Darkfall 2.0 may wipe current characters

By Robert Purchese Published 12 July, 2011

Overhaul leaves "no aspect untouched".

All existing Darkfall characters may be wiped when Darkfall 2.0 launches, developer Aventurine has forewarned.

Existing players stand to lose hundreds of hours of invested game-time should that happen.

But Darkfall producer Tasos Flambouras insisted that in Darkfall 2.0, wiping a character's progress "would not be as drastic" as in Darkfall 1.

"We've considered wipes on various levels," wrote Flambouras on the Darkfall website. "However, these are important decisions, because while this is like a new game, it's still the continuation of the current one.

"Also, the way things will work in the new version - it would not be as necessary to wipe, but wiping would also not be as drastic as it would be in the current version.

"No aspect of the game has been left untouched."

Tasos Flambouras, producer, Darkfall

"This is a topic we'll open up for discussion after we've given you more information on the new version of the game, so you can understand all the parameters involved."

Flambouras called Darkfall 2.0 "a very ambitious project" that represents more than two years of "lessons learned". A larger team than made the original Darkfall will make Darkfall 2.0.

"No aspect of the game has been left untouched," he promised. "It's very much a new game, but at the same time it's the next chapter to the game we're currently playing."

Internet whispers suggest Aventurine will make Darkfall 2.0 free-to-play. Current Darkfall players will not have to pay for Darkfall 2.0, promised Flambouras, and those loyal fans will also be invited to test Darkfall 2.0 as well as conclude Darkfall 1.0.

When? Well therein lies the burning question.

"About an ETA for this: as I mentioned in the last activity report, we'll know more in August," said Flambouras. "As far as development goes, the major tasks are almost concluded, however there's quite a bit of internal testing, balancing and polishing left."

Darkfall launched as a hardcore player-versus-player fantasy subscription MMO in February 2009.

Eurogamer's first Darkfall review awarded 2/10, but was called into question by Aventurine and a storm of controversy followed.

A second Darkfall review was commissioned in good faith to a different writer who decided the MMO was worth 4/10.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (40) Latest comment 7 months ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • SuperBas #1 8 months ago

    I predict a 4/10.

  • darkmorgado #2 8 months ago

    Hah, I remember that Darkfall review well.

    MAN THE ROFLCOPTERS!

  • darkmorgado #3 8 months ago

    EG should get Ed Zitron to review it when it comes out.

    You know, for consistency.

  • gmmonkey #4 8 months ago

    A free-to-play mmorpg that is a free-for-all loot based game will not work. Who wants to pay real life money for an item then get the shit kicked out of you and then it taken off you? No one.

  • X201 #5 8 months ago

    Bring back pre-patch fire kicks baby

  • gmmonkey #6 8 months ago

    Also, I wish mmorpg devs would stop calling their mmorpgs free to play. They're not really.

  • M83J01P97 #7 8 months ago

    "Existing players stand to lose hundreds of hours of invested game-time should that happen."

    I'm sure those two players will get over it.
    Edited by 1 at 12/07/11 @ 16:48

  • X201 #8 8 months ago

    I will start buying your magazine again.
    Edited by 1 at 12/07/11 @ 18:18

  • DDevil #9 8 months ago

    Do you think these changes will prevent Darkfall 2.0 from sucking the big one?

    No, me neither.

  • Xboxfanuk #10 8 months ago

    I remember this game. Yeah wasn't it supposed to be the game Everquest used to be.

  • DreadedWalrus #11 8 months ago

    No aspect of the game has been left untouched

    Well, at least you can say they follow the maxim "don't fix what isn't broken".

  • George-Roper #12 8 months ago

    Agh so excited I misclicked! Where are the Dorkfailers???

  • butler` #13 8 months ago

    from those videos it looks like some kid knocked it up in 3ds max over a weekend

    also, promo vides that sell the game on "idle animations" = win

  • strangerism #14 8 months ago

    lets give them all the chances they need to make a better game. why not?

  • Lamb #15 8 months ago

    (Tongue in cheek.) So... better than Darkfall??? :D

  • George-Roper #16 8 months ago

    Shit! And they're hardstyle too!

  • tiny_orchid #17 8 months ago

    Wiping your own game is the new strategy for success?

    Who would play? Certainly not those who you fucked over with the wipe.

  • tiny_orchid #18 8 months ago

    Wiping your own game is the new strategy for success?

    Who would play? Certainly not those who you fucked over with the wipe.

