Darkfall "Released"

[tazelbain]

No.

[ashrik]

Both of these comments tell me something.  Players are manufacturing ways to bypass their system.  It's a symptom of a larger issue.  

So PvP will now be runnign around looking for AFK macrors killing mobs?

That would be my guess.

The "larger issue" is simply that players will look for the most efficient way to level their characters that they can. I join the battleground with the most honor/hour, the heroic with the most badges/run, the skill up method with the most return/least risk. It's something that takes place in just about every game. PVP should now start migrating towards groups fighting over, camping, and protecting resources such as monster spawns.

[Nebu]

I must be a psycho.  I played DAoC for the best fights.  We'd roam the island for hours just to get 3 or 4 good, balanced fights rather than farming noobs for gobs of rp's.  Similarly in WoW, I do the BG's I enjoy the most rather than the ones giving the most honor.

Different things provide fun for different people.  This is why I support more gaming variety and fewer mega-titles trying to be everything for everyone.

[sidereal]

The problem comes when the fun part and the leveling part aren't the same part.  People do the leveling part.

In Counterstrike, the leveling part (getting money) and the fun part (shooting motherfuckers) were the same part.

[LC]

The servers have emptied out with the release of Aion. I think darkfail will be joining SB and AC2 very soon.

[Malakili]

The servers have emptied out with the release of Aion. I think darkfail will be joining SB and AC2 very soon.

Aion doesn't strike me as really offering the same thing as Darkfall.  I can see why people from DF might flood Aion for a bit, but if they really are playing Darkfall because it offers something unique, i doubt Aion is going to fill that same spot.

Granted, I'm talking out my ass, I haven't played either game.

[raydeen]

The servers have emptied out with the release of Aion. I think darkfail will be joining SB and AC2 very soon.

Aion doesn't strike me as really offering the same thing as Darkfall.  I can see why people from DF might flood Aion for a bit, but if they really are playing Darkfall because it offers something unique, i doubt Aion is going to fill that same spot.

Granted, I'm talking out my ass, I haven't played either game.

The wolves are starving. There are now fresh sheep.

[Threash]

The servers have emptied out with the release of Aion. I think darkfail will be joining SB and AC2 very soon.

Aion doesn't strike me as really offering the same thing as Darkfall.  I can see why people from DF might flood Aion for a bit, but if they really are playing Darkfall because it offers something unique, i doubt Aion is going to fill that same spot.

Granted, I'm talking out my ass, I haven't played either game.

Darkfall doesn't actually offer a damn thing.

[DLRiley]

The open world pvp crowd generally wants full servers. Darkfall doesn't have full servers. Aion does. The only reason why Darkfall got any love was because WAR didn't turn out to be 2002 DAoC but with 10 full servers instead of 3 like all those idiots thought it would be. You can make the open world kids happy by making 1 pvp server in any of the "carebear amusement park" games.

[Von Douchemore]

The servers have emptied out with the release of Aion. I think darkfail will be joining SB and AC2 very soon.

Aion has drained people from every MMO, I think the first casualty should be WAR. I doubt that the people enduring Darkfall this far would switch ships for a game where you can PvE Abyss Points 

[NiX]

...where you can PvE Abyss Points 

Darkness Falls was extremely popular in DAoC and I get the impression that the Abyss is just the Korean take on it.

[LC]

The servers have emptied out with the release of Aion. I think darkfail will be joining SB and AC2 very soon.

Aion has drained people from every MMO, I think the first casualty should be WAR. I doubt that the people enduring Darkfall this far would switch ships for a game where you can PvE Abyss Points 

I still have an active subscription. The population has dropped a lot this week.

[Zzulo]

WAR is down to 6 servers and most of them are at "medium" during primetime with a few dipping into the lows.

[Malakili]

Yeah, thats right, I bumped it.


Darkfall is now offering a one week trial for one dollar (or one euro if you want to play on the EU server).  http://forums.darkfallonline.com/showthread.php?t=236450

I know this game is basically a joke to a lot of people here, but I've also heard a lot of people musing about wanting to try it if there was a trial, and while this isn't a free trial, it might be worth it anyway.

I recommend people who are interested give it a shot.  I ended up playing for a while, and the game is actually pretty decent and worth a look for anyone who is curious. (I don't play anymore, simply because it does demand a lot of time if you want to get into it long term, but not really because of any of the game mechanics or community or anything chasing me away).

