State of the Game?

Can anyone give me an update as to the state of Defiance these days? Specifically, I'm curious if stability has been improved, new (and worthwhile) content has been released, new maps/regions, the loot tables/drop rates improved, crafting system has been fixed, etc.

TL;DR version:
I pre-ordered Defiance and played it every day for months. I loved a lot of things about it, but I eventually gave up on it. I'm guessing around August, maybe. It was after zombies/sieges were introduced, but before the Castithan (is that the right word?) DLC dropped. I just remember reaching a point where I lost hope that the game would be fixed.

The things I listed above are what I remember being most bothered by, but I know there was other stuff. Alot of the PvP stuff was so bugged as to be nearly unplayable. Pop-in was a big problem. Instability/FPS drops at arkfalls, and bugged arkfalls. I know I said it above, but the loot tables and crafting were REALLY frustrating.

I know that much of this stuff will never be completely fixed. But I'm curious whether there has at least been significant improvement in these areas. Is Defiance worth revisiting? Do the Devs seem to have things under control now? Or are they just limping their way through satisfying the season pass obligations and then wiping their hands?

I'd really appreciate opinions on this. Thanks

Short answer
no
no
no




long answer

hell no
hell no
hell no

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DejaVooDoo

I know that much of this stuff will never be completely fixed. But I'm curious whether there has at least been significant improvement in these areas. Is Defiance worth revisiting? Do the Devs seem to have things under control now? Or are they just limping their way through satisfying the season pass obligations and then wiping their hands?

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Significant changes? Yes and No. I really like the ArkBreaker concept, seeing as how it (finally) correlated with the goings on in the TV show... minor arkbreaks are my favorite of the two, because that WM instance tends to run like shtako 9 times out of 10.

Slight improvements? Yes.

Worth revisiting? Only you can really judge that. Load it up and give it a play for a little bit. The Xbox NA servers have decent traffic a majority of the time.

Does it seem like they're limping their way though season pass obligations? All due respect, but it's starting to look that way. I mean, I want to be wrong on that, but the general lack of communication on their end is deafening.

EDITED... my bad. Beer has been flowing since I got home from work.

Definitely no lack of silence on their end.
There is an abundance of silence.

@ OP
Creep's answer is much better and far more correct than mine.
Sign in and give it some time.
The arkbreaker story line is the best of any of the DLCs.
It's short but there is some story there and it's worth doing.

edit@creep

crap, now my post makes no sense.

If the things in the first paragraph you wrote are your main concerns, don't bother.

1. Stability has improved for PC, still shaky on Xbox, and non-existent on PS3.

2. Very little new content has been released. Plenty of rehashed shyte though.

3. Map/region expansion has not occurred.

4. The loot tables/drop rates improved then went into the ****ter then unable to predict at all.

5. There never was a "crafting system" to fix...

Also, what should be mentioned. If you stoppd playing in August, this will mean that the majority, if not all of your weapons pale in comparison the weapons now in game. All oranges now have 6 roles. Melee and self-revive rolls were don away with {except melee roles on some shotgun models}. Basically, a lot of the blues and most of the purps in game now are statistically better that most of the oj's in your arsenal.

Pop it in. Give it another whirl. Still a fun game!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rebtattoo

<Snip>
Also, what should be mentioned. If you stoppd playing in August, this will mean that the majority, if not all of your weapons pale in comparison the weapons now in game. All oranges now have 6 roles. Melee and self-revive rolls were don away with {except melee roles on some shotgun models}. Basically, a lot of the blues and most of the purps in game now are statistically better that most of the oj's in your arsenal.

Pop it in. Give it another whirl. Still a fun game!

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That is true Reb, but a pre-patch purle Ar, smg or Ba-sniper will get you by until you get a new gun. Btw if you never did the first episode missions with Nolan and Irrissa, then do them and you will get a great purple Ar. All season 1 episode missions are back for good, (except for players like Reb and a couple others who have some weird bug preventing them from seeing them.)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Atticus Batman

*snip* (except for players like Reb and a couple others who have some weird bug preventing them from seeing them.)

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:(

[10chars]

Thanks for the replies. Some questions:

@Bone - That sig! They really left the shotgun mag modifier at 1.05?!? They never fixed that?

@Creep - ArkBreakers must have been after my time. Are they like arkfalls? Or instances? Or is it a story-line continuation?

@Reb - They never expanded the map at all? Not even that fort area in the south people had glitched into last summer? None of the dead space in the north above the starter area?

@Reb - By crafting, I meant modding. Specifically the cost of modding. When I quit, I was at an EGO level where it cost me over a million salvage to open the slots on any newly acquired weapons. I remember at one point paying 5K scrip to a low level to go buy me a grinding gun from a vending machine. Did they ever fix that system's logic? Also, there was the issue of synergies that existed for mods but no matching weapons and vice versa.

@Anyone:
-Did they add new co-op instances at least? (those were my favorite, from what I recall)
-Did they ever get Shadow Wars to be functional? I always loved the concept, but it just never worked right.
-Did they ever add local/area voice chat? If not, did they at least fix text chat problems?
-Do people actually play together now? It always used to be more like a bunch of people soloing next to each other.
-Did the Daily/Faction Contracts system ever get sorted out?
-Are there still places where you can make your car shoot up in the air?
-Will my sweet Duni collection still be cool? Or does everyone have like rainbow cerberuses now?

I started around the same time and took my "break" from the game almost exactly during the same period as @DejaVooDoo.
I have had many of the same questions, and have thought about ldusting off my PC or PS3 version again. Thanks for the answers. I guess I'll still pop in when the TV show starts up again.
At least there's that to look forward to.

