Questions from a Disgruntled Battlefield Veteran

[YaJackWagon]

So, as the title says, I am a Battlefield fan. Bad Company 2 and "Battlefield" 3 have kinda killed the franchise for me. Although Team Fortress 2 is by far the best FPS I've ever played, it just doesn't satisfy for that Battlefield experience. For reference, I think 2142 is the best Battlefield game to date, as it was properly balanced (unlike BF2-jet rape) and could support intense combat on a fairly large scale.

I imagine you all might look upon me like us old school Battlefielders look upon the consolers and CoD kiddies that inspired DICEA to sell out their long time support and turn BF3 into just another CoD clone (but it has doritos so it's original :rolleyes:). I sincerely hope that my suggestions and the reasons this game attracts me aren't things that you all think are poisoning your game. I have never played Planetside and had never heard of it until one of the members of BF3 UK (affectionately known as Mordor) started mentioning it as the only real hope for a Battlefield 2143.


I've been trying to read up on this game for the past week. Frankly there's alot of info (and jargon) that I've been muddling through. And I've got some questions. I apologize for length (that's what I said :lol:) and if I missed something in that stickied info thread. Bolded "So,"s contain the boiled down question.



1. PS2 is F2P, but there are microtransactions. In one video (45mins of Planetside 2 Gameplay Footage From GDC Full HD (Enhanced by Morto @ Planetside TV) - YouTube) the dev dude says that nothing that affects gameplay will be exclusively sold. In other words, the only things for sale are skins (weapon and playermodel) and cosmetic items, which is nice. But I believe later on he says that you can "purchase sidegrades." As a TF2 player, I know there's no such thing as a perfect sidegrade. A gun with higher ROF but lower damage (and even does the same TTK) than the stock gun is not a sidegrade in the right hands.
So, is it "not a single weapon skin that you purchase has unique properties" or "SOE says that this gun fits criteria for a sidegrade, you must purchase" ?


2. Related to #1, if I can indeed unlock everything gameplay-affecting via playing for a while and earning my weapons, implants, and certifications without having to spend a penny, what's the catch? From my understanding, BF Play4Free said the same thing, but you lost the weapons you earned from endless grinding at the end of the day unless you paid. In TF2, it can take weeks for a new weapon to drop for you, while the guys who buy get it the next day (or recently a couple weeks early).
So, just how free are we talking? I don't have to pay, but I have to grind day after day to earn my weapons that I only secure for a limited time?


3. Infiltrators have invisibility, and from what I've read, they could be invisible indefinitely and kill invisibly in PS1. :huh: That doesn't seem like it's fun or balanced... but I never played PS1. What kind of limitations were there in being invisible.
So, is this the same in PS2 or are talking 2142 and TF2 invisibility where you have to switch to a weapon slot for limited-time invisibility with significant cooldown?


4. Apparently, there are faction specific weapons and vehicles, that only differ in minor capacities from the rival empires (sidegrades... and all that).
So, are there non-faction specific weapons and vehicles? If I take so-and-so territory, do I effectively "capture" the spawn point of a light tank that is "sidegraded" differently from all the other empire specific tanks?


5. Related to #4. Opposed to taking access to a tank away from your enemy, does taking a territory instead give your side access to a "perk" for marginally heavier armor on your tanks? (doesn't apply exclusively to tanks, can be weapons, sprinting, etc.)


6. What is an implant? What is a certification? It seems like it's similar to "perks" in CoD and "specializations" in BFBC2/BF3. I'm not saying that in disgust, I actually think it's a nice addition to FPS's nowadays (if it's done right).


7. What is a MAX?


8. Doth mine eyes deceive me? Commanders and Squad leaders? Just how similar are they to those positions in the real Battlefield titles? It seems like you have to specialize your soldier to be able to utilize these roles.


9. I keep getting references to hacking like it's a game feature. I assume this might be similar to Blacklight Retribution or Brink (keep in mind I have only watched brief youtube videos of gameplay for those). What is it? A fancy name for a Flag capture or MCOM arming event (if we use BF terminology) by holding a button while a timer counts down?


10. What other features vastly distinguish PS2 from BF2/2142 that I've missed? Besides the obvious MMO bit where there's a thousand (or 2) more people trying to kill everything.

[Stardouser]

There are very few of your questions that I can answer but as a fellow Battlefield refugee I wanted to answer the 2 that I can answer:
4. I believe what you are asking is if you capture an enemy base, can you spawn enemy vehicles. I don't think so. And as far as I know, vehicles do not spawn until you visit a terminal and request them to spawn. Which is not like Battlefield.

I believe in PS1 you could hack enemy vehicles that were already spawned and steal them, that apparently isn't coming back.
8. I don't know enough to really answer your question on the Command structure, but as for squads - YES! I don't know what specializations are required for squad leading but I do know at a minimum that we will have squad VOIP which Battlefield 3 denied us.

And there's something else. Apparently Planetside 1 had Outfits, the equivalent of a MMORPG "Guild" or a "Clan" for shooters. And you could chat in text with your entire Outfit while in game. And Outfits maintain member lists, you can be an officer, etc. That's the kind of Clan Support I think people want in Battlefield but never receive.

[noxious]

1. 'Sidegrades' will be purchasable, and you're right that a sidegrade will actually be an upgrade if it suits an individual's playstyle better than the weapon that the upgrade replaces, but the reality is that if you make any change to something, it's going to be beneficial to some and detrimental to others; there's really no way around this. The goal, however, is that you're never getting something for nothing; each gain is offset by a loss.

2. Whatever you unlock is yours to keep permanently. I don't think they've stated just how long it will take to unlock a particular weapon.

