Darkfall and Roleplaying

[Resfelm]

This thread (http://forums.darkfallonline.com/showthread.php?t=214646) caught our eye today and we thought it would be a good idea to grant Rigan Pere's wish and shine the spotlight on it.

It seems that these days quite a few, if not most people, tend to forget or not care that three of the letters that make up the MMORPG abbreviation stand for Role Playing Game.

Darkfall, due to it's sandbox gameplay and open world is seen by some as an ideal game to bring back the old MMORPG feel where people would roleplay more often than use “LOL” and “OMG” as responses to 80% of their gaming experiences. Still there is room for improvement and we have seen role players wish for more features and mechanics, be it in game or out of game, to help enhance their gaming experience.

Let's hear it then, what would you like to see implemented, either in game or out, that you think would promote roleplaying? Do you absolutely hate roleplaying and think it would not fit in Darkfall? With the possibility of GM run events in the future, would you like those to have a role playing flavor? Give us your why's and why not's by posting below.

[Drefarion]

New chat system.

Really.

Make public chat appear as chat bubbles that are only visible to the persons right next to you or so.

Everyone is using vent anyway, so this won't damage pvp at all.

[Leg enD]

not big on rp but it can be ok to have it around.

left click on target (wepon sheathed) to open a chat tab for that player would be nice.

[Preparation H]

Lore
Trading and Economy
Local Banking
Regional Resources
Events
Better chat interface

Did I mention lore?

[miyagisan]

chat bubbles...

[Captain Kirk]

Floating text above the head when you speak would be a very good start. Imagine being able to talk to the person you are about to gank. I think both Rpers and normal players would like it since communications would be so much easier and better!

Floating text above the head or chat bubbles would make me do some RP from time to time like ive done in all other mmo's ive played. Come to think of it Darkfall is the only Mmo ive ever played that i havent done any RP in.... simply because the chat system is very unpersonal and basic!

Just the feeling that you are looking at the person talking is enough to give RP a kickstart in Darkfall i think! :rolleyes:

[Dragoon]

I never understood why floating chat bubbles were so important when people were complaining about it pre-launch and then I realized that the people advocating for it were all role-players.

Personally I don't care. If it's possible and easy to implement then give it to the role-players, it wont hurt the rest of us one bit. I think a bigger problem for the role-players are the lack of lore and non-combat activities to do in this game.

[Kezef]

I think it would require a whole new server for roleplaying only, that would atleast get me back to playing the game again.

[vorhelt]

I think chat bubbles would help alot on RP and communications in all.

I hate when i sometimes stand in front of a player i have to type /tell playername andLongLastName is irritating. Before i get to write annything the player is gone or the event i was about to talk about dosent matter annymore.

Would be nice if you very quickly could get attention - other than making damage - from a player in front of you.

[gtanner]

Chat bubbles would be useful for interaction with players in general not just for RP, toggle on/off... simple.

[Fall]

ARAC clans pretty much destroyed the lore...

[Answer]

Floating text above your head. I've made a suggestion about this before.

-Public chat box text could appear above your head for anyone in the near area to see.

-Party/Clan chat box text could appear above your head in a different color for the respective people to see.

Naturally there would be an option to turn them on/off in the options menu for those who don't want to be bothered by it while in towns, etc. They could still read the chat boxes just as we do now.

---------

Without going into too much detail I will say that this will do WONDERS for roleplaying, politics and just communication in general. How many times have you killed a guy only to have him contact you moments later and you realize "Hey, he was pretty cool.. I probably wouldn't have killed him had there been a convenient way to talk before we fought."

I've even had people beg in public chat pleading for their life as we chased them down, but in the heat of combat you aren't really paying attention to a glowing chat header.

I think public meeting places like all of the city taverns and halls would become populated if people had a way to communicate with each other instead of everything acting like a deaf/mute in game. Wouldn't that be awesome if you actually strolled up to the bar and saw a bunch of guys talking about what dungeon they were going to, and then you could set up an ambush or even offer your services as protection -- it'd be awesome and promote activity.

Some of us who play would like to give other players details on why we're going to kill them, or offer them an "out" if they want us to spare their lives. It would make the game experience 10 times better than the current free-for-all kill first, ask questions later style we have currently.

Please, please, please add floating text to this game. There's no real reason against it. The developers said it wasn't put in because it'd ruin the immersion of sneaking around in the environment. IF YOU'RE SNEAKING THEN WHY WOULD YOU BE TALKING. Also, in my defense, air guitar does wonders for immersion. ;)

[Captain Kirk]

Just to add some stuff i forgot to mention in my earlier post:

You should be able to turn of chat bubbles in chat menu and only the stuff said in Public should be displayed in a bubble. Dont want that whisper/clan/party crap that other games have it just gets annoying. Most of the time you are not close to the people you talk to in clan and if you use the chat anyone should be able to read it!

The locations and emote's are good enough for now, Just need the bubbles imo. AV can do this in an hour and then go back to fix the rest of the stuff that need fixing in DF :rolleyes:

[boxfetish]

Personally I don't care. If it's possible and easy to implement then give it to the role-players, it wont hurt the rest of us one bit. I think a bigger problem for the role-players are the lack of lore and non-combat activities to do in this game.

Expanding on the above:

Require crafting/gathering specializations in order to gather the highest quality resources and craft the best items in the game. Make it so these specializations give combat disadvantages so one player can't maximize their ability to gather/craft and PvP at the same time.

A real, complicated, detailed trade and merchant system. Full local banking and a comprehensive player vendor, trade, and caravan system to facilitate this. Once this is in place, begin offering specializations with an explorer or merchant bent (which again will require tradeoffs in the PvP area).

Legitimize and expand the game's existing "lore" by enforcing the racial dynamics. Either disallow or implement severe penalties for ARAC clans. In this same vein, implement more resources or items or skills that differentiate the races and the regions they occupy.

Once these are in place many types of players which are currently missing from this game with come back or sign up and the "role" playing will take care of itself because there will actually be distinct roles to play.

[Nero]

Chat bubbles would help, but they won't magically attract RPers. RPers like fully-fleshed out worlds where they can immerse themselves as individuals.

Darkfall consists of a world where everyone does nothing but fight one-another for no reason, and everyone is an identical uber-mage/warrior. Hopefully that'll be fixed in time, as more character customisation, economy and PvE mechanics are added. Until that day...

[bmfof]

As pointed out: chat bubbles, ability to whisper or shout within them, as well as word commands for some of the actions in the game ("bank" opens bank, etc.). More emotes for characters, usable furniture, table games like dice, poker, and so on. Usable training stations like dummies for melee, ranges for archery, ones that actually give some skill up to a small level.
More clothes (and more party hats, plx), as well as dyes for clothing and armour. More "prop" items that characters can hold like mugs, wands, books, maps, scrolls, and even crafting tools (hammers, saws, etc.).
More wildlife into the world, hostile as well as peacefull - deers, wildcats, mooses, hell, you can even put seals on Nifleheim.
Ability to bring up a camp in the wilderness, which gives you faster regeneration, and lets you cook food on it.
Skills like forensics that can tell you who looted something, and give you his direction. Lockpicking that increases your chance to get a shiny item from chests, or lets you brake into otherwise unreachable pleaces. Burried tresures in the world, that require a map, a skill to find them, as well as a skill to dig them up.
Alchohol consumables that affect your stats when you drink them. Beds you can sleep off the effects in.

And shitloads of stuff I'm to lazy to write about.

And a fucking skill cap!

[melipone]

Lore
Trading and Economy
Local Banking
Regional Resources
Events
Better chat interface

Did I mention lore?

This and wildlife, and meaningful player roles, by either specialisation or some risk vs reward based incentives. Local banking would give us that straight away (some would pk caravans, some defend them, some hunt pkers etc). Ambient sound. Get rid of the bars that fill your screen when you craft or gather. Stop all the spam on my screen about war decs etc. Chat bubbles

[retek]

ARAC clans pretty much destroyed the lore...
No, ARAC clans is a form of freedom: you cam be a betrayer if you like..
Some clans are not-arac (Elentar clan is a great example), and they are *the* rp source for darkfall.


*The* problem is the align system: it is too simple, it have no sense at end, and it is easily exploitable by farming/killing/ganking afkers in player city or chaos bindstone...

The suggestion forum if full of genial idea about revamp/rewrite it.

[ninogan]

I have played every major (and minor) mmorpg out there and Darkfall is probably the worst game for RP'ers out there.

Seriously.

New chat system

Better emote system (just look at other games for emotes if you need to gather inspiration)

The ability to actually be able to sit down on chairs, benches.

You have a lot of scenery everywhere. How about making the interior of some of the houses out there a little different instead of pretty much the same everywhere.

Larger houses in the cities that you can actually enter. Most houses that you can enter are small and pretty claustrofobic. The human keeps are pretty decently designed and they have long tables and benches where people could sit down.

The ability for players to open up personal shops that they can use to sell their items they have crafted.

There are a ton of other things that people have already mentioned. It's not hard to just take a look at what other mmo's have done before and what was popular. Most of those things would work well in DFO as well.

[blob]

I didnt play UO and SWG but from lots of riding on forums everyone say they are ultimate sandbox and lots of things to do games.it wold be nice someone to make a list of things what they dont have in darkfall and what they miss the most.

must agree chat floating txt will help whit turn on/off feature in menu.

I wold love to see for exemple big diference between player vendor (small player shop limited somehow) and merchant title whit his big shop in town ( like can sell large amounts of goods at ones, or have special caravan features )

will think of more ideas , we need more so called sand box tools in this game to play whit.

[w0rm]

ARAC clans pretty much destroyed the lore...

this.

Make ARAC clans perma-grey.

[doma]

Furniture interaction and gambling/minigames.

I remember how I loved the tavern in Moonstone, something like that would rock.

[Maurizio]

Add a big chess board in a few different places on the map, somewhat like how the ruins are placed... This way RPers can play battle chess..

I used to play that often in UO, and to be honest I was never a RPer, I was always invited to join one of the teams because i was a good PVPer, and battle chess is RP PVP. Can be fun if implemented the right way.

Oh also, for more RP, allow 1 co owner slot per house. And please fix the amount of friends you can have bound. 1 at a time is a pain in the ass.

And a very important one. Vendor merchants. Let the deeds drop from chaos chests and neithal chests and above. This way they will be worth something and can be placed anywhere. Please dont let there be restrictions on where to place. If you allow them to be placed anywhere, then you may be able to open up future ideas to do things with villages, as perhaps one village may become a hot spot Vendor mall.

UO had such great Ideas.

[coder1024]

the problem with role playing is the people that have this very narrowly defined view of what it is and isn't (usually their view of roleplaying is all about what you can and can't say), when in fact it can be a very broad thing. imo roleplaying is simply playing a role and putting yourself in that role. its not about not saying "LOL" for example.

[stingerII]

New chat system.

Really.

Make public chat appear as chat bubbles that are only visible to the persons right next to you or so.

Everyone is using vent anyway, so this won't damage pvp at all.

This! There must be a visible and easy way to communicate with ppl in ur direct proximity. Unless players realise you're trying to communicate they will most likely approach in hostile stance.

Chat bubbles also add the element that u can tell the direction of sound through sight. Which I think would be cool

Another thing that would help is more emotes

Personally I don't care. If it's possible and easy to implement then give it to the role-players, it wont hurt the rest of us one bit. I think a bigger problem for the role-players are the lack of lore and non-combat activities to do in this game.

As Dragoon says, chat bubbles won't affect non-RPers since they mostly communicate solely through vent or ca neway.

He also mentions non-combat activities. I can't stress enough how important it is for a sandbox RPG to offer this. To be more precise non-combat group activities

ARAC clans pretty much destroyed the lore...

ARAC clans should never have been allowed to happen w/o the proper drawbacks.
I would have wanted this suggestion implemented to fix that: http://forums.darkfallonline.com/showthread.php?t=206647&highlight=alignment


I think it would require a whole new server for roleplaying only, that would atleast get me back to playing the game again.

I disagree. I don't believe roleplayers alone would be enough to populate a map as big as Darkfall's. And currently I doubt there are enough players to populate a 3rd server sufficiently anyway, RP or otherwise

[Corpsepoker]

Eh, I'm not really feeling the chat bubbles. Never use them anyway.

[Corpsepoker]

the problem with role playing is the people that have this very narrowly defined view of what it is and isn't (usually their view of roleplaying is all about what you can and can't say), when in fact it can be a very broad thing. imo roleplaying is simply playing a role and putting yourself in that role. its not about not saying "LOL" for example.


Yes. :rolleyes:

[Corizo]

A simple "around chat" (20-30m) would be a great start :D

[NinjaOptix]

Im not a role player and i wouldnt like chat bubbles in darkfall because it would make it imo more comic like, which i dislike very much.

But i think it would help the role players alot and to make it fair i suggest an option where u can turn off the chat bubbles in the options menu and only get the text displayed in the usual public chat tab.

[NightsSentinel]

Personally I think Darkfall is actually a decent game for RP, the lore is inadvertently enforced to some extent as the alignment creates a racial hatred aka "racism." However there could be some definate improvements, especially where ARAC is concerned. Darkfall has an insane potential and the RP aspect really depends on it's players.

In my own opinion RP type events could help an amazing amount, player created with perhaps some support from the server team could be sweet. I really would like to set up a few of these, perhaps arranged fights, naval action, racial battles etc perhaps with some GM help/supervision. GM interaction could sky-rocket the amount of depth to this game; imagine a GM summoning an ARMY of brownies to overrun a city for an entire hour or day, that would be hilarious and quite involving imo. I never got into RPing in any other game but I really wanted to try it out in Darkfall, if the game world would connect a bit more to the lore world it would be heading towards its full potential.

A large issue with the game as I see it is the general playerbase has evolved to become cut throat and paranoid, this somewhat hurts the environment while maintaining that Darkfall is a land full of evils, evils most every player has been privy to at one time or another. A larger, more "innocent" player base would really help, I long for the day that I can actually see the world of Darkfall as being "populated." As it is now you have clusters of players never leaving cities except to attack other cities/races/players it seems.

[Vor'Dus[DiE]]

New chat system.

Really.

Make public chat appear as chat bubbles that are only visible to the persons right next to you or so.

Everyone is using vent anyway, so this won't damage pvp at all.

Agreed 100%.

I actually love RP, but the problem is that I can only have 1 char on each account really. So I choose a PvP guild over RP, but my second char would be an RP , no doubt about it.

[edaw22]

Floating text above your head. I've made a suggestion about this before.

-Public chat box text could appear above your head for anyone in the near area to see.

-Party/Clan chat box text could appear above your head in a different color for the respective people to see.

Naturally there would be an option to turn them on/off in the options menu for those who don't want to be bothered by it while in towns, etc. They could still read the chat boxes just as we do now.

---------

Without going into too much detail I will say that this will do WONDERS for roleplaying, politics and just communication in general. How many times have you killed a guy only to have him contact you moments later and you realize "Hey, he was pretty cool.. I probably wouldn't have killed him had there been a convenient way to talk before we fought."

I've even had people beg in public chat pleading for their life as we chased them down, but in the heat of combat you aren't really paying attention to a glowing chat header.

I think public meeting places like all of the city taverns and halls would become populated if people had a way to communicate with each other instead of everything acting like a deaf/mute in game. Wouldn't that be awesome if you actually strolled up to the bar and saw a bunch of guys talking about what dungeon they were going to, and then you could set up an ambush or even offer your services as protection -- it'd be awesome and promote activity.

Some of us who play would like to give other players details on why we're going to kill them, or offer them an "out" if they want us to spare their lives. It would make the game experience 10 times better than the current free-for-all kill first, ask questions later style we have currently.

Please, please, please add floating text to this game. There's no real reason against it. The developers said it wasn't put in because it'd ruin the immersion of sneaking around in the environment. IF YOU'RE SNEAKING THEN WHY WOULD YOU BE TALKING. Also, in my defense, air guitar does wonders for immersion. ;)

THIS^ THIS^ and for heavens sake THIS^

[Sayton]

I think DF needs:

- Local chat that has a shorter radius than public chat.
- Floating text above you when you talk in local chat (chat bubbles, without the bubble. Like in UO.)
- More ways to customize your appearance. Capes, sashes, kilts, whatever.
- Clan logos and tabards.
- Something to be done about ARAC clans. As things are nobody has any incentive to follow the lore.
- Something to be done to make life as "red" a lot harder.

edit:
- Being able to loot the heads from players after a decapitation.
- Quiver should appear on your back when you have arrows in the arrow slot.
- Customizable clan rank system.
- The maker should be able to name ships and warhulks.
- You should be able to sit down on chairs.

[Valroth]

Roleplaying has a few different definitions. Everyone takes on some kind of role when they play Darkfall, so we are all roleplayers really. Then you have those people who will go above and beyond in order to act out a very specific role and create an online persona completely different from their own. That is literally just acting, which gets old and is normally very lame and transparent. Those kind of roleplayers really don't have a place in Darkfall and I can't help but scoff at them for being retarded.

On the other hand, if the game is not immersive or beleivable enough then it feels like just a bunch of guys playing an online game, and thats no fun either. Right now to be honest Darkfall feels a little like this. There is a lot that could be done to give the game world a lot more flavor and be more immersive. The very first thing I suggested when I started playing beta was chat bubbles and it has been suggested here several times already. Entering a city full of players feels like walking into a mute's convention. The chat windows are seperate from the game screen so you don't automatically make a mental connection between the words someone says in puplic or PM and their character on screen. Making that connection is important and its something that older games like UO still have over Darkfall. Ventrilo obviously trumps ingame chat, but that only works for close friends and people in your own clan or alliance. The only way to foster a good ingame community is with a solid communication system.

[tenford]

events would be cool, could be linked with pvp some kind of tournament etc, i agree with everyone saying chat bubbles, also i think taverns would be good in this game, could have all weapons unsheathed in their except fists!

[Darkwish]

If they are gona put chat bubles in, it has to have an option to close it =)

[blob]

must agree that lore is killed by arac clans and that something must be done to promote race wars and arac clans to have some penaltys. quick idea.

every clan must poclaim self as

1. orc /mahrim
2. dwarf/human/elf
3. alfar

so if clan is orc/mahrim and they wanna take alfar as clan memeber for his racial abilityes or good skill what ever every clan memeber takes -1 int from main stats. if they want 2 alfars its -2 int. alfar takes -5 or 10 str joining non race clan as orc/mahrim at start. If its dwarf joining than dex is the skill we play whit depends on what type of clan he joins he takes panaltys ( like int for alfars)

[melipone]

There should also be more NPC's besides the trainers wandering around in cities and the wilderness. City guards rather than the guard towers. More neutral or Chaos cities dotted around too that aren't just in the starting areas would help move the population around and maybe stop people just camping in their player city, or give people are reason not to be red.

Also think the gameworld could be shrunk quite a bit in order to get people closer together. I want to see plenty of players when I play online games when I wander around, and not just my clan mates or allies bound nearby

[Teilean]

-Dyes, this would work great for rp and for general purposes.
-Cloaks, Capes, you know the rest
-Chat Bubbles, alot of good points above.

