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Darkfall offline skilling coming this week
Ready for offline skilling in Darkfall? Ready or not, it's on the way with this week's patch, according to Aventurine's latest activity report. In addition to the hotly debated advancement mechanic, the devs are also tweaking the sea fortress schedule and updating auto-stacking on equipped items. The activity report, written by Aventurine's Tasos Flambouras, also makes mention of several important pieces of player feedback that the devs are working to address. Balance issues brought on by bunnyhoppers, one-man clans declaring war, and additional types of craftable ships are all on the internal discussion table. Flambouras also uses the activity report to clue us in to the importance of player feedback. "We're not talking about long-term hopes when we say we're looking into something or working on an issue. If we talk about it, there are developers assigned to it and community liaisons following up on progress," he writes.
Choose My Adventure: Special treatment, or how I learned to stop worrying and love the gank
Well, so much for the theory that the Darkfall community has banded together to ensure I only see the good side of the game. This past week was an interesting one, and despite an encounter that most players would probably consider griefing -- as well as various and sundry inconvenient ganks -- I remain enamored of Agon. Aside from recurring instances of the Darkfall version of "special treatment," much of the week was spent leveling greatswords on my public main and crafting/harvesting on my private alt. In between there was a NEW-sponsored PvP event, a kracken run, and various dungeon excursions, not to mention more exploring than I've done in my last three MMOs combined. Finally, I'm also beginning to see the grind that a lot of current and former subscribers complain about. Join me after the cut to see how I dealt with it as well as a recap of week two. %Gallery-108450%
Darkfall devs planning crafting, alignment revamps and more
Curious as to whether Aventurine listens to user feedback relating to its Darkfall MMORPG (and if so, what it does with said feedback)? We were too, and as such we found the most recent activity report to be an interesting read. Aventurine's Tasos Flambouras gives us a bit of insight into the creative process, outlining a developer meeting that saw a good bit of discussion regarding GUI suggestions, alignment considerations, and newbie experience feedback. "This is a topic of great importance for us and we might call it the newbie experience but changes in this should improve the general player experience as well," he writes. Regarding alignment, Flambouras states that "we agree [with the playerbase] that as far as alignment goes, going red is too forgiving when it needs to be more of an active decision with implications for the player." He also touches on a potential auction house implementation, a significant crafting revamp, and quest and questing system enhancements. While none of these items is divulged in detail, the report is an interesting look at considerations currently on the table for Agon's near future.
Choose My Adventure: The Wayback Machine
Whew. Well, my first week in Darkfall has come to a close and, at the risk of fanboying it up, holy cow was that fun! It's hard to believe this is the same game that I was unable to purchase on launch day (and unable to play for more than a few weeks at a time over the course of 2009 due to a lack of interested friends). Darkfall isn't so much a game as it is a lifestyle -- and as far as MMOs go, it's a really nifty time machine. In six days and a little under 30 hours of play time, I've managed to move across the map from my racial homeland to my clan city and to assist in taking down two Gardorocs, a Dark Dragon, more deadly wraiths than I can count, and a couple of giant stone dudes whose name escapes me at the moment. I've also gotten a good start on skilling up my spell-casting, archery, and greatsword abilities, and I even did a bit of crafting and gathering. In true Darkfall tradition, the first mount I made was promptly shot out from under me by a gaggle of the game's frightening mobs. And in case you're wondering, yes, I also got ganked. Though it's only happened once (so far), it was a doozy. Join me after the cut for a rundown of the week's mayhem and an earnest attempt at maintaining my objectivity. %Gallery-108019%
Darkfall PvP tips contest results published
We've been giving Darkfall a lot of coverage lately, and deservedly so. The sandbox title from Aventurine is branching out beyond its boy's-club beginnings and becoming one of the more complete titles on the current market. The game isn't abandoning its PvP roots, however, and the world of Agon is experiencing an influx of new blood (or fresh meat, if you prefer) that could stand to be schooled in the ways of player vs. player. To that end, Aventurine recently held a contest in which veteran gamers were asked to come up with their best PvP tips. A panel comprised of experienced PvPers and newer players mulled over the entries and selected five winners, each of whom will receive a unique forum title and rare in-game items for their trouble. Check out the winning tips for yourself on the Darkfall Epic Blog, and have a look at all of the entries (over 100 of them) via the contest announcement post.
