does anyone else consistently feel underpowered?

[Frostlight]

It's a TPS with RPG elements. That doesn't make it an MMORPG. It makes it a MMOTPS with RPG elements.

This. Saying that this is an RPG is like adding soy sauce and tofu to something and calling it an Asian dish, or adding sauerkraut to something and claiming it to be German cuisine.

[gothicshark]

Hello Goth, i would like to add that there are specific reasons alot of people would rather this game be classified as shooter than an rpg.

Ive never played WoW, played Runes of Magic for the past 4-5, yrsbest looking gear grinding, fully customizable game game,and the odds of actually finding someone thats looks like you is 500-1. Crafting (pots/armor/weapons/food)), ah, raids, instances with bosses that have loot tables, item set, including item set skill, starting at lvl 55, then 60, 65, 70, 75. The odds of actually getting the item you want from a specific boss is luck of the draw, and each weapon/armor has durability, so anything over 100dura gives a 20% damage boost, 12 pieces of armor u can wear at any time including (hands, legs, feet, shoulder, upper body, headpiece, wings, 2 rings, 2 earrings, and 1 necklace, not including weapons. Each item can be plused up to 16 that increases ghost stats.

Defiance has none of this. It fails to deliver even the basic rpg elements, and the rpg elements it does present, is so shallow, and simple, that ive seen it done better in other games and still kept the core mechanics in place.

So no, labeling it a shooter excuses the lack of content, and the horizontal progression. They could've atleast gave the player the option to fully customize the look so not to look like a clone of arkhunter, but they dug themselves(Trion) into a hole with the balance issue. Soon the higher ego isnt going to net the beast mode ability because the mobs are always scaled to the player. Leaving out the reason to challenge anyone to literally skip everything in the begining without fear of being under powered

Its a shame, to much balance will leave you feeling empty, and how can there be skill when the mobs scale????

I understand the world of RPGs have been tainted by the beast called WOW, however one of the greatest MMOs in history didn't have any of the things WOW is noted for. City of Heroes was mechanically based on the Early Champions Pen and Paper RPG, they didn't need an inventory system, they didn't need stat based gear. What they had was super powers and colorful costumes which were individual and fun. In many ways Defiance feels a lot like City of heroes, even the way you do questing. the progression is aimed more for defense than for damage, although weapons do level, and weapon skills also level, this increases your stats such as reload times and damage modifiers like crits. I find this system to be a breath of fresh air for MMOs, it rewards skills and levels equally, but if you are just starting you have a good chance against someone max level with no skills. (granted to get max level without skill seems a bit of a stretch since unskilled players will fail on boss fights and in PVP, and then complain on the forms and rage quit.)

[Daholic]

As Ive said in other threads about customizing your look:

Yes they could have added tons more customization, but it would have killed the game in performance. Even in standard MMOs with tab targeting systems, not requiring precise aim for everything, high customization forces the game to have to render a whole lot more stuff and causes the games to take a huge hit in FPS performance. Large scale battles in games with decent to good graphics and too much customization (a dozen pieces of gear, every piece able to be dyed & customized, additional cosmetic effects like auras, etc) cause anything but the highest performing systems to come to a crawl. This is why youve seen more and more games recently which want to be capable of large scale combat go the route of either a) offering less customization (like Aika) or b) using placeholders and limiting the amount of players rendered in PvP (like Guild Wars 2). Thats also part of the reason why many MMOs go the route of cartoony / stylized graphics rather than realism, because it is much less demanding on systems. Usually the more realistic the games look the harder they get hit with FPS & performance issues.

Now just think how that would work in a game like Defiance. Its a shooter. You need precision to land your shots. FPS stuttering will get you killed, and cause you to fail at killing, a lot. Not just in larger scale PvP like Shadow Wars, but also in events where there are a lot of players around like Arkfalls. The game would turn into a scenario where those with the best computers will always perform the best, and everyone else becomes pretty useless because they cant even land a shot due to enemies skipping around their screen between FPS spikes & drops.

