Goals for Darkfall group

[Hardin Steele]

Hi everyone!

It does seems like a good idea to see how some of the mechanics work in a settlement, conquest, and player conflict setting. At Ryan's prompting we have started off (been a week now) and have 17 (maybe 18?) members of the Goblin Squad! (We be Goblins! You be food!)

Let's discuss goal setting! Keep in mind this should be considered a learning experience and we are not really expecting to have a lasting impact on the game world of Agon. We are (unless I badly misunderstand the intent) in Darkfall as a group to learn the mechanics or a PvP world where players will kill and be killed, settlements created and destroyed, alliances made and broken, and kingdoms formed and abolished.

In that vein, I though some goals would be a good idea. These are not the "Let's get 100,000 gold in the bank" goals. These should be "What do we want to accomplish before PFO EE begins" type goals. They can include shorter term Darkfall goals, but should be aligned towards a 12 month "maximum" timeframe when EE should be getting close (Woohoo!). Let's shoot for 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months. OK, I'll start...

One month

-Membership offers presented to many other PFO posting groups and members of the Land Rush Poll to get maximum participation from PFO users. Hoping for 50+ members by end of September

-a council formed of members of the Goblin Squad so issues can be discussed and "best practices" noted

-Some potential alliances proposed

Three month

-Most of the world map explored and likely sites chosen for a Goblin Squad settlement

-All clan members are working towards settlement creation

Six month

-Settlement(s) established

-Some siege attacks and defenses should have occurred before now so we get an idea of group combat

Twelve month

-Tear down and departure plan underway. We don't want to abandon any allies made once we begin to go to PFO. Allies should understand the timeframe and not be surprised by the departure of Goblins and the Goblin Squad. After all, the Goblins aren't going away, they are just relocating to the River Kingdoms! (And Ryan wants us all as customers!)

[Hardin Steele]

And, since I recently got my password issues fixed at PFOFan, we can post this over there so as to not confuse other posters that might not know who we are really supporting! (Go GW and Paizo!)

[Andius]

I've learned some solid methods for character advancement and gaining wealth. I also have several leads toward possible allies. I think the timeframes established are under-ambitious.

I think for the immediate future we need to find or create a forum/forum section dedicated to this project. Immediate future being within 48 hours.

Also, everyone needs to be getting on Teamspeak. That will be ESSENTIAL to our future success, and the fact some people aren't on TS is already causing communication problems.

[Hardin Steele]

I finally got on Team Speak. I will use it for tactical situations and meetings....but I don't see much need beyond that. It is terribly distracting if just playing. If you are skulking around like Bringslite has been doing, you can't hear the area sound effects and that'll get you ganked. And frankly I talk too much because I have 50 years of great stories to tell, and you al need to hear them, so I won't subject any of you to more than you can handle.

But it does work, and it was fun to chat with Hobs and Lhan! Cheers guys! (I think it was Jaz on as well for while...Hi Jaz!)

So, I have it, but I'll not normally be using it unless there is an administrative or tactical need. Typed chat online is fine for me most of the time.

[Bringslite]

Andius wrote:

I've learned some solid methods for character advancement and gaining wealth. I also have several leads toward possible allies. I think the timeframes established are under-ambitious.

I think for the immediate future we need to find or create a forum/forum section dedicated to this project. Immediate future being within 48 hours.

Also, everyone needs to be getting on Teamspeak. That will be ESSENTIAL to our future success, and the fact some people aren't on TS is already causing communication problems.

I have to agree with Hardin here Andius. It is distracting when not necessary and really not an issue except for meetings or tactical situations. If I find it needed, I will be there.

What are the communications problems? Any missed PMs etc... are covered as we learn to recognize them. All to the good. Could you be more clear about that? ;)

The only real problem that I have seen, IMO, is that we have too many chat channels going, with zero need for all of them.

[DeciusBrutus]

The communication issue is bandwidth. People can talk faster than they type.

They can also talk while playing; if you are in a situation where you need to be looking out for others, you need to be able to rapidly communicate with everyone.

[Bringslite]

I agree with that. Seems to fall under tactical.

[Andius]

There are two issues, one which is already a problem, one which will be later on.