Also if there would be a ARAC penalty I'd like to suggest a race change option, As I see it now 90% of all the RP guilds(at least the good ones it seems) are Human,Dwarf,Elf and me being a Mahirim and all don't think they would see fit to let me in to there social club. In general thou in the future with Racial ability's, a race change option might be nice considering alot of people chose Mahirim for the Four legged run.

[melipone]

Just to add to that "shrinking the world" bit, there could be an event that starts a story, like a volcano erupts or theres an earthquake or some ancient god comes and destroys half the world..as the population grows there could be events to restore the world size

[Phalanx]

Above all else, overhead text while you speak in public chat.

[Jyrkoon]

Yes for roleplay, stop the trend that all Clan/Allys ARRAC, change chatsystem > chat bubbles are fine


MfG Jyrkoon

[PediPhiler]

ARACs are the number limit to role play. It's an easy fix, as others have said a million times. Make the members of ARACs perma red/gray. You also need an advantage to being in a racial clan. Add a simple guild buff to people that meet the lore requirements. Lastly, put a magic rock in everyone's bank that can change their race (one time use), so everyone can have a clan vote then be the proper race with out losing their current guild/friends.

How about being able to set what races/guilds/alignments can't use your vendors and banks?

[samureyed]

- Clothing / Armor Dyes
- More Clothes (capes, hats, tabards, dresses, skirts, glasses)
- Player Vendors
- Merchant / Crafting specializations
- Revised chat system
- More emotes!!
- Benefits of ARAC clans
- Racial Abilities
- Game Fluff (wilderness, alcohol, board games, sit/lie down, camping)
- Add more "treasures" to the game to promote exploration. More use of this amazing map you have all created!

Also the one good part of LOTRO were the musical instruments. I would LOVE to see a system in place that tops them. If we could somehow have instruments that could actually be used to create music or apply .midi tracks to them it would be so cool. Imagine having 30 guys marching to a siege playing battle songs haha. :D

[dosengan]

ability to change ure race that way we can get away from the arac clan thingy =) "changing race would cost u 500 gold"

chat bubbles with an option to turn them off dont rlly wanna get spammed with chat stuff during sieges/pvp

more emotions! =) i love stuff like /air_guitar and /taunt_04 :P

and maybe DYE's to our armors id love to see a huge army fully collored in RED or BLUE =)

flags that we can carry around

[coder1024]

the problem with role playing is the people that have this very narrowly defined view of what it is and isn't (usually their view of roleplaying is all about what you can and can't say), when in fact it can be a very broad thing. imo roleplaying is simply playing a role and putting yourself in that role. its not about not saying "LOL" for example.
Yes. :rolleyes:
well, you might think that's obvious, but "LOL" was mentioned in the OP and believe it or not there are tons of people that have that view of RP.

You surely can't laugh out loud if you're roleplaying :)

[Slaker]

I don't really care about RP but I think it could help the game in many ways.

[Azraine]

ARAC clans pretty much destroyed the lore...

this, more systems in place for race only, and racial alliance clans. By systems i mean something that will entice players to choose race only clans over the zerg of using everybody. No one sticks to the race hates, and that hurts rp alot.

[foggen]

Still want my pink teddybears and teletubbiesuits so I can make perfect stratetgic formations.

[Andre1337]

Darkfall need :

1 Server for more people not 2 server
2 More Cheating protection and stop the Exploiting people
3 Guildemblem on cloaks

[Rigan Pere]

Woop woop, nice spotlight :p

Really do just want to see floating txt above players, sure an animation to sit on a chair/bench and other animations would be good but the floating txt would be a great start.

[Sarphus]

WAIT A MINUTE!

Are you telling me that RPG doesn't stand for random player griefing?

holy crap, I'm doing it wrong.

[ZtyX]

Roleplaying in Darkfall takes a lot of effort because you are not safe in Darkfall. You have to be safe to spend 1-2 minutes typing something.

Runescape GMs can mute people permanently if they break the rules too many times. So the developers made a talking system where you could select different dialogue options like: "yes" "no" "thank you" "Attack now!" and others for those muted players to use. They even made a few servers where you could only speak with this type of text.

Battlefield 2 has an option where you can press "Q" and you get an array of speaking options like "Enemy spotted" "medic" "bail out" "jump in" etc. Team leaders get more options like "attack that position" - and the place the teamleader looks at will become a new waypoint.

The way to improve roleplaying in Darkfall is to make it possible to do on the fly. You could incorporate this for the sake of roleplaying and for the sake of those players who don't have a microphone.

In counter-strike you also have commands like that and they work wonders for those not using a mic or not knowing english very well.

You could make the following:


Q: Simple Combat communication
E: Teamleader Combat communication
Y: Roleplaying Things to say


To add extra flavour to this Roleplaying Communication window of things a character could say you could allow players to customize that window with their own text. So while a person is in town he could spend time writing down whatever he wants beforehand. Then when he encounters enemy scumbags dead or alive he can release his pre-made taunts and comments.

The Teamleader Comm and the Simple Combat Comm should transmit in voice (recorded in your studio by a voice guy) to all group members and perhaps be heard by all players in a radius of 40m.
It should also be toggleable so that group members who dont want to listen to it can turn it off. (it is on by default).

There are obviously things you can do to make this comm system more advanced. You could allow the teamleader to set a waypoint by the click of a button in the direction his crosshair meets solid objects. You could allow for more options and commands by making a line of the boxes at the side of the comm window open up a new and more advanced window with more options.
- This could for example include names of teammates in your group. So you could issue a command to put heals on a certain member.
- And while I remember make sure to make a voice comm button called READ PARTY CHAT. Because I dont have my chat window enabled as it creates lag, so whenever my members without microphone communicate I keep missing what they say.
- The simple combat comm should have the world corners in it. Where an enemy is spotted and such. Perhaps you could even introduce a battlefield 2 like system where you can press Q and then left click ur mouse button. If there is a player in that area he would be identified. In Darkfall he would not be identified, but there would be an orange waypoint at where the teammate had his crosshair. So if he places it next to an enemy player it will immediately tell his teammates where it is he saw the enemy last.


I know you would be faster if u had a microphone and if you are dieing you probably won't use this. So how is it any good? Well, lots of action games where you die in seconds have it. Counter strike, battlefield 2, call of duty. So why not Darkfall?

And as for roleplaying. .. Well, I dont have to say more about it. Crafting your little tales in town and then unleashing them in a chat bubble or in simple public chat could be a great start.

[Tren]

Chat bubbles, though don’t use the classic opaque white bubble with black text have It grey and transparent with white text maybe? Or better yet give us a few customisable options for how they look or if you even see them at tall.

More fluff...

More Items to wear e.g. hats, tabards and or dyeable armour

Books that we can write in and place in a bookshelf for anyone to read.

Being able to sit down on a chair at a table

Wildlife to roam the wilderness.

Give the herbalisam and fishing skills some love
(making separate plants for each herb would be great)

More container types maybe a wooden box or chest type.

More buildings/houses places to meet Taverns, Shops, Town halls, etc.

[Aristos]

Wandering NPC's, more NPC's in cities, the ability to sit down in chairs, lie down in beds, etc. Bars at cities that serve beer and other beverages/food.

[Sarphus]

This thread (http://forums.darkfallonline.com/showthread.php?t=214646) caught our eye today and we thought it would be a good idea to grant Rigan Pere's wish and shine the spotlight on it.

It seems that these days quite a few, if not most people, tend to forget or not care that three of the letters that make up the MMORPG abbreviation stand for Role Playing Game.

Darkfall, due to it's sandbox gameplay and open world is seen by some as an ideal game to bring back the old MMORPG feel where people would roleplay more often than use “LOL” and “OMG” as responses to 80% of their gaming experiences. Still there is room for improvement and we have seen role players wish for more features and mechanics, be it in game or out of game, to help enhance their gaming experience.

Let's hear it then, what would you like to see implemented, either in game or out, that you think would promote roleplaying? Do you absolutely hate roleplaying and think it would not fit in Darkfall? With the possibility of GM run events in the future, would you like those to have a role playing flavor? Give us your why's and why not's by posting below.

I come from UO, so I know what you mean by the sandbox mmo roots with respect to roleplaying. One of the aspects of UO that really worked for the roleplayers was the ability to customize how you look and how your house looks. Things like silly hats are just a funny thing you can wear while pking to some, but to others it is a role.

I think racial traits and racially motivated quests would improve the RPG aspects of this game. The problem is that any quest that involves killing other players is also easily exploited. One way around this would be to make quests that take you to enemy territory to take some covited resource from them. By putting you in enemy territory it is increasing your likelihood of getting in a fight with unfriendlies from that race.

Also, the more immersive you make the game the better it will be for RP.

I don't really care about role playing. It's never really been something I got into, but I recognize that there are a lot of people that really like it and there's nothing wrong with the game appealing to rp people and me.

[Narcowski]

No chat bubbles (ever!), but an improved chat interface to make sure people notice /say and tells would be great. Even better, integrated locational voice chat where player x could talk and players close to him (within "hearing distance, not an entire map square) could hear.

[Darkbone]

WAIT A MINUTE!

Are you telling me that RPG doesn't stand for random player griefing?

holy crap, I'm doing it wrong.

Lol'ed.

But to stay on topic:

Chat bubbles. That really makes a BIG difference for roleplaying.
As others said, just make an option to deactivate them, and just link them to public chat. Voila, a much better system for rping.

And generally, to make it more fun for rpers you just need one type of thing:
Fluff. Stuff like being able to use furniture, a shitton of emotes, some more different looking gear (doesn't even need to have different stats or any stats at all) and everything else you can imagine when you hear 'fluff'. As long as it is something that can be used or done while writing whole storylines on the fly, and as long as it can be used to emphasize the story you are in, it will be welcomed by rpers.

But if there were only one thing that would get implemented specifically for rpers, then it should be chat bubbles. Main reason why you see so few peoples doing rp. Many tried in the beginning, but it is just not the same if you are mostly focues on what happens in public chat, and not on the screen. Can play an rp mud to get the same effect, really.

And for the possibly gm-run events: I don't think it would hurt if they would accompany them with at least SOME rp. Even non rpers would be amused if suddenly a monster would turn away from em and start screamimg 'Don't kill me, i got a family and kids at home. I will show you much of shiny when you don't kill mez'.
But even if you don't incorporate rp into gm events, if the gms notice there is an rper among the players, or maybe they are all rpers, then it would be nice when they play along. At least a bit.

[stingerII]

- Clothing / Armor Dyes
- More Clothes (capes, hats, tabards, dresses, skirts, glasses)
- Player Vendors
- Merchant / Crafting specializations
- Revised chat system
- More emotes!!
- Benefits of ARAC clans
- Racial Abilities
- Game Fluff (wilderness, alcohol, board games, sit/lie down, camping)
- Add more "treasures" to the game to promote exploration. More use of this amazing map you have all created!

Also the one good part of LOTRO were the musical instruments. I would LOVE to see a system in place that tops them. If we could somehow have instruments that could actually be used to create music or apply .midi tracks to them it would be so cool. Imagine having 30 guys marching to a siege playing battle songs haha. :D

this with slight changes ...

- ARAC clans should have penalties not benefits. Such as perma-gray etc as has been suggested continuously!

- I'd take musical instruments a step further. Introduce war musical instruments that would buff you party or debuff ur enemies, or both.

Such as war drums for example

[Psyny]

Like ppl said...

-Chat Bubbles
-Fluff ( Capes, Wildlife, Hats, etc )
-Customizable Look: Cloth Dyes, Clan Icons, Cloth Options
-Character Diversification...

I play with shadows on for a reason... I love the sense of the leaves weaving. Gives life to the game...
WoW did something cool with chat... In WoW, if you say "F-UCK!" the character makes an expression of exclamation. If you say "WTF?", the character make an emote of question... If you say "hahaha" or even "lol" the character laugh... Its really cool AND immersive. Why not? The game just detects if you used "?" or "!" or some keywords and do the emote. Great...

But ppl, now DarkFall is a full RolePlay game. You need to roleplay everything =P
Pretend to be a mage, but you have 2h Sword Mastery. Pretend to use robes, becase in most fights ppl dont use it that much. Pretend to have lore...
Its why ppl dont RP here, if the meaning is to pretend everything id prefer play pen and papper rpgs.

[Arkh]

New chat system, a mix of IRC and shadowbane chat :
- being able to create and administrate chans à la IRC
- being able to have multiple chan texts in one window, colored to show what they are (shadowbane got it right)
- being able to link a chat window to an area when you create it : a building, a forest, a city
- being able to join these chat rooms with an IRC client while not in game

Maybe get some public journal where you can write things, putting restrictions on user / guild status / officer and other access.
The possibility to name the equipment you make (let the real name appear somewhere tho).

Let's be a little more original now : the possibility to craft quest objects you can then place in some object wich can unlock some in your public journal. So players can create their own quest for the lulz (good for guild / alliance). Limit the number of quest objects people can have placed at the same time (like official quests maybe 10).
Put into action it would be something like that :
- you craft a quest object (choose something in the official quest items list : book, weapon, jewel etc.), select its name, description and a text which is hidden in your journal and can be seen only by you and someone with the object. You assign some of your possession as reward for it.
- you put it somewhere (a chest, chariot, tree, whatever)
- you write something public in your journal saying you need this object or whatever
- someone read your journal, go search the object, find it
- the linked text in your journal can now be seen by the guy who got your object
- the object can be looted
- the player with the object has a new option when using G on you : get reward

In the same kind of thing : bounty on mobz or players.

[Prathion]

The biggies for me:

-NEW CHAT SYSTEM: no fricken tabs, floating text would be nice for /say, /yell. The rest put in 1 box with options aka shadowbane style

- /EMOTE:

-NO ARAC GUILDS: Aliance with an oppossing faction brings harsh penalties in game.

-Dye Pots & guild insignia for armor

-Cloaks, capes, ect worn with armor

[vendettarock]

More armors skins, more clothes. I want the pirate bonecrew captain set.

And dyes too. Let us make uniforms!

[Punish]

im not an rper, but we need them in this game.

optional chat bubbles seems like a priority to them, give it to them.

also, put in an option to play minigames like chess/checkers/tictactoe etc etc whereever, it would make the sieges a lot more lively

[vendettarock]

oh and make taverns useful, with 'bet games' like cards or dice to play with other players.

[Negocromn]

Overhead text, really. Yes there are alot of other things, but overhead text would be an awesome start.

Make it just text, not very flashy, small radius. It should also be compulsory, no need to make a toggle for that.

[Kasmos]

Lore
Trading and Economy
Local Banking
Regional Resources
Events
Better chat interface

Did I mention lore?

This, especially local banking and regional resources.

[telanerv]

on the role-playing.....

CHAT BUBBLES!!!!!

that would help!

[DocMartin]

Floating text (see: Ultima Online) with whisper, normal, and shout distances

[KOS allgriefers]

And a fucking skill cap! They already said there wont be one. Get over it already.

[GRCPan]

Allow free housing, not at prefixed places. Leave the prefixed places at the villages and add extra bonuses if you own a house at a village. Ofc there should be places where you are not allowed to put your house, like close to player cities etc.

[Realbigdeal22]

Talk emote like in wow,(When you post a message for all, you do a talk emote) And bubble chat. Those are the best feature we currently need in DF

If you want us to chat as RP players, make us chat while rping anywhere, at any outcome. Without a bubble chat, we will all forget about the RP chat and we will chat like when we play in a fps game with a simple GF after we killed someone maybe. GG after a castle siege.

Keep in mind that im not a role player, but its even more annoying to know that its impossible to roleplay when you have nothing else to do in game. Its hard to notice recent post on your chat log, with floating text, you could notice all of them. Anyway, when you get whisper, you can see the name of the guy who whispered you flashing so its all good for that.

[Cloud Stryphe]

Thank god for this spotlight.. this is what this game needs!!!

Honestly, I'm pvper, but I think that adding shit loads of quests having to do with lore (racial quests, history of the world quests, quests out the wazoo) will only not only boost RP'ing because there will be a storyline, but will boost pvp tremendously.

Imagine all the people roaming about trying to dig deeper into the lore of the game and the vast secrets of ancient temples... just waiting to be ganked. Oh the dream.

When it comes to Lore, I suggest the Dev team take a good look at Lotro.

[empa]

I really support RP darkfall needs every type of player.

[Realbigdeal22]

I just check some other page of that forum, and i notice that we all want chat bubble to be in. Lol, the devs thought we would hate it, but it turn out that we really want it because its really needed. I never enderstand the reason that it would look too cartoonish so they dont put it in. I mean wtf is wrong with some cartoon feature that can help a game? Your magic effect already look cartoonish anyway with all that colour so add those chat bubble lol.

Now that all those bubble request is on the spot light, devs will finally listen to us and will have no other choice, but to add those chat bubbles.

[Deen0229]

Make mini events a few times a day randomly like 'A monster has spawned in *area*! bla bla bla!* and then an epic mob spawns there that drops epic loot and everyone tries to get there to kill it

[Vor'Dus[DiE]]

Tabards, Banners, plenty of more clothes, able to dye it with different colors too. That would spice it up.

[Prathion]

More NPC in town & out in the game world.
Gaurds along with the towers.
Its a big empty world & cities. Make it seem like they are teeming with life.

Player made forts aka Shadowbane.
Relics, mines, & shrines to fight over based on faction & lore.
Gain control & your town/city collects revenue & resources.
(based on no arac guilds - guilds/cities that specialize in race restrictions get bonuses. Ex all elf guild gets + 10% mana regen, or shrine bonus, ect - like in shadowbane)

More craftable armor per level for different looks. So guilds can choose how they look. Dye pots so you can choose colors.

[berecsl]

New chat system.

Really.

Make public chat appear as chat bubbles that are only visible to the persons right next to you or so.

Everyone is using vent anyway, so this won't damage pvp at all.

This ^ Most of the time I feel like my char is mute.

[Signus]

This thread (http://forums.darkfallonline.com/showthread.php?t=214646) caught our eye today and we thought it would be a good idea to grant Rigan Pere's wish and shine the spotlight on it.

It seems that these days quite a few, if not most people, tend to forget or not care that three of the letters that make up the MMORPG abbreviation stand for Role Playing Game.

Darkfall, due to it's sandbox gameplay and open world is seen by some as an ideal game to bring back the old MMORPG feel where people would roleplay more often than use “LOL” and “OMG” as responses to 80% of their gaming experiences. Still there is room for improvement and we have seen role players wish for more features and mechanics, be it in game or out of game, to help enhance their gaming experience.

Let's hear it then, what would you like to see implemented, either in game or out, that you think would promote roleplaying? Do you absolutely hate roleplaying and think it would not fit in Darkfall? With the possibility of GM run events in the future, would you like those to have a role playing flavor? Give us your why's and why not's by posting below.


Well, first, and I have been pushing this from the start, I'd like to see a chat window not made up of separate tabs for every channel. I'd like the main window to be able to show all of the different chats in different colors, and if you go into the options for the main tabs, you can shut off different text that floats in. Main (local) chat, should always show up, in every tab. It's so hard to communicate with people because they just don't see the tab pop up. You can have a main window with orange for group chat, green for guild chat, white for local chat, and then, if you want individual tabs, you can make another and use a check box system to select what text is displayed in that tab. Some want floating world bubbles, but personally that is something I am against. Just my opinion.