  • captain_Thorpey #19 8 months ago

    "Internet whispers suggest Aventurine will make Darkfall 2.0 free-to-play."
    This never happened, no where has there been rumours of it being F2P. Only people who've brought DF1.0 won't have to buy DF2.0.
    Also why show very old videos with low graphics settings to represent a game? Especially when it's referring to the upcoming relaunch and there are plenty of videos demonstrating the new graphics.

  • BartonFink #20 8 months ago

    Oooo a dorkfailer perchance?

  • Kami #21 8 months ago

    captain_Thorpey; Apart from the clear statement it says that Darkfall received a graphics update?

    And why would F2P be a bad thing? Darkfall had what can only be described as a very troubled birth, a game that was not only soundly beaten up by critics, but also a good proportion of the playerbase - in their fervour - made the community look extremely bad. Couple this with issues of even finding the sodding download, lack of decent marketing and PR and a general concensus that freeform PVP made the game nigh unplayable for anyone new and you have a recipe for a game that has, quite rightly, been shunned into obscurity.

    If 2.0 is a significant upgrade and changes the experience and visuals as substantially as is claimed, then that is awesome and should be seen as a sequel rather than an update. But it is a game title that will struggle to get away from that difficult birth; a game that has already been tainted. So again - why would F2P be a bad thing? For a start, that's more people in the game. Small initial outlays for starter stuff and the like would generate good revenue, and there's always the option to subscribe - it's what other F2P games do.

    There's a distinct aversion to F2P from subscribers. I understand that. I've subscribed to Champions Online since it was released and the initial shock was a bit offputting. But at the same time, it's a lovely little sandbox world for me to dick about in and I don't begrudge anyone their free game. I get to run around as a kick-ass punk werewolf hero, and others don't. I get to arse around in places others don't. F2P doesn't mean subscribers will get brutally shafted - it just means the entry barriers can be broken down into smaller chunks, which has worked for Champions Online, DDO, LOTRO, EQ2... well, sort of... and not to mention a whole bunch of other MMOs designed to be F2P and which do very well. Alganon, Forsaken World, Spiral Knights etc.

    Darkfall is a game we've all mocked. I'd be more than willing to give the new version at least a try if it were F2P - but with the history of it as is, I wouldn't pay money to actually go in and see the changes. And an MMO that can't pull in subscribers after a total overhaul is... well. In laymans terms, f**ked. That overhaul can't have been cheap. So where is the money coming from?

    And those players who went on a rampage here at EG and other places can lament the fact "noobs" are infesting their once sacred game, but without those noobs... this new version cannot hope to survive. They have to make money somewhere, this is an indie game and all but at the end of the day, it is a commercial product and you don't sell at a loss. If they've spent a good chunk of cash on totally revamping the whole thing, effectively making a sequel, the challenge then is getting people through the sodding doors again. Especially when so many bridges have been burned.

    People will likely be willing to forgive and try again if the entry is free. I'd say F2P isn't merely a good idea in this case - it may well be essential for the continued future survival of the game itself.

    Just something to consider.

  • forumfag #22 8 months ago

    Poor Ed Zitron never did another review after that first awful Darkfall review.

    Eurogamer is complete trash and only stupid/ignorant people like this site. I only happen to come here because someone posted that the idiots at Eurogamer got it wrong again and I came to see the spectacle. Who, but an ignoramus, can take Eurogamer seriously? Internet rumor F2P Darkfall? What a joke.
    Edited by 4 at 13/07/11 @ 07:34

  • JahB #23 8 months ago

    /looks at comment 23

    Here we go again, time to make some popcorn!

  • forumfag #24 8 months ago

    get some popcorn? get a life you worthless piece of shit.

  • forumfag #25 8 months ago

    traffic is too slow to troll you worthless fucks. have fun reading shitty reviews, idiots.

  • Jauffre #26 8 months ago

    Hmm ... went to metacritic to see just how wrong Eurogamer got the original review and looks like most sites didn't even bother to review it. I guess it's just *that* good, eh?

  • abigsmurf #27 8 months ago

    But will it feature people running up cliffs in their underwear?

  • geeza2020 #28 8 months ago

    forumfag - thanks we will! Have fun playing your critically panned shitty MMO!

  • RedSparrows #29 7 months ago

    Careful, or else they'll bring the pre-patch firekicks.

  • levitate #30 7 months ago

    Oh, forumfag made me smile. How I sometimes miss the shitstorm that ensued after the first review of this craptastic MMO. The fact they need to wipe everything and start over, calling it 2.0, just goes to show how bad this pile of dung really was. I'm glad I never touched it and I'd rather cut off my tongue with a pair of blunt scissors than try to play this.