1. The current issue is that I don't talk to people who seldomly use Teamspeak near as much as I do people who are on TS. I'm constantly doing activities like hunting treasure maps, fighting monsters, and soloing in my sea scraper that require me to focus my attention on the task at hand. I am capable of pressing a push to talk button and conversing with people verbally, but not of having a text conversation without stopping what I'm doing or typing fragments in-between actions. Darkfall was the game that caused TEO to adopt a mandatory Teamspeak usage policy, because we felt that members who didn't use it were not getting enough exposure to the rest of our community.

The entire point of this is to build community and I feel like most of that is happening on TS for me anyway. Even if we didn't have a TS I wouldn't be able to talk to you guys outside when I'm crafting.

2. The issue we don't have yet, because we are kind of spreading out and doing our own thing, is when we start living out of the same player city and operating from the same area and you get attacked. You need to be able to quickly tell everyone "5 VAMP just attacked me northwest of town." Then everyone knows:

A. There are 5 enemies northwest of town.
B. That they might be able to group up and save you / recover your gear.

The speed of communication is critical in that scenario. You can't type it while running, and you can't type it while in the loading screen after they gank you. You need to be on Teamspeak.

While you raise the valid concern of not hearing people coming for you if people are talking in Teamspeak, it tends not to be a major issue. If I think I hear someone sneaking up on me or riding a mount I always say "Clear the channel!" At that point everyone should be quiet and I should be able to tell if I'm actually in danger. TS certainly has saved me / got my gear recovered more times than it's gotten me killed.

[Jazzlvraz]

I'm still experimenting with how much game-sound to run through my headset, as opposed to my speakers. When I used Teamspeak while playing one-on-one with my brother, before Facetime, it wasn't an issue, but now I need to be able to hear game and voice--both--clearly.

[Bringslite]

Some of those things are great points. I will be on when it is needed. As a constant thing, even when not needed, no.

[Nihimon]

It's virtually impossible to get someone's attention via chat windows. The /tells don't cause an audible ding, and all the chat windows are limited to individual chat types, so it doesn't really look like it's changing when a new line of chat is added, not to mention only one chat window can be expanded at a time.

While it would be great if people were on TS while in town or while harvesting in safe zones, it's really a personal decision that people should be free to make for themselves.

I certainly feel like I have a closer relationship now with Hobs, Being, Lhan, and others who are fairly consistently on TS, though. I'm grateful for that, and would very much like to have the same thing happen with many others as well.

[Hardin Steele]

I understand those points, and they are valid. Personally, I spend all day at work on a headset and it's the last thing I want to do when I get home. But when needed, I'll put the cans on.

I did some diplomacy today, starting at about 6 am, registering with a few clan websites that seemed to share similar goals (non-griefing, non-RPK, mostly harvesting and crafting). I won't know if these groups are truly aligned or not, but you gotta start somewhere. I have approached 5 clans either directly or indirectly:

Paladins 60 members
The Empyrean Divine 46 members
Zipang (Japanese) 44 members
Wish We Were in Trammel 11 members
REALLY GOOD FRIENDS 33 members

Not been able to contact the clan "Old Timers Guid" which reportedly has 162 members. Still working on that. And it may well be our goals are not the same, and that's OK. But, friends are good.

A Japanese clan? Sure...in game all you need to know is the other guy has an "A" over his head. He won't gank you. It is still more likely if the guy doesn't have an "A" over his head, he'll stab you in the eye and take your stuff. I'd rather see a bunch of "A"s than not.

I did get The Empyrean Divine to ally with us. I "spoke" at some length with "Uncle Doj" who was very nice, but not very encouraging about how realistic our goals were (especially regarding actually taking territory, building a keep, defending against a siege, etc...). Still, there are possibly 46 characters with an "A" over their heads.

Most of the alliances that hold territory number about 300 members. No idea how many Soldiers they can field. We may never get to the territorial conquest part. But so far working together and being a clan is a lot of fun and I'm digging it (Life's a garden!).

A warning about the Alliance channel. I don't know how it works. Do all of our allied clans see what we see? Let's assume they do. I strongly recommend we not say anything we don't want the world to know, nor anything we wouldn't want our mothers to hear. We just don't know the mechanics well enough yet to be certain. But we can't wait to make some friends...the more the better.

(Can't get into PFOfan atm)

[Andius]

Anyone you have a mutual alliance with can see everything said in alliance chat. So if they haven't allied you back they can't see anything. I also can't see anything they say to you if I'm not allied to them do make sure to have them ally The Empyrean Order and let me know who they are.

