Population on EU-1 is fairly decent as it stands. The world is huge so unless there's crowding you don't see a player every few minutes. The game was a lot more populated during the early days with one server and the inital surge, it dropped and many people left but now a good amount of those people have returned and the pops. not too bad.
What do I base this one?
- City get raided daily by several different groups of people
- When in dungeons groups of players sometimes come in
- When visiting cities with active clans in you will get a response from that clan. See Andruk which we went to late night, 20~ people poured out to fight us off.
Does the game need more population? Yes. Is the population on EU-1 dire? No.
-The PvP itself is very intense. I have dabbled in it sparingly as I am trying to raise my skills a bit more but I almost had to change my underwear a few times it was so exciting. I hope it is liket his when I figure out what the hell I am doing as well. On that same token it can be frustrating being so weak in a ffa pvp loot system. You will be a lamb among lions at first.
-PvE = pretty blah. Not too impressed the quests are go here and kill this without much variation. Better be ok with that if you wanna try this one folks.
-JOIN A CLAN - tons of them are recruiting. More people will want to help ya and a few more will most likely want to do you bodily harm. From my short stay here the game boils down to clan vs. clan warfare. This is the main motivation for those that have been here awhile.
The PVP gets a lot funner the more that you play. I would have to say that it was around the 8th month or so (year ago or more) when I finally figured out some essential tactics that most of the server didn't seem to know at the time. The players are actually a lot better now than they used to be. Seriously, todays DFO PVPer could probably solo vs 20+ eu-release people if they still fought like they used to during release . .. the PVE is much harder too. Sometimes I will go out with another player almost 2 years into the game and get wiped in an instant because of some simple mistake we made. The gameplay remains edge-of-the-seat and challenging no matter how long that you play for. The best experiences are after you have learned to extend fights and they last for potentially hours (yes, even a heart-pumping intense 1vs1 session can last an hour and start on one side of the map while ending several zones away . .. visiting cool looking battlegrounds in between as each player is probably sweating in real life because they are so engaged). It takes months of practice to learn how to kite and extend fights until you eventually can find a weakness and take advantage of it. Until you can get into a solo fight that lasts for hours, you should be able to get involved in some by sieging.
I consider the PVE in Darkfall absolutely amazing!! Its the way the combat feels, how the mobs react, and how cool the dungeons are in the last expansion. I still have so much more PVE content to experience. I used to PVE in other games just to be with others for the most part or to make a more powerful PVP character but in this game I actually enjoy to go out and PVE quite a bit! This is pretty much something I never did very happily in the past unless I had some fun company with me. Its hard to appreciate it at first, but after getting used to the PVE in this game, I reaaaally do not want to go back to the traditional PVE in other games. The PVE in this game was much worse when it came out. They have seriously added more than double the content, at least.
Joining a clan can change the game completely for better or/and worse . .. depending on the clan. I am starting to get back into clan stuff and haven't done it since before NA release. I almost forgot how it completely changes the game pretty much compared to rolling solo or a small group.
NEWS FLASH!"A bank was robbed the other day and a man opened fire on the customers being held hostage. One customer zig-zag sprinted until he found cover. When questioned later he explained that he was a hardcore gamer and knew just what to do!" Download my music for free! I release several albums per month as part of project "Thee Untitled" . .. some video game music remixes and cover songs done with instruments in there as well! http://theeuntitled.bandcamp.com/Check out my roleplaying blog, collection of fictional short stories, and fantasy series... updated on a blog for now until I am finished!https://childrenfromtheheavensbelow.blogspot.com/Watch me game on occasion or make music... https://www.twitch.tv/spoontheeuntitled and subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUvqULn678VrF3OasgnbsyA
I have fond memories of the orig EQ1 before sony ruined it all. In those days you logged on with a rusty sword and just hoped to get bronze armour. You had to figure things out without being spoon fed all by devs. I loved the thrill of going deep into a dungeon and hoping not to dy becaus how in hell will i get my corpse back out? I loved seeing some item for sale and chatting with the seller then running accross the world to get it from him in the tunnel hoping he is not going to sell it to someone els or bag waiting on you. I remember training mobs all along the way as i ran for the tunnel. I remember a huge giant( a gm) running around the sands reeking havoc on any unfortuate they came accross and large numbers of players running to the area to try and tag team it - dynamic gm events.
I have no memories of any game since then to match it. Every game now is dumbed down(mo might be an exception if it actually ran properly and was playable). If having to think for yourself and actually have skill in combat ( player skill not character skill alone), if getting robbed by a player or having to run accross the world or having to meet some guy in a city to buy from them so you do risk getting pked, if having to work at something for a reward is a grind then do not play this game and stick to wow.
Do not give in devs. If EVE had done it , it would have failed soon. Let the trolls leave and let the player base that you want trickle in as you improve the game.
I was on this boat about 5 years ago . ... was hoping that Vanguard might be the next EQ and it did come close in some ways (more than EQ2 anyways). I pretty much went through all of the so-called AAA games (outside of WoW and other cartoon games) looking for something to replace the MMORPG feel that I still want. I couldn't handle most games more than 3 months. Finally I found Darkfall and I actually hated it at first . ... lol
You know the Darkfall grind that people whine about in forums? Its not nearly as extreme as EQ was in many ways (if you take the FFA PVP server into account where you could lose an item that you spent months farming for).
Its been almost 2 years and it still feels like the more I play, the more I love it . ... but of course some of that could be that I have not burned myself out, I play the game as intended for a bigger challenge, and can no longer log into other MMORPGs (unless its something like Guildwars or Global Agenda for an instant 20 min. of safe PVP, like after dying in DFO its a nice break for a few minutes anyways lol). Pretty sure that Darkfall is my main game until its dead. I would love to have more options but unfortunately the market sucks for someone like me right now.
Welcome new peeps!!
There are some hard times ahead of you but it will be worth it. No other game will get your heart pumping like this one will.
NEWS FLASH!"A bank was robbed the other day and a man opened fire on the customers being held hostage. One customer zig-zag sprinted until he found cover. When questioned later he explained that he was a hardcore gamer and knew just what to do!" Download my music for free! I release several albums per month as part of project "Thee Untitled" . .. some video game music remixes and cover songs done with instruments in there as well! http://theeuntitled.bandcamp.com/Check out my roleplaying blog, collection of fictional short stories, and fantasy series... updated on a blog for now until I am finished!https://childrenfromtheheavensbelow.blogspot.com/Watch me game on occasion or make music... https://www.twitch.tv/spoontheeuntitled and subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUvqULn678VrF3OasgnbsyA
well I am going to say a few things as a new player. Here is what attracted me to this game
1. risk reward
2. classless and skill based
3. no instant gratification
4. no instant travel
5. no fake invis skill or panning camera
6. corpse runs
7. no flagged quests and flagged rsources that make it idiot work to harvest
8. territory control
9. alignment mean something again
10. skill based combat to include magic and archery
I have to say that i am constantly amazed when folks rag on this game for certain reasons. They read the description, sub then whine about how it is harsh, there is nothing to do and not for casual guys - basically they rag on it for not being a wow clone. There are enough dumbed down mmo's out there like wow and warcraft and aoc that allow for instant gratification. These are the same folks that troll the forums and moan about things till the devs cave in. Typically they argue that they do not have time to travel or corpse retrieve and must meet all the other busy people insatantly and be able to log in and achieve great things in one hour. These are the people that have ruined most games my forcing devs to mainstream all into the same mold - make it fast and easy for instant gratification because i cannot think on my own. I will play for hours, but somehow have no time and need to achieve all in a hour??
I have fond memories of the orig EQ1 before sony ruined it all. In those days you logged on with a rusty sword and just hoped to get bronze armour. You had to figure things out without being spoon fed all by devs. I loved the thrill of going deep into a dungeon and hoping not to dy becaus how in hell will i get my corpse back out? I loved seeing some item for sale and chatting with the seller then running accross the world to get it from him in the tunnel hoping he is not going to sell it to someone els or bag waiting on you. I remember training mobs all along the way as i ran for the tunnel. I remember a huge giant( a gm) running around the sands reeking havoc on any unfortuate they came accross and large numbers of players running to the area to try and tag team it - dynamic gm events.
I have no memories of any game since then to match it. Every game now is dumbed down(mo might be an exception if it actually ran properly and was playable). If having to think for yourself and actually have skill in combat ( player skill not character skill alone), if getting robbed by a player or having to run accross the world or having to meet some guy in a city to buy from them so you do risk getting pked, if having to work at something for a reward is a grind then do not play this game and stick to wow.
Do not give in devs. If EVE had done it , it would have failed soon. Let the trolls leave and let the player base that you want trickle in as you improve the game.
