News

Alpha Test Server is open today, notes are on the forums. Only PC users can use the test server, they need to re-download the client.

Questions

Can you elaborate on the need to install the game again to access the Alpha Test Server?

OverloadUT: It's a different version of the game, so all the data files are different, so it needs to be a new installation. It's fairly standard practice if you have a beta version of the game, we do it on RIFT. Maintaining two versions of the game in one installation would require more development time, but it was a waste of time, and they wanted to get the version out there to be tested quicker.

Where is Sledgehammer70?

dahanese: Sledge has left the building, Mat formerly community manager of Defiance got a new job, we wish him very well. Sorry that sometimes with those things we give the announcements late, we wanted to get everything in order and have the transition be as smooth as possible for you guys.

What's the deal with what went on yesterday?

As you heard, we are moving the development studio up to their Redwood studio, that is happening in the coming weeks. They will have more information, but not yet, it has only been 24 hours. They are still going on with all of their content and DLC and with the game.

Scott Hartsman

dahanese: You will see Scott Hartsman will appear on a livestream at some point in the future, he is very busy as CEO so he has other things to do. Scott is awesome, he used to be Trions chief creative officer, he worked on Rift, he was integral to that. He knows all things Trion.

When will the DLC be released?

dahanese: A lot of stuff has to happen, a lot of people have to approve DLC along the way and then they have to do final tests and QA checks before they announce a date. People would prefer a single date instead of it being moved back if they encounter bugs to fix.

They are still on track for August, they will have an exact date soon but not yet.

Why don't you respond to rumors?

OverloadUT: If they deny rumors that sets a precedent, and if they then don't say its false they know that a rumor is true. No information is official until they announce it, if they were sure of information they would announce it.

Can we stream the game?

OverloadUT: Please do, let us know if you are regularly streaming, let us know on Twitter and we'll give you a shoutout.

Alpha Server for console?

dahanese: Right now Alpha Server is just for PC, and you have to own the game on PC. They don't know if they will expand it so console owners can test it on PC. I'm pretty sure they are never going to have a console test server for a number of reasons. Chief among them is that you have to download the game again.

It won't be up 24/7. The dev team will dictate that.

There is a new subforums on our forums, where they are asking people to give feedback on the test server and any bug reports. There is also a sticky thread that is being maintained saying whether the server is up.

Is the sniper rifle bug going to be fixed?

dahanese: If it is a bug chances are yes they will work on fixing it. One of the things that Greg and Deb are going to be doing next week is going through a lot of the new stuff you guys have posted and making a huge mega list of things post-DLC 1 they will start tackling.

Will you be answering more questions from the mega question collection thread?

dahanese: Yes, we have a four page document of almost all of the questions, we have to get them divided up by chunks, figure out how we want to answer them and roll them out. It would take a long time trying to do it all at once, maybe give me a week and a half. So like the 22nd August. May be able to get some answers beforehand.

Will outfits already in the game look different on Casithans?

OverloadUT: It's possible, we aren't sure without checking.

Can you use the Alpha Test Server when using the PC Trial?

Dahanese: No, just Alpha for people who already own the game.

Sledge was going to do a mod weapon / synergy list

dahanese: I've seen the raw data for that, and there was quite a bit of stuff going on there. The mod synergy weapon list is a crap ton of data, it was quite difficult to figure out how to parse it as we couldn't just dump it. TBD on that, but there are other things in my priorities list. Send me a detailed message of what you want to see.

(Pure data is welcome on this site, we can choose the display format for players)

When we join the Alpha server will we have to create new characters?

dahanese: Yes, you will be starting new characters as of now. I don't know if there will be a potential for cloning or moving over a character over in the future or not.

OverloadUT: We'll figure out how to do that going forward, other possibilities are having a vendor that will level up a character to a certain amount.

Can we unlock the medtech buggy since the episode rewind didn't have the reward?

dahanese: I don't have an answer for that question, it's a good one. I know that we are working to bring Plague Sieges back so I expect us to be able to have the same rewards. But that is in the future after the DLC:

OverloadUT: To clarify, we are working to bring plague sieges back, they will not come back at the same time that DLC 1 comes out. Volge sieges are an enhancement over plague sieges.

Are there new storyline missions in the DLC?

dahanese: In short yes.

Are localization bugs being fixed?

dahanese: There may be messups in other languages from time to time, we are always looking to fix those. Our localization team are mostly in house, we try to fix those problems as they are reported to us.

Is a console demo planned?

dahanese: Right now we just have the PC Trial, not going to say never, but don't have any word on that right now.

What is the required network speed for Defiance?

Network speed really doesn't matter that much, what matters is the reliability of your connection. Games use a very small amount of bandwidth, if the game is well written. What is going to matter is if your connection drops a lot and you get a lot of packet loss like on a bad wireless connection you will get disconnected from servers etc.

How many colours are available for the charge blades?

OverloadUT: You can change the colour of the charge blades, it is a type of mod, but I don't know how many there are.

Will we ever be able to replay side missions?

dahanese: I know it has something that has been requested, but I don't have an answer for that.

Those kinds of things are all in queue with the devs and we are constantly working on re-prioritising. Moving forward we want to make sure we are talking with you, as we try and figure out what you guys really want to see. As we get more stuff from you guys sometimes that priority list slides and we want to make sure that as we fix and change the game, that we are keeping your top priorities up on top. It's one that I hear a lot so I rank it pretty high.

OverloadUT: I've heard the devs talk about that specific feature many times, I know that it is something on their radar but no promises.

What about chat not working?

dahanese: We've talked in the past about a lot of the social features being overhauled and fixed. At the worst case scenario we will show an example next Friday.

OverloadUT: One of the items on the patch notes were a greatly improved chat interface.

Will there be multiplayer racing?

dahanese: I can't say it is high up on the list, but it sounds pretty cool.

Will we see a chat that is only within a trade window?

dahanese: I don't know, I will request that of the dev team.

Can we get bits on the Alpha Test Server for testing?

dahanese: I don't know, let me ask the devs.

OverloadUT: We do that often on on our Rift test server, and it makes sense, if it is something they want tested right now and is their focus?

Raptor truck turret

dahanese: What we've said in the past was no there was never a turret, after checking there is an E3 video of a producer saying there is, in other interviews he doesn't. He mispoke. After speaking with the devs, there wasn't any plans for shooting, there is technical work that needs to be done to allow shooting from vehicles. It would be cool to do we know that.

Will the next DLC take as long to release and can we count on getting 5 out?

dahanese: I don't know the exact timeline and dates for the DLC, we haven't spoken about DLC 1 yet so can't talk about the other ones. We are still planning for all of that content and we are still on track.

Are charge blades set in length or are they expandable?

OverloadUT: I'm pretty sure they are fixed length.

Are there any plans to make the game more challenging?

dahanese: Definitely something we have heard about and is on our list.

OverloadUT: Coming the Volge sieges, the Volge are significantly more difficult than any of the enemies that have been in the game so far. The sieges make the emergencies look easy. Easy / hard is a matter of opinion but they make it harder. Dark Matter Monolith is also a difficult encounter, difficult content is being planned for even further in the future.

Video

Defiance coverage starts at 1:47:50.



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