Skilling up magic 6x faster on mobs after this week. All other skill ups 3x as much as before on mobs. Here comes open world PvP again baby!

Oh, and may I mention the upcoming expansion in October?? SEA OBJECTIVES? LOCAL BANKING? PLAYER OWNED VENDORS? RACIAL SKILLS? BARBER SHOP? CARAVANS????????? WANDERING MOBS? ARCHERY AND MELEE CUSTOMIZATION

Can't wait!

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

Hi everyone,

Right now we are putting the finishing touches on our next patch, which we plan to have ready by the end of this week.

With this patch we are adding a significant skill-up bonus to fighting mobs, essentially tripling the speed of skill-ups compared to hitting other players. At the same time we have doubled the speed of skilling up all magic schools. This means that all skills involving combat are now leveling up three times as fast as before, and leveling magic schools are six times as fast as before when fighting monsters.

This change will help newer players catch up to veterans faster. We also think it will make it even more attractive to go out and fight monsters, which in turn should lead to more open field PvP.

In this patch we have also fixed the underlying problem with battlespikes and damage modifiers. The hotfix we released last week was temporary, and we will adjust the modifiers back to their correct values now that the root of the issue has been fixed.

Other than the upcoming patch, the development team is hard at work with the second free expansion for Darkfall, which is currently scheduled for release by the end of October. This expansion is a lot bigger than the first, and we are extremely excited about it. We will give you more detailed information on the many new features over the coming weeks.

It includes many changes and additions to ship building, sea combat and sea objectives, part two of our character specialization system - this time some much needed love for archery and melee combat, the first step of local banking, player owned local vendors, the first set of racial skills, barber shop, the caravan system, new houses and villages, new housing objects to decorate your house with, wandering mobs, more rare drops added to monsters, new free spawning objects to discover, and much more.

See you ingame.

I like how AV isn't addressing the big issues with the game, and just making skills easier and less of a grind.  Where is the softcap or skill cap?  Where is the adjustments to AOE magic spells?  Also Archery and Melee skills additions are overdue, and time will tell how good these adjustments are compared to magic.  I think AV needs to do more, than making DF easymode to gain skills.

These changes are going to address some of the biggest issues.

With the skill changes the bloodwall will be obsolete, the grind will not be a big deal, and people will be PvEing fo their skill ups. Thus, macroing is not going to be much of a big deal anymore, or at the very least players won't have to spend as much time to catch up with them.

I'd still ilke to see skill caps but the game is not unplayable without it.

These changes are nice, but they lost me as a customer with the NA-1 (buy a new client) fiasco.

Now the last thing they need is a soft cap. But then I wouldn't be able to use all my 100 elementals, arcane, and necro...

Originally posted by Roscoman

I like how AV isn't addressing the big issues with the game, and just making skills easier and less of a grind.  Where is the softcap or skill cap?  Where is the adjustments to AOE magic spells?  Also Archery and Melee skills additions are overdue, and time will tell how good these adjustments are compared to magic.  I think AV needs to do more, than making DF easymode to gain skills.

Not sure if you noticed but...

HE DID NOT POST THE FULL PATCH NOTES.

Thats some pretty damn nice "new" features : )

I guess DF have moved far from most other MMOs when this patch is done. Dont think there is anything like it, when i think about it. Anf thats really good for a MMO wich everyone belived was vaporware.

The community started a thread to give Aventurine questions to answer hours before they wrote the announcement.

http://forums.darkfallonline.com/showthread.php?t=211209

Did they fix the weather yet? I thought that was a cool idea but had issues.

Originally posted by Kasmos

 At the same time we have doubled the speed of skilling up all magic schools. This means that all skills involving combat are now leveling up three times as fast as before, and leveling magic schools are six times as fast as before when fighting monsters.

What is before?

They did speed up skillgain one time and I wonder if it's 3 x from today or 3 x from the launch of DF. If it is 3 x from the launch skillgain I'm not happy at all. Far to little and no skillcap.

So instead of finishing the game and giving stuff they promised at launch they just released a game way early forced tons of people to buy it twice they just release 2 free expansions with features they promised at launch ?

Originally posted by Markn12

So instead of finishing the game and giving stuff they promised at launch they just released a game way early forced tons of people to buy it twice they just release 2 free expansions with features they promised at launch ?

Yep!