I'm quite sure that most of the new players will quit after a couple of months. I know I did about a year ago.
I'm always curious about people liking DF so much and defending it and why do they it. The only explanation I have is they already have high skilled macroed up characters and want more target practice... When I bought the game it was with 6 month free sub (for a higher price, though), everybody who played the game told me not to do this and buy the simple one month deal because new players simply don't stay in this game. Sadly, I didn't listen.
Let me tell you why the game will never manage to keep new players in (especially the ones who experienced other mmorpgs):
1. 90% of the old players used illegal third-party software to macro their skills back in the days it was allowed.
2. 80% of the playerbase kept macroing even after it became illegal to do so and are still doing it (I saw it with my own eyes, entering cities of one of the biggest alliances on the server and seeing walls of people hitting on each other while afk).
3. It is impossible to play the game without any third-party software to ease the use of your UI. There isn't even an autorun feature in the game and you need to either use Logitech G software or any other autoclicking software for this and lots of other missing features not implemented in default UI (like switching your staff to a sword and shield with one button).
4. Game lets you buff yourself with any possible buffing spell of any possible school at the same time (there are some exceptions for specific builds but it's pretty much true) so unless you don't want to have 30% less health than the player you are fighting you'd better learn and grind all of those magic schools and take your time to selfbuff before each pvp fight. Have fun keeping track of 10+ buffs on yourself at all times.
I did love lots of other features of the game. I think it has one of the most exciting PvE settings and I really love the mob AI and the real world sneaking (even though I hate the fact that shadows aren't FORCED on all the clients because hiding without shadows is just plain stupid). The fact that you can actually hear your enemy get close and unmount, and prepare yourself for the open world fight is quite priceless too.
Considering Darkfall's charm and all the things we do love about it, sadly, I can't really imagine playing a game where 90% of the playerbase have cheated their way to the levels at which they can defeat 20 new players like you while eating pizza and watching an "always on top" movie on half of their monitor screen...
I think my only mistake was that when I joined I was hoping for an FPS UO, where skill matters and gear doesn't, and what I got is a Quake 2 on a private server ran by cheaters.
"Only in quiet waters do things mirror themselves undistorted. Only in a quiet mind is adequate perception of the world." Hans Margolius
I'm quite sure that most of the new players will quit after a couple of months. I know I did about a year ago.
I'm always curious about people liking DF so much and defending it and why do they it. The only explanation I have is they already have high skilled macroed up characters and want more target practice... When I bought the game it was with 6 month free sub (for a higher price, though), everybody who played the game told me not to do this and buy the simple one month deal because new players simply don't stay in this game. Sadly, I didn't listen.
Let me tell you why the game will never manage to keep new players in (especially the ones who experienced other mmorpgs):
1. 90% of the old players used illegal third-party software to macro their skills back in the days it was allowed.
2. 80% of the playerbase kept macroing even after it became illegal to do so and are still doing it (I saw it with my own eyes, entering cities of one of the biggest alliances on the server and seeing walls of people hitting on each other while afk).
3. It is impossible to play the game without any third-party software to ease the use of your UI. There isn't even an autorun feature in the game and you need to either use Logitech G software or any other autoclicking software for this and lots of other missing features not implemented in default UI (like switching your staff to a sword and shield with one button).
4. Game lets you buff yourself with any possible buffing spell of any possible school at the same time (there are some exceptions for specific builds but it's pretty much true) so unless you don't want to have 30% less health than the player you are fighting you'd better learn and grind all of those magic schools and take your time to selfbuff before each pvp fight. Have fun keeping track of 10+ buffs on yourself at all times.
I did love lots of other features of the game. I think it has one of the most exciting PvE settings and I really love the mob AI and the real world sneaking (even though I hate the fact that shadows aren't FORCED on all the clients because hiding without shadows is just plain stupid). The fact that you can actually hear your enemy get close and unmount, and prepare yourself for the open world fight is quite priceless too.
Considering Darkfall's charm and all the things we do love about it, sadly, I can't really imagine playing a game where 90% of the playerbase have cheated their way to the levels at which they can defeat 20 new players like you while eating pizza and watching an "always on top" movie on half of their monitor screen...
I think my only mistake was that when I joined I was hoping for an FPS UO, where skill matters and gear doesn't, and what I got is a Quake 2 on a private server ran by cheaters.
I'm quite sure that most of the new players will quit after a couple of months. I know I did about a year ago.
I'm always curious about people liking DF so much and defending it and why do they it. The only explanation I have is they already have high skilled macroed up characters and want more target practice... When I bought the game it was with 6 month free sub (for a higher price, though), everybody who played the game told me not to do this and buy the simple one month deal because new players simply don't stay in this game. Sadly, I didn't listen.
Let me tell you why the game will never manage to keep new players in (especially the ones who experienced other mmorpgs):
1. 90% of the old players used illegal third-party software to macro their skills back in the days it was allowed.
2. 80% of the playerbase kept macroing even after it became illegal to do so and are still doing it (I saw it with my own eyes, entering cities of one of the biggest alliances on the server and seeing walls of people hitting on each other while afk).
3. It is impossible to play the game without any third-party software to ease the use of your UI. There isn't even an autorun feature in the game and you need to either use Logitech G software or any other autoclicking software for this and lots of other missing features not implemented in default UI (like switching your staff to a sword and shield with one button).
4. Game lets you buff yourself with any possible buffing spell of any possible school at the same time (there are some exceptions for specific builds but it's pretty much true) so unless you don't want to have 30% less health than the player you are fighting you'd better learn and grind all of those magic schools and take your time to selfbuff before each pvp fight. Have fun keeping track of 10+ buffs on yourself at all times.
I did love lots of other features of the game. I think it has one of the most exciting PvE settings and I really love the mob AI and the real world sneaking (even though I hate the fact that shadows aren't FORCED on all the clients because hiding without shadows is just plain stupid). The fact that you can actually hear your enemy get close and unmount, and prepare yourself for the open world fight is quite priceless too.
Considering Darkfall's charm and all the things we do love about it, sadly, I can't really imagine playing a game where 90% of the playerbase have cheated their way to the levels at which they can defeat 20 new players like you while eating pizza and watching an "always on top" movie on half of their monitor screen...
I think my only mistake was that when I joined I was hoping for an FPS UO, where skill matters and gear doesn't, and what I got is a Quake 2 on a private server ran by cheaters.
I just can't get into a game that you have to spend more time NOT PLAYING to level up than actually playing. There's so much I like about this game, but some serious flaws make it unplayable to me. I'm sorry I have a life. I can't AFK macro 24/7 to compete.
"I am not in a server with Gankers...THEY ARE IN A SERVER WITH ME!!!"
I just unsubbed myself. Reason - Using the type of weapon I wanted isn't viable. I wanted to skill up sword and shield and be a paladin type character. It took me a few days of swinging my little sword and barely surviving to get it to 25. Then I would turn around and get ganked in about 2 seconds by a red player with a polearm or 2 hander.
The ganking didn't bother me, the weapon choice tunneling is what bothers me. That plus the grind just to skill up each weapon. For a pvp game, they sure make it tedious to have fun pvping. Which makes no sense as the game is all about PVP. Wouldn't you want your player base to get out there fast as possible to have some epic pvp fights?
Very bad game design issues. Swimming while I'm afk or running or crouch walking....what kind of gameplay is that? Makes no sense to me.
atm i,m just downloading the update for the game..gonna give it a try on trial..but if the population are cheating to play well i cant see me lasting long..wot gets me is dont they understand if they do this they ruin the game for themselves as well as others.but i will judge it on wot i see and not wot others say..everyones experience is different...oh btw i am crap at pvp but wot the hell i dont mind being cannon fodder lol.
More than half of the population cheat and think that it's the right thing to do. Even some of the people who answered "yes" still do it but don't think it's all right. They only do it to stay competitive.
if someone posts it enough times then it must be true eh? Kinda like Fox News.
Anyway a poll of less than 300 people posting especailly by this particular poster doesn't mean squat.
I have had the pleasure to power level a number of players in the last 2 weeks. I can get someone from 1 skill to 50 mastery in a week of casual playing. They should have ~320 HP. Without macroing. From here on out they will need to skill-up thier bow and basic magic skillz which is extremely fast with offline skilling.
If you can't skill-up in th game now without macroing then you just need to quit.
I'm quite sure that most of the new players will quit after a couple of months. I know I did about a year ago.
I'm always curious about people liking DF so much and defending it and why do they it. The only explanation I have is they already have high skilled macroed up characters and want more target practice... When I bought the game it was with 6 month free sub (for a higher price, though), everybody who played the game told me not to do this and buy the simple one month deal because new players simply don't stay in this game. Sadly, I didn't listen.
