Hellbugs! Hellbugs everywhere! Arkhunters in the Bay area are dealing with a new strain of mutated hellbugs as the residence of Defiance deal with their own infestation of the skittering marrow-chompers. Also, get your likeness in the show! Trion and Syfy are hosting a contest to get a top ranking arkhunter’s likeness in an episode of Defiance. Details on the contest and more in this weeks episode of Defiance Reporter.

EPISODE 3 The Devil in the Dark

RECAP In this Irisa-centric episode, we sideline the conspiracies to catch a killer bent on revenge.

Thoughts and Observations

Ben

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  iPod shuffles still work?

  
  
  
• Love the costume design. At first glance the jogger looks out of place, but after scrutinizing his outfit, his jacket and pants are patched, worn, and stained, but still clean. His jacket is even missing the draw string for the hood. There’s a lot of speculation from the community about whether the votans have their own clothing or they came to earth naked since they wear human clothing, but Votans have nearly the same physiology as humans do so it makes sense that they wear things similar to ours. I’ve seen swimsuits less revealing and alien than Stahma’s bath attire. What about Sensoths and Liberatas? What do their clothing of origin look like?
  
• HELLBUGS!  I am ecstatic that we finally got to see some hellbugs in this show, especially the matron, but I have so many questions about them.
  
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  • Archers could be seen flying around but not flinging explosive projectiles at our heroes. Also absent is the lack of Hellbug Warriors, which I thought would be more around, protecting the Matron.
    
  • How do Hellbugs eat bone marrow and flay their victims? They have 6 claw and a round mouth I don’t think I’ve ever seen closed. Also. Their teeth are ridiculously white!
    
  • If hellbugs see by smell (even if no nose is evident), then why do they respond to the rescue party when they arrive if they can’t smell them?
    
  • Going back to Boyd’s death scene, did a hellbug just eat his way through a floor, a mattress, and a person just to get to his food? We know hellbugs are rapid burrowers from the game, it just seemed a bit odd when he could have easily just scurried to the bed from softer earth.
    
  
  
  
• Sukar and Rynn
  
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  • Sukar and Rynn’s trip to the open market. Obviously there is an undercurrent of hate throughout all of Defiance’s citizens. The kind of hate that would make someone act or speak out of stupidity instead of rationally. How can a fruit touched by an Irathient spread a plague?
    
  
  
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  • Apparently spirit walks are the same for Irathients as they are for Native Americans; Hookah in a hot house. Is Syfy being a bit too on the nose with the Native American influences in the Irathent race?
    
  
  
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  • It’s nice to see that Sukar and Rynn have a similar relationship to that of Nolan and Irisa.
    
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    Irisa’s visions are getting out of control in this episode. It brings me to ask, if this has been happening for a while as implied in the show, how could she not see that she was having visions before? I know Nolan told her they were some form of PTSD, but if she is seeing images before they happen, even if fragmented, wouldn’t she have noticed the correlation sooner?

    
    
    
  • Will the events of this episode tear her away from her adoptive father and closer to the Irathient tribes?
    
  
  
  

Chris

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  Who the ***k goes running in the apocalypse. I understand that you want a taste of what it used to be like, but DUDE, that’s really dumb.

  
  
  
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  The whole Matron fight was a little weird to me, with the whole see by smell thing. Wouldn’t they smell the blood when Sukar was shot?

  
  

   

  
  

Favorite scenes

Chris

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  Dinner at the Tarr house

  
  
  
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  Badass Datak. Boo yah!

  
  
  

Ben

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  “I’d be busy too, if I had to choke on this otter.†Dinner at the Tarrs was an interesting affair. It’s nice to see that not only are humans struggling to understand Votan ways, but so are the Votans. “She insists on bathing alone. Who does that!?†“..Its not right for a proper Castithan wife!†And then after all of his chauvinistic outbursts, Daddy Datak becomes a badass.

  
  
  
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  Nolan and Irisa’s fight after her vision quest. Irisa admits to Nolan that he makes her afraid of being an alien.

  
  

   

  
  

Dislikes?

Ben

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  The premise of this episode was an interesting one, seeking vengeance for the death of an Irathent family, but the execution was flawed. I can understand going after the baker Dalton Taggart and Boyd Bowen for revenge, even maybe Rafe McCawley as he could have been on the dirty deal, but then turn around and try to slaughter the whole town? That action turned from revenge to mass murder. Also how is it that Rynn knew where the colony of hellbugs was? Does she regularly go down to the sublevels of the mine?

