New and Need Help!

[Safferus]

Hello,

I just bought this game a few days ago, and I'm currently wandering around semi aimlessly. I picked a veteran but is there any difference between the starting characters? I'm currently using an assault rifle, is that the best type of gun for the characters as there is not much in the way of help.

How do you join a clan as well? I see everybody gets together for the ark falls then kind of goes off about their business afterwards.

[Mladenov]

Hello and welcome to the Defiance forums!
So, there is no difference in starting the game with any character you like.
This is just pure cosmetic stuff.
And you can use any type of weapon in the game. And when you use particular type you gain passive skill with it, which improves the weapon class in overall. (for instance if you are fan of sniping play-style you gain benefit when you using snipers).

To join clan you have to be invited from clan master(leader) or clan officer.

If you know about synergy mods you can check this info in official web site.
If you know about shields and grenades i can tell you something about these.
So shields, they have capacity (blue bar above your health bar), which is total capacity on the shield. (this is self explained).
They have recharge rate (which is how much they recharge per second when they start to recharge), and recharge delay, which is how much time your shield need in order to start to recharge.
Grenades are 4 types: fragcharge, biological, incendiary and electric (or whatever they are called).
So fragcharge is just frag grenade, biological is crowd control stuff, they prevent foes from moving, decrease moving and damage output, incendiary set foes on fire, which tick for some time, and electric stuns for a moment foes, and removes HUD on players (when used in PvP).

[Bentu]

Hello,

I just bought this game a few days ago, and I'm currently wandering around semi aimlessly. I picked a veteran but is there any difference between the starting characters? I'm currently using an assault rifle, is that the best type of gun for the characters as there is not much in the way of help.

How do you join a clan as well? I see everybody gets together for the ark falls then kind of goes off about their business afterwards.

If your interested in joining a Clan try here. There are plenty to choose from and you dont have to wait for an invite.

http://forums.defiance.com/showthrea...529-Clan-Index

[CMac001]

I know how you feel. I had my first character up to around ego 700 before I discovered the main mission thread. So here is my advice for a new player (it is also how I play each of my new characters in the game (five so far)).

1. The map is your friend. The large explanation mark is for main mission threads. Place the cursor on it and press 'x' to set a waypoint to give directions. The small explanation marks are side missions. They become available after completing each main mission. I prefer to complete them before moving on to the next main mission thread. They add story 'flavor' and give rewards.

2. If you are interested in a walkthrough guide, I use this one to start out each time. http://www.arkfalls.com/defiance-lev...-rating-1-150/ .

3. Resource threads. There are lots of them out there. I prefer the one Etaew set up. http://www.defiancedata.com/ He keeps it updated.

4. Don't rush. There are a lot of interesting things happening if you slow down and find them.

5. Good luck and enjoy.

[Dist0rt3d Hum0r]

3. Don't rush. There are a lot of interesting things happening if you slow down and find them.

This is by far the most important thing PERIOD to remember. This is an MMO. Its's made to last a long time, so dont rush. Sit back, enjoy the show, and tip back a couple cold ones at the Crater Bar with Ktam radio Mondays after the show airs.

Now, my two cents:

No, the classes that you chose in the character creation screen mearly choose what outfit you start with and what weapons you start with. Thats it. They have no baring on the game after that.

As far as weapons go use what you feel comfortable with. If you like sniping then go with that. If you want to be in an enemy's face all the time then grab a shotgun for SMG. Like pistols? Grab a Wolfhound if you're more for the headshots or grab a bullrush if you enjoy watching people fall flat on their *****. If you like to play support rolls then grab a BMG for healer classes or an LMG like a SAW if you're more for the offensive support type.

Dont put scopes on LMGs unless its a SAW. Only put scopes on burst fire ARs and never add a Scatterscope to a shotgun unless its a slugger. Those are exceptions.

Infectors are not as underpowered as they seem. I can explain their workings more in depth if you'd like. Message me here and we'll chat.

Synergies are a bit complicated. Here's a post I made earlier on them:

OK, so some basic things about synergies:

You can't simply add synergy mods to a gun and expect to reap the benefits. The gun that you are modding out must have that synergy already on it. For example, you have a VOT Grind Fragger with Brutal on it. In order to reap the benefits of the Brutal bonuses you must attach mods to it that also have the Brutal Synergy. For every additional Brutal synergized mod that you attach you'll gain the corresponding bonuses. Thats what the [1], [2], [3], and [4] mean. Other synergies such as Grenedier, Quartermaster, and Assassin are the same way.

Now there's another type of synergy that you should be aware of. That one is preceeded by a [2] instead of 1-4. What that means is that you need two weapons of that synergy equipped in the same loadout. For example, I have a VOT Outbreaker and a VOT Mass Cannon with Veteran. Veteran applies a 10% RoF bonus for 2 seconds after a full reload if I have two weapons with Veteran equipped in the same loadout. Since both of those weapons I mentioned have Veteran then I get that bonus every time I reload from an emtpy clip. The Veteran, Survivalist, Wrecker, and Outlaw synergies are like this.

There we go. I hope that cleared things up a little for you there OP.

And the last thing that I can think of. When you do the hellbug arkfalls, the ones with the red crystals that tell you to destroy the crystal, for the love of God don't shoot the little guys. They're called skitterlings. Why? Well, A) they're adorable, B) they put crit spots on the crystal for you.

Thats all that I can think of for now. Hope that helped!