[LC]

It's pretty good if you aren't looking for pve raids, giant golden exclamation marks, or color coded items.  The sandbox is still missing a lot of it's sand though.

[Cheddar]

Is it out of Beta yet?

[Malakili]

Is it out of Beta yet?

Yes.

[Shatter]

Arent they putting in some buff that protects you in the newb areas for a while because people will just gank the F out of you?  Also, dont people still grind out their skills afk?

[ashrik]

Yeah I believe they put in the newbie buff in advance of the (near) free trials they are now offering

Trial
Accelerated Character Guide

If anyone is interested

[Malakili]

Arent they putting in some buff that protects you in the newb areas for a while because people will just gank the F out of you?  Also, dont people still grind out their skills afk?

From what I read, they are giving you a 3 hour no-PvP grace period of play time where you can't take place in PvP, though I guess you can end it early if you want.    I didn't have the problem of "getting the F ganked out of me"  when I played, I did get killed a few times when I was just  a few days old, but there was noone camping the newbie area or anything like that.    I mean, its possible that it could be done, but its just totally not worth anything in terms of in game reward, and the games been out a year now, so I doubt people that like that sort of thing are still hanging around to be honest, at least in any sort of numbers worth mentioning.

I think AFK grinding in terms of skills has been cracked down on a bit.   I think people probably still do it if/when they can, but I think they've 1) put some mechanics in place to discourage it/make it harder to do and 2) have DMs in game checking for it.

[Hawkbit]

Pssst.  Your game is a year old and you're still charging $50 for the box.  Oh wait, there's no box.   

[Malakili]

Pssst.  Your game is a year old and you're still charging $50 for the box.  Oh wait, there's no box.   

If this is your biggest gripe with Darkfall, the game really has come a long way.

[Hawkbit]

I never played it, but might if the box/1st month is around $20 on a DD. 

[Bzalthek]

Pssst.  Your game is a year old and you're still charging $50 for the box.  Oh wait, there's no box.   

If this is your biggest gripe with Darkfall, the game really has come a long way.

It's ok.  Darkfall doesn't need a white knight.

[Malakili]

Pssst.  Your game is a year old and you're still charging $50 for the box.  Oh wait, there's no box.   

If this is your biggest gripe with Darkfall, the game really has come a long way.

It's ok.  Darkfall doesn't need a white knight.

White Knight nothing, I played the game for a month, I enjoyed it, I quit because I didn't have the time to devote to play it the way I wanted to.  I just think people that ARE actually interested in the game should try it, if thats white knighting, I definitely misunderstand the term.

[Nightblade]

The newbie buff schtick neglects to mention that you still need to grind the shit out of gathering in order to increase your stats. Hoo boy, there's nothing like chopping a tree naked for an hour and a half just to get 0.9 Strength.

The game purports itself from being different in this regard (grind) but in the end, it's even worse than anything on the market right now... And that's only a taste of the many, many issues this game has.

[Speedy Cerviche]

you gain stats faster PvE'ing (in melee for STR and VIT)

Gathering doesn't improve stats as quickly, but the advantage of gathering is you can do it semi-afk, so you can do it while you are busy working on something else (web browsing, housework, homework, eating, etc.). Also gathering is a good way for a newbie to earn chunks of cash, a metal node of 40 ore smelts to 16 ingots, which are worth about 350-400 gold. 

There is a bit of a grind though, but if you  you can get decent archery and melee skills up quickly and contribute to group PvP, maybe in a month or so. You'll still probably get owned 1v1 for a long time tho. The worst grind is to get a couple of essential healing spells that are in advanced magic schools. They've already taken steps to reduce the grind over the past few patches, still heavy lobbying for them to do it further so I wouldn't be surprised to see it done again soon.

[Shatter]

Bonus for anyone that started the game at launch when you could afk / macro your skills up and they wouldnt ban you.  Enter today, now they ban or suspend people that try this so you have to do it the hard way.  Id try the game but this pretty much kills it for me.  Reminds of of SWG when I was afk macroing different professions to unlock my jedi. 

[Nebu]

The longer it takes a player to become competitive in a pvp game, the worse your chances for success are.  New players have no incentive to join your world knowing that they will be sheep for the first few months that they are giving you money.  Vertical enhancement is the death of pvp games, particularly when the grind is both long and tedious.  It took Mythic 5 years to realize this and by then it was too late.  Shame they didn't learn this lesson with WAR.  WAR had a fantastically fun pvp experience that was marred by both a long grind and a power curve that only allowed you to feel like a contributor 3 of every 11 levels.

