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Darkfall's Tasos Responds to Leader Issues
Recently, MMORPG.com blogger Paragus interviewed six alliance leaders in Aventurine's Darkfall. Each of them was asked: "What do you think are Darkfall's biggest issues right now?" Today, Aventurine's Tasos Flambouras responds to each issue.
| MMORPG.com: | King Manus of the Hyperion Alliance had an issue with the lack of doors on city gates and cities in general. He complained that the ability of enemy players to come in through the gates or over the walls from elevated terrain is hampering enjoyment of the game's raid and siege mechanics. |
| Tasos Flambouras: | This has been fixed already by adding gates to cities. We also added guard towers to clan cities. We're working on fixing the few miscellaneous bugs with walls and access points to cities. So this issue has been addressed and will continue to be addressed. |
| MMORPG.com: | King Manus of the Hyperion Alliance also made mention of the amount of time that it takes the clan tab to load, feeling that the length of time it takes makes clan management "a chore". |
| Tasos Flambouras: | This is being worked on as we speak in-game, but you'll be able to take care of clan administration outside the game as well. We're going to add this functionality in the next few patches. |
| MMORPG.com: | King Manus of the Hyperion Alliance complains that players being able to stand on the heads of other players negates the possibilities of battle lines, shield walls and the like. |
| Tasos Flambouras: | Standing on the heads of other players isn't very realistic, it's true, but neither is magic. I will disagree strongly that battle lines are negated. We're seeing battle lines being used very effectively. Clans adapt and tactics evolve with what the players are able to do. This is the first MMORPG that we know about that formations are effective in combat, and where smaller, well organized groups can destroy much larger ones. If a game mechanic gets in the way of a standard formation, then you have the freedom to modify your formation to deal with it. |
| MMORPG.com: | Lord Gluttony of the Coalition of the Chillin complained that "crashing sucks". |
| Tasos Flambouras: | Yes it does suck. We're addressing the client crashes some players have been experiencing, most have been fixed but it's time consuming to get to the bottom of all causes of client crashing since this exists at the user level. In our current patch we've addressed the virtual address crashes. As for the server going down while there are sieges in progress, we are modifying the siege mechanics to address this problem. We already made it so mounts and rafts remain in the game. All these are high priority issues with us and we're heavily invested in solving every one of these cases. |
| MMORPG.com: | Yomm Hakine of the DUSK Alliance noted that Cheating and Exploits were issues with the game. |
| Tasos Flambouras: | This is another high priority issue with us. I'm going to differentiate between macroing, exploiting gameplay mechanics, and using 3rd party programs to cheat with. We are fixing any gameplay mechanics that can be exploited as fast as we can find them. Every patch has fixes for things that we've discovered since the last one. About macroing, we've taken many serious steps to curbing its use and making it less effective. We will continue doing so and have many more solutions waiting to be deployed. Now about using 3rd party programs to cheat with: Cheating is an issue with every multiplayer game from Counterstrike to World of Warcraft. Because of Darkfall being a highly competitive game, any hint of exploitation causes quite a stir making it seem worse than it actually is. The truth is that this is not a big issue in Darkfall but we're treating it as one. We've taken measures to detect and permanently ban anyone using 3rd party programs to cheat in the game. We're also working on many levels to address the problem at the source, from pursuing action against the makers of these programs in cooperation with other game developers, to rendering the 3rd party programs ineffective in our game, to detecting and banning the exploiters. ;) Don't mistake my saying that this is not a big issue, with a lack of willingness on our part to react. We have dedicated and continue to dedicate serious resources to this until it becomes a non-issue. I'll explain however what I mean: First, almost every cheater we've banned seems to have created a lot of characters, some accounts more than 50. They delete and create new characters many times a day thinking this will confuse detection. So the same account can be reported dozens of times under different names making it seem like there are a lot more people cheating than there actually are. It's very often that we see reports about specific players using exploits, and them being used over and over as examples to show how exploits are rampant in the game, and yet we know that these particular guys have already been banned. They are referenced for weeks though to illustrate how rampant cheating is in Darkfall. We don't like the idea of a hall of shame for our players however. We take reports about cheaters very seriously, but please keep in mind that most of complaining is highly exaggerated, even bogus, and a lot of it is coming from the people making and promoting these programs, from players who are banned already, by players who are using the cheats, by people with an agenda, by people who aren't even in the game, and others who are just jumping on the bandwagon. Most player reports of cheaters are about players who are not actually cheating. Our own GMs get reported very often if that's an indication. People that lose fights, in the heat of the moment often assume their opponent wasn't fighting fair. Very good players are often accused of using hacks. Even with all the mistaken reports of people exploiting and the multiple characters per account, there are actually few names reported, and few screenshots or videos of people cheating. If cheating was rampant then we would expect to see reports with specific player names everywhere. It's all really about perception. And who are the people that use these exploits anyway? We understand that any encounter with an exploiter is annoying and frustrating but are these people actually impacting the server? Are they a factor? You'd think they would be if it was widespread but this is not the case. All the top players and clans on the server are there without having to resort to cheating. In assessing the significance of cheating in Darkfall, this fact speaks for itself. We won't rest though until the players feel comfortable about these facts too. |
Tasos, nice report. Now Take away city banks and add in clan city storage units thats lootable. So people will have a point to use boats and travel.
