Defiance Reporter Episode 014

The plague hits Defiance hard, and while there were no Stage 4 Zombie outbreaks, we had plenty of monsters crop up, Datak is running for Mayor, and a campaign to save Charlie the Construction worker. Chris and Ben discuss it all in this episode of Defiance Reporter.

Listen now:

DRAMA IN DEFIANCE

EPISODE 9 “If I Ever Leave This World Alive”

Recap - The Plague hits Defiance HARD. E-rep has circled the wagons around Defiance, ready to contain the situation, and a care package from San Francisco is sitting just outside with the cure.

Thoughts and Observations

Sequestering and the Standoff

Wow, a room full of Xenophobes and/or speciesists, voting 5 to 1 for quarantining the Irathient “plague carriers.” Truth is they are no more contagious than humans, they only dont get sick.
“Get your head out of Datak’s ass.” Love that blunt honesty!
Rafe was quick to start rounding up the Irathients without waiting for Amanda to break the news to Nolan. I loved that Rafe was pushed off the roof.
Some tense moments when Rafe and Nolan had arms up ready to fire on each other and Irisa. Nolan obviously fighting for the daughter he loves while probably trying to get some brownie points after shooting up Sukar, and Rafe with his hatred for the other Votans and the fear of the plague hitting his own little girl. Two men afraid, only looking to protect what is theirs.
I don’t know what to say about the stupid human who walked into the quarantine, disrupting a prayer ritual and insulting every Irath there by doing it.. Part of me wanted that gun to go off and hit her.

Stahma Playing the Board

While it was Datak showing a bit of kindness (albeit selfish) offering Rafe the pain meds for Christie, you could see Stahma working all the angles here. From the moment Amanda came in sick, to the very end with Datak’s speech, Stahma took every opportunity to further the future of Datak and her family.

Idle Chit-chat?

Nolan and Connor getting chummy in the car.. forced a bit, but a valuable insight into Amanda. We finally get to hear her “dark secret” though I was kind of hoping it was literal skeletons in the closet.
Whelp, Ambassador evil bitch-er, I mean Ambassador Tennety is back in Defiance. Wonder what she has planned for Mayor Rosewater. ESPECIALLY after she finds out about Connor.
Why didn’t Nolan stop to administer the cure for himself? Shaving off a few seconds to a minute wasn’t going to make a lick of difference for those plague victims. Though it did give enough plausible reason for having Nolan and Conner captured while too weak to defend.

Datak’s Inner Animal

I was very surprised to see Datak walk into the lawkeeper’s office to personally inform the kidnappers that the Irathients were released from the mine and immediately saw what he was up to.
Datak didn’t take begging for his life to an Irathient woman very well at all. Tony Curran did a great job this episode!
Poor Connor, even after helping Datak, had to die.

Favorite scenes

Not so much a scene but a person. Skeuver makes me laugh because he is such an idiot Castithan, selling surgical masks to the plague victims of Defiance and later afraid that he’d get the plague if Irisa bites him. I laughed both times, but I also have a hope he ends up publicly ridiculed.
Datak stole the show when he killed everyone in the room but Nolan. Lucky for Nolan he was out cold and could not witness the actions of Datak, otherwise he would’ve had a hole in his forehead like Connor.
Speaking of Datak, anyone else think he is incapable of coming up with a powerful speech all on his own? Its obvious Stahma was responsible for his announcement for Mayor as she was lip syncing in the background. Oh that deliciously deviant woman!

Dislikes?

Ben

This episode had anger, hate, prejudice, bigotry, death, and opportunity. What’s not to like?

Chris

Irisa is being super annoying. Not liking the character or the writing. Stephanie Leonidas is doing the best that she can, but she doesn’t have much great material to work with.

Preview for next episode “The Bride Wore Black”

http://youtu.be/TLFq1aWS6sQ

The town of Defiance is shocked when the body of Hunter Bell, a prominent businessman who disappeared almost six years ago, is discovered hidden at the NeedWant. Nolan and Tommy spearhead an investigation that unearths the secrets of many citizens of Defiance, causing unrest on the eve of Alak and Christie’s wedding.

[Show Predictions]

Ben

Despite all the drama leading up to it, I think the wedding will still happen. It may or may not this episode, but it WILL happen.
Also I think we’ll find out Amanda is responsible for the death of Hunter Bell.

Chris

Amanda or Kenya is going to catch the bouquet.

OFF THE SET

Shooting the Shtako Episode 9

http://youtu.be/wzwJ86dtT1M

Kevin Murphy sits down with the Tarrs Tony Curran and Jamie Murray.

