Darkfall PvE

Darkfall PvE is something that has gotten a lot of criticism. Many people say the AI sucks, heavily exploited, unfriendly to soloers, bad quests ect. ect.

AI in Darkfall i think is really good. The monsters are challenging and work together. They switch tactics and make a decent, but long experience for the player. That said though the AI does have its gaps, especially when the mobs comes to the edge of their habitat (area where they roam). When that happens its a matter of just kiting the monster, but even this is a risky back and forth. If the monester has good range or if it likes to call friends you also find yourself in some bad predicaments. There are also some sadder and buggier gaps in the AI however like crouching to avoid hits. Another overly common mobs flaw is random spaz running. Aventurine to their credit though does seem to be patching these fast.

Many of the monsters also cannot be meleed. They just hit to hard. Most of the time you find yourself barraging them with Mana Missle and arrows trying to get their health down so you can go in for the kill. I do like this weapon switching, but this is also however a symptom of darkfalls poor melee system.

Much of the PvE is not solo friendly. The looming threat of PKs also makes this the case. If you want to solo you have to be smart. To be honest I think this is the way it should be and enjoy this aspect of the game. Most of the mobs work and groups and make you do the same.

Mob placement for the most part I enjoy. They are space a part rather nicely and realistically. My main complaint is that there are only static mob camps. Wandering mobs do not excist in this game. This works out well for providing PvP hotspots around the mobs but hurts things like immersion and even economy. The lack of leather carrying mobs for instance, especially animals has really contributed to the shortage of leather. Leather i think should be a resource as easily gathered as wood and ore. This is best done through wondering wildlife. It would be great if darkfall added some skittish animals that had to snuck up upon and chased down.

Quests are what they are in darkfall. Do not expect to rifle through 50 quests in 4 hours. The quests are hard because of the mobs AI and they are gonna make you work for them. You are going to have to work with other questers and also fight against them for loot. Most of the quests are your basic go kill and go fetch. But the mob AI does make it fun, frustraiting however if your purpose is to farm. The quest writing i would say is subpar. Darkfall does not have the greatest lore in the world but it does have enough to write some fun and interesting quests.

PvE and PvP combination. The static camp mobs do work well making pvp hotspots. But the lack of healing and recovering mechanic in darkfall counter this. Once a pver is attacked he is either gonna die or run away. There is little hope of turning the fight against the attacker and making the encounter a fun dynamic pvp experiance.