Let me tell you why the game will never manage to keep new players in (especially the ones who experienced other mmorpgs):
1. 90% of the old players used illegal third-party software to macro their skills back in the days it was allowed.
2. 80% of the playerbase kept macroing even after it became illegal to do so and are still doing it (I saw it with my own eyes, entering cities of one of the biggest alliances on the server and seeing walls of people hitting on each other while afk).
3. It is impossible to play the game without any third-party software to ease the use of your UI. There isn't even an autorun feature in the game and you need to either use Logitech G software or any other autoclicking software for this and lots of other missing features not implemented in default UI (like switching your staff to a sword and shield with one button).
4. Game lets you buff yourself with any possible buffing spell of any possible school at the same time (there are some exceptions for specific builds but it's pretty much true) so unless you don't want to have 30% less health than the player you are fighting you'd better learn and grind all of those magic schools and take your time to selfbuff before each pvp fight. Have fun keeping track of 10+ buffs on yourself at all times.
I did love lots of other features of the game. I think it has one of the most exciting PvE settings and I really love the mob AI and the real world sneaking (even though I hate the fact that shadows aren't FORCED on all the clients because hiding without shadows is just plain stupid). The fact that you can actually hear your enemy get close and unmount, and prepare yourself for the open world fight is quite priceless too.
Considering Darkfall's charm and all the things we do love about it, sadly, I can't really imagine playing a game where 90% of the playerbase have cheated their way to the levels at which they can defeat 20 new players like you while eating pizza and watching an "always on top" movie on half of their monitor screen...
I think my only mistake was that when I joined I was hoping for an FPS UO, where skill matters and gear doesn't, and what I got is a Quake 2 on a private server ran by cheaters.
This was why I almost quit a few times back when I first started playing but I am very glad I didn't. At the beginning I was pissed off that I had to hit a bloodwall and setup macros in the very beginning to keep up with others who were doing that and if I tried to play the game as intended I would fall way behind and so I setup macros and kept my computer running 23/7. I found that I was still falling behind because I did not have an alt account to macro on and I did not have as much money to spend on regs as others. I didn't want to use magic either but back in early EU, just having a mastery in melee was incredibly powerful, so I thought that I would eventually be powerful enough to beat anyone if I just focused on melee. Few months later and magic become dominant over everything else by far and many of my friends quit at this point because they didn't want to have to use magic.
They fixed most of these problems for me soon after that with the first expansion over a year ago after I rerolled for NA release. Those guys who macroed magic and were way ahead of me I started to beat using melee/archery specs on my new character. I didn't even have to grind really, just a few hours for witchesbrew and the rest of the stuff I used went up plenty fast on its own. When the trial came out I did it for fun just to see how the nooby experience has changed and to see how hard it was to catch up to a character. I found that it was really easy now just to play the game how I want on a new character and especially since the HP/aoe nerf patch, noobs seem to be viable against the mage of everything in less than half of the time.
On the trial I did for fun I was able to get the following before my 24-hr noob protection wore off (no help from any alt or anything, I just killed goblins . .. and it was fun):
- I didnt even use the rest skill once since I know how to play I hotkeyed food and pots first thing and used conversions instead of rest for faster skill gain.
- Started leveling witchcraft (if I had about 12k I would have been able to get witchesbrew before my shield wore off!!! but it would have involved boring gameplay of debuffing mobs so thankfully mediation is out now so people probably no longer need to)
- Had whirlwind, disabling blow, and mastery unlocked for a 2hd weapon and a 1hd weapon.
- Greater Magic was almost 75.
- Lesser Magic was 75+
- Stats were only like 23 or so at the most but I hadn't even finished 1 day at that point.
- Archery was 60
I had a lot of fun working on this stuff as it goes up really fast at first. After 1 hour of playing I was able to solo a 6-8 spawn goblin camp (with shamans) while nearby 2 guys who were a couple days ahead of me were dying while fighting the 4 spawn camp nearby.
To be totally honest I would say that I have only benefitted from others macroing in the long run since normally have not died since the archery/melee specs came out and sometimes I come across huge scores from raiding a clan city or something and killing their macroers so it doesn't bother me at all anymore.
The game still has problems but I do not feel like they are game breaking anymore since the problems that I had from playing the game how I wanted to have been mostly fixed. I dont want to have any kind of boring grind (like debuffing mobs or buffing myself over and over and over) or macro and sure it takes longer than someone who is macroing in a clan city somewhere but I am pretty sure that I have more fun than most of them.
Destroyer/Indestructible/Mage killer/Mage hunter only have 2 buffs worth using for the most part, maybe 4 at the most. Out of all of the buffs they have, only a small handful help against melee/archery while the rest help vs magic. By far, the best buffs are buffing others so mages are kind of needed for group PVP and for focus firing nukes, but you could have guys with melee/archery skills do just as well as mages in a group, which is only a few months of playtime (not grind, but playtime).
Now adays, if you want to be a mage (they are best right now and it still needs balance, especially the buffing part), I would just forget archery now since pretige classes are coming out soon. By keeping yourself buffed and using meditation to raise witchcraft and spell chanting (so that you never have boring gameplay involving bebuffing mobs with spells you dont even want to use or setting up a macro to buff yourself overnight since you do not get that PVE xp bonus with self buffs so that school is a pain) so a legitimate player can play the game as intended and compete with those ahead without macroing or mindlessly grinding. My guess is that a casual player can have all magic schools at 100 from doing what I just said in a few months time without mindlessly grinding anything and playing about 20 hours a week. This is from my experience of rerolling and playing alt accounts. The grind is not hard when it comes to becoming viable. Its actually a lot harder in many other games. 95% of the grind is getting from 80 to 110 stats and 75 to 100 in skills/spells it seems because it is very non-linear with such extreme diminishing returns that catching up isnt hard, but passing up is. The difference of 80 stats and 110 stats or 75 in skills and 100 skills is not going to win battles for people and thats where all the big grind is. Its easy to get skills to 50 just by using them occasionally and thats powerful enough to do anything as long as you know how to play.
Game is a dozen times better than it was 2 years ago (at least!) and keeps getting better. I totally understand why someone wouldn't want to play because of seeing other people macro and get ahead, but if thats the case keep checking back because prestige classes will be coming, meditation does help and will be adjusted to be more helpful, and melee/archery is about to become much more fun and badass! Im very excited!! For people who macro the game hasnt changed much but just keeps getting harder since they are no longer so ahead with the reduced grind and HP patch. For new players, the game is completely different than it used to be and keeps getting better.
1hd +shield used to be totally viable instead of 2hd weapon until disabling shot came out. This will probably be fixed soon.
NEWS FLASH!"A bank was robbed the other day and a man opened fire on the customers being held hostage. One customer zig-zag sprinted until he found cover. When questioned later he explained that he was a hardcore gamer and knew just what to do!" Download my music for free! I release several albums per month as part of project "Thee Untitled" . .. some video game music remixes and cover songs done with instruments in there as well! http://theeuntitled.bandcamp.com/Check out my roleplaying blog, collection of fictional short stories, and fantasy series... updated on a blog for now until I am finished!https://childrenfromtheheavensbelow.blogspot.com/Watch me game on occasion or make music... https://www.twitch.tv/spoontheeuntitled and subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUvqULn678VrF3OasgnbsyA
I like your posts and wanted to tank you for this one too, Sid_Vicious.
If anything, you made me want to follow the game even closer for all the changes and news. I will strongly consider coming back when full melee/archery builds are viable and some means of race changing or at least transferring all your stuff to another newly created character are in.
At the moment, I simply am morally not ready to go back, knowing that half the playerbase are still cheating. Even though you can get to the top with hard work and even beat the people who cheated their way up using better player skills because there's no way you can beat them in any other way, I still find it wrong that same players cheated and are still doing so. I know of whole clans that use well known world exploits such as falling down through the game map in some specific locations and macro there unharmed because no other player can get there. After they are done macroing they simply self-suicide and go back for more reagents... None of those players are even remotely worried about being caught because they know 50 other players who do the same exact thing. Who clan cities are filled with macroers and something that is called "blood walls" (afk players hitting on each other wall on wall and healing each other with macros). I never managed to understand why GMs don't ban all those players, since it can clearly be seen that they are cheating.
I am in no way trying to bash the game, I love a lot about it and it's as close to UO for me as it can only get. Sadly, it's still not a ready product in my eyes and much has to be done to prevent cheating to let a very big percentage of players have their fun in it. Most people I know won't play a game knowing that cheating is openly allowed.
Thank you once again, Sid_Vicious, lets hope that 2011 will bring some great changes to Darkfall!
Edited:
I just went to check out some new Darkfall videos on Youtube and look what I've found...
I like your posts and wanted to tank you for this one too, Sid_Vicious.
