We have another special surprise for the Defiance Community this week; Defiance Creative Lead Trick Dempsey stops by! Tune in has we discuss the State of the Game, DLCs, working with Syfy, Lore, and more!
Listen now:
OFF THE SET
New Cast Members Join Defiance for Season 2
http://www.defiance.com/en/series/news/two-new-cast-members-for-season-two
William Atherton and Anna Hopkins have joined the show as regulars as the town of Defiance suffers through an occupation by the Earth Republic.
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William Atherton (of Ghostbusters, Die Hard, and Real Genius fame) signs on to portray the jaded, high-ranking Earth Republic official Viceroy Mercado.
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the commanding officer of James Murray’s Maj. Pottinger — who will also be the new mayor of Defiance.
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a ruthless, quick-tongued and sarcastic, fond of peppering his sentences with obscure old Earth cultural references and mocking younger subordinates for being too young to understand.
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Mercado will not be blind to how manipulative Pottinger is, but looks the other way because he gets results.
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The character is also said to have a secret that “would shock his colleagues and the townspeople of Defiance.”
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Hopkins joins the cast as the sexy, tough and fearless Jessica “Berlin” Rai, an Earth Republic soldier and documentarian who makes propaganda films that shine a positive light on the Earth Republic occupation of Defiance.
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She grew up during the Pale Wars, and sees the government as one that protects and unites by any means necessary.
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She will also become the center of a love triangle. (But with who!?!??!)
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I don’t know how true this is but IMDB lists Samuel Earle (K.C. on Degrassi) as playing Hyatt Mirch in the first episode of Season 2 as well.
Speaking of New Cast Members… MEET ALETHIA (Contest Winner)
http://www.defiance.com/en/series/news/and-the-game-character-coming-onto-season-2-is
Race: Irathient
Gender: Female
Age: 62
Occupation: Veteran Ark Hunter
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Alethia was a warrior on her home planet long before she came to Earth
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She fought undefeated in the combat trials that determined who got to go aboard the Ark, only to turn around and give up her seat to the Spirit Leader of her tribe.
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On Earth, Alethea served as a border guard in the Omec Colony of Mexico and made friends with the local humans, though that didn’t stop her from performing her duty of serving in the war when it came.
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Alethea was stationed in the Everglades when the Arks came down. Due to stockpiles of chemical weapons, the whole state became irradiated, spawning a host of mutants which ravaged the land.
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A rescue mission for her and the survivors bunkered in the middle of irradiated Florida was out of the question, so Alethia led the survivors out herself, folding in some abandoned EMC soldiers she found along the way. Following the war, the survivors stuck together, becoming a successful Ark Hunter clan known as “Divided Allegiance.”
Emmy Nomination for OUTSTANDING SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS 2013 (Pilot Episode)
http://www.emmys.com/awards/nominees-winners/2013/special-visual-effects-series
Looks like our Emmy nomination will remain just a nomination. It was a tough category this year and Game of Thrones went home with the Emmy in this category.
Went up against:
Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome
Falling Skies – Worlds Apart
Game Of Thrones – Valar Dohaeris
Hemlock Grove – Children Of The Night
Last Resort – Captain
NYCC PANEL http://youtu.be/kHp_bw6NWLw
Co-Producer Michael Nankin (http://michaelnankin.com/credits/), Stephanie Leonidas, Jamie Murray, Julie Benz, and Grant Bowler
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First I have to say, @WomenofDefiance AND HellbugsInLove got mentioned at the panel? Really? Wow! Even @MenofDefiance and @StahmasBathBeads were mentioned..
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How has the diversity of the cast lent itself to the show? Julie responded with “It’s a lot sexier,” which in some ways is true (if they’d let them talk in their actual accents), but what Grant Bowler said hits the nail on the head. (Quote at 4:16 – 4:44)“Defiance is a town about immigration. Everybody is in a liferaft together trying to work it out, and they’re all meant to be a different species, let alone different ethnicities, races, economic and cultural backgrounds. So I think that the fact that we’re all from somewhere else, helps us.”
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Michael – We have a new delineation, we now have humans and alien races. Within the human population, were blind to gender/race.. its all evaporated, because theres a new “other.”
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Jamie later responds to a question about her progressive relationships with the fact that sometimes its not even about he or she, but that it was “a grubby little human.”
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“How many seasons do you have mapped out and are the actors aware of what’s to come for their characters or do they find out script by script?” Michael responds with, “Season 2 is mapped out to the very end and there are landmarks in Seasons 3 and 4 (we’re being optimistic) that also tie in to the game that we want to aim towards.“ He goes on to explain that sometimes things just pop on the set.
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We look at Season 1 as a springboard and rather than get comfortable, we use it as a challenge to raise bar higher in every department.
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“Defiance Season 2 – It Gets REALLY Weird”
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In Season 2 we actually explore the life of a bioman and get to know one really really well inside and out. He has an emotional arc and journey..
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Michael – “Through examining what it means to be alien, it makes you take another look at what it means to be human.”
