New Alien Race Discussion

[MGySgt OMalley]

Im willing to trust him on that, Hes a lion with a top hat and a cigar in a well tailored suit...nothing shouts out "trust me" more then that.

[Grayskull]

I would like to see the Vulge to

[TheRealTFreezy]

No I kept that in mind, Excuse me for not explaining my opinion, throughout history there have been numerous examples of people that come from a Aggressive/Warmongering culture spreading out into, lets call it, more profitable ventures. The most known of which being the Scandinavian Viking culture, near the end of the reign of a lot of the bigger "tribes" a lot of Vikings left the main land in search of profitable ventures, which in most cases ended up being Fighting for sport, some cases Bounty hunting. That being said, it is also more conceivable this could happen considering most of them were left behind, and the fact that the pale wars is over. There are not many more profitable ventures in the world of defiance then ark hunting, and we all know with the possibility of great money comes the people with the "low enough morals" to take advantage of such an opportunity. So, if we look at it that way then is it not conceivable that a basically dying warmongering race would not have at least a few members willing to take their aggressive nature to something more profitable?

Well played

[Duskky]

Indogene, I would love to play as the Indogene.

[QQueue]

It's either going to be a Castithan like Ara Shondu, or a Sensoth like Torc Mok.

I don't see it being something like Varus, as they're short and stocky, and in the game, there are currently many holes a race like this could slip into, causing some problems (at least thats what I think).

I also don't see it being an Indogene, as they're more based upon the scientific and medical fields. Let alone, there would be virtually ZERO customization, as from what I've seen both in game and on the show, they all have the similar look of being bald, white tiled, and as tall as a human.

Personally, I want the Castithan race, as it kind of blends the races of Humans and Irathients. You've got the (what our race calls) good looks of human characteristics, while it's still alien. Whereas a Sensoth is basically more grunge than the Irathients, probably taller and more built out. We're mostly likely going to get the Castithans.

[Dolnor]

Bioman.

"Hey, stop looking at my ***!" ><

TQQdles™

[Shiny Pidgey]

No I kept that in mind, Excuse me for not explaining my opinion, throughout history there have been numerous examples of people that come from a Aggressive/Warmongering culture spreading out into, lets call it, more profitable ventures. The most known of which being the Scandinavian Viking culture, near the end of the reign of a lot of the bigger "tribes" a lot of Vikings left the main land in search of profitable ventures, which in most cases ended up being Fighting for sport, some cases Bounty hunting. That being said, it is also more conceivable this could happen considering most of them were left behind, and the fact that the pale wars is over. There are not many more profitable ventures in the world of defiance then ark hunting, and we all know with the possibility of great money comes the people with the "low enough morals" to take advantage of such an opportunity. So, if we look at it that way then is it not conceivable that a basically dying warmongering race would not have at least a few members willing to take their aggressive nature to something more profitable?

It isn't that it would be completely inconceivable for it to happen, it's that it would be very improbable, given the setup they're given in the lore, especially in great numbers the way it would happen if players were given access to them.

In terms of feasibility, the Volge have weapons built in to their armors, which simply wouldn't work for player characters. Yes, you can justify player characters are not wearing standard Volge armor (playable Volge would have to be able to wear existing outfits, after all), but to do so would be to ignore a big facet of the world's canon for no particular reason other than "it might be cool." Volge are also markedly larger than humans.

Beyond that, if you really want to get down into it, the Volge already have in-game models -- with baked-in armor and helmets -- and in-game theme music. It's obvious from that perspective that they'll be appearing as an enemy faction.

I also don't see it being an Indogene, as they're more based upon the scientific and medical fields. Let alone, there would be virtually ZERO customization, as from what I've seen both in game and on the show, they all have the similar look of being bald, white tiled, and as tall as a human.

The first episode of the show should have proven that Indogene are fully capable of fighting when they feel like it. As far as customization goes, the official site provides some info that might lead to some options:

The Indogenes are a technically-minded race who augment their bodies with a variety of cybernetic implants. They tend to be slender, bald, with geometrically-patterned skin of a solid color (most often pure white).

The language here suggests that it might be possible for Indogene to have hair, and suggests even more strongly that they can be colors other than white, even if it's uncommon. Since their cybernetic components are implants, it's possible that these features are even chosen by the individual.