Darkfall dev diary talks new UI, quest content, and more
Aventurine's Tasos Flambouras returns with another activity report on the Darkfall Epic Blog, and the focus is fairly broad. He touches on the dynamic quests and lore-driven events we mentioned last week, as well as upcoming world optimizations that include aggressive wildlife based on location and time of day, new monster families and epic mob encounters, and improvements to both player character models and monster animations. Those of you who haven't been able to get past Darkfall's unique user interface will also have reason to give the game a second look in the near future, as Flambouras states that Aventurine has decided on a new GUI framework and tools. "These should yield a vastly improved user interface. The next phase for the GUI is the architecture and adapting the current GUI functionality to the new framework," he says. Other notable items include the mention of a completely new environmental sound system as well as an in-game political map which will feature clan associations, vendor and bank locations, and various other resources. Check out all the details on the official Darkfall blog.
Darkfall dev blog hints at dynamic quests and events
Think Darkfall is all about crushing your enemies, driving them before you, and hearing the lamentation of their women? Well you're partially right, but Aventurine is also taking pains to highlight the game's inherent sandboxiness. While you can spend your entire Darkfall career ganking and being ganked, the game does offer a fair bit of PvE fun, moreso now after the release of the Hellfreeze expansion. In the latest Aventurine devblog, community liasion Laenih outlines plans to bring the game's lore to the forefront. Dynamic quests and events are hinted at, and it seems that knowledge of Agon's lore may help players solve tasks in the near future. At the very least, the updates will add a bit of context and flavor to the proceedings. Laenih uses a member of the Vargashi race as an example, and if you're wondering who or what the Vargashi are, the devblog also features conceptual artwork highlighting the new NPCs. Check it out on the official site, and also have a look at Darkfall's lore entries while you're at it.
Choose My Adventure: Swiftsnout theCrotchety
Aaaaaaooooooooooooo... er, sorry. I was just getting into character a bit early, I suppose. Welcome back, loyal readers and Aventurine subscribers alike, to Choose My Adventure. With the past couple weeks' worth of voting formalities behind us, it's time for the main event. As we speak, I'm rolling up a brand-spanking-new Darkfall character, the better to suffer at the hands of my new PK overlords -- and hopefully get a good look at the world of Agon prior to writing about it over the next six weeks. Join me after the cut to see the results of last week's voting and get a sneak peek at what I'll be doing first.
New Darkfall blog talks optimizing interaction and offline leveling
Darkfall has always had a reputation for being a very hardcore game, but Aventurine has been hard at work trying to improve the in-game experience for all players -- both the well-known PvP audience and the more PvE-focused crowd. In the most recent official blog, Tasos Flambouras calls the team's focus "optimizing interaction," a convenient catch-all term for an overarching goal of making the game world and the interface easier to work with and more meaningful to players. Flambouras mentions the previously discussed offline skill leveling -- in short, you will pay gold to meditate on a skill to advance it while you're offline. The feature will be limited to a few skills when first implemented, but if it proves not to cause any balance issues, more skills will be added to the roster. There's a lot of information about where the Darkfall development team is placing its emphasis, so take a look at the full article for a peek inside the team members' head.
Choose My Adventure: Agon awaits
Join me as I become an action hero for hire, experiencing an online adventure directed by you, the Massively readers. You'll get to choose the game, character creation options, and in-game goals, then sit back and watch how it all plays out (or join me in-game to get in on the fun). Choose My Adventure game arcs run for six weeks, and after the concluding episode, we'll do it again in a new title. 'Tis the season for voting, and I'm primed to do my part to balance the PvP, eliminate missed launch dates, and provide a strong national troll defense. OK, maybe I'm as full of hot air as your average elected official. Last week, though, while some of you were fooling yourselves into thinking the U.S. midterm elections were the most important voting opportunity in your lifetimes, the real action was going on right here in the form of the latest Choose My Adventure poll. Thanks to a monumental zerg by members of the Darkfall forum community, I'll be heading to the lands of Agon for the next six weeks. While Final Fantasy XIV and EVE Online both looked like early frontrunners, nothing could withstand the momentum of 1400 frothing FFA Forumfall fanboys (not even a late-week surge by Global Agenda). If you're not familiar with Darkfall, join me after the cut for a brief history lesson. If you already know it all, join me after the cut anyway to help pick my character race, game focus, and social status.