If anything, you made me want to follow the game even closer for all the changes and news. I will strongly consider coming back when full melee/archery builds are viable and some means of race changing or at least transferring all your stuff to another newly created character are in.
At the moment, I simply am morally not ready to go back, knowing that half the playerbase are still cheating. Even though you can get to the top with hard work and even beat the people who cheated their way up using better player skills because there's no way you can beat them in any other way, I still find it wrong that same players cheated and are still doing so. I know of whole clans that use well known world exploits such as falling down through the game map in some specific locations and macro there unharmed because no other player can get there. After they are done macroing they simply self-suicide and go back for more reagents... None of those players are even remotely worried about being caught because they know 50 other players who do the same exact thing. Who clan cities are filled with macroers and something that is called "blood walls" (afk players hitting on each other wall on wall and healing each other with macros). I never managed to understand why GMs don't ban all those players, since it can clearly be seen that they are cheating.
I am in no way trying to bash the game, I love a lot about it and it's as close to UO for me as it can only get. Sadly, it's still not a ready product in my eyes and much has to be done to prevent cheating to let a very big percentage of players have their fun in it. Most people I know won't play a game knowing that cheating is openly allowed.
Thank you once again, Sid_Vicious, lets hope that 2011 will bring some great changes to Darkfall!
Edited:
I just went to check out some new Darkfall videos on Youtube and look what I've found...
Ah, will be nice to see more Damncheater tears when another ban wave hits. That last ban wave was hilarious. AV can and will catch the hackers and they will be banned.
I like your posts and wanted to tank you for this one too, Sid_Vicious.
If anything, you made me want to follow the game even closer for all the changes and news. I will strongly consider coming back when full melee/archery builds are viable and some means of race changing or at least transferring all your stuff to another newly created character are in.
At the moment, I simply am morally not ready to go back, knowing that half the playerbase are still cheating. Even though you can get to the top with hard work and even beat the people who cheated their way up using better player skills because there's no way you can beat them in any other way, I still find it wrong that same players cheated and are still doing so. I know of whole clans that use well known world exploits such as falling down through the game map in some specific locations and macro there unharmed because no other player can get there. After they are done macroing they simply self-suicide and go back for more reagents... None of those players are even remotely worried about being caught because they know 50 other players who do the same exact thing. Who clan cities are filled with macroers and something that is called "blood walls" (afk players hitting on each other wall on wall and healing each other with macros). I never managed to understand why GMs don't ban all those players, since it can clearly be seen that they are cheating.
I am in no way trying to bash the game, I love a lot about it and it's as close to UO for me as it can only get. Sadly, it's still not a ready product in my eyes and much has to be done to prevent cheating to let a very big percentage of players have their fun in it. Most people I know won't play a game knowing that cheating is openly allowed.
Thank you once again, Sid_Vicious, lets hope that 2011 will bring some great changes to Darkfall!
Edited:
I just went to check out some new Darkfall videos on Youtube and look what I've found...
Ah, will be nice to see more Damncheater tears when another ban wave hits. That last ban wave was hilarious. AV can and will catch the hackers and they will be banned.
I wouldn't worry to much about this hack. Anythign that injects a .dll to show informaiton on screeen is easily detectable. If it isn't currently detected you bet it soon will be.
Apparently a new ban wave hit and the QQ tears are flooding the forums. How much do you want to bet it is related? be aware that when Av bans you they ban all accounts accosiated with the IP you logged in from.
I like your posts and wanted to tank you for this one too, Sid_Vicious.
If anything, you made me want to follow the game even closer for all the changes and news. I will strongly consider coming back when full melee/archery builds are viable and some means of race changing or at least transferring all your stuff to another newly created character are in.
At the moment, I simply am morally not ready to go back, knowing that half the playerbase are still cheating. Even though you can get to the top with hard work and even beat the people who cheated their way up using better player skills because there's no way you can beat them in any other way, I still find it wrong that same players cheated and are still doing so. I know of whole clans that use well known world exploits such as falling down through the game map in some specific locations and macro there unharmed because no other player can get there. After they are done macroing they simply self-suicide and go back for more reagents... None of those players are even remotely worried about being caught because they know 50 other players who do the same exact thing. Who clan cities are filled with macroers and something that is called "blood walls" (afk players hitting on each other wall on wall and healing each other with macros). I never managed to understand why GMs don't ban all those players, since it can clearly be seen that they are cheating.
I am in no way trying to bash the game, I love a lot about it and it's as close to UO for me as it can only get. Sadly, it's still not a ready product in my eyes and much has to be done to prevent cheating to let a very big percentage of players have their fun in it. Most people I know won't play a game knowing that cheating is openly allowed.
Thank you once again, Sid_Vicious, lets hope that 2011 will bring some great changes to Darkfall!
Edited:
I just went to check out some new Darkfall videos on Youtube and look what I've found...
Ah, will be nice to see more Damncheater tears when another ban wave hits. That last ban wave was hilarious. AV can and will catch the hackers and they will be banned.
I am completely new to the game and in fact just played my first few hours now (on the Europe server).
First of all I have to is that I am really impressed how emmersive this game was... I never played an MMORPG before where I felt this sense of being into the game, actually fighting not just doing some sort of giving batch-commands... no, it really feels your are into this world.
The AI of the MOBs is really astonishing compared to other MMORPGs. Normally these just stand around, ignoring you when you are not treading on their toes but even these first-quest-goblins are a kind of a challenge. I mean they even kite you... the bring in other enemies and even when you retreat and think you are safe behind some tree or rock you are just surprised when you notice that the guys have followed you and are still willing to take you down... I have to say, never ever before I spent so much sweat in the first (!!) quest.
Finishing these 6 goblins, I really felt it was work. I like this!!!
Graphics are really OK imo. Sound is cool, especially that you can hear footsteps and the like - very good und it seems actually of real use in the game mechanic.
What I also love to see is that you can harvest almost anywhere (well, you have to be careful in terms of other players which might want to kill you... ) but you can start to pull timber of any tree, it seems. I consider this to be very "realistic" and really cool!
So, to sum up my impression of the first hours, I really have to say that maybe, after long long searching, I might have found an MMORPG which has this feeling of danger to it, which so many games are lacking. I was never immersed into a game like into this one (admitting I only played for some hours, but these hours are unrivaled with any game experience I ever had, honestly!!!).
I like the intense melee-combat (though a little bit hectic but still it is really much more fun than pressing 1-3-1-4-1-3 ... and watching your guy do someting from a somehow great distance... ). I am not into mounts, spells or anything, I just killed some damn goblins, but, really, they were hard and when I first ran from a Human who just killed my group-member and I knew that I had some materials in my bag that I did not want to lose and then when finally hiding in some bush... heartbeating... this was just pure entertainment! Really exciting!! I am very optimistic that this game has the potential to write its "own stories". It seems to be lacking a lot on quests (which personally doesnt bother me at all, I don't need those stupid kill-x-of-y quests alot anyway... just grinding with a headline... ), but it seems to have the potential to really write small adventure-stories on its own, just by the in fact simple mechanic of FFA PVP and the free loot. This alone brings in some strategic considerations for all your actions (when to go back to town, risk another goblin-kill or just take the fastest way to your home bank, gather some more iron... at the risk of losing it..) and it really seems to change the way how you move through this world. I really like this a lot, very rough and in-your-face.
But: here comes a small question which really bothers me?
Where are the players??
So, I played Orc and was mostly in what I consider to be the Orc starting-area but I really wandered around for almost 3 hours before spotting any other player. I even logged out and in several times because I thougth maybe there was "something wrong". I have to say I did not go so much in forrests, I was mainly just visiting all the main Orc-cities, and even there, there was just emptiness...
Finally I found some players, but during 6-7 hours of play I met, I think, 4 distinct players.
Hm. Well, I consider this to be not really alot and I am a bit concerned.
So, my question is, does anyone know how many players actually are subscribed in DF?
How many on the Europ server?
I am in big fear somehow that I finally found a game which seems really really cool and fun to play but it is drying out of players? Are there still players? ( I have read the previous postings and I could not get a real clue whether players are generally more moving IN or moving OUT of DF!?!?).
Are just not so many players on Europe? Should I try NA?
I just hope that some more people will give this game a fair try, its worth it.
Just one other thing that really shocked me, when reading these posts, is, that there really seems a lot of cheating going on in this game.
Two questions:
1. Is this really as bad as it sounds? It almost sounds you can't get anywhere without cheating.... which would be really a shame. I would never cheat in such a game, but if I am just not progressing AT ALL because of 90% other players just cheating, then I would probably quit because this just sucks... even if the game itself is great.
2. Is AV concerned about the cheating? Are they really actively banning these guys/clans? Or would it mean remove their LAST players from the server??? What is the policy of AV here?