  
  
  
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  Tommy can REWIRE a fried elevator circuit, under pressure, with no tools or spare parts. WHAT?

  
  
  
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  While I’m happy the show took the time to flesh out Irisa as an out of place Votan, I wish they had at least given us a 2 minute scene with Birch and Nicky. What have they been scheming while we were busy squishing bugs?

  
  
  

Chris

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  No, I don’t want Irisa to hate Nolan. Please don’t go there. I’m not ready for that yet.

  
  

   

  
  

Speculations for Next Week

Added to the list of questions we have about Nicky and Birch’s plans to find the Kaziri and what Rafe will do with what was in Luke’s sock drawer, we now ask ourselves, is Irisa some sort of holy Irathient priestess? What does it mean to be touched or gifted by their god? What other “gifts†are bestowed to the Votanis Collective that we humans don’t know about?

Preview of next week’s episode - A Well Respected Man

http://youtu.be/dEg2kJ6ksPM

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  Looks like this will be an episode exploring the relationship of Amanda and Kenya Rosewater as Kenya (and a cast member not seen until now) is kidnapped by Datak’s muscle, whom we all know as “the bioman.†For what purpose, we don’t know.

  
  
  
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  What is that creature patrolling the facility the girls are being held in? It looks larger than a bioman. Is it the Volge?

  
  
  
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  Also looks like we’ll be progressing the main story with some details about the artifact.

  
  

   

  
  

[Show Predictions]

For those of you keeping score at home..

Ben  [recap] Alak and Christie get married and Quentin dies

[recap] Nolan will have relations and maybe feelings for Kenya, but will get spurned and fall for Amanda.

[recap]  The key controls a “master terraforming device†that will eradicate either human or votan life once and for all.

[recap] Tommy and Irisa develop a relationship. I was also wrong about Nolan going after Datak Tarr first thing.

[new] Rynn is going to bust out or get co opted to work for the bad guys (Birch and Nikk)

 

Chris [recap] Alak and Christie’s relationship will be put in jeopardy by Irisa.

[recap]  We will be introduced to a character flaw in Amanda that could later cost her job. I’m guessing she’s done something illegal in her past….

[recap] Nolan will have a relationship with Amanda AND Kenya at the same time. Oh that Nolan! *Insert Family Guy transition music here*

[recap] Alek will side with the McCawleys at least once this season.

[new] The Earth Republic will try to get a coup going in Defiance in the next few weeks.

Shooting the Shtako Episode 3

Stephanie Leonidas and Kevin Murphy

http://youtu.be/QqxmWqK3Wog

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  Stephanie describes what its like having “visions†on set and said it was actually quite a laugh

  
  
  
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  Irisa is starting to discover herself. She feels human most of the time, until she meets Sukar and the Spirit Riders.

  
  
  
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  Now Irisa is torn because she’s more comfortable with Sukar than she ever was with Nolan. She’s not the person she thought she was.

  
  
  
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  Having to perform the scene where she shouts at Nolan was painful for her as well as Nolan. Its a heartbreaking scene.

  
  
  

Stephanie Leonidas Explains Irisa’s Visions – Exclusive

http://www.defiance.com/en/series/video/2642838

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  Irisa has no idea where these visions come from and the other Irathients have some idea but Nolan chooses to ignore them. She starts to discover who she is and where these visions come from.

  
  
  
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  Not only are these future visions but Stephanie mentions there are visions of Irisa’s past as well.

  
  
  
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  The visions are driving her and Nolan’s relationship apart because he knows something special is happening to Irisa but doesn’t know what or how to handle it. (What father really knows how to handle situations with their kids? Its all about discovery)

  
  
  

[io9] When Defiance isn’t copying other scifi series, it’s enjoyably insane 

http://io9.com/when-defiance-isnt-copying-other-scifi-series-its-en-485821164

Here we have another episodic review by Rob Bricken at io9. At this point it feels like the writers at io9 are looking for things to hate in Defiance.

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  To sum up the episode, Rob refers to the plot as being about what 25% of all westerns ever made, with stolen scenes from Alien and Starship Troopers.

