A new blog post on the official Darkfall Online: Unholy Wars site contains information for current players of Darkfall Online. When Unholy Wars launches, the original game will shutter its doors. Player characters will not make the transfer but owners have been promised the 'viability' will move with them. Current subscribers will also be able to score DFUW for the price of a subscription.
So what happens to the old characters? We will preserve them for several reasons. One reason is to commemorate them in a Darkfall Online tribute/memorial after the original Darkfall is over. Another is to keep them for Darkfall related side-projects we are considering. We’ll give you more details on all this after the DFUW launch.
Regarding Darkfall Online, in its current form, we will shut it down to make room for Darkfall Unholy Wars.
mmogarden