Tag: Darkfall

$20 Says Darkfall “Relaunch” Is Free To Play


When was the last time you heard the phrase “this patch is like a completely new game?” In my line of work (work? Blogging), a whole lot. Such is the case with Darkfall, where on the Epic Blog head boss man of Aventurine Tasos Flambouras talks about a complete relaunch of the game. How much of a relaunch is it? Well it is certainly no linguine, and it is without a doubt not just an expansion pack.

This relaunch is not an expansion.

Thank you, Tasos, but we need more information.

It’s a new game we’ve been developing in parallel with the current version of Darkfall. The scope is massive, and it has been difficult to stay on schedule after several unexpected issues we’ve had with the current version, changes and additions we decided to make for the new version, some business developments, and the decision to add the siege system into this version of the game rather than in the relaunch.

That’s more like it. But let’s discuss the title of this post, and my assurance that this is likely a prelude to a free to play announcement, and continue reading the announcement:

There are shifting priorities having to do with business issues for this relaunch, and another part being some Asian developments we also need to take into consideration. We can assure you that everything we’re doing in this regard is in the best interest of our players and of Darkfall, and that the relaunch of the game will be very exciting for everyone.

I distinctly remember Dave Georgeson saying something along these lines shortly before Everquest II went free to play, when they announced big changes coming but wouldn’t actually announce free to play because the service was going to be considered a new game, because the existing community would have flipped the chess board and went home if they had to share space with the freeloaders. By that I’m referring to the comments about making this decision for the betterment of the community.

The current estimated completion date for development is August, which makes release somewhere between now and when Rift consumes World of Warcraft as the most subscribed MMO…In Burundi. At least we can be assured, despite the vague language, that this isn’t a prelude to Darkfall shutting down or being sold to Gamersfirst. It’s a new version being developed, Tasos isn’t in the process of lifting Darkfall up so he can suplex it.

Darkfall Anniversary Sale: $9


Welcome Committee!

Darkfall is one of those games that comes around and defies all authority by, yes, having one of the worst launches in recent history (with the game being unbuyable for a good while post-launch), but taking those startup issues, beating them over the head with a brick, and throwing the dead bodies into a lake. That was two years ago, and Darkfall continues to defy the predictions of trolls by pushing out regular content updates, including an upcoming reshaping of the world.

In celebration of the game’s second anniversary, Aventurine is putting Darkfall on sale for $9 USD and Euro, until April 1st. In addition, the three month subscription is now on sale for $24.95 (Three for the price of one and two thirds). Topping off this sale is the addition of 25,000 meditation points for those who resubscribe in March or create new accounts. The points may be lost if you have too many saved up, so Aventurine is recommending that players use up some of their existing points:

Note: Don’t claim the points if you don’t have room for them, for example, if you already have more than 75 thousand points in your account. If you do, then you should work some off to make room for your free points. Meditation points are non-refundable.

More on Darkfall as it appears. This sale runs through to the end of the month.

 

Aventurine Has Regained Investments On Darkfall


Money money money!

For many companies, regaining the insane investment that MMOs require can often take a game plan of around five years, which is why MMO Fallout specifically designed its patented (not really) longevity test around the five year period. For Aventurine, however, this has taken approximately two years. In an interview with Greek TV (fair warning: It’s in Greek), Tasos Flambouras noted that the company has already seen a return on all of its investments, meaning the profits should be higher in the year to come without all that debt to pay off.

“More and more young Greek scientists conquer their ideas to the international market. Typical is the case of the initiators of the electronic game «Dark Fall», which was created in Greece before 2 years and rampant around the world with more than 100,000 users in over 150 countries and big profits for their creators.”

You’ll have to excuse the poor translation. 100,000 users? And people think Darkfall is a failed MMO.

Darkfall Arena Promises Cataclysmic Events


This could end several ways...

Referring to the Darkfall 2010 expansion as Darkfall 2010 would just be silly at this point, being 2011. Instead, Aventurine has renamed the expansion Darkfall Arena, and has promised that the update will not only change Darkfall as a game, but change the world its players reside in.

In a recent blog post, Aventurine’s own Tasos Flambouras goes on to talk about streamlining the world, removing dead spaces, and moving points of interest closer together. The racial areas are set to receive a complete layout change, and clan cities will also have their layouts optimized. Each subcontinent is being revamped, with the addition of their own epic monsters to join the mobs already existing in-game. Current monsters will also be receiving a makeover from the art team, as well as player characters receiving their own graphical upgrade.

