Darkfall "Released"

[WayAbvPar]

It is fucking brutal and unforgiving, but I love it.

[Chinchilla]

Wtf, is this game "good" now or something??  I've been ignoring this thread for months and months... here I come back and there's all this koombaya shit now.

I can't speak for anyone else, but for me this game is beyond good.  Yes its brutal as WayAbvPar put it, but it is freaking awesome.  There is so much to do with crafting and such that its insane.  I haven't even learned yet about this shadecraft/bloodcraft/whatever,whoever else.  There's so much crap its not even funny.  Game has HUGE potential and it seems like they are starting to tap more and more into that potential.  For example... they are releasing in this expansion (that sounds like a FREE expansion) a Treasure Map hunting system.  Kinda like what UO had.

Hey, I played UO pre-Trammel and loved the beginning of SB when it was semi-UOish.  Actual aiming sounds like a win. Grinding simply has to be done in any current MMO...so I supposed I'll resign myself to that.

Sounds like you will fit right in man.  You will see alot of complaining about the grinding on the forums.  I personally don't focus on grinding because those ppl tend to be the Min/Max type people and all they want to do is compete w/ the hardcore vets.  I just focus on playing and I know the rest will work its way out.  I have been PKed like 5 times so far and none of the people who have PKed me were what people talk about on the forums as killing you in seconds.  Most of the time I had an opportunity to run, but due to my slow laptop lagging sometimes and my character still being fairly newb they were able to pick me off using arrows and such.

[Speedy Cerviche]

The aiming part makes it pretty unique, if you have decent twitch skills and want a MMO that tests them, DF is basically the only decent option.

The game overall is pretty solid if rough edged, sophisticated physics engine, no crash bugs, a few server network problems came up over the summer but they seem to be mostly taken care of, overall the game at it's core is very playable.

The grind is a problem, which they need to reduce, and have been slowly over the last 18 months (skill/stat gain multipliers added when fighting mobs, hitpoint gain curve adjusted so faster at lower levels). They have talked about "prestige classes" they are working on also that will lessen the grind by reducing the amount of skills necessary by having more specialized characters: an archer class that loses a lot of magic but gains a lot of neat archery powers, heavy melee, light melee, magery specializing (only can have 1 or 2 advanced schools, but they are a lot better), etc. The playerbase has been consistently complaining about the grind, and the devs have been reducing it, so expect it to continue trending in this direction, which will be healthier for the game.

Like Chinchilla said, a significant part of it is overstated by the min/maxer types who come in with the attitude of needing to be able to win ELITE 1 v 1  tournements asap. This attitude is completely wrong and it's funny when you have some clans who tend to spend all day in their cities dueling but have fairly mediocre real world clan PvP performances. Even if you gave these guys a fully developed character it would still be months before they were really good because there's a ton of player skill involved in victory in terms of tactical experience with attacks and counters, timing, situational awareness, etc. And that's just 1 v 1, once you start getting into group combat the bar goes up for good teamwork, coordination and discipline.

The real meat of the game is clan related, so not 1v1, and you can join a good clan and have a contributing character by getting archery high & heal other/sacrifice heal spells, both of which come from fairly fast raising skills and can be done in a few weeks. Your clan will hook you up with decent gear too.

Darkfall is a game where you have to have the right attitude to enjoy, and have to be able to make your own fun by taking intiative when you are in a situation that is not fun...Gee I have been PK'd at this spot 3 times in an hour, some players either give up and quit, smarter ones realize maybe they are sitting on a highway or hotspot and decide to explore and find a more isolated spot a few minutes away, or this game is boring cuz I'm lonely and only have superficial interactions, many players quit instead of you know, finding a good or better clan. The ability to handle defeat is necessary also, it can be demoralizing when you are ambushed and have little chance to win (happens to vets as well as newbies), or you are killed and drylooted a few times in a night, these are balanced by the rush of victory which is very rewarding, although for a newbie it will seem to be more defeat than victory (which is why joining an active clan helps a lot!). In a lot of ways fun is earned through initiative and competition, according to your own tastes. Important to remember that most of your gear is crap and basically worthless, and later when you are better and know more about the game a vet can make 20-40k in gold and material per hour PvEing and your bank will be overflowing with good gear that you'll end up dumping on newer guys just to clear up space. Without these attitudes and approaches to the game you will probably just get frustrated and quit, if you can handle it, it is a very deep and unique game and will provide the kind of gaming experiences you can only get in an unrestrictive, sandboxy game like pre-trammel UO (but with more twitch action).

