Defiance (Part Two) ~ All You Need to Know About Games

Defiance Gameworld

Immediately once you've started (after creating your character), you will be thrown right into watching a cutscene which accounts for everything that had happened to you...right until the point where you start your tutorial within the game.

All you need to do at this point in time still is just to follow through with the tutorial and the missions up until the point where you get your first vehicle. After that, its practically free rein all the way and you can do whatever you want to.

However, that's not the focus of this section and hence I would recommend that you kick back and enjoy the ride that was offered.

Anyway, the Defiance gameworld is actually made up of a singular, massive and contiguous terrain. And within this terrain, all sorts of various missions, tasks and quests are then littered over the entire landscape.

For quicker and easier access, it is recommended that you first unlock all the "Fast Travel" points located within the gameworld (by getting yourself there at least once). This will allow you to warp to a closer position before driving yourself to the point of interest.

To warp, just open the map and click on the fast travel point that you wish to go to.

There's the main storyline mission that you can partake in, episode missions and side missions. Each of these tells a story of its own and adds flavor to the game.

The Main Mission is the one which will bring you all over the gameworld and lasts the longest out of the three. Episode Missions are shorter, but would still bring you through quite a few places as well as lasts a few sessions. Side Missions are the shortest and usually occurs around the vicinity at which you've picked it up.

Then there's other extra activities that you can try out for fun like "Hot Shots", "Time Trials" and "Rampages". These, I believe, are mostly for fun stuff that you enter to try and see if you could score the highest or clock the fastest time to leave your name on the rankings scoreboard (Top 3 Only).

Hotshots give you a limited amount of ammunition but no time limit. You should aim to get the highest score by chaining your kills and keeping your multipliers up. It will end once your ammo finishes.

Rampages, on the other hand, offer you more than enough ammo for the challenge, but you will need to kill as many enemies as you can within its time limit.

Time Trials require you to complete a vehicle race course within the shortest time possible. The actual racing occurs within the live, open gameworld and hence you will often encounter NPC mobs or other players even whilst doing your run.

If you get bored, there's also "Arkfalls", "Incursions" and "Sieges" for you to participate in. All these work in pretty much the same way...except for the monsters that you kill on the spot being different. However, there's one particular difference to note.

Apart from Sieges, Arkfalls and Incursions can come in varying degrees of danger. There's minor and regular ones which typically occur randomly all over the place, but always alone. And there's major ones which comprises of multiple regulars concentrated within a particular area or zone.

For these major ones, if you proceed to clear all arkfalls and incursions that are within this particular area, you will get to spawn and fight a "Boss Mob" at the end of it all.

Is it just me, or does it sound kindda like RIFT Online?

Finally, should you still desire something else to do entirely, you can also look for any Matchmaking NPCs (like the one above) to participate in Co-Ops, Co-Op Arenas (requires at least one of you, within the group, having the appropriate DLC pack or so I've heard), Competitive Matches and Shadow Wars.

As far as I know, the Co-Ops are pretty much like instanced dungeons where you can cooperate with other players (in a team) to fight against environmental (NPC) mobs. There is usually a "Boss Mob" as well towards the end of the dungeon run.

The Competitive Matches and Shadow Wars are for players itching for PVP fights. And the difference between the two is that one's instanced (Competitive) and occurs on a smaller scale (8 vs 8 and 16 vs 16, I believe) while the other happens within the open gameworld itself (Shadow War) and is on a much grander scale (up to 64 vs 64).

Game Interface

The above shows your typical heads-up display (HUD) within the game. The top left corner tells you some of the important info with regards to your character status while the top right is where your mini radar's positioned. The bottom left shows you some simplified data about your current equipment setup and the bottom right's your chat window.

Its pretty much your standard FPS HUD as far as I can tell.

However, there are still certain things to note in this HUD which requires further explanation.

EGO Rating
The EGO Rating is kindda synonymous to your "character level" in regular MMO games. In a way, it represents how "powerful" your character is compared to another player.

This rating here also acts in concert with the one found on your equipment's (weapon and shield)...so much so that you can only equip yourself with something that is at or below your current (non-boosted) EGO Rating. But as equipment that you loot will always be "at your level" anyway, you won't usually encounter this kind of problem unless you've bought that item via a PVP trade (another player with a higher EGO rating, I suppose).

However, as there is a "balancing mechanism" in place which will "boost" the handicapped player's EGO ratings (both character and equipment's) up to the proper levels, this practically removes any potential disadvantages which the player might have and thus isn't that much of an issue I guess.

So long as the player keeps the EGO Ratings of his or her weapons and shields up-to-date (with their character's) that is...

Just note that the boost will only be applied if the player stays within the designated area for the activity. Once he or she goes out of it, their EGO ratings will immediately drop back to their original levels and you will see a very significant difference in damage capabilities as well as ability to survive hits from those that are still within it.
Shields
The shields are your "buffer" which takes the brunt of the damage. Only when the shields are gone...will there be any damage done to your character's HP (in most situations anyway).

By avoiding damage for a sufficient amount of time, you will be able to get your shields to recharge back to full. However, the rate at which your shields recharge, its capacity and the amount of time you will have to wait before it starts...depends upon the shield that you've equipped.
Armor Plates
The armor plates helps to reduce the amount of damage that you take on. The more armor plates that you have active, the less damage the enemy would be able to inflict upon you (10% damage reduction per active plate).

The number of armor plates that you have also depends upon the shield that you've equipped...but there are certain mechanics within the game, "Perks", "Spikes" and "Stims" which can give you a temporary buff of armor plates.

As far as I know, these plates do not regenerate themselves. They appear to have a certain amount of durability and would break upon taking enough damage, thus becoming non-functional (no longer reduces damage). And if I remember correctly, the only ways to replenish them is to either visit an "Armor Plates Box" or use some "Armor Repair Stims".
HP

If unfortunately you've gotten your HP down to zero, instead of "dying" in typical MMO scenarios, you will simply just be "incapacitated".

During this downtime, there are three options for you to revive your character. The first one involves getting another player that is still alive to revive you. The second one is for you to revive your own self by holding down on "E" (has a cooldown time to reuse though). The third one is to pay some in-game money and respawn yourself at the nearest "extraction point" (press and hold "T" or wait for timer to expire).
Revival Timer
The revival timer is the one which controls whether you can revive your own self when your incapacitated. If this timer is still in the process of filling up, you will not be able to revive by yourself and can only use the other two methods available.
Current Activity Tracker

This keeps track of the progress in your current activity as well as your overall score in the activity. The higher your score, the better your rewards will be at the end of the activity.

Everything that you do within the activity will count and give you some points to add to this score...be it damaging and killing monsters or simply just healing and reviving fellow players.