Darkfall?

...

I remember the mass outflowing of jaded gamer refugees coming from Shadowbane.

If you don't mind my asking, what drew you in to SB? Conceptually it never seemed that newbie friendly. Which parts drew you in and made you love it so?

For myself, I loved the fact, that during beta, people were nice... sure, they PvP'd and I was ganked, but they weren't moron's about it. Corpses were rarely camped. I played one a human healer, and the groups I got into were amazing. Again, we were smacked around, but soon enough I got into a large group, almost made a guild, and we took care of one another. I was good at healing, and was oft sought after... I sought those that knew their roles in a group, and things were good.

Come the game going gold, the immature gank & spank crews were way too abundant. Corpse campers, morons, and general all around immature kids who did what they could, because if the game let them do something, they did it, without regards to "internet manners", or "netiquette". Which, btw, is still abundant in many games... I'd blame all kids, but I can't do that, not all kids are to blame for a few rotten apples. I also swear I'd never use the term "kids", but I guess with old age setting in... it happens ;)

What did I like about Shadowbane? I loved the spell effects, specifically, the animations combined with the sounds. As a healer, a quick heal sounded like a quick shout; a longer, larger heal, sounded like an incantation of a spell... the sounds, combined with the visual effects made it desirable in my mind. Too many games today, just do casting "noises"... a swoosh here, and bang there, here a fwip, there a thwack-n-swish. If I cast, I want my caster to say something, or sound like he's mumbling or something... SB did a lot of that.
 
Uh oh, an audio gamer. Bet you have nifty speakers and aud card, eh? :smiley:

Honestly I'm baffled a lot when people tell me they play games without sound. About 80% of my friends always tell me they play a game with sound off completely and their favorite CDs or music list running. Sometimes even internet radio.

Now, granted, I'm all about "to each their own," but I could never fathom doing that... to me, the developers of a game WANT you to experience all aspects of that game... and having no sound, ignoring that entire aspect of the game itself, just makes me think "Wow, I bet the sound people and voice over actors would be heartbroken..." ;)
 
Depends on the game here. In pvp games where you can actually hear the footsteps or skill/spell effects of others then hellya I keep sound effects on. Music is always off, it's rarely good and I prefer my own.
 
I agree with Nav and Seeria. I do the same for MMOs or games like Oblivion where there is just general music that's not really plot intensive. I listen to the stuff that comes with the game for a while then substitute in my own, albeit quietly.
 
I have a crappy sound card & speakers... both probably cost under a $100 combined. However, I do listen to in game music and most especially, the effects.

If I play in a game's particular zone, and it's the same music zone wide, after a few times, or levels, of hearing it, I will turn off -just the music-, and turn on my mp3's or cd's. However, I do listen to the music a few times, and WoW, has some AMAZING music... for example, many taverns in WoW, now have new music, composed by the ever amazing and award winning David Arkenstone, and company.

I never turn off spell and other sound effects. I want to hear the sound of my plate armor as I run, or the spell effects from casters, even when I am listening to my own music. And I agree with what others have said ... If a development team put it in, and spent any degree of money in the sound of the game, then it's worth listening to. WoW, while near the bottom of my totem pole in the graphics category, does very well for my taste in music... at least until I get tired of hearing it over and over.... which doesn't happen often since I am a wanderer, exploring type.

~ Jar
 
I've been interested in this game for what seems like years...Oh ya it has been years :smiley:2. But my only concern is that they don't fall into the pit so many other mmo's fall into which is trying to do to much. I love the concept and if its delivered in the form they are advertising I'll be happy as a pig in poopie.

That and I'm still intersted in how they plan on making a 700,000+Km world populated and interesting. Big is fun but not always better as we've all seen with many games out there.

But heres to hoping they can do what they hope they can. Now back to lurking around their forums.
 
I'm still lurking around the Darkfall forums also. The newer screenshots have allayed some of my fears that it was going to look too mundane. It has a flavor all its own. I agree with Cordy, very hopeful, but cautious.
 
Looks like the Darkfall marketing engine is in full force. They have a new Dev Journal on Warcry now.

http://www.warcry.com/articles/view...ournal-24-Full-Freedom-Gameplay-and-Substance

One thing that jumped out at me..

