http://www.sickenger.com/articles/the_making_of_darkfall/

I thought it was well worth the read, very interesting take on how Darkfall started to where it is today and how it got there. If only Darkfall could attract the playerbase I still think the game would be fantastic.

If only Darkfall was fantastic, I think it could attract the playerbase.

(Cart before the horse)

If only Darkfall hadn't been a exercise in masochism and anti-social behavior.

Darkfall will always remember me to this forum when someone made a thread with a picture of a speedboat with a person waving money in the air and telling us all it were the developers.

I lol'd so hard.

Darkfall would attract the playerbase if it wasn't some horrible grindfest. I would sign up today if I had more to look forward to than afk macros.

Originally posted by MMOExposed
Why did Darkfall fail to many of the sandbox players? You act like it wasn't going to have PvP. Hey UO had FFA as well

Of course we all know that sandbox = full pvp + full loot. Voilà!

I am still clueless why people bothered playing Darkfall in the first place. I just shook my head when I read what the game is all about. All you could do is (a) getting skills (b) getting stats (c) do PvP ... what for ? The rulesystem was unbelievably primitive. I checked the forums and all the people discussed was how to maximize Con(stitution). I also read somewhere people were playing the game naked(!) so they wouldnt lose their equipment to gankers. It would be funny if it wouldnt be so sad. Darkfall is a total fail to me as a game, and all it required was just reading their Wikipedia page ...

Originally posted by Axehilt

If only Darkfall was fantastic, I think it could attract the playerbase.

(Cart before the horse)

They self-restricted their own player base to a single very specific type of player; how successful could they possibly be?  The very best they can hope for is being successful within their own highly limited niche.

:shrug:

Originally posted by MMOExposed
Why did Darkfall fail to many of the sandbox players? You act like it wasn't going to have PvP. Hey UO had FFA as well

because many sandbox players don't want ffa PVP with full loot and many of those believe a sandbox does not NEED FFA PVP and full loot to BE considered a sandbox.

Originally posted by Ecoces

Originally posted by MMOExposed
Why did Darkfall fail to many of the sandbox players? You act like it wasn't going to have PvP. Hey UO had FFA as well

because many sandbox players don't want ffa PVP with full loot and many of those believe a sandbox does not NEED FFA PVP and full loot to BE considered a sandbox.

+1 (even if I do like DF, but that is despite the FFA full loot)

Originally posted by Ecoces

Originally posted by MMOExposed
Why did Darkfall fail to many of the sandbox players? You act like it wasn't going to have PvP. Hey UO had FFA as well

because many sandbox players don't want ffa PVP with full loot and many of those believe a sandbox does not NEED FFA PVP and full loot to BE considered a sandbox.

And yet most sandbox mmos had or have ffa pvp with a looting mechanic of one sort or another. Do you think developers add them to the majority of sandbox games for a laugh?

A sandbox may not totally and utterly need ffa pvp, but a sandbox is about freedom and player driven mechanics. Something ffa provides. It can be a pitta if done badly, but then anything is shite done badly.

A sandbox, ffa pvp or no is going to be a niche product in this day and age regardless when compared to the AAA themepark games in the genre. What is hurting Darkfall within this niche has little to fuck all to do with FFA and full loot and a great deal to do with a crippling grind, bugs, little content outside of pvp and a dev team promising the world and delivering next to nothing.

Originally posted by bunnyhopper

Originally posted by Ecoces

Originally posted by MMOExposed
Why did Darkfall fail to many of the sandbox players? You act like it wasn't going to have PvP. Hey UO had FFA as well

because many sandbox players don't want ffa PVP with full loot and many of those believe a sandbox does not NEED FFA PVP and full loot to BE considered a sandbox.

And yet most sandbox mmos had or have ffa pvp with a looting mechanic of one sort or another. Do you think developers add them to the majority of sandbox games for a laugh?

 

A sandbox may not totally and utterly need ffa pvp, but a sandbox is about freedom and player driven mechanics. Something ffa provides. It can be a pitta if done badly, but then anything is shite done badly.

 

A sandbox, ffa pvp or no is going to be a niche product in this day and age regardless when compared to the AAA themepark games in the genre. What is hurting Darkfall within this niche has little to fuck all to do with FFA and full loot and a great deal to do with a crippling grind, bugs, little content outside of pvp and a dev team promising the world and delivering next to nothing.

 

 

 +1 Spot on there buddy my thoughts too.

Originally posted by bunnyhopper

Originally posted by Ecoces

Originally posted by MMOExposed
Why did Darkfall fail to many of the sandbox players? You act like it wasn't going to have PvP. Hey UO had FFA as well

because many sandbox players don't want ffa PVP with full loot and many of those believe a sandbox does not NEED FFA PVP and full loot to BE considered a sandbox.

And yet most sandbox mmos had or have ffa pvp with a looting mechanic of one sort or another. Do you think developers add them to the majority of sandbox games for a laugh?

because they are stupid and try to give the players the freedom you mention in the next area. developers for some reason have failed to realize that many MMO gamers are some of the most POS gamers in any genre and given enough freedom they will ruin the game and then cry and moan why no one is playing the game. SWG(pre-nge) had no FFA and No full loot and it was a sandbox doing much better than these griefer ridden games.

