In any other mmo, if you saw one ability that resurrected one person, and another that resurrected everyone within an area, you would name one skill Resurrection, and the other Mass Resurrection.
If you can't see the delicious synergies in the ego grid, you either aren't looking, or you're after a different sort of game.
In my opinion.
http://defiance-central.com/ego-calculator/
While I enjoy the game, I am personally not seeing much depth at all, I am still hoping we'll see more intresting npcs, and stuff like towns, but I doubt it.
Also I would say alot of the depth depends on how, and how often the game interacts with the show chars.
Except in this game, everyone gets resurrection from the start. Sure it's useful if multiple people are down, but how is that going to change the way you play the game?Originally Posted by Ensu
May I ask what changes you would like to see be implemented to satisfy the void in your heart that this game does not provide? I would really like to hear some constructive ideas instead of shooting down everyone else who is trying to help.
The ideas have been mentioned numerous times in this board., my particular concerns are:
-- Some kind of role differentiation for combat that requires player coordination above and beyond "shoot everything, revive dead people"
-- Drastically improved UI, with particular emphasis on improved communication
-- Some kind of non combat game play that encourages player interaction or cooperation... a player involved economy would be great.
-- Improved performance and sound quality from the voice chat
This game seems like a decent First Person Shooter, but I have a hard time buying into the MMO aspect. The core play experience of a MMO is socialization, and there is very, very little of it in this game.
Even as a FPS it pales in comparison to the deeper class design and varied game play of something like Borderlands...
Skywarp, this comment is for you - more specifically, your contention that a 20 EGO player can do the same as a 200 EGO player. I think there is a merit to what you are saying. But I also have seen a greater depth to the player progression than you are giving credit to. For example, the first two days I played the PS3 beta, I approached this as just a game where I get my EGO points, use them to improve my EGO tree, wash, rinse, repeat. I played with all the weapons for a little bit, and focused on the ones that did the most base damage. And I'll admit, while I enjoyed playing, I wasn't quite sure how long I would enjoy playing. I got that character up to EGO level 195.
The next few days, I figured I would change up my approach a little. I focused on just two weapon classes - the LMGs and Detonators - and sold/broke down any other weapon I got. I also focused on just building up Cloak and its subsequent powers. I got both weapon classes to Rank 5, and the perk boosts were definitely pretty nice, going from base damage increase, critical damage increase, reload speed, accuracy, and area effect range. Those perks all came before I even added a single mod. Same came with the use of Cloak. For example, the more enemies I killed while Cloaked, the higher my damage while Cloaked became. And then the higher ranks of the ability itself became pretty great. At the third tier of Cloak, the power lasts about 35 seconds, and recharges after about 15-20 seconds.
I also focused on completing the Pursuits, which also granted permanent player boosts. The list of boosts was pretty extensive, and I just didn't have enough time left (darn that thing called Work, lol) to really explore. But to tie it back together, I got that second character to EGO level 75. I will say without a doubt that my second character was more effective than my first, even though the first was more than twice the level. So if not constructed with as much care/thought, a higher level character can function only slightly better than a much lower character. The game proves that if you go into your character development with a plan, you will reap some very substantial benefits.
As for the argument that others have made that you don't get uber powers as you progress, I think that's the point. I don't think Ark Hunters were meant to be super-beings. Our powers come from our weapons and the crazy things they can do. As a player, we can improve our proficiency with each weapon, making how we handle a specific weapon slightly different than how another player would handle the very same weapon.
I thought Ensu's example of the BMG weapon showed a pretty decent progression of a single power. It may not be a completely different power, but through progression, it becomes far more effective in terms of range and the amount of allies it affects. Trust me, you will greatly appreciate a teammate who has that higher progressed healing weapon once you start fighting EGO-infused mutant mobs.
First let me agree with your concerns with UI and communication (mic issues). I am quite confident that mic issue should be resolved within a patch or two as it is CRUCIAL to consoles while chat is equally if not more important to PC. Hit it right on the nail with socialization, and these issues should be addressed with the fixes of chat and comm.
