Fvantom
03-24-2010, 02:55 AM
seeing as the Darkfall 2010 expansions will either make DF ascend to the ranks of sandbox gods or completely destroy it, Im going to post some of my personal ideas that would make Darkfall the best it can be.
Warning, very long, mostly fluff, everybodys suggestion thread has mainly balance ideas and Id rather not sit here all night and write about how my balance idea is slightly better than someone elses
ALIGNMENT SYSTEM
First well talk about the alignment system. Its honestly too simple and just doesn't work, It needs to be made so that being red actually means something, a clan alignment system needs to be implemented, and ARAC clans need to be changed, thats what my idea will focus on.
so I think NPC guards should be implemented, NPC city towers taken out and replaced with guards, they patrol the area around NPC cities attacking reds, the father you go from the newbie cities, the less guards there are, that way, reds cant just go gank all the newbies they want (of course this is Darkfall so its still possible, but more challenging) Chaos cities will have some guards too but more on that later.
Back when Darkfall was in development, I remember seeing something about a clan alignment system, that allowed clans to be Good or Evil, also being either Lawful or Chaotic. Good clans contain racial allies and have no allies that are Evil or enemies. An Evil clan is either ARAC or allied to a racial enemy.
Personal alignment of each player affects a clans lawfulness rating, if the average alignment of all the players is above 0, the clan is considered Lawful, and allowed into NPC towns, if its below 0, the clans chaotic and not allowed in NPC towns.
An Evil clan (lawful of course) would be tagged yellow to other players, a player attacking them still turns grey, but if they attack a blue, they turn grey for 5 minutes. They would still be allowed in NPC towns but only to bind and use the bank, as vendors would not want to trade with you, of course you may be allowed at NPC towns, the capitol would be off limits to you and wilderness bank guards may not be so friendly toward you.
SOLO/SMALL GROUP PLAY
Another shortcoming of Darkfall is that playing as a solo player or small group is pretty much pointless and you cant get too far doing so. So heres a few ideas to help that part of the game.
Solo players of course will be doing most of their work out of NPC towns. My idea is a guild system similar to that of the Elder Scrolls series. Instead of fighters and mages, it would be groups supporting different causes in Agon, and each guild would be like its own game.
Heres a few of my ideas
Army-An army for each of the 3 sets of allies, if you join, you'd be able to get a set of armor and weapons for free whenever you want, and you can only carry one set of armor and up to 3 weapons. You can rank up in the Army by doing quests/missions and the standard issue equipment becomes more powerful as you do. But if youre in the army, you cant join a clan. Also leaving would cost a large sum of gold.
Explorers Guild-By joining this guild, you sign your life to the wilderness, as well as having missions involving exploring reaches of the world that most wouldnt step foot, this disables your ability to join any clan BUT allows you to use a tent to bind and bank at.
Gatherers Guild-Doesnt disable your ability to join a clan but has a moderate weekly resource cost to stay in (enough that you'd really have to gather alot but not so much that youd have to gather 24/7) allows access to advanced gathering tools that increase yield and/or decrease gathering time.
Of course there'd be many more, those are just some examples.
OUTPOSTS/BORDER TOWNS
This ones mainly for small groups (and Army guild missions) but solo players can join in on the fun too. Outposts and Border Towns are capturable towns that would help bring the world to life.
Both types would have purchasable rewards such as powerful equipment, crafting recipes (more on that later) etc.
Outposts are small NPC towns within racial territory that if left undefended, would be taken over by mobs that would inhabit it, and over time become more powerful and spawn generals (thats my spin on that idea)
Border Towns, obviously would lie on the borders of your territory and an enemies, theyre similar to villages but are always vulnerable but harder to take.
CRAFTING
As of now, crafting is extremely linear, pick up a skill, you can make this, get to 50, now you can make this. When you learn a crafting skill, youd only know how to make a small selection of items, any others would have to be figured out in other ways.
New Skill: Reverse Engineering. You take any item, and examine it to attempt to figure out how to build it, the item is always destroyed in the process, and theres a chance to fail. Higher skill level has a reduced chance to fail when reverse engineering higher rank items.