Second, I believe some of the quests really need to be finished. There has been a lot of half finished content in the game, from The Watchers Tower, to some of the quests that lead you into dungeons just ended in one big bug that still isn't fixed from beta. (Dragontorc quest) Live events were tossed around as an idea, a quest objective for the entire server was to trigger the events that would activate The Watcher's Tower, and the Celestial Dragon, and the Demi Gods themselves (in an interview, said they would be played by devs or GMs for special events). Also, the Wordstones are still absent from the world as far as I can tell, and I haven't been able to get an answer as to if they are ever intended to make a return, they are the most important part of the Darkfall lore and they aren't in game.

Lastly, the little fluff features that make things more interesting, monsters looting players and using their stuff, being able to write on parchment and leave it for people to find (I know items dropped on the ground had to get axed cause of lag problems) and just find ways to bring people into cities. There are only a few static NPCs, they feel so dead. Some wandering NPCs, some taverns where people can hang out, play cards or checkers, tell stories, those kind of things.

That's all for now, but I have more ;)

[Tren]

Give us lanterns and torches we can carry, ok suicide as far as PvP goes but...

Make more housing; cheaper let us craft stuff to go in houses, table’s chairs bookshelves, worktops, rugs, etc.

I know there are lots of reason it isn’t in but I thought I would bring it up again... Ability to place items on the floor, its fun to have large piles of treasure that you can visually see in the game world. And place items on display in your house.

[Signus]

Ah yes, one last thing.


Dyable armor, cloaks, emblems on shields, or tabards, would go a LONG LONG way. Both on the battlefield and with roleplay, people can have uniforms, dress as pirates if they want, identify their clan mates so we can remove that stupid floating crystal.

[Az_]

Chat bubble for public chat IS A MUST, for any PvP game.

It will add a LOT of social dynamics and makes the world feel alife. Vent or not. Id like to talk to strangers and enemies in front of others.

[chaOxz]

New chat system.

Really.

Make public chat appear as chat bubbles that are only visible to the persons right next to you or so.

Everyone is using vent anyway, so this won't damage pvp at all.

Worst idea ever...
One of the things that make darkfall different in a positive way is that we dont need to care about the spam above our heads that there are in different MMO

[Drool111]

Can you guys please in a respectable fashion, shove the chat bubble idea up your ass? No need for it AT ALL, destroys the limited stealth that there already is. What's next though, asking for neon colored names above peoples heads?

[Abaratican]

floating text is shit... dont need 15 people rushing you to all type pirate arrr's and flood your screen with lag-inducing text.

[[y3]]

A text above the head is ok for me, but it should appear only when you mouse hover a toon like it is now with names. Speaking emote when you type something on public would be cool to.

[under a bridge]

Lore
Trading and Economy - I have no problems buying and selling goods and have made some friends doing so.

Local Banking - ths will not help roleplaying and is just retarded that you would even bother saying this on this thread

Regional Resources - may make trade more interesting but roleplaying? How?

Events - He just said possibility for future gm events pay attention before you attempt to troll.

Better chat interface - the only thing about the chat interface that would encourage RP is chat bubbles.

Did I mention lore?

why do people feel the need to toll everything?

[under a bridge]

i would like to /sign signus posts agree completely.

[darkpyro]

Expanding on the above:

Require crafting/gathering specializations in order to gather the highest quality resources and craft the best items in the game. Make it so these specializations give combat disadvantages so one player can't maximize their ability to gather/craft and PvP at the same time.

A real, complicated, detailed trade and merchant system. Full local banking and a comprehensive player vendor, trade, and caravan system to facilitate this. Once this is in place, begin offering specializations with an explorer or merchant bent (which again will require tradeoffs in the PvP area).

Legitimize and expand the game's existing "lore" by enforcing the racial dynamics. Either disallow or implement severe penalties for ARAC clans. In this same vein, implement more resources or items or skills that differentiate the races and the regions they occupy.

Once these are in place many types of players which are currently missing from this game with come back or sign up and the "role" playing will take care of itself because there will actually be distinct roles to play.

I agree 100% With enforcing the racial dynamics of the game And crafting/gathering specializations.
Really hope they do that would make the game so much better.

[Kaol]

i would like to /sign signus posts agree completely.

I actually like the tabs system alot better, it gives me freedom to read what i want. However you could easily have both systems and they wouldn't intefere.

I know its not roleplaying but i would love to have pve made better,

Spawns of 20+ mobs would be awesome

dungeons need to be made better aswell, right now they just suck, i think making tailor made ai for the dungeons would have been a better approach.

i find myself missing some of the 2d games of the past where pve was actually enjoyable, they need to make it so dungeons are way bigger than they currently are (one in centre of agon should be smallest ), i remember it would take hours to do some of the pve bosses in 2d games.

[Kiad]

I've never been a fan of text boxes and I'm still not. I prefer chat bubbles that can be viewed from a certain distance. Makes sense that if someone is saying something, those close should be able to hear (or see in a video game). Also, little things like more clothing options and dyable clothing/armor and being able to sit on chairs is huge. UO had the perfect blend of pvp and RP. I used to sit around my house and just chatted with friends for an hour. Can't say I've ever done that in DF.

[Kaol]

I've never been a fan of text boxes and I'm still not. I prefer chat bubbles that can be viewed from a certain distance. Makes sense that if someone is saying something, those close should be able to hear (or see in a video game). Also, little things like more clothing options and dyable clothing/armor and being able to sit on chairs is huge. UO had the perfect blend of pvp and RP. I used to sit around my house and just chatted with friends for an hour. Can't say I've ever done that in DF.

chat bubbles would be good, it just makes the game feel more alive.

i don't see how it inteferes with stealth, just don't say anything

[Honorius]

Ah roleplaying, it's nice to see it's finally getting some spotlight even though most of the old diehards are gone now. :)

Personally what I would love to see to help reinforce roleplay is: custom clan ranks, banners, dyes, clan symbol to put on crafted armor/shields, and although I realize it's too late, put some penalties for ARAC clans to help promote race relations in the lore little though there may be.

As for GM events, I'm not terribly sure they would help promote roleplay, it's really up to the players to set up events such as tournaments or market days.

[Dingbat]

Yeah go roleplaying, chat bubbles and GM events would be a great stepping stone for the devs to build on!

[Kiad]

chat bubbles would be good, it just makes the game feel more alive.

i don't see how it inteferes with stealth, just don't say anything

I used to love chasing people down in UO while spamming "STOP RUNNING YOU NOOB!"

Even the pvp and killing DF is so impersonal because of the chat system

[blob]

very nice ideas and suggestons in this tread but first and very easy change for you cold be

1. make icons for emotes we have like /taunt /wave and others so we can put them in hotbar

2. make mobs comments over head txt again whit on/off option from manu (monsters have nice and funny comments under monster tab in system but they have no effect at all if you read them after fight )

others

add some political map in game why we have to go on extarnal web page to see who owns what town helmet.

add territorial control like clan that owns town Gulhat can mine from nodes that belongs to whole gulhat territory 60 uniits of wood or ore but others only40 units. Or make clans can set tax on how much mining they alow on that territory . min 30 for example

player made flags make them rize above towns and helemts high in the sky

[under a bridge]

Make mini events a few times a day randomly like 'A monster has spawned in *area*! bla bla bla!* and then an epic mob spawns there that drops epic loot and everyone tries to get there to kill it

I dunno about RP but this would deffinately help out world PVP

[xpiher]

Lore
Trading and Economy
Local Banking
Regional Resources
Events
Better chat interface

Did I mention lore?

lore is in the game

[Azorius]

AV,

This game is suppose to be a new generation of MMORPGS. Why would you go back to ancient chat bubble system?. This game is not like other mmorpg. I find that Darkfall needs a specific communication system and is not "chat bubbles".

THE FANTASTIC JOURNEY:

BACKGROUND:

What games had similar graphics and play mechanics with Darkfall?

WoW - no.
UO - yes but not graphical
EQ - no.
half-lifelike games-yes

So,
For example:

counter-strike: has 2 communications engine.
>Text communication
>Voice communication

Yep, they knew how to offer good gameplay.

It happen that you will rarely see someone actually comfortable chatting in cs because there is almost no break to text. Most of the text chat will happen when a player got killed and is waiting for the round to be over because texting interferes with the game system playing mechanics.

Darkfall and counter-strike use similar mechanic engines. (like WASD to move and mouse is the camera of a first person window), so thats why text communication itself will never be enough.

We know this.
evidence -----> WHO would/could PLAY Darkfall if no vent(etc) was AVAIBLE?

I know you can use vent(etc) to speak with your team/guild but Im saying that you could actually meet and talk to random people (that obviously cant be in your vent channel)while you travel the world.

I know people will say "but dude then there's gonna be kids spamming sex and tits all around ",etc. THERE is thousands of ways to prevent this. example: filters like

hear only: everyone/friends/guild. mute people. mute everything.


MY SUGGESTIONS:

-Implement voice chat.

-Eliminate chat(voice/text) between enemy races. "YES, ARACS WERE NEVER MEANT TO BORN FOLLOW THE GAME LOGICAL STRUCTURE"

Thanks.

[xpiher]

this.

Make ARAC clans perma-grey.

And make ARAC clans unplayable. I don't think so. How about they add in an option for people to join into the race war without destorying clan/alliance mechanics in the process. Or make it a different color so guards towers don't zap them until they attack, remove zap towers, or do other stuff that makes sense.

[Sarphus]

On chat bubble... I agree with some that chat bubbles aren't a good decision for DF.

[xpiher]

People, stop asking for penalities for ARAC clans. Its too late, it would affect the political dynamics that we have, which are great becuase they are player ran, too much. Instead ask for an op-in system and a system that rewards players to follow the lore instead of punishing those that don't. Simple stuff like adding in RvR battle for control of NPC outpost (guard towers with a bank, merchant, and guard only), rewards for particapting in those fights, different rewards for guilds that sign up to protect the home land (yes "rep grind"). Add in quest or items that can only be crafted by those who follow the lore but can be used by all, add raical rare ore mines that can only be hit by people with rep, etc.

[Tibernicus]

Chat bubble for public chat IS A MUST, for any PvP game.

It will add a LOT of social dynamics and makes the world feel alife. Vent or not. Id like to talk to strangers and enemies in front of others.

Chat bubbles never existed in Dark Age of Camelot, arguably one of the best PvP games to date. Chat bubbles are not a MUST, a better chat window is.

[kdchan]

Chat bubbles would be useful for interaction with players in general not just for RP, toggle on/off... simple.

/This. Toggleable bubbles.

[TSPCinnabar]

Dev/GM events!!! I can't emphasize this enough. Pick a dev that knows the lore like the back of his/her hand and have them develop events that can be run by the dev team and GMs. Communicate with REAL rp guilds and get involved with player-run events.

Maybe a Mahirim assassin killed a Human royal which has sparked a huge conflict. The two racial alliances can meet for a huge battle, supported by dev-played "super"-generals. Maybe the Nithron(played by devs) have once again shown their faces and some guilds better unite to figure out what they want, for better or worse.

If the dev team doesn't start getting more involved in these types of events that make players, even the non-RPers, want to log in then DF's future is bleak.

[Robin392]

I'm not much into the RPG aspect myself (I don't think it fits well in the online genres) but that's just my personal preference/opinion.

That said, something that is lacking in DF that ties into this is a sense of presence and place in Agon, both historical and social. There is lore here, but it's very distant from the game itself. Improvements to world interaction would be of huge benefit to everyone involved in the game (better quest design, events, ARAC penalties, etc.) and I like what has been mentioned in other spotlights about this. It seems as though the devs realize this, so I look forward to future improvments.

Without lore, there's no real purpose for the RPers. And it would improve the experience for all the rest as well.

[Kasmos]

Can you guys please in a respectable fashion, shove the chat bubble idea up your ass? No need for it AT ALL, destroys the limited stealth that there already is. What's next though, asking for neon colored names above peoples heads?

No, it can be implemented so people at a certain distance away can't see it. It's meant so that you can have conversations with people near you, and people trying to ambush you could "hear" what you are saying.

As it is now, the chat system is nothing more than what you'd find in any FPS lobby.

[Blircos]

Chat Bubbles.
Interation with furnitures.

[Kasmos]

And make ARAC clans unplayable. I don't think so. How about they add in an option for people to join into the race war without destorying clan/alliance mechanics in the process. Or make it a different color so guards towers don't zap them until they attack, remove zap towers, or do other stuff that makes sense.

Clan/alliance mechanics would be destroyed? They've been BROKEN since the start and need to actually be BUILT in.

From the beginning, there should have never been any ARAC clans, and if there were to be, there should have been penalties (i.e. constant grey, etc). It needs to get fixed because currently the "racial alliances" and alignment system is fucking horrible and pathetic.

[schlock]

ARAC clans pretty much destroyed the lore...

This.

We have six different races for a reason, right? Three of which are naturally allied, two of which are naturally allied and one everybody hates. And for what?

Make it less attractive to be in an ARAC clan and there will be more opportunities to role play. Right now races mean little more than appearance and a few minor advantages/disadvantages.
It's nearly impossible to role play or even loosely follow lore.

[SeverinCompte]

I don't care much about the lore... sure it's nice to have, but you can somewhat make up your own guild lore (if you're an imaginative roleplaying clan).

It's the endless lack of game mechanics (all of which have been listed in above posts), that kills RP.

[xpiher]

Clan/alliance mechanics would be destroyed? They've been BROKEN since the start and need to actually be BUILT in.

From the beginning, there should have never been any ARAC clans, and if there were to be, there should have been penalties (i.e. constant grey, etc). It needs to get fixed because currently the "racial alliances" and alignment system is fucking horrible and pathetic.

What you are failining to realize is

1) 90% of gamers don't care about lore in that respect
2) If the lore was strictly enforced as you want it than human, dwarf, elf alliance would have stomped all other racial alliances. Wolf/Orc alliance would be unplayable due to lack of bodies.

When you make a game strict RvR like you think the game was suppose to be without limiting what faction people can join you make the dynamics one sided. With an op-in system like I suggested you destroy nothing. The game shouldn't be about forced friends/allies, it should be about meaningful player interaction and completely player created. However, the RP options should be used to reward people who stick to the lore, not punish people who don't. Wanting it the other way is the type of RP elitism that makes people hate RPers. You are basically demanding everyone play on an RP server.

This.

We have six different races for a reason, right? Three of which are naturally allied, two of which are naturally allied and one everybody hates. And for what?

Make it less attractive to be in an ARAC clan and there will be more opportunities to role play. Right now races mean little more than appearance and a few minor advantages/disadvantages.
It's nearly impossible to role play or even loosely follow lore.

People, stop asking for penalities for ARAC clans. Its too late, it would affect the political dynamics that we have, which are great becuase they are player ran, too much. Instead ask for an op-in system and a system that rewards players to follow the lore instead of punishing those that don't. Simple stuff like adding in RvR battle for control of NPC outpost (guard towers with a bank, merchant, and guard only), rewards for particapting in those fights, different rewards for guilds that sign up to protect the home land (yes "rep grind"). Add in quest or items that can only be crafted by those who follow the lore but can be used by all, add raical rare ore mines that can only be hit by people with rep, etc.

[GRCPan]

Aye I agree, ARAC clans should have larger penalties. It doesn't matter if it will affect the game. Every change affects the game. This would affect the game for the best.
Being perma gray is a good penalty. The alignment system doesn't matter much for most alliances, but it would surely make a good impact.

[Steorn]

Gambling.

Why farm when you can RP money right out of your alliance-mates' bank accounts?

[NightsSentinel]

Dev/GM events!!! I can't emphasize this enough. Pick a dev that knows the lore like the back of his/her hand and have them develop events that can be run by the dev team and GMs. Communicate with REAL rp guilds and get involved with player-run events.

Maybe a Mahirim assassin killed a Human royal which has sparked a huge conflict. The two racial alliances can meet for a huge battle, supported by dev-played "super"-generals. Maybe the Nithron(played by devs) have once again shown their faces and some guilds better unite to figure out what they want, for better or worse.

If the dev team doesn't start getting more involved in these types of events that make players, even the non-RPers, want to log in then DF's future is bleak.

This once again! If there are interested parties I'd like even try setting up a player run one (with GM watch/supervision) to show the possibilities these things have. If GM's used some of their power and knowledge for this it would be incredible!

[Robin392]

IF changes are made to race relations and penalties are implemented on ARAC clans (and I think there should be), please allow players a one-time option of changing their race. This would allow friends and allies to continue to play together.

[Skinstripper]

Get rid of ARAC clans! That destroyed the gaming experience for me, unfortunately.

[xpiher]

Does anyone in this thread even play the political meta game

[jamie1414]

Chat bubbles would only work if u urself could make ur chat appear over ur head, if u could just turn chat bubbles on/off then every1 would have em on just for that edge of see'ing a person first. Its just like weather, u can't give ppl options to turn it off or on or else every1 is gonna turn it off for an extra edge making the weather pointless

[Kasmos]

What you are failining to realize is

1) 90% of gamers don't care about lore in that respect

Really? 90% of the players in Darkfall (a massively multiplayer online ROLE PLAYING game) don't care about racial alliances and how that could be worked into the game? I think you're greatly mistaken.


2) If the lore was strictly enforced as you want it than human, dwarf, elf alliance would have stomped all other racial alliances. Wolf/Orc alliance would be unplayable due to lack of bodies.

I played WoW for 1 1/2 years when it first came out before I realized how much of an item grind it was, but I played Horde and was outnumbered 1v3.5 on my server, and guess what, it was some of the most fun I've had in a while (being outnumbered that is).


When you make a game strict RvR like you think the game was suppose to be without limiting what faction people can join you make the dynamics one sided. With an op-in system like I suggested you destroy nothing. The game shouldn't be about forced friends/allies, it should be about meaningful player interaction and completely player created. However, the RP options should be used to reward people who stick to the lore, not punish people who don't. Wanting it the other way is the type of RP elitism that makes people hate RPers. You are basically demanding everyone play on an RP server.

No, I'm demanding everyone play an MMORPG like Darkfall claims to be, not an MMOFPS. This isn't Planetside.....

IF changes are made to race relations and penalties are implemented on ARAC clans (and I think there should be), please allow players a one-time option of changing their race. This would allow friends and allies to continue to play together.

And here's your solution right here. There should have been, from the start, large penalties on ARAC clans. They should be able to be formed, they should be able to survive and thrive, but they should also have to suffer penalties. The current racial alignment system is fucking horrible, and if you can't see what great things for ALL players would come into fruition if they fixed the system, well, I don't know where to begin.

[Larocco]

this.

Make ARAC clans perma-grey.

yep this has to be done

Furniture interaction and gambling/minigames.

this too. do it in (different) arac/race/pk taverns with bets (gold, items such as a horse lol) and games one has to be good at such as poker or chess. though poker could be exploited :S

need harsher consequences for pking and not just being forced living in a chaos city or a clan city. i cant think of aynthing right now.

