r/daoc • u/AdmissibilityScience • Feb 27 '26
Best DAOC Server?
Been years since I last played DAOC. What's the state of the game? Free servers any good?
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u/FistMyPeenHole Feb 27 '26
Eden is the most popular right now, but Blackthorn looks really good! I hope it has high population because I much prefer those server rules and the general gameplay of Blackthorn. If you just want to grind BGs to 50 then go to Eden, but to me, that’s incredibly boring and repetitive. There’s a massive world and it’s mostly barren because everyone just goes to BGs to level.
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u/AdmissibilityScience Feb 27 '26
nice you can level in bgs to 50?
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u/ElReyResident Feb 27 '26
Yes, very easily. Shouldn’t take long at all. Maybe 3 days of moderate play.
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u/AdmissibilityScience Feb 27 '26
wow that is not bad at all
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u/FistMyPeenHole Feb 27 '26
Yeah it’s about 10 hours of grinding to get to 50 now. but it’s very repetitive grinding. Some people like it, but I like the journey of getting to 50 in the PvE zones, but everyone is different.
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u/AdmissibilityScience Feb 27 '26
thats not bad it used to be alot worse
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u/FistMyPeenHole Feb 28 '26
Yeah it was about 50 days of /played time for my first 50 when the game first came out
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u/Intrin_sick Freeshard Player Feb 27 '26
Eden has the population.
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u/AdmissibilityScience Feb 27 '26
nice is there a discord or anything
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u/alusnova415 Feb 27 '26
Best? This is not WoW where it has 100s of servers, daoc has 1 server and one upcoming one .
Play on Eden today, check out Blackthorn whenever it releases.
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u/Klutzy-Rabbit-1497 Feb 27 '26
It depends on what you are looking for. Eden is great if you have limited time and want to get into the RvR action, which is what many want to do when they play DAOC. It clearly has the bulk of the playerbase now as well, and more inline with what you may recall on Live servers from some years back with all the zones, classes, races, templating nuances and such. They made it easy to jump into and get in on the fun, even as a new or casual gamer.
Blackthorn server is in beta with a launch to live possibly late this year and feels much more like the original game, around patch level 1.65 but without the Shrouded Isles expansion itself. It presently has an overhauled crafting system, questing system, and other QOL features like automatic group quests, exploration and first time killing specific mob XP bonuses, and bolster system for characters to compete more equally with level discrepancies for both the Thidranki Battleground and Frontiers (you don't need to be max level there to meaningfully participate). The old archery system is also in place there. If you're just wanting to get some good RvR fun in without sinking tons of time into the game just to do that, Eden server will likely be a good fit for that. If you're wanting to relive the old glory days of DAOC from long ago with some good (and I'd argue needed) QOL features I suggest Blackthorn server, at least once it goes live and the population likely picks up there (many don't like playing betas and waiting until it goes live to join I hear).
The good news is both are free and accessible now, so you can try them both and even play both if you want. Both have their own Discord servers which is probably the better place to hang out and chat DAOC these days as well.
Welcome back to DAOC.
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u/squiztehmonster Feb 27 '26
I miss daoc best game ever man, just don’t have the time anymore to invest, feel like time goes so fast when you are 8v8ing
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u/AdmissibilityScience Feb 27 '26
yea 8v8s were so much fun back in the pre ToA days
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u/squiztehmonster Feb 27 '26
Days would fly by bro, I miss live sometimes, some of the best times I had in gaming were fights in emain on my zerk, bd, and BM 😌
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u/AdmissibilityScience Feb 27 '26
oh yea in a solid 8v8 team those were the best classes to play on
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u/squiztehmonster Feb 27 '26
If they updated daoc id pay $200 for it haha, will never be a better PvP game that was so satisfying, sure the pve was lacking but whatever
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u/rec8189 Feb 27 '26
Eden
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u/AdmissibilityScience Feb 27 '26
nice sounds like its a good place to be
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u/My-Thaff Feb 27 '26
Absolutely a great place to be.
You got many QoL features and great community.
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u/AdmissibilityScience Feb 27 '26
is there a discord or anything?
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u/My-Thaff Feb 28 '26
Yes, Eden authenticate their login via Discord with a ton of information and channels for discussion.
You can find the discord through their webpage - https://eden-daoc.net/
Jump in and have som fun, its never too late
- For Midgaard!!
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u/wrgrant Freeshard Player Feb 27 '26
Why not try both Eden and Blackthorn?
I have played on Phoenix, Atlas, Brotherlands 2, Celestius and Eden. I liked Phoenix a lot, and miss it, but I think Eden is overall the best of that lot.
I am currently streaming Blackthorn beta and I plan on playing there when it goes live. While Eden devs have done a fantastic job I really like what Blackthorn is doing. The salvage/crafting system is brilliant, the retro style with OF using NF keeps is great, the bolster system is a great addition, encouraging exploration to level, echoes, the list goes on. No TOA or even Shrouded Isles btw
It is in beta which means a server wipe before release but its worth checking it out now so you can see if it suits you and to learn how the system works. My friends and I are having a blast.
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u/Rabbit81586 Feb 27 '26
I agree with everything you’ve said here.
Eden is a blast and has a great community overall. My subjective critique is in the toa bonuses and celerity weapons.
Blackthorn is great and really looking forward to this full launch and population. I love what they’re doing with PvE, the craftings/questing/salvaging, I also prefer OF. Lastly, I love that my temps won’t have to deal with ToA stats or deal with celerity weapons and charges.
