Defiance Free-to-Play Arrives June 4!

[Deunan]

You said that the F2P will have a cap of KeyCode of 50. So I can imagine that a F2P player will not have access to a Tier 4 Lockbox cause it costs 64 KeyCodes. How does it affects a F2P gameplay?

Scapes already confirmed in another post that you can increase key code capacity as a micro-transaction.

[Bakku]

I think this is probably a good thing. I'm sure I'll be able to get more people to try it, now that it's free, but I would rather the show be free-to-watch on Hulu and Defiance the game keep it's $10 value.

I mean all episodes. Last season included. If people have to subscribe to cable or pay for Amazon Prime ($80 or potentially $100 a year) to watch the whole show, will they be interested enough to play the game when there are others out there that do what Defiance does better? Let's face it, one of the biggest pluses for Defiance is that it's a game AND a show, if you put the main benefit behind a pay-wall you're crippling yourself.

If it turns out that Syfy can't / won't let it be shown on Hulu or another free site, I don't see a bright future for the game.

[Manstan]

Two words Land expansion.

[LegendaryU2K]

I bought the game, so i get more characters slots?
I already 4 characters, i get 4 more and extra XP+money? all this starts june 4th?

[otonagamer]

Let's clarify: we don't have more DLCs planned at this time but have LOTS of Season 2 content planned. The first of our crossover missions are being added mid-May and will be available to all players.

Q1: which form of two do you think it will take as far as you can tell right now?:
1)Defiance won't have any purchasable DLC/season pass in season 2 like it did in season 1. All the additional contents are delivered in a form of free TV show crossover content or free game update.
2)Defiance still has purchasable DLC/season pass in season 2 like it did in season 1. It also has free crossover contents and free game update on top of it. (nothing changes)

Q2: Do we still see 7th Legion or Arkteck Revolution kind of paid contents in season 2? (i.e. contents like outfits and weapons limited to paid customers though they are obtained through RNG drop)

[Opus]

-- Will we be getting more outfits in the store? Preferably some that aren't just reskins? For example, I started playing Loadout in January. I've now spent twice the amount of money on skins with them than I have with Defiance, which I've had since launch.

I did alpha and beta and bought the Ultimate Edition. I feel like I've got my money's worth, and think the extra arkforge and monthly pass thing is a nice benefit. And I'm pretty stoked about being able to take a purp and make it legendary. Overall, I don't feel cheated. If going F2P keeps the servers going, so be it.

Plus, it seems like a good chunk of new players come in, do the missions, stroll around to do ark falls/pursuits for a while, then leave the game. There's really just not enough content to keep most people involved for longer than a few weeks to a month. That's not a slam, not at this point at least. But it feels like they're trying to expand their base so more people pick it up, and maybe drop some cash on bits before leaving. And of those, maybe some will actually stick around longer and level up to 5000+.

My main concern is how much new -- and by new, I mean unique and not just reskins of old missions -- content is created, if any at all. At some point, just about everyone who has wanted to play Defiance will have done so and moved on, never bothering with it again. And with F2P, it just seems like that will happen sooner rather than later.

[mr8liner]

Ok Scapes, You answered alot of question here so far, but I have one I would like you to answer.

On what date will we see the land expansion? All of the land we have to play on now I have been there and like many other players a million times.

There is so much land to the north of Mt. Tam and to the south and east of San Fram. I ( and many others) would like to be able to go there and play.

So, could you please tell us when that will happen?? I think June 4th would be a great day for that. You know with all of the new players. Extra servers for that area that only 4 or 5k players can go to.

[Ashlocke]

Existing players will keep all of the benefits they already enjoy, and owners will get great bonuses at the launch of Defiance Free-to-Play.
...
OWNERS
(Digital or Boxed)

Character Slots: 4
Loadouts: 5
Ark Keycode Maximum: 75
Inventory Slots: 70
Existing characters will retain any extra inventory slots they have.

I seem to be fuzzy on this, I would like for someone to clarify something for me please.

I purchased Defiance at launch, along with the season pass.
Currently I already have the above benefits EXCEPT for the 70 starting inventory slots.

Any new character I currently make starts with only 39 inventory slots, I think it's 35, but I get a few extra slots from those gimmick arc codes that were around at game launch.

Are the above benefits in addition to what I already have?
Or are those simply the base benefits of having purchased the game? If so the 70 inventory slots is throwing me because I don't have a starting inventory of 70, it's more like 35.

Will I get additional inventory slots to make up the difference to get me those 70 (+ the free-be arc code slots) inventory slots?

[Yrkul]

You're interpreting it wrong. Patron status isn't necessary to make good progress in the game. It's a convenience package and, unlike a lot of things in their micro-transaction store it's a reasonably priced one for players that can actually use most or all of the benefits. There is zero "cash grab" aspect to it.

Let me be clear, there is absolutely nothing wrong with game developers coming up with strategies and development plans that involve monetization of the players. It is an absolutely necessary aspect of commercial game development for both F2P and B2P games. Only P2P games don't have to rely on it (and even TESO has a micro-transaction store). It's when monetization takes priority over good game design that it becomes a cash grab and it's exacerbated when the target group for the monetization constitutes a minority of the player base. The only aspect of DLC5 that was part of that kind of monetization was Arkforge drop rate design and, at least for the time being, Trion has reversed course on that game design decision.

Sure they're in their right to use any monetization model they want. The question is how long it takes before said monetization becomes predatory. The monetization of TESO has already its blemishes, by the way.

Companies need to earn money, and a lot of players seems to forget that. However, you still have to acknowledge the motivation to fiddle with the mechanics to increase income. How much do we trust Trion not to do that?

None of what we're seeing with regards to open world dynamic scaling creating negative playing experiences in the game was intentional. It was simply poorly designed and implemented and probably overambitious. Over the past few patches they've adjusted it so that it is more manageable and self correcting than it was before with the downside of it also being less challenging for those of us that liked the level of challenge it involved initially.

I hope you're right, though I have doubts. The power creep turned any equipment not upgraded into junk, so anyone with a vast arsenal of legendaries were suddenly in dire need of arkforge. Sure they increased arkforge drops, but not before being yelled at. Had they only held the power curve at 1.5 or 2 for EGO 0-5K, it couldn't so easily be construed as taking player's unicorn guns hostage, wouldn't result in these ridiculous scaling problems, and difficulty could more easily and safely be tweaked over a longer period of time instead of being the see-saw project we have at the moment.

And now we will be able to upgrade our gear quality, which in turn will increase the need for arkforge...

[purewitz]

I already have the digital deluxe edition for PS3, but I'm going to switch to PC with the Free to Play release. I was wondering do I have to buy the digital deluxe edition for PC to receive the veteran perks and to have the digital deluxe edition items, when I switch to PC on June 4th?