Planetside 2

[tmp]

Surely someone can muster up some hate for how people in the video are all standing still while they're shooting.

(looks more like Tabula Rasa than Halo to me, but then i actually liked TR so, eh)

[Ghambit]

Y'know what?  Fuck this game!  Why??  'Cause it'll come out, I'll get all jacked up, reformulate my Squad (website and everything), maybe get some old tac. vets back into it, pound my way to a high lvl Commander and BAM!!!!  SWTOR will release and the game will go /crickets.

Just like PS1 just before SWG.   

[Trippy]

Underwhelming. Nothing in that trailer made me excited about the game.

[Spiff]

Underwhelming is an understatement here, it was piss.
Imagine you didn't play Planetside and knew nothing of it, that trailer is supposed to get you interested in PS2 then?
The only good thing about it is it tells the rest of us it might not be vaporware.

[Trippy]

They should've let the guys who made that PS fan trailer make this one.

http://www.gametrailers.com/user-movie/planetside-fan-trailer/149720

[slog]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyYUehrWjMM

PlanetSide 2 @ SOE Fan Faire 2011

Quick Summary:
No Instancing
New Territory and Conquest mode.
All terrain is contestable, not just bases.  (no idea how this works)
Resources are auto awarded based on capturing/defending territory
Resources are used for weapon upgrades, shortcut skills, attaching new weapons to your vehicles
Different Empires will use different strategies
Classes are in (think Battlefield classes)  You can switch seamlessly between classes
Certification Trees are in, but are a lot more massive.
Certs use Evelike Offline advancement system so you can keep up with your catass friends.  It's not 100% offline though.

[01101010]

Well, it least it was something. And I liked the shirt...

[Mrbloodworth]

Classes

Booooo!







Those look awesome, yet still reflect the old versions. Other than the VS though, not seeing halo IMO. The building in the video seems to be just a Vanu influenced tower.

[slog]

I don't think Classes are that big a deal.  You just swap kits and you are good to go.  (assuming that's what they meant)

[Mrbloodworth]

It does depend on what they mean, however I prefer the completely open cert system. There is no need for classes IMO.

[Speedy Cerviche]

Well it's very ambiguous..In a way going light/medium/heavy/max was choosing a class. Until they say more about it, it could be a question of semantics.

[Draegan]

That trailer looked terrible.

[Mrbloodworth]

Just watched the fanfare video, classes concern me even more now, so does "Cert-tree". Need more info. However:

The creative director also hinted at potential sandbox uses for resource management, including the possibility of players being able to build their own defences and facilities.

 

[slog]

Well it's very ambiguous..In a way going light/medium/heavy/max was choosing a class. Until they say more about it, it could be a question of semantics.

Yea I agree completely. 

[slog]

Just watched the fanfare video, classes concern me even more now, so does "Cert-tree". Need more info. However:

The creative director also hinted at potential sandbox uses for resource management, including the possibility of players being able to build their own defences and facilities.

 

he said "in the future" which means "maybe in an expansion pack"

[Amaron]

Why are we hating on classes?   TF2 and Brink have classes but I don't remember anyone suggesting that was bad.

[shiznitz]

I want to hear that the dev team can redesign the world so that the combat lines don;t become stale over time.

[Venkman]

I still don't understand who this game is for. Unless it's a super cheap graphical/engine upgrade (and given the stand-in-spot firing, I wouldn't be surprised), the PS1 market was never big enough for a full fledged sequel.

Any talk of business model yet? Can't imagine it's anything but f2p with vanity items, but ya never know with these guys.

Why are we hating on classes?   TF2 and Brink have classes but I don't remember anyone suggesting that was bad.

Yea, not sure either. Classes are fine for this kind of game.

[Amaron]

the PS1 market was never big enough for a full fledged sequel.

Well PS1 is too old to judge anything frankly.    I'm somewhat skeptical too but I don't think an FPS that came out when dialup modems were still common is going to tell us much.

