Darkfall "Released"

[IainC]

No really.

There were also many questions on the public beta and release dates. To this I can say now, that during a planning meeting we determined that our launch date will be inside 2008, with the public beta preceding it by a few weeks. This is official and internally we're a lot more specific, but pending an announcement, we cannot say more at this time.

* IainC dives for cover

[Signe]

Numpty alert!

[Slayerik]

"6. Magic vs. Melee combat.

Pound for pound melee has more power but this is not a pound for pound game. Darkfall is a real-time game requiring player skill, and the attacks are aimed. It is not a reaction game, it is not a turn based game, it's not a game where you sit there button-mashing and trading blows with someone. Nor is this a game where you're pigeonholed into being a magician, or a tank etc.
The spell user could switch at any point to a two handed axe and the melee fighter might switch to a bow or to a staff and cut down the fleeing opponent. The Darkfall answer to this question is that it depends on the circumstance, the player position, player skill, readiness, tactics etc.

"

They tell us a lot of what the game is not... SO WTF IS THE GAME :)

[Venkman]

They tell us a lot of what the game is not... SO WTF IS THE GAME :)

Abandon all hope* ye who enter here

* and logic, and objectivity, and faith, and just about anything... Duke Nukem 3D will launch before this title does (and yes, I saw the trailer, and no, I don't think it proves anything).

[photek]

"6. Magic vs. Melee combat.

Pound for pound melee has more power but this is not a pound for pound game. Darkfall is a real-time game requiring player skill, and the attacks are aimed. It is not a reaction game, it is not a turn based game, it's not a game where you sit there button-mashing and trading blows with someone. Nor is this a game where you're pigeonholed into being a magician, or a tank etc.
The spell user could switch at any point to a two handed axe and the melee fighter might switch to a bow or to a staff and cut down the fleeing opponent. The Darkfall answer to this question is that it depends on the circumstance, the player position, player skill, readiness, tactics etc.

"

They tell us a lot of what the game is not... SO WTF IS THE GAME :)

Am I the only one who really enjoys "archetypes" or "classes" ? Seems many are fuzzing about "in our game, you are not forced into a class!!" like its a blessing. I really dislike the idea that another class can have the same spell / ability as mine. I guess this is my RPG loving side that determines this.

On Darkfall : I'll believe em when I see it, until then: Vaporware 

[Tale]

photek

You look like Signe. I'm confused. Hello Kitty. Ah, yours isn't bleeding. Carry on.

[Tale]

Darkfall

Such a great choice of game name.

Durchfall

[K9]

Weeks-long betas are so FoTM.

[Lantyssa]

Am I the only one who really enjoys "archetypes" or "classes" ? Seems many are fuzzing about "in our game, you are not forced into a class!!" like its a blessing. I really dislike the idea that another class can have the same spell / ability as mine. I guess this is my RPG loving side that determines this.

Hi.  I detest class-based systems.

We can be mortal enemies now.

[gryeyes]

Only five year delay between the original announcement of open beta and this "final" one. My hopes are high

[SuperPopTart]

"6. Magic vs. Melee combat.

Pound for pound melee has more power but this is not a pound for pound game. Darkfall is a real-time game requiring player skill, and the attacks are aimed. It is not a reaction game, it is not a turn based game, it's not a game where you sit there button-mashing and trading blows with someone. Nor is this a game where you're pigeonholed into being a magician, or a tank etc.
The spell user could switch at any point to a two handed axe and the melee fighter might switch to a bow or to a staff and cut down the fleeing opponent. The Darkfall answer to this question is that it depends on the circumstance, the player position, player skill, readiness, tactics etc.

"

They tell us a lot of what the game is not... SO WTF IS THE GAME :)

Am I the only one who really enjoys "archetypes" or "classes" ? Seems many are fuzzing about "in our game, you are not forced into a class!!" like its a blessing. I really dislike the idea that another class can have the same spell / ability as mine. I guess this is my RPG loving side that determines this.

