Darkfall 2.0
Ok, so it's not really a new MMO, but it is a major patch that the developers hope will completely change Dark Fall and fix everything people didn't like about the original game.
First off if you don't know what made the original Darkfall game so great to some, let me explain. It's skill based, meaning that players do not have levels or classes like in most classic MMOs. Also it features full world pvp and the ability to loot the players you kill of their gear and items, like in minecraft kind of. Combat is also different, instead of classic wasd key movement then 1-= spells it's more like a fps shooter, where you move with wasd and then use mouse controlled functions to fight, that also control the camera, remember DC Universe online combat? The basic point of the game is for your clan to obtain territorial domiance over pre-made cities and villages. Your clan can declare war with another clan if you want to attack them, giving you realistic diplomacy control, and adding another level to the game. There is also non instanced player housing throughout the world, and the world itself is pretty large. The mobs are not many like in World of Warcraft and they do have better intelligence using real battle strategies and often calling for help or retreating. Which brings up another point of the game, to make combat as realistic as possible including having to use real war strategies and not just rushing in like battlegrounds in World of Warcraft. There are dungeons, like in most MMOs, but they are not instanced, as with many first gen MMOs such as everquest, however the entire game world is seamless so you will never see a loading screen, which is pretty cool in my opinion. Another cool thing is how armor affects how easily the enemy can see you, for example if you are trying to sneak into combat wearing plate armor, it won't work very well as it will reflect the sunlight and make clanking noises, however if you are wearing different armor and stick to the shadows it can be very effective as combat is in a first person view and it is up the a player's keen eye to spot you.
Well then what's so great about darkfall 2.0? Well I think it would be better just for me to show you myself, as I have never played the actual game and probably cannot stress or give input on how these changes will really affect the game play for the average player. So here we are!
Today, we’ll talk a bit about some of the changes that are already implemented. This is far from everything that’s going in to Darkfall 2.0, or what is changing. These are some of the points we’ll be giving more details on and discussing with you in the weeks to come. Thanks to Adam, Elias, and George P. for the information and Vagelis for putting it together.
These are just brief mentions on exciting and sweeping changes compared to the existing game. These changes, along with the ones we’re not talking about yet, are the products of years of experience with Darkfall, lessons learned, and thousands of pieces of feedback from the community. In the coming weeks we’ll present each of these points in depth, with specific information on the mechanics of each point.
As for our current activity, we’re fighting some bugs in the new siege system which are pushing our ETA back again. We’ll keep you posted on our progress with that.
- Character skill set customization and role selection through the implementation of Darkfall’s new armor system and through attribute boost via achievements: What armor you wear greatly affects which skills you can use effectively and it makes others ineffective. You’re highly specialized in one role making your character extremely efficient and effective in that role. The major attribute boost works exponentially to give your character access to special items and weapons setting him further apart from the hybrids. New skills are going to be added, and redundant ones will be removed from the game.
- Skill and attribute gains have changed considerably. If a new player focuses on a single role, he will excel at that role in a relatively short time frame through casual play. More options and more roles will become available to him. Players can use one specialization at a time however.
- Crafting System Overhaul: More customization options, visual cues as to what players are wielding as equipment rank is visually distinguishable. Increased importance of rare ores through infusion of other materials and closer correlation of ore rank and equipment rank. Gems are also a lot more important since they’ll be used in enchanting.
- There’s a great increase in player housing spots and a more meaningful connection between villages and player holdings.
- The world map has been completely changed. This isn’t simply about moving locations around, it’s about changing the geography of the world. Monster spawns have been redistributed so they are more relevant, and all NPC and player holdings have been completely redesigned.
- Combat dynamics are much more tactical now. Changes affect several skills like blocking and disabling blow, and introduce new mechanics such as momentum and crosshair wobble.
- Complete redesign of the magic schools and their physics with clearly defined roles to spells, opposing magic schools, ability to assume different roles in combination with the attribute boost system (damage dealer, healer etc.). The magic system is built to promote cooperation among players.
