To Infinity, And Back Down: Firefall's Beta Weekend
Someday, Firefall will come out. Maybe. Or perhaps it'll forever lurk in the bug-riddled shadows of beta, only emerging on weekends for a refreshing hover about town. For now, we can only hold out hope for the former, but at least take solace in the latter, given that the gravity-loathing MMO's penciled in the whole of humanity for a quick flying lesson this weekend. Get an idea of what you're in for - set to music that suggests you're both flying and winning a gold medal in every Olympic sporting event at once - after the break.
This is a fully public beta weekend, so getting in is as easy as going here and filling in the blanks with whatever strange conglomerate of squiggles forms your personal information. After that, the skies will be your oyster. Unless you're allergic to oysters, in which case they'll be something that doesn't threaten to kill you upon extremely brief exposure. Red 5 explained:
"Take to the skies to explore every canyon, cave, and crater throughout New Eden, or use your jetpacks and gliders to get the drop on Chosen patrols all weekend long. When you aren’t soaring over Sunken Pass, or raining down fire on Centauri Foray, test yourself against fellow players in fast-paced PvP!"
"This weekend is also a chance for us to continue optimizing our servers to allow even more players the chance to enter New Eden and enlist in the fight for Earth."
Firefall's charted a course for an interesting first few months of 2013, too, which you can see in detail on Red 5's blog. The short version, though, is better social features, matchmaking, and balance for PvP, and new progression, crafting, world events, and Chosen (humanoid baddies) combat options for PvE. Also, Red 5's working on kicking it all off with a, well, existent new player experience, which should smooth the curve for first-timers instead of unceremoniously booting them out of the nest.
But a lot of that is still on the horizon. For now, the beta weekend begins on February 22nd and ends on February 25th. Do you plan on enlisting?