For some reason, I've been looking into this game despite it's notoriety. Sick of the current crop of sub standard MMORPGs, each with their own reasons as to why they're unplayable and / or boring....

- AOC - Input lag, heavy instancing, sluggish animation ridden combat

- WoW - Gear Treadmil endgame, lack of enjoyable replayability

- WAR - ... Next

- LOTRO - Ridiculously slow and unresponsive combat

- Everquest II - No.

- Aion - Poorly executed derivative piece of garbage.

- Runes of Magic - Cheap version of WoW with a cash shop. Goodie.

Instead of simply asking "Hay guyz should I pa-lay?" I'll ask something a bit different. What do you do in this game? After you learn how to play and do your starter quests(?), what is an average day for a guilded and/or solo darkfall player?

Bonus Question - I downloaded the darkfall client a LONG time ago, back when the game was about to be released. Can Install / patch this client for use on the US servers?

Don't feel bad, brother. Even though I'm not looking at Darkfall, I know just how you feel.  I'm read to drastically lower my standards just so I can play something.

The last MMO I played was Conan as soon as it released, and I quit playing that turd before the first month was over. That was well over a year ago now.  I'm getting desperate. It just seems like I'm always waiting for the next game, and the next game, etc. So many MMO suck upon release it's insane.

As WoW-like as Aion is, I might be forced to play it until the next round of releases in 2010. God, it makes me cringe just thinking about it. I'm going to wait until Fallen Earth releases at the end of the month to decide though.  I'm hearing good and bad about it, but it sounds like it could evolve to be a damn nice indie title.

The other games I am interested in are in my sig below. 

Oh god man, don't do it! DON'T DO IT! I'm playing WAR until someone else comes out. Darkfall is a seriously bloody sandbox where you'll spend more time pissed about all the tards ganking you because they can than ever having any fun.

Originally posted by LtJohnnyRico

Oh god man, don't do it! DON'T DO IT! I'm playing WAR until someone else comes out. Darkfall is a seriously bloody sandbox where you'll spend more time pissed about all the tards ganking you because they can than ever having any fun.

Ive never played a sandbox game, and I'd like to try one. So nobody has an answer here for me? No current or even former players?

Don't misunderstand, Im not like these people who feel forced to play an MMO, I havent been subscribed to anything since AoC's patch 1.05 (and that was only for a single month).

Im looking for something pvp oriented without the "Hay, grind for 30 hours and we'll let you play the REAL game..."

I have to say I kinda feel the same way, sadly. It seems those are about the only 'respectable' MMOs out there (although I think you missed EVE and accidentally added Darkfail somewhere in your post). I should also add I've no experience playing AoC, but then again, its game system and game specifications simply look like rubbish to me, along with a couple of bad reviews I've read.

I don't agree on LotRO, though. Perhaps you're just experiencing bad lag, because I do not find combat to be unresponsive at all. It's quite similar to other MMOs, as far as I can see, apart from its skill queue input window being slightly longer (i.e. you can press a button very early on during the previous move's execution and it still registers properly). I do feel Fellowship Skills feel unresponsive at times, but on the other hand, for the more difficult ones (i.e. 6 straights, uniques) you'll probably need the larger time window. Granted, it's a cool system, but there's a hefty price to be paid, speed-wise.

Everquest II seems rather nice, as well, although it is just that: a continuous heap of quests. Regardless, it's the game I'm playing now, basically as a small-time break from LotRO. It's by no means perfect or even great, but it's a nice diversion.

Then, I agree with a previous post: don't play Darkfall! While appeal may be a matter of taste (and a game that dares call itself "sandbox" when all it delivers is a bucket of sand with too many holes in it has very little appeal to me, indeed), I daresay trusting my hard-earned money to any company that has three brain cells and a pair of vocal cords attached to them as its community manager is bound to backfire at some point in the not-too-distant future. It's all fine and dandy as long as you agree with the man, no doubt. His condemnation of the Eurogamer review might even have bolstered your faith in the game. The chances that its devs will at one point make a decision with considerable effect on your gameplay and that you do not agree to are, however, very large, and when that time comes, I'd still prefer a "Working as intended" over a "Shut up! You sux! I rule!" for an answer.

My advice: Pick a game you think will keep you interested for about a year or so. It doesn't matter much if its P2P or F2P, as long as it'll be a bit of a time sink. Then, when it's released, go SW:TOR. It's got everything you want and you know it.
 

