Originally posted by kcc9889

The problem with a free trial is that it would fuck the economy to hell. Everyone would take advantage of it. I would have 4 alts running around harvesting at all times if I could and so would the whole server. There is no way to control this free trial unless they set up some trial island or trial server.

Very true and a good point.

To the OP

I played UO for 3 years and loved it, then played Lineage2 for 3 years and enjoyed it also.

Then hit the theme park games for a while but have played Darkfall since launch.

Theres only one game I'm paying for now, and thats Darkfall.

Thats it, putting my money where my mouth is.

By far the best MMO on the market imo.

Originally posted by kcc9889

The problem with a free trial is that it would fuck the economy to hell. Everyone would take advantage of it. I would have 4 alts running around harvesting at all times if I could and so would the whole server. There is no way to control this free trial unless they set up some trial island or trial server.

Why would DF's economy be different then EvE's as an example? Both are subject to "trial abuse" and I am sure DF could implement some form of skill cap/limitation for trials much like EvE makes some skills only available to full accounts. The skill cap could minimize a trials potential impact.

That said, AV seems to be trying to improve the game via some large patches and the recent thread about art updates. Why offer a free trial and risk a potential customer walking away with a bad taste over things you have fairly immediate plans to change? If they walk away, they might not come back whereas, if the company waits a bit longer, that potential customer might still be open to trying the game out and, presumably, there is a better chance of retaining that customer.

As another thought, the fact they offer free trials in one region already seems to indicate it is doable without destroying the game for paying customers.

The problem with a free trial is that the majority of people who take it up (assuming its limited to say 2000 keys) would not be the people who they expect to retain in the game long term.

They would for the majority be likely to be theme park suckled younger players, most of which would have issues with how different the game is and would flood sites with poor reviews.

I prefer the word of mouth model they are currently using, people are slowly discovering how good this game is and over time the population will be at the levels they want.

My greatest fear isnt the current population, its the risk that they will at some stage sell the game off to an EA or Blizzard who will totally screw it up.

Well Im glad I started a disscusion with this thread. Even if not many have talked about my questions I wanna thank u all for the replies. I dont really think I have time for a new mmorpg right now so DF will have to wait.

Probably I will wait for TERA, I think that game will be my cup of tea.

Thanx all and good luck with DF....happy hunting!

 The only thing that will save this game from fading further into obscurity and infamy and its current steady decline in subscription numbers is a free trial and/or a much more reasonable client cost, getting it on Steam would also be helpful but I think that's very doubtful.

This game with no free trial, an upfront cost of 50$'s for a torrent client download, a terrible reputation for poor community relations, lackluster or worse reviews, and its current state is simply not competitive, its only catering to a niece of a niece a cost commiserate with the budget independent work in progress title it actually is would make it a lot more attractive.

As predicted a year after launch this is a repeat of WW2 online or any of the many other indy over hyped under delivering games of the last decade,Terrible launch in an unfinished untested state and the subsequent exodus of the majority of the community have dealt a mortal blow that very few games recover from, Darkfall can struggle on and probably will for years due to the relatively lower costs in Greece and the total investment made with around 10k subscribers but will never grow substantially best case scenario is stagnation.

A waste considering the potential for a game of this type and a sad joke considering the expectations of the believers and the proclamations of the developers over its decade long gestation and then abortion.

I was finally thinking of actually trying the game again to see how much it had improved or not, and there was obviously a lot of room for improvement but when I saw Eve Online for a few dollars on steam a few weeks ago offering the opportunity to return to the game again after many years the choice was obvious.

I don't think there will be an international free trial because the game only appeals to a few thousand people, the developers know this and this is why they have kept the game secret for so many years and constantly lied about its true state of development, did a closed beta, only lifted the NDA shortly before release, and offered preorders, and are still asking 50$'s for the game.

The reason why they are offering a free trial only in Greece is because the domestic market is much less competitive and standards are lower, internationally Darkfall is minnow but in Greece its the only fish in the pond.

Darkfall could very well enjoy the same levels of success as Turkeys domestic smash hit sensation Knight Online, hopefully these two impressive tittles will continue to thrive and provide encouragement to all aspiring first time developers of those country's.

Originally posted by Polarization

 The only thing that will save this game from fading further into obscurity and infamy and its current steady decline in subscription numbers is a free trial and/or a much more reasonable client cost, getting it on Steam would also be helpful but I think that's very doubtful.

This game with no free trial, an upfront cost of 50$'s for a torrent client download, a terrible reputation for poor community relations, lackluster or worse reviews, and its current state is simply not competitive, its only catering to a niece of a niece a cost commiserate with the budget independent work in progress title it actually is would make it a lot more attractive.

As predicted a year after launch this is a repeat of WW2 online or any of the many other indy over hyped under delivering games of the last decade,Terrible launch in an unfinished untested state and the subsequent exodus of the majority of the community have dealt a mortal blow that very few games recover from, Darkfall can struggle on and probably will for years due to the relatively lower costs in Greece and the total investment made with around 10k subscribers but will never grow substantially best case scenario is stagnation.

