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Hail,
Well, this is going to be a on again off again summary of my experiences in DFO. The good, bad, and ugly will eventually be discussed here.
On that note, avid readers lets see what has happened to our hero since he last posted here.
Regarding install, once you have the basic install, you can simply from the program menu click repair and it will DL all the other 9 billion gigs of files you need, no not 9 billion really. So that was painless, after install I was able to jump right in, all in all pretty painless and easy to get started.
I decided to create a ork(orc?) and was unceremoniously plopped down in my underwear into a rather drab looking city. After trying to sort out the interface, which really isnt that bad once you get used to it, fact it reminded me of having to reset all my keys etc in DAOC as well.
So, I figured at this point I can now walk and chew gum at the same time, so it was now time to actually see the sights. Regarding the game world graphics, they are different then anything else ive experienced, and I wont at this point say its a bad thing, because I havnt seen that much yet, but much of what you see are earth tones, mind you I like earth tones.
I noticed a number of people in this town I was deposited in, and decided to strike up a conversation, with no clue about the chat system, which mind you is easy to use if you simply look at it. Since I was still at the chew gum and walk stage I of course goofed it up, and said things in global, and global things in local, but lo and behold, eventually I was able to also figure this out and now yes now...I can walk, chew gum, and actually type in DFO.
Not unlike other games I discovered there were was a hot bar, and gee, things should be on there, so I fished around in my "skills" and found a few things that actually could be dragged there, the downside is I need a staff to use two of the 4 or 5 items actually on my starter bar. At any rate after drooling all over the various NPC vendor wares...I decided to go aquestin!
Yes, now able to actually do three or so tasks in game reasonably well (or so I though) I humbly accepted a quest to slay the foul gobbos lurking about, and here indeed was a moment of truth...would our hero take a dirt nap in the process, or slay these wicked foes?
Stay tuned...
Edited to add the following, AV is currently offering the client and a 6 month sub for 89USD. I was pleasantly suprised.
Comments
Which server are you on?
Thanks for the update and keep them coming.
"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
After creating my character I wasnt offered a choice like say DAOC, with a list of servers to join. I purchased the NA client, is there more then one NA server?
After creating my character I wasnt offered a choice like say DAOC, with a list of servers to join. I purchased the NA client, is there more then one NA server?
No, was wondering if you're on EU or NA-1.
"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
OK! Day two and three have gone by! My what a ride. So let me further detail my experiences to date.
I did a number of quests, not sure what people were saying about lack of quests, but you can get quite a bit of gear simply by doing quests. I currently have a full set of studded/leather from questing, shields, polearm, maces, crafting tools, etc. You do a quest for Joe the merchant and once completed it opens more, or sends you to see someone else. Nothing lacking or novel here, and the gear/items were welcome givin the prices from npc vendors.
Since the core premise of this game is combat, especially pvp I will detail my experiences regarding this as well. Regarding pve, the goblins initally were interesting, however instead of fighting 4 or 6 at a time, which is what will happen if you stand in the open...I decided to simply stand behind a tree, once the mobs lose LOS, agro gone, or that has been my experience. At any rate I soon had dozens of gobbo grave stones around my tree. I figured I could take on diff mobs after this and a swamp hag made me run for my life.
Archery is also very very fun, you have to AIM! Wow, what a concept. I was pretty pleased with myself when I did a quest which required me to hit gobbos twenty times with a bow. You need to account for distance, lead, and elevation. Oh and a shortbow can shoot pretty damn far. Wonder how far a longbow shoots...
Regarding my pvp adventures...sadly I was a member of a expedition into dwarven lands, and ended up dying to a kobold before we were able to raise any hell there, trying to get a chaos chest in the middle of a npc camp probably wasnt my brightest move of the day. I will go again today. So more to follow.
I havnt gotten into crafting yet, but ive done a number of different types of harvesting, even managed to get some steedgrass which was a nice suprise. The game has chests, barrels, broken chests...all over the place, I was able to loot a few chaos chests as well, but no house deed sadly.
