FEATURES
COMBAT
Fighting, the essential feature in Darkfall. Your first quest involves using your newbie weapon to show some goblins that they are inferior to even the noobiest toon. Don't worry, the game is NOT linear (more on that later), but most/all new characters in DFO will start by bashing in some goblin brains.
(Hey, who didn't have this moment in UO with Mongbats? I rest my case)
Combat and fighting in Darkfall is Difficult to master at first, but once you get down the idea of switchign weapons, skills, and expediently using the sheathe button (R) you can take down just about anything that your stats, skills, or items give you an opportunity to pose a threat. The best way to quickly master the combat system of Darkfall, in my honest opinion, is to go it solo until you achieve higher skills (50s and above) and start fighting mobs which require aid. Being that many mobs and spawns were not opened in beta, I never faced a mob that I couldn't take down alone but I heard of some epic fights in other lands from clan members.
Combat was simple to understand, hard to apply. Stamina is ESSENTIAL to combat. If you run out, you can't swing your sword nor sprint, or even cast a spell. You're a dead duck without stanima, so potions and stanima conservation is important. There is not "Combat Mode" such as we saw in UO, but in order you use a weapon you had to first equip it. To do so, you had to select the weapon via hotkey bar (1 through 0) and then unsheathe it (R). Then, you can either swing your sword, shoot your arrows, or if you equipped a staff, select a spell. You select a spell by using the hotkey bars again, then you can use said spell. To cast, swing yrou sword, or draw back your bow, you must use yoru left mouse button. If you hold down the mouse button you will hold your arrows or spell before release. Unfortunately for us old UOers, no precasting exists (as conventionally understood). To switch from your bow to your sword or staff, you need only hit the weapons hotkey, and it will auto switch for you as long as your are unsheathed in the weapon you are holding. This is the basics for combat, but I will break down them more individually, however I can only talk about the three types of combat I had personal experience with.
Melee - Greatswords
I chose using 2-handed swords (Greatswords) due to the range and damage-per-swing. Melee combat in Darkfall uses a FPS-type system of controls, with a very small universal cross hair representing your aim. In melee combat, you are moved to a semi-third person view (Think Gears of War) with the cross hairs visible. You aim, you swing. To avoid hitting a person next to you, you can hit the switch attack angle button (T) to stop swinging from side to side and begin swinging your weapon from overhead. The damage from the swings are the same, but the angle are simply different.
As soon as you unsheathe your melee weapon (R), you can begin hacking away. If you buy an ability from the trainer, you must select the ability (hotkey bar 1-0) after unsheathing your weapon and then use it with your mouse attack button. If the ability has a cool down, it will revert to the standard melee attack after the ability has been used. At which case, to use again, you will have to select it again.
Ranged - Archery & Spellcasting
Ranged combat is more than support in Darkfall. The FPS view of ranged combat may make you want to brush up your FPS skills. While in groups ranged combat is hard to utilize, its usefulness to the solo combatant is unparalleled. I would run an entire mob spawn by myself using nothing but my bow and my staff, only unsheathing my Greatsword for the occasional finishing blow on a close encounter.
Using Archery is very, very, very simple. You select your bow via hotkey bar, then unsheathe it (R). Then begin firing using the mouse attack button. If you hold the button down, you will remain drawn back, only releasing the arrow when you release the button. You can draw your bow while running, sprinting, or strafing.
Archery damage is considerably efficient. Arrows are cheap and usually found on mob corpses, and after some skill you can drop most mobs before they even reach you (if you can aim, that is). The arro has a natural arch to it, meaning that long distance shots are harder, but not impossible, you can also manage to shoot over a wall to hit people behind, although this is only useful if there is a considerable crowd in close proximity to hit (think ducks in a barrel).
personally, I'm playing Darkfall just for the archery aspect. I originally was excited about magic combat, but as are about to read, I became less enthused with it.
I was excited when I first picked up a staff and purchased my first spells. Heal Self (a auto self-targeting heal over time) and mana missle where the first spells I recieved. Neither of them cost reagents, so I would cast ferociously everywhere I went to raise my skill. My mana pool would often dissipate quickly. Mana Missle was relatively weak but it has an explosive-contact feature that made it easy to hit targets running away (it would explode on contact with anything causing damage, so I would aim for the ground at the targets feet). Heal self was useful in health regain but too weak to be any useful in active combat situations.
You select spells before you can use them, just like melee abilities. Different spells cost different reagents of course. In typical FPS-style action, you shoot your spell towards your cross hair. Certain spells (heals/buffs) are auto-self-targeting. There are buffs/debuffs that require a target as well. I never got enough into magic to move into Greater Magic, but I'm sure if you want more information you can find it on the forums.
CRAFTING & GATHERING
I did not go into crafting, and thus I cannot provide you with sufficient information. On the other hand, gathering is very useful in making money and finding reagents for spells.
Geathering works very much like it did in UO, you have the right tool, the right spot, and you use the tool (like a weapon) to gather. Pretty simple.
I won't bore you with the intricacies in gather because it's very easy, all I will say is that it is highly advised if you want to make money early. It is also good for stat gain, much like UO.
MOUNTS & TRANSPORTATION
While I admit I preferred the recall/moongate system of transportation in UO, Darkfall sets it up so that the world is out there to explore. You will find quickly, as I did, that walking/sprinting around Agon is a lost cause. A mount is truly needed to traverse the land by foot. Mounts offer protection, speed, and even have a charge attack which can be deadly. But unlike UO, you cannot shoot arrows or cast spells from atop a mount.
The bindstone/recall feature is very useful, and every time you log out you log back in at your bindpoint. (I do not know if this feature will stay or go). You can use the recall command to recall to your bindstone, but as far as the requirements of frequencies of this after release, I do not know.
USER INTERFACE
This is probably where I find most complaints in the beta forums. Other than the very poor sound, and questionably retro animations, the User Interface makes Darkfall unenjoyable at times, to say the least.
If you right-click, you bring up the user interface. You cannot control your character while in the UI mode and you have a moving cursor with a menu for windowsa to bring up. You can bring up everything from options to your inventory and paperdoll. This is where you organize your inventory and do administrative stuff.
To react with an NPC or item such as a Mob's Corpse (or gravestone, I HATE that DFO doesn't have corpses) you use the "Use" button while having no item/weapon unsheathed. By hitting (F) you open up a gravestone to loot or you react with a vendor and bring up their menu. This makes quick looting difficult in combat situations. Moving items uses the "Click-and-Drag" method that UO had. You cannot put items on the ground and to destroy them you drag them to the lower right corner of the screen where a burning trash can will happily consume said unwanted item.
Using the interface is the first aspect of Darkfall that makes it challenging, but once you get it down you can enjoy the game - trust me. With so many features not even in the game, I had a blast getting my archery up because I could understand the interface and use it to my advantage. The game has a TON of HELP from the version we were given in Beta, but if all the features that are to be included in the Release version actually work, I can see Darkfall exceeding even my own expectations.
But as far as the game was witnessed by me, I remain skeptical but I will play and enjoy it the best I can. Good luck Aventurine, I believe in what you are doing.
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