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More First Impressions
I've finally had a chance to play, and figured it couldn't hurt to provide a few more first impressions. I should preface my observations and opinions with a note that I'm not a fan of how AV has handled the launch, and even less so of their choice to use Flambourass as a spokesperson, as he has to be the single biggest ass in the industry to whom I've personally been witness (on the development side – I'm sure there are players who would have him licked.)
That being said, the game definitely exists, and is not, at least in my opinion, a PoS. Old school is an adjective that came to mind a lot in my first day wandering around. The ambience reminded me a bit of my first days in EQ, although perhaps a bit scarier because of the potential for gankers around every corner (and I did run into a few, although I've managed to escape from them them all so far w/o a death.) One of the main reasons I wanted to try the game is that I wanted something where quests were not central to the experience. I'm tired of trying to manage a quest log, and want to go back to the days where it was just fun exploring. I've done a few quests so far, and I don't think I have to worry about quest management being my highest priority. They seem to be relatively simple, but you don't get a lot of help and aren't led around by the nose with quest guide arrows and that sort of thing. The last one I finished before logging this morning was the one where you have to kill 7 goblins in an hour. I finished it with about 15 minutes left. It's not as easy as one would think, especially if you're like me, and still haven't figured out how to get the magic spells, e.g. healing to work (even after equipping a staff.)
The interface is daunting, and lacks a lot of the supposed refinements that are being passed around from game to game these days, e.g. compartmentalized inventories. Instead of getting bags with slots, you get a bag, and you just stuff things into it. It can look very messy. I'm sure there are probably ways to organize it. I just haven't learned them yet. Right click changes modes and pulls up the menu for skills, etc. that in most games is usually mapped to a hotkey. That took a lot of getting used to as I tried to walk around and kept accidentally clicking the button and stopping.
I remember one person posting about DF saying that skilling up is essentially the same as leveling. I would have to disagree. Yes, there is a linear progression in each set of skills, but the dynamic in game is a lot different, both for the player and the others with whom he interacts. When gankers came after me in game, I couldn't look at them and say “oh, he's 10 levels higher than me, so I'd better not mess with him.” I just had to guess. Of course, I ran like a sissy every time regardless, just because I knew my skills were so low that I had no business messing around with PvP. Thank God for running and sprinting skillups! (BTW, one particularly annoying person running around trying to gank people in the newbie area was a naked male dwarf named Wunderbara – feel free to grief him to your heart's content if you run into him.)
Truth be told, I only ran into a few people trying to gank newbies. I had more of a problem with ninja looters than gankers. There were a lot of people running around trying to loot everything – even my fresh kills as I was sheathing my weapon to be able to loot. I'll just have to figure out a faster way of looting until I can skill up enough to bash their heads in.
One thing that I think really sets this game apart from others I've played is the AI. Some may like it, and others may not, but combat is definitely more of a challenge. First, you don't autolock on a mob (at least I couldn't find a way to do it.) In melee, you have to keep the cursor on the mob and hack away with your weapon (this may sound familiar to people playing TCoS.) In fighting goblins, I didn't find a single one that would just come up and stand still bashing on me while I bashed on him. They would try to move around to my side and behind me, and I would have to turn and keep them targeted with the mouse while hacking away. It wound up being a sort of dance. At times, they'd run away and (1) try to shoot me with an arrow if they got far enough away; (2) get friends; or (3) turn around at some random point and start dancing with me again. Mobs work together pretty darn well.
I found it interesting that AV provided visual cues to let you know when your health is getting low, so you don't have to constantly keep your eye on the health bar. Granted, I was naked, but my body got bloodier and bloodier as my health got lower. I don't have much armor yet, so I don't know whether it will start to look dented/beaten up as I fight, but will be curious to see.
All in all, I enjoyed my first day. It takes more work and patience than the average MMO. When I start running into more gankers, it'll probably try my patience even more. Hopefully the rewards will be worth it. I'll give it some more time and see.
Comments
Nice write up!
