I am not really getting DF, everything but most trivial mobs kicking my ass in a bad way. So far I tried fighting ghost, shadow knights, lesser fire elementals... they all kick my ass. I randomly exploring around, and seems every spawn I find is full of grizzly death. Mobs ether swarm you (5+ attack you at once) or kick your ass outright.

Here is my approach:

1. Buff up
2. Sprint to a target with greatsword ready
3. Rotate through every power (draw close and knockback seem useless, but I still include them) attack while maintaining contact with a mob

With this approach I can't seem to kill anything but most trivial mobs. Now when I start using magic and kite I have a lot less problems, but getting regs seems to be huge hassle (30 minutes of mining/herbing for 2 minutes of fighting).

Is melee a dead end in this game? Magic or GTFO? Is there good way to get regs, farming is too painful... but mage vendors seem to only sell 1 type (like bone) per city.

Suggestions please.

Ok, all those three mobz are a challenge even for veteran players. Yes, even lesser fire elementals when there are like 4 pounding on you.

Archery is better for farming mobz in DFO. When they can be hit by archery (so SK, ghosts and elementals are a no-no unless you use elemental bows). If your toon skills are low, you have to farm with at least one partner : crossbuff before the fight, the guy with aggro parry while the other attack the mob in the back. When needed, crossheal.
Debuffing the mobz if you have the right spells can be a good thing too. But your priority should be to get the haste buff (fire school 25), heal other and sacrifice (spellchanting 30) so you can be efficient in group farming.
If you need money, I'm almost sure we still have people doing kraken farming which anyone is able to participate in.


If it has not changed from last time I played, mages sell all the regs.

Get in a group, learn the game with KGBers. Pick Mobs that are your skill level.

If you are on this afternoon I will run w you to kill shit. Just let me know which city you are in and I will be there. Also another good tip is to use daggers on mobs.

Yup we still here doing the Kracken at times but not like we did before.

I'm repeating some of what others have said but here we go...

There have been atleast 2 patches that made mobs harder to fight, grouping up of course helps. there are not many good mobs(locations) to solo PvE and most likely not as efficiant( the faster you kill, the more you kill, the more graves to loot)

If making money is the goal for the day then you want to of course farm mobs that drop good money, if skilling up is the goal then something that does little damage and also you don't kill to quickly and end up waiting is what you want to farm.

Daggers have the highest DPS for melee weapons for both PvE and PvP but it is much harder to use in PvP, that being said I would farm with your longer range 2 hander to skill it up.

DarkFall in many aspects has lots of things that each only help a little but throwing as many things as you can in ends up making a bigger difference. For melee buff your strength and quickness to do a little more damage a little faster. Boost your resistances with stoneskin(if they melee you) and the appropriate damage specific ones that the mob has in its arsonal(I think lighning protection for shadow knight and ghost and fire for fire elementals)

Don't sprint in ready to melee because just like another player they will probably already be attacking you from range and you are doing nothing but getting damaged and draining stamina...try leading in casting or bowing untill you get in melee range then melee..start with ww and then on the 5th consecutive hit que up power attack.

You could also try getting thier health down to a comfortable amount while staying in range, either by jump kiting(careful though many mobs can out run you and they will stick to your back and waste you) or by keeping them right at thier leash point and when they turn to run back to the spawn you can either get back shots for more damage or turn around yourself and stat up(this is my and many others preferred farming method).

Going along with the "keep em at thier leash point" tactic, make sure you don't get to deep in the spawn and find yourself surrounded by and aggroed by every mob. Try to single them out to the leash point one at a time

Again farming for skill ups you want it to be easy enough to not die or have to stop and rest and hard enough so you are continually smacking something(you can find 2 easy mobs close to each other and bounce back and forth so you have no down time, This can be tweaked furthermore by using a higher or lower rank weapon/gear)

Farming with 2 people is probably best for most medium/hard(not epic and maybe not all hard) mobs. the cooldown for heal other and sacrifice is much less than for heal self and witches brew(with is an aoe). also being able to heal who has the aggro while they finish off a mob is valuable. So 2 players teaming up on a mob they have singled out at the leash point, then immediatly healing each other and stating up can go right back to luring the next mob out in the spawn, rince,repeat,BANK.

Once you get these spells/skills and practice these tactics even two newer players if they have each others back will find they need to travel in betweeen atleast 2 spawns to keep from just sitting there waiting on respawn and will make bank and be skilling up the same toon skills and player skills needed for PvP at the same time.

Also all NPC arcanist sell all the regs, make sure you open up all the tabs.

Sorry for long post

PS get in vent!!!!!!!! I or others will help you get the hang of it( just not critter, hang out with him and you will dieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee


Oh and stick with it...It only gets better.

I started figuring out PvE, with understanding leash points I can kill most solo-able mobs.

