I played this game in its infancy, prior to Wow and DAOC is still by far, my favorite MMORPG. After the release of WoW, subs declined and most of the servers were combined, limiting ability to switch between servers, which seemed to drive many of the people in my group away.
This game was so innovative in its day, especially with the PvP aspects and the private instances. Expansions always had fresh new content, and IMHO, the character balance was amazing. Classes were all distinctly different, from the health and mana regen to the group speed buff of the Bard and the charm ability and Crowd Control of the Sorc. Broke my heart when the subs started declining.