I ran into the leader of someone from our old alliance who has recently reformed his group. Nyota was a good ally to GL and would be a good ally for Goblin Squad. They don't want to get into any more heavy politics but they are a good group of highly skilled players. They aren't high stat but those guys are just straight up skilled.

Also on the less friendly end of things watch out for District Assasins. I know some of the Goblin Squad members have had troubles with theirs. Especially Meow Mix.

I've set them to Wary, along with Judgement. Judgement is a growing RPK group that occupies the same space as us, and may be a threat in the near future.

[Hardin Steele]

I have seen many Judgement characters in Maghdir. ALso "Who Cares" (very rude miners, likely bots hogging ore), Men of Noble Girth, and the Old Timers Guild. Old Timers has the potential to at least be viewed as friendly, but the Men of Noble Girth I couldn't find any info on.

Judgement ould become problematic. We can check with Empyrean Divine and see if they have a "perimeter" for harvesting. I know no such thing exists, but a more friendly area might be less deadly than District Assassins HQ.

[Hardin Steele]

Set Judgment, District Assassins as well as Glory Hole Daycare to Wary. Glory Hole is home to Too Brutal a known RPKer.

Uncle Doj pointed out none of these guys cares about our tags one way or the other, and they certainly are noting who they killed. As far as they are concerned we are a bot they just looted and they move on, happily pocketing their ill-gotten gains. They probably spent zero prowess on gathering skills, instead exclusively focusing on leveling PvP related skills. PFO will have many of those as well, but the alignment system will eventually cause then to be shunned by polite society.

[Andius]

Yes I remember Too Brutal killing a Goblin Squad member. His organization is seriously called Glory Hole? Wow. Welcome to Darkfall...

[Being]

One thing to note is that the default push-to-talk button on teamspeak is the ctrl button and the default use of the ctrl button in Darkfall is to walk.

Most players want to use the push-to-talk method rather than open mike because push-to-talk will hide your burps, mouth breathing, and other background noises. It is polite. If everyone is open mike the comms are worse than none at all.

This means if you are being hunted down in PvP it is not terribly useful to slow yourself down to a walk just because someone is trying to talk to you, even if they are taking offense that you aren't holding up your end of the conversation. Remap the darkfall 'walk' button and free up your ctrl key.

...and Andius you should try and figure out why your comms are so garbled. Broken wire? Interference/signal noise on your end garbles the things you say irregularly but often.

[Being]

My sentiment is that we need to establish the clan's base of operations somewhere.

Unless Ryan shows up sometime fairly soon I suspect several of us will begin falling out, however.

[Hardin Steele]

Too late to edit. These PKers do not, repeat, NOT know, care or remember who they kill and loot. As far as they are concerned you are a soulless bot deserving of death if you cannot defend yourself. We should get used to it, work together on building characters, and soon go out on a harvesting mission versus solo gathering. Maybe once we get into level 40 or 50 gear we could go en masse and form a perimeter in an area that gives defense a tactical advantage (sure, I'll put the cans on for tactical).

Start reviewing various maps to see places that might be interesting to harvest.

(The "glory hole" is what the hot furnace used in glassblowing and shaping is called, but the double entendre is unmistakable.)

[Hardin Steele]

Check this link, and do not invite anyone to the clan outside of known parties until we have a system to prevent this very thing...

Darkfall bank scams

You may notice some changes to permissions each member has. We need to try to fix this. The permissions system has lots of checkboxes, but has some glaring deficiencies like not being able to set ranks, permissions for each rank, a voting system, character notes, awards and accolades...everything that makes a group system worth using. (Note that Ryan, Lee and Stephen?)

Let's discuss tonight if possible.

[Urman]

Good catch on that, Hardin. I think working through such issues is as important as anything else we do. If there's no other way to do it, maybe redistribute a big chuck of clan property before opening up to people outside PFO group.

[Hobs the Short]

Time for some event fun.

As you know, I'm the cook. The cook needs "spices". Spices aren't currently being found, unless you're finding them and hoarding them, which would seem odd since, as preciously mentioned, I'm the cook. So...spices are found most often on creatures called "Deathless Servants". Since the cook does not kill, I am challenging you brave, killerish types to fetch me 10 spices. In exchange, the first person to find and return to me with 10 spices can have their choice of ONE of the following:

300 Timber
300 cotton
100 Dusts of the Elements
100 Spirit Beads
300 arrows
Plate Girdle (STR 70)

Go out there and kill stuff. Best of luck.

