Some new interview with Matt Higby + character customization

[FIREk]

***x202a;IG Extended Coverage: PlanetSide 2***x202c;‏ - YouTube

The way Matt stresses that the key thing about customization is the way you progress through the extensive skill tree suggests that there will be no actual visual customizations. Which I think isn't really a bad thing, considering visual gizmos matter even less in an FPS than they do in MMORPGs. Also, customization = more assets = a hit on framerate.

[Hamma]

Nice find, posting to news :)

[Hamma]

He also notes deploying and defending towers.

[Manitou]

He also notes deploying and defending towers.
Nice detail...yummy stuff here.

[Death2All]

Yay! New video!

Glad we got a little more clarification on leveling up your skills.

As far as your bit about visual customization, Higby said in one of the panels something along the lines of if you were to be an outfit that specializes in aircraft, when someone sees your armor they're going to be instantly be able to identify that you're some badass pilot.


If that's not the case from the get-go there's still plenty of time down the line for them to develop it.

I haven't been this excited for a game in quite some time. I'm always checking everyday for new PS2 things and reading the forums constantly trying to get whatever little bit of information I can to fill my craving. I fear that this is going to continue on up until PS2 finally gets released and it will be so surreal I might actually go into cardiac arrest.

[321]

IG Extended Coverage: PlanetSide 2; or, balding man interviews neo-hippie about the Millennial Generation's fascination with video games.

[Bruttal]

Nice find, posting to news :)

Nice i heard something new about towers too. wonder what kinda limits there gonna be on outfit spawned towers. like how many outfits can have towers in a single area. or how far they have to be apart.

[MgFalcon]

My views on the armor customization: I believe it won't necessarily be about the shape of the armor, as much as the color pattern on it. Obviously the variations of colors need to stay empire specific but going into darker/lighter shades of red (TR), as well as streaks and splotches on the uniform. (i.e. a common TR player would have two red stripes on his torso armor, but Outfit X will have an "X" across their torso).

More over to the video... when Matt says something along the lines (regard to the Command tree) "ridiculous amount of progression" (around 4:30) down the squad leadership tree... kinda scares me... YAY for leadership roles!

[Tigersmith]

The guy talking to Higby is reading from a FUCKING card..... I understand he may not be able to remember all of the questions... But FFS, that seriously disturbs me.


...who cares..be happy he asked those questions

[Bravic]

Nice i heard something new about towers too. wonder what kinda limits there gonna be on outfit spawned towers. like how many outfits can have towers in a single area. or how far they have to be apart.

I'm sure the location of the recources the towers will be placed on will define the distance between towers.

[Raymac]

Am I the only one that watches True Blood and thinks The Higby looks like a young Bill Compton?

[MgFalcon]

Am I the only one that watches True Blood and thinks The Higby looks like a young Bill Compton?

Well Bill from season 1-3, now with Bill's new haircut... not so much

And lacking fangs

[FIREk]

And lacking fangs

And the accent. :)

[basti]

Good stuff.

I love how higby is just zipping his mouth and throwing the key away when release/beta date and buisness model is coming up at the end. :D

[Desoxy]

Damn, that video made me - yet again - crave for actual details on the skill tree. I am interested how they achieve a year long progression, maximum training time of 24 hours per skill and maximum 15-20% differential to an untrained newbie. One of these three thing's got to be a little bogus ..

Hopefully it won't be "Firepower +0.00001% Upgrade #32/2312 23:58:32 remaining.." :doh:

[Bags]

Updated my info thread. Thanks for the vid.

Cool that newbies will be put in squads.

[Traak]

Deployable towers.

And whiners thought deployable field turrets and Shadow turrets were bad.

Muhahahahaha!

LOL! Now, instead of ramming an AMS right up the nose of a tower, I can plant a tower right by their AMS? Ah, the glory!

[Dreamcast]

Whats gonna be the point of making a new charector then at least in the same server?



I mean if you can unlock everything evetually, when you are max battlerank then why make another charector?


I thought there was going to be a limit but I guess not...


Also I thought the skill tree was gonna require paths, as in you go in 1 path but sacrifice accuracy.....Seems like you can do everything and then choose ur setup.



Is cool but now there is no reason to make new charectors other than somebody is playing on ur account like a brother or something.

[Lonehunter]

Deployable towers are awesome, but the detail that sticks with me is "You can play for a year, and still not max out something like a vehicle."

