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Darkfall:Combat Guide-1

Jun 3, 2009 Articles Recommend|591views

Why bring a knife to a polearm fight? Why bring a polearm to a siege? Why shoot someone in the back with a mana missile when you have a bow and arrow? Indeed why (or why not)!? I am here to answer these questions and much more in my guide to all things sharp, shiny, and lethal.

Well let us jump into the thick of it with a few charts. Don’t you fret, little Agonians, I shall explain!

Above you will see a listing of the various weapon skills. There are seven types: Bow, Staff, Knife, Axe, Mace/Club, Sword, and Polearm. Each weapon (except the bow and staff) has four identical skills: power attack, seize, knockback, and whirlwind. You unlock the first three at level twenty-five of your weapon skill, and you unlock the fourth skill at level seventy-five. Power attack cost 500 gold at the fighter vendor, seize and knockback cost 300 gold, and whirlwind costs 1000 gold.

Power Attack is known to be somewhat ineffective, but if you need a small boost in damage and have the cash, there’s no reason not to take it. It has an acceptable boost in damage as it levels to 25, 50, and 75 as well. Seize and knockback are both useful in their respective situations and sometimes even in conjunction with one another. Knockback is immensely useful for quick getaway, ninja looting, PvP survival, and just general tomfoolery. Seize is a bit more situational, but it is especially useful for long range weapons such as polearm and 2h sword. It only pulls from edge of your melee range, so using it with a short range weapon like knives is not a viable option. I find it especially useful when chasing someone to get in those last few hits. It can also be used along with knockback to disorient a foe, position an enemy for optimal group PvP (boxing in), and even as a pseudo taunt. Whirlwind is a 360 degrees, decent damage AoE attack, which can be used to one’s advantage when beset by several foes. I find it most useful in PvE situations, seeing as an AoE can be harmful to your allies as well. (Note: There is a small bug that allows 2h-wielders to move at any time while using whirlwind but 1h users cannot. In the latter case, there is a small fraction of time when the animation is active that you cannot move or you will receive the error “You must stand still.”)

This being a PvP game, ranged combat is very necessary. Archery is very powerful, even more so than magic in the beginning. It is challenging and a lot of fun to use. Archery skills are all passive and are much more expensive than regular weapon skills. Veteran Archery is the first passive skill you can obtain at archery skill fifty from almost any fighter trainer (excluding the newbie hamlets). It reduces the stamina use of your bow shots. Sharp Shooter and Spirited Archer you get at seventy-five, and they increase archery damage and reduce arrow loading time respectively.

Weapon Skills

Weaponsmithing

Above I’ve broken down the actual weapon rank usage by player skill. It is pretty self-explanatory. Once you hit the next tier you can use that rank of weapon: weapon skill 10+ you can use rank 10 weapons, weapon skill 20+ you can use rank 20 weapons, and so on. It is also important to note that if you attempt to use a weapon higher than your rank it will lose durability at a much faster rate than what is normal. The bottom line is if you try to use a weapon or armor not of your skill level you will end up naked, defenseless, and dead faster than you can say “Help me!”

Crafting weapons is a little different. You must have weaponsmithing skill 25 to craft rank 10 weapons, weaponsmithing skill 50 to craft rank 20 weapons, weaponsmithing skill 75 to make rank 30 weapons, and weaponsmithing skill 100 to make rank 40 weapons. There is a weaponsmithing mastery that is required to make higher ranks then 40.

Next I will move on to talk in advanced detail about weapons, ranged combat, and in what situations you would use certain types of weapons.

Tags: Darkfall

Skills in Darkfall Online

May 20, 2009 Articles Recommend|549views

In this article, we are going to take a deeper look into one of the core game mechanics of Darkfall Online, the skill system. Having a skill system in and of itself is a vast departure from the more mainstream mmorpgs such as World of Warcraft or Everquest. In Darkfall you are simply a sum of your various skills. You have no level, no class, and when you die…you will have no gear. Pretty much the only thing you can take with you are your skills. There are many skills in Darkfall ranging from melee skills, magic skills, crafting skills, and general skills (like running and swimming). To increase a skill, simply use it. For instance if I put an axe in my hand, and begin whacking away on a monsters (or player!) my axe skill will begin to increase. If I switch to a sword, my sword skill will begin to increase. Now magic has an extra skill set, the spells themselves. All magic spells are grouped into different magic “schools”. You begin with Lesser Magic, and after you reach a skill level of 50, you can buy the Greater Magic skill. Once you reach 50 in Greater Magic you have a good many more magic schools that become available for purchase. So when I cast Mana Missile for instance (one of the two spells your start the game with), both my Lesser Magic skill as well as the spell itself will increase. This is a great mechanic and really drives home the fact that if you neglect a skill or a spell, it won’t get better regardless of how skilled your character becomes in other facets.

