This week, Chris and Celeste have a cozy fireside chat with Scott McGough. We talk all about Scott’s path to Arenanet, and the design of the story elements in Guild Wars 2. It’s a great interview, grab a cup of coffee and stay awhile!

Listen now:

What We Did This Week

Celeste:
Epic wvw battle ends in my world completion, thanks for coming along with me Jay!
Southsun cove story, crab toss, samples, and events
Did the Dwayna statue/Melchor event and ended up buying the karma armor from it

Chris:
I played the “take 61 kids on a 5 day band trip game”.

Report from Lion’s Arch
Interview with Scott McGough

Tales of Tyria

Fan Trailer for The Secret of Southsun by LoremasterKaae
http://youtu.be/cXQbr78TgDY

Leaderboards fix coming for non-current players
https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/pvp/pvp/Rank-1-Player-is-inactive/first#post1993277

Guild Wars Changes to Automation
http://www.guildwars.com/players/

Request for community events of the week/bi-week. Send us an email!

If you’ve got a burning question for our Ask an Asuran segment, please let us know!

Contact Info

Email: gwreporter@mmoreporter.com
twitter: twitter.com/gwreporter
site: guildwarsreporter.com
Voicemail: 616-666-6778 (and our new widget on the ride hand side of the page)
youtube: youtube.com/user/mmoreporternetwork
facebook: facebook.com/gwreporter
guild: collegium-gw2.guildlaunch.com

Celeste: twitter.com/CeleOOKIE
Chris: twitter.com/almazar

What do Hunters, Warriors, Druids, Shamans, and Warlocks have in common? They’re all being featured on this week’s podcast!

Last week we looked at the hero abilities for the Rogue, Mage, Paladin, and Priest heroes in Hearthstone. Now the other five launch-day heroes get their turn in the spotlight.

Half-geek-half-jock superster Dan joins me and provides some awesome insight on the hero abilities.

Listen now:

Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or via RSS!

The Links

• See the hero abilities
• Watch the Shaman vs Mage game
• Sign up for the beta!
• Check out Dan’s awesome podcast!

Hello!

• Dan is on the show this week
• Topic: Hero Abilities
• Reasons to be happy this week

Who is Dan?

• History with card games
• History with Blizzard games
• Favorite class in WoW
• Hunters carry cards?

What are Hero Abilities?

• 9 Heroes in the game, each with a unique ability
• 2 mana to use
• Can be used once per turn, unlimited times during game

Garrosh Hellscream

Orc Male Warrior

Ability: Gain 2 armor.

Discussion

• What Defines Warriors in WoW?
• Our Impressions
• Flavor Rating: 6,8
• Power Rating: 9,7

Gul’dan

Orc Male Warlock

Ability: Lose 2 health and draw a card.

Discussion

• What Defines Warlocks in WoW?
• Our Impressions
• Flavor Rating: 10,10
• Power Rating: 8,11

Malfurian Stormrage

Night Elf Male Druid

Ability: Gain 1 Attack and 1 Armor.

Discussion

• What Defines Druids in WoW?
• Our Impressions
• Flavor Rating: 5,7
• Power Rating: 10,9

Thrall

Orc Male Shaman

Ability: Summon a random totem. (4 unique options)

Discussion

• What Defines Shamans in WoW?
• Our Impressions
• Flavor Rating: 11,10
• Power Rating: 8, 2/4/6/8/10

Rexxar

Orc Male Hunter

Ability: Deal 2 damage to the enemy hero.

Discussion

• What Defines Hunters in WoW?
• Our Impressions
• Flavor Rating: 5,7
• Power Rating: 8,7

Card of the Week

Felguard don’t care about your precious crystals

Farewell

• Follow Dan on Twitter
• What you want to see in future episodes
• What hosts you want to visit the show

Join The Podcast

• SUBSCRIBE to The Happy Hearthstone podcast on iTunes or this RSS feed.
• FOLLOW me on Twitter or Google+
• MEET new Hearthstone friends and discuss deck strategies and the latest game news in our Google+ Community.
• PLAY with us in Hearthstone, whenever we actually get into beta!

Patch 5.3 is just around the corner, bringing a pile of new pets to capture, harder challenges for our little brawlers to overcome, and plenty of PvP incentives to keep us fighting.

Blizzard’s Lead Content Designer, Cory “Mumper” Stockton joins me on the show this week to talk about all the new goodies coming in patch 5.3, and to give us insight into how Blizzard builds the pets we love to throw into the gauntlet.

Listen now:

Subscribe to The WoW Pet Battle Crew on iTunes or via RSS!

The Interview

Cory and I talk about a lot interesting things on the podcast this week. Here are some of the highlights and big reveals:

• Why PvP has become a bigger focus for the battle pet devs
• A crazy pet idea that didn’t make it into the game
• The devs’ 3 major goals for pet battles in patch 5.3
• What criteria makes a pet considered “broken” or “overpowered”
• What’s next for pet battles?
• How they’re making the new Beasts of Fable harder
• The pet team Cory’s currently playing with
• Cory explains how the spawning mechanic works for the amazing (and frustratingly elusive) Unborn Val’kyr pet

We’re coming for you, Unborn Val’kyr. And we’ve got plenty of pets for your to resurrect!

Thanks again for being on the show, Cory! Everyone can (and should) follow him on Twitter for more WoW talk.

Join The Podcast

• SUBSCRIBE to the WoW Battle Pet Crew podcast on iTunes or this RSS feed.
• FOLLOW me on Twitter or Google+
• MEET fellow battle pet tamers and discuss team strategies and the latest pet battle news in our Google+ Community.