Isnt that great : ) Now we have had the pleasure to play for nine months already. What id they had waited until now? Not cool. Remember that DF was considered vaporware by the general worldwide MMO community. And we cant forget this is from a small indie developer. But the fact people tend to treat AV as a major MMO company must be a good sign : )

Originally posted by daarco

Originally posted by Markn12

So instead of finishing the game and giving stuff they promised at launch they just released a game way early forced tons of people to buy it twice they just release 2 free expansions with features they promised at launch ?

 

Yep!

Isnt that great : ) Now we have had the pleasure to play for nine months already. What id they had waited until now? Not cool. Remember that DF was considered vaporware by the general worldwide MMO community. And we cant forget this is from a small indie developer. But the fact people tend to treat AV as a major MMO company must be a good sign : )

Actually if you want to look what was promised at launch a lot of the features they added were new.   Its good they are fixing stuff,  and they are doing it a fairly ok rate.  But the game did have a lot of problems at launch and they still have not tackled the problem of skill gain.

I am all for flaming darkfall,  has a lot to be flamed about.  But people should correct in their flaming.

wow they are actually doing local banking now that will make the game 1000 times more interesting. they added more sand to the sandbox with that alone.

Originally posted by RLothar

Did they fix the weather yet? I thought that was a cool idea but had issues.

Weather was turned off, and hasn't been mentioned again since.  I think they are hoping everyone forgets about it. 

They have changed what they say about weather on their web page. 

This is what is said now:

Experience a world brought to life by real-world physics and dynamic lighting and shadows. Watch trees and grass sway in the wind as sunlight peeks through passing clouds. Observe the movements of Agon's twin moons, which are part of a dynamic planetary system with smooth day/night cycles. Darkfall’s dynamic environment system features real weather simulation, real day/night cycles, a planetary system, and variable cloud cover and thickness.

www.us.darkfallonline.com/default.php

This is what was said before:

Experience a world brought to life by real-world physics and dynamic lighting and shadows. Watch trees and grass sway in the wind as sunlight peeks through passing clouds. Observe the movements of Agon's twin moons, which are part of a dynamic planetary system with smooth day/night cycles. Sail your ship through rough seas, then become hampered by fog as the waters calm. Struggle as your battlefield-bound army marches into a severe storm. In Darkfall, the weather is more than just window dressing.

web.archive.org/web/20080204041306/www.darkfallonline.com/features/explore.html

I don't think they ever figured out how to get it to work like they intended.  Perhaps sometime down the line, but for now, weather is a non-factor.

Originally posted by maxnrosy

wow they are actually doing local banking now that will make the game 1000 times more interesting. they added more sand to the sandbox with that alone.

Good point.

It's ironic really; I'll explain.    Some games, for example EQ2 and AoC, release in a very sub par State, and that from established large game developer companies.     After one year EQ2 became an incredible game IMO, for a PvE game, although my experience with AoC was the opposite, in that I felt it declined in the "fun" factor and what could have been an amazing game made very poor design choices.    Interestingly, you won't find one post from my on the AoC forum here, at least none I can recall, because I'm funny that way, and don't like pissing on others cheerios.    On this forum we talk about a game that is focusing on a PvP-Centric game, has only been out for 7 months, 1 in NA officially, and has significantly improved with each patch, yet the "Rabid Unfanboys" for lack of a better word, seem to conveniently avoid topics that reflect the above, and go out of their way to try and bury a game.

As quoted in my signature, it really does appear that some will go out of their way to "get even", for whatever reasons they may or may not have.   Odd.

-CC

Originally posted by ChinaCat

 

... has only been out for 7 months, 1 in NA officially ...

Not to pick on CC specifically, as I've noticed others have done it as well, but I'm curious about the distinction given for being out in NA only 1 month.

Does the NA server use different code than the EU server?

Does the NA server receive updates/patches on a different schedule than the EU server?

Are the developers different for the NA server vs. the EU server?

Anyway, just curious why some have felt it necessary to point out the difference in release times.

For new players wanting to join, then the distinction makes sense for me.  But when I've seen it used it's been more in the context of an "excuse" for why some things are the way they are.  As in... "Give them a break the server has only been out a month". 

If the NA server is using the same code as the EU server... then it's 7 month code... not 1 month.  When other MMOs release new servers in a different area are they treated as a brand new release, or as just expanding into another area?

Just something I found interesting. 

Originally posted by xzyax

Originally posted by ChinaCat

 

... has only been out for 7 months, 1 in NA officially ...