In this episode Tony Curran goes on to explain the scenes Kevin Murphy brings up while Jamie Murray provides the interesting anecdotal commentary, albeit as much as can be given in a minute’s time.
“If Christie dies, we have no way of getting the mines.”
Nolan is the man who is going to save the day, but obviously the good wife Stahma whispers a few words into Datak’s noggin and Datak storms into the lawkeeper’s office to come out the hero.

Grant Bowler on Jimmy Fallon and the Today Show!

http://www.defiance.com/en/series/news/this-week-grant-bowler-on-jimmy-fallon-and-the-today-show

First, on Thursday, June 20th, he’s appearing on Jimmy Fallon as part of video game week at 12:35 pm/11:35c.
Then, on Friday, June 21st, he’ll be on the fourth hour of the Today show (starting at 10:00 am ET) hanging with Katie Lee and Hoda Kotb

Reviews Across the Web - Rowan Kaiser of AV Club

http://www.avclub.com/articles/if-i-ever-leave-this-world-alive,98991/

Very interesting analysis of this episode over on AV Club.. check it out.

NEWS FROM THE BAY AREA

[What we did in game]

Ben

I’ve completed the Manhunt mission and found all the relevant data recordings
Running around trying to up my Weapon XP
- Last episode we were discussing Weapon Xp and Listener Shadowspawnd pointed out to me the following: “If I understand correctly, the weapon XP is based on the amount of damage, not the number of kills. Reset your weapon XP and kill a mob and watch the weapon XP jump depending on the damage done. If you get a big crit, you can get a big jump in weapon XP.”
Toying with the idea of creating a new character and start leveling it up so I can change it to Castithan when the DLC comes out.

Chris

Arkfalls! Ran a few major Arkfalls and had fun snipping from the edge.
Episode Missions. This week’s are pretty boring…. Hopefully they end well, and there are no more bugs.

Defiance: Across the Badlands Episode 10

http://youtu.be/KuRSvChfvRc

Its been 3 weeks and the plague is finally under control. Greg Laabs and Elizabeth Tobey spent the first 10 minutes recapping the plague outbreak beginning to end.

UPCOMING DLC “Show us the new vehicle coming!”

Right at the 15 minute mark we are treated to an interesting piece of concept art, showcasing an open framed 4 passenger vehicle. The two seats up front, fighter jet style, and two rear facing seats in the back.

CHALLENGE HOUR

Scheduled for Friday June 21 at 7 PDT its time to kill a whole heap of Hellbug Monarchs! Don’t forget to go to https://www.defiance.com/en/challenge-hour/ and register for the event. Equally don’t forget to wrangle up some sponsors!

USER SUBMITTED QUESTIONS

So when’s the winner of Most Wanted going to be announced? Good news. It has been! (See the official announcement below)
With the temporary removal of sieges, will the activities in the first DLC be permanent features of the game? Yes. Everything that is attached to the DLC is permanent in the game world. Something to keep in mind though, with the rewind weekends we will see the return of the Plague Sieges.
We already know we will be fighting the Volge during siege mode, will be seeing sieges with older enemies like mutants, 99ers, etc.? We plan to release new modes as well as variances to older game modes. Stay tuned for Dark Matter Arkfalls.
Are we going to have to buy the Castithan race change for our current character. Yes you can purchase a race change in the in-game store, however with the DLC you do get one free race change.

DEFIANCE: MOST WANTED WINNER

http://community.defiance.com/en/2013/06/19/defiance-most-wanted-winner/

Congratulations to winner Zachary P. for raking in an incredible 173,383 ark salvage/hr – that’s 109,969/hr over the average Ark Hunter haul! You’ll be seeing Zachary’s likeness in an upcoming episode of Defiance so keep your eyes peeled.

The Manhunt is on!

http://community.defiance.com/en/2013/06/17/defiance-the-manhunt/

Varus Soleptor is none too pleased that Nolan stole his gem. Now the bay area is covered in wanted posters and he has hired Echelon Mercenaries to hunt down that lovable scoundrel No Man Nolan.

New Mission line!
- The Manhunt – Rynn is worried about Echelon’s sudden increased presence in Paradise. She needs you to look into their activities at each of the locations they have been spotted at.
Pursuits:
- Rynn’s Discovery – Complete all ‘The Manhunt” activities to unlock the Title “True Friend”
And of course, 3 new Data Recorders:
- Nolan Contract
- Where’s Nolan
- Intel for Coffer Gray

State of the Game – Patch 1.022 discussion

http://forums.defiance.com/showthread.php?93837-Patch-1.022-Discussion

Patch 1.022 is on its way and will go live on Wednesday 6/26 (Stay tuned for server downtime posts). Feel free to discuss the changes that will come along in this new patch.

