What allowed my experience of Darkfall the first few months to be a lot better experience than yours was a different perspective on gaming industry and retail industry in general.
1. If a game site doesn’t have a button on their website that says “buy now” it clearly means they are simply not ready for the masses yet and I go in fully understanding that it’s a pseudo-beta game. As a web developer myself I can assure you they didn’t add that link because they didn’t know how or because management was stupid, It was intentionally done because they knew they were not feature set ready for large amount of customers.
2. PR…EVERYTHING…everywhere, everyplace, in all industries, through out the history of mankind, stretch the truth as far as possible. So the best you can do with any game is get a general “feel” for what its like then decide if you want to take the chance. I have a ton of games I bought but didn’t like.
That all said, welcome back
Please do not respond to me, even if I ask you a question, its rhetorical.
TO OP: (your past experience) What allowed my experience of Darkfall the first few months to be a lot better experience than yours was a different perspective on gaming industry and retail industry in general.
1. If a game site doesn’t have a button on their website that says “buy now” it clearly means they are simply not ready for the masses yet and I go in fully understanding that it’s a pseudo-beta game. As a web developer myself I can assure you they didn’t add that link because they didn’t know how or because management was stupid, It was intentionally done because they knew they were not feature set ready for large amount of customers.
2. PR…EVERYTHING…everywhere, everyplace, in all industries, through out the history of mankind, stretch the truth as far as possible. So the best you can do with any game is get a general “feel” for what its like then decide if you want to take the chance. I have a ton of games I bought but didn’t like. That all said, welcome back
1 - It's a worthy (and debatable) point. But the biggest problem was not even the absence of "buy here" or anything like that. It was a very suspicious looking site back then. You even had to input the CC info BEFORE even knowing the price of the client/monthly fees. My wife actually saw me using my CC, looked at the site and asked me: "Are you buying drugs online or something?" I hope this clarifies what I meant.
2 - Yes, I agree. Problem was A) Aventurine let the rampant hearsay go unchecked, thus feeding even further baloney about the game, and Oficial posts had a lot of that cocky attitude that really made us think "Hey, if they are talking like that, maybe they have the stuff to back it out, huh?" I don't want to say that only Aventurine fed wild hearsay about their product. But it's bad form, nonetheless.
Playing by night, there was surely a greater number of people around. Then, surely enough, came the ganks. 3 of them, and all following the same pattern: 2 high level people with mounts trampling me while I was at newbie spawns (or nearby). Must be bored players looking for easy prey.
Playing by night, there was surely a greater number of people around. Then, surely enough, came the ganks. 3 of them, and all following the same pattern: 2 high level people with mounts trampling me while I was at newbie spawns (or nearby). Must be bored players looking for easy prey. Lost some quest items and not much more.
My friends and I were ganked by a high skilled player. I actually recorded it, its at the end of the video here.
I managed to kill his mount which was awesome, cause I had crap on me anyways. Afterward, some guy in awesome gear got destroyed by the guard towers, and I looted his horse, as well as some enchanted weapons and now I just mow through monsters. Its insane.
Where you all at that your gettin ganked? I still have been ganked only twice in my solo travels and both of the times they never looted anything from my tombstone, grouped with two nice people twice, won one fight and lost another to people my level. I am in wolf lands so I dunno mebbe less gankers there?
Weapons make a huge difference! I looted some rank 20 weapons off some tombstones I found and wow, I tear it up now!
BTW thanks for the vids man, very fun to watch them! I plan to do my own written review soon, possibly tomorrow, just wanted to sink my teeth into Darkfall a bit first and as well have been playing Aion and WoW on the side to give me a greater perspective to I hope be as fair as possible in my review or well newb impressions, i guess review is to strong a word.
Playing by night, there was surely a greater number of people around. Then, surely enough, came the ganks. 3 of them, and all following the same pattern: 2 high level people with mounts trampling me while I was at newbie spawns (or nearby). Must be bored players looking for easy prey. Lost some quest items and not much more.
My friends and I were ganked by a high skilled player. I actually recorded it, its at the end of the video here.
I managed to kill his mount which was awesome, cause I had crap on me anyways. Afterward, some guy in awesome gear got destroyed by the guard towers, and I looted his horse, as well as some enchanted weapons and now I just mow through monsters. Its insane.
