The biggest problem with this game at this moment in time is there just isn't enough new players coming into the game and staying to really give other new players any decent pvp. Seriously, 9 times out of 10 you get obliterated by someone with 100-150 more HP than you and is hitting you for 40-60 dmg per hit. To many vets and not a big enough influx of new players. I did my time in the NEW clan and out of about 10-12 people I made friends with and hung with in that clan, maybe 1-2 are still around after their 30 days in NEW. Also, it's not like it isn't obvious on the official forums that new players aren't happy, hell some vets are saying it to, with the game being there are atleast 3 or 4 threads a day on the stat gain issue, some of which have reached 30+ pages. Hardcore lol, gonna hardcore your game in the ground if you can't keep new players interested in it and playing. I'm sure AV is aware they have a problem with their retention rate and I'm confident some changes will come to alleviate these issues, but the question is when.
Edit: Gonna add a few more things to my list of things that kill this game: Lack of lore makes for a boring ass game. Empty NPC cities with very boring NPC's, most of which that have no quests.
What is that like the second lore event in a year? And actually how does it play into what's existing in the world already, I mean really? Also, what could they not afford to higher some creative thinkers to think up some lore instead of just taking the easy and cheap way out by saying, "oh ugh there was a civilization, but ugh all the lore is lost".
NA1 player here btw, it appears you are EU.
Currently Playing: Toying around with AoC and bored with Darkfall
Thinking of Playing: Fallen Earth or Darkfall after this months update.
Have Played: EQ1, EQ2, WoW, WAR, Vanguard, EvE, Requiem, PW, Lotro, Lineage2, AoC, SWG...
What is that like the second lore event in a year? And actually how does it play into what's existing in the world already, I mean really? Also, what could they not afford to higher some creative thinkers to think up some lore instead of just taking the easy and cheap way out by saying, "oh ugh there was a civilization, but ugh all the lore is lost".
You asked for it:
The Lost Civilization of Chaldea
Throughout Agon lie the scattered ruins of old Chaldea . At its peak, this empire's reach encompassed everything from Sanguine in the east to the westernmost wastes of the Mahirim Tribelands. All that remains today are moss-grown monuments and the ruins of once-mighty cities.
The Chaldean civilization originated in present-day Mercia , along the fertile banks of the river Eanna. The humans of this area developed agriculture, and fed Agon's first cities with food from irrigated fields. They also invented the science of mathematics, the first calendar, and the art of writing.
Towards a golden age
The foremost city of the Chaldeans was Ashur, which lay near the present-day location of Sanguine. It was founded by the legendary Ashur-Sin I, who conquered the numerous city-states of the Eannic delta, and was crowned king of all Chaldeans.
The Chaldean civilization came into being during a period of relative regional peace. However, their wealth soon proved tempting to neighbouring human tribes, who took to raiding and plundering outlying villages and towns. In response to this, the Chaldeans launched a series of successful military campaigns against the nomads who roamed the peripheries of their land.
When faced with the problem of becalming the conquered barbarians, emperor Ashur-Awan II formulated policies which would shape the future of Chaldea. He decreed that cities be built in barbarian lands, and that the conquered tribes be invited to live in them. Furthermore, the citizens of these new cities would be taught how to farm and make tools. Upon swearing allegiance to Ashur, they would be given full rights as citizens of the empire.
The Benevolent Empire
The Chaldeans were not a warlike people, and they rarely launched wars of conquest. However, they had a tradition of responding decisively to outside aggression, and of permanently pacifying defeated enemies by integrating them into their culture.
As the wealth and fame of Chaldea grew, many tribes and settlements joined the empire voluntarily, in order to share in its wealth and technology. Ashur became the centre of a vast empire, and the Chaldeans became the traders, thinkers and administrators of the greatest empire Agon has seen. In addition to all present-day human territories, the empire's borders eventually encompassed the homelands of the orks and the mahirim. Before their subjugation, these races launched countless raids into Chaldea, proving themselves to be dangerous neighbours, and provoking the wrath of the empire.
The alfar were also warlike and fond of staging bloody raids, and eventually Ashur decided to move against the children of the god-king. Though they were victorious on the plains of Moldar, not even the emperor's armies could defeat the alfar in the subterranean fastnesses of Nagast. In the end, the Chaldeans had to settle for securing and fortifying the surface parts of the alfar homeland, while Melek's armies retreated underground.
The Chaldeans established friendly relations with the mirdain, the ithwen and the dwarves, and traded extensively with these races.
The Fall of Chaldea
In time, after long centuries of peace and prosperity, the once-vigorous Chaldean civilization stagnated. Few new scientific or magical advances were made, and the people grew content, complacent and set in their ways. Trade still united the land, but the rule of Ashur faded, and after a while, the different regions were practically self-governed, with only symbolic allegiance being paid to the distant emperor.
While the long peace still lasted, this mattered little. But twin disasters would ultimately strike, bringing an end to more than two millennia of Chaldean civilization.
Slightly more than five hundred years ago, the Chaldean heartlands were struck by the worst flood in history. The Eanna, which had given life to a continent-spanning culture, now washed away cities, and ruined so many crops that hunger inevitably followed. Some say the floods coincided with the death of the goddess Eanna, who embodied the life-giving powers of the river, and who was the only deity worshipped by the Chaldeans.
Either through dire coincidence, or due to the machinations of Melek, the flood was immediately followed by a massive Alfar invasion. Hidden from the eyes of the Chaldeans, the evil Alfar had amassed an enormous army, which now blasted out of Nagast's caverns, and onto the heartland of the empire.
More than 400 years after emperor Ashur-ubaid VI shattered Melek's armies and laid waste to Moldar, the Alfar had their revenge. They defeated an ill-prepared army led by emperor Ashur-awan IX, and then tore into the rich cities of the Chaldean heartland.
Appalled by the slaughter, the far-flung provinces of the empire gathered their armies and marched on Ashur. Aided by armies of the dwarves and Mirdain, they routed the Alfar before the fresh conquests could be secured for the rule of Melek.
However, no heir of Ashur-awan IX survived, and the towns of the Chaldean heartland lay shattered. When the regional armies returned to their homelands, they returned to independent nations and city-states. Chaldea was no more.
The final outpost
As the Alfar armies approached, some leading citizens of Ashur fled through a teleportation portal to trading post called Kasdim on the wasteland continent of Cairn. Bringing with them as many books and artifacts as possible, they became the final custodians of Benevolent Empire's learning. In Kasdim, they remained secluded for centuries, until climate changes dried out freshwater lakes that the city depended on, rendering it uninhabitable.
Preparing for their final appointment with oblivion, the last Chaldeans hid their books and artifacts within an exceptionally well-defended dungeon, called the Halls of Learning, which lies at the heart of Kasdim. To this day, none have penetrated to the deepest levels of this dungeon, where the most valuable secrets of Chaldea are said to lie hidden.
The Ruins of Nithron
As the world slowly healed itself after the cataclysms of the Usurper War, an earthbound race of immortals rose to power. The Nithron resembled present-day humans but were considerably taller, commonly standing around four meters tall, and they tended to be more powerfully built, almost like titans.
The Nithron had long ears, and their faces combined elven and human features. Their skin was honeylike in color, while their raven-black hair was worn long by both sexes, men commonly braiding it using bronze bands, while women let theirs flow free. Nithron eyes tended to be brown in color.
Nithron individuals never died of old age and they seem to have been immune to all but the most trivial of diseases. Every Nithron corpse ever found has borne the marks of a violent death. They were never numerous and appear to have had an extremely low birthrate. It is believed that, even at their zenith, the total Nithron population stood at no more than one thousand.
Culture and background
The Nithron were a warlike people who conquered all of Agon by force of arms, and who saw it as a sacred duty to bring civilization to lesser cultures. As part of their civilizing efforts, the Nithron bid their subjects build huge fortress-cities in which Nithron and mortals lived side by side as master and servant.
Perhaps understandably, given the ravages of the Usurper Wars, the Nithron did not worship any gods. In fact, many mortals saw the Nithron as a divine race, and this was a view which they themselves subtly encouraged. In many places the Nithron replaced gods who were slain or disgraced during the Usurper Wars.
Nithron culture revolved around ideals of chivalry and romance, and they had strict codes of behavior which regulated how they behaved towards mortals and among themselves. Individuals were expected to be brave, courteous, just, generous and merciful, and to behave honorably at all times.
The Nithron saw themselves as a class of warrior-nobles, and they trained mortals to fill mundane roles within society, while they themselves were strategists, architects, planners and leaders. Most importantly, the warlike Nithron were officers and heroes in armies which also contained massed ranks of mortal foot soldiers.
A very brief history
After conquering all of Agon, the Nithron oversaw a centuries-long period of relative peace. As time passed, however, their empire fragmented into smaller realms, and these minor states often fought each other. Some wars were fought over territory and resources, while others were fueled by dreams of reforging the splintered empire.
Though historical sources from this period are scarce, it seems as if the Nithron vanished almost overnight from the face of Agon. All available evidence indicates that their culture was still in its prime - though politically fragmented - and historians haven't been able to point to an emergent threat which may suddenly have overwhelmed the Nithron. A massive slave rebellion? Voluntary evacuation of Agon? Malign divine intervention? The theories are many and varied, but little evidence supports any of them.
Building and architecture
As all may see who travel Agon today, the Nithron left a formidable architectural legacy. They built cyclopean fortress-cities with stone walls and crystal spires that tower over the surrounding landscape. Even considering that they themselves stood four meters tall, the almost incomprehensible size of their buildings indicate that the Nithron used them as symbols of greatness, designed to keep mortal vassals in awe.
Built using magically enhanced white granite, and guarded by formidable undead custodians, the Citadel sections of Nithron ruins are in almost pristine condition. They are generally encircled by more-or-less intact walls which may only be entered through a single large gate.
Other Info
The Nithron were godlike beings who possessed abilities and magic far beyond anything seen today. Among their achievements was the creation of a magical race called the Oathbound, who were blindly loyal to the Nithron, and who served as their bodyguards and elite warriors. Missing from Agon for centuries, Oathbound guardians have suddenly begun to reappear in Nithron ruins, frequently in the vicinity of important artifacts, major buildings, or other reappearing aspects of Nithron culture. Many see this as a sign, that the mysterious Nithron might be preparing Agon for their return.
Alfar of Nagast
No trace of kindness exists in the world of the alfar, a race whose minds were shattered and then erratically rebuilt by a cruel and insane deity. To the alfar, pleasure is derived from the suffering of others, and the only impulse that can override their urge to torture and destroy, is a marrow-seated need to please their god-king.
Like poison darts, alfar night raiders strike deep into the lands of the foreigner. Appearing out of nowhere, they cut bloody swathes of death and destruction, before vanishing just as tracelessly as they came. To their victims, it seems like the night itself shapes the alfar, then dissolves them again when their butcher's work is done.
The alfar feel a deep-seated hatred for all other intelligent forms of life, and it is difficult for them to enter even the most temporary of alliances with members of other races.
Nagast
The alfar homeland lies in the southern part of Agon's main continent, with the human realm of Mercia to its east and the mirdain Forest Republic to the west. To the southwest, across the Ruby Sea, lies the desert continent of Rubaiyat. To the north, the Pall of Oncylus spreads across Agon's heartland, threatening to devour everything around it, including the northern regions of Nagast.
Much of Nagast consists of cragged badlands where outsized mushrooms and black-leafed trees grow among broken rocks and spire-like mountains. The spell-irradiated soil of Nagast has a purple cast to it, and very little that is edible grows in it.
Shoal
The alfar capital lies along the shores of a large, maelstrom-wracked underground lake called the Throat, which is fed by a waterfall cascading down from the ceiling and by two swift rivers which flow in from neighboring caverns. No water can be seen to escape from the wildly churning lake, which is assumed to be connected to some unexplored lake system deep within the heart of Agon. Though many have been thrown into the Throat over the years, none have ever returned to report on what it feeds into.
Alfar adventurers start their careers in one of three villages which lie in the vicinity of Shoal. Ongral, to the west of the capital Shoal. Near the town lies one of the largest swamp craters, filled with ruins of a long forgotten race. Deep Yishku, to the north, is the larges starting town. Two thirds of the town are build inside a dense cave system, making it a well defended town. Alathos, to the east, is also mostly built inside a cave system, making also a well defended town.
Culture and Religion
The will of Melek is the only law in Nagast, and though his edicts may seem contradictory and strange, all alfar do their utmost to follow them, often without any explanation whatsoever. Even though he is quite insane, Melek is a brilliant strategist, who immerses himself in ambitious long-term plans for the alfar race and for Agon in general. In fact, his work on these schemes tend to engross him completely for long periods of time, leaving the alfar to their own administrative devices. Since many alfar refuse to recognize any other authority than Melek, alfar society tends to be strife-torn and fractured during Melek's retreats.
Melek has no use for the inept, the slothful or the merely competent, and Nagast society revolves around a constant process of god-controlled selection, in which the strong and resourceful thrive, while the weak or stupid are weeded out and killed. Melek's program of eugenics is the chief responsibility of the Horned Circle priesthood, who are intimately familiar with his criteria for selection.
Organizations
Temple of the God King
The Temple of the God King is a potent weapon at the command of Nagast?s priesthood. It is a taskforce consisting of utterly loyal alfar, who were chosen for the Temple at a young age. They are dispatched to remove threats to Melek and Nagast, and they answer to the Horned Circle. Members of the Brotherhood are trained in a broad variety of combat-relevant skills, with special focus on close combat and healing magic.
The Radiant Circle
The Unseen Radiance is a group of Deathless Mages who have served Melek since the dawn of alfar history. Though quite loyal, their necromantic pursuits and obsessions sometimes leads them down strange paths which lie beyond the ambitions of the god-king. In periods of Melek's Retreat, they sometimes work quite openly on furthering their own depraved agendas.
The Harn Mandean
Named for one of Melek's most prized possessions, the Harn Mandean is an order of knights dedicated to the annihilation of Melek's enemies inside Nagast, such as monsters, severii and the slave army which currently threatens to plunge the nation into anarchy.
