Originally posted by emurtha

This could be the worst launch I've even seen.   I don't even know WHERE to look to buy the game if I wanted to.  Their own site doesn't list ANY information about the game at all.  They have months old infomation on their MAIN page.  Retardville.  I was thinking about trying the game but after seeing that they can't even manage their own web site properly, I'm inclined to either skip it entirely or wait a few months to let them get things sorted out.

CONGRATS!

member since 04, and this is your VERY 1ST POST

/spam

The game is having trouble taking off, they have a bit of a fan following. also when the pre-order is only put on sale several hours prior to launch, and only limited copies, it makes life difficult

snyways, how are you ment to knwo when shop is online, when you are not allowed to refresh page, and forums where we are to be notified aint working because they are being hammered?

i doubt that

You have received a 10 minute block as per our warning:

http://forums.darkfallonline.com/showthread.php?t=146033

"Users who refresh before timing out, open multiple windows or tabs, and hammer the system will be temporarily blocked. Please do not refresh unless you have timed out or you will lose your place in the queue".

Please try again later.
 

 whoops

Originally posted by Taljinn

 They didn't listen to there beta testers! 

correct!

iT is a matter of money and business.

they are a small comapany trying to launch a game with limited funds and support. on this note, I am sure they will spend maximum available funds on providing slots for players. They would do this is to maximise future profits.

Risk vs Return

Why fund and support more servers then required, increasing bottom line. This is why most companies would implement a preorder, to just market demand. Also this is companies usually have a open beta.

This company though is on  limited funds, meaning they cannot meet initial market demands. Once they have a stable income from launch, the number of servers will be ajusted for market demand. They would do this as soon as humanly possible as it will be something thet they whole income share is from.

Originally posted by kishe

My preview (without breaking NDA)

Have you read the NDA? I believe if you had you would find you technacaly just did with this post in multiple ways, 3 atleast.

You think you haven't? well telling people, or leading people to the knowledge you have/had access to beta/alpha is in itself a breach of NDA for starters.

NDA is not just about sharing your screenshots and demos, it is also about sharing or expressing your knowledge, mechanics, opinions, experiences or involvment in the game.

Not that i really mind, i would like to know more, as i am smart and mature enough to make my own informed decisions, and not be influenced by others. But in doing so you could destroy public opinion of the game, and kill the game even before it launches.

EG.

Darkfall IS NOT for you if:

-Hate Indy (Independantly developed, aka non-industrial level) games

This could lead hundreds of people not even trying the game beacause they once bought an indy game and didnt like it

Hence why you agree to NDA that most companies place on its protucts in this market. It is not just put in place to protect the companies secrets, but you. They could not only kick you out of beta, ban you from playing on their game ever, or any of their future products. They could also sue you to damages for changing public opinion on their product. All they need to do is proove from your comments they lost possible future subscriptions, therefor revenue from their company.

I am sure they wouldn't in this case though, but this is to let you know how serious you should take a NDA. Instead of preaching to the public about the pro's vs con's of the game, you should maybe be getting more involed in the game, playing your part as a beta tester. Find flaws, bugs, areas of needed improvement of the game, log them, and post them on beta forums for the devs to look at.

This way, when the rest of us finally do get to play the game, and every beta tester has played their part, the game will be this bug, glitch free, sexy as, fun game to play. We can then all play together and enjoy the game to its maximum potential. 

I just went through and read this whole thread and have finally decided to say something I have noticed over the last month or so, not just from this forum, but that of several, eg MO, DF.

The word vapourware. I have never seen a word come into such quick and popular use, or should I say misuse.

Johse, u need to lighten up, have a more positive outlook on life, meaning cheer the F*** up, u make this world seem so dull.
 

You (some) people are publicly stating 'facts' from creditable sources like, 'YouTube' and 'Wikipedia'. /sarcasm. You (most) were all even to busy to notice that what seemed to be MO devs joined this thread and tried to get involved, and everyone just ignored them and tried to force their own concepts of the game onto each other. You want to know about the game, stop speculating, ask the devs, listen and demand answers. Developers are only going to publisise facts about their game for a few reasons I can think of. Basically advertising, and getting fans involved, and interested. To calm the mob, aka fans. Give them information, keep them quiet, let word of mouth spread

You are all to busy being fanbois, and comparing DF with MO. they are each their own games, and will offer their own traits. Supposedly DF releases this month and MO in another 6, why not wait and try them both

MortalOnline, what can you tell us? Are you coming out with a new updated video, i would prefer to see some in game footage.

Before I quickly get my2 cents in, i will say that i only played beta, never bought the game, although intention was there in the begining.

