A look at this week's changes to Darkfall

MMO developer Aventurine makes no bones about Darkfall being an aggressive, PvP-centric game — one that we've seen no small amount of debate over among Massively's readers. However, like all new MMOs (and some old), there are still some kinks Aventurine is working out with Darkfall. This week's patch brought significant changes to the game, which are detailed in the official patch notes, but MMORPG.com's Darkfall Correspondent Megan Clark has written her expanded take on the changes and what they mean for the gameplay experience. Clark breaks down the April 24th patch changes as "The Good, the Bad and the Mundane."

As to the 'good', Clark points out improvements in sorting out friend from foe, crafting and trade enhancements (with greater protection when trading outside of one's own clan), and new quest lines added. The 'bad', as Clark sees it, is a 45-minute timer when quitting a clan or kicking a member. It resolves the issue of players quitting their clan to avoid conflicts with a warring clan, but it adds another risk. She says, "I feel it poses a greater threat to clans who need to kick members in an emergency to protect their members or banks." Clark explains, "Imagine if you had a rogue member of your clan killing your crafters/tradesmen in protected cities to steal their goods. The problem of an emergency kick doesn't arise often, but when you need someone out fast, that 45 minute timer will be devastating."

Megan Clark takes a good look at how Darkfall is shaping up and you can see her angle on these changes at MMORPG.com.