Regarding the game world, it is huge...no I mean really...huge. You will spend quite a bit of time in transit in this game, but, at this point for me, each trip is really a adventure. For example, on the way to dwarven lands we came across a area that looked initally to be a statue, but may have been a crypt, it was a big dragon statue. We were discussing the need to be careful exploring here...since we didnt know what was around, and this big blue monster(frost giant?) came running at us from a very long distance away. We made tracks.
Regarding the community, the chat channels are pretty much like barrens chat. More foul language etc, but...the same in essence. Regarding people in general, ive had a very positive experience so far. Was even givin a mount last night. Which im sure I will promptly lose.
Ok day 4 came and went, and here is my summary of events.
I pretty much had finished all the starter quests in the town I was originally dropped in, and frankly aside from one attempt to get to grips with other players, id pretty much been doing nothing but grinding my greataxe, and harvesting mats.
Needless to say this wasnt why I wanted to sub...but sadly its part and parcel of any game.
At any rate, myself and another individual decided to plan another expedition, this time to human lands, and we were going full bore. Yes, we busted out all the gear we had collected, and looking like a pair of genuine brigands made our trip.
Along the way....we ran into a npc camp we couldnt handle...and yes...both of us died. Lost everything....the trama of this event would have shaken lesser mortals to thier core, but we simply put on some cloth rags, grabbed another wep, and started again. By the way, the rule ive implimented now is, NO to engaging mobs when hunting peeps, It can give you away, and, you can die. As a aside to this the only two times ive died in this game have been the two deaths I suffered on these ill fated expiditions.
So, once again kitted out, mind you with junk this time, we set out again. Sure enough after about a twenty minute run we ran into a human miner, yes you can hear people break rock from some distance away, the trick is to actually find them. We did, and she ran like hell but she was cut down by my companion, who is quite impressive with the bow. I cant say I felt too excited by this kill, it pretty much felt like what id imagine clubbing a baby seal would feel like, but war is hell.
Having looted her, we moved on, and came to one pretty awe inspiring city, it was freaking huge, and im guessing was the human capitol city. While skirting it a enemy player on the walls saw us, no worries I though, we ran on, a minute later my companion says, RUN!!! Sure enough behind us is five humans mounted, and looking to kill us.
We found a camp of some sort nearby, apparently didnt have any mobs, and we crouched along the outside wall of this stockade, they were actually running around inside looking for us, and after a few minutes gave up apparently.
Having made good our escape, we came to a coastal area that according to my companion had a human starter town nearby. So as carefully as possible we searched this area, and found another human player. This guy was fully kitted, and saw me, not my companion. Once he saw me I decided id ran out to him, since he was just standing there, im guessing he was probably calling for friends. Anyway I run up and engage him with my axe, and we trade a few blows, neither one of us is going to kill the other any time soon based on the damage we were doing, at this point my companion springs into action and showers this guy with arrows, yes I stay to the side or behind the target, lol, his shots hurt.
Once the enemy sees my companion he runs for it, too late though, because running from someone who is 10 feet behind putting arrows in your back isnt the best bet. So this was my first fight that really felt like a fight, the guy wanted to mix it up, and we did. He pretty much was stocked with all of this starter quest gear, which virtually replaced my gear losses from the first attempted trip.
We decided to stick around this area, moving away from the kill spot, and take cover. Sure enough not long after our second kill, we hear fighting, its a human in chain killing gobbos. We make our plans, and I sneak near him, crouch is super, then rush him. I have by this time gotten my greataxe to 25, so I had two new skills, one of which apparently is a "come hither" type skill. I decided to use this on the guy, and im not sure it even worked lol. Anyway, it apparently scared the shit out of him, and he bolted the moment I hit him.
Once again my companion was the man of the moment, I really have no idea how he can shoot on the move like he does and be so accurate. Frankly I love archery in the game but...I cant come close to this guys fire on the move ability. At any rate, once again running away from someone shooting arrows in your back from 10 feet away ISNT a good idea. And that was that, he lay there bleeding out, and was ganked to end his suffering. The loot on this guy was stupendous, to us anyway. I got a number of chain pieces of armor, and a number of other gear items, the show stopper however was a bow. One that made my companions bow look like a toy in comparison.