Humans of Mercia
The earth shaking under steel-clad hooves; a gleaming sea of blades, raised as one towards the sky; bright banners that invoke the might and radiance of Auros, god of the noonday sun. Again and again the knights of Mercia ride forth into the world, determined to shine the light of righteousness upon those who dwell in darkness or shadow.
The Mercians are natives of Riada, a sunken realm which lay in the great eastern sea, its spires gleaming each day with the rays of the morning sun. When this island home foundered, Mercian survivors landed on the shores of their present-day realm, which they conquered after a long war with an aboriginal people called the Imric. The Mercians see themselves as a divine race descended from the children of the sun god Auros, and they are at best unmindful, at worst disdainful of the needs and opinions of other, presumably lesser races.
The humans are allies with the mirdian of Merendil and the dwarves of Dvergheim. Together with their allies, the humans will fight off their enemies the orks, the mahirim and the alfar.
Mercia
The Kingdom of Mercia lies in the southeastern part of Agon's main continent. Beyond a war-ravaged no-man's land to the north lies the orkish realm of Morak, while the dragon-haunted Pall of Oncylus lies to the west. To the south, Mercia is bordered by the wasteland continent of Cairn, which is home to bands of giants and crumbling minotaur cities. In the ocean to the east lie dozens of pirate freeholds, the largest and most notorious of which is the free city of Silvertown.
The dominant terrain types in Mercia are light deciduous forests and gently rolling grass clad hills. A multitude of lakes and waterways also mark this outwardly pleasant land, such as the majestic Eanna river, which flows southward through the heartland before emptying into Sanguine Bay. Mercia's long coastline features countless islands, such as a shattered, sprawling archipelago which lies between Mercia's southern coast and Cairn.
Sanguine
The human capital lies in southern Mercia, not far from where the mighty Eanna joins her waters with those of Sanguine Bay. Built on the instructions of the nation's founding father, Duke John Malregard, Sanguine stands in an eminently defensible location, atop a broad plateau which dominates the surrounding plains. Despite such military concerns, the Mercian capital is a green and pleasant city, famous for its squares and expansive park areas.
All human adventurers start their careers in one of three villages which lie in the vicinity of Sanguine. Sandbrook, to the south, is a logging community which straddles the banks of a small river, and which lies amid the enormously proportioned ruins left by a mysterious race of giants called the Nithron. Heart of Eanna, to the east, is a large port through which much of Mercia's foreign trade passes. Monkfield, to the west, is a mining community which supplies much of the ore needed by Sanguine's smithies.
Culture and Religion
The Mercians worship Auros, a solar deity who they revere not only as the bringer of light and life, but also as the father of their race. According to Mercian origin myths, Auros chose twelve wives from among the mortal races and brought them with him to the sacred island of Riada. Over the next twelve years, Auros fathered twelve children with each wife, and the resulting 144 half-gods became the ancestors of the Mercian race. Thus the Mercians believe, quite literally, that they are the progeny of their own god, and they see it as their filial duty to expand the reach of his light and teachings.
The Auran faith dictates that all life issues forth from Auros, and that no matter how far from the light a creature has strayed, Auros will receive its life-spark after death. When killing a benighted or shadebound creature, Mercians believe they are sending it into the cleansing light of Auros.
Organizations
Knights of Malregard
Shortly after landing on the mainland, Duke John organized his finest warriors into a knightly order which would serve as the vanguard of his armies. Mounted on fierce and towering warhorses, the Knights of Malregard won countless victories over the Imric, and ever since they have remained the indomitable and warlike champions of the Mercian people.
White Order
The primary task of the White Order is to shine the light of Auros upon creatures that scurry about in darkness and shadow. Traditionally, this has meant embarking on military campaigns against benighted foreign peoples, such as the Orks and the Alfar, but recently the Order has been forced to turn its attention to internal threats, such as the Imric insurgency and the growth of the Twilight Empire.
Sons of Riada
The Sons of Riada are a group of Mercian traditionalists who believe that many secrets were lost when the home island foundered. They seek answers and artifacts in ancient ruins, convinced that the keys to global supremacy lie buried in the past.
Three more races and the continent lore to add. Let me know when you are done this.
The biggest problem with this game at this moment in time is there just isn't enough new players coming into the game and staying to really give other new players any decent pvp. Seriously, 9 times out of 10 you get obliterated by someone with 100-150 more HP than you and is hitting you for 40-60 dmg per hit. To many vets and not a big enough influx of new players. I did my time in the NEW clan and out of about 10-12 people I made friends with and hung with in that clan, maybe 1-2 are still around after their 30 days in NEW. Also, it's not like it isn't obvious on the official forums that new players aren't happy, hell some vets are saying it to, with the game being there are atleast 3 or 4 threads a day on the stat gain issue, some of which have reached 30+ pages. Hardcore lol, gonna hardcore your game in the ground if you can't keep new players interested in it and playing. I'm sure AV is aware they have a problem with their retention rate and I'm confident some changes will come to alleviate these issues, but the question is when.
Edit: Gonna add a few more things to my list of things that kill this game: Lack of lore makes for a boring ass game. Empty NPC cities with very boring NPC's, most of which that have no quests.
What is that like the second lore event in a year? And actually how does it play into what's existing in the world already, I mean really? Also, what could they not afford to higher some creative thinkers to think up some lore instead of just taking the easy and cheap way out by saying, "oh ugh there was a civilization, but ugh all the lore is lost".
For thousands of years the Angra flowed across Rubaiyat. She nourished life with water, she carried ships on her broad back, and she ground down mountains to make farm-soil for her people.
To the Sharjad people, the Angra river was eternal and unchanging. Her daily gifts were as certain as the rising of the sun, and her flood-cycles were as divinely fore-ordained as the coming of spring after winter. But one day the inconceivable, the cosmologically impossible happened: Almost overnight, the Angra simply stopped flowing, and the farms, river-barges and cities of the Sharjad lay stranded along the sad, dried-out husk of their provider.
Meanwhile, a red, rune-covered pyramid rose slowly from the pit which once housed the Angra's heart-spring. As the ancient structure rose, its architect bid his long-buried followers rise from out of the desert sands, to conquer Rubaiyat once again.
The Return of the Pharaoh
During the Usurper Wars, a powerful deity established himself as god-king of Rubaiyat, calling himself Ur-Khamset, or the Red Pharaoh. He slew or imprisoned the local deities of the desert continent, subjugated its people, and then began shaping his subjects into a powerful army with which to contest the rulership of Agon and force access to the Halls of the Goddess.
Ultimately, the Red Pharaoh was defeated by an alliance of rival gods. But as he expired, the Red Pharaoh cast one final, terrible spell which drained all his human subjects of life and liquid, leaving only skeletons to be buried by the desert. Thus Ur-Khamset took his people with him into apparent oblivion, leaving his conquerors with nothing but bone-strewn ruins to rule.
Unbeknownst to all, Ur-Khamset had foreseen his demise and prepared for it by constructing the Red Pyramid at the bottom of Lake Angra. He imbued the pyramid with spells that would summon and preserve his own-life force at the moment of death, and then resurrect him when the stars were right for his return.
As the Red Pyramid rose from the lakebed, a thousand bony hands clawed their way out from under the accumulated sands of millennia. Gathering in Rubaiyat's trackless deserts, the Red Pharaoh's hordes swept down upon the cities of the hapless Sharjad, conquering them with ease. Already, the Red Pharaoh's winged snake standard flies from the battlements of most cities on Rubaiyat's mainland.
While most of the Pharaoh's marauding, sand-tinted skeletons were once human, a few clearly belonged to the strange giants known as the Avaris, who still roam the deserts of Rubaiyat. Though some skeletons' clothing and equipment has decayed into nothingness, most still wear the exotic, ancient garb which they wore in life, and wield sensuously curved, outlandishly decorated bronze weapons.
Ur-Khamset himself still dwells within the Red Pyramid, commanding his armies using necklaces called Sun Ankhs which are worn by his most powerful generals. Though nobody has accomplished this potentially suicidal feat yet, it has been theorized that an adventurer wearing a Sun Ankh would be able to enter the Red Pyramid.
Niflheim is an icebound, arctic wilderness, which is home to thriving populations of Ice Giants and Winter Dragons. Flesh-scouring blizzards whip across the mountain plateaus of the interior, where the whiteness is broken by ice-blue glaciers and mysterious lakes, whose waters resemble quicksilver.
Islands of life
The fjords and coves Niflheim's southern coast are inhabited by the Northmen, a hardy race of pale-skinned, black-haired humans. The northmen are a seafaring people, who trade, fish and stage the occasional raid on more fertile lands to the south. Their architecture resembles that of the Mahirim, but it is simpler and shorn of most decorative features. Typically, the houses of Northman villages are huddled close under the protection of solid landward walls. The Northmen rely almost exclusively on ocean travel, and few roads connect their settlements, which are like islands under siege by sea and ice.
The warlord
Six years ago, an Ice Demon called Illgarm arrived in Niflheim. He has spent the last couple of years gathering monsters under his rule, and he recently coerced the leaders of several Northman communities into joining his cause. As a result of his spurring, Northman raids have grown frequent, and some of them have been co-ordinated (or at least simultaneous) with land-raids by rampaging monsters. Northman ships have been transporting giants, ice dwarves and other monsters across the sound separating Niflheim from the Icegard, and many monster camps have sprung up on the mainland's frozen northern shore.
Illgarm is building an enormous castle, which is to serve as his foremost seat of power. Though few have seen it, the castle is reputed to be of truly gargantuan size. It is being constructed by Ice Dwarves and Ice Giants on a large, permanently frozen lake in the heart of Niflheim.
Agon's northeastern continent is a place of stifling heat, lush vegetation and heavy rains. Here, the jungle slowly reclaims the cities of a fallen culture, whose destroyer now slumbers within the walls of an emerald-clad citadel. Mindless of this, some of Agon's most terrible monsters prowl the forest depths in search of prey.
The lost kingdom
Jungle-drowned ruins bear witness to a lost age, in which Yssam was inhabited by a race of elves called the Ithwen. Unlike their present-day relatives, the Mirdain and the Ciel Fey, the Ithwen built houses of stone, and had no special reverence for nature. The ruins they left behind bear witness to an advanced civilization.
Compared to the Chaldean ruins of Agon's mainland, Yssam's ruins are recent. All the Ithwen cities were abandoned at the same time, approximately eighty years ago, and they all bear the marks of monstrous rampage. Towers have been torn down, houses are fire-scorched, and the claw-marks of a giant reptile are omnipresent.
Overgrown and moss-covered, the bones of countless dead elves still lie where they fell many decades ago. Some fell in combat, inside cities or on now-overgrown fields, while others were struck down while fleeing desperately. Many of the partially shattered skeletons are blackened by long-extinguished fire.
The ravagers
The Ithwen civilization was destroyed by Far-Loradain, who is the only Celestial Dragon known to be residing on Agon today. He is incredibly old, and as powerful as a minor god. His motives for leaving dream-sleep and attacking the Ithwen are unknown.
Far-Loradain is served by a mysterious clan of powerful warriors and spellcasters. They dwell in a citadel at the heart of the continent, within which the entrance to Far-Loradain's lair is hidden. In the northeastern corner of Yssam, in the shadow of a large volcano, stands the giant fortress of Iyrtan the Destroyer, an Erodach who – presumably at the behest of Azhi Dahaka - has established himself as the king of a loosely organised Fire Giant realm.
The southeastern continent of Cairn is dominated by arid, viciously sun-scorched plains which are strewn with shattered and twisted rock formations. The plains are tortured by winds that blast mercilessly across the flats, howling around the jagged stands of rock. Tornadoes and dust devils spawn in the scrublands, and wild, rainless electrical storms dance across the blasted plains.
Land of minotaurs and giants
In ancient times, Cairn was home to the aernar, a peace-loving and deeply religious people, who lived in scattered adobe villages, eking out a living from the barren land. 290 years ago, however, minotaurs began arriving from Ochre on the mainland, and one after another the aernar villages fell to the fierce invaders.
The conquering minotaurs still inhabit the aernar settlements, but today unmaintained the villages are little more than inhabited ruins. The minotaurs focus their energies on waging war, upon each other and upon Cairn's other inhabitants, while staging regular raids on the mainland coast.
The minotaurs regularly crash with equally warlike Hill Giants, who roam Cairn's interior in small clans. Nomadic by nature, the hill giants build temporary camps and wind-shelters using whatever rocks and boulders that are available when a chieftain decides that a camp should be set up.
Far-fabled Kasdim
In the center of Cairn lies the dried-out basin of a large lake, and on its dry shores stands legendary Kasdim, a large and well-preserved Chaldean city. Though it appears tranquil from a distance, Kasdim is home to large populations of powerful monsters, who are engaged in a struggle for control of the city and its secrets.
When their empire fell, a handful of powerful Chaldeans managed to flee to Kasdim, which was then little more than a fortified trading station. There they remained, the last custodians of the Benevolent Empire's culture, until climate changes dried out the lake and rendered Kasdim uninhabitable. Before fading into oblivion, the last Chaldeans hid their books and artifacts in an exceptionally well-guarded dungeon, the entrance to which lies in the center of old Kasdim. This dungeon, and its treasure hoard, is the prize over which the monster factions fight.
The mirdain are a sophisticated and cultured people, who tend to prefer diplomacy to warfare, and subtlety to brute force. Theirs is an empire of influence and trade, and of intelligence networks which extend like sinuous branches from their forest-clad homeland.
In combat, mirdain warriors move with innate grace and fluidity, seeking the perfect opening before striking with surgical precision. The mirdain are renowned tacticians, who may overcome near-insurmountable odds through brilliantly deployed maneuvers, ruses and stratagems.
The mardain are ancient allies of the humans of Mercia and the dwarves of Dvergheim, though their tendency to see themselves as natural leaders causes a fair amount of friction. Together with their allies, the mirdain will fight off their enemies the orks, the mahirim and the alfar.
