I recall this MMO being quite hyped at and around launch, but ever since then, I haven't heard much from it? Are people still playing? Is there still an active community?
I got the game right as it came out, as I loved the idea of the relationship between a video game and TV series that tied in together. From the get-go, you'd see people running around all over the place, though I do believe that those numbers have fallen a bit. I know the TV series is still going, and expansions are coming out at regular intervals. Put that with the low price to play and the community has a small niche of dedicated players. New players will find others to interact with, enough that it won't ruin the experience, but it hasn't been mobbed for a while on the servers.
I got the game when it was launched, and was bored a couple of hours later. It was an alright third person shooter but the MMO part ruined it for me, I don't have an aversion to MMO games but Defiance did it poorly. Basically anything you ever had to do was a small loading bar, could it get more boring?
I recently found out this game went free to play so I decided I might as well give it a shot. So far I like it and I've got a few of my friends to give it a try too. We all really enjoy it and there are plenty of other people in the game.
Many people complain about it, but I have not yet seen anything sinister with it. I am currently playing it.