As announced in this thread, Hyperion and King Mannus are back to Agon! I gotta say I'm pretty excited about it and it looks like the rest of the server is aswell. Mostly, this is a change of pace for me. I kinda needed it since my last weeks in Darkfall had been pretty dull. I was tired of soloing the same spawns and so, now i got new spawns and more chances to group up. This also means new objectives for the clan and a new status quo. Basicly, it's new stuff, what I needed the most while I wait for Darkfall Arena.
The only thing that has me worried about this is performance. Last siege (yeah, I know, no report) was kinda playable and we'll be more people for next sieges or events. I can only pray Aventurine improves it in Arena as they've been saying or earlier, even better.
Showing posts with label Stories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stories. Show all posts
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Not what I'd like, again.
Yesterday, there was a new GM event in Agon. The first part of it involved some Flag Hunting and there were hints to deduce the location of each flag. That part was not a huge success, probably because there were few Flags in a big world with a lot of players and, probably too, because you only needed to claim them, not defend them or guard them, just take them and then go back to safety. The second part of the event happened in the center, below the great fortress. I was curious, so I took a scrub gear bag and I went there. GMs had spawned three GM controlled Demons but, of course, as soon as I got there, two other players, even more scrubby than me, killed me while the GM Demons were trying to hit them with fireballs, unsuccesfully. Apparently, later on, some organized groups arrived and there was a hell of a PvP session while the Demons ate popcorn.
This time around, I wasn't expecting it but I'd like to see, from time to time, enemies putting everything aside to fight the greater evil. I hope Av wasn't expecting the players to team up against the mobs because that would mean they don't understand the current status with Agon and I want to believe they do.
I still think that events are a great way to create a narrative for Darkfall and I'll keep my eye on them to see if they improve, change or adapt. Let's hope they do!
This time around, I wasn't expecting it but I'd like to see, from time to time, enemies putting everything aside to fight the greater evil. I hope Av wasn't expecting the players to team up against the mobs because that would mean they don't understand the current status with Agon and I want to believe they do.
I still think that events are a great way to create a narrative for Darkfall and I'll keep my eye on them to see if they improve, change or adapt. Let's hope they do!
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Siege Report: Skogul and Quarendel 14th February
The day before yesterday, Lux Arcana sieged Skogul from Small Unnamed Alliance and, in retaliation they countersieged Quarendel. So yesterday night, we had a double siege on our hands! When the time was upon us, we rode to a cave near Skogul where one of our siegestones was placed. There we spawned three stronboxes to create a tighter bottleneck and three cannons to blow it to kingdome come. After a while, SUA camed and the standoff ensued with lots of spells and cannonballs flying around. Due to some confusion I was in one of these cannons but low-fps and no preparation make it very hard to hit the bottleneck properly. Then, they full blinded us and made a Battlehorn Charge that succeeded in creating chaos among our lines. I was so confused that I died at the damn cannon before I could disengage from it. They wiped us there.
Back in Andruk, we regeared and started to port over Skogul again but when I managed to port, there were already several combats, one of them with a fleeing ship, around me and one minute after the cancellation of the porting was called. I was with 5 or 6 other people, in different mumble channels, and when the order to regroup in Andruk once again was called everyone just tried to run for his life. I managed to get away with my second siege bag and to recall to Andruk unharmed. When I arrived there, people was already out of the city taking those Quarendel siegestones to protect our hamlet. Unfortunately, they didn't even tried to take it and after some destruction, we just went back to Andruk.
From the player perspective, it wasn't a great siege: we lost the offensive, a nice siege bag or two per player and, above all, it was really short. But I think that as a clan, we learned some nice stuff today. I'm eager to try and take the hamlet again.
Back in Andruk, we regeared and started to port over Skogul again but when I managed to port, there were already several combats, one of them with a fleeing ship, around me and one minute after the cancellation of the porting was called. I was with 5 or 6 other people, in different mumble channels, and when the order to regroup in Andruk once again was called everyone just tried to run for his life. I managed to get away with my second siege bag and to recall to Andruk unharmed. When I arrived there, people was already out of the city taking those Quarendel siegestones to protect our hamlet. Unfortunately, they didn't even tried to take it and after some destruction, we just went back to Andruk.
From the player perspective, it wasn't a great siege: we lost the offensive, a nice siege bag or two per player and, above all, it was really short. But I think that as a clan, we learned some nice stuff today. I'm eager to try and take the hamlet again.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
The Chaos Luck
I think I've already explained that but on my first three days of Darkfall I found a Chaos Chest with 10k gold on it. At the time, I thought I got the best possible reward from a Chaos Chest since 10k gold was a lot of money for me. I managed to buy every skill for the first two months without farming efficency, just playing the game.
After that, some months ago, I got a Nexus Exit which was cool. And nothing else. Ever. I mean I've got plenty of low gold and low gold plus a major potion but nothing better than that.
Today, after a long farming session, on my way to the bank I see a Chaos Chest and I think: Should I just go to bank not to risk the 2k+ I got on me or...? Surely I went after the Chest hoping today was my lucky day. I can say that already, it wasn't. A hundred meter away, I see another one and even before claiming it I was thinking, this will be shitty too and in front of the bank I'll find the lucky third one. Of course, that second one was also crap, less than 100g, but the third one is just few meters away. Excited I go for it and guess what, less than 100g again. A bit bitter, I follow my way and just in front of the bank I find a fourth Chaos Chest in less than 5 minutes. Guess what? Less than 100g, AGAIN.