Chis is back, Cari and Layanor join him in discussing Update 11 and Ents.

Listen now:

What We Did in Game

Layanor- Finished Update 11.

• Have a few deeds to do.
• 22% into rank 12. Need 292k Renown.

Cari -

• Hytbold Dailies 10 more Days Baby
• Cyn to Level 56
• Opened a Hobbit Present and got a Skirt.
• Re did my LI and War-steed traits.

Chris -

• I played the “take 61 kids on a 5 day band tour” game. I lost my sanity somewhere, has anyone seen it?
• Finished the first couple of quests for Wildermore. Ooooo, snow.

News

MMO Reporter Update 11 Preview

http://mmoreporter.com/2013/05/12/lotro-update-11-preview/

Update 11 Dropped like its hot

http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?511377-Update-11-Treachery-of-the-White-Hand-Release-Notes-Official

• New Launcher

• http://support.turbine.com/ics/support/kbanswer.asp?deptID=24001&task=knowledge&questionID=3914

• New Region
• New crafting recipes for every guild and new rep recipes.
• Epic Story Continues
• Mounted Combat Update
• Lailia’s Market
• Hobbit Presents
• The new Alerts Panel is intended to allow you to see all of your alerts at one time.
• Housing Upkeep now allows for paying further in advance and adds the option to pay with Mithril Coins.
• Reputation acceleration, Deed acceleration, Armour and Weapon repair services, task resets, and task limit increases can now be purchased with Mithril.
• Amongst their standard rewards, Warband Reward boxes should now also provide players with a chance to obtain new warsteed cosmetics and Warband Barter Tokens, which will be used to purchase the legendary pocket upgrades. Whereas the cosmetics will be a very rare drop from each reward box, the barter tokens will drop at a rate relative to the difficulty of the warband.
• Quests and Deeds that require the defeat of Players or Monster Players will now advance for all contributors, not just the player who dealt the final blow.
• When you are on a quest which is advanced by emoting, the quest tracker will now contain a quick-slot to trigger the emote.
• LI Points Refunded
• You should no longer get a “A failure has occurred in submitting your support request” error message on login. It has been replaced with a more meaningful error message, which will hopefully help us figure out what’s going on.

Mounted Combat 2.0

http://www.lotro.com/en/game/articles/mounted-combat-20-tale-problems-solutions

• Remove all movement based traits (Max Speed, Acceleration, Turn Rate) from the trees and build them into the base functionality of the War-Steed
• Replace the removed movement branch with a new branch that is class specific. Ensure this new branch
• Heavy-Steeds lost 0.5 meter per second off their max speed but gained increased Armour and Endurance to help reinforce their role as a tank. The light steed was given boosts to their max power and power regeneration to help them support our support classes more efficiently. In turn, the medium steed was tuned to provide a good balance of both.
• we took a long look at DPS and power usage to ensure things were balanced across the board. reinforces the identity of each class through skills and traits.

Known Issues Update 11:

http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?511371-Update-11-Treachery-of-the-White-Hand-Known-Issues

• The Play button in the launcher will sometimes not work, preventing you from accessing the game. Changing your language setting and then changing it back will allow you to log in properly.

• Infinite Cowbell! Using a cowbell while in mounted combat will cause the audio to infinitely loop until logout. You did want more cowbell, right?

Broken quest. Hot fix incoming. Until then devs can no longer help.

https://twitter.com/ehefkae/status/334384123735064576

“The Rescue in Cuthbald’s Farm” has been disabled.

 LOTRO Store Update

http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?511406-LOTRO-%E2%80%93-Store-offer-update-11-5-13-2013

New Items:

• Quest Pack: Wildermore – 150+ quests & deeds for level 85 Characters. (free to VIPs)
• +5 Hope Tokens (90min) x1/x5
• 100% Craft Crit – 995 TP
• Random Relic Pack – Contains 1 random relic from tier 2-8
• Relic Bundle – Contains 10 random relics from tier 4-6
• Premium Relic Pack – Contains 5 random relics from tier 7-9

Item updates:

• 100% XP boosts now include War-Steed XP

Price changes:

• To match their new mithril pricing, the following 2 items have had their prices changed.
• Reputation Acceleration – raised store price to 250 TP for base
• Slayer & Skill Deed Acceleration – raised store price to 150 TP for base
• 100% Mark Boosts: x5/x10 = 450/875
• 100% Infamy & Renown x5/x10 = 675/1300
• 100% Craft XP x5/x10 = 675/1300

Ways Feedback is Looked at in LOTRO:

http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?510937-If-not-via-Forum-Consensus-how-do-we-effect-change-in-game&p=6779855#post6779855

From Sapience:

No method is considered over another, they’re combined. Kind of a ‘feedback stew’. They certainly inform one another (ie, Forums say X, Survey Says Y, Bug reports show Z, etc, combined they say W).

In very broad strokes and in no way a definitive list or in any particular order…

• Forums
• Outside comments (we read articles posted on news sites, look at small group of fansites that usually have good feedback, facebook, twitter, etc).
• Surveys (you’ve probably seen people post asking if a survey they got was legit.We do these from time to time).
• Customer service keeps track of issues and severity and the feedback players give them based on those exchanges.
• In game comments (yes we do actually spend time with the game up and the chat tabs blown up to full screen).
• Data pulled directly from the servers (we track a huge number of data points)
• We have a couple of third party moderators and some other groups who pull look at international feedback.
• Focus groups.
• And now the players council.

Community

Tsuhelm Lists their TP Grind Plans

http://tsuhelm.wordpress.com/2013/05/08/tp-grind-table-version-2/

Lists the Amount of TP you can get in the various areas.