Mirendil and the Republic
The borders of the mirdain realm continues to move with the tides of war, but its core will always remain Mirendil, a vast and ancient forest which dominates the southwestern part of Agon's main continent.
To its north, the Mirendil is bordered by the plains and gently rolling hills of the Mahirim Tribelands. To the south and east, beyond a no-man's-land shattered by war, lies Nagast, the poisoned and spell-blasted homeland of the Alfar. Across the Ruby Sea to the south lies Rubaiyat, a desert continent which was recently overrun by the seemingly unstoppable undead hordes of the Red Pharaoh. To the east of the Forest Republic lies the fiercely contested heartlands of Agon, which are slowly being devoured by the Oncylus, an ancient devil who wields strange and powerful forms of shadow magic.
Charybdis
The mirdain capital straddles the Irthan river near its source, with approximately half of the city's hometrees rising from on each bank of the river. As it flows out of Charybdis, the Irthan plunges over an enormous waterfall which sends wave after wave of mist into the tall, glistening trees above. Looking down from one of the house-platforms of Charybdis, one might easily form the impression that the mirdain capital floats among clouds.
Mirdain adventurers start their careers in one of three villages which all lie in the vicinity of Charybdis. King's Holdfast is dominated by three small subsidiaries of the Irthan, which run through it and form its boundaries, respectively. Near this village lies one of the largest and most revered wildsprings in all of Mirendil. Leafhelm covers several spacious plateaus on a large, craggy mountain which rises dramatically from the forest floor. Beladin's Rest is built under and among the gargantuan branches of Eryasil, a truly enormous greenroot which is the largest tree in all of Agon.
Culture and Religion
Mirdain society is dominated by a class of nobles called elflords, who are the only citizens eligible for election to the Grand Parliament, which is where all important decisions of law and policy are made. From among their number, the elflords elect a single Aran who serves as a largely symbolic head of state.
Though not a very religious people, the mirdain do see the Mirendil Forest as a living entity who must be respected and protected - even worshipped, according to some strains of thought. Veneration for the forest is a central aspect of mirdain culture, and the most important rituals in the (crowded) ceremonial calendar are tied to the changing of the Mirendil's seasons.
In a sense, the mirdain may also be said to worship a gallery of epic heroes, who are the subjects of countless songs, tales and poems. Foremost among these paragons are Myrthai (male) and Lorathai (female) who are worshipped both as tragic heroes and as doomed, perfect lovers.
Organizations
The Emerald Throne
Though Arans physically occupy the Emerald Throne, they are controlled by the elflords who elect them to serve as figureheads of their rule. As a class, the elflords are primarily interested in maintaining a status quo which has remained in place through millennia. Arrogant, hugely conservative, and sometimes self-serving, they are capable of dealing quite harshly with those who oppose them.
The Serene Spire
Named for the magically illuminated spire which rises from their citadel in Iriendir, the Serene Spire is an ancient circle of mages. They have always been a power to be reckoned with in Mirendil, and are endlessly vying for power with the Emerald Throne. The Serene Spire are just as arrogant their old rival, but somewhat less conservative, and less afraid of trying new things.
Arrowheads
The members of the Arrowhead faction would prefer less diplomacy and espionage, more head-on warfare against the enemies of the mirdain. In addition to believing that the Republic has been far too forgiving of its enemies, the Arrowhead feel that the time has come for a regime change. They want to replace the parliament of the elflords with a leaner, meaner state in which the military controls the Emerald Throne.
Dwarves of Dvergheim
Like axe-bristling avalanches, dwarven legions surge across Agon's battlefields, neither wavering nor resting until victory is secured. At any stage in any battle, no matter how ridiculous the odds may be, dwarves believe - with unblinking certainty - that they will prevail through superior skill, rock-hewn strength and indomitable bravery.
Today, the dwarves are nearing the final page of the book of instructions, which is said to contain a special task that Ymir believed the dwarves would only be ready for after 20,000 years of preparation.
Grim-faced, iron-strong and unshakable in courage and convictions, dwarves are trueborn children of the mountains. They are an introspective and taciturn race who scorn all gods in preference of a multi-millennial path to perfection that was laid out by the legendary founder of their nation.
Though they tend towards isolationism, the dwarves maintain cordial relations with the mirdain and friendly relations with the humans, who they respect for their industry, ambition and initiative. Together with their allies, the dwarves will fight off their enemies the orks, the mahirim and the alfar.
Dvergheim
The dwarven homeland lies in the central northern part of Agon's main continent. Beyond its western borders lie the mahirim Tribelands, while the orkish nation of Morak lies to the east. To the northwest, across the storm-blasted Sarthan Sea, lies the ice continent of Niflheim, where dwarf clans have long struggled for supremacy with mahirim forces. Currently, however, all settlements on Niflheim face a grievous threat in the shape of Illgarm, a demon whose campaign of conquest seems unstoppable.
Dvergheim itself is a mountainous land, where glacier-fuelled rivers have carved narrow valleys through towering, snow-peaked massifs. Tall pines grow in the fertile valleys, which are farmed by the gnomes, a peaceful people who - by ancient accord - enjoy dwarven protection in exchange for produce.
Ymir's Tear
The dwarven capital lies within an enormous, dwarf-made cavern, deep under the jagged peaks of central Dvergheim. Its name derives from a huge rock formation in the center of the cave, where clusters of stalagmites and stalactites have joined to form a gargantuan, vaguely tear-shaped pillar that reaches all the way from floor to ceiling. A tamed river encircles Ymir's Tear, driving the wheels of its forges and factories.
Near Ymir's Tear lie three villages in which dwarven adventurers start their careers. Hammerdelve to the north is a heavily fortified army stronghold that lies in the middle of a scenic mountain lake. A river of lava runs through Valfather's Edge to the southeast, and its forges are the only place in the world where the famous dwarven Ildhammers may be made. Eirhjelm to the west is famous for both its rich mines and its beautiful scenery.
Culture and Religion
The dwarves follow the teachings of Ymir, a legendary mastersmith who forged many of Dvergheim's greatest wonders, as well as the nation itself. Ymir spent his final years writing a book that laid out a detailed, step by step plan for the next 20,000 years of dwarven civilization. Ymir's teachings told the dwarves what to strive for, what to practice and what to create, and he told them how and when they should approach each task.
Ymir's goal was to create a perfect race and a perfect nation for them to live in. Today, the dwarves are nearing the final page of the book of instructions, which is said to contain a special task that Ymir believed the dwarves would only be ready for after 20,000 years of preparation.
Movers and Shakers
Voice of Ymir
The Voice of Ymir is a sprawling bureaucracy dedicated to ensuring that Ymir's commands are interpreted correctly, and that the dwarves stay on his Path. Currently, the Voice is being hijacked by the ambitious King Sigurd, who secretly cares little for the Path, but who wishes to use the bureaucracy (and its large corps of engineers) for his own purposes.
Order of the Axe
The Order of the Axe are knights sworn to removing all obstacles to the racial progress of the dwarves. The agents of this semi-official Order also deal with rogue dwarves, and they are frequently sent on missions behind enemy lines.
Five Beards Trading Company
Oldest and wealthiest of the dwarven merchant houses, the Five Beards Trading Company sends traders, explorers and caravans to all but the most obscure and dangerous of Agon's regions. For centuries, Five Beards has enjoyed a near monopoly on trade with Ymir's Tear, but in recent years, King Sigurd has opened up the market for competition. As a result, Five Beards is looking for new markets in which to profit.
Orks of Morak
Marching under the banner of the Fire Dragon, the armies of the orks are constantly on the march, forever seeking new cities to raze, new nations to conquer, and new people to sacrifice or enslave.
To the orkish warrior's mind, excessive planning is a coward's resort, while fancy tactical chicanery is a sure sign of effeminacy. Instead, orks rely on a combination of unrelenting aggressiveness, death-defying bravery, and the natural-born bully's instinctive eye for weakness.
While their behavior might seem erratic and irrational to outsiders, the orks themselves see every battle, every sacrifice, and every torched village as steps on the road to the Big Burning, an ork-administered apocalypse in which Agon is scorched clean and made ready for the reign of the Fire Dragon.
Orks see most other races as little more than sources of income, sadistic fun and sacrificial victims. The only other race that the orks ally with are the mahirim, who they respect for their bravery, cunning and skill in battle. Together with their allies, the orks will fight off their enemies the humans, the mirdian and the alfar.
Morak
The orkish realm lies in the central eastern part of Agon's main continent. A state of unending war exists between the orks and both of their closest neighbors - the humans of Mercia to the south, and the dwarves of Dvergheim to the northwest. To the northeast of Morak lies the jungle continent of Yssam, which is the domain and playground of a celestial dragon, while the neutral city state of Silvertown lies to the southeast. To the west, the Pall of Oncylus slowly spreads accross Agon's heartland.
Much of he orkish homeland is covered by fetid and insect-haunted swamps, in which the traveler sinks ankle-deep in sticky, ubiquitous mud. Rain falls very frequently in Morak, and a combination of clouds and swamp-mist ensures that sunlight rarely - if ever - disturbs the murky ambience. The northern third of Morak is dominated by a number of active volcanoes and the lava streams which issue from them. The land between these volcanoes is jagged, rocky, and as barren as the southern swamps are fecund.
Flaming Skull
Lava rivers cut through and encircle the orkish capital, which lies in the shadow of an eponymous and very active volcano. Minor eruptions of Flaming Skull are frequent, and the rain of ashes has recently grown so thick and steady that the sun is pleasantly (to orkish eyes) veiled by a black, noxious cloud. The orks welcome the increased volcanic activity, regarding it as a sign that the Fire Dragon is about to wake from her slumber.
Close to Flaming Skull lie three starting villages, which is where orkish adventurers embark on their careers. New Flayed Elf is a large port community, watched over by a lighthouse and a coastal keep. Metal Heart lies on an island surrounded by deep swamp, while Chopping Necks stands on a series of interconnected pillars which rise from a lava lake.
Culture and Religion
Orks see themselves as purely a warrior race, and all manual labor in Morak is performed by slaves. The vast majority of these unfortunates are goblins, but a sizable majority belong to a clan of svartdvergir who were enslaved after migrating south from Dvergheim.
The orks worship the Fire Dragon, a chaos deity of awesome power, who quite recently unified the warring orkish tribes under her rule. Currently resting inside the Great Stairs in Flaming Skull, the Fire Dragon rules through Grand Messenger Arxanthos, a red dragon who receives dream-decrees from the slumbering goddess (or just claims to do so), and who commands a sinister priesthood called the Dragonbound. When the Fire Dragon is fully recuperated, she will emerge to take control over a united orkish army, and together they will unleash the Big Burning upon the world. In the meantime, the orks - who can hardly wait - do their best to prepare the ground for this rampage to end all rampages.
Organizations
Iron Orks
Big Head Uzrok commands one of the most active armies on Agon, and the Iron Orks are an elite group within that army, its members selected for strength, ferocity and cunning (in that order.) Utterly loyal to Uzrok, the Iron Orks answer to the Big Head directly, and some speculate that building their strength is the gambit in a scheme to wrest power from the Dragonbound.
Defenders of the Swamp
The Defenders of the Swamp are an orkish order of knights who have dedicated their lives to keeping the swamps of Morak clean of unwanted elements. Since Morak has no shortage of monsters or enemies, the Defenders are kept very busy indeed, and their membership tends to attract orks that are even more fond of violence than most.
Dragonbound
The Dragonbound are an extremely powerful group of fundamentalists, who have dedicated their lives to the Fire Dragon, and who show their loyalty by cutting off their lips and covering their bodies in self-inflicted scars. The Dragonbound are not averse to working behind the back of Big Head Uzrok, who they see as a mere pawn (and an insolent one, at that) in the Fire Dragon's game.
Ok really, enough. This is an MMORPG, not an FPS. To me, and I'm sure to most, it would seem quite obvious that new players wouldn't be on equal terms with vets at the starting gate, due to the PROGRESSIVE nature of MMORPGs. I don't give a shit WHAT MMO you play, vets are going to wtfpwn the n00bs. Expect it, deal with it, skill up and get even. But stop whining.
Actually in a sense it sort of is a FPS wrapped in an mmorpg, being the targetting system is just that. The complaint here is there are not enough new ppl around for other new ppl to pvp with so instead it's constantly newb vs vet and duh we know who is gonna win that, but thanks for your enlightening comments fanboy.
Huh....I see plenty of n00bs around. maybe you should consider a suggestion that was put forth earlier, and head to n00b areas of enemy races to pick a fight.
Second...you need to check my post history before you go calling me a "fanboy". I've got my problems with Darkfall too, but you don't hear me crying about them now do you?
edit: dumb-ass typos as a result of not enough caffeine
The biggest problem with this game at this moment in time is there just isn't enough new players coming into the game and staying to really give other new players any decent pvp. Seriously, 9 times out of 10 you get obliterated by someone with 100-150 more HP than you and is hitting you for 40-60 dmg per hit. To many vets and not a big enough influx of new players. I did my time in the NEW clan and out of about 10-12 people I made friends with and hung with in that clan, maybe 1-2 are still around after their 30 days in NEW. Also, it's not like it isn't obvious on the official forums that new players aren't happy, hell some vets are saying it to, with the game being there are atleast 3 or 4 threads a day on the stat gain issue, some of which have reached 30+ pages. Hardcore lol, gonna hardcore your game in the ground if you can't keep new players interested in it and playing. I'm sure AV is aware they have a problem with their retention rate and I'm confident some changes will come to alleviate these issues, but the question is when.
Edit: Gonna add a few more things to my list of things that kill this game: Lack of lore makes for a boring ass game. Empty NPC cities with very boring NPC's, most of which that have no quests.
Agreed. It took no longer then afew hours in Darkfall for me to figure out it wasnt for me.
The three main reasons:
1. I found myself grinding within my first two hours ingame..not a sign of good things to come
2. The towns / world felt empty to me...I'm paying $15 a month to do what? To explore and grind in an empty world?
3. I just about pulled all my hair out using the damn UI
Aside from the fact that it's a massive grind fest with few quests or pve content and that it will take an average player about 3-6 months to be competitive in any form of pvp, which the game is about 85% based on, I guess it's ok....
when's the last time you played? Game's a LOT different now, man.