Originally posted by Haggis13

I have to say I kinda feel the same way, sadly. It seems those are about the only 'respectable' MMOs out there (although I think you missed EVE and accidentally added Darkfail somewhere in your post). I should also add I've no experience playing AoC, but then again, its game system and game specifications simply look like rubbish to me, along with a couple of bad reviews I've read.

I don't agree on LotRO, though. Perhaps you're just experiencing bad lag, because I do not find combat to be unresponsive at all. It's quite similar to other MMOs, as far as I can see, apart from its skill queue input window being slightly longer (i.e. you can press a button very early on during the previous move's execution and it still registers properly). I do feel Fellowship Skills feel unresponsive at times, but on the other hand, for the more difficult ones (i.e. 6 straights, uniques) you'll probably need the larger time window. Granted, it's a cool system, but there's a hefty price to be paid, speed-wise.

Everquest II seems rather nice, as well, although it is just that: a continuous heap of quests. Regardless, it's the game I'm playing now, basically as a small-time break from LotRO. It's by no means perfect or even great, but it's a nice diversion.

Then, I agree with a previous post: don't play Darkfall! While appeal may be a matter of taste (and a game that dares call itself "sandbox" when all it delivers is a bucket of sand with too many holes in it has very little appeal to me, indeed), I daresay trusting my hard-earned money to any company that has three brain cells and a pair of vocal cords attached to them as its community manager is bound to backfire at some point in the not-too-distant future. It's all fine and dandy as long as you agree with the man, no doubt. His condemnation of the Eurogamer review might even have bolstered your faith in the game. The chances that its devs will at one point make a decision with considerable effect on your gameplay and that you do not agree to are, however, very large, and when that time comes, I'd still prefer a "Working as intended" over a "Shut up! You sux! I rule!" for an answer.

My advice: Pick a game you think will keep you interested for about a year or so. It doesn't matter much if its P2P or F2P, as long as it'll be a bit of a time sink. Then, when it's released, go SW:TOR. It's got everything you want and you know it.
 

LOTRO IS slow and clunky. Just look to the phrase "skill queue". Thats it. Done. "Skill Queue". If I hit an ability, I want the ability to fire off. I don't want the ability to WAIT IN LINE.

I don't care about the crappy CM, or any of the other negative press. I just want the facts; please. Facts about the actual game from people who actually play. Anyone? Anyone at all?

LogothX

DFO is PVP. Precious little else. If you think you would enjoy a game that revolves around combat all the time, you could enjoy DFO. However, don't be fooled: DFO is not a sandbox. Not by a longshot. Like I said, it's PVP/Guild combat. You cannot specialize, there are no non-combat activities worth mentioning, no economy.

So, if the mindset is pure combat and you relish large guild mechanics, I guess DFO delivers. I quickly lost interest when I realized that the game promised a lot, but delivered very, very little. Most fights revolve in AoE rocket launching, Quake style. Melee is very penalized due to this. If you like smaller scale Guilds and objectives (like I do), the game does not shine.

They did improve the game in the last few patches, but it still has a long way to go. Check videos and read more about it before spending your money. I agree that there are limited choices in MMOs ATM, but I won't lower my standards just to play something. I went back to Oblivion and Warhammer miniature combat for the time being.

I have played Darkfall for the first 2 months of it's release.

The reason I stopped to play was because I wanted to play on the NA servers and since they were not going to transfer the caractere, I decided to stop until NA came out. Then NA did come out but I have other obligations now.

Regardless of that, I think that Darkfall has tremendous potential. Sure, there is griefing but what you need to find out is if you are a sheep or a wolf. At least if you are a sheep, are you a smart one, that doesn't get caught by wolves?

I must say. Never, in any other games, did I ever feel the way DF made me feel when my group of teamates were setting out for a raid. The preparation, the tactics and the skill involved to play the game, really made it worth my time there. The more I talk about it, the more I want to play it again, but the thing is, DF is very involving game and I can't have that in my life right now.

Take every reviews with a grain of salt. I have seen what "high-end" game looks like. I was there when The Mercs created the first Warhulk on the Euro server. I was actually in part of it's making and my guild at the time, was affiliated with theirs for the city they had and it was a great moment. Just to make it, all the materials required were insane, so much so that they ask for escort to the smelter to make the bars for it and there were like 20 of us guarding one guy crafting, even though we did nothing, it was still alot of fun.

No matter how many arena games you play, my heart rate has never been so high than when I played DF. Sure, dying does suck, but in the end, it's only items and beside, it's always less worst than you think it actually is.

Hey man, i'll try to give a bit of insight.

