No classes, but no diversity too?

Wycliffe · March 2009

I understand its a skill-based classless system. Don't just don't bring up the 'ol "EQ/WoW carebear just don't get it" argument. What i'm inquiring about is whether or not there are any mechanics which encourage varying playstyles. Are certain cloth type armors better itemized for magic heavy playstyles? Are heavy armors like plate penalizing stealth/caster playstyles? Does a weapons classification make any real difference in the longrun?

All the Darkfall videos i've seen just show a bunch of people in plate initially spam a few magic missiles, change to archery on approach or when targets fleeing, and mostly just whacking things with 2handers. I know its 'too early for most advanced skills to have been unlocked' but is that really going to make a difference in the longrun? Is there any reason for players not to use the same overpowered skills, equipment and general tactics?

downtoearth · March 2009

not right away no

probly later once people start hitting there soft caps and decide to specialize

APEist · March 2009

Everyone is going to have melee, archery, and magic.

Picking your melee does have an effect.

You can choose polearm, which is slow, does tremendous damage, and has a large hit radius. Of course, in group combat, the large radius can often be a detriment. You also have a small innate knockback for each hit with a polarm.
You can choose 2h club, which is the best weapon vs. anyone decked in high-end armor, as it induces bludgeoning damage, which plate and other high end armors have a lower resistance to. It has a relatively low speed, medium range, and good damage.
You can choose 2h axe, which is overall the most damaging weapon (but can be out-dps'd by 2h clubbers vs. full-plate/plate). 2h axe pair their great damage with a shorter range and medium speed.
You can choose 2h sword, which is the most balanced of the 2 handed weapons. Good damage, good range, good range.

Or you can focus on a 1h weapon + shield, sacrificing a lot of range and damage in return for a lot of defense, speed, and less action cost.

The 1h axe, 1h club, and 1 hand sword all pretty much correspond to each other the same way their 2h counterparts do.

On the magic side of things, things become extremely diversified...

For elemental magic you can choose to focus on fire and air, or you can focus on earth and water. Or you can do fire and earth, and air and water. You just cant have two opposing schools.

Then you can choose between witchcraft or spellchanting. Witchcraft leads to necromancy, and spellchanting leads to arcane.

The thing is, most players aren't going to go into every magic school available, they will just specialize in the spells that appeal to their playstyle the most. Remember, in Darkfall, you have to skill up your spells individually.

For example, if you want to be a damage nuker with a bit of healing as well, you could spec in the following:

2h axe
Power attack (melee skill)
Lay on hands (lesser magic heal other)
Vampiric touch (necromancy health sap)
Slashing weakness (necromancy debuff)
Cursed bolt (Unholy damage bolt)
Witches brew (witchcraft heal other)
Come hither (air magic pull)
Lightning bolt (air magic bolt, hits everything in path)
Wall of Fire (generates a large sphere of fire)
Heal other (greater magic)
Archery

With a build like that, you would be able to dish out a ton of damage. You've got several bolt spells and archery for ranged nukage. Once it's time to make the fight a little more personal, you can cast Slashing weakness on your enemy and then use Come Hither to pull our target close to you so that you can cleave them apart with your 2h Axe. You can sprinkle your melee attacks with the occasional power attack (which actually DOES make a difference once you skill it up some). If you get low on health you can use Vampiric touch to steal your opponents hp, and if your friends get into trouble you can cast Witches brew, Lay on hands, or Heal other (all on seperate timers) on them.

Another example. If you want to be a tank with some good buffing, you could spec in the following:

1h sword + Shield
Knockback (melee skill)
Whirlwind (melee skill)
Stoneskin (earth magic defensive buff)
Stamina Leech (earth magic sap)
Brawn (earth magic strength buff)
Acid shield (earth magic defensive buff)
Fire shield (fire magic defensive buff)
Max stam bonus (spell chanting buff)
Max health bonus (spell chanting buff)
Spell immunity (arcane magic defensive buff)
Begone (greater magic 'force push')
Confusion (greater magic 'flash bang')
Mana to stamina (lesser magic)

With this build, you could really be a tank. You can buff both your stamina and health and you can cast stoneskin on yourself so that you take less damage from attacks. You could wade into a pack of enemies with your shield up and then use whirlwind to attack everyone immediately surrounding you. If the situation gets sticky, you can hit an opponent with Knockback, and then hit another enemy with Begone, and you've got two less people whacking on you. If things get really bad you can cast Confusion and attempt to make a getaway. If your facing a two hander, use a shield to absorb their damage and then use Stamina Leech to further wear them out while providing you with more blocking energy. Whenever you get out of his range you could also take the time to cast a mana to stamina, and you'll be good to block for even longer. With acid shield, fire shield, and spell immunity you mount a defense against a good range of magic. I threw in Brawn so that when you do swing, it hurts.

