Filed under: Darkfall

Don't you love it when you began a brand new game and emerge fresh from character creation, only to get one-shotted by a high level player? No? The creators of Darkfall agree that it might not be the best introduction and have plans to help out with that very soon.

Darkfall will introduce New Player Protection very soon, an optional process that allows players to get their bearings in the game without fear of being used for target practice by any random Joe that happens by. It will be a short period of protection, lasting only a few hours, and is completely optional. (It's on by default when you begin the game, and can be turned off.) During that time, you can't harm or be harmed by other players -- you can only attack monsters.

This feature could be introduced as early as the next patch. Until then, you can read up on it here.

In a game like Darkfall, one never really knows what's going to happen next. One moment you could be out adventuring -- the next thing you know, a group has wandered into your town and it's time to head back for war. While Darkfall remains a niche title, that type of never-know-what's-next PvP action is just the thing its many loyal players like. Take, for example, today's action-filled screenshot sent in to us by Paragus, co-leader of Inquisition and fellow MMO blogger. He writes in to explain:

One of the biggest PvP battles I have ever seen was in Darkfall over [this last] weekend. The "Vamesis" alliance tried to lay siege to the "Superfriends" alliance capital city of Aradoth. Almost every guild on the server was involved in this Friday night war in some way. Before long, we found ourselves on the defensive trying to protect VAMP's city of Dagnamyr from a relentless assault that lasted over 4 hours. Countless lives were lost on both sides, but we managed to hold onto this key city. While this picture can't do the battle justice, this video by Umberto from the 'Superfriends" alliance shows just how intense and epic this battle was from the the perspective of those trying to take down Dagnamyr.

Want to show off your favorite MMO? It's easy! Just email your screenshot to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a quick description. We'll post it out here and give you the credit.

Darkfall has pegged itself from the beginning as a niche title, focusing on a brand of open PvP that doesn't necessarily appeal to everyone. And it's certainly handled that title with aplomb, earning our staff pick for best PvP in a 2009 MMO. But one of the most important aspects of its existence as a niche game is a strong sense of community among the players, a goal that Aventurine has been meeting more than adequately. Tasos Flambouras, Claus Grovdal and Kjetil Helland recently took part in a question-and-answer session, with the results just posted for all of the game's players to see and enjoy.

Summarizing the breadth of the questions and details released is difficult at best. The game's third large content update, preliminarily named "Darkfall 2010," is discussed in depth, and it promises a variety of changes and improvements. Aside from graphical improvements such as DirectX 11 support, it promises to add a variety of new crafting items and an armor dye system. The developers are also keeping a close watch on PvP hotspots and balance, as well as promising to expand the game's specializations and diversify player skills. Read through the full Q&A for a great deal of information about what's promised and coming soon.

[ Thanks to Paragus for the tip! ]

Ah Christmas! The day many celebrate will choose to celebrate with family, presents, good food, and a certain song about 'peace on Earth.' Meanwhile Darkfall has no real cease-fire in the ongoing quest for total domination. It's a gritty world where the concept of letting your guard down even for a moment can land you in very big trouble. Today's screenshot shows off one such example, captured and sent in by Paragus, the co-leader of Inquisition and MMO blogger. He writes in to explain this tense scene: Going back to Darkfall for the Conquer the Seas expansion, the game has matured quiet a bit since my last visit. I was able to go out on a Barque class ship with some folks from Nemesis and Vamp to pillage the city of Apuatan. Needless to say they were not happy about getting holes blown in their walls. All hands on deck: line up to return fire against the city defenders.

Why not join the fun and send in your own screenshots to be featured here on One Shots? We can always use more to pick from! Just email them to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the game its from, and whatever other information you'd like to give us. We'll post it for everyone to enjoy and give you the credit.

This week's column is a holiday-tacular rant fest as I feel like tackling one of the major sticking points of an MMO player's behavior: the need to pursue vindication. This isn't something unique to MMO culture or even video game culture at large. We all feel this rather odd need to defend our decisions or opinions to others, even if they will never ever agree with us.