With server maintence fast approaching, we said our goodbyes and logged. Thus...ended day four.
More to follow...stay tuned!
Great thread. Very enjoyable read.
Please keep updating
"Mr. Rothstein, your people never will understand... the way it works out here. You're all just our guests. But you act like you're at home. Let me tell you something, partner. You ain't home. But that's where we're gonna send you if it harelips the governor." - Pat Webb
Thank you. I am glad you are enjoying it!
That's a sweet PvP story, and what I like about there being no magic radar. You can hide in DFO but you also have to work hard to locate your enemies.
"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
Very true, on my first pvp expedition we could hear a dwarven female fighting, but could never find her. Fact is I think she was under the ridge we were standing on. But there are tunnels and caves all over as well.
Regarding human lands, I expected to hear the "The Sound of Music" in the background, I swear the landscape reminded me of that musical. Its also full of flora that can provide concealment.
I mentioned when I originally started this thread I would also comment on the bad, and the ugly. So here it is.
Grinding, expect to invest alot of time developing your character, there just isnt way around this. I do not macro or cut corners in anyway, so I have to take frequent breaks because grinding for mats, or to grind skills up, frankly makes me ill after awhile.
Equiptment, tools, etc, the durability of the low end weapons, armor, tools etc you name it is poorly designed. You as a starting player will constantly be trying to scrape up enough money to stay in these items. One death is all it takes to basically wipe a new player out. The starter quests that give the basic gear needs to be repeatable so you can, IF nothing else is a option to you get another suit quickly. This isnt a elite suit, simply some studded and leather. Once again the durability of these items also needs to be upped. The logic here is to make the path up the mountian steeper as you go up, it shouldnt be a virtual vertical climb out the gate for a new player, and frankly thats what darkfall presents.
Hacking, yes it exists still in DFO. Anyone telling you otherwise frankly hasnt seen it, or is a liar. Last night a friend and myself went to human lands to pvp, and ran into a single human that frankly wasnt even playing the same game as us. She moved at warp speed, appeared to be in multiple locations at once, was hitting both me and my friend while she appeared to be all over the place, and ganked both of us like 1 second after we dropped. This is going to be, like it was for me and my buddy, one of the most demoralising things that can happen to a new player. Because you realise that there is another game IN the game, and you dont have the same tools to fight back with.
The veteran player and you, you will eventually run into a veteran player in pvp, and here frankly is where you can guage if there really IS any point to playing, in other words is the gap too large. Expect to die, this is pretty much a givin. My friend and I fought a EU transfer whom by thier own admission was a year old character. We managed to drop this individual to about 30% or thier health. The one good thing about this experiment was, you can actually do damage to them. And ideally, if clever enough maybe even kill them.
Reds REDS, and more reds, expect to see murders, and just random griefers running around all over, if you think there is any safety in the game, your wrong, the guy you just helped out might jump you a moment later, like a clown I actually healed to prevent him bleeding out. In fact people will even your own racial side, kill you for no reason at all. Bank often, never carry anything you cant afford to lose...and trust no one. That pretty much sums it up.
At any rate im into my second week now, and have had quite a roller coaster ride. All things considered do I like the game? Yes, I do, the pros outweigh the cons, however DFO like any other MMO is a work in progress. If you feel you can stick it out, and have faith in AV, and enjoy pvp over all other considerations, DFO is the game for you. Just remember this is a imperfect vessel, and it leaks...leaks which need to be fixed, especially the hacking.
Using speedhack in DFO is like a kamikaze run in RL. I mean death will be permanent. To character not to owner of course, but... I doubt any veteran would go this way - too much time and work invested to die. But some bored idiots can try...
Using speedhack in DFO is like a kamikaze run in RL. I mean death will be permanent. To character not to owner of course, but... I doubt any veteran would go this way - too much time and work invested to die. But some bored idiots can try...
We reported this party. Remains to be seen if anything will happen to them. My point however remains, this is a stomach punch to a new player.
I was playing DFO for 3 months (it was the first three months from the launch, after that I came back to EVE). People keep saying there was a hacking paradise back to then. But I saw the only person speedhacking in all my playing. He was banned in a few days...