I am really unsure on what to think of all of this.
I just know I am very happy to have found this game with so much to offer , on one hand.
On the other hand I feel afraid this could slip through my fingers either when I have to discover, I am only one of very few players playing the game actually (which is of course a problem for a PvP game... ) and/or the majority of the players is just cheating and using macro-tools and whatever.
I would feel very sorry for that... cause DF seems really great to me!!
well since im gettin over the stomach virus and im lazy atm ill make this brief. i tried the game a few days ago. Only seen 1 person in the starting city in 1 hours time and i tried the game out. Didn't like it at all. i wont down it though as it is a indie game and a nice try at it. Just dont like it.
But: here comes a small question which really bothers me?
Where are the players??
Finally I found some players, but during 6-7 hours of play I met, I think, 4 distinct players.
Hm. Well, I consider this to be not really alot and I am a bit concerned.
So, my question is, does anyone know how many players actually are subscribed in DF?
How many on the Europ server?
I am in big fear somehow that I finally found a game which seems really really cool and fun to play but it is drying out of players? Are there still players? ( I have read the previous postings and I could not get a real clue whether players are generally more moving IN or moving OUT of DF!?!?).
Are just not so many players on Europe? Should I try NA?
I just hope that some more people will give this game a fair try, its worth it.
Just one other thing that really shocked me, when reading these posts, is, that there really seems a lot of cheating going on in this game.
Two questions:
1. Is this really as bad as it sounds? It almost sounds you can't get anywhere without cheating.... which would be really a shame. I would never cheat in such a game, but if I am just not progressing AT ALL because of 90% other players just cheating, then I would probably quit because this just sucks... even if the game itself is great.
2. Is AV concerned about the cheating? Are they really actively banning these guys/clans? Or would it mean remove their LAST players from the server??? What is the policy of AV here?
I am really unsure on what to think of all of this.
I just know I am very happy to have found this game with so much to offer , on one hand.
On the other hand I feel afraid this could slip through my fingers either when I have to discover, I am only one of very few players playing the game actually (which is of course a problem for a PvP game... ) and/or the majority of the players is just cheating and using macro-tools and whatever.
I would feel very sorry for that... cause DF seems really great to me!!
First of all the population on the European server is pretty good, expecially during primetime. However you won't find players around the starting areas, even new players move to player cities ASAP which are spread out DF's MASSIVE world. Clan cities are where everyone lives and the higher up spawns and dungeons.
The population is increasing slowly, you won't get a real impression until you move away from starter towns and participate in PvP. At my Clan city we get raided 10+ times a day (different raiders) usually ending up in huge 15-20 vs 20 fights or smaller scale chases.
----
Macroing/cheating; At some point you will probably macro some of the magic schools, the grind for some of the spells would take too long to level through natural play assuming you want to be competitive in group fights asap. However fighting mobs gives x3-x6 skill gain.
Attended macroing is not cheating or exploiting but it is bad game design. You do not need to afk swim / other crap people tell you, I havn't, many people I play with havn't and we do pretty well.
AV actively bans cheaters, it doesn't happen instantly right there and then but with a little digging you'll see the crying 'im innocent!' threads for yourself. AV usually bans in waves, gold buyers and hackers. Hackers can mess up some large events but they're very very rare to come by usually.
But: here comes a small question which really bothers me?
Where are the players??
Finally I found some players, but during 6-7 hours of play I met, I think, 4 distinct players.
Hm. Well, I consider this to be not really alot and I am a bit concerned.
So, my question is, does anyone know how many players actually are subscribed in DF?
How many on the Europ server?
I am in big fear somehow that I finally found a game which seems really really cool and fun to play but it is drying out of players? Are there still players? ( I have read the previous postings and I could not get a real clue whether players are generally more moving IN or moving OUT of DF!?!?).
Are just not so many players on Europe? Should I try NA?
I just hope that some more people will give this game a fair try, its worth it.
Just one other thing that really shocked me, when reading these posts, is, that there really seems a lot of cheating going on in this game.
Two questions:
1. Is this really as bad as it sounds? It almost sounds you can't get anywhere without cheating.... which would be really a shame. I would never cheat in such a game, but if I am just not progressing AT ALL because of 90% other players just cheating, then I would probably quit because this just sucks... even if the game itself is great.
2. Is AV concerned about the cheating? Are they really actively banning these guys/clans? Or would it mean remove their LAST players from the server??? What is the policy of AV here?
I am really unsure on what to think of all of this.
I just know I am very happy to have found this game with so much to offer , on one hand.
On the other hand I feel afraid this could slip through my fingers either when I have to discover, I am only one of very few players playing the game actually (which is of course a problem for a PvP game... ) and/or the majority of the players is just cheating and using macro-tools and whatever.
I would feel very sorry for that... cause DF seems really great to me!!
First of all the population on the European server is pretty good, expecially during primetime. However you won't find players around the starting areas, even new players move to player cities ASAP which are spread out DF's MASSIVE world. Clan cities are where everyone lives and the higher up spawns and dungeons.
The population is increasing slowly, you won't get a real impression until you move away from starter towns and participate in PvP. At my Clan city we get raided 10+ times a day (different raiders) usually ending up in huge 15-20 vs 20 fights or smaller scale chases.
----
Macroing/cheating; At some point you will probably macro some of the magic schools, the grind for some of the spells would take too long to level through natural play assuming you want to be competitive in group fights asap. However fighting mobs gives x3-x6 skill gain.
Attended macroing is not cheating or exploiting but it is bad game design. You do not need to afk swim / other crap people tell you, I havn't, many people I play with havn't and we do pretty well.
AV actively bans cheaters, it doesn't happen instantly right there and then but with a little digging you'll see the crying 'im innocent!' threads for yourself. AV usually bans in waves, gold buyers and hackers. Hackers can mess up some large events but they're very very rare to come by usually.
This sounds good to me!! I had some busy RL days but I plan to be back in DF on the weekend and I will try to discover the areas away from the starting towns then!!
For the macroing, I will TRY to play everything "by hand", lets see how far I get
At least I am feeling better if AV takes actively care on these cheating issues!!!
And to me. Sadly he's lieing through his teeth. There are about 1200 active players equating to approximately 250 concurrent sessions on EU-1. Probably scewwed towards midday, since noone plays 5AM. Anyway, the population is declining, january last year EU-1 had round about 3500 actives.
All in all it doesn't look very good at the moment. Hopes are on the jesus expansion "Darkfall2010" which may come whenever this or even next year.
I would be very careful about what you're told about the game, there's alot of makebelieve hopechange cloudcastlebuilding from fairytales out there, probably stemming from the great decline this game is in.
This is why you should trust your own observations and not what people tell you on forums. The game doesn't just seem empty to you, it is empty.
If you want this game to live, pray for AV getting their heads out of their asses and deliver with DF2010. Beyond that, there's nothing much left.
darkfall is improving and many old and new players are joining the game and having fun.
but id say for people that played darkfall and quitted becouse they did not like it should wait till next expansion becouse that will change alot of stuff and has alot of influence on the gameplay so they should try it out after expansion
I started playing again a few weeks before xmas and i gotta say its improved so much from launch.. i think i played for abotu 4 months after launch before RL forced me to stop playing time issues with the grind and stuff.. now i come back and the grind is basically gone its awesome... just for instance tailoring.. ok its an easy one but it took me maybe 20k or there abotus and some stuff i already had to max it out and get trueforge to 25.. that would have taken months on release LOL.. got my archery up to 90 and picked up all the skills associated and they are now upto 50+ in a couple on nights..
As for playerbase as soon as you get out of the starter cities and join a guild there action is non stop, infact the population is really good and we seem to be getting more people all the time..... I am now at a point where i can make a difference in group PVP and this game is all about group pvp
Can wait to see what the next exp pack brings as AV are doing so many things right... sure there are still issues but thats the same with all mmos...
IF your interested in this game try it.. but remember its a full loot pvp world you will die and you will loose everything..
1. 90% of the old players used illegal third-party software to macro their skills back in the days it was allowed.
Myth number one. Truth is, afk macroing was and have never been allowed but due to inexperienced devs and obviously not enough trained GM's in the first time after DF launch it has been become outer hand during that period.
A series of patches since (and all within the first 5 -6 months after launch)has made afk-macroing SKILLS not very attractive for today (e.g require target to skill up, faster gains on mobs etc). Like yourself most of those macro'rs playing that game by this stupid method bored themselves and quit since like yourself.
Todays afk-macro revolves around stats and stat gains in almost every case.
2. 80% of the playerbase kept macroing even after it became illegal to do so and are still doing it (I saw it with my own eyes, entering cities of one of the biggest alliances on the server and seeing walls of people hitting on each other while afk).
