Why does it say to be sure to complete Episode Missions before the show airs?

[Anonymous]

You are, unfortunately, wrong (currently). Sledge has stated point blank, after the 15th these missions will not be available.

Thanks for that! Somehow I missed that post.

I think that's a bit problematic. While I understand that things are "different" after the show airs, I think removing part of the storyline for those that are just getting caught up is a bit unfair. Just as we can watch previous episodes of the show, there should be some way to catch up on earlier parts of the story. Even if it's just accessible cutscenes or something, it helps.

[Jeronan]

It will not break immersion if the missions themselves are instanced, like they have been already.
This is a bad business decision, no other MMOS do it like this when it pertains to linear story, none.
All those people saying how MMOs do it all the time are talking about completely different mechanics and cannot discern the difference, I can only assume because of short sightedness.

Most games have a story, start to end; it's what gives depth and substance to a world and setting; you can fill the gaps with one off events that's fine, but if you start to bring in weekly chapters and remove them in that basis, 3 months down the line you end up with who knows how much episodic content gone.

That's the beauty of instanced story telling, like they have been doing already since the game just loves to split up my team of four everytime we do one. Is that it is for the viewer only and won't get in the way of anyone else.
The game also supports phasing, such as me seeing the Giant Robot at the end of the bridge different from a new player.

There we have it, two technologies that have been in use with games for years and years, to which some cater for the exact dilemma you're worried about but are too ignorant to research.

I honestly do think this is a huge business flaw, they're only looking at the now and not later, you want to cater to new players, you want new players, to shun them away has to be the most stupid decision. You want to prosper, you want to make money, to continue making the game bigger and better.

With the slating this game is getting in reviews, forums, the state of the game itself with the massive array of problems and the limited capability of server-side vs client side patching, feel free to look back at this post as prophetic. You'd have to be ignorant to see what's coming. After all after playing games and MMOs for 16 years it's really, really easy to spot when things aren't going well.


Edit: I'd be highly unsurprised to hear that they only said what they have to keep people playing, I mean all we have to do is create a new character and spend an hour (if that) to see if the mission was removed. If it hasn't, good; new player friendly. If it has, well....sigh.

This! People keep talking about immersion and living breathing world and give that as reason why the episode missions need to be removed every week.

But it's just a joke... as the Whole game is instanced / phased and players are placed in each instance/phase depending on which part of the Main storyline / Episode mission they are.

Without giving any spoilers... but People that have done the episode missions and main storyline will know what I mean.

So there is just simply no reason to remove episode missions... as People that are able to watch and follow the TV show and do the episode missions alongside it, have them dissapear in the gameworld automatically anyway after completion!

So it doesn't even break any immersion anyway. Only give People that join the game later on and People that miss out on the show, the option to do them at their own time and/or when the TV show becomes available for them.

Ofcourse, I can understand that they release a Public Event (like how holiday events are handled in other MMO's) that are not phased/instanced and ties to a TV episode or episodes and will end after the airing is finished.
But that is a Whole different matter and then we talk about Dynamic tie ins With the show... which won't happen until at least next season as has been already confirmed. /shrug

[ChrisJSY]

no other MMOS do it like this when it pertains to linear story, none.

- Star Trek Online, Episodic Missions (Before they were stopped)
- Guild Wars 2 - Live Story (Again, once its done its done. You cannot repeat or go back, if you miss it its gone)

That's just off the top of my head, I am pretty sure i can go and find some more if you would like. Furthermore, star trek online's episodic missions were (mostly) instanced, wherea's guild wars 2 were open world.

Like I said previously, no other MMOS do it like this.
You have to seperate and be semantic with this because STO and GW2 has a story, a fixed story that everyone can play through whenever they want and they do not, ever, go away.

They might, as you said have special events, we are not talking about special events; are we?
But from what we are reading it sounds like the story in Defiance is going to progress and then disappear. I don't see why anyone would call this a good idea if this is indeed the case, I and others could be terribly wrong.

Edit: It's going to be off for someone joining if and when S2 starts and has no clue how everything came to be.

[Munx]

Like I said previously, no other MMOS do it like this.
You have to seperate and be semantic with this because STO and GW2 has a story, a fixed story that everyone can play through whenever they want and they do not, ever, go away.

They might, as you said have special events, we are not talking about special events; are we?
But from what we are reading it sounds like the story in Defiance is going to progress and then disappear.
I don't see why anyone would call this a good idea if this is indeed the case, I and others could be terribly wrong.

Actually thats exactly what we are talking about, the way these episodic missions will be added etc, it will be just like special events.

The story is a seperate entity, which I would assume you knew if you played trough the last STORY mission, which gives you clues as to the next part of the story.

[Kitsunami]

Facepalm.