Nice vid, makes me wonder what people who complain about DFO graphics are looking at? Also I noticed you didn't have rage on your hotbar, was this batlle pre expansion? If not get the rage ability and it'll help in those situations.
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience"
OK, then, here we go. A little background first: I played at Launch. It was bad. I shall not comment about it in details, since anyone can do a quick search and read about what transpired back then. Since I'm in a MMO hiatus and I finished Dragon Age, my MMO thumb started scratching again. Since I've read that things in DFO got a lot better, I decided to check that myself. Aventurine has to thank my Christmas bonus for that, too Purchase: Well, I can honestly say that the website now looks MUCH better than before. When I bought the EU version back then, I felt a tingle of fear that I'd get ripped off and my CC number would be used to buy rockets in some unfriendly nation. It was crude, amateurish and it's a small miracle that the game survived that period. Site now looks clean and I bought the US client without a hassle. Quick and easy, as it should be. I downloaded the client during the night, and it took about 7 hours for the 9 GB client. I expected that I could patch the game before signing up, but that wasn't the case. So, download is going on as I type. Since I'll have some spare time in the next few days, I'll be able to play quite a bit. I'll try to analyze the game's evolution fairly, and show a bit of "now and then" for color. My review will be based on Mirdain Race, US server. Bear with me. I'll keep this updated as frequently as possible.
You could of transferred your EU account to NA for free, no need to buy it again. You can still do that now if you want a second free account. You don't have to activate it on EU or activate the NA account. You can just sit on it until you find a need to use the second account or give it to a friend.
The definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.
Originally posted by parrotpholk Originally posted by Sandblox Where you all at that your gettin ganked? I still have been ganked only twice in my solo travels and both of the times they never looted anything from my tombstone, grouped with two nice people twice, won one fight and lost another to people my level. I am in wolf lands so I dunno mebbe less gankers there? Weapons make a huge difference! I looted some rank 20 weapons off some tombstones I found and wow, I tear it up now! BTW thanks for the vids man, very fun to watch them! I plan to do my own written review soon, possibly tomorrow, just wanted to sink my teeth into Darkfall a bit first and as well have been playing Aion and WoW on the side to give me a greater perspective to I hope be as fair as possible in my review or well newb impressions, i guess review is to strong a word.
Human lands are the worse for the gankage and Alfar eat their own babies.
Mahirim lands are pretty good. There are PKers roaming around now and then, but they're not every and they're not keeping me from working on what I want. They're just frequent enough to keep me on my toes and it makes the newbs vs. PKers battles a lot of fun.
Current: None Played: WoW, CoX, SWG, LotRO, EVE, AoC, VG, CO, Ryzom, DF, WAR Tried: Lineage2, Dofus, EQ2, CoS, FE, UO, Wurm, Wakfu Future: The Repopulation, ArcheAge, Black Desert, EQN
The curiosity is eating away at me, but after all of the other failed MMOs I really can't sink another 50 dollars into something Im not sure about.
Too bad I can't trade my FE account for a darkfall one.
i agree with this statement
it looks like the game recovered from its launch and is growing, sorta like EvE. for the sake of diversity on the mmo market i hope it succeeds and if i ever get back to truly enjoying an mmo, enough to sink monthly cash in it, this game will be first on my list to try.
Personaly, I don't understand how someone can play this...'thing'. Darkfall is just a mix of incoherent, unrefined ideas put randomly and prematurely together. The thing lacks any depth, witt or aim. It is nothing more than FPS in persistent sort of 'world'. /shrugs
Well, 3 days in the game, and I'd like to further comment on some things:
There are some things aggravating me. Camera is probably the most annoying of them. Having to switch from 3rd to 1st to 3rd to 1st (since I'm focusing on Melee and Archery) is extremely bothersome. There should be a way to customize this in a more sensible way.
The GUI is another. While I'm already "used" to it (from my previous experience and from this time around), I am still constantly reminded of its presence. A good AI is intuitive and invisible. Sadly, DFO's UI is a chore. Having the option of displaying more quickbars and placing them horizontally would also be a nice thing.
I was a little surprised to see that the Journal is still entirely web-based. I expected improvements here, since a Journal in a game like this is very, very important. I hope they make it more functional and deeper in the future.
