Not too long ago I took a nice restful vacation, did some yard work, traveled to see family. Upon returning, I didn't feel like playing Darkfall immediately, so I did other things. Then a couple of days turned into weeks and it became obvious the game didn't have enough appeal for me to draw me back in. So I'll leave it as I began, with curiosity and hope.
Despite the public criticisms and the very real frustrations that exist in the game currently, I think AV is on the way to creating the niche game they have worked on for so long. I was never a fanboy, didn't follow development, and always assumed, as many others did, that the game was vaporware. But when it arrived in the world newborn-red and wailing, I wanted to check it out. I knew it was open PvP and full loot, features I have never cared for, but I went in with a philosophical attitude and it paid off; those features had little effect on my enjoyment of the game long term, either negative or positive.
In realizing their goal of a wide-open PvP-focused game, however, the other elements of the game have suffered. As the developers have said, it's not a game for everyone. Nor should it be. I'm glad the MMO genre is maturing enough to support niche games. If Darkfall doesn't survive, Mortal Online and others will try for the free-for-all PvP niche. Perhaps we'll see other games where diplomacy or trade get the intense focus that as heretofore been spent on combat and questing. And so I hope that DF is succesful and develops into the kind of game so many of its fans have longed for since the early days of Ultima Online.
For me the PvP is not enough of a draw. I'm not a competitive person nor a competitive player. I like the grander possibiloities of living in that kind of world, such as in the now-departed Shadowbane, but DF isn't offering that. And so I find myself with little interest in rejoining the world when so many other possibilites beckon. I do hope, however, that those who continue to enjoy DF are able to keep it alive for a long time.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Thursday, April 30, 2009
New Video Game Technology!
Beginning with a couple of great points and a firm lede, this well-rounded story from The Onion thrust itself into my attention. No one can lick the Onion when it comes to sliding a story right down the middle. However, this is a news event that can't be constrained by such flimsy coverage, demanding to bust out into wider view. Enjoy!
Darkfall Day 29-33
Lots of play days to write about but for short times each. I've done a lot of farming this week to put myself into position for some spell practice. Right now my Greater Magic is 30.1 and I need to get to 50 for elemental schools. My next training push will probably get me to just 40 unless I can buy a shitload of reagents. Otherwise I'm herb gathering and farming my friendly neighborhood trolls to gather what I need.
In more interesting developments I had my first experience as part of what I might charitably call a gank squad :) A couple of my clanmates needed to pay off their alignment debt to get blue again, so we formed a little group of four and went hunting in Mahirim lands. I've been the victim of such gank squads more often than I care to think about in the newbie areas of human and elven lands. A group of enemies on mounts will swing through and kill a few folks, loot, and move on. I don't get too upset about it as long as it's spread out enough that I get something done in between. Now I've been on the other side.
The basic tactic was to go to a mob camp, most often goblins, and kill whomever we found there. The goal was more to get my clanmates the alignment credit for having killed them than to gather loot or anything, though we picked up a little of that. Sounds are often the giveaway that someone is fighting nearby and can even provide a clue as to how many there are. We dismounted for our attacks, although I've been attacked by mounted groups plenty of times. Dismounting let us use bows and magic, though. So we'd sneak up on someone and chase them a bit till they were dead. Oddly enough, we'd sometimes kill one to find another still fighting goblins. Got to be more aware of your surroundings, friends :)
The more exciting part was when, near an NPC town and emboldened by the towers there, a good sized group of Mahirim organized a counter-attack. We'd retreat, draw a few out, and charge back in, killing as we went. My magic got a good workout throughout this. All that practice leading trolls with Mana Missile also paid off as I was able to kill a couple of folks who were doing their best to dodge the slow-assed spell. I probably did more damage with the area-of-effect splash damage provided when the spell hit the ground or a nearby object.
We also would attack lone gatherers as we travelled through the wilderness, confirming the wisdom of my usual practice to keep a mount nearby and get moving at the first sound of appraoching hooves whenever I gather in the middle of nowhere.
