Darkfall: Developer Journals

Darkfall Dev Journal #18: Economy, Prestige Classes & More

On the topic of universal, European, and US servers: Our ideal situation is having universal servers. That's where we start at. Then come various factors to consider, starting with the publishing end. We may or may not have the same publisher in N. America, and in Europe. Then there are gameplay factors to consider like time zones. Greece and California for example have a 10 hour difference. I don't need to explain how frustrating 3am raids can be to anyone that's ever played on a PvP server. Finally while ping isn't an issue like it is in FPS games, and we've had people connecting to our UK servers from Japan without any problems, ping is still a consideration to keep in mind. So while the jury is still out on what to do, there are a couple of pretty compelling reasons to separate the servers to start. This doesn't mean that we'll ever give up on the notion of a universal server.

On character morphology and body types: It's pretty easy to implement a fully customizable character editor where you can change every conceivable aspect of your character's facial and body features. It's fun doing that. Thing is, this is a fully optimized game for massive battles and we'll go with faster loading and framerate every time. This is not to say that your characters will all look the same, far from it. We've talked about the endless variations available to make your character look unique but without sacrificing functionality.

On remapable keys: You can absolutely remap everything.

On Invisible hiding: There is no invisibility or stealth skill built into the game. You can be stealthy using actual player skill and using the right equipment and movement, and hide as to not be detected moving in.

On the related issue of having radar: The only radar is one that shows you your own party. No other radar exists in Darkfall. You can add your own map markers and customize your map, and some quest information will add map markers for you.

Finally on the question of whether or not you can play Darkfall casually, I'll say that you can, more so than with most other MMOs. If you're asking if you'll rule the game with 2 hours a week, well, you probably won't but you could carve out a niche for yourself. Everything needs a certain level of commitment at some point, and then a certain level of maintenance. I can go back to playing Counterstrike after a few years and probably take out players who have been playing every day for the past year. This is only because of my high initial commitment to the game. Thing is, if I meet the guys I used to play with that are still playing, they'd wipe the floor with me. That's how you can think of Darkfall if you're mostly a solo player. If you're talking team tactics, then that's a much more demanding discipline which would require a lot more practice to be successful.

On the question of conquest and destruction of structures, there are several stages of destruction. You can see some conquest tests in the screenshots where in one, the gate and walls are damaged.

I'd like to thank everyone for their feedback on the free business model which came up during the last update, and on behalf of the Darkfall team I'd like to wish everyone Happy Thanksgiving.

Thanks for reading

Tasos Flambouras