GM hosted pvp tourneys and a miniarena for players or clans to duel, again for different audience (arac/race/pk). when a match started noone should be able to enter the arena and noone should be able to fight outside for lulz (guard towers)

but first of all balance pvp so i can resub

[thedrumchannell]

Chat bubbles would only work if u urself could make ur chat appear over ur head, if u could just turn chat bubbles on/off then every1 would have em on just for that edge of see'ing a person first. Its just like weather, u can't give ppl options to turn it off or on or else every1 is gonna turn it off for an extra edge making the weather pointless

There is NO advantage to turning chat bubbles on. If someone is attempting to stealth, then they would NOT be talking in public chat.

Thus, having a chat toggle would be OK. :)

[NightsSentinel]

Does anyone in this thread even play the political meta game

Yes, spend a lot of time interacting with different factions and it's quite fun, but seriously it'd be nice if there was some incentive for not everyone to ARAC.

[xpiher]

Really? 90% of the players in Darkfall (a massively multiplayer online ROLE PLAYING game) don't care about racial alliances and how that could be worked into the game? I think you're greatly mistaken.



I played WoW for 1 1/2 years when it first came out before I realized how much of an item grind it was, but I played Horde and was outnumbered 1v3.5 on my server, and guess what, it was some of the most fun I've had in a while (being outnumbered that is).



No, I'm demanding everyone play an MMORPG like Darkfall claims to be, not an MMOFPS. This isn't Planetside.....



And here's your solution right here. There should have been, from the start, large penalties on ARAC clans. They should be able to be formed, they should be able to survive and thrive, but they should also have to suffer penalties. The current racial alignment system is fucking horrible, and if you can't see what great things for ALL players would come into fruition if they fixed the system, well, I don't know where to begin.

1) Yes 90% of MMO players don't care about lore in that sense
2) Darkfall is a sandbox game where player interactions, not forced mechanics, are suppose to determine the lay of the land. This is not an RvR game, never was meant to be. If it was, ARAC clans wouldn't be possible and they wouldn't have scarped the idea of harsh ARAC penalties in 2007
3) Your compromise doesn't solve anything, it just changes the game in RvR. Most people don't want forced RvR
4) A proper compromise would be to add in an RvR elements that people can op-into, promote racial proper clans through rewards and incentives rather than mechanics that force people to adhere to it. Like I said in my quote, you can give people bonuses for adhering to the lore rather than punishing those that don't.

[xpiher]

Yes, spend a lot of time interacting with different factions and it's quite fun, but seriously it'd be nice if there was some incentive for not everyone to ARAC.

Thats my point. Read my post where you can get more benifits for being in a lore clan than not being in one.

[Maarten]

This thread (http://forums.darkfallonline.com/showthread.php?t=214646) caught our eye today and we thought it would be a good idea to grant Rigan Pere's wish and shine the spotlight on it.

It seems that these days quite a few, if not most people, tend to forget or not care that three of the letters that make up the MMORPG abbreviation stand for Role Playing Game.

Darkfall, due to it's sandbox gameplay and open world is seen by some as an ideal game to bring back the old MMORPG feel where people would roleplay more often than use “LOL” and “OMG” as responses to 80% of their gaming experiences. Still there is room for improvement and we have seen role players wish for more features and mechanics, be it in game or out of game, to help enhance their gaming experience.

Let's hear it then, what would you like to see implemented, either in game or out, that you think would promote roleplaying? Do you absolutely hate roleplaying and think it would not fit in Darkfall? With the possibility of GM run events in the future, would you like those to have a role playing flavor? Give us your why's and why not's by posting below.

Darkfall is a great MMO. I like MMOs... RPGs? No. I play Darkfall because it needs player coordination, skill, strategy and has a really badass pvp system.
Please, let's not encourage people I fight to start speaking to me in elvish.

[Kasmos]

1) Yes 90% of MMO players don't care about lore in that sense
2) Darkfall is a sandbox game where player interactions, not forced mechanics, are suppose to determine the lay of the land. This is not an RvR game, never was meant to be. If it was, ARAC clans wouldn't be possible and they wouldn't have scarped the idea of harsh ARAC penalties in 2007
3) Your compromise doesn't solve anything, it just changes the game in RvR. Most people don't want forced RvR
4) A proper compromise would be to add in an RvR elements that people can op-into, promote racial proper clans through rewards and incentives rather than mechanics that force people to adhere to it. Like I said in my quote, you can give people bonuses for adhering to the lore rather than punishing those that don't.

Here's an idea, let's just take out all races and make one big happy race. :rolleyes:

Having racial alliances mean something won't "force" people into doing anything. If there are some sort of penalty for being in an ARAC clan than you still have the freedom to choose to be a part of that. Maybe you could even add incentives for ARAC clans such as discounts at neutral cities or some other thing.

Point is, you can't just have people "opt" into RvR. If they implemented RvR aspects into the game (i.e. capturable cities that give bonuses to the controlling racial alliance) how would you "opt" in if you're in an ARAC clan? Disband from the clan and then join it again afterwards?

People who were in ARAC clans would find a way to "opt in" when it should not be an option at all. All that having racial alliances mean something would do is add a whole new dimension to the game, one that could be expanded upon to implement so many great possibilities whereas the current alignment system and lack of any meaningful RvR prevents you from doing any of that and again, is one of the most pathetic systems I've ever seen in an MMO.

[apher]

I don't care much about the lore... sure it's nice to have, but you can somewhat make up your own guild lore (if you're an imaginative roleplaying clan).

It's the endless lack of game mechanics (all of which have been listed in above posts), that kills RP.

Exacly what Sev said.

Every single serious RP guild left in DF has more history that any dev can think of. Built cities, lost cities, conquered islands, broken alliances, internal coups etc. the list is endless. More world lore would be nice but it's not a must at this point.

What we need are mostly simple things to help us interact with the world like: chat bubbles, inteaction with objects (sitting on chairs, holding mugs etc.). Bit more npc life to the world, make it feel less like one big static pvp arena.

Plus accomadate diverse playstyles. Whether you call it skillcap or specializations or whatever do it, just do it good. To participate in roleplayaing you need to play a role (obviously). And it's bloody damn hard when every single char on the server is an uber mage-crafter-archer-warrior.

[Kasmos]

Darkfall is a great MMO. I like MMOs... RPGs? No. I play Darkfall because it needs player coordination, skill, strategy and has a really badass pvp system.
Please, let's not encourage people I fight to start speaking to me in elvish.

Taken directly from the official Darkfall site:

What is Darkfall? Darkfall is a groundbreaking real-time Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. (MMORPG) developed by Aventurine SA

If I knew I'd be buying and paying for a fantasy version of Planetside, you bet your ass I wouldn't have dropped a dime on this game. Until they start proclaiming Darkfall to be anything else than an MMORPG, I'd like to see aspects you'd not only think to find in an MMORPG, but you'd expect to find in an MMORPG.

If they didn't want races to mean a god damn thing like they do now, they shouldn't have even created races or "racial alliances". Currently, neither mean shit.

[Tibernicus]

Well, first, and I have been pushing this from the start, I'd like to see a chat window not made up of separate tabs for every channel. I'd like the main window to be able to show all of the different chats in different colors, and if you go into the options for the main tabs, you can shut off different text that floats in. Main (local) chat, should always show up, in every tab. It's so hard to communicate with people because they just don't see the tab pop up. You can have a main window with orange for group chat, green for guild chat, white for local chat, and then, if you want individual tabs, you can make another and use a check box system to select what text is displayed in that tab. Some want floating world bubbles, but personally that is something I am against. Just my opinion.



I think this is the best solution presented so far. The chat bubble policy will not please everyone, and if you give the ability to turn it off, then you are STILL left with the exact same problem of people not being able to hear what you're saying.

If the chat window were more customizable, and the main local chat appeared in the main tab, isntead of its own, then people would notice it more.

Now, you can add optional chat bubbles in CONJUNCTION with this, but you cannot have JUST toggle chat bubbles, because then when a large number of people turn them off (and they will) you are still left with a problem in communication.

The rest of Signus' ideas are sound too.

[johnnyc3po]

RPG elements? Seriously? Darkfall is an MMOFPS.

[xpiher]

Here's an idea, let's just take out all races and make one big happy race. :rolleyes:

Having racial alliances mean something won't "force" people into doing anything. If there are some sort of penalty for being in an ARAC clan than you still have the freedom to choose to be a part of that. Maybe you could even add incentives for ARAC clans such as discounts at neutral cities or some other thing.

Point is, you can't just have people "opt" into RvR. If they implemented RvR aspects into the game (i.e. capturable cities that give bonuses to the controlling racial alliance) how would you "opt" in if you're in an ARAC clan? Disband from the clan and then join it again afterwards?

People who were in ARAC clans would find a way to "opt in" when it should not be an option at all. All that having racial alliances mean something would do is add a whole new dimension to the game, one that could be expanded upon to implement so many great possibilities whereas the current alignment system and lack of any meaningful RvR prevents you from doing any of that and again, is one of the most pathetic systems I've ever seen in an MMO.

You don't get it. If you penalize people severely for being in an ARAC clan than you are forcing them to not be a part of one. This game isn't about RvR, its about meaningful player interactions. What you say adds a new dynamic doesn't add anything for players that don't care about strict lore, it removes their ability to play the game their way. On the other hand, playing a lore only guild is still possible in DFO. Nothing is stopping you from doing it. You'd think if people cared about the lore there would be less ARAC clans around. But there's not because people don't care, people don't want to be forced into RvR. If we wanted that we would of joined a different game.

Have you played UO or EvE? They have op-in factional fighting. It adds a good dynamic into the game and rewards players for participating in them without punishing those that don't. Its a good system. DFO should have something similar. An entire guild could op-in to the system if they are lore based and get rewarded for doing so (henchmen that mine your ore for you, access to a guild ran shop in an NPC city, etc), a single player can op-in to the system as well to add more bodies to the field with different rewards. It would give you that RvR/RP element you want without detracting from the game at all.

[Morrolan]

New chat system.

Really.

Make public chat appear as chat bubbles that are only visible to the persons right next to you or so.

Everyone is using vent anyway, so this won't damage pvp at all.

exactly, the chat in this game is so unimmersive it makes not only RPing but even basic interaction a pain in the ass because 90% of the time you don't even realize someone is talking to you until an hour later.

[samureyed]

ARAC clans should not be penalized, they should just not receive certain benefits. Giving benefits to clans focused on maintaining racial alliances will result in less ARAC clans.

[Dunmer]

Roleplaying elements of a game is always one of my main attractions.
I love a great, detailed world with lots of lore, so you have something to USE for roleplaying.

This is why more information on the empty ruins (y so empty) of places would be nice, as well as more "casual" activities to be introduced. Examples would be tavernas, more emotes, and such. Contests between players would be nice aswell, such as archery duels that use a "normal" target instead of an AFK grinder.

GM events would be neat, I've seen some suggestions of GMs controlling boss mobs and things like that. Language skills would also be very interesting to have, but I think the major part of the community would be against this.

[boxfetish]

People, stop asking for penalities for ARAC clans. Its too late, it would affect the political dynamics that we have, which are great becuase they are player ran, too much. Instead ask for an op-in system and a system that rewards players to follow the lore instead of punishing those that don't. Simple stuff like adding in RvR battle for control of NPC outpost (guard towers with a bank, merchant, and guard only), rewards for particapting in those fights, different rewards for guilds that sign up to protect the home land (yes "rep grind"). Add in quest or items that can only be crafted by those who follow the lore but can be used by all, add raical rare ore mines that can only be hit by people with rep, etc.

So clueless. Yet another MMORPG noob who has no clue why a company needs to support it's own game lore and how ARAC penalties do not restrict player freedom in any way.

This game needs disadvantages for ARAC clans. Period. You clowns that want to opt out of the lore should get the eff out and just find another game.

Flagging ARACs perma gray would in no way make them unplayable or be too harsh of a penalty in any way, shape, or form. I cannot emphasize enough how hard you need to get a clue.

If you think all the retards that ignore the lore in the game and want advantages for doing so would start crying too hard if AV implemented perma-gray ARACS, then give all clans a one time option to change their clan to non-ARAC by allowing them to choose a faction and then giving some players the option to change their race to comply with it. Problem solved.


Please let's not turn this thead into an ARAC debate, we've had hundreds of those in the past, resurrect one of them if you need to. This is more about constructive ideas that would add fluff, immersion, and things to do in the game for roleplaying.

You can thank clueless Xipher's hysterical spamming of 10 anti-ARAC posts in an hour for steering this thread in that direction. And, besides, whether or not the game shits all over it's own lore has a huge impact on role playing.

For the record, I would rather see AV get rid of the races completely and make us all play humans than see them continue to shit all over their own lore.

[Tibernicus]

ARAC clans should not be penalized, they should just not receive certain benefits. Giving benefits to clans focused on maintaining racial alliances will result in less ARAC clans.

Please let's not turn this thead into an ARAC debate, we've had hundreds of those in the past, resurrect one of them if you need to. This is more about constructive ideas that would add fluff, immersion, and things to do in the game for roleplaying.

[Nannari]

Oh yes. The last bunch of roleplayers were welcomed with arms wide open from the Darkfall Community... <.<

[Morrolan]

Darkfall has been set up as a giant deathmatch. RPing is not going to get very far in this game because theres really no reason why someone who sees your tavern full of mature RPers should hesitate to call in his buddies and shit all over your fun. And honestly, with racial cities mattering so little in the grand scheme, I don't really know what they could do to curb the PK-everyone-you-see attitude that just about everyone (including myself) has in this game.

[Morrolan]

Getting some sub-only forums with better moderation wouldn't hurt either. If I was looking for an RP game, it would take me all of 2 seconds to glance at the forums here before giving Darkfall a nice big HELL FUCKING NO.

[miyagisan]

i'll quote this

I guess interacting with furniture...like siting on a chair/lying down (sleeping) on a bed.../lol even minigames would be nice...like a chess table that ppl can watch two players playing on it(and maybe more board games).

this could bring some role play

[samureyed]

Please let's not turn this thead into an ARAC debate, we've had hundreds of those in the past, resurrect one of them if you need to. This is more about constructive ideas that would add fluff, immersion, and things to do in the game for roleplaying.

lol this thread was derailed 5 pages ago.. i already posted my RP ideas on page 3. But I do agree.. so back on topic..

My top 3 picks to add more RP aspects to the game...

- Clothing / Armor dyes
- Merchant / Crafter specializations
- Revised chat system

[Grathane]

I think the first thing one has to realize is that there is a difference between Roleplay and Loreplay, and that ideally there need to be mechanics to support each. You can RP without taking the game's lore into consideration, but doing so, or not having any connection between your actions and a world's lore, results in something that lacks a level of depth and energy which can vastly improve the quality of the experience.

Some good ideas in the thread - these are things I'd like to see:


A 'Sociability' System: As has been mentioned in this thread, in DF, due to the open PvP nature of the game and the time it takes to type to someone, conducting in-character chat - or any conversation really - with other players, especially unknown players, is dangerous to say the least. RPing is about communication, whether the mode of communication is chat, symbols, clothing etc. If you cannot communicate you cannot RP.

One possible mechanic to help in this respect would be a visual indicator and tracking system similar to Alignment, that measures Sociability. If you as a player encounter someone whom you find is 'pro-RP', that you can take the time to communicate with or engage with at that level, you could issue a once per player rating of this person as 'Social' or 'Anti-Social'. A mechanic similar to the Forgive function and using a similar interface, or the Friends function.

The sole purpose of this mechanic would be to give you the ability to detect, at range, whether this person is more likely to kill you than communicate with you. Of course, killing you may be part of that communication in an RP sense, but for it to have context and meaning, some chat with them beforehand, or afterward, would be necessary. Have it display much like the aligment bar does on yourself, but below their health bar, or near their character name text. Over time, with enough interactions, people will develop a reputation as Social or Anti-Social - aiding the decision-making process when it comes to engaging in chat-based RP with people outside your clan.

Again, this has nothing to do with whether someone is going to PvP with you or not - simply a suggestion they may be open to doing it in a context.


Chat System: Some change to the current chat system to make communication easier, more efficient and more effective, would be good. Whether this is an 'opt in' and 'opt out' chat bubble, or text that can be configured by color - some mechanic change that would make things more friendly to local communication in an open PvP environment.

One immediate and easy option would be to make it possible to define a chat window's text itself as opaque, while the window itself is transparent. This would allow you to simulate floating text overlayed directly over the playfield - just drag a chat window that is 100% transparent to wherever you want it on screen - though color control would be necessary for this to be effective.


In-Game Expression Artifacts: These range from personal housing or clan asset decorative variations, to clan icons on flags, shields, sails etc, to clothing items or character model changes that allow for customization of appearance. This can also include making emotes easier to use, such as through Bob's idea to have them represented in game in a spell-type list as icons, that can be hotbarred.


Clan-Created Quests: As suggested by a poster in this thread, enable player-created quests - perhaps only by a certain rank level in a clan - that can be accessed through an NPC in town by a clan's members. These can be monster kill quests much like some of the standard quests in game, or PvP quests involving the killing of members of a specific race, clan or even a particular character.

This could involve 'Craftable Quest Objects', much like Arkh's idea. Such objects could work in a variety of ways, but one way it could work would be much the same as the instanced chests function, or the keyed chests. A clan member puts together the materials required to craft an object and clicks a 'quest item' box. This causes the resulting item to spawn not in his pack upon completion, but on mob somewhere in the world. This mob location would show on the map of the eliglible clan members - this being controlled either by a mechanic such as being in the same party as the object crafter, or in the same clan etc.

The mob would be much like a treasure chest in that who can and cannot loot it would be a variable, keyed to the flag set up by the quest mechanic - consider it like having an invisible chest key placed in your backpack when you get such a quest. To keep the quest in a lore-logical context, the crafting process could be more akin to Summoning - bringing something into being in a distant or significant world location where suich things enter the world, or Scrying - determining the location of a distant thing.

The quest object could even be simply the skinning product or drop of a special summoned or scryed mob...keeping things realistic in a gameworld logic sense is important to RP I feel, and that would make more sense I think.


Epic Mobs: Perhaps related to the above - a special mob that is spawned at a map-tagged location when Scried or Summoned, a random spot (but chosen from a table of valid such spots) and not part of a regular mob-spawn.


Clan or Party Quests: These would be quests which not just a single player, but a party or a whole clan, can work towards completing. Similar to the Title quests, with rewards such as decorative city assets etc


Player Grave Skinning: Make it possible to skin player graves to produce items such as ears or heads, depending on level of skinning skill. These can be used for kill confirmation on bounties, or any of a number of other macabre uses.

Clan Alliance Banks: Clan structures can aid roleplay or loreplay if they are used to create virtual subdivisions within a clan for organizational purposes. Unfortunately they have the consequence of making the clan bank directly inaccessible any secondary clans. Either create a new subgroup within the clan structure, or add a CA bank.


Lore-Supporting Game Mechanics: I do not think ARAC clans should be penalized in any way. The players behind the characters will be of different races, and the bottom line is friends want to play together. You can give minor awards to clans or players that follow the racial lore however. It should be noted however that allying with a supposed racial enemy, or killing an established racial ally, can be entirely legitimate both within the game's lore and in a roleplay context. In the original DF lore, races currently considered enemies were once allied to face a common threat etc.

