Yeah I have regrets.  I spent 55 bucks and now, almost refuse to even give it another shot. 

I hadn't been a follower of Darkfall.  I just did a little research about it, and it "sounded" like it might be a cool game.  So I bookmarked the site store so I could check it daily, and got lucky one day while at lunch and the store was open. 

Here's my story:

I finally got into the game on Wed evening after work.  I made a human, and started in Sandbrook (I think that's the town).  The interface was extremely strange, but after playing it for an hour or so, I got the hang of it.  I had read up on alot of "beginner tips", and tried to prepare for the worst.

I got my first quest -- Go kill some goblins to the north.  So I ran up there (remembering what I read about how these places were really crowded and people fighting over kills), and I find the spot.  About 10 people all running around like crazy people.  I watched for a minute or so to get an idea of what was going on. 

Then I spotted a goblin that had just spawned, and nobody was heading for it.  So I go in and start attacking it.  Immediately 3 other people swarm around me attacking the same goblin.  I quickly have to press T to change my swing so I don't him them.  I end up hitting some anyway, but I don't think they care.

The goblin dies.  Now, you would think that there are more goblins popping around, that these KS'ers would want to go jump on, right?  Wrong.  They all stand around, waiting on the tombstone to appear.  Once it appears, everyone begins looting.  Being a n00b, I was a bit slower opening it, and I saw a couple of items for a second.  I went to drag one to my backpack, and find out that it's already gone.  All of them were.

Now, that's pretty much how the entire n00b experience is at this point.  Alot of people actually just stand around, not fighting, waiting on something to die, so they can go in for the loot.  Knowing you're not going to do anything about it because you're a n00b, with no gear, no experience, no skills, etc.  What are you really gonna do? lol

To make matters exponentially worse, half the guys that are doing this are running loot macros (for near instantaneous looting).  You get one of these on your corpse, and you'll be lucky to get ONE item off the corpse.  And that ONE item is going to be a vegetable or something nearly worthless.

Ok, so I toughed it out against these asshats, and finally got alot of corpse looting to myself somehow.  I got alot of quests finished (75% of which seemed to be crafting and gathering quests).  Then I got a quest to kill some hivekins out west. 

I ran west for a while and finally found the spot.  A couple of guys were there already fighting over the kills, just like with the goblins.  But somehow I finished the quest.  Oh BTW, you only get "credit" for the kill if you're the one that makes the killing blow.  So when someone else jumps on your quest mob that you already took down 75%, it doesn't make for a pleasant experience.  And if you have any gear, or loot on you, you're not quite sure if you want to try to kill the guy over it either.  Because as soon as you start attacking him, that other guy over there that's not really bothering anyone, is going to see that you've gone grey, and now you have 2 guys to kill at once.....when you are very low skilled, with crap gear, and all your work to be lost.

So anyway, I finish the quest, and log off.  The next day I turn the quest in, and the guy sends me back out there, but this time to "skin" the bodies (tombstones) of the hivekins. 

I make it out there and to my luck, I'm the only person there!  Awesome!!!  I see one, and go for the kill.  Once I start attacking, 2 more appear from out of nowhere (I later realize they have some incredible aggro range, almost past your viewpoint).  So I tried and tried to kill them.  Sometimes killing 1, and having to run from the other 2. 

I needed to skin them, so I would wait till the other 2 went away and go to skin the stone.  Either it was bugged or something, but I get 1 skin attempt, fail, and the stone disappears.  I did this on about 10 tombstones, failing each time.  And I needed 4 items for the quest lol.

It was insanely dfficult to kill the damn things in the first place without dying yourself.  Much less go through the frustration of failing on each skin you attempted. 

Oh, I forgot to mention.....that particular quest was timed.   haha

So at that point I gave up on the hivekins, and decided I needed to skill up some more or something, because I couldn't even handle 3 EASY mobs at a time. 

I got back to the goblins, and luck out again.  Nobody around.  I pull 1.  2 come.  I kill them both, and start to loot.  2 more aggro from out of nowhere.  Already at half hp, I have to run, leaving the loot from the other 2 behind. 

Then it occured to me....why am I having such a hard time with the very first mobs you are supposed to fight in the game?  I had been playing for over a day at this point.

Yes I was naked, yes I was using my newbie weapon (polearm and staff by this time).  This was all before the newbie weapon nerf btw. 

But I just didn't get it.  I tried fighting some of those pricks that stole all of my loot.  I died everytime lol.  I tried cussing at them.  they just laughed hehe.

Then I went back to the forums to do some more research, and try to figure out what I was doing wrong. 

