FireFall is a game that tries to struggle out of the conventional MMO straightjacket in every way possible. Californian developer Red 5 Studios threw out the traditional MMORPG model, instead opting for dynamic, action oriented FPS combat. Where you’d normally expect rigid character class restrictions, instead you’re invited to play whatever way you’re in the mood for. 

But how do you get that unique game feel and identity? For FireFall, its latest mega-patch seemed to be a strong push toward that identity. With an emphasis on improving the fluidity and flexibility of combat systems, the team added a range of customization options that are likely to keep players testing and tweaking for months if not years. It’s all been about raising the bar so that player skill, rather than character gear, is what counts.

I recently had the chance to meet with David Williams, Lead Class Designer on FireFall, for an early morning play-through at Gamescom. Our giant interview is so big we’ve had to break it up into two parts! In this section we cover how the team raised the skill cap, revamped the classes and built an eSports toolkit. Part two looks at how Williams tackled class balance, building world lore and the team’s approach to beta and free-to-play. 

It's nice to hear a happy ending after the unfortunate closure of 38 Studios and downsizing of the Star Wars: The Old Republic Team. In this case, as noted by PC Gamer, the ambitious Firefall team at Red 5 has hired a large portion of them, over forty, almost doubling their former's teams numbers. Very few of the new hires were not from either studios. 

The announcement was made at Gamescom, from lead class designer Dave Williams. He described their normal approach as constituting a small but 'nimble' team, but agreed that they needed to produce a large amount of content to keep up with MMO players' demands. "We've found some incredibly talented people who are really happy. It's allowed us to build up the team quickly." 

                                                                                                        Julian "Mirai" Williams

eSports is a subject on a lot of MMO developers' minds.

Many talk up the importance of the very popular - and rapidly growing - form of entertainment, but Red 5 Studios is putting its money where its mouth is.

The latest Firefall video, debuted by PC Gamer, shows just how robust the spectator system is in the sci-fi MMO shooter.

Just how big is Firefall's new patch?

In both size and ambition, there is no doubt it is the biggest change to Firefall in its development so far. Red 5 Studios' VP of Development James Macauley outlines the  array of changes in a new dev video. Class changes, core combat changes, progression changes and more are explored.

The Engineer was seen as less than desirable, so Firefall devs are cleaning him up - his mobility and primary weapon are being tweaked, with a new lightning gun that ramps damage up the more successive hits on a single target, and his gadgets are being improved. His new mini-turrets and instant force fields give him more utility without sacrificing the speed he needs. For more data on the changes and the intent behind, there's a pair of blog posts on the site that cover it. 

Suit up, soldier, because the Firefall system requirements are out, right on the heels of 500k beta registrations. On the whole it seems kind of tame - 2.6 Ghz dual core, 4 GB memory, and Radeon HD 4450/GeForce 8600 as minimum - but Firefall is probably keeping the system requirements low to keep the wider playerbase. Remember - beta registry is still open if you want in!

The work on Firefall, ever since its inception, has been a work in progress figuring out what feels 'right' for the game, and Red5 has been keeping everyone as informed as they can with the process. Today they've ventured into explaining a lot of the mechanics that are on the revision block, including how they work with cooldowns, runspeed, area of effect weapons, and how 'high skill weapons' work. 

I'll admit that, as an MMO newsie, I see a lot of talk of new MMOs that do things new and different, and I've gotten fairly used to them. The talk of Firefall having staged content didn't seem terribly interesting to me at first, but having seen this video? I realize its impact. Extra Credits accurately talks about why this game - and this feature - are so critical to how they're going to break the mold. And now I'm adding it to my 'Worth Trying' list.

If you were wondering what it was like to be there when the primary voyage of the Arclight screwed everything up for the entire planet, wonder no more! You get to see it happen and know which jerk to blame, right here on ZAM.com. 

A big announcement today from Red5 Studios as they have just confirmed a few important details regarding their closed beta testing in the month of April. After April 2, 2012, the Firefall beta servers will be turned on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (previously they were only open during specific test windows). Additionally, the Firefall Closed Beta NDA will be lifted on April 6th, at 10am EST.

Finally, Red5 has also confirmed that PAX East players will be playing in the same live beta as testers around the world. In other words, if you're not attending PAX East this year, but you're in the Firefall closed beta test, you can still hop onto the servers to play with PAX East attendees! ZAM will be attending PAX East this year to get some hands-on time with Firefall, so stay tuned for more preview coverage in the coming weeks!