Impressions from first few hours.

[Triazic]

So my first few hours with the defiance beta were... alright.

The game is pretty dodgily coded which is expected for a beta (eg had computer animation scripts running during a cutscene with no audio eg *door opens* *door closes* etc), but the game itself just feels... dodgy in a way that will carry over into the full game. The framerate is terrible and choppy, graphics are nothing great, and the shooting feels really cheap with ludicrous snap aim. I was aiming at an ark fall boss crystal thing and the ****ing auto aim kept targeting the little minions. I also line up my hip-fire reticule on the enemy's head as you should always do in shooters and then the snap aim punishes me by snapping to their chest...

Quests so far have been the typical 'fetch xyz', 'defend xyz while abc repairs something' etc...

I sort of enjoyed it but am not grabbed yet.

Reminds me a lot of dust in that the concept is great and I want to love the game but the core gameplay is just really average. Feels like a really unpolished version of borderlands.

Also the absence of any communication kind of defeats the MMO feel. On PCs EVERYONE is typing messages every 5 seconds ('hey wanna party up, looking for healer' etc etc) but no-one does in PS3 because you'd have to hook up a keyboard or type messages through the software keyboard which is ****e, and voice chat is disabled for people that don't actively want to hear you... ie need to be in group or something I think

I should obviously mention that this was on PS3.

[Maldrix]

I do like it, but I can also see where you are coming from, there has only been like 2 quests types, Go get X or Defend Y, I'm hoping that will change come full release.

Frame rate started out choppy as hell for me but it has seemed to of worked itself out in the last half a day or so, I'm pretty smooth now.

You are right on the snap aim as well, while I haven't had anything as drastic as what happened to you, I think the snap aim is to strong and makes skill a minimal factor. Snap aim is fine if done right, but I shouldn't be able to be aiming 4-5 meters to the left of someone then ADS and have the reticule snap all the way over to them.

Another thing, I don't know if its a bug or just how the game is but grenades seem REALLY inconsistent, sometimes they bounce, sometimes they don't. Sometimes they even seem to go waaaay over where I am aiming.

Anyway I will still get it, I think it has potential, the Ark Falls are fun but see to happen way to often, this probably won't matter so much come launch when they have much bigger space to land around instead of just the sectioned off area we are playing in.

People will start talking on mic's and I'm sure local area chat will be added if its not already in, and with more players will come more people typing as well, I typed a lot back when I played DCUO, but as this is a beta I have just been running around trying everything out.

If its not your thing yet, or you aren't convinced you could always check out the forums and some streams a month after launch or something, see how much its improved.

[Pasha]

I think the snap aim is to strong and makes skill a minimal factor.

I enjoy every second of auto-aim - it allow me to concentrate on gameplay and environment instead of improving skills which I don't need.

[Maldrix]

it allow me to concentrate on gameplay

But its a third person shooter, the biggest part of the gameplay IS the shooting, the games becomes to easy if you are automatically getting headshots because the game aims for you.

I'm not saying it has to be removed, just toned down more.

[Desidus]

But its a third person shooter, the biggest part of the gameplay IS the shooting, the games becomes to easy if you are automatically getting headshots because the game aims for you.

I'm not saying it has to be removed, just toned down more.

Yeah the auto aim is definitely too high... use an semi-auto sniper rifle if you want no auto-aim as they have NO auto-aim. Same with shotguns... but they don't really need it either.

Toned down would be a good thing... I have also heard that the feature will be able to be toggled on and off. I think they need to add bonuses for people who have it off. Not a huge bonus, but just enough that it IS a bonus.

[Cohcheez]

if they just turn it off for pvp that would make me happy

[Triazic]

The auto-aim is like playing the game on auto-pilot... it's genuinely painful to play. I didn't know that semi-auto sniper rifles had no auto-aim, but lo-and-behold they just so happen to be my favourite weapon in the game probably for that very reason: I can actually shoot where I want to shoot!

The option to turn it off WOULD be an advantage in and of itself... I could actually line up my shots how I want to line the up. That would make me satisfied, and it wouldn't even bother me if everyone else still had it in PVP.

In an interview I saw it was explicitly mentioned that there would be no local area voice chat and that people would have to group up for it.

Text chat will NOT be sufficient; how many people are really going to find and hook up a keyboard to their PS3, find time during the heat of battle to drop the controller and type on it, and have it clutter up the space on the couch etc around them? Considering that's the only viable way to communicate given that the software typing is painful, it's not looking good on the highly-communicative-and-player-driven-MMO-front.

[mitsuko]

Yea my impressions are similar. This is a poor man's Borderlands. I'll wait until it's free-to-play.

[MaritimeMage]

Yea my impressions are similar. This is a poor man's Borderlands. I'll wait until it's free-to-play.

It is free to play...

While I will happily admit that the game is far from perfect... A: It's Beta. B: We haven't seen anything outside of the starting zones. C: Voice chat will be implemented at launch. D: See 'A'.

As long as the devs are respecting constructive feedback & have a passion for getting the game done right it's going to be a great experience.

[Paladin]

The beta build is 4 months old...lots of space for development in there.