I tried out Darkfall on the NA1 server about 2 months ago. This was my first time playing the game, and my first time with a 'sandbox' MMO. My initial response was something along the lines of "What the hell am I supposed to do...how can anyone play this?!". After logging out very annoyed for the evening, I decided to give the game another chance the following day. I logged in and began asking around to the few players I saw running around about their business. I slowly started to pick up on how things worked and by the end of the night was hooked. I played for about a week as a solo player, and then joined up with a clan. That went on for about a month before I stopped playing.

Normally when I quit a game it is because I am bored, or there is something else I want to try. This time it was because my girlfriend was bugging me about how much I played this one (got off work friday at 4pm, and didnt stop playing until sunday around 1am. Took a few hours to sleep and only ate a poptart). This was obviously a problem, and I decided I would stop playing. The reason: I enjoyed the game TOO much to put it down.

A few nights ago I was looking through the list of current MMOs, and what is on the horizon in a position much like yours. I found that there had been a change to the rate you gain experience to gain skill ups in Darkfall, and that there is an expansion on its way. I decided that I would give the game a shot again- since less time needed to skill up would mean I could play for a short time and actually see some progression. I am back in the game having fun again, but have taken up playing solo for the time.

What to expect:

No levels/class: You level skills up by using them more and form your own class from there.

Paranoia : You can be attacked almost anywhere in the game, and when you die you will lose everything you are carrying. You never know if the person hunting just over the hill is plotting to come and stab you in the back to gain possession of the nice war pig you were just riding or the cool armor you looted off a hobgoblin.

Empty Lands: Some people complain about this, though I think it is great. There are some places in the game where you just will not find enemies, or only a few of them. It makes sense that every spot on the planet is not crawling with some creature who wants to kill you. There are places to explore and scenes to see.

Exploiters: Some folks use macros to gain skill ups or train using a 'Blood Wall'. The blood wall is where a clan lines up its members who are afk and let you attack them, thus giving you skills in a weapon or spell. I personally choose not to do any of that since I am trying to experience the game and actually progress, though if it interests you it is there!

Quests: Quests are not as common as in games such as WoW or WAR. You get a few in the beginning, and then have to go looking for the rest. Some can be very long and keep you busy such as killing 200 goblin scouts and 100 shamans. It can seem like a grind but combat is FUN(think oblivion) and you usually can use most thing found around the enemies or dropped from them so it just flows.

PvP: The game is a sandbox for massive wars with castles, ships, mounts and siege weapons. All of these combine to make pvp very fun and different from most games. If you don't like pvp, this game probably will make you want to run back home and hide under your mothers bed because it is in your face and very unforgiving.

Crafting: Near everything in the game can be crafted. Mounts, ships, armor, weapons, potions, buildings...you name it you can make it. You can also have as many different crafting skills as you choose to level up.

This is just a list of some things in the game, the game is by no means perfect or the rule all for MMOs. I would say to give it a shot though because if you like it, YOU REALLY LIKE IT and if you hate it...just read the forums and you see all the responses :) If you do decide to play feel free to send me a message here and I can try to help get you started in the game, provided you are also playing on the NA server!

Hope this helped and my apologies for the length! Good luck in your search for a game!

OP visit official forums instead.

Edit : atleast and lucky for you Grubbs and Pumpkin respected your question finally

Originally posted by LogothX

Originally posted by LtJohnnyRico

Oh god man, don't do it! DON'T DO IT! I'm playing WAR until someone else comes out. Darkfall is a seriously bloody sandbox where you'll spend more time pissed about all the tards ganking you because they can than ever having any fun.

 

Ive never played a sandbox game, and I'd like to try one. So nobody has an answer here for me? No current or even former players?

 

Don't misunderstand, Im not like these people who feel forced to play an MMO, I havent been subscribed to anything since AoC's patch 1.05 (and that was only for a single month).

 

Im looking for something pvp oriented without the "Hay, grind for 30 hours and we'll let you play the REAL game..."

Darkfall is not a sandbox in the normal, open ended, sense such as games like SWG or Mortal Online.  It's just an open world PvP game, and some people call it a sandbox for that reason.

Thank you those who actually answered my question.

I never really cared much about crafting, so the lack of an economy I could care less about. I'm just worried about finding myself in another warhammer like game where I wander around an empty landscape looking for people to fight for 30 minutes.

WOriginally posted by LogothX

For some reason, I've been looking into this game despite it's notoriety. Sick of the current crop of sub standard MMORPGs, each with their own reasons as to why they're unplayable and / or boring....

