I hope this one has headshots. [Planetside Next]

[UnSub]

john-smedley

Why are any of you even the least bit excited about anything from this guy? Granted, he's not as bad as McQuaid but there is an absolute guarantee anything he's involved will will be the videogame version of getting cornholed by a well hung leper and then having to beg him for the opportunity to clean his musky pin off with little kitten-like licks. You are all tools with the memory of a goldfish.

You truly have a way with words.

I was thinking about PlanetSide Next, then I started thinking about other FPSs SOE is working on, then I started thinking about The Agency, then about exactly what happened to The Agency which has been demoed multiple times and is always apparently on the cusp of coming out. So yeah, I'll wait and see what SOE do with PSN (or PSX, because X makes everything cool) before getting too excited about the potential of well-coordinated 1000 vs 1000 battles where every player gets to be a hero.

[slog]

john-smedley

Why are any of you even the least bit excited about anything from this guy? Granted, he's not as bad as McQuaid but there is an absolute guarantee anything he's involved will will be the videogame version of getting cornholed by a well hung leper and then having to beg him for the opportunity to clean his musky pin off with little kitten-like licks. You are all tools with the memory of a goldfish.

For some reason, I have this picture of Smed being to high up the food chain to really screw things up.  You have a good point though.  It would not surprise me at all to get a double XP penalty for playing a Troll SK or something...

[UnSub]

Smedley bought Vangard off Sigil. Position matters not went it comes to screw-ups.

[Mrbloodworth]

If I am not mistaken, EQ and Planetside were also his purchases.

[slog]

Smedley bought Vangard off Sigil. Position matters not went it comes to screw-ups.

you can't say it was a bad deal without knowing how much he paid for it.

[Venkman]

And what he got. Was it the game or the new players to up-convert into an All Access pass?

There was more to the meat of the game than most FPS, driver, air, support, stealth, hacking......

This. PS required groups, but not as rigidly as Raiding. You were going to get rolled by an organized team, but that happens in any game in any genre anyway. But with PS, you could hop in, (eventually) get to the action, and join an assault or defense in progress. And very quickly you could do so in any number of ways, from foot soldier to vehicle to engineering to flying. Best leveling system ever, letting you go broad right away rather than having, say, the Reaver cockblocked by X levels spent in the Mosquito or some such crap like that.

I don't know how sustainable it is, but still believe that had they launched with a $4.99 monthly fee, and not bludgeoned everyone with the launch day XP nerf, they'd have had a larger hill from which to descend. Then they could have bolted on whatever they needed to in order to get around the non-upgradability problems of the engine. Which is what they had to (and did do) with EQ1. Money and time solves all.

[Nija]

But with PS, you could hop in, (eventually) get to the action, and join an assault or defense in progress. And very quickly you could do so in any number of ways, from foot soldier to vehicle to engineering to flying. Best leveling system ever, letting you go broad right away rather than having, say, the Reaver cockblocked by X levels spent in the Mosquito or some such crap like that.

Was anything that Planetside offered ever more fun than the Battlefield 1942 Wake Island demo?

[Mrbloodworth]

But with PS, you could hop in, (eventually) get to the action, and join an assault or defense in progress. And very quickly you could do so in any number of ways, from foot soldier to vehicle to engineering to flying. Best leveling system ever, letting you go broad right away rather than having, say, the Reaver cockblocked by X levels spent in the Mosquito or some such crap like that.

Was anything that Planetside offered ever more fun than the Battlefield 1942 Wake Island demo?

Yes, in spades.

[HaemishM]

Sadly, my gut reaction to his sanctuary comment is, they are going to pander to the Halflife/counterstike crowd.

Because there are many many more of them than there are of people who have ever played Planetside. He's still going to have a helluva time trying to get that crowd into a persistent world with any kind of subscription fee.

[LK]

john-smedley

Why are any of you even the least bit excited about anything from this guy? Granted, he's not as bad as McQuaid but there is an absolute guarantee anything he's involved will will be the videogame version of getting cornholed by a well hung leper and then having to beg him for the opportunity to clean his musky pin off with little kitten-like licks. You are all tools with the memory of a goldfish.

My thoughts exactly. There are some people I read from that I don't take anything they say seriously, and he's one of them.

[Ratman_tf]

Yes, in spades.

Time spent showing Core Combat: Less than 2 seconds. 

[Numtini]

Yes, in spades.

The game in that vid looks great, but as someone who casually tried the game in late beta and when it went free, nothing in there bears any resemblance to anything I saw in PS, which is probably why it never stuck.

