Planetside 2

[Amaron]

EDIT: The 1%

666th Devil Dogs Planetside on Gamespot

That story makes me think yet again that with this sort of war game they need a way to win.   Have a server with a 2 month war or whatever where all the empirey persistent bits get wiped when someone wins and everyone starts over.

[stu]

http://www.theonion.com/articles/call-of-duty-2-gamer-wonders-if-war-is-worth-dying,1876/

 

[Mrbloodworth]

EDIT: FIXED.

The game is also apparently available to preorder.

Inside Gaming (Video G...: IG Extended Coverage: PlanetSide 2

[01101010]

The game is also apparently available to preorder.

Inside Gaming (Video G...: IG Extended Coverage: PlanetSide 2

Now you know better than to link anything on universe... shit never shows up. AND GOD DAMN IT WHY DID I HIT THE REPLY BUTTON. I HATE YOU...

[Malakili]

That video sounds real good.

[Sky]

Interviewer wasn't bad for a short interview. Let him skate on a few things, but the initial questions were decent.

A year and you won't max out a skill tree?  Sounds like time sink hell.

[Malakili]

Interviewer wasn't bad for a short interview. Let him skate on a few things, but the initial questions were decent.

A year and you won't max out a skill tree?  Sounds like time sink hell.

My guess is that if you want to be the super bestest pilot ever, they want you to be able to just do that and still be able to make long term progress, but if you want to just be a decent enough pilot and then move on to other stuff, you can do that as well.  I think its a fine solution in principle.  Also, since its an FPS, player skill is going to matter quite a lot, so I don't think you'll feel like you *have* to max out on your rifles skill to be effective, a far more important skill to have will be actually aiming would be my guess.

[DLRiley]

Really depends on how much damage the gun does relative to the health of a player.

[Mrbloodworth]

PlanetSide 2 Overview & Combat Preview ( Interview )

[Lantyssa]

Summary for the video-impaired?

[01101010]

Summary for the video-impaired?

Blah blah blah... same speech that has been given about here is what PS2 will have and how it is going to be the next big thing. Nothing new here... see you in 2015.

But at least we got to see Smed, who is becoming larger by the interview.

[Slyfeind]

The ambient track for Planetside started randomly going through my mind. Now I want to play this. Also...

But at least we got to see Smed, who is becoming larger by the interview.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YybHEfNzT0

[Sky]

But at least we got to see Smed, who is becoming larger by the interview.

I struggled very hard not to make a "when did Smed move to Nar Shaddaa" joke...

At this point the hype is repetitive, not sure how close together the interviews have been. I'm interested in a PS2, but those interviews aren't doing anything to stoke that interest.

[shiznitz]

Summary for the video-impaired?

Nothing new, just rationalizations for making it different in some significant ways.  That doesn't mean that difference is bad or good.  I will wait for the game to judge.

It has my money. No doubt about that.

[Mrbloodworth]

Bolded the interesting parts.

Link.

[01101010]

That reads like a development idea board... they have nothing but dreams for what they want the game to be like rather than what is actually working. I'll be shocked if this game actually makes it into the real world before I die of old age. They must be on tour to say the same shit to as many different conferences as they can throughout the year.

Damnit, why am I posting here again... 

[Mrbloodworth]

I dunno, smedley keeps saying "sooner than you think". *Shrug*

[Speedy Cerviche]

The Syndicate? Those douchey no-skill carebears?

If they like PS2 it's probably a bad sign.

[Mrbloodworth]

lol?

[Malakili]

The Syndicate? Those douchey no-skill carebears?

If they like PS2 it's probably a bad sign.

You're the reason people hate PvP in MMOs.

[shiznitz]

Thank God friendly fire is in.  I didn't think they would be stupid enough to remove that but one never knows...

[Mrbloodworth]

I <3 Grief system.

[Speedy Cerviche]

Just sayin, PS2 is supposed to be a twitch action FPS game where stat power has minimal inpact (with persistent MMO elements to justify a recurring subscription), and The Syndicate is queen of the WoW/Trammel guilds.

Just seems odd Smedley is kissing their butts when they are probably the least likely candidates to play PS2 due to most of them tab-target RPG players who stick to WoW/trammel for a reason.