[Mrbloodworth]

Why are we hating on classes?   TF2 and Brink have classes but I don't remember anyone suggesting that was bad.

I prefer the open-cert system where I make my own class. If I can't heal, drive tanks, Toss out CE and use a rocket launcher, ill be pissed.

Examples:





Some titbits from RPS I found interisting:


Cert-tree imply a power progression, if so they have learned nothing, and it goes in the face the the tenant of Plantside. More options, not more power. Still until we know more info I'm just guessing in reality.

[01101010]

Still no timeline though... so talk to you in January when the next press release comes out.

[Speedy Cerviche]

I still don't understand who this game is for. Unless it's a super cheap graphical/engine upgrade (and given the stand-in-spot firing, I wouldn't be surprised), the PS1 market was never big enough for a full fledged sequel.

PS1 generated quite a bit of interest, it fell on its face due to some very poor design and coding decisions. The code being so inflexible that the game basically could only have limited patching. Bad physics, graphics, lag handling, 1 hitbox models, and instant hit registering (phony projectile physics/tracking). Overall the game was a pretty bad FPS compared to games out at the time like BF1942, and also pretty lacking in MMO features to justify a recurring subscription.

There are definitely a lot of people though who are keen for a game like this, and PS2 could be a hit if they execute well this time.

[Mrbloodworth]

Some Q&A Panel stuff coming out now.

[Ratman_tf]

It does depend on what they mean, however I prefer the completely open cert system. There is no need for classes IMO.

If the first 'tier' was premade classes, for new players or those who don't want to play the Cert game, then have the option to deconstruct your class, effectively making it open cert, that would be good.

*Edit*

The mission system sounds like it could be really cool.

[Mrbloodworth]

Adding any sort of "class" restrictions seems to be aimed at enticing players from other titles. I just do not feel its worth it. Open-cert is Plantside, classes are not. Its one of the shining features of Plantside, its flexibility, and horizontal progression.

Perhaps its not as bad as I think. Perhaps the cert system was to hard for people to grasp as opposed to classes? *shrug*

[Ratman_tf]

Perhaps its not as bad as I think. Perhaps the cert system was to hard for people to grasp as opposed to classes? *shrug*

Too hard for some, almost certainly.
Ideally, they'd let the player choose their own level of complextiy. That way the players who just want to pick a class and go, can do so, and the players who want to tweak can 'open the hood' and do that too.

I mean, why have classes and skills? Unless they're going to have an RPG power advancement scheme, in which case, fuck 'em.

[Mrbloodworth]

I was hoping he was misspeaking when "skills" were said. If I see a +1, ... 

[01101010]

Adding any sort of "class" restrictions seems to be aimed at enticing players from other titles. I just do not feel its worth it. Open-cert is Plantside, classes are not. Its one of the shining features of Plantside, its flexibility, and horizontal progression.

Perhaps its not as bad as I think. Perhaps the cert system was to hard for people to grasp as opposed to classes? *shrug*

I would wager a guess that they are using class as a flash word that seems to have some sort of meaning to gamers these days. I agree with you, allowing cert points to be used where ever and for whatever with a timed reset was why PS excelled. If you had 10 cert points you had flexibility in character modification. The way it sounds now... you pick a class and drop your cert points into what that class allows.

And they need to stay away from the thousands of players in battle thing... we tried that and crashed the servers several times with too many people in one spot - which lead to the devs putting up counters on the continents, 133 per faction IIRC. However, it is still much larger than the bullshit we have now.

As for the MAX unit pictures... I want to see what they will actually look like rather than those concept art shots. Those are way too detailed to be viable.

I guess the biggest news I am somewhat excited about, they are keeping the three factions.

[Abelian75]

I still don't understand who this game is for.

Not to be too cynical, but I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that this game is for a company that needs to release a subscription game to pull in some profit quickly, and doesn't have time to make a game that requires building a lot of structured content.

Hey, it could be good, who knows.  But to me it seems pretty clear that it was chosen as an "oh shit, what can we do!?" project.