[LC]

Some of my fond planetside memories:

Sniper Rifle with a cone of fire similar to a machine gun.
Sniper Rifle that could hit someone multiple times in the head without a kill.
My tank exploding after hitting a small bump in the road.
Taking over enemy bases that were completely empty because they serve no purpose.

[Engels]

Yes, in spades.

The game in that vid looks great, but as someone who casually tried the game in late beta and when it went free, nothing in there bears any resemblance to anything I saw in PS, which is probably why it never stuck.

There were periods where the populations of empires would max out zones and you'd have to go fight in smaller theaters. During those times, things did indeed get that crazy.

[Ratman_tf]

There were periods where the populations of empires would max out zones and you'd have to go fight in smaller theaters. During those times, things did indeed get that crazy.

Being in a unit helped tremendously. Planetside could be played solo, but damn this was one game where that was "doin it wrong".

Though a solo dude schlepping around would occasionally come across a pitched brigde fight. Those were pretty gnarly.

[01101010]

Time spent showing Core Combat: Less than 2 seconds. 

And the "Bending" - aside from the BFRs, this is what i mark in Planetside as jumping the shark. That and getting rid of Oshur and rearranging the home conts into planets? blah... That was a sense of ownership that provided many a fierce fight...some of which resembled that vid. I know on Johari, VS would not stand for Amerish to be any other color than purple, likewise for TR and Forseral and somewhat Ishundar (fuck Ceryshen) and NC Solsar and Hossin.

I concur with the horizontal leveling routine. You have access to mostly everything right out of the box, and over the course of leveing you get more shit to ADD onto. There was also that sense of choice mattering... take medic to heal yourself and others, but you take 6 years to hack a base and your armor is fucked. Take armor, save a MAX but forget rezzing anyone or trying to hack the backdoor with any speed. Even at max level there was still a sacrifice with certs. That was fine and dandy until they started bumping max level and with it more stuff available to you. I liked having to select something rather than having everything - made it so you truly needed a team...

[Surlyboi]

The fights there were legendary. Spending six hours holding one tower while both of the other empires stood outside mounting assault after assault against said tower and each other is just one of the epic battles I remember from my days as an NC grunt.

I'd love for it to come back, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Sky]

Had some great experience both in huge battles and in small covert ops as a stealthy engineer. Once an enemy stealth engineer and I 'fought' over towers for hours, both of us hiding a supply truck and fighting indirectly through our turrets and tower defences.

[Slayerik]

Some of my fond planetside memories:

Sniper Rifle with a cone of fire similar to a machine gun.
Sniper Rifle that could hit someone multiple times in the head without a kill.
My tank exploding after hitting a small bump in the road.
Taking over enemy bases that were completely empty because they serve no purpose.

I actually liked the sniping in that game. With the way the reticle closed, you had to predict your target's actions. I had no problem two shotting guys. Was a lot of fun really.

Overall, the game was only as good as the outfit you were a part of. I thought it rocked :)

[AcidCat]

Overall, the game was only as good as the outfit you were a part of.
Overall, the game was only as good as the outfit you were a part of.
Overall, the game was only as good as the outfit you were a part of.
Overall, the game was only as good as the outfit you were a part of.

To emphasize.

[Mrbloodworth]

Some of my fond planetside memories:

Sniper Rifle with a cone of fire similar to a machine gun.
Sniper Rifle that could hit someone multiple times in the head without a kill.
My tank exploding after hitting a small bump in the road.
Taking over enemy bases that were completely empty because they serve no purpose.

I actually liked the sniping in that game. With the way the reticle closed, you had to predict your target's actions. I had no problem two shotting guys. Was a lot of fun really.

Overall, the game was only as good as the outfit you were a part of. I thought it rocked :)

Technically, an unarmored player could be one shotted.

But everyone in Planetside used armor. ... Well, not everyone

[DLRiley]

Overall, the game was only as good as the outfit you were a part of.
Overall, the game was only as good as the outfit you were a part of.
Overall, the game was only as good as the outfit you were a part of.
Overall, the game was only as good as the outfit you were a part of.

To emphasize.

I really hope planet side next (if ever made) fixes this. Sadly my motivation to join a guild in an online game? zero.

[patience]

Too bad for some of you solo players. I soloed during that reserve campaign and I had a blast whether I was isolated or among a zerg. Being part of a team ramped up the fun factor but the core game was good enough to be enjoyed without teaming up.

[Numtini]

I think there may be a problem with PVP games that the tolerance for long group centric leveling has reached pretty much nil for most people as far as I can tell. But that's where you found people, made friends, and formed guilds.