AND ADD IN Caravans with Npc guards as options.
OK - I am neither a fanboi or troll of this game and I have not played it so take my comments are mere observations.
Firstly, I think Tasos is to be congratulated on not only directly answering player generated questions and concerns in an open forum but also for, in the main, answering them properly rather than the usual marketing spin that does not answer the point made. I wish more game devs would take such an approach to community response.
I am sure the thread will fill with positive and negative takes on the actual answer themselves but overall I felt most of the questions were directly answered albeit I still have this huge issue, and maybe its me, that the whole limited selling strtaegy whilst they fix and implement stuff whilst players pay is too much like a beta that costs you. I like the approach of a steady launch rather than the "open 200 servers and merge them all a month later" but I would be pissed if the I was paying for an account if the game had a high rate of crashing, bugs or lack of intended launch features - I do not know if that is the case with this game but I would hope not for the people who are playing it currently.
Still, I give them overall props for having the nuts to answer in the open forum as I said.
The quote of the day: "Standing on the heads of other players isn't very realistic, it's true, but neither is magic." -Tasos
Nice one, there, rofl! Still I think it they are doing the right thing in answering this questionaire and giving feedback on their stance on existing issues. It seems they are really carefull with how they go about controling the release; first get stuff sorted before making the step to serving a wider audience. It is a pain for some, a gloating matter for others, but I think it is a necesary evil in DF's case; they can't allow themselves to let the game fail on a major scale.
(No, it hasn't failed as a game already; It hasn't even been fully released yet and developing cycle and release screw ups are just that; developing cycle and release screw ups. They won't influence your gameplay when the game is fully up and running).
WTB;
Needless to say DF needs work.
WoT, anyone read this far?? :D
Quote : "First, almost every cheater we've banned seems to have created a lot of characters, some accounts more than 50. They delete and create new characters many times a day thinking this will confuse detection. So the same account can be reported dozens of times under different names making it seem like there are a lot more people cheating than there actually are."
Must be a few dumbass cheaters to create 50 characters. However most players know that reporting also lists the account. I especially liked when he was talking about clans shifting tactics etc. Im gonna bet most of them macro'd up which IMO is skill less cheating, yet the devs do nothing about it.
Tasos is da man!
I see he is out of hiding and still generating the "no problem" here messages....
Carry on regardless my brave man !
Ironically, you know how much the trollhaters actually ADDED to that demand by flaming Darkfall and keeping the threads so active making people curious about the game who never heard of it before?
Darkfall trolls really have to be kicking themselves right now and saying "Why didn't we just stay quiet and let the game die?" This has got to be one of the funniest developments in MMO history how trolls kept massive buzz alive for a game they absolutely hated to death and inadvertantly helped it prosper. No advertising needed.
Aventurine- 1. Trolls- 0.
Ill admit ive been a bit sceptical in the past of the way this game has been handled by Tasos and his team but its refreshing to see him respond directly to players issues/questons this way. Maybe there is hope for darkfall yet =)
Scratch Warhulks. Sighted in game. Wonder what else on your list is outdated.
Good answers to solid questions. Didn't shy away or sugarcoat them. You sure Tasos actually was the person who replied, just didn't seem very much like him.
Sounds like they are actively working on issues in an orderly fashion. Can't really ask for much else, except of course, to please hurry up. (but that's always the wish)
Eliminating one issue on that list doesn't make other points less valid.
The guy is obviously a player and only doing his best to describe the issues which need addressing in his opinion.
I agree 100% and I am in the same position as you, since I have stayed away from having an opinion about this game until I actually play it.
The last MMO I purchased, and the one that caused me to take a hiatus from MMO's until something actually FUN comes out, was Age of Conan. One of the things that pissed me off the most, and caused me to permanently cancel the game before I even paid my first month's sub was the complete and utter lack of communication from Funcom. You couldn't get them to shut up with all the hype before the game launched, but when it did launch and problems arose, their silence was deafening.
What Tasos is doing here, in my opinion, should be highly commended, and their company just gained a lot of respect from me if for nothing else but taking player questions, and making an excellent effort to communicate with the community. If Funcom could have done something like this, they might not have lost so many players in the first month after launch.