So basically, hitting BR 20 won't mean you can swap classes and skill trees and be maximum power in that specialty. I'm gonna have to spend a year advancing Infil, another year on Mossie, and another on Gal. Unless I you made alt characters, then you could basically level multiple skills simultaneously.

[Bags]

Whats gonna be the point of making a new charector then at least in the same server?



I mean if you can unlock everything evetually, when you are max battlerank then why make another charector?


I thought there was going to be a limit but I guess not...


Also I thought the skill tree was gonna require paths, as in you go in 1 path but sacrifice accuracy.....Seems like you can do everything and then choose ur setup.



Is cool but now there is no reason to make new charectors other than somebody is playing on ur account like a brother or something.

I'm glad that there's no reason to make multiple characters. Why should there be?

[Death2All]

I'm glad that there's no reason to make multiple characters. Why should there be?

Because money

[FIREk]

I'm glad that there's no reason to make multiple characters. Why should there be?

Indeed. If someone wants to create an alt character or two, I'm sure they will be able to do so. The skill training will definitely be active for one character at a time, though, so there will be no point.

Honestly, though, this kind of system that allows you to have every single skill (given infinite time) is way better than having to relog when you want to pilot a Gal and relog if you want to go Uni-MAX or something.

It also forces people to prioritize. For instance, OsteKake will likely grind Leadership skills from day one and will be unopposed as a faction leader for a while, once he learns enough certs. Others would have to catch up since they first invested in bigger guns and harder armor. The result? Possibly less commander chat spam, since only dedicated leaders will have access to such functionality.

[Bags]

Because money

I mean from the player POV.

[Surge72]

I am interested how they achieve a year long progression, maximum training time of 24 hours per skill and...

They have never said a maximum training time of 24 hours per skill, only that you will be able to queue up skills for 24 hours worth of real time.

Just like in EVE, I imagine single skills will start taking multiple weeks to complete further down the trees.

[Death2All]

They have never a maximum training time of 24 hours per skill, only that you will be able to queue up skills for 24 hours worth of real time.

Just like in EVE, I imagine single skills will start taking multiple weeks to complete further down the trees.

Someone brought something about time to unlock skills. They said how in EVE, that even if they started today and never stopped unlocking their skills that they would never catch up to the people who've been playing since the beginning.

I really hope PS doesn't take this route. I guess it's a reward/incentive for veterans but it's kind of disheartening to noobs because they know they'll never catch up to the veterans.

Also, since you can theoretically unlock all of the skills down the line given enough time and lack of new skills being added to the game, everybody could in fact be a CR5, or a heavily specialized commander down the road.

I'm hoping that some of the really cool abilities such as globaling and OS are way down the line in the skill tree so that you really have to commit in order to those abilities. Rather than put a couple of points and then suddenly be a CR5 essentially.

Once again, I'm thinking too much into this. Oh well.

[Bags]

D2A, you can level your skills even faster by getting xp in game.

[Desoxy]

Indeed. If someone wants to create an alt character or two, I'm sure they will be able to do so. The skill training will definitely be active for one character at a time, though, so there will be no point.


I wouldn't be so sure about that, since skill training time seems to be fixed for each skill (independent of how much you have already unlocked).

My personal guess is one character per server since they already confirmed that you won't be able to be in two different empires on server - at least at launch.

[Death2All]

D2A, you can level your skills even faster by getting xp in game.

Yes, but didn't they say in addition to those you can actively level there will also be certain skills that have a time to unlock?

[Bags]

Yes, but didn't they say in addition to those you can actively level there will also be certain skills that have a time to unlock?

My understanding is everyone can set up offline skill leveling but if you play it just goes faster.

[FIREk]

Someone brought something about time to unlock skills. They said how in EVE, that even if they started today and never stopped unlocking their skills that they would never catch up to the people who've been playing since the beginning.

I really hope PS doesn't take this route. I guess it's a reward/incentive for veterans but it's kind of disheartening to noobs because they know they'll never catch up to the veterans.

They won't be able to catch up, but it won't be on the same scale as in EVE.

