Darkfall "Released"

[WindupAtheist]

So I went to the Glitchless site and it still exists, Race War Kingdoms still exists, it released some sort of alleged new game 6 months ago, they have some shockingly active forums for it, and Dawn is still listed on the site as "in development". It's like a fucking time capsule.

[UnSub]

Staggering an MMO release is a horrible idea just based on the shit it causes for the playerbase. Half your guild gets in prior to server cap lock, random players will have a week's head start over others, whatnot. It's far better to build your system to scale, and rent CPU time for the release via amazon or anything else that will let you randomly add to a server cloud for X hours on demand. Release hammers your front end hard and your account database. Those need to be shored up but it's not financially useful to Keep them in such a state. Temporary computing (extended clouds, one to one VM the fuckers on servers that will be added into the main clusters for high end content in a week, etc.) Going "waah, we can't actually handle the incoming load, waaah" is some serious little leagues bullshit. I can't imagine rolling out a new application and going "sorry, we can only take on X new customers a week or our registration server would asplode!"

If you thought that 1 million plus new customers were going to pound your servers at once for just one week, then demand would never be that high again, you'd probably be able to do that for a new app that requires some kind of online activation. But would it be worth that cost, when selling 400 000 collector's editions that gave those players entry one week earlier than the standard edition could also work?

I'm all for server magic to be used, but apparently that kind of thing is hard. I'm also all for everyone to play on in a one-world (i.e. no server distinctions, like EVE) but understand that kind of thing is hard too.

This isn't to defend Darkfall - it will be a disaster we can all get a good laugh out of - but the method of throwing the doors open on day one and letting everyone in to grind grind grind hasn't got a great track record. Better a title sells 500k units and provides a quality launch experience for the 400k who show up than sell 1m and leave 800k players twiddling their thumbs because everything keeps crashing.

As for guilds: my knowledge is that quite a few send in scouts into new MMOs anyway to get the lay of the land. Exclusivity helps control the day one influx and might actually see guilds be more focused about getting into a title (if they have to be in on day one).

Of course, a staggered launch doesn't work if you know you'll have a lemon, since the bad news will get out. If you've got confidence in your title, then a staggered launch would show it.

[Goreschach]

Of course, a staggered launch doesn't work if you know you'll have a lemon, since the bad news will get out. If you've got confidence in your title, then a staggered launch would show it.

In a genre populated entirely by lemons, all a staggered launch will do is reduce the fraction of development costs they recoup on initial box sales.

[UnSub]

Of course, a staggered launch doesn't work if you know you'll have a lemon, since the bad news will get out. If you've got confidence in your title, then a staggered launch would show it.

In a genre populated entirely by lemons, all a staggered launch will do is reduce the fraction of development costs they recoup on initial box sales.

True.

[tmp]

Hype surrounding Darkfall is huge right now, despite our best efforts.

Tasos is now officially the best pr manager in human history.

Competition is stiff, though.

I would prefer it if this game wasn't dumbed down to the point where even the OP could play it.

to be fair the OP in question does warrant it, though maybe for slightly different reasons.

[waffel]

So let me get this straight.

The influx of new players to MMOs, and those new players looking for the next best thing, are causing more and more players to sign up for the beta/forums for even the shittiest games just because its new.

These players probably have on interest in playing a new MMO, probably don't give a shit about the new MMO anymore, but are still counted in the 'These people signed up so they're potential customers. We need to account for them with more servers' thing?

So MMO players in general are actually hurting Darkfall?

Awesome. I'm already griefing in Darkfall. 

[Vehementi]

no i think that's why they said they're going to use pre-orders to guage actual interest

[Signe]

For some reason, your sig is making more sense in this thread, Vehementi!   

[LC]

I saw the actual (detailed) shadowbane darkfail world map today.

[slog]

I just took a shit in a depends.  I will now charge you 15 dollars a month to PvP for it.

[tmp]

I saw the actual (detailed) shadowbane darkfail world map today.

That map makes it really easy to tell the size of basic zone. Been a long time since i saw square islands in a game, too.

[LC]

That map makes it really easy to tell the size of basic zone. Been a long time since i saw square islands in a game, too.

Their world builders are hard core. You can even see the seams.

[HaemishM]

So MMO players in general are actually hurting Darkfall?

They've fucked up every other MMOG out there, why not one they'll never be able to play except in their tiny little minds?

[Azaroth]

I'll be nice to Aventurine but unless they're honest about shooting too high, promising too much for what they're capable of, then they don't have my respect and I won't cut them any slack.

I'm not giving up on Darkfall because I'm very interested to see the whole debacle unfold.