One of the common criticisms you will hear about Darkfall is that skill levels mean nothing, or you only get benefits at certain points in your progression (25 skill, 50 skill, etc). The truth is that the skill system remains the most misunderstood facet in Darkfall. This is primarily for two reasons. One, the lack of manual and any concrete evidence by the developers leaves the player completely on their own to figure things out for themselves. Secondly, the few skill based games that you may have played in the past (Ultima Online, Asheron’s Call) had skill systems that differed from Darkfall. So most newcomers assume skills work the same way. In fact it’s very logical to think that the more skill I have in swords, the more damage I will do. This is actually not the case. In terms of melee combat, your skill does two things:

1. It causes you to use less stamina per swing
2. It causes higher “rank” weapons to deteriorate slower

Let’s look at these two items in greater detail. First, stamina management is a huge part of combat, especially in PVP. With no stamina you cannot swing your weapon, fire your bow, parry attacks, or run away (well you could actually run away, but you can’t “sprint” away). So the longer your stamina holds out the longer you are in the fight. There are ways to regenerate your stamina faster such as food, potions, and the resting skill. Typically however, once you are out of stamina your are dead meat. Item deterioration is also a huge facet of Darkfall. Darkfall tries extremely hard to put most of the skill involved in PvP out of the die rolls, and into the hands of the player. That’s right, in-game skills are no match for player skills in the world of Darkfall. This is even more apparent when you realize that any player can equip 95% of all armor and weapons in the game from day one, the only restriction being racial requirements on epic gear which I do not believe anyone has seen at this point. This may sound like “twinking” to some, but I can assure you it’s anything but. Better items in this game obviously cost more. Costs get exponentially higher the better the “ranks” of loot become. Also, items degrade with use and cannot be repaired. That’s right… no one in Darkfall should get married to their gear. If you aren’t killed and have your gear looted, it will eventually break and vanish forever. So when you spend your hard earned gold on some new equipment, it gives the same benefit to you as it would the newbie logging into Darkfall for the first time. The difference being that it will last far longer in your hands than in the hands of the unskilled. In fact, at extremes, the high ranking items can decay over five times faster if you don’t have the appropriate skills to use them. It becomes an extremely interesting mix of allowing freedom, but making it cost you more to do so if you try and “jump the gun” so to speak.

Some skills do offer benefits when you hit certain invisible markers. For instance, in many cases reaching a skill level in one particular skill, opens up other skills for purchase. In other cases it physically makes a spell noticeably better. For instance the self heal spell that you start the game with works as a HoT (Heal Over Time). It ticks a few times adding health with each “tick”. When you reach 33.3 in the skill it gains an additional tick, and again at 66.6. Your skill in between (33.4 - 66.5) increases your overall health earned per tick.

Not everything is so cut and dry however. Skills like “run” (not to be confused with “sprint”), which claims to make you run faster, don’t seem to do anything. I have raced several people in the game with my maxed run skill and regardless of the other player’s skill, we seem to run the exact same speed. These instances only seem to amplify the confusion. The misnomers and confusion grows even larger when you throw attributes into the mix. It’s widely believed that your attributes can greatly benefit your skills. For instance, higher Intelligence will add to your spell results. Since your intelligence slowly goes up as your cast magic, it’s very hard to tell where the added bonuses are actually coming from. I am sure all of this will become clearer over time as more crafty players run tests and reach higher levels in both skill and attributes. But it sure would be nice to have a more basic understanding of what everything does, especially because the skill system works so differently than other skill based mmorpgs out there. There really is no excuse for not being clear and concise about exactly what various skills and abilities do, without necessarily giving us the math behind it.