 

- AOC - Input lag, heavy instancing, sluggish animation ridden combat

- WoW - Gear Treadmil endgame, lack of enjoyable replayability

- WAR - ... Next

- LOTRO - Ridiculously slow and unresponsive combat

- Everquest II - No.

- Aion - Poorly executed derivative piece of garbage.

- Runes of Magic - Cheap version of WoW with a cash shop. Goodie.

 

Instead of simply asking "Hay guyz should I pa-lay?" I'll ask something a bit different. What do you do in this game? After you learn how to play and do your starter quests(?), what is an average day for a guilded and/or solo darkfall player?

 

Bonus Question - I downloaded the darkfall client a LONG time ago, back when the game was about to be released. Can Install / patch this client for use on the US servers?

 Considering it's FPS style combat, that immediately sets it apart from other games in terms of gameplay.

Average day for me consists of farming mobs for gold or reagents (and using certain spells or archery, depending on if I feel like lvling up a new spell).  Sometimes i'll farm certain mobs just for what they can be skinned for, in order to get awesome crafted weapons/enchants made.  The entire time farming i'm keeping an eye on my surroundings for people (80% of them will want to kill you), but thankfully the map's big enough that I don't see them that often, especially when i go to my spots that i've discovered, that are secluded.  Once i finally get jumped by a few people, i get angry that i lost all my stuff, so i go out PvPing in order to do the same to people and to get my stuff back.  That either invovles travelling around spawns (there's a lot of people out skilling up / farming since last patch) or trying to sneak into player cities to gank AFK macroers out of tons of reagents.

Every once in awhile you get a nice siege to participate in too, to break up your routine.

Other things i'll do that i forgot to mention:  harvest when i'm watching TV... always nice to have iron/wood + it gives stats.   take a siege hammer and capture vulnerable village points (areas where people place their player housing... pays thecontrolling guild gold every hour once they control it, goes vulnerable every 6 hours)

If you want to find people to kill, once you gain minimal knowledge, you'll start to realize certain spots are PVP hotspots.  Player cities are always good.

As for the client....check out the bottom of this page.

Originally posted by LogothX

Thank you those who actually answered my question.

 

I never really cared much about crafting, so the lack of an economy I could care less about. I'm just worried about finding myself in another warhammer like game where I wander around an empty landscape looking for people to fight for 30 minutes.

do not try darkfall! it is a complete waste of your money.  the review grubbs gave sounded AMAZING!!!!! but more hype then truth.

it is not a sandbox, it is a ffa pvp full loot game. there is nothing to the game besides pvp. pve is a joke, the ai is supposed to be the greatest ever but its just the mobs running like chickens with their heads cut off when they get hurt.

everyone just stays walled up in their clan cities. the only people you will ever see is a few newbs at the starter cities or packs of gank squads. and if your lucky you might find a farmer.

there is no ship pvp because ships are a bitch to build and easy to lose. full scale sieges are complete lag fests.

i played on eu when it launched and up to na server launch then quit a month later.  its easy and boring. there is nothing to do at all if you are not in a gank squad. if you try to solo your way thru the game you will get raped every minute you leave the tower range.

also, the people who are red you need to watch but the people you really have to be wary of is your own faction or race.  there are so many people in df that will jump infront of your swing while fighting a mob so you go rogue status and they can kill you without a hit to their alignment. and if you go rogue your fucked! guard towers will own you in 3 hits and all other blues that see you as gray will rush to slaughter you so they can pick your body clean

this game is a flaming pile of poo

Originally posted by sigamon

Originally posted by LogothX

Thank you those who actually answered my question.

 

I never really cared much about crafting, so the lack of an economy I could care less about. I'm just worried about finding myself in another warhammer like game where I wander around an empty landscape looking for people to fight for 30 minutes.

 

do not try darkfall! it is a complete waste of your money.  the review grubbs gave sounded AMAZING!!!!! but more hype then truth.

it is not a sandbox, it is a ffa pvp full loot game. there is nothing to the game besides pvp. pve is a joke, the ai is supposed to be the greatest ever but its just the mobs running like chickens with their heads cut off when they get hurt.

everyone just stays walled up in their clan cities. the only people you will ever see is a few newbs at the starter cities or packs of gank squads. and if your lucky you might find a farmer.

there is no ship pvp because ships are a bitch to build and easy to lose. full scale sieges are complete lag fests.

i played on eu when it launched and up to na server launch then quit a month later.  its easy and boring. there is nothing to do at all if you are not in a gank squad. if you try to solo your way thru the game you will get raped every minute you leave the tower range.

also, the people who are red you need to watch but the people you really have to be wary of is your own faction or race.  there are so many people in df that will jump infront of your swing while fighting a mob so you go rogue status and they can kill you without a hit to their alignment. and if you go rogue your fucked! guard towers will own you in 3 hits and all other blues that see you as gray will rush to slaughter you so they can pick your body clean

this game is a flaming pile of poo

 LOL.