There are variables aside from race that can be used to manifest the game's lore however. Faction relative to mobs would be one possibility. Regional bonuses or penalties would be another - akin to the stat bonus while in one's city. Take a mechanic like the set bonus from a Diablo 2 Item Set, and manifest it through use of racial items, or mounts, or such things as kills. A surge-type bonus, to skills or stats, could be awarded based on different variables related to lore-positive action.


Ultimately roleplay or loreplay is about communicating character and doing so in an established meaningful context. Any changes which make doing that possible, or easier, will benefit RP overall.

[Signus]

Well, first, and I have been pushing this from the start, I'd like to see a chat window not made up of separate tabs for every channel. I'd like the main window to be able to show all of the different chats in different colors, and if you go into the options for the main tabs, you can shut off different text that floats in.

Main (local) chat, should always show up, in every tab. It's so hard to communicate with people because they just don't see the local tab pop up. You can have a main window with orange for group chat, green for guild chat, white for local chat, and then, if you want individual tabs, you can make another and use a check box system to select what text is displayed in that tab. Some want floating world bubbles, but personally that is something I am against. Just my opinion.

Going to have to back up Tibernicus on this one. Before we can even think of having chat bubbles the regular chat system needs to be fixed. Chat bubbles will not make everyone happy, some people are dead set against it. The obvious solution there is to have them toggle on and off. Well, now you're back to the exact same problem. People could be yelling at you, and because you have chat bubbles off, and because the regular chat window is so borked, you'll have no idea.






Second, I believe some of the quests really need to be finished. There is a LOT of lore for this game, but I think the devs themselves have forgotten about it. I think Claus even said at one point that he really didn't give a care about it. A lot of the lore on the website was translated into the game world, so someone at Aventurine must care. But there are also inconsistencies, like the Nithron. I don't remember ever reading about them, but they are all over the in game quests.

There has been a lot of half finished content in the game, from The Watchers Tower, to some of the quests that lead you into dungeons just ended in one big bug that still isn't fixed from beta. (Dragontorc quest) Live events were tossed around as an idea, a quest objective for the entire server was to trigger the events that would activate The Watcher's Tower, and the Celestial Dragon, and the Demi Gods themselves (in an interview, said they would be played by devs or GMs for special events).

Also, the Wordstones are still absent from the world as far as I can tell, and I haven't been able to get an answer as to if they are ever intended to make a return, they are the most important part of the Darkfall lore and they aren't in game. Wordstones would add a LOT of political strife to the game, which is perfect, and when gathered all together maybe they can trigger a server wide event, like calling the Demi Gods down from wherever they are hiding to attack the world.





Roaming monsters is another thing I was upset vanished without a trace for launch. The state of the game announcement says that they'll be added in some form at the end of the month, but I fear it won't be what was originally advertised. As far I as I understand it, mobs were supposed to roam around if overhunted, smarter mobs were supposed to erect their own strongholds, if left alone too long they would train their own soldiers and attack NPC and player cities, until someone clears them out. They would loot players, wear the armor of those that they killed, and even, in a limited fashion, level up. Now this sort of system is insanely detailed and dynamic, and I highly doubt this is the system we are getting in the expansion, but it's something to work towards.





Fluff the little features that make things more interesting, being able to write on parchment and leave it for people to find (I know items dropped on the ground had to get axed cause of lag problems) and just find ways to bring people into cities. There are only a few static NPCs, they feel so dead. Some wandering NPCs, some taverns where people can hang out, play cards or checkers, tell stories, those kind of things. I know when Dark Age of Camelot added liquor to the game, I started roleplaying my character as a chronic drunk. If you drank too much you'd get a temporary debuff and a drunken stagger animation. We'd be about to pull a large group of Drakoran and I'd stop everyone, drink some whisky, start staggering around, and sloppily pull too many, with everyone yelling at me, and me typing in an inebriated fashion into the chat box. It was great fun.





Customizable armor will go very far to add to the game world. Giving people the ability to dye cloth, put on enamel to their plate and chain armor... Again, back in DAoC, in the early game, armor color was a status symbol. Only higher level players could afford the 30g black armor dye, so when you'd see a knight in full black armor, you had the wow factor. This servers ANOTHER purpose in Darkfall, if we allow people to wear cloaks, put guild emblems on shields and cloaks, and dye their armor, we can have a way to identify clans in combat. We can even have some people imitate enemy clans to sneak up behind them and cause chaos. Once this feature is implemented, we can finally get rid of those horribly stupid floating group icons. (they need to go ASAP).


(hope this doesn't derail the thread as these last two are controversial)


Crafting specialization. One of the reasons for single character servers was because the community was supposed to depend on other people, instead of everyone being self sufficient. If everyone can master not only every combat skill, but every crafting skill, then there is absolutely no reason to interact with others. Some sort of specialization system is necessary to make people either focus more on crafting, or more on combat, or at the very least, specific kinds of crafting so that if they need armor, and they're only good at weapon crafting, they'll have to actually buy some from another crafter.





And lastly, this is a big one, because I cannot offer good advice... The alignment system needs to punish reds a LOT more. There are only mild inconveniences to going red for mudering other players, and if you have friends, you can go blue again all too soon. Nothing breaks a community down more than having it so that there is literally absolutely no reason not to just murder that guy over there, or that guy over there. You can't expect people to try to interact with eachother if the first instinct is always to try to kill eachother. This would likely involve a reworking of the whole system, and I honestly cannot think of a good way to do it, but I feel it is something that is necessary.

That is all for now.

[Ander]

And lastly, this is a big one, because I cannot offer good advice... The alignment system needs to punish reds a LOT more. There are only mild inconveniences to going red for mudering other players, and if you have friends, you can go blue again all too soon. Nothing breaks a community down more than having it so that there is literally absolutely no reason not to just murder that guy over there, or that guy over there. You can't expect people to try to interact with eachother if the first instinct is always to try to kill eachother. This would likely involve a reworking of the whole system, and I honestly cannot think of a good way to do it, but I feel it is something that is necessary.

That is all for now.

I believe AV tried to get the best of both worlds(FFA/RvR) with the racial wars, I don't believe it works and I think racial alignment should be removed entirely.

Everyone should be blue, people who kill others with no valid reason should be red. Scrap the racial alignment, keep guild/alliance war declaration. Make it so you only gain alignment by killing reds.

[schlock]

When I was doing my research on Dark Fall, one of the design elements that was the most attractive to me was the dynamics of the races. It's not a simple good guys vs. bad guys. It was mixed up, 3 vs. 2 vs. 1 relationship. It still has that same game mechanic built in and I'm holding on to hope that it's going to mean something. The reason it does not mean something is that it's too easy to do ARAC clans. Numbers = power and the more players you can recruit the faster your numbers go up. No wonder ARAC clans dominate the game. Their needs to be a meaningful reason for penalties and buffs concerning ARAC/Race based clans. This would not only help role playing, it would make the game a lot more interesting and meaningful.

Here is some role playing for you.
A pack of Mahirim, running over the hills shoulder to shoulder hearing the growls of their brothers are filled with ferocity and might as they encroach in on the feeble looking Mirdain. Moving together as if one, drawing from there ancient hunting rituals, they pounce!
= BUFF

A pack of Mahirim, running over the hills mixed with some alfar and humans. Hearing the confusing squaks of the alfar and yells of humans disorientates them. Not sure of what their allies will due because of communication problems and moving out of sync. Their attack is clumsy and uncertain.
= PENALTY

Not the greatest write but I hope you get the point.

Yes, you should be able to do ARAC clans, at a price. Yes you should get a buff for clanning with your race and natural allies. Yes, this has to do with role playing.

[Ghorne]

Trying to move away from ARAC clans would be a positive step. Since it would be somewhat difficult to add further penalties to ARAC clans at this point, perhaps granting benefits to clans that contain only racial allies would be a way to promote and increase the amount of lore aligned clans.

The chat system obviously could be improved to promote RP.

GM run events that have RP elements and flavor would be nice.

Continue to add more elements to the game that do not impact combat such as what you're doing with improvements to housing. Fluff stuff. Maybe bulk the village system up in some way, like a village government where a Mayor is elected by the inhabitants, and village policies can be implemented both by game systems or player created ones. Perhaps taxes can be directed at various village perks like a small rare ore node, or a buff to village citizens.

[Xalanhaga]

I'd like to add my 2-cents to the chat-bubble suggestion with some more details.

AV could add an extra tab labeled "Local", and things you type in "Local" tab would show up as chat bubbles above your head. In addition to the chat bubble the chat window would keep a log of what is being said around you in a certain radius so that you can keep track of everything.

The GUI options menu would have 2 new options. "Turn Chat Bubbles On" followed by a check-box. You can un-check the box to completely disable all "Local" chat bubbles. The second option would be "Maximum Number of Chat-bubbles" and be in the form of a slider with values ranging from 2~50 (the numbers are arbitrary). The first option gives everyone the ability to play without chat-bubbles from the "local" tab, in essence exactly the same way as they are playing the game now. The second option would give people the freedom to choose as little or as much clutter as they want from chat-bubbles. However, players with chat-bubbles turned off, speaking in "Local" would still produce chat-bubbles for players around them. This wouldn't cause any disadvantages, since you would only use the "local" tab for chat-bubble purposes.

What do you think? It's a way to give the players who want chat-bubbles what they want, while giving those against it an option to turn it off without any disadvantages.

[Robin392]

I think the first thing one has to realize is that there is a difference between Roleplay and Loreplay, and that ideally there need to be mechanics to support each. You can RP without taking the game's lore into consideration, but doing so, or not having any connection between your actions and a world's lore, results in something that lacks a level of depth and energy which can vastly improve the quality of the experience.

Some good ideas in the thread - these are things I'd like to see:


A 'Sociability' System: As has been mentioned in this thread, in DF, due to the open PvP nature of the game and the time it takes to type to someone, conducting in-character chat - or any conversation really - with other players, especially unknown players, is dangerous to say the least. RPing is about communication, whether the mode of communication is chat, symbols, clothing etc. If you cannot communicate you cannot RP.

One possible mechanic to help in this respect would be a visual indicator and tracking system similar to Alignment, that measures Sociability. If you as a player encounter someone whom you find is 'pro-RP', that you can take the time to communicate with or engage with at that level, you could issue a once per player rating of this person as 'Social' or 'Anti-Social'. A mechanic similar to the Forgive function and using a similar interface, or the Friends function.

The sole purpose of this mechanic would be to give you the ability to detect, at range, whether this person is more likely to kill you than communicate with you. Of course, killing you may be part of that communication in an RP sense, but for it to have context and meaning, some chat with them beforehand, or afterward, would be necessary. Have it display much like the aligment bar does on yourself, but below their health bar, or near their character name text. Over time, with enough interactions, people will develop a reputation as Social or Anti-Social - aiding the decision-making process when it comes to engaging in chat-based RP with people outside your clan.

Again, this has nothing to do with whether someone is going to PvP with you or not - simply a suggestion they may be open to doing it in a context.


Chat System: Some change to the current chat system to make communication easier, more efficient and more effective, would be good. Whether this is an 'opt in' and 'opt out' chat bubble, or text that can be configured by color - some mechanic change that would make things more friendly to local communication in an open PvP environment.

One immediate and easy option would be to make it possible to define a chat window's text itself as opaque, while the window itself is transparent. This would allow you to simulate floating text overlayed directly over the playfield - just drag a chat window that is 100% transparent to wherever you want it on screen - though color control would be necessary for this to be effective.


In-Game Expression Artifacts: These range from personal housing or clan asset decorative variations, to clan icons on flags, shields, sails etc, to clothing items or character model changes that allow for customization of appearance. This can also include making emotes easier to use, such as through Bob's idea to have them represented in game in a spell-type list as icons, that can be hotbarred.


Clan-Created Quests: As suggested by a poster in this thread, enable player-created quests - perhaps only by a certain rank level in a clan - that can be accessed through an NPC in town by a clan's members. These can be monster kill quests much like some of the standard quests in game, or PvP quests involving the killing of members of a specific race, clan or even a particular character.

This could involve 'Craftable Quest Objects', much like Arkh's idea. Such objects could work in a variety of ways, but one way it could work would be much the same as the instanced chests function, or the keyed chests. A clan member puts together the materials required to craft an object and clicks a 'quest item' box. This causes the resulting item to spawn not in his pack upon completion, but on mob somewhere in the world. This mob location would show on the map of the eliglible clan members - this being controlled either by a mechanic such as being in the same party as the object crafter, or in the same clan etc.

The mob would be much like a treasure chest in that who can and cannot loot it would be a variable, keyed to the flag set up by the quest mechanic - consider it like having an invisible chest key placed in your backpack when you get such a quest. To keep the quest in a lore-logical context, the crafting process could be more akin to Summoning - bringing something into being in a distant or significant world location where suich things enter the world, or Scrying - determining the location of a distant thing.

The quest object could even be simply the skinning product or drop of a special summoned or scryed mob...keeping things realistic in a gameworld logic sense is important to RP I feel, and that would make more sense I think.


Epic Mobs: Perhaps related to the above - a special mob that is spawned at a map-tagged location when Scried or Summoned, a random spot (but chosen from a table of valid such spots) and not part of a regular mob-spawn.


Clan or Party Quests: These would be quests which not just a single player, but a party or a whole clan, can work towards completing. Similar to the Title quests, with rewards such as decorative city assets etc


Player Grave Skinning: Make it possible to skin player graves to produce items such as ears or heads, depending on level of skinning skill. These can be used for kill confirmation on bounties, or any of a number of other macabre uses.

Clan Alliance Banks: Clan structures can aid roleplay or loreplay if they are used to create virtual subdivisions within a clan for organizational purposes. Unfortunately they have the consequence of making the clan bank directly inaccessible any secondary clans. Either create a new subgroup within the clan structure, or add a CA bank.


Lore-Supporting Game Mechanics: I do not think ARAC clans should be penalized in any way. The players behind the characters will be of different races, and the bottom line is friends want to play together. You can give minor awards to clans or players that follow the racial lore however. It should be noted however that allying with a supposed racial enemy, or killing an established racial ally, can be entirely legitimate both within the game's lore and in a roleplay context. In the original DF lore, races currently considered enemies were once allied to face a common threat etc.

There are variables aside from race that can be used to manifest the game's lore however. Faction relative to mobs would be one possibility. Regional bonuses or penalties would be another - akin to the stat bonus while in one's city. Take a mechanic like the set bonus from a Diablo 2 Item Set, and manifest it through use of racial items, or mounts, or such things as kills. A surge-type bonus, to skills or stats, could be awarded based on different variables related to lore-positive action.


Ultimately roleplay or loreplay is about communicating character and doing so in an established meaningful context. Any changes which make doing that possible, or easier, will benefit RP overall.


/bump
/signed

[_Doom_]

New chat system; the likes we had in Shadowbane would be perfect imo.

Lore!
More emotes!
More clothes / robes!
Armour Dye! (or similar)
Taverns!
Alcohol + effects!
Barbershops!
Clan houses you can enter!
Clan house decorations!
Keep decorations!
Skinnable player graves!
...

*heavy panting*

[BlueOreo]

Allow player vendors to give quests.

[Robin392]

Allow player vendors to give quests.

This would actually be awesome. Have someone place a bounty on another player and you pick the quest up from their vendor. Next time you kill them (if you ever do) it satisfies the quest. Perhaps a time limit on the quest/bounty and it can only be given out once....

[Shade]

I am in favor of anything the RP's want, as long as it can be disabled by those that don't want it.

I don't want to be forced into any form of specialization just to make someone else' game more enjoyable. If they want specializations for RP, then, I dunno, role play it.

The configuration should include a 'disable all' setting so those of us who don't want it can easily turn it all off, along with granular settings so those that do can pick and choose which to enable.

But speaking strictly for myself, which should be self evident, until a game can recreate the feeling of getting together with a bunch of friends all in the same room playing DnD or whatever, I can't see myself doing the RP thing. So like I said, as long as I can turn it all the way off, I fully support whatever the RPers want.

[Pyro Kiddie]

2things - chat bubbles let people know your trying to say something. Alot of people arnt going to look at public chat while playing and its very hard to communicate with someone. I dont remember the last time i saw someone and they didnt run / attack. Chat bubbles open up the possibility of DF having more options than all out ganking.

2nd adding more to the game is a good thing SO LONG AS ITS TOGGLABLE :) makes more people happy (attracts new players) and if u dont like it - turn it off.. not a big deal.

[Tibernicus]

I am in favor of anything the RP's want, as long as it can be disabled by those that don't want it.

I don't want to be forced into any form of specialization just to make someone else' game more enjoyable. If they want specializations for RP, then, I dunno, role play it.



The same can be said to anyone who wants to turn this game into a Quake server. If you don't want to play roles, don't play a role playing game, play an FPS. It goes both ways, and the argument is moot, the trick is to find the proper balance to appease multiple playstyles so we have a living healthy community.

[TSPCinnabar]

I think everyone that is bringing up anti-ARAC sentiment is totally off-base in their understanding of RP. RP doesn't have to mean following the lore to a T. Are some of you meaning to tell me that in this massive world there would be no "outsiders" from the races that might band together for other purposes?

Our guild used to get a bit of grief initially in Shadowbane, as we're an RP guild, but are ARAC. We are pirates...held together by a code and the desire for riches. We don't care of each other's races; only that each can hold his/her own in battle and come out ahead with plenty of booty. Once people began to understand that RP is what you make it, there was a much more welcoming mentality.

It is great to implement the lore in as many ways as possible but when you do it to the degree that some are expressing, it only further limits players in an already struggling player-base.

[xpiher]

I think the first thing one has to realize is that there is a difference between Roleplay and Loreplay, and that ideally there need to be mechanics to support each. You can RP without taking the game's lore into consideration, but doing so, or not having any connection between your actions and a world's lore, results in something that lacks a level of depth and energy which can vastly improve the quality of the experience.

Some good ideas in the thread - these are things I'd like to see:


A 'Sociability' System: As has been mentioned in this thread, in DF, due to the open PvP nature of the game and the time it takes to type to someone, conducting in-character chat - or any conversation really - with other players, especially unknown players, is dangerous to say the least. RPing is about communication, whether the mode of communication is chat, symbols, clothing etc. If you cannot communicate you cannot RP.

One possible mechanic to help in this respect would be a visual indicator and tracking system similar to Alignment, that measures Sociability. If you as a player encounter someone whom you find is 'pro-RP', that you can take the time to communicate with or engage with at that level, you could issue a once per player rating of this person as 'Social' or 'Anti-Social'. A mechanic similar to the Forgive function and using a similar interface, or the Friends function.

The sole purpose of this mechanic would be to give you the ability to detect, at range, whether this person is more likely to kill you than communicate with you. Of course, killing you may be part of that communication in an RP sense, but for it to have context and meaning, some chat with them beforehand, or afterward, would be necessary. Have it display much like the aligment bar does on yourself, but below their health bar, or near their character name text. Over time, with enough interactions, people will develop a reputation as Social or Anti-Social - aiding the decision-making process when it comes to engaging in chat-based RP with people outside your clan.

Again, this has nothing to do with whether someone is going to PvP with you or not - simply a suggestion they may be open to doing it in a context.


Chat System: Some change to the current chat system to make communication easier, more efficient and more effective, would be good. Whether this is an 'opt in' and 'opt out' chat bubble, or text that can be configured by color - some mechanic change that would make things more friendly to local communication in an open PvP environment.

