Sony Online Entertainment learned a harsh lesson when they launched the NGE update for Star Wars Galaxies, which essentially revamped the core game and did away with or combined many of its original classes. Darkfall devs at development house Adventurine are tempting fate in similar waters with their Darkfall 2.0 update, which will revamp the entire game and could even end up with a wipe the characters of current players.

The debate on the official Darkfall forums is surprisingly mixed, but according to Darkfall Producer Tasos Flambouras the wipes are being considered because no part of the game has been left untouched in the update. It's all being changed and the character wipes could be a very real part of that process.

There were concerns about wipes: We’ve considered wipes on various levels, however these are important decisions because while this is like a new game, it’s still the continuation of the current one. Also, the way things will work in the new version, it would not be as necessary to wipe, but wiping would also not be as drastic as it would be in the current version. This is a topic we’ll open up for discussion after we’ve given you more information on the new version of the game, so you can understand all the parameters involved.

It's not often a launched game wipes its character and the Star Wars Galaxies NGE update may be the most prominent example of just how wrong that can go. But despite the reduction of classes and the revamps with NGE, SOE didn't do a full wipe, allowing players to at least build up their former characters in a new profession using what they had previously earned. If Darkfall does decide to wipe characters, it could possibly use a similar method or do it in such way that it leaves players to start anew. We'll have to wait until later to find out which.

Flambouras also promised more details in future developer blogs to explain exactly what players can expect when the final decisions are made, noting that more details should be available about the update by August. In the meantime, players continue to debate the prospect of losing their characters in a persistent online world setting.

What do you think? Would you keep playing a game if they wiped your characters years after release? Tell us what you think below.

Sources:

Eurogamer

Darkfall Developer Blog