Ok, I'm surely unlucky but come on, those damn Chaos Chest could do better than that. Some time ago I posted a Suggestion in ForumFall about Chaos Chest increasing their reward over time if not claimed. I still think it's a great idea and it doesn't seem very difficult to implement. Anyway, Av, please, make Chaos Chest better. No more 53g, make it 300g at least or something. Finding a CC, going for it with illusion to get that miserable amount of gold is just discouraging.
After that, some months ago, I got a Nexus Exit which was cool. And nothing else. Ever. I mean I've got plenty of low gold and low gold plus a major potion but nothing better than that.
Today, after a long farming session, on my way to the bank I see a Chaos Chest and I think: Should I just go to bank not to risk the 2k+ I got on me or...? Surely I went after the Chest hoping today was my lucky day. I can say that already, it wasn't. A hundred meter away, I see another one and even before claiming it I was thinking, this will be shitty too and in front of the bank I'll find the lucky third one. Of course, that second one was also crap, less than 100g, but the third one is just few meters away. Excited I go for it and guess what, less than 100g again. A bit bitter, I follow my way and just in front of the bank I find a fourth Chaos Chest in less than 5 minutes. Guess what? Less than 100g, AGAIN.
Ok, I'm surely unlucky but come on, those damn Chaos Chest could do better than that. Some time ago I posted a Suggestion in ForumFall about Chaos Chest increasing their reward over time if not claimed. I still think it's a great idea and it doesn't seem very difficult to implement. Anyway, Av, please, make Chaos Chest better. No more 53g, make it 300g at least or something. Finding a CC, going for it with illusion to get that miserable amount of gold is just discouraging.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Toad's Tongue: Sun vs Zagenda
Well, well, the war between Sun and Zagenda is apparently nearly over since Zagenda only has three holdings left but Sun is not in any hurry either and they're taking their time. The ForumWar, on the other side, had an interesting development (besides ANG semi-announcement) in this very thread. The thread is already 39 pages long but the good stuff is on its last 10 pages or so.
According to Frank Sinatra, Sun main voice in ForumFall, Xzyzz threatened him with peace (whatever that means). Then Beyond and Heldana claimed Xzyzz told them that Frank was lieing or trolling. Frank then asked for permision to post the screeshots that can prove what he said but he hadn't got said permision and so, he's not posting them. Do you follow me?
In my opinion, there's a couple of things that can be going on here. A) Frank's telling the truth about the PM from Xzyzz and he won't post the screenies because Xzyzz won't give his permision. (aka Frank's Forum Honor). B) Frank's telling the truth about the PM from Xzyzz but he won't post the screenies because Xzyzz has threatened him with posting other incriminating screenies (aka Cold Forum Screenie War). C) Frank's lieing about that PM but we won't know the truth until Xzyzz comes back to ForumFall to give permision to Frank.
My favourite choices are obviously A and B. Also, if B's the correct one, this Cold War is leaving Xzyzz in a worst position than Frank's so, I guess that if someones points a gun to my head and ask me to choose only one option I would chose option A which, in cas it's true, leaves Xzyzz and the whole Zagenda alliance in a really bad and ugly spot. We'll see how this evolves!
According to Frank Sinatra, Sun main voice in ForumFall, Xzyzz threatened him with peace (whatever that means). Then Beyond and Heldana claimed Xzyzz told them that Frank was lieing or trolling. Frank then asked for permision to post the screeshots that can prove what he said but he hadn't got said permision and so, he's not posting them. Do you follow me?
In my opinion, there's a couple of things that can be going on here. A) Frank's telling the truth about the PM from Xzyzz and he won't post the screenies because Xzyzz won't give his permision. (aka Frank's Forum Honor). B) Frank's telling the truth about the PM from Xzyzz but he won't post the screenies because Xzyzz has threatened him with posting other incriminating screenies (aka Cold Forum Screenie War). C) Frank's lieing about that PM but we won't know the truth until Xzyzz comes back to ForumFall to give permision to Frank.
My favourite choices are obviously A and B. Also, if B's the correct one, this Cold War is leaving Xzyzz in a worst position than Frank's so, I guess that if someones points a gun to my head and ask me to choose only one option I would chose option A which, in cas it's true, leaves Xzyzz and the whole Zagenda alliance in a really bad and ugly spot. We'll see how this evolves!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Interview with Ginger Magician!
Well, what else there is to say? Enjoy it!
EL: Can you tell us something about you for those that don't know you?
GM: Well its hard to imagine any DF player who doesnt know who I am but I am basically the most famous soloer in the game with the most kills and the biggest reputation. I am also active out of game on the forums and my threads are usually some of the most popular ones around. I also have a long and distinguished history as a MMO player going back to 2003 with Neocron and then Eve Online.
EL: Can you tell us something about you IRL?
GM: My real name is Jonathan and I'm 40 years old and male and an English gentleman from the SE of the country.
EL: How do you feel about being a popular player of Darkfall? Do you feel loved or hated by the community? Do you enjoy it?
GM: I have never cared what people thought about me good or bad. Popularity and fame or even infamy in my case have their uses. For example I should imagine its much like the case of a real life celeb who everyone knows and who never needs to introduce himself to anyone. My gaming profile is much the same and being famous as a gamer can help you get certain infos and access to people easier.
