Does this game have any Depth?

[Archangel]

See that's what I'm trying to figure out, too. I want to like this game, I want to like the TV show too. I think it's good that MMOs are trying things like this. I even want to preorder it.

Unfortunately based on getting to about ego 200, I felt like the game is lacking, it didn't pull me in enough. If this just isn't that type of game, that's okay. I just think we need to know all the facts before we're being asked to buy. That's why I'm confused by these people claiming there's some secret thing that changes the game; it would make sense for that to be advertised.

Define facts.

What facts are you needing to know before you buy?

Can these facts be provided without spoilers?

Can you wait patiently to buy and read about said facts online or from a friend before you purchase?

[Archangel]

The reality is what we dont see in beta and what we have seen in alpha is just more.

More of everything. More story, more missions, more challenges, more dungeons, more pvp, more ark falls.

more more more.

Can't say what they are. But you can expect more, a lot more.

With DLC and it being a MMO and a constant living game, this means things will be forever growing and changing.

So new, new, and more new stuff will come adding depth.

What am i missing here? Can you give me examples of what your looking for?

[cassell]

Press N and queue up for a co op dungeon.

I enjoyed the Co-Op dungeons, they were more than enough to satisfy my need to "group" content and increased difficulty.

[oktarb]

For almost every skill in a traditional mmorpg there is a weapon/mod/perk combination analogue for it. I'm not sure quite what you mean by that being a cop out.

Ya I didn't explain that very well. I guess I mean that weapons seem somewhat disposable, they come and they go whereas skills and perks tied to the character gives you a stronger sense of personality. I'm a medic, I'm not a medic gun. I want to mold my character and gain new things as I level, shape myself into a titan of death or an angel of helping. Not just find a better gun. Loot is the icing on top of the foundation - the character cake.

I obviously need to hang out with you because I saw none of that in my groupings. I chalk that up to beta woes as well but they do need to encourage group at least a little more. I'm certainly not asking for the Tank, Healer, DPS trio we see every where. Good god no. I haven't grokked the exp system yet so I have no idea about how ressing or healing someone comes into play. Do you get exp?

[Archangel]

Ya I didn't explain that very well. I guess I mean that weapons seem somewhat disposable, they come and they go whereas skills and perks tied to the character gives you a stronger sense of personality. I'm a medic, I'm not a medic gun. I want to mold my character and gain new things as I level, shape myself into a titan of death or an angel of helping. Not just find a better gun. Loot is the icing on top of the foundation - the character cake.

I obviously need to hang out with you because I saw none of that in my groupings. I chalk that up to beta woes as well but they do need to encourage group at least a little more. I'm certainly not asking for the Tank, Healer, DPS trio we see every where. Good god no. I haven't grokked the exp system yet so I have no idea about how ressing or healing someone comes into play. Do you get exp?

great question when it comes to healing.

There are perks which strengthen you as you heal/revive down players. Things that reduce your own self revive cool down, or reduces damage taking while reviving, or regenerates all the shields in your party when you revive a downed player.

These can be found within the ego grid. The foundation you speak of is the ego grid. you customize your play style based on which perks you carry with you and you choose to invest into.

The co-op dungeons are a ton of fun and have fun mini boss fights and a final boss fight. Sometimes even a fixed way to complete said boss fights. They get pretty creative and is something im looking forward to come release.

[Skywarp]

I am in Alpha and what i am trying to tell you the story is the depth. Beta is not a demo its a closed beta. You are not getting to see the whole picture because it would reveal to much of the games story or (depth)

If you need to know whats beyond that yellow line you will have to wait for the game to come out.

What we see in beta is only a portion to what the final product brings.

You want spoilers? NDA prevents us from sharing

You want depth? What is depth to you? What is end game to you? You realize both of these are based solely on your perspective and what it means to you.

If you can asnwer me these questions i'll be happy to see what i can provide as answers without breaking the NDA i signed.

@Daholic - you too. What does depth mean to you?

I dont want to spoon feed questions and responses because i want you to actually think about what it means to you.

its easy to say no end game, or no depth, or what is it in alpha we didn't see in beta. First cover the depth and i will promise i'll be as revealing as i can.