The Cook

[Hardin Steele]

Oooooh, a challenge. Good idea. Keep cooking Hobs!

[Urman]

Here's an offer for anyone who would like a focus for activity:

- The scumling (frog things) in the instanced dungeon in the capitols can be skinned for 0-5 rawhide each. They are pretty easy kills, but the respawn rate is high so a lot of frogs go unskinned. They yield other stuff as well (lots of nacre and ooze), and drop enough coin to cover the costs to tan the hides.

- I'll team up with anyone who wants to go in. Idea would be that 1 person kills while the other skins, then they switch roles. Set a target of 100 or 200 hides for the role switch.

- I'm donating 1/3 of my rawhide to clan bank; I figure the sooner Lhan can master hideworking the soon I get uber armor.

[Nihimon]

@Urman, I'm hoping this weekend is a good time to do a few different things like this. I'd also like to join Decius and maybe a few others at the Deathly Slayers (?) to get Hobs some Spices.

[Lhan]

Sign me up for the spice trip

[DeciusBrutus]

The Deathless spawn is too rough to be the first location we go for. There is a bandit spawn that I think is of appropriate difficulty nearby; there's a 'Bandit Boss' there that I can visibly damage but not defeat solo.

Also, do we have someone working on weaponsmithing? There's lots of iron, wood, and leather in the bank, but few weapons.

[Andius]

I was working on weaponsmithing and got it up to 25 but I heard someone else was working on it now too? Lately I've just been stockpiling maps, boats, and cash. And I'm considering switching to making bows now that I'm a skirmisher.

So if whoever else it was that had theirs to 25+ doesn't step forward I can do it.

[Urman]

My best swords say Pino on them...

[Urman]

We had a small group-up today, 4 people, dealing death on the kobolds southwest of Golgrumir. Everyone came away with their bag *full* of salvagable goods. Even if you're not up to soloing these guys, a group of 2 or 3 - especially with the better weapons our crafters are turning out - can get more loot than they can carry. It's a good way to practice your fight skills as well, and gives ok experience. Kills are shared between party members who are close, so it's also a way to help newer players.

[Nihimon]

@Urman, Lhan was raving about how fun that group was. I hope we can get some more of that over the weekend. I'd very much like to participate.

[Jazzlvraz]

Grouping and talking with Goblin Squad is the part of Darkfall I enjoy; the rest, well...

[Andius]

You'll enjoy it if you get to fight a kracken! If you guys put together a crew of 10+ (including me) who want to fight a kracken during one of my days off (Wed/Sat/Sun) I'll buy a ship and provide the black powder / repair shards. Plus I've killed krakens before so I know the drill (unless it's changed a lot).

These guys did not know the drill...

[Lhan]

@Urman, I believe all Nihimon wanted to say was "Lhan was raving..."

[Bluddwolf]

I believe I have fished enough, and it is time to run naked in the wilderness and get killed a few times to learn the PVP system.

Maybe I'll get lucky and find a "fur ball" battle and be able to pick off a few of the near dead combatants. Or perhaps I may stumble upon some poor slob, who needs to be put out of his/her misery.

[Urman]

Good hunting :)

[Nihimon]

Lhan wrote:

@Urman, I believe all Nihimon wanted to say was "Lhan was raving..."

*laughs*

At least I didn't say "stark" raving... :)

[DeciusBrutus]

It will be a few weeks before I can commit to a kraken run, but I'm in.

[Hobs the Short]

Okay...new message from the cook. Spices are still nice (saving them up), but what I need to get to the next level of food is "meat". I'm at about 35 cooking and need to get to 50 (that's when I can use fish...got plenty...and I can start using the spices).

So it's time for a new incentive:

I will reward with wood or cotton at a rate of 5 to 1 for meat (25 wood for 5 meat...300 cotton for 60 meat...etc.) up to a total of 500 for this incentive. When I'm out of 500 wood and 500 cotton, I'm all out.

I'll reward a selentine great hammer for 30 meat (once).

I'll will reward with elemental dust at a rate of 5 to 1 for meat to a total of 300 dust. When I'm our of 300, I'm out.