In terms of likelihood, Castathians are almost certainly the first choice for player characters, as they are so similar to humans that relatively little work would have to go into them. Following that, Sensoth and Indogenes, not necessarily in that order. The more exotically-shaped races, like the Liberata and, yes, the Volge, are pretty low on the list due to the much higher amount of effort their models would take and, with Liberata especially, the potential for unbalancing gameplay due to size differences.

Comedy option: Gulanee.

[MGySgt OMalley]

It isn't that it would be completely inconceivable for it to happen, it's that it would be very improbable, given the setup they're given in the lore, especially in great numbers the way it would happen if players were given access to them.

In terms of feasibility, the Volge have weapons built in to their armors, which simply wouldn't work for player characters. Yes, you can justify player characters are not wearing standard Volge armor (playable Volge would have to be able to wear existing outfits, after all), but to do so would be to ignore a big facet of the world's canon for no particular reason other than "it might be cool." Volge are also markedly larger than humans.

Beyond that, if you really want to get down into it, the Volge already have in-game models -- with baked-in armor and helmets -- and in-game theme music. It's obvious from that perspective that they'll be appearing as an enemy faction.




The first episode of the show should have proven that Indogene are fully capable of fighting when they feel like it. As far as customization goes, the official site provides some info that might lead to some options:



The language here suggests that it might be possible for Indogene to have hair, and suggests even more strongly that they can be colors other than white, even if it's uncommon. Since their cybernetic components are implants, it's possible that these features are even chosen by the individual.

In terms of likelihood, Castathians are almost certainly the first choice for player characters, as they are so similar to humans that relatively little work would have to go into them. Following that, Sensoth and Indogenes, not necessarily in that order. The more exotically-shaped races, like the Liberata and, yes, the Volge, are pretty low on the list due to the much higher amount of effort their models would take and, with Liberata especially, the potential for unbalancing gameplay due to size differences.

Comedy option: Gulanee.

Ok, I will agree with you on those points, my main reason for wanting the previous mentioned races ( sensoth or volge ) is for, what I believe to be, an overlooked design flaw (for lack of better wording) now before I go any further let me state that I love this game, it has provided me and friends with many many hours of amusement and their is no doubt in my mind that it will continue to, some things we spend a lot of time doing...you know what ima start a separate post for that conversation, look for it, it shall be titled "pope of the pipe", now back to what I was saying, I love this game and in no way am one of those "people" asking for a refund or some other type of ridiculous compensation. Now, this next part is my opinion alone and I realize that a lot of people will not agree with this, so let me say this now, If you feel the need to counter my response with your own, just make sure you don't make yourself sound like a complete idiot in the process. Back to topic, I feel the game needs some variation in its playable races, as of right now we only have the Iraths and the Humans to play as, both being very similar in looks, movement, and in game combat style ( IE rolls, ducking, ect ) and of course besides small differences in the way certain outfits look there is almost no variation in armor styles. ( talking about Male to Male and Female to Female ) I mean the biggest difference I have noticed is the Female Iraths have extremely noticeable "spirt markings" everywhere, even tho to me it just looks like she forgot to tuck the whale tail down at the beach. That being said, I believe the game needs some serious overhaul in the "variation of playable races" department goes, that is why I keep saying I want to see the sensoth or the volge, they are one of the races that it would be feasible ( the sensoth more so ) to connect them to ark hunting, and at the same time give us that variation that so many of us want, Im sorry but in all honesty if Trion releases the 3rd playable race and it does indeed turn out to be the castathians then I will be extremely disappointed, mainly because of the fact that in a game with at least 8 distinct races ( if there are more please correct me ) the first 3 that trion gives to us are the same character with a different skin tone basically, besides small differences in the upperbody ( Irath males seem a bit bulkier ) and the forehead and hair areas ( forgive me if I missed any of the other differences, and no I don't want you to correct me ) it will just extremely disappoint me, now that being said, I am not saying if it happens that I am going to introduce my game disc to a large pile of elephant dung, but it will make me disappointed, ill still play this game and love every second of it as I have from the beta, but I will probably call up trion customer service and make them listen to some heavy mouth breathing exercises...oh yes.... now to wrap this up, let me once again state, this is my personal opinion and in no way is a statement of fact. I just like to believe that even tho im one person my opinion still matters to the people making this game. Now, off to write my post " pope of the pipe "

[mushinwolf]

Ah another 'What race will it be thread'..i cant resist these

The FIRST new race will be Castithan.
Why?
1.They were and still are the most important Votan race.
2.The charachter model is very similar to human..so relatively easy to make new content i'd assume.
3.Indogene are supposed to be pretty rare...be stupid to have a load pop up suddenly in SF..like some undiscovered colony! xD
4. Sensoths are much bigger, and i think would represent a possible problem in PvP.
5.Castithans look great..nearly human,but with a beautiful ethereal quality to them.
6.Too many Sensoths running around will look like Planet of the Apes...
7.Because i want Castithans!!

