Darkfall: I’ve been MURDERED! (and what I’ve learned.)
Yep, it finally happened.
Just happily exploring along, minding my own business when AGGHHHH!!! some guy runs up to me and starts hacking me up. His name was red and he looked like he had on full armor. CHOP CHOP SLASH CHOP! and I was down. I didn’t even bother attacking back, this guy has has spent a good deal of his time learning how to chop someone up. Good for him.
So, what did I learn by getting murdered (leaving my wife, children and home unattended to, what a bastard!) by some crazed fellow in the middle of nowhere?
For the record, I had been ganked one time before (or was it twice?) last time I subbed to the game. This is the first time I had been murdered this time around. Second time killed, though, being that some kind of skeleton thing killed me a few nights before.
1) DO NOT listen to loud music while playing Darkfall. OK, this should be a given, but I was jamming out to my Pandora station and not listening to the game. If I would have been, I would have heard the guy in the huge heavy shiny armor running around outside of the towns gates that I found.
2) DO NOT make loud noise when you are not wanting to be heard: Again, an obvious. Still, I decided to just go running around having fun, listening to loud music and seeing what I can find. Although I was not wearing heavy armor, my footsteps and jumps had to be heard froma mile away. On a side note, Darkfall can definitely take a lot out of my wrists, being that I have frequent pain from pretty bad tennis elbow caused by years of drumming, artwork and keyboard use. I have hotkeyed all sorts of actions (Darkfall allows you to re-map a good deal) including a constant crouch position. If I am sneaking around, I will hit the hot key for “auto crouch” and safely, albeit slowly, lurk around. I should have been doing this at the time of my murder.
3) I was not “ganked”, I was “murdered”: Whatever the “true” definition of ganking is, I decided that it means some kind of un-fair killing, or a killing done to someone for almost no reason. The guy that killed me didn’t sneak up to me and kill me, he didn’t happen upon a helpless AFK player, and he didn’t do anything under-handed or sneaky. He heard me, ran up to me and kicked my butt. I know players that would become very frustrated and tell all their friends “That jerk ganked me!” but it is no different than what I might do in the same situation.
4) Do not carry anything that you cannot afford to lose: Luckily, I had nothing on me but some gathering tools, a few basic weapons, a camp-fire (I am trying to carry a camp-fire with me when I am out in the world so I can take realistic “breaks”) a few gold and 200 arrows. He got nothing, and I would bet he left it sitting there.
After all this, I am still not sure how I feel about the PvP in a game like Darkfall, a game that has tried so hard to make such an immersive PvE experience. It’s not that the PvP is bad, it’s just of the FPS style. It feels out of place, and sometimes pretty silly. It also can look very silly, as in the first time I was attacked by a half-naked man in the dark:
That was my first death, back when I first played the game. In the comments section you can see someone telling me to just “disable shadows, it’s easier to see someone that way.” Why would I want to? My trade-off for having a less realistic and immersive game is that I might be able to see an enemy better? Isn’t that the easier way out?
That’s one of those issues I have, too. The shadows are something you can use to hide, and yet other players can just turn them off. Darkfall is full of contradictions like that…realistic beautiful graphics that allow you the opportunity to “hide”, literally, but that can be toggled off by your enemy. PvP that feels like you logged into a game of Halo or Tribes, fast and sometimes goofy.
It’s as though there are two games being smushed together by Aventurine, one of immersive PvE in a world filled with danger, and a First Person Shooter complete with instant re-spawn and no consequences for your death.
Still, this is an opportunity to get better at avoiding danger, or at destroying my enemies. I decided that my original goal needs to be fulfilled before I venture too far out into the wilds. I need to raise money, and a good deal of it. The only thing that has done well for me so far has been to gather timber, to turn it into wood and to sell it. It’s actually very easy to do this but it does take time. Within a week or slightly less I can raise enough money to train a ton of skills that will help me survive or to craft some better armor so I can withstand the next one.
Until then, when I do venture out, I will not be playing music at top volume!
Beau
From what you posted you seem to rarely get killed. My first day in Darkfall (EU Server) I got killed probably 6 times withing 1 hour and it stayed that way for sometime. Tho now being on NA for sometime (I mainly Craft) I get killed either once or twice a day.
Getting “Murdered” will most likely just get worse for you as time go on. I don’t get killed as often as I could because my guild owns a city and I stay near it.
Hmm, dunno. I am really getting into crafting which can be done pretty much inside every city. Right now I am building up a pile of logs to turn into wood which I’ll then turn into gold. I wait until night time and then run around exploring, so I am usually pretty safe. Also, I am always crouch walking pretty much.
Did you ever go on your Raft adventure yet?
I do always wonder about those players who get killed 5-6 times a day. What are you doing to die that often, just going back to some known PvP hotspot over and over, expecting different results?
Shadows being optional is one thing many would like changed. The real problem is if you do force them on everyone, the minimum hardware requirements shoot way up. I say burn everyone who is gaming on a toaster, but that’s just me…
I haven’t gone on the raft adventure yet. I am building it up, though, up to several hundreds stacks of wood to sell.