1. Darkfall releases at some unspecified date in the future.
2. Zillions of people buy boxes, make characters
3. Much ganking ensues.  Cries of "This is a griefers game!  I QUIT!" ensue
4. Bored WoW'ers go back to WoW
5. Some time later, bored gankers quit and start hyping up the next open pvp game
6. Servers merge
7. Darkfall slowly evolves into a fiercely competitive pvp game
8. Remaining subscribers form the core of a new playerbase that revolves less around ganking (though it will still happen to people who don't protect themselves, of course), and more around territory and resource control.
9. Darkfall slowly grows
10. Five years later, it has about 400-500K subs and is considered a classic
11. Everyone who signed up in the first week and quit at stage 3 wonders what happened.

There's your debacle for you.

Courtesy of MMORPG.com. Watching someone derail their own train of logic based on how hard they're hoping for something to happen was hilarious, I found.

There was a penny on the tracks here somewhere around 7, and the crash was epic.

[Lum]

So I went to the Glitchless site and it still exists, Race War Kingdoms still exists, it released some sort of alleged new game 6 months ago, they have some shockingly active forums for it, and Dawn is still listed on the site as "in development". It's like a fucking time capsule.

http://www.nodiatis.com/

[WayAbvPar]

I still think it's vaporware.

That would require it to be in an excited state. I prefer to think of it as droolware.

Well played, sir.

Feb 25th release date means I get fanboy tears for my birthday. How did they know what I wanted?

[Azaroth]

The fanboys apologize in advance for a belated gift. FYI.

[kildorn]

The prediction is that everyone leaves, the hardcore players stay, somehow the game gets 400-500k subs and is a classic.

I'll see their wager, and raise them an sb.exe.

[patience]

I'll see their wager, and raise them an sb.exe.

When an MMO fails in a big way they do it uniquely from other companies. Use your imagination.

[WindupAtheist]

http://www.nodiatis.com/

I'm logged in now. It's painfully generic in places (kill 10 rats!) but the stat/skill system is really complex and overall it's... kinda interesting.

[stu]

Damn Submit button is blocking the verification code. Maybe I should have gone with the Alcoholic class...   

[Wasted]

I'd normally give any game a try but Race War Kingdoms was that bad, I wont try another game from them.  Nodiatis is advertising itself as a 'difficult' RPG which is somewhat interesting, difficult for them though probably means they make you do 20 mouse clicks for each action though.

[WindupAtheist]

The whole thing is very "Here are 530984309 skills to raise, good luck picking the right ones newbie!" in a way that you don't see very often these days for a reason. Just don't spec in blunt weapons as there doesn't seem to be shit available, and be aware that apparently everyone thinks putting XP in recovery is a waste.

And their spell system is weird. Spells come in the form of gems, and you load some of them into a pouch. Every 8 seconds or so during combat, a random spell selected from those you have loaded will pop into a box at the bottom of the screen, at which point you can grab it and put it on your hotbar. So you're just autoattacking and casting whatever spells come up, hoping for a good one.

I suppose you can load multiples of a particular spell to increase the chances of it coming up. Strangely, the ability to flee combat counts as a spell, and is the default "spell" for slots in your pouch that you haven't filled. So you always want to leave at least one slot empty.

It's something different in what is otherwise a very generic "here's a shortsword, kill 10 rats" sort of game. I'm mostly talking about it because this is how much I don't give a fuck about Darkfall: I would rather talk about a Glitchless product. Good old GLJeff seems to be online a fair amount chatting with users. At the very least one can get on and ask him for directions to the fetuspults.

[Arthur_Parker]

Is Jeff's email address still yourbigdaddy@hotmail.com?

[WindupAtheist]

I'm still just flabbergasted to learn that Glitchless is still in business, that RWK was successful enough for them to make a second game, and that said game is a serviceable and active little foozle-grinder instead of some ridiculous disaster. It gives me hope that they'll be successful enough for some sucker to give them some venture capital someday, and then Dawn Fiasco 2.0 will be upon us.

 

[Wasted]

I'd be surprised if their sole revenue was from RWK, they all had to be working other jobs surely. I know people spend lots of money on crap but their prices were beyond stupid and the game beyond crappy, the world just can't be that wrong can it?

[Sheepherder]

the world just can't be that wrong can it?

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/vanguard/review.html 

[WindupAtheist]

I keep playing this thing. Partly because I can turn on passive training, sit in town, and skill up while I'm tabbed out all day to work or browse the web. There's something that players do that causes everyone around to get money for nothing. I have no idea what yet. There's also no timeout for inactivity, apparently, so i've had a productive day of AFK.