One immediate and easy option would be to make it possible to define a chat window's text itself as opaque, while the window itself is transparent. This would allow you to simulate floating text overlayed directly over the playfield - just drag a chat window that is 100% transparent to wherever you want it on screen - though color control would be necessary for this to be effective.


In-Game Expression Artifacts: These range from personal housing or clan asset decorative variations, to clan icons on flags, shields, sails etc, to clothing items or character model changes that allow for customization of appearance. This can also include making emotes easier to use, such as through Bob's idea to have them represented in game in a spell-type list as icons, that can be hotbarred.


Clan-Created Quests: As suggested by a poster in this thread, enable player-created quests - perhaps only by a certain rank level in a clan - that can be accessed through an NPC in town by a clan's members. These can be monster kill quests much like some of the standard quests in game, or PvP quests involving the killing of members of a specific race, clan or even a particular character.

This could involve 'Craftable Quest Objects', much like Arkh's idea. Such objects could work in a variety of ways, but one way it could work would be much the same as the instanced chests function, or the keyed chests. A clan member puts together the materials required to craft an object and clicks a 'quest item' box. This causes the resulting item to spawn not in his pack upon completion, but on mob somewhere in the world. This mob location would show on the map of the eliglible clan members - this being controlled either by a mechanic such as being in the same party as the object crafter, or in the same clan etc.

The mob would be much like a treasure chest in that who can and cannot loot it would be a variable, keyed to the flag set up by the quest mechanic - consider it like having an invisible chest key placed in your backpack when you get such a quest. To keep the quest in a lore-logical context, the crafting process could be more akin to Summoning - bringing something into being in a distant or significant world location where suich things enter the world, or Scrying - determining the location of a distant thing.

The quest object could even be simply the skinning product or drop of a special summoned or scryed mob...keeping things realistic in a gameworld logic sense is important to RP I feel, and that would make more sense I think.


Epic Mobs: Perhaps related to the above - a special mob that is spawned at a map-tagged location when Scried or Summoned, a random spot (but chosen from a table of valid such spots) and not part of a regular mob-spawn.


Clan or Party Quests: These would be quests which not just a single player, but a party or a whole clan, can work towards completing. Similar to the Title quests, with rewards such as decorative city assets etc


Player Grave Skinning: Make it possible to skin player graves to produce items such as ears or heads, depending on level of skinning skill. These can be used for kill confirmation on bounties, or any of a number of other macabre uses.

Clan Alliance Banks: Clan structures can aid roleplay or loreplay if they are used to create virtual subdivisions within a clan for organizational purposes. Unfortunately they have the consequence of making the clan bank directly inaccessible any secondary clans. Either create a new subgroup within the clan structure, or add a CA bank.


Lore-Supporting Game Mechanics: I do not think ARAC clans should be penalized in any way. The players behind the characters will be of different races, and the bottom line is friends want to play together. You can give minor awards to clans or players that follow the racial lore however. It should be noted however that allying with a supposed racial enemy, or killing an established racial ally, can be entirely legitimate both within the game's lore and in a roleplay context. In the original DF lore, races currently considered enemies were once allied to face a common threat etc.

There are variables aside from race that can be used to manifest the game's lore however. Faction relative to mobs would be one possibility. Regional bonuses or penalties would be another - akin to the stat bonus while in one's city. Take a mechanic like the set bonus from a Diablo 2 Item Set, and manifest it through use of racial items, or mounts, or such things as kills. A surge-type bonus, to skills or stats, could be awarded based on different variables related to lore-positive action.


Ultimately roleplay or loreplay is about communicating character and doing so in an established meaningful context. Any changes which make doing that possible, or easier, will benefit RP overall.

Great post addresses all the issues concered.

Box, you don't get it. I'm not an MMORPG newb. Been playing RPG, MMOs, MMORPGs since I was 12 starting with EQ. I just don't want to see this game turned into an RvR based game. Punishing ARAC clans harshly, not allowing their members into NPC cities for instance, makes ARAC clans un-playable once AV adds in more lore orientated things. Maybe a different color so guard towers don't attack them, but anyone else can without a penalty outside guard tower range. IMO, guard towers should attack aggression only, not colored targets.

Also, I didn't derail this thread, everyone who said punish ARAC clans turned this into that debate.


And lastly, this is a big one, because I cannot offer good advice... The alignment system needs to punish reds a LOT more. There are only mild inconveniences to going red for mudering other players, and if you have friends, you can go blue again all too soon. Nothing breaks a community down more than having it so that there is literally absolutely no reason not to just murder that guy over there, or that guy over there. You can't expect people to try to interact with eachother if the first instinct is always to try to kill eachother. This would likely involve a reworking of the whole system, and I honestly cannot think of a good way to do it, but I feel it is something that is necessary.

That is all for now.

Only point I don't agree with. Being red should only affect your ability to do the stuff you are saying they should add, nothing more.

I believe AV tried to get the best of both worlds(FFA/RvR) with the racial wars, I don't believe it works and I think racial alignment should be removed entirely.

Everyone should be blue, people who kill others with no valid reason should be red. Scrap the racial alignment, keep guild/alliance war declaration. Make it so you only gain alignment by killing reds.

In all seriousness MO ----> This is a PvP centric game deal with it.



When I was doing my research on Dark Fall, one of the design elements that was the most attractive to me was the dynamics of the races. It's not a simple good guys vs. bad guys. It was mixed up, 3 vs. 2 vs. 1 relationship. It still has that same game mechanic built in and I'm holding on to hope that it's going to mean something. The reason it does not mean something is that it's too easy to do ARAC clans. Numbers = power and the more players you can recruit the faster your numbers go up. No wonder ARAC clans dominate the game. Their needs to be a meaningful reason for penalties and buffs concerning ARAC/Race based clans. This would not only help role playing, it would make the game a lot more interesting and meaningful.

Here is some role playing for you.
A pack of Mahirim, running over the hills shoulder to shoulder hearing the growls of their brothers are filled with ferocity and might as they encroach in on the feeble looking Mirdain. Moving together as if one, drawing from there ancient hunting rituals, they pounce!
= BUFF

A pack of Mahirim, running over the hills mixed with some alfar and humans. Hearing the confusing squaks of the alfar and yells of humans disorientates them. Not sure of what their allies will due because of communication problems and moving out of sync. Their attack is clumsy and uncertain.
= PENALTY

Not the greatest write but I hope you get the point.

Yes, you should be able to do ARAC clans, at a price. Yes you should get a buff for clanning with your race and natural allies. Yes, this has to do with role playing.

Much better system than perma gray. Other things would benifit a racial only guild a lot more. Guild vendors in NPC raical cities, access to buying rare ore, etc would be much better benifits and not affect the political dynamics of the game at all.

[Wufiavelli]

Yeh i am surprised we have not seen armor dye in the game yet. From what i know all that needs change is a filter and it should have minimal impact on large scale performance.

[Signus]

Yeh i am surprised we have not seen armor dye in the game yet. From what i know all that needs change is a filter and it should have minimal impact on large scale performance.

Games in 2001 had it, don't see why it's not in more MMOs. Perhaps it IS more difficult than we think.

Once again I'd like to advise people to stop derailing the thread with ARAC debates, as those never go anywhere. Dig up one of the hundreds of threads about it in the general discussion.


And lastly, yeah I sort of recant my post about the alignment system, I suppose I was just looking for an artificial way to hold back the massive amount of FPS type people in this game from totally driving off the roleplayers. But instead I suppose the real answer is, give enough RPG elements to this game to satisfy the people who enjoy MMORPGs and most of them would have stayed anyway.

[selenius]

Lore
Trading and Economy
Local Banking
Regional Resources
Events
Better chat interface

Did I mention lore?

this

[Kasmos]

You'd think if people cared about the lore there would be less ARAC clans around. But there's not because people don't care, people don't want to be forced into RvR. If we wanted that we would of joined a different game.

Why would anyone be a strict "lore" clan when there are absolutely no benefits for doing so or no incentives for doing so since, again, the alignment system fucking blows and racial alliances mean jack shit?

You're honestly telling me that if racial alliances meant something, if you got rewards for helping out your racial alliance, if there were racial alliance oriented objectives and things to do in the open world, that people wouldn't participate in them?

And you're telling me that most people came to this game already knowing that the alignment system would be fucking stupid and not mean or do anything and that the racial alliances the developers talked about over and over again meant nothing and added NOTHING to the game?

Uh... ok?

[Kasmos]

For the record, I would rather see AV get rid of the races completely and make us all play humans than see them continue to shit all over their own lore.

Agreed, at least then it would satisfy all these fucking FPS clowns that need constant "pew pew pew pew pew pew pew pew pew pew pew pew pew pew pew pew pew pew", can't stand any downtime (oh my GOD, we have to RUN SOMEWHERE IN AN MMO? WHAT THE FUCK?), and can't handle or like any R.P.G. elements that are completely missing from this supposed MMORPG.

Christ, and to think I thought it'd be the carebears that would destroy this game. Instead, it looks like it's the FPS kids.

This game is by far the best player verse player game on the market in my opinion, but that's as far as it goes. It's a terrible MMORPG at the moment, but it's a fantastic PvP game. I guess we'll have to see which way the developers take us in the future, either changing it more to an MMOFPS, or actually staying true to what they advertised......

[Kasmos]

When I was doing my research on Dark Fall, one of the design elements that was the most attractive to me was the dynamics of the races. It's not a simple good guys vs. bad guys. It was mixed up, 3 vs. 2 vs. 1 relationship. It still has that same game mechanic built in and I'm holding on to hope that it's going to mean something. The reason it does not mean something is that it's too easy to do ARAC clans. Numbers = power and the more players you can recruit the faster your numbers go up. No wonder ARAC clans dominate the game. Their needs to be a meaningful reason for penalties and buffs concerning ARAC/Race based clans. This would not only help role playing, it would make the game a lot more interesting and meaningful.

Here is some role playing for you.
A pack of Mahirim, running over the hills shoulder to shoulder hearing the growls of their brothers are filled with ferocity and might as they encroach in on the feeble looking Mirdain. Moving together as if one, drawing from there ancient hunting rituals, they pounce!
= BUFF

A pack of Mahirim, running over the hills mixed with some alfar and humans. Hearing the confusing squaks of the alfar and yells of humans disorientates them. Not sure of what their allies will due because of communication problems and moving out of sync. Their attack is clumsy and uncertain.
= PENALTY

Not the greatest write but I hope you get the point.

Yes, you should be able to do ARAC clans, at a price. Yes you should get a buff for clanning with your race and natural allies. Yes, this has to do with role playing.

I <3 this post, and yes, it MAKES THE GAME BETTER for everyone.

[Shade]

The same can be said to anyone who wants to turn this game into a Quake server. If you don't want to play roles, don't play a role playing game, play an FPS. It goes both ways, and the argument is moot, the trick is to find the proper balance to appease multiple playstyles so we have a living healthy community.
Your reply would make more sense if you weren't comparing a virtual element (role play) to a tangible one. As it is, though, you can pretend to have classes or specializations, but you cannot do the opposite.

To further complicate your line of thought, Darkfall is advertised as a sandbox game, which is diametrically opposed to forced roles. It isn't a game content to be pigeon holed into being an RPG, nor is it strictly an FPS. So as long as the RP portions can be turn on and off at will, we should both be happy :- )

[Kasmos]

Your reply would make more sense if you weren't comparing a virtual element (role play) to a tangible one. As it is, though, you can pretend to have classes or specializations, but you cannot do the opposite.

To further complicate your line of thought, Darkfall is advertised as a sandbox game, which is diametrically opposed to forced roles. It isn't a game content to be pigeon holed into being an RPG, nor is it strictly an FPS. So as long as the RP portions can be turn on and off at will, we should both be happy :- )

I think you're missing the point, we're playing an MMORPG that was advertised as an MMORPG that instead plays, feels, and has features that is more of an MMOFPS. Don't see the issue here?

Again, if I thought I was getting into Planetsidefall, I'd have waited for MO. Just because the game is a sandbox doesn't mean it can't have rules and regulations put into place, and having racial alliances mean something wouldn't detract at all from anyone's freedoms, all it would do is add "more" options of gameplay and features.

[Shade]

I <3 this post, and yes, it MAKES THE GAME BETTER for everyone.
You do not speak for me, please refrain from blanket statements. This suggestion will not make my game experience better.

Want a common example of where this suggestion breaks?

Mercenaries - For some it is all about the money, and morals and politics don't matter. They work just fine as a cohesive group because they have a common goal (money) and common penalty for failure (death). Race is not an issue.

[GRCPan]

The real question is. Why you can create a non arac clan?

[Signus]

The real question is. Why you can create a non arac clan?

Like I've said, many many times already, keep this thread on topic, take the ARAC debate somewhere else, it is becoming destructive to the thread. Sorry but I'm trying to keep this constructive and not a flame war.

[Shade]

I think you're missing the point, we're playing an MMORPG that was advertised as an MMORPG that instead plays, feels, and has features that is more of an MMOFPS. Don't see the issue here?

Again, if I thought I was getting into Planetsidefall, I'd have waited for MO. Just because the game is a sandbox doesn't mean it can't have rules and regulations put into place, and having racial alliances mean something wouldn't detract at all from anyone's freedoms, all it would do is add "more" options of gameplay and features.
Incorrect on several points:
- "Role-playing, strategy, and shooter action in a MMOG", quote off of the main page. It has never been advertised as strictly RPG or FPS, and the sandbox style has always been emphasized.

- Once again you try to speak for everyone, and I do wish you would at least keep it to a group you know of. I for one would feel my freedom was impinged upon if rules were put into place forcing me into any given role. I happen to very much appreciate that I can test out anything in game, play any part of it that I like from day to day and moment to moment. Sometimes I feel like playing ranged, sometimes melee, sometimes I like to sneak into enemy cities, sometimes I like to craft. I am not limited by someone else' preconceived notions of how I should play.

Even the upcoming specializations are not fixed. I plan on trying out Mage Killer to see if it is worth the sacrifice, but even if I do like it I know that at times I will pay the price to unlearn it so I can use my elemental magic. That is my definition of freedom.

[Grekko]

As others have said, having local chat go above your head, not in a bubble, like in UO would greatly help.

Many people have talked about having new clothing options as well. I also believe it is important to be able to wear the clothing over your armor. It will enable people to have many different looks. For example, like the tunics and aprons in UO.

BTW: great spotlight.

[miyagisan]

at least MONSTERS should have bubbleschat!!!! it would add some lore and roleplay. :D

They say a lot of funny and intersting things, but NOBODY i going to switch from system chat to te monster chat tab...

[Vindico]

at least MONSTERS should have bubbleschat!!!! it would add some lore and roleplay. :D

They say a lot of funny and intersting things, but NOBODY i going to switch from system chat to te monster chat tab...

i do sometimes :ninja:

[Preston]

The single biggest feature that would drastically add to RP is floating text above the head for public chat. An option for other chat channels would even be nice.

This is what most MMO's have been missing since Ultima Online. How many of us miss the days of UO when you talked, everyone around you could and did see it? It is much more visible and "realistic" than looking for text somewhere in a chat channel 10 minutes later.

[Roby]

Unless chat bubbles can be implemented without seeing 5 guys spamming.....

"######################################## ######################################## ######################################## ######################################## ######################################## ######################################## ######################################## ######################################## #######################################

to block my view of the person I am trying to kill, than I am all for it. I liked everything about chat bubbles in UO, except the spam for distraction factor.

[Azorius]

get rids of ARACS.

[Lingxiaoyu]

Reds should have stat loss like in UO.

No, I'm not kidding.

[GRCPan]

The single biggest feature that would drastically add to RP is floating text above the head for public chat. An option for other chat channels would even be nice.

This is what most MMO's have been missing since Ultima Online. How many of us miss the days of UO when you talked, everyone around you could and did see it? It is much more visible and "realistic" than looking for text somewhere in a chat channel 10 minutes later.

What do you mean most? DF is the first one I see without chat bubbles.
I agree that it is more realistic to have bubbles. When I talk irl people don't look around to find me, they know the direction of the sound. The most realistic way to implement this is with chat bubbles.

[Signus]

at least MONSTERS should have bubbleschat!!!! it would add some lore and roleplay. :D

They say a lot of funny and intersting things, but NOBODY i going to switch from system chat to te monster chat tab...

Like I've said, optional bubble chat would not fix the issue, the chat box itself needs to be fixed first so that everything is consolidated into one window with optional special tabs (but local chat always appearing in every tab).

Because many people dislike the idea of comic book bubbles in this realistic world, and would turn them off, and we're back to the same problem of not being able to see chat...

What do you mean most? DF is the first one I see without chat bubbles.


Not played many MMOs then?

Reds should have stat loss like in UO.

No, I'm not kidding.


A greater penalty would be welcome.

[GRCPan]

Not played many MMOs then?




I have played the most popular ones. From what I recall all had chat bubbles.

[Lumanil]

Well, first, and I have been pushing this from the start, I'd like to see a chat window not made up of separate tabs for every channel. I'd like the main window to be able to show all of the different chats in different colors, and if you go into the options for the main tabs, you can shut off different text that floats in.

Main (local) chat, should always show up, in every tab. It's so hard to communicate with people because they just don't see the local tab pop up. You can have a main window with orange for group chat, green for guild chat, white for local chat, and then, if you want individual tabs, you can make another and use a check box system to select what text is displayed in that tab. Some want floating world bubbles, but personally that is something I am against. Just my opinion.

Going to have to back up Tibernicus on this one. Before we can even think of having chat bubbles the regular chat system needs to be fixed. Chat bubbles will not make everyone happy, some people are dead set against it. The obvious solution there is to have them toggle on and off. Well, now you're back to the exact same problem. People could be yelling at you, and because you have chat bubbles off, and because the regular chat window is so borked, you'll have no idea.






Second, I believe some of the quests really need to be finished. There is a LOT of lore for this game, but I think the devs themselves have forgotten about it. I think Claus even said at one point that he really didn't give a care about it. A lot of the lore on the website was translated into the game world, so someone at Aventurine must care. But there are also inconsistencies, like the Nithron. I don't remember ever reading about them, but they are all over the in game quests.

There has been a lot of half finished content in the game, from The Watchers Tower, to some of the quests that lead you into dungeons just ended in one big bug that still isn't fixed from beta. (Dragontorc quest) Live events were tossed around as an idea, a quest objective for the entire server was to trigger the events that would activate The Watcher's Tower, and the Celestial Dragon, and the Demi Gods themselves (in an interview, said they would be played by devs or GMs for special events).

Also, the Wordstones are still absent from the world as far as I can tell, and I haven't been able to get an answer as to if they are ever intended to make a return, they are the most important part of the Darkfall lore and they aren't in game. Wordstones would add a LOT of political strife to the game, which is perfect, and when gathered all together maybe they can trigger a server wide event, like calling the Demi Gods down from wherever they are hiding to attack the world.