I found out about PotBS about 12 months before beta release. Got into finding out info about the game, and followed it until they got their own forums set up. Got into the forums, and then into the beta. Played tested, and even gave back several reports back in beta forums concerning feedback and bug fixes.

From my first report after about a week in beta, none were realy toughed throughout beta. When I hit them up, they talked baout dealing with more important inssues.

Strike One!

In beta forums, a question was raised, and polled by one of the official dev's regarding PotBS bringing SoE into the mix, as a publisher. Testers were furious, demanded that SoE be ignored. Developers responded that SoE would have nothing to do with the game, only the publishing and advertising of the game. Still fans were upset, and asked that the dev's not make the mistake of bringing SoE to the table, who has killed every MMO they have touched. SoE came to the table with one of their shell company names... Then in the middle of beta, devs said they were goign to open beta early, and would be releasing and publishing game on the recommendations of their publisher ASAP.

Strike Two!

Im am from Australia. Some might think, what has that got to do with anything, well i will tell you. All servers are opened, game is released, pick a server you want to start playing on. WRONG, it you live in australia, you get the choise of the Australian servers ONLY. No one else can play on our servers, we cant play on theirs, all alone in this little server of our own.

Testers in Australia are pissed, hit the beta forums in protest. Ask why, how, what can be done to fix. Dev's came back at first defending their actions. At first blaming their publisher and a game stores, saying that because an agreement could not be made before release, everyone missed out.

People started supporting the australian players, when they were getting the wrong boxes, recieving australian copies, or not recieving copies at all. Uproar on the forums. Instead of the publisher (SoE) or the developer stepping in and solving the issue. all went quiet. The forums were a riot and the admins, devs all went quiet.

A few days later, the forums were deleted, new ones were in place, and anyone complaining on the first original forums was banned from their foums.

Strike Three!

So in summary, they dont care, dont listen. nothing was going to change, money money money. I dont get their companies and their short sightednes. Now they will be hard pressed to ever release a successful MMO, and as for SoE, has just reinforced my thoughts on them. To say the least, after being igrnored, deleted, banned and refused an international copy like the rest of the world, i did not buy a copy on release, and let the game store keep my beta deposit.

Alot of people are in this boat. 

People a few years back who applied to play beta, or even played MMOs where a serious buch of characters whos only objective was to find problems. Then came MMOs to the main stream market. Everyone is playing MMOs. We have gone from 100'sk+ to 10m+ players in the market. Now all these people who have been flooded into the market are new to all this and find out they can play beta. OMG FREE TRIAL OMG..... Now beta is abused, and more and more people are applying to 'help' in the beta.

Now if you are serious about Beta testing, you have to go in, and make an impression. Play the game, test the game, test some more, and more, and more. Keep a log of you travels, your worries and what you find of and in the game. Then go to the forums of the game, and display this information constructivley and attractivley. You continue doing this over and over again. Soon, you may just start getting Alpha invites.

Beta is abused, and a lottery. Not many take the task at hand seriously, and the rest who do, suffer because of it. It is a pitty.

IMO

Vey well don video. One of the best directed and quality videos i have seen yet.

Originally posted by RedwoodSap

I heard you can instaport in PotBS, from one town to another town where you have ships docked. Doesn't that make it a fantasy game? I know pirates and sailers during that historical time period couldn't do that.

But from a previous Dev chat, "There’s world movement, which is essentially going from one place to another. World movement happens at a sped-up rate, it has to. Sailing in real-time on the world map would be… tiresome. "

Imagine traveling on a 1:1 ratio map of the world and sailing around it to get to the other side... I certainly dont wont to look at a picture of my boat sailing through water for 8 weeks just to drop of a mission item. Then to travel back. It would just be a boring game without some system in place to speed up long journeys

Originally posted by NightCloak

I feel bad for the people that get hosed by the deal. A promise was made to them, they took the offer and paid for it, and now its being broken.

Bad business IMO about the QA for SOE.

What I wouldnt give for being a fly on the wall of FLS though. I can imagine comments being made when that news was heard.

If anything(I hope it doesnt happen) goes wrong with release, I am almost willing to bet at least 1 guy at FLS who reads this forum will either say or think "Agricola was right."

 

Bad business is true, but that is not all (not trying to stir a pot). There is also a legal side aswell as selling a product with a promise and failing to deliver, or rectify.

If a company knows there is an issue with a product, eg missing cd, cd-key, and they continue to sell the product, with a benifit agreement that they know can't be delivered, they MUST fix, repair, or replace. Otherwise a refund must be issued.