Aventurine is also focusing on the general atmosphere of the world of Darkfall, with ambient lighting, aesthetic upgrades, sounds, and more. More work is being done to keep the servers stable, offer options to clans, and bring in new upgrades for non-combat skills, including the much promised speedup in leveling.

You can read the entirety of the post above. It’s good to see the leaps and bounds Darkfall has improved since release, and hopefully the timely release of Darkfall 2011 will only add to that continued success.

GamersGate Sales


Money money money.

I am always looking to expand MMO Fallout’s horizons in what websites we cover for sales, so today I’d like to bring in Gamersgate.

Darkfall Doing Dynamics: Upcoming Updates


Is that Shredder?

Dynamic events and MMOs go together like the layers of a sweet sweet cherpumple cake, and despite what some may claim you really don’t need to be a sandbox title in order to accomplish such a feat, and do it well. In the past, we’ve seen attempts at developer-run dynamic events, where the player’s success decides what happens next, but most of the time the idea of a dynamic world usually runs down to which guild/clan/corporation owns what territory. Eve Online, Darkfall, Mortal Online, etc, pretty much the same idea.

Over at Aventurine, the devs have been working on expanding and fleshing the lore of Darkfall, the latest being about a nomadic race called the Vargashi. The new lore is going to be used, according to a blog post, to spur on new dynamic quests. The blog doesn’t go into much detail, but does offer one example of a Vargashi NPC going into a town to request help in dealing with the Mahrim, or tasking players with aiding the nomadic race, even going against the person’s own race in some cases.

Overall it sounds like these dynamic quests won’t be necessarily world-changing, but rather on a more randomly timed, do-it-as-it-comes scale. Whether or not a player completing/failing the quest will have any impact on the world is yet to be seen.

In a blog post today, Aventurine discussed that the quests are being rewritten, with faction quests being more helpful towards newbies. Plans are also in place to optimize NPC cities to be more accessible, redistributing monster spawn, NPC locations, and dungeons, and far more than I can post here. You can read all about it on the link above, it is a long and very interesting read if you’re a current/ex/prospective player of Darkfall.

More on Darkfall as it appears.

Darkfall De-Trammels With Latest Expansion, Still Helping Newbies


So pretty...

The recent release of Darkfall’s “Darkfall 2010” expansion brought along an overhaul to the world of Agon, from the terrain to the dungeons, the villages, ships, and monsters (some of them level up now), and everything in between. A big change, yes, but warranting an article? Probably not. Today, the focus is on changes to the Newbie Protection Program. New players will now be protected for only one hour after creating their characters, as Aventurine found that newbies were becoming too complacent in their previous protection.

Aventurine is still set on making newbies feel as welcome as possible, however, and the expansion brought in a couple new features new players will like. Racial capitals now feature dungeons to get players acquainted, and the default view is now third person by default, toggled by F12. Third person is not available when wielding a bow, grenade, or staff.

Back in April, Aventurine launched the Newbie Protection Program, offering 24 hours of…protection. New players are incapable of attacking other players, or using certain features of the game (teleports, Runestones, portals, clans, mounts). Aventurine has been working diligently this year on reducing certain symptoms of player grief. Declaring war takes time and costs more to deter griefing, balancing health differences, and more.

More on Darkfall as it appears.

Darkfall 2010 Update Coming, Get Darkfall On Sale…


Why? Because It's Awesome!

The search terms coming to MMO Fallout are trending towards Darkfall, so a large update must be coming soon. Earlier this year, I talked about the Darkfall 2010 update and really haven’t given it much notice since then, as I wanted all the features to come together before-hand. I don’t have the time to go back and update previous articles, so I try to do as little reporting on well-wishes as possible, as my traffic shows an article from January can get just as much attention as an article from yesterday. That being said, I’m going to wait for the full patch notes to be released before I start screaming about what’s being added in.

Until then, you can buy Darkfall on Gamersgate for $14.97, 50% off of the title’s $29.99. I’ll have more on Darkfall’s upcoming free expansion in a few days, assuming it goes all to schedule.

Update: The Darkfall 2010 update has been delayed until tomorrow (Wednesday).