Roaming monsters is another thing I was upset vanished without a trace for launch. The state of the game announcement says that they'll be added in some form at the end of the month, but I fear it won't be what was originally advertised. As far I as I understand it, mobs were supposed to roam around if overhunted, smarter mobs were supposed to erect their own strongholds, if left alone too long they would train their own soldiers and attack NPC and player cities, until someone clears them out. They would loot players, wear the armor of those that they killed, and even, in a limited fashion, level up. Now this sort of system is insanely detailed and dynamic, and I highly doubt this is the system we are getting in the expansion, but it's something to work towards.





Fluff the little features that make things more interesting, being able to write on parchment and leave it for people to find (I know items dropped on the ground had to get axed cause of lag problems) and just find ways to bring people into cities. There are only a few static NPCs, they feel so dead. Some wandering NPCs, some taverns where people can hang out, play cards or checkers, tell stories, those kind of things. I know when Dark Age of Camelot added liquor to the game, I started roleplaying my character as a chronic drunk. If you drank too much you'd get a temporary debuff and a drunken stagger animation. We'd be about to pull a large group of Drakoran and I'd stop everyone, drink some whisky, start staggering around, and sloppily pull too many, with everyone yelling at me, and me typing in an inebriated fashion into the chat box. It was great fun.





Customizable armor will go very far to add to the game world. Giving people the ability to dye cloth, put on enamel to their plate and chain armor... Again, back in DAoC, in the early game, armor color was a status symbol. Only higher level players could afford the 30g black armor dye, so when you'd see a knight in full black armor, you had the wow factor. This servers ANOTHER purpose in Darkfall, if we allow people to wear cloaks, put guild emblems on shields and cloaks, and dye their armor, we can have a way to identify clans in combat. We can even have some people imitate enemy clans to sneak up behind them and cause chaos. Once this feature is implemented, we can finally get rid of those horribly stupid floating group icons. (they need to go ASAP).


(hope this doesn't derail the thread as these last two are controversial)


Crafting specialization. One of the reasons for single character servers was because the community was supposed to depend on other people, instead of everyone being self sufficient. If everyone can master not only every combat skill, but every crafting skill, then there is absolutely no reason to interact with others. Some sort of specialization system is necessary to make people either focus more on crafting, or more on combat, or at the very least, specific kinds of crafting so that if they need armor, and they're only good at weapon crafting, they'll have to actually buy some from another crafter.





And lastly, this is a big one, because I cannot offer good advice... The alignment system needs to punish reds a LOT more. There are only mild inconveniences to going red for mudering other players, and if you have friends, you can go blue again all too soon. Nothing breaks a community down more than having it so that there is literally absolutely no reason not to just murder that guy over there, or that guy over there. You can't expect people to try to interact with eachother if the first instinct is always to try to kill eachother. This would likely involve a reworking of the whole system, and I honestly cannot think of a good way to do it, but I feel it is something that is necessary.

That is all for now.

/agreed

This is a awesome post !!
I like all of our ideas.

[Unholywarrior]

isnt this the darkages in teck

and we use vent wich is alot like cell phones
and we have cords on the map= satalite

lol role playing

[GRCPan]

isnt this the darkages in teck

and we use vent wich is alot like cell phones
and we have cords on the map= satalite

lol role playing

Satellites invented coords!

[Aristos]

/agreed

This is a awesome post !!
I like all of our ideas.

Agreed. All things I would love to see in game, especially armor dyes and live events/dynamic mobs.

Although I am personally for chat bubbles, I think it might open up a window for marketplaces

[Shioni]

New chat system; the likes we had in Shadowbane would be perfect imo.

Lore!
More emotes!
More clothes / robes!
Armour Dye! (or similar)
Taverns!
Alcohol + effects!
Barbershops!
Clan houses you can enter!
Clan house decorations!
Keep decorations!
Skinnable player graves!
...

*heavy panting*

/Sign


We need some sexy dance animations or at least a victory dance. And I really would love to get a freaking cloak.

I also want a gun, and maybe some gambling or at least some sort of mini game like football or baseball.

[Signus]

Agreed. All things I would love to see in game, especially armor dyes and live events/dynamic mobs.

Although I am personally for chat bubbles, I think it might open up a window for marketplaces

I am slightly against chat bubbles, but honestly, so long as they fix the chat window FIRST it's fine. You cannot have the chat bubbles without first fixing the chat window.

[-El-]

tl;dr so I don´t know if anyone mentioned this but:

Give us the option to have robes and armor in DIFFERENT COLORS! Atm there are 5000 clones running around, all look the same, you can´t seperate friend from foe without aiming at them. Let´s have elegant robes in 20 different colors, give the players an option to chose colors for their armor, please!!!!

[-El-]

Well, first, and I have been

[...]

but I feel it is something that is necessary.

That is all for now.

OMG imagine all that...I would be excited! Awesome ideas, I fully support you...well I would if I could :D

[Najwalaylah]

tl;dr so I don´t know if anyone mentioned this but:

Give us the option to have robes and armor in DIFFERENT COLORS! Atm there are 5000 clones running around, all look the same, you can´t seperate friend from foe without aiming at them. Let´s have elegant robes in 20 different colors, give the players an option to chose colors for their armor, please!!!!^^What m'Lady said, and many other things suggested to be added from forever ago until now, somewhere above (chat bubbles, et cetera).

And do them now, in case I start playing this godsforsaken game again as if the for the first time-- because if I have to wait another 11 months (the length of time from now back to when I first heard of Darkfall and came to investigate) from approximately now until they happen, then I once again probably won't be here by the time things change.

But don't do anything to chat or any other system that makes or continues to make it possible for someone to open a window on my screen when I'm not expecting it.

In conclusion, it is also true that if I were allowed a character name change then I wouldn't absolutely have to reroll for RP reasons, and that would make my hypothetically recontinued (paying) involvement easier, more fun and also more probable-- but I'm not going to hold my breath for any of it.

[Dragoon]

I think it would require a whole new server for roleplaying only, that would atleast get me back to playing the game again.

That will and should never happen.

[Wreatch]

Stealing.

Chat bubbles.

Wildlife.

mahirim 4 legged running.

Player Vendors.

NPC's that don't stand in the same spot their whole lives.

Dynamic mob spawns.

Dynamic quest system.

Once in a lifetime mobs.

Rare resources coming out of regular nodes occasionally.

[Shade]

We'd be about to pull a large group of Drakoran and I'd stop everyone, drink some whisky, start staggering around, and sloppily pull too many, with everyone yelling at me, and me typing in an inebriated fashion into the chat box. It was great fun.
Leroy? LEROY JENKINS?!? Is that you, Leroy?!?


ok, sorry, I had resisted that half the day but it finally got the better of me ;- )

[Robin392]

Stealing.

Chat bubbles.

Wildlife.

mahirim 4 legged running.

Player Vendors.

NPC's that don't stand in the same spot their whole lives.

Dynamic mob spawns.

Dynamic quest system.

Once in a lifetime mobs.

Rare resources coming out of regular nodes occasionally.

Could we get some clarification on what you mean by dynamic? That's kind of vague....

And I agree with your comments on NPC's. Towns seem kind of empty, if there were actual townspeople that live there as well as animals within the world (not just mobs) it would add a lot.

Also, how about some world-based sound effects? Birdsong in the forests? Wind whistling through the mountains? Trees rustling in the breeze? Frogs in the swamps?

[Tiak]

I think DF needs:
- More ways to customize your appearance. Capes, sashes, kilts, whatever.
- Clan logos and tabards.
- Being able to loot the heads from players after a decapitation.
- Customizable clan rank system.
- The maker should be able to name ships and warhulks.
THIS.

As for the "ARAC problem", the solutions being proposed here sort of suck. If I interpreted things correctly, it was originally going to be difficult to have ARAC clans because even clan NPCs/guards wouldn't cooperate with those not of their race alliance. Re-implementing this to some extent would work fine, without being ridiculously severe (if you could chose/change the race of a given NPC in your cities).

[Thanateros]

Role playing would only enhance this game. It would be a refreshing alternative to the current grind. Also I think it would broaden the audience for a wider appeal. No one is forced into a role playing. It would offer limitless possibilities than what is currently available. If you don't like role playing, don't. Its a real simple answer. I only see benefits for NPC 'racial clans' that would in no way effect other clan statuses. It would be nice to play a game, instead of playing a grind, and still be competitive would other players. I think more people would stay on this game if there were multiple other routes to achieving a powerful character. As it stands, grind pointless skills until you get r50 nukes, or get killed.

I think massive RP alternatives should be added to this game as soon as possible to give players more options and make the game generally more enjoyable to a broader audience. If you don't like RP, then there would still be more PvP because the continent would be less empty.

[MRBULL]

Bubble chat with option on or off if people dont wana use them..
I personnaly would use it.

make icons for emotes we have like /taunt /wave and others so we can put them in hotbar

Posbly a "FOLLOW" implemented on your clan mates, sometimes you are in a seige and need to use the bathroom , what the hell are u suposed to do just stand there in the wild and get killed ? right click on clan mate and choose follow to automaticly follow one of them wile u go afk a few seconds ;)

we need events .. big time and the rare drops for mobs should be looked at.
the chest still gives crap as of gold and the mobs should sometimes give good full durra rare weapons/armour etc
also hope new weapons are on the way.

[Tiak]

Can you guys please in a respectable fashion, shove the chat bubble idea up your ass? No need for it AT ALL, destroys the limited stealth that there already is. What's next though, asking for neon colored names above peoples heads?
Because you need to talk in public while you're sneaking up on someone?

floating text is shit... dont need 15 people rushing you to all type pirate arrr's and flood your screen with lag-inducing text.
Okay, seriously, what?... receiving messages that the game draws above someone's head doesn't cause any more lag than receiving messages that pop up in a chatbox. Unless you have a videocard from the mid-90s or the system is coded by monkeys with down syndrome drawing the text shouldn't slow down your PC either.


Chat bubbles would only work if u urself could make ur chat appear over ur head, if u could just turn chat bubbles on/off then every1 would have em on just for that edge of see'ing a person first. Its just like weather, u can't give ppl options to turn it off or on or else every1 is gonna turn it off for an extra edge making the weather pointless

The idea is that you turn them on/off for everyone, BUT you only see them if the person has said something in a channel you can see recently, or even only if you're targetting them. How often does someone sneak up to you while talking in public (and how often would they sneak up to you using a specific "local" channel that flags above their head)?...

Furthermore, there is no real need for them to be "bubbles" floating text above someone's head works just as well and is a bit harder to see.

The idea is plenty workable, you guys are just (intentionally?) conflating it with things it doesn't necessarily have to be. Nobody, including the most radical RPer wants there to be a giant permanent floating white blob above everyone's head that flags them in pvp better than surging becon.

[Cloud Stryphe]

The people who are saying chat bubbles will ruin stealth are baffling me.

Does that mean that if they implement chat bubbles, you're going to be spamming nonsense when you're hiding?

Here's an idea, when you're hiding... don't talk.

[Zacko]

I want:
-Chat Bubbles over my head
-Interactive Items (Chairs,Beds,Woodtrunks,Bottles,Campfire )
-More Emotes
-More Inventory for houses
-More friend slots for houses
-Player vendors or shops
-Items(chairs,tables,..) which are placeable everywhere i want

and much more :rolleyes:

[Uncletouchme]

... and a partridge in a pear tree







sorry had to. :D
-back to topic-

[Tiak]

... and a partridge in a pear tree







sorry had to. :D
-back to topic-

That was off topic?... Pear trees would be a much appreciated break from the apple monopoly. Partridges in them would be even cooler

[aspro05]

Roleplay is impossible without the ability to quickly communicate with those within your vicinity. Just doesn't work. Chat bubbles or floating text worked great in UO for roleplaying immersion so there is no reason not to include it. It's way more realistic than chat channels.

[xpiher]

Why would anyone be a strict "lore" clan when there are absolutely no benefits for doing so or no incentives for doing so since, again, the alignment system fucking blows and racial alliances mean jack shit?

You're honestly telling me that if racial alliances meant something, if you got rewards for helping out your racial alliance, if there were racial alliance oriented objectives and things to do in the open world, that people wouldn't participate in them?

And you're telling me that most people came to this game already knowing that the alignment system would be fucking stupid and not mean or do anything and that the racial alliances the developers talked about over and over again meant nothing and added NOTHING to the game?

Uh... ok?

The problem I've had with all your suggestions is that it was punishment based instead of incentives based. Take away all the punishments from being in a ARAC clan and only add incentives to those who chose to follow the lore coupled with the ability to change your race and you'll have a fair compromise.

The chat bubble would only work is if you could turn it off. All the MMO's I've played with any sort of chat bubble always cluttered the screne and broke immersion.

[Cloud Stryphe]

It would be cool if there were some sort of Darkfall newspaper that we could get daily at NPC cities.

The newspaper could include some lore, maybe a quest that we can do that day, and an interactive map, showing which clans hold which cities so we can keep up with the political situation too. Maybe clans that have cities can be allowed to write a paragraph that will be inserted into the newspaper? Dunno, kinda daydreaming with ideas here.

But basically, the newspaper would be a written copy of alot of things that are in our journal (top pve'rs, top crafters, top pvpers) in the past day. But we could keep these journals for collections that could be displayed in cities/houses. Imagine if there was a newspaper showing Hyperions dominance in the beginning of EU.

Another quick idea I had was expanding cities. I'm sure its been mentioned before, but having alot more activites to do within cities/hamlets. I find it annoying that alot of buildings are locked up/inaccessible. Add more npcs with different personalities and different abilities. Same in clan cities... as of right now, there is no point in having alot of the buildings besides increasing bindslots. Give us a reason to stay inside our houses!

[Signus]

Roleplay is impossible without the ability to quickly communicate with those within your vicinity. Just doesn't work. Chat bubbles or floating text worked great in UO for roleplaying immersion so there is no reason not to include it. It's way more realistic than chat channels.

Chat channels have NEVER inhibited me from talking with people. Chat bubbles aren't the ONLY way to talk to people, or the large number of MMOs that exist without chat bubbles... well... wouldn't have existed.

What is needed more, is a GOOD chat window.

[thedrumchannell]

It would be cool if there were some sort of Darkfall newspaper that we could get daily at NPC cities.

The newspaper could include some lore, maybe a quest that we can do that day, and an interactive map, showing which clans hold which cities so we can keep up with the political situation too. Maybe clans that have cities can be allowed to write a paragraph that will be inserted into the newspaper? Dunno, kinda daydreaming with ideas here.

But basically, the newspaper would be a written copy of alot of things that are in our journal (top pve'rs, top crafters, top pvpers) in the past day. But we could keep these journals for collections that could be displayed in cities/houses. Imagine if there was a newspaper showing Hyperions dominance in the beginning of EU.

Another quick idea I had was expanding cities. I'm sure its been mentioned before, but having alot more activites to do within cities/hamlets. I find it annoying that alot of buildings are locked up/inaccessible. Add more npcs with different personalities and different abilities. Same in clan cities... as of right now, there is no point in having alot of the buildings besides increasing bindslots. Give us a reason to stay inside our houses!

Good suggestion ^

[Cloud Stryphe]

Good suggestion ^

Thank you...

I would be really excited to see some sort of card game that would be affiliated with the game, board games would be cool too. I'm sure the dev team has the creativity to make a card game inspired on Magic the gathering with Darkfall Lore...

Another idea I had was to have some sort of billboard/forum in-game. Where I could go up to and write on. I would have a choice of writing in the trading, clan messages, clan recruitment, questing and miscellaneous part of the board where people could read until the next server save.

With the implementation of more quests, with the darkfall journal I mentioned earlier, and an ingame forum... I could see so many people resubbing. Hell I know people that would resub just because they love card/board games.

[apher]

Chat channels have NEVER inhibited me from talking with people. Chat bubbles aren't the ONLY way to talk to people, or the large number of MMOs that exist without chat bubbles... well... wouldn't have existed.

What is needed more, is a GOOD chat window.

Just to remaind you. This topic is about asking RPers how to enhance their game experience. And we clearly want chat bubles. It is not about how to improve the game UI so please stop hijacking the thread.

[xpiher]

Just to remaind you. This topic is about asking RPers how to enhance their game experience. And we clearly want chat bubles. It is not about how to improve the game UI so please stop hijacking the thread.

You can't improve RPers game play at the expense of everyone else's game play. I don't know if you realize this or not, but the majority of the gaming population aren't RPers.

Chat bubbles aren't bad, but they don't fix anything without AV fixing the general chat issues first.

[apher]

You can't improve RPers game play at the expense of everyone else's game play. I don't know if you realize this or not, but the majority of the gaming population aren't RPers.

Chat bubbles aren't bad, but they don't fix anything without AV fixing the general chat issues first.

Thing is that many people in this thread stated that for them RP is simply impossible without chat bubles. Yes, improved chat window will help a lot with in game comunication but if implemented alone (as Sigus suggests) it won't help RPers and that what I was thinking this thread is all about.

[xpiher]

Thing is that many people in this thread stated that for them RP is simply impossible without chat bubles. Yes, improved chat window will help a lot with in game comunication but if implemented alone (as Sigus suggests) it won't help RPers and that what I was thinking this thread is all about.

I think if rpers are inhibited so much by lack of chat bubbles than they need to start rethinking what it means to RP. AoC has a thriving RP community, with no chat bubbles. You know what AoC does have? Plenty of really well done emotes and the ability sit at table and simulate drinking and talking through those same emotes.

[Signus]

Just to remaind you. This topic is about asking RPers how to enhance their game experience. And we clearly want chat bubles. It is not about how to improve the game UI so please stop hijacking the thread.

Wow... you didn't read ANYTHING I posted, did you? And no, for every person that wants chat bubbles there is someone who does not want them. Making them a toggle does not solve the chat issue, because now you'll have 50% of people who you cannot communicate with. The basic chat window is of greater importance than chat bubbles. Many games function beautifully without chat bubbles. Chat bubbles may help RP for some (and destroy it for others who see them as immersion breaking) but they aren't NEEDED.

I would also like to add that this thread is not just focused on roleplaying in the sense of, typing in character, but more of, what little bits of fluff would help you feel more connected to the world, more immersed in the living land of Agon, more attached to your character, more into the RPG aspect of the game. Not just chat interfaces :P

[Ezar]

Personally I would not bother to try and make this game roleplayer friendly.

You've chosen your target, and a small portion of them have joined. Rather than trying to get people to your game that it is currently not ready for, start advertising for those that it is ready for - the PvPing non-roleplayers. MMORPG is the standard name for games like this, that does not mean that you have to take it too serious.

You can choose not to feature roleplaying you know.

Invest more energy in current features, and this awesome game concept will be a lot more enjoyable for the bigger part of the player base than if you're going to waist all that time into the occasional role-player.

[Signus]

Personally I would not bother to try and make this game roleplayer friendly.

You've chosen your target, and a small portion of them have joined. Rather than trying to get people to your game that it is currently not ready for, start advertising for those that it is ready for - the PvPing non-roleplayers. MMORPG is the standard name for games like this, that does not mean that you have to take it too serious.

You can choose not to feature roleplaying you know.

Invest more energy in current features, and this awesome game concept will be a lot more enjoyable for the bigger part of the player base than if you're going to waist all that time into the occasional role-player.


It's a sandbox game... you're telling them to LIMIT the scope of their game?

[syryel]

+1 to speak bubbles for more direct interaction with unknown people

+1 new emotes that can be used in action (Charge, Follow me, Help !)