[Cale307]

I was going to make some suggestions but they have all been pretty well covered .... the main thing is to have fun and not let the quirks of the game get you down. if you dont know what i mean you will soon enough.
Welcome and good hunting

[Safferus]

Thanks for the replies, I understand a lot more now. Weapon colours and modding etc is all still a mystery but Im sure I'll work it out going forward. I just finished all the mount tam pursuits so that was my first major achievement!

[Turantula]

One more thing I'll add: renember to check the progress of your weapon leveling. If you press start, you will see a white xp progression bar under the weapon you are equipped with. Once this is maxed out, switch the weapons as you will no longer gain xp to the over all weapon class. I.e. the assault rifle you srart out with will eventually max out, and when it does switch to any other assault rifle so you can continue to gain xp towards your assault rifle class. All weapons cap at level 20. I wish I knew this when I started. Probably could have had a lot more weapons to level 20 by now lol.

[FantasyMeister]

Thanks for the replies, I understand a lot more now. Weapon colours and modding etc is all still a mystery but Im sure I'll work it out going forward. I just finished all the mount tam pursuits so that was my first major achievement!

Keep your eyes peeled for a VBI TACC Assault Rifle and a GL-1 Ground Pounder Grenade Launcher, with each of these in your loadout you can take down anything in the game quite easily. Even better is if the Assault Rifle has a little purple swirl element next to it (Syphon).

These can drop from anything, they can also be bought from Supplies vendors as specials, specials change every hour or so, be sure to check them everytime you pass one.

Then if you can get a Magazine mod for the Ground Pounder that adds +3, that'll give you 6 shots which is great for Monarchs and Bulwarks later on.

Colors are White (basic), Green (extra bonus on the weapon), Blue (one or two extra bonuses), Purple (couple of good bonuses usually) and Orange (only ever seen these come from Lockboxes, never dropped).

Savour your side missions, you only get to do each one once. Main missions you can repeat after you've completed the story the first time.

Keep an eye out for shields that have:

- Health Regen
- Damage Resistance
- 3 Second Recharge Delay

These are perfect if you don't like hanging around and just want to get on with things as the downtime is pretty minimal.

Don't worry too much about Synergies, you're better off spending your salvage and keys on Tier 4 lockboxes from the Item boxes next to each supplier. But basically if the Synergy is listed as 'Veteran' [2] on a weapon you just need two Veteran type synergy weapons in your loadout for the effect to happen, if the Synergy is listed as 'Scavenger' [4] on a weapon, you need 4x Scavenger Mods inserted into it, which is extremely expensive in terms of getting 4 open slots and getting the right mods.

You can only hold 75 keys max at a time, any gained after that are wasted, so make sure you use them.

Finally, regarding Powers, I used Cloak when I started (still do!) which allows me time to breathe if health gets low or I have to turn off a turret on the sly. And if you're into PvP, Cloak and Shotgun is a great combo, as is Cloak and Infector.

Another handy one is Decoy, which you can fire off and then hit LB again to teleport to where your Decoy is, but mainly I only use this as a workaround for when a door gets stuck in an instance or other similar bugs.

On the other hand you might be perfectly happy running around using a Pistol, BMG and Overcharge, the important thing is that you're happy and enjoying the game!

[Safferus]

Thanks there is some really good stuff here, I think my ego rating is only something like 170.

I'm currently using the EMC Service Rifle with a Shotgun Combo, but I think some heavy ordinance could be a good move as I'm running into the big lads with grenande launcher and miniguns more and more now.

Keep your eyes peeled for a VBI TACC Assault Rifle and a GL-1 Ground Pounder Grenade Launcher, with each of these in your loadout you can take down anything in the game quite easily. Even better is if the Assault Rifle has a little purple swirl element next to it (Syphon).

These can drop from anything, they can also be bought from Supplies vendors as specials, specials change every hour or so, be sure to check them everytime you pass one.

Then if you can get a Magazine mod for the Ground Pounder that adds +3, that'll give you 6 shots which is great for Monarchs and Bulwarks later on.

Colors are White (basic), Green (extra bonus on the weapon), Blue (one or two extra bonuses), Purple (couple of good bonuses usually) and Orange (only ever seen these come from Lockboxes, never dropped).

Savour your side missions, you only get to do each one once. Main missions you can repeat after you've completed the story the first time.

Keep an eye out for shields that have:

- Health Regen
- Damage Resistance
- 3 Second Recharge Delay

These are perfect if you don't like hanging around and just want to get on with things as the downtime is pretty minimal.

Don't worry too much about Synergies, you're better off spending your salvage and keys on Tier 4 lockboxes from the Item boxes next to each supplier. But basically if the Synergy is listed as 'Veteran' [2] on a weapon you just need two Veteran type synergy weapons in your loadout for the effect to happen, if the Synergy is listed as 'Scavenger' [4] on a weapon, you need 4x Scavenger Mods inserted into it, which is extremely expensive in terms of getting 4 open slots and getting the right mods.

You can only hold 75 keys max at a time, any gained after that are wasted, so make sure you use them.

Finally, regarding Powers, I used Cloak when I started (still do!) which allows me time to breathe if health gets low or I have to turn off a turret on the sly. And if you're into PvP, Cloak and Shotgun is a great combo, as is Cloak and Infector.

Another handy one is Decoy, which you can fire off and then hit LB again to teleport to where your Decoy is, but mainly I only use this as a workaround for when a door gets stuck in an instance or other similar bugs.

On the other hand you might be perfectly happy running around using a Pistol, BMG and Overcharge, the important thing is that you're happy and enjoying the game!