EL: What do you think about the current EU1 server status?
GM: I think its pretty healthy. Playing for such a long time now we have ofc become accustomed to relatively low population and its nothing unusual. I always said since beta testing the game that it would not have a very wide market and so it has proved. One of my main concerns is the zerging seems to have gotten worse lately and to have 50% of the active population in one clan can't be good for anyone.
EL: What's your opinion on Lux Arcana?
GM: I quite like Lux Arcana to be honest. They always seem a well organized and discplined clan to me and the leaders are very mature and dont tolerate smack talk. For the casual and more mature player they are an excellent choice.
EL: What's your opinion on the Grind and Character Progression?
GM: Well this recent patch claiming 2 times increase in skillgains for me I have not noticed any real difference and the grind is probably still too long. There are very few players of my level around and 1v1's nowadays are usually pretty boring. A lot of people run as soon as they see me or attempt to hide and log off. If the grind was reduced there is also the question of whether the game is interesting enough to keep people playing once they max out. Atm I would have to say that its not so AV need to tread carefully with their grind reduction strategy imo.
EL: Do you miss big scale fights, sieges and other big-sized clan stuff?
GM: I have done all these things and tbh I dont find them very exciting or even particularly skillful. A lot of luck comes into play with large scale fights and the vast majority of them are pure numbers affairs where the side with more numbers always wins. Being solo means its a lot harder when it comes to pve and there are a lot of mobs which I cant kill solo but then again I really dont like pve and darkfall pve in particular so I dont feel like I am missing out at all.
EL: How's your average day on Darkfall?
GM: Depends what I feel like doing what I need at that particular moment and what gear I have available. Too much of my time is spent making gold and getting gear but its the same for everyone. My best days are those spent roaming in a gear set I am happy with and having and winning various pvp encounters around the map.
EL: What's the most enjoyable moment you recall having in Darkfall? And worst?
GM: There are so many enjoyable pvp fights that its hard to pick out one special moment. Beating Evaner Mordred 1v1 and then having him post the video in a thread was a special moment and it made a lot of people realize that there was more to me than just the forum talk of the haters. Coming fourth in the EU server melee/archery tournament and beating 2 alfars in a row was another highlight.
One of my worst moments was losing a full set of infernal that I had just crafted 5 mins before because of a crash and losing all that gear to a naked scrub alfar was very annoying.
EL: Can you tell us something about you for those that don't know you?
GM: Well its hard to imagine any DF player who doesnt know who I am but I am basically the most famous soloer in the game with the most kills and the biggest reputation. I am also active out of game on the forums and my threads are usually some of the most popular ones around. I also have a long and distinguished history as a MMO player going back to 2003 with Neocron and then Eve Online.
EL: Can you tell us something about you IRL?
GM: My real name is Jonathan and I'm 40 years old and male and an English gentleman from the SE of the country.
EL: How do you feel about being a popular player of Darkfall? Do you feel loved or hated by the community? Do you enjoy it?
GM: I have never cared what people thought about me good or bad. Popularity and fame or even infamy in my case have their uses. For example I should imagine its much like the case of a real life celeb who everyone knows and who never needs to introduce himself to anyone. My gaming profile is much the same and being famous as a gamer can help you get certain infos and access to people easier.
EL: What do you think about the current EU1 server status?
GM: I think its pretty healthy. Playing for such a long time now we have ofc become accustomed to relatively low population and its nothing unusual. I always said since beta testing the game that it would not have a very wide market and so it has proved. One of my main concerns is the zerging seems to have gotten worse lately and to have 50% of the active population in one clan can't be good for anyone.
EL: What's your opinion on Lux Arcana?
GM: I quite like Lux Arcana to be honest. They always seem a well organized and discplined clan to me and the leaders are very mature and dont tolerate smack talk. For the casual and more mature player they are an excellent choice.
EL: What's your opinion on the Grind and Character Progression?
GM: Well this recent patch claiming 2 times increase in skillgains for me I have not noticed any real difference and the grind is probably still too long. There are very few players of my level around and 1v1's nowadays are usually pretty boring. A lot of people run as soon as they see me or attempt to hide and log off. If the grind was reduced there is also the question of whether the game is interesting enough to keep people playing once they max out. Atm I would have to say that its not so AV need to tread carefully with their grind reduction strategy imo.
EL: Do you miss big scale fights, sieges and other big-sized clan stuff?
GM: I have done all these things and tbh I dont find them very exciting or even particularly skillful. A lot of luck comes into play with large scale fights and the vast majority of them are pure numbers affairs where the side with more numbers always wins. Being solo means its a lot harder when it comes to pve and there are a lot of mobs which I cant kill solo but then again I really dont like pve and darkfall pve in particular so I dont feel like I am missing out at all.
EL: How's your average day on Darkfall?
GM: Depends what I feel like doing what I need at that particular moment and what gear I have available. Too much of my time is spent making gold and getting gear but its the same for everyone. My best days are those spent roaming in a gear set I am happy with and having and winning various pvp encounters around the map.
EL: What's the most enjoyable moment you recall having in Darkfall? And worst?