[Malakili]

Wtf, is this game "good" now or something??  I've been ignoring this thread for months and months... here I come back and there's all this koombaya shit now.

The game was always pretty decent, its just that most people here saw the ForumFall and stayed away like the plague.  People are finally getting the nerve to try it and finding out its solid in most respects.

[LC]

For example... they are releasing in this expansion (that sounds like a FREE expansion) a Treasure Map hunting system.  Kinda like what UO had.

A while back Claus asked me what I thought was wrong with the game, and what I thought they needed to add. That was one of the suggestions I made in my reply. I'm glad he was listening. I just hope it's more involved than their gathering system. If they keep it up, I might be convinced to give the game another try.

Claus also reads f13 and this thread pretty often. It's too bad he never responds to anything.

 

[Mrbloodworth]

I always figured, if they could keep going, and get over the initial launch issues, and perhaps cull some of the undesirable users from the game (the snotty l337 ones that like to tell people to go back to wow and such, you know the type), it would be a decent title in a year or more as long as they made sensible additions.

[Draegan]

The only thing that turns me off is the need to swim into a wall to gain stats.  I would ask for things to be a bit more organic.

Actually playing the game is not bad at all, but you need to do it with some friends.  People, like in EVE, make this game better.

[LC]

The only thing that turns me off is the need to swim into a wall to gain stats.  I would ask for things to be a bit more organic.

Actually playing the game is not bad at all, but you need to do it with some friends.  People, like in EVE, make this game better.

Skill and Stat gains are one of the major things they need to work on. Spending 4 hours shooting fireballs at skeletons to increase my skill from 60.1 to 63.3 is not my idea of a good time either. It might be ok if I only had to do it once, but you have to do it for like 80 different magic spells. At least 20 of those being mandatory spells that are needed to be a competitive pvper.

[Nebu]

Skill and Stat gains are one of the major things they need to work on. Spending 4 hours shooting fireballs at skeletons to increase my skill from 60.1 to 63.3 is not my idea of a good time either. It might be ok if I only had to do it once, but you have to do it for like 80 different magic spells. At least 20 of those being mandatory spells that are needed to be a competitive pvper.

I just had a Wish flashback.  Similar system, but pve.  Ugh. 

[Speedy Cerviche]

They've mention an offline skill gain system like EVE that could replace the need for crap like afk-swimming and macroing magic like buffs. Hopefully this can make it to the big DF2010 expansion planned for sometime in next 6 months (well late 2010 but let's be realistic here).

You'd still gain more actively PvEing, but could choose a skill that would rank automatically while offline at roughly the same rate a macroer could get, eliminating the need to do that. Something like a power hour could be nice too.

[Draegan]

If they did that, AND it worked, I'd give this game a shot again... maybe.

[WayAbvPar]

What they really need to do is accelerate the rate at which skills are gained at the low end...make the skill gains 15x vs mobs for the first 50 points of the skill, then 10x to 80, 6x to 100 or something like that. Make self buffs level spell schools quicker. Make at least one Greater Magic spell take no reagents, or make one that takes *any* reagent to help skill it up faster (since it is the key to unlocking the rest of the magic schools). Basic skills like Run, Sprint, Jump, Swim, Diving, etc should level MUCH faster, and should raise the base attriubutes faster. Basically do as much as possible to make the first 250 hours /played really lay a solid foundation for character development.