As for UI I agree its cumbersome and redundant, and I also hope there is changes for a PC friendlier edition (if not a downloadable mod).
It would be hard to develop a non combat type of player coordination without shooting. I have heard rumors of things such as guild vs guild clan wars and also that there will be some sort of resource collection event linked to the show :P.
Role differentiation is there as the game stands. As new challenges and mechanics are encountered, there will undoubtedly be the need to adapt with certain proportions of your group doing different things. This I feel will be developed by a combination of perk/equipment management. Well, at least I am optimistic that down the line the game will involve these aspects and not have endless piles of instances which you can run into with any build and succeed.
The problem with your idea for role differentiation is that it will be hard to manage and keep the core of a skill based TPS. I feel this game has more to do with player skill/reaction rather than preset parameters in which your character is able to develop. Therefore it is unlikely that any given player will have access to anything that benefits them which another player will have reroll to obtain.
Borderlands was fun, and has its own pros/cons. My main concern was a non open world which has been fixed as now i can rip roar through the mountains in an ATV. That in itself was enough for me to pre-order
Well let me know what you think good sir
Well exxcess despite the terse comments from some, I'm not just shooting people down.
I think I've outlined a number of times what I felt is "depth" to me, and I've definitely outlined specific examples of what I'd say were abilities that could add depth/growth to a character's gameplay and progression. I'd hate to keep copying/pasting it all over this thread, it would feel like spamming.
The problem I'm having is that I (like the OP) wonder if this game has any depth. There are (or were) people who said yes, yes, it's got depth. Unfortunately in my two beta weekends playing this game I couldn't find it. Some people suggested it's a secret feature in alpha that wasn't available to beta players, but I find that hard to believe.
Yes the fire-nano assault rifle I got was fun to shoot. The Episode missions were neat and I loved getting to meet Nolan and Irisa. The Main missions were interesting and I was interested to see where things were going to go with Von Bach and the Ark-core. The vehicle driving was decent. Arkfalls didn't have quite the feel of Rift's eponymous events, but were alright. Heck, I'm even a huge Rockne S. O'Bannon fan, ever since Alien Nation.
The problem I ran into, though, (and perhaps this is what the OP felt as well) was that through it all the main gameplay facet that tied everything together just felt flat. I didn't feel any different or any more heroic at Ego 200ish than I did at Ego 20. When I looked through the Ego grid, I simply couldn't find anything to be excited about. If I got 40% of the way through the leveling experience and didn't feel like I'd progressed in any meaningful way, that says to me that there is no depth as far as the MMO genre is concerned. The closest thing I found was when I picked up a Pulverizer at an Arkfall or in a 'dungeon' and got to smash stuff like a hero for a little while. Unfortunately I imagine things like that (and I saw a Chaingun in some youtube video) are few and far between.
If that kind of character/hero depth isn't there, and that's the way Trion wants to make the game, okay. If people are telling me that type of depth is in the game, then I think there's a problem if I wasn't able to find it by Ego 200ish, and I would love to hear more about it. If, however, our ark hunters are just supposed to be standard people out in the wilderness throughout the leveling experience, then the game won't provide the experience I enjoy. I'm just trying to figure out which is which because I'm a preorder sucker and I'd hope to find out before launch day.
umm, you were 4% of the way to the level cap, not 40.
It's alright that you don't like it that way, but in my opinion the urge to be a superhero was just forced by the actual MMO generation. Before that (e.g. DAoC, EQ, UO) I think you were always just some random guy that did stuff and, for sure, eventually became some sort of hero, but always reasonable and among others. WoW for example just lets you save the world over and over again. I would even guess some WoW toons have to be, according to the lore, more powerful than gods by now, and that's not the feeling that I like to have if I play an MMO with thousand of other people. Actually there can't be thousand almighty worldcrushers.
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