So the new Dark Age of Camelot expansion has been out for a bit. I finally picked it up the other day. Trials of Atlantisadds some new stuff to the two year old game. The biggest question of course is it worth the 30 bucks? The answer to that question all depends on your point of view. Before I get into that, take a look at these eight screen shots (1024×768):

Now first off the name alone should tell you what kind of content has been added. Water my man in case your slow at these kind of things. To some it may seem like a cheap gimmick. Personally I like it.

Last night was the first time I actually got scared playing the game. When I saw that big fish in screens 3&4 I just about jumped out of my seat. I was afraid for my character. I had a similar reaction to seeing my first shark in the game. And you can’t discount that kind of thing. Of course I’ve always been into the whole underwater thing. I watched Sea Hunt religiously when I was a little kid.

Other new features include in no particular order own-able boats, master levels, new zones, pretty new graphics, uber items, and of course sharks. I am a little disappointed that you can’t play pirate. I mean it’s kind of a let down with all this water and boat theme they got going on.

So is it worth buying? Yes and no. I’m not exactly a diehard player of the game. In fact I can get pretty bored with it fast. So this new content gives me a reason to play. To some others it may seem like fluff. But that’s up to you to decide.

I only hinted at what I was really trying to say a few posts ago. The post called Virtual Wolds just didn’t some it up will enough and I’ve thought about this subject for a bit. Before I start let me make you read a passage from Henry V by my bud Bill:

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition

This comes from a speech that King Henry gave to his men right before a major battle. A battle that the english army had to face a far superior french army. This speech is my favorite of all of the bards work. It just says something that is hard to put into words, yet Shakespeare was able to do it.

If you never read this one I really recommend you follow this link (scroll down to line 30) first and then come back here. This Crispin’s Day speech is even used for military recruitment over in england. And you have to admit it is a pretty powerful bit of text.

It’s rather fitting for the game Dark Age of Camelot. But it is something that just may transcend this mmorpg I play. These people I play with no longer are just buddies I have in a game. It’s become something more than that. Friends are what they all are now. It doesn’t matter what age they are. It doesn’t matter if they are male or female. Race or Color has no bearing in this friendship I share with these people.

And in a world with so many problems is this “virtual friendship” I have with these people so bad? I don’t think so. As the Bard says “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother”, and it applies to real life and mmorpg’s. And that’s good enough for me.

This post regards the mmorpg Dark Age of Camelot. I have been playing the game since after a few weeks of it’s release. I have one character that I’ve been playing since that time. Turk Shakespeare the Mercenary. I play over on the Bors server on the side of Albion. When I started playing I wasn’t very social. In fact I was pretty anti-social.

I used to tease people that played these games and got into them heavily. I joined a guild not to soon after I started playing. The guild is called the Acolytes of Destruction. I didn’t really know the people in the guild that well. I didn’t try to hard to get to know them either. I just kept to myself and did my thing.

That of course has all changed. I run the guild site (not the guild) and I happen to know a lot of the people that are in the guild. The whole reason for this post is that I had received some shit from a real life friend about playing the game. About how far I had got into it. I tried to explain that it’s not a bad thing, playing this game and getting into it.

He even commented about how it’s like a 3d chat client. Not in those words per say, but he was close enough. I suppose it is. But the thing is, I consider these guys and gals I play with all good friends. Sure there are some I don’t know so well. Sure some of them I don’t know on a real name basis. But that’s not the point. I enjoy the company of these people in this virtual world we play in.

My real life friend didn’t mean anything by the comments. I know that. He likes giving me shit and that’s ok. Given the chance he would get into as much as I have. But his comments did give me the idea to write about all this stuff.

One of these days he may get the chance. I have a second account and it’s just sitting there at the moment. So maybe one of these days I can get him to pop on and say hello to all these guild buddies of mine. And maybe, just maybe he will get into it as much as I have.

I did some realm versus realm yesterday. I figured out why I don’t really care for RvR. I’m dead more than I like. Anyway here are some shots (1024×768) from a few of the engagements from yesterday.

The last three are oddball shots I found to fill out the rest. Two graphical glitches and a Shrouded Isles monster.

Woot (as they say)! A guild-mate named Dirkgranite Signed the GuestBook. I just had the chance to die with the man and it’s a honor. Anyway here is his head swelling (mine) comments:

Dude – Your site rocks. Is it considered sarcasm when it’s true? Keep it up.

Sarcasm is always true. I don’t care what anyone says to the otherwise. Keep it up? Dirk I’ll never quit. Well as long as I work at the hotel, that is. The hotel is my muse.

So I’m playing with this same group now for a little while and I wonder if it’s a good thing to have them see this site. They will walk away from this place thinking I’m a fucking lunatic. Places of interest for my AOD brothers would be my thoughts on the game we all play and maybe the FAQ would help as well. It will help to remember that this is a strange place. You have to watch out for the weirdo’s that it attracts.

Yeah I’m letting my baby go to hell. Hotelblues.com hasn’t been updated since the 13th of this month. The AOD on the other hand, has been updated the last six days in a row. I haven’t forgotten about my main domain. I’m just trying to get the guild site in tip top shape. Take for example the whole browser compatibility thing. This drives me crazy. Before I go into my spiel. Upgrade your browser! If your using anything other than the current version, upgrade! The links down below take you to places to download the current version. Here are the AOD site in Internet Explorer (6.0), Netscape (7.0), and Opera (6.0) at 800×600:

IE and NS more or less show the same thing. NS will occasionally on first load have the left and right gif borders out of sync. Opera on the other hand doesn’t even show the side gif borders. I can’t figure it out. I have expended all of my know how just getting this far. I’m not giving up. I’m just making a strategic withdrawal on the idea. I have to go now and play Dark Age of Camelot.

Well I have taken the plunge and offered to do the website for the Dark Age of Camelot guild I’m in. The Acolytes Of Destruction is the name of the guild. The site can be found here. It’s a work in progress and my second actual try at this whole web design stuff. So that’s why I have been very quiet as of late.

The hardest part is getting the html to work with all the different browsers. I don’t really know html as good as I should, so I use FrontPage to make my pages. I have managed to get the guild site to play nice with Internet Explorer, Netscape, and Mozilla. Opera doesn’t like it and I can’t figure out why. I’m not going to lose sleep over it.