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[General Article] Firefall: Review in Progress #4
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
The fourth in our Review in Progress series for Firefall is hot off the press and ready for your perusal. In this week's edition, we take a look at a missing "hook" for some folks. Find out what that means, why we think it and more before heading to the comments to add your voice to the conversation.
This week, we’ll talk a bit about why my playtime in Firefall has slowed down as of late. Quite simply, despite how much fun I wind up having when I log in, there’s not a lot to Red 5’s freshman offering that hooks me and tells me I need to come back. I often log in at odd times in the morning, which is actually kind of nice. The world is always in one of two states: either completely overrun by the Chosen (the invading NPC force that captures POIs on the map) or completely void of events leaving me little to do. In either case, I go exploring. There’s something oddly cathartic about seeing Copacabana a little empty, when it’s often bustling with people during the later primetime hours. But there’s the catch: if the world is overrun by Chosen in the middle of the night, there aren’t likely enough players around to make a dent in their defenses. And if it’s the opposite, and I login to find no Chosen but also no events, then my impetus to rove about the world and find something to do is cut off.
Read more of Bill Murphy's Firefall Review In Progress #4.
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Comments
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as usual. nice write up bill, and appreciate the sensitiveness you've written this to us FireFall fanbois. (like me).
i agree we need event scalability. much like GW2.
we also need a better ui design.
iam currently in a very active army- so i always have somethign todo with them- we go to ares missions, tornadoes...and strike teams -we usually end up running bwa on evenings end. so i would sudgest anyone whos enjoying the game to join an army- it pays off.
as far as the odd hours and chosen content take overs i did run into taht once- and was frustrating(before open beta) so i can see how you have a totally different point of view in game!
the game needs alot more to acomplish and hook players ingame- as of now this game has me totally hooked more than other current shooters!
and that , 'to me' says alot about the game!
Off hours it can be frustrating to try to battle the chosen's strangle holds...
Hard Incursions really really stop you in your tracks. Last night, a bio and myself tried to take one down after we'd reclaimed the tower near Sunken Harbor. We managed to get 2 shield generators down before the respawn overwhelmed us, we just couldn't kill fast enough. We asked multiple times in the Zone channel for help, but... none ever came.
Been there.
Last time I played was when it went ob and all the fanboys were saying how much xp and resources you could get doing things other than thumping(turned out to be bull tbh). Because I played during cb I have done the first level of a couple of frames(mammoth and electron if i remember correctly) after a few days, several hundred chosen, a bunch of missions I found I had enough xp and resources to do absolutely nothing under the new system. Will be interesting to see how you report once you get to that point. I tried starting a new recon frame but since I know whats coming I just can't(probably doesn't help that sniping isn't much use in firefall).
Annoying thing is that none of this was an issue under the previous system where you could log in and do a few things(ares, chosen, thumping whatever) and and have enough xp to unlock a new piece of equipment or easily get enough resources to craft something(better crafting system then aswell). Also had a lot more in the way of customisation beyond the cosmetic than it has now.
Not only that but it doesn't help that the firefall devs say that solo players shouldn't be playing mmo's, as also previously you could solo a chosen incursion etc. Wasn't easy and would certainly take a while but was doable.
100% agree. I know Red 5 takes what the people at mmorpg.com think/say very seriously so I hope they wise up.
They made a really fantastic game and gave the player nothing to play with. Once you've played the game for 1-2 weeks, there is nothing left in the game that you haven't experienced. There is literally no reason to log back in.
All of the current content requires nothing past a level 1 battleframe. In fact, upgrading your frame past that makes the existing content so incredibly boring that I've actually down-graded back to level 1.
A few things to do in Firefall:
Make the 3 Arcfold modulators for Copa/Sunken and Thump Dump. (3 new lands)
Follow those quests through and make the Key part for the Pve instance.
PVE Instance itself.
Explore the extreme reaches of New Eden (you'll see why when you get there) and gather mats to make your own bike.
Saying there is nothing to do in this game is not right. There is plenty to do they just don't put up signs saying 'Go here do this'.
Reading some of the comments above, its pretty clear people have no idea what they are on about in terms of content.
Totally agree with the article and most of the responses as well. Its a fun enough game, but it boasts a whopping list of about 8 things to do, then its rinse and repeat.
