For those who prefer real MMO gaming over Barbie accessories or playing a fairy, DarkFall transfers go live today, along with a special offer from Aventurine. Full info here, but basically totally new players can buy the game+6 months for $87, while a 6 month sub plan can be purchased for $63. With the combination of transfers, this pricing offer, and the NEW clan on NA to help you learn the ropes, now might be the best time to jump in and try DarkFall for anyone who has been on the fence. Plus by the time you become familiar and comfortable with the game, the next free expansion (patch) will be out, bringing (hopefully) better balance to melee/archery/magic and many great new features.
This post brought to you by Aventurine, who pay me a boatloads of cash to hype their game.
Hardcore Casual 
If only I could stand playing it for longer than 3 minutes.
I guess I would have to be on the fence. There are few, if any, MMOGs that are worth that kind of money these days. Let alone, a second rate one run by a bunch of whiny newbs.
This comment brought to you by Heartlessgamer.com, who pays me NOTHING to trash Darkfall.
You don’t understand ‘on the fence’, do you?
Mind explaining it? I’d hate to fall the wrong way.
No worries, you’re not on it, so you’re safe.
OK that was a little harsh. My point being is that I am deep into the whole value-gaming scene and subscription MMOGs are just not as cost efficient as I once believed.
@Heartless: How so? It’s difficult for me to think of any form of entertainment that can be as cost efficient as a $15/month sub game.
I’m into value gaming as well, but my time is more valuable than the amount of money it costs to play an MMO. I’m more than happy paying AV and Turbine $15 a month than playing some F2P garbage because it’s ‘free’.
I agree, a lot of F2P is garbage and there is no value in playing those games. However, there is now a legitimate F2P market from the bigger developers with games of a much higher quality.
LOL. You want me off the fence? Try offering me a free trial. I can’t imagine this offer being intended to entice new users. $87?! Wow… what a bargain for a game I can’t even try out first. This smacks more of desperation and trickery than it does anything else.
The free trial is no doubt coming you cheapskate, don’t worry. But like all other beggars, you have to wait a little bit. Since when are free trials a god-given right in the MMO space?
ROFL. It’s not a god-given right, but if I’m on the fence, I’m not going to throw away money on a dubious game.
That’s really the point of a TRIAL. :)
So… you’re not really ‘on the fence’ then, are you? If you were seriously considering DF because it lined up with what you look for in an MMO (and at this point, with some basic Google, the game has been documented enough to paint a very clear picture), rather than wanting to try something just to try it, something like this (a major discount) would be a catalyst.
Sideline watchers waiting for a free sample are a very different group, and I don’t blame AV for focusing on the customers before they cater to the freeloaders.
Jeez, having a bad day Syncaine? Demos have been a staple of the video game genre for a long time, MMO and otherwise.
Anyway, the reason I am “on the fence” is mostly because I’m not sure how much I’m going to like the combat mechanics. Giving me a huge discount on a 6 month sub isn’t going to push me over the edge for buying the game because the thing I’m worried about enjoying is something that could literally make me put the game down after 1 night if I don’t like it. A free trial absolutely answers this question for me. Hell, I’d even be willing to do something like a PAID trial (5 bucks for a week or something).
This isn’t a question that can be answered by reading about the game and watching the game on you tube, it is a question about how the game feels to play.
So, anyway, if thats “freeloading” to you, whatever.
For crying out loud, what exactly do you think the purpose of a TRIAL is?
It’s a sample intended to entice people who are otherwise reluctant to purchase your product to try it and see if they like it. People “on the fence” are EXACTLY the target market for such a free sample.
The company giving out the trial is making a bargain of sorts. They feel confident enough about their product to say — if you simply try it, then you’ll like it enough to continue using it.
NOW- when the industry standard is to provide such free trials, then any company who does NOT offer the free trial risks the perception that they lack the confidence in their product that it would entice user adoption.
You are missing the whole point of a trial if you think it’s simply about getting something for free. It’s about winning over reluctant potential customers that, for whatever reason, aren’t willing to try your game at the expense of their own pocketbook.
And I think I’m being generous here when I say that Darkfall has had mixed reviews up to this point. So I think reluctance prior to ponying up hard cash for a dubious product is well justified.
