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New Player Protection
So they are adding in some protection for new players to make the entry into Darkfall a bit smoother. I like the idea, but hope they can flesh out the new player experience more leading up to DF2010.
Also many of these systems lean towards what would be needed for a player trial. We may see some kind of trial using a lot of these rules as they make up for most of the dangers of allowing player trials like siege equipment usage.
forums.darkfallonline.com/showthread.php
As we’ve mentioned before we’re happy to see an ever-increasing number of new players entering the game and we’re also about to introduce several initiatives and special offers to further increase these numbers. We’re supporting this growth with more than just marketing-type initiatives. The Darkfall newbie experience is one of the areas we’ve been constantly working to improve on since the game first launched. It’s a top priority for us to get new blood into the game but to also make the transition to Darkfall more enjoyable for new players.
We’re introducing a new feature possibly as soon as the next patch which provides optional protection against player attacks to brand new players. This functionality is very limited and only lasts a few hours but it should be enough to allow someone logging into Darkfall for the first time to learn to control his character and to get his bearings while still having proper access to the live game.
Here are the specifics:
* If you’re a new player entering the game for the first time, newbie protection is on by default. There's an option to turn it off if you don't want it.
* You won't be able to damage other players and other players won't be able to damage you.
* You can only damage monsters.
* The protection only lasts for a few hours of gameplay. There's a visible count-down timer. You’ll get a warning before the protection expires
* The protection is active only in the racial starting areas. If you wander outside your starting area, you’ll get a warning and if you don’t return within a couple of minutes, you will lose the protection.
* There’s a visual indicator that signifies you’re a new player with protection on.
* You can trade and interact with NPCs without restrictions
* You cannot use any items that cause structural or player damage (battle spikes, warhulks, cannons, ships etc.)
* You cannot use mounts
* You cannot unspawn objects
* You cannot teleport
* You cannot use Runestones
* You cannot use portals including Nexus
* You cannot create a clan
* You can give and receive buffs and heals
* You can join a clan
* Newbie protection works only for new accounts
* You cannot skill up on other players or be used to skill up on
One of the myths about Darkfall is that players prey on newbies. The Darkfall playerbase on average has displayed great sportsmanship and most players go out of their way to help someone starting out. This has been reported many times (in disbelief) by new players and various media trying out the game.
We believe that the newbie protection feature is consistent with the nature of Darkfall, where without “softening” the game it allows new players a few hours to start navigating Darkfall’s learning curve and to be able to concentrate on learning the basics. It also lets veteran players and clans looking to help new players know when someone is completely new. Finally, it’s an optional feature so that experienced players can turn it off if they want to jump right in.
This feature is something we've been contemplating for a while; we’ve done quite a bit of work on it and have tried to consider every possible aspect before deciding to implement it. We’ll monitor this feature closely and quickly make any necessary adjustments.
We’re also working on many new features and enhancements to help new players adjust to Darkfall much faster, and we’ll never stop striving to improve the initial experience. This feature is coming in time for a large influx of new players to the game and other initiatives geared towards new players.
Comments
But yet they made a change for a Newbie protection..I See Darkfall loves to keep lying...If it wasnt true why the change?
Some people rob you at gun point..Others will rob you at "Ball Point Pen"
TBH, I don't really know for sure how true that is outside of my own experience. I started over this last weekend and ran into 1 red player, and saw one orc near the starter town. I'm pretty sure I heard someone sending cannon fire from a ship into the starter town ( saw an explosion ), but I did not bother to check it out.
I think they have more pressing needs in the starter areas.
- More starter mob spawns. Spawns are only good enough for 2 - 3 ppl max each, and with 3 in the near vicinity that just is not enough. Get rid of the damn shamans near the starter towns, and put them a bit further away. Shamans just eat up newb characters until they get a bit of skill into ranged attacks.
- Fauna needs multiple hit boxes and good shots should be 1 hit kills, or they should actually act like normal animals and run off a bit, then lay down and bleed to death if they are not spooked. There should be no failing when skinning an animal. Higher skill gain should equate to more efficiency ( getting more usuable loot ). I've killed 10 animals and only obtained 2 pieces of meat. The quest itself has taken me about 1 - 2 hours so far. There just are not enough animals near town.
++++++++++++
On a side not the stat " grind " is a bit ridiculous. With just random normal playing ( quests, mob killing, exploring ) my total stat accumulation has raised maybe 1 point. <<<< ( adding all 4 stat increases together ). Although right now I am more interested in progressing my skills and obtaining better loot.
But yet they made a change for a Newbie protection..I See Darkfall loves to keep lying...If it wasnt true why the change?
I don't understand why you think they are lying. It is a common myth that when you start playing Darkfall you will be murdered repeatedly, farmed, gutted, and have your head placed on a spike. I have 3 friends that play MMO's that all felt this way about starting, and you can see it from a number of people in different outlets. This just isn't the case.
