GDC 2012: PlanetSide 2 gunning for the big time

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Zorachus

[H]F Junkie
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Only hope left for MMOs to be quite honest, they look like they're doing a great job with it so far.
 
Whole bunch of videos on gametrailers

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/night-siege-planetside-2/727703
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/bombing-run-planetside-2/727697
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/bombing-run-planetside-2/727699
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/dawn-subterfuge-planetside-2/727701
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/rooftop-rumble-planetside-2/727705

PS1 was my first MMO. And I loved it to death. And I am really liking what I see so far. I hope I can get in on the alpha/beta. I can't believe I am looking forward to an SOE game. That is truly sad that after SWG fiasco I said I was never gonna play another SOE game. And then I played SWTOR....and getting bored to death...and now I am going back to SOE....it must be snowing in hell right now.
 
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If the gameplay is rock solid then it's going to come to the other critical factor that has kept me firmly in the anti-MMO camp:

How much is it gonna cost?
 
Pretty sure its completely F2P with only cosmetic/fluff stuff in the marketplace.
 
I'm not a big FPS or MMO fan anymore, but it looks great. The graphics/explosions look great and game play seems to be pretty tight.
 
Loved PS1. Cannot wait for PS2. Hopefully not gimped. I'm glad to see MAX suits still in the game. Those were a lot of fun.
 
No monthly fee MMO, which is nice to see, same as Guild Wars 2 another MMO with no monthly fee, good that MMO game developers don't have to rape our wallets every month and still provide a rock solid fun game.
 
I may try Guild Wars 2, but I will definitely be trying this. I haven't been excited for an MMO in years.
 
big_aug said:
Pretty sure its completely F2P with only cosmetic/fluff stuff in the marketplace.
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Zorachus said:
No monthly fee MMO, which is nice to see, same as Guild Wars 2 another MMO with no monthly fee, good that MMO game developers don't have to rape our wallets every month and still provide a rock solid fun game.
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Then that means there's a real possibility I could end up getting into this thing if it all comes together right.
 
Planetside, for its time, I feel is probably the greatest "online, PVP FPS" that has ever existed, due to its scale and persistence. I've never been the sort of fellow to spend hours upon hours playing conventional online/PVP FPS - counterstrike, battlefield etc.... aside from a few LANs with friends in the olden days. You're generally rotating the same handful of maps, the same handful of "best" equipment on everyone, and the same kind of gameplay. That's great for gaining skill in the purest form of the "sport", but I've not found it that enjoyable - the addition of persistent stats/skills/unlocks/level-ups helped a bit, but not nearly as much as what Planetside did in one fell swoop.

You were playing against anywhere from a single soldier blowing generators in his cloaker suit to take down bases where nobody was paying attention, to literally hundreds of other players in every form of equipment imaginable. You were a single soldier in a huge war, but you'd better coordinate with someone else to make real progress. Everyone had a job to do, that was dynamic to every battle. WHo was going to get the "ANT" transport, a single-seat drivable vehicle unarmed but for deployable solar cells that only worked to fill its power tank, to drain power from the warpgate bubbles and refuel your bases defenses? If nobody did, it meant your base at the front was going to slowly use power with every new vehicle, loadout, or spawn that a player created - eventually your turrets would stop working, your shields would drop, and you'd lose the ability to create vehicles for the defense.

Now, driving this slow vehicle to the nearest warp-bubble was painfully slow work an you were vulnerable...so you needed an escort. The best possible situation was of course, if you had someone certified as a pilot of the Galaxy or Loadstar-class flying dropships. Typically a Galaxy was used, as Loadstars were single-seater pilot only crafts, but could carry up to Large vehicles like your Heavy Tank, one at a time. Galaxies however, were dropships that carried around 10 passengers, including 1 bay for a small or medium drivable vehicle, 2 for "MAX" class heavy armor equipped players, and the remainder for "regular" soldiers in Light/Medium/Reinforced exosuits -3 of which would act as gunners for the tail and side guns on the Galaxy en-route. So, you'd drive your ANT into the Galaxy and have another player fly that Galaxy to the nearest warp bubble, drive out of the vehicle bay, load up on previous nanite fuel and drive back in. If there was conflict en-route, the Galaxy-pilot and any crew certified as Engineers and carrying the "large-rifle sized" Repair tool (as opposed to the small, pistol slotted one which could only repair the armor for players but not vehicles) would repair the Galaxy, before everyone getting back in and trying to bring you back to the base, to land in the courtyard.