That observation could of has been made like 1,5 years ago. "Bloodwalls" (thats what you refer to in your example) vanished pretty fast. You don't have been in game since 1,5 years seems.
3. It is impossible to play the game without any third-party software to ease the use of your UI. There isn't even an autorun feature in the game and you need to either use Logitech G software or any other autoclicking software for this and lots of other missing features not implemented in default UI (like switching your staff to a sword and shield with one button).
Wrong ! Autorun turns on while pressing "NUM-lock" key. Shows that you didn't spend time to learn the even the basics of Darkfall. Autoclick software don't get you anywhere in Darkfall. Are you serious to claim otherwise ?? I mean twitch combat with need to aim and time you shots ..i beg your pardon..
The only occasion autocklick third party software has been usefull was just 2-3 weeks into launch till AV implemented their own autoclick legal version on the mining nodes and crafting. It has been also used for the bloodwalls but aforementioned its like 1,5 years ago. Using mouse and keyboards for customize your binds to make your interaction with the game for attended gamaplay use is an inteligent behaviour. The need for these just shows the fast paced and complex nature of Darkfall's combat
4. Game lets you buff yourself with any possible buffing spell of any possible school at the same time (there are some exceptions for specific builds but it's pretty much true) so unless you don't want to have 30% less health than the player you are fighting you'd better learn and grind all of those magic schools and take your time to selfbuff before each pvp fight. Have fun keeping track of 10+ buffs on yourself at all times.
This point is a matter of opinion, you like it characters differ and have weakness, i like it to have the chance to use the same protection then everyone else. Invested time to get this is a whole different matter discussed to death from everyone on official forums and here.
Like someone else mentioned you have an outdated perspective on the game. let me guess you haven't played it since like 1,5 years now.
-----MY-TERMS-OF-USE-------------------------------------------------- $OE - eternal enemy of online gaming -We finally WON !!!! 2011 $OE accepted that they have been fired 2005 by the playerbase and closed down ridiculous NGE !!
"There was suppression of speech and all kinds of things between disturbing and fascistic." Raph Koster (parted $OE)
Comments
Population on EU-1 is fairly decent as it stands. The world is huge so unless there's crowding you don't see a player every few minutes. The game was a lot more populated during the early days with one server and the inital surge, it dropped and many people left but now a good amount of those people have returned and the pops. not too bad.
What do I base this one?
- City get raided daily by several different groups of people
- When in dungeons groups of players sometimes come in
- When visiting cities with active clans in you will get a response from that clan. See Andruk which we went to late night, 20~ people poured out to fight us off.
Does the game need more population? Yes. Is the population on EU-1 dire? No.
The PVP gets a lot funner the more that you play. I would have to say that it was around the 8th month or so (year ago or more) when I finally figured out some essential tactics that most of the server didn't seem to know at the time. The players are actually a lot better now than they used to be. Seriously, todays DFO PVPer could probably solo vs 20+ eu-release people if they still fought like they used to during release . .. the PVE is much harder too. Sometimes I will go out with another player almost 2 years into the game and get wiped in an instant because of some simple mistake we made. The gameplay remains edge-of-the-seat and challenging no matter how long that you play for. The best experiences are after you have learned to extend fights and they last for potentially hours (yes, even a heart-pumping intense 1vs1 session can last an hour and start on one side of the map while ending several zones away . .. visiting cool looking battlegrounds in between as each player is probably sweating in real life because they are so engaged). It takes months of practice to learn how to kite and extend fights until you eventually can find a weakness and take advantage of it. Until you can get into a solo fight that lasts for hours, you should be able to get involved in some by sieging.
I consider the PVE in Darkfall absolutely amazing!! Its the way the combat feels, how the mobs react, and how cool the dungeons are in the last expansion. I still have so much more PVE content to experience. I used to PVE in other games just to be with others for the most part or to make a more powerful PVP character but in this game I actually enjoy to go out and PVE quite a bit! This is pretty much something I never did very happily in the past unless I had some fun company with me. Its hard to appreciate it at first, but after getting used to the PVE in this game, I reaaaally do not want to go back to the traditional PVE in other games. The PVE in this game was much worse when it came out. They have seriously added more than double the content, at least.
Joining a clan can change the game completely for better or/and worse . .. depending on the clan. I am starting to get back into clan stuff and haven't done it since before NA release. I almost forgot how it completely changes the game pretty much compared to rolling solo or a small group.
NEWS FLASH! "A bank was robbed the other day and a man opened fire on the customers being held hostage. One customer zig-zag sprinted until he found cover. When questioned later he explained that he was a hardcore gamer and knew just what to do!" Download my music for free! I release several albums per month as part of project "Thee Untitled" . .. some video game music remixes and cover songs done with instruments in there as well! http://theeuntitled.bandcamp.com/ Check out my roleplaying blog, collection of fictional short stories, and fantasy series... updated on a blog for now until I am finished! https://childrenfromtheheavensbelow.blogspot.com/ Watch me game on occasion or make music... https://www.twitch.tv/spoontheeuntitled and subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUvqULn678VrF3OasgnbsyA
I was on this boat about 5 years ago . ... was hoping that Vanguard might be the next EQ and it did come close in some ways (more than EQ2 anyways). I pretty much went through all of the so-called AAA games (outside of WoW and other cartoon games) looking for something to replace the MMORPG feel that I still want. I couldn't handle most games more than 3 months. Finally I found Darkfall and I actually hated it at first . ... lol
You know the Darkfall grind that people whine about in forums? Its not nearly as extreme as EQ was in many ways (if you take the FFA PVP server into account where you could lose an item that you spent months farming for).
Its been almost 2 years and it still feels like the more I play, the more I love it . ... but of course some of that could be that I have not burned myself out, I play the game as intended for a bigger challenge, and can no longer log into other MMORPGs (unless its something like Guildwars or Global Agenda for an instant 20 min. of safe PVP, like after dying in DFO its a nice break for a few minutes anyways lol). Pretty sure that Darkfall is my main game until its dead. I would love to have more options but unfortunately the market sucks for someone like me right now.
Welcome new peeps!!
There are some hard times ahead of you but it will be worth it. No other game will get your heart pumping like this one will.
NEWS FLASH! "A bank was robbed the other day and a man opened fire on the customers being held hostage. One customer zig-zag sprinted until he found cover. When questioned later he explained that he was a hardcore gamer and knew just what to do!" Download my music for free! I release several albums per month as part of project "Thee Untitled" . .. some video game music remixes and cover songs done with instruments in there as well! http://theeuntitled.bandcamp.com/ Check out my roleplaying blog, collection of fictional short stories, and fantasy series... updated on a blog for now until I am finished! https://childrenfromtheheavensbelow.blogspot.com/ Watch me game on occasion or make music... https://www.twitch.tv/spoontheeuntitled and subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUvqULn678VrF3OasgnbsyA
That.
I'm quite sure that most of the new players will quit after a couple of months. I know I did about a year ago.
I'm always curious about people liking DF so much and defending it and why do they it. The only explanation I have is they already have high skilled macroed up characters and want more target practice... When I bought the game it was with 6 month free sub (for a higher price, though), everybody who played the game told me not to do this and buy the simple one month deal because new players simply don't stay in this game. Sadly, I didn't listen.
Let me tell you why the game will never manage to keep new players in (especially the ones who experienced other mmorpgs):
1. 90% of the old players used illegal third-party software to macro their skills back in the days it was allowed.
2. 80% of the playerbase kept macroing even after it became illegal to do so and are still doing it (I saw it with my own eyes, entering cities of one of the biggest alliances on the server and seeing walls of people hitting on each other while afk).
3. It is impossible to play the game without any third-party software to ease the use of your UI. There isn't even an autorun feature in the game and you need to either use Logitech G software or any other autoclicking software for this and lots of other missing features not implemented in default UI (like switching your staff to a sword and shield with one button).
4. Game lets you buff yourself with any possible buffing spell of any possible school at the same time (there are some exceptions for specific builds but it's pretty much true) so unless you don't want to have 30% less health than the player you are fighting you'd better learn and grind all of those magic schools and take your time to selfbuff before each pvp fight. Have fun keeping track of 10+ buffs on yourself at all times.
I did love lots of other features of the game. I think it has one of the most exciting PvE settings and I really love the mob AI and the real world sneaking (even though I hate the fact that shadows aren't FORCED on all the clients because hiding without shadows is just plain stupid). The fact that you can actually hear your enemy get close and unmount, and prepare yourself for the open world fight is quite priceless too.
Considering Darkfall's charm and all the things we do love about it, sadly, I can't really imagine playing a game where 90% of the playerbase have cheated their way to the levels at which they can defeat 20 new players like you while eating pizza and watching an "always on top" movie on half of their monitor screen...