Sounds like you haven't played since the first couple months of launch.

Those noobs you're describing who try to jump in front of you to turn you grey, are few and far between.  Perhaps they may be at the goblin spawns, rarely... but nowadays you skill past those quick.  With the mount-flagging introduced last patch, the scrubs who got off on killing mounts in town + causing people to turn grey (basically the kids who hide in town under the safety of the towers, while abusing the towers mechanics as much as possible), well there just really aren't that many of those type of people around anymore.  Perhaps acting lame gets old faster than playing how the game was intended.  

With the last couple PVE patches (one improved loot tables, one significantly increased skill/spell gain off mobs, by 3-6x) there's tons of people out in the world lately, if you know what you're doing.

Ships were made easy to make during last patch.

Sounds like all this person's gripes are old ones that have been address, or just issues with failing to perform in a FPS style setting (where player aim makes a huge difference, as opposed to every other game on the market with tab-target/click-permatarget.

OP, i promess you that you will never quit DF if you try it. Also, the grind had been reduce so even newb's can now catch on pvp really fast. Like i think it take a week to only 1 month to be able to kill anyone on pvp with your personal player skills. Then, you need the gears, but its not hard to get, but you can still lose them so you need to join a clan to get some protection.

Originally posted by bongloads

WOriginally posted by LogothX

For some reason, I've been looking into this game despite it's notoriety. Sick of the current crop of sub standard MMORPGs, each with their own reasons as to why they're unplayable and / or boring....

 

- AOC - Input lag, heavy instancing, sluggish animation ridden combat

- WoW - Gear Treadmil endgame, lack of enjoyable replayability

- WAR - ... Next

- LOTRO - Ridiculously slow and unresponsive combat

- Everquest II - No.

- Aion - Poorly executed derivative piece of garbage.

- Runes of Magic - Cheap version of WoW with a cash shop. Goodie.

 

Instead of simply asking "Hay guyz should I pa-lay?" I'll ask something a bit different. What do you do in this game? After you learn how to play and do your starter quests(?), what is an average day for a guilded and/or solo darkfall player?

 

Bonus Question - I downloaded the darkfall client a LONG time ago, back when the game was about to be released. Can Install / patch this client for use on the US servers?

 Considering it's FPS style combat, that immediately sets it apart from other games in terms of gameplay.

Average day for me consists of farming mobs for gold or reagents (and using certain spells or archery, depending on if I feel like lvling up a new spell).  Sometimes i'll farm certain mobs just for what they can be skinned for, in order to get awesome crafted weapons/enchants made.  The entire time farming i'm keeping an eye on my surroundings for people (80% of them will want to kill you), but thankfully the map's big enough that I don't see them that often, especially when i go to my spots that i've discovered, that are secluded.  Once i finally get jumped by a few people, i get angry that i lost all my stuff, so i go out PvPing in order to do the same to people and to get my stuff back.  That either invovles travelling around spawns (there's a lot of people out skilling up / farming since last patch) or trying to sneak into player cities to gank AFK macroers out of tons of reagents.

Every once in awhile you get a nice siege to participate in too, to break up your routine.

 

Other things i'll do that i forgot to mention:  harvest when i'm watching TV... always nice to have iron/wood + it gives stats.   take a siege hammer and capture vulnerable village points (areas where people place their player housing... pays thecontrolling guild gold every hour once they control it, goes vulnerable every 6 hours)

If you want to find people to kill, once you gain minimal knowledge, you'll start to realize certain spots are PVP hotspots.  Player cities are always good.

 

As for the client....check out the bottom of this page.

So I cant use the client I downloaded a long time ago?

I should read the page next time. -.-

Ho and 1 last thing, dont listen to the others who say that DF is not a sandbox. Any game is a sandbox if it dont stop you from doing anything you want from day one so dont listen to these fool. PVP is what the game is more about, but the pvp is on the sandbox and not in an other instance or BG. It happen in the world only. There can be 10 000 players at the same place, but like any mmorpg, the server will crash, but what is good is that you can still do it. Without a crash, you can do a large scale pvp of 100 vs 100 and this is a lot and the DF devs said that they will try something to add more players at the same place to fight without lagging or server crash.