While there are reds that roll around certain areas where newbies will be playing there are just as many blues that will come to your aid if they know one is out there. I probably got unfairly ganked 4-5 times in my entire stint in starter areas before moving on, and at least half of those I had allies come to my aid to fight off the reds, and on two of those occasions I got my stuff back along with loot that was worth more than my entire bank from attackers tombstones.
This will provide new players with a buffer if they are feeling intimidated, and more importantly I think it is paving the way for a trial.
I respect this and know why they put it in, was needed
And I also know the bitching will never end on this matter
*rustle sneak rustle*
Shhh..... do you hear that?
*rustle rustle*
It's.... the sandbox monster!!
*rustle rustle rustle*
*crunch*
*munch munch*
*gulp*
And it just took a bite from DF's sandboxyness! Maybe it likes the taste and will come back later for more?
*rustle rustle sneak rustle*
Let's play Fallen Earth (blind, 300 episodes)
Let's play Guild Wars 2 (blind, 45 episodes)
Here's an excerpt from my own "new player" experience back in May, 2009. Please note - low level mobs were harder and skill-ups took longer, back then:
Aventurine needs to do something to dramatically improve the new player experience. As an example, I created a brand new character last night. Since I'm not going to re-sub, I have no vested interest in the character I've been playing the last few weeks, so it was easy to just delete him and start over. I got my starter quests and headed to the nearest goblin spawn:
So, within my first 1/2 hour on my new character, I got PKed twice, wasn't able to gain any skill points and wasn't able to loot anything. Only the fact that I had any experience with the game (knew to look for goblins near town, knew they had huge aggro range and that I'd have to be careful since no other players were around to draw aggro) at all made it even slightly enjoyable, otherwise, I would have been even more frustrated with it than I already was. All-in-all, as a new player experience, it sucked.
After healing up, I decided to leave town in a different direction and find another spawn. I did, and it was close to town, but it was a much harder spawn due to their being goblin fighters and shamans, not just scouts. Once again, there weren't any other players there (at first), so I had to pull, hide, etc.., painstakingly slow, one at a time, run back, rest to heal, run out to loot, etc... It was doable, but tedious. Another player did come in after a while, but he tried to crouch inside my melee range while I was swinging at goblins, so I just let him get killed. I'd completed one of my two starter missions, but still had yet to see a single goblin axe for my second. It wasn't until a couple of hours later (yes, hours) that other players came and I was able to fight more openly, loot a staff, start training mana missile and heal self before I finally found my four axes and could complete both quests.
Eventually, I was able to loot some gear, get about 100 gold coins, level up some skills and complete my two quests, but it took several hours, total, two PKs and reliance upon other players being in the area to draw aggro in order to do so. I'm ok with FFA Loot, PvP, and PK'ing, but should the new player experience be this hard, even for an experienced player? New players should be encouraged to play further, not repelled.
Now, since then, the goblins have been made easier (significantly, it seems), loot drops have increased and it takes less time to skill up. Those are all great steps towards improving the new player experience and address most of the issues I had when I was starting out. What they don't address are all the PKers in the newbie areas. Myth? Not when I played. On my first char I died several times to players hunting newbies/griefing in goblin spawns. On my second? As mentioned above, twice to a same race red. not-mentioned was dying a few more times to a dwarf and his parner who were also hunting newbies in the Alfar goblin spawns.
Would a few hours help to get a new player up and running? Yes, i think so. I like the way it's been planned and don't feel it's game breaking. I like that it's optional.
~Ripper
Looks good, and it's only for the first few hours.
Will force PK players to search for a little bit of tougher prey than the people who just started and still have to figure out how to draw their weapon.
I think the only people who complain about these changes are the reds who can only win from newbies.
It is only a few hours, and it only works near in the starter area. If you think you are hardcore....just turn it off.
I'm not really sure why you think they are lying. As a guild leader and an active members of one of the most powerful alliances on NA-1, there is a lot of people playing this game who have respect for new players. The prime example is the guild NEW, who is dedicated to teaching the game mechanics to fresh blood. Almost every guild I speak to, including my own, do not attack members of the guild NEW because we all know that they are new players to the game. Guilds who openly declare war on NEW, are often times systematically targeted and killed by the rest of the community.
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I'm not a big fan of this approach. I'd like to see something more realistic such as racial npc mobs who'll come protect players with in a certain area of the starter cities. Don't have the details but maybe they'll come if you blow a whistle or something that has a cool down (this idea might suck, just throwing it out there). Making someone 'immune' takes away a little from the realism of the sandbox in my opinion (even if it is only for a few minutes).
Because perception isn't always truth perhaps?
Perception is, you will get ganked, spanked, and they'll take everything, down to your toe nails the second you step out of the city...
Tell people they get a few hours to not worry about that, and a few more may try. I think its a good idea, but I don't think its going to work to grab a whole lot more people. In my opinion, this is a step to a free trial which could potentially bring in a few more people..
Great addition to the game. A few hours to learn the basics and then no more immunity. I don't hunt nubs so it matters not to me. It will help when 2 nubs are fighting over a goblin. The lesser of 2 nubs wont die lol.