Next is understanding PvP, so far it looks like it all about casting and melee is largely non-viable unless for some reason fight in in close quarters (like on a ship). For some reason melee has no snare, no charge, and no stun while magic has root (shoots you up in the air, but functionally the same) and CC (like blind). Plus bunny hopping everywhere. Strange design decisions.

sinij I think you nailed PVP right on the head. Its basically a few spells that you can own anyone with(like the one you knock ppl in air with). Once they are grinded up in magic they will usually get you to about 1/4 health then melee to death. Yeah bunny hopping is an exploit that the devs approve for some reason, but its probably because they don't know how to fix it. Take it what it is it does have some good points and going with experience players does make it a bit more fun. Just get ready for the grind!!!

Melee is just as importent as magic, if your oppenent gets with in melee range he will most likely use it(especially if you still have a bow or staff out) then jump back out and go back to ranged...rinse, repeat.

Since everyone can do everything then magic is you range damage and/or CC.

I highly suggest watching some of the pvp videos and really pay attention what they do and when they do it(look at there hot bar and see what it is that they que up). Then once you get your toon at a comfortable level start dueling people, those of your level and mid to vet players. You'll get the hang of it.

I am having harder and harder time liking DFO. Garbage combat really gets on my nerves. In PvP I have a) hard time telling people apart (how do I turn health bars/names to always stay on, not just on mouse-over?!) b) I have impossible time getting into melee range with anyone c) I have impossible time hitting anyone moving around obstacles with archery d) I can't seem to do any damage that isn't trivially outhealed, all while my heals do nothing at all.

I keep telling myself "you will eventually get to PvP" but its harder to keep believing in it.

You can't change any setting that will change health bars, just remember RED & Orange=Dead. It's tough getting used to telling good guy from bad guy when you're in the middle of battle. Having a good computer that can keep up where you're not lagging helps a lot. It just takes time getting used to it, even then you will have friendly fire accidents.

As far as getting into melee range, you need to get the spell "Wall of force" throw a blinding spell, wall of force them, and it you have begone or stormblast use those to get in on top of them in a hurry. This game takes a lot of timing, a long with hand eye coordination. All I can suggest is to fight mobs that move around a lot, get used to hitting them on the move. After a while you will notice your accuracy will get a lot better.

As far as trying to out DPS someones healing spells, this comes down to being accurate and hitting them as much as possible. Which is easier said than done, again it just takes time getting used to this. Also having your heal spells at 100 or at the very least above 75 will help a lot. You will see your survivabilty increase the higher you get them. Darkfall is a grind, even with all the patches to help make the grind less than what it was.

I'm not trying to discourage you in anyway, but it's just the way the game is. It's not like other games where you can hit the max level within weeks and become a PVP god. You can have average base stats and still be viable in PVP.

Pvp is about getting the guy into a situation he can't get out of. There are lots of spells, schools of magic etc.. The biggest issue with the game is the grind in leveling spells.

Early on you are going to have a hell of a time beating most people 1v1 because they outgear you, and they have higher stats. Meditation helps with this somewhat but it still takes a lot of time and money. Consider also that they probablly have all of the magic schools to 100 and also archmage, and some of the intensifies to 100 for more damage.


In PvP: When starting out I tent to use R90 fire spell inferno followed by a r75 fire spell magma storm both of these are over 75. I then do another r90 I use Arcane but it could be whatever you want. Explosive charge is popular. I do this because they have big aoe's and I am going to get at least some damage on the target.

Once I have casted those I will hit a transfer heal, and maybe a pot depending on how much health I have. After that i pop out the bow and go to work.

Now when using the bow move back and forth. Not just strafing but point left move, reaquire shoot, point right move reaquire shoot. It is important to hold your shots and make them count. I find that if I aim just above the left shoulder of the enemy I hit most often.

When I shoot the bow I am moving in tward the target at angles. when I get into melee range I pop out the 2 hander and go to town, attempting to stickyback the target.

If he gets out of range I pop a heal then pull the bow back out unless the target is low. If the target is low and trying to cut corners I start in with the nukes again keeping damage steady so if he is healing it negates his heals.

If at anytime I am under pressure and need to heal I will eye rot the target and cast a big heal followed by a transfer followed by a potion.

The other thing you can do to put people under pressure is wall of force and hit them with some rays. Dont use fire spells that will pop them out of the WOF. Save your pungent mist for just as the WOF is going to drop and pull out your bow. You can see spell casting through pungent mist.

These are the basics. Just mix and match and you will at least be able to hold your own vs. most players. For this to be effective you need an magic encumberance of less than 20. My junk sets consist of r50 weps, scale legs, gloves, helm, boots and the rest bone.

http://forums.darkfallonline.com/showthread.php?p=4840734#post4840734

Here is that post about random hero's config. Hope it helps

If I were you I'd play support : heal people who need it, buff them when you have time, pull them out of bubbles if you have the necessary spells. It helps getting a better sense of situation awereness and being better at aiming while not being the squishy prime target of the ennemy.
It's what I usually do in big fights because my ping destroy any possibility for me to switch weapon fast enough. And one good healer can change as much things as a good damage dealer.