[Malakili]

The longer it takes a player to become competitive in a pvp game, the worse your chances for success are.  New players have no incentive to join your world knowing that they will be sheep for the first few months that they are giving you money.  Vertical enhancement is the death of pvp games, particularly when the grind is both long and tedious.  It took Mythic 5 years to realize this and by then it was too late.  Shame they didn't learn this lesson with WAR.  WAR had a fantastically fun pvp experience that was marred by both a long grind and a power curve that only allowed you to feel like a contributor 3 of every 11 levels.

Honestly, as long as you join a clan, you are contributing right away.  Sure, it might not be contributing by killing people, but clan cities need resources, boats require resources, siege weapons, you get the point.  You can be doing a lot of stuff that is adding to the player driven aspects of the game.  That to me is part of the PvP.  I mean, sure, the combat is fun and exciting, but I've never been of the opinion that actual combat is the most important part of a PvP game, otherwise you might as well just play a shooter.

[Shatter]

The longer it takes a player to become competitive in a pvp game, the worse your chances for success are.  New players have no incentive to join your world knowing that they will be sheep for the first few months that they are giving you money.  Vertical enhancement is the death of pvp games, particularly when the grind is both long and tedious.  It took Mythic 5 years to realize this and by then it was too late.  Shame they didn't learn this lesson with WAR.  WAR had a fantastically fun pvp experience that was marred by both a long grind and a power curve that only allowed you to feel like a contributor 3 of every 11 levels.

Honestly, as long as you join a clan, you are contributing right away.  Sure, it might not be contributing by killing people, but clan cities need resources, boats require resources, siege weapons, you get the point.  You can be doing a lot of stuff that is adding to the player driven aspects of the game.  That to me is part of the PvP.  I mean, sure, the combat is fun and exciting, but I've never been of the opinion that actual combat is the most important part of a PvP game, otherwise you might as well just play a shooter.

Might as well tie the newbs to the boats

[DLRiley]

Honestly, as long as you join a clan, you are contributing right away.  Sure, it might not be contributing by killing people, but clan cities need resources, boats require resources, siege weapons, you get the point.  You can be doing a lot of stuff that is adding to the player driven aspects of the game.  That to me is part of the PvP.  I mean, sure, the combat is fun and exciting, but I've never been of the opinion that actual combat is the most important part of a PvP game, otherwise you might as well just play a shooter.

So if I'm a new player I can look forward to grinding my ass off  in order for my guild to do all the fun stuff (that I won't do and still be to lowbie to participate). So basically you've made a proposition that sounds less lame than "come get buttfucked by larger ships join the suicide squad" of EVE . Didn't believe that was possible...

[KallDrexx]

I feel underwhelmed and kinda sad.  I expected this to be more of a disaster.  So far it's lasted longer than Fury lol

[Malakili]

Honestly, as long as you join a clan, you are contributing right away.  Sure, it might not be contributing by killing people, but clan cities need resources, boats require resources, siege weapons, you get the point.  You can be doing a lot of stuff that is adding to the player driven aspects of the game.  That to me is part of the PvP.  I mean, sure, the combat is fun and exciting, but I've never been of the opinion that actual combat is the most important part of a PvP game, otherwise you might as well just play a shooter.

So if I'm a new player I can look forward to grinding my ass off  in order for my guild to do all the fun stuff (that I won't do and still be to lowbie to participate). So basically you've made a proposition that sounds less lame than "come get buttfucked by larger ships join the suicide squad" of EVE . Didn't believe that was possible...

Maybe I'm the odd one out for liking to be a part of something bigger than myself.  I enjoy games in which I can do something small that has an impact on the big picture.   Then again, I liked mining in EVE too, so people probably shouldn't listen to anything I have to say about MMOs.

[Grimwell]

There isn't anything wrong with it in spirit Malakili, the problem though is that this kind of "Help" being the only way that is viable for new players really kills the fun for folks who are there to PvP. It's great for the people who are into virtual worlds -- seeing their in-game work pay off for their guild; but it's absolutely not what someone who's in it for the PvP came for.

So the game has a split audience appeal, but it limits which audience you can actively play in from the start due to that very appeal. Great for a niche, bad for even moderately good population numbers.