[Ghambit]

I'm gonna echo the "development board" motif the interviews sound like.  Most of what Smed and the Boyz are excited about isnt even going to be in the release version...  it's gotta be patched in later.  Bad bad bad idea for an MMOFPS game that'll likely have a shelflife of 1 month tops, even if it's F2P.  1 planet, 1 continent??  Seriously??  Looks like that part of "the suck" of PS1 they're leavin in.

Volumetric clouds?  Day/night?  "oooooh, ahhhh"  
Do these people actually PLAY high-end tactical FPS's?    And they went to the Syndicate, which is an indicator right there who their target is.  'Cause if they'd went to a place like "TacticalGamer" they'd be laughed at.

[Speedy Cerviche]

Well "the suck" of PS1 was its completely crap FPS mechanics, which resulted in its quick demise. Most of the people who have fond memories of PS1 seem to be RPG players who played it as their first FPS after seeing ads on the EQ forum or something, and didn't realize how shitty it was. The fact that the game was so poorly coded they couldn't even patch it properly was the final nail, but it was already doomed by its shit FPS mechanics compared to actually successful FPS games of the time.

PS2 needs to do a better job of its FPS mechanics, it has to be competitive with BF3. Not superior (which would be impossible), but close enough to warrant a look, otherwise the game would never even get off the ground. Once that base of a quality FPS is in place, patching in stuff like advanced weather cycles and intercontinental naval warfare is the MMO hook that justifies a recurring subscription.

So far they've been saying the right things, just weird they'd go to the Syndicate to talk it up since those carebears wouldn't play a FPS game without auto target and ding+1 were added.

[Engels]

Well "the suck" of PS1 was its completely crap FPS mechanics, which resulted in its quick demise. Most of the people who have fond memories of PS1 seem to be RPG players who played it as their first FPS after seeing ads on the EQ forum or something, and didn't realize how shitty it was. The fact that the game was so poorly coded they couldn't even patch it properly was the final nail, but it was already doomed by its shit FPS mechanics compared to actually successful FPS games of the time.

You do realize that PS was not an FPS, it was an MMOFPS, and when doing hitbox mechanics for hundreds of players, its gonna fall a bit behind the curve, right? Also, at the time, the only comparable FPS was CS, and we all know what a lovely thing the hitboxes were there.

That said, I seriously recommend you keep visiting threads of games you don't like and referring to fans disparagingly. You'll be the belle of the ball in no time.

[UnSub]

It astounds me that The Syndicate has not one, but two books about itself, modestly titled "Legend of the Syndicate" and "The Syndicate - Beyond the Legend".

I'm guessing Smedley promoed the game there because they use The Syndicate's services for guild testing, but that always raises the issue for me of what exactly The Syndicate tests and what the outcome is. Because if they tested, say, DCUO, then the are partly responsible for what was released.

QUICK EDIT: And how the hell is it 2011 and yet SOE is still promising features for a game as part of a barely defined long-term plan? "Some time in the future, we think" is a crappy release date.

[Malakili]

Well "the suck" of PS1 was its completely crap FPS mechanics, which resulted in its quick demise. Most of the people who have fond memories of PS1 seem to be RPG players who played it as their first FPS after seeing ads on the EQ forum or something, and didn't realize how shitty it was. The fact that the game was so poorly coded they couldn't even patch it properly was the final nail, but it was already doomed by its shit FPS mechanics compared to actually successful FPS games of the time.

You do realize that PS was not an FPS, it was an MMOFPS, and when doing hitbox mechanics for hundreds of players, its gonna fall a bit behind the curve, right? Also, at the time, the only comparable FPS was CS, and we all know what a lovely thing the hitboxes were there.

That said, I seriously recommend you keep visiting threads of games you don't like and referring to fans disparagingly. You'll be the belle of the ball in no time.

He does have one good point though - if they don't get the gun play/feel/shooter mechanics down right, people aren't going to stick around because they can play with more people at a time.

[Mrbloodworth]

I figured it was just that they have a relationship with them, and they are large. Testing is not really the same as doing focus groups. One they are looking for reproducible issues, the other is about opinion.

I don't think there is any MMO group that does not court them.