Edit: of course, Darkfall was never really meant to be a questing game, so you're not going to find EQ / WoW style shit here, even now.
Lol whargoul, did he just say quests? o man people with no clue on darkfall these days. Darkfall changed, My clan mate ValRoth AKA V R just made a new character, and got like mastery/sharpshooter in less then 5 days, Sure his 5 days is probably 4 hours of good grinding on a good mob, but you can do 10 2 hour days and be up their, whoever saids you need more then a melee mastery and sharpshooter is either retarded or is a bad twitch player.
Again Please do not post if you havnt played since the first month, they changed to much to be bringing up something that was the 1st month.
Yeah, thanks Darkfall. I've really enjoyed looking at the back of my character's fucking head while he chops trees and hits rocks and gathers herbs! And the 3 mob types I've fought my first month - Amazing! They are all so different! And the combat system! Click! Click! Click! Unprecidented! Thank you so much Darkfall!
It is not darkfall's fault you are to used to game like WOW, where every level you have a ZONE you belong to or a instance u need to do. Learn the defintion sandbox, explore. It was your choice to chop trees/wood/herbs, instead you could of just explored and found a good mob and buy all the mats needed.
Again this game is for people who know how to make it in the real world, no kids allowed.
Yes, I have been spotted, shot, flanked, splash-damaged, and gang-banged... by the wild AI.
That caught my eyes, please tell me more
Well its difficult to explain, the AI in-game is erratic at best. Here are some examples.
I swear that the Devs at AV have no concept of an aggro radius, which is annoying as hell sometimes.
There is no sneaking in, short of crouching which really just delays the aggro.
That's because (as the AI guys a while ago in a spotlight mentioned) they don't have aggro radius per se. They have actual sight and hearing. Depending on the monster I can actually sneak all the way behind them (I do that with trolls often and get a very nice back hit in before I melee them properly). Sight and hearing seems to be different from monster type to monster type.
Yeah, thanks Darkfall. I've really enjoyed looking at the back of my character's fucking head while he chops trees and hits rocks and gathers herbs! And the 3 mob types I've fought my first month - Amazing! They are all so different! And the combat system! Click! Click! Click! Unprecidented! Thank you so much Darkfall!
3 Mob types the first month? Come on now
I fought at least 6 (not counting the wildlife) the first two days only. Goblins (three different types even though the shamans are a real pain), Kobolds (also various types), Skeletons (various types), Zombies (various types), Hivesomething (including some queen thing), Trolls
Nice post OP and I 100% agree. @hybridfury I guess the conclusion your post brings me to is that Darkfall is indeed a hardcore game. It's kind of like the saying "Come and 'ave a go if you think you're 'ard enough!", and it seems most gamers just aren't hardcore enough even for Darkfall PvE!
Once again, what PvE are you even talking about? If you mean killing the same goblins, gnolls and trolls over and over until your bored to your death then yes, I guess that is indeed to hardcore for me. I don't really see what's so hardcore about grinding out the exact same mob over and over, maybe you can enlighten me?
I don't know what to say to you man, did you ever venture out of sight of a starter city? There's all types of PvE you can do from the start, from goblins to Skeletons to centaurs to Iklits to windlords to Devils, fire dragons and even the great Kraken! If you don't go far from the starter city you'll never see any of it though. Also you're gonna need to join a clan and team up, another thing you don't like doing by your post.
So my advice is just forget about DFO since it doesn't seem to be the kind of game for you, maybe try out STO?
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience"
Bone Exarch 9 1 with it's ranged and melee strength this is one tough mob to take down. but...the trick lies in leading it with archers and mounted players moving to and from and switching sides on who is blocking you can take down this big boy quite fast
Bone Knight 6 3
Bone Spider 2 -
Bonecrew Captain 1 5 No ranged attack
Bonecrew Mariner - 6
Brittle Skeleton 2 1
Brownie 8 2
Cairn Giant - 17
Cave Bear 5 2
Centaur Huntress 3 -
Centaur Reaver - -
Child of Khamset - -
Chosen of Khamset 18 3 Giant Skeleton Mobs. Hit Hard for around 50 damage. Casts Confusion and a gravity affected fire spell
Ciel Fey Druid
Ciel Fey Forester - -
Crog 3 -
Crypt Guard - 5
Crypt Lord - -
Dark Dragon - 3
Deadeye - 5
Deathless Mage 21 8 Looks like a Lich( Flying Skeleton with tattered red robe) Mainly Spell Caster can do nasty melee damage in close range. Casts Greater Magic, Witchcraft & Necromancy Spells
Demon - -
Devil - -
Dire Spider - 1
Dire Zombie 6 2 Dire Zombies are one of the harder zombies, having the ability to cast spells. the best way is to either seperate 'm from a group or get 'm from a distance.
Doom Spider 4 1
Earth Elemental 9 3
Elf Shade 1 1
Eodrin - 2
Erodach 6 5 The Erodach are strong, humanoid creatures who are masters of the fire element. They are lofty and prideful, and famous both for their intellect and mercilessness. Their origins are unknown, being that they are not native to Agon, and their goals are also unknown. They claim to be allies of Ashaka, the Fire Dragon and the Orks of Morak. Many assume that they have come to Morak for good reasons that they mysteriously choose to keep hidden.
Erodoch - 1
Evil Eye 3 -
Fire Dragon 4 3 Can fly a large distance from lair
Fire Elemental 2 6 you need a small group for fire elementals - the best is to either box one in from 4 sides and have a 5th player heal the 4 that box it in.
Fire Giant - -
Firescourge 5 1
Flesh Golem 1 -
Flying Snake 4 - Good for archery/elemental training
Nice post OP and I 100% agree. @hybridfury I guess the conclusion your post brings me to is that Darkfall is indeed a hardcore game. It's kind of like the saying "Come and 'ave a go if you think you're 'ard enough!", and it seems most gamers just aren't hardcore enough even for Darkfall PvE!
Once again, what PvE are you even talking about? If you mean killing the same goblins, gnolls and trolls over and over until your bored to your death then yes, I guess that is indeed to hardcore for me. I don't really see what's so hardcore about grinding out the exact same mob over and over, maybe you can enlighten me?
Yeah, this bothers me as well. Apparently the definition of hardcore is: Klunky UI, untalented Dev team, practically zero content, Mobs that spawn in fixed locations, a skill/leveling system which is poorly designed, with a general unpolished feel to the game that constantly reminds you of how if the devs had done this-or-that differently it would be a big improvement to the game.
After over a decade of MMORPG'ing at least 30 hours a week I'm not as hardcore as I thought I was.
Yeah, this bothers me as well. Apparently the definition of hardcore is: Klunky UI, untalented Dev team, practically zero content, Mobs that spawn in fixed locations, a skill/leveling system which is poorly designed, with a general unpolished feel to the game that constantly reminds you of how if the devs had done this-or-that differently it would be a big improvement to the game. After over a decade of MMORPG'ing at least 30 hours a week I'm not as hardcore as I thought I was.
interestingly enough, you just described 95% of the entire MMO genre.
By the way....didn't realise you had ever played Darkfall....when was the last time you logged in??
Yeah, this bothers me as well. Apparently the definition of hardcore is: Klunky UI, untalented Dev team, practically zero content, Mobs that spawn in fixed locations, a skill/leveling system which is poorly designed, with a general unpolished feel to the game that constantly reminds you of how if the devs had done this-or-that differently it would be a big improvement to the game. After over a decade of MMORPG'ing at least 30 hours a week I'm not as hardcore as I thought I was.
interestingly enough, you just described 95% of the entire MMO genre.
By the way....didn't realise you had ever played Darkfall....when was the last time you logged in??
I was going to write the same thing As long I remember is around 200 types of mobs in DF.
I don't really know why half of you are posting half the shit you are posting. First off, this is from a new players stand point, I been playing about a month and a half i guess, I'm in a very good guild with 2 holdings. I could give a shit at this point at what there is later on in the game, shove your 200 mobs up your ass cause 80% of the new player base that comes in will probably never even see a tenth of them cause they will be so bored with the only 3 mobs they are capable of killing the first month or two and quit. Second, as for the wall of lore that was posted, WHERE IS THIS IN GAME? I could really give a shit about some lore/book wrote on AV's site, lore should be tied into the game.
Edit: more lame things about this game:
If your out of stamina, but you have a full bar of mana you can't cast a spell? Huh? Wtf?
Swimming now causes stamina loss. So now on a swim of any distance, lets say to Cairn or Yssam, you run out of stamina and can't even defend yourself from the packs of great whites that attack you.
Furthermore, I wasn't aware that great whites travelled and hunted in packs of 4 and 5, but hey whatever.
Currently Playing: Toying around with AoC and bored with Darkfall
Thinking of Playing: Fallen Earth or Darkfall after this months update.
Have Played: EQ1, EQ2, WoW, WAR, Vanguard, EvE, Requiem, PW, Lotro, Lineage2, AoC, SWG...
Interesting, the Q&A from the devs is now posted looks like some good stuff coming if they can pull it off, but other stuff just boggles my mind like:
--------------
What are your future plans to assist new, or returning, players with catching up to veterans in a realistic time-frame? - Wrafe Prevails
We’ve done several things already such as increasing skill gains, increasing skill gains on PvE, increasing monster drops, skill books, attribute consumables etc. and we’re constantly evaluating this making all necessary adjustments.
You can be viable in Darkfall and you can do things and access all areas from day one. You can PvP on day one and you can actually hit other players. You can man a cannon, you can ride a mount, sail a ship you can participate in a massive battle and contribute to it even beyond reviving friends and finishing off enemies. We’re mentioning these things because we’ve done a lot of work so that you don’t actually need to catch up to actually be a part of the game.
----------------
How on day one can you sail a ship lmfao? What, if someone lets you sail theirs? And seriously how viable is someone on day one in a large scale pvp battle beyond reviving people or finishing enemies off? Sorry, but the above answer is a crock of shit lol. I don't expect to be able to do much honesty so seriously don't try and make new comers think otherwise. As for mounts on the first day, is someone giving it to me? As for the skill books, I have seen 1 and it's for mana missle, WOW! As for the increased skill gains, it's still quicker to hit the bloodwall as you have alot less downtime and it's much safer for sure. Unless of course your just hammering low lvl goblins over and over and over and over which is boring if you ask me, but then again so is the bloodwall.
Next,
----------------
When will you actually implement the Anti-Aliasing? - Ninogan Swiftstep
Darkfall 2010, along with Directx 11 support and many other goodies.
----------------
Uhm, what about DX10? Isn't there only like 1 or 2 video cards out atm that handle DX11? Granted there will be more coming throughout this year, but seriously DX11 already? I hope there's gonna be DX10 capabilities to as I'm sure 90% of the playerbase doesn't have DX11 capability.
Currently Playing: Toying around with AoC and bored with Darkfall
Thinking of Playing: Fallen Earth or Darkfall after this months update.
Have Played: EQ1, EQ2, WoW, WAR, Vanguard, EvE, Requiem, PW, Lotro, Lineage2, AoC, SWG...
I don't really know why half of you are posting half the shit you are posting. First off, this is from a new players stand point, I been playing about a month and a half i guess, I'm in a very good guild with 2 holdings. I could give a shit at this point at what there is later on in the game, shove your 200 mobs up your ass cause 80% of the new player base that comes in will probably never even see a tenth of them cause they will be so bored with the only 3 mobs they are capable of killing the first month or two and quit. Second, as for the wall of lore that was posted, WHERE IS THIS IN GAME? I could really give a shit about some lore/book wrote on AV's site, lore should be tied into the game.
Edit: more lame things about this game: If your out of stamina, but you have a full bar of mana you can't cast a spell? Huh? Wtf? Swimming now causes stamina loss. So now on a swim of any distance, lets say to Cairn or Yssam, you run out of stamina and can't even defend yourself from the packs of great whites that attack you. Furthermore, I wasn't aware that great whites travelled and hunted in packs of 4 and 5, but hey whatever.
I don't really know why half of you are posting half the shit you are posting. First off, this is from a new players stand point, I been playing about a month and a half i guess, I'm in a very good guild with 2 holdings. I could give a shit at this point at what there is later on in the game, shove your 200 mobs up your ass cause 80% of the new player base that comes in will probably never even see a tenth of them cause they will be so bored with the only 3 mobs they are capable of killing the first month or two and quit. Second, as for the wall of lore that was posted, WHERE IS THIS IN GAME? I could really give a shit about some lore/book wrote on AV's site, lore should be tied into the game.
Edit: more lame things about this game: If your out of stamina, but you have a full bar of mana you can't cast a spell? Huh? Wtf? Swimming now causes stamina loss. So now on a swim of any distance, lets say to Cairn or Yssam, you run out of stamina and can't even defend yourself from the packs of great whites that attack you. Furthermore, I wasn't aware that great whites travelled and hunted in packs of 4 and 5, but hey whatever.
OMG!! and you still play this crappy game?
I dont think ive ever seen someone bitch so much on any forum. Why torture yourself..go play something else.
As you can see I rarely post on MMORPG.com (or any MMO site for that matter). However I am an avid MMO fan. I visit around 3-4 sites daily just to keep up-to-date with the latest and greatest in the MMO world. I have tried just about every P2P western MMO released in the last 7 or so years, and even a couple of those questionable F2P games too. My MMO history starts with EQ (like lots of other peeps). So I know I am not special, different, or a unique snowflake.
However, I did want to say that Darkfall has been unique for me, due to the simple fact that it has done something that no other game has done for me in years...
It made me feel like a complete and utter noob, and not in the frustrated /wrist way that EvE did, but rather the excited and unsure of the road ahead way that EQ did so many years ago.
Yes, I am in the first month. Yes, I am still in the noob area. Yes, I have been ganked. Yes, I have grinded goblins and kobolds. Yes, I have been spotted, shot, flanked, splash-damaged, and gang-banged... by the wild AI. Yes, I have underestimated my enemy. Yes, the world is big. Yes, the UI is somewhat lame. Yes, I am utterly and absolutely clueless. Yes, I am having fun.