You know I actually like the inventory the way it is. I am not sure but I think its really a "feature" thats intended. The reason that I think this is because I believe its more complex to code the way that it is. I think they were going for realistically increasing the time it takes to loot or deal with your inventory, giving the players that organise their backpack ahead of time the appropriate advantage. Alot of times when you loot a new critter the item your looking for is buried amogst the worthless crap so you cant just "grab and go" or even know if its in there. Increasing Risk!!
Yes the armor degrades and bloodies up as you get hit. Get hit enough and the armor will break (an issue with older players who dislike this kind of timesinks)
equip staff and drag heal self from the Spells list to the hotbar and use it.
It's funny, but I tried that. I tried clicking on the skill in the hotbar once I had it there, and tried pressing the number for it on the keyboard as well (with the orcish staff equipped.) There has to be a trick I'm overlooking. Oh well, I've got a lot of clan recruitment e-mails from a post I put on the official forums. I'll probably have to read them, join one, and see if I can get them to help me learn the ropes a bit.
On a related note, I did find people to be relatively helpful in the race/alliance channel when I posted questions. Apparently, not everyone is "hardcore" in the sense some might think.
Got some good news, they are adding quests and more low level mobs across the globe.
As well as fixing the crafting system by autoing it.
And they made the AI more difficult and fixed lots of bugs with the PVE and lots of other stuff in these last two patches.
ALL in ALL they are making a patch once a week that is adding huge amounts of stuff, its clearly that they couldnt add all this in at launch and they didnt just remake it. This maybe a paid beta and a stress test of some sorts but its for the best.
So all those people who are waiting to get in, when they have actually do a FULL time release be prepard to be amazed.
I was in a 75vs75 battle, and it was just so tactical. I am in the SB alliance and we were facing Dusk's alliance, trying to take a hamlet.
So we were riding there about 1 hour pre siege was allowed and saw them riding towards us after we went over the hill. We had the higher ground and dismounted and started to cast spells and shoot arrows.
I stayed on my horse, because I have low skills all around, so I was killing the runawayers.
Killed 2-3 of them with my mount and then looted a few. and got low on health so I remounted ran and about 2-3 of them chased me for like 5-15 minutes and finally got me and my mount and all the gear.
That was the first battle, then they attacked us at our City. I got tons of loot there, because there full force didnt come I believe and they got hammered.( got my mount back YAY)
Then we did the actual siege on the hamlet and didnt have that much of a challenge the 3rd battle of this war, and we took over the hamlet.
Then we sieged again from that hamlet to a diff alliances city, They won the first 2-3 battle. and took our hamlet, but we didnt give up, At like the last 30 minutes of the siege timer there bindstone was at 40 %ish and we rode in there with tons of cannons and just made a last attempt and won it(I died so i didnt actually see them destroy the bindstone) but we traded that hamlet for that city,
This all happened in like 4 day period. This game is instense and with all the contents they are adding should prove that this game isnt just about sieging(which at first I thought it was) but with the more pve and the better AI the less of a grind crafting mastery Skills and soon less of a grind for the weapons and magic I am sure. And all the tweaks they doing to magic and gear and weapons and fixing bugs( BTW they fixed the armor durability while in combat so it lasts longer today.) This game will soon to be the game it was meant to be. Should it had a bad launch but what MMO did not when they tried something new?
It's funny, but I tried that. I tried clicking on the skill in the hotbar once I had it there, and tried pressing the number for it on the keyboard as well (with the orcish staff equipped.) There has to be a trick I'm overlooking. Oh well, I've got a lot of clan recruitment e-mails from a post I put on the official forums. I'll probably have to read them, join one, and see if I can get them to help me learn the ropes a bit.
On a related note, I did find people to be relatively helpful in the race/alliance channel when I posted questions. Apparently, not everyone is "hardcore" in the sense some might think.
Make sure your staff is unsheathed.
