Darkfall Online

I am curious how many have not heard of this game on this forum.  Its one of the few unadvertised games out there which means there are still players out there (and even ex-followers) who do not know its live.  Only doing this because I just met someone who did not know it had launched andwas estatic that it had launched.  He had followed the game 10 years ago and gave up thinking it was vaporware.

How many of you have not heard of this game?

Goon squad was much, much larger.  1000+ bloodthirsty killshot happy players in 1 place.  Beat any WoW or other carebear game guild hands down.

You are forgetting the cost of support and the cost of continued development of said game.  You can't hire monkeys to make a game; you will be paying at minimum 30k a year for a good programmer.  Most companies will have 50 - 100 developers by release of said product.  That's 1 - 2 million a year for developers alone.  Most support is outsourced however if it isn't then your paying an additional 50 people 20k a year plus paying for phone switch hardware (and a large phone bill).  If you outsource it you could be paying as much as 5$ a minute for phone time and who knows what for in-game support.  Still a big number.  Don't even think about advertising.

One example of how long it took to pay off 10 years (6 years with AV) of development is Darkfall Online.  It took them 2 years being live to pay off their game development.  That's on top of doing other stuff (military contracts, side jobs) to help pay for development.  They only have 30 - 40 developers and absolutly no advertising.

Nope, earthquake.

1 year later: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Da8dYxTFVKI&feature=related

Still quite a few people walking around.

Originally posted by Morghulis

Does anyone know of any games without instanced dungeons?

I only know of about three:-

UO

EverQuest

Vanguard

Any more?

Originally posted by depain

Battlegrounds: Instanced 5v5 or so objective based PvP, e.g., Capture the Flag, Team Deathmatch, Take the Hill, etc.

WHY DO PEOPLE ENJOY THIS?

 

#1. In BGs, there is NO element of surprise. Eveyrone is buffed up and expecting combat.

#2. In BGs, tactics are learned within a month. The scenario becomes a rinse/repeat cycle.

#3. In BGs, there are a limited number of maps. Everyone quickly learns every blade of grass, every hill, every tree, every typical hiding spot.

#4. In BGs, everything is redundant. Been there, done that... a thousand times.

 

Am I simply asking for World PvP? No. I'm asking for some creation depth - something outside the box. Battlegrounds/Arenas are so typical - so boring. It's seriously time for something new.

Where is the "I don't play WoW clones" option?  The only real MMORPG's on the market do not have instanced crap or "pvp servers".

Rewards:

• No levels.  You have leveled enough in other games.
• No skill gains.  No need of a grind.
• Faction areas with safe zones to learn the game (with most of the world open, no faction influence, do your own thing, create your own faction, like EVE Online).  You have to learn the game somehow.
• WoW Armory / WAR Realm war style stat tracking.  You know you want to gloat about how good you are, including PVE and crafting feats.

• Full loot
• Free to attack anyone anywhere (except safe zones, possible faction switch that keeps you from accidentally attacking your side but not others from attacking you, a little theme park within sandbox).
• The open zones are the only places to get the best stuff (resources, items, boss fights)
• No single monetary system (barter system, multiple currency's).
• Item based game (force you to go to open areas).  Not make it a grind but you do need that nice purple sword, right?

Originally posted by twstdstrange

My oh my.

If I could only take back all those wasted years of WoW, all those wasted days of Final Fantasy XI, all those wasted hours of Warhammer, and all those wasted minutes of City of Heroes.

I won't lie to you, jumping into UO without knowing anything of what to do was far from easy. But now that I know a bit about the game, I've never experienced anything so... engaging.

All I had was my sword, a bit of gold, and a boat load of opportunities.

For once I wasn't pushed to level up or do endless chains of quests or hunt for useless epeen garbage.

I wasn't pushed to do anything except what I wanted to do, and so I did. And I'm having a blast.

I'm now keeping two characters, the first being my stalwart Warrior, the grand adventurer and explorer.

The second, a hermit-like Necromancer who keeps to himself and scares away passerby in his forest home. I'm even using his Book as a tome of mad, incoherent babbling which I will one day carelessly misplace near a town for some fledling adventurer to stumble upon.

I wish I played this sooner.

Do devs really think this sort of thing won't sell nowadays?

 

Edited again to expand/clarify on the topic:

I don't know about the rest of you, but I rarely hear any epic, engaging stories from people who are playing newer MMO's. It's always those who play and talk about games like EQ, DAoC, UO, SWG etc. etc.

Of course, they would be looking through rose colored glasses when speaking of such tales, but even then, does anybody talk about WAR, WoW, CoH (sorry to repeat the same MMOs but you get the idea) in the same way, despite the age difference?

I would much rather hear about an epic, improptu adventure in UO than a story about a few angry players in a raid and how one of them got kicked for no reason (which seems to be a popular story among the newer games).

UO is the only real RPG out on the market with the exception of Darkfall and Xyson (and EVE to a lesser extent).  If you want a 3d version of UO try the games I just noted.

Originally posted by m4ntis

Tried this game a few days ago and loved it... I could have seen myself playing it for awhile but it has one HUGE flaw... 90% of the population cheat. It has gotten to the point where players openly admit to using macro's and claim that without cheating, there is no way to compete.

Too bad... 

 

So I guess, if you okay with cheating and possibly loosing your account, its a great game. (they only do 3 days bans... they don't ban the cheaters because they will loose too much of their playerbase)...

I have personally macroed in every game possible and even told my groups I was macroing and have never been banned in any game.   Rift, WoW, EQ, EQ2, WoW, UO, Shadowbane, Darkfall, etc etc.  Darkfall has the highest chance of someone getting banned for macroing because of how their skill system works.  How many people in the world have G15 keyboards?  Simply making your G1 - G5 key do ANYTHING is considered macroing.