In either of the above builds, you could supplement your income by choosing between armor crafting, weapon crafting, herbalism, alchemy, enchanting, bowyering, cooking, tailoring, or just plain gathering (fishing/mining/etc). Of course, tailoring is borked and you can't really profit off it for the first 50+ levels, lol.

There are a hundred builds I could come up with off the top of my head, and the only true mainstay which never deviates would be archery. No reason to not have archery, really. Other than that, it's all your choice in what you specialize in. Magic really offers diversity since you don't specialize in schools so much as you specialize in individual spells, turning what would be around 8 choices into hundreds upon hundreds of choices.

And the spells in the above builds are only from the mage vendors in capital cities... there are npcs in other parts of the world which sell spells unattainable in towns.

Now, what I wrote above IS fairly romanticized, since some of the spells I listed in those builds havn't been obtained and tested by anyone yet. Also, I will admit that achieving those builds could be a bitch, since magic's progression is (IMO) borked. For the first month (or two), your build is going to look like this:

Preferred melee weapon
Archery
Mana missle
Eldritch sphere
Mana to stamina
One of the melee specials

I really wish they would do something with progession so that people could branch out earlier and start experiencing the dynamics of the skill system, but oh well. In the first few months, the dynamics of basic combat will be enough to sustain most people until they are able to truly start specializing.

And, as I've said several times in the past, if you plan on gathering for a supplemental profit, be prepared to macro, because otherwise your skull will implode in reaction to the sheer boredom of the activity.

edit: I forgot to include Heal self in every one of the above builds, lol

robertb · March 2009

Originally posted by APEist

Everyone is going to have melee, archery, and magic.

...

Good post.

In this game, it should and will take time to build your character. Players that are gaming the system for some sort of instant gratification are simply doing so to the detriment of the game itself, the detriment of other players' experience and, in my opinion, simply wasting their money playing this game. In the end, they won't matter anyway.

Many current and beta videos probably give people a very incorrect impression as to the depth of combat in Darkfall. Such people, I would venture to say, are usually the type that ruin these types of games anyway, so no real biggie.

As you said, in time, there will be a variety of combat styles for people to deal with. The actual combinations of effective builds being almost unlimited.

If you, as a player, are looking for a long term game that allows for a large amount of options and individuality and are willing to put up with a percentage of scum that, I only hope, soon find some other game to infest, then I honestly believe you might just find a home in this game.

ArzhAngel · March 2009

Originally posted by APEist

Everyone is going to have melee, archery, and magic.
Picking your melee does have an effect.

You can choose polearm, which is slow, does tremendous damage, and has a large hit radius. Of course, in group combat, the large radius can often be a detriment. You also have a small innate knockback for each hit with a polarm.
You can choose 2h club, which is the best weapon vs. anyone decked in high-end armor, as it induces bludgeoning damage, which plate and other high end armors have a lower resistance to. It has a relatively low speed, medium range, and good damage.
You can choose 2h axe, which is overall the most damaging weapon (but can be out-dps'd by 2h clubbers vs. full-plate/plate). 2h axe pair their great damage with a shorter range and medium speed.
You can choose 2h sword, which is the most balanced of the 2 handed weapons. Good damage, good range, good range.

Or you can focus on a 1h weapon + shield, sacrificing a lot of range and damage in return for a lot of defense, speed, and less action cost.
The 1h axe, 1h club, and 1 hand sword all pretty much correspond to each other the same way their 2h counterparts do.
On the magic side of things, things become extremely diversified...
For elemental magic you can choose to focus on fire and air, or you can focus on earth and water. Or you can do fire and earth, and air and water. You just cant have two opposing schools.
Then you can choose between witchcraft or spellchanting. Witchcraft leads to necromancy, and spellchanting leads to arcane.
The thing is, most players aren't going to go into every magic school available, they will just specialize in the spells that appeal to their playstyle the most. Remember, in Darkfall, you have to skill up your spells individually.

