The information released was limited due to an exclusivity contract signed with a print magazine, but some basic information about the game was provided. Shrouded Isles will add one large area to each realm, each with a large city and hunting grounds of various levels. Also added to the pack will be three new races (one per realm) and two new classes per realm, starting in the new cities. The current character level cap will remain the same.

The other important aspect of Shrouded Isles will be the graphical upgrades. Currently, Dark Age of Camelot uses version 2 of the Netimmerse graphics engine. This will be upgraded to version 4, which can be seen in games such as Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. Mythic is actually being assisted by some of the programmers who are more familiar with the engine to expedite the graphic upgrades. Specific upgrades will include water effects and new spell graphics. Version 4 is also more efficient than the current version of the engine, so it is expected that graphical performance will not be significantly affected. One side effect is that Mythic will be changing the recommended hardware specs to approximately a 1 GHz machine and GeForce 3 card to play the game well.

When asked about current gaps in the player crafting system and economy, it was stressed that Spellcrafting is the number one priority. No current date has been set for implementation, but it is expected to be put into the game soon.

In other additions to the original game, it was said that the player copy function is nearly done and will be implemented soon. It is hoped that future patches will be more accurately and fully tested by allowing players to copy their characters to the test server. Additionally, the special PvP server ruleset will soon be entering the second phase of beta, and it is hoped that the Mordred server will be launching soon (as well as other servers with the special rules).

Mythic restated their commitment to Dark Age of Camelot, as it is their only current project and their focus as a company. Shrouded Isles will be released in Q4 of this year.

• Official DAoC website