I'm personally looking forward to Darkfall but unless there is an open beta that I can actually try the game during or a free trial that I can play before paying for it I won't be buying. I long ago stopped buying MMO's sight unseen based on their promise sheets or even the reviews of other players because, invariably, they have always wound up collecting dust.

Exactly 4 MMO's have held my attention longer than 2 months:

UO
EQ1
DAOC
EVE

Honorable mention to DDO as I've gone back to it a couple of times for the quest mechanics... though it's never held me more than a month at a time... they really need to improve it's solo playability for when you don't have time to wait for a group or just can't get one due to lack of players your level looking for one.

At any rate, I've played just about everything out there either on a trial, after purchase or during it's open (or closed) beta. Out of all the games (literally more than I can count) I've tried only those 4 ever held me long enough to justify the purchase price.

As a result?

I never buy subscription based games that I haven't played ahead of time.

Originally posted by xzyax

Originally posted by imbant

... 

Over the course of the last 3 months, the developers have also announced the following:

• Darkfall Open Beta will end in early December.
• They are still on track and are confident that they will be releasing the game in 2008.

Open Beta has not yet started and they only have about a month to meet their 2008 deadline so we will all have to wait patiently to see if they meet their goal or if they hit a snag in the road and have to delay.  Most reports from the beta and journalists are positive and make it seem like the game could be ready, but as we all know from past game releases that this is never something to be trusted so all that we can do is wait and see.

 

That part I high-lighted above is my biggest problem with Aventurine/Tasos and why I feel some of the supporters are being naive and/or deceptive when they say that they are the most trust-worthy Devs of any MMO.

 

How can anyone honestly say that at this late juncture that Tasos isn't being deceptive about what the state of the game is in?  Obviously they know by now when/if they will be doing an Open Beta before the end of the year.

Let's say that I believe them about not knowing for sure if/when the game will release by the end of year.  Although even that is becoming very problematic as they realistically have less than a month (unless someone knows of a game that has ever released between Dec. 26th and Jan. 1st). 

 

But for them not to have any details about Open Beta out yet... which was slated to be FINISHED by the beginning of December is a bit hard to swallow.

 

Again... it is not about them releasing in 2008.  If it needs to be pushed back or delayed, so be it.  It is not about them making good on their stead-fast declarations that it will release in 2008; it should release when it is ready.

 

For me anyway... it is about them communicating with their fans.  Communicating with those who they expect to pay for their product.  Changing the mistakes of the past.  In 2005 when the Clan Beta did not materliaze there was zero explanation as to why.  Even to this day it is never discussed or explained what happened.   I am hoping that 2008 does not end with the same silence. 

Oh well... I guess it wasn't totally unexpected. 

Guess we'll have to wait and see how far into 2009 we get before we get any information on the OPEN Beta/Free Trial status.

 They've got plenty of time though, so no need for them to rush with the information.  I expect we'll get an update in 3 weeks... 4 weeks tops!.  

ty for this most informative thread, I appreciate the hard work and saves me the trouble of doing this myself

ty for probably the most positive thread about darkfall i've seen for a long time now.

Originally posted by imbant

**This thread is intended to bring people up to speed on the changes that have been going on in the development cycle of Darkfall over the last 3 months.   Not everyone has the luxury of patrolling forums 24/7 for the latest update, and since many threads get locked up around here this will hopefully catch those who are interested up to speed.**

It has been a VERY exciting 3 months and the game is primed for release.  **Update:  Darkfall will release on January 22nd, 2009.**

Up until August of 2008, we had been left in the dark for awhile and there were a lot of questions about whether or not this game was vaporware and would ever release.  Well at the end of August, a chain of events started that has brought Darkfall into the limelight and sandbox, pvp, and just mmo fans everywhere have been on the edge of their seats discussing it (one way or another).

-August 29th, 2008 - 17min 100% In-game Gameplay Trailer is released.

If you follow this link , you will find multiple download and viewing options to see the video.

It showcases numerous gameplay mechanics that will be found in Darkfall and gave us a great glance at what is possible in the game. 

Everything you will see is taken from ingame footage of testers playing the game.  It brought up heated discussion about the quality of the animations and graphics of the game.  It was later discovered that the video was shot at low settings and compressed, but the animations have not proven to be any better than what you will see in the video.