Im in a very active Army.. so much so actually, that we have had to create 3 Armies, because it limits the size to 20 players, we currently have 55, so even the 3rd Army is close to filled.
Which brings about many other problems in the game. Like you mentioned in the article, too few players and the world is overrun, and you are left with not much you could do solo. Too many players and all the events are done, and youre left with nothing to do but Thump. In a large Army, we are left either zerging, or splitting the world up, with a squad north and a squad south. The problem is, if theres alot of players, all doing events in smaller groups, you dont have time to get from one to the other before its finished. Many times the events will complete while you are still traveling there. The most effecient way is to stay in a large group, but then the events are a joke, and its becomes just running in, doing the objective, then moving on, without having to kill anything at all most times. It makes gaining xp and resources a joke, which is 100% all the game offers in terms of progression.
Speaking of that, the progression is minimal at best. Sure you unlock your frame, you have multiple abilities, and all the (mass, power, cpu) upgrades. But the whole thing feels artificial. You need the frame upgrades to use higher stages of equipment, but there really isnt any content that cant be done with Stage 1, if not stock. Stage 3 is overkill, and I havent even seen Stage 4, but whats the point.
Overall fun game. Im looking forward to seeing some improvements, but it wont hold many peoples interests long term (or even short term) without some much needed tweaking. Sooner the better.
This review is, by far, the most honest, best written, most informative I have read in my many years as a member here at MMORPG.
Great job Bill. And thank you.
+1 to this! While I agree with Bill that the social interaction is still lacking something, Red 5 does seem to try to force us into playing a more social game. When you do find a group or "squad" you see considerable benefits because it doesn't appear that there are any experience debuffs, you still get full credit for doing dynamic content or missions, even though it's easier in a squad.
However, it still manages to feel very organic. I still feel like there is enough solo content that I don't HAVE to go and find a group if I want to be successful. Also, if there are multiple people doing a world event and I join in, I don't have to be in their squad to get credit and as long as I'm doing something I still get full credit. They've done a really good job on that aspect.
So, as far as the social game goes, I would disagree with Bill if only to say that we can't MAKE people talk to eachother. However, I think that Firefall at least takes some strides to TRY to make us talk to eachother. Plus, then don't cripple the experience gain, which is refreshing.
Crazkanuk
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Azarelos - 90 Hunter - Emerald
Durnzig - 90 Paladin - Emerald
Demonicron - 90 Death Knight - Emerald Dream - US
Tankinpain - 90 Monk - Azjol-Nerub - US
Brindell - 90 Warrior - Emerald Dream - US
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Firefall is a good FPS/TPS crafting game considering 90% of the game has to do with crafting. which there is nothing wrong with crafting it just runs the entire game. the solo/group content is a double edge sword. majority of people can't wait for 1-5 hours shouting for a group to get a mission/quest done, so some solo content has to be in their or you'll have another FFXI game where unless you are a PLD/WAR or NIN/WAR or a WHT/BLM or WHT/SMN good luck on getting a group.
though a lot of the baddies in there need fixing like the Tankers need more variation then just explosive weapons. the Chosen or Chaos Daemons/C. Space Marines as I call them mix it up but the Tankers just use explosive weapons.
Some of the ARES mission need relabeling most of the "Solo" content I go there and get faced rolled due to the over whelming odds of baddies that swarm you in seconds. but that being said it's still in BETA things can change, more content can be added the landscape could be increase and better transportation could be added, that's the wonderful thing about beta, nothing is concrete.
All in all I enjoyed playing it, like I said it's a good fps/tps crafting game if you are into crafting.
I played for a week. The game is still in beta and extremely glitchy, it seems like they don't bother with the simple fixes such as displaying decay on items. Or fixing holes in the map. Try running up a smooth surfaced hill and getting stuck (like hitting an invisible wall). I was trying to get my tier III eq when they introduced a new battleframe. at this point my recon became unusable as tier II overloaded the cpu and had to resort to going back to tier I gear. Sometimes events can be limited and boring but other times so full that its become annoying. I couldn't even thump without running into chosen. not to mention the constant crafting to maintain gear, which is suppose to be repairable but isn't. I DID HAVE FUN but overall, the game seems like a fun concept but I don't think the developers really know what the hell they are doing IMO.