It's funny, but I tried that. I tried clicking on the skill in the hotbar once I had it there, and tried pressing the number for it on the keyboard as well (with the orcish staff equipped.) There has to be a trick I'm overlooking. Oh well, I've got a lot of clan recruitment e-mails from a post I put on the official forums. I'll probably have to read them, join one, and see if I can get them to help me learn the ropes a bit.
On a related note, I did find people to be relatively helpful in the race/alliance channel when I posted questions. Apparently, not everyone is "hardcore" in the sense some might think.
Make sure your staff is unsheathed.
I tried that. Trust me, I tried everything that appeared to me to be an obvious troubleshooting technique. When I unsheathed the staff, it went into an Oblivion-like FPV instead of the rear 3rd PV that pops up with unsheathed swords. I imagine it's supposed to do that because magic combat is ranged and you need to aim a little better, right?
Tried it last night - all things considered, I had a good experience and enjoyed it. I only played for a few hours, so I can't give any in-depth impressions, but I tend to agree with what many have said:
All-in-all, the experience was fine. It wasn't "ZOMG!, this is the best MMO EVAR!", but it wasn't "OMGWTFBBQSAUCE! This game is teh Sux0r!", either.
~Ripper
Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention a few questions that I had about the character models, like how the packages on the females are as big as the ones on the men. What's with that???
Seriously, though, character models are bad in a lot of games. If they're at least relatively decent, I can't hold it against the developers.
Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention a few questions that I had about the character models, like how the packages on the females are as big as the ones on the men. What's with that???
Seriously, though, character models are bad in a lot of games. If they're at least relatively decent, I can't hold it against the developers.
In this case, I'd agree, especially since you're rarely looking at your own avatar, except from behind, perhaps.
~Ripper
Logged in for my second session. Decided to go exploring, mostly to see if I could find one of those nifty solo-friendly spots.
~Ripper
Cool, nice to see you are having some fun. Keep the posts coming!
As you discover new pve areas and explore more, you will begin to see more people and mobs since there are many hot spots that are around the world. Just keep playing the game and your knowledge will increase and be able to know more places
Logged in again, tried to find some of the new solo/small group friendly spots in the outlying areas and islands:
So, another couple hours of exploring, basically finding nothing except a few mob spawns, none of which I really had a chance of fighting against as a solo player, especially one with pretty low skilsl, having just started the game. I only saw a handful of players outside the starting area (Hunter's Moon) and, even then, there were very few.
The world, in general, as I indicated above is pretty much devoid of life except for the mob spawn locations, which aren't terribly common. There really aren't any NPCs, even in what look like otherwise inhabited locations. it's a little disconcerting finding what looks like an inhabited farmstead (lit torches and lanterns), but not find anybody there. There isn't any fauna roaming around (deer, rabbits, anything...). All of this contributes to the world feeling very empty and barren, in general. Yes, there are mobs spawn locations, but there's nothing in between them. In all the swimming I've done in the last few hours of playing, I've never seen a single water mob. If I did, it'd probably be something I couldn't handle, anyway.
Fighting goblins, killing another player, and even getting killed by humans a couple times was fun, but I'd like to explore more to see if I can find something I can actually kill other than goblins.
~Ripper
Technically a gank is when you roll up on another player while he is engaged fighting a mob and low on health. Hence why gankers are usually regarded as the worse PVPers. I'm not saying there is something wrong with ganking, to each his own
What you did was KICK-ASS and held your ground, good stuff.
The world seems very bare to put it mildly. I enjoy the environmental graphics and seamless world. It makes you wonder if maybe the server technology or technology in general is what's holding back the game. Perhaps populating the game with "life", whether it be animal critters to fill up the barren land or more mob spawns/npcs, might bring back life to the game, but doing this while balancing gameplay is a difficult task. Which leads me to my other point, that is why you see so many angry people on these type of forums bashing the game after trying it and waiting for it for so long. They're upset because a game in development for 8 years should've forseen problems such as these, especially if said game is being developed by gamers themselves who HAVE played MMOs for so long. But like I always say, to each his own. It isn't the first game to hype up their own release, it is just the one that did it for the longest.