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Grant – Amanda Season 1 is Snow White. Amanda Season 2 is Sucker Punch
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Grant – Season 1 was very Macro; it was about the town, about the world. Season 2 is personal. Its about each and every one of the characters.
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Community Involvement. Check out Grant Bowler’s rant at 41:26 – 42:20. Its worth a listen and and very honest, true advice to follow.
The Daily Quirk NYCC interviews
Julie Benz and Grant Bowler
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Grant – One of the things I like most about my character is that he defines himself internally. The world’s called him all kinds of things. Even the people in Defiance have called him all kinds of things. They’ve called him one of the Defiant Few and decided he was a hero, then they’ve decided he was a scavenger, then they decided he was a war criminal. He is all those things. The great thing about Nolan for me is that he makes up his mind on a daily basis.
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Do you guys have a favorite scene or moment offset while filming Season 1?
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Julie – My fiance is texting me about flowers and I’m all like, “Dude. I’m killing aliens. I don’t care!” On Tuesday I’m fighting aliens, and on Saturday I’m dressed in all white walking down the aisle.
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Grant – The sign for me that we were going to be OK as a show was strangely enough when we were filming the last episode and Steph and I were filming this scene where we did a run-and-gun. It was a dance with Steadicam. You know what, it’s 2 o’clock in the morning and it’s just singing. I want to stay in this world forever.
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Jamie Murray
http://thedailyquirk.com/2013/10/16/video-an-exclusive-interview-with-defiance-star-jamie-murray/
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Things change dramatically for Stahma. She was a powerful figure in Season 1 but now you understand the society and culture she comes from and in Season 2 you get to see the title name more in her behavior.
CraveOnline Defiance Cast Interview
http://www.craveonline.com/tv/interviews/589609-nycc-2013-video-defiance-cast-interviews
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Grant – Everything now in the show is very personal. Its no longer what’s good for the town, now it’s everybody for themselves.
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Michael – Last Season Defiance fell to an occupying force (Earth Republic). How is life different this season? Much the same way life changed for France after the Nazis came in. Its not the town that it was.
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Nolan and Irisa will be visiting former Chicago? Other destroyed cities of America? Los Angeles?
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Jaime – Datak has been in many ways a force of power and oppression for Stahma. Shes now in this new world and now seeing how other women live in the world and maybe beginning to ask questions and challenge the authority thats kept her oppressed.
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Steph – I think she needs to grow up. Shes becoming a woman and she keeps her knives sharper in Season 2.
NEWS FROM THE BAY AREA
[What we did in game]
OMG we got to hang out with Trick and Elizabeth! Check it out here: http://www.twitch.tv/mmoreporter/b/469168868
Ben
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I’ve sold ALL my weapons!
Chris
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More arenas! Bugs are still there, but now finally on the last one.
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Sieges!
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Arkfalls!
PREVIEW OF THE CONTRACT UPDATE
http://community.defiance.com/en/2013/10/02/contract-update/
Greetings, ark hunters!
We’re making some improvements to the contracts system that you should be aware of. First, we have renegotiated with our partners in Von Bach Industries, Soleptor Enterprises, and Top-Notch Toolworks. They now provide much clearer instructions for the contracts they offer. Due to this new clarity, EGO implants will be able to guide their hunters to the locations necessary to fulfill these contracts.
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Contracts for Von Bach Industries, Soleptor Enterprises, and Top-Notch Toolworks will now appear on the map and mini-map.
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New contracts for Von Bach Industries, Soleptor Enterprises, and Top-Notch Toolworks replace old contracts and direct players to complete conflict sites and other events.
Expect these upgrades coming in a future patch. We’ll be alerting you with more details as the final testing completes.
Good hunting!
Trick Dempsey, Creative Lead
“Von Bach Industries, providing practical solutions for impractical problems.”
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First off, this read fantastic! All community posts should read like they fell out of the game and in character. We NEED more role-playing.
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Secondly, a map indicator is immensely helpful for when you just want to launch the map and see what there is to do. Now I can easily factor in my daily contracts when I scope out the area for activity.
HOTFIXES
Defiance 1.104 Patch
Release Date: 10/2/2013 @ 10 AM PDT
http://forums.defiance.com/showthread.php?136555-Patch-1.104-(hotfix)-Patch-Notes
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Seriously improved the overall value of Tier 4 Lockboxes. They will no longer drop any uncommon (green) gear.
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The Volge Battle Rifle Gun MK II through IV now appropriately drop from Volge Sieges…for real this time!
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The pursuit “Volge Violence” no longer requires CS assistance to complete.
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The North Point siege should no longer stall out at stage 5.
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Replay rewards can now be earned by replaying the main storyline quests.
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Fixed an appearance error for female characters wearing Echelon Specialist armor while on Team 2 in Competitive Multiplayer matches.
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The interactions of a player who becomes incapacitated are now properly cancelled.
