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[Preview] Firefall: The Miracle Patch?
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Red 5 is ready to unleash a patch of massive proportion in preparation for next week's Firefall open beta launch. Is it enough to make the game a great one? Find out what we think in this exclusive article and preview. Leave us your thoughts and ideas in the comments.
One of Firefall’s biggest hurdles is that, despite being a traditionally-controlled shooter, everything else about this MMO is different from other games in its chosen genre. Everything from progression to the crafting, the mission system to unlocking regions of the map... it’s all done a bit different than anyone is used to. And throughout the several years I’ve been participating in Firefall’s beta, I’ve watched its tutorial go from one end of the spectrum to the other. Finally, just a couple of weeks before its big “launch”, the team’s nailed the art of easing players into the game. I’d highly suggest starting anew if you’ve been away for awhile, because so much has changed in recent months.
Read more of Bill Murphy's Firefall: The Miracle Patch?
Comments
Bill your review is pretty much dead on!-sound liek you played it a while back and have revisited again...
been playing FF for the last 2 weeks after a huge break from it ( abt a 1yr) and coming back ive already dropped all my other games - theres alot of new stuff going on this game atm!
Ive already like the FF community - so coming back was awsome! but the new dynamic content has been a blast!-yes pve has finally been heavily pushed ingame!!!
the new system to crafting n battleframes is a game changer for sure but it all wraps up nicely within the game- as it stand now -the game feels alot more complete than a few released games out there.
these guys know what they are doin - and if theres more to come FF is a keeper for me! ive been loggin in everyday to play- and well worth my time spent!
thanks red5 for bringing us a cool polished game!!
Steam: Neph
One thing I like about FF is that it does bring new concepts to the table. I'm interested to see how open beta players react to the game's concepts. I also enjoy the teamwork focus in the game. You can solo around, but you always end defending a point with a group of familiar faces. I'd like to contribute this to map and conflict design more than a lack of content.
My biggest concern for Ff is how they handle story. Will the ARES missions, world events, and expansion of zones on the world map naturally lead the player into a deeper narrative? I'm not convinced yet.
I play every beta I can get my hands on, and I keep logging into FF at least once a night for a little atction because the game definitely delivers on action. Managing a squad thump is like shooting your way through the seven levels of hell. It's the fun of these core mechanics that I can't resist.
I wish FF the best. It's something a little unusual in the bla mmorpg world of now.
Gaming since 1985; Online gaming since 1995; No End in Sight! My YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8POVoJ8fdOseuJ4U1ZX-oA
Bill.. for the love of god, don't compare the FireFall Open Beta to Neverwinter. Never, ever.. EVER do that.
FireFall isn't pretending to be a finished game with a soft release. FireFall is STILL BETA. They keep shouting from the rooftops that the game isn't NEAR finished, but articles like you wrote keep confusing people into thinking the game is ready for a launch.
Please stop doing the game a disservice by saying things like that. While they're taking money for Red Beans this is no different than what they did in Closed Beta. The game is still under massive construction and isn't the same as Neverwinter and Dragon Prophet's "soft release" money grab. FireFall doesn't nickle and dime you like Neverwinter did for everything and then trying to get away with it with the Open Beta tag.
Seriously, the Neverwinter launch/open beta fiasco is making it harder for games to do a beta without people expecting it to be in a release state and then complaining everywhere the game isn't finished... and things like you mentioned in the article aren't helping.
A shooter with no world pvp = big fail to me.
A lot of FPS players come from a FPS PVP background, I think its a big mistake to not have some sort of area for world PVP.
Open World PvP has always been a huge part of their plans. Armies and OWPvP areas are on the timeline, they just aren't there yet. It's right there on their timeline.
They have PvP arenas right now and just added Jetball. Open World PvP is going to include Army combat, vehicles, bases and all sorts of other things.
This is another issue with sites like MMORPG saying that Open Beta is release. FireFall's Open Beta is just like Closed Beta but with more people and no keys required.
I've already spoken to Red 5 and their PR. While they're calling it Open Beta, and want people to know it's still "Beta", they also know that letting anyone and everyone in, not wiping characters, and taking money and treating it like a live service means we're going to review it.
It's that simple. They can call it what they want to call it, but when it hits Open Beta on the 9th, we'll be treating it like a live product and reviewing it because it's taking money and will for all intents and purposes be "live".
It's not just Neverwinter that did this either. But oh-so-many F2P games across the board. Just because they're higher profile doesn't mean they get a pass. In fact, it likely means they'll be more under the microscope, and from what I can gather Red 5 is prepared for that.
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It's good that you guys aren't letting game companies "get away " with this. Way too many people are buying into this open beta crap.