LOTRO Update 11 Wildermore Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYArAeWn9cQ

Video by PvMPAndang

He got Tyler MIchael Jonsson the “American Gollum” to do the voice over.

http://network.mymiddleearth.com/2013/03/05/smeagol-and-gollum-sing-the-confrontation-from-les-miserables/

 Weatherstock in Danger of Being Canceled?

http://the-strongfoots.net/blog/weatherstock-v-in-danger-due-to-lotro-music-system-bug-introduced-in-update-11/

• There is a bug introduced with Update 11 that makes Weatherstock almost impossible to put on.

LOTRO Gambling! So it begins.

https://twitter.com/rwfrk/status/334453350206668802

@rwfrk [glff] <redacted>: ‘i gambled 1000 mith coins got NOTHING good’so it begins…

http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?511346-Hobbit-Presents-Know-the-odds.

Mail:

Roselinda: A few notes that strike me:  there is a 100% auto-crit scroll called 100% Craft Crit.

This scroll contains long-forgotten crafting lore from the First Age. Upon using this scroll, the next time you craft an item, it will automatically be a critical. The bonus gained from this scroll lasts for 5 minutes, however it will only make the next item you craft automatically crit. The effect will be removed after the crit is successful. This scroll only affects production professions: Cook, Jeweller, Metalsmith, Scholar, Tailor, Weaponsmith, and Woodworker. 1 use.

price!  GULP *995 tp*
I’d consider them for things like the super rare golden horse lords items or the erebor necklaces, but not for 10 bucks.
On another note are the new “random relic bags” The “relic bundle” A great value for your dollar.
Price! *1000 tp*
The Relic Bundle contains 10 relics randomly chosen from tiers 4 to 7.
seriously?  great value for your dollar?

Contact Information:

Email: lotro.reporter@gmail.com
Twitter: @lotroreporterFacebook: LOTRO ReporterVoicemail: 616-666-6778 or the widget on the right side of the screen when you visit the site.
YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/user/mmoreporternetworkwww.lotroreporter.com

Cari  Twitter: @thecarimac
Layanor  Twitter: @Layanor

This week we discuss Rifts announcement to go FREE TO PLAY with Elrar!  And catch up on the past weeks news too.

Listen now:

What we’ve done in game:

Sallennia:

• Got me a HELLBUG!  And then dyed my wardrobe to match it.  Took a while to find the group running around Ashora, but got it the first night I did.

• Have done all the dailies in Ashora at Nurjak Vostra, (south Ashora)

Solo’d level 60 quests, including the group quest for the dailies.

• less then a bar from level 57!

• Have my plat to buy my 130% mount!!  Why can’t it be pretty?

• After completing the quest chains in Ashora we travelled to Dusken.  Explored all but the last zone, getting all the ports, doing a few carnage quests.  Nope, not a fan, sooo creepy!

Chris:

• Hellbug mount, Hellbug pet, MORE mounts and pets…. My alts are happy.

• Dailies in Ashora

• Explored EVERYTHING!

• Instant Adventure.

• Crafting stuff, trying to get some good stuff for the AH.

News from the Rift

Elrar Interview June 12- RIFT 2.3: Empyreal Assault & F2P

RIFTS

* Hungry, hungry Helbugs have crash landed in RIFT from the DEFIANCE universe! A new fire rift named “Invasive Species” now has a chance to appear in all zones. Completing the unstable stages of this rift offers a chance at acquiring any of three different types of hellbug mounts and companions, including the extremely rare Toxic Hellbug.

http://forums.riftgame.com/official-rift-news/patch-notes/357681-rift-2-2-hotfix-11-7-00am-pdt-5-1-13-na-2-00am-gmt-02-5-13-eu.html

http://www.twitch.tv/trionworlds/b/396035159?t=39m35s

LIVE STREAM COVERAGE – Join us live* at http://www.twitch.tv/trionworlds for the latest Free-to-Play details and discussion:

• Free-to-Play Overview – 1:30pm PDT Friday, May 17

• REX, Loyalty, & Gifting – 1:30pm PDT Friday, May 31

• Dendrome Preview – 1:30pm PDT Friday, June 7

• Update 2.3: Empyreal Assault – 1:30pm PDT Friday, June 14

Greetings from your new Community Coordinator, Morgana!

http://forums.riftgame.com/official-rift-news/news-announcements/358200-greetings-your-new-community-coordinator-morgana.html

Contact info

email: riftreporter@mmoreproter.com

facebook: facebook.com/riftreporter

site: riftreporter.com

Twitter: twitter.com/riftreporter

Voicemail: 616-666-6778 or the new widget on the right side of the site

Youtube: youtube.com/user/mmoreporternetwork

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Betas are on the mind today — but when are they not?  Dodge and Syp take a break from cleaning out their navals to pontificate on the benefits and drawbacks to being part of a beta.  But after that?  It’s right back to belly button upkeep!

Two topics in 30 minutes or your next podcast is free. You know you would listen to all this if it just wasn’t so… long!

Listen now:

Show Outline

• Almonds and toenails and Dodge going solo
• Topic #1: What are the benefits of being in an MMO beta?
  
• Ads
• Topic #2: What are the drawbacks of being in an MMO beta?
  

• Send in topic ideas to tldl@mmoreporter.com!
• Rate us on iTunes!

Dodge Online

• Website: A Casual Stroll to Mordor
• Twitter: @tdhowell
• Email: merric@casualstrolltomordor.com

Syp Online

• Website: Massively and Bio Break
• Twitter: @sypster
• Email: justin@massively.com

Logo design by Rick Blanco III

This week we have a special guest for you from the Defiance Community. Defiance Radio Personality Mr. Beck Altar of KTAM Radio. Join us as we discuss the latest episode “A Well Respected Man” and delve into the gaming community surrounding Syfy’s Defiance Universe. Also, is EGO going insane? Tune in to find out.

