Starting Out
After creating your character you start out in one of the three starting villages of your race. You should familiarize yourself with the controls first. Then you can talk to the village counselor and take the quests he offers you. The first few quests have to do with killing goblins. This is a good way to make some gold and to get some starting equipment. After killing a goblin, you can loot and skin him. Remember to bank your gold often. It's better to bank a few times too often then just one time too few.
In the beginning you will need to hunt monsters using your starting weapons, but after killing a few goblins you should be able to pick up better weapons and maybe even a bow and a staff. Goblin Shamans drop staffs, and you need on in order to cast magic. Your starting spells are rather weak but they're useful. The heal-self spell will cut down on your down-time, and the mana missile spell is useful to finish off fleeing monsters. Don't worry too much about raising your magic ability in the very beginning. Becoming a good mage in Darkfall is a long and expensive process.
After killing a few goblins and solving some quests, you should have a decent amount of gold in your bank. Investing some on better armor is a good idea. You may want to consider not buying something that you can't easily replace. Investing all your money in armor you could lose is not a good idea. Always make sure you keep a healthy stash of backup funds in your bank so that you can recover from possible setbacks.
Darkfall is very different than other Massive Multiplayer Games since it's real-time with fast-action combat. Some of the controls may seem foreign to players with a previous MMO background. First Person Shooter players will find them easier to get accustomed to.
The main controls for a starting player follow:
W, A, S, D Movement Keys: W-key to move forward, A-key to strafe left, S-key to move backwards, D-key to strafe right. This is a standard control method in most videogames where you can control every aspect of the movement of your character.
Mouse Look and Aim: You can choose the direction your character is facing by moving your mouse. This works whether you're standing still or you're moving. You also aim this way by putting the crosshairs on your target.
RIGHT MOUSECLICK - this will take you back and forth between action mode and interface mode.
* Action mode allows you to interact with the world, so you want to be in action mode in order to fight, use objects, banks, mounts, ships and non-player characters etc.
* Interface mode allows you to gain access to various menus and options that have to do with your character and the world around him. Here you will find your backpack, skills and spells, paperdoll, boards, etc.
F-Key, the USE key: The F-key is the default 'use' key. If you need to talk to a non-player character you run up to him and press the F-key. The F-key is very versatile, it's the key you use to interact with a bank, to get on a mount, to loot a corpse etc.
G-Key, the other USE key: The G-key is the 'alternate use' key. Some interactive objects have more than one uses. The G-key will open up a menu with more options than the default use ones. An example of this is when you use the G-key on a mount, it will allow you to unsummon it and make it go back to being a figurine in your backpack. The G-key also opens your clan vault when interacting with a bank, it's how you trade with a player, or how you invite someone to your party, and has many more uses.
The R-key sheath/unsheathe: The R-key is the sheath and unsheathe key. If you have a weapon or a magic staff equipped, they are considered sheathed. By pressing the R-key your character will unsheathe his weapon and it's ready for combat. Pressing the R-key again will put the weapon away. If you have a melee weapon equipped then by unsheathing a weapon your character moves to the third person perspective to make it easier to keep full awareness during combat. You will need to sheathe your weapon before you can interact with any object in the game, so after you kill a monster, you have to press R before you can use the F key to loot it.
Space-Key Jump: Using the space key you make your character jump. Jumping uses up stamina so you want to be careful not to run out.
C-Key Crouching, Diving: Use the C-key to crouch. You can use crouching to hide, make less sound, duck from an attack, and to get into tight spaces. When swimming, the C-key makes your character dive.
Left Shift + Movement Key, Sprint: By pressing down on the left shift-key while running your character sprints. Sprinting also uses up stamina, so you should keep an eye on it.
Ctrl + Movement Key, Walk: By pressing the Ctrl key while moving, your character walks.
0-9, Hotbar: You can move spells and items to your hotbar for fast access. You move them by dragging the icon and placing it into the hotbar slot you want to use.
Shift 0-9, Hotbar Selection: You can select the appropriate hotbar by holding down shift and cycle between 0 and 9.
Survival in Darkfall
Agon, the world of Darkfall, is a brutal and unforgiving world, where enemies hide behind every bush and lurk around every corner. Here is a collection of tips on how to best survive Darkfall:
* Bank often. Items in your bank can't be looted by anyone, unlike items you carry around with you. Make sure you go back to town as often as possible and try not to carry more than you need.
* Only carry what you can afford to lose. It's tempting to dress up in full plate as soon as you can afford it, but lower quality armor often offers similar protection at a fraction of the cost.