Last but not least I want to touch on actual player skill. Darkfall did something that I have not seen in years. They brought player skill back mmorpgs in a big way. Many mmorpgs suffer from the cloning effect. At a certain point in my character development I am essentially a carbon copy of anyone else at the same point in their career. The same spells, same damage, etc. Darkfall throws all of that completely out the window by allowing the skill of the actual player to play a huge role in the outcome of nearly everything you do. This is primarily because you have what I call “active combat”, similar to Dungeons and Dragons Online. This means that you can choose to block with your shield or weapon whenever you want. It’s not a button on a hotbar you push, you can map it to any key on the keyboard and try and physically block attacks at will. Combat does not have a “die roll style” hit or miss system either. Hits and misses are entirely up to you, much like a first person shooter. If you aim your bow or spell at an enemy and you are off, the attack simply misses the intended target. If you are dead on you hit, without exception. This is a blessing for any gamer who felt it ridiculous to stand point blank in the face of an enemy and somehow miss with your attack. The same holds true for melee attacks. If your crosshair is on your enemy at the time your weapon comes around, you hit. It’s that simple. Regardless of how you feel about the game, it’s great to see a developer put so much emphasis on the skill of the person sitting behind the keyboard, instead of how much time they have physically spent in the world itself.

Tags: Darkfall

Darkfall Online Etiquette Tips

May 2, 2009 Articles Recommend|220views

Well here we are again, folks, at the precipice of a new and exciting cliff known as Darkfall Online. But this cliff is a lot steeper and much scarier than previous ones we’ve encountered, not to mention the fact that you cannot see the end at all. This game is very different from any other MMO out there, which means new rules and new a new skill set for player survival. And so, before the vast multitudes of stampeding noobs take the plunge, I would like to take some time to talk about etiquette in the world of Agon.

Etiquette

Since survival is tied to how you (or how you don’t) interact with people, let us begin there. Darkfall is a PvP game. You will not find the same old rules of decorum here. Some would say that etiquette is nonexistant in a PvP game such as this, everyone is allowed to be a bastard, and it’s a true dog eat dog world out there. To some extent this is true, but I tend to believe that, even in a game as “hardcore” as Darkfall, there is still a need for a special kind of etiquette to ensure one’s survival. One thing is for sure, though: be prepared for some intense culture shock.

I am not here to put forth arbitrary or self-righteous rules that would undermine the hardcore-PvP-sandbox nature of the game. Yes, you will get PK’d relentlessly (there is a “Gank” skill for heaven’s sake!), you will lose hours of farming at someone’s whim, you will be chased for half an hour even though you have no gear/gold to be stolen, you will be witness to incredibly vulgar player names and conversation, and you will most definitely be cheated out of that awesome loot you worked so hard for, and to top it off, this is all allowed by the mechanics of the game! So no, you shouldn’t “ask nicely before you loot a corpse,” and no, don’t bother “stepping back to allow Player 1 to take that harvesting node,” and most definitely don’t “rez the poor guy right who died next to you.” Chances are that corpse will be looted faster than you can utter a single syllable, the innocent harvester will whip out his polearm and PK you, and the “poor guy” will just kill you later when you are at low health.

The only true rule I believe that applies to this game is what I will call the ‘Golden Rule of Darkfall’ (took me hours to think of that title!). “Treat others as you would expect them to treat you (and expect bad things!)” Once you learn this, you will game happier and safer.

But since you are now whining that I didn’t go over the other various (common sense) rules of MMO Ettiquette, I will now rehash them for your enjoyment:

• As in any other game, please do not spam channels for help or any other reason. If someone didn’t answer you the first or second time, they aren’t going to answer after the 900th time. Also, people will probably not answer you if it is obvious you put forth no effort to figure out the answer for yourself. (In fact, in this game you can and will get PK’d, and quite possibly griefed, for idiocy such as this.) But don’t feel slighted or frustrated if nobody answers; it probably means no one else knows the answer either.
• Don’t ask questions like “Where do you guys farm gold around here?” or “What’s the best money-maker?” because you can bet someone will either A. lead you to certain doom in a guise of good-will, or B. you will be told in a strongly-worded fashion to return to a particularly popular MMO of the low-polygonal variety.
• Public chat is not /shout or /say. Generally it is reserved for matters that require immediate attention (for example, “Group of 6 Ork PKers west of Monkfiedl!”) or perhaps a brief snarky comment directed at that jerk who stole your gear. Also, if you speak in public chat you are letting everyone in your area/chunk know you are there. Yelling “Mirdain looking for group at troll camp!” actually gets interpreted as “defenseless little noob, possibly with gear and loot in his backpack, looking for the nearest alfar to eat his soul!” In other words, be smart and keep your mouth shut.
• The pure freedom this game allows will without doubt draw a few immature self-righteous idiots that will claim they have the right be to total bastards, proclaiming “I am just being me!” Well, there is no excuse, even in Darkfall, for being a cruel and shameless bastard. Have fun, but please don’t drag down the rest of the server by spamming chat with infantile behavior. (We don’t care that your ping is “over 9000!!1!1!”) If you just have to ‘be yourself,’ be yourself by yourself, please.
• Never ever accept a blind party invite. Period. On the flip side, never send out even a well-intentioned blind party invite. In either case you will probably die.



• Don’t get angry, get even. Nothing is worse than seeing someone complain because they were killed. To be honest everyone shares your pain, but they don’t care to hear your vent-fest… or they will enjoy the taste of your tears. There is a place for venting, it’s called clan chat (even there they will probably get tired of it).
• The /ignore command is your saving grace if you just can’t handle someone. Don’t sink to their level by giving in to the urge to get in the last word. It will just make you look more ridiculous than your adversary. (But make sure to mark them down on your KoS list!)

Simply knowing the “culture” of Darkfall is not enough. There are many things that newbies will have to learn to survive, and it is quite a steep learning curve… or cliff! (*nudge nudge* See what I did there?) In the next part, I will outline what I believe are the most important, and perhaps less-known, guidelines for survival in Agon.

Tags: Darkfall

Darkfall:Survival Tips

May 2, 2009 Articles Recommend|237views

To get a general idea of how I approach the idea of survival in Agon, I will compare it to our own earthly Mother Nature. Nothing in nature is cruel, but nothing in nature is kind either. It is the same in Agon. Life isn’t easy, and you will soon realize just how vulnerable you truly are. It comes down to having the skills to survive in an unsympathetic environment versus getting angry when bad things happen. You wouldn’t take it personally if a bear mauled you, right? You just have to be smarter than the bear, that’s all. Even the most basic survival skills could mean the difference between life and “phat lootz” or death and a free trip back to your bind stone. As any survivalist will tell you, the best time to practice your skills is before you need them. Here I will outline some basic and advanced survival techniques that will most definitely keep your nose out of dirt, you gear shiny, and your bank full.

Chapter One: General Common Sense

• Let sleeping dogs lie (again no offense to any mahirim intended). In other words, if someone is minding their own business, you do the same (unless of course you’ve spotted an opportunity for profit).
• Don’t look rich or “cool” unless you can back up that status with allies, a fortified city, and a backup supply horded in your bank. Even then, you can still lose it all instantly.