Also, I respect how they are handling their launch population numbers. This is a small dev shop, as and such I believe the decision to throttle sales while the games issues are worked out is brilliant. Controlling the population allows them to steadily increase users in tandem with performance / bug fixes.
Too many companies rely on throwing up 50+ servers for launch day, which has to be a huge time and money waste for not knowing how many players will even like and/or stick around to play it. The way Darkfall is being handled allows those resources to be put back into game improvements right now, and lowers business overhead. If game companies would learn to adopt a more conservative launch system, scaled for their respective market potential, fewer of them may go out of business and some games that never go mainstream would still make decent money as a niche market games.
Yes, it sucks that some of us can't get in the game yet, but being a seasoned MMO player, I really don't want to. I'd rather wait a few more months and let them dial the game in.
Im schocked. DF haters might actually understand some of that : )
Good reading.
You can tell by the way he talks, he is a gamer. I remember when the original AoC director would issue his State of the Game letters that were 2 pages long full of flowerly language that didn't tell you anything. Tasos is very much the opposite, and while he is perceived as unprofessional by people who hate the game, his candor is appreciated by the people who do play it.
They're actually communicating with playerbase! that gives them +1 over Funcom
Not arguing the "validity", just the timeliness and need to post something that was already fixed at the time of his posting.
Eliminating one issue at a time is how you complete any list of tasks ultimately, so its a good start.
good read
The one thing he probably shouldn't have said is the bit about the hackers being rumored to be more widely spread than they are. I would guess, that he's probably 100% correct, but complaining customers don't want to hear excuses.
It should be pointed out that this is the list of all the sold-out MMO's in the world:
Darkfall
Right now the game is like a restaraunt that can only serve so many customers, but it's potential to be franchised is huge.
You may read it as direct responses, I read the content of those direct responses, which were all empty promises for the future.
I don't have much interest in this game, as I'm not really into PvP very much. However, I have to say that the way they are handling launch, as well as the refreshing "marketing speak free" response to player feedback gives these guys a big plus in my book.....
I may even try to check out the game when it becomes widely available. Doubt I'll play it, as my tastes run more toward PvE and RP.... but I've got to give them credit for their approach.
personally i have always liked Tasos' straightforward, no bullshit attitude and this interview is no exception. i wish more game developers would take a leaf out of Tasos' book.
If a character is caught hacking, why are they banning the character and not the whole account? If people keep deleting their characters to "hide" their account, its a simple task of having a separate table of retired characters with dates they were active and account numbers they belong to. This way there would be no need to "chase" their accounts.
What is so funny is you let the trolls win by being so thin skinned. The "trolls" obviously cause you much grief but that grief is your own fault. Their agenda is to wreck havoc and you fall into the trap by coming out swinging in defense of darkfall as if you could ever save the game.
Trolls -1. You-0.
AV is banning the whole account.
Tasos just explained that many cheaters create and deleta many characters in a attemt to fool the software.
Glad to see an interview like this being posted, and I hope they continue doing as such.
I love the game to death, but the siege mechanics need to be tweaked because the "cold war" that is occuring right now is solidying the lack of possibility of any interesting PvP right now.
The launch of this game was horrible. Many have said that it was worse than Vanguard.
You don't actually believe him do you? The guy has a track record of distortions, exaggerations, lies and omissions. The coffee shop with 2 seats analogy applies here.
Nope, sorry. Don't play it. I guess you look a little egg-in-faceish now.
As an observer only of this game, I see that before this game was near launch last year no one, including myself, had ever heard of it outside of fanbois following it for a decade (from what I understand) and the people saying it would never launch for a decade. One day, there was a massive posting surge and for a couple weeks, this game was hot on MMORPG.com rankings.
And why? Aventurine had finally announced they were officially releasing it. Then you saw all kinds of people in the forum asking about the game. The trolls were hitting hard especially when they failed to launch in January. But Aventurine got the last laugh, finally launched and now you have lines waiting to play.
Since it launched, the trolls went into overdrive but it really hasn't scared the majority of people interested away. I said I would perhaps try it during a NA release if they got that far because of reading about all the political alliances.
If it wasn't for trolls, this game might have been dead at launch. But because some people were so curious because of the firestorm and swizzlesticks like you, some of them actually went and subbed. Some liked it, some didn't. But anyone that did was gravy for this company, because they already only counted the niche fans. So, trolls lose. Heck, you even noted it yourself and helped the keep the threads going:
See the point is, I laughed right along during development of this game the last few months with you. The difference was, once this game got launched, since I wasn't in YOUR camp ("The game will fail, it will collapse servers shortly after launch, no one but niche will play it") I can keep laughing. You obviously have to keep following it and hoping it will validate your predictions. Now I chuckle when I see people like you who pretend to post neutral but would like nothing more than the game to go kaput deep down while Aventurine slowly fixes things.