For example, if you want to be a damage nuker with a bit of healing as well, you could spec in the following:

2h axe
Power attack (melee skill)
Lay on hands (lesser magic heal other)
Vampiric touch (necromancy health sap)
Slashing weakness (necromancy debuff)
Cursed bolt (Unholy damage bolt)
Witches brew (witchcraft heal other)
Come hither (air magic pull)
Lightning bolt (air magic bolt, hits everything in path)
Wall of Fire (generates a large sphere of fire)
Heal other (greater magic)
Archery

With a build like that, you would be able to dish out a ton of damage. You've got several bolt spells and archery for ranged nukage. Once it's time to make the fight a little more personal, you can cast Slashing weakness on your enemy and then use Come Hither to pull our target close to you so that you can cleave them apart with your 2h Axe. You can sprinkle your melee attacks with the occasional power attack (which actually DOES make a difference once you skill it up some). If you get low on health you can use Vampiric touch to steal your opponents hp, and if your friends get into trouble you can cast Witches brew, Lay on hands, or Heal other (all on seperate timers) on them.
Another example. If you want to be a tank with some good buffing, you could spec in the following:

1h sword + Shield
Knockback (melee skill)
Whirlwind (melee skill)
Stoneskin (earth magic defensive buff)
Stamina Leech (earth magic sap)
Brawn (earth magic strength buff)
Acid shield (earth magic defensive buff)
Fire shield (fire magic defensive buff)
Max stam bonus (spell chanting buff)
Max health bonus (spell chanting buff)
Spell immunity (arcane magic defensive buff)
Begone (greater magic 'force push')
Confusion (greater magic 'flash bang')
Mana to stamina (lesser magic)

With this build, you could really be a tank. You can buff both your stamina and health and you can cast stoneskin on yourself so that you take less damage from attacks. You could wade into a pack of enemies with your shield up and then use whirlwind to attack everyone immediately surrounding you. If the situation gets sticky, you can hit an opponent with Knockback, and then hit another enemy with Begone, and you've got two less people whacking on you. If things get really bad you can cast Confusion and attempt to make a getaway. If your facing a two hander, use a shield to absorb their damage and then use Stamina Leech to further wear them out while providing you with more blocking energy. Whenever you get out of his range you could also take the time to cast a mana to stamina, and you'll be good to block for even longer. With acid shield, fire shield, and spell immunity you mount a defense against a good range of magic. I threw in Brawn so that when you do swing, it hurts.
In either of the above builds, you could supplement your income by choosing between armor crafting, weapon crafting, herbalism, alchemy, enchanting, bowyering, cooking, tailoring, or just plain gathering (fishing/mining/etc). Of course, tailoring is borked and you can't really profit off it for the first 50+ levels, lol.
There are a hundred builds I could come up with off the top of my head, and the only true mainstay which never deviates would be archery. No reason to not have archery, really. Other than that, it's all your choice in what you specialize in. Magic really offers diversity since you don't specialize in schools so much as you specialize in individual spells, turning what would be around 8 choices into hundreds upon hundreds of choices.
And the spells in the above builds are only from the mage vendors in capital cities... there are npcs in other parts of the world which sell spells unattainable in towns.
Now, what I wrote above IS fairly romanticized, since some of the spells I listed in those builds havn't been obtained and tested by anyone yet. Also, I will admit that achieving those builds could be a bitch, since magic's progression is (IMO) borked. For the first month (or two), your build is going to look like this:

Preferred melee weapon
Archery
Mana missle
Eldritch sphere
Mana to stamina
One of the melee specials

I really wish they would do something with progession so that people could branch out earlier and start experiencing the dynamics of the skill system, but oh well. In the first few months, the dynamics of basic combat will be enough to sustain most people until they are able to truly start specializing.
And, as I've said several times in the past, if you plan on gathering for a supplemental profit, be prepared to macro, because otherwise your skull will implode in reaction to the sheer boredom of the activity.
edit: I forgot to include Heal self in every one of the above builds, lol

Is there any way to find information about the skills and abliltes in the game, and are the Pre. classes in the game or it only the all around classes that are in the game now ?

jezvin · March 2009

Originally posted by APEist

Everyone is going to have melee, archery, and magic.

Sadly everything here is pretty much theorycraft.

if you plan to pvp you really need to get a pole or a 2h sword.

