Best Realm for the Casual Player

For RvR especially, can't commit to an 8man everynight schedule anymore, but can play quite a bit off and on just with family now the schedule is always changing. Is there a realm that you would say caters better for people looking to hop on and play where you can get RvR groups a little easier? Thanks!

Thu 31 Jan 2019 1:49 AM by Frieza

If you combine pve and rvr, then id say at the moment Hib is the most generous due its population alone.

Thu 31 Jan 2019 2:46 AM by vbt

I'm only on mid atm so I can't speak for other realms, but i think you will have the best luck playing a class every group needs which usually is speed cc or heals

Thu 31 Jan 2019 5:50 AM by Thinal

I don't know who's "most" or "least," but I do know that Hibbieland can be incredibly harsh on casuals, at least RvR. PvE, I can see them being generous, but RvR is going to demand highly particular builds of specific classes played with mechanical precision or there WILL be massive butthurt.

I have never even dreamed of playing a bard, for example, because a bard has about 10 jobs and will be torn to shreds in public channels if he "lets" any of the leet players in his group die. Blademasters will be expected to spec 42 in shield just for slam; be thankful that we have the /switch command here and you aren't expected to MOUSE the shield into slot as well. Wardens will be expected to side snare moving targets. Champions will be expected to be insanely grateful you let them play, and Valewalkers will be expected to have the courtesy to not even LFG in the first place.

A big part of the problem is that the 8-man action tends to happen in Emain, which is a long run for Hibbies, and people hate to go through all of the waiting and teeth grinding to get a group rolling in that general direction, just to be slaughtered in moments. In i50 I x-realmed a bit between Hibernia and Midgard, and from the Middie side I saw some extremely talented Hibbie groups that were obviously not pickup groups of slouches. These people are guilded together and quite possibly have real-life, cross-game interactions, and are going to give each other a little room to learn, adapt, and coordinate. But that's entirely antithetical to a "casual" by definition.

Thu 31 Jan 2019 5:56 AM by Zansobar

I believe that over the next few months there will be a continual movement to only seeing 8 mans, zergs, and stealthers in RvR as the small man and pugs will just get creamed as the 8 mans keep forming up and getting higher RR. It seems like all servers end up in this stage eventually due to the design of DAOC (not the servers themselves).

If you are a casual that means either play a stealther, or pick a realm that has more zerg play...that realm will probably be Albion (as it was on Live back in the day) because that realm has a harder time forming ideal 8 man RvR groups (abilities spread over too many classes).

Thu 31 Jan 2019 5:58 AM by Smilo

Midgard, best class for a casual player would be a low responsability support class (shamman or aug healer) or an easy to play melee class (berserker or skald).

Thu 31 Jan 2019 5:35 PM by Turtle006

I think realm doesn't matter as much as class. I am not a great RvR player, so I made a Cabalist first. Easy to level and not too many responsibilities in RvR. (Nersight, disease and debuff nuke)

If you don't mind driving a Skald is probably pretty easy in RvR and always needed. Solos well also for when a group is not reasonable. I am sure others will have more suggestions also.

Thu 31 Jan 2019 7:47 PM by XLGrandma

Smilo wrote: ↑
Thu 31 Jan 2019 5:58 AM
Midgard, best class for a casual player would be a low responsability support class (shamman or aug healer) or an easy to play melee class (berserker or skald).

If you consider shaman and aug healer low responsibility you're doing it wrong. The best realm for casuals has been and always will be Alb, if for no other reason than they are humans and the areas/story is more familiar to most.

Fri 1 Feb 2019 7:41 AM by Karqa

Haha I am still 45 with my reaver, some1 said RvR ?

I am chilling with Bob in Albion

Mon 4 Feb 2019 8:04 AM by Sepplord

Albion if you want to casually zerg, but PUGing 8mans is very hard there

Midgard if you want to 8vs8 casually, because building PUG in midgard is easier than Alb

Hib, i can't comment, but because of the longer run Hibs tend to be a bit more hesitant to just "roll out" with suboptimals/randoms

PS: i am really confused that people list healing / nearsighting here as a low responsibility/casual job Oo
A good nearsighter will nearsight before the enemy CCer gets to castmezz when it's an open inc. And i really don't know where to explain that healing is one of the most important jobs in a group and there is A LOT to learn about positioning, prekiting, etc...

Mon 4 Feb 2019 8:21 AM by Terrence

I play Albion minstrel and run around solo mostly. But there are lots of random groups and small men running all the time on all realms, so if you pick a popular support class (druid, cleric, healer, shaman) that isn't too hard to play you'll find groups in both pve and rvr. Even if you're a mediocre healer people are happy to have the support classes filled in a random group. Midgard melee train is a bit easier to run along than as a sole Alb or Hib peeler who's expected to slam and snare everybody in sight.

So unless you want to play support I'd probably choose Midgard as a casual player.

Tue 5 Feb 2019 12:03 AM by rubaduck

Hib or Mid.

Alb is the same stuck up realm as it always been. Hibs usually work a lot together (hence why hibs are more or less always outnumbering in RvR) and mids because of their cool compositions. Albs are just snobby, and I don't mean that in a funny way. Hopefully they pull their fingers out their arse and begin to play together soon.

Wed 6 Feb 2019 12:28 AM by Warjon

Curious on where you ended up and Your thoughts!?

I found that the Albs are, as usual, the PvE realm. Mid seems to be where the Uth2 people ended up and the worst big guilds.

So that leaves the hibs as probably the best choice!

Wed 6 Feb 2019 1:21 PM by chryso

Warjon wrote: ↑
Wed 6 Feb 2019 12:28 AM
the worst big guilds.

Which guilds are these?

Wed 6 Feb 2019 1:50 PM by Jaegaer

As of now the RvR action shifts around as the RvR tasks do. That means that there is no single popular RvR zone any more in the way Emain was bak in the days.

This in turn means that the best calsses for casual solo players are classes that can get around fast and hold themselves well in an occasional 1vs1. For me this means speed classes (Minstrel is probably the single best but classes like Runemaster work well too).

PvE wise this game offers great progress even for solo players but somewhat optimized groups (tank, healer, damage) are still MUCH better. Population wise all realms are pretty much equal.

So you should probably base your realm selection on the class you like to play.