Darkfall "Released"

[patience]

5000 accounts clearly isn't enough to sustain them in order to make a profit after accounting for server hosting costs, the monthly debt they owe including interest and their on going costs to keep the development team being paid. But it is the devs decision to constrict how many people can initially buy the game. They wouldn't have done this if they think they could sustain long enough until they get enough servers or whatever they needed to be ok.

I'm not inclined to call them a failure until they file for bankruptcy or the servers go down for good like all the other games that actually shut themselves down. It's not like Aventurine gave us any hard numbers on their expectations unlike Spellborn which sadly told investors they expected a million subscribers in a year or two depending on how quickly their Asian launch occurs.  


That said there is one thing the devs could be called failures for and that's their hack detection methods.  (Some lulz and failure.)
 

[Ghambit]

Just because they've got enough to keep them afloat doesnt mean they're not a failure.
Failure/success is not measured simply by money.

I can take a smelly dump on the floor, wrap it up in 2 cents worth of wrapping paper, and if someone buys it it's a success?
To me, I've still failed to make my poo smell of roses; so failure it is indeed.

[Draegan]

It's was a failure a year ago, actually launching it doesn't change anything.  It's just a semi-public failure now.

[Shatter]

Im personally am not saying the game is a failure today, their launch was horrible, one of the worst and the game itself is a giant turd.  I will however say that the game WILL fail within the next year, faiilure meaning closed servers, game over.  

[Delmania]

That said there is one thing the devs could be called failures for and that's their hack detection methods.

What's really more of a failure is that in the IRC chat posted a few pages back,  Brannoc denies seeing these exploits and claims that the guilds who have a city have done so legitimately.

[DLRiley]

The game hasn't failed especially if they don't shut down the servers.

Let's not try to move the goal posts here when before many said the game wouldn't even launch and it managed to do that. *shrugs*

 Some people are very happy with the product even if it isn't us. I can't begrudge them for that but I do dislike them for other reasons.

How many people got in this game?  Like 4k - 5K or something?  This game HAS failed to this point in a ton of ways.  There is hardly anyone playing.  How is 4K not a failure?  Especially after the silly stuff their devs bragged about?  Unless they were planning to compete with The Realm for population numbers all along.  The tiny amount of people who are playing the game and are having fun isn't enough for this game to not be a failure.  I wouldn't be surprised if a fair lot of them are just there to exploit their way to the top (it's sounds rampant) and ditch the game in very short order.

The crowd these types of games attract are like a horde of locust looking for the next pvp server. I wouldn't be surprised if by the time this game can support more players only 200 of the original 5k is left playing.

I don't think calling this game a failure is premature, unless your charging $1000 per pre-order, you can not support an mmo that cost you 10 million to make with 5k subs. And even if they could do so, what assumes the player base won't just cannibalize itself given enough time (6 months)? It's a money losing proposition any way you put it.

[Montague]

Found this tidbit from the Vault forums:

"Apprently it seems one of the (disgruntled) volenteer mods on their forums maybe had a tantrum and stickied all the posts showing where to get the hacks, and the videos demo'ing it. Said mod seems to have left now, and the posts are unsticked, although the official forums still have dozens of posts with download locations and discussions of the hacks."

Awesome.

[patience]

Now this is failure.


WHo the fuck puts a 15 character limit on the combined count of first and last names and the space?


I think the devs are trying to troll Benjamin Bernanky, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Madeline Albright.

[Modern Angel]

I can't imagine why big name devs refuse to sink dollars into FFA PvP games like this.

[Mrbloodworth]

[Shatter]

I can't stop keeping an eye on this game and its current direction, its like watching a train wreck.  I can't wait for the disgruntled server Tech's to get mad

[Lantyssa]

Just because they've got enough to keep them afloat doesnt mean they're not a failure.
Failure/success is not measured simply by money.

I dunno.  Being able to take ill-gotten money and run away to a Mediterranean island sounds like success to me.  They didn't have to worry about going through customs, either!

[Falconeer]

Eddie from Tekken uses Capoeira, doesn't he?

Yeah he does.
And I would go for Krav Maga.

Pfft. Systema any day of the week.

[ghost]

5000 accounts clearly isn't enough to sustain them in order to make a profit after accounting for server hosting costs............

= paid beta.

[Signe]

I don't think it's premature at all.  It's been a failure for years.  Releasing it doesn't seem to have changed it's failure status much.

[Nija]

I'll probably subscribe to the game if it launches in the US and has a US based server. Like someone said previously - if it doesn't make it that far, I probably didn't miss much.

[Mrbloodworth]

I'll probably subscribe to the game if it launches in the US and has a US based server. Like someone said previously - if it doesn't make it that far, I probably didn't miss much.

Due to the fact that I'm a MMOG whore, i too will be checking it out, in about 6-12 months.

