Darkfall Online: City Building Review

I haven't written a post all week since I finally got my Darkfall account, but I did come across the following article today that is worth sharing and discussing. Paragus of Inquisition posted the following review of Darkfall's City Building systems on mmorpg.com. In it he lays out the initial process, costs and personal thoughts on the system. His overall review is positive:

The good thing about the entire concept of city building in this game comparedto other MMOs is that there is a real sense of satisfaction when you start putting up structures because it is not instanced. Everyone in the world who comes by your spot will be able to see the work you have done, unlike in AOC where everything was instanced. They definitely have a solid and interesting foundation for their city building system, despite the fact that I think some tweaks would go a long ways. This aspect of the game really adds another layer to the game play, and reinforces what I originally said about being in a guild to fully experience all that Darkfall has to offer.

There are some good bits in there, such as the fact that there are approximately 97 claimable plots on the map. He also mentions, which supports other accounts I have read, that city layouts are largely predetermined. Having played Shadowbane, I wish that this was different. I really enjoyed the city architect role of that game in building cities on Scorn and Vengeance. There were some really terrible layouts and some strategic, well thought out ones. It added another layer of skill to the game.
Another city design, or essentially siege element that differs greatly from Shadowbane is that it appears gates don't have doors. At first, my initial impression is that this is a design flaw. But this is not Shadowbane circa 2004. Your city's clanstone does not need to be defended 24/7. Combat in DF is much more balanced between melee and ranged. Stacking a group of high def casters on one spot is not a viable tactic in Darkfall.

I think the standoff between defenders on a wall and attackers on the ground worked well in Shadowbane due to the game mechanics and combat systems heavily skewed toward magic users and ranged combat. DF combat mechanics are closer to Warhammer Online in that there is collision detection and much more melee oriented combat. If you added closed, locked doors to walls in DF you'd end up with something similiar to a (boring) keep siege in WH:

1. Defenders on the wall dump oil on attackers bashing door. Casters cast AOE on the bashers. Healers stand around. Melee stand around.
2. Melee bash door. Healers heal bashers. Ranged shoot door or try to pick off oil/defenders.
3. Door goes down. Attackers rush in and either zerg the keep lord or get stuck at the choke point at the top of the stairs and die. Usually the former as unless there are not really any significant incentives to defend a keep successfully.

I can't say definitively yet as I have yet to lay siege to a city but I think the lack of doors will allow for the use of more complicated tactics other than numerical superiority in a ranged standoff.

It also allows you to raid clans cities for the sake of PvP without actually having to siege them. More PvP = more deaths = good.

Read the full article here, or leave a comment below.