-1 Air Guitar emote : really, it breaks the mood and pisses me off everytime. Flush it!


:: Chat interface

I would like to be able to configure my chat windows as desired, mainly the possibility to merge to chats windows in one with a color selected for each category (ex.: merge clan/party, with party using green text). Others call this: "as in Shadowbane".

I would like to have the power to add filters to my chat. This way I could streamline the system info window for example.

[Ezar]

It's a sandbox game... you're telling them to LIMIT the scope of their game?

Yes, you can read, sir.

[Grathane]

-1 Air Guitar emote : really, it breaks the mood and pisses me off everytime. Flush it!


Good god yes, get rid of this absurd abomination. The mere fact this emote exists and was put into game by the same people now seeking to enhance the R in MMORPG is absolutely astounding. Kill it, and kill it good.

[Azraine]

And make ARAC clans unplayable. I don't think so. How about they add in an option for people to join into the race war without destorying clan/alliance mechanics in the process. Or make it a different color so guards towers don't zap them until they attack, remove zap towers, or do other stuff that makes sense.

you should be zapped for betraying your race.

[xSauronx]

I'd like to see more race war mechanics. Maybe something like a default guild for each race. Public events would be cool too.

[Aramanu]

Chat bubbles.
able to use furniture.
more emotes.
take out air guitar.
non static npcs.
more use of doors/buildings in the world.
fillout the empty ruins with stuff, i.e mobs/treasure.
wandering/dynamic mobs(i'm loling at this one but im gonna still put this down).

[Dartax]

Hi i made suggestion thread and it can improve Roleplay because there is way how to became good and have some profit from your status. I dislike idea how now good character only have 10 of 10 points of alignment at all.

http://forums.darkfallonline.com/showthread.php?t=217315

[aspro05]

Chat channels have NEVER inhibited me from talking with people. Chat bubbles aren't the ONLY way to talk to people, or the large number of MMOs that exist without chat bubbles... well... wouldn't have existed.

What is needed more, is a GOOD chat window.

First of all did i say chat bubbles are the only way to talk with people? What they are though is the easiest and quickest way to communicate with anyone within a certain distance. Just say, for example, you want to roleplay a comedian. How can you tell jokes etc without chat bubbles? A bubble toggle would work. Or even the ability to alter the distance you wish to see bubbles. How can bubbles ruin immersion when if you were truly in the world of Agon you would hear chatter within a certain distance? Having to switch channels etc to talk with people near you is not natural nor immersive whatsoever. At least give us a choice.

[Gnokuq]

With roleplay on the minds of the dev team I'd like to make my two cents known.

I am in one of the only 'sizable' single race clans in the game. We are a close knit group of players that enjoy trying to follow the lore of the game. We get very frustrated by the ARAC clans out there that will let any jackball into their clan just to get another body.

I believe that if you want people to play the game according to the lore you should reward those that do and punish those that don't.

Give players in lore abiding clans a bonus in stats and give players in non-lore abiding clans a drain in stats. That way people will be much more likely to form clans that stick to a single race or a race alliance. You can give lore abiding clans a bonus to gathering, maybe they could have a reduced gathering timer so they could gather slightly quicker than non-lore abiding clans. Anything to make it more appealing to clans to follow the lore of the game.

Allowing clans that have humans and orks playing side by side only diminishes the lore of the game.

My clan is not huge by any means. In fact I think our roster isn't much more than 40 but we have a significant percentage of active players. Our active player roster is just over 30. That's about a 75% active player rate. I doubt many clans can beat that. The reason we have such a high active player rate is because we play the game as the game was envisioned. We defend Morak from those not in our racial alliance. We travel to the lands of our racial enemies to punish them for invading our lands.

Because of the way clans are allowed to ARAC without penalty we have been forced to ally with ARAC style clans but that is by necessity. If the game rewarded racial and race-alliance clans we wouldn't have to sully our good name by doing so.

Please, please please make it beneficial to follow the lore of the game and 'punish' those that don't.

[xpiher]

Why do people want ARAC clans to be punished. You do know that the lore actually sports these groups right, not just as a betrayal mechanic. Every race has like 5 sub factions, some of them work with the other races.

If you give people options that can only be accessed for following the lore you do not need to punish those that don't. Encorage people to and reward them for following the lore, but don't punish those that don't because lets face it, most people just don't care.

[Azraine]

Why do people want ARAC clans to be punished. You do know that the lore actually sports these groups right, not just as a betrayal mechanic. Every race has like 5 sub factions, some of them work with the other races.

If you give people options that can only be accessed for following the lore you do not need to punish those that don't. Encorage people to and reward them for following the lore, but don't punish those that don't because lets face it, most people just don't care.

ARAC clans ruin any sense of racial community in the game, as every clan is an ARAC clan (very few are not). If you ally with racial enemies, you should be considered a racial enemy yourself. Hence, go red, or grey. Why would your race trust you? they wouldnt, so bam. Also itd bee good to see clans with an overall negative karma, to have all their memebers go red. So that way assosiating with murderers means you cannot be trusted. Thatll help this game alot in terms of RP, and just the flow of the game. People wont just go red on a dime, and murder people.

[xpiher]

ARAC clans ruin any sense of racial community in the game, as every clan is an ARAC clan (very few are not). If you ally with racial enemies, you should be considered a racial enemy yourself. Hence, go red, or grey. Why would your race trust you? they wouldnt, so bam. Also itd bee good to see clans with an overall negative karma, to have all their memebers go red. So that way assosiating with murderers means you cannot be trusted. Thatll help this game alot in terms of RP, and just the flow of the game. People wont just go red on a dime, and murder people.

Why does it have to be red or gray? Why can't it be outcast? I'd be fine with a new status - outcast status. Out cast status means that people can attack you without getting penalized, the guard towers still attack all aggression, you lose access to certain quest (unless you prove yourself), etc. The main problem with your suggestion is that it'll either detract from the player driven political spectrum or do nothing.

[Azraine]

Why does it have to be red or gray? Why can't it be outcast? I'd be fine with a new status - outcast status. Out cast status means that people can attack you without getting penalized, the guard towers still attack all aggression, you lose access to certain quest (unless you prove yourself), etc. The main problem with your suggestion is that it'll either detract from the player driven political spectrum or do nothing.

It will add HUGELY to the player driven political spectrum, as people will band together with memebers of their own race so they can stay within the npc cities. Outcast is pointless because A. These people are mostly likely pkers and dont give a toss for quests B. They are going to be attacked by every blue that sees them in npc cities anyway because they wont get flagged for it, but the outcasts will get flagged for hitting back. So....just zap them and keep them away? outcasts means CAST OUT, and not allowed in the npc cities.

If your good and true to your race then you can go in npc cities, if your evil, or consort with racial enemies then you cannot enter npc cities and you become for all intents and purposes a "racial enemy" its win win. Grey is rogue, which is essentially outcast. Grey is what members of evil guilds who arent actually evil themselves should become. So they can easily turn back to good if they choose to leave, or their clan turns good.

[apher]

Wow... you didn't read ANYTHING I posted, did you? And no, for every person that wants chat bubbles there is someone who does not want them. Making them a toggle does not solve the chat issue, because now you'll have 50% of people who you cannot communicate with. The basic chat window is of greater importance than chat bubbles. Many games function beautifully without chat bubbles. Chat bubbles may help RP for some (and destroy it for others who see them as immersion breaking) but they aren't NEEDED.

I actually read most of your posts in this thread. I do not dissagree with you on everything. It just annoys me that when AV finally decided to consider what roleplaying part of the community wants to be added to the game (and maybe foolishly I thought that what this thread is all about), thread is instantly hijacked by people who simply don't roleplay.

Ofc I believe everyone is entitled to his own opinion in this thread, but I also believe those opinions should point in the direction to improve roleplaying options in game. And big parts of your posts when you go on how to make chat window better have nothing to do with rp. It will not help rp at all. Personally I never watch trade/global/whatever.

Also you are aware that chat bubles do not replace chat window (it's only for public)? As for 50% having them turned off, well its a very strong chance that average roleplayer don't want to comunicate with this 50% in public anyway.

[xpiher]

It will add HUGELY to the player driven political spectrum, as people will band together with memebers of their own race so they can stay within the npc cities. Outcast is pointless because A. These people are mostly likely pkers and dont give a toss for quests B. They are going to be attacked by every blue that sees them in npc cities anyway because they wont get flagged for it, but the outcasts will get flagged for hitting back. So....just zap them and keep them away? outcasts means CAST OUT, and not allowed in the npc cities.

If your good and true to your race then you can go in npc cities, if your evil, or consort with racial enemies then you cannot enter npc cities and you become for all intents and purposes a "racial enemy" its win win. Grey is rogue, which is essentially outcast. Grey is what members of evil guilds who arent actually evil themselves should become. So they can easily turn back to good if they choose to leave, or their clan turns good.

I think you didn't notice when I said that towers would still attack aggression. If a outcast is in the city limit and gets attack by a blue the tower will hit the blue and visa versa. What you and every in this thread seems to not realize is that for this strict RvR to work there needs to be a control in the game to make the unpopular races have an equal playing field with the popular ones. And just becuase someone is in an ARAC clan doesn't mean they don't want to do quest or participate in RvR events. The main reason people are in ARAC clans has nothing to do with the fact that they are easy, rather it has everything to do with the fact that the races are not equally distributed among the player base. If strict RvR was enforced at launch then the human race alliance would dominate the map, with alfar a close second and ork/wolf being stomped 24/7

If you want strict RvR request that a server be made

[xpiher]

Oh, and yea there isn't any point for NPC cities once you have a guild city. If you make RAC clans more appealing by giving incentives for people to ahere to the lore than you will see people make those clans on their own without punishments. Incentive > punishments always.

[Azorius]

ARAC clans ruin any sense of racial community in the game, as every clan is an ARAC clan (very few are not).

/signed

ARAC clans have to go. Bring true race wars.

[Realbigdeal22]

Also you are aware that chat bubles do not replace chat window (it's only for public)? As for 50% having them turned off, well its a very strong chance that average roleplayer don't want to comunicate with this 50% in public anyway.

And you know whats pist me off the most in an mmorpg? Its when i try to be social whith somoene else that is suppose to have the time to respond to me. Getting ignored, i hate that and if i have the option to kill, i will do it if you ignore me.

In darkfall, not only i get ignored a lot, but i also accidentally ignore other players because i cant see the chat log pop out so i can keep myself update to the latest post. Its so annoying to scroll the chat up and whisper just after. Even if the guy is in front of you, he rather whisper someone then put the option to chat all. Myself, something i hate to do, i also end up having to whisper and if im in a group and my group mates are near me, i always have to chat on group and i use to chat on all when they near me.

To fix all that, they better add chat bubble because im sick of those fps style of BS chat for an mmorpg.

[xpiher]

And you know whats pist me off the most in an mmorpg? Its when i try to be social whith somoene else that is suppose to have the time to respond to me. Getting ignored, i hate that and if i have the option to kill, i will do it if you ignore me.

In darkfall, not only i get ignored a lot, but i also accidentally ignore other players because i cant see the chat log pop out so i can keep myself update to the latest post. Its so annoying to scroll the chat up and whisper just after. Even if the guy is in front of you, he rather whisper someone then put the option to chat all. Myself, something i hate to do, i also end up having to whisper and if im in a group and my group mates are near me, i always have to chat on group and i use to chat on all when they near me.

To fix all that, they better add chat bubble because im sick of those fps style of BS chat for an mmorpg.

Want to see what happens when chat bubbles are used in MMORPGs today?

http://www.burningsea.com/images/developer/fraxl/chatbubblesgonewrong.jpg

Multiply that by like 5k in a populated town

I don't care if they add chat bubbles or not, but for the majority of people fixing the current chat system is more important since most of us would just turn off the bubbles.

[Saorlan]

New chat system.

Really.

Make public chat appear as chat bubbles that are only visible to the persons right next to you or so.

Everyone is using vent anyway, so this won't damage pvp at all.

Needs to be done ASAP. Mortal Online have this right.

[Saorlan]

/signed

ARAC clans have to go. Bring true race wars.

Also totally signed. Bring on the race wars. ARAC clans are utter shite and ruin the RP.

[GRCPan]

I think if rpers are inhibited so much by lack of chat bubbles than they need to start rethinking what it means to RP. AoC has a thriving RP community, with no chat bubbles. You know what AoC does have? Plenty of really well done emotes and the ability sit at table and simulate drinking and talking through those same emotes.

AoC also has names over the heads of the characters. So it is easy to spot a guy that is talking, you don't have to target every single player around you to see who is talking.
Of course we don't want names over the head, so there should at least be chat bubbles for /say chat.

[blob]

Want to see what happens when chat bubbles are used in MMORPGs today?

http://www.burningsea.com/images/developer/fraxl/chatbubblesgonewrong.jpg

Multiply that by like 5k in a populated town

I don't care if they add chat bubbles or not, but for the majority of people fixing the current chat system is more important since most of us would just turn off the bubbles.

yes this sucks , but they can put max size of chat box and limited charaters per tell. whit good fonts it can look nice.

[miyagisan]

but they can put max size of chat box and limited charaters per tell. whit good fonts it can look nice.
this

[apher]

Want to see what happens when chat bubbles are used in MMORPGs today?

http://www.burningsea.com/images/developer/fraxl/chatbubblesgonewrong.jpg

Multiply that by like 5k in a populated town

I don't care if they add chat bubbles or not, but for the majority of people fixing the current chat system is more important since most of us would just turn off the bubbles.

You say majority but I only see you (do you even play anymore?), Sigus and handfull of other people againt where the rest is firmly for chat bubles. Also even if this is true we advocate bubbles from the rp point of view (hence roleplaying in the thread title).

Also did you really think than by buble we mean actuall "comic book" bubble (as shouwn in your link). I think every one thought rather of simple text floating above toon's head, like in MO or Fallen Earth. And 5k in one town? Again even if its true you don't wanna tell me scrolling through 5k lines in one chat window (even if different chanels are shown in different coulours) is in anyway easier.

[Furyos]

chat bubbles and quests that teach some kind of lore or at least have a decent story line.

the orc quest line was actually sorta interesting

[Eldest]

This thread (http://forums.darkfallonline.com/showthread.php?t=214646) caught our eye today and we thought it would be a good idea to grant Rigan Pere's wish and shine the spotlight on it.

It seems that these days quite a few, if not most people, tend to forget or not care that three of the letters that make up the MMORPG abbreviation stand for Role Playing Game.

Darkfall, due to it's sandbox gameplay and open world is seen by some as an ideal game to bring back the old MMORPG feel where people would roleplay more often than use “LOL” and “OMG” as responses to 80% of their gaming experiences. Still there is room for improvement and we have seen role players wish for more features and mechanics, be it in game or out of game, to help enhance their gaming experience.

Let's hear it then, what would you like to see implemented, either in game or out, that you think would promote roleplaying? Do you absolutely hate roleplaying and think it would not fit in Darkfall? With the possibility of GM run events in the future, would you like those to have a role playing flavor? Give us your why's and why not's by posting below.

I thought your job as a Liaison was to bridge the gap between the Developers and us, not the gap between the liaison's and us. Unless this system is GOING to be implemented, I don't want you wasting your time on it. Go talk with the devs some more, srsly

[bartillo]

Get rid of global chat! Its crap. Also add chat bubbles.

ARAC ruins lore, give a penalty to ARAC clans.

Regional resources

Full local banking with a caravan system. I want to be able to hop on a ship or pack mules and trade goods across argon, we need tree routes!

[bartillo]

Trade routes not tree :p

[Realbigdeal22]

Want to see what happens when chat bubbles are used in MMORPGs today?

http://www.burningsea.com/images/developer/fraxl/chatbubblesgonewrong.jpg

Multiply that by like 5k in a populated town

I don't care if they add chat bubbles or not, but for the majority of people fixing the current chat system is more important since most of us would just turn off the bubbles.

If its specialily made for an fps game like DF, its not a problem at all. In MO, it seem like the perfect way to do it. The bubbles are not that big too and its a good view that you have while in fpv too to be able to read whats in front of you. And it never bothered me in any mmorpg i played before. It was even better because when i was bore, i could read what ppl had to say and random reply instead of looking at my chat log. Its good for anything and anyway, who waste his time in a town in darkfall?

[Cloud Stryphe]

Want to see what happens when chat bubbles are used in MMORPGs today?

http://www.burningsea.com/images/developer/fraxl/chatbubblesgonewrong.jpg

Multiply that by like 5k in a populated town

I don't care if they add chat bubbles or not, but for the majority of people fixing the current chat system is more important since most of us would just turn off the bubbles.

To be honest, as annoying as that looks... it's a hell of a lot more interesting then surfing through chat windows...

[xpiher]

You say majority but I only see you (do you even play anymore?), Sigus and handfull of other people againt where the rest is firmly for chat bubles. Also even if this is true we advocate bubbles from the rp point of view (hence roleplaying in the thread title).

Also did you really think than by buble we mean actuall "comic book" bubble (as shouwn in your link). I think every one thought rather of simple text floating above toon's head, like in MO or Fallen Earth. And 5k in one town? Again even if its true you don't wanna tell me scrolling through 5k lines in one chat window (even if different chanels are shown in different coulours) is in anyway easier.

IT doesn't cover the screen.

And yes, chat bubbles to me means what I showed you. I've played MO (waiting for them actually add the RPG elements) and I would not call that cat bubbles.

[AjentOranj]

Imo, the most effective way for any company to facilitate roleplaying in their games, is to create immersion within the game worlds they've created. Ambient sound effects, such as anything other than the ambient music and sound effects triggered by player actions, tops my list for Darkfall.

As for chat bubbles; I think they would work fine in Third Person View, or Isometric View environments; Darkfall, is primarily a First Person View environment.

[Quixstar]

Create Role Playing Quests for Crafters!!
We need more crafting quests for the role players please!

Also suggestion - a skill so that once you learn it - you can auto-loot NPC monsters
ONLY - not players - and the more the skill raises the more items it will auto loot - or just add a button for NPC's when killing monsters or incorporate a skill!

Thankyou!

[Necron Wraith]

It'd be great to see more interactable objects like beds, tables, chairs, glasses etc as people have already mentioned. The world is great, and well finely crafted, it just needs wildlife, as it feels like a meteorite has exterminated most of it right now. Ambient sounds like birds singing, crickets chirping, wolves howling would help RP' immersion quite a bit, for me anyway.

And of course, an easier way to see close proximity chat. Chat bubbles [not necessarily comic style, perhaps you could edit the style if you wish] would be a great addition to the game, that you can optionally turn off if you don't like them. I liked the way UO did theirs. Of course I think the entire chat interface would use a rework altogether.

Lastly, more emotes would be a great addition, and make these easier to execute, like dragging them on to a hotbar. =-) [add an /air_violin !]

[wicked]

Want to see what happens when chat bubbles are used in MMORPGs today?

http://www.burningsea.com/images/developer/fraxl/chatbubblesgonewrong.jpg

Multiply that by like 5k in a populated town

I don't care if they add chat bubbles or not, but for the majority of people fixing the current chat system is more important since most of us would just turn off the bubbles.

which crowded town in darkfall do you hang out in that has that many people using public chat?