People with so many doubts about something, to me, are not on the fence. If you currently view DF as ‘dubious’, then yea, wait for a free trial to come along. Those who know they are looking for a skill-based PvP MMO, DF is it. If you fit the description as someone looking for that, you buy DF. If you are just curious about trying another MMO and are worried about $50, you wait.
The fact is, Syn. No reduced price on a six month subscription is going to entice anyone to buy the game if they haven’t already decided on getting it.
If you are marketing that to existing customers as a part of loyalty program — then great. That’s a fine use of that kind of promotion.
But if you are trying to create user adoption — then it’s foolish. No one that is “on the fence” is going to spend cash on a six-month subscription when they won’t even try it for a one month subscription.
The thing about a free trial is that it can be so simple to implement. There is no reason why they couldn’t provide a five or seven day free subscription that is secured by a credit card.
And by-the-by, considering that this was posted on the Darkfall forums and not as an official press release (or located on the Homepage), I think it’s safe to assume that it’s targeted at existing players.
I.E. It’s a loyalty program, not a recruitment program.
Which — as I wrote above, is a fine and fair use as a promotion.
The $63 is the current-user deal. The $87 includes a copy of the game, so clearly it’s NOT aimed at existing players.
And really, a heavily discounted 6 months is nothing when you consider that other MMOs offer lifetime subs pre-release, and plenty of people jump at those offers without a post-release trial being available. The right or wrong of that is debatable, but what AV is doing with this offer is about par for the course in the MMO space.
And as a side note, getting someone to pay for 6 months is a smart move for the type of game DF is. Assuming someone values their money, getting them to commit to a longer timeframe means they won’t just ragequit the first time someone Pks them, and they will likely get beyond the learning curve and actually ‘get’ the game. It’s not just about a quick sell to get someone to buy a box like AoC or WAR, it’s about getting people to actually see that what DF does is unique and entertaining.
Offering a rushed 10 day trial for DF would be somewhat counter-productive, as DF is not a ton of fun in the first ten days if you are totally new and ‘just trying it out’. It does not ‘trial’ well, which just gets back to the whole EG issue. Look at EVE and notice how many times they have changed up their free trial offer over the years. Same deal with DarkFall. Not only would it take a serious amount of account rework to avoid issues/abuse, but it’s not really the right light to put DF in without some major work.
The $63 is the current-user deal. The $87 includes a copy of the game, so clearly it’s NOT aimed at existing players.
I know. I read the linked post. It still think it’s targeted at existing customers. Those that want a good deal on a subscription and those who want to buy a second account.
Obviously new users could benefit, but given that it’s only being promoted in a place where existing users look — the intended audience is most likely people who already play the game.
Otherwise, it just seems silly to promote it there and not on the main page of the website. And as I said above, an $87 investment is hardly an enticing offer to generate new accounts.
I’d have to agree with Remastered on the value issue. I work in a bookshop where, without batting an eyelid, people fork over the equivalent of $15.00 for novels that, at best, will take them a few days to read. You’d not get two trips to the movies for $15.00, even if you live in walking distance and smuggle in your own snacks.
A live gig, even in a local club, comes in at $20 plus.
There may be a lot of things you can take a pop at Darkfall for, but being an expensive way to pass time isn’t one of them.
I like accessorizing, though, Barbie notwithstanding. I bet that, in due course, if the game lasts, Darkfall will have plenty of accessories of its own one day.
My thoughts exactly (except for the acessorizing part). Dollar cost per hour per month is nothing, especially when compared with other entertainment options that are out there.
It is expensive if you don’t care for the game and only play it for an hour.
Movies are really expensive per minute if you walk out 10 minutes in, guess you better wait for everything to be free on TV before you ‘chance it’ and pay for either the theater or the DVD.
Of course, if you walk out of a movie 10 minutes in, something tells me you did a rather crappy job evaluating if the movie was something you would be interested in. I fail to see how this does not apply to gaming, especially with regards to an MMO and how much info is out there about it.
Setting aside the purchase of the box and assuming, if you didn’t like it, you cancelled your sub and only paid $15 for the one month, I’m still not buying that it’s that expensive even if you did only play an hour.