However, when it comes to MMOs, vindication can be a bad thing. When communities become polarized in thought and begin to shut out others it can hurt the game's growth and the game's sense of community.

We've been hearing quite a bit about niche MMO Darkfall lately, including a clever marketing strategy (depending on your point of view), and an upcoming expansion.

The expansion, titled "Conquer the Seas" will go live today, after a few brief delays. A developer post on November 18th set the expansion for "late next week", but a week or so of delay is almost certainly worth it for a bit of extra polish on the expansion. This is the largest patch that Adventurine has ever released, and more ambitious projects are certainly more subject to bumps along the way.

Today's developer post says "We're getting ready with the expansion as we speak," and notes that the EU servers will be down for the patch and could possibly be down for 24 hours. The NA1 server will remain up during that time, then experience brief downtime for its own patch. Developer Tasos emphasizes that EU players will be reimbursed for their downtime.

Darkfall is among the most specialized niche titles available now, but like many niche titles it fills a void that just can't be simulated anywhere else. That void might be confined to a certain frequently-reviled but very vocal sort of player, but it's still there. And if the promise of bonuses for recruiting new meat for the grinder wasn't enticing enough, fans of the game have even more to be happy about now -- the game's next free expansion is slated to release late next week according to an official developer post.

Conquer the Seas was originally slated to be released a bit sooner, but as developer Tasos explains, the expansion contains a larger number of bug fixes and minor updates than they had originally intended. It's a good sign that Aventurine is willing to take the extra time for development to produce something better in the end, and Darkfall players certainly should enjoy the new update. If you don't play the game... well, did we mention that any friends you have that do play can get some extra cash if you sign up? Just try not to read too much into the look of glee on their face at the time.

You ever wish that you could get paid for recommending games to your friends? Well, if you're a Darkfall fan with an active subscription, now you can with the Darkfall Community Publishing Program.

How does this new program work, you ask? Simple, my awkwardly insultingly named hardcore PvP friend! Go over to the Darkfall community forums (AKA, ForumFall), read the instructions, and sign up using the NA or EU server links. They'll give you a special link to the Darkfall store that will give you credit when a game is sold.

For each game client sold, you'll make 20% of the sale in commission. Right now, as the Darkfall box is still going for 50 dollars, so that means you'll get 10 dollars every time you sell a copy of Darkfall. High selling users will be offered better commission rates and may be invited to work with the Darkfall publishing team.

Is this anything new? Well, it is if you haven't seen EVE Online's affiliate program. However, it is certainly a smart use of the very passionate and eager Darkfall fan base.

Beau Turkey from Spouse Aggro took a look at Darkfall yesterday, a game he checked out earlier this year, and had an interesting perspective on the game and how it's painted itself into a corner with regards to its player base. "[...]the game really deserves more praise than it gets. It is fantastic looking, is very immersive and so far the developers have proven that updates will be frequent enough and great.", says Beau. So what's the problem?

Whether it's a problem or not really depends on your perspective. Beau explores the combination of open PvP, hefty system requirements, and no ongoing free trial period and how they combine to aim toward a very specific target audience: young, male, and aggressively PvP-centered. What this means is that Darkfall is unlikely to enjoy the huge player base that WoW or similar games like EVE Online do. As Beau points out, EVE Online is similar in several ways, but gives players the option to get away from PvP areas/turn the graphics down and still enjoy them/use a free trial, which potentially opens the game up to many more paying customers.

The entire post can be read over at Spouse Aggro.

The settings of Darkfall and EVE Online are worlds apart, but there is some common ground between the titles. PvP combat permeates both sandbox games, and given a potentially hostile environment when starting out, it's always good to have a helping hand. EVE Online players have training corps like EVE University to show them the ropes in what can sometimes be a brutal game. Darkfall now has an analog of EVE University called "NEW" which Syncaine recently pointed out on his blog, Hardcore Casual. NEW is short for "Newborn on Agon", a North American server clan that provides training in most any facet of the game for those willing to learn.