On Darkfall : I'll believe em when I see it, until then: Vaporware 

I actually appreciate classes and skill trees and archetypes, but then again I am a huge fan of hack and slash. I only get uppity though when multiple classes have my class specific spell or ability. I also get grumpy when they make a race specific skill race specific, I'd rather it be a race/one class specific skill/spell. 

As for Darkfall - been waiting for this for a while now.. hopefully it will be released this year. My foot has gotten tired of tapping.

[waylander]

I hate to say it but with no real or consistent progress reports coming from a game, it makes it hard for an organized guild to do forward planning. I know in our case we devoted a lot of manpower to both Warhammer and AOC to prepare for guild launches, and the sudden emergence of a Darkfall release won't change our plans. Instead its sorta like "wow that's nice, but we've moved on to other things".

Maybe some other guilds that have waited around forever will go to it, but our 2008 plans are just too invested in WAR/AOC to get side tracked with this now.

[Venkman]

the sudden emergence of a Darkfall release won't change our plans

Between WAR and WoW:WotLK later this year, I don't think an actual emergence of a Darkfall release is going to change anything.

[ahoythematey]

[K9]

the sudden emergence of a Darkfall release won't change our plans

Between WAR and WoW:WotLK later this year, I don't think an actual emergence of a Darkfall release is going to change anything.

Given the lack of hype outside of the core of rabid fanbois, going head to head with two powerhouse releases like WAR and WoTLK seems like a deeply unwise move. Maybe the mysterious Aventurine finally got tired of bankrolling a project going nowhere and want to recoup some capital? Even if the game was 100% done and super spectaular, I don't see how a beta of a matter of weeks will draw enough attention to the game to draw much attention away from the other two launches.

Also, I feel that the niche market this game is ostensibly pitched at peaked about 8-10 years ago, and cannot be competitive in the current MMO market.

[photek]

the sudden emergence of a Darkfall release won't change our plans

Between WAR and WoW:WotLK later this year, I don't think an actual emergence of a Darkfall release is going to change anything.

Given the lack of hype outside of the core of rabid fanbois, going head to head with two powerhouse releases like WAR and WoTLK seems like a deeply unwise move. Maybe the mysterious Aventurine finally got tired of bankrolling a project going nowhere and want to recoup some capital? Even if the game was 100% done and super spectaular, I don't see how a beta of a matter of weeks will draw enough attention to the game to draw much attention away from the other two launches.

Also, I feel that the niche market this game is ostensibly pitched at peaked about 8-10 years ago, and cannot be competitive in the current MMO market.

Actually the hype is not small, it is somewhat big. Correction, it was for a while. I constantly see (saw) some threads pop up on forums questioning Darkfall and people being hyped about it. What happened is after tons of promises and nothing to really show for it, no solid facts nor anything the hype has died and people are just "meh" about it. I think their hype hurt them much more than any lack of.

[schild]

The hype for Darkfall was never big. Not in the sense of the gaming market. Not in the sense of MMOGs. New Cottage Cheese varieties from Kraft probably get more hype. And cottage cheese sucks.

Period.

[Cadaverine]

And of those that remain interested, I imagine most will end up turned off when they realize that the promises of "everything, and the kitchen sink" gameplay from the devs is missing.  I.E. no naval warfare, and so on. 

More will leave when they realize that they're not the ass-kicking machines they thought they were, and they're griefed into oblivion, after having all their gear stripped from them when they get jumped a group while fighting some mob.

Also, df.exe. 

[photek]

The hype for Darkfall was never big. Not in the sense of the gaming market. Not in the sense of MMOGs. New Cottage Cheese varieties from Kraft probably get more hype. And cottage cheese sucks.

Period.

Well, New Cottage Cheese is imba so thats not fair. Darkfall got a lot of attention from the PvP'ers during their glory days where "they would do right where all did wrong, just different". I remember reading they had 100.000 thousand "somethings" (beta applications? Forum members? can't remember) during a period which is a lot for... Nothing.

However I'd like to see it finished, just so I can

[Azaroth]

One would assume that a "few weeks" of "beta" will "suffice" for a full PvP "game", right?