 

Not to pick on CC specifically, as I've noticed others have done it as well, but I'm curious about the distinction given for being out in NA only 1 month.

 

Does the NA server use different code than the EU server?

Does the NA server receive updates/patches on a different schedule than the EU server?

Are the developers different for the NA server vs. the EU server?

 

Anyway, just curious why some have felt it necessary to point out the difference in release times.

For new players wanting to join, then the distinction makes sense for me.  But when I've seen it used it's been more in the context of an "excuse" for why some things are the way they are.  As in... "Give them a break the server has only been out a month". 

 

If the NA server is using the same code as the EU server... then it's 7 month code... not 1 month.  When other MMOs release new servers in a different area are they treated as a brand new release, or as just expanding into another area?

Just something I found interesting. 

EU was a limited release.   One typically had to go out of their way to try and get an account.  This was complained about many places endlessly, even though AV explained it would be a limited release many times.

EU hosts the game in Germany; lag and game experience may vary depending on location.

NA is not a limited release.   One can purchase the game easily.

NA hosts the game in California; lag and game experience may vary depending on location.

-CC

Originally posted by ChinaCat

Originally posted by xzyax

Originally posted by ChinaCat

 

... has only been out for 7 months, 1 in NA officially ...

 

Not to pick on CC specifically, as I've noticed others have done it as well, but I'm curious about the distinction given for being out in NA only 1 month.

 

Does the NA server use different code than the EU server?

Does the NA server receive updates/patches on a different schedule than the EU server?

Are the developers different for the NA server vs. the EU server?

 

Anyway, just curious why some have felt it necessary to point out the difference in release times.

For new players wanting to join, then the distinction makes sense for me.  But when I've seen it used it's been more in the context of an "excuse" for why some things are the way they are.  As in... "Give them a break the server has only been out a month". 

 

If the NA server is using the same code as the EU server... then it's 7 month code... not 1 month.  When other MMOs release new servers in a different area are they treated as a brand new release, or as just expanding into another area?

Just something I found interesting. 

 

EU was a limited release.   One typically had to go out of their way to try and get an account.  This was complained about many places endlessly, even though AV explained it would be a limited release many times.

EU hosts the game in Germany; lag and game experience may vary depending on location.

NA is not a limited release.   One can purchase the game easily.

NA hosts the game in California; lag and game experience may vary depending on location.

-CC

Good information and matches with what I know as well.

Just a couple quick notes I would add, as they weren't clear in your post.

EU can be purchased easily now as well, just like NA.  The days of limited release for either server are over.

Players may use other means of payment than just a credit card now for either server.

You didn't really explain or try to answer the question about the game code and/or patches being different between EU and NA.  From what I know of the subject they are identical in every aspect... except as you touched on above where the physical servers are hosted (AV leases the servers, they don't own them).

Originally posted by xzyax

Good information and matches with what I know as well.

 

Just a couple quick notes I would add, as they weren't clear in your post.

 

EU can be purchased easily now as well, just like NA.  The days of limited release for either server are over.

Players may use other means of payment than just a credit card now for either server.

 

You didn't really explain or try to answer the question about the game code and/or patches being different between EU and NA.  From what I know of the subject they are identical in every aspect... except as you touched on above where the physical servers are hosted (AV leases the servers, they don't own them).

 

I didn't respond to that part of your question because I feel it is flame bait.    Obviously the game code is the same.   You  asked why players refer to the two releases as EU 7 months ago and NA 1 month ago.  I explained why, but you appear to be pushing for the purpose of  making some point.     Reality is that many of us beta tested DFO, including me, and knew exactly what we were subscribing to.       There was plenty of information; both pro's and con's, including videos, and AV announced the release would be in EU first on a limited basis and down the road, in NA.         A player had to really want to get DFO to play on EU, and despite all the information when they were not satisfied for whatever reason, blame AV instead of themselves for not waiting.     There is no comparison between the experience of a new player on NA a month ago, compared to EU when it launched.

Since no transfers have occurred, the NA launch and server is in fact, only one month old.     I shared the differences and the reasons I refer to them in the way I do.     Clearly people have different opinions here on every thing, but after all the beat the dead horse stuff is done day after day, the only reality that is important is what game you play, if any, and if your having fun.   I play DFO, am having a blast and starting over on NA, even with a 6-month old character on EU has proven to be a great decision and highly enjoyable.

-CC