Darkfall's US server to launch today

by Seraphina Brennan Jul 13th 2009 at 5:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Darkfall, Business models, Launches, News items

Darkfall's first North American server, NA1, is due to launch today. The stage is set for the new server with the release of Darkfall's expansion, and July 13th is the date declared by both the website and the game's associate producer, Tasos Flambouras.

However, beyond a single thread regarding how to download the new US client, the launch has been very quiet. The account page is now online, ~~ready to take your payments of 49.98 for the brand new NA client.~~ Edit: While the account management is working and you can create an account, ~~the shop is currently offline and unable to take new purchases of the game.~~

EU users interested in playing on the NA servers with their EU characters will still have to wait, however, as EU players will only be able to transfer to NA three months after the launch. Even then, EU characters will not be allowed to bring their possessions with them, transferring onto the server as a naked player. However, on the bright side, those who wait will not have to pay for a brand new account to play on the NA server.

Update: The shop is now online. Have fun!

Tags: accounts, darkfall, darkfall-online, europe, european-server, launch, na1, north-america, server-transfer, tasos-flambouras, us-client

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

double9s said on 5:09PM 7-13-2009

Glad to see you can easily buy the game now. I'm so tempted to try this game out but I'm worried about getting frustrated by getting my ass kicked all the time in PvP, especially when a "try" costs me $50. Some days, I like to just adventure around in my MMOs. You guys think there's a game in there for me? I'll go read some recent reviews.

Colin Brennan said on 5:16PM 7-13-2009

I wish I could say it's still easy to purchase the game. I just checked the account management after signing up, and it seems the shop is still down. I corrected my post to reflect this.

Also, have you played EVE Online? If you like EVE, you'll like this. If you didn't like how EVE could sting you with defeat, you're probably going to not enjoy this. The combat is interesting, but you can lose everything in a single instant if you're not careful.

double9s said on 5:24PM 7-13-2009

Yeah, bummer about the registration.

Regarding EVE, of all the MMOs I've never subscribed to, it's probably my favorite. What I mean is that I have a lot of respect for the game, I've just never given it a chance, past a trial, for various reasons. I still might some day.

After a little Googling, I found this recent blog entry that doesn't really paint a pretty picture for Darkfall:

http://bannerfall.wordpress.com/2009/07/03/darkfall-great-concept-greater-disappointment/

The problems he mentions are pretty serious. I'm going to pack up my curiosity for awhile and see if they can clean it up a bit.

Brian! said on 10:25PM 7-13-2009

Eve has insurance at least. Eve also has "newbie" areas to learn the game in. Eve has a bigger playerbase and interesting economics.

After a couple of months, Darkfall ended up being a cancel for me. I am hoping for Mortal Online and others now.

Infexion said on 5:11PM 7-13-2009

"While the account management is working and you can create an account, the shop is currently offline and unable to take new purchases of the game"

You think they would of got this right this time around.

So glad I never tried this.

THAC0 said on 5:16PM 7-13-2009

This game is is obviously called DARKFAIL for a reason.

Kdolo said on 5:33PM 7-13-2009

2/10 for a reason

Ripper McGee said on 6:09PM 7-13-2009

Tasos justified the cost of the new client and transfer by twice referring to the fact that the rights to the game belonged to two different parties. We know AudioVisual is the publisher/distributor for Europe, but who's the publisher/distributor for North America? Barring any other evidence, it appears that Aventurine is self-publishing. That's pretty shady for two reasons:

1) By referring the the rights belong to two separate parties, they imply the participation of a North American publisher. If they're self-publishing, why not just say so? it's a lie by omission.

2) If they're self-publishing, they've cut out the middle-man. Good for them. The problem is they're using the "separate parties" argument to justify charging for the NA client and transfer fees (and there will be fees, per the link you provided: "Certain restrictions and charges will apply, to be announced at a later date."). If they're self-publishing then there's no other publisher/distributor to pay. I can see having to pay AudioVisual for them to release accounts for transfer, but what about new accounts on the NA Server? Why charge existing clients at all if they want to start a brand new character? It seems exceedingly greedy and misleading.

~Ripper

Colin Brennan said on 6:16PM 7-13-2009

While i'm not reporting this as fact or anything, I want to throw evidence onto the pile by saying I just used PayPal to purchase a US copy of Darkfall (I didn't own a copy before now) and I just paid my 50 dollars straight to Aventurine.

Now, all that could mean is that they're paying royalties to another company and taking the money before distributing it as an account payable, but who knows?

Ripper McGee said on 7:52PM 7-13-2009

When I bought the EU game in may, the email I got specifically referred to Audio Visual:

"Your order of Darkfall was successful. You will be charged with the amount of 42.00 euro.
You can manage your account and billing info at:

https://www.darkfallonline.com/accounts/f/default.php
Thank you for your purchase, We hope to see you online soon!

The Darkfall Team
Audio Visual Enterprises S.A.
3 Parnonos Str, Marousi ,
15125 Athens, Greece,
Tax Reg. Number 094115374
Aventurine ©2009 - www.darkfallonline.com"

Please note, I just created a North American account for the sake of comparison and the account/billing system is identical. The websites, in general, are and neither of them refer to ANY publisher, AudioVisual or otherwise. Is AudioVisual even involved in Europe anymore? Why don't we see some clear delineation, a la Codemasters in Europe and Turbine in North America, each for LotRO, but under each publisher. Even the EU and NA EULAs for LotRO reference either Codemasters or Turbine.

Same websites, same account/billing systems, no public references to any publishers, etc... What's the deal with these people. Aventurine's silence on the publisher issue is deafening.

~Ripper

Wjowski said on 6:22PM 7-13-2009

Unless you have a severe hard-on for high fantasy, you'd be better off playing EVE.

Adam said on 7:27PM 7-13-2009

Eve is a great game for some.

I found the lack of control or "twitch" as some call it totally unacceptable to me. Right clicking on a map/object and having autopilot do my job as a gamer was very constraining for me and was not fun.

Darkfall has many (not all as its still a young game) of the sandbox features of Eve but has the direct player control of an fps.

That fps control is something I will not do without again. I don't like getting nuked by a mage/sorceror (wow/warhammer/aoc etc) tab targetting and then 1234gg'ing. To me, thats terrible pvp.

Darkfall is a great game that is getting better and I look forward to trying Mortal Online as well.

If you want FPS+MMO these are really the only games that are going to offer it on a large outdoor persistent world.

Xpiher said on 6:28PM 7-13-2009

@ double9s I'm the person who runs that blog. The things that he complains about are vaild to a point but you should of read my response to the post. The hacking in the game isn't "rampant." Like any PvP game you may run into 1-2 hackers a month unless you are unlucky. The rest of the stuff he complained about has been fixed by the expansion i.e player housing is in game now, crafting has been upgraded again, and the grind has been reduced again through more drops off of PvE and Mobs giving higher skill gains than players now.

double9s said on 8:20PM 7-13-2009

Thanks for the corrections, glad to know that stuff is getting cleaned up. I'll still probably let the game cook a little longer before trying it.

Does any one know if there's like a premier Darkfall blog? Bannerfall? That's how I usually like to keep track of an MMO that I'm not playing.

szsleepy said on 10:16PM 7-13-2009

ANY hacking in an online game is unacceptable.

Xpiher said on 6:32PM 7-13-2009

http://bannerfall.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/edit-objective-review-of-dfo/ has a review of the game prior to the expansion as well. Note: The exploiting has been fixed for the most part by making mobs more intelligent and having them despawn a little quicker.