(You know for a patch that reads so little in its changelog, it took 10 minutes to patch on my PC)
Patch 1.105 (hotfix) Patch
Release Date: 10/16/2013 @ 10 AM PDT
http://forums.defiance.com/showthread.php?137755-Patch-1.105-(hotfix)-Patch-Notes
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Faction Rewards
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Lower power rating Thorn Liro faction rewards no longer cost an arm and 4 billion legs.
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The epic weapons available from Von Bach now have the same faction bonus damage and recoil as other faction rewards.
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Loot Improvements: In an effort to consistently improve their value, the following improvements will apply to all future loot rolls. These even apply to lockboxes and siege rewards.
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Rarity Bonuses:
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All randomly generated weapons in the game have a point where they shift from low level rarity bonuses and appearances to higher level ones. This was previously occurring anywhere from EGO rating 1675 up to 2325. The jump now occurs at EGO rating 1000 for all weapons.
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Common: All weapons of at least EGO rating 1000 now gain a Common (white) bonus.
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Uncommon: Except for shotguns, Uncommon bonuses will no longer grant boosts to Melee damage.
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Rare: Previously, the Rare bonus was reserved for Ammo/Melee Nano procs. The Nano ammo bonus is now rolled separately, and melee mods have been removed. All Rare rarity weapons will now provide a weapon stat boost.
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Epic:
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Removed all bonuses that modify self-reviving cool downs.
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Removed all bonuses that increase melee damage by 200% when self-reviving.
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Legendary:
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Except for Infectors, all weapons now have a chance to roll an increased damage % bonus for their Legendary roll.
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BMGs now have Legendary bonuses.
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Lets stop right here and talk about these new weapon changes thanks to patch 1.105. Trick was kind enough to offer an explanation on the community section of the site if you want to read it in full (http://community.defiance.com/en/2013/10/16/making-weapons-more-fun-in-defiance/), but essentially this all adds up to the following:
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All loot that drops after the patch, from uncommon to legendary, will have bonus stats. Common Whites will have a base stat, Uncommon Greens will have an added stat, and so on and so forth, so that when you finally get that Legendary orange drop, it will have a “Rainbow of Death,” that is, 5 stat bonuses attached, making it an awesome weapon and ALWAYS better than one from the weapon rarity tier below it.
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This does NOT include the bonus you get for mastering the weapon or attaching mods. So essentially a full, synergized legendary weapon can have 10 stat bonuses attached!
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Weapons have now been reworked so that they dont assign weapon bonuses that dont quite make sense, like, using the examples Trick did in the post, an increase to the rate of fire for single shot weapons, or a bonus to melee attacks on a sniper rifle. Things like self-reviving cooldowns and melee damage have been fixed or removed entirely from the bonus rolls, as described before.
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Now what kind of effect has this had on the community? Mixed results to say the least. The patch is a godsend for new and casual players alike, but many veteran players are raging and calling quits, thanks to the fact that weapons ALREADY ROLLED pre patch won’t be updated. Hours of work, hunting for that perfect weapon and mods, real world money spent in the cash shop to buy lockboxes, all wasted after this patch. Veterans have a right to be upset because changes aren’t retroactive, but then Trion IS improving the game and correcting past mistakes. If this means hurting the older player-base, you have to ask, would we rather they NOT fix the game at all? There is no winning for Trion.
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Volge Battle Rifles:
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Volge Battle Rifle drops now have random Rarity, Mastery and Synergy bonuses and can be traded.
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Mastery Bonuses:
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Except for Shotguns, all bonuses to melee damage have been removed.
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Removed all bonuses to the cool down of Self Revive, and bonuses granted when Self Reviving.
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Single shot Pistols, Rocket Launchers, Detonators and Sawed-off Shotguns will no longer roll Rate of Fire or Clip Size bonuses.
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Synergy Sets:
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Single shot Pistols/Rocket Launchers/Detonators and Sawed-off Shotguns no longer roll the Veteran, Rolling Thunder or Cannoneer Synergy Set.
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Only Shotguns roll the Brutal Synergy Set.
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All Uncommon+ weapons now gain a boost to their base damage. This scales based on the rarity of the weapon. This change is retroactive, and affects all existing weapons.
LAST MINUTE ANNOUNCEMENTS
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Defiance Season 1 is now available in the US on Bluray, UV Digital, and DVD. Right now Bluray + UV Digital copies can be had for $39.99 and DVD + UV Digital for $32.99 on Amazon.com, so get your copy today!
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Chris – Extra Life Team – Feeling 6 feet tall above Tyria
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24 hour play time in GW2 as an Asuran Mesmer team
- Join our PC 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!
CONTACT US!
Email: defiance@mmoreporter.com
Twitter: twitter.com/defiancepodcast or @defiancepodcast
Website: defiancereporter.com
Voicemail: 616-666-6778 (and our new widget on the ride hand side of the page)
Facebook: facebook.com/defiancereporter
Youtube: youtube.com/user/mmoreporternetwork
Chris: twitter.com/almazar