If you dont like mage because at the moment, the game is unbalanced and mage rule the pvp, wait teal october 9 to buy the game. They will fix the balance and you will be able to be strong by raising melee and range only and they will nerf the mage abilities.

Originally posted by LogothX

Originally posted by LtJohnnyRico

Oh god man, don't do it! DON'T DO IT! I'm playing WAR until someone else comes out. Darkfall is a seriously bloody sandbox where you'll spend more time pissed about all the tards ganking you because they can than ever having any fun.

 

Ive never played a sandbox game, and I'd like to try one. So nobody has an answer here for me? No current or even former players?

 

Don't misunderstand, Im not like these people who feel forced to play an MMO, I havent been subscribed to anything since AoC's patch 1.05 (and that was only for a single month).

 

Im looking for something pvp oriented without the "Hay, grind for 30 hours and we'll let you play the REAL game..."

It's a sandbox in the sense that you aren't given direction, and there are no classes.  It stops there.
Check out Saga of Ryzom if you haven't.  I'm not saying buy the game, just read up about it.

Darkfall is all about PvP.
You'll level skills to make your toon stronger and fight other players.

It's very much like a persistant world Team Fortress type of a game.
You'll watch your toon harvest nodes for resources, and then turn those resources into gear.
You'll fight mobs endlessly, or other players if you choose.

I can't attest to how the grind is today. 
AV has taken strides to improve the rate at wich you level skills, and the players seem to be happy with it.

I don't reccomend the game.
If you're looking for a game that has a lot of diversity in things to do then it's not Darkfall. 
It's all about two things.  Leveling your skills, and killing other players.
And the melee combat is just horrible. 

PS:  It's also very much group dependant.  That's not to say impossible to play solo, just that it very much a group dependant game.  If you're looking for one on one type fights then you'll be wandering around for quite some time.  If you're in a guild and are grouping, it should be easier for you to find pvp.

Originally posted by Realbigdeal

Ho and 1 last thing, dont listen to the others who say that DF is not a sandbox. Any game is a sandbox if it dont stop you from doing anything you want from day one so dont listen to these fool. PVP is what the game is more about, but the pvp is on the sandbox and not in an other instance or BG. It happen in the world only. There can be 10 000 players at the same place, but like any mmorpg, the server will crash, but what is good is that you can still do it. Without a crash, you can do a large scale pvp of 100 vs 100 and this is a lot and the DF devs said that they will try something to add more players at the same place to fight without lagging or server crash.

If you dont like mage because at the moment, the game is unbalanced and mage rule the pvp, wait teal october 9 to buy the game. They will fix the balance and you will be able to be strong by raising melee and range only and they will nerf the mage abilities.

 

Your definition of "sandbox" is risible. DFO is not a sandbox. It's a PVP-oriented game without instances. You cannot advance in the game through non-combat actions. There is no individualization, everyone is converging to become carbon copies of each other. There is no economy. Crafting is limited. There is no support for player-driven content. Social options are very lacking.

Not having levels (and yes, you do have levels in DFO, hidden in plain sight within the skill system) does not a sandbox make.

The question is too broad. I would have to type for hours and hours in detail to explain my experience. I will try to make it as short as I can, I wish I could spend the hours typing but I'm limited on time today. I am not going to explain all the game mechanics and only generalize ANYTHING that comes into my mind. This will surely let you know how I see Darkfall.

I am probably going to forget a lot of events =[

I have been in the most historic Darkfall events since March, I bought the game after the first month it was released. I was in the largest alliance Coalition of the Chillin the first time I played. I never exploited mobs, or anything else to gain an edge in the early days of the game, simply because I didn't even KNOW that it existed.

Therefore I was always behind others in terms of gold and skills. It was still fun though, CoTC was a large alliance and I would be PVPing with groups all the time. I watched the days where we declared an all out war on Hyperion, a roleplaying kingdom alliance. We spread propaganda nonstop on the forums in order to get the Cairn and Death alliances to assist us.

I also should add that I spied on the main clan of Hyperion until it's downfall. It was exciting playing the game this way. My intelligence led the CoTC to victory many instances. I would tell everything important to the spy organization set up in CoTC and they would relay the information to battle generals.

Many sieges happened in many days in this era of war. Constant raids from both sides on random enemy cities as well as sieges often. One day Death, Cairn, CoTC sieged 3 cities at a time. This was the beginning of Hyperion's downfall. One by one their numerous clans left until they were hanging off a cliff.