 

-August 29th, 2008 Darkfall Beta Sign-ups

Along with the video came the opening of Beta signups for the public.  This was not the first time Aventurine (Developers of Darkfall) had promoted a beta test, but it has proven to be the first time they actually followed through with it.

If you follow this link , you will find the news announcement with a link for the signup page.  Signups are still open but at this point it is unlikely you will be accepted to the closed beta.  Though it may be a good idea to sign up anyways as it is unsure how they will be handling open beta.

 

-October 16th, 2008 - Aventurine presents Darkfall at the Athens Digital Week Convention (with videos)

If you follow this link , you will find links to view the 30min video that shows parts of the convention.  Including video of developers playing Darkfall over the internet with players from different locations.

This event was followed by numerous appearances of DF in the media including magazines, television, and online new coverage.  You can find links to some of the television interviews in darkfallworld in the above link.

The footage exposed a lot of things we had not seen before and provided the community with lots of things to discuss.

 

-November 18th, 2008 Developer Tasos gives many quotes from the closed beta testers on the status of the game.

If you follow this link, you will see a long list of beta tester quotes that are organized according to game mechanics.

These beta comments came from people who were invited as a result of the public signups for closed beta.  They are not related to the paid beta testers that Aventurine employed before the signups were availible.

The comments were mainly positive but did raise some concerns and is a very good read.

 

-November 21st, 2008 - Two Journalists from MMORPG.IT visit the Aventurine Studios

The two Italian Journalists were allowed to play the beta client live at the studios.

If you follow this link, you will find links to the italian and english translations of the review that they wrote based on their experience.  You will also see multiple pictures of the studio and game.

*Update:  A gameplay video from their visit can be found here.  It is a short video that doesn't show many new things, but it is shot over the shoulder and allows the community to see that all is well in the Aventurine Studios.  Status of the game on release still up in the air.

 

-December 1st, 2008 - Gianna (Author of "The Noob" Comic) Gives a Beta Experience review

A fairly unbiased opinion from another non-Aventurine employee, although has personal ties to DF developers.  As I write this there are only 2 parts of the review up with more hopefully to come.  Nothing really new as far as info goes, but a very nice review from someone who hasn't "followed the evolution of the game before beta, so don't expect any deep insight. The skinny goth dudes are called Alfar and I'm catching up on the rest. "  So we aren't talking about a review from an uber fanboi here.

Part 1 can be found here

Part 2 can be found here

Part 3 can be found here

Part 4 can be found here

Part 5 can be found here

Part 6 can be found here

Enjoy!

 

-December 4th, 2008.  MMORPG.com Interviews Tasos

A great interview from our own staff here at MMORPG.com.  Topics range from development cycle, their view on the forum drama/discussion, marketing, beta, and an announcement of a release date soon to come!

You can read the full article here!

 

***December 5th, 2008.  Aventurine and Audio Visual Entertainment (DF publisher)  Announce a January 22nd, 2009 Release Date for Darkfall.***

You can read the official statement here.

This is the first time that Darkfall has annouced a specific release date for the game, and is certainly a milestone in the history of this game.  This is also the first time they have set a timeline of any kind in which they have had other business recognize the game and announce their partnership with them.  The amount of media coverage, third party business collaboration, and recent communication from the dev team make this announcement the most significant one in history because the community now know when Darkfall will open it doors for all to play.

 

January 12th,2009 - Darkfall website has been updated with new white border

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The word is still out about the date of open beta.

Also it should be noted that the FAQ on the official site is quite out of date and that it may not reflect many of the current gameplay and development informaiton that we now know based on the list of updates above. 

Updated 1st post.

Game is releasing in 1 week !!

/giggle

/popcorn

think we need the original thread updated with the new, umm, "facts"?

Now we need a new thread called:

The FALL of Darkfall (Recap of the last 30 minutes)

Originally posted by miagisan

think we need the original thread updated with the new, umm, "facts"?

Gee wonder where imbant ran off to? I mean you'd think he'd want to add then new reelase date to this Rise of Darkfall thread?

Originally posted by winter

Originally posted by miagisan

think we need the original thread updated with the new, umm, "facts"?

 

Gee wonder where imbant ran off to? I mean you'd think he'd want to add then new reelase date to this Rise of Darkfall thread?