Oh well, enjoy the wait!
I've been following DarkFall more actively since I played through my friend's account even though I didn't really like the game for 1 main reason: what will an indie company that seems inexperience do?
Let me correct myself here first, I liked the game and the PvP etc but the future then again, some features definitively turns me off. And so there's 2 questions I would've liked to ask Tasos (who knows, maybe he's also reading this):
"Will there be a way to prevent guilds/alliances to have the complete "ownership" over the server?"
By that I mean that guilds will obviously get stronger and stronger, form alliances and everything and in a matter of months, 1 of these alliance will take over the server and then I suspect the server to slowly die as no players/guild/alliance will be able to defy "their mighty strenght". While I do agree that guilds should have a certain ability to control part of the world, I do not think players should be allowed to reign over a whole server.
I also just thought of something else: Player Killing.
While I do agree that Player Killing may be abusive when it comes to killing new players but I honestly would prefer to see a "no PK penalities". Let me explain: By forcing this strict PK penalities, players are less likely to become "assassins" which is a feature I would've loved to see in that game. Basically: Bounty Hunter. Even though it may be created by some players, their name will turn red the second they attack another player and that is a really big problem for me.
____________
Tasos post seems to have slayed a couple of cave trolls on the path to reading this mysterious scroll of wisdom.
It was a very nice idea to discuss matters players had been facing and to clarify what AV is and will be doing in the future. +1
I have nothing vested in this game. I didn't hear of it until last year. I am also primarily a PvE player with PvP secondplace. I would like to see this game succeed, but not for the reasons trolls or fanbois argue over.
I like to see small companies make it and contribute to the genre. Every small company that does make it adds something that a future gamer/dev can bite on and incorporate into a better game. Without new ideas, this market gets like Funcom with AoC, Mythic with Warhammer, or Sigil with Vanguard, tons of cash and no ideas, or horribly implemented ones and shortsided visions. Or just emulate the leader in a parasitic attempt to siphon WoW's customers instead of making a new base. Games like EVE are a prime example. Because its been doing so well, look how many other MMOs coming out soon and down the line want to copy it.
I could care less if Tasos lies, tells the truth or drops off the face of the earth tomorrow. I don't know him. His honesty/dishonesty in the past has no bearing on my day. But I like the idea that I read several thousand people are liking a game that has themes that no one else would dare put on the market today, and are impressed overall with its execution.
If this company can continue to make improvements, it will send a message to lazy companies like Mythic, Funcom, and a few others that think they can push anything out and the masses come a runnin'. So I'll let you keep track of how many lies and half-truths he tells since you obviously seem to keep up with it, lol. I prefer to watch the sub numbers and read how people actually playing the game find it.
Based on how this game is laid out and because of that freedom, it will self correct whenever one side gets too big.
A game like this could end up with just two alliances, or one strong one with a bunch of smaller guilds just beating on them and holding their own. You really don't want to mess with that dynamic of anything at all happening and trying to "script" it.
The smartest thing Aventurine can do in this game, unlike these other PvP games, is give players the means to get or make tools, and then get out of their way while they hack each other to death. You don't want to stifle growth one way or another, but just let humans be humans and kill each other.
It's what we are really, really good at, in game and out.
"about massive battles, we don't know of another game that gets even close to supporting the size of battles Darkfall is supporting" LOL eve FTW?
Also I call BS on the 2,000 player battle.
AV is banning the whole account.
Tasos just explained that many cheaters create and deleta many characters in a attemt to fool the software.
Tasos said: "First, almost every cheater we've banned seems to have created a lot of characters, some accounts more than 50. They delete and create new characters many times a day thinking this will confuse detection. So the same account can be reported dozens of times under different names making it seem like there are a lot more people cheating than there actually are."
Which means they are not doing a good job if they allow so many players to have 50 characters. Either they are really bad at detecting cheats, or they don't have the ability to track different characters to a specific account. Its pretty weak for both cases.
Furthermore: "Even with all the mistaken reports of people exploiting and the multiple characters per account, there are actually few names reported, and few screenshots or videos of people cheating. If cheating was rampant then we would expect to see reports with specific player names everywhere. It's all really about perception."
that quote is a direct contradiction to the first quote. If cheaters make 50 characters per account, then there would be no specific name becuase they all use different names. If there was a specific name, then there would be no 50 characters. It's futile to delete a character and create a new one with the same name.
I find it funny how you spin this. There is a line, yes. But why? Because their infrastructure cannot handle anything above 10-20K players. For an MMORPG, thats a failure and shouldn't be pointed out with pride. Its like 5 guys standing in a half circle trying to urinate into one urinal all at the same time. You can call it "my urinal is so popular and in demand, look at the line!", but I call it "damn this place is ...STOP LOOKING AT ME PEEING...!"