And for this, you have my thanks DFO.
This ALL made me smile. =D
And not for the usual reason that non-DFO players here on MMORPG.com smile....not because I think it's stupid, or that you're "obviously an idiot," or because I'm smiling right before posting something accusatory, mean-spirited, or critical of you....
But because I love to see someone HAPPY with a game....ANY game. I love it when a fellow gamer finds their MMO "fit."
I don't think I'm the only one that gets tired of the endless array of negative threads and posts on this site. And yet....I keep coming back, because....I actually like the diversity here, and I like MOST of the people here. Most of them are intelligent gamers just looking for a gaming utopia. I mean really...how wrong can that be? Golfers look for that perfect course, gardeners look for that perfect fertilizer, stamp collectors look for that once-in-a-lifetime rare stamp in perfect condition, etc. We CARE about our hobby.
I don't play DF....I probably never will (although I've toyed with the idea more than a few times). And yet, I can't help but smile when someone just seems to be ENJOYING the game they're playing. I'm actually happy for you.
Maybe sometimes the reason people get all bent out of shape around here when someone says great things about the game they're enjoying, is because...maybe...just maybe...we all have a little bit of jealousy. Maybe it's buried really deep. Maybe we don't even know it's there. But that seems like a really logical, and possible, reason why it's hard for us sometimes to just say...."Wow, that's cool! I'm glad you're having fun!" and just leave it at that.
As a matter of fact...I think I need to try to do that a little more often without elaborating on my own feelings and thoughts about every game, at least in the threads that are started by people who are just honestly enjoying their game. There are plenty of "critique" threads for debating.
So....HUZZAH! It's great that you're having a good time!
Comments
Get a weapon to mastery and use better weapons and gear. Read this: www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/265865/Game-Mechanics-The-Numbers.html
The gist behind Darkfalls lore is that their was a civilization in the past but most of the information about it is lost. Dynamic Lore events like: www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/265472/Dynamic-Lore-Event-Trinkets-of-Blood-EU.html are awesome.
Our cities are not empty.
What is that like the second lore event in a year? And actually how does it play into what's existing in the world already, I mean really? Also, what could they not afford to higher some creative thinkers to think up some lore instead of just taking the easy and cheap way out by saying, "oh ugh there was a civilization, but ugh all the lore is lost".
NA1 player here btw, it appears you are EU.
Currently Playing: Toying around with AoC and bored with Darkfall
Thinking of Playing: Fallen Earth or Darkfall after this months update.
Have Played: EQ1, EQ2, WoW, WAR, Vanguard, EvE, Requiem, PW, Lotro, Lineage2, AoC, SWG...
What is that like the second lore event in a year? And actually how does it play into what's existing in the world already, I mean really? Also, what could they not afford to higher some creative thinkers to think up some lore instead of just taking the easy and cheap way out by saying, "oh ugh there was a civilization, but ugh all the lore is lost".
You asked for it:
The Lost Civilization of Chaldea
Throughout Agon lie the scattered ruins of old Chaldea . At its peak, this empire's reach encompassed everything from Sanguine in the east to the westernmost wastes of the Mahirim Tribelands. All that remains today are moss-grown monuments and the ruins of once-mighty cities.
The Chaldean civilization originated in present-day Mercia , along the fertile banks of the river Eanna. The humans of this area developed agriculture, and fed Agon's first cities with food from irrigated fields. They also invented the science of mathematics, the first calendar, and the art of writing.
Towards a golden age
The foremost city of the Chaldeans was Ashur, which lay near the present-day location of Sanguine. It was founded by the legendary Ashur-Sin I, who conquered the numerous city-states of the Eannic delta, and was crowned king of all Chaldeans.
The Chaldean civilization came into being during a period of relative regional peace. However, their wealth soon proved tempting to neighbouring human tribes, who took to raiding and plundering outlying villages and towns. In response to this, the Chaldeans launched a series of successful military campaigns against the nomads who roamed the peripheries of their land.
When faced with the problem of becalming the conquered barbarians, emperor Ashur-Awan II formulated policies which would shape the future of Chaldea. He decreed that cities be built in barbarian lands, and that the conquered tribes be invited to live in them. Furthermore, the citizens of these new cities would be taught how to farm and make tools. Upon swearing allegiance to Ashur, they would be given full rights as citizens of the empire.
The Benevolent Empire
The Chaldeans were not a warlike people, and they rarely launched wars of conquest. However, they had a tradition of responding decisively to outside aggression, and of permanently pacifying defeated enemies by integrating them into their culture.
As the wealth and fame of Chaldea grew, many tribes and settlements joined the empire voluntarily, in order to share in its wealth and technology. Ashur became the centre of a vast empire, and the Chaldeans became the traders, thinkers and administrators of the greatest empire Agon has seen. In addition to all present-day human territories, the empire's borders eventually encompassed the homelands of the orks and the mahirim. Before their subjugation, these races launched countless raids into Chaldea, proving themselves to be dangerous neighbours, and provoking the wrath of the empire.
The alfar were also warlike and fond of staging bloody raids, and eventually Ashur decided to move against the children of the god-king. Though they were victorious on the plains of Moldar, not even the emperor's armies could defeat the alfar in the subterranean fastnesses of Nagast. In the end, the Chaldeans had to settle for securing and fortifying the surface parts of the alfar homeland, while Melek's armies retreated underground.
The Chaldeans established friendly relations with the mirdain, the ithwen and the dwarves, and traded extensively with these races.
The Fall of Chaldea
In time, after long centuries of peace and prosperity, the once-vigorous Chaldean civilization stagnated. Few new scientific or magical advances were made, and the people grew content, complacent and set in their ways. Trade still united the land, but the rule of Ashur faded, and after a while, the different regions were practically self-governed, with only symbolic allegiance being paid to the distant emperor.
While the long peace still lasted, this mattered little. But twin disasters would ultimately strike, bringing an end to more than two millennia of Chaldean civilization.
Slightly more than five hundred years ago, the Chaldean heartlands were struck by the worst flood in history. The Eanna, which had given life to a continent-spanning culture, now washed away cities, and ruined so many crops that hunger inevitably followed. Some say the floods coincided with the death of the goddess Eanna, who embodied the life-giving powers of the river, and who was the only deity worshipped by the Chaldeans.
Either through dire coincidence, or due to the machinations of Melek, the flood was immediately followed by a massive Alfar invasion. Hidden from the eyes of the Chaldeans, the evil Alfar had amassed an enormous army, which now blasted out of Nagast's caverns, and onto the heartland of the empire.
More than 400 years after emperor Ashur-ubaid VI shattered Melek's armies and laid waste to Moldar, the Alfar had their revenge. They defeated an ill-prepared army led by emperor Ashur-awan IX, and then tore into the rich cities of the Chaldean heartland.
Appalled by the slaughter, the far-flung provinces of the empire gathered their armies and marched on Ashur. Aided by armies of the dwarves and Mirdain, they routed the Alfar before the fresh conquests could be secured for the rule of Melek.
However, no heir of Ashur-awan IX survived, and the towns of the Chaldean heartland lay shattered. When the regional armies returned to their homelands, they returned to independent nations and city-states. Chaldea was no more.
The final outpost
As the Alfar armies approached, some leading citizens of Ashur fled through a teleportation portal to trading post called Kasdim on the wasteland continent of Cairn. Bringing with them as many books and artifacts as possible, they became the final custodians of Benevolent Empire's learning. In Kasdim, they remained secluded for centuries, until climate changes dried out freshwater lakes that the city depended on, rendering it uninhabitable.
Preparing for their final appointment with oblivion, the last Chaldeans hid their books and artifacts within an exceptionally well-defended dungeon, called the Halls of Learning, which lies at the heart of Kasdim. To this day, none have penetrated to the deepest levels of this dungeon, where the most valuable secrets of Chaldea are said to lie hidden.
The Ruins of Nithron
As the world slowly healed itself after the cataclysms of the Usurper War, an earthbound race of immortals rose to power. The Nithron resembled present-day humans but were considerably taller, commonly standing around four meters tall, and they tended to be more powerfully built, almost like titans.
The Nithron had long ears, and their faces combined elven and human features. Their skin was honeylike in color, while their raven-black hair was worn long by both sexes, men commonly braiding it using bronze bands, while women let theirs flow free. Nithron eyes tended to be brown in color.
Nithron individuals never died of old age and they seem to have been immune to all but the most trivial of diseases. Every Nithron corpse ever found has borne the marks of a violent death. They were never numerous and appear to have had an extremely low birthrate. It is believed that, even at their zenith, the total Nithron population stood at no more than one thousand.
Culture and background
The Nithron were a warlike people who conquered all of Agon by force of arms, and who saw it as a sacred duty to bring civilization to lesser cultures. As part of their civilizing efforts, the Nithron bid their subjects build huge fortress-cities in which Nithron and mortals lived side by side as master and servant.
Perhaps understandably, given the ravages of the Usurper Wars, the Nithron did not worship any gods. In fact, many mortals saw the Nithron as a divine race, and this was a view which they themselves subtly encouraged. In many places the Nithron replaced gods who were slain or disgraced during the Usurper Wars.
Nithron culture revolved around ideals of chivalry and romance, and they had strict codes of behavior which regulated how they behaved towards mortals and among themselves. Individuals were expected to be brave, courteous, just, generous and merciful, and to behave honorably at all times.
The Nithron saw themselves as a class of warrior-nobles, and they trained mortals to fill mundane roles within society, while they themselves were strategists, architects, planners and leaders. Most importantly, the warlike Nithron were officers and heroes in armies which also contained massed ranks of mortal foot soldiers.
A very brief history
After conquering all of Agon, the Nithron oversaw a centuries-long period of relative peace. As time passed, however, their empire fragmented into smaller realms, and these minor states often fought each other. Some wars were fought over territory and resources, while others were fueled by dreams of reforging the splintered empire.
Though historical sources from this period are scarce, it seems as if the Nithron vanished almost overnight from the face of Agon. All available evidence indicates that their culture was still in its prime - though politically fragmented - and historians haven't been able to point to an emergent threat which may suddenly have overwhelmed the Nithron. A massive slave rebellion? Voluntary evacuation of Agon? Malign divine intervention? The theories are many and varied, but little evidence supports any of them.
Building and architecture
As all may see who travel Agon today, the Nithron left a formidable architectural legacy. They built cyclopean fortress-cities with stone walls and crystal spires that tower over the surrounding landscape. Even considering that they themselves stood four meters tall, the almost incomprehensible size of their buildings indicate that the Nithron used them as symbols of greatness, designed to keep mortal vassals in awe.
Built using magically enhanced white granite, and guarded by formidable undead custodians, the Citadel sections of Nithron ruins are in almost pristine condition. They are generally encircled by more-or-less intact walls which may only be entered through a single large gate.
Other Info
The Nithron were godlike beings who possessed abilities and magic far beyond anything seen today. Among their achievements was the creation of a magical race called the Oathbound, who were blindly loyal to the Nithron, and who served as their bodyguards and elite warriors. Missing from Agon for centuries, Oathbound guardians have suddenly begun to reappear in Nithron ruins, frequently in the vicinity of important artifacts, major buildings, or other reappearing aspects of Nithron culture. Many see this as a sign, that the mysterious Nithron might be preparing Agon for their return.
Alfar of Nagast
No trace of kindness exists in the world of the alfar, a race whose minds were shattered and then erratically rebuilt by a cruel and insane deity. To the alfar, pleasure is derived from the suffering of others, and the only impulse that can override their urge to torture and destroy, is a marrow-seated need to please their god-king.
Like poison darts, alfar night raiders strike deep into the lands of the foreigner. Appearing out of nowhere, they cut bloody swathes of death and destruction, before vanishing just as tracelessly as they came. To their victims, it seems like the night itself shapes the alfar, then dissolves them again when their butcher's work is done.
The alfar feel a deep-seated hatred for all other intelligent forms of life, and it is difficult for them to enter even the most temporary of alliances with members of other races.
Nagast
The alfar homeland lies in the southern part of Agon's main continent, with the human realm of Mercia to its east and the mirdain Forest Republic to the west. To the southwest, across the Ruby Sea, lies the desert continent of Rubaiyat. To the north, the Pall of Oncylus spreads across Agon's heartland, threatening to devour everything around it, including the northern regions of Nagast.
Much of Nagast consists of cragged badlands where outsized mushrooms and black-leafed trees grow among broken rocks and spire-like mountains. The spell-irradiated soil of Nagast has a purple cast to it, and very little that is edible grows in it.
Shoal
The alfar capital lies along the shores of a large, maelstrom-wracked underground lake called the Throat, which is fed by a waterfall cascading down from the ceiling and by two swift rivers which flow in from neighboring caverns. No water can be seen to escape from the wildly churning lake, which is assumed to be connected to some unexplored lake system deep within the heart of Agon. Though many have been thrown into the Throat over the years, none have ever returned to report on what it feeds into.
Alfar adventurers start their careers in one of three villages which lie in the vicinity of Shoal. Ongral, to the west of the capital Shoal. Near the town lies one of the largest swamp craters, filled with ruins of a long forgotten race. Deep Yishku, to the north, is the larges starting town. Two thirds of the town are build inside a dense cave system, making it a well defended town. Alathos, to the east, is also mostly built inside a cave system, making also a well defended town.
Culture and Religion
The will of Melek is the only law in Nagast, and though his edicts may seem contradictory and strange, all alfar do their utmost to follow them, often without any explanation whatsoever. Even though he is quite insane, Melek is a brilliant strategist, who immerses himself in ambitious long-term plans for the alfar race and for Agon in general. In fact, his work on these schemes tend to engross him completely for long periods of time, leaving the alfar to their own administrative devices. Since many alfar refuse to recognize any other authority than Melek, alfar society tends to be strife-torn and fractured during Melek's retreats.