 

Some of us have lives...can't troll DF all day =)

Anyways please remember to keep the thread on topic and keep the genious comments to the other threads as this one is purely for information.

That being said, OP needs to be updated big time obviously as I have been away and am just now catching up with the recent events.  I will update by the end of the night.

Originally posted by imbant

Originally posted by winter

 

Gee wonder where imbant ran off to? I mean you'd think he'd want to add then new reelase date to this Rise of Darkfall thread?

 

 

Some of us have lives...can't troll DF all day =)

Anyways please remember to keep the thread on topic and keep the genious comments to the other threads as this one is purely for information.

That being said, OP needs to be updated big time obviously as I have been away and am just now catching up with the recent events.  I will update by the end of the night.

 Humm so asking for a actual update of information on a information thread is trolling? Sorry I'm not a genious (?) like you with the witty oneline no life troll attack response.   

  My apologise for not giving you more time.

   Nuff said?

Originally posted by winter

Originally posted by imbant

Originally posted by winter

 

Gee wonder where imbant ran off to? I mean you'd think he'd want to add then new reelase date to this Rise of Darkfall thread?

 

 

Some of us have lives...can't troll DF all day =)

Anyways please remember to keep the thread on topic and keep the genious comments to the other threads as this one is purely for information.

That being said, OP needs to be updated big time obviously as I have been away and am just now catching up with the recent events.  I will update by the end of the night.

 

 Humm so asking for a actual update of information on a information thread is trolling? Sorry I'm not a genious (?) like you with the witty oneline no life troll attack response.   

  My apologise for not giving you more time.

   Nuff said?

woah take it easy there champ...

trolling also refers to someone who hangs around the forums all day, whether his posts are good or bad...

I was just pointing out that while im often on here, real life took me away from checking it for awhile.

Originally posted by imbant

 

woah take it easy there champ...

trolling also refers to someone who hangs around the forums all day, whether his posts are good or bad...

I was just pointing out that while im often on here, real life took me away from checking it for awhile.

 

 Since you were quoting my post I had to assume you were stating I was a no life troll. As to being upset, nah I've been called far worse in the DF forums here, hench my apologies for not giving you more time to update this thread.

 Now that i have responded to this thread twice in what a hour? You can call me a no life troll. (Though actually I'm just bored working the night shift right now.<shrug>) 

One thing you might want to change in your next updating imbant...

All of the 3 months references in the title and in the first couple of paragraphs.

The timeline you have is from August to Jan.... so the 3 months doesn't really make any sense.  Anyway, just an FYI. 

Maybe change it to a recap of RECENT events, or something like that.  Just a suggestion.

Originally posted by xzyax

One thing you might want to change in your next updating imbant...

 

All of the 3 months references in the title and in the first couple of paragraphs.

 

The timeline you have is from August to Jan.... so the 3 months doesn't really make any sense.  Anyway, just an FYI. 

Maybe change it to a recap of RECENT events, or something like that.  Just a suggestion.

 

 

Aye very good point.  Changed =)

Hey Imbant, don't forget to mention a few things:

Darkfall failed to hit their launch date of Feb 25th

Aventurine was silent about why this happened. 

Remember, if you are going to post the happenings, post them all.  Not just positve things. If you want to keep people informed, they need to be informed about evertyhing thats happening to build a complete picture of darkfall.

Rise?  What rise?  All I see is a precipitous fall of long anticipated game.  UO, ten years ago was a better game, pretty much says it all about this game.

Originally posted by imbant

**This thread is intended to bring people up to speed on the changes that have been going on in the development cycle of Darkfall from August 08' to the present.   Not everyone has the luxury of patrolling forums 24/7 for the latest update, and since many threads get locked up around here this will hopefully catch those who are interested up to speed.**

Up until August of 2008, we had been left in the dark for awhile and there were a lot of questions about whether or not this game was vaporware and would ever release.  Well at the end of August, a chain of events started that has brought Darkfall into the limelight and sandbox, pvp, and just mmo fans everywhere have been on the edge of their seats discussing it (one way or another).

 

-August 29th, 2008 - 17min 100% In-game Gameplay Trailer is released.

If you follow this link , you will find multiple download and viewing options to see the video.

It showcases numerous gameplay mechanics that will be found in Darkfall and gave us a great glance at what is possible in the game. 