GM: There are so many enjoyable pvp fights that its hard to pick out one special moment. Beating Evaner Mordred 1v1 and then having him post the video in a thread was a special moment and it made a lot of people realize that there was more to me than just the forum talk of the haters. Coming fourth in the EU server melee/archery tournament and beating 2 alfars in a row was another highlight.
One of my worst moments was losing a full set of infernal that I had just crafted 5 mins before because of a crash and losing all that gear to a naked scrub alfar was very annoying.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Siege Report: Vranghorn 16 January
Well, yesterday, Lux Arcana succesfully sieged Vranghorn from Harbringers of Nithron alliance (Black Phoenix, Black Team, Goodfellas and RunAway). The sieged started in our now usual Big March where all our active members ride or run together towards the objective. After a little detour, our melee guys, fully buffed, lead a charge to the top of a mountain riding their Battlehorns with all the rest sprinting behind them. I gotta say it was the charge was awesome and those who did it enjoyed it very much despite some very low fps here and there. It's a shame that such moments are not as good as they could be with better performance.
When I arrived up there I started shooting arrows to the enemies and sacrificies to my clanmates but, outnumbering them and after the battlehorn charge we got rid of them pretty fast. I think we didn't loose nobody in that first fight. After that, everything was quiet for some time but then, they started to hit the siegestone and there we went to defend it. We were late but managed to interrupt them when the stone was at 5% health. Very soon we started attacking the bindstone with cannons and minutes later, a Get Good group attacked. My group was slightly up the mountain yet and tried to flank them but they went straight to us. It was actually quite good because the cannons had time enough to destroy the bindstone before Get Good was able to create serious havok.
Moments later, we regrouped from the long chase the Get Good members offered us and started sprinting towards Andruk because some people had lost all their mounts in the fights. In Andurk, SUN hitted us a bit but we even managed to split the siege loot and I received some needed stuff before I logged. All in all, a very nice evening with nice fights and a victory!
When I arrived up there I started shooting arrows to the enemies and sacrificies to my clanmates but, outnumbering them and after the battlehorn charge we got rid of them pretty fast. I think we didn't loose nobody in that first fight. After that, everything was quiet for some time but then, they started to hit the siegestone and there we went to defend it. We were late but managed to interrupt them when the stone was at 5% health. Very soon we started attacking the bindstone with cannons and minutes later, a Get Good group attacked. My group was slightly up the mountain yet and tried to flank them but they went straight to us. It was actually quite good because the cannons had time enough to destroy the bindstone before Get Good was able to create serious havok.
Moments later, we regrouped from the long chase the Get Good members offered us and started sprinting towards Andruk because some people had lost all their mounts in the fights. In Andurk, SUN hitted us a bit but we even managed to split the siege loot and I received some needed stuff before I logged. All in all, a very nice evening with nice fights and a victory!
Monday, January 10, 2011
Back and winning!
Yup, I'm back. My hollidays have been very nice and I managed to stay away from everything Chirstmas-related so, I'm happy and feeling strong. Right now, I'm waiting for a new mouse that's supposed to arrive very soon and with it, I sincerely hope to increase my PvP effectiveness a bit.
In my second game session after Xmas, I managed to win my first 2vs1! It was in a dungeon and my opponents were not really strong but nevertheless I really enjoyed it! I hope I can repeat it soon. For now, I'm happy to be back.
In my second game session after Xmas, I managed to win my first 2vs1! It was in a dungeon and my opponents were not really strong but nevertheless I really enjoyed it! I hope I can repeat it soon. For now, I'm happy to be back.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Slaying the Demon
Yesterday, we Luxers gathered in Andruk with a single idea in mind: Killing the Demon. It has been said that the Demon is a very strong monster so 2 full groups rode to The Pall, the central dark area in Agon where the worst monsters wait for their prey. The Demon is located in a big "arena" on top of long spiral in the very center of Agon. We waited there for a while, fearing it had already been killed but finally it spawned.
The fight was a lot of fun and I even died once before I understood the mechanics behind the Demon. The best move the Demon has is the AOE it unleashes, it's amazing! Very big and powerful AOE. Apart from the that and its huge HP, the Demon is quite easy to kill once you know how to do it. After some time shooting lighting arrows at him, we finally took him down and received the Demon Key.
After getting lost a couple of times in the Central Dungeon, we finally found the Demon Chest and were able to open it but unfortunately, the gold gained was nothing special. Aventurine has created some very nice Mob encounters with the Ice Dragon and the Demon but now, the reward needs to be upped a bit. All in all, interesting and funny stuff. Also, the way Hooded Ones die is awesome!
The fight was a lot of fun and I even died once before I understood the mechanics behind the Demon. The best move the Demon has is the AOE it unleashes, it's amazing! Very big and powerful AOE. Apart from the that and its huge HP, the Demon is quite easy to kill once you know how to do it. After some time shooting lighting arrows at him, we finally took him down and received the Demon Key.
After getting lost a couple of times in the Central Dungeon, we finally found the Demon Chest and were able to open it but unfortunately, the gold gained was nothing special. Aventurine has created some very nice Mob encounters with the Ice Dragon and the Demon but now, the reward needs to be upped a bit. All in all, interesting and funny stuff. Also, the way Hooded Ones die is awesome!
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Event comentary: Dead be comin...
