Jef Reahard is asking Massively readers what MMO he should play next, and, well, the results are rather surprising. While no doubt ForumFall being notified is influencing the numbers, the sheer size of Darkfall’s current lead says something. The comments section for the article shows more than a few players also hoping Jef plays and reports on Darkfall. To me this shows that, perhaps finally, the level of interest for Darkfall is rising while the level of blind hate and misinformation is decreasing (although one lovely troll still makes it through over there).
For Darkfall in general, I believe it’s important to evolve the game from just a ‘hardcore’ PvP MMO to a more well-rounded game, whose core or ‘ultimate purpose’ is indeed the PvP it was founded on. It’s EVE’s evolution all over again, and as that game has clearly demonstrated, fleshing out the ‘other stuff’ does not mean sacrificing your original beliefs. The foundation is solid, PvP is a very viable end-game activity if done right (oh hi WAR, more on you later), but not everyone is willing to blindly travel to the Promised Land if the road is rough.
And it’s those exact players that the improvements must target. Those who may be interested in the PvP, but not enough to ‘get through’ any obstacle you place in front of them. To varying degrees, they will only push so hard until they no longer consider the end-goal worth reaching, and then they move on. It’s that player base that you aim at when you improve the newbie experience, the PvE, the dungeons, and all of the other ‘stuff’ that ultimately feeds into the end-game.
The major advantage Aventurine has over most other MMOs is that they don’t need to focus a majority of their efforts on keeping the current core happy, they already are. PvP for the most part is balanced, fun, and unending. Clans and alliances rise and fall, cities and hamlets change hands, and the political machine continues to chug along. With more people and features it of course would be that much better, but its current state is more than good enough, and certainly not at a level where panic and drastic changes are required.
Jef’s reporting should be interesting, as where previous forays into Darkfall by Massively. I’m certainly looking forward to it.
Hardcore Casual 
It’s leading at 60% at the time of this comment. That is spectacular. I have downloaded it once, but couldn’t play because of RL commitments, but this is as true an indication as any of what the MMO community really wants to play / has fun playing.
Maybe I should download it again…
Uh, one other thing, the second game on that list is Champions Online. To which I bring an exorcist relentlessly chanting THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU! So maybe these scores are a tad off? The disparity between the #1 and the #2 spot is quite exaggerated I must say.
One more vote for the DF.
Jef is by far and away the best writer for Massively; whatever game he gets he won’t sugar-coat it *ahem Beau Hindman ahem*.
Methinks the two things that turn people off from Darkfall is the perceived stretch that means they have to literally work to be viable all-round, not just in one particular aspect; the second thing being the non-standard UI.
Also: would you exchange people accepting Darkfall for what it is as a game in return for people accepting WoW for what is as a game? Since, by now, WoW gets far more hate (normally by disgruntled “vets” who hate the game but still want to get into the Cata beta, trololol) than Darkfall it’s hard to really say Darkfall is the poor little underdog with no one sticking up for it.
I’ve always accepted WoW for what it is. At release it was a solid MMO, now it’s candyland feeding the Me Generation. I think it’s perfectly ration for someone who enjoyed 2005 WoW to hate the 2010 version, considering how drastically the game has changed, just like those who enjoy the 2010 version can safely say that in 2005 they would have struggled and disliked it.
MMOs change over time, but usually not as 180 as WoW. There is a reason EVE has a ton of veteran pilots still playing, while I’d be willing to guess most WoW players today have never seen the inside of Nax40.
Heck, most of the vanilla players never saw Nax40, much less the current group.
I think it’s also perfectly rational for someone who played pre-Trammel UO and Everquest back in 99 to also enjoy modern day WoW. Perhaps not entirely common, but far from irrational. Sometimes I get the sense, perhaps incorrectly, that for you Syncaine, the thought of these two notions are just not compatible.
That’s an interesting question, one I think I’ll get at tomorrow in a post.
Sweet, look forward to your thoughts.
I would probably argue that Darkfall’s lead in the votes says more about its playerbase (for better or worse) than it does about any sort of change in the perception of Darkfall among the MMO community.
Besides, I suspect if you went and posted a “VOTE FOR US” thread on the WoW or EVE-O forums, you’d see Darkfall fall pretty quickly.
Don’t take this as an “I hate Darkfall” post though, I actually purchased the game last week after the trial and have every intention of sticking with it for awhile.
Voted for DF just cus. Still leading strong.
Darkfall is simply a very good choice for a column like Choose My Adventure. I voted for it, even though I’m certainly not a member of the playerbase (couple of days of trial was enough to convince me that it wasn’t for me).
It’s different to most other MMOs in so many ways that it’s a perfect subject for him to write about, and for the Massively crowd to read about.
It’s not the best writer to do it. I like Jef’s writing a lot, but he already is a PvP vet reporting mostly on a PvP game, Age of Conan. So he’s going to go in, and have a model to compare it to, as opposed to the typical PvEr you want to attract to DF and you say they need to evolve the game to attract.
I think it’s going to backfire for you because he will be used to guild-based PvP and it wont seem all that special.
Having played both games, AoC is closer to WoW than it is to DF. Not worried about the PvP comparisons. I’m concerned with Jef getting into a clan to actually see the real game more than anything else.
I guess no on else read Beau Turkey’s writing about his time in Darkfall. He didn’t review the entire game but just wrote of his experiences while playing it (which is exactly why I enjoy his column on Massively).
He basically said the PvE was excellent and enjoyed having to actually hide from other players, as in behind a tree, when he heard one nearby. This speaks volumes for the simple fact that Beau has played every MMO in existence.
So really I think that portion of the game is solid. Looking forward to hearing from someone with PvP experience to compare/contrast it with that of AoC and it’s kin.