Originally posted by RickSaada

 Note that doesn't apply to Aus/NZ where there are separate deals afoot with regards to the PotBS version.

I live in Australia. With distribution in australia is a pre-order available? In what form, in store or online? What company would one purchause though for either sale? And si there anyone but D2D for digital because I am out of their licensed area. EBgames stores maybe, but they have no information regarding the game or pre-order as yet (I rang), and as australia biggest games stores i thought they would have. They are owned by Gamestop who is a retailed of Potbs.

Also, Gamestop claims a release of 21st of Jan, Amazon claims 31st Jan, and Bestbuy, 23rd Jan, CompUSA is out of pre-orders, and Frys dont even have the title available. These are the companys that the SOE website sent me to to purchase the retail pre-order. confused. They all offer a 15 day pre-boarding pass, but all have different dates? So i am assuming game goes live feb 15th?

I have had billing problems with station before so am very hesitant to purchase direct off of them. Anyone have any info for me?

Originally posted by aceizhere

go to direct2drive pre oder form there youll get a box some time but you willa t least get a key XD

Originally posted by thorwood

Just download it when it is available. 

So I go to store, ask them about PoTBS, and they ask me what kinda game is it, i explain, then ask when pre-order for australia is, and also when will the game be instore. They check the computer... checks again... askes the other clerk... Then finally he grabs the phone. After getting off the phone, he then tells me they are unaware of pre-order and shelving dates. He explains to me I can place a pre-order for the pre-order because they dont know if they will be carrying that title.

On another note, I myself have also had my run ins with SOE with V;SOH, involving cancelation, unauthorised billing, an mutiple billing. Contacting SOE customer suport, game support, billing department, and complaints, I got abused, shafted, and told basically that it was of no fault of their own. Even when i rang their office (international call), I got bounced from one department to the next from one operator the the next., etc.

I was one of many I knew from ingame, from the forums, and personal friends. I then got my bank, CC company and the ombudsmen involved, they advised me on actions to take. Apon threatening a law suit, and filing with my bank a form for my CC company to reinburse money for "failure to deliver goods or services" form I was reinbursed my money within 48 hours.

Apon finally winning this little battle with SOE, i explained how I went about it via private messages on the V;SOH forums to others having similar difficulties how I was mistreated and how I recieved they money taken unauthorised by SOE refunded to my bank account. I was then sent a nasty PM from one of the senior forum administrators, explaining that i was to cease my actions and that I was now banned from the forums. They also sent PMs to the people i had contacted explaining that I did not know what I was talking about and if they were to take this path of action it would get them no where.

I can think of a few things wrong with the senario, but anyways this has turned into a 'SOE HATE' post and that was not intended, I just still get so worked up about it.

Seriously, SOE, try investing into a production prior to running it into te ground

Star Wars Galaxies, EQ, Vangaurd, now FLS

I do remember though, when it was rumored that SoE was joining up to help with the publishing of PoTBS, all fans eager to play Pirates warned and voiced their opinions about SoE, LOUDLY. 

Flying lab came back saying that they were looking for a publisher and said it would not be likley SOE would be involved. Then when it was publicly known that SOE got the contract, they defended the choice saying SOE has experience, funding, knowledge, resources and that they would not be involved in development to reassure the public SOE could not ruin the game.

Article explaing SOE/FLS contract and how SOE wont screw over FLS www.burningsea.com/page/news/article&article_id=10349

Lets see if it just proves that you dont have to be a developer to ruin a game.

Sorta sad to see, as I am/was hugley anticipating this game, but the fans did warn you FLS to stay well away from SOE

Originally posted by zaxxon23

 
Why can't you people get it through your thick skulls that SOE had nothing to do with the failure of Vanguard?   If they made any mistake, it was allowing their name to be associated with such a trashy product.  Sigil ran out of money, Vanguard was released about six months too early, and the rest is history.  Contrary to popular belief, Vanguard did not fail because it was too hard or complicated for players.  It simply was not polished in any way shape or form.  It felt like playing a beta version of WoW and underdelivered in every possible way.  There is no logical way that SOE could be remotely responsible for the failure of Vanguard due to the very late stage in the game that they signed in on.  If anything, SOE got screwed by Sigil.

 

No, I don't like SOE developed games.  But POTBS is NOT an SOE game.  They are handling distribution and a world class server system.  NOT the actual game.  If you guys can't figure this out then I don't even want you in the game anyway.  There's enough stupidity out there without you blind SOE haters getting on board.

If it is not SOE's fault theat they assosiated themselves in a situation like that, why do they keep making the same mistake? SWG ring any bells?

Originally posted by dacia72

SOE ??????

No thx.