In EVE, for the first month or so you can't really do too much useful stuff. If you want to play PvP, all you can do is join a fleet pilot a fast el cheapo frigate and tackle (crowd control - slow down enemy ships, prevent them from warping out, disrupt their systems etc) enemy ships. If your friends are flying Tier 2 or Tier 3 ships, it will take you a year to properly catch up (to have a proper ship with a decent fit and reasonable support skills). That's a huge gap that not everyone is prepared to cross, given the necessary time investment.

In PlanetSide 2, the gap is pretty small and can be easily jumped with player skill. Simply put, you can always blow someone's head of with a shotgun, even if you only just started and they've been playing since day one.

That vet with his 3 year old char may be piloting a high-spec Mossie, but by tomorrow you'll be able to shoot him down with the AV launcher you're just about to unlock. By the time you have a high-spec Mossie of your own, his may have slightly superior maneouverability, radar, whatever. But at the end of the day it will be all about personal skill, with infinite certs giving the vet a 20% statistical advantage at best, if we're to believe what Matt Higby said.


I wouldn't be so sure about that, since skill training time seems to be fixed for each skill (independent of how much you have already unlocked).

My personal guess is one character per server since they already confirmed that you won't be able to be in two different empires on server - at least at launch.

True, my idea was that if multiple characters per server were allowed, this is how the skill training would be capped, assuming they went the EVE route. :)

[spinach chin]

Someone brought something about time to unlock skills. They said how in EVE, that even if they started today and never stopped unlocking their skills that they would never catch up to the people who've been playing since the beginning.


Veterans will have more variety, not more power. If it's just like EVE, you hit a wall at specific roles after a few months of training. Everything after that is just picking up new roles. A new player could start and in a few months would be just as good as the vet at something, putting them on even ground in a fight.

[Rbstr]

Someone brought something about time to unlock skills. They said how in EVE, that even if they started today and never stopped unlocking their skills that they would never catch up to the people who've been playing since the beginning.

I really hope PS doesn't take this route. I guess it's a reward/incentive for veterans but it's kind of disheartening to noobs

I don't know how many times this has to be gone over but this is a non-issue. Its about specialization and the exponential increase in training time as you go from level 1 in 5 minutes to lvl 5 in over a week (or worse in higher rank skills). My corp recruits lots of noobs and they easily catch up in terms of being effective in a certain area. Sure for a month or two they're little but a fodder/tackler, but a fodder/tackler is a very important combat role.
Sure, they're not going to be able to fly all 4 races of a certain ship type, but you can only be in one ship at a time.
Honestly, 6 years in and I can't even fly all the combat ships in the game, and only a single, mostly worthless, industrial ship. While a year old player or less can fly some ships better than I can. An alt I started a while back was mining only 5% behind a 3 year old industry player within 3 months.

Far more important is the money to buy the things you can fly. Honestly, that's simply a grind like any other RPG. Skills can be nearly irrelevant and you can still rake in the dough.

But, part of EVE's point is that it's a very harsh galaxy and it's designed around long term goals.
PS need not have the learning cliff imposed on it. Time is just a parameter that can be adjusted in the skill system, after all.

[DreaM]

Seems like planetside 2 might have quite a harsh learning curve.

[Bags]

Seems like planetside 2 might have quite a harsh learning curve.

And Planetside didn't? All MMOs have harsh learning curves because there's so much.

[Hamma]

Also what makes you think it would be a harsh learning curve? I doubt it would be that harsh.

[1Shotwonder]

awesome find does sound steep on the one year and you wont even be maxed out in a certain area hopefully its not to long to obtain something you like ........ sucks starving for info. lol

[Traak]

Learning curve is part of the fun.

"click and win" games that involve one mouse button and even fewer brain cells may make soccer kids feel like they are not retarded, but I like having to master a whole keyboard full of commands plus a many-button mouse.

[Sifer2]

Is it just me or does a year sound too long for maxing a single discipline? Especially for leaders since people only want the leader with the most perks to be the one they group up with. So if you don't get started on that at launch you can forget it.

For normal combat stuff it wont be as bad so long as they stick to that 20% max thing. But even then if there are really important weapon mods or something near the top of the tree as there almost certainly will be. That's going to be annoying to have to wait that long to get to it. It would be like every class having really good 2 year veteran rewards.

I think they should do what some others have suggested an have your rate of skill learning slow down the more you obtain. So you can learn a particular discipline in a month or two if that's the one you want the most. But future one's will take longer an longer to train.

[Huma]

Im willing to bet that you will only be allowed a single tower per hex. It'll probably also be limited by terrain as well.

