MMORPG.com first time Correspondent Jeffery Hargrove writes this look at the first free expansion to Aventurine's controversial MMO, Darkfall Online.

Darkfall Online is an MMORPG developed by Aventurine. On July 10th 2009 they released their first expansion. As a result, I spent the last week and over 36 hours testing it out. Wondering what it’s all about? Just keep reading for the full highlights.

In this expansion, nearly all of the mobs in the game had damage or HP changes to put them more in line with intended difficulty. Considering the number of mob types in the game, this was a huge undertaking that included fixing player skill mechanics, game mechanics, and mob AI to prevent future exploits.

The developers taking a three tiered approach addressing the player skills, the game mechanics, and the AI of mobs was amazing. It also allowed them to address the underlying problem, of players exploiting because mobs were too hard to kill without doing so. A lot of companies take the easy way out, just fixing AI, nerfing skills, or taking away key elements of the game. Aventurine’s three pronged assault has made for a much more enjoyable PvE experience.

Read Looking at the First Expansion

Anyone closely following Darkfall should know of the Eurogamer vs. Tasos 2/10 review fiasco. Well, Eurogamer has since agreed to re-review the game, assigning writer Kieron Gillen to the task, and that re-review is out today. What's the new verdict? A not-so-improved, but certainly better, four out of ten.

Kierons opening comments:

There is a history here, which would be foolish to pretend doesn't exist. When Darkfall was first reviewed on Eurogamer, it scored 2/10. The developer, Aventurine, was incensed. They'd checked their logs to discover the reviewer had a total logged-in time of a couple of hours. Eurogamer pressed their reviewer, who claimed their numbers must be wrong. He gave it at least nine hours. Eurogamer offered a re-review. Aventurine declined. Eurogamer bought an account anyway. And two months later, I'm here.

A bit more:

At the moment, I don't think there are many who will put up with Darkfall's madness. I certainly won't. I hope Darkfall grows and becomes a game which can take its charms and appeal to a wider audience (EVE wasn't EVE when it launched, for example - it began with fine ideas that appealed to a niche, and as they improved the game it sold its ideas to an ever-larger niche). Darkfall's just launched in the US and its expansion has gone live, after all. But as a game, it's just not there yet, its rewards too distant and the road there too barren to recommend to fellow travellers.

Read the full Eurogamer re-review here.

The North American launch of Darkfall is scheduled for today. Until now, Darkfall has only maintained a European server, but if all goes well today, those of us on this side of the pond may have a server of our own to call home.

Those who are interested might want to keep an eye on the official NA Darkfall website.

How excited are you for Darkfall's NA launch? Let us know in the comments!

MMORPG.com blogger beau Turkey writes this new entry concerning Aventurine's announcement of a North American server launch and gives his own unique perspective on how to support (or not support) an independent development studio.

No one should be surprised that the Darkfall developer(s?) have hit you up for more money. I don't care if they are charging you for the North American server, transfers or just because they are poor. I don't care if they are charging you because they are just greedy. Here's the rub: in the world of independent games (and a good deal of the time in the Big Leagues) stuff like this happens.

It's 50 bucks. 50. Ask your parents for a loan.

Read the entry, here.

Darkfall will open their American server on July 7th, 2009. This launch will coincide with the release of a large patch that will include many new features, new content, PvP updates, and more.

In the same announcement, Tasos has also stated a new website would be coming, including new forums. The forums will be viewable by the public, but only active subscribers will be able to post.

For the full announcement, go here.

MMORPG.com blogger Beau Turkey writes this entertaining post talking about why Aventurine's hardcore MMO Darkfall wasn't for him.

I know it hasn't been long. What...2 weeks? 3? But let me just explain.

Sit down. No, not there. That chair's broken.

Ok, look. I still think you're really Immersive, and graphically you are much better than I thought you would be. Pretty, actually.

But you're just not the right game for me. You're all about getting together with several of your friends and going after other groups of friends. You know, like a game of paint-ball. I enjoy those kinds of things once in a blue moon, but generally my off-time from real life doesn't involve so much...you know..running.

Read Beau's Blog - It's Not You... It's Me

MMORPG.com Darkfall Correspondent Kelly price writes this guide to the basics of Darkfall Combat.

Why bring a knife to a polearm fight? Why bring a polearm to a siege? Why shoot someone in the back with a mana missile when you have a bow and arrow? Indeed why (or why not)!? I am here to answer these questions and much more in my guide to all things sharp, shiny, and lethal.

Well let us jump into the thick of it with a few charts. Don’t you fret, little Agonians, I shall explain!

Read more here.

Aventurine has posted the notes for the latest patch for Darkfall.

The main focus for this patch were the optimizations. This is the most work we've done to date in this area.

Optimizations

• The audio system has been completely revamped and this will result in significantly higher performance, mostly noticeable during large sieges.
• A large number of server side optimizations regarding sieges and large battle performance have been applied.
• Miscellaneous client problems have been addressed

Crafting

New Items added for Skinning:

• Dragon Bone
• Ork Darktaint
• Northman Blood

Read more here.

The folks at Darkfall have posted reassurances to players after an ill timed server crash at the end of a city siege put the results of that siege into question.

Last night, after a siege was concluded, there was a server crash due to an unrelated issue. This created a rare condition where the city ownership change was not fully saved by all storage subsystems.

Any such inconsistency in the data is automatically corrected by the system during the scheduled maintenance window which unfortunately happens to be several hours after the fact. We've checked and we see that the siege results will be saved during the scheduled maintenance. While this kind of automatic correction happens for all things to maintain the stability of the system, this happens to be a major event and we feel obligated to inform the interested parties: City ownership will be automatically finalized during the data consistency checks within the scheduled maintenance window. This means that the city will be owned by the winner of the challenge.

Read more here.

The folks at Darkfall have posted an update on their policies on third party programs and macroing.

This is mostly an information update on topics that the community may find useful. There will be more of these types of updates on a regular basis. Since we haven’t had one in a while, this one is quite long.

Policies
There seems to be some confusion about what’s allowed and what’s not in game. When in doubt, the EULA and the Terms of Service are displayed every single time you start the game.

The general rule is that any third party program that interfaces with the game or gives a player an unfair advantage is prohibited in Darkfall. The only types of programs allowed are chat communication programs and screenshot-video capture programs.

Read more here.

MMORPG.com Darkfall Correspondent Kelly Price is back with part two of an overview of Darkfall combat mechanics. Today, Kelly goes more in-depth on the specific melee weapons, how to use them and what each is best for.

Weapons have stats and damage ratings like any game, but they can be looted from you when you die (and you will). The only things you have that will never be taken are three possible newbie weapons. You begin with a free one-handed sword (which you can swap for any other type for 20g), and the second and third slots cost 100g and 1000g.

Pressing “T” changes the swing of your weapon from horizontal to vertical and back again. Common sense dictates that swinging horizontally will allow you to hit in a wider arc in front of you, whereas swinging vertically will allow you to only strike one opponent at a time. In close combat with friends or potential enemies you’ll want to keep your swings as tight as possible. Say you accidentally hit that guy killing skellies nearby. Nine times out of ten he is going to take that opportunity to gank you or at the very least send you speeding back to town.

Read it all here.