[UnSub]

I figured it was just that they have a relationship with them, and they are large. Testing is not really the same as doing focus groups. One they are looking for reproducible issues, the other is about opinion.

I don't think there is any MMO group that does not court them.

QA and user testing are different things, I agree. The two often get lumped in together though. I'd suspect (based on no proof) that the Syndicate is more about user testing than pure QA.

[Ghambit]

PS1 did not fail because of "FPS mechanics."  It failed because of the release of SWG and a treadmill-like macro. game.  i.e. 1 small map that rolled every hour practically.  The underground portion and big patches after that did nothing to bring back the numbers they originally had, only to shore up the hardcore vets that never left.  In a way though, the eventual userbase was perfect for the developed size of the game... which is why it lasted so long.  But, a good game that does not make.

My issue with a lot of the devnotes is that they're sucking eachother's dicks over basic fps "frosting" (ambience, weather, teh glowy powerarmour, etc.) rather than focusing on overall macro. level gameplay.  Y'know, stuff like blowing up an opposing faction's pilotable capital-ship during an interplanetary squad drop op designed to shore up R&D resources for an armor unlock provided by planet-x/continent-y/grid-squareA6.  THAT'S the kinda stuff I wanna hear about the game releasing with.  Instead they allude to how they may patch that in post-release.  

I think the reality is, if you took post-CU SWG and planetsided it... guess what?  You'd get a damned great game, even with the crappy graphics, hit-boxes, etc.
Matter of fact, yah that's what I woulda done with the SWG-emu and likely woulda had a much bigger playerbase than the pre-cu version, and bathed in the tears it'd generate.

[Speedy Cerviche]

You do realize that PS was not an FPS, it was an MMOFPS, and when doing hitbox mechanics for hundreds of players, its gonna fall a bit behind the curve, right? Also, at the time, the only comparable FPS was CS, and we all know what a lovely thing the hitboxes were there.

That said, I seriously recommend you keep visiting threads of games you don't like and referring to fans disparagingly. You'll be the belle of the ball in no time.

So why did PS1 fail then?

I tried PS1 beta and didn't buy it on release cuz it was a joke of a FPS game. Shitty ass physics, 1 hitbox on the models, weird and extremely hacker/lag exploit vulnerable client side hit reporting, mediocre-poor map design, bland effects. Oh and the MMO part was borked too, they couldn't even do stuff like change world terrain in a patch.

Also it was competing not just with CS, but BF1942 was released 6 months before. I owned that game, and went back to it after PS1 beta. I wasn't going to buy PS1 AND pay a recurring subscription for a game completely inferior to BF1942 in every possible way.

Now PS2 is facing the same challenge and will be compared with another revolutionary Battlefield title. It's going to have to do A LOT better than PS1 in both the mechanics dept. and the MMO value content to be appealling. It's going to be respectable to BF3 mechanics wise to justify the purchase, and also offer really intruiging MMO macro aspects to justify the subscription along with quality updates.

BTW I diss PS1 cuz it deserves it, it was a bad game. I have nothing against the franchise itself or SOE and would gladly buy this game and play it to death if it's well done. I hope it's a smash success, because I am a big fan of these "combined arms" style FPS games.

[Sheepherder]

QUICK EDIT: And how the hell is it 2011 and yet SOE is still promising features for a game as part of a barely defined long-term plan? "Some time in the future, we think" is a crappy release date.

The usual suspects?  Check.
A history of failure?  Check.
Very secretive alpha/beta testing?  Check.
Promise of a miracle patch?  Check.

I have no clue what you're talking about, to me it looks like on schedule and as planned.

[shiznitz]

PS1 is not an FPS.  It is a squad-based tactical war game with an FPS perspective.  As has been mentioned many times, the expansion ruined the game adding more battle area while player count had peaked, thereby shrinking battle sizes.  The combat mechanic was just fine.  It let good FPS guys beat bad ones (like me) but at least I had a few seconds to shoot back and I could actually help in a squad setting by being a medic/hacker/driver as well as infantry.

[Sky]

The expansion ruined the game by adding more battle area that totally fucking sucked and people loathed it. Which they remedied by making it mandatory for getting the big mech toys.

But really, the thing that killed PS was the utter lack of resources devoted to it post-launch, combined with shortcuts taken in programming it during development.