Some rules first...

• Keep it civil... no name-calling of either "side"  (Violators will be reported)

Yup, just the one rule. 

I do happen to think that the population of DarkFall is down currently. 

Is this a long-term situation?  Not sure.

I base this opinion upon 4 things.

1. The clan count of total players in clans is down from the beginning of the month.
2. The shop for DarkFall has been open since 5-20-09.
3. Credible posts on the official forums talking about population being an issue.
4. Players doing tests of starting areas to check for the amount of new players.

Now any one of those things above might just be an anomaly.  All of them?  It's still possible I suppose, but that is where the opinion part comes in.  Yup, it's my opinion that DarkFall's population is going down.  I've given my reasons for believing it to be true above.  All are welcome to vote in the poll below and/or make a post in the thread.

One last reminder... let's keep it civil! 

Thanks. 

Why would anyone be suprised the population is going down?  with very few exceptions (EVE/WoW) MMOs tend to get most of their population right away.  DF didn't let people buy the game so they missed their chance.  now like almost every other MMO, the population will drop.

It has less to do with DF being a bad game, and more with it simply being an MMO, the bad game part is simply speeding up the process.

I'm disappointed in you.

There was no "Eleventy" option.  How can you have a poll with no "Eleventy" option??

My gut is telling me that the population is probably falling.  On the other hand I have not seen the populations in game (don't have DF) so I do not feel I have enough information yet to confirm that this is actually the case.

All I can say is that maybe they will get a new influx of players when/if the NA servers are up and that's only if Aventurine does not mess up the launch of this new server....

Originally posted by Majinash

Why would anyone be suprised the population is going down?  with very few exceptions (EVE/WoW) MMOs tend to get most of their population right away.  DF didn't let people buy the game so they missed their chance.  now like almost every other MMO, the population will drop.

 

It has less to do with DF being a bad game, and more with it simply being an MMO, the bad game part is simply speeding up the process.

The developers of the game were under the impression that most of those that signed up on their web site forums and hence the Beta Application would be buying the game as well.  They also thought that for whatever reason those players would be perfectly fine waiting.

The numbers varied, but anywhere from 200k to 300k was thrown around.

It is hard to say with any degree of accuracy but most would probably agree that the total number of those who have ever bought and/or subscribed to DarkFall is less than the numbers given above.

I do agree with you in your assessment that they missed their chance to get that 200-300k subscribers.  I'm not sure why they thought that all those players would simply "wait in line" until they could get their chance to buy DarkFall.  MMO players are a fickle bunch.  They will not wait around forever... or even 3 months it would seem.

It will be interesting to see how their NA server launch goes.  Hopefully for the sucess of DarkFall they will have all the kinks worked out.  In a couple more months we'll find out. 

DEVs are idiots if they think beta apps = subs.  lots of people like free games.  just look at the OB for Lineage2, it got so overpopulated they had to stop giving out beta keys, they opened 5 extra servers.  as soon as game went live and you had to pay, those 5 extra servers became empty.

funny that at 11 votes we are still at 100% thinking pop is falling.  i expected at least 1 person to come in here saying the population is going up like crazy.

Originally posted by Random_mage

I'm disappointed in you.

There was no "Eleventy" option.  How can you have a poll with no "Eleventy" option??

Heh... was trying to keep the poll "Serious". 

That way it won't be "Tainted".

Anyway yeah, not sure why some take everything so seriously all the time. 

Especially on a web-site about GAMES! 

It's gone down.
Mainly because of World War 1. Hyperion, the biggest guild in the game got pretty much completely crushed. Probably 75%+ of them quit the game completely after that.

It is going down, and that is because of two reasons:

1. People who have played the game realised that it isn't the second coming of UO/AC
2. People who are not playing, nor have played, will not try after the very bad word that has spread about the game

It is all downhill from now, this game will be history in a few months, or atleast forgotten, by most.

I belong in group nr 1 and currently waiting for Mortan Online to be released as I reckon most other people are who are egerly awaiting a good sandbox FFA PvP game.

Originally posted by Yamota

It is going down, and that is because of two reasons:

1. People who have played the game realised that it isn't the second coming of UO/AC
2. People who are not playing, nor have played, will not try after the very bad word that has spread about the game

It is all downhill from now, this game will be history in a few months, or atleast forgotten, by most.

I belong in group nr 1 and currently waiting for Mortan Online to be released as I reckon most other people are who are egerly awaiting a good sandbox FFA PvP game.

It has alot of pretty dedicated players. I still talk to my clan regularly on Ventrilo. For alot of people, the game has only just started now WWI's over. People can actually leave their citys now.
So I doubt it's downhill from here. They now have more freedom to work on things, they can get a proper website up, open more servers (including an NA server), and maybe even *GASP* Advertise!!

