Darkfall First Impressions

[Tbone]

So I've been able to hop in a time or two and kind of get my feet wet. I figured I'd give you my first impressions as they come to me.

First off, the game is hard. Every aspect of it is pretty challening. A lot of this has to do with getting used to the controls, while some of it is obviously in the design.

It's so easy to bite off more than you can chew in this game. When you find some mobs, handle with care! We had a 5 man team and still were getting whooped. The AI is incredible smart. They aggro from a far distance, usually hitting you with a bow and arrow or magic until they get close enough to you. Then they switch to a melee weapon and start running around you in circles slicing your kneecaps off. If you are lucky enough to land a few blows on them, they'll run away. Your impulse is to sprint after them, but next thing you know you are out of stamina and realize they've led you into a trap where three of their buddies are waiting for you. Broin and I ran into this problem time and time again just trying to take out a few goblins.

Archery. So far, sucks. I don't know if it's my own graphical shortcomings and lag or what, but I have no way to tell if my arrow is going to hit the target or not. I don't see a stream or arc, and it seems if I'm not pretty close, the arrow simply does not land on the target. Arrows are ridiculously hard to come by. It probably takes at least 10 arrows to kill a goblin and the most you'll loot off of him is maybe 4. At minimum arrows will cost you a gold an arrow, and that'll get pricey quick.

PvP and the world rocks. The shadowing is excellent. The five of us were farming and a red came up and ganked Lithium. So we chased her down until she swam across the river and rested. I snuck up behind her and attacked, firing arrows at her. She took off running into the woods, and the rest of us sprinted after her. It was an amazing sight running through the shadows trying to track your target. She somehow lost us while ducking and dodging through the trees, but it was still a lot of fun.

Guild-wise we are going to have to be extremely organized. Everything has to be planned. If you aggro the wrong thing, you're all dead. Loot is always FFA, so you gotta figure out who can loot what, and kills only count if you land the final blow, so if you're questing together, you gotta time your attacks.

So overall, the game is superhard but superfun. I haven't even checked my stats yet to see my progression. There's no level system so I haven't even really thought about it. I've been more concerned with trying to raise 2000 gold to start the guild while trying not to die. The more I play it the more I like it. I hope I can get the rest of you in there soon!

[Anamodiel]

You're making me want a key more and more.

I can't believe I'm missing out on the fun times in-game like that!!

[likwidtek]

It's really important for people to keep an open mind about this game.  It is NOTHING like WoW, never will be.  If you are wanting anything like WoW go home.  This is not your Sister's MMO.  You won't level, you won't get epics, and you will die.  A lot; And it matters.

It is hard.  Period.  You will punch your keyboard.  You will get mad and have to walk away from it.  You will feel your heart racing as you run for your life or as you chase down that person who ganked your buddy.

Seriously, this game is awesome.

It has its shortcomings for sure.  I'm sure it's going to be a rocky if not delayed launch but as long as you don't go into it with any expectations of what the hype has made it out to be you're going to love it.

My first piece of advice is forget what you think about how you want to play the game.  If you go into it saying, "I want to be an archer!" or "I want to be a mage", you're going to be let down.  Your character will naturally evolve into what it will be.  This is a classless game so stop creating CLASSES!  

Go into it, go with the flow try out a bunch of different skills and have fun and I guarantee we're going to own at this game.

[Fuse]

This game reminds me a lot of Tabula Rasa. The UI, the skill/ability system, and combat are very similar.

[Strod]

Has anyone tried the Spell Caster side yet?

[Anonymous]

I'm with Sorrows, I'm fascinated to see what the games magic system will offer.

[NoCry]

mygodletmein.

[Pirus]

Wow, glad im not going to be an archer.  Sounds difficult besides I'll just catch the poorly aimed arrow throw it back at you and then beat you with your own bow.  Melee ftw

[Anonymous]

Broin's doing a Caster. Your first caster spell is Magic Missle. However, as a caster you have to literally aim your spells and hope they hit.

[likwidtek]

I'm currently skilling up:

One handed swords
Lesser magic
Archery

The lesser magic I don't use often, they are like a utility skill.  Basically if I want to heal myself or need to shoot something running away.

One handed swords gets more love just because it's what kills stuff better right now.  Archery and magic are super slow and super expensive to level up.  Plus magic and archery are really hard to level up in groups.  You end up doing more damage to your group than the mobs.

[Setun]

What other melee weapon skills are there?  Any spears / lances / javelins?  Also is there a way to keep melee combat in 1st person, or do we have to live with 3rd person view?

[Zero]

You say that kills only count if you land the final blow.  What is important about getting the kill?  Just for quests?  Or some type of exp?  Skills level up by using them right?  So you don't have to get the kill to increase skills, yes?

[likwidtek]

Not sure if there is a skill bonus for landing the killing blow or not.  But yes it mostly counts for quests.  You skill up mostly just by using the skill.  Also keep in mind... let's say you are doing a quest where you have to kill 10 mobs in an hour and you are in a group of 3 people who all have the same quest... it's not like WoW where you get shared credit... you have to kill 30 of them and landing blows count.

No there's no way to FPS melee.

There are a ton of melee weapons and skills.  See here:  http://betaleaks.blogspot.com/2009/02/darkfall-melee-skills-in-picture-form.html

[Anonymous]

One question about archery. Is this like in Oblivion where the arrows that missed will be stuck in the ground or a nearby tree for you to pickup, and the ones that do hit become items on the enemy's body, or do the ones that miss dissapear?

[Setun]

Oh hell yeah, polearms!!  I'm stoked now!