Defiance State of the Game Update

Trick Dempsey, Creative Lead for Defiance, posted the latest “state of the game” update on Friday the 13th. Let’s hope it’s not a harbinger of bad things to come.  

While Dempsey acknowledged that shooting, driving, and chasing arkfalls are “entertaining as hell”… he also admitted that things could be a lot better. He seems pretty adamant about getting all aspects of the game up to snuff. 

Guns Make the Shooter

Fixing weapons is the first thing on their list. Which is great to hear, because any shooter – whether it be an MMO or an FPS – needs to have a fantastic arsenal to play with. For instance, think of Borderlands and the infinite selection that series has given us. Based on Dempsey’s comments (they’ll be making sure each gun is a “viable and attractive choice” and that each one will have their own “special breed of fun”), it sounds like they’re going to “trick” out the Defiance arsenal in much the same way.

But it’s not all about the diversity… they’ll be tweaking the core balance of base weapons, making sure that rarity/mastery bonuses are appropriately applied, and rarer guns will “always be accompanied with celebration and never disappointment.” Oh ya… it sounds like they’re definitely taking a page from the Borderlands playbook.

Shooting, driving, and chasing down arkfalls are each entertaining as hell, and that’s a great foundation to build upon. Defiance has incredible potential, and it is going to reach that potential come hell or waters that are high. – Trick Dempsey

Inventory Redux

One of my gripes has always been the rather clumsy inventory system. Thankfully, Dempsey acknowledged that it “needs serious improvement”. The game allows for different loadouts, but due to the limited inventory space making decisions on the fly is almost impossible. They’re promising a smoother process. Let’s hope so. 

Another clunky element to Defiance is that it’s an MMO, but sometimes it doesn’t feel like one. You can thank the lackluster social features. Dempsey said chat (voice and text), along with other systems will be enhanced to provide more convenient, reliable social experience. 

Cooperative Corrections

A few other things of note: to help the game feel more like an MMO, objectives and UI elements will be altered to improve the flow of the game and draw more players into the same location in hopes of beefing up cooperation and competition. Shields will have a “valid tactical advantage” to them (he specifically mentioned the Ironclads were getting “significant buffs”). 

What about the future? The second DLC expansion will include arkfall interiors (finally!), new boss encounters, and power-ups called spikes and stims. 

It probably sounds like I’m harping on this game, but I actually really dig it (and the SyFy show too). Having played it since beta, I find it a fun post-apocalyptic, alien world to romp around in. And with no monthly fee I’ll happily play it for years. Fellow GameSkinny columnist Ask Erin wrote up a very detailed review that outlines why you should play it. So give it a read! 

So, what do you think about the promised changes?