Originally Posted by
BJWyler
Very well stated and I applaud your efforts, including the point about heeding your advice affecting your own decision to play (or not to play), instead of the usual blanket statement of “everyone”.
So let’s dig into it:
Artificial Timesinks are one of the very definitions of grind. The example you give here is one of the premier examples of mind-numbing repetitive boredom – even with breaks in between. Many people simply do not have that kind of time to put into a game – either in a single sitting, or overall just to feel like they are doing the same thing over and over again just to try to advance to the next stage of their mission progress. There is a reason why the game industry is becoming more “casual”. It’s because those of us who were there when it was born and helped form the industry have realized that the playstyle of the olden days no longer befits us as players. I did the hardcore grind for the first half of my 40+ years of life, and have no desire to bring those days back. A quick trip back here and there on one of my aging systems is more than enough.
But you are not adding more content, simply artificially gating the content there is. Historically, the gaming community has disliked artificial gating of content. The joy that is Defiance is that you CAN go anywhere (with the one exception of not being able to get past the Monolith until you complete the relevant main mission – the friend porting being the exception), and do anything that your skill allows you to do.
I, for one, appreciate the friend porting workaround immensely. It means that a lower EGO friend can still join me in SF to do content with me when we are on-line together, instead of being forced to stay on the mainland. Dark Matter is already designed to be harder than most of the mainland mobs, so it makes it all the more fun when we group up together and adds to the challenge of the area.
There’s a reason that players won’t like it – for the reasons stated above. It is simply adding grind where no grind is required, and no longer desired by the gaming community as a whole (generally speaking). The good thing about Defiance is that you can still make the content seem 100 times longer by re-doing the repeatable content (Emergencies, Conflicts, Arkfalls, Co-ops, PvP) to your heart’s content. The only difference between what you propose and what is in game now is that the current implementation puts the power to do so in the hands of the player. The gaming community (generally) has always desired to have that power in their hands and not be dictated to them by the devs.
And that’s the difference between Defiance and the typical MMO. Like GW2, Defiance breaks the mold a bit to remove the gear treadmill (read grind), and focuses on letting player skill be the deciding factor between success and failure instead of gear being that factor. I, for one, appreciate the fact that I do not have to hop on the gear treadmill when playing Defiance, and have noticed a considerable difference in skill from when I started playing up to now – and that’s using my favorite weapons nearly from start to finish (several of which are the common white items from the Ark Hunter rewards, and several others from the quest lines). Personally speaking, I have found Trion’s implementation of this system better than Arenanet’s. I did not enjoy GW2, but immensely enjoy Defiance.
I have never felt that my character was a pre-molded mechanic outside of the initial character creation, which is limited in comparison to a typical RPG game’s character design. The only thing I feel limited by is the number of loadout slots we currently have. With the number of perks and the selection of weapons we have to choose from, not to mention that our clothing is completely cosmetic, I think there is more than enough room for customization of our characters. And thanks to the new Proxy Memory adjustment coming with Arkbreaker, I no longer have to worry about looking at a ton of General Steve’s anymore.
To each his own there. I am unaware of any industry standard that lists the things you do – and I have been a part of the community and have followed the industry in some form or another for 20+ years. What you list is simply a Player’s Possible Expectations. I have no expectations of what any game’s DLC is going to be other than what the developers decide to include in that DLC. I remember a time, not too long ago, when some DLC was nothing more than a set of armor ... for a mount.
Personally speaking, going by your list, both DLC 1 and DLC 2 have given me each of those three things:
I have played the Battle Arenas for much longer than 5-10 hours at this point, and continue to play them
Arkbreaker will certainly add several dozen hours of play time with the new Emergencies and Arkfall Interiors.
I have been entertained by the content provided by each DLC up to this point. The “story missions” of DLC 1 did not quite “dazzle” me, but DLC 2 certainly improved upon that aspect.
Both the Battle Arenas and the Arkfall interiors are new areas to be experienced and explored, and there certainly has been a good number of additional weapons to be had from both DLCs.
That’s just players not managing their expectations. Nothing was ever said about getting 5 DLCs during the first season of Defiance. I certainly never expected that when I purchased the SP. The only thing I expected was to get 5 DLCs within one year. We currently have 2 and they said they are on track to provide the other 3 before the start of Season Two. I would say that no claim of broken promises can be made until the premier episode of the second season airs.
And Trion did apologize about the Raptor confusion – again most of the confusion stemming from a hyped up dev post that really promised nothing other than what Trion hoped to bring into the game. I also never saw any promise that motorcycles would be included in the game. Anyone with an ounce of common sense knows that game development is fluid and that what may seem possible turns out to be impossible (or impractical) so changes must be made or entire ideas scrapped. Again, much of the controversy and “broken promises” come from players not being able to manage their own expectations and pretty much taking on the “Chicken Little” attitude where one small thing said must be taken as gospel.
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