I'm glad to see the game pushing forward no matter how big of a step it is. I plan to give the game another go and hope they continue to advance the game. I like the idea of the game and I like the devs and how they've dealt with fans so far on the forums.
Good. Sitck to your guns on that. This whole "soft launch" + "but we're still in beta!" thing ticks me off.
Spot on TBH, if there taking people cash, it release regardless of what they call it.
I agree the moment a game takes your meny for stuff in game, or sub it is considered released, if a company dousnt consider their product done yet then they should not be doing this. simple as that.
and this game has been takeing money and promised no char whipes for over a years now.
F2P may be the way of the future, but ya know they dont make them like they used to
Proper Grammer & spelling are extra, corrections will be LOL at.
I don't understand the appeal. It's not a MMO. It's ultimately a clunky Unreal Tournament with some clunky PvE mobs.
Technology isn't there for a good MMO FPS. They are all clunky... including Planetside 2.
I agree if you are charging and your shop is open then you are as good as launched. None of this soft launch stuff washes with me.
That said TF2 is a very popular game, I see this as a TF2 style mmorpg but I cannot help but think valve would have done it better.
Ill give the OB a go.
Oh and I also thunk that the founders packs are way too expensive, this game should be pocket money blow outs. Think of it like this, the base founders pack will cost me as much as an ffxarr standard addition, I know for sure I will get more value out of one months play from that.
Bill, i want to thank you for your stand on this. this is one of the things im pretty proud of mmorpg.com doing.
why? because its the truth. its not being harsh, its not being inflexible, its a refusal to allow companies to change the terms w/o some kind of explanation or adjustment from the gaming community.
in my mind mmorpg.com is doing just that, allowing the companies to call it whatever they want, but not w/o a response from us, the gamers.
"There are at least two kinds of games.
One could be called finite, the other infinite.
A finite game is played for the purpose of winning,
an infinite game for the purpose of continuing play."
Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse
Spot on. Stick to your guns on this one, IMO.
Seems like they're doing the same exact thing that Neverwinter and other such F2P games have done. What makes this different? Because the poster likes this game it deserves a pass? Please.
this game doesnt apeal to me at all, these kind of games have no longevity you play them and get bored after a couple days atleast that is the case with me, ill be giving this a miss
if i want to shoot shit with guns ill play cod
How full on kool-aid are you? Do you enjoy just swallowing everything a (bad) PR team tries to throw out there? Saying something is "beta" is absolutely meaningless - all that matters is the level of access people have, and whether or not money is involved. Firefall is giving people unrestricted access to the game, and charging money - it's release, NOT beta.
I'm glad most reviewers can see through obvious PR bullshit and call it out. This game is going into it's retail release in less than a week, and it's a gigantic turd of a game. Probably the worst failure of executive leadership in modern MMO development.
Pretty good and accurate article though one thing worth mentioning along with items dropping from mobs and crates again is that they also finally launched a Marketplace where those items, as well as crafted ones of course, can be bought and sold.
That being said a lot of these posters don't seem to realize Red5 has been taking cash for a long while now in the form of both Founders Packs and Red Bean purchases, as well as standing by their policy of no character wipes for years now. That doesnt really mean it was full release version as soon as they started doing so, it means people had the option to support the development of the game financially if they wanted to. Tons of games do this these days but that doesnt mean you can say its release as soon as they do. Personally I think of a game as released when players are given unrestricted access to it, aka Open Beta which is a very questionable term to begin with really, not just because they are accepting peoples money in one way or another.
Really, the game's been released for a while. I bought a no-wipe closed beta access for $20 a long time ago.
Basically, it's been B2P for a while.
I will test it during open beta for a day.
The appeal really isn't there for me.
MMORPG Gamers/Developers need a reality check!
Why do you willingly swallow PR bs? Because someone affiliated with the company tried to frame things in that way? Things are what they are, regardless of what type of spin people try to put on them.
.
Once you hit the combined point of permanent progress (no wipes) and taking money, your game is released. No amount of PR spin or framing is really going to change that. And lets face it, the game hasn't exactly progressed much since they hit that point. The only real noticable changes are that they've now added highly restrictive gating to a minimal amount of content, instead of actually creating a vast amount of new content. It's literally sad at this point.
The fact that loot drops were removed ruined the game for my friend, as he was the type of person who liked to collect loot.
I felt the same way, but it didn't really break the game entirely for me. What broke it for me was the complete lack of content and severe server lag. After the wipe they changed the hairstyle I used to be a buy-only one, so I just stopped playing my main. All the sweeping changes really put me off from the game.
Honestly, if there was a wipe and everything started fresh now, I might want to start playing it again, but it's been almost a damn year since I got into beta, I've lost interest in the game now and don't think I'm actually going to go back.