Fighting over the sandbox

Are you into free-for-all fantasy PvP MMORPGs with a sandbox game design? Then this could be quite an interesting month for you: Darkfall announced it's first free 14-day trial offer, previously the trial did cost $1. In the other corner of the ring Mortal Online's counter to release day is at less than 6 days now. While Darkfall is more established, being already a year old, Mortal Online brings some new elements to the genre. Like rare mobs that don't respawn. Quote:

Is your goal to face a legendary monster? Well, that is usually suicide – if you can find one. But if your guild would actually manage to kill one, it’s dead. Gone. Rare monsters and quests do not resurrect or come again, whether it’s an ancient beast, a crumbling temple, an island rising out of the sea or a great ritual that fails or succeeds.

You might get away with an item never seen before, or the unique scar that tells about the experience. There are not many of these opportunities but they are usually important enough to affect the whole world and its history. All you have to do is be at the right place at the right time.

Makes you wonder whether the Darkfall free trial timing has anything to do with the Mortal Online release date. :) As Darkfall seems to be stuck at 20k subscribers for a while now, it will be interesting to watch how the release of Mortal Online with a rather similar design concept affects the popularity of Darkfall. Which one would you bet on?