[Huma]

Part of the reason for the long train time is to keep the game interesting. Not to mention it shows how dedicated that individual is. You have to remember that he also said that that's the time it would take to completely specialize in just one aspect of tree. The slower train time also means we're not gonna have people with crazy gear right off the bat.

[Sifer2]

Part of the reason for the long train time is to keep the game interesting. Not to mention it shows how dedicated that individual is. You have to remember that he also said that that's the time it would take to completely specialize in just one aspect of tree. The slower train time also means we're not gonna have people with crazy gear right off the bat.


It's also going to make the nerf whining all the louder. When people do reach that higher gear, discover its OP an abuse it. An then only they can use it cause its like a year before you can too. Guess the bright side of that is flavor of the month will be impossible. Instead it will be campaign to get this nerfed cause it would take too long to get it for myself. There will also be the opposite side of that i'm sure. The one's who level up their class to find it sucks an they wasted all that time. An its even harder for a small minority to get a buff than it is for an angry majority to call for a nerf.

In other words I guess you could say I think having such a long train time for individual class's is a very risky thing. An may end up causing a lot of frustration.

[Captain1nsaneo]

Who cares about defending it! I want to use it as an orbital strike! Heck, have the thing fall sideways and forget the retro boosters and you could wipe a whole hillside with it!


My personal guess is one character per server since they already confirmed that you won't be able to be in two different empires on server - at least at launch.

It will probably be like PS was at launch where you can have several characters but only belong to 1 empire. The only reason that was changed was due to server merges.

[Coreldan]

I'm glad that there's no reason to make multiple characters. Why should there be?

I have to agree with this, I've always hated when/if I've had the feeling in games that I need to create an alt to do something.

I really like the idea of being able to specialize very deeply into something, while still allowing basic versatility.

[FIREk]

I think the learning curve will be flattened in comparison to PlanetSide 1's, mostly because of the automated mission system, more convenient spawning methods and (most likely) adding people to squads automatically.

Something tells me that "solo" players will be added to ad hoc squads for every mission and these squads may end up being automatically disbanded as soon as the mission objectives are met.

[headcrab13]

Great find, OP, I love seeing new info every few days like this!

The outfit towers are welcome news, and the super-long skill trees are also very exciting. I always felt that longer character development would benefit PlanetSide, and they seem to be right on the money with PS2. In a persistent world, you start to become a little disconnected as soon as you've unlocked everything and you're no longer earning abilities or experience points.

I'm pumped that I'll be able to pursue a "flight" skill tree for months, making my character better and better, and when I want to switch roles to infiltrator or medic, I can simply change my focus and continue bettering the same character. I also see this as a better system than PS had, because before you could simply untrain skills and sudden go from Gal pilot to combat engie/hacker in 24 hours, for example. In PS2 you'll have to truly LEARN the skills you want to use, and when you see someone's name you can recognize what they're working on and what they are good at.

-HC13

[DreaM]

And Planetside didn't? All MMOs have harsh learning curves because there's so much.

Just an observation and perhaps a hope. I prefer games to have a level of depth that requires some time to learn. It'd be nice to play a game in which you've played it for a year and have not done everything.

[Death2All]

Just an observation and perhaps a hope. I prefer games to have a level of depth that requires some time to learn. It'd be nice to play a game in which you've played it for a year and have not done everything.

This is good stuff. I'd prefer a game with a harsh learning curve than a game that is essentially a carbon copy of every other game out there. Sure, it should universally have the same controls as most FPS' out there but there should be mechanics you actually have to learn, otherwise what it keeps from being like any other game out there.

[Logit]

Good stuff.

I love how higby is just zipping his mouth and throwing the key away when release/beta date and buisness model is coming up at the end. :D

I'm sure these guys have been coached to deflect any and all questions related to anything remotely close to this topic.

With good reason.

[Operations]

Am I the only one that watches True Blood and thinks The Higby looks like a young Bill Compton?
He always reminds me of Paul Rudd

http://www.lahiguera.net/cinemania/actores/paul_rudd/fotos/4681/paul_rudd.jpg

[NapalmEnima]

I suspect that the first +5% in any given attribute for a given weapon or vehicle might take a day or two to train, while the last +1% might take a month. Sure the vet will have an edge, but 5% one way or the other isn't going to matter all that much when they get the drop on you, stick the muzzle of their Heavy Assault weapon against your kidney, and hold down the trigger. Burnt hamburger either way.

