06/30/06 TheCombine - Game Mechanics, Beta/Launch [Archive]

Azash_AT

07-01-2006, 02:42 AM

good answer on beta. imo.

I like it to. I think they heard alot of the communities issues with the "soon" answers and the "its done when its done" type of stuff. They didnt give a date but it was a pretty straight forward answer.

Oh and all in all I am happy to hear about the regionalizing. I am all for people being able to choose where they play but I like the bennefits of regionalization. Eliminates alot of the problems without excessive coding.

LanMandragon

07-01-2006, 03:00 AM

Awesome info on beta. Awesome.

Galdred

07-01-2006, 03:12 AM

Best uodate so far indeed

Afgar

07-01-2006, 03:33 AM

Sad to hear that they planned on opening a clan beta without having individual signups.

Sunam

07-01-2006, 03:34 AM

Nice

Tongue

07-01-2006, 03:35 AM

That was a good Q&A.

This year?! hmmm

Lorak

07-01-2006, 03:50 AM

Very nice Q&A.

Thank you Devs for giving some good answers concerning the Beta. Not sure why it took so long as it all is reasonable. But thanks for answering.

Lorak

Lukeh

07-01-2006, 03:57 AM

By FAR the best Q&A so far.

AOD_Dante

07-01-2006, 04:16 AM

Great Q&A! I look forward to seeing the other Combine questions answered.

Thanks for posting.

Maglubiyet

07-01-2006, 04:34 AM

very very nice... about time some good questions were answered

BlackVolgan

07-01-2006, 04:40 AM

"We will offer Darkfall regionally but we

Airius Droc

07-01-2006, 04:44 AM

Sad to hear that they planned on opening a clan beta without having individual signups.

If the game will be near finished during public beta, I don't see the point of holding back on individual sign-ups. Unless of course Clan Beta won't be "near finished."

As for regions, I read that to mean that there would be a North American and European server at launch - play where you will. Peek times are going to make me sad, I think.

So alignment is based completely on killing players. Seems hard to balance to me. Seems like considering more factors would be in order. Example....if you're a Mirdain you don't screw up the forest.

Finally, Solo Players...

My only concern with players soloing would be the Min/Max effect where everyone ends up being the same character prototype because there's really only one way to be successful. Some group dynamics would be appreciated. Don't get me wrong, I think that lone wolves should be a big part of Darkfall. But on a technical level I'd hate to think that a single player could survive against many many players working together using a variety of skills.

Niccoli

07-01-2006, 06:13 AM

Finally, Solo Players...

My only concern with players soloing would be the Min/Max effect where everyone ends up being the same character prototype because there's really only one way to be successful. Some group dynamics would be appreciated. Don't get me wrong, I think that lone wolves should be a big part of Darkfall. But on a technical level I'd hate to think that a single player could survive against many many players working together using a variety of skills.

I don't think that was more in regards to solo PvP but the ability for you to do things in the game by yourself. There will be the opportunity for min/max templates (if the system is there for it) that everyone would take advantage of, wether or not you could solo.

I'd rather have everyone running around min/max than have to ask someone to play the role of 'support'. This role to me has never been about fun because you are 1. always needing to be with others and 2. never get the glory of the kill. Thats the extreme of a support role, but in general the truth.

As far as the rest of the questions, great answers and good to hear.

Thanks Deyth for putting them together. (and those that posted in the thread asking the questions) :D

APEist

07-01-2006, 07:38 AM

thanks to the Combine folks

dudeness

07-01-2006, 07:47 AM

awesome work from Deyth.

Ryuji

07-01-2006, 07:55 AM

Ya, this is the most informative and imo actually good FAQ so far. You win. :)

TreyDingo2020

07-01-2006, 08:01 AM

paade

07-01-2006, 08:27 AM

i promise ill never complain about the updates ever again :D

Shaar

07-01-2006, 10:35 AM

Nice fleshy answers. Also nice to get info when you don't expect it. Thanks Deyth.

Kilmoran

07-01-2006, 11:02 AM

awesome questions, awesome answers. Thanks!

I am a little dissapointed about good and evil being souly based on killing players. If a lady asks you to take a basket of bread to her sick grandmother in another town and you sell it for some spare change. You should become one evil mother fu****.