Darkfall highlights dev team tasks, PvP tips contest
Are you curious about Darkfall but put off by the fact that the open-world sandbox title focuses on PvP? Fear not, as Aventurine is taking steps to make the world of Agon more accessible to a wider range of players. In addition to the recent PvE-focused Hellfreeze expansion, the Greek development firm is also sponsoring a contest designed to impart veteran PvP wisdom to newer players. If you've got PvP tips you don't mind sharing, submit them in the comment section of the contest blog post, and you could be one of five winners who will receive rare in-game ingots and an exclusive forum title. In other Darkfall news, Tasos Flambouras has given us a peek behind the curtain of the game's development schedule, courtesy of another blog post that outlines both the team work groups and their respective responsibilities over the next few weeks. Aventurine's staffers are currently split into 11 teams, all working to grow the game in terms of UI updates, server tools, offline skilling, and various other game mechanics. Flambouras' posting is an interesting look at a Scrum-based software development cycle, and you can check it out on the official website.
Darkfall prepping offline skill advancement
Tired of the lengthy skill-grind in Darkfall, as well as the perception that it will take newer players many months to be competitive with veterans? Aventurine has heard your concerns and is currently in the process of implementing a form of offline skill advancement for the PvP sandbox MMORPG. In a recent activity report on the Darkfall forums, developer Tasos Flambouras clarified the plans for offline advancement and was quick to point out that Aventurine doesn't intend for the mechanic to be used as a substitute for skilling up. "We're not looking to upset the game's balance by adding a convenience feature and this is why I mentioned there's a lot of thought and balancing going into this. So on offline skilling, we'll start with a small amount of skills and gradually expand it, and obviously many skills won't be included," he writes. Offline skilling is nothing new in MMORPGs, as EVE Online has used the system for years, and even themepark games like Age of Conan have gotten into the act. Whether Darkfall implements a similar system or tries something completely new, Massively will be there to bring you the latest.
Aventurine reaches out to Darkfall community with tournament video
Darkfall's devs are going out of their way to interact with the community of late. Whether it's in the form of new blog entries or unannounced presences at in-game events, it's clear the Aventurine braintrust is interested in keeping their fingers firmly on the community's pulse. The latest outreach example takes the form of a forum post by Tascha, a developer who shares a company-produced video that was recently recorded at a dueling tournament on the game's EU server. "Several of us, including Aventurine's CEO, where watching from the shadows during the last 1vs1 Tournament on EU organized by Ninogan Swiftstep," Tascha writes. As for the tourney itself, it was a labor of love for Swiftstep. "When you spend as much time as you do with an MMO, you want to make the most of your time and do cool stuff. For Darkfall, which is all about PvP for me, doing something like this felt natural," he says. Keep an eye on Darkfall's community events forum for more happenings around the world of Agon, and don't forget to check out the tourney video after the break.
Aventurine squelches Darkfall 2 rumors, for now
Darkfall news has been flowing fast and furious of late. Whether it's info on the newly minted Hellfreeze expansion and its patches, upcoming character model upgrades, or new lore, it seems like the little Greek MMO that could is gathering a head of steam. One bit of news that got blown slightly out of proportion was a reported mention of Darkfall 2. Aventurine's Tasos Flambouras briefly mentioned Darkfall 2 at a recent event, and some fans took that to mean the company was already working on a sequel to the sandbox MMORPG. In reality, Flambouras was speaking of reusable assets and the fact that the development firm is "keeping the future of Darkfall in mind while we work on this version of the game. It doesn't mean that we're working on a new game." In a post on the official forums, Flambouras reiterates that Aventurine's devs are not currently making a Darkfall sequel, and even if they were, "it would take years to complete and we would not stop full development of Darkfall 1."
Darkfall teases character model upgrades and more
The devs at Aventurine apparently never sleep, as releasing a major expansion and graphics revamp was the tip of the iceberg as far as what's happening on Darkfall's horizon. The team has generated three separate news items in the last week, all of them pointing towards exciting things in store for the world of Agon. First up is a design blog posted on the official website. In it, community manager Laenih gives us an inside look at the process of converting a quick design sketch into a finished in-game model. Due to the small size of Aventurine's development team, this process often means that quest designers take up paper and pencil (or the digital equivalent) in order to present modelers with a clear idea of their vision. Next up are some screenshots previewing Darkfall's new character models. While the world of Agon is often praised for its size, detail, and beauty, the game's character models have thus far lagged a bit behind the current MMORPG visual standard. Not to worry though, as an upgrade is in the works, and you can view photos of some of the new models on Darkfall's Facebook page. Last but not least are the patch notes from this past week, which address a few niggling issues related to the Hellfreeze expansion. Read all about it on the official boards.