The casting system is, I guess, meant to emulate a CCG. The game shuffles through your bag of gems (aka deck of cards) and you can choose to put what you're dealt on your hotbar or just wait for the next deal. Some things are one-shots, others can be cast repeatedly once up on the bar. Your skill level in different schools of magic determine how many of each color gem you can have in your deck... er... bag.

It's actually sort of neat. But outside of that, and before you get any spells, the combat is pure "click on Start Autoattack, sit and watch" drudgery. I've been tabbing in for a few seconds to initiate combat and fire up autoattack, then out to do something else, then back in real quick to loot and repeat whenever I'm fighting anything that isn't very threatening.

I'm finding it a surprisingly amusing "tab in and out while you really should be doing other things" diversion. There's supposedly PK, but they can only loot one non-soulbound item/stack when they kill you (all gear binds on equip) and apparently even one PK makes the killer permadeath forever.

[slog]

I'm still just flabbergasted to learn that Glitchless is still in business, that RWK was successful enough for them to make a second game, and that said game is a serviceable and active little foozle-grinder instead of some ridiculous disaster. It gives me hope that they'll be successful enough for some sucker to give them some venture capital someday, and then Dawn Fiasco 2.0 will be upon us.

 

Maybe that kid wasn't as dumb as we all thought he was.  He had a dream, took a stab at it, got slapped down, didn't give up, and now he has run a successful business for a number of years.   Do I personally value his product?  No.  Lots of other people do, and there is something to be said for that.

[Murgos]

Maybe that kid wasn't as dumb as we all thought he was.  He had a dream, took a stab at it, got slapped down, didn't give up, and now he has run a successful business for a number of years.   Do I personally value his product?  No.  Lots of other people do, and there is something to be said for that.

Yeah, and that something to be said was said by PT Barnum, "There's a sucker born every minute." 

[Lantyssa]

I keep playing this thing. Partly because I can turn on passive training, sit in town, and skill up while I'm tabbed out all day to work or browse the web. There's something that players do that causes everyone around to get money for nothing. I have no idea what yet. There's also no timeout for inactivity, apparently, so i've had a productive day of AFK.

I've been giving it a shot.  There are actually some interesting ideas in it.  A lot of crap, too, but some things of interest.

[WindupAtheist]

I have a level 3 dark knight named Grimthrax. Hit me up if you get the chance, I could use someone to run around with. (IE, help me kill that stupid Ogre Outcast that one needs to beat to get out of the first area. If you haven't run into him, you will.) Although there's obviously a good chance I'm soaking up free money while tabbed out, as mentioned.

I've been leveling up all the main "stat skills" with the exception of recovery, which everyone says is useless. This slows down leveling a bit, but makes you more powerful at a given level. When one of the stat skills goes up, I just put one point into each of the 3 stats because I'm not sure what I'm doing there.

(snip some number crunchery)

Really I'm just playing it because I can look like this:



I don't even know what the fuck is supposed to be going on with this guy, but I know he's fucking hardcore.

[Xuri]

I'm sure there must be some sort of ointment your guy can get that will take care of those problematic pointy things.

[Venkman]

I keep playing this thing. Partly because I can turn on passive training, sit in town, and skill up while I'm tabbed out all day to work or browse the web. There's something that players do that causes everyone around to get money for nothing. I have no idea what yet. There's also no timeout for inactivity, apparently, so i've had a productive day of AFK.

Jeezus man, go play Eve.

[Lietgardis]

1. Darkfall releases at some unspecified date in the future.
2. Zillions of people buy boxes, make characters
3. Much ganking ensues.  Cries of "This is a griefers game!  I QUIT!" ensue
4. Bored WoW'ers go back to WoW
5. Some time later, bored gankers quit and start hyping up the next open pvp game
6. Servers merge
7. Darkfall slowly evolves into a fiercely competitive pvp game
8. Remaining subscribers form the core of a new playerbase that revolves less around ganking (though it will still happen to people who don't protect themselves, of course), and more around territory and resource control.
9. Darkfall slowly grows
10. Five years later, it has about 400-500K subs and is considered a classic
11. Everyone who signed up in the first week and quit at stage 3 wonders what happened.

There's your debacle for you.

Courtesy of MMORPG.com. Watching someone derail their own train of logic based on how hard they're hoping for something to happen was hilarious, I found.

There was a penny on the tracks here somewhere around 7, and the crash was epic.

To be fair, swap WoW for EQ et. al., and that's pretty much the Shadowbane story up through #8.