By Nelson Schneider - 04/25/14 at 03:58 PM CT
After going through a rough patch last May, Trion Worlds, the developers and publishers behind an array of MMO-style games has decided to radically change the core gameplay elements of their struggling Third-Person Shooter MMO (and SyFy Channel tie-in) “Defiance” with the latest DLC pack, dubbed “Arktech Revolution.”
While I never got the chance to play pre-Arktech “Defiance,” I (and the rest of the MJ crew) was kind of excited about it. From reviews (which were never particularly glowing) and people talking about the game in forums, it sounded like “Defiance” was essentially an MMO version of the ‘Borderlands’ series, but without the ballooning numbers attached to equipment that cause favorite weapons to become obsolete after only a handful of level-ups. “Defiance” was supposed to have a relatively ‘flat’ level progression (called EGO Rating in-game), providing increased access to a larger number of perks, but allowing players to hang onto (and effectively use) their favorite gear, no matter what EGO Rating they were when they found it.
No more! In a desperate attempt to make their flagging MMOTPS more profitable, Trion has decided to implement ‘Borderlands’ style scaling on all items, as well as enemy encounters. Where once “Defiance” supposedly (again, I have no first-hand experience) boasted a massive open world where players of any EGO Rating could team up for some monster-blasting, casual fun, now exists a segregated game, with max EGO Rating players being the only ones capable of taking-down the newly over-buffed bullet-sponge enemies, and all players being forced to toss their favorite weapons in the nearest river… unless they want to spend real Cash Monies in the Bits Shop to buy Arkforge, the new currency of Arktech Revolution, in order to upgrade the EGO Rating of their gear, one piece at a time.
Trion has committed TWO egregious crimes against their player base with Arktech Revolution. First, by pandering to the 1% of elite players with their maxed-out EGO Ratings, min-maxed perk setups, and fully-modded legendary-grade gear, the company has alienated all of the players who AREN’T max level munchkins. I have seen this kind of poorly-thought-out, and poorly-tested game design before… in “Dungeon Defenders.” The problem occurs when the elite players piss and moan that the game is ‘too easy,’ not realizing that it is only ‘too easy’ because their character is ‘too good.’ The entire purpose of working toward max level and top-tier gear is to make the game easier! How can these players AND the company (which, I would assume, still employs at least a few people who understand game design and mechanics) not realize this? Why do elite players feel the need to crap-up the experience for everyone else instead of using less-optimized character setups or moving onto a different game where they can start from scratch?
Second, Trion seems to be desperately attempting to hook as many ‘whales’ as possible with their new, unnecessary currency and DLC that doesn’t actually contain any of the ‘C.’ Even worse, if the scaling loot and enemies are part of a DLC, why is it being forced upon those of us who only own the base game? Why was the open world changed for the worse, when scaling could have just been added to instanced areas for the players who wanted it (and bought Arktech Revolution)?
This latest round of horrors inflicted upon an already struggling game has only been a problem for about two weeks at this point, and the MJ crew probably won’t be jumping into the action whole-hog for another month or two, so there’s still time for the issues to be ironed out (or rolled-back) before it actually affects us. But the very idea that a game developer can completely change the tone and mechanics of a game mid-lifespan is nonetheless a scary idea from the perspective of consumer rights. And with a relatively unpopular game like “Defiance,” the big media outlets certainly won’t even take notice of such a severe botch-job, thus nobody (aside from the users in the official forum) will take the time to hold Trion accountable for what they are doing.
Update: Trion's seemingly inexplicable decisions with Arkforge Revolution have become a lot more splicable, as the company recently revealed (not on their forum or directly to their fans, mind) that come June 4, "Defiance" will transition from Buy to Play to Free to Play, with optional subscriptions for a variety of player perks. The renewed focus on microtransactions and creating a loot treadmill for players to 'chase' fit perfectly within the Free to Play design mentality.
