What sets this apart from Firefall?

So I played Firefall. A lot.

Got really bored with it. Really quick.

This game looks really interesting, but I can already see some really, really similar gameplay similarities between the two.

Should I even bother? If so, why?

I'm downloading the game now. I'm going to try it, but I wanted to get some dialogue going on this topic, since at the moment, I'm tentatively excited it wont be 'another firefall'. The repetitive "dynamic" events in Firefall weren't the only reason I got really bored of it really fast, but it was the major reason I eventually quit.

Well for the one thing this game is a lot more simple in a good way than Firefall which is ridiculously complex in places (the tons of tutorials required to get into Firefall), this game also has a strong single player element, you dont need to play with others if you dont want to. Lastly the game looks a hell of a lot better than Firefall which has terrible art direction where everything sort of blends into each other.

Firefall is also more MMO'ish whereas Defiance is closer to Borderlands style game play, it pretty much is Borderlands online, if you ultimately got sick of Borderlands once the single player element was done with then you will likely lose interest in Defiance after you complete it.

Defiance has dynamic events too but it's pretty much just about level up weapons and loot chasing.

Until someone comes up with a game that has infinite variables in terms of how and what AI does and when, games will always be repetitive eventually so I think you should get back to reality on that one. Unless you PvP, you will always hit that point eventually where you know where enemies will come, how and what is the best way to deal with that.

You will always be disappointed when you except literal impossibilities.

sounds like my non-existent first wife

I played Firefall a little, and got bored with it really quick as well. That game is just way too grindy for me. But I've played Defiance quite a lot, and am not about to quit yet.

In my opinion, the key differences with Defiance are:

• Firefall is designed around its crafting system. The focus of the game is on gathering the tons of resources you need, while gameplay itself is actually pretty basic (you steamroll everything if you have enough people / high level gear, and you inevitably get owned quickly in the opposite situation). Defiance is designed around its shooter elements: getting better loot is a factor in keeping you playing the game, but shooting things in the face is a lot of fun in and of itself.
• Defiance has actual storyline missions, as well as a bunch of side activities and pursuits. Basically, the game holds your hand and shows you which way to go. Whereas Firefall just gives you a set of events popping up on your map, which you can run over and over.
• Moving around the map is much, much easier and faster in Defiance. The main reason I stopped playing Firefall was that I kept spending a looooong time running across the map to get to interesting events, only to arrive too late about half of the time and wondering what to do with myself. I know you can buy / craft objects that increase your mobility, but it still doesn't come close to Defiance: here you can be at any event in 2 minutes max, less than that most of the time.

But you know, YMMV, so try it out by yourself and see if you like it. As someone else said, this game is basically less MMORPGish and more Borderlandish than Firefall. Whether you like that depends on your personal preferences.