- Complete redesign of most dungeons. New dynamic elements such as traps, moving objects and one-way doors have been implemented.
- Changes to the grid of teleportation chambers. No chambers exist in player holdings anymore and they are strategically placed to enhance PvP tactics.
- More changes to the Alignment system: Lawful areas are limited to the immediate vicinity of racial capitals and surrounding NPC faction cities. There’s an increase in the lawful area protection with increased tower coverage.
- The incapacitation system (gank/decapitation/revive rules) is revised in order to improve player PvP and PvE experience.
- There have been adjustments to physics to achieve more realistic results.
- All item properties, numeric values, calculation formulas and the like are completely redone.
- We’ve introduced a new Graphical User Interface which includes both new visual elements and new functionality. It offers a streamlined experience to the players alleviating all shortcomings of the previous one.
- A new map tool with a lot of information added including vendor locations and items for sale.
- Serious improvements to the new player experience, including training quests on all basic aspects of the game.
- More changes to the new siege system we’ve already described.
- Redesigned monsters, monster families, monster abilities, and all loot tables redone from scratch.
- A new lighting system and new visual effects.
- New environmental audio system and many additions and replacements to existing sounds. New area based music.
- Changes in models, textures, animations and most visual aspects of the game.
These are just brief mentions on exciting and sweeping changes compared to the existing game. These changes, along with the ones we’re not talking about yet, are the products of years of experience with Darkfall, lessons learned, and thousands of pieces of feedback from the community. In the coming weeks we’ll present each of these points in depth, with specific information on the mechanics of each point.
As for our current activity, we’re fighting some bugs in the new siege system which are pushing our ETA back again. We’ll keep you posted on our progress with that.
Thank you for reading.
Guild Wars 2
Hopefully by now you have heard about this little master piece that NCSoft and Arena Net have been cooking up, but in case you actually do live under a rock here's some little information for you.
Obviously it's the up coming sequel to Guild Wars, but aside from the obvious what Guild Wars 2 hopes to pull off will certainly change the MMO forever, if done right. So what role do you want to play, DPS, Healer, or Tank? If you answered non of the above then Guild Wars 2 is for you! In fact Guild Wars 2 hopes to completely eliminate the classic trio of roles in almost every MMO ever made. They also hope to pull off another amazing feat, full environment interaction. "But wait Confucius World of Warcraft already has this!" No my dear friend you are wrong! In World of Warcraft you can sit down in a chair and that's about it, in Guild Wars 2, you can not only sit in that chair, but pick it up, and smash it in someone's face. But that's not all! It has realistic outcomes, for example after you hit someone with the chair, maybe the leg you were hold it from breaks off from the rest of the chair, now you have a leg you can use to bash the next guy coming at you and so on. This feature sounds amazingly awesome and should in fact be one of the coolest things ever done in an MMO, but once again only if they can get it right. Because really it would seem kind of lazy if you could interact with only chairs and rocks but not that big appeasing log over there. From what I have seen and heard so far Guild Wars 2 certainly does look very amazing and hopefully it will have jump! Of course I cannot do such a massive new gen MMO justice in this small teaser article, so please do check more out at guildwars2.com. Over the next few months we will defiantly begin to see some new major news and exciting things coming out about the game, and hopefully some beta invites! "Hey, wait, wait, wait, Confucius where is my well explained information about the game?" Right here: Guild Wars 2 - Guild Wars Wiki (GWW)
TERA
This MMO is only up and coming for the US and Europe, if you're in south korea then you're already enjoying the game, if you're not then you're going to have to wait until 2012 to play it!