Melek has no use for the inept, the slothful or the merely competent, and Nagast society revolves around a constant process of god-controlled selection, in which the strong and resourceful thrive, while the weak or stupid are weeded out and killed. Melek's program of eugenics is the chief responsibility of the Horned Circle priesthood, who are intimately familiar with his criteria for selection.
Organizations
Temple of the God King
The Temple of the God King is a potent weapon at the command of Nagast?s priesthood. It is a taskforce consisting of utterly loyal alfar, who were chosen for the Temple at a young age. They are dispatched to remove threats to Melek and Nagast, and they answer to the Horned Circle. Members of the Brotherhood are trained in a broad variety of combat-relevant skills, with special focus on close combat and healing magic.
The Radiant Circle
The Unseen Radiance is a group of Deathless Mages who have served Melek since the dawn of alfar history. Though quite loyal, their necromantic pursuits and obsessions sometimes leads them down strange paths which lie beyond the ambitions of the god-king. In periods of Melek's Retreat, they sometimes work quite openly on furthering their own depraved agendas.
The Harn Mandean
Named for one of Melek's most prized possessions, the Harn Mandean is an order of knights dedicated to the annihilation of Melek's enemies inside Nagast, such as monsters, severii and the slave army which currently threatens to plunge the nation into anarchy.
Humans of Mercia
The earth shaking under steel-clad hooves; a gleaming sea of blades, raised as one towards the sky; bright banners that invoke the might and radiance of Auros, god of the noonday sun. Again and again the knights of Mercia ride forth into the world, determined to shine the light of righteousness upon those who dwell in darkness or shadow.
The Mercians are natives of Riada, a sunken realm which lay in the great eastern sea, its spires gleaming each day with the rays of the morning sun. When this island home foundered, Mercian survivors landed on the shores of their present-day realm, which they conquered after a long war with an aboriginal people called the Imric. The Mercians see themselves as a divine race descended from the children of the sun god Auros, and they are at best unmindful, at worst disdainful of the needs and opinions of other, presumably lesser races.
The humans are allies with the mirdian of Merendil and the dwarves of Dvergheim. Together with their allies, the humans will fight off their enemies the orks, the mahirim and the alfar.
Mercia
The Kingdom of Mercia lies in the southeastern part of Agon's main continent. Beyond a war-ravaged no-man's land to the north lies the orkish realm of Morak, while the dragon-haunted Pall of Oncylus lies to the west. To the south, Mercia is bordered by the wasteland continent of Cairn, which is home to bands of giants and crumbling minotaur cities. In the ocean to the east lie dozens of pirate freeholds, the largest and most notorious of which is the free city of Silvertown.
The dominant terrain types in Mercia are light deciduous forests and gently rolling grass clad hills. A multitude of lakes and waterways also mark this outwardly pleasant land, such as the majestic Eanna river, which flows southward through the heartland before emptying into Sanguine Bay. Mercia's long coastline features countless islands, such as a shattered, sprawling archipelago which lies between Mercia's southern coast and Cairn.
Sanguine
The human capital lies in southern Mercia, not far from where the mighty Eanna joins her waters with those of Sanguine Bay. Built on the instructions of the nation's founding father, Duke John Malregard, Sanguine stands in an eminently defensible location, atop a broad plateau which dominates the surrounding plains. Despite such military concerns, the Mercian capital is a green and pleasant city, famous for its squares and expansive park areas.
All human adventurers start their careers in one of three villages which lie in the vicinity of Sanguine. Sandbrook, to the south, is a logging community which straddles the banks of a small river, and which lies amid the enormously proportioned ruins left by a mysterious race of giants called the Nithron. Heart of Eanna, to the east, is a large port through which much of Mercia's foreign trade passes. Monkfield, to the west, is a mining community which supplies much of the ore needed by Sanguine's smithies.
Culture and Religion
The Mercians worship Auros, a solar deity who they revere not only as the bringer of light and life, but also as the father of their race. According to Mercian origin myths, Auros chose twelve wives from among the mortal races and brought them with him to the sacred island of Riada. Over the next twelve years, Auros fathered twelve children with each wife, and the resulting 144 half-gods became the ancestors of the Mercian race. Thus the Mercians believe, quite literally, that they are the progeny of their own god, and they see it as their filial duty to expand the reach of his light and teachings.
The Auran faith dictates that all life issues forth from Auros, and that no matter how far from the light a creature has strayed, Auros will receive its life-spark after death. When killing a benighted or shadebound creature, Mercians believe they are sending it into the cleansing light of Auros.
Organizations
Knights of Malregard
Shortly after landing on the mainland, Duke John organized his finest warriors into a knightly order which would serve as the vanguard of his armies. Mounted on fierce and towering warhorses, the Knights of Malregard won countless victories over the Imric, and ever since they have remained the indomitable and warlike champions of the Mercian people.
White Order
The primary task of the White Order is to shine the light of Auros upon creatures that scurry about in darkness and shadow. Traditionally, this has meant embarking on military campaigns against benighted foreign peoples, such as the Orks and the Alfar, but recently the Order has been forced to turn its attention to internal threats, such as the Imric insurgency and the growth of the Twilight Empire.
Sons of Riada
The Sons of Riada are a group of Mercian traditionalists who believe that many secrets were lost when the home island foundered. They seek answers and artifacts in ancient ruins, convinced that the keys to global supremacy lie buried in the past.
Three more races and the continent lore to add. Let me know when you are done this.
Get a weapon to mastery and use better weapons and gear. Read this: www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/265865/Game-Mechanics-The-Numbers.html
The gist behind Darkfalls lore is that their was a civilization in the past but most of the information about it is lost. Dynamic Lore events like: www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/265472/Dynamic-Lore-Event-Trinkets-of-Blood-EU.html are awesome.
Our cities are not empty.
What is that like the second lore event in a year? And actually how does it play into what's existing in the world already, I mean really? Also, what could they not afford to higher some creative thinkers to think up some lore instead of just taking the easy and cheap way out by saying, "oh ugh there was a civilization, but ugh all the lore is lost".
NA1 player here btw, it appears you are EU.
I'm NA as well.
More lore:
For thousands of years the Angra flowed across Rubaiyat. She nourished life with water, she carried ships on her broad back, and she ground down mountains to make farm-soil for her people.
To the Sharjad people, the Angra river was eternal and unchanging. Her daily gifts were as certain as the rising of the sun, and her flood-cycles were as divinely fore-ordained as the coming of spring after winter. But one day the inconceivable, the cosmologically impossible happened: Almost overnight, the Angra simply stopped flowing, and the farms, river-barges and cities of the Sharjad lay stranded along the sad, dried-out husk of their provider.
Meanwhile, a red, rune-covered pyramid rose slowly from the pit which once housed the Angra's heart-spring. As the ancient structure rose, its architect bid his long-buried followers rise from out of the desert sands, to conquer Rubaiyat once again.
The Return of the Pharaoh
During the Usurper Wars, a powerful deity established himself as god-king of Rubaiyat, calling himself Ur-Khamset, or the Red Pharaoh. He slew or imprisoned the local deities of the desert continent, subjugated its people, and then began shaping his subjects into a powerful army with which to contest the rulership of Agon and force access to the Halls of the Goddess.
Ultimately, the Red Pharaoh was defeated by an alliance of rival gods. But as he expired, the Red Pharaoh cast one final, terrible spell which drained all his human subjects of life and liquid, leaving only skeletons to be buried by the desert. Thus Ur-Khamset took his people with him into apparent oblivion, leaving his conquerors with nothing but bone-strewn ruins to rule.
Unbeknownst to all, Ur-Khamset had foreseen his demise and prepared for it by constructing the Red Pyramid at the bottom of Lake Angra. He imbued the pyramid with spells that would summon and preserve his own-life force at the moment of death, and then resurrect him when the stars were right for his return.
As the Red Pyramid rose from the lakebed, a thousand bony hands clawed their way out from under the accumulated sands of millennia. Gathering in Rubaiyat's trackless deserts, the Red Pharaoh's hordes swept down upon the cities of the hapless Sharjad, conquering them with ease. Already, the Red Pharaoh's winged snake standard flies from the battlements of most cities on Rubaiyat's mainland.
While most of the Pharaoh's marauding, sand-tinted skeletons were once human, a few clearly belonged to the strange giants known as the Avaris, who still roam the deserts of Rubaiyat. Though some skeletons' clothing and equipment has decayed into nothingness, most still wear the exotic, ancient garb which they wore in life, and wield sensuously curved, outlandishly decorated bronze weapons.
Ur-Khamset himself still dwells within the Red Pyramid, commanding his armies using necklaces called Sun Ankhs which are worn by his most powerful generals. Though nobody has accomplished this potentially suicidal feat yet, it has been theorized that an adventurer wearing a Sun Ankh would be able to enter the Red Pyramid.
Niflheim is an icebound, arctic wilderness, which is home to thriving populations of Ice Giants and Winter Dragons. Flesh-scouring blizzards whip across the mountain plateaus of the interior, where the whiteness is broken by ice-blue glaciers and mysterious lakes, whose waters resemble quicksilver.
Islands of life
The fjords and coves Niflheim's southern coast are inhabited by the Northmen, a hardy race of pale-skinned, black-haired humans. The northmen are a seafaring people, who trade, fish and stage the occasional raid on more fertile lands to the south. Their architecture resembles that of the Mahirim, but it is simpler and shorn of most decorative features. Typically, the houses of Northman villages are huddled close under the protection of solid landward walls. The Northmen rely almost exclusively on ocean travel, and few roads connect their settlements, which are like islands under siege by sea and ice.
The warlord
Six years ago, an Ice Demon called Illgarm arrived in Niflheim. He has spent the last couple of years gathering monsters under his rule, and he recently coerced the leaders of several Northman communities into joining his cause. As a result of his spurring, Northman raids have grown frequent, and some of them have been co-ordinated (or at least simultaneous) with land-raids by rampaging monsters. Northman ships have been transporting giants, ice dwarves and other monsters across the sound separating Niflheim from the Icegard, and many monster camps have sprung up on the mainland's frozen northern shore.
Illgarm is building an enormous castle, which is to serve as his foremost seat of power. Though few have seen it, the castle is reputed to be of truly gargantuan size. It is being constructed by Ice Dwarves and Ice Giants on a large, permanently frozen lake in the heart of Niflheim.
Agon's northeastern continent is a place of stifling heat, lush vegetation and heavy rains. Here, the jungle slowly reclaims the cities of a fallen culture, whose destroyer now slumbers within the walls of an emerald-clad citadel. Mindless of this, some of Agon's most terrible monsters prowl the forest depths in search of prey.
The lost kingdom
Jungle-drowned ruins bear witness to a lost age, in which Yssam was inhabited by a race of elves called the Ithwen. Unlike their present-day relatives, the Mirdain and the Ciel Fey, the Ithwen built houses of stone, and had no special reverence for nature. The ruins they left behind bear witness to an advanced civilization.
Compared to the Chaldean ruins of Agon's mainland, Yssam's ruins are recent. All the Ithwen cities were abandoned at the same time, approximately eighty years ago, and they all bear the marks of monstrous rampage. Towers have been torn down, houses are fire-scorched, and the claw-marks of a giant reptile are omnipresent.
Overgrown and moss-covered, the bones of countless dead elves still lie where they fell many decades ago. Some fell in combat, inside cities or on now-overgrown fields, while others were struck down while fleeing desperately. Many of the partially shattered skeletons are blackened by long-extinguished fire.
The ravagers
The Ithwen civilization was destroyed by Far-Loradain, who is the only Celestial Dragon known to be residing on Agon today. He is incredibly old, and as powerful as a minor god. His motives for leaving dream-sleep and attacking the Ithwen are unknown.
Far-Loradain is served by a mysterious clan of powerful warriors and spellcasters. They dwell in a citadel at the heart of the continent, within which the entrance to Far-Loradain's lair is hidden. In the northeastern corner of Yssam, in the shadow of a large volcano, stands the giant fortress of Iyrtan the Destroyer, an Erodach who – presumably at the behest of Azhi Dahaka - has established himself as the king of a loosely organised Fire Giant realm.
The southeastern continent of Cairn is dominated by arid, viciously sun-scorched plains which are strewn with shattered and twisted rock formations. The plains are tortured by winds that blast mercilessly across the flats, howling around the jagged stands of rock. Tornadoes and dust devils spawn in the scrublands, and wild, rainless electrical storms dance across the blasted plains.
Land of minotaurs and giants
In ancient times, Cairn was home to the aernar, a peace-loving and deeply religious people, who lived in scattered adobe villages, eking out a living from the barren land. 290 years ago, however, minotaurs began arriving from Ochre on the mainland, and one after another the aernar villages fell to the fierce invaders.
The conquering minotaurs still inhabit the aernar settlements, but today unmaintained the villages are little more than inhabited ruins. The minotaurs focus their energies on waging war, upon each other and upon Cairn's other inhabitants, while staging regular raids on the mainland coast.
The minotaurs regularly crash with equally warlike Hill Giants, who roam Cairn's interior in small clans. Nomadic by nature, the hill giants build temporary camps and wind-shelters using whatever rocks and boulders that are available when a chieftain decides that a camp should be set up.
Far-fabled Kasdim
In the center of Cairn lies the dried-out basin of a large lake, and on its dry shores stands legendary Kasdim, a large and well-preserved Chaldean city. Though it appears tranquil from a distance, Kasdim is home to large populations of powerful monsters, who are engaged in a struggle for control of the city and its secrets.
When their empire fell, a handful of powerful Chaldeans managed to flee to Kasdim, which was then little more than a fortified trading station. There they remained, the last custodians of the Benevolent Empire's culture, until climate changes dried out the lake and rendered Kasdim uninhabitable. Before fading into oblivion, the last Chaldeans hid their books and artifacts in an exceptionally well-guarded dungeon, the entrance to which lies in the center of old Kasdim. This dungeon, and its treasure hoard, is the prize over which the monster factions fight.
Three more race lores to go. Feeling chided yet?