Looking Back, Moving Forward: June 2010

I have decided to retire the Month In Review sessions in replacement for what I call “Looking Back, Moving Forward,” essentially a recap of the month and a look forward into the coming month.

June, like any decent bridging sequel, brought more questions to the table than it did answers…


My favorite picture of the month.

I have decided to retire the Month In Review sessions in replacement for what I call “Looking Back, Moving Forward,” essentially a recap of the month’s highlights.

June, like any decent bridging sequel, brought more questions to the table than it did answers. There was plenty of recaps to be had, such as this one! All in all, June was an excellent month for information regarding previously low-key MMOs. We received a lot of information on Warhammer 40k, the new Star Wars MMO, an upcoming Mummy MMO, Jumpgate, Lego Universe, Project V13, among others.

Foremost, happy birthday to some of our old geezers who are still running around.

WWII Online: Battleground Europe (2001-Present)
Anarchy Online (2001-Present)
Star Wars Galaxies (2003-Present)

Sony kicked off the month with the “official” announcement of Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures. Intending to offer players an experience more akin to Free Realms (and built on the same engine), Clone Wars will follow a similar pricing format, with a multitude of mini-games, activities, pets, and houses for players to engage in. Aimed at a slightly lower age group than your Star Wars Galaxies or The Old Republic, Clone Wars is aiming to hit the net sometime later this year.

Lord of the Rings Online and Global Agenda are getting a lot more accessible, with the announcement of both games changing subscription models. Lord of the Rings Online will be taking on a freemium model, with the original game offered for free with bonuses, expansions, and more content available in one time purchases, or for a subscription fee. Global Agenda, on the other hand, is going the Guild Wars route, offering the entire game after purchase for no subscription fee.

June 9th saw the launch of Mortal Online, after a number of delays on the part of Star Vault, with issues of desynchronization, among others, plaguing the servers. Server stability is still an issue with Mortal Online, with a form of compensation on its way from Star Vault.

All Points Bulletin launched this month, with lead designer EJ Moreland taking a shot at the MMOs opening cash shops, by claiming that APB would not feature a cash shop, ever, before quickly retracting on his statement and saying that Realtime Worlds would only consider cashing in if the community asked for it. Given the response to other cash shop inclusions, expect a cash shop coming to a police department near you.

Darkfall still loves you, and here at MMO Fallout we love us some Darkfall. Since the title launched last year, Aventurine has been working around the clock trying to bring in new players, and keep them. Those changes have removed the $50 paywall and introduced initially a paid, now free limited time trial. New players will find themselves offered extra protection during their first days of game time, as well as the game constantly being balanced to lower the time it takes for players to become competent in PvP combat.

And while we’re on the subject of tweaking content to balance gameplay, how about removing a chunk of content for the sake of balance? Such is the case when Flying Lab Software announced that the higher end ships will be removed from Pirates of the Burning Sea for the sake of balancing the lower tiers of ships.

Not all was great on the western front, however, as this month marked the grand server merger in Everquest, leaving just fourteen of the original servers remaining. With what may just turn 2010 into a year for mergers, Sony later announced mergers for Vanguard, with NCsoft announcing Aion server mergers, both game’s mergers to occur in July.

There is plenty more that occurred in June, and you can read all about it in the MMO Fallout archives. Until next time, this is Looking Back, Moving Forward.

Darkfall Price Reduction, Coming To A Store Near You!


Kill the carebear! Now At a Reasonable Price!

Darkfall has been reduced to $29.95 Euro/USD, and no I did not make a typo there. Those of you buying the Euro edition will be happy to know that Aventurine has reduced the price of the Euro edition to match the US edition, pre-VAT.

But the news gets better for our fledgling one year old MMO: Darkfall will be coming to more retail outlets and online shops. Where does this mean? In all likelihood, we will probably see Darkfall on Steam, Direct2Drive, or ImpulseDriven (or any combination of the three) as well as Wal Mart, Target, Play.co.uk, Game (for you UK’ers), Gamestop, and various other locations and localized game retail shops.

With Darkfall on digital distribution services, the game is likely to see a whole host of newbies flying in from all around the world. Hopefully the current servers will accommodate, and by servers I of course refer to the “Newbie Population Control” guild.

With the free trial, newbie protection program, and new player guild, as well as the lowered price for the game itself, there has never been a better time than now to dive into Darkfall if you have not give the game the opportunity.