Tasos said: "First, almost every cheater we've banned seems to have created a lot of characters, some accounts more than 50. They delete and create new characters many times a day thinking this will confuse detection. So the same account can be reported dozens of times under different names making it seem like there are a lot more people cheating than there actually are."
Which means they are not doing a good job if they allow so many players to have 50 characters. Either they are really bad at detecting cheats, or they don't have the ability to track different characters to a specific account. Its pretty weak for both cases.
Furthermore: "Even with all the mistaken reports of people exploiting and the multiple characters per account, there are actually few names reported, and few screenshots or videos of people cheating. If cheating was rampant then we would expect to see reports with specific player names everywhere. It's all really about perception."
that quote is a direct contradiction to the first quote. If cheaters make 50 characters per account, then there would be no specific name becuase they all use different names. If there was a specific name, then there would be no 50 characters. It's futile to delete a character and create a new one with the same name.
You should probably re-read those two quotes...
The launch of this game was horrible. Many have said that it was worse than Vanguard.
The launch of the GAME was incredible. A very stable cliant. It is the shop that people refers to when talking about a failed DF launch, not the game. Always remeber that.
Vangurd had problems with the game itself. Big difference.
The only games i have seen working really good at launch is LOTRO and DF.
haha Yes, EVE FTW. Maybe He should explore de mmorpgs better.
exactly. even if DF is not the game for you, we should all be supporting independent developers that attempt to make innovative games. sadly, for darkfall, there is an undercurrent of teenage emo hate for DF because of shattered expectations that came from naively high expections, and an entrenched expectations of a WOW-clone-style MMO.
DF the game is actually going great: it's been really stable (the virtual mem problem introduced with last patch has been the first stability hiccup), and the gameplay is fun and addictive. Like any new MMO there are lots of small and some larger things that need fixing/improving, but the core game is really solid. I love it.
haha Yes, EVE FTW. Maybe He should explore de mmorpgs better.
by Towlie's logic, CCP must be lying about the large battles in EVE too.......
EVE's record for a single zone fight is 1400 ship btw. But that's not the point.
I think you'll find Tasos really means *fantasy* MMOs. Is there a fantasy MMO that can handle a 2K player battle in a zone?
haha Yes, EVE FTW. Maybe He should explore de mmorpgs better.
EVE is not manually aimed with real time combat. Huge difference. Think more of CoD with 2000 people, thats what Tasos is spaking about.
But i agree that he would not have said it.
if you can say that with a straight face you're one of the most dillusional persons in here. i'd advise checking out the posts from launch-week.
Well my reason for why all the trolls did that is because they want all the people that are interested in DF out of their games. It makes sense to me, less gank fest in other PvP games and more in DF. I wish some of the gankfest people would leave WoW. While I do love PvP I hate people that are 50 levels killing me and then camping my corpse. I kill someone and then move on because I want people to enjoy the game and not give them hell so the quit playing.
1700+ but not 1800
yes DFo have a very stable client
Man you are so clueless! Mythic and Funcom are lazy? DF takes 9 years to come out, WAR comes out in about 3 years and Mythic is lazy? And AV is so unlazy that they won't even lift a finger to update their site or admit to the public the game "supposively" launched? And the worse part is DF is missing TONS of features. People hate Funcom for FOREVER for that yet DF fans praise AV for not including many of the features on their site in their game as a GREAT thing and love Tasos for being honest? I cannot help but thing the people that say this are part of a big internet joke...
"Without new ideas, this market gets like Funcom with AoC, Mythic with Warhammer, or Sigil with Vanguard, tons of cash and no ideas"
AoC - new combat system, class mechanics
WAR - Public quests, Tome of Knowledge, class mechanics
Vanguard - Diplomacy, their verison of crafting, class mechanics
They all had new ideas. Guess how many DF has? Zero. Not one new idea at all. And I mentioned class mechanics because they all have new and interesting classes in those games. DF has "swing up and down or swing left and right".
It's fine to like a game, DF is a game you obviously support from all your posts regardless of you saying you're neutral, but AoC/WAR/VG are all good games in their own aspects as well. The companies weren't just "lazy" and trying to screw everyone over. MMOs are supposed to last a long time, not one of those companies TRIES to screw people over, there are just WAY too many MMO gamers that are delusional, including yourself.
Well, actually, I'm under the impression WoW can. We managed a raid that was around 600 people on Stormwind on Argent Dawn (EU) a month or two. I mean, it was laggy as fuck and probably about to crash, but it survived. And we held the Cathedral for about six hours before the amount of Alliance got too many.
( We're Horde. The ratio of Horde to Alliance is 1:2.3 on AD. )
yes DFo have a very stable client
Your avatar is a surprisingly good analogy for what you just typed. =p
Interesting to see a less arrogant Tasos. He does seem to be more civil in his responses finally. Maybe he is finally learning some humility. It seems they are addressing the important issues and fixing them which is a definite plus for those playing.
