I like Defiance (the game), but as someone who usually plays solo, and has not joined a clan, leveling up can be a pain since leveling up (EGO level) was tied to pursuits that you did throughout the game (kill this many of this, level of that many of that, do all the missions in this arc, and so on).  That works fine for those who want to pursue those game goals, but for me, as a solo point-and-shoot person...not so much.

Well, things are changing!  Based on a new developer post on the Defiance game page it seems that players will be able to reach maximum EGO, which at the moment is 6,000 points, just by playing the game and earning XP on any mission.  This for me is a welcomed change since now I can just participate in arkfalls with random PUGs, and still be able to level up.  It might take a while to grind to 6,000 EGO points (I am now at 888), but that means (hopefully) that I will be able to finish all story-based missions and expansions on my own, without looking for groups with higher level players to help me out.  Hope this change goes live soon ;-)