I look at Aion and I think "I don't have a guild, so there's no point in joining."

They need to figure out some way to facilitate people who aren't part of a large multigame guild to get into these things.

[Surlyboi]

I was part of about six outfits through my tenure in the game. I soloed probably more than I grouped and still had a fucking blast.

[Secundo]

john-smedley

Why are any of you even the least bit excited about anything from this guy? Granted, he's not as bad as McQuaid but there is an absolute guarantee anything he's involved will will be the videogame version of getting cornholed by a well hung leper and then having to beg him for the opportunity to clean his musky pin off with little kitten-like licks. You are all tools with the memory of a goldfish.

hear here!

[Simond]

I read the title and thought they were announcing an MP Dwarf Fortress.  I am Jack's massive sense of disappointment.

http://www.quelsolaar.com/love/index.html

Well, sort of. About halfway between DF and Planetside (except PvE only).

[01101010]

I was part of about six outfits through my tenure in the game. I soloed probably more than I grouped and still had a fucking blast.

When PS came out, a couple guys from AA:0 and PS beta formed an outfit. Since i was on summer break with no job and a ton of student loan money in the bank, I laughed summer off and played all day every day. There was not a time I was not in a squad with outfit members. You logged on and said something in chat, you had an invite and location to come to. Interestingly, as the day would ebb and flow, members would log on and off but the squad always remained at least at three. The solo part was being told to go solo ghost hack a base or attempt to flip another base with an enemy hack on it with a few minutes left. Cloaker + base full of baddies = respawn.

so yeah... never soloed - maybe that was the hook.

[Engels]

The thing that I liked best about PS in terms of solo vs group was that there was a very organic and natural progression from going solo at first to finding the group of people you wanted to hang with.

I started solo, but eventually joined a few pick up squads, and then, based on observation I could tell if I wanted to be part of an outfit. Sure, a few outfits didn't work out, but eventually I found one that was 'good enough'. It wasn't an awsome group of super tactical masterminds or anything, but with Vent we had a blast.

Then later on, based on months worth of play, I saw a better outfit after my first one had dissolved and joined it. This one had two or three truely gifted outfit leaders who knew how to organize a large strike force. They had clear rules about who could talk on Vent when, channels where you could only speak if you had vital tactical information where you became entirely engrossed in the tactics of the battle, knew where your peeps were within your squad, group, outfit during the duration of a battle. It allowed for an orchestrated assault that beat the enemy most of the time, even against numeric odds. That lasted for me for about 3 months. I never got back with an outfit as good.

[Goumindong]

No. The sanctuary was used as a staging ground for major assaults. It encouraged combined arms, and teamwork, also a sense of identity with your faction.

I see your point. But i am not sure that such a staging ground couldn't be made more efficient. Supposing that you had some sort of "commander" i don't see why you could not have "force requests" present that informed everyone how much you had and when you wanted to get going and how much you wanted. If you stuck everything in the "line up" as the shots show off as a background to your 2d interface does, you should foster the same sense of identity that the inefficient 3d format does.

Make it easier to know how much you have, how much is ready, and how much is needed and you should get away from the "zerg" effect that you are trying to dissuade.

[Slayerik]

The thing that I liked best about PS in terms of solo vs group was that there was a very organic and natural progression from going solo at first to finding the group of people you wanted to hang with.

I started solo, but eventually joined a few pick up squads, and then, based on observation I could tell if I wanted to be part of an outfit. Sure, a few outfits didn't work out, but eventually I found one that was 'good enough'. It wasn't an awsome group of super tactical masterminds or anything, but with Vent we had a blast.

Then later on, based on months worth of play, I saw a better outfit after my first one had dissolved and joined it. This one had two or three truely gifted outfit leaders who knew how to organize a large strike force. They had clear rules about who could talk on Vent when, channels where you could only speak if you had vital tactical information where you became entirely engrossed in the tactics of the battle, knew where your peeps were within your squad, group, outfit during the duration of a battle. It allowed for an orchestrated assault that beat the enemy most of the time, even against numeric odds. That lasted for me for about 3 months. I never got back with an outfit as good.

Pretty much this. We had a large outfit that actually had armor, air, infantry, spec ops groups. We would practice a different group during the off days, and have a full outfit raid on Thursdays and a 'fun raid' with themes like all air, or all transports, or Gal drops on Sunday. We had commanders communicating, and the squads would only speak tactical info. We used whispers for driver/gunner comms. Absolutely great to be a part of, and eventually lead. Some of the most fun I've had in any game, MMO or otherwise.

[Engels]

Slayerik, I think we were in the same outfit.