but even more impressive is the way that it updates the graphical quality of the game. When I saw it at E3, I was blown away. If it is possible, the new look of the avatars makes the existing avatars look two-dimensional by comparison. What prompted this change in the look of DAoC? How long has this been planned?

Matt: We make significant graphical upgrades to Camelot with every expansion. With Shrouded Isles, we upgraded trees, texture resolutions and water, with Trials of Atlantis, we upgraded trees (again!), water (again!), added underwater, made new terrain textures for the entire game, new interfaces, and a lot more. Basically, the only item left to upgrade from the original game are the character figure models. So, with Catacombs, we are substantially revamping our player (and some monster) figures to make them competitive with all the other games that we compete with. We are very happy with the work thus far.

Yet another example of the upgrade in avatars: old is on the left, new is on the right.

Q: Will the graphical upgrade only apply to Catacombs or will it carry over into the other titles of the game, such as Trials of Atlantis and Shrouded Isles, et al? If this is the case, will this be server specific and only those with the Catacombs expansion can experience this? In other words, how will it affect those playing with the Catacombs expansion with those not using this expansion?

Matt: To see the new figures, you'll have to upgrade to Catacombs. If someone with Catacombs is playing with a person who has TOA, the TOA person will see his friend represented by an old-style figure.

Q: Will players be able to convert avatars over into the new look?

Matt: Yes, absolutely. We're working on a system to allow players with existing characters to choose their new look with the new system (within the same sex and race, obviously).

Catacombs concept art - the stuff that cyber reality is made from.

Q: Does this graphical upgrade use a new engine?

Matt: We've long been using NetImmerse (now called Gamebryo) from NDL as the API with which we create our graphics engine - and this upgrade follows along those lines.

Q: Now that the more obvious aspect of this expansion has been addressed, tell us a little about the area that this title opens? What are the Catacombs, and what level player will be able to participate?

Matt: Each Realm will have a new friendly underground city to base their new adventures in, based on one of the Realm's underground races. So, there will be the Kobold undercity for Midgard, the Shar city for Hibernia, and the Inconnu city for Albion. These underground cities can be the base for adventuring for almost all levels (except maybe the very lowest). Basically, Catacombs is designed for all levels of players to enjoy - but of course as they get farther and farther underground and away from the friendly cities, encounters will get harder and harder.

Q: Does this game open up any new skills, or refine any of the skills players have?

Matt: We will have new classes with the expansion, which will entail new skills being developed. We don't have any plans to change any existing classes in the expansion itself; when we do that kind of balancing, we do it via a regular content patch.

Q: How many quests are part of this expansion, and does the kingdom battle come into play in this expansion in any ways other than what DAoC players are accustomed to?

Matt: There are many, many quests being developed for the Catacombs expansion, most based around a central story that unfolds as the player gets deeper and deeper underground.

Q: Does this require the original title to use and if so, will the two be bundled? Will players have the ability to buy online and download this expansion?

Matt: Catacombs will be a retail expansion, and you'll have to have Trials of Atlantis (or simply the new Platinum Edition) to be able to install and play it.

Q: What do you consider to be the biggest elements that Catacombs contributes to the DAoC world?

Matt: The new classes will be the hit of this expansion, I believe, with the new character figures and underground exploration coming in a close second and third. We'll release more info on the new classes in the near future.

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