Mirdain of Mirendil
The mirdain are a sophisticated and cultured people, who tend to prefer diplomacy to warfare, and subtlety to brute force. Theirs is an empire of influence and trade, and of intelligence networks which extend like sinuous branches from their forest-clad homeland.
In combat, mirdain warriors move with innate grace and fluidity, seeking the perfect opening before striking with surgical precision. The mirdain are renowned tacticians, who may overcome near-insurmountable odds through brilliantly deployed maneuvers, ruses and stratagems.
The mardain are ancient allies of the humans of Mercia and the dwarves of Dvergheim, though their tendency to see themselves as natural leaders causes a fair amount of friction. Together with their allies, the mirdain will fight off their enemies the orks, the mahirim and the alfar.
Mirendil and the Republic
The borders of the mirdain realm continues to move with the tides of war, but its core will always remain Mirendil, a vast and ancient forest which dominates the southwestern part of Agon's main continent.
To its north, the Mirendil is bordered by the plains and gently rolling hills of the Mahirim Tribelands. To the south and east, beyond a no-man's-land shattered by war, lies Nagast, the poisoned and spell-blasted homeland of the Alfar. Across the Ruby Sea to the south lies Rubaiyat, a desert continent which was recently overrun by the seemingly unstoppable undead hordes of the Red Pharaoh. To the east of the Forest Republic lies the fiercely contested heartlands of Agon, which are slowly being devoured by the Oncylus, an ancient devil who wields strange and powerful forms of shadow magic.
Charybdis
The mirdain capital straddles the Irthan river near its source, with approximately half of the city's hometrees rising from on each bank of the river. As it flows out of Charybdis, the Irthan plunges over an enormous waterfall which sends wave after wave of mist into the tall, glistening trees above. Looking down from one of the house-platforms of Charybdis, one might easily form the impression that the mirdain capital floats among clouds.
Mirdain adventurers start their careers in one of three villages which all lie in the vicinity of Charybdis. King's Holdfast is dominated by three small subsidiaries of the Irthan, which run through it and form its boundaries, respectively. Near this village lies one of the largest and most revered wildsprings in all of Mirendil. Leafhelm covers several spacious plateaus on a large, craggy mountain which rises dramatically from the forest floor. Beladin's Rest is built under and among the gargantuan branches of Eryasil, a truly enormous greenroot which is the largest tree in all of Agon.
Culture and Religion
Mirdain society is dominated by a class of nobles called elflords, who are the only citizens eligible for election to the Grand Parliament, which is where all important decisions of law and policy are made. From among their number, the elflords elect a single Aran who serves as a largely symbolic head of state.
Though not a very religious people, the mirdain do see the Mirendil Forest as a living entity who must be respected and protected - even worshipped, according to some strains of thought. Veneration for the forest is a central aspect of mirdain culture, and the most important rituals in the (crowded) ceremonial calendar are tied to the changing of the Mirendil's seasons.
In a sense, the mirdain may also be said to worship a gallery of epic heroes, who are the subjects of countless songs, tales and poems. Foremost among these paragons are Myrthai (male) and Lorathai (female) who are worshipped both as tragic heroes and as doomed, perfect lovers.
Organizations
The Emerald Throne
Though Arans physically occupy the Emerald Throne, they are controlled by the elflords who elect them to serve as figureheads of their rule. As a class, the elflords are primarily interested in maintaining a status quo which has remained in place through millennia. Arrogant, hugely conservative, and sometimes self-serving, they are capable of dealing quite harshly with those who oppose them.
The Serene Spire
Named for the magically illuminated spire which rises from their citadel in Iriendir, the Serene Spire is an ancient circle of mages. They have always been a power to be reckoned with in Mirendil, and are endlessly vying for power with the Emerald Throne. The Serene Spire are just as arrogant their old rival, but somewhat less conservative, and less afraid of trying new things.
Arrowheads
The members of the Arrowhead faction would prefer less diplomacy and espionage, more head-on warfare against the enemies of the mirdain. In addition to believing that the Republic has been far too forgiving of its enemies, the Arrowhead feel that the time has come for a regime change. They want to replace the parliament of the elflords with a leaner, meaner state in which the military controls the Emerald Throne.
Dwarves of Dvergheim
Like axe-bristling avalanches, dwarven legions surge across Agon's battlefields, neither wavering nor resting until victory is secured. At any stage in any battle, no matter how ridiculous the odds may be, dwarves believe - with unblinking certainty - that they will prevail through superior skill, rock-hewn strength and indomitable bravery.
Today, the dwarves are nearing the final page of the book of instructions, which is said to contain a special task that Ymir believed the dwarves would only be ready for after 20,000 years of preparation.
Grim-faced, iron-strong and unshakable in courage and convictions, dwarves are trueborn children of the mountains. They are an introspective and taciturn race who scorn all gods in preference of a multi-millennial path to perfection that was laid out by the legendary founder of their nation.
Though they tend towards isolationism, the dwarves maintain cordial relations with the mirdain and friendly relations with the humans, who they respect for their industry, ambition and initiative. Together with their allies, the dwarves will fight off their enemies the orks, the mahirim and the alfar.
Dvergheim
The dwarven homeland lies in the central northern part of Agon's main continent. Beyond its western borders lie the mahirim Tribelands, while the orkish nation of Morak lies to the east. To the northwest, across the storm-blasted Sarthan Sea, lies the ice continent of Niflheim, where dwarf clans have long struggled for supremacy with mahirim forces. Currently, however, all settlements on Niflheim face a grievous threat in the shape of Illgarm, a demon whose campaign of conquest seems unstoppable.
Dvergheim itself is a mountainous land, where glacier-fuelled rivers have carved narrow valleys through towering, snow-peaked massifs. Tall pines grow in the fertile valleys, which are farmed by the gnomes, a peaceful people who - by ancient accord - enjoy dwarven protection in exchange for produce.
Ymir's Tear
The dwarven capital lies within an enormous, dwarf-made cavern, deep under the jagged peaks of central Dvergheim. Its name derives from a huge rock formation in the center of the cave, where clusters of stalagmites and stalactites have joined to form a gargantuan, vaguely tear-shaped pillar that reaches all the way from floor to ceiling. A tamed river encircles Ymir's Tear, driving the wheels of its forges and factories.
Near Ymir's Tear lie three villages in which dwarven adventurers start their careers. Hammerdelve to the north is a heavily fortified army stronghold that lies in the middle of a scenic mountain lake. A river of lava runs through Valfather's Edge to the southeast, and its forges are the only place in the world where the famous dwarven Ildhammers may be made. Eirhjelm to the west is famous for both its rich mines and its beautiful scenery.
Culture and Religion
The dwarves follow the teachings of Ymir, a legendary mastersmith who forged many of Dvergheim's greatest wonders, as well as the nation itself. Ymir spent his final years writing a book that laid out a detailed, step by step plan for the next 20,000 years of dwarven civilization. Ymir's teachings told the dwarves what to strive for, what to practice and what to create, and he told them how and when they should approach each task.
Ymir's goal was to create a perfect race and a perfect nation for them to live in. Today, the dwarves are nearing the final page of the book of instructions, which is said to contain a special task that Ymir believed the dwarves would only be ready for after 20,000 years of preparation.
Movers and Shakers
Voice of Ymir
The Voice of Ymir is a sprawling bureaucracy dedicated to ensuring that Ymir's commands are interpreted correctly, and that the dwarves stay on his Path. Currently, the Voice is being hijacked by the ambitious King Sigurd, who secretly cares little for the Path, but who wishes to use the bureaucracy (and its large corps of engineers) for his own purposes.
Order of the Axe
The Order of the Axe are knights sworn to removing all obstacles to the racial progress of the dwarves. The agents of this semi-official Order also deal with rogue dwarves, and they are frequently sent on missions behind enemy lines.
Five Beards Trading Company
Oldest and wealthiest of the dwarven merchant houses, the Five Beards Trading Company sends traders, explorers and caravans to all but the most obscure and dangerous of Agon's regions. For centuries, Five Beards has enjoyed a near monopoly on trade with Ymir's Tear, but in recent years, King Sigurd has opened up the market for competition. As a result, Five Beards is looking for new markets in which to profit.
Orks of Morak
Marching under the banner of the Fire Dragon, the armies of the orks are constantly on the march, forever seeking new cities to raze, new nations to conquer, and new people to sacrifice or enslave.
To the orkish warrior's mind, excessive planning is a coward's resort, while fancy tactical chicanery is a sure sign of effeminacy. Instead, orks rely on a combination of unrelenting aggressiveness, death-defying bravery, and the natural-born bully's instinctive eye for weakness.
While their behavior might seem erratic and irrational to outsiders, the orks themselves see every battle, every sacrifice, and every torched village as steps on the road to the Big Burning, an ork-administered apocalypse in which Agon is scorched clean and made ready for the reign of the Fire Dragon.
Orks see most other races as little more than sources of income, sadistic fun and sacrificial victims. The only other race that the orks ally with are the mahirim, who they respect for their bravery, cunning and skill in battle. Together with their allies, the orks will fight off their enemies the humans, the mirdian and the alfar.
Morak
The orkish realm lies in the central eastern part of Agon's main continent. A state of unending war exists between the orks and both of their closest neighbors - the humans of Mercia to the south, and the dwarves of Dvergheim to the northwest. To the northeast of Morak lies the jungle continent of Yssam, which is the domain and playground of a celestial dragon, while the neutral city state of Silvertown lies to the southeast. To the west, the Pall of Oncylus slowly spreads accross Agon's heartland.
Much of he orkish homeland is covered by fetid and insect-haunted swamps, in which the traveler sinks ankle-deep in sticky, ubiquitous mud. Rain falls very frequently in Morak, and a combination of clouds and swamp-mist ensures that sunlight rarely - if ever - disturbs the murky ambience. The northern third of Morak is dominated by a number of active volcanoes and the lava streams which issue from them. The land between these volcanoes is jagged, rocky, and as barren as the southern swamps are fecund.
Flaming Skull
Lava rivers cut through and encircle the orkish capital, which lies in the shadow of an eponymous and very active volcano. Minor eruptions of Flaming Skull are frequent, and the rain of ashes has recently grown so thick and steady that the sun is pleasantly (to orkish eyes) veiled by a black, noxious cloud. The orks welcome the increased volcanic activity, regarding it as a sign that the Fire Dragon is about to wake from her slumber.
Close to Flaming Skull lie three starting villages, which is where orkish adventurers embark on their careers. New Flayed Elf is a large port community, watched over by a lighthouse and a coastal keep. Metal Heart lies on an island surrounded by deep swamp, while Chopping Necks stands on a series of interconnected pillars which rise from a lava lake.
Culture and Religion
Orks see themselves as purely a warrior race, and all manual labor in Morak is performed by slaves. The vast majority of these unfortunates are goblins, but a sizable majority belong to a clan of svartdvergir who were enslaved after migrating south from Dvergheim.
The orks worship the Fire Dragon, a chaos deity of awesome power, who quite recently unified the warring orkish tribes under her rule. Currently resting inside the Great Stairs in Flaming Skull, the Fire Dragon rules through Grand Messenger Arxanthos, a red dragon who receives dream-decrees from the slumbering goddess (or just claims to do so), and who commands a sinister priesthood called the Dragonbound. When the Fire Dragon is fully recuperated, she will emerge to take control over a united orkish army, and together they will unleash the Big Burning upon the world. In the meantime, the orks - who can hardly wait - do their best to prepare the ground for this rampage to end all rampages.
Organizations
Iron Orks
Big Head Uzrok commands one of the most active armies on Agon, and the Iron Orks are an elite group within that army, its members selected for strength, ferocity and cunning (in that order.) Utterly loyal to Uzrok, the Iron Orks answer to the Big Head directly, and some speculate that building their strength is the gambit in a scheme to wrest power from the Dragonbound.
Defenders of the Swamp
The Defenders of the Swamp are an orkish order of knights who have dedicated their lives to keeping the swamps of Morak clean of unwanted elements. Since Morak has no shortage of monsters or enemies, the Defenders are kept very busy indeed, and their membership tends to attract orks that are even more fond of violence than most.
Dragonbound
The Dragonbound are an extremely powerful group of fundamentalists, who have dedicated their lives to the Fire Dragon, and who show their loyalty by cutting off their lips and covering their bodies in self-inflicted scars. The Dragonbound are not averse to working behind the back of Big Head Uzrok, who they see as a mere pawn (and an insolent one, at that) in the Fire Dragon's game.
So, just because you don't read the lore, does not mean that there is no lore.
Sonvuabotchedupmonkey...
I shall say it...
*Wall of text crits Tehikk for an unreasonable amount of damage.*
NNNOOOO!!!!!
*Tehikk proceeds to lose all of his stuff due to the wall of text looting his corpse.*
NNNOOOO!!!!!
"The question that sometimes drives me hazy: Am I, or the others crazy?" - Albert Einstein
Actually in a sense it sort of is a FPS wrapped in an mmorpg, being the targetting system is just that. The complaint here is there are not enough new ppl around for other new ppl to pvp with so instead it's constantly newb vs vet and duh we know who is gonna win that, but thanks for your enlightening comments fanboy.
Huh....I see plenty of n00bs around. maybe you should consider a suggestion that was put forth earlier, and head to n00b areas of enemy races to pick a fight.
Second...you need to check my post history before you go calling me a "fanboy". I've got my problems with Darkfall too, but you don't hear me crying about them now do you?
edit: dumb-ass typos as a result of not enough caffeine
Agreed. It took no longer then afew hours in Darkfall for me to figure out it wasnt for me.
The three main reasons:
1. I found myself grinding within my first two hours ingame..not a sign of good things to come
2. The towns / world felt empty to me...I'm paying $15 a month to do what? To explore and grind in an empty world?
3. I just about pulled all my hair out using the damn UI
"I play Tera for the gameplay"
Yeah, thanks Darkfall. I've really enjoyed looking at the back of my character's fucking head while he chops trees and hits rocks and gathers herbs!
And the 3 mob types I've fought my first month - Amazing! They are all so different!
And the combat system! Click! Click! Click! Unprecidented!