All my opinion,but im voting for Castithan ;D

Oh, and welcome to the boards Master Gunney!

[Shiny Pidgey]

Ok, I will agree with you on those points, my main reason for wanting the previous mentioned races ( sensoth or volge ) is for, what I believe to be, an overlooked design flaw (for lack of better wording) now before I go any further let me state that I love this game, it has provided me and friends with many many hours of amusement and their is no doubt in my mind that it will continue to, some things we spend a lot of time doing...you know what ima start a separate post for that conversation, look for it, it shall be titled "pope of the pipe", now back to what I was saying, I love this game and in no way am one of those "people" asking for a refund or some other type of ridiculous compensation. Now, this next part is my opinion alone and I realize that a lot of people will not agree with this, so let me say this now, If you feel the need to counter my response with your own, just make sure you don't make yourself sound like a complete idiot in the process. Back to topic, I feel the game needs some variation in its playable races, as of right now we only have the Iraths and the Humans to play as, both being very similar in looks, movement, and in game combat style ( IE rolls, ducking, ect ) and of course besides small differences in the way certain outfits look there is almost no variation in armor styles. ( talking about Male to Male and Female to Female ) I mean the biggest difference I have noticed is the Female Iraths have extremely noticeable "spirt markings" everywhere, even tho to me it just looks like she forgot to tuck the whale tail down at the beach. That being said, I believe the game needs some serious overhaul in the "variation of playable races" department goes, that is why I keep saying I want to see the sensoth or the volge, they are one of the races that it would be feasible ( the sensoth more so ) to connect them to ark hunting, and at the same time give us that variation that so many of us want, Im sorry but in all honesty if Trion releases the 3rd playable race and it does indeed turn out to be the castathians then I will be extremely disappointed, mainly because of the fact that in a game with at least 8 distinct races ( if there are more please correct me ) the first 3 that trion gives to us are the same character with a different skin tone basically, besides small differences in the upperbody ( Irath males seem a bit bulkier ) and the forehead and hair areas ( forgive me if I missed any of the other differences, and no I don't want you to correct me ) it will just extremely disappoint me, now that being said, I am not saying if it happens that I am going to introduce my game disc to a large pile of elephant dung, but it will make me disappointed, ill still play this game and love every second of it as I have from the beta, but I will probably call up trion customer service and make them listen to some heavy mouth breathing exercises...oh yes.... now to wrap this up, let me once again state, this is my personal opinion and in no way is a statement of fact. I just like to believe that even tho im one person my opinion still matters to the people making this game. Now, off to write my post " pope of the pipe "

Some of this stuff would be cool, but I wouldn't get too excited at the prospect, because I doubt any of it will happen.

Size differences would imbalance PVP. I know a lot of people on these boards don't care about PVP, but a lot of Defiance players do. Larger races are bigger targets and thus objectively worse in PVP, while smaller races are harder to hit and thus objectively better, barring any crippling counter-balancing like making them move really slowly. Sensoth, and maybe even Volge (were it not for all the other reasons keeping them from feasibly becoming a playable race) could be shrunk down to human size without too many complaints. Torc is barely larger than a man, and the show featured several human-sized Sensoth, so that's not much of an issue. Liberata are far more of a challenge in that respect.

Currently, humans and Irathients are using the same animations. I'm almost positive this will stay the same for any and all future-playable races. There's two reasons for this; First, there's a significant cost and labor involved in producing a new set of animations. Second, back to PVP balance - different animations are going to end up with different i-frames, different hitboxes, etc. Smaller or larger races would also require new animations, so that factors back in to the previous point.

The only way I could see the less-humanoid races (or Sensoth that aren't shrunk down a bit) being playable would be if Trion makes a complete 180 in terms of game design and ends up giving racial bonuses/skills/etc. As it is, your race is just an aesthetic choice, and that prevents anything more interesting being done.