Yesterday evening, there was a server event involving GM controlled mobs attacking three racial capitals. The result of it was somewhat dissapointing yet fun, let me explain. My problem, I think shared with my clanmates, is that I wanted the event to be what it could be in a typical fantasy story; every ork and mahirim putting aside their grudges or problems to combat the undead hordes. But, this is Darkfall and player freedom is one of its best features and so, any player can play the event as they see fit. Another problem in this kind of events is the alignment system combined with zap towers. If you put all these together its pretty obvious that the event was not going to unfold as I pictured it.
We players didn't have an ETA on the event so a group of Luxers waited in Flaming for a long time. In that time, players were slowly coming and although some of the were orange to us, clans at war, there were no fighting. It seemed it was going down as I imagined at that time (I'm pretty sure that's what tricked me). There was even a Samurai Pizza Cat there, a clan we've been fighting a lot these days, Deltus. But someone talked to him and some kind of truce was agreed. Aero Greenduda, a known griefer appeared there and tried to create havok but he was very soon taken care of.
Then some more members of SPC came to Flaming Skull and they did attacked us. Later I talked with one of them Invictus and they didn't know nothing about the truce with Deltus. Because of that, we really didn't react upon it, we were there for the event not to fight SPC and some of our members died in the chaos. Then each and evey player there jumped over the graves and completely looted them despite being from supposed friends for the event if you know what I mean. That should have shattered my illusions but they didn't.
Finally, we regrouped in a spot far from the growing amount of players gathering around the bank and waited for the mobs. When they did come, true chaos ensued. Players unwillingly hitting other players and getting zapped, GM controlled and strong mobs hitting everything, unclanned blues ganking downed players and wardecced players rezzing other wardecced players ( ;-) at Kaputtmacha ), Lux and SPC fighting each other around the Sun Exarch... it was very funny but not what I wanted nor expected. I finally died to Invictus the more active player in Luxers killing before and during the event, lost a PvE bag but later on, managed to ninja loot a Blue Tail Runner and a Mysterious Essence, a special object dropping from that particular mobs. I still got no clue what to do with that but I hope it's cool.
When the event was over, on my way back to Andruk, I sent a tell to Invictus out of curiosity and I'm glad I did. Invictus attacked us because he could do so without getting zapped, we're at war after all, and without Luxers around, his chances to get loot increased; a perfectly valid reason! Also, Invitcus said he thought that Aventurine was looking for exactly that kind of PvE-PvP chaos but I'm not completely sure about it. As I have previously said, Agon is a too agressive world and that's gonna make it hard for Devs to tell a coherent story. Obviously, the "Dead be coming" can now be translated into a nice story with great enemies fighting together undead hordes among strangers, backstabbing and nobility included but... I don't know, I guess I'll have to wrap my head around this kind of dark and mercyless world we play in and, from now on, acknowledge that in Agon nothing happens like in fairy tails o happy fantasy stories. I guess Agon is more like Westeros than Middle-Earth and Darkfall has more in common with A Song of Ice and Fire than it has with The Lord of the Rings.
All in all, it was fun and, most importantly, something very different to what we're used to in Darkfall so I hope Aventurine keeps it up and announce another event where Mysterious Essence holders become giant dragons to kill and destroy everything in their path :-P.
We players didn't have an ETA on the event so a group of Luxers waited in Flaming for a long time. In that time, players were slowly coming and although some of the were orange to us, clans at war, there were no fighting. It seemed it was going down as I imagined at that time (I'm pretty sure that's what tricked me). There was even a Samurai Pizza Cat there, a clan we've been fighting a lot these days, Deltus. But someone talked to him and some kind of truce was agreed. Aero Greenduda, a known griefer appeared there and tried to create havok but he was very soon taken care of.
Then some more members of SPC came to Flaming Skull and they did attacked us. Later I talked with one of them Invictus and they didn't know nothing about the truce with Deltus. Because of that, we really didn't react upon it, we were there for the event not to fight SPC and some of our members died in the chaos. Then each and evey player there jumped over the graves and completely looted them despite being from supposed friends for the event if you know what I mean. That should have shattered my illusions but they didn't.
Finally, we regrouped in a spot far from the growing amount of players gathering around the bank and waited for the mobs. When they did come, true chaos ensued. Players unwillingly hitting other players and getting zapped, GM controlled and strong mobs hitting everything, unclanned blues ganking downed players and wardecced players rezzing other wardecced players ( ;-) at Kaputtmacha ), Lux and SPC fighting each other around the Sun Exarch... it was very funny but not what I wanted nor expected. I finally died to Invictus the more active player in Luxers killing before and during the event, lost a PvE bag but later on, managed to ninja loot a Blue Tail Runner and a Mysterious Essence, a special object dropping from that particular mobs. I still got no clue what to do with that but I hope it's cool.
When the event was over, on my way back to Andruk, I sent a tell to Invictus out of curiosity and I'm glad I did. Invictus attacked us because he could do so without getting zapped, we're at war after all, and without Luxers around, his chances to get loot increased; a perfectly valid reason! Also, Invitcus said he thought that Aventurine was looking for exactly that kind of PvE-PvP chaos but I'm not completely sure about it. As I have previously said, Agon is a too agressive world and that's gonna make it hard for Devs to tell a coherent story. Obviously, the "Dead be coming" can now be translated into a nice story with great enemies fighting together undead hordes among strangers, backstabbing and nobility included but... I don't know, I guess I'll have to wrap my head around this kind of dark and mercyless world we play in and, from now on, acknowledge that in Agon nothing happens like in fairy tails o happy fantasy stories. I guess Agon is more like Westeros than Middle-Earth and Darkfall has more in common with A Song of Ice and Fire than it has with The Lord of the Rings.
