 |
 Sinister - Multi-Game Guild & MMORPG Community |
 Darkfall Expansion - Lead Developer Interview |
|
Jun 28, 2009 - 1:42 PM - by bonedancer-sin
|
Darkfall is now 1 week from its opening its North American server. A product built for a "niche" market by developers who care more more about making a game they want to play then they do about producing another online fast-food MMO. Darkfall continues to be a work in progress, but like Google's GMail, it already has enough key features to gain and keep the user.
I sent Claus Grovdal, Lead Designer/Producer of Darkfall, 10 questions which I believed best summed up the four months of EU1 complaints/bitching about the game. Claus was good enough to supply us with answers. Take special note of his comments on PVE as many of us have long felt that easier PVE means more frequent small scale conflict and PVP. This one change will do tons for the vibrancy of the game. The Sinister core is stoked and were in hard core 'get ready for NA' mode, see you on the 7th.
Darkfall Lead Developer Interview - 10 Community Questions
1) PVE. Many folks on the forum claim that the PVE progression curve is to steep. Are you happy with the challenge level of PVE in Darkfall? Do you have any upcoming changes in PVE or Crafting you can discuss?
Quote:
PvE will change a lot with the new expansion that is coming in a few days. We have completely re-balanced all the mobs in Darkfall, both their difficulty levels and the loot they drop. As a general rule, most monsters have had their hitpoints and stats reduced, and loot drop rates increased. Especially gold, reagents and arrows have in most cases seen a substantial increase - in some cases more than double what they were dropping before.
Certain uncommon and rare drops have also had their drop rates increased, such as steedgrass and runestones. In addition, we have added many new rare drops to Darkfall mobs in the expansion. These changes should make Darkfall PvE more fun and more profitable.
|
2) The interface. Users continue to be unhappy with the Darkfall interface and vocal opinion on this subject has been high since the beta. Do you have any interface improvements coming in the future you can share with us?
Quote:
|
There are updates to the interface in almost every regular patch, and it is something we are always looking to improve. A complete revamping of the interface is under consideration.
|
3) The Zerg. Players resent fights where the other side had more players. More often then not the call goes out "they zerged us" Are you happy with the siege sizes current in Darkfall? Do you have any upcoming mechanic changes you can discuss which influence siege sizes?
Quote:
We have no plans to implement mechanics that artificially limit how many people you can bring to a fight. If someone wants fixed limit arena fights, there are plenty of other games that offer it already. Massive sieges where factors such as player skill, gear, numbers, politics, character development, strategies, leadership, battlefield tactics, preparation, coordination all influence the result of a fight to a great degree - I mean where else can you get sieges and wars on such a grand scale? I love it myself, and I don't want to limit it at all. If your enemy brought more people than you to a fight, consider making less enemies or more friends, or be prepared to fight greater numbers.
Our job as developers is not to limit the number of people someone can bring to a fight, but instead try to improve on the technology so the fights run smoother, and offer tools for the players to beat a larger force. I feel both these areas have improved tremendously since release.
|
4) Skill Balance. Players frequently vocalize (read: bitch/complain) about skill and skill tree balance. The current rage is high end magic with senior players having 1 or 2 elemental schools maxed out. Are you happy with balance between melee, archery, and magic? Can you give us any examples of balance changes you are working on?
... [Read More]
|
11 Replies | 12,917 Views
|
|
The Sinterprise |
|
May 24, 2009 - 8:42 AM - by bonedancer-sin
|
Composing the 3rd ship in the Sinister navy the Sinterprise is a Ship-of-the-line class, and the 3rd largest ship in the game. This massive beast of war has 3 decks, 11 cannons a side, and enough awesome to scare the shit out of any nation who spots her off their shore.
The Sinterprise's christening turned sour when we discovered we couldnt despawn the ship at our harbor. Panic ensues as we realize were out playing around with a 1mil gold vessel and barely have 8 of the 100 minimum crew. Three hours later and many 'help me' responses from LoD, Apollo, later, we roll into Grief's harbor and finally managed to despawn the bitch.
|
|
5 Replies | 269 Views
|
|
|
|
Welcome Back 
|
Members: 1,922
Threads: 62,613
Posts: 96,939
Newest Member: CocoChanels
|
 |
|
|
