Some beginner's questions

[ewsg]

Hello everyone!

Someone knows about a good place to get informations about the lore, etc? I'm a little confused with somethings. Many things in the game are not explained (at least until now, for me). Is there a manual? How works the progression?

Are there other types of vehicles we can use/gain? I think I saw a real player driving a car...hehehe Can we move through different loadout using some hot key?

How can we unlock loadout and inventory slots, how to unlock that slots on the EGO grid, etc? I'm a little confused.

[Komakala]

Lots of questions, I'll do my best to answer them. What do you want to know about the lore? Or what part of the lore confuses you? There is a forum dedicated to Story and Lore, but be warned, it will most likely have spoilers in it. But if you still want to check it out the link is: http://forums.defiance.com/forumdisp...Story-amp-Lore

No there isn't really a manual for the game. Closest you'll get right now is checking out the keybindings list.

Progression isn't quite the same as we tend to see in MMOs or even in shooters like Borderlands. Instead of finding ever stronger and more powerful weapons you level up and find bigger and better mods. These are where the potential of the game starts to shine. So gear tends to remain about the same in damage and other stats.

There are several vehicles in the game, divided into two types, runners which are the ATVs and rollers which are cars and dune buggies. There is also a special vehicle used in some coop maps and PvP called the Cerberus, this vehicle has a turret mounted on the rear and the passenger gets a rocket launcher to attack enemies with. There are some vehicle vendors scattered about the world but often players find vehicles for sale as Vendor Specials which last for 1 hour.

No you cannot use hotkeys for loadouts right now. It may be added into the game later, if the developers decide to, but for now you have to open your loadout screen and manually change loadouts.

Loadouts and inventory slots unlock naturally as you level up. Leveling up occurs multiple ways, you can fill the XP bar at the bottom of the screen which gives you an Ego Point which you can spend on the EGO grid. You can also gain xp in different weapon types and finally you can work on Pursuits. Pursuits are basically achievements. Often when you complete a pursuit you are granted a few levels, I've seen it range from 5 - 40 levels for completing a pursuit.

[Commissar]

You can purchase different vehicles from different vendors throughout the map. I believe the hidden vendor near the Muir Processing Plant has an orange Challenger if you're looking for one.

Loadout slots are unlocked as your EGO rating goes up. I believe that some EGO milestones unlock extra inventory as well. You can always purchase more from the cash store by pressing F5. Slots on the EGO grid unlock as you unlock the adjacent perks.

[Woodruff1987]

Character progression is completion based. The more you do, the further your character will progress. Gaining EGO points and so on.

There is a vehicle merchant in Maedera (the second area) and I assume there's one later. The people you saw driving cars were pre-order rewards. Everyone that pre-ordered got the Red Dodge Challenger for free. Also Steam pre-orders got a R4-Nomad. Completing the EGO code list before launch also gave early access to the Hannibal runner.
Growlers/Hannibals and Nomads are available in Maedera from the Merchant I mentioned.

Unfortunately there is no way to change your loadout through a hotkey. You have to manually bring up the loadout page (L) and click on the loadout you want to switch to.

Additional Inventory slots and loadout slots will be unlocked as you increase your EGO rating. Also you can buy increased Inventory slots through the Defiance Shop (P) by spending bits bought through your account or with a card. Pre-orders (Especially STEAM) was a great way to get extra slots... I'm only at ~150 EGO and I have 36 Inventory slots.

[Timanski]

So it would not be silly to keeep a gun with and ego rating of 100 I got in the begining of my leveling process as long as I leveled it and hepg adding better mods. So do all smg, lmg, assault rifels ect have the same base stats. How hard woukd it be to have an online manual to explain all this. Mmo, s have so much content and no info on whats going on qt launch.

[MacDeath]

So it would not be silly to keeep a gun with and ego rating of 100 I got in the begining of my leveling process as long as I leveled it and hepg adding better mods. So do all smg, lmg, assault rifels ect have the same base stats. How hard woukd it be to have an online manual to explain all this. Mmo, s have so much content and no info on whats going on qt launch.

Haven't seen a MANUAL yet but there are a couple of wikis out there that can answer most of the questions that a manual could.
Try this one over at IGN: http://www.ign.com/wikis/defiance
or this one over at ZAM: http://www.zam.com/wiki/Defiance

[Shismar]

So it would not be silly to keeep a gun with and ego rating of 100 I got in the begining of my leveling process as long as I leveled it and hepg adding better mods. So do all smg, lmg, assault rifels ect have the same base stats. How hard woukd it be to have an online manual to explain all this. Mmo, s have so much content and no info on whats going on qt launch.