[kildorn]

Now this is failure.


WHo the fuck puts a 15 character limit on the combined count of first and last names and the space?


I think the devs are trying to troll Benjamin Bernanky, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Madeline Albright.

I can see where this stupidity comes from, However:

I really really want to know what amazingly stupid thing is stored in the 16th unusable character. PLEASE be an admin flag, PLEASE be an admin flag. <3

[Shatter]

I'll probably subscribe to the game if it launches in the US and has a US based server. Like someone said previously - if it doesn't make it that far, I probably didn't miss much.

Due to the fact that I'm a MMOG whore, i too will be checking it out, in about 6-12 months.

Assuming it lives that long...

[Lum]

Pfft. Systema any day of the week.

Why does every Systema video look like it's a recruitment video for General Ivan Drago's Iron Militsiya that will take over the world from its mountain fastness in the Urals?

[Nebu]

I don't think it's premature at all.  It's been a failure for years.  Releasing it doesn't seem to have changed it's failure status much.

Now it's a public failure!

[Shatter]

I don't think it's premature at all.  It's been a failure for years.  Releasing it doesn't seem to have changed it's failure status much.

Now it's a public failure!

Is it technically public if you restrict it to 5000 people?  Like some said above, its a paid beta right now, and 4 days of that paid beta the server was down or out of sync

[LC]

They just opened up game sales a few minutes ago. The servers disintegrated instantly.

[kildorn]

They just opened up game sales a few minutes ago. The servers disintegrated instantly.

They tried to make the game unpopular, but look at their massive success!

503s are actually HTTP WILDLY SUCCESSFUL

[Delmania]

They just opened up game sales a few minutes ago. The servers disintegrated instantly.

Bumbling in the dark, that's the only way to describe Advertine.   "We didn't plan",  "we didn't think", "billing is hard", "releasing is hard".  Then again what else can you expect from a a company that flipped every other MMO out there the bird and said "we're better than they are!"

[Mrbloodworth]

Then again what else can you expect from a a company that flipped every other MMO out there the bird and said "we're better than they are!"

Basically, if they had not done that, i would cut them a fuckton of slack.

[peryn]

This is just embarrassing on their part.

They could have avoided this debacle by simply having a second server prepped for launch.

Or they could have just had a stress test BEFORE launch day. God this all seems like common sense. I know all of their supporters will throw around the "indie" developer argument, but this all just seems like piss poor management.

Or maybe this is all some elaborate marketing effort to build anticipation and hope for a bunch of impulse buys. After all, buying Darkfall for $50 couldn't possibly be a rational decision.

[Signe]

That said, bragging didn't make this game a failure.  It just made it fun to laugh at their failure.

[BoneDancr]

That said, bragging didn't make this game a failure.  It just made it fun to laugh at their failure.

Admist all the calls for failure and horridly incompetent ninny developers the game is fun...poll after poll of players in game LIKE it.  Irate IRC idle folks bashing on the game go from 'screw this' to 'wow this is actually fun'. 

As for it's impending doom and limited scope:  it's not a marriage, it's a game and if it fails to hold long term interest then I'm sure <Insert Game Title Here> will welcome me with open arms.

[waffel]

Why are people so willing to buy shit just because its 'new'?

I don't understand it.

[Cadaverine]

Why are people so willing to buy shit just because its 'new'?

I don't understand it.

If it's new, it must be improved, right?

Probably a lifetime of marketing indoctrination creating some sort of Pavlovian response, or some sort of nonsense.   

[BoneDancr]

Why are people so willing to buy shit just because its 'new'?

I don't understand it.

Just out of curiosity have you tried the game?

[ashrik]

I'm guessing it just hits all the right notes with the people who are interested in it.

Full loot, FFAPVP, Skill-based, the combat system, etc. etc.

That's the shit that these people want. I think there's quite a bit of people willing to play a game that can give those things to them. Once you get past that, it likely just depends on whether they're willing to accept the shallow combat, poor animations/sounds, and stupidity from Aven-"we couldn't have prepared for this"-turine.

I can easily understand not liking it, but I think I can grasp the interest in it as well.

[LC]

After millions of refreshes today I got a notice saying that I had already pre-ordered the game. It wouldn't let me purchase it. Instead it suggested that I contact the support email address that never responds. I have sent them dozens of emails over the last week, and haven't gotten a single reply.

[K9]

Admist all the calls for failure and horridly incompetent ninny developers the game is fun...poll after poll of players in game LIKE it.  Irate IRC idle folks bashing on the game go from 'screw this' to 'wow this is actually fun'. 

As for it's impending doom and limited scope:  it's not a marriage, it's a game and if it fails to hold long term interest then I'm sure <Insert Game Title Here> will welcome me with open arms.

It's called the honeymoon effect.