Remember: classes! We might not all have access to the Wasp out of the gate, but I suspect anyone will be able to get a Mosquito (for example) by simply respawning as a pilot.


I'm going to guess that the root of these skill trees will be the basic gear everyone starts off with for each class. Each piece of gear will have various stats attached to it that can be leveled up (probably at a small percent at a time, like 1%). Each piece of gear will have specialty variations that can be unlocked. Mosquito->Wasp for example. And that specialty gear will have it's batch of attributes and unlocks.

At the top of a given piece of equipment's various skill tracks, there might even be Prestige Skills that are strictly visual. "Gold AK-47" style. Or getting that last skill might switch on that particular visual tweak automatically. Imagine seeing a mossy flying around with a gold 12mm, gold engines, gold wings, gold hull plating, and so on. Maxed out weapon damage, speed, maneuverability, and durability. You'll know at a glance that this pilot has invested A Lot Of Time in this craft. Might want to pick your fights elsewhere.

Gold is pretty clearly NOT what we'll see, but I think you get the idea. It's more likely going to be similar to the color progressions we've already seen in PS for battle rank. The basic stuff might be empire-color-1, while the maxed out gear could be solid empire-color-two. Purple/Black, Blue/Yellow, Red/Black. Or whatever.

The armor in the screen shots we've seen all looked pretty beat up. Imagine that the more beat up the armor looks, the tougher it is. Someone with a spotless suit is clearly a newb. That guy with duct tape holding his chest plate on? He's gonna take a couple extra rounds to put down. And he's spent a lot of time as a soldier.

Weapon unlocks might be stuff like x2 sight, x4 sight, night vision scope, all of which replace Ye Olde Irone Sightse. Expanded magazines that are visually different from the norm (clip, drum, belt). Gussied up butt stocks to represent reduced recoil...

And on and on.

I'm stoked.

[Death2All]

He always reminds me of Paul Rudd

http://www.lahiguera.net/cinemania/actores/paul_rudd/fotos/4681/paul_rudd.jpg

I am very far from being a homosexual, but when I first gazed upon Higby I think I might be bisexual. The man is gorgeous.

He makes me feel really safe and warm knowing that he's working on the game I've been waiting for all my life. Maybe it's fate :love: ?

[DreaM]

I'm stoked.

That's a lot of excited speculation there! :)

[Straws]

He always reminds me of Paul Rudd

Odd, he reminds me of Christian Kane. I wonder how many other people he looks like.

[Raymac]

I am very far from being a homosexual

:huh: I thought all you DT Vanu liked to...you know, with rainbows and unicorns and glitter. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

[Vecha]

Wonder if you can Decon Towers....destroy them...or move them?

[Ranik Ortega]

Wonder if you can Decon Towers....destroy them...or move them?

Yeah destroying outfit placed towers is an important consideration.

[Higby]

I am very far from being a homosexual, but when I first gazed upon Higby I think I might be bisexual. The man is gorgeous.

He makes me feel really safe and warm knowing that he's working on the game I've been waiting for all my life. Maybe it's fate :love: ?

<3

[Jennyboo]

<3

:brow:

[MgFalcon]

<3

Bill Compton, it CLEARLY is still day time in California. Go back to sleep before you get the bleeds!

/geek mode off

[Desoxy]

<3

The Blanks - Guy Love (Official Video)

[basti]

The level of Gay just reached a entire new dimension. Seriously, go get a room you two! :D

[T-Ray]

<3

LOL

[Hezzy]

Is there a Mrs. Higby?

[Vancha]

Odd, he reminds me of Christian Kane. I wonder how many other people he looks like.
That's who he reminds me of. That was bugging me every time I saw him...

Is there a Mrs. Higby?
I believe so.

[Senyu]

im liking how many skills hes implying are in the game. If I can skill up for a year into a tank and not even be done with that tank, I can understand why its using the EVE leveling system. Which is ridiculously huge.







I want it all on one hotbar

[exLupo]

@Napalm - Gold Plated Cyclers will be cash shoppe only, my good man. $10 and you, too, can spew hot death in gaudy, 3rd world warlord style.

[Sir B Smythe]

Its all looking good to my 'pessimistic eye', thanks for this. :)