All in all, it was fun and, most importantly, something very different to what we're used to in Darkfall so I hope Aventurine keeps it up and announce another event where Mysterious Essence holders become giant dragons to kill and destroy everything in their path :-P.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Sweet sweet devil
This morning I had around 9k gold in my bank and I was only thinking about farming gold. This afternoon I was lucky enough to be online when Orkula gathered a few luxers to go and take the Devil. As I hadn't seen the Devil before (and I needed the gold), I joined the group and we managed to kill two Devils before going back to Andruk to split the loot. The Devil is a hard sucker but a group of 9 took him down quite easily. The coordination needed to kill it is nothing espectacular but if each one doesn't do his part, I'm sure it can take a very long time. Despite that, I think the Devil needs a couple of unique and awesome skills so he can rock accordingly. The two hellfiends took us around 30 minutes and the reward was aprox. 35k gold plus some extras, including three maps, one of each, we haven't claimed yet. So, once again, grouping is the way to go!! I'm not completely poor anymore!
For now.
For now.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Toad's Tongue: ForumFall never changes...
The Fallout quote works really good with ForumFall and today I'm presenting a new chapter of said soapopera. Apparently, Get Good has joined The Chickens Club, an alliance founded by I Know My Chickes and Foggen, SG of zZzZz has started this thread to "discuss the epic nutcup alliance". If you read this blog from time to time, you'll know that I won't say a bad word against someone because he wants to ally with someone else. After all, that's what this game is about. Zagenda members don't like that and the thread goes on for 30 pages already and I gotta say it's pretty amazing, famous Ninogan declaring he's leaving Get Good included. My personal comment on this situation has already been explained by someone else, but I haven't found the post in a quick revisit so I can't say who did. The thing is that now, The Chickens Club has become even a greater force in Agon and that is a good thing.
According to Urme, Sun has joined Zagenda but I'm pretty sure that's the work of some useless and bored troll so I'm not taking that into account. So, now we got Zagenda, Sun, The Chickens Cub and Shadowlords as the four biggest alliances out there ("biggest" as overall, not only numbers) and I hope that 312-Alliance, Pandora and Lux Arcana can grow enough to take some of the pie from them. Having 7 big forces fighting for Agon supremacy would be awesome!! Much better that two or three, where stagnation is much easier to happen.
According to Urme, Sun has joined Zagenda but I'm pretty sure that's the work of some useless and bored troll so I'm not taking that into account. So, now we got Zagenda, Sun, The Chickens Cub and Shadowlords as the four biggest alliances out there ("biggest" as overall, not only numbers) and I hope that 312-Alliance, Pandora and Lux Arcana can grow enough to take some of the pie from them. Having 7 big forces fighting for Agon supremacy would be awesome!! Much better that two or three, where stagnation is much easier to happen.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Siege Report: Banagar / Eslingar 21-11-2010
Yesterday, we had a double siege! And we won it! In the beginning, I was in the Junk tasked with destroying the Siegestones around Eslingar and keeping the enemies occupied while our main force was doing something else. The first stone went down with no problem at all but 20 enemies (or so) came to defend the second siegestone. Despite the odds, we manage to survive, ship included, until the cavalry appeared. Then we took down the second stone and, thanks to some enemy cannon we looted, we destroyed the third and last Siegestone. Eslingar, our beloved colony, was saved and so, we all moved back to Andruk to go for the second part of the siege: Banagar. After some short and very low-fps battles, my group had to go back to Andruk, take some repair shards and tools, go back to Banagar and repair the bank to take out the cannons. Some explosions later, Banagar was ours!!! Unfortunately for me, my FPS are not good enough and yesterday, there was no time to try some new tweaks.
On the bright side, Maejohl finally announced The Protectorate of Lux Arcana, a kingdom style of holding managing that I've personally been waiting for some time now and that might bring some freshness to our gameplay. You can check the official announcemente here.
On the bright side, Maejohl finally announced The Protectorate of Lux Arcana, a kingdom style of holding managing that I've personally been waiting for some time now and that might bring some freshness to our gameplay. You can check the official announcemente here.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Dynamic Quests FTW!
In the latest post from Darkfall official blog, Laenih has uncovered a bit more the awaited Dynamic Quests. Apparently, dynamic quests will be given by NPCs and you'll have to do something depending on your race and probably other variables. The example given is about the Vargashi, a new addition to the Darkfall Lore. That race used to slave mahirims back in the day and so, while other races might help them in a certain quest, mahirim will attack them instead. It would be nice if an Alfar and a Mahirim can fight eachother while doing the same Quest from different sides.
As usual, Laenih teases us with upcoming Dynamic Quests and Dynamic Events and I sure hope we don't have to wait to long before we can see them. A dynamic world is just what Darkfall needs just as I said in my previous post about Starcraft 2. The world needs to change and those changes must affect players as they must be able to affect the world.