That being said, it is really a fun game. I love the wide open zoneless world. Terrain is really varied, there are all sorts of ruins and other cool stuff hidden, and there are some DANGEROUS spots, even on major roads! Being roasted alive by a red dragon doesn't do much for your bank total, but I love the fact that you have to be on your toes at all times. PvE isn't just mindless button pushing- you have to aim, move around, etc. The only thing that bugs me about dying in PvP any more is having to give up a decent PvE spot for a few hours in fear that they might hang around/come back. Last PvP death I had was really annoying- was duoing with a guy in my clan farming mobs that were pretty tough even with both of us fighting/healing. We overpulled and died about a good ten minute walk away from our bindstone. He re-geared and went to a new PvE spot; I went to get our gear from our graves and planned to meet him (I wanted my gear back since I didn't have as big a surplus stowed as he did). When I walked all the way back to the graves, I got jumped by a couple of guys who must have noticed the graves and figured we would be back soon. Argh.

[Draegan]

make the first 250 hours /played really lay a solid foundation for character development.

 

By the way did they fix the shitty looting mechanism or are people still using loot macros?

[Malakili]

make the first 250 hours /played really lay a solid foundation for character development.

 

By the way did they fix the shitty looting mechanism or are people still using loot macros?

Is that really too much to ask for an MMO?  My first 250 hours of WoW got me to level 40 or so (granted, I levelled really slow and did a lot of mulling around).

[Draegan]

It took you 250 hours to hit level 40?  You did something wrong.  Or you suck at video games.

It should not take you 10 days of playing time to get a "good base" for a character.

[Arthur_Parker]

Ok, I'm not reading 92 pages, I suspect this guy might already be famous and these posted already, but I only found them today and laughed my ass off.

Here's his Darkfall PvP First Impressions video.

1.51 I'm also posting these videos to establish that I was in beta, that I matter, because years from now, you know if you didn't play beta then you can't become a legend, playing in beta in these games is mandatory if you want to become a legend.

3.29, Actually they wouldn't have killed me because I would have logged out..  I never died actually, a few times my brother got on got my ass killed but I didn't die once, because I don't fucking die in games.

5.55 On Charles Darwin, this is like my Origin of Species

6.30 (fighting somebody) As you can see he sucks and I'm absolutely awesome...  but really it's just that he's naked and I have armour, shows it's it's not entirely skill based, levels 1 with no gear aren't going to touch you...

Bonus - I approach a girl

Real or epic troll, I can't decide which would be funnier.

[Nightblade]

Ok, I'm not reading 92 pages, I suspect this guy might already be famous and these posted already, but I only found them today and laughed my ass off.

Here's his Darkfall PvP First Impressions video.

1.51 I'm also posting these videos to establish that I was in beta, that I matter, because years from now, you know if you didn't play beta then you can't become a legend, playing in beta in these games is mandatory if you want to become a legend.

3.29, Actually they wouldn't have killed me because I would have logged out..  I never died actually, a few times my brother got on got my ass killed but I didn't die once, because I don't fucking die in games.

5.55 On Charles Darwin, this is like my Origin of Species

6.30 (fighting somebody) As you can see he sucks and I'm absolutely awesome...  but really it's just that he's naked and I have armour, shows it's it's not entirely skill based, levels 1 with no gear aren't going to touch you...

Bonus - I approach a girl

Real or epic troll, I can't decide which would be funnier.

My perceptions of reality were destroyed by that video. I just don't fucking know anymore.

[Malakili]

It took you 250 hours to hit level 40?  You did something wrong.  Or you suck at video games.

It should not take you 10 days of playing time to get a "good base" for a character.

I told you, I was mulling around a lot, I was RPing back in those days.  I think my very first character took 17 days played to 60 because of it.  Then again, my second character I didn't RP took well under half that time. 

More to the point, I think getting to level 80 now from level 1 probably takes in the range of a week played possibly more?  I haven't leveled any characters 1-80.  My point being that 250 hours is not a terribly huge amount of time in an MMO.