Omg, this game was in my waiting list.... will be no more!

 

 On your waiting list? It was the only mmo that I was looking forward to. Now I spose I will have to wait longer.

Alot of people complain about the amount of games out there that are a remake of WoW, and that are not made for the player base but for the cash.

I for one will not pay for a game published by SoE until I have seen the results and had someone else spend their cash trying the game.

Companaies and developers will 99% of the time aim for the buck, because of own finacial intrests, company pressure, and the share holder. They wont take risks, listen to the people until they are forced to. One way is to cut their finacial gains, so they have to take a risk to make some money. I dont pay for crap.

I believe SOE to be a company after the buck.

New players can beat Vets. You dont need huge amounts of isk and skill to be able to play and kill in PvP. A team of frigates can do huge damage if they work together.

I remember playing one day, and there was about 10 of so of my alliance and we were gate camping in p3. We had a bubble (mobile warp scrabler) set up and meeting anything that wasnt friendly with death and pain. 8 of us where in tech II Battleships and we had a couple interceptors to lock and disable our targets. Next thing that happens is a huge number of hostiles frigates pops into system and mops the floor with us. I got the kill mail of my ship destruction, and i had been killed with the final blow from an ibis. (caldari noobie ship)

Originally posted by donmaximo

Also, as I understand it, EVE does allow for massive unlimited levels of crafting i.e. ships, items, and stations - though I've yet to ever get that far and I'm not sure if you can craft stations that you can go in and out of..

Answer your thougths on stations. There are 2 types of stations, the first is a POS, This is more like a mobile gather point for things anchored in space. not a station as such but like a group of satalietes around a moon or planet protected buy a force shield. Then there are actual stations. These you can dock in, build in, just like any other station in the eve universe.

POS can be built in low sector space, where a station can only be built in 0.0 where your corp, alliance has claimed the territory by placing a few POS in the area, and effectivley own this part of space.

A solo player can build and run their own pos, but it is very time consuming, expencive and on going fuel costs for the station will leave you with no time but to mine fuels to keep it running.

Building and owning any station is a huge deal. You need lots of funds and people to help set up and maintain. Then you have to be able to defend it. A station can only defend itself for so long against so many hostiles.

This post caught my eye, so as an old Vet EVE player I thought I would shed some light. Below Are some of the posts that I saw and a common complaints/griefs about players looking at the game. From my experience in the game has answers to all these problems, you just need to learn how to get about them.

This can be a pain, and many beilieve it should not be so, but the game is ment to simulate what life could be like. It is a role playing game. If a universe like this did exist the game tries to hold true.

Below are some of the answers to the posts I saw, and I thought I would talk about these questions as they are asked and I will try to respond to these as i knew when playing EVE.

Lets get started with ingame avatars.
Players not being able to walk around in stations planets, etc. Many people like their MMO's to have a character that represents themselves, or part of themselves atleast. I believe that this after many years is/has been looked into. 

Shexna posted teh link to an ingame video that will be supposedly be coming to EVE; http://www.tentonhammer.com/index.php?q=node/620

PvP, Ganking.
The EVE universe is huge. You need to understand the concept of Secuity levels. EVE has 3 basic security  levels; High, Low And 0.0 (Zero). When you first enter the game you start in high. The game has a simple method of letting the player know what they are in. It is displayed at the top left of your screen from memory. Raking is as follows, 1.0 being High security going down in sequence eg, 1.0, 0.9, 0.8 etc to 0.0, being no security. The higher the number the safer you are. (Except if you are a wanted pirate, then it gets complicated)

In 1.0 and other High security levels, there is no PVP, ganking, pirates. Otherwise the ingame NPC military, police, stations, gate automated defences, all get involved. If you attack unprevoked you are about to have a can of whoop arse unleased on you little noobie ship. It will blow up, and you will be left in a pod, alone in the dead of space. This is where noobies come to play.

Low security areas, like 0.5, 0.4 and lower, means that the NPC army is small in number, so crimes can go un-noticed. Station defences , and Gate defences will still protect the victim (If they are there), but the ships that defend you in 1.0 will not come to your aid if you are not in their range, (if there at all). This is where pros come to general market supplies, noobies come for market bargains and higher priced mineral finds, and where pirates come to get noobs.

0.0 is no mans land. NPC military and police don't come out here. NPC stations and gates dont have automated defences, Hostile NPCs are in numbers, and this is where the bigboys play and mine HIGH mineral price finds. Full PVP. 0.0 is controlled by Alliances, Corporations, groups, players, etc. Most of these don't want you in there space, as you are seen as a hostile. 0.0 is in a constant state of war. People want their own territories, stations, and places to make huge amounts of ISK (ingame money), and here is where they do it. This is EVE. This open un-policed territories of space are run by players who have worked their arse off to get them, and will kill your arse if you come near it.