Aventurine expanding Darkfall, development team
As much as many in the MMO community love to hate on Darkfall, the game soldiers on, and if recent reports coming out of Aventurine are any indication, it's actually growing a little bit. Producer Tasos Flambouras recently posted a lengthy development update on the game's official forums. In it, he discusses the ongoing server issues before moving on to more interesting news bits like the upcoming expansion, lore updates, and tweaks to various smaller aspects of the game's operation such as the online help and download sections of the website. Aventurine's main task these last few weeks has been polishing the new expansion, and Flambouras has lots to say on the matter. The team has redesigned many of the new dungeons, added new quests, monsters, and rewards, and continued working on terrain improvements. "I have to repeat what a monumental task this has been: the entire world has been repainted, all textures have been redone from scratch, there are no texture seams anymore or stretching," Flambouras writes. Finally, Aventurine looks to be expanding not just the world of Agon but the team constructing it. In addition to welcoming back a former member of the world-building team, Aventurine has hired two new programmers and one designer, and is currently interviewing more programmers in order to bring its future Darkfall plans to fruition.
Darkfall expansion delayed, treasure hunting in the works
Lots of stuff is going on in the world of Agon, and the weekend brought us a double-shot of news updates, one good and one not so good. Aventurine's Tasos Flambouras recently checked in on the official boards to announce a delay on the upcoming expansion. The delay appears to be primarily performance-related. "The expansion is forced back a short while longer, we hope no longer than a couple of weeks, in order to get the performance right, and everything in the expansion working properly and tested thoroughly so there's no repeat of the last setback with the terrain feature," he wrote. Aventurine has also been having trouble with its network service provider, and the post provides a few details along those lines as well. Now for the good news: treasure hunting is coming to Darkfall, courtesy of the aforementioned expansion. Players will be able to acquire map-reading skills from NPCs, make their own shovels to unearth various objects, and use treasure map hints to determine appropriate dig locations. "We are already planning on expanding this system, which means you can expect additional treasure hunt features being added on top of the one we talked about today," writes Aventurine's Laenih on the Darkfall forums.
Darkfall EU server latency issues to be corrected
Denizens of Darkfall's European shard have been subjected to a rough ride of late, and not just from the title's relentless PvP action. Due to a Storage Area Network hardware failure at Aventurine's third-party hosting center, players have seen high amounts of latency over the last week. The bad news is that Aventurine doesn't have a specific timetable for correcting the problem. The good news is that the company is currently working on it, as well as prepping for future hardware upgrades. "Performance is an extremely serious issue with us and we're constantly working on improvements. Apart from dealing with this specific issue, we are currently working on major performance upgrades for both servers to be added during the upcoming expansion," says Darkfall's Tasos Flambouras on the game's official forums.
Darkfall community Q&A hints at massive game expansion
Its been quite awhile since Aventurine first sat down for a community-based question and answer session with noted Darkfall blogger Paragus. Today, he brings us part two of the lengthy interview, which features a whopping 57 questions generated by Darkfall players. As you would expect, some of the answers are short and fluffy, but many are quite informative as to the future of the PvP sandbox title. Stashed away inside the deluge of queries are a few gems about upcoming content, including mention of the cryptically titled Darkfall 2010 project. "[It] comes after the next expansion and is a much bigger proposition. Darkfall 2010 is our internal code name for this project. Our intent is to have it complete within the year, but we can't rule out that it will take longer than that. We've been working on this for quite a while, it's parallel development to Darkfall and almost as big a project as making a new game," Aventurine says. Aside from that teaser, there is also talk of prestige classes, performance improvements, and the long-awaited four-legged running feature for the mahirim race. Sadly, it seems as if this particular fan wish isn't going to be granted anytime soon, despite the assets already existing in the live game. "Our main problem is that it is an unbalancing factor," says Aventurine.
The Daily Grind: Terms of endurement
Gankers! Kind of an unpleasant word isn't it? Given the fact that I re-upped my Darkfall subscription last week, it's one that I'm intimately familiar with on account of the PvP-centric title's target audience. Heck, even the game's deathblow ability isn't called deathblow but rather "gank." Despite the unfortunate red-equals-dead mentality that seems hardwired into the psyche of your average PvPer, Aventurine's game manages to conjure a few pleasant memories of both Ultima Online and Morrowind, which is why I keep going back to it in spurts every few months and enduring the relentless PvP. I put up with the ganking and the crazy skill-grind (even though the devs are taking steps to mitigate it, it is still there) because there's something about the world of Agon that appeals to me on a basic level. I don't know if it's the pseudo-sandbox trappings, the fact that I can explore a varied landmass for hours without running into other players (let alone themepark mobs spaced six inches apart), or some other unquantifiable allure. What about you, Massively folk? Do you put up with PvP (or any other unwanted mechanics) because something about a game speaks to you? Which games and which mechanics?
