IS it just me or is this really short?

[Skydive]

Compared to a subscription based MMO (at launch) then yes this game is short.
Compared to a full priced single player game then this game is not short
Compared to a free to play MMO game (at launch) then this game is actually bloody long

None of the above situations apply to Defiance and people need to learn to stop comparing it to those situations. Will they? most probably not.

The MOST important thing from my perspective is that a game cost X amount of money and I have played Y amount of time.

With a sub based MMO gamed X and Y keep increasing the longer you play it. With the other two situations I listed at the top, X stays the same and Y keeps increasing. The value for money factor increases the more you play. Although for Defiance if you spend any money in the Defiance store, X can increase, as is the case for any free to play game with a micro-transaction store.

Taking Dragon Age origins as an example of a full priced game. That game took me 80 hours to complete EVERYTHING in a single play through. I didn't bother with a second play-through. I look at defiance, there is still a number of co-op stuff I haven't done yet, but my played time according to the game is 6 days! (type /played in-game). That to me is on par with Skyrim (355 hours and still not finished everything), Final Fantasy X (100+ hours), and Mass Effect 3 (655 hours (multi-player mostly)). Again in that crowd Defiance does not stand out as being short!

I won't name and shame some games, but I can say I have spent more on a single game than I did Defiance and played less than 6 hours to complete it. So in no way shape or form Defiance is short. Of course that does not mean TRION should rest on its laurels, it will still need to grow as an MMO.

Comparing Defiance to the likes of WoW or more recently TOR (more because of it's story element than initial sucess), is pointless as both games were subscription based games at launch. And as such had to deliever a large amount of content to make subscription even worth while enough to entice someone to keep subscribing. I mean if you were to really complain about games being short, I would complain WoW is bloody short compared to Skyrim. If WoW had quick travel points like in Skyrim or Defiance, your played time would probably decrease by 40-70% depending on class and availability of mounts. But of course WoW doesn't have quick travel points, it means you waste time in game traveling than actually playing, hence you pay longer for subscriptions! Defiance just has a base cost, and TRION have said DLCs are composed of two elements, a free element and a paid element. So you have a growing game at just the cost of the base game if you are that way inclined. Can you say the same of a subscription based MMO?

[warhound]

But look at GW2, no sub and lots of content..

[dirtyklingon]

But look at GW2, no sub and lots of content..

at launch sure. but there's been very little post launch content and even less permanent post launch content added.

better example is TSW which uses a similar revenue model to defiance, which had plenty of content at launch and has had a blistering post launch content dev cycle despite major financial issues at the company that makes it.

[mutharex]

But look at GW2, no sub and lots of content..

GW2 isn't tied to a TV series and limited in the amount of content/zone that it can show at any time.

[Doomtrooper]

I've played this pretty casually compared to most other games I buy.

I just finished all side/main/episode quests the other day, and it was about 60 hours played. I didn't rush from quest to quest, just set my waypoints and killed whatever I wanted to along the way. Or sometimes get tunnel vision and go all Evel Knievel on some sweet jumps for a few minutes.

My process was to do all available side quests, once there were no more side quests, do a main quest. Once main quest is complete do all side quests that were opened. Rinse, repeat. I did the episode missions once my main quest sent me to The Crater.

I'm at about 65 hours played now working on Pursuits, and have most of the easy stuff out of the way. Basically just have to do all the Arkfall and co-op map crap.

So for me, $1/hr is a good investment of my money. Game does not seem short unless you just want to do the main mission and nothing else, but that would be we-todd-ed.