Though, sometimes it was not that easy. If there was resistance on the way back, and especially if you didn't have any players guiding the Galaxy you're riding in, certed in single-player fighters like the Mosquito or Reaper, to help escort you, the entire crew of the Galaxy would have to bail out before the transport aircraft was destroyed - if that happened, your ANT would be lost along with all its precious cargo! Thus, the infantry in the Galaxy would hit "Alt-G" and drop down to the surface of the planet...if they survived enemy bombardment of course! Infantry players had a sort of uncontrollable "slow-fall" built in that would allow them to survive when bailing out at altitude (though, still vulnerable to attack on the way down), but vehicles didn't have the same same luxury - they'd survive but generally had to be at a lower altitude to not take too much damage; dropping an unarmored ANT, tank filled with nanites from max alt was basically the recipe for a nuclear bomb. The Galaxy would attempt to descend as fast as possible, the valiant pilot attempting to make sure the ANT would survive bailing out in mid-air from altitude. After everyone else was out, the pilot would bail if there was time, but it wasn't always the case. If you had an adept team, your ANT would land with minimal damage near the remainder of the Infantry who were crewing and riding in the Galaxy, and they'd be able to give you an escort into the relative safety of your base...but depending on how far out you were, enemy location and density etc... it may not be possible. Worse still, since filled ANTs were a valuable commodity the enemy would look to kill you, the driver, and then hack the ANT converting it to their side (complete with instantaneous new paint job) and take it to one of their bases! Should you be lucky enough to make it back to base with little resistanc, the Galaxy would land in the courtyard (careful, as artillery from infantry and vehicles on the other side could still be lobbed into a base, not to mention threats from enemy air vehicles!) There, you'd drive your ANT out of the vehicle and head over to the solar-looking array and meter that stood as high as a wall, showing the base's power levels to all who saw it. Deploying your ANT would pop your collector/emitter up, and the graphic of nanites flowing into the base would continue, until your "tank" was empty and you'd watch the base's energy level grow, giving you precious time for the defense.

That was just one of the hundreds of possibilities in a given sitting of Planetside, near a decade ago. If PS2 can be sure not to be abandoned by SOE letting it wither on the vine, no longer adding new post-launch content etc... it could be one of the most enjoyable multiplayer first/third person shooters ever.
 
I'll probably 'try' it. Is it free to play for cost monthly?
 
theNoid said:
I'll probably 'try' it. Is it free to play for cost monthly?
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Free to download, free to play for ever. No box cost or monthly fee. SOE is attempting to get revenue from this game from a cash shop ranging to vanity items to guns that are "trade off" versions of current ones in game. There is no pay to win type of item and you can access everything from the resource shop via collected resources.
 
this looks interesting. never played planetside though i was aware of it. i'll give this a shot when it comes out.
 
Game is looking real good, I played the original Planetside for a couple years and had a lot of fun. What killed Planetside was the monthly subscription model and the introduction of the BFR (battle frame robotics).

Now that it's free to play and with no Voltron sized, overpowered battle mechs ruining the balance of the gameplay this is a sure fire hit.
 
Just watched the videos, hot damn. This game is turning out nicely. I hope they have an open beta soonish.
 
Definitely shaping up nicely. Wasn't aware that it was going to be Free to Play though.. makes it that much easier to justify giving it a shot when it comes out.
 
SilverSliver said:
New engine called Forge Light. To be able to support hundreds of people fighting on screen at once, the engine is really going to be critical.
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Not to mention from what I have read it takes advantage of DX11 which is about fucking time we see more MMO's do this.
 
xBanzai89 said:
Looking way better then BF3 in my opinion.
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You're damn right. Fuck BF3, EA, and DICE. I am going to buy this for me, my brother, and good friend. This is more of a battlefield game than BF3. Definitely looking like a possible replacement for the dead franchise of BF.
 
skizzled said:
Definitely shaping up nicely. Wasn't aware that it was going to be Free to Play though.. makes it that much easier to justify giving it a shot when it comes out.
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I hope they mean that you buy the initial game, and then you can buy BS like cammo to help support the MMO aspects like server costs. I'd rather pay $50 for the core game and have nothing of real consequence end up being tied up in the micro-transaction portion of the game.
 