Honestly, all the game needs is just a little bit more depth (in PvE). They can work on this stuff and market the game, it really does have alot of potential. And no, doubt it'll close anytime soon. ;)

It's only just begun.

I was talking to a guy that tried to kill me the other evening.  He was an unguilded red and trying to straighten out his alignment.  He was saying that it was easy a few weeks ago, it wasn't his first time with the murderer status.  When the store would open up there would be a major influx of new players for him to kill.  He'd just run around to the starter cities and get back to blue.  He said since the store was remaining open not many have signed up. 

It was later on during a week night which I felt had alot to do with it.  His opinion seemed to differ.  When I play I usually see a decent amount of people in towns.  Guild cities have no problem mounting up several people to run me off.  It seems about the same to me.  The Race Alliance chat does seem to be slower however ...... dunno if thats just people joining clans or less people logging on.

~Hairysun~

Thanks all for the feedback and assessments.

Also thanks for keeping the discourse civil.  It makes it more enjoyable for everyone when we can discuss topics without resorting to flaming.

Originally posted by Adam1902

It's gone down.
Mainly because of World War 1. Hyperion, the biggest guild in the game got pretty much completely crushed. Probably 75%+ of them quit the game completely after that.

Yea pretty much, but other than that population has remained about the same, there are just more people power grinding their skills in Guild cities now then at launch so the game seems less populated.

Originally posted by Adam1902

Originally posted by Yamota

It is going down, and that is because of two reasons:

1. People who have played the game realised that it isn't the second coming of UO/AC
2. People who are not playing, nor have played, will not try after the very bad word that has spread about the game

It is all downhill from now, this game will be history in a few months, or atleast forgotten, by most.

I belong in group nr 1 and currently waiting for Mortan Online to be released as I reckon most other people are who are egerly awaiting a good sandbox FFA PvP game.

It has alot of pretty dedicated players. I still talk to my clan regularly on Ventrilo. For alot of people, the game has only just started now WWI's over. People can actually leave their citys now.
So I doubt it's downhill from here. They now have more freedom to work on things, they can get a proper website up, open more servers (including an NA server), and maybe even *GASP* Advertise!!

Honestly, all the game needs is just a little bit more depth (in PvE). They can work on this stuff and market the game, it really does have alot of potential. And no, doubt it'll close anytime soon. ;)

It's only just begun.

when have they EVER had a proper website, or advertisement? Pipe dream anyone? As for opening an NA server, good luck on that.

Should be increasing, there are a lot of ... how to say... the kind of people that would enjoy a game like Darkfall... I really don't want to break the rule.

Originally posted by altairzq

Should be increasing, there are a lot of ... how to say... the kind of people that would enjoy a game like Darkfall... I really don't want to break the rule.

Duck-billed platypuses?

Considering the store has been open for about a week now I would guess the population is either going down or staying about the same (people leave, new people come in).

Originally posted by Adam1902

Originally posted by Yamota

It is going down, and that is because of two reasons:

1. People who have played the game realised that it isn't the second coming of UO/AC
2. People who are not playing, nor have played, will not try after the very bad word that has spread about the game

It is all downhill from now, this game will be history in a few months, or atleast forgotten, by most.

I belong in group nr 1 and currently waiting for Mortan Online to be released as I reckon most other people are who are egerly awaiting a good sandbox FFA PvP game.

It has alot of pretty dedicated players. I still talk to my clan regularly on Ventrilo. For alot of people, the game has only just started now WWI's over. People can actually leave their citys now.
So I doubt it's downhill from here. They now have more freedom to work on things, they can get a proper website up, open more servers (including an NA server), and maybe even *GASP* Advertise!!

Honestly, all the game needs is just a little bit more depth (in PvE). They can work on this stuff and market the game, it really does have alot of potential. And no, doubt it'll close anytime soon. ;)

It's only just begun.

honestly?  it sounds like you don't, or maybe never did, play darkfall.

as a darkfall player, i truly am tired of posts which outright LIE about the game, and its currently state.  STOP TROLLING.

maybe the people behind darkfall could now have the freedom to fix SOME of the game-breaking problems in darkfall?  they have a proper website, they just can't be bothered to update it.  i don't understand why someone would make a post like the quoted - acting as if nothing is wrong with the game.

the CORE of the game - taking/holding land, i.e. sieges IS BROKEN.

not "bad game mechanics in my opinon".  NO.