Thank you so much Darkfall!
when's the last time you played? Game's a LOT different now, man.
Edit: of course, Darkfall was never really meant to be a questing game, so you're not going to find EQ / WoW style shit here, even now.
Lol whargoul, did he just say quests? o man people with no clue on darkfall these days. Darkfall changed, My clan mate ValRoth AKA V R just made a new character, and got like mastery/sharpshooter in less then 5 days, Sure his 5 days is probably 4 hours of good grinding on a good mob, but you can do 10 2 hour days and be up their, whoever saids you need more then a melee mastery and sharpshooter is either retarded or is a bad twitch player.
Again Please do not post if you havnt played since the first month, they changed to much to be bringing up something that was the 1st month.
It is not darkfall's fault you are to used to game like WOW, where every level you have a ZONE you belong to or a instance u need to do. Learn the defintion sandbox, explore. It was your choice to chop trees/wood/herbs, instead you could of just explored and found a good mob and buy all the mats needed.
Again this game is for people who know how to make it in the real world, no kids allowed.
That caught my eyes, please tell me more
Well its difficult to explain, the AI in-game is erratic at best. Here are some examples.
I swear that the Devs at AV have no concept of an aggro radius, which is annoying as hell sometimes.
There is no sneaking in, short of crouching which really just delays the aggro.
That's because (as the AI guys a while ago in a spotlight mentioned) they don't have aggro radius per se. They have actual sight and hearing. Depending on the monster I can actually sneak all the way behind them (I do that with trolls often and get a very nice back hit in before I melee them properly). Sight and hearing seems to be different from monster type to monster type.
3 Mob types the first month? Come on now
I fought at least 6 (not counting the wildlife) the first two days only. Goblins (three different types even though the shamans are a real pain), Kobolds (also various types), Skeletons (various types), Zombies (various types), Hivesomething (including some queen thing), Trolls
Once again, what PvE are you even talking about? If you mean killing the same goblins, gnolls and trolls over and over until your bored to your death then yes, I guess that is indeed to hardcore for me. I don't really see what's so hardcore about grinding out the exact same mob over and over, maybe you can enlighten me?
I don't know what to say to you man, did you ever venture out of sight of a starter city? There's all types of PvE you can do from the start, from goblins to Skeletons to centaurs to Iklits to windlords to Devils, fire dragons and even the great Kraken! If you don't go far from the starter city you'll never see any of it though. Also you're gonna need to join a clan and team up, another thing you don't like doing by your post.
So my advice is just forget about DFO since it doesn't seem to be the kind of game for you, maybe try out STO?
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience"
CS Lewis
No mobs eh?!
Akathar 13 4
Arakathar - -
Archrid 6 2
Arctic Bear 6 -
Arthain - -
Arthain Hunchback - -
Arthain Hunter - -
Baradron 4 2
Basalt Golem - -
Blood Archrid 1 2
Blood Knight 6 1
Bone Exarch 9 1 with it's ranged and melee strength this is one tough mob to take down. but...the trick lies in leading it with archers and mounted players moving to and from and switching sides on who is blocking you can take down this big boy quite fast
Bone Knight 6 3
Bone Spider 2 -
Bonecrew Captain 1 5 No ranged attack
Bonecrew Mariner - 6
Brittle Skeleton 2 1
Brownie 8 2
Cairn Giant - 17
Cave Bear 5 2
Centaur Huntress 3 -
Centaur Reaver - -
Child of Khamset - -
Chosen of Khamset 18 3 Giant Skeleton Mobs. Hit Hard for around 50 damage. Casts Confusion and a gravity affected fire spell
Ciel Fey Druid
Ciel Fey Forester - -
Crog 3 -
Crypt Guard - 5
Crypt Lord - -
Dark Dragon - 3
Deadeye - 5
Deathless Mage 21 8 Looks like a Lich( Flying Skeleton with tattered red robe) Mainly Spell Caster can do nasty melee damage in close range. Casts Greater Magic, Witchcraft & Necromancy Spells
Demon - -
Devil - -
Dire Spider - 1
Dire Zombie 6 2 Dire Zombies are one of the harder zombies, having the ability to cast spells. the best way is to either seperate 'm from a group or get 'm from a distance.
Doom Spider 4 1
Earth Elemental 9 3
Elf Shade 1 1
Eodrin - 2
Erodach 6 5 The Erodach are strong, humanoid creatures who are masters of the fire element. They are lofty and prideful, and famous both for their intellect and mercilessness. Their origins are unknown, being that they are not native to Agon, and their goals are also unknown. They claim to be allies of Ashaka, the Fire Dragon and the Orks of Morak. Many assume that they have come to Morak for good reasons that they mysteriously choose to keep hidden.
Erodoch - 1
Evil Eye 3 -
Fire Dragon 4 3 Can fly a large distance from lair
Fire Elemental 2 6 you need a small group for fire elementals - the best is to either box one in from 4 sides and have a 5th player heal the 4 that box it in.
Fire Giant - -
Firescourge 5 1
Flesh Golem 1 -
Flying Snake 4 - Good for archery/elemental training
Forest Golem - 1
Gargantua - 2
Ghost 10 1
Ghost Spider 1 1
Ghoul Devourer 3 1
Ghoul Fleshcrafter 4 -
Gnoll - -
Gnoll Hunters - 1
Goblin 3 2
Goblin Fighter 9 5
Goblin Marauder 1 3
Goblin Scout 11 21
Goblin Shaman 7 3
Goblin Warlord 5 1
Granite Golem - -
Gravelord - -
Great White - -
Greater Matayin 1 3
Grey Ork Assassin - -
Grey Ork Mauler - 3
Hand of Khamset - -
Heielhim 5 1
Hill Giant Clobberer - 1
Hill Giant Slugger - 1
Hivekin - 4
Ice Golem - -
Iklit 7 1
Infernal 5 2
Jackal Revenant - -
Kobold Defender - -
Kobold Raider 7 1
Kobold Scrapper 12 1
Kobold Shaman 8 2
Kobold Strongman 3 1
Lava Golem 7 3
Lesser Fire Elemental 8 3
Lizardman - 1
Malaut Beguiler - -
Manscorpion 6 -
Menhir Aelder - 1
Menhir Stoneguard - 1
Minotaur Brute 4 9
Minotaur Hero 8 4
Minotaur King - 4
Minotaur Shaman 8 12
Nahdruk Heretic - -
Nahdruk Outcast - -
Nalaed 7 -
Night Hag 10 2
Nightscarab - -
Oaklord 4 1
Obsidian Golem - 1
Ogre Boss 8 3
Ogre Bully 9 1
Orc Acoloyt - -
Ork Acolyte 5 - Loot also: Orkish magic staff, Robe/hood,
Pirate - -
Polar Bear - 1
Raptor 3 -
Raven Standard Grunt - 2
Raven Standard Officer 6 1
Raven Standard Veteran - 1
Sadayel Shaman 7 -
Salamander 2 2
Sandscarab 1 4
Sea Serpant - 1
Selentine Golem - 1
Serpentine 6 4
Severii Archer - 1
Severii Centurion - -
Severii Legionnaire 15 2
Shadow Knight - 4
Skeleton Warrior - -
Slave of Khamset - -
Spellgazer 4 1 Spellgazers cast a lot of spells, but have very few hit points, close in to them and a few kicks from a mount gets 'm down.
Sun Exarch 17 - Skeletal Dragon
Svartdverger Nightaxe 2 1
Svartdvergir - -
Swamp Hag - 2
Thain Guard - -
Thain Lich - -
Thain Lord 3 -
Theyril Golem - 1
Tiger 4 -
Tombscarab - 1
Troll 6 3
Troll Lord 1 1
Troll Shaman 9 2
Twoheaded Arthain - -
Undead Dwarf - -
Undead Dwarf Forman 5 1
Vampire - -
Veilron Golem - -
Windlord 9 3
Zombie 5 1
Zombie Shambler 3 4
Zombie Warrior 6 1
How many people in this thread have I owned now?
Sorry, maybe I am just tired: What are the numbers?
Once again, what PvE are you even talking about? If you mean killing the same goblins, gnolls and trolls over and over until your bored to your death then yes, I guess that is indeed to hardcore for me. I don't really see what's so hardcore about grinding out the exact same mob over and over, maybe you can enlighten me?
Yeah, this bothers me as well. Apparently the definition of hardcore is: Klunky UI, untalented Dev team, practically zero content, Mobs that spawn in fixed locations, a skill/leveling system which is poorly designed, with a general unpolished feel to the game that constantly reminds you of how if the devs had done this-or-that differently it would be a big improvement to the game.
After over a decade of MMORPG'ing at least 30 hours a week I'm not as hardcore as I thought I was.
interestingly enough, you just described 95% of the entire MMO genre.
By the way....didn't realise you had ever played Darkfall....when was the last time you logged in??
interestingly enough, you just described 95% of the entire MMO genre.
By the way....didn't realise you had ever played Darkfall....when was the last time you logged in??
I was going to write the same thing
As long I remember is around 200 types of mobs in DF.
I don't really know why half of you are posting half the shit you are posting. First off, this is from a new players stand point, I been playing about a month and a half i guess, I'm in a very good guild with 2 holdings. I could give a shit at this point at what there is later on in the game, shove your 200 mobs up your ass cause 80% of the new player base that comes in will probably never even see a tenth of them cause they will be so bored with the only 3 mobs they are capable of killing the first month or two and quit. Second, as for the wall of lore that was posted, WHERE IS THIS IN GAME? I could really give a shit about some lore/book wrote on AV's site, lore should be tied into the game.
Edit: more lame things about this game:
If your out of stamina, but you have a full bar of mana you can't cast a spell? Huh? Wtf?
Swimming now causes stamina loss. So now on a swim of any distance, lets say to Cairn or Yssam, you run out of stamina and can't even defend yourself from the packs of great whites that attack you.
Furthermore, I wasn't aware that great whites travelled and hunted in packs of 4 and 5, but hey whatever.
Currently Playing: Toying around with AoC and bored with Darkfall
Thinking of Playing: Fallen Earth or Darkfall after this months update.
Have Played: EQ1, EQ2, WoW, WAR, Vanguard, EvE, Requiem, PW, Lotro, Lineage2, AoC, SWG...
Interesting, the Q&A from the devs is now posted looks like some good stuff coming if they can pull it off, but other stuff just boggles my mind like:
--------------
What are your future plans to assist new, or returning, players with catching up to veterans in a realistic time-frame? - Wrafe Prevails
We’ve done several things already such as increasing skill gains, increasing skill gains on PvE, increasing monster drops, skill books, attribute consumables etc. and we’re constantly evaluating this making all necessary adjustments.
You can be viable in Darkfall and you can do things and access all areas from day one. You can PvP on day one and you can actually hit other players. You can man a cannon, you can ride a mount, sail a ship you can participate in a massive battle and contribute to it even beyond reviving friends and finishing off enemies. We’re mentioning these things because we’ve done a lot of work so that you don’t actually need to catch up to actually be a part of the game.
----------------
How on day one can you sail a ship lmfao? What, if someone lets you sail theirs? And seriously how viable is someone on day one in a large scale pvp battle beyond reviving people or finishing enemies off? Sorry, but the above answer is a crock of shit lol. I don't expect to be able to do much honesty so seriously don't try and make new comers think otherwise. As for mounts on the first day, is someone giving it to me? As for the skill books, I have seen 1 and it's for mana missle, WOW! As for the increased skill gains, it's still quicker to hit the bloodwall as you have alot less downtime and it's much safer for sure. Unless of course your just hammering low lvl goblins over and over and over and over which is boring if you ask me, but then again so is the bloodwall.
Next,
----------------
When will you actually implement the Anti-Aliasing? - Ninogan Swiftstep
Darkfall 2010, along with Directx 11 support and many other goodies.
----------------
Uhm, what about DX10? Isn't there only like 1 or 2 video cards out atm that handle DX11? Granted there will be more coming throughout this year, but seriously DX11 already? I hope there's gonna be DX10 capabilities to as I'm sure 90% of the playerbase doesn't have DX11 capability.
Currently Playing: Toying around with AoC and bored with Darkfall
Thinking of Playing: Fallen Earth or Darkfall after this months update.
Have Played: EQ1, EQ2, WoW, WAR, Vanguard, EvE, Requiem, PW, Lotro, Lineage2, AoC, SWG...
The whine is strong in this one!
OMG!! and you still play this crappy game?
I dont think ive ever seen someone bitch so much on any forum. Why torture yourself..go play something else.
This ALL made me smile. =D
And not for the usual reason that non-DFO players here on MMORPG.com smile....not because I think it's stupid, or that you're "obviously an idiot," or because I'm smiling right before posting something accusatory, mean-spirited, or critical of you....
But because I love to see someone HAPPY with a game....ANY game. I love it when a fellow gamer finds their MMO "fit."
I don't think I'm the only one that gets tired of the endless array of negative threads and posts on this site. And yet....I keep coming back, because....I actually like the diversity here, and I like MOST of the people here. Most of them are intelligent gamers just looking for a gaming utopia. I mean really...how wrong can that be? Golfers look for that perfect course, gardeners look for that perfect fertilizer, stamp collectors look for that once-in-a-lifetime rare stamp in perfect condition, etc. We CARE about our hobby.
I don't play DF....I probably never will (although I've toyed with the idea more than a few times). And yet, I can't help but smile when someone just seems to be ENJOYING the game they're playing. I'm actually happy for you.
Maybe sometimes the reason people get all bent out of shape around here when someone says great things about the game they're enjoying, is because...maybe...just maybe...we all have a little bit of jealousy. Maybe it's buried really deep. Maybe we don't even know it's there. But that seems like a really logical, and possible, reason why it's hard for us sometimes to just say...."Wow, that's cool! I'm glad you're having fun!" and just leave it at that.
As a matter of fact...I think I need to try to do that a little more often without elaborating on my own feelings and thoughts about every game, at least in the threads that are started by people who are just honestly enjoying their game. There are plenty of "critique" threads for debating.
So....HUZZAH! It's great that you're having a good time!
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club