This is how you cast your spells or do alot of different actions in the game. I assure you that if you follow these and have the specific spell or skill hotkeyed you will do it correctly. Open up lesser magic spells and drag the heal self spell icon into your hotbar. Now you are ready.
- you equip your staff (use the hotkey your staff is in or double click on it in your backpack)
- press R to unsheath (ready) it.
- hit your hotkey for your spell, now you will see that the spell icon is loaded in the action queue. The action queue is that little bulb hanging down at the bottom of your hotbar.
- now you press your left mouse button (action button) and it performs whatever is readied in your queue. (this is probably the step you have been missing as most people think that hitting the hotkey performs the action but it on its own, doesn't.)
Some things are automatically queued for you but spells aren't. If you unsheathed your melee weapon you automatically have its basic attack queued so you don't have to hotkey and then hit left mouse button. You just unsheath sword and click mouse attack. However, if you were to use a special sword attack (skill) such as knockback or whirlwind you will have to do the hotkey step and then press your left mouse button (action button) to perform that attack just as you would have to do to cast a specific skill.
The UI does seem very clunky. This was a huge turn off for me the first hour maybe even the first day, but as days turned into weeks none of it is even noticeable and within a short time your actions will flow smoothly and be second nature to you as with pretty much all the other MMO's out there.
I know where you were at. The ice continent in the NW is owned and controlled by the Death Alliance. I am a member of a clan in that alliance. The continent is named Niflheim by AV but the players call it Deceit. I am surprised you made it onto that continent, spent some time and made it off alive. There are alot of independant guerilla fighters up there and most clans have to be on constant alert and on patrol.
The players in those clans are some of the coolest on the server as far as trash talking goes. They keep a low profile and let their actions in game speak for themselves. They have several very good PvP clans too but the rules up on ice is if you aren't one of them, you are a target. You won't be able to wander into any of the player controlled cities nor the chaos city and be allowed to live if someone sees you and you aren't one of them. Actually, almost all player controlled areas are that way in this game. There is too much spying and intel gathering going on for any clan to allow unguilded to walk amongst them.
In the first month of release, that continent saw an epic struggle between two evenly matched alliances for control and ownership. It went back and forth and was anyone's guess who would come out on top. I remember it being the most exciting time in DF for me yet because I knew the losers would lose their cities and its a tough road to go down when you are homeless and trying to keep your guild intact. The Death Alliance had 3 initial members but during that war on ice, they doubled in size as their oppenent doubled as well. Now they are a very strong alliance, hold alot of player hamlets and citys that cover a large portion of the NW and all of the area you've detailed in your early wanderings.
Its hard to explore because people will kill you everytime they can when you are in their territories. That's how it must be. I played since beta and there is still alot of the map I haven't seen much of if at all. Alot of my exploring comes from doing war campaigns into enemy territory, small PvP raids, scouting or intel gathering.
Here is a link to the latest political map of player propertys and who owns them if you or anyone else here are interested.
http://members.sd-pk.de/DFPoliticalMap.jpg
The game is devoid of NPC life because NPC's aren't hardcore enough so they took them out and let the hardcore enough PC players (those that no longer have a F5 button).
If you ever want to give a friend a try, let me know, I'll be happy to play this game just so I can confirm my all-knowningness. =p
He who keeps his cool best wins.
Yeah - I know what ganking is, but I was using the term as it's applied in Darkfall. I logged in for an hour or so this morning for a little more adventuring. This time, instead of going north, I went south, intent on heading into the center of the continent. Here's what I found:
End of play session.
Summary - have explored a good bit of land north and south of my starting area, have found next to nothing except for occasional players and mob spawns, most of which I'm not strong enough to fight on my own, new patch notwithstanding.
~Ripper
I'm still curious to know exactly what it means in game. I got my butt kicked once by an older group of about 4-5 Mirdain running around a newbie area killing people, and when I looked at my gank log, no one showed up. Not sure if it just takes time for that list to update, or if there's a highly specialized meaning for the term.