I think my only mistake was that when I joined I was hoping for an FPS UO, where skill matters and gear doesn't, and what I got is a Quake 2 on a private server ran by cheaters.
"Only in quiet waters do things mirror themselves undistorted.
Only in a quiet mind is adequate perception of the world."
Hans Margolius
That's not the darkfall of today, sorry.
Yes it is, sorry.
I just can't get into a game that you have to spend more time NOT PLAYING to level up than actually playing. There's so much I like about this game, but some serious flaws make it unplayable to me. I'm sorry I have a life. I can't AFK macro 24/7 to compete.
"I am not in a server with Gankers...THEY ARE IN A SERVER WITH ME!!!"
I just unsubbed myself. Reason - Using the type of weapon I wanted isn't viable. I wanted to skill up sword and shield and be a paladin type character. It took me a few days of swinging my little sword and barely surviving to get it to 25. Then I would turn around and get ganked in about 2 seconds by a red player with a polearm or 2 hander.
The ganking didn't bother me, the weapon choice tunneling is what bothers me. That plus the grind just to skill up each weapon. For a pvp game, they sure make it tedious to have fun pvping. Which makes no sense as the game is all about PVP. Wouldn't you want your player base to get out there fast as possible to have some epic pvp fights?
Very bad game design issues. Swimming while I'm afk or running or crouch walking....what kind of gameplay is that? Makes no sense to me.
atm i,m just downloading the update for the game..gonna give it a try on trial..but if the population are cheating to play well i cant see me lasting long..wot gets me is dont they understand if they do this they ruin the game for themselves as well as others.but i will judge it on wot i see and not wot others say..everyones experience is different...oh btw i am crap at pvp but wot the hell i dont mind being cannon fodder lol.
if someone posts it enough times then it must be true eh? Kinda like Fox News.
Anyway a poll of less than 300 people posting especailly by this particular poster doesn't mean squat.
I have had the pleasure to power level a number of players in the last 2 weeks. I can get someone from 1 skill to 50 mastery in a week of casual playing. They should have ~320 HP. Without macroing. From here on out they will need to skill-up thier bow and basic magic skillz which is extremely fast with offline skilling.
If you can't skill-up in th game now without macroing then you just need to quit.
This was why I almost quit a few times back when I first started playing but I am very glad I didn't. At the beginning I was pissed off that I had to hit a bloodwall and setup macros in the very beginning to keep up with others who were doing that and if I tried to play the game as intended I would fall way behind and so I setup macros and kept my computer running 23/7. I found that I was still falling behind because I did not have an alt account to macro on and I did not have as much money to spend on regs as others. I didn't want to use magic either but back in early EU, just having a mastery in melee was incredibly powerful, so I thought that I would eventually be powerful enough to beat anyone if I just focused on melee. Few months later and magic become dominant over everything else by far and many of my friends quit at this point because they didn't want to have to use magic.
They fixed most of these problems for me soon after that with the first expansion over a year ago after I rerolled for NA release. Those guys who macroed magic and were way ahead of me I started to beat using melee/archery specs on my new character. I didn't even have to grind really, just a few hours for witchesbrew and the rest of the stuff I used went up plenty fast on its own. When the trial came out I did it for fun just to see how the nooby experience has changed and to see how hard it was to catch up to a character. I found that it was really easy now just to play the game how I want on a new character and especially since the HP/aoe nerf patch, noobs seem to be viable against the mage of everything in less than half of the time.
On the trial I did for fun I was able to get the following before my 24-hr noob protection wore off (no help from any alt or anything, I just killed goblins . .. and it was fun):
- I didnt even use the rest skill once since I know how to play I hotkeyed food and pots first thing and used conversions instead of rest for faster skill gain.
- Started leveling witchcraft (if I had about 12k I would have been able to get witchesbrew before my shield wore off!!! but it would have involved boring gameplay of debuffing mobs so thankfully mediation is out now so people probably no longer need to)
- Had whirlwind, disabling blow, and mastery unlocked for a 2hd weapon and a 1hd weapon.
- Greater Magic was almost 75.
- Lesser Magic was 75+
- Stats were only like 23 or so at the most but I hadn't even finished 1 day at that point.
- Archery was 60
I had a lot of fun working on this stuff as it goes up really fast at first. After 1 hour of playing I was able to solo a 6-8 spawn goblin camp (with shamans) while nearby 2 guys who were a couple days ahead of me were dying while fighting the 4 spawn camp nearby.
To be totally honest I would say that I have only benefitted from others macroing in the long run since normally have not died since the archery/melee specs came out and sometimes I come across huge scores from raiding a clan city or something and killing their macroers so it doesn't bother me at all anymore.
The game still has problems but I do not feel like they are game breaking anymore since the problems that I had from playing the game how I wanted to have been mostly fixed. I dont want to have any kind of boring grind (like debuffing mobs or buffing myself over and over and over) or macro and sure it takes longer than someone who is macroing in a clan city somewhere but I am pretty sure that I have more fun than most of them.
Destroyer/Indestructible/Mage killer/Mage hunter only have 2 buffs worth using for the most part, maybe 4 at the most. Out of all of the buffs they have, only a small handful help against melee/archery while the rest help vs magic. By far, the best buffs are buffing others so mages are kind of needed for group PVP and for focus firing nukes, but you could have guys with melee/archery skills do just as well as mages in a group, which is only a few months of playtime (not grind, but playtime).
Now adays, if you want to be a mage (they are best right now and it still needs balance, especially the buffing part), I would just forget archery now since pretige classes are coming out soon. By keeping yourself buffed and using meditation to raise witchcraft and spell chanting (so that you never have boring gameplay involving bebuffing mobs with spells you dont even want to use or setting up a macro to buff yourself overnight since you do not get that PVE xp bonus with self buffs so that school is a pain) so a legitimate player can play the game as intended and compete with those ahead without macroing or mindlessly grinding. My guess is that a casual player can have all magic schools at 100 from doing what I just said in a few months time without mindlessly grinding anything and playing about 20 hours a week. This is from my experience of rerolling and playing alt accounts. The grind is not hard when it comes to becoming viable. Its actually a lot harder in many other games. 95% of the grind is getting from 80 to 110 stats and 75 to 100 in skills/spells it seems because it is very non-linear with such extreme diminishing returns that catching up isnt hard, but passing up is. The difference of 80 stats and 110 stats or 75 in skills and 100 skills is not going to win battles for people and thats where all the big grind is. Its easy to get skills to 50 just by using them occasionally and thats powerful enough to do anything as long as you know how to play.
Game is a dozen times better than it was 2 years ago (at least!) and keeps getting better. I totally understand why someone wouldn't want to play because of seeing other people macro and get ahead, but if thats the case keep checking back because prestige classes will be coming, meditation does help and will be adjusted to be more helpful, and melee/archery is about to become much more fun and badass! Im very excited!! For people who macro the game hasnt changed much but just keeps getting harder since they are no longer so ahead with the reduced grind and HP patch. For new players, the game is completely different than it used to be and keeps getting better.
1hd +shield used to be totally viable instead of 2hd weapon until disabling shot came out. This will probably be fixed soon.
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it doesn't matter. macroing is bad game design. it needs to be addressed. this is not up for discussion.
I like your posts and wanted to tank you for this one too, Sid_Vicious.
If anything, you made me want to follow the game even closer for all the changes and news. I will strongly consider coming back when full melee/archery builds are viable and some means of race changing or at least transferring all your stuff to another newly created character are in.
At the moment, I simply am morally not ready to go back, knowing that half the playerbase are still cheating. Even though you can get to the top with hard work and even beat the people who cheated their way up using better player skills because there's no way you can beat them in any other way, I still find it wrong that same players cheated and are still doing so. I know of whole clans that use well known world exploits such as falling down through the game map in some specific locations and macro there unharmed because no other player can get there. After they are done macroing they simply self-suicide and go back for more reagents... None of those players are even remotely worried about being caught because they know 50 other players who do the same exact thing. Who clan cities are filled with macroers and something that is called "blood walls" (afk players hitting on each other wall on wall and healing each other with macros). I never managed to understand why GMs don't ban all those players, since it can clearly be seen that they are cheating.
I am in no way trying to bash the game, I love a lot about it and it's as close to UO for me as it can only get. Sadly, it's still not a ready product in my eyes and much has to be done to prevent cheating to let a very big percentage of players have their fun in it. Most people I know won't play a game knowing that cheating is openly allowed.
Thank you once again, Sid_Vicious, lets hope that 2011 will bring some great changes to Darkfall!
Edited:
I just went to check out some new Darkfall videos on Youtube and look what I've found...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBvbh-qIOqw
"Only in quiet waters do things mirror themselves undistorted.