They changed the shotgun mag rolls but they left the mag buffs at the mod vendors as % buffs so yea...
Pointless and stupid.

Like what has been said, is it a perfect game, no and may never be at this rate, but it's still a hell of a lot of fun.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DejaVooDoo

@Creep - ArkBreakers must have been after my time. Are they like arkfalls? Or instances? Or is it a story-line continuation?

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AKA: DLC2 "ArkBreaker"

We were finally given the ability to call down arkfalls, with the use of ark spikes. (Much like what was seen in a few episodes of the show.) It takes one spike to call down a minor, and four spikes to call down a major.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DejaVooDoo

Thanks for the replies. Some questions:

@Bone - That sig! They really left the shotgun mag modifier at 1.05?!? They never fixed that?

@Creep - ArkBreakers must have been after my time. Are they like arkfalls? Or instances? Or is it a story-line continuation?

@Reb - They never expanded the map at all? Not even that fort area in the south people had glitched into last summer? None of the dead space in the north above the starter area?

@Reb - By crafting, I meant modding. Specifically the cost of modding. When I quit, I was at an EGO level where it cost me over a million salvage to open the slots on any newly acquired weapons. I remember at one point paying 5K scrip to a low level to go buy me a grinding gun from a vending machine. Did they ever fix that system's logic? Also, there was the issue of synergies that existed for mods but no matching weapons and vice versa.

@Anyone:
-Did they add new co-op instances at least? (those were my favorite, from what I recall)
-Did they ever get Shadow Wars to be functional? I always loved the concept, but it just never worked right.
-Did they ever add local/area voice chat? If not, did they at least fix text chat problems?
-Do people actually play together now? It always used to be more like a bunch of people soloing next to each other.
-Did the Daily/Faction Contracts system ever get sorted out?
-Are there still places where you can make your car shoot up in the air?
-Will my sweet Duni collection still be cool? Or does everyone have like rainbow cerberuses now?

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Co-op instances: Sort of, you can now play some of the missions that originally you were forced to solo in a four person group (kind of a new co-op map), and in the next dlc they play on making the arenas they first released in casti dlc co-op as well.

Shadow wars: I can't really speak to this one as I didn't and don't play it much, I have noticed that you can accidentally be put into the queue for one when trying to join a phase that a friend is in sometimes, I believe this has something to do with them being on a different shard

Chat: As far as voice chat I don't know since I usually have voice muted to avoid those people who forget they have a mic on and end up arguing with someone in their home resulting in hearing one side of an argument yelled back and forth (I had this happen quite a few times). Text chat has had some improvements, it's much more widely used now, if you go to iron demon or overpass especially there tends to be quite a bit of chatter.

Actually playing together: I know I do and I usually will see two or three people traveling generally together doing different things (arkfalls, arkbreaks, sieges, etc). I usually will play with my brother or brother-in-law, but sometimes join one player or another just to have a group instead of soloing everything, which while easily done isn't as much fun. (note: this is simply my experience)

Contract system: that depends on what you mean "sorted out." Usually you get credit or them (there have been a few instances where I've had to do one twice to get actual credit) but they tend to have the same daily contract over and over again for several days before a new one is given. There are two new factions; thorn liro, which came with castithan charge pack, and 7th legion, which came with the 7th legion dlc.

Car shoot up places: I had heard about these but never knew where any were. there are times where you might hit something and be thrown into the air in a manner that physically doesn't make much sense (or hit a little lip and be stopped completely). But I don't think it's as bad as it used to be.

Cerberus/duni: Unfortunately they still have not actually given us a legitimate cerberus, some have the raptor but it's not that great and not classified as a cerberus. I see players driving in everything from the original atv you get from the first story mission to challengers, it mainly depends on the preference.

Hope this helps, like others have said; will it ever be completely fixed, probably not. Is it still a fun game, yes.

Understand also that this is simply based on my personal experience. I am on PC/NA so stability issues aren't as bad as other platforms.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bonehead

Short answer
no
no
no




long answer

hell no
hell no
hell no

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I agree as well, game is evolving yes but it will be a while before it reaches potential. In my opinion it is getting better compared to beta/alpha days.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Major Nelson

I agree as well, game is evolving yes but it will be a while before it reaches potential. In my opinion it is getting better compared to beta/alpha days.

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I'm not saying that we're still in the beta phase....
.... But there has been talk....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DejaVooDoo

Thanks for the replies. Some questions:

@Reb - They never expanded the map at all? Not even that fort area in the south people had glitched into last summer? None of the dead space in the north above the starter area?

@Reb - By crafting, I meant modding. Specifically the cost of modding. When I quit, I was at an EGO level where it cost me over a million salvage to open the slots on any newly acquired weapons. I remember at one point paying 5K scrip to a low level to go buy me a grinding gun from a vending machine. Did they ever fix that system's logic? Also, there was the issue of synergies that existed for mods but no matching weapons and vice versa.

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1. No. We're still playing on the same chunk of property since launch. There have been talks and rumors, but.....

2. They did change the price while you were gone. Made it a much more reasonable price to unlock mod slots and what not. From what it looks like, DLC Gunslingers is bringing that back but not as harshly. I heard skuttlebutt about the scavenger sniper mods for a scavenger sniper that didn't exist. {I don't use snipers all that often.} It does now. However, there are still mods in the game that do absolutely nothing for a weapon, or worse, decrease it's abilities. That is being "looked into and may be fixed soon".

Thanks for all the replies, folks. Sounds like y'all are dealing with the same kind of dysfunction that I'm trying to escape in BF4. And no increase to the map/new instances is a dealbreaker. Thanks all for saving me the hours it woulda taken just to be disappointed again.