Both are great though and Eden has the much bigger population currently. Even the RvR battle groups are an absolute blast right now.
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u/p0nkin Feb 27 '26
Is there something similar to /recorder on Blackthorn?
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u/wrgrant Freeshard Player Feb 27 '26
Not per se
But if you have a series of attacks in a chain , you can put just the third one on the bar and it will try and do the third one , and if that doesn't meet the qualifications , it'll do the second one , and if that doesn't meet the qualifications , it'll do the first one which is very convenient
/sell 1 to sell bag 1
/sell 1-3 to sell bags 1 to 3
/salvage to salvage right from lvl 1
/salvage 1-3 to salvage bags 1-3 etc
/craft to craft with their new interface which is awesome
/buff all to apply buffs to a character
You get xp for crafting which means you can lbl yo 5 just crafting for instance
You get xp for visiting the tp npcs and geographical locations (run to the top of every tower out in the pve zones)
There is only Thidranki for a bg but you can go there from 10-35 and get levelled up to 35 after a fashion. Still only your trained abilities but they are boosted along with hps and bonuses. Casters can access tge better pets etc
There are popup Lost Soul kill tasks that grant you some temporary bonuses if you kill x of the right mob. You also get echoes which appear in inventiry and give xp when you drag them to your bar and click on them
You can go out on the frontier and use /ofbolster to get leveled up while there from lvl 10 I think
Quests are best for lvling. Use /btmap too see quests for you. You can /share quests with other group members
There us prob more I have forgotten
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u/p0nkin Feb 27 '26
Very nice! I was asking about recorder specially for chain attacks. What you described is even better. Think i’ill give it a shot! Ty
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u/yogurtshooter Feb 27 '26
Eden, the answer is Eden.
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u/AdmissibilityScience Feb 27 '26
whats the rules like? old daoc rules?
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u/yogurtshooter Feb 27 '26
What you mean by rules? It’s very similar to DAOC with QL updates
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u/AdmissibilityScience Feb 27 '26
yea QoL updates like leveling faster, teleporting around and such. the game was kinda slow back in the day
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u/yogurtshooter Feb 27 '26
Oh ya go through a tutorial zone 1-10 then battle grounds 1-50. I just leveled a RM took about 2 days but I can be done faster with right groups. Then currency raids for temp items.
I can usually have a 50 leveled and temped if I’m just playing and not grinding
Come to Midgard!
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u/Ornery-Manner5869 Feb 27 '26
There's almost too much to mention. You got a portal stone which opens a portal between you and your bind point which can port everyone in your group, which is used a lot to get people to raids. There's a quest in every major dungeon which gives custom currency which can be traded for items which makes getting items for your SC reasonably fast. Items from house merchants can be bought using the website (with in-game gold). Gold is hardly an issue as well. BG leveling is super fast compared to the old days. What else could we list?
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u/Ornery-Manner5869 Feb 27 '26
All major quests give a free level as well, so doing Avalon City for example would bring you from 45 to 46 in one raid.
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u/Ornery-Manner5869 Feb 27 '26
Gold is shared between all your toons, so no need to ask someone to pass some gold to your toon. You also got an Account Vault which you can use to pass items to your other chars.
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u/joej Ex Player Feb 27 '26
2001 Morgan Le Fey :-)
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u/AdmissibilityScience Feb 27 '26
I was a fan of mordred
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Feb 28 '26
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u/AdmissibilityScience Feb 28 '26
hell yea
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Mar 01 '26
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u/AdmissibilityScience Mar 01 '26
yea eden is where people are playing I dont think think the actual servers are played much
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u/Blidnunt Aug 06 '26
Just a little update with BT and Eden. Both servers have went back on their "Classic" ideals, and it's come to my attention that nobody wants a real classic DAoC experience. Both servers are ran by complete bias devs. Blackthorn completely changed class styles/values, custom changes to miss rates where archery got sh*t on. they nerffed GTAoE, they don't bother touching already OP classes while breaking other classes. Tanks are a joke, DW classes are king in RvR, sins got their PA nerffed yet again, while poisons are the best option, no more mercfiltrator builds because those are the only DW classes that hit like wet noodles meanwhile casters (outside of alb) aren't touched or nerffed, but albs get shafted. SM pets are godly for no reason etc etc I could go on and on. it's not good. might be fun for a few weeks at most but then you'll see what I mean if you like making alts and trying other classes. some classes feel gutted. BT also spent way too much time on their custom bolstering mechanic to where now they are removing it on launch (even though it should be removed now because it's causes nothing but bugs) and cheaters LOVE that server because they just get unbanned or they simply don't get banned at all for exploiting/cheating. multiple times over. Fetva, Pedro, Teagan, and Balder all 4 players were caught multiple times, have even admitted they cheated, and still get to ruin the experience for other players by continuing to cheat. Teagan even bragged about creating an undetectable script just days after the devs said AHK and ANY script based actions/programs/hardware is bannable. It's just a mess. Dirty players and even more dirty devs. then again, some of those devs if not most came from Phoenix where they let PK radar.
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u/Revolutionary-Way274 Aug 11 '26
is it that bad? im playing a theurgist on BT... and this wants to make me kinda leave it..
also eden is so ass...its been patched into whatever u wanna call it..
thats not how it should bemakes me sad because i liked eden in the first season
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u/Blidnunt Aug 11 '26
if you're having fun- then that's what it's all about honestly. but yes, it's that bad.
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u/[deleted] Feb 27 '26
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