Hands-on with the pre-launch Defiance demo

Where Defiance really begins to break out of the standard MMOFPS box is in its the unique but regular event called an Arkfall. Essentially, an Arkfall occurs when abandoned or wrecked advanced tech alien space junk re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere. This will show up as an alert to all players, telling them there will be a sizable quantity of rare loot crashing somewhere in the vicinity. Arkfalls vary in difficulty, mobs encountered, and loot.

Naturally, when an Arkfall alert appears, there will be a frenzied rush of players converging toward the crash-site to grab a share of that loot, and that’s where things get interesting. In a PvE environment, we’ll see cooperative elements, but I can only imagine that in a PvP scenario, an Arkfall means a fight for looting rights. Right now, small cooperative teams of four are expected for most group PvE questing and exploration, but there’s a great deal of focus on ensuring a great single-player experience too. For the large-scale, PvP battles the environment will support up to 128 (64v64) concurrent players in an event called a Shadow War.

The Defiance TV show’s tie-in with plot and mission choreography is probably its most unique feature. Obviously characters, equipment, and buildings won’t be eliminated in the show and then turn up in the game. MMO players will know that the clever part is that elements of the show will be based on activity in the game, but even at this event, no one’s giving specifics yet. The game will see a bundle of additional DLC packs for release over the season, but in the absence of details, we can only presume they’ll coincide with major plot elements in the show.