Firstly I have to say that since they're not actually giving us a demo, we have to use the beta weekend as our demo.

Well we've both explained what we feel depth is to us. Story is definitely not depth. For me, it's having my character grow and develop, attain cool new abilities and extending the realm of gameplay. At level cap I should have options and abilities available to me that give me a wider array of gameplay, not just a % increase to stuff I have at level one. Having passive increases isn't really adding depth or evolving gameplay, it just makes you slightly better at things you already do.

Examples of things that would add gameplay/character depth: I would expect a machinist to get the option to make their own sentry gun. Perhaps cloak offers a group/area cloak. Maybe Blur offers a charge ability later on. Overload could penetrate cover/enemies to hit other enemies behind. Blur could unlock a special line of melee weapons. (Why aren't there melee weapons anyways?) Decoy could have it's decoys do damage, or explode, or stun guys, or slow in an area. Veterans could call in an airstrike. Any of these things would change gameplay and evolve the way you play the game as you level up.

Basically, is the gameplay the same between ego 10 and ego 500? So far it's the same between 10 and 200ish. But so far all people say is that there's some mysterious thing that happens that suddenly gives the game depth or changes gameplay, though supposedly it's all super secret squirrel stuff. If it's true then Trion is doing a terrible job of advertising the features of their game. If it's not true, then the gameplay stays kinda flat all the way through.

[Sicah]

such as the 25 meter team revive, quote a shadow war and laugh like a champ when that happens. you are the god damn beacon of life. terra-formed arkfall medic of light.

[Clarkeh]

Hi all,

I have been playing the Beta on and off this weekend. So far I think it's pretty mediocre. There are plenty of good things about the game but it feels awfully shallow.

A couple of things put me off actually buying the game:

1. There seems to be no depth to this game. It's just grab a gun a shoot, all the Dynamic Missions are as simple as shoot. This doesn't require any brain cells at all.
2. No classes - I think the game works with no classes thats fine. How comes there are no medpacks no ammo boxes that players can drop. Nothing is worse than doing a dynamic event and you run out of ammo and have to leave the battle to come back.
3. I have yet to do any proper PvE "Dungeon" styled content. My thought are it's going to be point and shoot some more. This game comes off very Shallow.

One of my friends suggested that this game is like Borderlands Online, although I agree at least the Vault Hunters brought some special abilities that directly affected co-op play, there was a reason you took Maya into boss battles... for heals?

I find this game to be a lot like the Free 2 Play (it's currently in Founders stage - will become free 2 play on launch) game Firefall and I have to say if Defiance is making you pay for the same experience that Firefall gives you plus more for free, why would I play this?

So my main beef is where does this game gather some depth? When do I need to use my brain to do something?

Do you think you can convince me into buying this game? I really need a new game too :P I've completed all my others lol.

Outside of the first area there are Instances i believe and from what footage i have seen thier really intense and require a group to work together and not just faceroll the instance.

Beta 3 was just a spoonful of honey your gonna have to drop $60 to have the rest of the jar man.

[Daholic]

1st off let me say i enjoy the back and fourth banter, with very little if any flaming..bravo guys/gals.

with that said, listen guys, the game has huge potential, but as a rpg person myself (and trust me, i really dont wana tell you what rpg game i just left, lets just say its fully customizable in every way, as in no 2 toons will ever be alike other than class, but even still skill and damage depends on how much time you put into your toon), with that said, yes im very much asking for to much, no this game isnt fully customizable, thats fine, but i feel like theres more can be added than an ego skill tree.

As far as end game, well thats simple...if the game comes out and there say....3 chapters, and each chapter has X-amount of instances and each instance gets progressively harder and requires more than a weapon upgrade, but an understanding of strat, then technically getting to ch3 and able to run that content(4man instance i mean) will be considered endgame until new content comes out.

Oh..and there needs to be some form of death debt for dying in the open world. I bet you will think twice about solo'in arkfalls, or rolfpwning a group of bandits until your ready.

[Clarkeh]

Daholic there already is a penalty for dieing the loss of scrib.