• Treat every encounter as if you are meeting in a dark ally. The minute you let your defenses down is when death is sure (even in town folks!)
• Be wary of groups, especially mounted groups. You can bet they don’t want to be your friend. They want your arse!
• Hubris and greed will always be rewarded with loss and death. For example, the urge to kill “just one more” troll because you wanted “just one more” reagent will most definitely ensure you will die, either at the hand of a PK squad, the dude you didn’t see in the shadows, or the five trolls that just spawned on top of you. In other words, bank often!
• Always leave yourself enough money in the bank to fully re-equip yourself with “good gear” at least once, and keep a stockpile of “okay” gear for day-to-day excursions. Save the awesome stuff for groups, sieges, and that rainy day when you are feeling your most masochistic.
• Crafters: expect to die, even in safe towns. When crafting turn your character around with your back to to crafting station. This way you can see when someone approaches. Never carry all of a raw material you possess, but only what you need or can handle. It will be painfully obvious when you are walking at the speed grass grows that you are a juicy target. If you are doing a large commission, ask your clan mates to guard you. (If you ask your clients to guard you, there is a good chance they will just gang up on you and take the finish product without payment.)
• Sell/trade in town at your own risk. Be aware who is around you when finalizing a transaction. You could be ganged up on (as in the above example) with no hope of mercy.
• This may get me in trouble but: if you are female in real life, do not correct everyone’s assumption that you are male. Getting excess attention in a PvP game is not a good thing as it might be in other games.
• If you are intent on being “red” (outlaw status) realize that no one will ever trust you to do business, you will be a target of everyone, and no matter how badass you feel, life will be much harder for you. On the other hand, if you want to get rid of that nasty red name you’ve earned, simply head to a chaos stone and wait for opposite faction characters to pop. You can probably clear up a full -100 status in a day or two.
• Join a clan with your play style in mind. For example, there are pirate clans, zerg clans, tactical clans, crafting clans, mercenary clans, hardcore clans, casual clans, and (rarely in a PvP game) family clans. When being interviewed for membership, always as with whom they are allied and who are their enemies. That mercenary clan may sound awesome, but if they have no allies and are enemies of Ginormous Alliance of Pwnage you may want to reconsider.



• People will attempt to jump in front of you during battle to turn you “grey,” allowing them to kill you with no alignment penalty. Expect this to be more prevalent in town when innocent macroers… er I mean people trying to skill up… are shooting spells or arrows. Be aware in town, as you would be in the wilderness, of where you are aiming that fireball of doom.
• Keep your ears open. Sound in Darkfall is very important. It may even save your life (or provide for some excellent profit).
• Do not “rez” anyone that you do not know. It won’t get you friends. It will only increase the number of your possible enemies.
• If you own a mount, never ever summon it in a city or near a group of people. It will get stolen.
• Learn where large or hostile clan’s cities are located so as to avoid them during your travels.
• The world of Agon is massive. If you plan to travel an extensive distance, make sure to know something about your route and bind at chaos stones along the way.
• AFKing is dangerous. Even a minute or two can cost you everything. If possible plan your evening ahead of time so as to avoid unnecessary AFKs. (Keep the beer and cheese puffs close at hand, and use the restroom when in town!)
• Be careful when entering someone else’s clan city. Clan leadership knows instantly (via game mechanics) when someone enters their realm. Some clan don’t ask questions, they simply annihilate anyone without their tag. You may be sightseeing, but they will take it as a hostile scout snooping around, and you’ll be dead before you can extend that olive branch of peace.

Chapter Two: Preparation

• Bank often. Bank often. Bank often.
• Never walk outside the guarded areas with more than you can afford to lose. Leave everything else in the bank.
• Keep your extra reagents in the bank. Only take out to the wilds what you will use.
• Know your server’s “prime time” (11am EST - 5pm EST for EU ; 5pm EST - 12am EST for NA) and be prepared.
• Use terrain to your advantage for: tracking, hiding, running away, etc.
• Learn the “hot-spots” for PKing, such as high traffic paths, newbie mob camps, etc.
• Food and potions can be your saving grace. Save them for emergencies only, but if you plan to solo they are a must as well. Getting below half health or stamina almost ensures death.
• Every time you leave town, keep in mind the DF Golden Rule.

Chapter Three: Combat Situations

• Know when it is time to run, and know how to spot an opportunity for profit. This cannot be taught, unfortunately.
• The shinier the gear, the bigger a target you become. If you are planning to do recon, don’t wear that pretty new plate mail. Instead opt for studded or padded gear. Also, be aware that your weapons let of a faint glint as well. The larger the weapon, the more of a target you are.