Listen now:

DRAMA IN DEFIANCE

EPISODE 3 A Well Respected Man

RECAP Kenya and one of her “porters” gets kidnapped by the only bioman in Defiance and taken to a secret drug lab outside the city. Now it’s up to Nolan, Amanda, and even Datak to find them.

Thoughts and Observations

•  Why did the town council decide it needed to quietly have weapons run into town? Was there a reason for their secrecy in their dealings with Datak? And Amanda is STILL mayor, appointed or elected, why is information being held back from her? Side question: Who will be her opponent?
• Did they say Mag-lev? How is siding with E-Rep to get a Mag-lev through town a bad thing? And why is Amanda so against the idea? Does she have some insight as to how E-Reps work or is she just poisoned by Nicki’s words?
• Apparently Nolan isn’t a stranger to the synthetic Adrino “Blue Devil,” having been forced to take it in the Pale Wars
• It is clear there is drug running and the question is Who is running the drugs, Datak or the Votanis Collective. Was the plot of Meeko a red herring.
• Anyone else get the “Of Mice and Men” feel between Ulysses and Meeko. Obviously Meeko is the brains of the outfit, what with being a chemist and Ulysses being all muscle. How is it that Datak’s muscle happens to have another boss? Are we supposed to believe that drugs are being pushed in his town without getting a cut?
• Interesting tidbit found on the forums: The crashed Stratocarrier crashed 30km outside Bissel Pass. Assuming the pass is at least a few miles from the city center, the stratocarrier crashed where the current city of Defiance, MO is.
• Of course the whole episode is about building the relationship between rigid Amanda and free spirited Kenya. As most episodes of this type start, there’s an argument or disagreement until one is gone and the other suffers guilt. The nice twist to this one is that Kenya actually gets to be the matronly one to her porter while they flee from the Volge. Of course this led to the lie of St Finnigan and the revelation of their mother. Would Amanda have ever told Kenya about their mother? Ever?
• Datak seems to get a whole new dimension to his character this episode. When Nolan physically accosts Datak in the streets in his sleepwear, we really get to see Tony Curran shine. Its also probably the only episode you will hear Datak tell the complete and honest truth. From his honest and accurate description of Nolan to his keen understanding of the town’s relationship.
• Who is leaving the TV show verse to join the game verse? (It’s Rynn)
• Lack of Game Tie in’s/nods otherwise.

Favorite scenes

Ben

• Datak and Nolan working together. To see Datak trying to look like the hero by setting up a false witness, only to get shut down by Nolan was priceless. Still Datak does have a point in that Nolan does have to stop with the brutish, heavy handed policing and get to know the town and its people.
• The revelation of St. Finnigan and what happened to Mother Rosewater. To me having a metal of a saint named after a fallen soldier held more weight and sentimentality than actually using the Saint’s name, no matter that it wasn’t the initial intent. There’s more that ties it to the moment.

Beck

• The ending when Nolan Figures out Stahma is the motivator. Though I wonder if it is not going to backfire on her.

Dislikes?

Ben

• Seems to me that Syfy is having trouble with Biomen. With the impressions I’ve got, biomen seem to be nothing but raging killing machines and experts of brute combat. Yet Ulysses seems like the runt of the litter in this episode

Speculations for Next Week

So right now the audience is wondering about Nicky and Birch’s plans to find the Kaziri,  and what Rafe’s plans for the artifact are, we can now wonder about those cave paintings. How old are they? 12 years or 12 thousand years?  What do the pictograms represent? Is there a silver disk to match the gold one found and the horned being holding them.

Preview of next week’s episode - The Serpent’s Egg

http://youtu.be/3yEVyY5IZe4

• So while Nolan and Amanda are transferring a prisoner, Irisa spots someone from her past and decides to exact a bit of revenge.
• Where are they taking Rynn and who attacked them mid transfer?
• Who is that Castithan and why is TOMMY INVOLVED IN THIS?

[Show Predictions]

Next week I think we’re going to find out that Rynn was rescued NOT by the spirit riders, but Birch and Nicki since she’s proven herself resourceful and they could use someone like her in their plans.

OFF THE SET

Shooting the Shtako Episode 4

http://youtu.be/NNiSaKDW-mM

Mia Kirshner sits down with Defiance EP Kevin Murphy in this week’s Shooting the Shtako to dish the dirt about playing Defiance’s sexiest business owner, Kenya.

• Interesting. When shooting the kidnapping scene, Kenya’s cuts and bruises and sense of immobilization were not played up too much since she was involved in a bike accident before shooting.
• Then there’s some interesting discussion about whether knowing some back story helps the actor know where you’re coming from or if its just more of a hinderance.