As usual, Laenih teases us with upcoming Dynamic Quests and Dynamic Events and I sure hope we don't have to wait to long before we can see them. A dynamic world is just what Darkfall needs just as I said in my previous post about Starcraft 2. The world needs to change and those changes must affect players as they must be able to affect the world.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
OT: Starcraft 2 Wings of Liberty
Recently, I've finished Starcraft 2 first campaign and I've enjoyed a lot but not as much as I expected. First of all, I only play RTS for their campaigns; I enjoy RTS gameplay but it's not my favourite and multiplayer RTS are not for me. I like stories and Warcraft 3 campaing was great, so I was hoping for some more of it. Unfortunately, Wings of Liberty doesn't deliver. Maybe the campaign is too long for its own sake or maybe their saving their best moments for the Protoss and Zerg campaign but it's not as good as it could be. The lack of heroe presence in the battlefield might have something to do aswell because you could get into Arthas skin very easily but it's hard to enter Reynor's.
Despite all that, Wings of Liberty is a nice and polished game with a very nice "campaing navigator" in the Hyperion and full of different misions. Actually, it's probably my fault, you know hype is very bad.
So, what could Darkfall do to improve it's storytelling? MMORPG narrative is a hard concept but I think its basis should be: Players can influence the state of the world and the state of the world does influence the player's experience. Darkfall already does that but not a lot. Hopefully that will change with more events. We shall see.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Siege Report: Quarendel 14-11-2010
Yesterday, Lux Arcana sieged Quarendel and won. Despite the big groups of roamers, something that is kinda becoming a trend lately, we had quite a big group to confront them and whipe Acheron, previous owners of Quarendel. Again, the amount of players in a small area made my FPS drop til 10 or less and that was not nice. I guess I'll have to start thinking again about buying a new CPU.
SirTL KYE from Acheron made a thread in fourms complaining about we, being a big clan, sieging them, being a small one. As Maejohl said, we sieged Quarendel because we wanted it. I have already talked about this nutcup nonsense and the usual cries about fair fights in a game that is not about them. I've particularly like the contributions of noizex who seems to think like me and writes with sense and calm.
After this siege, I've decided to look for some small scale PvP this week, we'll see how that goes.
SirTL KYE from Acheron made a thread in fourms complaining about we, being a big clan, sieging them, being a small one. As Maejohl said, we sieged Quarendel because we wanted it. I have already talked about this nutcup nonsense and the usual cries about fair fights in a game that is not about them. I've particularly like the contributions of noizex who seems to think like me and writes with sense and calm.
After this siege, I've decided to look for some small scale PvP this week, we'll see how that goes.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
A New Home
Lux Arcana has moved from the icy Frostbourne to the Andruk fortress. I haven't been around for long so I don't know the place so well. Nearby, there's Quarendel which I know better but I have never been around Andruk before so I don't know the mob spawns or anything else to be honest. I bet I still can get lost in the city. That's actually good news because getting to know the city is part of the fun of acquiring it.
This one was a trade but we had Zagenda visitors so it was not boring. I expect great things from this city, a lot of PvP among other things and for the time being, it seems it will deliver.
Unfortunately, I still have a lot of grinding to do before I can run into the heat of battle as I want to do and survive it, as I still don't do. I've survived the last battles, Velmuna siege and yesterday's trade, but only because I was very careful (two or three days ago I died three times in a row). That also meant nearly no action, only some long range combat, and it wasn't as fun as Darkfall's PvP can be. I guess I need to practice my position in the battlefield. Not too far, not too close. I also need to duel more to train my 1v1 rusty skills but I don't enjoy them much.
This one was a trade but we had Zagenda visitors so it was not boring. I expect great things from this city, a lot of PvP among other things and for the time being, it seems it will deliver.
Unfortunately, I still have a lot of grinding to do before I can run into the heat of battle as I want to do and survive it, as I still don't do. I've survived the last battles, Velmuna siege and yesterday's trade, but only because I was very careful (two or three days ago I died three times in a row). That also meant nearly no action, only some long range combat, and it wasn't as fun as Darkfall's PvP can be. I guess I need to practice my position in the battlefield. Not too far, not too close. I also need to duel more to train my 1v1 rusty skills but I don't enjoy them much.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Siege Report: Velmuna 7-11-2010
Yesterday, we had Wicked sieging Velmuna for some good fights. JohnB even made a declaration on the forums. As it should be, Lux Arcana officers took it very seriously and we had a very nice strategy for the siege. For starters, a very nice amount of luxers rode in a great Blue Tail Runner pack (as shown in the picture, not my best pic anyway) to the point where we would do battle. It was kinda far from the siegestone but cannons could still hit it thanks to some clever tagging from one group who was close to the siegestone. Meanwhile we only needed to defend a single bridge to stop the enemies to getting close to the cannons while another group was protecting them and the shooters. It all went down pretty fast.
As always, winning or losing a siege is a matter of several factors. The amount of people is one important factor but strategy is aswell and in this siege, we had a very good one. I was in the group protecting the cannons so I didn't get many action but my FPS was very low so it's ok. I hope Av improves game performance and I'm surely gonna buy a better processor as soon as I can.
More action incoming!
As always, winning or losing a siege is a matter of several factors. The amount of people is one important factor but strategy is aswell and in this siege, we had a very good one. I was in the group protecting the cannons so I didn't get many action but my FPS was very low so it's ok. I hope Av improves game performance and I'm surely gonna buy a better processor as soon as I can.
More action incoming!