[UnSub]

It's also an IP that SOE doesn't have to pay royalties on. Or have to worry about the contract not being renewed.

[Mrbloodworth]

I still don't understand who this game is for.

Not to be too cynical, but I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that this game is for a company that needs to release a subscription game to pull in some profit quickly, and doesn't have time to make a game that requires building a lot of structured content.

Hey, it could be good, who knows.  But to me it seems pretty clear that it was chosen as an "oh shit, what can we do!?" project.

No. Its also highly unlikely to be sub-based, nothing going on at SOE would indicate this what so ever. The current thrust for them has been MT and cash shops. Sub was also a major learning point for them with the first title ( I hope! ).

Its for all the people that loved Planetside one. It may not have had numbers like Wow ( That came out a year later ), but it was loved by many and still creates some of the best gaming stories and experiences to be told. Its also been going for 8 years now.


If you "got" Plantside, you GOT it, and bad.

It's also an IP that SOE doesn't have to pay royalties on. Or have to worry about the contract not being renewed.

That too.  

[Abelian75]

No. Its also highly unlikely to be sub-based, nothing going on at SOE would indicate this what so ever. The current thrust for them has been MT and cash shops. Sub was also a major learning point for them with the first title ( I hope! ).

Yeah, that was sloppy speaking on my part.  I really just meant to contrast it with COD and such, and would indeed be astonished if it was a traditional sub-fee model.  Hell, even EQ2 isn't a traditional sub fee model anymore.  Is there a general term for games that expect a dramatically larger income per player than 50 dollars? :)

And hey, I liked Planetside too, and I love the idea of a MMOFPS in that style.  My snide comment was more to indicate that I really do think the motivation here is a desperate effort to survive, as it basically seemed to come out of nowhere and seems to be pushing for an extremely short dev cycle.  All I meant in response to the question "who is it for?" was that it was probably conceived not by spotting an untapped market and making an awesome game to fill that niche, but rather primarily by looking for something that can be made very cheaply, and very quickly.  I could be wrong, of course.  Possibly.

But yes, obviously there are people that want to play a game like this.  I was right there drooling over the original PS's concept while it was still in development, trust me.

[Mrbloodworth]

I think you are partly right. The last batch of SOE games have been low initial investment MT games though, so its not that far out of left field.

[Mrbloodworth]

Live bloging the Q&A.

PlanetSide Universe:
Everything from your vehicles handling to your squad respawn mechanics will be based on the skill tree. You will be able to increase things like horsepower on vehicles in the skill tree. They still want to make sure that new players are on the same footing as older players, with older players just being more versatile.
Friday July 8, 2011 10:25
   
PlanetSide Universe:
Squad leadership will be a skill that will allow you to do things like creating missions for your squad and marking targets for your squad. Also increasing squad re-spawning benefits.

PlanetSide Universe:
John is comparing the game to a game like battlefield 2 for vehicle handling.

PlanetSide Universe:
Will there be command rank in PlanetSide 2. There will be a mission system in PlanetSide 2, the most basic layer will be an automated mission system. The next layer will be Squad Leaders putting together missions for their squad, Outfits and entire Empire wide missions as well.

PlanetSide Universe:
There will be squad level buffs for good squad leaders.

PlanetSide Universe:
There will be AMSs in the game, as well as Squad Spawning.

PlanetSide Universe:
Squad spawning does not work indoors.

[Mrbloodworth]

From PC gamer mag:

What we know

The basics

 

•   It’s being built in the new Forge Light engine, which SOE has built in-house from scratch for PlanetSide and EQ Next. It uses the PhysX engine to handle its fancy physics effects.
•   PlanetSide 2 is a “reimagining” of PlanetSide: same world, same factions, set at roughly the same time as the original game.
•   The key ingredients are back: territory control in a persistent open-world, humungous battles with hundreds of players participating on foot and in land and air vehicles (15 different types), and free-form character customization that lets you specialize in specific roles, utilizing 20 different customizable weapons.