Reviews Across the Web

We at Defiance Reporter received an email for a listener (we’ll get to that a bit later) mentioning that io9 is not the only place to find a show review if we find them to be unfair, so to be fair to the viewers, I’ve decided to go with a review from TV.com’s Noel Kirkpatrick

http://www.tv.com/news/defiance-a-well-respected-man-review-and-4-episode-test-due-deference-136777896614/

• Now l felt that the show is pretty heavy handed across all its episodes but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, if its entertaining and/or interesting
• The show’s pilot had laid out the groundwork for the challenges that would be faced by the Rosewater sisters and their polarizing positions within the town, but this episode quickly cuts through the rising tensions and makes their conflict seem more like a “one-off that provided some character background instead of offering much in the way of character development.”
• “Datak’s wounded-pride speech was motivated by the apparent snubbing by the council due to Nolan busting up the arms smuggling, but it also ended up playing into the schemes to better position the Tarrs to gain control of the town, thanks to Stahma’s ability to properly manipulate the situation. So when she and Nolan shared an exchange at the end of the episode—”You know, I’ve had my eye on the wrong snake. You’re the dangerous one.” “You’re very sweet.”—it was actually the perfect way to end the hour: with the giving and acknowledgment of respect.”
• “I wouldn’t necessarily recommend Defiance to someone without knowing their science-fiction leanings, and if I weren’t reviewing it, it would probably slip into my Friday-night catch-up queue. It hasn’t really made itself appointment viewing for me. But I would still be watching it, and that’s the important takeaway, I think. I find the idea of the show, this Western + sci-fi + immigrant story mash-up, interesting enough that I want to see how it goes. While I’m not interested in Nicky’s plan for the town, how that golden knot figures into things, or the relationship between Christie and Alak, the rest of the show generally holds my attention week to week. There are plenty of episodes left in the season, however, so there’s plenty of time to become more invested… or less so.”

NEWS FROM THE BAY AREA

[What we did in game]

Ben

• Currently I’m at EGO rating 923 and still slowly climbing. I’ve completed the Svushinnira episode pursuits. I’m also nearly done with the main and side missions together in San Francisco.

Beck

•  My EGO rating is somewhere around the 1300s and I basically wander around in game while I do the show. Right now I’m working on completing the elemental hellbug pursuits.

Still Struggling to get those Elemental Hellbugs?

By now most arkhunters have completed their contracts in exterminating those elemental hellbugs, but if you’re still at it, here are some helpful tips, curtesy of Arkhunters Academy.com

• Look for A New Pair of Genes, Exotic Goods and Thinning the Herd events along the roadside.
• One helpful strategy is to port to the Muir Processing Plant and travel west towards Mine 99 and just go back and forth completing the events.
• If you see an Arkfall even called Hellbug Destruction, complete it. It will spawn dozens and dozens of elemental hellbugs to complete your pursuit.
• “Svushinnira: Thinning the Herd” Contract for Paradise Territories has not appeared in game yet and completing the previous pursuit with the same name will not complete the objective for Unconventional Methods (though I understand patch 1.014 has taken care of the confusion by removing the objective completely)

Across the Badlands Episode 4 

http://youtu.be/Z3JvGez7274

Greg Laabs and Elizabeth Tobey came back this week to discuss the show and game.

• A little more about Adreno from the lore writers: “The new variant of adreno was twice as powerful as the original synthetic version and twice as addictive. This has created an addiction problem among EMC war veterans.” By the wars end the adrino use spread to the civilian sectors and was soon being developed by criminal chemists working out of makeshift adreno labs.” Obviously the rise in popularity, usage and addiction, led to the eventual adreno-napping crimewave.
• While playing the game, I never realized that the quick, blue burred enemies like those in Liberate the Lost are adreno addicts.
• Interview with Narrative Designer Trick Dempsey
  • His job is to make sure they are using all the storytelling devices they have to their maximum effectiveness.
  • Preparing characters that cross between the game and show is by far his most difficult task to undertake. They need to establish that crossing the storm divide is extremely dangerous and not everyone that crosses survives. (Hints at an established character shown in the previews for the next show will make the trip. Guesses?)
  • Who is EGO? She is the person you’re going to hear the most and we wanted it to be someone you like. Do you like her? Is EGO insane? No she is not progressing towards insanity in the course of season 1, but she’s definitely manipulating the way you see things in the world.
• What’s up with Half-breeds and how do they exist? Dempsey didn’t really give an answer to this other than to say science wont allow for half breeds, but the line mentioned in the show leaves that door open for them later, solely because it would be cool.
• Will there be any other playable races in the game? Maybe *wink*
• Very soon a character of the TV show will be crossing the badlands into San Francisco! Watch Facebook.com/defiance to get a few other hints.

Synergy and How it Works

http://community.defiance.com/en/2013/05/07/weapon-synergy/

• Synergy effects can be gained by obtaining and equipping multiple items that belong to a set.
• There are two types of synergy: weapon-weapon, and weapon-mod.
• Weapon-weapon synergies require two weapons with the same synergy to be equipped, which will activate that synergy effect.
• Weapon-mod synergies require a weapon and attached mods with the same synergy. In weapon-mod synergy, the more matching mods are added to the weapon, the more powerful the synergy bonus that is gained.

State of the Game

Another patch released March 8th, designated as Patch 1.014

• Freight Yard is back…again.
• Svushinnira, “the rain of pollution”, grows ever more severe. Horribly mutated Hellbugs dot the Paradise landscape as the Hellbug mating season continues. Nano-effect imbued Hellbugs are now more common and many familiar encounters now carry a new and dangerous change. This includes more Electric and Syphon Monarchs and mutated Hellbugs now appearing at Parraba Ranch, Happy Pow, Bug Basin, Ridgecrest Mine, Big Stone Reach, and Diablo Station.
• Completing Ranks of Echelon now gives you a second outfit to equip in competitive matches.
• Some EGO rating 1900 to 2000 weapons were not getting their rarity bonuses appropriately. This is now fixed.
• Fixed a crash that could occur when hitting Ctrl-Q.
• Fixed a crash that could occur when resetting missions.
• Fixed a crash associated with Dogtown Mine.
• Removed some of the level up spam that happened upon load in.
• Vehicles can now only be found as specials on vehicle vendors.
• Vehicle special price has been increased.
• Additional Challenger variants added.
• Mine 99 rewards have been reduced.