1h you will not hit anyone that knows what they are doing, and same with daggers.

the other 2h use more stamina than sword but don't have the reach of pole so I consider them worse but they can be used.

Sure pole *might* be harder to control in a group setting but with vertical swing it really isn't an issue at all if you fight with people who know what they are doing.

Most melee combat I get into it's is one attempt to attack and then a short pause because of distance so attack speed of the pole dosn't matter and the reach allows you to hit them and then back out before they can hit you back. If you can hit them and they can't hit you it dosn't matter what the damage on their weapon is. also if you are pretty much doing one attack then a 2-5 second pause before another attack speed dosn't matter either.

robertb · March 2009

Originally posted by jezvin

Originally posted by APEist

Everyone is going to have melee, archery, and magic.

Sadly everything here is pretty much theorycraft.

if you plan to pvp you really need to get a pole or a 2h sword.

1h you will not hit anyone that knows what they are doing, and same with daggers.

the other 2h use more stamina than sword but don't have the reach of pole so I consider them worse but they can be used.

Sure pole *might* be harder to control in a group setting but with vertical swing it really isn't an issue at all if you fight with people who know what they are doing.

Most melee combat I get into it's is one attempt to attack and then a short pause because of distance so attack speed of the pole dosn't matter and the reach allows you to hit them and then back out before they can hit you back. If you can hit them and they can't hit you it dosn't matter what the damage on their weapon is. also if you are pretty much doing one attack then a 2-5 second pause before another attack speed dosn't matter either.

Equal pots, etc.

A shield user can significantly outlast a polearm user though...

ILOVEPVE · March 2009

Is not Darkfall only two weeks old?

Hard to speak about the general gameplay yet. Most people seems more interesting in getting citys, and declare war and gainland then gaining skills.

MouzakiK · March 2009

Hi there all Darkfall players. I have a Question about the release of the game. Can someone buy it from stores yet or is the game still in close beta version. i tried to find out through the official site but as u can imagine i couldend find anyware an online buy order.

Grrl · March 2009

Originally posted by MouzakiK

Hi there all Darkfall players. I have a Question about the release of the game. Can someone buy it from stores yet or is the game still in close beta version. i tried to find out through the official site but as u can imagine i couldend find anyware an online buy order.

I'd like to know this too.

I registered after finding a link via google (where it should be easily accessible on the site that everyone goes to) and it said the store is temporarily closed.

It just got released recently, yet many players are experiencing transaction problems, no? It really sucks to see that!!

I'd like to try out this game, though. 1) Don't want to face the same problems 2) Why do some of us have to wait and others have gotten in?

[sighs] lol

robertb · March 2009

Originally posted by wh0astar

Originally posted by MouzakiK

Hi there all Darkfall players. I have a Question about the release of the game. Can someone buy it from stores yet or is the game still in close beta version. i tried to find out through the official site but as u can imagine i couldend find anyware an online buy order.

I'd like to know this too.

I registered after finding a link via google (where it should be easily accessible on the site that everyone goes to) and it said the store is temporarily closed.

It just got released recently, yet many players are experiencing transaction problems, no? It really sucks to see that!!

I'd like to try out this game, though. 1) Don't want to face the same problems 2) Why do some of us have to wait and others have gotten in?

[sighs] lol

The game does not currently have the capacity to meet the demand.

Don't know what more to say...

Grrl · March 2009

Originally posted by robertb

Originally posted by wh0astar

Originally posted by MouzakiK

Hi there all Darkfall players. I have a Question about the release of the game. Can someone buy it from stores yet or is the game still in close beta version. i tried to find out through the official site but as u can imagine i couldend find anyware an online buy order.

I'd like to know this too.

I registered after finding a link via google (where it should be easily accessible on the site that everyone goes to) and it said the store is temporarily closed.

It just got released recently, yet many players are experiencing transaction problems, no? It really sucks to see that!!

I'd like to try out this game, though. 1) Don't want to face the same problems 2) Why do some of us have to wait and others have gotten in?

[sighs] lol

The game does not currently have the capacity to meet the demand.

Don't know what more to say...

Limited Bandwidth or something?

robertb · March 2009

Originally posted by wh0astar

Originally posted by robertb

Originally posted by wh0astar

Originally posted by MouzakiK

Hi there all Darkfall players. I have a Question about the release of the game. Can someone buy it from stores yet or is the game still in close beta version. i tried to find out through the official site but as u can imagine i couldend find anyware an online buy order.