Good and evil are really the wrong words. It's more like..moral and immoral or right and wrong to the race that you are with. Your entire race won't shun you for selling an old ladies bread..they will how ever shun you for killingm any of their people.

G.Struepp

07-01-2006, 11:38 AM

great answers, kudos to the devs for being so honest and open about the beta question - fully acceptable reason

G

JimLad

07-01-2006, 12:00 PM

I sent them about 50 questions and I'll be getting the answers back piecemeal. They're apparently very busy over there so take what you can get. Here are the first four.

More to come? I hope so, those were some good questions. :cool:

Most glad to hear there's no forced grouping and of course some kind of official word on beta.

Am I the only one who feels they should hire more people though?
Just like 1 or 2 even, there's probabaly a big fat reason why they can't but it is a shame that a project of this calibur has to rest on the shoulders of so few people.

GandalfPl

07-01-2006, 12:06 PM

Finally some serious information.

Darkmatter

07-01-2006, 12:21 PM

Thanks to the developers for answering the questions!

Njordung

07-01-2006, 12:30 PM

Thanks for the heads up really intresting answers there, keep up the good work lads!

Sarusan

07-01-2006, 12:30 PM

E...a..i..o..u......BETA THIS YEAR !!! :D

Spikey

07-01-2006, 12:35 PM

Fucking awesome.

doma

07-01-2006, 12:41 PM

Wow. A q&a that actually had som interesting info. Fantastic.
Great answer about clan beta etc.
Niceness.

Platon2x

07-01-2006, 12:48 PM

Great update. Valid reasons for beta etc...

Seems like beta aint that far off.

Only concern right now is the maintainance and updating of their own website. Seems like all new information etc.. is on fansites and that the official site is let alone to die

AOD_Flamefleir

07-01-2006, 12:51 PM

"There are a few things to take into consideration regarding beta: Darkfall is a very special game full of unique features and innovations; it

Nalira

07-01-2006, 02:20 PM

I like it to. I think they heard alot of the communities issues with the "soon" answers and the "its done when its done" type of stuff. They didnt give a date but it was a pretty straight forward answer.

Oh and all in all I am happy to hear about the regionalizing. I am all for people being able to choose where they play but I like the bennefits of regionalization. Eliminates alot of the problems without excessive coding.

agreed, i really wish we had beta back in last winter... even if it wasnt almost a 100 percent finished.. and even if it wont be as good of a beta as this one might be .. oh well

anyhow, this interview is pretty good.. thanks for the info :)

it will be nice, however, to have a beta that should be almost complete.

kehmesis

07-01-2006, 02:56 PM

Now, that was a pretty good Q&A. Thanks.

Metal Wolf

07-01-2006, 04:01 PM

Yes good questions. Good answers. I cant wait for the rest.

Deyth[Combine]

07-01-2006, 04:04 PM

Sad to hear that they planned on opening a clan beta without having individual signups.
The clan beta signup was a mistake as they admitted (I told you so). You can be sure there will be individual signups as well.

They have about 40 more unanswered questions they will get to as they can.

More to come? I hope so, those were some good questions. :cool:

Most glad to hear there's no forced grouping and of course some kind of official word on beta.

Am I the only one who feels they should hire more people though?
Just like 1 or 2 even, there's probabaly a big fat reason why they can't but it is a shame that a project of this calibur has to rest on the shoulders of so few people.
Money. It takes millions of dollars to give birth to an MMO and although Jade Mehdawi looked quite the pimp (even had a cane) I think he's having a tough time. Also hiring more people doesn't always make things go faster.

agreed, i really wish we had beta back in last winter... even if it wasnt almost a 100 percent finished.. and even if it wont be as good of a beta as this one might be .. oh well

anyhow, this interview is pretty good.. thanks for the info :)

it will be nice, however, to have a beta that should be almost complete.
If you do a beta too soon you're not in a position to run it well or use what you get out of it. I'd rather not have a 6-month beta because at the end we'll be burned out and have to do it all over again.

I'm surprised by all the positive responses, I thought people would be upset only 4 questions got answered. I underestimated the community.

