Darkfall Newcomer's guide

[tjmutchler3.]

You will be flamed if you ask a redundant question that others have asked. Keep reading to easily, and non-flamingly answer most of your questions (if not all)

This forum will act as a normal FAQ page. Meaning you will not have to sort through 3 pages of information to find 1 answer. (as most of these types of forums do) You will essentially have to sort through a couple sentences in order to find your answer.

Thread setup (for ease of use. look here) I explain each category in this order :

System Requirements
Release date info, buying the game, downloading question, and the sort. (red)
Character customization
Darkfall world (pertaining to the size, of the planet, and map details etc.) (brown)
Mounts (dark blue)
Full loot pvp/pve mechanics (green)
Ships, and the ocean (olive)
Building towns, and houses (orange)
Crafting (dark red)

These are the more common questions asked on the forums:

System Requirements

What are the System Requirements? : Unknown.
(my speculation) minimum -512mb or ram, 2.5 ghz (single core) processor, graphics card integrated.

Recommended - 1 gb, 1.8 ghz (dual core) + processor, integrated graphics. (What I would use) 2 gb +, 2.1 ghz (dual core) processor, nvidia 8400gs graphics (one of the lowest grade nvidia graphics card.)

How much hard drive space will darkfall online take up? : (speculated) 18.4 gb. Give or take 5 gb. and you should have a correct answer.

Release date info, buying the game, downloading questions, and questions of the sort :

When is Open Beta? : January 22nd. But it's not exactly an "open beta" they said thousands of people will be able to get in to the beta, but they don't think it is likely that all 200,000 beta applications will be accepted, due to such high numbers.

When Will this game be released? : February 25th . (that is the official announcement from the dev's. )

Where do I download this game? : Where to download this game has not been announced (speculation varies GREATLY - not reliable either)

Do I have to download this game Or can I buy the discs to play this game on February 25th?: If you are from Europe it is speculated (reliably) that you can buy the discs from a retail store, or online. If you live somewhere in North America, you will need to download this game on February 25th. (announced) perhaps later you can buy the discs.(speculated)

How much will Darkfall cost monthly? (tasos announced) 10 to 11 euros. Which is about 13$ or 14$. - thanks for the update Mozi.

Do I have to pay to download OR buy discs OR set up account : Yes, complete price is unknown.


Character Customization:

Can I customize my character? : Yes, (announced) it is said that there are 3.5 billion different combination's for character appearances, and that's without the coloring of your armor.

Can my armor be colored? : Yes, there are several different colors, designs that can be selected from.

What features are customizable? : The Darkfall customization possibilities and features that can be customized are somewhat extensive. But, any absolute features that are customizable have not been announced. (that I know of)

Darkfall World (pertaining to the size, of the planet, and map details etc.):

How big Is Darkfall's map (Agon)? : It is speculated to take 8 hours to walk from the left side of the continent to the right. Remember, the ocean is explorable also. (crossing the ocean is not added in to that 8 hour walk) However a business tester (someone working with a review company) said that they walked for 3-4 hours and only walked 3 % of the map. (this may have been an exaggeration, or a mistaken comment. But it is posted on a Beta update on the official site)

Do mountains, and other zoning features occur in Darkfall? (Can I not get to certain areas due to mountains, huge cities, huge walls?): No, Darkfall is set up to allow the players to go anywhere with no zoning laws. If there is a mountain, you can climb it! If there is a city, you can get by it. If there is a wall, it isn't meant to keep you from a certain part of the map - it has a purpose. It's just like real life!

Is the map mainly ocean or land? : It appears to be about 50/50! Aventurine wants us to have the best of both worlds, limiting us to neither land, nor the ocean.

Are there islands, and can we get to them? : Yes! It is a realistic map, with more then one, or two large continents.

Does Darkfall support a true environment? ( Does its moon(s), and sun move?): Yes, the moons, and sun both move. (speculated) at 4 hour intervals. So 8 hour days. There are 2 moons that surround the planet of Agon, and 1 sun. They rotate, and change the lighting of the game as the day goes on.

Does the weather change in Darkfall? Yes, however we do not know if it is on a systematic planned schedule or if it is completely random, as it is in real life. The winds actually affect the ease of sailing in your boats as well. (if the wind is blowing north, and i'm going south, my boat is slowed.)


MOUNTS:

Are there mounts in darkfall? : Yes! each race has its own. (except the mahirim -wolf type race-)

Are there flying mounts in darkfall? : Nope.

How do I get a mount? : (announced) - buying one from an NPC. (speculated)---> taming <---, and/or buying one from an NPC.

How hard will it be to get one? : Not to hard, and not to easy (announced). Once you get your first mount, a couple days later you should be able to supply as many mounts as needed for yourself from there on out. (my speculation)

Can my mount die? : (announced) Yes! (this is why it is fairly easy to get a new mount.)

Can I fight on my mount? : Yes!!! (announced)

How do the Mahirim mounts work? : They are the mount, you get on all fours and run at the speed of a normal mount. You can only bite in this form (announced) You may also get a mount from your allying race, the orks.

Can I steal mounts from other players? : Yes!! you can steal mounts from players while mount is unattended, or after killing a player that has one.

