Comment posted on Tue Oct 21 00:21:21 2008 by Anonymous:
     

That's certainly a dark view of DC. While it would be foolish to trust anyone too much, its far from an anti-newbie community. There are several people on who are guides that will help new players, and a lot of non guides will show people around as well. Most players do realize that the game is only fun once other players are strong enough to be a challenge, and are willing to help people be more knowledgeable and gain strength.

The game is very clan oriented, its difficult to be very successful as a loner. But it doesn't mean you have to be in a clan to reach the strength to fight other players.

While its true that pstealing and pkilling is very common on DC, it is entirely up to the player to protect themselves from it. I have played for several months now and I have never had anything of value stolen before. You just have to make sure you don't run around with something awesome laying around in open inventory.

Although it may be that this review is a couple years old and things have changed since then.

Comment posted on Thu Feb 26 21:04:47 2009 by noobie:
     

In response to the first reply to the review, the only thing that has changed in the past 'couple years' on Dark Castle is that there are only 15-25 players that rotate through clans and characters. 50% of the playerbase is AFK at any given time.

Newbie friendly? That's a laugh.

If you don't believe me, feel free to log in.

Comment posted on Wed Jun 16 09:13:59 2004 by ShadowWolf:
     

Very nice review, you hit a lot of the main points on the head. Alas, I would like to add a bit though.

The players are mostly very friendly to newbies. It is easy to at least get some sort of help with playing if you are new to the mud. If you can't find assistance in the helpfile, then there are many that are willing to at least give you hints to point you in the right direction.

Grouping is a major deal in DC. As you make friends, and start grouping you can run areas you otherwise would not be able to run on your own and you may need their assistance for some skill quests. All in all it is a good meshing of a well rounded community.

Then there are clans. Once you start making friends and improving your character and your skills with that character, then you may be asked to join, or may ask to join, one of the clans. On DC most of the clans are very tightknit and there are even clan wars at times. They have alliances and much, much more. Ask someone in a clan about theirs and most are more than willing to give you a little background on it. In the long run it is definitely to your benefit to join a clan. The companionship, help, experience runs, gold runs, equipment runs, grouping and benefitting from others with years of experience on this MUD are all things that I do not think you can afford to miss out on.

Above all else, do not be afraid to die. Up until lvl 10 you do not lose your items when you die. After that you must retrieve your corpse. But with the assistance of friends, groups, and clannies, it is usually easy to retrieve. You may say but what about the experience I will lose if I die? Well, think about it this way. What about the experiences you are going to lose and miss out on if you don't take the chance. Wink! ;)

That's it for now. I hope you will consider taking the chance to roll up a char and give DC a chance. I think that if you should, you just may never leave.

Sincerely, Wolf

Comment posted on Mon Jun 26 19:54:06 2006 by Zoranna:
     

I was a coder on Dark Castle when it first opened on the scene. Many changes have happen in the 15+ years of operation.

This would be a good summation of the system now. Base code is MERC: Modifed very nicely by many coders, Morc, Pirahna, Waz, and Sadus to name a few. The new compliment of Immortals are decent to most players, however beware that they tend to zap (delete) your characters if you talk about other similar muds.

The system tends to change a lot with new code going in each month. However, things slow down when the main coder goes back to school (Urizen).

It is not a newbie friendly mud, as the mud itself will tell you when you log on. The clan system is fair and has clan tax modifications. They do not yet have a vault system or player inventory save, so you need to make 'Storage' characters for extra equipment.

The playerbase is mostly long time players with a few new people. Some ways to compensate the players is with the Donation system. Characters that are unable, or not very advanced, can donate cash via paypal to get ingame Platinum. Platinum can be used to buy better stats, Hitpoints, God Load(equipment that never scraps), or in some cases a full character.

Overall Dark Castle is a shadow of it's former self, but being rebuilt by a very advanced team.

Comment posted on Sat Jan 20 13:23:39 2007 by Shortterm420:
     

Just to add/clarify/update a few things on this post and it's comments..

When Zoranna mentioned mentioned a lack of player inventory saves, she was refering to items in excess of what you can hold on your person and in containers, not that player inventories empty every time they are logged off.

Both player and clan vaults have been implemented with a share by permission feature.

Player levels 51-60 were recently implemented with a nice sounding 'profession' system, available upon reaching lvl 60, soon to follow. This will allow for more customization of your class.

The playerbase is still a good portion of veterans. However, many are newbie friendly and encourage new players to learn the mud and stick around. There are also presently a couple of unofficial 'newbie helper' clans. Just ask questions over the newbie channel and you shall find your answers, and, while I am only a psuedo-veteran of the game, I am more than willing to help new players with anything as long as they are trying to learn the game. Just send me a tell if I'm online (Mouliani) and you can get no answer over the newbie channel.

Oh, and for a break in the never-ending quest to silence others and earn your own smack-talking rights, they have also implemented an ingame casino that accepts both kinds of game currency (gold and platinum). It currently offers blackjack, slots, and roulette. ::CAUTION! HIGHLY ADDICTIVE!::

Hope to see you there soon!

Comment posted on Sat Jul 24 14:36:49 2004 by BoA:
     

I strongly disagree with you. The grouping XP system makes newbies more of an asset to more experienced players, because even if the newbie player isn't the best, the veteran player might be more apt to group and guide the new player for his own ends. However selfish this end might be, it still promises that even newbie players can offer something to contribute to a group. I mean how many times are you and your friends always online to group at the same time and are a good mix of classes??

That's another thing, all the classes have a very unique and valuable power that contribute a group greatly. This group mentality promotes veteran players cooperating with newbies so long as they have a basic understanding of play, which any mudder should. Even spellcasters have powerful contributions to a group- Clerics with Sanctuary, healing, and corpses, Druids with Stone Shield, and Mages with Imps and magical fire power. And these in tandem can be a powerful thing as well.

The basis of your complaint is most likely the result of a bad experience of DC, which is most likely an unwillingness to learn or a lack of determination.

Comment posted on Sat Jan 17 14:43:06 2004 by Anonymous:
     

The experience problem was corrected a while ago..

Comment posted on Thu Feb 5 02:54:40 2009 by Sam Robinson:
     

Things have changed a great deal since I wrote this review years ago. The imm staff has made tremendous improvements to the game, and made a great effort to improve the experience for new players. They constantly find new ways to make the mud exciting, and the gameplay is simply unrivaled.

Both new and experienced mudders will find a multitude of interesting areas, quests, and challenges. Bottom line, it's one of the must addictive muds I've ever played.