I'd like to know this too.

I registered after finding a link via google (where it should be easily accessible on the site that everyone goes to) and it said the store is temporarily closed.

It just got released recently, yet many players are experiencing transaction problems, no? It really sucks to see that!!

I'd like to try out this game, though. 1) Don't want to face the same problems 2) Why do some of us have to wait and others have gotten in?

[sighs] lol

The game does not currently have the capacity to meet the demand.

Don't know what more to say...

Limited Bandwidth or something?

Limited servers and infrastructure.

APEist · March 2009

Originally posted by jezvin

Originally posted by APEist

Everyone is going to have melee, archery, and magic.

Sadly everything here is pretty much theorycraft.

if you plan to pvp you really need to get a pole or a 2h sword.

1h you will not hit anyone that knows what they are doing, and same with daggers.

the other 2h use more stamina than sword but don't have the reach of pole so I consider them worse but they can be used.

Sure pole *might* be harder to control in a group setting but with vertical swing it really isn't an issue at all if you fight with people who know what they are doing.

Most melee combat I get into it's is one attempt to attack and then a short pause because of distance so attack speed of the pole dosn't matter and the reach allows you to hit them and then back out before they can hit you back. If you can hit them and they can't hit you it dosn't matter what the damage on their weapon is. also if you are pretty much doing one attack then a 2-5 second pause before another attack speed dosn't matter either.

I agree with you, generally. A good 1hander can outlast just about anyone, however.

Polearm IS the best weapon atm, despite what people try to say. 2h sword is the very close second.

I've run into an 2h axe user who is actually very good. Human guy, killed two polearmers on his own. He was just unrelenting. Basically, he got on top of them and STAYED on top of them lol, and just out damaged them. After he killed one he shot the crap out of the other while kiting and healing, and then he finished him off with his axe again lol... was pretty badass.

xzyax · March 2009

Originally posted by APEist

Everyone is going to have melee, archery, and magic.
... Very good stuff here... read the original post... seriously.
Now, what I wrote above IS fairly romanticized, since some of the spells I listed in those builds havn't been obtained and tested by anyone yet. Also, I will admit that achieving those builds could be a bitch, since magic's progression is (IMO) borked. For the first month (or two), your build is going to look like this:

Preferred melee weapon
Archery
Mana missle
Eldritch sphere
Mana to stamina
One of the melee specials

I really wish they would do something with progession so that people could branch out earlier and start experiencing the dynamics of the skill system, but oh well. In the first few months, the dynamics of basic combat will be enough to sustain most people until they are able to truly start specializing.
And, as I've said several times in the past, if you plan on gathering for a supplemental profit, be prepared to macro, because otherwise your skull will implode in reaction to the sheer boredom of the activity.
edit: I forgot to include Heal self in every one of the above builds, lol

Very well put together APEist.

The areas I highlighted in Red above are some of my main obstacles with getting into the game.

From reading the Dev. Journals years ago, up to fairly recently... it did not sound like there would be so many pre-requisite leveling, and gated skill-trees barring entrance to any kind of meaningful magic.

Can you imagine the frustration of going all the way down a certain magic-school path and leveling up the resulting spells only to find out that they suck?

Then what?

How do you switch over to Fire if you've already progressed down Water? Or to Earth, if you've already started down Air?

Needing to level a skill up to 75+ before I can use something else IS leveling and making the skill levels progress from 0 to 25, then to 50, and then to 75; isn't really any different than watching an experience bar. Everyone is going to at least get their skills to those "magic levels".

Why is skill level 50 so much better than skill level 49? Shouldn't it only be 1% better?

Why is skill level 24 no better than skill level 0 (for magic)? Shouldn't it be 24% better?

The harvesting for crafting is abysmal in it's current implementation as well. As it's currently implemented they would be better off just having the NPC vendors sell every resource available for gold. That way you could actually have a bit of fun in getting the gold to buy your resources.

Yes, I realize that there are players harvesting the resources and selling them for gold... but the vast majority of those are 24/7 macroers... not exactly the type you want your gold to support.

The absence of any trade boards or player vendors also make it very hit and miss for the resources you are looking for... so most of the time if you want it... you have to submit to the very boring gathering mechanic and get the resources yourself.

Mr_Hand · March 2009

Originally posted by APEist

Everyone is going to have melee, archery, and magic.
Picking your melee does have an effect.