As a new player in the game, you don't want to leave High secuity regions and definatly In the 2 week trial you dont want to leave High security areas. As your game time, and knowledge increases, so will your guts, greed, and curiosity. You need to remember that some players have been playing the game for years, and have years of actual combat experience, and a more decked out advanced ship then you will have in 6mths of playing let alone 2 weeks. they will out fly you, gun you, and run you. One of the posts said 'knowing where the theatre of combat is'... well 0.0 is definatley there, and anything below 0.5 aswel. there is no combat theatere in 1.0-0.8. If you hate PvP this is where you would play, as there is no PvP.

Death penelty, ship loss, podding.

1. Ship loss. Ship Insurance is a must. Lets say you have been playing for a while, have enough money for a Battleship and all the gear to go with.

Dont fly it until it is insured. Last thing you want to do is mine your little heart out, save and get a Battleship, then get blow up flying it back to your home station. Then having lost a months worth of casual gaming time in a mtter of seconds, you will be upset, angry, and may quit playing right then and there. 100% insurance is my tip to you.

some one stated something about Automated free insurace... Are you crazy? Then people would be wreckless with their ships, be willing to sacrafice more then they should really have. How do you wage a war against another PvP nation when they have unlimited supplies of reimbursement for ship loss? This would also destroy the current economy base. This means people mining to buy new ships wont be, but people buying ships would be increasing. So where does the ore come from to build these new ships?

Learn about your ship, and its limitations. Dont take your noobie ship agaist anything else, but a NPC pirate noobie ship. Learn if you ship is a shield tanker, or an armor tanker. Learn what weapons give you ship fire power bonuses. Get your skills high for what you are using. Dont use a 50mm auto cannon with your skill level at 1, train it to 5 and kill the enemy/s quicker. Get your shield skills higher so you survive longer.

2. Death penelty. You should only ever die and get podded once. Then you should know it sucks, and never let it happen again.

Tips to help let it be avoided; Dont go into low security space alone, not without firepower, and a fast little ship to get you away safe. Stabs, are vital as a pilot in low security space. Bookmarks, are good, auto-pilot is bad, you want to gate, warp and gate again. Flying to gates sucks and is slow, and you are a pirate target.

3. being podded sux. You loose implants, XP, and you might even cry, i dont know. Cloning is good, implants are bad.

Have a clone. This means if you do get podded, you dont loose your XP to the level you clone allows. Dont forget to upgrade your clone as your characters XP increases. I used implants when playing eve, many will tell you it is a waste of money, but can help boost your ingame XP levels dramaticly early in game too. They are expencive, can be hard to replace. Dont PVP combat with implants. NPC combat is not so bad, this is because they wont pod you as they dont see you as a threat once they have destroyed your ship so you implants survive. Stay out of low level security areas while you have your implants in, pirates love to see implants destroyed on their victims kill-mails.

Cheating and favoritism

It has happened, yes. Someone ingame was an official affiliate of CCP, and used this to further themselves and friends ingame. It is no secret, all eve players know of it, alot of them hate the fact, some of them like the fact, most it does not even effect. It does not matter what game you play this happens. Devs can create items, and ingame tools from the thin of air. People complain that in this particular case the devs have altered and changed the ingame universe and its working dramaticly.. probably. Name an MMO that the devs don't.

This will not effect your game. Atleast not for a long, long time, when you are high up in a position of power in a 0.0 Alliance, that has releations with that particular group of players. This as a new player I would not even worry about.

EA

My name is Rekit, and I used to be and EVE-addict. I Used EVE for over three years. I first got started when a friend introduced me to it. At first I did not like it and found it hard to take. It was long hours for little rewards, and so much to take in. I continued to play EVE just to spend time with my friends, and learned that the sky was the limit while playing with EVE. Over time I made new EVE friends, and my old ones stopped playing with EVE. I was addicted.

Seriously though. Eve can be a casual gamers game, but more often not you get hooked hour buy hour. The game has a huge learning curve. There is no end-game, not top level to reach. The game is always having new content, ships equiptment, skills.

The game has its moments, and also has its times when it can get boring Don't let it. If you have been mining for an hour alone... STOP. find or make a friend, and mine together. Or try somthing totaly different to do, like run missions, make things, kill rats (NPC Pirates). My advise to you. Join a corp, or even create one if you have the time. Eve is not something to do alone, as space is lonley.

Goodluck, and if you do decied to play, have fun.