• The rest skill is your friend. Use it often.
• It is never 4 against 4. It’s 4 against 1, 4 against 1, and 4 against 1. Learn how to organize your squads to handle these tactics.
• Running is a skill in itself. Of course you gain skill points, but what I mean is don’t simply run in a straight line when being pursued. Knowing the tricks of evasion is important. Strafing is not always the best bet either. A few quick movements of the mouse (turn off mouse smoothing) can ensure that you avoid any and all projectiles aimed at you. Try to keep at least half stamina at all times, even when harvesting, because you can bet your attacker’s stamina is probably at full when he attacks you. You’ll need ample stamina to outrun him. When your pursuer is no longer in your field of view, keep going just a bit further. Run directly left or right or even up at tree/rock, which will hopefully fool your pursuer into thinking you have kept going straight. Once you are sure they have taken the bait, run parallel to your original path or to a safe area.
• Surviving when beset by a mounted attacker can be tricky. Here is a tip: as they lean to one side for a swing, dart to the opposite side by jumping or circling behind them. It is not advisable to just run away, because they will catch up and use mounted frontal attack to gore you. Ouch! In other words, keep to one side of a mount at all times due to the harsh frontal and behind mount attacks. Keep your weapons swinging as well. You may have a chance to kill the mount if you evade correctly!
• Don’t let your health fall below half when soloing alone, ever! This makes you an easy target for any passersby. You will most certainly be killed if you allow yourself to fall to 25% or less.
• When someone approaches you in the wilderness, be friendly initially. If at all possible open a dialogue with them. People are much less likely to kill you if they can put a human personality with the avatar onscreen. If you are sharing a mob camp, set up some ground rules. If you PK someone and they come back for revenge, be jovial. Congratulate them on your deserved demise. You might even get an ally out of it. You’d be surprised!
• If death is certain and you will lose something of value, it is best to commit suicide by jumping off a cliff or dying in the midst of a fast-moving stream. This way, your enemy cannot loot your gear. If you can’t have your gear, neither should he! Going link dead is not a good method for saving your loot because your character stays in game after you disconnect long enough to be killed and looted. There is also a good chance the PKer will simply camp you if he thinks you have something of value. (Note: there are times you will be moved back to your bind stone when you relog, but I wouldn’t count on it.)
• There is character collision in Darkfall, therefore be mindful of getting boxed in by three or four players. On the flipside, always pin mobs/players against walls or other players for easy murdering.
• Everyone has PKing tactics, and I will not share any here (mwhahaha). But if you plan to head out with your squad of death-dealers, you better be well-geared, mounted if possible, and ready to face anything. Never underestimate your victims. You could be full of loot and laughing maniacally one minute, then swarmed by little-newbie-harvester-you-killed-an-hour-ago’s clan and alliance mates the next. And obviously, bank often.

Simply remember the golden rule: “Treat others as you would expect them to treat you,” and just know that you will be maimed, mutilated, murdered, and profited from at every turn. Fun right!? But now you are asking, “Why the heck would I play such a dangerous and stressful game!?” The answer is simple, my friend: freedom. Darkfall Online is a sandbox game, which means censorship and limitations are nonexistent. You can be, do, and say just about anything you want. Yes, succeeding in life as an Agonian may take an immense amount of time and effort–much more so than any other MMO–but the sense of accomplishment you get from simply surviving in this environment is amazing. I hope this guide has left you with an understanding of what it means to live in a hostile world such as Darkfall, and with this knowledge you can now enjoy it for all it’s worth.

Tags: Darkfall

Darkfall:4/24 Patch - The Good, The Bad and the Mundane

Apr 30, 2009 Articles Recommend|403views

Although the Darkfall launch was plagued by catastrophe, and the game continues to feel like a “paid beta”, the speed with which the developers fix, tweak and change things never ceases to amaze me. This patch is no different. While the actual download size not too hefty at 153 MB, some big changes have been made to the game play. Some are excellent changes that we have been asking for, others may cause problems.

The Good:

Colored Names for Various Alignments: Can I get a hallelujah?!

Finally we can tell friend from foe, which up until now has been unbelievably difficult due to the game’s targeting system:

• Members of your Clan (this includes “red” members): Bright Green
• Members of Allied Clans: Green
• Same Race/Alliance: Blue
• Rogues: Gray
• Members of Warring Clans: Dark Orange
• Enemy Races: Dark Red
• Murderers: Red

Members of Allied clans who are red, will still show up as Red to you, so you still need to be careful.

All I can say to this change is ,thank you Darkfall devs. I consider myself a fairly intelligent person, a seasoned gamer, and I really like the idea of a game that requires some intelligence and quick thinking to play, but damn. I haven’t been fast enough to be able to get names on people, let alone see what race, clan, etc they are. We needed this, and I am sure I am not the only player who thanks you for this.