A waste considering the potential for a game of this type and a sad joke considering the expectations of the believers and the proclamations of the developers over its decade long gestation and then abortion.

I was finally thinking of actually trying the game again to see how much it had improved or not, and there was obviously a lot of room for improvement but when I saw Eve Online for a few dollars on steam a few weeks ago offering the opportunity to return to the game again after many years the choice was obvious.

I don't think there will be an international free trial because the game only appeals to a few thousand people, the developers know this and this is why they have kept the game secret for so many years and constantly lied about its true state of development, did a closed beta, only lifted the NDA shortly before release, and offered preorders, and are still asking 50$'s for the game.

The reason why they are offering a free trial only in Greece is because the domestic market is much less competitive and standards are lower, internationally Darkfall is minnow but in Greece its the only fish in the pond.

Darkfall could very well enjoy the same levels of success as Turkeys domestic smash hit sensation Knight Online, hopefully these two impressive tittles will continue to thrive and provide encouragement to all aspiring first time developers of those country's.

I play game because is good and because I like it, not because it is cheaper.

Originally posted by kcc9889

The problem with a free trial is that it would fuck the economy to hell. Everyone would take advantage of it. I would have 4 alts running around harvesting at all times if I could and so would the whole server. There is no way to control this free trial unless they set up some trial island or trial server.

True. And what other new games offer a free trial besides Free ones, I cant think of a new mmo that offered a trial. Do they not always come after years of release? Why should DF do this if its not the norm. I have never played a free trial that I liked because they are ussually all for games I had originally passed on and didnt have much interest in to begin with. If I have an interest in the game to begin with I can ussually manage to extract my money's worth of entertainment from it.

Originally posted by Kyleran 

Darkfall is a game people either love or hate, regardless whether they have ever played it.

That is a hilarious and spot on statement ........

~Hairysun~

Originally posted by Stoney0jej

Originally posted by kcc9889

The problem with a free trial is that it would fuck the economy to hell. Everyone would take advantage of it. I would have 4 alts running around harvesting at all times if I could and so would the whole server. There is no way to control this free trial unless they set up some trial island or trial server.

 

True. And what other new games offer a free trial besides Free ones, I cant think of a new mmo that offered a trial. Do they not always come after years of release? Why should DF do this if its not the norm. I have never played a free trial that I liked because they are ussually all for games I had originally passed on and didnt have much interest in to begin with. If I have an interest in the game to begin with I can ussually manage to extract my money's worth of entertainment from it.

Just a few points on this.

First of all, it was Aventurine themselves who said there would be a free trial for DarkFall from the very beginning.  They themselves started that line of "hype".  It has never been communicated by them why the Free Trial was scrapped.

Secondly, DarkFall is soon approaching the 1 year mark.  Not exactly "new" anymore. 

As for other MMOs and when they offered Free Trials...

WoW released 11/23/2004 ... had 2 million subs by 6/15/2005 ... Public Test Server by 6/27/2005

www.worldofwarcraft.com/news/wow-news-06-2005.html

Released their "Recruit-a-Friend" Program on 5/24/2006

www.worldofwarcraft.com/news/wow-news-05-2006.html 

So, even WoW with it's millions of subs started actively pushing Free Trials at the 1.5 year mark.  As I've shown below... MMOs usually come out with their Free Trials BEFORE that time-frame.  DarkFall is behind the curve on this one.

AOC:

Release: 5/20/2008

Free Trial available: 4/2/2009

www.funcom.com/wsp/funcom/frontend.cgi

WAR:

Realease: 9/18/2008

Free Trial available: 3/5/2009

www.warhammeronline.com/pressreleases/20090305.php

LoTRo:

Release 4/24/2007

Free Trial available: 8/29/2007

www.turbine.com/news/5-press/34-turbine-launches-7-day-free-trial-program-for-the-hottest-mmo-of-the-year.html

The majority of MMOs come out with a Free Trial BEFORE the 1-year mark.  DarkFall is unique in that it's developers openly talked about offering a Free Trial at release.  Sadly that never happened. 

They could make the free trial players restricted to a free trial server. How would that mess up the economy of Darkfall?

Originally posted by Polarization

 The only thing that will save this game from fading further into obscurity and infamy and its current steady decline in subscription numbers is a free trial and/or a much more reasonable client cost, getting it on Steam would also be helpful but I think that's very doubtful.

Currently, DarkFall is not "declining" in terms of subs. Instead, it's going up and there's a thread in the Guild section to prove this (though it did go down during Christmas break)

Wow Polar, all this interest in the game for so long, and just when you're considering returning an Eve sale sways your interest. I'm never going shopping with you.

@xzyax

You have made your point more than clear. And I agree the time has passed where AV can ignore a real free trial.