We spared their last city and on that fateful day on May 12th, 2009, King Mannus uttered his last words. "I ruled 27 clanstones within the map of Agon and controlled Dvergheim, Morak, Mercia and Yssam, and drew tax from all of them. No alliance at present controls so much" (Thread: forums.darkfallonline.com/showthread.php)

Many alliances rushed to grab the cities formerly held by Hyperion and its last remnants dissolved. No sign of Hyperion or Mannus was seen ever since this day. However, my alliance CoTC had recruited a huge zerg in order to fight Hyperion. We had over 2k in our own alliance and we were friendly with another 2k sized alliance.

Afghanistan, SB alliance, many former Hyperion players, and various merc clans decided to use our own tools against us. They fought us with propaganda on the forums and gained more loyal fighters to take down CoTC.

I remember the first time our capital city Mar Shral was sieged. It decided the fate of our alliance. Our morale was destroyed. Mar Shral has never been sieged since the launch of the game. We were extremely nervous. So we allied more clans and brought a friendly alliance to fight also.

Many of us used the buildings and the cliff to make a defensive stand. We got on top of the buildings and cliff and used sheer numbers to fight the enemies. I think we still outnumbered them when the fighting started. I'm going to skip the details of the siege since I remember writing a long post about it I'm too lazy to repeat it.

Fast forward to the end of that fight and we actually win the siege. However, everyone in our alliance became scared of Afghanistan, SB and other alliances. That is to say, we knew they would try to take our holdings again. Almost losing a city made us even more nervous, I never thought that a city would be so important.

One day I log in and find out that the alliance is disbanded, our leader Gluttony neutraled most clans leaving only a few and living in one city instead of holdings 10+. Soon, Gluttony gave away Mar Shral to a trading clan and this was the downfall of CoTC, an unrespectable choice. What a failure. He would rather surrender without a fight. I forgot to say that I was in Awful Company clan this whole time btw.

After this my clan moved to various cities around the map and lived in a city in the Yssam jungles. I was facsinated by the change in scenery - from the gloomy Alfar lands to the lush jungles of Yssam. Awful Company was a dying clan by now. Coming from over 200 actives during the CoTC vs. Hyperion wars to less than 20.

Each day, it got more and more quiet, more and more sad. The leader Gluttony did not support training skills and made us always PVP PVP PVP but that gets boring when you don't develop your character at all.

Eventually my friend left and I followed him to a new clan. The Varangian Guard. My experience in this clan was so much more different. I have only been in Awful Company and was never exposed to the diversity of clans that each offered different strengths. This new clan had a more structured and strict style.

It made my old clan look retarded. Their organization was the reason why they wouldn't fall apart like Awful Company. Their members actually helped me so much that I might have quit the game if I was stuck in the clan AC.

I'm gonna cut short here, I still have a lot of things I could say but I'm running out of time. But I want to stop telling stories and tell a little about why I like Darkfall.

I love how the politics work in this game. The forums are a main source of it and certain sieges are incredibly epic. I actually meet old friends as well as people I've never known (in real life and old clans) and find out that some of them play Darkfall. What's better than finding out that someone you know in real life also plays Darkfall?? There's many more reasons but I seriously have to focus on my work right now.

Originally posted by LogothX

For some reason, I've been looking into this game despite it's notoriety. Sick of the current crop of sub standard MMORPGs, each with their own reasons as to why they're unplayable and / or boring....

 

- AOC - Input lag, heavy instancing, sluggish animation ridden combat

- WoW - Gear Treadmil endgame, lack of enjoyable replayability

- WAR - ... Next

- LOTRO - Ridiculously slow and unresponsive combat

- Everquest II - No.

- Aion - Poorly executed derivative piece of garbage.

- Runes of Magic - Cheap version of WoW with a cash shop. Goodie.

 

Instead of simply asking "Hay guyz should I pa-lay?" I'll ask something a bit different. What do you do in this game? After you learn how to play and do your starter quests(?), what is an average day for a guilded and/or solo darkfall player?

 

Bonus Question - I downloaded the darkfall client a LONG time ago, back when the game was about to be released. Can Install / patch this client for use on the US servers?

What I'd suggest you do is post on the official clan forum what you are looking for in a guild and your play style.    Depending on that, you will find yourself doing what you want.    There are guilds that raid constantly, others that focus more on crafting and building their city, those that balance both, those that are deeply involved in the political landscape and making deals with alliances, few successful merc guilds,  so on and so on.      The entire "Sandbox" debate is silly to "me".   It reminds me of the "Expansion vs Patch" debate.     A rose by any other name.   If you like PvP and a game that allows players to pick their enemies and friends,  after reading your views of others games, I doubt you will be dissapointed.