San Francisco: Removed an obsolete NPC (known as Charlie the construction worker by some).
Fixed an issue that was causing some shields on the Paradise faction vendor to not show an icon.
Clan names will no longer show up blank.
Vehicles can now damage Hellbug Blast Pods.
Fixed a periodic issue where a Scapper Arkfall Armature could be placed before its base preventing the lowest heat sink from properly showing.
Moved the spawns outside the building in Freight Yard so you cannot be trapped inside.
Made the interaction with the Alarm easier in the Dark Matter Base.
Improvements to the Wandering Hulker Emergency to keep him closer to his starting point.
Reduced the spawn rate of Major Arkfalls.
Fixed an exploit that was causing melee nano-effects on weapons to give a target hit the ability to proc the effect for you. For example, in PvP if you melee attacked someone with a weapon that procs a melee syphon nano-effect, when that person damaged other people in the same match, you would sometimes get a shield and health regeneration as if you had hit them.

RECRUIT A FRIEND AND GAIN LOOT!

http://community.defiance.com/en/2013/06/19/defiance-recruit-a-friend/

You need to own a copy of Defiance across any platform and have a valid Trion Worlds account. (Xbox 360 and PS3 accounts need to be account linked)
Head on over to http://www.defiance.com/en/recruit-a-friend/
Ask your friends for their e-mails or simply post your recruit link via you social media channel of choice. (Like in a podcast blog perhaps? http://www.defiance.com/en/welcome-to-defiance/?rc=37CHTYHZ26Z9HXGMQQN9)
Watch your rewards unlock as your friends play the game. (Friend accounts on Xbox 360 and PS3 need to be account linked):

EXCLUSIVE IN-GAME TITLE: VBI HEADHUNTER – send 1st set of 5 invites
BASIC LOCK BOX – 1st invited friend signs up for ark hunter rewards
+2 INVENTORY SLOTS – 5 total invited friends sign up for ark hunter rewards
EXCLUSIVE E-REP HEAVY TROOPER OUTFIT – 1st invited friend logs in to the game for the first time
EXCLUSIVE HELLBLAZER NOMAD TRUCK – 5 invited friends log in to the game for the first time
TIER 3 LOCK BOX – each time an additional invited friend logs in to the game for the first time

Your friends get rewarded too! Every one of your invited friends gets a 30% discount on the digital PC version of the game and every one of them who signs up for the Ark Hunter Rewards Program gets several in-game rewards. Plus they level up automatically when they create their Ark Hunter Rewards account. It’s a win/win relationship.

Community Spotlight

Each episode we try to find gamers who go above and beyond to create a more immersive experience for the Defiance Community. This week we want to shine our spotlight on:

Listener DarthTony

For those of you who don’t know, early on in one of our episodes we mentioned that someone should lay claim to ilovedefiance.com and long-time listener DarthTony jumped on it! If that wasn’t enough, this aspiring musician also took a crack at a drum performance of Bear McCreary’s “The Battle of San Francisco” and shared the video with us. You can see it on his site ilovedefiance.com or darthtony.com

Clan <Obsidian>

@Obsidiandefianc

@GameHammerJax tweets at us that <Obsidian> is a friendly and helpful clan of over 2000 members on Defiance for XBOX 360. Check out their GUILDLAUNCH page at http://obsidiandefiance.guildlaunch.com/

Remember, if you want us to feature your clan or community site on Defiance Reporter, tweet us, leave a voicemail, or send us an email at defiance@mmoreporter.com.

LAST MINUTE ANNOUNCEMENTS

Join our 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!

Defiance Raptr Rewards – 30% off Discount is LIVE.

Only 3500 discount codes left so grab them quick!

Requirements:

Verified Email Account
Must have recently ran the Raptr Desktop App (within the last 30 days)
Dedicated or above in A select title:
- Assassin’s Creed III (PC)
- BioShock Infinite (PC)
- Blacklight Retribution (PC)
- Borderlands 2 (PC)
- Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition (PC)
- Diablo III (PC)
- Firefall (PC)
- Guild Wars 2 (PC)
- PlanetSide 2 (PC)
- Rift (PC)
- Star Wars: The Old Republic (PC)
- Warframe (PC)
- World of Warcraft (PC)