Dethred said:
I hope they mean that you buy the initial game, and then you can buy BS like cammo to help support the MMO aspects like server costs. I'd rather pay $50 for the core game and have nothing of real consequence end up being tied up in the micro-transaction portion of the game.
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The game is going to depend on micro transactions and a possible premium monthly fee for those who want the extra perks. You can likely get by with no issues spending no money on the game whatsoever. Remains to be seen of course till we finally see it launched.

blade52x said:
The scale of the battle amazes me. An entire "continent"... I'm in.
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There was around 10 in the original expect around that much in the new one and more added as the game grows.
 
The first PS was one of my favorite games of all time and certainly my favorite MMO. They seem to be doing the sequel correctly. To top it off its F2P.
 
as long as it doens't lose what i love about PS1 i am going to play this full time.
 
Xaeos said:
Planetside, for its time, I feel is probably the greatest "online, PVP FPS" that has ever existed, due to its scale and persistence.(....)
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Despite its length I actually carefully read this summary. Having never played Planetside, my first reaction was "holy shit that sounds amazing." Comparing that to MOHAA which was probably the multiplayer game I spent the most time on, I feel I missed out. I haven't played many (read any) multiplayer game on the PC since. I will now be watching this game closely.

If it looks solid I will build my first new PC in years to play PS2. Despite all my justifications that I don't have the time anymore I think you sir may have brought me back into the fold and cheers to that. It's now up to SEO to close and seal the deal.
 
Planetside is still my favorite game of all time.

It's looking like Planetside 2 will top that, The detail in the bases and environments looks awesome. The engine looks awesome, now we just need to see it with hundreds of people :D
 
i really am looking forward to this. i just hope they inject enough content to hold people's interest... ps1 got old rather fast for an mmo (i played it at launch and then intermittently would go back). i hope they get creative with events later, and maybe even have some events like npc 4th faction invasions or something... don't know if that would be possible, but they need a plan to hold long term
interest. the one thing i fear the most is how the game will handle and feel - i hope the controls feel nice, tight, and responsive... too many fps games feel sluggish in that dept to me.

but then i see them talk about... station cash?!? lame.
 
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Krieger91 said:
God damnit, SOE please do not muck this one up.
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Lol, SOE not screw up a game? That's like saying Bioware doesn't care about money when they release 10 dollar ,release day dlc, that for all intents and purposes should of been in the main game.
 
First things first; it’s free-to-play, funded by microtransactions.
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That nearly kills it for me... I hate games with "item malls" or whatever. Will have to wait and see I guess...

I would be happy if item malls/microtransactions and DLC's went buh-bye.
 
Banyan said:
That nearly kills it for me... I hate games with "item malls" or whatever. Will have to wait and see I guess...

I would be happy if item malls/microtransactions and DLC's went buh-bye.
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The original was the typical MMO pricing model. Buy the box then pay $15 a month. That in my opinion had a major reason for pops declining over the years and never reaching more then the rumored 70K subs at prime. With the game going to the F2P model it will always have a good population, which is the reason I see SOE wanting to do this. I think the microtransactions in this game will be fine as well. The Devs and even Smed (SOE CEO) are doing their best to make it clear the weapons are only trade offs to current versions of the weapons in game. You can still get the weapons via resources earned from playing the game in capturing points and kills. The model is going to be along LoL and TF2 likely (just no stupid hats).
 
xBanzai89 said:
I think the microtransactions in this game will be fine as well.
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Yeah. As long as everything is balanced and doesn't sway one way toward those who actually spend money on the game. Although, if its a good game and its worth playing for a long time, I'd probably have no qualms of purchasing something here and there. I did with TF2 (keys - although, that was to get multiple premium accounts) and I've been playing that for years off and on.

Then again, I'm curious as to what they are going to provide that will make people want to purchase in game items if it doesn't somehow give you a boost of some kind. Hopefully not hats. :p
 
This may sound kind of rude, but the fact that BF3 is churning along at several pages a day and this game is barely a discussion indicates to me that most PC gamers have Stockholm Syndrome.

Shitty console port FPS that shits all over traditional PC gamers faces? LOVE IT.

Dedicated PC shooter with all the things for which PC gamers spend big bucks using a PC over a console? Meh, more console ports!!!

I'm starting to think that PC gamers deserve it.
 
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