Ultimo

07-01-2006, 04:38 PM

lol beta too soon u get a game like the other flops on the market.

im glad to see were nearing it tho, hopefully my work wont be so crazy then they finally do release

Teth

07-01-2006, 05:34 PM

Good and evil are really the wrong words. It's more like..moral and immoral or right and wrong to the race that you are with. Your entire race won't shun you for selling an old ladies bread..they will how ever shun you for killingm any of their people.
Glad to see somebody understands the system. It's not really "good" and "evil"; it's really just your reputation in the eyes of your racial Powers That Be. They like it when you kill their enemies, and they dislike it when you kill their wards.

And I too am happy with this particular batch of questions? Why? Not a whole lot of them, but good and meaty answers - the devs tend to be somewhat recalcitrant about giving out really substantial responses to questions. Nice to see that Deyth got around that somehow. :D

r4nge

07-01-2006, 07:30 PM

Glad to see somebody understands the system. It's not really "good" and "evil"; it's really just your reputation in the eyes of your racial Powers That Be. They like it when you kill their enemies, and they dislike it when you kill their wards.

QFT. With this in mind, it seems at least a possibility that being evil may make you appear good to opposing races. This would be interesting but not necessarily good as you might not want to appear good to all other races. I would like to see "evil" quests be specifically helpful to particular races. For insance, as an orc, you do enough favors for dwarves and can hang out in dwarftown, but no longer in orctown where you are from. This is probably not the case. It's ok because my main concern is my postcount.

mgaldifc

07-01-2006, 08:50 PM

Awesome Q&A, Great Update. Thanks.

Angry-Khan

07-01-2006, 09:50 PM

good answer on beta. imo.

/agree

huapua

07-01-2006, 10:45 PM

Open up individual signups before starting up beta imo!

Kamakizz

07-02-2006, 12:00 AM

Open up individual signups before starting up beta imo!

I'll be pretty disappointed if they don't open individual sign-ups. No, I'll actually be pissed. :bang:

Slyder

07-02-2006, 05:47 AM

very nice on the beta question...first time in a few years ive heard something that concrete. thanks teyth

Krogan

07-02-2006, 07:59 AM

well it poped my dreams a bit the whole thing with regional, to me they pretty much said (in politcal fashion) that it will be a regional game. So americans and aussies on one side and europeans on the other.

Envie

07-02-2006, 10:58 AM

yes very nice rply on beta. i would much rather them take the extra time to get this right then rush them. this fan base seem pretty solid and i think it will only grow in time so take the time.

Fanis

07-02-2006, 01:11 PM

I think Darkfall just destroyed my future WAR gaming, not that its a bad thing. Great Q&A!

Adapt

07-02-2006, 07:07 PM

"We're a small studio where every one of us does 20 things at the same time and we work the long hours. Some of our competition has twice as many animators alone as we have developers."

Am I the only one who feels they should hire more people though?
Just like 1 or 2 even, there's probabaly a big fat reason why they can't but it is a shame that a project of this calibur has to rest on the shoulders of so few people.

Money. It takes millions of dollars to give birth to an MMO and although Jade Mehdawi looked quite the pimp (even had a cane) I think he's having a tough time. Also hiring more people doesn't always make things go faster.

How many people would drop what they were doing this summer and go volunteer (work for free) to do whatever they could to help the devs. A fair amount, I figure. Personally, all I would need would be the plane ticket. ;) Many hands make light work... most of the time. In this case, people with relevant skills would do a lot more good than being the guy to go buy them doughnuts at lunch and sweep the floors. :rolleyes:

Edit: But I would do that if it helped!

Deyth[Combine]

07-02-2006, 07:18 PM

It's not easy to integrate new people into a project team. It can actually add to the work instead of make things better. Patience guys, all this attention makes it harder for them because of the pressure.

Raekwon

07-03-2006, 06:02 AM

How many people would drop what they were doing this summer and go volunteer (work for free) to do whatever they could to help the devs. A fair amount, I figure. Personally, all I would need would be the plane ticket. ;) Many hands make light work... most of the time. In this case, people with relevant skills would do a lot more good than being the guy to go buy them doughnuts at lunch and sweep the floors. :rolleyes:

Edit: But I would do that if it helped!

I bet if you flew to Greece and knocked on their door and said" "Hi, I'm your new free coffee and donut guy," that they'd let you be it. Hell we could team up, i'd be the free vodka and beer guy and they'd call us the HR team and give us a little office of our own.