 
Character customization

   

• Players can swap between classes in between deaths (Medic, Engineer, Infiltrator, Heavy Weapons, etc.), which essentially act like weapon/armor loadouts.
  
• The majority of your customization is done through the amazingly large skill trees. Every class has it’s own skill page, which is built up of a set of sub-trees that let you specialize in certain activities by customizing how your weapons and vehicles function.
      For example, someone who enjoys piloting the nimble Mosquito fighter can upgrade that vehicle’s handling, damage, or armor – or unlock secondary weapon slots like AA or anti-infantry cannons (or all of ‘em eventually!)
• Skills, also called certifications, are trained very similarly to EVE Online (over time, and continuing while you’re offline), but also go faster when you’re actively playing.
• Skills will also unlock gameplay features, such as the ability to create missions for your faction members to see and repond to. Skills “will affect everything” in PlanetSide 2.
• Outfits (clans) will have separate skill trees to unlock and specialize with as well.
• A leader is as viable as a role as a scout, healer, tank, assassin, or vehicle pilot.
• There is not a single use of instancing in the entire game (instances, for those shooter fans less acquainted with MMO terminology, are usually used in MMOs to segment gamers. That reduces server strain by placing each group or team in their own copy of the same location), and every single inch of that massive game world (multiple continents with hundreds of territories and eventually multiple planets) is captureable by players.
• Territory is controlled by capturing a specific facility on that territory, and control is shown on the game world’s map.
• Unlike PS, you can capture any territory at any time, but you do get “significant bonuses” to capturing a territory adjacent to your own. The example given was that someone back-capping a territory way behind the front lines may need 30 minutes to capture, whereas the team that controls all the territories around that one can go take it in 30 seconds.
• Thousands of players can be fighting in these battles for territory control at the same time.
• Each continent has multiple regions; each region has specific resource benefits given to the faction that controls it and to the individuals that help defend/take it. For example, some territories are rich in a particular rare or common resource. This will be key to the metagame, as they’ll be needed for everything from changing/upgrading vehicles and weapons to creating vehicle pads and building defenses in the future.

What sounds likely to happen

   

• Capturing territory will have a noticeable change on that territory’s appearance. Small effects are confirmed, but we expect players will want them to be more drastic than just a few banners changing logos.
• There is currently no plans to allow players to jack other faction’s vehicles with the Hacking skill. We hope they change this, but it sounds unlikely.
•   SOE is really pushing the idea of wanting to make PlanetSide 2 into a full “sandbox” game in the future, with EVE Online as the most-sourced comparison. There will likely be a heavy emphasis put on the economy side of gameplay. It’d be interesting to see if increasing resource production is a particular specialty that leader-type characters could do.
• This will almost assuredly be a Playstation 3-crossover game. Smedley all but confirmed it when asked about it during the press panel.
•   Expect to see a lot of influence from top modern shooters, which Smedley frequently referred to when discussing how PlanetSide 2 has changed from its original–at least when it comes to FPS mechanics. One small feature borrowed: a skill that lets you spawn on your teammates, instead of at a spawn location or on leaders only.

Distant possibilities that have our spidey senses tingling

   

• A single-shard server, a la EVE Online. Our interview with President John Smedley (up later today) goes into more details on why this is a real possibility, and how they’re currently testing it.
• The developers mentioned several times that they want to allow players to design their own structures in the future. We’d love to see players be able to customize their own weapons (similar to Borderlands) or design their own vehicle hybrids as well.
• Hoverboards?
• With SOE taking inspiration from modern shooters, I bet some sort of kill streak mechanic will be worked in.
• I’ll go out on a limb and say beta late 2011, release mid-2012. Smedley refused to be specific, but told me, “it’s not coming out soon, but it’s coming sooner than you think.”
• I think this will still be a subscription-primary game: that means a very limited free mode with an optional sub and microtransactions store (much like Clone Wars Adventures).

SOE has been very resistant to a true free-to-play model that doesn’t lock the majority of features/content behind a subscription fee. Smedley’s only comment was, “there will be some free element to it.”[/li]

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