Only in a quiet mind is adequate perception of the world."
Hans Margolius
Ah, will be nice to see more Damncheater tears when another ban wave hits. That last ban wave was hilarious. AV can and will catch the hackers and they will be banned.
I wouldn't worry to much about this hack. Anythign that injects a .dll to show informaiton on screeen is easily detectable. If it isn't currently detected you bet it soon will be.
Apparently a new ban wave hit and the QQ tears are flooding the forums. How much do you want to bet it is related? be aware that when Av bans you they ban all accounts accosiated with the IP you logged in from.
http://forums.darkfallonline.com/showthread.php?t=273538
'They aren't undetected or always working. I don't use either of these, but when damncheaters was in vogue I looked at their boards for QQ.'
http://forums.darkfallonline.com/showthread.php?t=273479
Another large ban wave recently, these hacks don't go unnoticed. You can hack in every game as far as I'm aware.
Hello!
I am completely new to the game and in fact just played my first few hours now (on the Europe server).
First of all I have to is that I am really impressed how emmersive this game was... I never played an MMORPG before where I felt this sense of being into the game, actually fighting not just doing some sort of giving batch-commands... no, it really feels your are into this world.
The AI of the MOBs is really astonishing compared to other MMORPGs. Normally these just stand around, ignoring you when you are not treading on their toes but even these first-quest-goblins are a kind of a challenge. I mean they even kite you... the bring in other enemies and even when you retreat and think you are safe behind some tree or rock you are just surprised when you notice that the guys have followed you and are still willing to take you down... I have to say, never ever before I spent so much sweat in the first (!!) quest.
Finishing these 6 goblins, I really felt it was work. I like this!!!
Graphics are really OK imo. Sound is cool, especially that you can hear footsteps and the like - very good und it seems actually of real use in the game mechanic.
What I also love to see is that you can harvest almost anywhere (well, you have to be careful in terms of other players which might want to kill you... ) but you can start to pull timber of any tree, it seems. I consider this to be very "realistic" and really cool!
So, to sum up my impression of the first hours, I really have to say that maybe, after long long searching, I might have found an MMORPG which has this feeling of danger to it, which so many games are lacking. I was never immersed into a game like into this one (admitting I only played for some hours, but these hours are unrivaled with any game experience I ever had, honestly!!!).
I like the intense melee-combat (though a little bit hectic but still it is really much more fun than pressing 1-3-1-4-1-3 ... and watching your guy do someting from a somehow great distance... ). I am not into mounts, spells or anything, I just killed some damn goblins, but, really, they were hard and when I first ran from a Human who just killed my group-member and I knew that I had some materials in my bag that I did not want to lose and then when finally hiding in some bush... heartbeating... this was just pure entertainment! Really exciting!! I am very optimistic that this game has the potential to write its "own stories". It seems to be lacking a lot on quests (which personally doesnt bother me at all, I don't need those stupid kill-x-of-y quests alot anyway... just grinding with a headline... ), but it seems to have the potential to really write small adventure-stories on its own, just by the in fact simple mechanic of FFA PVP and the free loot. This alone brings in some strategic considerations for all your actions (when to go back to town, risk another goblin-kill or just take the fastest way to your home bank, gather some more iron... at the risk of losing it..) and it really seems to change the way how you move through this world. I really like this a lot, very rough and in-your-face.
But: here comes a small question which really bothers me?
Where are the players??
So, I played Orc and was mostly in what I consider to be the Orc starting-area but I really wandered around for almost 3 hours before spotting any other player. I even logged out and in several times because I thougth maybe there was "something wrong". I have to say I did not go so much in forrests, I was mainly just visiting all the main Orc-cities, and even there, there was just emptiness...
Finally I found some players, but during 6-7 hours of play I met, I think, 4 distinct players.
Hm. Well, I consider this to be not really alot and I am a bit concerned.
So, my question is, does anyone know how many players actually are subscribed in DF?
How many on the Europ server?
I am in big fear somehow that I finally found a game which seems really really cool and fun to play but it is drying out of players? Are there still players? ( I have read the previous postings and I could not get a real clue whether players are generally more moving IN or moving OUT of DF!?!?).
Are just not so many players on Europe? Should I try NA?
I just hope that some more people will give this game a fair try, its worth it.
Just one other thing that really shocked me, when reading these posts, is, that there really seems a lot of cheating going on in this game.
Two questions:
1. Is this really as bad as it sounds? It almost sounds you can't get anywhere without cheating.... which would be really a shame. I would never cheat in such a game, but if I am just not progressing AT ALL because of 90% other players just cheating, then I would probably quit because this just sucks... even if the game itself is great.
2. Is AV concerned about the cheating? Are they really actively banning these guys/clans? Or would it mean remove their LAST players from the server??? What is the policy of AV here?
I am really unsure on what to think of all of this.
I just know I am very happy to have found this game with so much to offer , on one hand.
On the other hand I feel afraid this could slip through my fingers either when I have to discover, I am only one of very few players playing the game actually (which is of course a problem for a PvP game... ) and/or the majority of the players is just cheating and using macro-tools and whatever.
I would feel very sorry for that... cause DF seems really great to me!!
well since im gettin over the stomach virus and im lazy atm ill make this brief. i tried the game a few days ago. Only seen 1 person in the starting city in 1 hours time and i tried the game out. Didn't like it at all. i wont down it though as it is a indie game and a nice try at it. Just dont like it.
First of all the population on the European server is pretty good, expecially during primetime. However you won't find players around the starting areas, even new players move to player cities ASAP which are spread out DF's MASSIVE world. Clan cities are where everyone lives and the higher up spawns and dungeons.
The population is increasing slowly, you won't get a real impression until you move away from starter towns and participate in PvP. At my Clan city we get raided 10+ times a day (different raiders) usually ending up in huge 15-20 vs 20 fights or smaller scale chases.
----
Macroing/cheating; At some point you will probably macro some of the magic schools, the grind for some of the spells would take too long to level through natural play assuming you want to be competitive in group fights asap. However fighting mobs gives x3-x6 skill gain.
Attended macroing is not cheating or exploiting but it is bad game design. You do not need to afk swim / other crap people tell you, I havn't, many people I play with havn't and we do pretty well.
AV actively bans cheaters, it doesn't happen instantly right there and then but with a little digging you'll see the crying 'im innocent!' threads for yourself. AV usually bans in waves, gold buyers and hackers. Hackers can mess up some large events but they're very very rare to come by usually.
This sounds good to me!! I had some busy RL days but I plan to be back in DF on the weekend and I will try to discover the areas away from the starting towns then!!
For the macroing, I will TRY to play everything "by hand", lets see how far I get
At least I am feeling better if AV takes actively care on these cheating issues!!!
And to me. Sadly he's lieing through his teeth. There are about 1200 active players equating to approximately 250 concurrent sessions on EU-1. Probably scewwed towards midday, since noone plays 5AM. Anyway, the population is declining, january last year EU-1 had round about 3500 actives.
All in all it doesn't look very good at the moment. Hopes are on the jesus expansion "Darkfall2010" which may come whenever this or even next year.
I would be very careful about what you're told about the game, there's alot of makebelieve hopechange cloudcastlebuilding from fairytales out there, probably stemming from the great decline this game is in.
This is why you should trust your own observations and not what people tell you on forums. The game doesn't just seem empty to you, it is empty.
If you want this game to live, pray for AV getting their heads out of their asses and deliver with DF2010. Beyond that, there's nothing much left.
darkfall is improving and many old and new players are joining the game and having fun.
but id say for people that played darkfall and quitted becouse they did not like it should wait till next expansion becouse that will change alot of stuff and has alot of influence on the gameplay so they should try it out after expansion
I started playing again a few weeks before xmas and i gotta say its improved so much from launch.. i think i played for abotu 4 months after launch before RL forced me to stop playing time issues with the grind and stuff.. now i come back and the grind is basically gone its awesome... just for instance tailoring.. ok its an easy one but it took me maybe 20k or there abotus and some stuff i already had to max it out and get trueforge to 25.. that would have taken months on release LOL.. got my archery up to 90 and picked up all the skills associated and they are now upto 50+ in a couple on nights..
As for playerbase as soon as you get out of the starter cities and join a guild there action is non stop, infact the population is really good and we seem to be getting more people all the time..... I am now at a point where i can make a difference in group PVP and this game is all about group pvp
Can wait to see what the next exp pack brings as AV are doing so many things right... sure there are still issues but thats the same with all mmos...
IF your interested in this game try it.. but remember its a full loot pvp world you will die and you will loose everything..
Like someone else mentioned you have an outdated perspective on the game. let me guess you haven't played it since like 1,5 years now.
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