Sledgehammer70 also notes that the design team is looking at weapons and mods and how those items affect gameplay vs. all the other weapons in the game. We will be addressing balancing shotguns as needed in upcoming patches. With these changes you can look forward to some in-depth details on why changes are being made.

Listener Letters

Dave writes “Thanks for the Great Podcast! It has made the Defiance Universe so much more enjoyable and entertaining for me. Like many SyFy viewers, I was seeing a ton of promos for the show before its debut. It looked interesting enough to record the series on my DVR, but I didn’t delve deep into the universe. Up until Episode 4, I had ONLY been watching the show. And to be honest, it did fall a little flat for me. Good enough to record, but nothing I was excited about week in week out. And my perspective would of stayed the same had I not found the Game, your Podcast, and all the Online information. This universe has SO much depth, but it isn’t presented in the show….yet. I think it will take a full season, or maybe more, to provide the information needed to make the viewer care about the Defiance Universe. Unfortunately, I think many viewers will have checked out by then. It’s hard for you guys to see how others view the show without your knowledge of all the backstories, but let me tell you; the show falls flat on its own. And to be honest, the game kind of “Meh” on its own as well. But when you combine the two, along with the Online information, they are both engaging and exciting.”

We also received an email from Ken from Chicago, but I think I’ll be saving that for next episode to share with my co-host Chris.

LAST MINUTE ANNOUNCEMENTS

Defiance: The Essential Guide (http://www.defiance.com/en/series/news/get-defiance-the-essential-guide) is now available for the Kindle Fire, Nook, and Kobo as well as on the iBookstore

Join our clan IGNI FERROQUE! <defiancereporter.guildlaunch.com>

No registration required, just look for one of these officers in-game, Corso Vanlocke, Jack Thundersteele, or Almazar to get an invite!

iTunes 5 Star Reviews

We’d like to thank the following reviewers for giving us a 5-star rating on itunes:

• Jath30

CONTACT US!

Email: defiance@mmoreporter.com

twitter: twitter.com/defiancepodcast or @defiancepodcast

site: defiancereporter.com

Voicemail: 616-666-6778 (and our new widget on the ride hand side of the page)

youtube: youtube.com/user/mmoreporternetwork

Ben: twitter.com/nebsinsane

Beck: twitter.com/KTAMRadio

The entertainment industry is no stranger to cashing in on a successful license. Sometimes they try by creating a video game to accompany a movie or show, usually to very limited success. So it came as a surprise that a network like Syfy would ignore the stigma and attempt to create a new and original world shared by both the television viewers and the gamers at the same time. Here we’ll be reviewing the PC version of Defiance to see if Ark Hunting is as profitable as it seems or if it’s just another multiplayer free-to-play MMO.

Listen now:

In the near future, seven alien races travel to Earth to escape their dying star system called Votanis. Not knowing it was inhabited, some Votan and human representatives negotiated for settlement, while the bulk of the alien refugees remained in stasis on their ships, until disaster struck. Somehow the ships called Arks were mysteriously destroyed, stressing an already tenuous relationship and sparking the Pale Wars. Ark debris rained down on earth and alien terraforming technology was chaotically unleashed upon the planet, reshaping the landscape, introducing dangerously altered wildlife, new sources of wealth and tech, and a whole new western frontier.

“Defiance” is a collaboration between Syfy and Trion Worlds to bring a new, ambitious, and expansive science fiction television show that airs on Mondays at 9 p.m. ET, as well as a massively multiplayer online first person shooter across three platforms (Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC). What makes this collaboration between a television network and a prominent game developer different from all other lackluster attempts? To start, both Syfy and Trion Worlds have created this new Earth together from the beginning. Both show and game share the same world, overarching themes and yet keep enough space between them to continue to thrive without the other.

Features

• Futuristic, open-world pixel perfect third-person shooter, hailed as the first multi-platform MMO shooter AND a “ground-breaking entertainment experience, interconnecting with a global television program on Syfy”

• Epic storyline and episodic missions, a bevy of side missions, and numerous tasks for in game advancement

• Instanced competitive PvP matches, multiplayer cooperative maps, and a massive 64-player team deathmatch within the explorable world

• Dynamic events

• Massive co-op boss battles

• Advanced human and alien weaponry

• Evolving world with constantly updated content

• And best of all, NO SUBSCRIPTION REQUIRED

Available Editions

A copy of Defiance will run the standard $59.99 with no monthly subscription to play, and a Collector’s Edition which includes a hellbug statue, artbook and soundtrack, as well as some virtual items and boosts, will run you $99.99. Standard and Collector’s Edition of Defiance are available at retailers for Xbox 360, Playstation3, and PC, with an Ultimate Edition available exclusively at Gamestop. For PC gamers who prefer to acquire their copy digitally, there is a $99.99 Digital Deluxe Edition that includes virtual boosts and exclusive items. If you purchase any standard edition (read: physical or digital) and wish to upgrade, you can purchase the digital deluxe edition upgrade for $39.99 on any platform. And of course there is a season pass available for those of us that are both thrifty and a bit of a gambler. Purchasing a season pass will net you 5 DLC , an in-game cosmetic and lockbox, and save you 20% at $39.99

My Defiance Experience

In Defiance, creating an avatar is purely about appearances. Characters rely more on perks and weapon customization rather than races and class to differentiate play style. There are a few options to change hairstyles and facial features that vary from the undistinguished to the outlandish. There are only two races to choose from, human and Irathent (with promises of more playable Votan races in the future), and 4 archetypes that hardly differ in their description. There are no statistics because there are no race or “class” bonuses for what you choose. Choosing an archetype means choosing what outfit and weapons you will start with in the game.