PVE is ok. The AI is very hit-and-miss, but it works ok, so no complaints here. I am eventually pissed by the fact that sometimes, when you kill a mob in a slope, the tombstone is generated under the ground and is impossible to access. I spent a good few minutes killing an Earth Elemental just to have this happening to me. I was not please.
Sounds are still ludicrous. I think this is something that they should rework ASAP, much more importantly than the graphics. Sounds are an important immersion and awareness tool, so no excuses here.
Exploring was fun. Hiding from reds, poking your nose where you shouldn't be, experimenting stuff. This is good. The world does look empty of life in wide areas which is sad. The geography is generally well placed and created. Exploring some places at night is very satisfying.
Archery feels about right, now. I am glad to see that. Melee is also ok, didn't have lots of issues with it. I barely experimented with Magic, and intend to keep on like this. Progression is fast (maybe a little too fast). I already have 30-ish in many skills.
Risk/reward, so far, looks ok. Loot has been what I expected, so it's smooth sailing.
Crafting is also going ok. Progress is about right, and I'm already able to make several useful things for my playstyle.
Nice touch: When I was playing yesterday, someone won the global jackpot for the slot machines, almost 150.000 gold. Not too shabby, and there is a global warning informing everyone about this. I imagine lots of ganking must have happened around slot machines, everywhere
You can view all the hot bars and have them on screen if you want... you really need to dig into the GUI more because I consider it brilliant. You see those arrow type things at the top of your hotbar on the sides? try dragging them out.
You can view all the hot bars and have them on screen if you want... you really need to dig into the GUI more because I consider it brilliant. You see those arrow type things at the top of your hotbar on the sides? try dragging them out.
Yes, but it's all-or-nothing, right? Either one or all of them? If so, yes, I already fiddled there, but I think all 10 bars take up too much screen size. Correct me if I'm wrong, please.
I am in the process of restoring an old character ATM so right now I can't fiddle with the GUI to confirm my thoughts that you can few as many or as few as you want. I truly think what you need is a guide as to how to setup your keyboard/mouse. The defaults made in the game are bare bones and lackluster. Once you are able to easily switch hot bars the need to see more tan one at a time vanishes completely because you learn how to setup a hot bar correctly.
The biggest issue I have with your review(s) are that you are going into this game and calling out what you think are flaws because other games do it differently. Darkfall Developers took a whole new approach, and to come into the game thinking about how other games have done it leads to disaster. Is the GUI different? Yes, but I and many others agree the GUI is functional and no where near the train wreck you find it to be. It does take getting use to, but really after a few more days you should be completely comfortable and even forget it's there. The way the GUI is done now leaves so much open for future uses, imagine possibly being able to play mini games while you harvest. Either way I wish you'd stop thinking about past MMO's when playing Darkfall, I know you've stated your own opinions and I respect that. I just don't agree with much of anything you've said in regards as to what's wrong with the game. Does it have flaws? yes. This is my list.
No skill decay yet (was a promised feature long before Beta)
New Players are still having to take too much time to get to the point they can compete with vets (Skill decay would aid in lowering the time needed)
Local banking has yet to be completely entered into the game
Far too many hackers for this type of FPS experience. Yes there may not be a few, but those few are powerful figure heads in the political landscape meaning we notice them more often.
Smaller clans really don't stand a chance. The game is too Zerg friendly and I think a limit on clan size would really spice things up.
I played pretty much everything that was released, MMO-wise. So, I'm not comparing DFO to any specific title or genre. But you can never completely erase your previous experiences when you tackle something new. But I'm trying my best to avoid "this-for -that" comparisons.
All I'm doing is trying to do a critical review, based purely on my in-game experiences, as a fresh newbie. I claim no authority or certainty. Take it as it is, and let us agree that what may be good for you might not be for me, and vice versa.
I already customized/bound several functions to make the UI more friendly. I'm not an idiot to passively accept what I consider uncomfortable, when I can mitigate it, to an extent. But I still don't like it.
*shrug*
Your list is as good as any other, and I'll certainly face different pains and pleasures as I progress. I've not entered the whole clan thing, so I'll refrain from commenting about it until I do so. I always agreed that Local Banking is a must in this kind of game, so, we're on the same level, here.
Great reviews thus far Strix. As someone who has one eye on Darkfall, I'll be keeping an eye on this thread as I assume I would be in the exact same boat as you if I took the plunge and bought the game.
