FinNexus

From official forums:

Hi everyone,

Right now we are putting the finishing touches on our next patch, which we plan to have ready by the end of this week.

With this patch we are adding a significant skill-up bonus to fighting mobs, essentially tripling the speed of skill-ups compared to hitting other players. At the same time we have doubled the speed of skilling up all magic schools. This means that all skills involving combat are now leveling up three times as fast as before, and leveling magic schools are six times as fast as before when fighting monsters.

This change will help newer players catch up to veterans faster. We also think it will make it even more attractive to go out and fight monsters, which in turn should lead to more open field PvP.

In this patch we have also fixed the underlying problem with battlespikes and damage modifiers. The hotfix we released last week was temporary, and we will adjust the modifiers back to their correct values now that the root of the issue has been fixed.

Other than the upcoming patch, the development team is hard at work with the second free expansion for Darkfall, which is currently scheduled for release by the end of October. This expansion is a lot bigger than the first, and we are extremely excited about it. We will give you more detailed information on the many new features over the coming weeks.

It includes many changes and additions to ship building, sea combat and sea objectives, part two of our character specialization system - this time some much needed love for archery and melee combat, the first step of local banking, player owned local vendors, the first set of racial skills, barber shop, the caravan system, new houses and villages, new housing objects to decorate your house with, wandering mobs, more rare drops added to monsters, new free spawning objects to discover, and much more.

See you ingame.

How many times have the increased the skill gains now? I remember 75% of people in beta telling skillgains are fine and I just suck when I whined about it.

i think its first time.
edit.
I bet in beta there wasn't guilds who just afk macroed their skills up and then FTW pawned people with their high elemental magic. In beta it might have been fine as almost every one were about same at skills.
This way people will go out more killing monsters and don't stay behind walls hitting bloodwall, so this should make some more random pvp.

They at least once upgraded spell gains on hitting monsters in the past, or something similiar. Perhaps even all spell gains.

Not sure, that's what I recall from the past. Nothing this huge has happened in the past tho. IMO it's fine apart from the 'double gains for all spell gains'. Triple against monsters is definitely good.

Noitatohtori wrote:I bet in beta there wasn't guilds who just afk macroed their skills up and then FTW pawned people with their high elemental magic. .

Partially correct. No elemental magic afk grind due to massive reagent cost, but massive afk skill grind anyway. "Normal playing" absolutely just wasn't a way to play the game, which is one of the few dozen reasons I didn't buy the game and got myself banned from the beta.

Well, after the next patch afk grinding is absolutely not necessary.

Except if you want to be omgwtfpwnmage in a month. I've been fine for six months without being one tho.

Well now after roughly a week and being ganked into the mud about 54 times according to journal (yes i like to mine a lot) my view of the game is rather positive, and im certainly not the easiest to please (when it comes to mmo's).
I myself as a n00b ofc cheer for the change that skillgain will be more rapid but also forsee all the spawns being taken.

Nepenthe wrote:I myself as a n00b ofc cheer for the change that skillgain will be more rapid but also forsee all the spawns being taken.

There's more spawns than players is my guess=)

the first step of local banking, player owned local vendors
Didint notice this one until today, was too heated up for skill gain change :)
But this sounds damn good, it will put more strategic point for cities and for our non arac alliance at tribelands it means much more improved tools to work there. or at least i hope so! :)

First step is local vendors, nothing else:/ Remains to be seen if more steps follow.