  
  
  
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  Seems all the examples Rob came up with all point to the show being “weird:†the food bondage, the irathient ritual ceremony presided over by a “a shirtless bodybuilder wearing a 1920s football helmet,†the seemingly ritualistic way the jogger Dalton puts on his Adidas running shoes.. Seems everything was just “weird†for Rob.

  
  
  
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  Rynn’s elaborate plan to take out the city. I understand the skepticism of taking out the whole town, but the method she used isn’t too far-fetched. There’s no shortage of murders using ravenous and dangerous animals. Were there easier ways to kill the men, sure. But revenge is a complex emotion.

  
  
  
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  “This episode was pretty bad, no question. I still think Defiance has the capacity to be good — maybe even great, although this looks less likely each new episode — but its clearly going to take some time.â€

  
  
  
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  “Defiance might not pan out; it’s entirely possible this is as good as the show is going to get. Honestly, if you quit watching after “The Devil in the Dark,†I wouldn’t blame you. But there’s that 10% — either creativity or insanity — that’s going to keep me coming back. Well, that and the fact that I’m paid to watch it.†Saying this almost invalidates him saying he’d come back for that extra 10% because he’s being paid.

  
  

   

  
  

[What we did in game]

Ben

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  I am now up to EGO rating of 848 and working on pursuit completion as I am nearing the end of the main quest and am not looking forward to just having to do arkfalls, co-op, and pvp.

  
  
  
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  I’ve also completed my Most Wanted pursuits and will have to start chasing arkfalls for more salvage to see how close I can get in the Most Wanted competition

  
  
  

Chris

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  EGO 270 ish.

  
  
  
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  Working on contracts and story missions.

  
  
  
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  Had a great time with an awesome group chasing a couple of different arkfalls. Amazing what a good group will do.

  
  
  

Across the Badlands Episode 3 

http://youtu.be/vA-5BwJdAZQ

A little warning before watching this episode, there is an audio glitch for a few seconds around 5:45.

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  • David Peterson spoke with Elizabeth Tobey
    
  • David is the Language and Culture Consultant for Defiance
    
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    • Did the languages change and evolve over time because there are 8 different languages? David explains how he broke up the language development into three phases.
      
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      • First he worked with the languages when they were spoken on their home planets, before any contamination with the languages on the other planets
        
      • The second phase was after first contact with the other races in the Votanis system
        
      • The final phase was when they got to earth and started borrowing from English
        
      
      
      
    • People really like the alien cursing, will there be more? Depends on the writers. Initially Shtako meant idiot before the writers decided it should mean what it means now.
      
    • Is there a common or trade language between the Votan races? The defacto language was Castithan.
      
    
    
    
  
  

Its Hellbug Season 

http://community.defiance.com/en/2013/04/30/hellbug-season-has-begun/

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• The bay area is overrun by a new elemental strain of Hellbugs!
  
• We have 2 new pursuits and a few contracts for hidden items and rewards
  
• Hellbug season will last the next three weeks and more will be revealed soon, so keep an eye on the defiance community page!
  

Defiance Most Wanted 

http://community.defiance.com/en/2013/04/29/defiance-most-wanted/

Trion has announced the Defiance Most Wanted contest in which fans must outgun the competition in-game from April 29 – May 12 to see themselves on an upcoming episode of Defiance on the Syfy channel. To enter this amazing chance to win a spot on the show, follow the contest registration steps at the official contest page here: www.defiance.com/most-wanted.

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• Artists from the Defiance series will render the winner’s likeness into a special place in an upcoming episode! I’m guessing on a Most Wanted poster.
  
• How to win: The ark hunter who completes both most wanted pursuits and earns the most Ark Salvage per hour during their time played over the course of the contest will win.
  
• How to enter: Go to defiance.com/most-wanted to get your unique registration code and apply it to your Trion account.
  

 

State of the game

I think, therefore I am. 

http://community.defiance.com/en/2013/04/29/i-listen-therefore-i-am/

Exec Producer Nathan Richardsson has addressed the community once again with a well written post about how feedback is gathered, what the Defiance team does with that feedback, and what will taken into consideration for the next roadmap meeting.

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• We gather feedback from a wealth of internal and external sources, the most obvious being;
  
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  • Watching players – Game logs, behavioral data, interaction with UI and game systems.
    
  • Asking – Email surveys, in-game surveys, focus tests.
    