Someone asked for a description of a typical PvP and a PvE encounter: To this I'll answer that there is no typical encounter in Darkfall. There are too many variables and you never know what you're getting into. Here's a quick PvE encounter for you nevertheless:

You ride up to a seemingly abandoned village and you get off your mount to explore it. As you enter through a gate, you hear a sound just as a mob jumps on you from above and connects with its weapon. You back up trying to mess up its range while you pull out your battleaxe. You rush the mob which circle-strafes you and you miss in your initial attacks. You manage to trade a couple of blows with it and it turns and runs. You pull out your bow and you notice it's doing the same as it's running off. You aim for its back and right as you release, your aim is thrown off by the explosion of a fireball which knocks you back and you miss. By the time you recover, the initial mob starts landing arrows on you and its friends are shooting spells while a couple are closing in to engage you with melee weapons. You run to your mount under fire and you try to get away but it gets killed from under you and you have to run away zigzagging because your character is in bad shape. Just as you think you're safe, an arrow, fired by another player you haven't seen in all the commotion, finishes you off and you're summarily stripped of your belongings. The End.

Does that sound fun to others? I just don't see promoting that there are going to be people griefing and ganking you at any moment as good thing...
 
Looks like the Darkfall marketing engine is in full force. They have a new Dev Journal on Warcry now.

http://www.warcry.com/articles/view...ournal-24-Full-Freedom-Gameplay-and-Substance

One thing that jumped out at me..



Does that sound fun to others? I just don't see promoting that there are going to be people griefing and ganking you at any moment as good thing...

Actually, yes that does sound fun to me. Darkfall isn't a game where getting looted is designed to be devastating, and it shows just how unpredicable and realistic the game can be. It doesn't pull its punches and that, to me, is refreshing. Because for every encounter like this that doesn't go your way, another will.
 
I'm not sure I can agree with you there. Griefers and gankers actually work together better than the people they're picking on, it seems. So, since it is a seamless/zoneless world (meaning no area is being restricted from being entered by high levels), you will have these groups hitting all the 'newbie' zones on a regular basis. This will likely increase as time goes on because people get bored with grinding in the high levels and making people miserable is much more fun.

Now, say you're in the game, you're a reasonably low level and you're having fun so far, but someone kills you like in the article and loots all your stuff. No big deal, you were expecting that. You crawl back to your corpse or whatever and revive, only to be killed again. Maybe not in the exact same spot but in the same area since that's where all your quests are. Then it happens again, and again, and again...

Don't know about you, but I'd quit somewhere around the fourth or fifth time, especially if it happened frequently enough every time I logged in. But I suppose there's enough people out there that live for that or there's the ones that go "Just you wait, when I get up in level, I'll go gank your newbie zone." In which case they will just be making someone else miserable.
 
These sorts of games normally make it impossible to gank the newbie zones. My experience personally though is only with Shadowbane and WoW pvp. Shadowbane was not as you said. For the first 20 levels, you were in a place where people couldn't loot your corpse for a certain amount of time. Newbie island. After that, you were fully expected to join a guild, thereby ensuring your safety with numbers. This game mainly failed because it was literally possible for one guild to rule the world, squashing all up risers. I don't think I need to explain what WoW pvp prevents and how.

Shadowbane did a good job at pvp except for not giving a way to topple the big guy once he gained so much power. I don't see why someone else can't do a good job at it. Shadowbane was my first MMORPG, and I did just fine. What is the big worry anymore anyhow? Yes, you have to work together more with people. PvP is not a solo adventure. It's about trusting someone else to cover your back and knowing other people's abilities as well as your own so you can work together. As for the gankers normally working together more often...well, we have some pretty mean (assuming they are the type that should be pvping and not loners) non-griefers then, don't we?
 
Well, maybe I have just had too many bad experiences, but the average gamer in my experience is not someone to be trusted with my back or my front. I've had guilds of people I'd put absolute trust in, but those were usually only a small core of people (<10 people usually). In a PvP-centric game, I imagine you'd need big, highly populated guilds where 80% of the group is someone you can trust only as long as you keep your eyes on them.

As for WoW, their problem is fixed by having multiple server types. But if it was PvP by default, you'd be a small group of late teens/early 20s Night Elves in Ashenvale with all the level 50-ish Hordies stopping by for a gank on their way to Felwood, Winterspring, or Azshara before deciding that sticking around and camping Astranaar is way more fun. Or jumping off the cliffs around Felwood/Winterspring (I never did find out where they could get through) to attack... whatever the name of that place is in Darkshore right after Teldrassil. Those are just the worst low level places I've been in, but I've seen Hordies attack other lowbie zones like Northshire Abbey. (Disclaimer: I was only on a PvP server in order to play with the little brother but I gave up after not being able to do any quests due to being killed every five minutes, while he seemingly thrived on the challenge or whatever. Freak.)
 
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