IT IS BROKEN.

saying this, i'm ignoring dated graphics, clunky/unresponsive controls, horrid character and background animations, having to TURN OFF SOUND (turning down video, i can understand; but, i have never had to disable my bloody sound card in order to fight in a battle), exploiters have 30+ 100point skills & those of us who didn't join the day the game started and macro 24/7 are now at a huge disadvantage, contradictory statements & systems about "realism" (oh looting is a pita, cuz it's realistic; but, you can swim in full plate, and not only swim, but as quickly as someone nakie), bulky/unintuitive UI, NPCs that everyone shoots from safety and/or get stuck/glitched in order to farm (revolutionary AI my ass), boring & uninspired harvesting/crafting systems.

pvp, here we are just a couple of months into the game, and you have exploiters (which are not wiped, unlike in your standard beta) who have max stat/skilled characters and that can pretty much fight with a noob weapon & nakie, and take out armored players.   stats + skills + equipment >player skill.  greater by leaps and bounds.

so, your choices, to be competitive, are to macro unattended, or macro attended.  cuz running around looking for people to fight, and actually getting a fight (win/lose/draw) is going to be a lot less effective than standing there and sparring with friends.

bleh.  anyone that thinks darkfall doesn't have issues is either a liar, or doesn't play.  we darkfall players, are really tired of people misrepresenting OUR game.

I vote it is in the crapper and the crapper is being flushed.

Originally posted by Majinash

Why would anyone be suprised the population is going down?  with very few exceptions (EVE/WoW) MMOs tend to get most of their population right away.  DF didn't let people buy the game so they missed their chance.  now like almost every other MMO, the population will drop.

 

It has less to do with DF being a bad game, and more with it simply being an MMO, the bad game part is simply speeding up the process.

I agree at least for my own peronal intrest in playing DF. When it first came out I did want to check it out, but the ridiculous re-fresh mini game that was in place to try and buy the game turned me off. No way was I gonna sit at the computer doing that for a game. 

If they ever offer a free trial, I'll check it out, but with everthing I've heard about it, I doubt I'll ever buy the game.

I was going to buy DFO when it irst came out but decided to wait. After reading about it and hearing from friends i'm not sure if I will buy it.

The new NA server may change my mind. But i am prolly going to wait for MO :)

Originally posted by xzyax

Some rules first...

 

• Keep it civil... no name-calling of either "side"  (Violators will be reported)

 

Yup, just the one rule. 

 

 

I do happen to think that the population of DarkFall is down currently.  It isnt up to a level that I think that any current player would hope. Though since I dont believe that the devs could afford or expect the only one server they have to support a flood early on, we know AV significantly goverened that influx with controlled open purchase times.

Is this a long-term situation?  Not sure. Not certain, but the sporadic and infrequent nature of the shop being open didn't help with any momentum or interest that might have occurred early on.

 

I base this opinion upon 4 things.

 

1. The clan count of total players in clans is down from the beginning of the month. Yep, though numbers fluxuate drastically for any mmo following launch.
2. The shop for DarkFall has been open since 5-20-09. Yep, but the poor community outreach and communication and support has been an AV downfall forever. So lack of information disemination and AV-driven community attention is probably a major contributor.
3. Credible posts on the official forums talking about population being an issue. Credibility around substance without expectation for spin or slant by anyone is always in question.
4. Players doing tests of starting areas to check for the amount of new players.  Not an indicator alone in my experience.  In this team and guild-centric game, that the lowest populations can always be found around the starter cities as players, I've found, migrate away from them rather quickly and into the world.

 

Now any one of those things above might just be an anomaly.  All of them?  It's still possible I suppose, but that is where the opinion part comes in.  Yup, it's my opinion that DarkFall's population is going down.  I've given my reasons for believing it to be true above.  All are welcome to vote in the poll below and/or make a post in the thread.  If its highest game population that drives personal choice, which might seemingly be the measure of ones personal choice, I'd try the sims, lineage, wow, etc.

 

One last reminder... let's keep it civil! 

Thanks. 

 

It will be interesting to see what happens over then next couple months leading up to thier NA server launch.

Will they still do a NA lauch if the population drops by 50%?

Undoubtedly there will be some who are waiting for the NA to be launched, so they will have some players to fill that server.  My guess on the reason for a NA server lauch at this time is to get another infusion of initial game sales.  Since they are going to limit transfers to MONTHS after the server is up and running... the vast majority of current DarkFall players will most likely buy another account to play on the NA server.

There will undoubtedly be a number of player who two-box DarkFall once the NA server comes out.  With the tremendous grind needed to gain skills and the ease of using macros; it actually lends itself well to two-boxing.