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Toad's Tongue: So much anger
Right now or very soon there's a couple of sieges that have filled near 30 pages in two days. Those post are mainly written by Get Good, Zagenda and Sun members in a very unsettling fashion. In every competetitive game I've ever played there has been some name calling and swearing in its forums or ingame itself but I think I've never seen something like Eu1 Clan Discussion and, mind you, I played non-professional football in official leagues for 12 years and I thought I had seen everything.
These last days posts aren't specially worst than any other, threads like that are common on that sub-forum. Why there is so much hatred between opposed clans in this game? As they say, it's only pixels. Some little voice in my head tells me that all that anger is just a joke, that everybody is just trolling and enjoying it but, on the other side, it feels kinda real. When someone calls someone retard, it looks like he means it. There sure are people who just enjoy the dialectic e-brawl but I can't find any sense in that because one of the basic traits of ForumFall is that it barely matters what you say, it's always hard to have a decent, clean and interesting conversation. You need to sail through many rocks to find a nice place where you can have some precise stuff discussed. Those places exist, make no mistake, but they're rarely seen in Eu1 Clan Discussion.
One of the reasons behind me wanting more politics in the game also has something to do with this. Right now, wars are fought over some shittalk in forums and I just don't like it very much. Well, one can hope this will change over time and I'd really like to see heavier moderation.
Anyway, you don't need to read all the crap and most likely it won't affect your ingame time. I just wonder, you know?
These last days posts aren't specially worst than any other, threads like that are common on that sub-forum. Why there is so much hatred between opposed clans in this game? As they say, it's only pixels. Some little voice in my head tells me that all that anger is just a joke, that everybody is just trolling and enjoying it but, on the other side, it feels kinda real. When someone calls someone retard, it looks like he means it. There sure are people who just enjoy the dialectic e-brawl but I can't find any sense in that because one of the basic traits of ForumFall is that it barely matters what you say, it's always hard to have a decent, clean and interesting conversation. You need to sail through many rocks to find a nice place where you can have some precise stuff discussed. Those places exist, make no mistake, but they're rarely seen in Eu1 Clan Discussion.
One of the reasons behind me wanting more politics in the game also has something to do with this. Right now, wars are fought over some shittalk in forums and I just don't like it very much. Well, one can hope this will change over time and I'd really like to see heavier moderation.
Anyway, you don't need to read all the crap and most likely it won't affect your ingame time. I just wonder, you know?
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Trade Routes
Yesterday, five clanmates and me did the Fangwall Trade Route. Only Trung had done it before but it was a long time ago, so we decided to do it to check it out for ourselves. We spent 4k gold each, a total of 24k gold, and started riding with our runners towards Nekaria in the other side of Agon. It was a quiet journey, we only encountered a lonely player and were zapped once by a wilderness bank tower. When we arrived at Nekaria we were given 7k, so we got a 3k reward for a full hour riding! Bad, very bad, terribad.
Yes, ok, if you do the Trade Route several times, you have an increased chance to get some special object but come on, it's hard to be motivated to do it several times if you're only getting 3k gold. So, how can Aventurine improve the Trade Routes?
1- Increase the reward: this on is a no-brainer. Nearly nobody does the Trade Route because there's a lot of stuff you can do in one hour that will grant more money and be less risky than the Trade Route. It doesn't need a very big increase, just something to make it worth while. I'll probably would add more special rewards on top of the gold; some of the objects that only drop from Chaos Chests could be given randomly as a reward in the Trade Routes.
2- Instead of saying "so hastely", the NPC at the end point should tell you the exact time that took you to do the Route and that time should be recorded so you can try to break your own records. This is just a small thing but we all know how we like to improve our performance.
3- Make riding something funny and tactical. Mounts should have an stamina bar and the ability to high stamina consuming sprints. Also, the acceleration time is way too fast now and the turning speed should be variable depending on the mount speed. I've been playing Warband and Darkfall could take some sutff from that very good game, how to handle mount riding it's one of them.
The first point will encourage more players to do the Trade Routes and the other would make them very funny to do. I just hope Aventurine has not forget about them because leaving them as they are now is condemning them to oblivion.
Yes, ok, if you do the Trade Route several times, you have an increased chance to get some special object but come on, it's hard to be motivated to do it several times if you're only getting 3k gold. So, how can Aventurine improve the Trade Routes?
1- Increase the reward: this on is a no-brainer. Nearly nobody does the Trade Route because there's a lot of stuff you can do in one hour that will grant more money and be less risky than the Trade Route. It doesn't need a very big increase, just something to make it worth while. I'll probably would add more special rewards on top of the gold; some of the objects that only drop from Chaos Chests could be given randomly as a reward in the Trade Routes.
2- Instead of saying "so hastely", the NPC at the end point should tell you the exact time that took you to do the Route and that time should be recorded so you can try to break your own records. This is just a small thing but we all know how we like to improve our performance.
3- Make riding something funny and tactical. Mounts should have an stamina bar and the ability to high stamina consuming sprints. Also, the acceleration time is way too fast now and the turning speed should be variable depending on the mount speed. I've been playing Warband and Darkfall could take some sutff from that very good game, how to handle mount riding it's one of them.
The first point will encourage more players to do the Trade Routes and the other would make them very funny to do. I just hope Aventurine has not forget about them because leaving them as they are now is condemning them to oblivion.
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