Overall it was a fun experience and I know with greater certainity now that most often when I get ganked, it's nothing personal.
In more interesting developments I had my first experience as part of what I might charitably call a gank squad :) A couple of my clanmates needed to pay off their alignment debt to get blue again, so we formed a little group of four and went hunting in Mahirim lands. I've been the victim of such gank squads more often than I care to think about in the newbie areas of human and elven lands. A group of enemies on mounts will swing through and kill a few folks, loot, and move on. I don't get too upset about it as long as it's spread out enough that I get something done in between. Now I've been on the other side.
The basic tactic was to go to a mob camp, most often goblins, and kill whomever we found there. The goal was more to get my clanmates the alignment credit for having killed them than to gather loot or anything, though we picked up a little of that. Sounds are often the giveaway that someone is fighting nearby and can even provide a clue as to how many there are. We dismounted for our attacks, although I've been attacked by mounted groups plenty of times. Dismounting let us use bows and magic, though. So we'd sneak up on someone and chase them a bit till they were dead. Oddly enough, we'd sometimes kill one to find another still fighting goblins. Got to be more aware of your surroundings, friends :)
The more exciting part was when, near an NPC town and emboldened by the towers there, a good sized group of Mahirim organized a counter-attack. We'd retreat, draw a few out, and charge back in, killing as we went. My magic got a good workout throughout this. All that practice leading trolls with Mana Missile also paid off as I was able to kill a couple of folks who were doing their best to dodge the slow-assed spell. I probably did more damage with the area-of-effect splash damage provided when the spell hit the ground or a nearby object.
We also would attack lone gatherers as we travelled through the wilderness, confirming the wisdom of my usual practice to keep a mount nearby and get moving at the first sound of appraoching hooves whenever I gather in the middle of nowhere.
Overall it was a fun experience and I know with greater certainity now that most often when I get ganked, it's nothing personal.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Stats: Week 6
- Strength: 27.7
- Vitality: 26.2
- Dexterity: 20.5
- Quickness: 30.5
- Intelligence: 27.7
- Wisdom: 32.5
- Spell Chanting: 1.1
- Adept: 1.3
- Greater Magic: 30.1
- Durable Spells GM: 10.5
- Rend: 36.0
- Beacon: 26.8
- Unburden: 15.2
- Heal Other: 14.3
- Infliction Shield: 5.1
- Lesser Magic: 76.0
- Durable Spells LM: 46.1
- Mana Efficiency LM: 41.1
- Quicken Spells LM: 10.2
- Magic Missile: 65.8
- Heal Self: 54.5
- Health to Mana: 30.2
- Lay on Hands: 28.2
- Mana to Stamina: 16.6
- Magic Shield: 12.9
- Launch 5.3
- Logging: 89.8
- Mining: 47.6
- Herbalism: 36.6
- Sprint: 64.2
- Rest: 58.4
- Run: 53.5
- Riding: 45.2
- Armor Proficiency: 46.4
- Clubs and Maces: 23.2
- Armored Casting: 22.6
- Rigor: 28.8
Friday, April 24, 2009
Another Patch Day
Patch notes today start out ho-hum and then get REALLY interesting. (By the way, always patching on Fridays? WTF?)
- New color systems for names that delineate clan members, allies, warring clans, racial enemies, etc, much easier. This one has been needed from the launch of the game. I remember being totally confused at my first siege. It's gotten a little better over time just as I've become more acclimated, but this is a big and logical change.
- Trade channel! I like to keep an eye on the Alliance chat because that's all we've had as a trade channel and I'm often trying to buy gear and sell resources. Downside of that is you have to watch other people's inane chatter mixed in. That's their right, of course (it's a CHAT channel after all), but I really don't care to see any more Chuck Norris jokes, tyvm. My only fear is that they'll start to use the new Trade channel for the exact same shit because that's where the "audience" will be. You certainly see a lot of that in WoW. Still, thanks for the Trade channel, AV!
