Combat occurs in three primary forms: melee, archery, and magic. Two of the three forms are ranged, however. What makes this significant is that the combat engine in Darkfall Online is much more like a 'first person shooter' than like a traditional MMO. For example, there is no auto-attack option in Darkfall Online.
1. Target selection is not automatic. E.g., you can not click on tab and automatically target or cycle through nearby targets. (You have to aim with your pointer and click when attacking.)
2. Your attacks may be dodged by other players via their use of maneuvering their character and shield. i.e. each attack is not guaranteed to have a certain percentage chance of being successful.
3. Since playable races vary in size, some are much harder to successfully target than others.
4. Additional damage applies to attacks which are from come from a target's rear. (Watch your back!) This can make running a difficult decision.
5. You can hurt your allies with 'friendly fire'. This requires ranged fighters to suddenly need a clear line of sight for their targets, and they don't want the hand to hand fighters to move and jump too much. Players will find that battles look a lot more realistic in DarkFall Online because the combat engine is more realistic. E.g. no 'jump rope' battles. 6. PVP is common, and unrestricted. Even your friends can kill you.
Due to some of these differences, play style itself differs from traditional MMOs. Players are more apt to try to outflank or outmaneuver you, and they are also likely to try to sneak up on you from behind rather than chasing your down head on as is common with games such as World of Warcraft. Since other players of your own race can kill you in Darkfall Online, it is one of the only games where players of the same race distrust each other. Players will carefully survey their surroundings before making a 'camp' and need to do more 'lookout' duties.
This article should help you to know if DarkFall Online is the right kind of game for you, but it also serves to show how changing a few rules and using a different combat engine can make an MMO much more interesting. Since combat is so realistic and challenging in DarkFall Online, it is my favorite part of the game. I believe that DarkFall Online will pave the way for new MMOs as far as combat mechanics go. Darkfall simply found a way to improve upon traditional standards and make gaming more fun. Complexity and depth is a good thing.
Article resource:
http://www.articlesbase.com/computer-games-articles/combat-in-darkfall-online-1559093.html