 

A sandbox may not totally and utterly need ffa pvp, but a sandbox is about freedom and player driven mechanics. Something ffa provides. It can be a pitta if done badly, but then anything is shite done badly.

one persons freedom is another persons limitation, when your freedom to gank overrides my freedom to explore in peace ... i have no freedom.

 

A sandbox, ffa pvp or no is going to be a niche product in this day and age regardless when compared to the AAA themepark games in the genre. What is hurting Darkfall within this niche has little to fuck all to do with FFA and full loot and a great deal to do with a crippling grind, bugs, little content outside of pvp and a dev team promising the world and delivering next to nothing.

 

FFA PVP and Full loot will always make people shy away from that sort of game so yes its a big reason (may not be the only reason) that the game is remaining niche. people have shown in many asian games they don't mind grinding and people can put up with bugs and lack of content (for a while anyway). but feeling like they are prey and having to watch their back always is not what most want. even in one of the premeire PVP games DAOC when they opened up the FFA PVP it was popular for about a month and then both servers had to be combined into one because their population was dying. while many other servers were just fine. that should tell you something about FFA PVP im sure it wont but it should.

 

 

Originally posted by M1sf1t

If only Darkfall hadn't been a exercise in masochism and anti-social behavior.

You win the internet.

Originally posted by Icewhite

Originally posted by Axehilt

If only Darkfall was fantastic, I think it could attract the playerbase.

(Cart before the horse)

They self-restricted their own player base to a single very specific type of player; how successful could they possibly be?  The very best they can hope for is being successful within their own highly limited niche.

:shrug:

100% agreement.  The inital influx of players were people that thought they would like a game with a ruleset like DF but quickly learned it was nothing but an exercise in aggravation.  A sort of masocism as another poster put it.

And DF developers have learned nothing, they are going down the same path, with a slight graphical upgrade and minor adjustment to skills and magic schools, calling it a "new" game but for the same old highly limited niche of a few thousand gamers.

Originally posted by bunnyhopper

Originally posted by Ecoces

Originally posted by MMOExposed
Why did Darkfall fail to many of the sandbox players? You act like it wasn't going to have PvP. Hey UO had FFA as well

because many sandbox players don't want ffa PVP with full loot and many of those believe a sandbox does not NEED FFA PVP and full loot to BE considered a sandbox.

And yet most sandbox mmos had or have ffa pvp with a looting mechanic of one sort or another. Do you think developers add them to the majority of sandbox games for a laugh?

 

A sandbox may not totally and utterly need ffa pvp, but a sandbox is about freedom and player driven mechanics. Something ffa provides. It can be a pitta if done badly, but then anything is shite done badly.

 

A sandbox, ffa pvp or no is going to be a niche product in this day and age regardless when compared to the AAA themepark games in the genre. What is hurting Darkfall within this niche has little to fuck all to do with FFA and full loot and a great deal to do with a crippling grind, bugs, little content outside of pvp and a dev team promising the world and delivering next to nothing.

 

 

I wish you were right but I believe you are dead wrong.  You cant mix PVE with full loot PVP.  Meaning you can have PVE areas and PVP areas but trying to mix them together and inviting both groups to the party is a disaster.  You will only be left with people wanting to PVP, which is the sorry state that DF is in now.    Darkfall 2.0 will end up EXACTLY like the current state of DF in year or so nothing with change. 

Originally posted by Icewhite

Originally posted by Axehilt

If only Darkfall was fantastic, I think it could attract the playerbase.

(Cart before the horse)

They self-restricted their own player base to a single very specific type of player; how successful could they possibly be?  The very best they can hope for is being successful within their own highly limited niche.

:shrug:

Thats the difference between mmo's and console games.

DF is like console games in term of: it tries to appeal to 1 type of gamer.

If you play streetfighter, its only cuz you like fighting game. If you play contra, its cuz you like hardcore single player game with 3 lives at the start. If you like sims, its cuz you like creating your own world and it goes on.

As for other mainstream mmo's, they try to appeal to everyone, but at the end, its not for everyone since those who do play darkfall hates every other mmo's.

The DF devs dont even advertise their game. None of my friends or anyone at school know what DF is. This is why the population is so low. Thing is, they dont have to waste money to advertise the game, so they can still make profit base on that small player base.

Finaly,  the devs are making a game that they will enjoy playing themself. Yes, they are gamers too  so they mostly thought about themselves before the others. Thats what niche companies do.

DF is still 15 a month BTW, not free like all the other failmmo's.

Originally posted by Realbigdeal

Finaly,  the devs are making a game that they will enjoy playing themself. Yes, they are gamers too  so they mostly thought about themselves before the others. Thats what niche companies do.

And that's fine, a niche is a niche.  As long as the OP upthread is aware that the self-limitation means the game is not likely to grow much bigger than it currently is.

I'm always a fan of devs that stick by their vision.  Right or wrong, its exactly the game they wanted.

Originally posted by Icewhite

Originally posted by Realbigdeal

Finaly,  the devs are making a game that they will enjoy playing themself. Yes, they are gamers too  so they mostly thought about themselves before the others. Thats what niche companies do.

And that's fine, a niche is a niche.  As long as the OP upthread is aware that the self-limitation means the game is not likely to grow much bigger than it currently is.

I'm always a fan of devs that stick by their vision.  Right or wrong, its exactly the game they wanted.

i think considering the size of DFs playerbase 'niche' would be an overstatement.