- Killing party members is just like killing anyone else. This was needed because the existing system allowed you to kill party members with no penalty. This was a newbie trap, but more importantly it discouraged people teaming up in newbie areas for fear of that trap. This should help.
- Launch now requires a reagent. I just got the spell, so now it will be a lot harder to level it up, but I think it's a fair change. It a useful higher-level GM spell. I'm not going to complain just because it makes my life harder. That would be carebear and all, doncha know? :D
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Darkfall Day 26-28
Another light week and weekend for DF as I ended up playing another game Friday night and working in the yard all day Saturday. I enjoy DF and the sense of making progress, but I'm glad I can say I'm not addicted :D If you read the Darkfall forums (I recommend not), you see a lot of newer folks worried about being so far behind those who started earlier, not to mention those who have macroed and exploited their way higher. I can understand their concern, but it's a wide-open game and you can make of it what you want at any skill level. Sure you'll get ganked and attacked in unfair numbers by people with greater skill and equipment, but it's far from a constant. Mostly you need to vary your activities so that when the PK activity seems particularly high you can retreat to a city and do some quiet gathering and crafting.
As is probably dismally clear from my slowly progressing stats, I'm not too worried about it myself. Yes, I still do some "magic practice." At first I would cast my two starting spells over and over until I ran out of mana then do some logging until my mana regenerated, repeating the process again. As my magic skills have increased to the point of being useful, I've gained a lot more skill while actually fighting monsters in PvE. Now I will do "magic practice" when I'm fairly close to the next level to grind it on up. With the Lesser Magic spell Health the Mana, I'm able to extend my mana a lot longer and continuously cast for a longer time, so I no longer alternate that with gathering. With a judicious use of potions and healing spells, I can carry that on for awhile without macroing. In fact, I think rotating my spells as I do and casting those whose recast timer has just refreshed as soon as I'm able has allowed me to progress at a satisfying rate in a short amount of time.
I finally reached 25 in Greater Magic, which allowed me to purchase Spell Chanting, a little more powerful school of magic. Its first spell is one that minimizes spell failure, but it doesn't last very long right now. I'll probably put it in my training rotation, but not use it much in the field until I can improve its duration. Having Spell Chanting will eventually allow me to learn Arcane Magic, one of the two highest schools, as I understand it.
I also reached 75 in Lesser Magic this weekend. That one snuck up on me so that I only had to grind a few points to reach it. Using the spells in action in PvE (and also to some extent in gathering) has raised the skill in a natural way that's a lot less painful than sitting around casting at a wall :) Getting to 75 LM let me pick up the Launch spell, which is mighty handy, and a supplementary skill to make Lesser Magic spells cast faster. That's good news because Heal Self is Lesser Magic, as is Mana Missile, my current bread-and-butter attack spell. I've also started using Magic Shield more, which mitigates some damage. With my Durable Spells LM skill much improved, the duration on the shield is much better than at first, so I'll continue to work on that.
Buying all those new skills and spells left me broke with less than 80 gp to my name, so I went to my trusty logging and was able to gather enough to sell for 1200 gp. It required a quick trip to human lands again to sell it, but I needed to turn in some quests over there anyway. I also got to hang around Copperdale a bit which has a big graveyard right near town and lots of skeletons. I fought Dire Zombies for a quest and took me awhile to kill the requisite four because they kept ganging up on me. It was a nice challenge, though, and I felt competent at least, using a variety of spells as well as obstacles and geography to good effect. Unfortuantley, I doubt I'd still be much of a challenge for a guy with a polearm, but soon I think I'll be far enough along in magic to hold my own. That's the plan anyway :)
The other interesting thing that happned this week is that my clan got a city in a realtively peacful way through our alliance. So I've moved out there and will get to team up with my clan mates more, I expect.