[WayAbvPar]

That how I meant it too...250 hours is coming with no prior knowledge of the game, lots of wandering around and exploring, learning mechanics, etc. You could just powerlevel everything much more quickly. I was trying to extrapolate about how long after my 24 hours /played of newbie protection it would be before I was more than a minor threat in PvP. Since I was a mewling babe after 24 hours, I just multiplied by 10 and rounded to 250 

[LC]

That how I meant it too...250 hours is coming with no prior knowledge of the game, lots of wandering around and exploring, learning mechanics, etc. You could just powerlevel everything much more quickly. I was trying to extrapolate about how long after my 24 hours /played of newbie protection it would be before I was more than a minor threat in PvP. Since I was a mewling babe after 24 hours, I just multiplied by 10 and rounded to 250 

I think I had around 60 - 70 hours invested when I hit cap in wow the first time.

[Malakili]

That how I meant it too...250 hours is coming with no prior knowledge of the game, lots of wandering around and exploring, learning mechanics, etc. You could just powerlevel everything much more quickly. I was trying to extrapolate about how long after my 24 hours /played of newbie protection it would be before I was more than a minor threat in PvP. Since I was a mewling babe after 24 hours, I just multiplied by 10 and rounded to 250 

I think I had around 60 - 70 hours invested when I hit cap in wow the first time.

That strikes me as insanely fast 3 days /played in vanilla WoW to cap was maybe done by a few people who specifically went for cheese builds and planned on their XP gain painstakingly in advance.

[LC]

No special build. It was a shaman. I got lots of groups.

[LC]

Real or epic troll, I can't decide which would be funnier.

He is a troll. We had him in our alliance (maybe clan as well) for a while. He's a bit of a whiny bitch in person. He was a decent pvper, but we had guys that were a lot better.

[Rasix]

No special build. It was a shaman. I got lots of groups.

Doesn't really matter for WoW, fella.   But knowing you, these groups likely provided certain exploitational advantages.

edit: Of course, it depends when you started as well.  I don't remember when they revamped the zones and cut the XP.  Late BC maybe?

[Vinadil]

DF suffers from much of the same issues WoW did in early release.  If you were not part of the crew that went SUPER fast and levelled up together then you were stuck doing lots of solo stuff.  Solo PvE in Darkfall makes for slow skill gains (at least compared to grouping).  DF could use about 10 times the soloable content it currently has (or had a few months ago when I last logged in).

Still, like most games, this one is a completely different experience if you even have 3-4 people you can log in and play with on a consistent basis, even if all of you are newbs.

[LC]

No special build. It was a shaman. I got lots of groups.

Doesn't really matter for WoW, fella.   But knowing you, these groups likely provided certain exploitational advantages.

We were just discussing you and jachyra on irc not long ago. You know I would never condone or participate in any cheating/exploitation. Especially if the goal was to bypass boring shit I've been doing in every mmo since UO.

[Speedy Cerviche]

DF suffers from much of the same issues WoW did in early release.  If you were not part of the crew that went SUPER fast and levelled up together then you were stuck doing lots of solo stuff.  Solo PvE in Darkfall makes for slow skill gains (at least compared to grouping).  DF could use about 10 times the soloable content it currently has (or had a few months ago when I last logged in).

Still, like most games, this one is a completely different experience if you even have 3-4 people you can log in and play with on a consistent basis, even if all of you are newbs.

At the high end of the game there's not enough group content, most gold/material harvesting is done efficiently solo vs. medium-hard mobs, 2-4 vets mow down most spawns to the point where it's inefficient to pve with multiple people. And the super hard boss stuff like Dragons/Devils/Krakens dont have enough loot really for 5-8 people.

the xpac has a pve revamp which includes new dungeons with more group challenge, and world spawns, etc. that are worth killing for 2-10 people. Will add more world pvp if there's more groups running around to pve hotspots.

[Arthur_Parker]

Real or epic troll, I can't decide which would be funnier.

He is a troll. We had him in our alliance (maybe clan as well) for a while. He's a bit of a whiny bitch in person. He was a decent pvper, but we had guys that were a lot better.

Got to give him credit for effort, 13,160 posts

[Draegan]

It took you 250 hours to hit level 40?  You did something wrong.  Or you suck at video games.