I spent the first three hours learning the controls, UI etc. so I'm not sure this will really help out new players all that much. But, I don't think it was a big deal before anyway. I only got ganked a couple of times but everything you lose is easily replaceable and they can't take the skill gain away from you anyway. Meh, whatever heh.
"Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever." - Noam Chomsky
Looks good, and it's only for the first few hours.
Will force PK players to search for a little bit of tougher prey than the people who just started and still have to figure out how to draw their weapon.
I think the only people who complain about these changes are the reds who can only win from newbies.
This wont change anything, except you spare someone who is bloody newb. Next day you will be able to get him anyway if he goes too far outside of tower range. Its kinda "alibi" newb protection. It protects but not effective to influence the hard newb life.
I dont know but on EU1 it seems to be out of fashion to Pk starter areas. At least my experience what i hear from other people and clan mates.
EvE doors
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Still not enough for me to stay after my initial 3 days. I don't mind getting ganked, its PVP. What I do mind is losing all my hard earned gear, loot, etc.
Don't get me wrong, I actually like Darkfall and will recommend it to friends BUT I will warn them about the full loot aspect and that I won't play it because of that.
Hoping someone makes a Darkfall type game with everything EXCEPT the full loot feature.
You can see Aventurine taking a very careful, cautious approach to this. As someone else stated, a couple hours is essentially nothing in the grand scheme of things. But in the eyes of a new player, all they have is those first few hours. On one hand I see the obvious benefits. New players get to experience the world (if not true gameplay) without ressing constantly. They can acquire very basic starter gear without being hassled, starter gear that makes them feel they accomplished something and can now work towards a firmer standing.
On the other hand, it is not going to save them from the welcome wagon. The sooner new players realize that this world is about lurking danger, they can develop the paranoia instincts that will keep them alive. I still run form shadow to shadow, crouch walk toward mob spawns, and have become pretty fast on the Heal spell. A couple hours won't take this away, merely delay it, but I enjoyed (and still enjoy) the fact that sometimes getting from point A to B needs to be almost a covert operation.
It's not paranoia if they really ARE out to get you.
If you think that this game is all about investing all cash in 1 awesome sword and venturing with it into wilderness then you are wrong. Don't get me wrong, you just might have bad habits from previous games. Darkfall is different (comparable only to EVE online)
This is a good idea, IMO.
It doesn't really change the game at all, but provides n00bs with a chance to get to learn the UI and get used to the controls.
Of course, some people are going to cry (the same ones who say that n00b towns shouldn't have towers), but they'll get over it soon enough.
At first i was aswell afraid of it, but longer i play the less i care about it. Im working on my magic skills and im using fireball / firebolt. And there for im wearing bone set. And guess that set is cheap as hell if you compare it to other sets. And weapons till rank 40 are aswell cheap and quiet easy to get. And as noob i wouldnt even touch higher rank weapon as 40. The difference between the newbs and vets are that vets got expensive ready bags and newbs got cheaper one, but that doesnt mean they cant be effective after 3+ months.
EvE doors
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At first i was aswell afraid of it, but longer i play the less i care about it. Im working on my magic skills and im using fireball / firebolt. And there for im wearing bone set. And guess that set is cheap as hell if you compare it to other sets. And weapons till rank 40 are aswell cheap and quiet easy to get. And as noob i wouldnt even touch higher rank weapon as 40. The difference between the newbs and vets are that vets got expensive ready bags and newbs got cheaper one, but that doesnt mean they cant be effective after 3+ months.
As far as I know most mages in DF use that cheap staff with the fastest cast time and bone set which worth almost nothing... Compare this to melee fighters who need scale at least which cost 3000+ golds, an expensive 2-hander, an expensive 1-hander and a few mounts because they die pretty fast.
If you actually play the game you will realize quickly that losing everything on you is never that much. After about 1 week I was to the point where I had enough sets of armor and weapons that dying fully equipped was not a bad set back at all.
You guys make the game sound oh so fun
They are spending their time on such a useless feature when the game still lacks some basic things like the most basic world sounds.
Yes, the Darkfall world has absolutely NO SOUNDS. The game is total silence apart from the action sounds (players/mobs).
- you stand near waterfalls: NO sound
- it rains: NO sound
- in the cities: NO sound
- in the wilderness: NO sound
- daytime: NO sound of birds, wind, nothing
- nighttime: NO sound of crickets or any other night sounds, nothing.
- coast/shorelines: NO sound
- etc..... : NO SOUND
The world is completely silent, the game has been out for 1 year and the dev team is spending their time on implementing such a useless feature as a couple hours new player immunity.
That's sad because the world itself is very nicely crafted, its just sad that they are throwing the immersion out of the window with the absence of sounds.
Geez, and yes I am a new player, started to play last week and really don't give a F about this, especially when the most basic sounds are still missing ingame.
Do you want to say you have bought Darkfall without knowledge that it is a FFA full loot pvp game ?