Originally posted by trashkiller you woudlnt like local banking if you were actively pvping all over the map. local banking limits pvp because not everyone can have pvp bags in loads of different banks all over the map. Local banking is a carebear crafter thing because they never need to go far from their home and if they do its not a hassle because they are always in the same areas. It would be a ridiculous hassle to have full local banking. Houses and ships should be the only local banking, anything else is just ridiculous annoyance.
Most PVPers I know of really love the concept of Local Banking for a game like DFO. It makes territory valuable and worth defending, and it is a further layer of strategy and politics that the game can greatly benefit from. Ask around about it, you might be surprised with the result.
Local Banking is the complete opposite from "carebear".
Trust me, once you get used to the GUI then it will be like a walk in the park. I rebound some of my keys to the numpad keys for easier accessibility. It's like a walk in the park for me.
I have to agree here with trashkiller that Local Banking is a bad idea.
I mean, Local Banking in Villages is an idea that I love. But applying Local Banking to everything is a terrible idea in my opinion. There's a lot going on and being forced to run one way to grab your items that you left near Red Moon on a raid then run back to near Sandbrook to get more items than head back to Sanguine to bank it all. Grab what you need, recall to your Clan city and finally you are ready. That's just too much honestly.
Comments
TO OP: (your past experience)
What allowed my experience of Darkfall the first few months to be a lot better experience than yours was a different perspective on gaming industry and retail industry in general.
1. If a game site doesn’t have a button on their website that says “buy now” it clearly means they are simply not ready for the masses yet and I go in fully understanding that it’s a pseudo-beta game. As a web developer myself I can assure you they didn’t add that link because they didn’t know how or because management was stupid, It was intentionally done because they knew they were not feature set ready for large amount of customers.
2. PR…EVERYTHING…everywhere, everyplace, in all industries, through out the history of mankind, stretch the truth as far as possible. So the best you can do with any game is get a general “feel” for what its like then decide if you want to take the chance. I have a ton of games I bought but didn’t like.
That all said, welcome back
Please do not respond to me, even if I ask you a question, its rhetorical.
Please do not respond to me
I hate your guts now!
I picture you giving him the same look that Gary Numan is giving all of us in your avatar. Frankly I wouldn't blame you
I thought that was Gary's "I
U" look?
Damn.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
1 - It's a worthy (and debatable) point. But the biggest problem was not even the absence of "buy here" or anything like that. It was a very suspicious looking site back then. You even had to input the CC info BEFORE even knowing the price of the client/monthly fees. My wife actually saw me using my CC, looked at the site and asked me: "Are you buying drugs online or something?" I hope this clarifies what I meant.
2 - Yes, I agree. Problem was A) Aventurine let the rampant hearsay go unchecked, thus feeding even further baloney about the game, and
Oficial posts had a lot of that cocky attitude that really made us think "Hey, if they are talking like that, maybe they have the stuff to back it out, huh?" I don't want to say that only Aventurine fed wild hearsay about their product. But it's bad form, nonetheless.
Thanks for the welcome
Playing by night, there was surely a greater number of people around. Then, surely enough, came the ganks. 3 of them, and all following the same pattern: 2 high level people with mounts trampling me while I was at newbie spawns (or nearby). Must be bored players looking for easy prey.
Lost some quest items and not much more.
My friends and I were ganked by a high skilled player. I actually recorded it, its at the end of the video here.
I managed to kill his mount which was awesome, cause I had crap on me anyways. Afterward, some guy in awesome gear got destroyed by the guard towers, and I looted his horse, as well as some enchanted weapons and now I just mow through monsters. Its insane.
-Computer specs no one cares about: check.
-MMOs played no one cares about: check.
-Xfire stats no one cares about: check.
-Signature no one cares about: check.
------------------------------------------------------------
-Narcissism: check.
Where you all at that your gettin ganked? I still have been ganked only twice in my solo travels and both of the times they never looted anything from my tombstone, grouped with two nice people twice, won one fight and lost another to people my level. I am in wolf lands so I dunno mebbe less gankers there?
Weapons make a huge difference! I looted some rank 20 weapons off some tombstones I found and wow, I tear it up now!