Although Darkfall can be harsh to newer players, NEW provides a (comparatively) safe environment where players can spend 30 days learning what interests them, or developing the skills to succeed in the game once it's time to move on. The clan is politically neutral and owns the city of Hammerdale, contributing to NEW's potential to become a haven for new players. Also, some of Darkfall's major alliances support the idea of NEW which could be beneficial in the long run.

It's great to see things like this happen in sandbox MMOs, and hopefully Darkfall will continue to see its players establish lasting institutions in the game.

The most recent patch deployed earlier this week in Darkfall lays the foundation for the PvP-centric MMO's October expansion. Darkfall's developer Aventurine has revamped the game's magic spells, with faster advancement in spell schools, reduced mana and ingredient costs, but reduced area of effect damage done with magic.

They didn't stop there though. There's a shopping list of changes made to crafting, AI, and the user interface. The patch introduced a number of new weapons to the game, chiefly one-handed clubs and elemental bows. But the patch also sets the stage for Aventurine's future plans with naval combat. The changes seem aimed at making ships more vulnerable to damage while also making (most of) them cheaper to produce.

Have a look at Darkfall's September 2nd patch notes for more on the changes Aventurine has made to the game.

There are two main progression models in MMOs: Level-based and skill-based. In level-based MMOs, you kill things and complete tasks to earn experience. This experience leads to new levels and the new levels generally lead to newer and more powerful skills. In skill-based MMOs, it isn't you who "levels up," but your skills. The more you use a particular skill (e.g., swimming, shield-blocking, axe-slashing, etc.) the better that skill becomes. At a basic level, both models are just different interpretations of the "experience point" system.

While traditional, level-based MMOs don't usually allow you to earn XP while logged off, some skill-based systems do. EVE Online, for example, has a passive skill-leveling system, where players choose a queue of various skills that level up in real-time whether they are logged in or out. On the other hand, Darkfall uses an active skill-leveling system. The more you slash with a one-handed sword, the better your skill with one-handed swords becomes. If you switch to a two-handed hammer, you won't be as good until you start using it more.

Syncaine has started an interesting discussion on his blog about the pros and cons of passive versus active skill gain in MMOs. While the original article favours one over the other, the comments really show both sides of the argument.

So I thought I was done with my whole "month long investigation of Darkfall." Best way to end out the series was to include some PvP being lead by Wardragon Drow (*gasp*, a last name, and I'll get to that in a second) and then close it off there.

Well, sadly, Darkfall had one more surprise left for me. Or, should I say, the Blackrock Clan had one more surprise for me. A siege.

A complete accident lead me to logging on during the first contestation of our city, the orc themed Andruk. A siege stone had finally been dropped, sides were quickly formed, and our first war was on. No more drills, no more pathetic defense attempts -- this one was for real. We liked our city and we were not interested in losing it.

But with the siege came a conundrum. If I report the siege, it will be pretty obvious who I've joined up with. It doesn't take a genius to look at all of the sieges and come up with, "Which one was at an orc city?" So, as this is truly the last article in the Daze of Darkfall series -- the one where I get to participate in what many say is the capstone of the Darkfall experience -- I think it's time to drop the worries and be specific. This is my view of the Battle of Andruk that took place between the Blackrock Clan and the Brotherhood of the Spider.

The keep, the keep!

"Fall back to the keep! Fall back to the keep!" called General Zodd Drow over Ventrilo. The outer walls were abandoned as everyone began rushing back to the keep to make a stand. While this would normally sound like suicide, as we'd leave our citystone undefended, we had placed the keep perfectly next to the stone. From there, people on the roof of the keep could easily fire downwards and destroy anyone who would come close to the stone, while the stairs inside served as the world's best choke point. Think 300, only with less spartans, more lolz, and inside of a keep.

From there our most armored men began to hold the steps while I stayed up top, picking off people's mounts and keeping casters at bay with my bow. We had an impressive grouping of archers and spellcasters, all doing their part to keep people below at bay or injured as they entered the keep.

