Arkbreaker Smashes Into the New Frontier
Defiance's second DLC, Arkbreaker, will pit Ark Hunters against the deadly Volge.
Defiance’s second DLC, Arkbreaker, will be released on Tuesday, December 10, and Trion Worlds gave ZAM an early preview of some of the new content and features. For $9.99 you will get access to a new storyline, DLC-specific weapons, the capability to summon arkfalls and exclusive increased daily and weekly login bonuses. Arkbreaker is included for Defiance Season Pass members.
Before we dive into the preview, we have to share a bit of late-breaking bad news: The DLC for the PlayStation3 will not be available in the PlayStation Network store on launch day due to processing time. On a positive note, Trion’s customer service team will be working to manually activate the DLC for all PS3 Season Pass holders on December 10. You can read more about this development here.
The Arkbreaker press preview was hosted by Trick Dempsey (Creative Lead), Greg Laabs (Social Media Manager) and Elizabeth Tobey (Director of Global Communications). Trick kicked things off by explaining the story behind the new Mission line. This series features six missions, plus two side tutorial-style missions, as you are pitted in a race against the Dark Matter forces to obtain the new technology required to call down arks.
With the DLC you get a starter pack, an “Arkbreaker Stash” that includes the exclusive Volge Engineer outfit. Also included in the pack is “a handful of spikes, stims and grenades,” part of the new features, though anyone can use these consumables. Stims are a hypospray that can provide effects such as doubling your life expectancy. Spikes have various features, including combat damage boost and more, which can affect allies within its area of effect. Be on the lookout, though: enemies can destroy the spikes, so a strategic group effort may be necessary.
It’s Raining Arks
“Just plant a beacon, lock, load and watch the fireworks begin!”
Arkbreaker brings the new feature of Minor and Major Arkfall Sites to the New Frontier. These sites are visible on the world map and appear to be quite plentiful. Arkspikes, which are activated by players, are visible to anyone, but only those who complete the mission line can help call down an arkfall. Multiple players can contribute to calling down arkfalls for sites that require multiple activations.
There should always be at least one Major site, on rare occasions two, and many Minor sites at any given time. The Minor arkfalls are compact and simple; internally they feature one or two rooms filled with high level enemies, and only require one “arkspike battery” to summon. A Major arkfall site requires four arkspike batteries, has a much higher difficulty level than the Minor sites and requires a larger time investment.
The arkspike batteries cost 10,000 scrip each, but you receive one in the mail daily and one extra weekly. This means that after only four days, on your own you could call down a major arkfall for no extra in-game cost. These daily and weekly “Arkbreaker packets” additionally include grenades, stims and spikes. Non-DLC purchasers are not forgotten: all players will receive a daily stipend of scrip, salvage and some keys.