Did I "overdo it"?

[Signe]

Notice how Iain's buggered off from this thread!

[K9]

Actually the hype is not small, it is somewhat big. Correction, it was for a while. I constantly see (saw) some threads pop up on forums questioning Darkfall and people being hyped about it. What happened is after tons of promises and nothing to really show for it, no solid facts nor anything the hype has died and people are just "meh" about it. I think their hype hurt them much more than any lack of.

The only real time I see DF hype is on the Darkfall forums, and the only time I end up on the darkfall forums is when I see the occasional "lol, failfall" thread and get directed so some overly-passionate rant about something most people would consider trivial. The forumfallers seem like they could kick up a shitstorm over anything. Any other information (not hype) I see is the sporadic link to a TTH article where a Dev proudly announces some bit of news, generally along the lines of "we managed to patch trees into the game this month, they are mostly green by the way".

[IainC]

Actually the hype is not small, it is somewhat big. Correction, it was for a while. I constantly see (saw) some threads pop up on forums questioning Darkfall and people being hyped about it. What happened is after tons of promises and nothing to really show for it, no solid facts nor anything the hype has died and people are just "meh" about it. I think their hype hurt them much more than any lack of.

It was never big. All the hype came from a tiny hardcore of forum warriors. Every time anyone mentioned FFA PvP games, they'd pop up and make a lot of noise about Darkfall. It was always the same people though making a disproportionate amount of noise.

[schild]

When loud morons are making a lot of noise, like Grunk, it does not represent any sort of hype. I think that's where Photek got confused.

[Krakrok]

What do Darkfall and Peter Pan have in common? 

[SuperPopTart]

You people are harsh. We should be cheering and championing each and every attempted MMOG that comes out.

Cause they are gonna die anyway.

[ahoythematey]

One shadowbane launch was enough for me.

[KallDrexx]

Cause they are gonna die anyway.

Um they will?  Horizons, shadowbane, and a lot of others prove otherwise.

[Signe]

You consider Horizons and Shadowbane to be alive?   

[KallDrexx]

Shadowbane is still quite alive.  Horizons is still running and probably making money with the very few people they have playing.

Them being dead would mean their official servers were shut off.

[Signe]

I can't imagine that Horizons is making money.  Hardly anyone plays.  I still have a friend who has a sub and he says the game is almost completely dead.  There was a bit of a surge when SB went free but it died, then another when they did the wipe but that'll wear off, too.  I consider them both pretty much almost very nearly dead.  But especially Horizons. 

[KallDrexx]

I can't imagine that Horizons is making money.  Hardly anyone plays.  I still have a friend who has a sub and he says the game is almost completely dead.  There was a bit of a surge when SB went free but it died, then another when they did the wipe but that'll wear off, too.  I consider them both pretty much almost very nearly dead.  But especially Horizons. 

By making money I don't mean they are bringing barrels of cash to the bank every month, but it really doesn't take that many subs to maintain the servers and a skeleton dev crew. 

[Venkman]

Yes, MMOs are never going to evolve on the backs of diku-"but better"-clones that didn't meet their business targets. This genre proves you can guarantee 500 people will like something. But that's not going to pay the bills by itself.

And I'd very much like to see HZ's balance sheet. I doubt they're even out of the hole of initial investment yet, unless the change over in companies somehow dissolved that.

[Vinadil]

Well, for someone who has followed this MMO for the last four or so years, I am just interested in seeing a release at this point.  The game sounds more and more like EVE in a fantasy setting, but a FPS EVE... so maybe more like Jumpgate part 2?  In any case, my guild still plays that dead Shadowbane game more than any other MMO out.  Perhaps Aoc and/or WAR will change that, but I don't know how you can give those two a bigger chance of success than Darkfall given the last 5-6 years of MMO releases.

[d4rkj3di]

Shadowbane is still quite alive.  Horizons is still running and probably making money with the very few people they have playing.

Them being dead would mean their official servers were shut off.