Full loot pvp/pve mechanics :

Can I take everything a player has on them after killing them?: Yes, (announced) except their skills, and abilities. (casting/melee/bow spells)

What happens if a mob kills me, pertaining to loot? : Well, the mob will grab the items that it uses or needs from you (announced), and leaves the rest (pretty sure it leaves the rest) the items that mob takes from you can be taken back when and if you kill it. Or if anyone else kills it they can pick up your old items. (speculated - possibly announced, not sure)

What will keep people from ganking (griefing/killing for no reason) all the time? : Aventurine has set up a system where if you are flagged for killing your own race to much, you will be bound to a chaos stone in the middle of a forest etc, away from everyone else. (meaning you can't "hearth" to a major city, you "hearth" to the middle of the forest, desert, etc. -far away-)



Ships, and the ocean:

Are there player owned boats/ships in Darkfall? : Yep. (announced) of all shapes and sizes. the largest of which has 50 canons (the largest that we know of)

Is there a reason to using the boats/ships? : Yes, the game is actually set up to have this as a large part of the game. The Ocean appears quite large on the map of Darkfall online. You sail on the ocean for the same reason you would fight on land, for fun.

Can my boats be sunk? : Yep! you can destroy ships, and your ship can be destroyed.

Can my boats be stolen? (I go in to more detail later on this subject) : Yep! which means you can steal others boats.


Towns and houses :

Can I build towns in Darkfall? : Yep, you can join a clan with a bunch of people, and as a crafter you can build towns and cities with material & resources.(announced) You must be a crafter to build towns. (crafting takes certain abilities, limiting (somewhat) your fighting attributes.

Can I build houses in towns? : Yep, as long as your a crafter and in a clan.

Can those towns be destroyed? : Yes, but it's difficult. You must first ware the defenses of that town down, and then began destroying the city walls & barriers


Crafting :

What kind of things can crafters build? : Crafters can build Ships (of many sizes and shapes), towns/cities (of different size and scope), houses (of different size and scope), armor (speculated - personalized armor "personal colored" armor), weapons.

Will crafters be obsolete in Darkfall like in most games? : Nope! Crafters are said to be able to create any item found through PVE. Meaning, the attributes may vary, but the weapon is just as good as the PVE weapons.

What does it take to craft? : Materials and resources. To make arrows you must : Cut down a tree > polish (or whatever else you need to do) > add certain resources to your blunt arrow > put a arrow head on it. (That was an example, actual gameplay will vary GREATLY from my example. You must cut down a tree in order to make arrows though, that was not an exaggeration) And the same is done with whatever else you wish to build.

If you had many questions answered in the above portion of this thread, than I suggest reading through the interviews in order to learn details on these questions.

From this point on I will address aspects of the game in a statement form, instead of Question and Answering form (Q&A - for later reference) These are the very basics of darkfall, and I will write the main statement and underline it, and I will elaborate on that subject beneath the statement (allowing you to skip unnecessary explanations)

There are NO set classes in Darkfall.
Meaning you choose exactly what abilities/skills/spells you want to use. And you are able to change those whenever you feel necessary. You do this by using the abilities/skills/spells (later referenced as just abilities) often. The abilities you use most, will be the abilities you gradually get better at. In order to change the abilities you use, you stop using the abilities you feel that are unwanted and began to use other abilities more often.

You can not have all abilities at the same time. Meaning, you are not a master/decent caster, fighter, healer, bowman that is allowed to use every ability out of the 500+ abilities that are in the game. (you can be a caster/melee/healer/bowman - but all of your skills will be low-grade. and you will still only have a portion of the 500 + unlockable abilities)

Darkfall is played in FIRST PERSON, if you go melee you are put into a THIRD PERSON view. Darkfall online is much like Elder Scrolls Oblivion. In that, you play in the first person view (mainly). It's like halo. in order to swing your sword/shoot/cast a spell on someone you must point at them with your mouse. Allowing a more fulfilling (imo) PVP feel.

There are SIX RACES in darkfall.< Humans, Dwarves, Mirdain (similar to your high-elves in most mmo's) > (those 3 races are all allied) < Mahirim (wolf like people), Ork (yes, they spelled it ork, not orc) > (those 2 races are allied) < Alfar (similar to your dark elves in most mmo's) > (no allies are allied with the alfar)

There is NO invisible skill in Darkfall. You must "stealth" your character yourself. Meaning if you want to hide you find a tree, bush, shadow. Using dark, non-metal clothes helps. Due to the fact that your weapons/armor shine in the sunlight. (and metal armor shines)

There are NO nametags in Darkfall. Meaning you do not see your name posted above your head at all times, nor your guild tag. You must have your cross-hairs (your cursor) on a person in order to see there name. Making it possible to actually hide.

You CAN heal in Darkfall. Just like in most mmorpg's. But In darkfall your healing spells can also heal your foes if your cursor is pointed at them. AoE heals do the same thing. They heal your foes and friends.

You CAN change the GORE settings on Darkfall. Meaning you can go from being able to cut peoples heads off to, not having gore at all, no blood, nothing.

Darkfall's server has a limit of 10,000 concurrent players. 3x to 4x the capacity of World of Warcraft!!! Meaning 10,000 people can be on one server at a time. (but more then 10,000 people can have accounts on one server)

Informational Videos :
(skip over the first part of this first link, it's talking about another game.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l-Yocx3zRA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7g6q22b0YU

Gameplay Videos :
These videos graphics seem to have much lower video quality then the actual graphics in the game (if you turn the graphics all the way up.) The lighting is MUCH better on your own comp.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9rudnXDG4k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=da0K8QUy6O0&feature=related

Interviews with Aventurine :

I have not sorted through all of these interviews, so please help yourself to the ones you feel you want to read.

http://darkfall.wikia.com/wiki/Interviews

I will update as I think of/find new information on the game that I feel is necessary to post.