It should not take you 10 days of playing time to get a "good base" for a character.

I told you, I was mulling around a lot, I was RPing back in those days.  I think my very first character took 17 days played to 60 because of it.  Then again, my second character I didn't RP took well under half that time. 

More to the point, I think getting to level 80 now from level 1 probably takes in the range of a week played possibly more?  I haven't leveled any characters 1-80.  My point being that 250 hours is not a terribly huge amount of time in an MMO.

I don't know how long 1-80 takes these days if you're fresh, but with some knowledge, i.e. this isn't your first MMOG, it probably takes 2-4 days played.

[Malakili]

It took you 250 hours to hit level 40?  You did something wrong.  Or you suck at video games.

It should not take you 10 days of playing time to get a "good base" for a character.

I told you, I was mulling around a lot, I was RPing back in those days.  I think my very first character took 17 days played to 60 because of it.  Then again, my second character I didn't RP took well under half that time. 

More to the point, I think getting to level 80 now from level 1 probably takes in the range of a week played possibly more?  I haven't leveled any characters 1-80.  My point being that 250 hours is not a terribly huge amount of time in an MMO.

I don't know how long 1-80 takes these days if you're fresh, but with some knowledge, i.e. this isn't your first MMOG, it probably takes 2-4 days played.

That honestly strikes me as pretty fast.  Maybe you can get away with that if you have full heirlooms though.

[tmp]

I don't know how long 1-80 takes these days if you're fresh, but with some knowledge, i.e. this isn't your first MMOG, it probably takes 2-4 days played.

I picked WoW trial up a few months ago. Can't remember if it's 5 or 7 days long but the character i played (druid) hit the l.20 cap just a day before the end of trial period. The levelling speed drop is noticeable from 15+ if you do it the plain way i.e. without assistance from heirlooms etc.

And well, 4 days /played is still ~2-3 months if you play it 1-2 hours a day.

[Threash]

It took you 250 hours to hit level 40?  You did something wrong.  Or you suck at video games.

It should not take you 10 days of playing time to get a "good base" for a character.

I told you, I was mulling around a lot, I was RPing back in those days.  I think my very first character took 17 days played to 60 because of it.  Then again, my second character I didn't RP took well under half that time. 

More to the point, I think getting to level 80 now from level 1 probably takes in the range of a week played possibly more?  I haven't leveled any characters 1-80.  My point being that 250 hours is not a terribly huge amount of time in an MMO.

I don't know how long 1-80 takes these days if you're fresh, but with some knowledge, i.e. this isn't your first MMOG, it probably takes 2-4 days played.

70-80 took me about that long with a hunter in full black temple epics.

[Chinchilla]

So I on Friday got indirectly hooked up with this guy. He was mining and I came up to share in the ore. Now I had read in the forums that each node is instanced so u don't take from others. Well seems I might have misread. So he turns around and starts attacking me (melée). I run away and few seconds later come back. He then starts in on me with arrows. I them notice his public chat saying "don't be a prick". More to be contined food time...

[Speedy Cerviche]

yeah they arent instanced, they have a finite amount of resources (51 or 52) and respawn every 2 or 3 hours I forget.

[Draegan]

It took you 250 hours to hit level 40?  You did something wrong.  Or you suck at video games.

It should not take you 10 days of playing time to get a "good base" for a character.

I told you, I was mulling around a lot, I was RPing back in those days.  I think my very first character took 17 days played to 60 because of it.  Then again, my second character I didn't RP took well under half that time.  

More to the point, I think getting to level 80 now from level 1 probably takes in the range of a week played possibly more?  I haven't leveled any characters 1-80.  My point being that 250 hours is not a terribly huge amount of time in an MMO.

I don't know how long 1-80 takes these days if you're fresh, but with some knowledge, i.e. this isn't your first MMOG, it probably takes 2-4 days played.

70-80 took me about that long with a hunter in full black temple epics.

I took you 80 hours to from 70-80?

At the worst it should take you 3-4 hours per level.  That's only 40 hours.