I'm still curious to know exactly what it means in game. I got my butt kicked once by an older group of about 4-5 Mirdain running around a newbie area killing people, and when I looked at my gank log, no one showed up. Not sure if it just takes time for that list to update, or if there's a highly specialized meaning for the term.
Ganking, in Darkfall, is essentially a "finishing move". After you've beat you're opponent so badly he or she is lying gurgling on teh ground, you use a skill called "gank", which finishes them real good. It's not particularly intuitive, however. You need to enter UI mode, click the skill in your hotbar to make it available, exit UI mode, then L-click your opponent to use Gank on them. Please note, if you're ganking a member of your race, this will turn you rogue temporarily, even if you're not the one who killed them (as I learned when I ganked a poor hapless maharim who was lying gurgling in the grass - I figured I couldn't heal him, so I might as well kill him).
~Ripper
I'm still curious to know exactly what it means in game. I got my butt kicked once by an older group of about 4-5 Mirdain running around a newbie area killing people, and when I looked at my gank log, no one showed up. Not sure if it just takes time for that list to update, or if there's a highly specialized meaning for the term.
Ganking, in Darkfall, is essentially a "finishing move". After you've beat you're opponent so badly he or she is lying gurgling on teh ground, you use a skill called "gank", which finishes them real good. It's not particularly intuitive, however. You need to enter UI mode, click the skill in your hotbar to make it available, exit UI mode, then L-click your opponent to use Gank on them. Please note, if you're ganking a member of your race, this will turn you rogue temporarily, even if you're not the one who killed them (as I learned when I ganked a poor hapless maharim who was lying gurgling in the grass - I figured I couldn't heal him, so I might as well kill him).
~Ripper
or you could press X which is the hot key for gank and then just click on him.
I'm still curious to know exactly what it means in game. I got my butt kicked once by an older group of about 4-5 Mirdain running around a newbie area killing people, and when I looked at my gank log, no one showed up. Not sure if it just takes time for that list to update, or if there's a highly specialized meaning for the term.
Ganking, in Darkfall, is essentially a "finishing move". After you've beat you're opponent so badly he or she is lying gurgling on teh ground, you use a skill called "gank", which finishes them real good. It's not particularly intuitive, however. You need to enter UI mode, click the skill in your hotbar to make it available, exit UI mode, then L-click your opponent to use Gank on them. Please note, if you're ganking a member of your race, this will turn you rogue temporarily, even if you're not the one who killed them (as I learned when I ganked a poor hapless maharim who was lying gurgling in the grass - I figured I couldn't heal him, so I might as well kill him).
~Ripper
or you could press X which is the hot key for gank and then just click on him.
Thanks - I didn't know that! When I asked in chat, I was told the other.
~Ripper
I'm not a DF fan, and am actually a critic, but if you demand npc's and such in an mmo, you will be devastatingly dissapointed in DF. Though they said they are adding more spawns and such, pve isn't DF's forte by any means right now, nor was it intended to (it has the potential to be decent in the future).
Anyway, don't expect too much, your in a paid beta, have fun testing it for the rest of us!
When I'm energetic I'm:
the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
When I'm at default I'm:
WHITE/BLUE
Lol according to this I'm bipolar :O
I got pwnd
The further adventures of a newbie in Darkffall:)
* What's with the new option to forgive your killer? It seems like this will simply encourage players to kill each other without fear of going rogue, thereby ensuring easy skill leveling? Am I missing the point of this feature?
~Ripper
I'm not a DF fan, and am actually a critic, but if you demand npc's and such in an mmo, you will be devastatingly dissapointed in DF. Though they said they are adding more spawns and such, pve isn't DF's forte by any means right now, nor was it intended to (it has the potential to be decent in the future).
Anyway, don't expect too much, your in a paid beta, have fun testing it for the rest of us!
I've been pretty skeptical of Darkfall for the last few months, but I'm willing to give it a fair shake. I didn't think I'd try it unless there was a free trial, but I ended up buying it the other day on a whim. I've had fun, so far, but we'll see if that lasts as I test further.
~Ripper