Once your in game persona is created, it is immediately and unceremoniously jettisoned out of an exploding military ship, crash landing in an alien, yet somehow still familiar landscape. You see, during the pale wars, disaster struck the ark ships in orbit around Earth. No one knows what exactly happened, except that fiery debris came raining down and caused massive damage to the surface of our planet. Coupled with the Votan technology on board designed to terraform what they thought would be their new home, Earth became a strange, alien, and hostile new place to be. Even though the landscape has changed drastically, Trion was able to ease players into it by keeping a sense of the familiar under all of the new and bizarre. While visually fascinating, nothing stands out in Defiance graphically. The game looks similar across all three platforms and I think its a shame Defiance could not have adopted the bold and striking visuals that its sister game Rift possesses.

After a fortunate rescue by a fiery redheaded Irathient and a few disorienting moments, we find ourselves in a small and thorough tutorial area. The size of the area might have something to do with the fact that this game relies mostly on pointing and shooting at everything instead of casting, stacking, buffing and healing; the only thing players will need a tutorial on is the EGO abilities. The Environmental Guardian Online is an advanced alien AI implant that enhances dormant abilities in humans and Votans. This means we can now run very fast, create and use a decoy, use bionetics to enhance weapon damage, or make ourselves invisible for a while. Running through the tutorial will show you how each of the 4 main EGO abilities work and have you practice with each so you can make an informed decision as to which one you want to begin with. Being able to send out a decoy or become invisible while under heavy fire was not only helpful, it added a level of creativity to strategizing my next move, not to mention the “build” possibilities as you unlock and equip perks. Cloaking may work for enemy AI in the explorable world, but when in a multiplayer match, I prefer using my bionetic ability Overcharge to get those damage numbers higher.

At first, trying to understand the EGO system was perplexing (there’s EGO ratings, EGO points, experience points, weapon skill levels, weapon experience, vehicle skills, etc.), but after spending some time with the system, I was able to understand what the different types of experience did and where it affected the growth of my character. Still, to the uninitiated, the EGO system can be quite daunting.

Next we come to guns. Big guns. Little guns. Shotguns. Pistols. SMGs, LMGs, Rocket Launchers, Grenade Lobbers, Sniper Rifles. Defiance has them all. There’s even a few odd, alien weapons, like the bio-magnetic gun that both damages enemies and recharges the shields of allies, or the infector which turns an enemy into a live host for a dangerous parasitic creature. Currently there are 13 styles of weapons, which can have 5 different elemental effects, up to 4 upgrade slots, and a ton of variances of stats and mods for each. Weapons do not increase in power as you “level” up, but instead, weapons are ranked by rarity, gated by EGO ranking, and increase in mod-ability and buffs. This essentially means that the higher your EGO rating is, the better the weapon drops become. If you find yourself with a weapon you’ve grown attached to, throw it into Defiance’s version of a crafting table called the Salvage Matrix. With salvage gathered by participating in arkfalls and paying a little script, you can add up to 4 mod slots and equip the slots with additional buffs, like recoil reduction, larger ammo capacity, elemental damage to physical attacks, and smaller bloom field for more precise shots. Find something better later on? Sell or salvage your older weapon for its mods! Weapons are highly customizable and finding the right one means using as many as you can until you do.

Now that we’ve grabbed a few weapons, its time to get a feel for the game by going out into Madera and spraying hot lead into some bandits. Gameplay in Defiance is simple; anyone with experience in a FPS will feel right at home, and less familiar players can pick it up quickly. Defiance is a pixel perfect shooter and proficiency in aiming and shooting will determine how quickly you take down an enemy and could mean the difference between life and death. Having said that, if you are like me and have no skill in quickly taking down an enemy with precision, using a powerful weapon with a wide spread and quick reload like a Shotgun, or using a rapid fire, high capacity weapon with additional elemental damage like an SMG or Assault Rifle, then it won’t matter getting those critical hits. Just be sure to be near an ammo cache or equip the Scavenger perk to keep those ammo stores filled.

Rolling around the San Francisco bay area, one is never short of things to see, do, or run over. Random mini events are constantly popping up in the streets, adjacent buildings, or fields. These events can be skipped over with no penalty or much aggro, or they can be completed for experience and loot. Arkfalls are Defiance’s big dynamic events similar to Trion’s other popular title, Rift. Arkfalls are frequent and can be either the minor, single event, or the major event  with several smaller falls and a large group boss battle finale. These can vary in style and enemy depending on which event is started and what area it happens to fall in. Arkfalls can scale in difficulty with the number of participants present, and it is possible to solo a minor arkfall. Major arkfalls can attract a very large number of players in a small area and Trion has done a marvelous job of having the game handle that many players without taxing the game much, though the xbox and ps3 community may dispute me on this issue.

Having a ton of players and enemies in one location at a time for a Major Arkfall is exciting in that if we can all cooperatively take down a legion of hellbugs, imagine what happens if we turn on  each other in a massive player vs player battle royale! Trion has brought the players just that in the form of Shadow Wars, an open world pvp battlefield without boundaries, full of mayhem and ego. While in a Shadow War anything can happen, from being overrun by the enemy side to having a Major Arkfall land dead center in your match! Multiplayer also means cooperative maps and participating in small instanced deathmatches. If fighting in an open war with outside elements constantly interrupting your progress isn’t what you’d call a fair fight, then maybe a small, controlled environment is more your thing. Defiance plays host to a few team deathmatch arenas where you can vie for the glory of your team in a 6v6 or 8v8 contest of ego and firepower. However, Defiance has let the PvP community down by diminishing the number of maps available for this mode down to two, with promises to increase this number in the future.

