What caused Dark Age of Camelot to lose popularity? [closed]

Dark Age of Camelot was a game released in 2001. It was a very unique game (MMO) with a rich background, popular following, and even a game changing approach to player versus player combat that made the game incredibly fun to play. It was well on its way to becoming a popular and sustainable MMO in the market. Now it is a niche game that seems to only have a few very diehard fans. What happened to cause such a precipitous fall and disfavour?

Solution 1:

I think that's an easy one. "Mackey" and Trials of Atlantis. Mackey (sorry I don't recall his real name) was probably one of the most abrasive and downright hostile community relations individuals that has ever been at Mythic (or pretty much any gaming company for a position like that). Also, Trials of Atlantis did so much damage to the game that it never really recovered:

• It introduced a type of grinding that was not wanted by the player base
• It promised to "not have a significant effect on RvR" which is not in the slightest bit the case
• It strayed significantly from the mythos of the game (WTF does Atlantis have to do with the Arthurian Mythos?)
• The expansion never received a thurough beta testing. Team Leads, members of the internal boards, etc. were kept in the dark pretty much right through release.

Another factor (and Mackey played a part in this) was the inability (or unwillingness) of Mythic to deal with buffbots. These started gaining popularity around the time that ToA came out, and the issue may have overwhelmed them (or Mackey was probably just being his usual prickish self when that issue was brought up by others). If you look at the MMOData.net site, you see that DAoC was happy and healthy right up until the release of ToA. That was the start of the downfall.

Solution 2:

Based on data at mmodata.net the answer seems to be nothing. There was no "implosion". The game has seen a slow steady decline in user base since 2005. It looks very similar to what many other MMORPGs experience as they reach the end of their lifecycle.