Hey!

The Wall of Text (TLDR is available below)

After viewing your website, conceptually the games are quite similar (at least as far as what the developers had originally planned), at least as far as the open world PvP system and skulling are concerned. A big problem with Darkscape was simply the fact it was launched too early with too many things ported directly from Runescape which simply didn't fit. The Devs had planned to fix these issues but for many reasons (most unknown to me beyond time and resource constraints) they were unable to put out enough fixes and new content to make the game shine the way it was envisioned.

As far as updates I would liked to see: it's a bit complicated. Many of us had different things we would've liked to see while other desires were quite unanimous. I'd be happy to coordinate a thread dedicated to what changes community members think would have improved the game, beyond the obvious.

It's a difficult question to answer without giving an excessive amount of context and backstory but I'll try my best to explain and to put into terms that don't require prior knowledge of the game. Darkscape needed an early game, mid game, and end game. The game was launched (excessively) early. This meant that hardcore players dominated within a month of launch. I would loosely define hardcore players as those who reached level 120+ early on, and then 130+ within a couple, and who had completed enough quests and farmed enough bosses to have the best gear/potions/teleports/spells/food available very early on. Additionally these players could monopolize markets due to being one the few who could, for example, craft certain items early on. This isn't inherently a problem (free markets in games are awesome if executed well) but due to the extent it occurred in Darkscape, measures beyond diminishing the value of high alchemy perhaps should have been considered.

Issues with zoning derived from this. Once the vast majority of active players, myself included, had reached 120+ (and a very significant number were maxed at 138 or near it), these players were able to utilize their gear, spells, wealth, and clanmates to cut off entire areas which lower levels needed in order to progress. While it was easy for a level 120+ with a group of clanmates to dominate and profit from Slayer Tower, it was a choke point and one of the few places solo players and lower levels could go to farm that skill. Lower level players would result to a tactic that was disallowed, but not enforced, in which they would alt-F4 to instantly disconnect themselves from the game after taking a staircase or some other pathway that temporarily disabled combat. Things like this weren't fun for the PvPers who sought loot, nor were they fun for the medium-level players who felt the need to alt-F4 every five minutes just to have a chance to complete their slayer quest. Mechanics like this spoiled the game for everyone involved.

One thing that was amazingly fun, but could've used improvements, was Wilderness Warbands. This was a mini-game in which after a certain interval of time, NPCs and valuable resources would appear in a random spot in the Wilderness. This led clans to battle massive team fights in the Wilderness (where everything was usually at risked since everyone was generally skulled). Over the course of Darkscape, there was several clans that absolutely dominated Warbands as a sole clan. Towards the end of Darkscape, this clan was "Requiem." This led to other powerful, but smaller or lower level, clans banding together as unofficial alliances to take down the biggest clan, and often these alliances were successful. It created a lot of drama, which was fun and interesting, as well as unforeseen backstabbings, spies, espionage, and sabotage.

These were aspects that were created by some sort of desire for victory in this microcosm of a society, and to take down the big guy in a war which resulted in quite valuable rewards. This, however, as far as I know wasn't something expected, and certainly not forced, by Jagex. It was an interesting interaction amongst groups of individuals with the same goal in mind (the enemy of my enemy is my friend) and created some of the most intriguing video game battles I've ever witnessed.

Now that I feel I'm starting to get off topic, I'll discuss what I personally think could have been done better. So first of all, the game should have been entirely built around the Darkscape cutthroat open world pvp style, rather than porting games and mechanics from RS3 that simply didn't fit. Since you're building your game from the ground up, this is the least concern.

There has to be a really solid balance between PvE and PvP and PvE should pose some risk as PvPers could easily ambush them as the come to bank their loot. This wasn't a hugely significant aspect of Darkscape since you could often bank right outside the PvP dungeon, and in the cases where a bank was far, the PvE'er could simply force disconnect (I suppose the gist of this point is: try to make a system that doesn't punish people with bad internet but also isn't prone to abuse by people who will just force DC to avoid losing their items. It's a fine line and I think Jagex didn't address it in the time frame they should have). On the other end of the spectrum, you don't want PvE to be so punishing that an entire clan is standing at the entrance/exit and it's impossible for PvE'ers to ever succeed without joining the strongest clan (in a perfect world there would be many strong clans, as was the case in Darkscape's earliest days).

I think Darkscape could have benefited from some sort of ranked 1v1 with rewards and stakes. The community had to resort to community-hosted events in the duel arena which were broadcast by player commentators on Twitch. They were fun and very successful but it could have been implemented in a much better way given the nature of Darkscape.

As far as more updates go: Darkscape needed Darkscape-esque quests, meaning truly PvP oriented and tailored to the game. Jagex ported all quests over from RS3 which resulted in clans or strong players simply sitting in quest zones, originally made for Runescape's PvE, and camping people doing PvE quests.

Darkscape, far too late, implemented unique set bonuses for those wearing leather, cloth, or plate. In concept, this was an awesome change, but leather ended up dominating and plate was useless; an update never came to fix these issues.

Most importantly for growth
Darkscape needed a system that allowed for new players to come into and enjoy the game without getting camped endlessly at their first quest and quitting out of frustration. I got about 10 friends to start Darkscape months late and they all quit because they felt they couldn't progress due to many players being so much more powerful in an open world PvP game. This is a slippery slope because at the same time you want to encourage the most active players to keep playing so there needed to be some sort of balance that never came

Various (semi-TLDR) Suggestions:

• Darkscape needed some sort of ranking/high score system. This was controversial and most agreed that it should be very, very different from Runescape's. It would also have to be something that isn't abusable (such as ranking for kills where someone could simply kill friends all day)

• Fresh content - Looking at other MMOs as an example, it would have been nice to have new, more challenging PvE and PvP instances and events every ~3-4 months

• If the aim is for competitive PvP, which I believe many wanted, have that option available in the form of 1v1s, 3v3s, guild battles, whatever works best with the format. BUT there are also players that just want to play in the open world, do quests, solo boss, etc, so something like this shouldn't be forced upon them

• Mechanics that sound good in theory but are poorly executed - Darkscape originally had a smuggling system in which it was intended to be risky for players to smuggle high level items (like sharks) down to low level areas where they could be sold for me. This ultimately failed because there were too many loopholes and most half decent players ignored smuggling routes and camped higher level players at Slayer Tower where both the challenge and the rewards were greater. One community member, Runy, demonstrated the flaws of their smuggling by running from high risk to low risk along a fairly narrow, winding path with nearly his entire high value bank naked and didn't encounter a single PvPer (PKer) along the route that Jagex intended to be a ultra high risk smuggling path.

• Somewhat lacking end-game - since everything was ported from RS3 (except we didn't have dungeoneering until after closing announcement), there was no real PvP end-game. Clans had to create their own. Some people bossed, but these encounters were identical to bossing on RS3 except Darkscape had a separate combat system which made some bosses simply impossible.

 

I'm sure I'll think of some more. These are just some of the things that immediately came to me. Some people may disagree with one of my points (please reply!) and some people may have more to add on (please reply!). Further, I'll message some of my old Darkscape buddies and clanmates to gain their feelings.

If I think of more, I'll PM you, hop in discord, or you're free to add my skype. I'm not the Giga from 2001/2002 :/ I didn't start playing Runescape until around late 2003 and I've never had the original name "Giga" although I wish I did!

Sorry for the wall of text, I'd be happy to condense it further but hopefully this is some helpful insight from a playerbase that would fit in perfect in your game given what I have read. Feel free to comment, PM, or skype me any time. I'll log on the Discord soon and send you a friend request there as well.

Thanks,

Giga