Macroing isn't cheating.  Teleporting using a program, flying using a program, dupeing gold, thats cheating.  The true cheats are mostly gone from Darkfall as the developers are smart enough to stop them (allthough it did take them awhile).

Originally posted by Panther2103

I don't understand your poll. Yes (Yes I am leaving rift) No (No I am not leaving rift) (Staying after 30 days) (No I am not leaving rift). You have two of the same.

Some people have not decided if they want to leave or not yet.

I am noticing a lot of people going back to WoW.  5 people I know who pre-ordered and played Rift to 50 are going back to WoW.  2 guilds I know are going back to WoW and a 3rd smaller guild is going to Xsyon.  This is about 40 players total that I know myself.  I am curious to see how many people here are staying past the first month.

Link

Originally posted by caremuchless

Everytime PvP is mentioned in a thread, someone comes along with Darkfall as a reccomendation. So for a very short moment, I get excited. I then proceed to watch a youtube video of Darkfall PvP and I am sorely disappointed.

 

The combat looks like Counterstrike Knife Fighting, throw in some range attack, managing endurance (I think?) and loads of circle strafing.

 

I came here not to bash the game, I would like to be wrong. I am itching to play another PvP game but the combat doesnt look deep enough. Sorry. Am I missing something? Did any of you feel the same way before playing?

 

Is there any Crowd Control? Any?

Stuns?

Slows?

Roots?

Pets?

 

I must be missing something.. enlighten me.

No easy tab targeting.  You have to use your personal skill at aiming to hit someone instead of game built skill.

That should sum up everything.

Originally posted by Aguitha

Are you staying past the free month ?

52% retention rate based on this poll.  Most likely it will be the lower industry standard of 40% retention rate, each month, until the next big thing comes out (~6 months from now).  My prediction stands strong with Rift.

It is easier to lift a password from a personal computer than to bruteforce a encrypted secure server.  Most account hacks are the players fault.  There are millions of computes out there with bot's on them that can easly be repurposed for hacking.  1 out of 3 people who have posted in this thread have a comprised computer in one way or another.

Its your fault that someone got your password most of the time.

Still, you can still hack servers themselves.  Battle.net is a good example of a system that got comprimised.

Originally posted by mastersomrat

Why is it so hard to make a great mmo?  I have played and continue to play good mmo's; however, have yet to find a great one.  My newest mmo (RIFT) is a well polished, exciting game however, after playing other mmo's with much more content I fear it will only last me for six months (maybe a year at most).

 

I played WoW for four years (mainly because it was my first mmo) and it has more content (which is what kept me busy) but still nothing great.  NOTE:  had Blizzard made acheivement account bound, I'd still be playing.

 

It just seems like there a many MMO out there, most of which have something nice and none that have everything and I don't know why.  I know this will most likely not happen but I would like to see an mmo created with the features listed:

 

WoW: land mass and content (factions, fishing, cooking, professions, etc)

Rift: Souls system, Rift content

Vangaurd: Graphics, open world

EVE: almost everything is player crafted, open factions, open pvp

WURM: again crafting

EQ: AA, great dungeons (large with multiple levels, etc)

 

Bottom line is: if Dev would not try to make anything new and simply combine these game listed above, I think we would have a great game.

 

You haven't played a great game until you have played Darkfall with friends.

Originally posted by gobla

Hey everyone,

I'm really looking for a game that has some serious complexity but doesn't require you to make appointments with your guild members whenever you want to do something. Next to that I'd like an active playerbase, no item-shop ( thus P2P/B2P ) and if possible a trial or a cheap starting price.

I've played WoW which does offer the casualness I want but really lacks in complexity.

I loved the complexity of EvE but I simply hate having to always organise any meaningfull activity with corpies.

So basically the following:

- Complex crafting and possibly player housing or world building.

- Complex character advancement, the type you need to read guides about to understand.

- Easy grouping for instances and PvP.

- Active population.

- P2P or B2P, no item-shop.

- Free Trial or cheap first month.

Darkfall is only $9.95 now and is the most challenging game for someone who only wants to craft.  They also have a 14 day free trial.  There is a surge in new players in the game because of the sale and plenty of clans out there recruiting players.  Pure PVPers hate crafting so you can get rich by only crafting (enchanting is where real money is and its VERY complex).

Originally posted by Raizeen

Game must be dieing if they are doing this.

EVE Online did this years ago.   Is that a dead game?  Hell, WoW did it at the release of that last expansion.  WoW is a dead game too by your logic.

Originally posted by zaxtor99

[quote][i]Originally posted by bambook[/i] [b]Dont get this game untill MOTION CAPTURE Animations come out, Dynamic/atmospheric sounds, new armor graphics, and all teh new stuff. RIght now its same borring stuff, kill 99999999999999999 monsters and get 1 skill up or pay 999999999999999 gold and get same 1 skill up, but to get 99999999999999999999999 gold you need to kill 9999999999999999999999999999 mobs YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! u got 2 skill ups for the price of 1 [/b][/quote]

 

 

-  Zaxx

He is actually correct.  The best is coming in the future.  New models and animations.  Another update to the GFX engine to support DX11.  More robes and armors to choose from and restrictions on said equipment.  Ability to use med points to gain stats.  A rework of the entire map and the ingame map will show who owns what (and maybe ability to claim whole areas like in SB? maybe).

Wow.  Good job at using the worst possible picture for this news report.  Unlike other games every patch in Darkfall has been a good patch.  Most add more content.