Darkfall UW - Wipe or no wipe?

You've also got to remember that conquest was crucial because we were making big moves early in the server's lifespan. With nothing settled, we were fighting for our lives and glory from the moment we began to the moment our cities fell. There was precious little time to do much but fight or mine resources to fight again or build defenses. We also were forced to struggle against the explicitly anti-social, anti-RP of the Goons, a situation which forced the most RP-inclined among us to counter-troll more than socialize.

With any luck, the narrative will be a bit different this time. Conquest, and battle, will always be central. We might, however, have a bit more breathing room to enjoy other aspects of the guild structure and set-up.

The way to counter-troll the goons is to be straight up with the facts and acknowledge those aspects of their posts that are true. Then you can publicly dismiss the BS as propaganda. That is the strategy they use, and you will see it with any set back they suffer in game. They acknowledge it, make fun of themselves for it, than strategically adjust. The goons are masters at propaganda in games.

I have always enjoyed fighting against them because I never take their attacks personally. Getting others to take it personally is how they *win*.

Very good point -- I believe Cynewulf was responding to the Goons quite masterfully, and I did my best to forumwarrior alongside him. But, alas, my style was/is more "human battering-ram" than "self-deprecation with a side of biting wit".

I hope no one took it too seriously: it was a messy, enormous, and altogether enjoyable struggle. The only thing I ever took very seriously was when some of my guildmembers holding our guild bank hostage because they were unhappy I'd brought in some rambunctious PvPers as a semi-sub.

Who were those PvPers?

Don't underestimate the power of the Goon's, in c-rpg strategus useing propaganda they amassed almost every other clan against the northern empire which consisted of the few top NA clans. Northern Empire destroyed there zergs with superior fighting skill and tactics in strat 1 and 2 and slowly fell off to greater numbers and fewer allies. Many people lost interest in strat because whenever we accomplished something they would shut it down and it would come back months later.

I've never known a goon to be able to stand among the good fighters of games and it's usually a fight against supply/numbers. There ability to sway people to there cause is legendary. If a game is ever 90% skill based like mount and blade c-rpg then zergs are beatable with fewer numbers and good political and strategical maneuvering.


Late strategus was pritty much whoever could farm the most gold/troops/craft equipment so the big clans excelled at the start and the goons had multiple warband account just to farm shit on the map. So a 20 man clan would literally get zerged by naked club wielders that had thousands of troops against there 500 with base equipment. After the start you could have your best equipment and fight off any number if your tactica was good enough but people quit because of the beginning.

If Darkfall's not a flop from my point of view NA1 is going to be a uphill battle to restore Hyperion, I wouldn't have it any other way though.

Zergs will be the way of the world until a game is released in which travel is slow and difficult enough to prevent the participation of every person on the server in every siege. Darkfall was close, but I used to routinely ride from Alberworth to the Mirdain lands to meet with Oromea, and it only took about 25 to 30 minutes.

Still, while the zerg would be smaller in such a game, numbers would continue to be important even among the regional powers... there's few ways of mitigating the advantage of numbers in a game such as this, provided it isn't a grindfest with only a few ever maxing out their skills and abilities.

I have fought the goons in one form or another for years in Eve Online. Win or lose, it is always engaging and fun. I hope they do make an appearance in Darkfall, since I doubt I will ever return to Eve.

As Bloodthorn mentions, the Goons are incredibly well-versed in MMO combat. One can accuse them of zerging, but there is a certain art to their style of zerging which can produce some remarkable results.

I imagine the numbers they'll field for UW depends on two things: whether anything interesting is happening in EVE, and whether they left DF with the idea that the game was good fun or that it was a piece of trash. If EVE is quiet when DF finally launches, we could easily see hundreds.

It won't be the same experience as before if they do show up, however. They don't particularly hold grudges, as near as I can tell. As it stands, Hyperion is going to be much less.. obvious a target at launch. We can use this to build our society and our strength more evenly.

In my experience, having stuck around after the fall of Hyperion for about a year in which I participated in both "Freehold" and the second "Hyperion" under Honorious, no one missed us more than the Goons. Throughout that period they, despite dealing with a losing battle against TheMercs, frequently urged us to reform, many (including Gluttony) suggesting that the game was better when we were in it. They certainly enjoyed rousing a server to action to take us on, but Brandt is undoubtedly correct in surmising that they do not hold grudges.

Of course, that may not be true when it comes to BoB, but that's about it. I suspect they'll set about establishing themselves at first, and then begin working against whomsoever either poses the biggest threat, or would simply be the most fun to go after. It seems highly unlikely that we'll be either of those this time around; initially, at least.

Hyperion is a name that attracts enemies attention, some people want to shut down Hyperion just to say they did.