Darkfall Expansion - Lead Developer Interview

[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?

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?

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?

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?

We are always looking at balancing issues, and we try to address them as they come up. Our main concern is not to make everything equally powerful, but to make sure there are as many options to counter certain tactics as possible. Beating someone in Darkfall doesn't always mean you have to beat him in a fair 1:1 odds fight. Again like I said earlier - it's a wargame, not an arena game. If someone proves stronger than you on an even battlefield, avoid those fights and fight them differently. Use guerrilla tactics, use diplomacy and politics, attack their assets, attack their harvesters, infiltrate them... There are literally hundreds of way to beat someone in Darkfall, and that is exactly how we want it.

5) Mobility. One of the more violently debated topics of recent note was the removal of Jump Casting and Jump archery. Players appear polarized in either for or against the change. Are you happy with the results? Do you have any other mobility changes planned you can discuss?

Jump fighting will be re-introduced in the future, but as an option you choose in our upcoming character customization system. The first stage of this system will be introduced in the expansion in a few days.

6) Siege Mechanics. Darkfall with its conquest system has challenges similar to prior games with city building and capturing. One such problem is the "hey no fair, you sieged us when we were asleep" issue. Can you give us a hint at changes, if any, you have planned for the Siege mechanics?

We are considering adding a system that let you protect assets up to 12 hours every 24 hour cycle. This was something we planned to add in the last stages of beta, but decided to put it on hold for a while. While it is true that you can be attacked while you are sleeping, in some cases that is the only way for smaller clans and groups to beat you. Should the game guarantee a fair fight, or should we allow as many dirty tactics as a real war would allow? There are good arguments for both, and we would like to hear more about what the players think on this issue.

7) Assets. The world of Darkfall is beautifully unique and the awesome integration of cities and hamlets into the terrain is breathtaking. Players frequently lament about the 'grass is greener' at asset X. Do you have balance plans for cities you can discuss, do you plan to add anymore assets to the map?

Isn't it awesome that cities are so different though? The players are absolutely right - some assets are great, and some are not so great. There are so many factors that influence if an asset is great or not; location, resources, structures, mob spawns, defensibility, layout, accessibility - and best of all - if you ask ten players to name their favorite city, you'll probably get 10 different answers.

We are introducing a completely new type of asset in this expansion called Village, which we think will add a lot to small scale PvP, and provide a great source of income and fun for the players.

8) The World. With the diverse map of Darkfall and the limited traveling options, regional territory control has real value. Players have asked frequently for more of the same. Do you have any plans to make the world round? Do you have any plans for gates/portals of transport outside runestones?

We are strongly considering player spawned portals, and it is high on the list of things we want to add to the game. We have no plans to make the world round for now.

9) Banks: Localized, restricted access, etc. Any changes, plans here you can share?

Localized banking is something we are considering, and we may introduce it in a limited form sometime in the future. Possibly connected to our Village-system.

10) Ships & Warhulks. Are you happy with Ships, Warhulks, and their useage/adoption by the player base, can you share any insight into whats to come for them?

We are looking at ways to make ships and warhulks more attractive and slightly more common on the battlefields. We are considering many changes to them, including making ships faster, automatically returning ships, warhulks and mounts to players backpacks in case of a server crash, and other improvements.

[fubumaki]

Localized banking is something we are considering, and we may introduce it in a limited form sometime in the future.

This reads to me as, maybe but probably not.

[Poka SiN]

Originally Posted by fubumaki

Localized banking is something we are considering, and we may introduce it in a limited form sometime in the future.

This reads to me as, maybe but probably not.

i hope so, local banks are shit

[Creslin-SiN]

mobile but local banks on board ships or near some chaos stones, pls.

You should have had asked him about the Guard Tower system outside of starter citys at wilderness banks.

[Merk]

Localized banking shouldn't even be optional - having enemies use your own bank is stupid and brings about stupid gameplay. (assuming we're talking about the same issue here, the literal meaning of 'localized banks' could be really lame)

Also the balance cop-out was rather lame - it reeks of laziness.

Also, if they pay me I'll go in and fix the lame inability to buy more than 1 reg at a time issue - it won't be that difficult to allow an entered amount and confirm the gold - would be easier on the server load too.

[Supe]

Thanks for the post guys this might make me resub again for a bit had to take a break since i wasn't getting in near enough play time. / Dedicating.

[Dmitry SiN]

Nice one Bone. Thing about local banks, is say: you belong to a clan, and cause some SG doesn't like the idea that you kick more ass then them, they boot you. You pretty much screwd to get you items back, if there isn't a chaos bank around that is.

[ChinaCat]

Thanks Bone.

Informative, and encouraging.

See you on NA.

-CC

[fubumaki]

Originally Posted by Poka SiN

i hope so, local banks are shit

I don't want to argue but you are wrong.