As to the people who have to use the word "troll" and "hater" in their dialogs. All that does is indicate a immature person will little self esteem. You need to expand your vocabulary a bit and discuss the topic instead of trying to bait others.
I have a couple friends playing and they are having fun. So I can understand that the game can be fun to play.
On the other side of the coin, saying the client is stable is a joke, crashes are not that uncommon, but I understand it is much better since the last patch.
As to the cheaters, they are far more numerous than Tasos wants to admit. Because of the way the client is written it is quite easy to do so without others knowing. Most of the people cheating are not doing so by visible means. Tasos implying that they are sophisticated enough to detect them is just words in the wind.
I must say though, that Darkfall turned out far better than I expected, but it has a way to go yet.
"Standing on the heads of other players isn't very realistic, it's true, but neither is magic."
/facepalm
"The launch of the game was incredible?" Are you fuqin kidding me? That has got to be about the worst launch of a game ever, and I have played a lot of MMO launches. Stable Client? Uhhh yeah, the client still crashes without warning at least once a week. I have played this since launch and enjoyed it somewhat for the first month, but now find it to be a boring game with an immense amount of grinding and rampant cheating and hacking. Rapidly losing interest in it and now watching the devs begin to make terrible decisions, the latest patch and the nerf of starter weapon skill up is a heinoous dev decision that only punishes new players and those without the resources to keep themsleves stocked in non-starter weapons.
Incredible launch...HA!
I wonder if the people playing right now realize they are playing a pay to play beta. Thats why there are a limited number of retail keys. Its a beta you pay for while they use you to perfect the game and add content and features that are missing. The old beta testers, myself included, were saying the game wasnt ready, and they released it anyways. I also have to laugh at the comment about players jumping on echothers head, that its ok because there is also magic in the world. I suppose by that same argument exploiting is ok, because its just as magical as magic.
Is that the best you got for thrashing the game. LOL, the trolls are grasping at straws now.
Well, I am lucky enough to have been be playing the game almost since launch, and although it has some problems (including the 'out of virtual memory' error actually getting worse since the last patch, which was supposed to fix it), I am having a lot of fun.
AV are patching very aggressively, and on most fronts the game is improving all the time: for example, city gates and Warhulks (and other ships) are now in.
To be honest, the game is up together enough for me to be glad that I am playing it now, rather than still waiting for it.
Well, I have been following this launch for a while.
From what I can tell people are enjoying the game, but on the other hand it feels like a huge smoke and mirrors routine. Firstly because, they were no where near ready to release this game. If you add up all the facts
1. They said they would never do Pre orders
2. They are doing limited releases weekly..... The numbers are equivilant to BETA invitations.
3. Their servers cannot handle alot of people..... Also noted in the forums (move your load point or what ever its called to lower queues)
4. Ontop of all of that, they didnt seem prepared at all on release with their purchasing system.......
5. And make an assumption that they are the only MMO capable of handling 2000 plus at once..... I am not sure on numbers but Planetside was an mmo, Shadowbane, Lineage 2, EVE, and a few others had FAR more dynamics in combat and held 1000s of people having battles over castles islands and space itself all at once all over the servers....
6. With the current number of players.... Most the combat is centralized on their server.... Strictly due to their poloitical Dynamic... That being big clans competing with each other....
7. As far as being stable... Their Siege dynamic was severely flawed from the start and that was validated by a Player who writes for this site.
All in all.... It sounds like they ran out of funds, the publishers wanted results.... So they went to pre sales AND then started doing limited releases to gather additional funds....
Now of course this is all Speculation... But coming from outside the box and merely watching this..... It sounds like it is a good game but quite honestly after 6 + years, it has been far to disorganized and unprofessional as far as company performance. Now on the other hand if you look at the recent change in tone from the Dev team. They may be trying to make amends for all the misconceptions and excessive boasting.
In my opinion, we should just take a step back and just stop listening to them period! Lets judge them by their actions so they have no position or inability to use sleight of hand. They know we are gonna pick apart everything they say and miss what could actually be going on.
Good lord, i think he lives in a vacuum. They are not making 50 toons to fake you out, they are making it, because you can log in, run the game as a second instance, delete the first toon, and make a new one, all why your first guy IS STILL ION THE SERVER, allowing you to have a 20 man army.
then obviously his gaming sucks as bad as his day job...
There is hope for Darkfall. Having a company guy step up and actually answer players' questions and comments is a great move, that he could also say "Yeah, that was a problem, we've already fixed it" is a bonus.
I just think back to how SoE handled some of the issues in SW:G - first off never admiting the problem, then admiting the problem but promising they were considering a fix, then pretending to be a little busy, then invalidating the character class which originally raised the problem because it was easier to dump the class than fix the problem.
