http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/4/view/videos/play/1284

Check it out

This guy has a different opinion....

http://www.warhammeralliance.com/forums/showthread.php?t=224196&highlight=darkfall



I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt and pretend you are serious. I am warning you with all my fiber, do not get even moderately excited aboot Darkfall. It is easily the largest pile of feces I have ever had the opportunity to beta.

It makes Vanguard look like the greatest beta of all time. It makes me long for the days of Horizons. It makes AoC look 186% functional at launch.

Darkfall does not exist. It was a neat little concept 7 years ago. The version that is coming out at the end of January is merely a money grab to sucker all the poor saps who wanted it to be a great game. The feature-list that they have touted is aboot 3% done, and there is zero way they will ever have the time to finish it. The animations are godawful, and nothing even remotely works like it should. If your character stands still and you position the camera just right, the scenery can be tolerable, but only barely.

Please, for the love of all that is holy, do not even dare to dream when it comes to Darkfall.

This is your warning.

Yes, and is a very dated opinion I might add. Darkfall has been the joke of the MMORPG boards simply because the people making the game have kept their cards VERY close to their chest. Now, that being said, so did Sigil with Vanguard, and though the game is in great shape now, it was in DISMAL shape upon release.

Having said that, speaking to a friend who is in England and playing in the beta, the game does show a lot of promise. The graphics are good, not outstanding, but for an MMO, very solid. The game play is quite good, though if your computer is on the lower end, you might experience some troubles. His system is by no means spectacular, but it certainly isn't an entry level machine either. $1000 USD should get you a tower that can run it, given that you already have mouse, keyboard and monitor.

The main reason I'm interested in it is that there are NO levels. That's right, none. It is completely skill based, with skills that are not used decaying over time. This has been a source of great discussion on their boards. Basically, for someone to learn ALL the skills available, they would have to spend literally years getting them all and then spend hours a day just keeping them current so they don't decay. Needless to say, it allows for true character customization with regard to how your toon plays the game.

Am I going to run out and blindly buy it? No. After Age of Conan's horrible state, Vanguards horrible release amongst other games that have simply up and died (or are dying, Tabula Rasa just needed some more TLC! End of Feb 09, it's getting shut down, free to play till then), I am reluctant to spend full price on a game without having played it first either in beta or a free trial.

Age of Conan's beta made me get my preorder cash back. Paying $5 to NCSoft to beta test Tabula Rasa was the BEST $5 I ever spent. No I didn't buy the game, yes I enjoyed it but it just was not ready.

If I get to play this, I will DEFINATELY keep you posted.

The main reason I'm interested in it is that there are NO levels. That's right, none. It is completely skill based, with skills that are not used decaying over time. This has been a source of great discussion on their boards. Basically, for someone to learn ALL the skills available, they would have to spend literally years getting them all and then spend hours a day just keeping them current so they don't decay.

That's pretty neat. Levels are a convenient accounting abstraction made more complicated by every revision long past the point of absurdity, and it's an abstraction that has no place when you can actually track every quantifiable character activity anyway.

Advancement by activity has been implemented in a few games, and advancement by challenge exists in practically all of them in terms of item reward progression schemes; but, by and large everyone sticks to clunky levels because it's the easy way to get OCD gits playing months to move a yellow bar.

I think Earthrise (a Sci-Fi MMO) is trying to do the same thing. No videos yet though, so I'm not expecting anything anytime soon.

im in the guild beta phase going live here soon.

Original Star Wars MMO (since I played the first few months before any major changes) was all skill based advancement. I didn't much care for it, of course that might be because the game itself was lacking in any real content and the gear progression at that point sucked ass.

Either way, playing star wars soured my opinion on playing a skill based progression game.

Original Star Wars MMO (since I played the first few months before any major changes) was all skill based advancement. I didn't much care for it, of course that might be because the game itself was lacking in any real content and the gear progression at that point sucked ass.

Either way, playing star wars soured my opinion on playing a skill based progression game.

You're basing what a new game could be off of an MMO that came out how long ago? The Star Wars MMO was years ahead of it's time and was a shining example of what happens when companies rush things out the door. There were some aspects of the game that people liked, and SOE went ahead and ripped them out like vital organs LOL.

The main reason I'm interested in it is that there are NO levels. That's right, none. It is completely skill based, with skills that are not used decaying over time. This has been a source of great discussion on their boards. Basically, for someone to learn ALL the skills available, they would have to spend literally years getting them all and then spend hours a day just keeping them current so they don't decay. Needless to say, it allows for true character customization with regard to how your toon plays the game.