As is probably dismally clear from my slowly progressing stats, I'm not too worried about it myself. Yes, I still do some "magic practice." At first I would cast my two starting spells over and over until I ran out of mana then do some logging until my mana regenerated, repeating the process again. As my magic skills have increased to the point of being useful, I've gained a lot more skill while actually fighting monsters in PvE. Now I will do "magic practice" when I'm fairly close to the next level to grind it on up. With the Lesser Magic spell Health the Mana, I'm able to extend my mana a lot longer and continuously cast for a longer time, so I no longer alternate that with gathering. With a judicious use of potions and healing spells, I can carry that on for awhile without macroing. In fact, I think rotating my spells as I do and casting those whose recast timer has just refreshed as soon as I'm able has allowed me to progress at a satisfying rate in a short amount of time.
I finally reached 25 in Greater Magic, which allowed me to purchase Spell Chanting, a little more powerful school of magic. Its first spell is one that minimizes spell failure, but it doesn't last very long right now. I'll probably put it in my training rotation, but not use it much in the field until I can improve its duration. Having Spell Chanting will eventually allow me to learn Arcane Magic, one of the two highest schools, as I understand it.
I also reached 75 in Lesser Magic this weekend. That one snuck up on me so that I only had to grind a few points to reach it. Using the spells in action in PvE (and also to some extent in gathering) has raised the skill in a natural way that's a lot less painful than sitting around casting at a wall :) Getting to 75 LM let me pick up the Launch spell, which is mighty handy, and a supplementary skill to make Lesser Magic spells cast faster. That's good news because Heal Self is Lesser Magic, as is Mana Missile, my current bread-and-butter attack spell. I've also started using Magic Shield more, which mitigates some damage. With my Durable Spells LM skill much improved, the duration on the shield is much better than at first, so I'll continue to work on that.
Buying all those new skills and spells left me broke with less than 80 gp to my name, so I went to my trusty logging and was able to gather enough to sell for 1200 gp. It required a quick trip to human lands again to sell it, but I needed to turn in some quests over there anyway. I also got to hang around Copperdale a bit which has a big graveyard right near town and lots of skeletons. I fought Dire Zombies for a quest and took me awhile to kill the requisite four because they kept ganging up on me. It was a nice challenge, though, and I felt competent at least, using a variety of spells as well as obstacles and geography to good effect. Unfortuantley, I doubt I'd still be much of a challenge for a guy with a polearm, but soon I think I'll be far enough along in magic to hold my own. That's the plan anyway :)
The other interesting thing that happned this week is that my clan got a city in a realtively peacful way through our alliance. So I've moved out there and will get to team up with my clan mates more, I expect.
Stats: Week 5
These were my stats going into last weekend. As I've mentioned before, this is probably boring for other people, but I've found it interesting to look back at the progress over time. Trying to resist the urge to plot them on a graph :P
- Strength: 27.0
- Vitality: 25.7
- Dexterity: 20.5
- Quickness: 29.5
- Intelligence: 26.8
- Wisdom: 31.4
- Spell Chanting: 1.0
- Adept: 1.0
- Greater Magic: 25.0
- Durable Spells GM: 1.0
- Rend: 33.4
- Beacon: 23.1
- Heal Other: 1.0
- Unburden: 1.0
- Lesser Magic: 72.0
- Durable Spells LM: 43.8
- Mana Efficiency LM: 38.1
- Mana Missile: 63.4
- Heal Self: 51.8
- Health to Mana: 25.6
- Lay on Hands: 22.8
- Mana to Stamina: 13.4
- Magic Shield: 6.3
- Logging: 85.2
- Herb Gathering: 57.8
- Mining: 47.6
- Herbalism: 36.6
- Sprint: 62.4
- Rest: 56.4
- Run: 52.0
- Riding: 41.7
- Rigor: 27.0
- Clubs and Maces: 22.4
- Armor Proficiency: 45.3
- Armored Casting: 21.0
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