I do think if they launch a NA server fairly smoothly that they will be able to get a decent population of players on it.  I also think that a side-effect of a fairly smooth and decent population on the NA server; will be an empty/dying EU server.

Not necessarily a bad situation for Aventurine though.  I see a couple possibilities available for them once the NA server is up and running, and they have done the transfers that players want.

1) They could turn EU-1 into a real Test Server and have actual players test upcoming patches before they go live... like pretty much every other MMO does their patch testing.

2) They could do a server wipe on EU-1 after NA-1 has been up and running for 3-4 months, and offer players another chance at a fresh start.

Anyway, thanks again all for keeping the insults and trolling to a minimum. 

Originally posted by xzyax

It will be interesting to see what happens over then next couple months leading up to thier NA server launch.

Will they still do a NA lauch if the population drops by 50%?

 

Undoubtedly there will be some who are waiting for the NA to be launched, so they will have some players to fill that server.  My guess on the reason for a NA server lauch at this time is to get another infusion of initial game sales.  Since they are going to limit transfers to MONTHS after the server is up and running... the vast majority of current DarkFall players will most likely buy another account to play on the NA server.

 

There will undoubtedly be a number of player who two-box DarkFall once the NA server comes out.  With the tremendous grind needed to gain skills and the ease of using macros; it actually lends itself well to two-boxing.

 

I do think if they launch a NA server fairly smoothly that they will be able to get a decent population of players on it.  I also think that a side-effect of a fairly smooth and decent population on the NA server; will be an empty/dying EU server.

 

Not necessarily a bad situation for Aventurine though.  I see a couple possibilities available for them once the NA server is up and running, and they have done the transfers that players want.

 

1) They could turn EU-1 into a real Test Server and have actual players test upcoming patches before they go live... like pretty much every other MMO does their patch testing.

2) They could do a server wipe on EU-1 after NA-1 has been up and running for 3-4 months, and offer players another chance at a fresh start.

 

Anyway, thanks again all for keeping the insults and trolling to a minimum. 

In a post <HERE> I stated that exact thing. 

"I anticipate the current single server they have turning into something resembling a test server (They need one). Additional servers will be opened up (North American one I hope) and they will begin something resembling a re-release with journalist reviews and perhaps even advertising. I havn't heard anything on a time frame."

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To me that is what makes sense.  They do need to isolate the server that is EU1, anything else is unfair to future players of the game.   All the changes to the game and exploiting have ruined it in my opinion.  If players want to stay, so be it, but to let them transfer to another server is wrong. 

~Hairysun~

Originally posted by Hairysun

Originally posted by xzyax

It will be interesting to see what happens over then next couple months leading up to thier NA server launch.

Will they still do a NA lauch if the population drops by 50%?

 

Undoubtedly there will be some who are waiting for the NA to be launched, so they will have some players to fill that server.  My guess on the reason for a NA server lauch at this time is to get another infusion of initial game sales.  Since they are going to limit transfers to MONTHS after the server is up and running... the vast majority of current DarkFall players will most likely buy another account to play on the NA server.

 

There will undoubtedly be a number of player who two-box DarkFall once the NA server comes out.  With the tremendous grind needed to gain skills and the ease of using macros; it actually lends itself well to two-boxing.

 

I do think if they launch a NA server fairly smoothly that they will be able to get a decent population of players on it.  I also think that a side-effect of a fairly smooth and decent population on the NA server; will be an empty/dying EU server.

 

Not necessarily a bad situation for Aventurine though.  I see a couple possibilities available for them once the NA server is up and running, and they have done the transfers that players want.

 

1) They could turn EU-1 into a real Test Server and have actual players test upcoming patches before they go live... like pretty much every other MMO does their patch testing.

2) They could do a server wipe on EU-1 after NA-1 has been up and running for 3-4 months, and offer players another chance at a fresh start.

 

Anyway, thanks again all for keeping the insults and trolling to a minimum. 

 

In a post <HERE> I stated that exact thing. 

 

"I anticipate the current single server they have turning into something resembling a test server (They need one). Additional servers will be opened up (North American one I hope) and they will begin something resembling a re-release with journalist reviews and perhaps even advertising. I havn't heard anything on a time frame."

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

To me that is what makes sense.  They do need to isolate the server that is EU1, anything else is unfair to future players of the game.   All the changes to the game and exploiting have ruined it in my opinion.  If players want to stay, so be it, but to let them transfer to another server is wrong. 

 

~Hairysun~

 

 

 

 

 

I agree with you Hairysun... it does make sense for them to turn EU-1 into a test server. 

Unfortunately I don't have much faith in Aventurine doing things that make sense. 

We'll see how it turns out in a few months.  Good luck.