I have no issue with games prioritising content, and features such as weather should be added once the core game is stable. I do not have any problem with a game deciding to design things in one direction when I might have preferred another. But I have a very big problem with game companies who don't engage with their communities, or worse actively decieve them.
Thankfully Darkfall to me now seem firmly in the same camp as CCP - they each have their own unique issues, but the bottom line is that they are genuinely trying to make the best game for their customers that they can. I expect that Darkfall will take the same path as EVE - it will just keep on getting better from here.
For every comment he gave, there's no grey area over what he really meant.
I'm not sure if I'll purchase this game but I give Tasos lots of respect. How many q & a sessions from Mythic/Funcom/SOE would you have to go through to get the same amount of STRAIGHT answers. Not this vague stuff that everyone has to argue about how to interpret his answers.
I wish other MMOs will follow this guys way of answering questions from their players.
There may be no grey area.
But there is a hell of a lot of lies.
There may be no grey area.
But there is a hell of a lot of lies.
I don't play the game & will have to read other people's posts to determine if he's lying. It doesn't make sense to lie though, why not just give vague answers or dance around the questions like every other mmo rep does.
Sorry if you feel I am putting you on the spot but would be willing to list which parts were lies??
Thanks.
The launch of the GAME was incredible. A very stable cliant. It is the shop that people refers to when talking about a failed DF launch, not the game. Always remeber that.
Vangurd had problems with the game itself. Big difference.
The only games i have seen working really good at launch is LOTRO and DF.
Uhhh... No.
Let's not revise history, daarco.
Some of us *were* reading these same forums back then and know what was going on.
And it was very much not merely "the shop" that people were complaining about.
As I recall, and a scan back to around the time of the game's "release" reminds:
The actual "launch" didn't happen 'til the day after it was supposed to. The servers kept going down, and they were working to keep it running in its first days. People were posting here about being able to play for maybe 10 minutes before they went down, then were unable to get in again. People were getting stuck at the login screen. People were getting CTDs, people were charged for their account but were unable to play, sync issues... and so on.
AV acknowledged the issues and credited an extra 3 days to compensate for them; a move fans were praising them for as proof that they were a good company... remember?
So, no... the launch wasn't "incredible". Far from it. And, though I see what you're trying to do there, by separating the "game" from everything else... sorry, but that dog won't hunt. It's more of the same spin from one of the usual suspects. A MMO relies on the client, and the server, and the account servers, etc. etc. It's a package deal. If one part is fubar'd the whole thing is fubar'd.
Your post is yet another in a long list of examples of how DF fans will spin, dismiss or ignore anything negative about the game to "protect" it from legitimate scrutiny.
Stop spinning. Stop ignoring or revising history - especially when that history is still available and easily referenced.
There are a LOT of hackers, cheaters, exploiters and macro'ers in the game. The main guilds use them, and can be known to exclude people who don't. One of the main ones is the insta-loot macro, since you're meant to click and drag items to your inventory instead.
Also, he does actually dodge around the point three times, first with claiming that the fortress siege bugs were "miscellaneous" (they actually have a huge effect, as people can just run over the walls with certain fortress), also, in that paragraph, he says it has "been addressed and will continue to be addressed", which makes absolutely no sense. The next time is the whole standing on heads thing. I mean, that made me go "wtf?". Third, and finally, is with his dismissal of Darkfall's political system, which kinda reinforces the game as a really big UT domination game.
Wow,
What happened to reality here, I know everyone has been reading the forums since this game launched right? How can you come saying this games launch was incredible.... I think this is the ONLY GAME, I have ever seen where they called their Beta release a LAUNCH.....
I know alot of people may like the game but lets look at Tasos's apparent straight shooting Resposnes
1. This has been fixed already by adding gates to cities. We also added guard towers to clan cities. We're working on fixing the few miscellaneous bugs with walls and access points to cities. So this issue has been addressed and will continue to be addressed.
Answer: As you can see above, FIRST he claims the issue was fixed with adding gates, ok thats straight forward, then in order to make it seem important he says we are working on fixing the miscellaneous issues, when you put issues in context like that, it actually means " We will get to it eventually, but we get a chance shut up and live with it!" So as for GREY area, not once did he tell when the issue would be addressed, but he also made sure to let you it may eventually happen.... MIGHT people MIGHT! (This is all pointed out WSIMike)
2. This is being worked on as we speak in-game, but you'll be able to take care of clan administration outside the game as well. We're going to add this functionality in the next few patches.