  • Listening – various forums, comments to articles and videos, snailmail
    
  • Seeing issues – customer support tickets
    
  • External sources – comments on blog articles (Massively is cited as an example)
    
  
  
  
• So far these are some of the things players are asking for right now:
  
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  • More PVE Content Group/raid instances requiring 4/8/16 players and a room temperature IQ with legitimate fights and unique loot tables.
    
  • Bulk Buy
    
  • Scalable UI for both PC and Console
    
  • Group Waypoints
    
  • Auction House
    
  • Player and Clan Storage
    
  • Tweaks to EGO scaling and weapon rarity scaling
    
  • Group Sizes and Clan Queuing for PvP
    
  • IMPROVED CHAT OPTIONS
    
  • Searching for group
    
  • Weapon and Vehicle Mod Professions (interesting…)
    
  • Vast improvements to loot tables all around.
    
  • Improved Clan Features like setting a clan waypoint, clan sign/sigils, and a base of operations with vendors
    
  • Ranked Arena competitive play
    
  • World/Shard-wide dynamic events
    
  
  
  

It’s Patch Day!

Patch 1.013 has been released the morning of May 2nd to all three platforms. Notes are as follows:

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  Freight Yard competitive map is back!

  
  
  
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  New World Thugs data recorder has been fixed to always work regardless of your level

  
  
  
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  Old Friends, Old Swords: Added failsafe to fix situations where the mission does not advance

  
  
  
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  Project Aegis, Part 1: Set the turrets to disable 15 seconds after combat has been complete

  
  
  
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  Project Aegis, Part 1: Fixed the issue where some enemies were spawning without using a spawn vehicle

  
  
  
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  Increased the times and locations of the emergency necessary to fulfill the “Svushinnira: Just Business” contract

  
  
  
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  Lowered the minimum level required to gain access to Contracts from 250 to 175

  
  
  
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  Weapons that require an EGO Rating of less than 250 have been added to Faction vendors

  
  
  
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  Removed one of the runners from the Mount Tam crash site to improve driving paths

  
  
  
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  Vehicle stats will no longer show up as zero in the vendor buy screen

  
  
  
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  Lowered the minimum level requirement for the Soleptor Excavation co-op map to 100

  
  
  
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  Lowered the minimum level requirement for the Island of Lost Soldiers to 150

  
  
  
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  Lowered the minimum level requirement for the Scrapworks Salvage to 225

  
  

   

  
  

ONE MILLION REGISTERED ACCOUNTS

http://trionworlds.com/en/news/2013/05/defiance-one-million/

As of it’s release one month ago, Defiance has accumulated more than one million registered accounts. Just some fun stats from the press release:

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• Killing hellbugs, driving ATVs and triggering Arkfalls are among the top in-game activities
  
• The not so cute or cuddly hellbugs have put up a good fight, but gamers are showing an incredible love for dropkicking, exploding and decimating them by annihilating more than 500,000,000 hellbugs to date.
  
• Jumping on their ATV and cruising around the Badlands has led to gamers driving 50,000,000 miles around the terraformed Bay Area.
  
• Banding together, Ark Hunters have engaged in triggering and battling back an incredible 1,000,000 Arkfalls.
  

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

DEFIANCE JUNKIES

http://defiance.junkiesnation.com/

Created by Ryan Raplee and Jason Dodge, Defiance Junkies ’s your one stop fan source for all your Defiance News., so head on over for the latest news, recaps and editorials on the game and show.

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

You’ve got Hellbugs in my Rift!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=570537802986090&set=a.122747694431772.8582.104699396236602&type=1

A new fire rift named “Invasive Species” now has a chance to appear in all zones. Completing the unstable stages of this rift offers a chance at acquiring any of three different types of hellbug mounts and companions, including the extremely rare Toxic Hellbug. Anyone can get one – even RIFT Lite players!

 

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!

 

iTunes 5 Star Reviews

We’d like to thank the following reviewers for giving us a 5-star rating on itunes:

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  • Dustin813
    
  • Mo the Enthusiast
    
  
  

CONTACT US!

Email: defiance@mmoreporter.com

twitter: twitter.com/defiancepodcast or @defiancepodcast

site: defiancereporter.com

Voicemail: 616-666-6778 (and our new widget on the ride hand side of the page)

youtube: youtube.com/user/mmoreporternetwork

Ben: twitter.com/nebsinsane

Chris: twitter.com/almazar

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