Macros.  That's what I was doing wrong.  I wasn't using any.  And I wasn't mean enough I suppse.  You gotta be an asshat to get anywhere in that game.  Ninja looting everything you can. 

I ended up deleting my human and making one of the wolf guys, to see if that area was any better.  I also saw myself nearly quitting, and I wanted to see what another part of the world might look like.  Unfortunatley it was the same stuff.  But worse now, as you couldn't even skill up using the newbie weapon. 

Oh and to everyone who says, "go to another goblin spot, there are tons".  Yes there are a couple more around.  But the others have Goblin Fighters and Shamans,  that will hand your ass to you in a second.  So those are not viable for a n00b. 

In all honesty, I'm not sure whether to blame the developers for making it this way, or the players for being such total pricks.  Don't they realize that if they keep this up, nobody is going to play their damn game anyway? 

I wanted to like it, really.  And for the first little while I was loving the hell out of it.  The the truth set in, and I realized I was going to be fighting over those same goblins for over a month just to get my skills up a bit so I could take on some other kind of mob.  Obviously the hivekins were too strong still, and Goblin fighters were way out of my league.

Hate to say it, but I doubt I'll be logging back in. :(

you can always dispute the charges and claim you fell for false advertizing and use their website . or ask prow he knows what to do

Thank you for sharing. The more I hear about the more ridiculous it sounds. (Give it a year or two and this game will be "patched" to be much more like all the other MMOs.. if the servers are still up.)

Anyway I feel your pain. I would have reacted the same way you did in those situations. You saved me the pain, so I thank you.

Originally posted by Vhayne

I got my first quest -- Go kill some goblins to the north.  So I ran up there (remembering what I read about how these places were really crowded and people fighting over kills), and I find the spot.  About 10 people all running around like crazy people.

Lol.

I have this vivid image of a pack of Darkfall players hopping around like monkeys in 2001.  And then maybe a large monolith-shaped retail box of Ultima Online can appear and bring them some rudimentary  intelligence.

But probably not.

I like the game ok, but it does invite people to revert to their neanderthal instincts, which, when pvp'ers are concerned, are always close at hand.

What is it that's so damned fun about PK'ing anyway?  I've done it, and had it done to me of course, and I just don't get the obsession.

This game was fail 4 years ago!

Nothing has changed!

You forgot to mention that it is very empty, of everything. I'd give it a 2 out of 10 and I ditto the first post almost word for word.

It is a total Macro fest

Thank you for this review.  I've been thinking of trying this game out one of these days but now I'm more than likely not.  It sounds like a very excellent game for the hard-core pvpers and a not so excellent game for those who like to get immersed, relax and enjoy playing.   

Sounds exactly what happened to me.  Make sure you contact your credit card company and file a dispute to get your money back.  Tell them that they falsely advertised their game, and direct them to their outdated site that hasnt been updated in almost 4 months...  You will get your money back ;)

Good luck

Any MMO game that allows macro-bots is going to have problems... I can't even see how the point can be contested.

Thanks for your story. Its a bit sad story, but good one nevertheless.

This is just a general statement, not an attack on the OP. But what did people expect with a full loot PvP game? This is what happens. The asshats flock to it to get their e-peens off. Why is anyone surprised? It sucks to not be able to actually play a game because of the ganking. And in this case the macros make it even worse. Can't believe anyone expected anything else.

Was a very well written review of life of a new player in the game. I didn't expect that there would be so many problems with just trying to finish a simple quest. Many of them seem like they would have easy solutions though, and the dev should be able to fix them with a patch in the future.

Make it so that first hit on a mob gets the loot rather then final blow. Final blow maybe only in pvp combat amongst players. Also think that they could add a timer so that the person who got the credit for the kill would have a few minutes to pick up their loot. Would still mean that the loot can be stolen say if the player who was awarded it doesn't care to pick it up or for some reason was killed. This would also leave people to waste time sitting there to try and steal loot, and might make them get bored of it and just try to get their own.

Again thank you OP for sharing your experiences.

i'm not going to sugar-coat the fact that DF is a competitive game, and if you can't handle competition like that then maybe DF is not for you.

here are some suggestions though:

1) humans and mahirrim are 2 of the most popular races. and congestion around the newbie goblins is, as you say, pretty fierce. perhaps consider a less popular race, eg: the elf area is quite good.

2) quest only until you have purchased a second newbie weap (the staff), and gotten the quest for the free wood axe and pick axe.