Answer :So IF I wanted a Flying Space Monkey with a Baton how many Patches will that take? This was like fumbled attempt at dodging, We will be adding this in the next few patches... In short and to simplify it for all the THUDs out there, he is really saying "We are trying to make a website that you can do this from but we don't know when or how long its going to take to do it.... Let tell ya if that's not shooting straight and answering direct I don't know what is (that was sarcasm for all the THUDs that only read half the postings)... If you want Direct this we be a more direct answer " We are going to correct this issue by adding web accessible location" (granted this may still seem grey but its merely an attempt at more direct)
3. I will disagree strongly that battle lines are negated. We're seeing battle lines being used very effectively. Clans adapt and tactics evolve with what the players are able to do. This is the first MMORPG that we know about that formations are effective in combat, and where smaller, well organized groups can destroy much larger ones.
If a game mechanic gets in the way of a standard formation, then you have the freedom to modify your formation to deal with it.
Answer : I will disagree strongly that battle lines are negated. Hmmm someone remind me what a line is, oh yeah " A geometrical object that is straight, infinitely long and infinitely thin. In this case a line of people. There really is no LINE when people can stand each others heads, especially if I understand the game mechanics everyone has hit boxes or zones where they take damage. By standing on someones head you are removing anywhere from half to 3/4 of ur zone to hit, doesnt that change the everything when your trying to use a formation for a game and the only reason it doesnt work is because your opponent is altering the actual combat mechanics themselves? And quite frankly all MMOs that do not allow you to clip through other players are FORMATION games.... So if we are talking about planes, and I mean the geometrical PLANE not the aircraft, then I can see where he is validating a point... But his statment is a cop out and clear as day, punch in face followed by quit whining.( I love stupidity)
4. Yes it does suck. We're addressing the client crashes some players have been experiencing, most have been fixed but it's time consuming to get to the bottom of all causes of client crashing since this exists at the user level. In our current patch we've addressed the virtual address crashes. As for the server going down while there are sieges in progress, we are modifying the siege mechanics to address this problem. We already made it so mounts and rafts remain in the game.
All these are high priority issues with us and we're heavily invested in solving every one of these cases.
Answer: It really sounds like, yeah I am sorry we were not prepared and never did fully stress test our system. This is probably one his only direct answers or as close to it as you can get without saying something to get you burned..... Good job Tasos
1 out of 4 aint bad..... Shall we continue?
5. We agree with Gordric, and we're working on improving the siege mechanics so this is no longer such an issue.
Answer: How many times are going to adjust siege mechanics for time and for crashes, but we are not going to correct a generalized combat issue that I have only ever seen used in an FPS.
6. We're adding features to the game in every weekly patch, and we have a long prioritized list of features to be added, most of which haven't been advertised.
Answer: By saying this, doesnt that advertise that you do have options that your just not listing, infact I think MOST GAMES do this hell even Shopping storers do this, " This is on sale, and this too and oh we have these and much more!" How about focus on your issues before you add more problems, Strictly from this Q and A session alone you have
Server stability issues
Combat issues
Siege Issues
User Interface Issues
You really want to add more to the plate?
7. Well this is of course true, but things are improving every day. This is a temporary problem and it stems from the demand. Consider this: Theirs is no "buy Darkfall" link. It's all happening by word of mouth and still the demand is overwhelming. We're opening up the shop every now and then and thousands of copies are bought up in a matter of minutes. Our first priority is to serve the players who are in the game, making sure they're having a good experience. This is why there are no queues to get into the game anymore, why we're not selling this game 24/7, and why we're just not throwing up servers in a hurry just to meet the demand - and we won't until we're ready to give good service. We're working non-stop on getting our capacity up, to get new servers up and on improving conditions in the existing ones.
This issue will be a thing of the past soon, and what's going to be left is an excellent game and an excellent user experience.
Answer: I don't know, you think it would have been easier to say, Thank you for pre ordering and paying to test our game!" ?
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99% of everything he said will be did in another 8 years
and their lauch wasnt a beta launch it was a pre alpha game launch
I loved ´Lord Gluttony´ speech... ITs priceless... I thought DFO was intend to be a game for more than 10 years old, I guess I was wrong... I *REALLY* hope that this imbecile is not the example of gamer of DFO...
I completely agree and for people that don't quite understand how much the fortress bugs affect the game(It's a recent video of a raid. Watch how people walk on the side of the mountains to get over the walls ):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfU2rI5wfaE
He did however answer the questions(If the one answering is indeed him and not someone else). I don't like any of them but... he at least replied. I would be nice if he added a timeline to all the fixes that "will continue to be addressed".
Tasos continues to prove that he is incapable of doing anything good for Darkfall.
Just thought I would pick up on point 2 you made.
He said they were working on it and that they would let you deal with it out of game in a few patches. Last Friday the website was launched. That was a couple of patches after this interview. You can now access your journal by going to the site and using your in game login name and password.
While a lot of things you complain about, its good to acknowledge when a dev does what he says he is going to do.