  • helbers #31 7 months ago

    I heard whispers in the internet that [levitate] takes shots in the mouth for 1 euro. See what i did there? Get your shit together eurogamer ;P

  • Europayer #32 7 months ago

    Darkfall is the best sandbox fantasy pvp oriented mmo concept at the moment, no doubt! Maybe it had some problems around the launch, but show me an mmo what didn't...IMO DF 2.0 shows that this is the only mmo at the market what cares about fixing there game. Not just throwing a new trash to the market in every even year what is full of bugs and boring Ctrl+v, with an eye candy fake 3D vid advertisement...what is eaten just by a bunch of bored housewife, but lets be honest, there are a bunch of bored housewife... so yea, the market is rumbles.
    I just tried a 3 year old mmo, what is now free to play and they launched a pvp server a few days ago... I think you know what mmo it is. I was remembered that it had epic graphics and fun pvp, but after I played DF for a year+ this feeling do not want to wink back somehow...
    What I think about eurogamer 2/10 -4/10 is most of the games are concentrating at the starting area, and they put the most effort to that part of the game, to get the most subscribers from the trials and to receive the best judge by reviews.
    But how the hell could a sandbox game focusing on the starting area? What is the starting area in an open world sandbox game? But true, the game was absolutely unpolished back in the time of the review.
    I'm sure that I will try DF 2.0 and I will be curious about the new review from eurogamer.

  • jimr9999us #33 7 months ago

    lol, thank you rabid darkfall community for your frighteningly intense loyalty and support.

    we at Aventurine like to show you our appreciation by deleting everything you have spent the last 2 years working on :)

  • Slipstream #34 7 months ago

    With this 'No stone unturned' approach to a complete overhaul it appears they agree somewhat with what's been said previously. If you feel that pretty much your entire game needs to be reworked then obviously the past reviewers got it right. Now's a good time really since Darkfall has the failure and reconstruction of of FFXIV, an acclaimed MMO and series to reference if shit hits the fan.

    Also lol, when I watched the above trailer I thought Destiny's Child Bootilicious was gonna play xD

  • ircaddicts #35 7 months ago

    nelson HA HA /nelson

  • Ghostchant #36 7 months ago

    @Kami

    Too bad he never said F2P was a bad thing. What he did say however was that Darkfall going F2P was never spoken or written any where, ever.

    You can cry all you want about not wanting to pay to try the new features or you can go try the 14 day free trial which has been around for a year now. But im sure you didnt know that because no one here actually knows anything about Darkfall.

    On a side note i downloaded the game just fine two years ago. I clicked the button that said "THIS IS THE BEST WAY TO DOWNLOAD DARKFALL" the button is actually still there. You should check it out when they launch DF 2.0 ;)

    As for character wipes? I could care less my character is nearly maxed out and it wouldnt hurt my feelings at all. It would also give all of you one less thing to complain about as everyone even new players would be on an even playing field. Any self respecting DF vet could get back to a high lvl with no problem with the offline lvling meditation which was added earlier this year.
    All this game really needs is siege mechanic overhaul, (which theyre working on) some actual story line pve, add some more sand, and balance pvp(which theyre also working on) and it'll be top notch.

  • goblinspelunker #37 7 months ago

    I would say that this is probably the worst article I have ever read, but that would be a lie, because I have read other EG articles.

  • captain_Thorpey #38 7 months ago

    It was confirmed in the recent Q&A update that making DF free2play was never discussed at all, meaning this is just something Eurogamer came up with out of their arse... can't say I'm too supprised though.

  • Warrer #39 7 months ago

    Making darkfall f2p has NEVER ever been discussed

    Showing a picture from 2009 along with the description ''Darkfall had graphics udate in october 2010''?

    And a video showing some spell reflects added to the game ages ago in 240p resolution?

    Really... Eurogamer...?
    Edited by 2 at 19/07/11 @ 19:40

  • samergucks #40 7 months ago

    "Eurogamer's first Darkfall review awarded 2/10, but was called into question by Aventurine and a storm of controversy followed."

    Or, more exactly, the guy who had to review it never actually played it, as easily shown by the load of crap written in the article. Because, you know, that's how a professional behaves.

    "A second Darkfall review was commissioned in good faith to a different writer who decided the MMO was worth 4/10."

    Or, more exactly, they got all defensive after being caught with their hands in the honeypot of lack of professionalism, and pretended to review the game again, but only gave a 4/10, so they didn't have to admit they are an unprofessional bunch of whores.Because, you know, that's how a professional behaves.

    This makes me want to try the free trial, by the way, thanks for the heads up.