For the Crafters and Tradesmen of Darkfall:

One of the things that has been holding crafter/traders back in supplying the general populace is the danger inherent in trading to anyone outside of your own clan. Until the patch, killing party members had the same no-penalty status as killing guild mates. What this meant was that if you partied someone to find them and trade with them, they could kill you in town without any consequences from the guard towers and loot you dry.

With this patch, that has changed for the better. Party members now follow the standard rules for killing and ganking innocent players. If you attack someone in your party who is not a clan member, you will go gray (and be attacked by guard towers). If you kill that person, they will have the opportunity to grant or deny you forgiveness (a murder count for all of us old UO players). The one deviation from standard murder rules: you will not get an alignment boost for killing a party member, regardless of their race.

Another pleasing addition has been the implementation of a Trade Channel that can be triggered with the use of /trade. Messages sent to the trade channel will go to all members of your race or racial alliance. While this is not much different than the standard racial alliance chat, it will make it easier for buyers and sellers to find each other without sifting through all of the chatter in racial/alliance chat.

Crafters see another bonus in changes to item durability. Crafted items are now more durable than monster loot. Scale boots and gloves have also been added to armorsmith menus and many new axes and great clubs have been added.

Quests and Lore:

While I personally am not much of a quester, one of the complaints about Darkfall has been a lack of questing content. I understand, though, how quest lines can help the new generation of MMO player adapt to the radically different environment of Darkfall and apparently the developers do as well. They continue to add new content to the game in the form of quest lines. In this particular patch, the additions focus on the Mirdain and Dwarven racial lore. The Mirdain have gained 3 new lines with a total of 16 new quests. Dwarves have gained one new quest line with a total of 6 new quests added.

The Bad:

Clans:

There is now a 45 minute timer when quitting or kicking a member from a clan. In other words, once you quit or kick the person, they will remain a clan member for 45 minutes. I foresee issues here. One complaint that I have frequently heard is of people quitting warring clans when enemy members attack them. While this does fix that problem, I feel it poses a greater threat to clans who need to kick members in an emergency to protect their members or banks. 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.

Another so-so change is a 20 minute timer for changing policies towards another clan. I have been tempted more than once to war the clan of an exceptionally shiny, geared person in a protected city, and I know this is often done. This change does provide a measure of protection from random warring for loot kills, but it also changes the political drama for sieges.

It seriously curtails our ability to turn traitor on “friendly” clans mid-siege–a fantastically advantageous tactic that makes one of my normally mature, macho clan members giggle like a little girl (yes, I’m talking about you Bishop!) It also removes the ability to “sneak up” on a siege by not warring a clan until you are suddenly in their city, sieging their stone. I don’t like the idea of warning people that I’m coming to kill them….maybe I’m not a nice person, but being sneaky increases my odds of winning–and I like winning.

Magic:

I’m not sure if this is really “bad” per se, but it makes life a little more difficult: launch and explosion now require reagents. I know, I know, spells should require reagents, but it’s so nice when they don’t!

PvP and Warfare:

The alignment gain for killing or ganking an enemy player has been reduced to one point. So you lose eight points for killing an innocent and gain one for killing an evil baddy. That seems skewed to me. Governments don’t seem to mind if 50 or 100, or 1000 “innocents” are killed to take out one bad guy and they’re always right, so the Darkfall devs must be wrong… right?

The timer for summoning/dismissing war hulks and ships has been increased. Eh…whatever. This is a situational thing I guess. If you steal my boat before I get it dismissed, it sucks…but if I steal yours, it’s a great change.

The Mundane:

This patch also includes numerous visual updates to the scenery, updates to the server to handle siege load, and some world building updates. Monster AI, difficulty and loot has also been rebalanced and updated.

Bug Fixes:

• Enchanting: fixed a bug that allowed duplicate enchantments on an item
• Packmule: increases to maximum carrying weight will be immediately updated
• Fixed a bug that allowed the use of magic while mounted
• Fixed a bug that allowed players to “fall through” server lines and walk under water
• Clan guard towers have been fixed to work on all policy settings
• Fixed an ignore list bug that prevented ignored players from showing up in the ignore list

To view the complete and un-edited patch notes go here

Tags: Darkfall