Everything you will see is taken from ingame footage of testers playing the game.  It brought up heated discussion about the quality of the animations and graphics of the game.  It was later discovered that the video was shot at low settings and compressed, but the animations have not proven to be any better than what you will see in the video.

 

-August 29th, 2008 Darkfall Beta Sign-ups

Along with the video came the opening of Beta signups for the public.  This was not the first time Aventurine (Developers of Darkfall) had promoted a beta test, but it has proven to be the first time they actually followed through with it.

If you follow this link , you will find the news announcement with a link for the signup page.  Signups are still open but at this point it is unlikely you will be accepted to the closed beta.  Though it may be a good idea to sign up anyways as it is unsure how they will be handling open beta.

 

-October 16th, 2008 - Aventurine presents Darkfall at the Athens Digital Week Convention (with videos)

If you follow this link , you will find links to view the 30min video that shows parts of the convention.  Including video of developers playing Darkfall over the internet with players from different locations.

This event was followed by numerous appearances of DF in the media including magazines, television, and online new coverage.  You can find links to some of the television interviews in darkfallworld in the above link.

The footage exposed a lot of things we had not seen before and provided the community with lots of things to discuss.

 

-November 18th, 2008 Developer Tasos gives many quotes from the closed beta testers on the status of the game.

If you follow this link, you will see a long list of beta tester quotes that are organized according to game mechanics.

These beta comments came from people who were invited as a result of the public signups for closed beta.  They are not related to the paid beta testers that Aventurine employed before the signups were availible.

The comments were mainly positive but did raise some concerns and is a very good read.

 

-November 21st, 2008 - Two Journalists from MMORPG.IT visit the Aventurine Studios

The two Italian Journalists were allowed to play the beta client live at the studios.

If you follow this link, you will find links to the italian and english translations of the review that they wrote based on their experience.  You will also see multiple pictures of the studio and game.

*Update:  A gameplay video from their visit can be found here.  It is a short video that doesn't show many new things, but it is shot over the shoulder and allows the community to see that all is well in the Aventurine Studios.  Status of the game on release still up in the air.

 

-December 1st, 2008 - Gianna (Author of "The Noob" Comic) Gives a Beta Experience review

A fairly unbiased opinion from another non-Aventurine employee, although has personal ties to DF developers.  As I write this there are only 2 parts of the review up with more hopefully to come.  Nothing really new as far as info goes, but a very nice review from someone who hasn't "followed the evolution of the game before beta, so don't expect any deep insight. The skinny goth dudes are called Alfar and I'm catching up on the rest. "  So we aren't talking about a review from an uber fanboi here.

Part 1 can be found here

Part 2 can be found here

Part 3 can be found here

Part 4 can be found here

Part 5 can be found here

Part 6 can be found here

Part 7 can be found here

Enjoy!

 

-December 4th, 2008.  MMORPG.com Interviews Tasos

A great interview from our own staff here at MMORPG.com.  Topics range from development cycle, their view on the forum drama/discussion, marketing, beta, and an announcement of a release date soon to come!

You can read the full article here!

 

December 5th, 2008.  Aventurine and Audio Visual Entertainment (DF publisher)  Announce a January 22nd, 2009 Release Date for Darkfall. (which would later be pushed back)

You can read the official statement here.

This is the first time that Darkfall has annouced a specific release date for the game, and is certainly a milestone in the history of this game.  This is also the first time they have set a timeline of any kind in which they have had other business recognize the game and announce their partnership with them.  The amount of media coverage, third party business collaboration, and recent communication from the dev team make this announcement the most significant one in history because the community now know when Darkfall will open it doors for all to play.

 

December 24th, 2008.  Curse.com has an interview with Tasos and Claus.

Here is the link to the news section where it was announced.

 

January 15th, 2009.  Annoucement that the commercial release will be pushed back about 1 month to February 25th, 2009.  There will now be a trial on January 22nd, 2009.

Details of the announcement can be found here in the news section on the official boards.

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Also it should be noted that the FAQ on the official site is quite out of date and that it may not reflect many of the current gameplay and development informaiton that we now know based on the list of updates above.   There will be a completely revamped website availible on release according to the devs.

looking back... this is all... interesting... especially that last paragraph.

I hope they didn't fix the problem with ships bumping there crew off then hopping away into the sunset. =) Those problems are funny. <3