Meanwhile, in the keep, the enemy losses accelerated while our losses dropped. Fighting was packed into close quarters with shields and one-handed weaponry becoming the focus. I peeked my head down to see what was going on and only found chaos. Attempting to shoot a bow in all of that was more dangerous than good, so I found myself back up top firing downwards.

Then, oddly, people began spilling out. Enemies began to retreat, firing one last wave of spells as they left. Our forces ran out after them, chasing for the moment as they left our city. Everyone relaxed on Ventrilo, happy over our win for the time being.

The second assault -- not as interesting as the first

Sinister relayed a message to us -- "We don't like to retreat." I'd feel that way too if I had just gotten halted inside of a keep and I was paid lots of money by a clan to make sure they won the battle. Plus then there's that whole reputation thing... eh... yeah, I'd be angry.

Half an hour later, they came again. There was one hour left in the battle as they came up the hill, and we were better prepared for what they had to offer this time. We also had a plan -- do the same thing we did before, but now in complete unison instead of panic.

They rounded the walls and started in on the wall towers, but we held faster this time around than last time. The force seemed smaller to me, but I couldn't truly tell with all of the insanity going on. When the walls looked too overrun, we moved back inside the keep again, doing what we did before. It worked a second time, and perhaps even better than the first. The attackers backed out of the keep, fearing a repeat, and began to stick to the towers.

That was, until, our forces rushed the towers. It was a bit silly to watch from my archery perch above. Three of our people ran in, then 10 of theirs would all rush out the other side. I filed it under, "things that made me laugh and shake my head."

Soon enough, they were driven back for the second time. It was at this point that our generals got word from Sinister that they wished to thank us for the challenge and the fun battle. The other clans stayed silent, for the time being. There was still 45 minutes left in the challenge, and we still remained prepared.

Finally, the clock slowly rode down. Our guards began to loosen up and joke -- more talking over Ventrilo and silly conversation. Then, as the clock hit zero and the game displayed "DRAW" in huge letters on our screens, everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief. Air guitars were played (you can type /air_guitar to make your avatar play the electric guitar, yay anachronism) and congratulations were swapped over Ventrilo. The siege was done.

One final look back

I sat atop the keep for a while more as everyone disappeared, talking with some of the others about writing this up as a final feature for Massively on my time in Darkfall. I was trying to get a handle on the whole moment, as it came so unexpectedly, and I was still trying to decide if I liked it or not. The siege felt like a giant game of deathmatch, not really a siege. It felt uneven at times, as when I got caught in a fire AoE I almost died via that one spell. It felt fun, of course, as everyone dodged around and was being assaulted on all sides. There wasn't any lag or hangups, save for a few spikes here and there.

The game performed to expectations regarding performance, but I'm just not sure how I felt. I didn't stand up and cheer, I didn't feel awe struck. I felt successful, but I didn't feel like a winner. It's hard to explain, so I don't think I will attempt it.

I will simply leave the question, "Is it fun?" to you, the readers, as I have in the last column. It's not my place to tell you what you enjoy, and I don't think I'm about to start now. As for me... I owe Kend Drow some warbanding, so if you see Seraphina Azureveil, have the decency to wave before shooting an arrow through my heart.

Update: Apparently, Scarce Xrul has uploaded parts of the siege in his YouTube video, convincing his friends to join Darkfall. You want to watch exactly what happened? Well, now you can, and in HD!

It's the last week already? Well that went fast! It seems like only yesterday when I woke up in a daze to find my computer had "Thank you for purchasing Darkfall, n00bcakes!" splashed across its screen. Yet, here we are, four weeks later! My clan's city now looks like a real place of habitation instead of a pile of smashed rubble, combat is starting to become more commonplace than one attack every week, and I'm actually wearing armor instead of being naked most of the time. Amazing how things change over time.

This week's events seem to all come down to one sentence: "Are you concerned about the security of your stuff?" (NSFW) You should be concerned, as my clan's warbands were taking what they wanted from cities and hamlets, all with me in tow. What happens when I get exposed to "hardcore PvP?" Well I guess you'll just have to read and find out.