Crafting Recipes would be another way to learn to create items, youd be able to get some common ones at NPC towns and more rare ones at Outposts/Border Cities.
Warning, very long, mostly fluff, everybodys suggestion thread has mainly balance ideas and Id rather not sit here all night and write about how my balance idea is slightly better than someone elses
ALIGNMENT SYSTEM
First well talk about the alignment system. Its honestly too simple and just doesn't work, It needs to be made so that being red actually means something, a clan alignment system needs to be implemented, and ARAC clans need to be changed, thats what my idea will focus on.
so I think NPC guards should be implemented, NPC city towers taken out and replaced with guards, they patrol the area around NPC cities attacking reds, the father you go from the newbie cities, the less guards there are, that way, reds cant just go gank all the newbies they want (of course this is Darkfall so its still possible, but more challenging) Chaos cities will have some guards too but more on that later.
Back when Darkfall was in development, I remember seeing something about a clan alignment system, that allowed clans to be Good or Evil, also being either Lawful or Chaotic. Good clans contain racial allies and have no allies that are Evil or enemies. An Evil clan is either ARAC or allied to a racial enemy.
Personal alignment of each player affects a clans lawfulness rating, if the average alignment of all the players is above 0, the clan is considered Lawful, and allowed into NPC towns, if its below 0, the clans chaotic and not allowed in NPC towns.
An Evil clan (lawful of course) would be tagged yellow to other players, a player attacking them still turns grey, but if they attack a blue, they turn grey for 5 minutes. They would still be allowed in NPC towns but only to bind and use the bank, as vendors would not want to trade with you, of course you may be allowed at NPC towns, the capitol would be off limits to you and wilderness bank guards may not be so friendly toward you.
SOLO/SMALL GROUP PLAY
Another shortcoming of Darkfall is that playing as a solo player or small group is pretty much pointless and you cant get too far doing so. So heres a few ideas to help that part of the game.
Solo players of course will be doing most of their work out of NPC towns. My idea is a guild system similar to that of the Elder Scrolls series. Instead of fighters and mages, it would be groups supporting different causes in Agon, and each guild would be like its own game.
Heres a few of my ideas
Army-An army for each of the 3 sets of allies, if you join, you'd be able to get a set of armor and weapons for free whenever you want, and you can only carry one set of armor and up to 3 weapons. You can rank up in the Army by doing quests/missions and the standard issue equipment becomes more powerful as you do. But if youre in the army, you cant join a clan. Also leaving would cost a large sum of gold.
Explorers Guild-By joining this guild, you sign your life to the wilderness, as well as having missions involving exploring reaches of the world that most wouldnt step foot, this disables your ability to join any clan BUT allows you to use a tent to bind and bank at.
Gatherers Guild-Doesnt disable your ability to join a clan but has a moderate weekly resource cost to stay in (enough that you'd really have to gather alot but not so much that youd have to gather 24/7) allows access to advanced gathering tools that increase yield and/or decrease gathering time.
Of course there'd be many more, those are just some examples.
OUTPOSTS/BORDER TOWNS
This ones mainly for small groups (and Army guild missions) but solo players can join in on the fun too. Outposts and Border Towns are capturable towns that would help bring the world to life.
Both types would have purchasable rewards such as powerful equipment, crafting recipes (more on that later) etc.
Outposts are small NPC towns within racial territory that if left undefended, would be taken over by mobs that would inhabit it, and over time become more powerful and spawn generals (thats my spin on that idea)
Border Towns, obviously would lie on the borders of your territory and an enemies, theyre similar to villages but are always vulnerable but harder to take.
CRAFTING
As of now, crafting is extremely linear, pick up a skill, you can make this, get to 50, now you can make this. When you learn a crafting skill, youd only know how to make a small selection of items, any others would have to be figured out in other ways.
New Skill: Reverse Engineering. You take any item, and examine it to attempt to figure out how to build it, the item is always destroyed in the process, and theres a chance to fail. Higher skill level has a reduced chance to fail when reverse engineering higher rank items.
Crafting Recipes would be another way to learn to create items, youd be able to get some common ones at NPC towns and more rare ones at Outposts/Border Cities.