This was a problem in Darkfall as well. Of course, Darkfall didnt have great graphics, but performance wise it was designed pretty badly (only using single core, etc). Anyway, thats beside the point. The issue was this. Someone with a lower / mid range system might have decent FPS when its just them, maybe a few other people around fighting and stuff. Then one of those players tries to go to a siege with 50-100 players. It turns into,this.. you see an enemy, try to cast a spell at them, your game stutters / freezes, and youre dead before your game renders the 5 guys who just surrounded you and attacked you with no problem because theyre playing on a better PC. I was, unfortunately, one of thos eplayers for a long time in the original Darkkfall. I had a pretty crappy system at the time, only running the game around 25-30 FPS in the best of situations. Trying to PvP when there was more than like 6 people around, especially a lot of magic being thrown around, brought me down to about 10 FPS... basically making me unable to do anything. Ended up just not bothering to try until I got a new system.

That is basically what would wind up happening in large battles if Defiance had either a) amazing graphics or b) too much customization & variety for every single character. It would especially be a major issue for the console versions, since they cant be upgraded. But even on PC, they dont want to block out a large portion of players from being able to enjoy the game just because they didnt pay as much for an upgraded PC.

Let ma ask you a question, considering everything you just said, and i wanted to say i do understand what your saying..but...Do you believe Trion pushed the limits with Defiance? Used everything the ps3 had to offer?

[Warkaiser]

Let ma ask you a question, considering everything you just said, and i wanted to say i do understand what your saying..but...Do you believe Trion pushed the limits with Defiance? Used everything the ps3 had to offer?

In pure graphics, definitely not. But to keep it performing relatively well in a seamless open world with so many players capable of being in one location at once, perhaps not the limits, but pretty close. Other shooters, like CoD, Gears, etc look much better, but youre also talking much smaller lobby based maps, not an open world, and a smaller number of players.

[Moose Of Woe]

Quite the opposite, actually. The PvE/AI has zero chance in hell and I feel overpowered as all sin.

You do feel more powerful as you go along...although it largely depends on what perks and weapons/mods you use. Even so, upgrades across the board are not needed as the game can't really bite back to begin with.

[Paklo]

Does anyone feel the same?

What I mean by this is that now I'm currently level 750+ with majority of purple gear but no matter where on the map I don't feel a significant difference in my character level. I still feel just as powerful as when I started.

For example I want to have the feeling of overpower when I divert back to the original crash site, but I just don't feel much difference.
Is this just me or?

I always thought it was unrealistic in games to struggle through one area only to return nigh invincible, like you do in Borderlands. I really appreciate the more subtle leveling system in Defiance.

Why do you need overpower anyway? What is this obsession people have? Like those who use hacks in pvp games? What's the point? They might as well just write down "I win, and am totally cool!" On a sheet of paper, lay it on the ground and dance around it.

I mean girls never liked me in high school, and I was nerd, with next to no friends. I had myself a daily dose of shame back then. And to be honest my adult life isn't much different. Yet somehow I don't feel the need to hack a game, even though I often suck out loud.

Because the harder a game is, the more satisfying it is when you actually progress or accomplish something. I had a hard time with the elite blacklungs, now I feel a morbid satisfaction in defeating them.

All being overpowered in a game is going to do is make it feel worse when you lose. Look at Halo's solo campaign, even on max difficulty it is nowhere near as hard as the pvp stuff.

Defiance is the game Borderlands should have been.

[TH3STEVE]

Does anyone feel the same?

What I mean by this is that now I'm currently level 750+ with majority of purple gear but no matter where on the map I don't feel a significant difference in my character level. I still feel just as powerful as when I started.

For example I want to have the feeling of overpower when I divert back to the original crash site, but I just don't feel much difference.

Is this just me or?

I'm still waiting to find anything orange. over 1000 EGO and .................................................. ............crickets

[bigguy]

im ego 2300 when i go back to earth republic starting point i own **** ive gone back there and soloed arkfalls i cant die.

[shadowkin]

Frontier repeater with tachyon barrel is a kill carnival. I can almost 2 shot blacklungs lol. then again my bolt action is 17. Even semis will one shot most raiders with tachyon. I still think semis need more ammo.

Actually that extra ammo u get when u reload, i wish it stayed even if u switch weapins. it is for when u ammo up with 0 ammo, but even if u don't u can use the extra as long as u don't switch. I really wish thst ammo was permanent

[shadowkin]

I'm still waiting to find anything orange. over 1000 EGO and .................................................. ............crickets

A clanmate on the forums OMG. At least i think we are.

SAW is the name of it