* Avoid going below half stamina. Its' tempting to kill the entire goblin spawn in one go but that may leave you low on health and stamina, making you an easy target to enemies passing by. It's recommended to kill a few monsters at a time, retreat and rest up before you finish the rest. This way you're always prepared for any eventuality.
* Sounds carry further in Darkfall that in most games and sounds of combat can be heard far away. Finish killing monsters as fast as you can to minimize your exposure time to enemies passing by.
* Live to fight another day. There's no shame in retreat. If your health or stamina are critically low, try to run to safety.
* Always keep food in your backpack and eat before every encounter. Eating food will improve your regeneration.
* Try to always keep potions in your backpack. They could save you in a sticky situation.
* When fighting try to take the high ground. It's easier to aim and hit an enemy lower than you than it is hitting one that's higher up.
* When resting, use cover like rocks, trees, bushes etc. This will make you harder to spot.
* Just because a player is blue to you, doesn't necessarily mean that he's well intentioned. Stay alert and always expect the unexpected. A healthy dose of paranoia can save you in uncertain situations.
* Some players may try to scam you or trap you. If a trade deal seems too good to be true, it probably is. Always be careful when trading with other players and make sure you do it in a reasonably safe location. Always double-check the items in the trade window before you accept a trade to avoid being tricked.
* Some players may try to trick you into attacking them. A common practice is to run into your attacks while you're fighting monsters. The purpose is to make you turn rogue so that they can kill you without losing alignment. Always pay attention to the people around you, and always expect the worst.
* Treat other players with respect. Making friends and allies is one of the keys to a successful life in Darkfall.
* Join a clan. If you're going into Darkfall without a clan, joining one may be a good idea. In a clan you instantly gain friends and allies that you can learn from and hunt with. There's safety in numbers.
Invulnerability
When your character dies and is resurrected, there's invulnerability for five minutes. This is meant to give yuo time to run away and escape if your spawning location is camped by enemies.
If you perform ANY actions other than running away, including opening your bank or unsheathing your weapon, you will become vulnerable again.
Alignment
Alignment in Darkfall is a numerical value used to say something about how good or evil you're regarded by other characters and by guard towers. You gain alignment by killing evil characters, and lose alignment by killing good ones. Your alignment is always displayed on the health window, on the lowest bar. You can mouse over it to see your current alignment status.
Players of opposing factions will always be considered evil to you no matter what their alignment is. To see if a player is considered good or evil, just target him. If his name appears in blue, he's considered good and you will take an alignment hit for killing him. If his name is in red, then you gain alignment by killing him.
If you attack a blue character, you will go rogue for a few minutes. This means that in that time, other players can kill you freely no matter what your alignment is.
Hitting players in your party or your clan will not carry any alignment penalties, or turn you rogue. If your clan has declared war on another clan, you won't take an alignment hit for killing these players, nor will you turn rogue.
If you turn evil (red) you will respawn at a chaos stone when you die. There are no guard towers at chaos stones. To become good (blue) again, you have to kill evil (red) players.
FAQ
Q: How do I delete something from my backpack?
A: When you drag something in your backpack, you will see an item disposal icon appearing in the lower right corner of your screen. Drag the item you want to delete onto it.
Q: How do I split a stack of items?
A: You split a stack by holding down left-shift and dragging the stack
Q: How do I sprint?
A: Hold left-shift while running to sprint
Q: How do I walk?
A: Hold left-ctrl to walk
Q: How do I crouch?
A: Hold 'C' to crouch
Q: What controls are used for swimming?
A: You dive using 'C', swim up using Space and swim faster if you hold down left-shift. If you are not moving in water, you will automatically start floating up to the surface. When you are diving, you will slowly run out of air. Once your air has run out, you will start taking damage unless you swim up to the surface.
Q: How do I block or parry?
A: You can block or parry attacks by pressing and holding the 'V' key. Parrying reduces incoming damage by a large amount, and blocking with a shield will negate almost all incoming damage. Both parrying and blocking cost significant amounts of stamina
Q: How do I join a clan?
A: On your main menu you can see a button called 'Clans'. Pressing it will open up a window where you can browse all the different clans in Darkfall. You can look through the list, and check out each clan's membership number, races they allow, how many holdings they have, their motto, etc. Once you have decided on a clan, you can apply to join.
Q: How do I reduce my downtime after fighting?
A: Eating food helps reduce downtime, and so does using the rest skill, healing by magic, or drinking potions
Q: I have a negative alignment. How do I make it positive again?
A: Killing other negatively aligned players will shift your own alignment towards positive. This includes racial enemies.
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