And I agree Syn, about the shadows. I understand that, too, about the min. requirements. It’s one of the main draws of the game, though and should be “forced” in some ways. Still, it’s not as though you can’t still hide in bushes or in other ways. It’s fascinating to see how the developers balance this stuff.
The Guild I’m in isn’t always in the best situation. We always have other guilds trying to or wrecking our city. When I got killed 5-6 times under an hour it was in the Newb human place on EU.
Some days on NA I do get killed a lot. I have no doubt that the one guy must use some kind of Radar thing cause he finds me no matter where I am. The one day he killed me so I went really far away and then swam farther, I was in the middle of the ocean and went AFK. I came back about 10min later and he killed me again, and once more after that.
Does’t help my skills are low since I mainly craft so I dont have to many spawn choices on Yassam.
I need to try this game. I keep seeing, what I think are, more and more similarities, in the PvP system, with Runes of Magic.
They since made it less harsh. In the beginning, it didn’t matter what level was killed by what level-you could still drop stuff(and stuff you were wearing too).
Now it’s limited. Anyone can still kill you, but you’ll only drop stuff, if they are within 5 levels of you.
Side note: Just last night I was killed by a level 55 mage(I am now lvl 51), besides being a great fight that I almost stood a chance at, I dropped a good weapon, and a whole stack of mats I gathered(in this particular case, he was a real nice fellow and left my stuff there, and I was able to retrieve it after respawn). So basically if you are level 45, anyone from level 40 to 50 can kill you and possibly get rewarded for it.
And because it is factionless, ANYONE can kill anyone.
I’m sure I can’t draw, even a close comparison until I actually play Darkfall, so I am very curious from the standpoint of how the PvP compares to RoM.
@Beau : “I am really getting into crafting which can be done pretty much inside every city. Right now I am building up a pile of logs to turn into wood which I’ll then turn into gold.”
Be careful crafting in the NPC cities. They are not safe and eventually you will get jumped. It’s usually done with at least 2 blue players. Player A attacks you and goes red. They’re now getting zapped by the city tower. Player B stands back and heals or buffs up Player A so they survive long enough to kill you. They’ll probably die shortly after, but they still have their partner or other friends waiting to loot your tombstone. Certain clans rinse and repeat this tactic. They’ll be blue again very quickly. Low risk for them with the potential for high rewards.
If this happens to you and you know you can’t get away in time, I recommend dragging the mats into the trash bin to delete them. They may take you down, but at least they get no reward.
Ohhh cool, didn’t think bout that. Yeh I have ventured really far off and I’m at some weird city now, so yeh I better watch it. Thanks for telling me!
Beau
Sunday night? In the human lands? I hope his name wasn’t Landroval somethinrather. I’m pretty sure I gave you a little scare from behind that night and right after that I stumbled upon that Landroval guy, I know he likes to come to NEW’s clan city and kill people from time to time. It was quite the fluke to crouch walk around and find you doing the same, sorry for the few hits but I hope I got your blood pumping.
Hello all,
Glad to see that more people are beginning to appreciate my favorite game! (Darkfall)
A few things that I thought I should share:
If you have not tried this game, I definitely recommend it if you would like to get an adrenaline rush like no other! If you try the game, I recommend playing for at least 1-2 months before you consider quitting (I almost quit during my first month but the game gets twice as fun every month for me!). I am a casual player who has never macroed and cannot put in much time to play each week, but because of PVP training, I have been able to fill up my bank from killing other players . .. often they have more skill than I do. Practice practice practice . .. don’t just think that you need to gain your skills/stats.
As you PVE, try to save at least one skill/spell as surging so that if you are jumped, you can unload your surging attacks! I use polearm, 2hd sword, and 1hd sword . .. I try and always keep one of these surging so that if I am jumped, my first attack is going to take a large chunk from the enemy. Same goes with spells.
Report suspected cheaters and ‘allies’ that you find out are cheating ASAP! Although AV’s methods of detection are getting better, you can help them and other players by ratting out allies who cheat and reporting those who you suspect (obvious radar hack, speed hacking, etc.). I have only come across a couple cheaters in the year that I have been playing, but all too often I hear of people who do not report those that they KNOW are cheating. Please aid us in cleaning up this awesome game from the unfair hacks.
Learn to dodge a mount ASAP. You should be able to shoot someone off of their mount without being hit by them once.
Learn to bunny hop and super jump. Put jump on most of your spells and learn to sprint forward, turn and shoot in the air without losing speed. You can use spells such as shrapnel, to get a few immediate super jumps that aid in fleeing or catching your enemy.
Water log is the fastest way to get you back to your bind spot with a 2 minute shield and can be a great way to escape when outnumbered (x3 faster than bindstone_recall or relogging).
Use your environment during PVP just as you must do at times with mobs. DO NOT EVER GIVE YOUR OPPONENT YOUR BACK! If needed, parry until you get to an object that you can use as cover as you drink your pot and use conversion spells.
1hd weapon + shield should be hotkeyed so that you can immediately parry big attacks. You can bunny hop, turn and parry in the air, without losing any speed. This is helpful if you are being nuked by a full group of people, and you are trying to hop to a nearby tower, tec.
That is all.
: )
I sure wish someone told me about these things when I first started.
Thanks a lot, good tips!