You can choose polearm, which is slow, does tremendous damage, and has a large hit radius. Of course, in group combat, the large radius can often be a detriment. You also have a small innate knockback for each hit with a polarm.
You can choose 2h club, which is the best weapon vs. anyone decked in high-end armor, as it induces bludgeoning damage, which plate and other high end armors have a lower resistance to. It has a relatively low speed, medium range, and good damage.
You can choose 2h axe, which is overall the most damaging weapon (but can be out-dps'd by 2h clubbers vs. full-plate/plate). 2h axe pair their great damage with a shorter range and medium speed.
You can choose 2h sword, which is the most balanced of the 2 handed weapons. Good damage, good range, good range.

Or you can focus on a 1h weapon + shield, sacrificing a lot of range and damage in return for a lot of defense, speed, and less action cost.
The 1h axe, 1h club, and 1 hand sword all pretty much correspond to each other the same way their 2h counterparts do.
On the magic side of things, things become extremely diversified...
For elemental magic you can choose to focus on fire and air, or you can focus on earth and water. Or you can do fire and earth, and air and water. You just cant have two opposing schools.
Then you can choose between witchcraft or spellchanting. Witchcraft leads to necromancy, and spellchanting leads to arcane.
The thing is, most players aren't going to go into every magic school available, they will just specialize in the spells that appeal to their playstyle the most. Remember, in Darkfall, you have to skill up your spells individually.

For example, if you want to be a damage nuker with a bit of healing as well, you could spec in the following:

2h axe
Power attack (melee skill)
Lay on hands (lesser magic heal other)
Vampiric touch (necromancy health sap)
Slashing weakness (necromancy debuff)
Cursed bolt (Unholy damage bolt)
Witches brew (witchcraft heal other)
Come hither (air magic pull)
Lightning bolt (air magic bolt, hits everything in path)
Wall of Fire (generates a large sphere of fire)
Heal other (greater magic)
Archery

With a build like that, you would be able to dish out a ton of damage. You've got several bolt spells and archery for ranged nukage. Once it's time to make the fight a little more personal, you can cast Slashing weakness on your enemy and then use Come Hither to pull our target close to you so that you can cleave them apart with your 2h Axe. You can sprinkle your melee attacks with the occasional power attack (which actually DOES make a difference once you skill it up some). If you get low on health you can use Vampiric touch to steal your opponents hp, and if your friends get into trouble you can cast Witches brew, Lay on hands, or Heal other (all on seperate timers) on them.
Another example. If you want to be a tank with some good buffing, you could spec in the following:

1h sword + Shield
Knockback (melee skill)
Whirlwind (melee skill)
Stoneskin (earth magic defensive buff)
Stamina Leech (earth magic sap)
Brawn (earth magic strength buff)
Acid shield (earth magic defensive buff)
Fire shield (fire magic defensive buff)
Max stam bonus (spell chanting buff)
Max health bonus (spell chanting buff)
Spell immunity (arcane magic defensive buff)
Begone (greater magic 'force push')
Confusion (greater magic 'flash bang')
Mana to stamina (lesser magic)

With this build, you could really be a tank. You can buff both your stamina and health and you can cast stoneskin on yourself so that you take less damage from attacks. You could wade into a pack of enemies with your shield up and then use whirlwind to attack everyone immediately surrounding you. If the situation gets sticky, you can hit an opponent with Knockback, and then hit another enemy with Begone, and you've got two less people whacking on you. If things get really bad you can cast Confusion and attempt to make a getaway. If your facing a two hander, use a shield to absorb their damage and then use Stamina Leech to further wear them out while providing you with more blocking energy. Whenever you get out of his range you could also take the time to cast a mana to stamina, and you'll be good to block for even longer. With acid shield, fire shield, and spell immunity you mount a defense against a good range of magic. I threw in Brawn so that when you do swing, it hurts.
In either of the above builds, you could supplement your income by choosing between armor crafting, weapon crafting, herbalism, alchemy, enchanting, bowyering, cooking, tailoring, or just plain gathering (fishing/mining/etc). Of course, tailoring is borked and you can't really profit off it for the first 50+ levels, lol.
There are a hundred builds I could come up with off the top of my head, and the only true mainstay which never deviates would be archery. No reason to not have archery, really. Other than that, it's all your choice in what you specialize in. Magic really offers diversity since you don't specialize in schools so much as you specialize in individual spells, turning what would be around 8 choices into hundreds upon hundreds of choices.
And the spells in the above builds are only from the mage vendors in capital cities... there are npcs in other parts of the world which sell spells unattainable in towns.
Now, what I wrote above IS fairly romanticized, since some of the spells I listed in those builds havn't been obtained and tested by anyone yet. Also, I will admit that achieving those builds could be a bitch, since magic's progression is (IMO) borked. For the first month (or two), your build is going to look like this:

Preferred melee weapon
Archery
Mana missle
Eldritch sphere
Mana to stamina
One of the melee specials

I really wish they would do something with progession so that people could branch out earlier and start experiencing the dynamics of the skill system, but oh well. In the first few months, the dynamics of basic combat will be enough to sustain most people until they are able to truly start specializing.
And, as I've said several times in the past, if you plan on gathering for a supplemental profit, be prepared to macro, because otherwise your skull will implode in reaction to the sheer boredom of the activity.
edit: I forgot to include Heal self in every one of the above builds, lol

LOL....

Dude, thats sound grand an all, but when reality meets fantasy your posts = fail!

That^^ is how it is suppose to be, but almost everything within Darkfall's skill tree isn't remotely finished and even working as intended. It will takes 3~4 months (July) before what you've posted to actually become true.

Darkfall doesn't have 3 months to get their act together... OTHER games are comming out and the 8k people playing Darkfall will probably move to those games... leaving Aventurine having to close their doors!

DarthRaiden · March 2009

Originally posted by Mr_Hand

Originally posted by APEist

Everyone is going to have melee, archery, and magic.
Picking your melee does have an effect.

You can choose polearm, which is slow, does tremendous damage, and has a large hit radius. Of course, in group combat, the large radius can often be a detriment. You also have a small innate knockback for each hit with a polarm.
You can choose 2h club, which is the best weapon vs. anyone decked in high-end armor, as it induces bludgeoning damage, which plate and other high end armors have a lower resistance to. It has a relatively low speed, medium range, and good damage.
You can choose 2h axe, which is overall the most damaging weapon (but can be out-dps'd by 2h clubbers vs. full-plate/plate). 2h axe pair their great damage with a shorter range and medium speed.
You can choose 2h sword, which is the most balanced of the 2 handed weapons. Good damage, good range, good range.

Or you can focus on a 1h weapon + shield, sacrificing a lot of range and damage in return for a lot of defense, speed, and less action cost.
The 1h axe, 1h club, and 1 hand sword all pretty much correspond to each other the same way their 2h counterparts do.
On the magic side of things, things become extremely diversified...
For elemental magic you can choose to focus on fire and air, or you can focus on earth and water. Or you can do fire and earth, and air and water. You just cant have two opposing schools.
Then you can choose between witchcraft or spellchanting. Witchcraft leads to necromancy, and spellchanting leads to arcane.
The thing is, most players aren't going to go into every magic school available, they will just specialize in the spells that appeal to their playstyle the most. Remember, in Darkfall, you have to skill up your spells individually.

For example, if you want to be a damage nuker with a bit of healing as well, you could spec in the following:

2h axe
Power attack (melee skill)
Lay on hands (lesser magic heal other)
Vampiric touch (necromancy health sap)
Slashing weakness (necromancy debuff)
Cursed bolt (Unholy damage bolt)
Witches brew (witchcraft heal other)
Come hither (air magic pull)
Lightning bolt (air magic bolt, hits everything in path)
Wall of Fire (generates a large sphere of fire)
Heal other (greater magic)
Archery

With a build like that, you would be able to dish out a ton of damage. You've got several bolt spells and archery for ranged nukage. Once it's time to make the fight a little more personal, you can cast Slashing weakness on your enemy and then use Come Hither to pull our target close to you so that you can cleave them apart with your 2h Axe. You can sprinkle your melee attacks with the occasional power attack (which actually DOES make a difference once you skill it up some). If you get low on health you can use Vampiric touch to steal your opponents hp, and if your friends get into trouble you can cast Witches brew, Lay on hands, or Heal other (all on seperate timers) on them.
Another example. If you want to be a tank with some good buffing, you could spec in the following:

1h sword + Shield
Knockback (melee skill)
Whirlwind (melee skill)
Stoneskin (earth magic defensive buff)
Stamina Leech (earth magic sap)
Brawn (earth magic strength buff)
Acid shield (earth magic defensive buff)
Fire shield (fire magic defensive buff)
Max stam bonus (spell chanting buff)
Max health bonus (spell chanting buff)
Spell immunity (arcane magic defensive buff)
Begone (greater magic 'force push')
Confusion (greater magic 'flash bang')
Mana to stamina (lesser magic)

With this build, you could really be a tank. You can buff both your stamina and health and you can cast stoneskin on yourself so that you take less damage from attacks. You could wade into a pack of enemies with your shield up and then use whirlwind to attack everyone immediately surrounding you. If the situation gets sticky, you can hit an opponent with Knockback, and then hit another enemy with Begone, and you've got two less people whacking on you. If things get really bad you can cast Confusion and attempt to make a getaway. If your facing a two hander, use a shield to absorb their damage and then use Stamina Leech to further wear them out while providing you with more blocking energy. Whenever you get out of his range you could also take the time to cast a mana to stamina, and you'll be good to block for even longer. With acid shield, fire shield, and spell immunity you mount a defense against a good range of magic. I threw in Brawn so that when you do swing, it hurts.
In either of the above builds, you could supplement your income by choosing between armor crafting, weapon crafting, herbalism, alchemy, enchanting, bowyering, cooking, tailoring, or just plain gathering (fishing/mining/etc). Of course, tailoring is borked and you can't really profit off it for the first 50+ levels, lol.
There are a hundred builds I could come up with off the top of my head, and the only true mainstay which never deviates would be archery. No reason to not have archery, really. Other than that, it's all your choice in what you specialize in. Magic really offers diversity since you don't specialize in schools so much as you specialize in individual spells, turning what would be around 8 choices into hundreds upon hundreds of choices.
And the spells in the above builds are only from the mage vendors in capital cities... there are npcs in other parts of the world which sell spells unattainable in towns.
Now, what I wrote above IS fairly romanticized, since some of the spells I listed in those builds havn't been obtained and tested by anyone yet. Also, I will admit that achieving those builds could be a bitch, since magic's progression is (IMO) borked. For the first month (or two), your build is going to look like this:

Preferred melee weapon
Archery
Mana missle
Eldritch sphere
Mana to stamina
One of the melee specials

I really wish they would do something with progession so that people could branch out earlier and start experiencing the dynamics of the skill system, but oh well. In the first few months, the dynamics of basic combat will be enough to sustain most people until they are able to truly start specializing.
And, as I've said several times in the past, if you plan on gathering for a supplemental profit, be prepared to macro, because otherwise your skull will implode in reaction to the sheer boredom of the activity.
edit: I forgot to include Heal self in every one of the above builds, lol

LOL....

Dude, thats sound grand an all, but when reality meets fantasy your posts = fail!

That^^ is how it is suppose to be, but almost everything within Darkfall's skill tree isn't remotely finished and even working as intended. It will takes 3~4 months (July) before what you've posted to actually become true.

How you know it isn't working do you mastered any skill already ? Every spell l is working so far, how you know the highers spells and skills arnt working ? Even some of higher spells have been demonstrated by devs in beta ..wall of fire is very cool..

robertb · March 2009

Originally posted by Mr_Hand
LOL....

Dude, thats sound grand an all, but when reality meets fantasy your posts = fail!
That^^ is how it is suppose to be, but almost everything within Darkfall's skill tree isn't remotely finished and even working as intended. It will takes 3~4 months (July) before what you've posted to actually become true.

Darkfall doesn't have 3 months to get their act together... OTHER games are comming out and the 8k people playing Darkfall will probably move to those games... leaving Aventurine having to close their doors!

Actually it should take 3 or 4 months before there are a substantial number of players with such skills. (Macroers aside...)

The rest of you post is ...

APEist · March 2009

Originally posted by ArzhAngel

Is there any way to find information about the skills and abliltes in the game, and are the Pre. classes in the game or it only the all around classes that are in the game now ?

You can search google for 'darkfall spell and skills' and find lists which contain descriptions of said skill/spells. Prestige classes are NOT in the game, and I doubt they ever will be. The devs stated long ago that Prestige classes would not make it into release... Personally, I say good riddance.

Benthon · March 2009

You can be anything you want as long as it deals damage.

Howdy, Stranger!

No classes, but no diversity too?

Comments

Howdy, Stranger!

Quick Links

No classes, but no diversity too?

Comments