Dart brought something up that's KEY*. Do not straff when fighting someone when you have distance between you, straffing is slow. Like Dart mentioned, look at your target shoot, then look away, move, require your target... rinse and repeat.

Thank you for all suggestions.

I came to realization that DarkFall is not for me. I really tried to like DFO so I can play with KGB and I think gave it very fair chance.

I detailed some of my key objections in the following thread:

http://forums.darkfallonline.com/showthread.php?p=4917392#post4917392

Mostly it boils down to frusturation of not being able to PvP, not progressing my character to where I could PvP and annoying farming.

Here is how my typical play session looks like:

1. Log in and go mine/chop wood/herb/fish while cooking dinner
2. Get back, bank mats make some trash gear to wear for the day
3. Run for very long time to a spawn (my choices are ether goblins/orc or zombies, and they drop almost no gold) or something that I frequently die at, because I can barely kill one a time... my take home with factoring running is about 1K per hour, frequently less when you factor in PKs, need to replace broken gear and so on. I need 4.5K per day to max meditation. This is *extremely* annoying, because I can't afford to advance.
4. Occasionally I get into "PvP" where the only option available to me is to unsuccessfully and pointlessly run after someone while getting knocked up, bubbled and blown up, landing couple melee hits and dying. I don't have key spells (or regs to use or macro them) to even start fighting back. It is too much about having strong magic, and no my 20-something skill bolt spells dealing 10 damage won't cut it.


I signed to PvP, not grind. I don't see this changing in the near future, and to be honest I have better things to do with my scarce leisure time than grind. I will wait for something with PvP to come out.

Character is up for grabs for anyone interested. PM me.

Sad to see you go.. But your still saying how you chase after people with a sword out and cant get into range. you can't do that. Anyway wish you luck in your future endevours

Darkfall is a grind monster, it takes a large amount of time to be able be viable at pvp. Not to mention get used to the style of fighting that you have to constantly keep trying to improve. Then you throw in that you have to farms mobs efficiently in order to make enough gold to do the things you want and need to do. Darkfall is the hardest game to pvp in hands down. It's not forgiving for new characters at all.

To think, the grind has gotten a little better than what it used to be. After nearly 2 years, I can't force myself to grind anymore. Which is the case with many people after putting in a lot of time and effort into a game, and still have average character skills because of the huge grind. They should have realized people only have a certain amount of time. Not 2 years of soliding grinding.

Is going back to starting areas, doing all quests going to change my experiences? I am really trying to find a way to alter steps 1-3 so I can do something about #4.

Your character is ready to pvp, you are a valuable member to any pvp group. One thing that us KGB(ers) need to do is group combat, people tend to think alone, when to be success you need a solid group of players.

How many times we got attacked by hostiles while sitting on the city, some people ready, some people semi-afk, some people just not geared enough. We had numbers, but not any coordenation. The attackers always had the advantage. And when we fought back was everyone by himself, no cross-heals,buffs. This ended frustating many Kgbers.



chaging a little bit the topic: Even after 2 years, I still be amazed by the chaos of the combat. See this I think is a guy from Sick Bastards, just average player.

You are an asset to a group day one( you can rez,gank and just as another body and set of eyes) around 2 months playing somewhat casually you should be a big asset( you should have no problem getting a 2H mastery to 50-75, have all the needed spells in LM and GM, and should have no problem getting atleast 1 other school to 100(even less time if you play more) 4-6 months you should be an initial part of the group!( yes the higher your stats and skills the more damage you do and the more you can take, but that means much less in group fights) So you wont be able to waste many above your player or toon skill level 1v1 at that point but you should not expect to correct?

Wolfgang if you played for 2 years as long as you didn't just sit around the city your toon should be MORE than ready to pvp even 1v1 and absolutly in a group. At this point you could choose to continue to grind if you so wished but could purly pvp if you wanted. I myself like grinding, farming or whatever you want to call it. It can be fun if you make it so and of course earns you gold and items with which to further your bank and or toon, also it gives me a sence of accomplishment and short term and long term goals. If all I did was pvp by my own choice or if they changed it to be that way it would remove much of the sandbox aspect and I assume everyone that is unhappy with it now would still be unhappy. With all the changes they have made to skill ups and including meditation I personally see no need to increase or change it further.

We can all agree that DF is as hardcore as it comes and is unforgiving, some like it..many don't. But The "grind" will ALWAYS be there for a persistant MMO and is not as bad as it is in some games, it is other aspects of the game that make many blame it all on this "grind". I see no problem with the general aspect of DF and have never been presented with any kind of proof/evidence or witnessed any on my own that says different. It's certainly not for everyone(we all all unique) but thousands of people enjoy it daily.

Sinij as far as pve goes you cant expect to stand there toe to toe with a mob(s) and exchange hit for hit with it especially if its a mob that for instance say my toon could not do. I would be more than willing to help you out 1 on 1 it getting a better grasp of what DF is and what it takes, hit me up in vent or pm me here and we can set a time/date to go over the basics.