LanMandragon

07-03-2006, 08:49 AM

I bet if you flew to Greece and knocked on their door and said" "Hi, I'm your new free coffee and donut guy," that they'd let you be it. Hell we could team up, i'd be the free vodka and beer guy and they'd call us the HR team and give us a little office of our own.

Thats a good idea actually. Coffee, donuts, and vodka boy.

Zalasahr

07-03-2006, 09:30 AM

nice very good news

Aran

07-03-2006, 12:30 PM

QFT. With this in mind, it seems at least a possibility that being evil may make you appear good to opposing races. This would be interesting but not necessarily good as you might not want to appear good to all other races. I would like to see "evil" quests be specifically helpful to particular races. For insance, as an orc, you do enough favors for dwarves and can hang out in dwarftown, but no longer in orctown where you are from. This is probably not the case. It's ok because my main concern is my postcount.

Unless things have changed alot -that is exactly how it works:
You kill your racial foes and your "rep" goes up with your own folk but takes a dive with the neighbours. Kill your own people and the reverse happens- your folks hate you but the neighbours don't think your soooo bad.

The trick to regaining your standing with your own race is to kill PLAYERS of the opposeing race! [ Not NPC's!!!!]

Shaar

07-03-2006, 01:38 PM

Kill your own people and the reverse happens- your folks hate you but the neighbours don't think your soooo bad.

I don't think that was ever the case. Your neighbours, meaning other races, hate you no matter what. If you are an Alfar you cannot make Mirdain like you no matter what.

Raekwon

07-03-2006, 04:13 PM

Someone recently posted a link that shows where the devs said that no matter how many humans you kill you'll never be friends with NPC orks if you're human. I actually don't see why they did it this way but that was the last we heard on that topic.

Shaar

07-03-2006, 05:53 PM

I actually don't see why they did it this way but that was the last we heard on that topic.

Cause if you could become friends with whatever race all the guilds would turn ARAC.

Ashindir

07-03-2006, 05:58 PM

Yes, it makes perfect sense. The DF Devs didn't want to make a pointless battleground without consequences. The racial alignments help make DF meaningful. Then in each alignment are sub-groups. You'll have your player-killers and whatnot. This reputation system helps characters define who they are, yet with meaningful consequences. In Darkfall there is risk and danger in everything.

AOD Young1

07-03-2006, 07:21 PM

I think that this was one of the better Q&A's that were out there...They asked questions that answered many peoples questions and gave very vivid and descriptive answers that most got satisfaction from. I hope that most of the other Q&A's are as fufilling and chock-full of information as this one

demonic

07-03-2006, 08:04 PM

tx Devs for the nice Q & A.

I have read a lot here i nregard with the allignments and racial consequences and all.
I am pretty sure the devs thought everything out pretty well.

They should imo leave some kind of option open to allow the existance of 're-pledge to a new race'.

Throughout history, every race, faction, community has had at least one of its own ppl betray it big time and haul with the enemy.
Maybe some kind of option through an extremely difficult quest should make it possible to allow a 'human' to be 'rebaptised' something orcish accepted or so.

If they would allow it, it have to be a minoroty that could achieve it, and the penalties for doing so should also need to be very very severe, to avoid abuse in any way.

Being rejected by your own race and all other races exept the ones you 'rejoin' or so. Even there limited access to stuff,quests, whatever,... the continuous need to 'proove' yourself worthy of your 'new race allignment' through killer missions,...

and if you fail at some point .... u'll be banned out of your 'new race', you are allready banned from your original race,... and so on .... live allone on an island...
you played, you failed... now you become a hermit and grow weed underground in a secret plantation ...

or something like that.

eitherway, I like the progress the devs make atm,
better slow and steady but good then to rush it...

patience is a good virtue and will be rewarded in the end....

Minx

07-03-2006, 10:27 PM

Great update, thanks Deyth. Looking forward to some of the rest of the Q&A you put together.

Wisperer

07-04-2006, 07:43 AM

[QUOTE]A lot of players prefer to play in their own language with people from their own region. Let's not forget the effect that time zone differences and varying peak times can have on gameplay.

On the other hand we like the idea that players from all over the world can play together and compete against each other - and we can relate to that need on a personal level. We will offer Darkfall regionally but we