3) don't quest. roam your local area. don't carry anything you want to keep, just your newbie weaps. there are lots of mobs within a 5 min roam of any starter city. there are numerous mobs that are still quite easy at your level, eg: kobolds, skeleton warriors, zombies to name a few. run back to bank stuff occasionally, or better: learn where some of the local banks are and use them.

4) don't be afraid to loot others' kills right back, or just kill the asshat when he's low on health. DF is a competitive game after all, do unto others as they would unto you.

5) consider grouping, or applying for a clan. like any game, your game experience is magnified 10x by doing things in concert with others. there is a huge range of clan types from roleplaying (these tend to be very helpful to newbs) all the way through to dedicated PKers.

hope any of that helps, if it doesn't, can i has your stuff?

Originally posted by BloodDuality

Was a very well written review of life of a new player in the game. I didn't expect that there would be so many problems with just trying to finish a simple quest. Many of them seem like they would have easy solutions though, and the dev should be able to fix them with a patch in the future.

they won't fix it. it's intended to be competitive. PVP doesn't just mean fighting each other directly...

if you have a problem with competition over limited resources (mobs, cities), and cannot find your own solutions to them, then don't play DF.

DF is not WOW: it doesn't and won't spoonfeed you anything. most of us like it that way.

A clear case when someone tryes to play DF as it was a WoW clone.  First, STOP with that shit right away.

You need to get friends first, a clan is better. One character is a cannon fodder at best since you compete with other players. Dont think i will say anything more about this. It should be basic knowledge.

---

Originally posted by javac

i'm not going to sugar-coat the fact that DF is a competitive game, and if you can't handle competition like that then maybe DF is not for you.
 
here are some suggestions though:
1) humans and mahirrim are 2 of the most popular races. and congestion around the newbie goblins is, as you say, pretty fierce. perhaps consider a less popular race, eg: the elf area is quite good.
2) quest only until you have purchased a second newbie weap (the staff), and gotten the quest for the free wood axe and pick axe.
3) don't quest. roam your local area. don't carry anything you want to keep, just your newbie weaps. there are lots of mobs within a 5 min roam of any starter city. there are numerous mobs that are still quite easy at your level, eg: kobolds, skeleton warriors, zombies to name a few. run back to bank stuff occasionally, or better: learn where some of the local banks are and use them.
4) don't be afraid to loot others' kills right back, or just kill the asshat when he's low on health. DF is a competitive game after all, do unto others as they would unto you.
5) consider grouping, or applying for a clan. like any game, your game experience is magnified 10x by doing things in concert with others. there is a huge range of clan types from roleplaying (these tend to be very helpful to newbs) all the way through to dedicated PKers.
 
hope any of that helps, if it doesn't, can i has your stuff?

---

If you had used a ranged attack (bow or Mana Missile), you could have killed them so dirt easy, that you would have hated the game for that.

Read my post "I quit Darkfall" on this board, and you see other problems than this one. The biggest probably being how long it will take you to skill up.

Originally posted by daarco

A clear case when someone tryes to play DF as it was a WoW clone.  First, STOP with that shit right away.

You need to get friends first, a clan is better. One character is a cannon fodder at best since you compete with other players. Dont think i will say anything more about this. It should be basic knowledge.

I thought the same thing at first.

But then, this game is advertised as a sandbox. If that's true, many playstyles will be supported, nobody would be forced to do anything. Play as they want, make their own destiny, right?

Originally posted by Senadina

This is just a general statement, not an attack on the OP. But what did people expect with a full loot PvP game? This is what happens. The asshats flock to it to get their e-peens off. Why is anyone surprised? It sucks to not be able to actually play a game because of the ganking. And in this case the macros make it even worse. Can't believe anyone expected anything else.

Not to actually play the game because of the ganking? What do you think the game is about?  Crafting? Macros are the only thing that makes the game tolerable but don't tell Aventurine that.

Originally posted by Routver

Originally posted by daarco

A clear case when someone tryes to play DF as it was a WoW clone.  First, STOP with that shit right away.

You need to get friends first, a clan is better. One character is a cannon fodder at best since you compete with other players. Dont think i will say anything more about this. It should be basic knowledge.

 

I thought the same thing at first.

 

But then, this game is advertised as a sandbox. If that's true, many playstyles will be supported, nobody would be forced to do anything. Play as they want, make their own destiny, right?

Its is sandbox. But you need to be good to choose your "own" (smart, playerskill) playstyle. You can solo play and do PvE quests, but that is the most "harcore" way to try and play DF.  In the beginning it is wiser to seek help from a clan. But you can try and do it alone if you want to. Nothing is free in DF.