No. Star Trek Online's storyline changed from a fixed storyline to Episodic, which they released periodically, which when finished was made unavailable to players until they later went on to re-run.

And Guild Wars 2, it is not a special event. It is the story. The MAIN story of the game is now being played through in 'live' events in the game, which will determine its future. The storyline team themselves have stated this is how they plan to move the game forwards from now on instead of instances and so on (with the personal story seemingly looked upon as a failure)

What I am trying to say is that it has been done before. A moving episodic storyline is not a new concept in MMO's. Guild wars 2 has just started doing it, prior to its changing hands STO was doing it periodically.

It is EXACTLY the same as defiance. Both games have the same options:

Episodic content - STO was the season's, GW2 is the live story
Linear Content - Stable storyline. GW2 has personal story, Star Trek has the basic 4 introductionary region questlines (this has since changed, STO no longer does episodic content anymore by the way, but it did)

And Defiance has:

Episodic content - The Starred episodic content will vanish when its time is up. Similar to the above examples
Linear Storyline - Remember that main storyline you played through? The one that was NOT episodic? That is not going to change. That is going to be here regardless, that is the games story. The episodic content is the tv storyline.

Oh, also: Name another MMO that is a tv series.

[Elandriel]

Let's say I have just accepted second story mission but didn't finish it. 15th comes and ... what?
Where will I find myself next time I log in? In a bug? In the middle of a mission I am not able to complete? How will they narrate the story to me if I haven't experienced second half of it?

According to them, our lore experience in the game is second to show's progress. We could be left not knowing what happened after every single story update.

I sincerely hope they have tested all possible combinations or there could be a lot of very disappointed players. It has a chance to become an interesting experience, but it could also turn very ugly. I will finish my story and main missions by then, but what about those that won't? Not everyone is reading this forum and I have no idea how they are supposed to know that their experience will be cut short by Trion themselves.

[Houngan]

I will be sad when I start a new a character that I will not be able to play those missions. I personally do not feel it would ruin my immersion to play previous episodes until I catch up with the current one.

[ChrisJSY]

Two things.

Episodic content - STO was the season's, GW2 is the live story
Linear Content - Stable storyline. GW2 has personal story, Star Trek has the basic 4 introductionary region questlines (this has since changed, STO no longer does episodic content anymore by the way, but it did)

There's a reason to all of this, which we're slowly getting to the point.
Why do you think they stopped? Why do you think they made it playable by those not there at the time?

Exactly, it wasn't good in the long run for new players, nor could they sustain it.

And Defiance has:

Episodic content - The Starred episodic content will vanish when its time is up. Similar to the above examples
Linear Storyline - Remember that main storyline you played through? The one that was NOT episodic? That is not going to change. That is going to be here regardless, that is the games story. The episodic content is the tv storyline.

Oh, also: Name another MMO that is a tv series.

Episodic content does not have to vanish, why do you think it does? (Sorry, if I'm mistaken in thinking you do believe that by the way, I am sincere!) It has absolutely no impact on the hardcore current players immersion , or a player starting fresh.

Lastly, I don't see why you're asking me to name another MMO that has a tv series, it has no bearing on the mechanics or technicality of what is possible and what is not, or the topic. Anarchy Online tried a tie-in online only mini CGI series which failed, nowhere as huge as defiance of course.

It seems like they're being removed for the sake of being removed with no worldly or logical explanation other than just because we can. It's incredibly naive in my eyes if this is the case, no MMO or MMO-esque game should turn away new players in this market, it's a fickle one. Especially when this particular subject is the main selling point of the game.

Do you understand where I'm coming from though? I'm taking the side that all players should be able to enjoy it when they want, some here want it for those who are playing now and now only, which is bordering on selfish insanity

Also, can we seperate world public events from private episode missions in the discussion? Because if it's a solo instance it doesn't interfere with other players.

[Sanguine]

again, sorry if it has already been answered but where is the new episode mission they talk about adding? and yeah, didnt read all of the posts want to keep playing more than I want to keep reading

[Kommissar Kaede]

again, sorry if it has already been answered but where is the new episode mission they talk about adding? and yeah, didnt read all of the posts want to keep playing more than I want to keep reading

If you look at the map, there are different kinds of missions.

Story Missions, Side Missions, Episode Missions, and then the Trials missions.

Currently, there is a small chain of Episode Missions in the game, introducing some of the characters from the show. They initially appear in the Mount Tam area, but eventually go to a chain around the Crater Bar. In total there are maybe 4-5 missions in particular, and they end a bit before the PCs even arrive at Marin (I think thats the region at least).

The new missions have not been added yet, as the show has not aired. Also, if you missed the post mid-thread on this, it does appear to be the case that the current Episode Missions will be removed, so you'd best get through them ASAP.