BTW thanks for the vids man, very fun to watch them! I plan to do my own written review soon, possibly tomorrow, just wanted to sink my teeth into Darkfall a bit first and as well have been playing Aion and WoW on the side to give me a greater perspective to I hope be as fair as possible in my review or well newb impressions, i guess review is to strong a word.
My friends and I were ganked by a high skilled player. I actually recorded it, its at the end of the video here.
I managed to kill his mount which was awesome, cause I had crap on me anyways. Afterward, some guy in awesome gear got destroyed by the guard towers, and I looted his horse, as well as some enchanted weapons and now I just mow through monsters. Its insane.
Nice vid, makes me wonder what people who complain about DFO graphics are looking at? Also I noticed you didn't have rage on your hotbar, was this batlle pre expansion? If not get the rage ability and it'll help in those situations.
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience"
CS Lewis
You could of transferred your EU account to NA for free, no need to buy it again. You can still do that now if you want a second free account. You don't have to activate it on EU or activate the NA account. You can just sit on it until you find a need to use the second account or give it to a friend.
The definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.
Good review so far, keep it coming
Human lands are the worse for the gankage and Alfar eat their own babies.
Mahirim lands are pretty good. There are PKers roaming around now and then, but they're not every and they're not keeping me from working on what I want. They're just frequent enough to keep me on my toes and it makes the newbs vs. PKers battles a lot of fun.
Current: None
Played: WoW, CoX, SWG, LotRO, EVE, AoC, VG, CO, Ryzom, DF, WAR
Tried: Lineage2, Dofus, EQ2, CoS, FE, UO, Wurm, Wakfu
Future: The Repopulation, ArcheAge, Black Desert, EQN
Well, it was pretty bad last night. Look at the war pig hooves in my back
But that's ok, as I said before. I don't think anyone should jump into a game like this expecting no ganks.
I'll post more info about my wee days later on.
The curiosity is eating away at me, but after all of the other failed MMOs I really can't sink another 50 dollars into something Im not sure about.
Too bad I can't trade my FE account for a darkfall one.
i agree with this statement
it looks like the game recovered from its launch and is growing, sorta like EvE. for the sake of diversity on the mmo market i hope it succeeds and if i ever get back to truly enjoying an mmo, enough to sink monthly cash in it, this game will be first on my list to try.
Personaly, I don't understand how someone can play this...'thing'.
Darkfall is just a mix of incoherent, unrefined ideas put randomly and prematurely together.
The thing lacks any depth, witt or aim. It is nothing more than FPS in persistent sort of 'world'.
/shrugs
I was just reminded of losing my virginity.
Update:
Well, 3 days in the game, and I'd like to further comment on some things:
There are some things aggravating me. Camera is probably the most annoying of them. Having to switch from 3rd to 1st to 3rd to 1st (since I'm focusing on Melee and Archery) is extremely bothersome. There should be a way to customize this in a more sensible way.
The GUI is another. While I'm already "used" to it (from my previous experience and from this time around), I am still constantly reminded of its presence. A good AI is intuitive and invisible. Sadly, DFO's UI is a chore. Having the option of displaying more quickbars and placing them horizontally would also be a nice thing.
I was a little surprised to see that the Journal is still entirely web-based. I expected improvements here, since a Journal in a game like this is very, very important. I hope they make it more functional and deeper in the future.
PVE is ok. The AI is very hit-and-miss, but it works ok, so no complaints here. I am eventually pissed by the fact that sometimes, when you kill a mob in a slope, the tombstone is generated under the ground and is impossible to access. I spent a good few minutes killing an Earth Elemental just to have this happening to me. I was not please.
Sounds are still ludicrous. I think this is something that they should rework ASAP, much more importantly than the graphics. Sounds are an important immersion and awareness tool, so no excuses here.
Exploring was fun. Hiding from reds, poking your nose where you shouldn't be, experimenting stuff. This is good. The world does look empty of life in wide areas which is sad. The geography is generally well placed and created. Exploring some places at night is very satisfying.
Archery feels about right, now. I am glad to see that. Melee is also ok, didn't have lots of issues with it. I barely experimented with Magic, and intend to keep on like this. Progression is fast (maybe a little too fast). I already have 30-ish in many skills.
Risk/reward, so far, looks ok. Loot has been what I expected, so it's smooth sailing.
Crafting is also going ok. Progress is about right, and I'm already able to make several useful things for my playstyle.