It doesn’t apply to video gaming the same way because part of going to a movie is usually going out with someone making a night of it. You aren’t paying for the movie so much as paying for part of a night. If the movie ends up sucking, you can still laugh about it afterwards over dinner.
For this same reason, in fact, I am way more willing to take a chance on an MMO if I have a friend that is going to give it a shot with me. Then, worst case scenario, we’ve got something to chat about for a month.
A movie is not $50 if I walk out of it in the first 5 mins. It is 8 or 9 dollars. I usually rent a DVD before I purchase it costing me a max of $4 if I do not like it.
I buy games all the time and only play it for a few hours. Darkfall was one of them. It is also one of the only games that I truly regretted buying. I really thought I would like it. I loved UO and DF seemed like something I would really love. But the game was almost unplayable. I may try it again in the future but there is no way in hell I am purchasing more than a month of play time for it.
The point is if you do not like the game it is not a cheap form of entertainment. It actually becomes very expensive.
I agree that the box cost itself changes the equation a bit, I was really commenting more directly on Heartless’ point regarding the sub-fee for a game.
this just in from recently de-classified x-files: syncaine IS tasos harharhar.
mulder, scully, thanks for this…
OK, OK, Stop all this damn movie talk, You all are giving me a headache.
They should have went with a free tril first or at lest at the same time as the $87 deal. I agree if it’s a game that you will like, even if it’s not your main game, It will be a great deal. BUT $87 for something I am not sure of is a hell of a lot of money to me. I would like a freeloaders free-trial first.
As far as people on the fence with Dackfall, I can see how this could pull some on over, but most people want just buy a game to check it out, unless it’s brand-damn-new.
The $87 deal is not aimed at those who “gee maybe DF will entertain me between WoW raids, lets give it a whirl”. It’s more aimed towards those who feel strongly that DF will work for them, but have held off for whatever reason. Now at such a discount, they might jump in and finally play it. If you are unsure if full-loot PvP is your deal, or if FPS-like combat works for you, or if a sandbox setting fits your gaming style, then no, the $87 offer won’t help. For all those people, they WILL need a free trial to find out that much like EVE, DF won’t be their cup of tea.
“If you are unsure if full-loot PvP is your deal, or if FPS-like combat works for you, or if a sandbox setting fits your gaming style”
I’d consider that a textbook definition of “on the fence”, syncaine. :P In a word, “unsure”. Even if someone does have a lot of doubts about whether X will work for them, they can also have a lot of hopes about how well X *could* work as well. That still doesn’t preclude them not wanting to plop down 60+ dollars on it to find out.
To me it’s not because if you are unsure of any of the above, 9/10 times you WON’T like it (and likely already know it, but that’s tomorrows post). I say that because those are not really ‘meh’ design choices; you either love or hate them, and most people know either way.
Dropping the price significantly on a product is a way to get people who are interested but need just that little push to make the leap and get it. That’s what this promotion is IMO.
Yet if sandbox isn’t considered “mainstream” yet, which you seem to imply, then theoretically the majority of people have never experienced and thus the assumption that they may not know whether they like that core design philosophy or not is a reasonable one. Most people *haven’t* played a sandbox pvp game before. How would they know whether it’ll be to their liking?
I would consider jumping over the fence onto the other side if Aventurine was going to pay me to play. But instead I will be el’ cheapo and wait for a free trial of some kind.
I think a trial needs to happen at some point BUT
The first 10-20 hours of the game needs polish before that.
I think at this point I somewhat agree with Syncaine that people coming to Darkfall probably know they want one of the multiple things that is absolutely unique to this game.
They won’t care about the first bits of the game as they are and will get where they want to go (or go home sniffling after getting ganked a few times).
A trial right now would bring in a bunch of scrubs that had no idea why they would want to aim their shots, swing a pick or join a guild etc.
These folks will run around and wonder why there are no question marks and quest trash. They will leave and call the game “unplayable” (someone a few comments up did) and cry on whatever forum they have available.
Until there is marketing and a smooth first 10 hours I think it’s a waste of time and will divert energy to have a trial.