It is the cook's understanding that meat comes readily off animals...badgers, deer, etc., so off you go. Kill those happy Disney forest creatures, rip the meat off their scrawny little bones, and win a prize!

Signed,
Hogrim Blackriver
The Cook

[Lhan]

I've got a bit - I'll stick it in the clan bank for you in the mailbag.

[Being]

Brown bears drop meat, and those ugly things in the sewers of Cor Yrmdil

[Hardin Steele]

Hi all!

Nihimon has been chatting with Calidor Cruciatus and Big Weez about a possible Alliance with the Old Times Guild. The goal for us is to get as many of us to 20,000 prowess points before we join up with them to do siege activity. The prowess may help you stay alive longer, but it is stated we will die many times during a prolonged siege, or through multiple sieges. If that is the case we need to be able to resupply ourselves as quickly as possible with ready made replacement kits (say 5 per person) stored in your personal bank ready for outfitting.

Not sure if/when an alliance may occur. I am still in contact with the OTG diplomatic officer, but I'll keep you posted.

Help each other out. Hobs has a request as noted above for MEAT! It can be taken from critters in town, or most wild animals (deer, badger, fox, wolves, and a few others in the elf lands.)

If you aren't getting gains doing routine things like refining timber into usable wood, ask a lower prowess Goblin to work up some refined mats and let them earn the prowess instead.

If you are bold enough to do some gathering in the dangerous areas (try to stick to area IV, as area V is a known gatherer hunting ground) you can get some great prowess gains through completed gathering feats for essences. This even counts if you are ganked and lose you loot. You still have a record of the feat gains, so don't despair. It stinks, but have Nihimonn or me update the clan KoS list and apply "Wary" status to the offending clan. Even if it will be a while before we can do anything about it, taking names gives us a measure of satisfaction knowing that someday their turn will come!

Have fun!

[Hobs the Short]

Correction - selentine great axe, but Pino already snapped it up for 30 meat.

I'm now at almost 38 cooking...12 to go to use spices and fish.

Meat! Meat!!! The meat must flow!

By the way...there's over 100 meat stew in the bank. Try it out and tell me what advantages/buffs you notice.

[Andius]

For those hunting meat, salamanders are a great source. I know there are some a bit west of the southern end of the dwarflands safezone. They are also a good source of eggs, which Hobs may or may not need later on.

[Being]

So far meat stew's effects are not very noticeable, Hobs, but I haven't been careful about my testing and the advantages may be more subtle than I would casually notice.

[Hobs the Short]

Being,

You're probably correct. The earlier recipes fall into two categories - with spice and without. The with spice give a longer duration health and stamina recovery bonus, but they require spice, which is harder to get...these are the grilled meats. I'd rather save the spice for the higher level foods. The second category requires far more ingredients (multiple potatoes, carrots, and onions), but no spice...these are the soups and stews. These give a shorter and possibly weaker stamina and health regen bonus plus a very small (+10 for soup) bonus to your carrying capacity.

So for now, my push for meat is to get to skill 50 cooking where I can then use fish (which I can collect myself in heaps). I'll look up grilled fish and see if it gives the stat bonuses, which is what we're really waiting for in cooking. We have some already in the bank (from mob drops and my food crate gathering)if people want to experiment. If the benefits are good enough on grilled fish, I'll start using spice. If not, at least I can plow through the next level of cooking easier, since it's faster for me to gather fish and dig up all the root veggies than it is for you guys to find meat. For example, I've been cooking 30-40 meat at a sitting (takes 3 for one stew) and getting a whopping 1 extra point in cooking. With the hundreds of fish I have stocked, I could go faster, though I may have to do a few hours of digging to get enough vegetables.

[Lhan]

Looks like I'll be spending more time in the sewers then... See if I can get you some meat while I gather rawhide.

[Being]

I concur with your preference, Hobs, to save the good stuff for when we will need it. If we work now without it then when it is there it may put us over the top. Unfortunately if we fall carrying it the enemy will get a taste of your cooking and then they will all gang up on us for it.

[Areks]

So the main complaint that I have heard about this is that the UI sucks. Has anyone tried to switch to the DF1 UI and if so does it help?

That's probably about the only thing that is stopping me from hopping in and giving this thing a whirl.

Just hopped on TS to ask, but I'm guessing Andius is afk, so I decided to ask here.

[DeciusBrutus]

I haven't found any option to change or switch the UI at all.