Re Bonus Questions:  You can ask on the technical forums at DFO but I believe after you purchase the NA client there are instructions.   One method if you have the EU client is to dl and run the US DFO Lobby.   After that you paste the Data Files from the EU version in to the Data folder of the NA directory.   That will save you a lot of dl, but you will have to patch.

Please feel free to pm me on the offical forums or in game (China Cat) if you wish.

Good luck -CC

Originally posted by StrixMaxima

LogothX

DFO is PVP. Precious little else. If you think you would enjoy a game that revolves around combat all the time, you could enjoy DFO. However, don't be fooled: DFO is not a sandbox. Not by a longshot. Like I said, it's PVP/Guild combat. You cannot specialize, there are no non-combat activities worth mentioning, no economy.

How the hell is DF not a sandbox? There's a giant list of craft skills (bigger than 99% of games out there), tons of harvest skills, and tons of potential for a craft character to prosper without fighting anything. Cities and politics are all player run.... how can you call it anything but a full-on sandbox?

Originally posted by LogothX

For some reason, I've been looking into this game despite it's notoriety. Sick of the current crop of sub standard MMORPGs, each with their own reasons as to why they're unplayable and / or boring....

 

- AOC - Input lag, heavy instancing, sluggish animation ridden combat

- WoW - Gear Treadmil endgame, lack of enjoyable replayability

- WAR - ... Next

- LOTRO - Ridiculously slow and unresponsive combat

- Everquest II - No.

- Aion - Poorly executed derivative piece of garbage.

- Runes of Magic - Cheap version of WoW with a cash shop. Goodie.

 

Instead of simply asking "Hay guyz should I pa-lay?" I'll ask something a bit different. What do you do in this game? After you learn how to play and do your starter quests(?), what is an average day for a guilded and/or solo darkfall player?

 

Bonus Question - I downloaded the darkfall client a LONG time ago, back when the game was about to be released. Can Install / patch this client for use on the US servers?

Much as I hate to admit it I am bored as well. I may very well sub DFO soon if I see some progress in respect to hackers. I have always relished the premise of a true sandbox game. I followed DFO for quite some time, and was rather vocal here pre and post release.
 

I threw in the towel after the discussions here degenerated into near idiocy. I have frankly gotten so bored its either going back to DAOC or trying DFO. I held out hope for MO but it seems so far down the road I will either forget about MMO's as a entertainment venue altogether or dive in to DFO.

I must admit I am a lurker at the official forums, and the threads related to in game sieges, conflict etc, remind me of the good old days in DAOC.

At any rate if I do decide to sub I expect China Cat(stellar personage) and the less the steller fan bots to gear me up, give me gold and tell me I rock ;}

I will let you know if and when.

Originally posted by Seytan

Much as I hate to admit it I am bored as well. I may very well sub DFO soon if I see some progress in respect to hackers. I have always relished the premise of a true sandbox game. I followed DFO for quite some time, and was rather vocal here pre and post release.
 

I threw in the towel after the discussions here degenerated into near idiocy. I have frankly gotten so bored its either going back to DAOC or trying DFO. I held out hope for MO but it seems so far down the road I will either forget about MMO's as a entertainment venue altogether or dive in to DFO.

I must admit I am a lurker at the official forums, and the threads related to in game sieges, conflict etc, remind me of the good old days in DAOC.

At any rate if I do decide to sub I expect China Cat(stellar personage) and the less the steller fan bots to gear me up, give me gold and tell me I rock ;}

I will let you know if and when.

lol

Honestly Seytan, the extent of hacking is over exaggerated, and I know for a fact the GM's follow up on /gm_report messages.   So long as one doesn't abuse that and report every person that kills them, but only uses it for those they suspect for clear reasons and with reports from others of similar observations, you will be surprised by the outcome.    That said, the hacks become almost a non issue when you work as a team with a guild, because there is no hack that is a guaranteed "I win" button and a well coordinated team can take down a few hackers.       These days I harvest ready for a fight.   I only let me stamina get to 1/2 and then I rest; no naked harvesting for me.   I also try to harvest when my guild is, so if any one has an issue, there are a bunch of us in the area that can jump the jumper.    Any way, if you do resub, I hope you can finid a great guild that is similar to your play style, because in DFO, that really makes all the difference.

It's a good time to jump in, because when the EU transfers happen in about a month or so, I expect world war 3.    With the recent changes in skill advancement, one can take advantage of this next month to get their character nicely developed before all hell breaks loose ;p

Cheers -CC