With that said, there are numerous cooperative maps to participate in with more unlocking as you progress in EGO rating. Co-op maps are 4 player instanced story missions that are self-contained and do not directly tie in to the main storyline. They can be played in relatively short time and usually involve fighting of vast quantities of enemies, flipping switches or setting bombs to progress, and a massive boss battle at the end. These are a great productive and rewarding way to get in a quick gaming session with friends when short on time. Now all we need are some friends to play with.

With the the number of players encountered on the road, responding to emergency events and chasing after arkfalls, you would think that the chatter in Defiance would be overwhelming, flooding local and global channels to the point you just ignore them. Sadly this is the first multiplayer game I’ve played that is as lonely as playing a game of solitaire. Arkhunters are constantly fighting side by side, reviving fallen comrades, and providing suppressive fire with nary a “kthx” or “gg” uttered in chat. This is mostly due to the fact that the chat is so unobtrusive its nearly invisible, not to mention the several extra keystrokes it takes to change chat channels or perform emotes! Pulling up a full chat window involves going into a “quick menu” to select it which is 4 key presses of a keyboard or 5 actions on a controller. Trying to locate friends, inviting players to group and initiating trades with players take a few extra steps as well under the “quick menu” and local VOIP has not worked since the game’s beta phases. Social features in Defiance are atrocious!

The game menus and UI are not much better either. On a PC, pressing ESC will bring you to your character loadout screen and then holding the spacebar will reveal the rest of the EGO menu in radial form. Using a controller makes things easier, but for a native FPS PC gamer, switching to a controller just to navigate the menus is not an option for me. Before the first patch was released, having to log out involved digging through 3 menus before finding the game’s exit.

LIKES:

• While there is a limit to how high your ego rating can get, there is no endgame and plenty of content to enjoy. You can chase after Arkfalls across the Bay Area, complete pursuits and contracts, equip and play around with hundreds of different weapons, missions, challenges, participate in cooperative maps and multiplayer matches, or just cruise around in a roller.

• Going after falling space junk is about as fun as it sounds, which is to say, pretty awesome. A minor arkfall is easy enough to complete on your own and yields a decent amount of XP, script, salvage, and drops; but when a Major Arkfall event happens, then that’s when it gets exciting. One arkfall event boss can attract upwards of 60 players at once without any noticeable lag on PC and a ton of explosions!

• Speaking of explosions, what’s a first person shooter without a plethora of hardware? Defiance is what Borderlands would be if it had more social features and an open world filled with other players.

• Unlike other MMOs on the market, there is no min-maxing, level grinding, or skill rotations in Defiance. All armor is cosmetic and every combat ability and perk can be unlocked and maxed out!

• There is no monthly subscription fee and the Defiance Store does not offer “pay to win” style items, just game enhancing boosts, in-game vehicles, and cosmetic outfits that add no statistical value to your character.

DISLIKES:

• Weapons in Defiance have a lack of gravity. Ammunition seems to bounce right off an enemy until they explode in gory bits. Where’s the meaty oomph of a high caliber bullet going through a bioman? Why does it feel like i’m throwing gravel at the sidewalk instead of breaking through a hellbug’s carapace and hitting the gooey center? I think Trion should take some cues from 1997’s Starship Troopers movie.

• There are not enough fast travel points across Defiance. Getting from point A to point B for a quest can take some time by road, and cutting across the terrain to save time often results in spending even more time getting out of ruts, dead ends, or enemy encampments, not to mention Defiance’s collision detection can be a bit hit or miss along the broken up highways. Hitting any little bump in the road can launch your vehicle a few feet into the air, slowing your progress, or stopping you dead in your tracks. Many time-challenges has been lost due to some bad collision detection.

• Even though launch was nearly a month ago, the game is still plagued with bugs and issues reported well before launch. Trion, having to develop the game engine to run well on three completely different systems, chose an interface that was easiest for console users to navigate. This is the smart and economical decision to make, but it leaves PC users with an awkward and clunky UI and menu system to navigate, as well as a lackluster chat system. Proper chat and social features are vital to the success of any MMO today. On this point, Defiance missed the mark completely.

• Participating in a massive team deathmatch in the vein of Battlefield is highly enjoyable to me, but having to wait for a match is like waiting in line at an amusement park; by the time you get on, you’ve lost the enthusiasm you started off with, and the ride is over sooner than you think. Queueing up for the match means waiting until at least 23 other players do the same before a match begins. Before the 1.010 patch was released, you had to wait for others to queue up in the same area you were in, but now you can queue up and wait for a match to happen anywhere.

• Other than creating your own macro, currently there is no key binding for loadouts.

CONCLUSION:

Even with its completely inept social features, its plethora of bugs at launch, and the clunky console UI, I find myself coming back to the game night after night for the fast-paced action and the chaotic thrill of Arkfalls. None of the issues present in Defiance are game breaking and to their defense, Trion has been very vocal about patches and bug fixes, keeping the community updated through twitter, forums, and a steady stream of blog posts on the official game site.

SCORE:

3 – Hit!  Watch the show, play the game, change the world!

*Please note that my playing experience has been limited to the PC version of Defiance.

Harry Hol was invited to the Runescape 3 Global Reveal press event, and took a few minutes to chat with Dean Olive, Content Development Manager. They talked about a few different things, most notably some of the game mechanics that will be prevelent in the game.

Audio Version:

Harry Hol was invited to the Runescape 3 global reveal, and managed to snag some time with Mark Oglevie, Design Director. They talked about the game and what it has to offer in the current MMO landscape.

Audio Version: