Still, that must have been an awkward interview for them, although I really wish you would have asked some harder questions. It came off as more of a PR piece than anything else. Stuff like why did they feel like the UI was fit for the PC?
It's a hard act to balance. When we deal directly with the devs and PR, to get answers we want, we often have to pause, breathe, and rephrase the real questions we'd ask.
So, "Why the f**k would you release a game with VOIP when it's in that bad of shape?"
Becomes, "MMORPG: One of the things that's most striking to me about the game, is how people play together, but don't necessarily interact via chat or VOIP (speaking towards the PC version here). Are there any plans to incentivize grouping up and interacting with players a bit more, or some sort of "social hub" place to get people together more?"
We walk a fine line, and while I'd love to just be a fan and ask questions EXACTLY as they come across in my mind, I can't do that if I want to keep getting interviews. We were the ONLY site in town, I'd do just that. But, it also comes down to tact. How can I tactfully ask these honestly hard-working, back-broken developers about their failures?
I hope you understand it's not to softball them, but rather to coax them out of their shell and hopefully get a real answer. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
I see ...I seems that a developer would actually do good at times to really answer some straight up questions , instead of sugar coated ones...Sometimes you can just get along way by being honest and straight forward with a state of the game etc,,
Btw ..I don't find the UI that bad in the game, and the VOIP..well It works..:)
To enable you to play with your friends, they omitted character leveling and progression. Big, huge mistake for a tradeoff as small as a minor convenience.
Leveling, loot and gear is what MMOs all about. The grouping mechanic, too. You shouldn't make MMOs without them. As this games fades off these will be the reasons why.
Yeah, I completely understand why it's done the way it is. Still, since I'm here and not there, I get to complain about people not holding developers feet to the fire
The devs aren't likely to tell the truth openly (especially with PR guys around), because they want to keep their jobs. Private conversations, with DNQs, gets quite a different story sometimes.
If you are holding out for the perfect game, the only game you play will be the waiting one.
Yeah, I completely understand why it's done the way it is. Still, since I'm here and not there, I get to complain about people not holding developers feet to the fire
The devs aren't likely to tell the truth openly (especially with PR guys around), because they want to keep their jobs. Private conversations, with DNQs, gets quite a different story sometimes.
And that's why I don't feel bad at all when games fail. All these mistakes that game developers make aren't new. It's not like Defiance is the first time a PC game got a crappy console ui port. The feedback mechanism is alive and well for game developers if they want to listen and, more importantly, act on.
Or they can continue to release bad software and act surprised when people don't like it, as if they were blindsided.
To enable you to play with your friends, they omitted character leveling and progression. Big, huge mistake for a tradeoff as small as a minor convenience.
Leveling, loot and gear is what MMOs all about. The grouping mechanic, too. You shouldn't make MMOs without them. As this games fades off these will be the reasons why.
Playing a game just to level, loot, and gear up is definitely NOT why I play and when I see games like this I know to avoid them like the plague. Few people play games like this. That's why MMORPG's are not as popular as they once were and more and more people are quitting and spending their time and money elsewhere. It's also a very large contributing factor to why WoW is now hemorrhaging subscribers at an alarming rate. This sadly is what modern MMO's have turned into. You can blame EQ for it, since it was the first modern MMO that was all about faux characters and not about story, which is the heart and soul of role playing in a role playing game.
What's funny is in the early MMORPG's, such as Neverwinter Nights on AOL, Shadows of Yserbius, Fates of Twinion, the original Multi-Player Battletech, and even Meridian 59, people used to play for role playing reasons. Non RP'ers were few and far between in those days. I can still remember non RP'ers being openly shunned and people that powergamed and only cared about loot didn't get very far in the community at all. Unless of course they were playing thief type characters of course
Banegrivm Leader of the 1st Fist of Light www.1stfistoflight.com
Yeah, I completely understand why it's done the way it is. Still, since I'm here and not there, I get to complain about people not holding developers feet to the fire
The devs aren't likely to tell the truth openly (especially with PR guys around), because they want to keep their jobs. Private conversations, with DNQs, gets quite a different story sometimes.
And that's why I don't feel bad at all when games fail. All these mistakes that game developers make aren't new. It's not like Defiance is the first time a PC game got a crappy console ui port. The feedback mechanism is alive and well for game developers if they want to listen and, more importantly, act on.
Or they can continue to release bad software and act surprised when people don't like it, as if they were blindsided.
Scariest bit about the Defiance bad UI: It was so much worse just a few months before release. They actually did do a lot of work on it, to get it where it is now. There was a Mod post on the alpha forums about how the GUI folks were the most overworked part of the team, at that point. I think it was obvious that the scheduling of the TV show overrode any game considerations, so it was going out when that started, regardless of any other considerations.
Of course, it's not like a bunch of other major players didn't release with scads of problems as well. Timely fixes help, though first impressions tend to stay, regardless of eventual qualities.
If you are holding out for the perfect game, the only game you play will be the waiting one.
Its a fun game over all to play you have your missions- your skills- and world events!
and you can seamlessly engage in any progressing events and co-ops(dungeons)!= FUN!
with great pursuits and rep building. for better weapons and gear!
that said the game has a bit of flaws.
as a primary 'shooter' game. some flaws have left me stuned- example..
looping on reloading a weapon while in combat =. unacceptable!!- its a shooter!!!
looping on reloading a weapon while in combat =. unacceptable!!- its a shooter!!!
looping on reloading a weapon while in combat =. unacceptable!!- its a shooter!!!
you get the idea...at least hotfix it!
that said , its a fun game.
lol this. Your post made me laugh because as an avid shotgun user, it is so annoy...so annoy...so annoying to have your ammo get reset to 1-3 when you are at like 13-15.
I understand the game has short-comings but it is what it is. I am happy to have it on the xbox because throughout all my mmo years since like 1999, none of my friends have played them due to not having a good enough computer (or caring to).
So having this on the xbox is great because they all enjoy it and I can play with them. (Even though my PC rocks and I could easily play the game with better graphics on it, it is the social aspect that I enjoy).
And yes we talk via microphone, not always on xbox private chat either, but through the in game voice option.
Sure this isn't the most "amazing" "mmo", but it is fun enough for a shooter and allows me to play with my friends.
I am entitled to my opinions, misspellings, and grammatical errors.
The user and all related content has been deleted.
Somebody, somewhere has better skills as you have, more experience as you have, is smarter than you, has more friends as you do and can stay online longer. Just pray he's not out to get you.
The user and all related content has been deleted.
Somebody, somewhere has better skills as you have, more experience as you have, is smarter than you, has more friends as you do and can stay online longer. Just pray he's not out to get you.
The user and all related content has been deleted.
Somebody, somewhere has better skills as you have, more experience as you have, is smarter than you, has more friends as you do and can stay online longer. Just pray he's not out to get you.
I gota say i'm impressed, the show & the game are pretty damn successful. This weeks episode (5) was the best one yet and 1 million accounts is very impressive for anygame (More than rift's peak already.) They will continue to fuel each others success. For instance I love the show so i bought the game last night
i bought the game when it came out, played for 2 weeks and havnt logged back since. the best part of the game is probably the pvp.
but after pvping for a week i realized why i wasnt just playing BF3 or COD instead.
as an mmo it barely stands up to other games.
as a shooter it barely stands up to other games.
the idea was good but i guess it didnt work out, at least not for me.
Sry to hear that, sometimes its best to skip the first month on these things. Here's to hoping you able to come back and get your $$'s worth @ a later point.
Oh WOW no wonder, all three platforms similtaneously it's no wonder they are having problems. it's difficult to find all the bugs on the pc platform for an mmo much less find all of them across three.
Ui overhaul for all platforms. Im a pc gamer but got this on ps3 to play with my friend. The ui is horrible and the menus make me want to punch a baby right in the mouth.
The game is flawed and just plain fun all at the same time. I personally know at least a dozen people that have purchased in the past two weeks based solely off of getting into the show. The response to the game has been overwhelmingly in the "i'm having a blast" category. The UI sucks, everyone wonders what the heck they are supposed to be doing the first few hours of gameplay, the social aspect is severely flawed but I continue to look-up and hours have passed by. 5 solid DLC's on the way and the show picked up for a second season. I guess you can put me in the money well spent group.
The game is flawed and just plain fun all at the same time. I personally know at least a dozen people that have purchased in the past two weeks based solely off of getting into the show. The response to the game has been overwhelmingly in the "i'm having a blast" category. The UI sucks, everyone wonders what the heck they are supposed to be doing the first few hours of gameplay, the social aspect is severely flawed but I continue to look-up and hours have passed by. 5 solid DLC's on the way and the show picked up for a second season. I guess you can put me in the money well spent group.
Answer me this one question: Why should anyone give more/extra money to a company that has already not shown much interest into fixing what is broken, before shoving a bunch of DLCs out there? (And considering the ton of people just laid off from Trion, the chances of anything getting fixed/revamped is even smaller.)
I was a big fan of Defiance during my "launch hype". Things weren't stale yet and I was having fun. Then it started becoming abnormally repetitive. Like, I understand MMOs get repetitive. Been MMO gaming since a little before Ruins of Kunark. But even kill quests of mindless grinding usually AT LEAST happen in different looking areas. Yes, it's the same, but it doesn't feel the same or just look the same.
My biggest issues with Defiance is that every single mission is either: Go there, clear stuff or go there activate something which spawns mobs, clear stuff. Story missions follow the same template except you have a cutscene before, voice overs during, and a cutscene after. Thing is, you'll be doing more than at least 150 side-missions that follow that template and it just gets dull once you realize that.
Oh and of course, the UI. Now, I could deal with it. But "mass doing anything" was becoming more and more of an unnecessary chore. I'm not the kind of guy that will do inventory management every time I get an item. Because in most games, it doesn't take time to do it all at once. I usually let my inventory fill, then one big sorting session and I'm done for a long time. Not in defiance! And it's incredibly simple stuff too! One-click salvage. Stack purchasing. Simple, yet no, have the player salvage 30+ items 1 by one with like 2 confirmations in between.
The soundtrack is layered. Something that is normally awesome. They did that perfectly well in RIFT. As you progress through a rift, the song gets more epic. In Defiance, they made it so: Open world mobs have 1 layer. Bigger elite types have 2 layers. Trash mobs in instances have 3 and instance bosses from the themed instance (which you really shouldn't be doing that much) has the full song. Seriously, remember that Beverly Hills Cop sounding combat theme in Mount Tam? Go listen to the full song. It's called "Mutants of Delta Bunker" and it's freaking awesome.
Defiance doesn't suffer from huuuuuuge gamebreaking issues. It suffers from a huuuuuge AMOUNT of small issues. And while Trion says they're working on it. The majority of the fixes are exploits which most people won't encounter and some bugged missions (which is funny seeing how the same template is repeated throughout the game). Like... how do you screw that up?
Comments
I see ...I seems that a developer would actually do good at times to really answer some straight up questions , instead of sugar coated ones...Sometimes you can just get along way by being honest and straight forward with a state of the game etc,,
Btw ..I don't find the UI that bad in the game, and the VOIP..well It works..:)
To enable you to play with your friends, they omitted character leveling and progression. Big, huge mistake for a tradeoff as small as a minor convenience.
Leveling, loot and gear is what MMOs all about. The grouping mechanic, too. You shouldn't make MMOs without them. As this games fades off these will be the reasons why.
The devs aren't likely to tell the truth openly (especially with PR guys around), because they want to keep their jobs. Private conversations, with DNQs, gets quite a different story sometimes.
If you are holding out for the perfect game, the only game you play will be the waiting one.
And that's why I don't feel bad at all when games fail. All these mistakes that game developers make aren't new. It's not like Defiance is the first time a PC game got a crappy console ui port. The feedback mechanism is alive and well for game developers if they want to listen and, more importantly, act on.
Or they can continue to release bad software and act surprised when people don't like it, as if they were blindsided.
You make me like charity
great read. interview.
as an mmo player.
Its a fun game over all to play you have your missions- your skills- and world events!
and you can seamlessly engage in any progressing events and co-ops(dungeons)!= FUN!
with great pursuits and rep building. for better weapons and gear!
that said the game has a bit of flaws.
as a primary 'shooter' game. some flaws have left me stuned- example..
looping on reloading a weapon while in combat =. unacceptable!!- its a shooter!!!
looping on reloading a weapon while in combat =. unacceptable!!- its a shooter!!!
looping on reloading a weapon while in combat =. unacceptable!!- its a shooter!!!
you get the idea...at least hotfix it!
that said , its a fun game.
Playing a game just to level, loot, and gear up is definitely NOT why I play and when I see games like this I know to avoid them like the plague. Few people play games like this. That's why MMORPG's are not as popular as they once were and more and more people are quitting and spending their time and money elsewhere. It's also a very large contributing factor to why WoW is now hemorrhaging subscribers at an alarming rate. This sadly is what modern MMO's have turned into. You can blame EQ for it, since it was the first modern MMO that was all about faux characters and not about story, which is the heart and soul of role playing in a role playing game.
What's funny is in the early MMORPG's, such as Neverwinter Nights on AOL, Shadows of Yserbius, Fates of Twinion, the original Multi-Player Battletech, and even Meridian 59, people used to play for role playing reasons. Non RP'ers were few and far between in those days. I can still remember non RP'ers being openly shunned and people that powergamed and only cared about loot didn't get very far in the community at all. Unless of course they were playing thief type characters of course
Banegrivm
Leader of the 1st Fist of Light
www.1stfistoflight.com
Scariest bit about the Defiance bad UI: It was so much worse just a few months before release. They actually did do a lot of work on it, to get it where it is now. There was a Mod post on the alpha forums about how the GUI folks were the most overworked part of the team, at that point. I think it was obvious that the scheduling of the TV show overrode any game considerations, so it was going out when that started, regardless of any other considerations.
Of course, it's not like a bunch of other major players didn't release with scads of problems as well. Timely fixes help, though first impressions tend to stay, regardless of eventual qualities.
If you are holding out for the perfect game, the only game you play will be the waiting one.
lol this. Your post made me laugh because as an avid shotgun user, it is so annoy...so annoy...so annoying to have your ammo get reset to 1-3 when you are at like 13-15.
I understand the game has short-comings but it is what it is. I am happy to have it on the xbox because throughout all my mmo years since like 1999, none of my friends have played them due to not having a good enough computer (or caring to).
So having this on the xbox is great because they all enjoy it and I can play with them. (Even though my PC rocks and I could easily play the game with better graphics on it, it is the social aspect that I enjoy).
And yes we talk via microphone, not always on xbox private chat either, but through the in game voice option.
Sure this isn't the most "amazing" "mmo", but it is fun enough for a shooter and allows me to play with my friends.
I am entitled to my opinions, misspellings, and grammatical errors.
Somebody, somewhere has better skills as you have, more experience as you have, is smarter than you, has more friends as you do and can stay online longer. Just pray he's not out to get you.
Somebody, somewhere has better skills as you have, more experience as you have, is smarter than you, has more friends as you do and can stay online longer. Just pray he's not out to get you.
Somebody, somewhere has better skills as you have, more experience as you have, is smarter than you, has more friends as you do and can stay online longer. Just pray he's not out to get you.
i bought the game when it came out, played for 2 weeks and havnt logged back since. the best part of the game is probably the pvp.
but after pvping for a week i realized why i wasnt just playing BF3 or COD instead.
as an mmo it barely stands up to other games.
as a shooter it barely stands up to other games.
the idea was good but i guess it didnt work out, at least not for me.
= Scent to bed =
Sry to hear that, sometimes its best to skip the first month on these things. Here's to hoping you able to come back and get your $$'s worth @ a later point.
The game is flawed and just plain fun all at the same time. I personally know at least a dozen people that have purchased in the past two weeks based solely off of getting into the show. The response to the game has been overwhelmingly in the "i'm having a blast" category. The UI sucks, everyone wonders what the heck they are supposed to be doing the first few hours of gameplay, the social aspect is severely flawed but I continue to look-up and hours have passed by. 5 solid DLC's on the way and the show picked up for a second season. I guess you can put me in the money well spent group.
I am sorry but disagree here , we talk about game too much
Answer me this one question: Why should anyone give more/extra money to a company that has already not shown much interest into fixing what is broken, before shoving a bunch of DLCs out there? (And considering the ton of people just laid off from Trion, the chances of anything getting fixed/revamped is even smaller.)I was a big fan of Defiance during my "launch hype". Things weren't stale yet and I was having fun. Then it started becoming abnormally repetitive. Like, I understand MMOs get repetitive. Been MMO gaming since a little before Ruins of Kunark. But even kill quests of mindless grinding usually AT LEAST happen in different looking areas. Yes, it's the same, but it doesn't feel the same or just look the same.
My biggest issues with Defiance is that every single mission is either: Go there, clear stuff or go there activate something which spawns mobs, clear stuff. Story missions follow the same template except you have a cutscene before, voice overs during, and a cutscene after. Thing is, you'll be doing more than at least 150 side-missions that follow that template and it just gets dull once you realize that.
Oh and of course, the UI. Now, I could deal with it. But "mass doing anything" was becoming more and more of an unnecessary chore. I'm not the kind of guy that will do inventory management every time I get an item. Because in most games, it doesn't take time to do it all at once. I usually let my inventory fill, then one big sorting session and I'm done for a long time. Not in defiance! And it's incredibly simple stuff too! One-click salvage. Stack purchasing. Simple, yet no, have the player salvage 30+ items 1 by one with like 2 confirmations in between.
The soundtrack is layered. Something that is normally awesome. They did that perfectly well in RIFT. As you progress through a rift, the song gets more epic. In Defiance, they made it so: Open world mobs have 1 layer. Bigger elite types have 2 layers. Trash mobs in instances have 3 and instance bosses from the themed instance (which you really shouldn't be doing that much) has the full song. Seriously, remember that Beverly Hills Cop sounding combat theme in Mount Tam? Go listen to the full song. It's called "Mutants of Delta Bunker" and it's freaking awesome.
Defiance doesn't suffer from huuuuuuge gamebreaking issues. It suffers from a huuuuuge AMOUNT of small issues. And while Trion says they're working on it. The majority of the fixes are exploits which most people won't encounter and some bugged missions (which is funny seeing how the same template is repeated throughout the game). Like... how do you screw that up?