Although it is possible in theory to keep your first guns and improve them, there are several reasons you should not.

First, when the weapon has gained its maximum exp, you will no further improve your skill in that weapon category. So you have to switch weapons to continue gaining exp.

Then the higher EGO weapons usually have more mod slots making it easier and cheaper to add mods. You cannot exchange single mods on a wepaon too. It is either retrieve all mods and destroy the weapon or destroy all mods and keep the weapon.

Lastly, higher EGO weapons are more likely to have synergies that grant bonuses when several with the same synergy are in a loadout. Think sets.

Just play around with it. Weapons of green or blue rarity are easy to get. Room for experimentation.

[ewsg]

Hello,

Thanks to you all for all your help.

I'll take a look on the links, wikis, etc.

What do you want to know about the lore? Or what part of the lore confuses you?

In the reality, what confuses me is how it all began, in game. What is the reason of that "damaged earth", who are the mainly characters, the alien races, etc. I'm afraid to take a look on that thread, because of spoilers.

Progression isn't quite the same as we tend to see in MMOs or even in shooters like Borderlands. Instead of finding ever stronger and more powerful weapons you level up and find bigger and better mods. These are where the potential of the game starts to shine. So gear tends to remain about the same in damage and other stats.

This is something that also confused me. Am I wrong in thinking that the character's evolution is directly related with weapons and the mods and updates they can receive?

I'm also confused with the evolution points we receive on weapons, EGO points, and XP. XP, Ego, etc: all of this is confusing me...hehehe

There are some vehicle vendors scattered about the world but often players find vehicles for sale as Vendor Specials which last for 1 hour.

Are those vendors displayed in the map?

Loadouts and inventory slots unlock naturally as you level up. Leveling up occurs multiple ways, you can fill the XP bar at the bottom of the screen which gives you an Ego Point which you can spend on the EGO grid. You can also gain xp in different weapon types and finally you can work on Pursuits. Pursuits are basically achievements. Often when you complete a pursuit you are granted a few levels, I've seen it range from 5 - 40 levels for completing a pursuit.

Well, I decided first, just after the tutorial, for the cloak power. To unlock a new main power I need to unlock all the "upgrades" (represented by that small squares), in a way to create a "path" to another main power? Is this correct?

Ah, I loved the Pursuits.

You can purchase different vehicles from different vendors throughout the map. I believe the hidden vendor near the Muir Processing Plant has an orange Challenger if you're looking for one.

Loadout slots are unlocked as your EGO rating goes up. I believe that some EGO milestones unlock extra inventory as well. You can always purchase more from the cash store by pressing F5. Slots on the EGO grid unlock as you unlock the adjacent perks.

Very good to know. I'll try to check for this Challenger. But, how to locate specific points in the map, as this Muir Processing Plant?

Character progression is completion based. The more you do, the further your character will progress. Gaining EGO points and so on.

Here we can include that missions where medics being attacked atracts the attention of our IA and we can, so, help them. Is this correct?

Also you can buy increased Inventory slots through the Defiance Shop (P) by spending bits bought through your account or with a card. Pre-orders (Especially STEAM) was a great way to get extra slots... I'm only at ~150 EGO and I have 36 Inventory slots.

This is interesting. Do you use the Defiance Store with frequency? It's worth to buy more slots, etc?

-------------------

Well, friends, how do you see the cash shop in Defiance? Do you purchase a lot of items on it? Is it something which can make some people, for example, pay to win?

I'm also confused with the currency in-game. Bits, keycodes, etc. How do we use/gain them? I have already purchased keycodes with that "green currency" (I forgot the name), in order to purchase a Lock Box (don't know if have I done the right thing). And, sometimes, I can see that I have enough resources but, even so, when I try to purchase something, the game says I don't have enough. This is strange.

Another problem I'm experiencing is regarding mods. The interface, here, is a little confusing, I think. I gained a mod, for example, to use in pistols. But, I can't attach it to any pistol. There is also the case of the VBI Sentinel. On the screen I can see that I can attach a barrel to it. I click on the barrel bar, and nothing happens, the "start action" button is not activated, and I'm redirected to another page, where I can read "salvaged matrix", at the top, and nothing more below.

Well, sorry for so many questions.