Sounds like EVE, which is a pretty awesome MMO. If you are interested in skill based advancement this is a must play game. Can be big into making money/crafting, pvping, or doing missions.

Also it has actual meaningful pvp. Not for more honor, for yet more epic's every 5 months.

You're basing what a new game could be off of an MMO that came out how long ago? The Star Wars MMO was years ahead of it's time and was a shining example of what happens when companies rush things out the door. There were some aspects of the game that people liked, and SOE went ahead and ripped them out like vital organs LOL.

I said I didn't like skill based advancement based on at least playing a game with skill game advancement. I never said the game itself might not be good, I said that I personally didn't like skill based advancement based on personal experience.

The game may be great, but it isn't an advancement model I liked.

I also am not a person that likes PVP. Having full loot rights when killing someone in PVP is NOT a feature that I would even be willing to entertain. That's more game breaking in preventing me from playing this game than anything related to skill advancement.

I used to think that about full loot pvp as well... until I played EVE. I soon found out that item destruction and full loot isn't the end of the world if the game is well designed like EVE is. EVE's awesome economy makes it fairly easy to earn enough money to buy ship replacements and "gear" is readily available and mostly player made.

It sounds like DF will follow the EVE model somewhat closely and I will likely check it out if it doesn't bomb.

So if gear lost in PvP is easily replaceable why bother with PvP to get loot?

Makes the risk/reward for destroying your foes seem like a null gain.

I used to think that about full loot pvp as well... until I played EVE. I soon found out that item destruction and full loot isn't the end of the world if the game is well designed like EVE is. EVE's awesome economy makes it fairly easy to earn enough money to buy ship replacements and "gear" is readily available and mostly player made.

It sounds like DF will follow the EVE model somewhat closely and I will likely check it out if it doesn't bomb.

I still prefer to get gear drops from whatever I kill. Be that in EQ or in WoW pve (when I played it). I hate spending time crafting stuff. I hate killing things for crafting items (which was how things went for the most part in Star Wars as well).

Doesn't make me wrong, doesn't make you wrong. It's just not my cup of tea to play a game where I can lose my gear to some griefer, to usage of said item, and where I get my gear from tradeskills.

So if gear lost in PvP is easily replaceable why bother with PvP to get loot?

Makes the risk/reward for destroying your foes seem like a null gain.

PvP is not for getting loot unless you are pirating to resell or something. EVE is not a gear driven game like EQ/WOW, etc. Better ships and gear can give you an advantage, but winning in combat more comes down to player ability and character skill training, as well as who brought more people to the fight and many other factors. PvP is about controlling areas of space and the resources in them. It's also about destroying enemy resources, harassing/pirating, etc. Much like the real world. This is one of the reasons why EVE's economy is so good and those of most other MMOs suck so bad. The game currency is actually needed and has value. Everything is tradeable, everything can be destroyed/looted, and the most widely used "gear" and ALL ships are player made. There is "uber" npc dropped gear in EVE, but it's very expensive and rarely used in PvP combat because of this. Even the most decked out player can be taken down by the right opponents in more common stuff.

I think Darkfall will be much like this, and if they do it right, it will be a lot of fun.

I still prefer to get gear drops from whatever I kill. Be that in EQ or in WoW pve (when I played it). I hate spending time crafting stuff. I hate killing things for crafting items (which was how things went for the most part in Star Wars as well).

Doesn't make me wrong, doesn't make you wrong. It's just not my cup of tea to play a game where I can lose my gear to some griefer, to usage of said item, and where I get my gear from tradeskills.

Most EVE players don't make their own gear, just like you don't make your own clothes/cars/houses/TVs. Most make their money via PVE content (which actually pays quite well for the most part) then buy their ships and modules from players and corporations that do make stuff. I have an industry heavy character that makes stuff, but I don't make the stuff I use. I sell what I make and buy what I want.

Biggest issue I have with EVE (besides the fact I prefer fantasy based games) is their PVE content is very boring and repetitive. However, as much fun and rewarding as raiding in EQ was, nothing gets the heart racing like PVP! :)

I should also add for EVE, their pvp can affect an entire server. There was big war not long ago that changed the face of space. Huge mega powerful guilds (corporations) were destroyed. Borders and boundaries were changed.