The lack of question marks was not the reason this game is almost unplayable. I do not know how all you darkfall fan boys cannot see that it is a bug ridden, unpolished piece of shit game. The reason they don’t offer a free trial is because no one would play it after they tried it.
There are no mobs to kill in the starting area, the looting system is a joke, and this oh so great combat that you all praise is just clicking. I can get better combat with those flash games that pop up on the side of websites. When I played Darkfall it was a complete piece of crap.
I don’t say that because it was hard or I was ganked or I did not have a little exclamation point leading me around. I say it is unplayable because it is. Most reviewers agree with me.
They may have fixed some of this since I tried it. But it needed a lot of work when I played. I wanted to love the game.
As I said, it’s folks like you that a free trial would just frustrate and confuse.
The looting (style and the full looting) and firstpersonshooter combat are core components of the game, imo you’re lying to yourself that you “wanted to love the game”.
Perhaps if you tuned down the invective you would have something interesting to say about Darkfall but as it is…
I understand full looting. I love full looting one of my favorite games of all time is UO pre Trammel. I was talking about having to put away your weapon to loot.
I knew what to expect out of this type of game. I did not have a problem with the core mechanics of the game I had a problem getting past the unpolished implementation of them.
Darkfall on paper seems perfect but it is not. It is a low budget game and it plays that way.
So you wanted to love DF, and like the fact that it’s basically 3D UO pre-tram, and you quit because you have to put your weapon away before looting? Damn man, you really tried hard to love it…
Because surely you can’t be talking about the looting itself, which is IDENTICAL to UO, nope, can’t be that. And since you played UO pre-tram, you are very familiar with a new sandbox MMO, and how they often have certain issues (and if we are being real honest here, DF in its current state is miles ahead of what UO was at this point). And since you played UO pre-tram, you also must have loved that the combat was more about player-skill rather than 1-2-1-3 combat, right? Because DF combat is 3D UO combat, simple yet deep. Lets not even get into your ridiculous ‘no mobs in the starter area’ comment, eh?
I don’t want a UO clone. I don’t play UO for a reason. I also should not have to try to love a game I just should. I don’t have the time to try to love a game. It better make me love it in the first 4 hours or I quit. I should at least want to continue to play it.
The only way looting is identical to OU is the use of bags. That is it. I did not have to press a button to put my weapon away before I looted nor did I have to press a button to get it back out.
Darkfall may very well be way ahead of UO it should be it has had over 10 years to get there. It is not competing against UO.
I found 1 camp of mobs in the starter area it was a camp of orcs. This may have changed; maybe I picked the one starting area that did not have mobs. I don’t really care why it happened.
How the hell is the combat deep you click and shoot. Just like an FPS the last thing I would call combat in an FPS is deep. Combat is not deep in UO either. You can continue to tell yourself that trying to click the dude running around is “Deep” combat but, it is just clicking. At least I like to press different buttons.
Yeah, I have to disagree on this being a good offer for people on the fence. I started playing EVE, and the retail copy is 40 bucks for the client and two months of time. Even not using a free trial, I think that’s good value because 2 months is a good amount of time to play a game and get your feet wet, especially one as deep and as hard to learn as EVE.
The DF deal is great for players who think they will play long term, and have researched the game intensively so they aren’t coming in blind. But I can’t see someone undecided or just curious locking themselves in for six months, even if it is a good deal.
My guess is that it is to entice former players, or buddies of current ones to commit long term again.
If you were interested enough to put $87 on DF, you would have put $50 down months ago. This offer makes no sense related to attracting new customers.
And even Eve offers 14 day free trials, the king of niche games. What makes DF so special? Something to hide no doubt.
Good point, I forgot that five years ago, when EVE launched, they had the refined free trial they have today, the same one that still takes many 2-3 tries before they ‘get it’. Clearly AV is hiding something, rather than just being limited to what the devs can work on at one time.
$17 of the $87 goes to syncaine for “marketing” services : )
Jim… WoW is that way —>
If you don’t understand why you have to put your wep away to loot, then just quit now and stay away from DF!
In wow you finish your fight then double click on the body to loot. It is easy and intuitive. Can you give me a good reason that they make putting your weapon away so damn unintuitive?