Originally posted by Eziom

They could make the free trial players restricted to a free trial server. How would that mess up the economy of Darkfall?

Yup, lots of ways they could do it.

Every other MMO (including those with FFA PvP) has figured out a way to offer a Free Trial.

My biggest gripe with those that are AGAINST Aventurine offering a Free Trial is...

Where was your complaint against a Free Trial before Release?

Find me even one post of a person who was against the idea of a Free Trial for DarkFall before they released the game.  It doesn't exist.  In fact, there was very heated defense of Aventurine for the very fact they were offering a Free Trial from the very beginning.

There was a lot of talk about DarkFall offering a Free Trial at Release.  There was ZERO negative talk about that feature. 

When it was raised by some of us that Aventurine may scrap that idea there were some very vigorous defenders (some of whom are still here) who said they would never do that.

Surprise, they did it. 

Now all of a sudden it's a good idea that they DON'T have a Free Trial? 

Umm... flip-flop much?

That is the part that chafes me. 

Originally posted by Eziom

They could make the free trial players restricted to a free trial server. How would that mess up the economy of Darkfall?

What economy?

Originally posted by egotrip

Originally posted by Eziom

They could make the free trial players restricted to a free trial server. How would that mess up the economy of Darkfall?

What economy?

Goods worth millions of gold change owner on daily basis. Just because the transactions aren't  offline and carebear doesn't mean there are not existant.

Every deal is like the miami sun ray motel deal of scarface tony montana and manny ray with that culumbian dealer hector. It require something big in the pants.

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Originally posted by kcc9889
The problem with a free trial is that it would fuck the economy to hell. Everyone would take advantage of it. I would have 4 alts running around harvesting at all times if I could and so would the whole server. There is no way to control this free trial unless they set up some trial island or trial server.

---

They could set a cap for certain skills i'd say. For example 25 on harvesting ones and 50 on combat. Mining with 25 in mining... well, I doubt it'd the funniest thing in the world for veterans.

All those idiots liking to try new games not having a single idea what those games are about would be a different and possibly much sadder story though... But EVE can handle them and DF would be able to handle them as well.

Why would DF's economy be different then EvE's as an example? Both are subject to "trial abuse" and I am sure DF could implement some form of skill cap/limitation for trials much like EvE makes some skills only available to full accounts. The skill cap could minimize a trials potential impact.

That said, AV seems to be trying to improve the game via some large patches and the recent thread about art updates. Why offer a free trial and risk a potential customer walking away with a bad taste over things you have fairly immediate plans to change? If they walk away, they might not come back whereas, if the company waits a bit longer, that potential customer might still be open to trying the game out and, presumably, there is a better chance of retaining that customer.

As another thought, the fact they offer free trials in one region already seems to indicate it is doable without destroying the game for paying customers.

Because almost all materials and reagents are readily available to players  from day 1.  The disparity in what a high level and low level skill player can take in isn't particularly large.

Now compare it to Eve...where the most valuable resources are unavailable without specialized training.  And the disparity in ore/hour is significant depending upon skills (including what ship your capable of flying). 

To be fair, many resources seem over-inflated on prices in Darkfall.  And trials would no doubt bring those prices down as supply went up.  As a noob, thats not something I'm particarly excited about that... I like my fat bag of gold for harvesting.  But I'm sure the vets would dig it.

 test

Originally posted by comerb

Why would DF's economy be different then EvE's as an example? Both are subject to "trial abuse" and I am sure DF could implement some form of skill cap/limitation for trials much like EvE makes some skills only available to full accounts. The skill cap could minimize a trials potential impact.

That said, AV seems to be trying to improve the game via some large patches and the recent thread about art updates. Why offer a free trial and risk a potential customer walking away with a bad taste over things you have fairly immediate plans to change? If they walk away, they might not come back whereas, if the company waits a bit longer, that potential customer might still be open to trying the game out and, presumably, there is a better chance of retaining that customer.

As another thought, the fact they offer free trials in one region already seems to indicate it is doable without destroying the game for paying customers.

Because almost all materials and reagents are readily available to players  from day 1.  The disparity in what a high level and low level skill player can take in isn't particularly large.

Now compare it to Eve...where the most valuable resources are unavailable without specialized training.  And the disparity in ore/hour is significant depending upon skills (including what ship your capable of flying). 

To be fair, many resources seem over-inflated on prices in Darkfall.  And trials would no doubt bring those prices down as supply went up.  As a noob, thats not something I'm particarly excited about that... I like my fat bag of gold for harvesting.  But I'm sure the vets would dig it.

As far as the "readily available to players from day 1", I believe the comment about a skill cap or similar limitation addresses this. I mean, if you say a trial account can only harvest 'x' amount or have 'x' level of harvesting max, then the issue isn't there. Ultimately, trials have the potential to affect any game's economy. Some, the affect would be more noticable then others, but really, in a game where you can take out other players, I'm pretty sure the player base could self-regulate the impact of the trials. :)