Since Darkfall: Rise of Agon is effectively trying to hit the reset button with a new Steam version launch, reason would stand that some of the game’s systems would get an overhaul. Once such system headed for an overhaul is the alignment and stance system that determines how open PvP is handled in the sandbox, the details of which were posted in the latest dev blog from the devs.
In summary, alignment is being streamlined into two sides – lawful and lawless – with adjustments to each side’s stance: Lawful players will be able to damage only lawless ones and heal any lawful-aligned allies while in their PvP stance, and evil players can perform unlawful actions anywhere but can’t turn on their lawless stance when they’re in an NPC city, in a lawful clan, or in a lawful group. Additionally, lawful players who enter lawless tiles will become temporarily rogue or evil; tile alignments will be color-coded on the game’s map.
Dueling is being changed as well, with a new contextual menu that allows players to invite others into a duel party. Big Picture Games plans to make dueling available everywhere except for NPC cities; it’s also considering other features such as having an area that ends the duel if players walk out of it, limiting beheadings in duels, and adding wagers.
The expectation, according to the devs, is to eliminate “blue blocking” and force players to make hard choices on what race to pick. The devs do harbor a couple of concerns with these changes, namely that the lack of friendly fire will instill bad habits in lawful players who may spam AoEs when entering lawless endgame areas.
The game’s new Steam edition is nearing its way to closed beta, but in the meantime those who are interested in the bread-and-butter of open world PvP would probably do well to read up on these adjustments.
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