TERA, which stands for The Exiled Realm of Arborea features yet another different combat system, akin to console combat, where the player attacks other players with crosshairs and there is no auto attack, however there are special moves. It is up to the player to dodge attacks and the combat is fast paced and intense. Despite targeting enemies with crosshairs, the game is in fact in third person view. It also offers quests and crafting just like pretty much every other MMO. You can use your standard keyboard or mouse to play this game or you can use your xbox 360 controller instead. Just like in DC Universe online, however I am not aware of any plans for this game to go console as well as pc. There really isn't much to say about this MMO, other than you can watch out for it in 2012 and if it sounds interesting to you, it's probably worth buying because some of NCSoft's top devs are also working on this game. Since I'm not giving tons of info on this game here is a bit of lore for you fans out there!
Titan
TERA, which stands for The Exiled Realm of Arborea features yet another different combat system, akin to console combat, where the player attacks other players with crosshairs and there is no auto attack, however there are special moves. It is up to the player to dodge attacks and the combat is fast paced and intense. Despite targeting enemies with crosshairs, the game is in fact in third person view. It also offers quests and crafting just like pretty much every other MMO. You can use your standard keyboard or mouse to play this game or you can use your xbox 360 controller instead. Just like in DC Universe online, however I am not aware of any plans for this game to go console as well as pc. There really isn't much to say about this MMO, other than you can watch out for it in 2012 and if it sounds interesting to you, it's probably worth buying because some of NCSoft's top devs are also working on this game. Since I'm not giving tons of info on this game here is a bit of lore for you fans out there!
About a millennia ago two omnipotent titans Arun and Shara entered into formless voids and for reasons we can only guess, fell asleep. The titans started to dream. Dream of a world that took form on their backs known as Tera. The first beings to call Tera home were twelve godlike beings dreamt up by the titans, but it wasn’t long before the gods started fighting. As the dream continued new creatures took place called mortals, they were less powerful but far more numerous. Arun dreamed of ambitious Elves, clever Humans, honor bound Amani, powerful Giants, scheming Devas, and mischievous Poporis. Shara dreamed of sly Sikandari, dark Gulas and Vampirs, fierce Wendigos, strange Faeries, and serpentine Nagas. The mortals were forced into the divine wars of the gods, which eventually left the gods dead, imprisoned, or otherwise diminished. The mortal races didn’t escape unscathed. Some—like the Sikandari, and most of the Giants—were wiped out but others rose from the wars such as the Barakas and Castanics. Now that the gods were gone the seven races; Amani, Barakas, Castanics, Elin, High Elves, Humans, and Poporis must band together to fend off a new enemy. A metallic race from the underworld called Argons; their goal is to take over Tera and wake the titans to end their dreams and destroy Tera.
Titan
Not much is known about Titan, other than it is Blizzard new MMO that is being worked on by some of the senior devs of World of Warcraft, and by senior devs we mean the amazing epicly guys who made World of Warcraft what it was back in the day.
"So Confucius why are you including Titan? Are you just too lazy to go find another MMO to write about?" No, that's not it, it's because Titan is being made by Blizzard. That itself is reason enough to include it in this article, and Blizzard also claims it will be a new gen MMO, and when it's Blizzard saying this it could really have some big inclinations. Given the slow decline of World of Warcraft, Titan may in fact kill Blizzard's unkillable, if it is what it claims to be. We know nothing of Titan at the moment other than the fact that it is going to have a completely new story and will not have any relationship to any other Blizzard game. Also Blizzard has stated that this game will be geared towards casual players, leaving the possibility that WoW will not completely die as the elitist may prefer to stay there inside their evil little homes. Sorry for such the short write on Titan, but that is really all we know at the moment. Just be watching out for it in the next few years, maybe we'll be shocked at what we see, and hopefully in a good way.
Star Wars the Old Republic
More hype?! Yes! I'm sorry but I just couldn't resist my little hipster friend.
Pretty much everyone who hasn't been inside a rock all their life knows what Star Wars the Old Republic by now, and probably don't want to be bored by yet another summary of the game, so I'll try to be brief. Star Wars the Old Republic is being produced by Bioware and EA games as a brand new MMO based on the old republic era of Star Wars, duh. Bioware says it will set the game apart because of the emphasis on story, which hopefully it will. Players will be able to play as empire or republic and can be a many of the notable professions seen in star wars cannon, such as a jedi knight, sith warrior, bounty hunter, smuggler and more. This is Bioware's first step into the MMO world from the RPG world and that is a very big step, so hopefully they will pull through as they almost always some how seem to do.
