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Defiance Interviews: Committed to Improving the Game Defiance is a game with a massive amount of potential, potential that Trion Worlds is committed to bringing to fruition for players. We chatted with Creative Lead Trick Dempsey about how that will happen. It's a terrifically informative interview that you won't want to miss. Let us know what you think in the comments. By William Murphy on September 25, 2013 MMORPG.com: Good to talk with you again, Trick! Been a while since we previewed the Castithan DLC back at E3 and obviously a lot has happened since then. What's the response been to the first DLC and how has the game been progressing since season one of the show ended? Trick Dempsey: With the Castithan Charge Pack we were able to deliver on a lot of features that the players, and the dev team, really wanted to see. It brought back sieges, introduced a massive boss fight with an enemy players wanted to fight, and a compelling new game mode. While working with Syfy on between-season crossover plans, we’ve begun to really focus our efforts on improving overall game quality. MMORPG.com: What are the top priorities for the team, with everyone moving to Redwood Shores in one studio? Trick Dempsey: Our top priority is to improve the overall quality of the game. We’ve faced stability and social issues which really just can’t be tolerated. On top of that, we’re making a major pass on weapon and loot balance to make the chase more reliable and engaging. We’ll talk about progression in a bit, but we need a good foundation in balance and consistency before we can make any serious progression push. MMORPG.com: What are the biggest problems facing Defiance in your eyes? For me personally, I find a lot of moment to moment fun in the game, but it feels like it's missing a lot of the "ancillary" features an MMO needs to keep you invested for the long haul. Trick Dempsey: We need to develop the idea of a chase in Defiance. From those first stumbling steps out of the New Freedom crash, to the final battle with Nim, players don’t experience an increase in power where we feel that they should. Beyond that, weapons boil down to damage-per-second, and there isn’t armor penetration or any real incentive to experiment. By addressing these issues, we’re going to give decisions some teeth. Players will have to make difficult decisions, both tactically and strategically, which will have significant gameplay impact. MMORPG.com: How will ark hunter progression change in the coming months? You mentioned it briefly in your state of the game letter, but can you go into more detail? Trick Dempsey: We have a grand plan from progression that we are implementing one careful step at a time. I want to go into more detail about it in the coming months, but I can tell you this: Defiance is at its best when careening across the badlands with a horde of ark hunters. We’re not going to erect any barriers to that experience. Our progression will continue to allow hunters of divergent EGO ratings to play together without feeling like anyone’s sidekick or babysitter. MMORPG.com: What sort of changes will you be making to guns to make them stand out more and have people using a wider array of them? Trick Dempsey: When it comes to the personality of the guns, we’re pretty happy. The rate of fire vs recoil vs clip size feels solid for most of the weapons. However, there are several weapons with much higher damage outputs than others or which work in much wider tactical situations. The weapons with limited tactical applications need to have additional benefits added to them to make them more attractive. Sometimes that will be damage, sometimes that will be other useful statistics. MMORPG.com: How about inventory? You mentioned changes coming there too; what can we expect? Will hunters ever be able to carry more than two weapons and a grenade to make switching their roles in battle easier? Trick Dempsey: The primary step in improving the inventory experience is making inventory management better. The first step was taken in the Castithan Charge pack when we made a button from breaking down inventory items without visiting the salvage matrix. We’re looking at more conveniences, like selling all common items, a better compare interface, and even being able to unequip items without going to the loadouts screen. Before we can have a serious talk about enlarging the player arsenal, we have to make managing that arsenal painless. MMORPG.com: How about social and UI improvements? Any idea what the team's looking at to make the clan experience better over all? Right now, it's mostly a chat channel. Trick Dempsey: I’m rather proud of where clans are going. Our second DLC includes a feature by which clans can improve at each of the game activities by having their members perform in them. Leveling up in a clan activity increases the rewards from that activity for all clan members. Additionally, we’re updating the chat UI so that it is friendlier and more consistent. It’s difficult right now to participate in multiple chat channels, like both group and clan, but we’re fixing that. We’re also going to change the chat menu back so that it does not obscure the screen. We’re a shooter, after all. MMORPG.com: Okay, and finally... let's talk a bit about the 2nd DLC. I know it was teased at PAX via streams, but for those that missed the show, can you give us an overview of what to expect? Trick Dempsey: The second DLC revolves around a new kind of content where ark hunters call down an ark module to crash and then breach the hull and pilfer the inside. These new arkfall interiors contain large battles which support eight or more players, and the new major arkfalls have an instanced boss which is a challenge even with twenty-four players. This Volge Warmaster takes advantage of some new targeting tech we have in place to give our big enemies the ability to better handle large numbers of opponents. The other major change is the addition of spikes and stims. These are entirely new tools in the ark hunter arsenal which add a new dimension to combat in Defiance.

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Quick and dirty: Link It was all pretty mundane until around 30:00 when all of the sudden Grant Bowler, the star of the show and Australian fellow, started prattling off about EVE online and the history of the player alliances. I actually double-taked hard at his comments and had to play it back to make sure I was actually hearing correctly. I did really dig the detailed explanation of how the game and series interact with one another (the example given was some disease happens in the series, they come up with a cure to resolve the issue, and then between that episode and the next the players in-game are in charge of synthesizing and distributing it). Also, I Jamie Murray is kinda dirty in an awesome way.

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Will the Timed Conflict town alteration be for all of the Conflict towns in the Blood Sports patch, or just the five? [Marie] Only Gallows, Tinkersdam, Hollister Point, The Dump, Fender Gate and Waste Farm will be Timed Conflict towns. Will there be any other mounts? One with wheels, like a bike or truck? [Wes] There's nothing inherently bad about having creatures like Blight Wolves and Prairie Chickens as mounts. They are distinctly Fallen Earth in flavor. However, that doesn't mean that the last modes of transportation you see coming from us will be Blight Wolves and Prairie Chickens. We also love the idea of new and interesting mechanical vehicles, especially the prospect of carrying passengers. Is construction being expanded in the upcoming months/year? *cough* player owned houses maybe? *cough* [Wes] Yes, construction will be expanded as the game continues to evolve. Yes, we are dead set on providing player housing. What shape that system will take is still a matter of some development. Noticed the wasteland mutt has 'storage slots" in info tab, are there plans for pets with storage down the line? [Wes] Curses, you noticed! Yes, indeed, we do have plans to provide pets with storage space. The new mutt was a sort of proof-of-concept for that functionality. Now that we've got the basics down, we'll start thinking about shining it up. Will the outlaw system or pvp flag be coming? [Marie] We have plans for the outlaw system but nothing carved in stone yet. If you want to go after someone sooner, Clan Wars will be live with 1.4! Basically I want to know everything that's happening with tradeskills, I'm specifically interested in construction and nature [Wes] Right! Everything about tradeskills in 140 characters or less: It's evolving. We've added some new goodies that you'll see in Patch 1.4. More to come. Has the dev team thought any more on player housing and if so, what form will it take / have you thought about? [Marie] We love thinking about player housing. There are several ways we can approach it, so we don't want to release any info until we're sure with the direction we are going! When do I get my rainbow robot unicorn mount? [Marie] Right after I get mine. What I would like to know is future of construction and travel between cities? Trains, buses, subways? [Wes] We recognize the need for faster travel possibilities. We just have to work on a balance between player convenience and the sense of scope that we've sought to establish in the expansive environment of @Fallen Earth. Whatever we do, it'll probably involve the large barter towns as travel hubs. With nature, I'm interested in the two new mounts, the prairie chicken and the blight wolf, are they going to be nature based? [Wes] The Blight Wolf mount is based on making friends with the Shiva's Favored in Deadfall, by completing a series of missions for them. We're not set on the requirements for the Prairie Chicken just yet. Nature's certainly not an unreasonable idea. I am trying to navigate from s1 to s3 <yawn> fast travel please devs? [Marie] We are working on limited fast travel. Also, without giving anything away, do you see crafting becoming a stronger profession? [Marie] Crafting is such an integral part of our game, it's not something we're just going to let slide as we implement new features. Exactly how it’s going to be incorporated into those features, well, you’ll have to wait and see! Ya bee's need to be lowered in speed, I was told no mob would be as fast as mounts, and they're as quick as horses [Marie] I have a rifle build, so I love sniping bees in Kaibab. They're one of my favorite mobs. Now that Hammock's gone, what changes have been made to the development of the game? (Worried about dramatic changes.) [Marie] No dramatic changes have been made to the future development. We have a great team in place who has been working on awesome content all along and we're going to continue working hard to make FE an incredible experience. [Wes] If Lee had worked on his own in a vacuum, I could see the need to worry. We're a small team, but we're not that small. @FallenEarth is a team effort and has been since 2006. It will continue to be so, no matter who's in charge. I've got a lot of confidence in the development team going forward. The game's only going to keep getting better. Since the construction mission in the PVP towns is broken on the PTS can you tell us what this is and does? [Marie] It's broken? I'll get right on that. The construction tiers build defenses around either the town or your faction camp. Is Deadfall coming to test live soon? [Marie] Yes! It will be here before you know it! [Wes] Deadfall should be on the Public Test Server tonight, but we'll have level-cheat NPCs and cheater teleports set up for the region tomorrow. Think we’ll get poker in game soon? [Wes] I hesitate to use words like "soon" with something like new features unless I've seen it well into development. We've got slots and blackjack, which proved we could have some varieties of casino games. We'll definitely want to look at other possibilities, from poker to roulette wheels. Control option for left/right turn key + right mouse button held = strafe? Can we get a camera POV directly behind the character as an option? [Wes] The team's definitely looking to make improvements to the user interface. No specifics yet, no guarantees, no timelines. I love you guys long time, is the auction system being merged with certain merchants so that they will sell items from the auction? [Marie]That would be interesting. We're always looking at ways to improve things like the Auction house. We just don't have any plans for it at this moment and umm...we love you too?! =) You know I am going to dream in spectator mode for Blood Sports the way you guys are talking about it! [Wes] It'd be a great feature to have. We'll see what we can do. I'd stand in the bleachers, yelling "Forty quatloos on the clone!"

Our interview with EarthriseHQ.de was finally published today. Enjoy! Feel free to smack with me a large, wet salmon later if I messed anything up Read the rest of the interview here.

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