Agree with this.
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To be honest I've been in Firefall beta for over a year and 3 months. the game has gotten no where closer to the original pax video, it's dropped the ball on class rebuilds twice and are now after more then a year and a half finally understanding how to "make" a shooter....
The pvp is not encouraged, the "open world pvp" has been promised for over 2 years and they have as of yet to even start working on the basics for it.
Firefall might do well. But anyone with a brain will see the polish in defiance trumps everything firefall has been "working" on. Simply put firefall could have been out 6 months ago if they just did their job from the start. but all the back and forth bs and the fact that crafting is terrible to new players joining the beta and that reaction to class changes have been dismal at best. makes me look at the 100+ skills in defiance as a much better candidate.
Firefall will not do that well they have already failed to hype the esports that they built the game around as a concept 2 years ago. They don't even have anything major going on with backers for the tournaments. not to mention that they have again revamped pvp from the ground up for a third time in 2 years. If this latest revamp does not pan out the game will not even be out for another year+.
Write off firefall, it won't be worth your time. sorry lots of reiteration.
Oh yeah thanks for reminding me. Firefall has zero character customization. Everyone has the same body suits for each class, and there is NO plans on ANY character customization for at least a YEAR. You can buy hats right now that is all.
I can't see how any team shooter can open with zero customization there is 6 titles that are coming out and have entered open beta in the last few months that have thousands of combinations and with defiance and apb there are millions of looks for your character. So yeah. firefall will be firefallen by this time next year, They listen to their diehard fanboys that if you watch have actually stopped posting after about 6 months. they do not listen to the core of players that have been around since their pax debut over 2 years ago. Fail.
Overall, I get the impression that Firefall is somewhat more PvP oriented while Defiance is a little more PvE oriented.
It could be argued that any micro transaction store in a game could make it pay to win but that all depends on how you define pay to win. Yes there will be boosts and such but my definition of pay to win is when you get actual items from a store that you cannot get in game. So far I have not seen this in the Beta 3 for defiance so I am quite confident in saying Defiance is not pay to win. I am getting a little tired of cell shaded graphics as well so once Defiance launches I don't think I'll be playing Firefall at all.
Cheers
Both are great games in their own right.
I've been in the firefall beta for quite some time. One change I've really come to despise is the battleframe system. They force you to start over with equipment and weapons each time you upgrade battleframes, you can't use them with the new one, and make you essentially start over from the beginning of the game and unlock everything again. All you get is the tiniest boost to stats for your trouble.
And this game is just like it. You can blow through levels like a saiyan but your rifle is never going to get any more damage on it. It's because all these third person shooters are PvP E-sports games masquerading as MMOs. The easiest way to balance PVP is to make sure no one gets more powerful than anyone else. So expect there to be a LOT more PvP in Defiance, because it's the only reason the devs would sacrifice player progression.
Firefall, for all its problems and stagnation learned to compartmentalize these elements well. The PvE is just a resource hunt so you can build equipment for your frame so you can fight more effectively in PvP. But since there's no crafting in Defiance...
The recent update to Firefall completely separates the PVP from the PVE character progression.
I've been in the Firefall beta for quite some time now, I really like the game a lot, it's super smooth gameplay, the developers are very awesome with their community, etc. I don't have much experience with Trion, but so far everything I've seen is positive with lots of very happy customers, so I imagine both games will do well in the long-run.
The main differences between the two that I 'felt' affected my gameplay (after playing several hours of the Defiance beta last weekend) are that:
1) Firefall is a sci-fi, almost cartoony setting, while Defiance is sci-fi and post-apocalyptic setting. This definitely changes the 'feel' of the game.
2) There isn't a whole lot to do in Firefall. When I play Firefall I don't see myself playing for more than an hour tops, but in Defiance I played several hours at a time, only stopping because my 1 month old baby woke up and needed changing. :) Something about Defiance keeps me wanting to play long stretches at a time.
Defiance is fairly polished and succeeds at capturing the audience it aims at. Namely, a little bit of everyone aside from those who flat out refuse to play really, really easy games. From sci fi fans to shooter fans, and even the unusual benefit of a tv show it draws in folks across the spectrum. Gameplay is established and is what it is - and very straight forward.
Firefall is all over the place. As previously mentioned, its been revamped numerous times trying to figure out what the heck it wants to be besides an fps/esports game. I'm talking gameplay wise, here.
Between the two, Defiance and it's not even close.
I didn't enjoy firefall that much when I tried it. It didn't manage to keep my interest. I did sink a few hours into the Defiance beta though. It just seemed more fun to me.