Nice touch: When I was playing yesterday, someone won the global jackpot for the slot machines, almost 150.000 gold. Not too shabby, and there is a global warning informing everyone about this. I imagine lots of ganking must have happened around slot machines, everywhere
I'll keep on trucking, and post here.
You can view all the hot bars and have them on screen if you want... you really need to dig into the GUI more because I consider it brilliant. You see those arrow type things at the top of your hotbar on the sides? try dragging them out.
Full Sail University - Game Design
Yes, but it's all-or-nothing, right? Either one or all of them? If so, yes, I already fiddled there, but I think all 10 bars take up too much screen size. Correct me if I'm wrong, please.
I am in the process of restoring an old character ATM so right now I can't fiddle with the GUI to confirm my thoughts that you can few as many or as few as you want. I truly think what you need is a guide as to how to setup your keyboard/mouse. The defaults made in the game are bare bones and lackluster. Once you are able to easily switch hot bars the need to see more tan one at a time vanishes completely because you learn how to setup a hot bar correctly.
The biggest issue I have with your review(s) are that you are going into this game and calling out what you think are flaws because other games do it differently. Darkfall Developers took a whole new approach, and to come into the game thinking about how other games have done it leads to disaster. Is the GUI different? Yes, but I and many others agree the GUI is functional and no where near the train wreck you find it to be. It does take getting use to, but really after a few more days you should be completely comfortable and even forget it's there. The way the GUI is done now leaves so much open for future uses, imagine possibly being able to play mini games while you harvest. Either way I wish you'd stop thinking about past MMO's when playing Darkfall, I know you've stated your own opinions and I respect that. I just don't agree with much of anything you've said in regards as to what's wrong with the game. Does it have flaws? yes. This is my list.
No skill decay yet (was a promised feature long before Beta)
New Players are still having to take too much time to get to the point they can compete with vets (Skill decay would aid in lowering the time needed)
Local banking has yet to be completely entered into the game
Far too many hackers for this type of FPS experience. Yes there may not be a few, but those few are powerful figure heads in the political landscape meaning we notice them more often.
Smaller clans really don't stand a chance. The game is too Zerg friendly and I think a limit on clan size would really spice things up.
Full Sail University - Game Design
I played pretty much everything that was released, MMO-wise. So, I'm not comparing DFO to any specific title or genre. But you can never completely erase your previous experiences when you tackle something new. But I'm trying my best to avoid "this-for -that" comparisons.
All I'm doing is trying to do a critical review, based purely on my in-game experiences, as a fresh newbie. I claim no authority or certainty. Take it as it is, and let us agree that what may be good for you might not be for me, and vice versa.
I already customized/bound several functions to make the UI more friendly. I'm not an idiot to passively accept what I consider uncomfortable, when I can mitigate it, to an extent. But I still don't like it.
*shrug*
Your list is as good as any other, and I'll certainly face different pains and pleasures as I progress. I've not entered the whole clan thing, so I'll refrain from commenting about it until I do so. I always agreed that Local Banking is a must in this kind of game, so, we're on the same level, here.
One Word: Logistics.
Stop trying to turn Darkfall into a mindless Gankfest with no strategy like WoW PVP Servers!
heh, see what I did there?
Like Trading Card Games? Click Here.
Great reviews thus far Strix. As someone who has one eye on Darkfall, I'll be keeping an eye on this thread as I assume I would be in the exact same boat as you if I took the plunge and bought the game.
MUNDO!!
Most PVPers I know of really love the concept of Local Banking for a game like DFO. It makes territory valuable and worth defending, and it is a further layer of strategy and politics that the game can greatly benefit from. Ask around about it, you might be surprised with the result.
Local Banking is the complete opposite from "carebear".
Trust me, once you get used to the GUI then it will be like a walk in the park. I rebound some of my keys to the numpad keys for easier accessibility. It's like a walk in the park for me.
I have to agree here with trashkiller that Local Banking is a bad idea.
I mean, Local Banking in Villages is an idea that I love. But applying Local Banking to everything is a terrible idea in my opinion. There's a lot going on and being forced to run one way to grab your items that you left near Red Moon on a raid then run back to near Sandbrook to get more items than head back to Sanguine to bank it all. Grab what you need, recall to your Clan city and finally you are ready. That's just too much honestly.