Ok enough with the summary and stuff lets get into some details. Star Wars the Old Republic is available for pre-order now at many major retailers. And EA says as the game release draws closer they will begin starting more beta testing weekends, so your chance of getting picked for the sacred test is drawing closer. The hype of Star Wars the Old Republic is very high due to three reasons, one it's bioware, two it's star wars, three the combination of the previous two makes the game appeal to long time gamers and just star wars fans in general, and so there is a massive amount of possible costumers for ea to draw from. Many people who have not yet played it are sure it's the all sought after World of Warcraft killer, but those who have beta tested it are not so sure, and lets be frank, the claim has been made many times before.
However even if it doesn't kill World of Warcraft, it is still a great game to watch and one that many people will surely get some fun out of, let's hope bioware just doesn't mess up like sony did with star wars galaxies, we star wars fans get angry when people don't listen to us. Anyways we can expect a release date soon, as Bioware said they are still aiming for a 2011 release date, which may also explain World of Warcraft upping it's game to avoid losing all their players lately, which says a lot if Blizzard is afraid of this game. Whether you love to hate it or hate to love it or love it all the same Star Wars the Old Republic certainly is a big MMO contender and we can expect, hopefully, great things soon.
I hope you enjoyed reading about these up coming MMOs, please do also discuss any other up coming ones that you are excited about, and if you are excited about the ones above please do post some comments as to why, your opinions are always welcomed. As always I hope you enjoyed the read and maybe learned something (not likely). Remember, have a nice day.
Pretty much everyone who hasn't been inside a rock all their life knows what Star Wars the Old Republic by now, and probably don't want to be bored by yet another summary of the game, so I'll try to be brief. Star Wars the Old Republic is being produced by Bioware and EA games as a brand new MMO based on the old republic era of Star Wars, duh. Bioware says it will set the game apart because of the emphasis on story, which hopefully it will. Players will be able to play as empire or republic and can be a many of the notable professions seen in star wars cannon, such as a jedi knight, sith warrior, bounty hunter, smuggler and more. This is Bioware's first step into the MMO world from the RPG world and that is a very big step, so hopefully they will pull through as they almost always some how seem to do.
Ok enough with the summary and stuff lets get into some details. Star Wars the Old Republic is available for pre-order now at many major retailers. And EA says as the game release draws closer they will begin starting more beta testing weekends, so your chance of getting picked for the sacred test is drawing closer. The hype of Star Wars the Old Republic is very high due to three reasons, one it's bioware, two it's star wars, three the combination of the previous two makes the game appeal to long time gamers and just star wars fans in general, and so there is a massive amount of possible costumers for ea to draw from. Many people who have not yet played it are sure it's the all sought after World of Warcraft killer, but those who have beta tested it are not so sure, and lets be frank, the claim has been made many times before.
However even if it doesn't kill World of Warcraft, it is still a great game to watch and one that many people will surely get some fun out of, let's hope bioware just doesn't mess up like sony did with star wars galaxies, we star wars fans get angry when people don't listen to us. Anyways we can expect a release date soon, as Bioware said they are still aiming for a 2011 release date, which may also explain World of Warcraft upping it's game to avoid losing all their players lately, which says a lot if Blizzard is afraid of this game. Whether you love to hate it or hate to love it or love it all the same Star Wars the Old Republic certainly is a big MMO contender and we can expect, hopefully, great things soon.
I hope you enjoyed reading about these up coming MMOs, please do also discuss any other up coming ones that you are excited about, and if you are excited about the ones above please do post some comments as to why, your opinions are always welcomed. As always I hope you enjoyed the read and maybe learned something (not likely). Remember, have a nice day.
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