3. In Planetside you could use an implant to see cloakers that were nearby. In order for a cloaker to kill you in one hit, they had to use a weapon which was rather loud, so you would hear them coming. I don't think people ever complained about them much. That said, it sounds like they're making some changes to the infiltrator, so it's hard to say how things will play out in Planetside 2.

4. You can only use your own faction's equipment. Using terminals in a facility formerly owned by an enemy faction will spawn your own faction's equipment.

5. Not sure here, but I don't think so. Territory will give you resources.

6. Pretty much right.

7. Dudes with heavy armor and big guns. They're weak to anti-vehicle weapons and move slowly.

8. It's hard to say because they're changing up command roles a lot, and it doesn't sound like the system is fully fleshed out yet.

9. Yeah, pretty much. There is no minigame or anything like that.

[sylphaen]

1. n/a

2. The catch is that once you try it, you are hooked and all other FPS games experiences seem dull. Eventually, you would feel like supporting such an awesome game and get a sub.

3. Infiltrator suits had no armor and their users dropped like a leaf when shot. Their inventory was also very small and only offered a handgun slot (you had to open your inventory to equip something else). Only the knife did not take inventory space nor a weapon slot (but it was not one shot kill either; it was however perfectly fine to finish off someone hurt).

4. All I know is some sidegrades are empire specific.

5. n/a

6. PS1 mechanics that do not seem to apply in PS2 anymore. Certs were like a skill tree where you chose what equipment your character could use. Implants were 3 situational "powers" you could activate to power-up your character (but using implants usually cost you energy (energy was for jumping/running; running only stopped when your energy hit 0 and stayed <20. There was no sprint mechanic in PS1.))

7. Specialized Infantry tank that could go AI, AV or AA. They were usually destructive at their intended role. As a trooper, you usually did not like facing an Anti-Infantry MAX user alone or unprepared.

8. Due to the scale of PS1 and its social dynamics, I guess leadership roles were like in BF and most by-passed the in-game system to organize their groups. There was in-game benefits to being in a squad such as shared radar information, etc... It will likely change in PS2.

9. Hacking was a cert (i.e. a skill) that was necessary to take control of enemy equipment (from their bases/towers to their vehicles). Hacking may make a come back in PS2 but so far, only for capturing objectives and not stealing vehicles (it's under discussion).

10. The scale of PS magnified many aspects of BF. BF is like playing in a box. PS is like opening that box and molding it to your ambitions. We can only hope PS2 will keep the best aspects of PS1 and enrich the experience of PlanetSide.

[SGTalon]

In PS1, a running stealther was visible as a blurry mirage type thing. There is a sound from the stealth field generator. I never played one so i don't recall all the details. But i think the generator used power so you could not leave it on indefinitely. I know you lost stealth at least partially when shooting/knifing.

Vehicles are pulled from a terminal/vehicle pad. When the base is captured it converts over to building your faction equipment.

There was an ability to hack enemy vehicles to take them over. But it was an expensive certification.

Implants were minor buffs.

MAX= AWESOME!
Basically it is powered armor. Much beefier than heavy armor, carried bigger weapons (2 of them) but less maneuverable and could not use hacking tools to open locked base doors or repair/med up. They were the tip of the spear on infantry battles inside bases and towers. And I can't wait to strap another one on.

A squad is 10 people. You can create a platoon or 3 or 4 squads. Command rank allows you to chat with larger groups of people and develop strategies above the general chat anarchy.

Leadership abilities included things like placing waypoints on maps and huds for your squad/platoon. UAV type sat scans, all the way up to commanding an orbital strike to decimate a courtyard or rooftop.

If you really want to know everything that is awesome about PS read Malorn's Manifesto - http://www.liberty-clan.com/topsecret/psm.pdf
it is long but worth it. You will be assimilated. (resistance is futile and all that stuff)

[Aurmanite]

1) Side grades are purchased with in game resources you earn by capturing and holding territory. You start out with an empire specific weapon that your selected class can use, and you can modify it to your liking using these resources. There are common pool weapons available to all three empires. There will likely be weapons that you will have to unlock with resources/certifications.

2) We don't really know yet.

3) Yes! Invisible, sneaky, murderous dudes. In the original, they were limited to pistols, explosives, and knives. Their role was a little muddled throughout most of the game as they were stuck between being saboteurs and assassins, without real objectives to saboteur, and without the lethality to assassinate. There was an implant specifically for the detection of cloakers.

4) There are common pool weapons and vehicles. The empire specific vehicles (tanks and aircraft) are pretty damn different from one another. They will use different tactics, have different strengths and weaknesses, and require different strategies for dealing with each other. Side grades will not change their uniqueness.

5) No.

6) An implant is a special ability you can augment your character with. In Planetside your character had 3 implant slots you could fit with things like regenerating health, dark vision(spotting cloakers), sprint, and more.

We're still not sure exactly how certifications will work in Planetside 2. From what we know, you will earn certification points by playing the game and while offline. You will use them to unlock upgrades/weapons/further advancement down a skill tree.

7) Mechanized Assault eXoskeleton (I think?). MAX's are power armor that can be outfitted for anti-infantry/armor/aircraft roles.

8) Squad Leaders look like they will have a lot of cool stuff including: squad spawning, mission generation (capture the base, disable the generator... which will provide an XP bonus for completion). In Planetside, command rank eventually lead to EMP's, orbital strikes, and world wide chat broadcasts.

9) In the original, hacking was holding a button while a timer counts down. You could hack enemy vehicles, equipment terminals, control consoles, etc. We don't have much information on hacking in Planetside 2.

10) There's lots of stuff out there to read on this one. It's simple enough to say "1000s of players", experiencing it is something altogether different. Shooters are pretty much shooters, but when your outfit is rolling groups of 30 with tanks, aircraft, and support vehicles on a huge persistent battle field...it's a new ball game.

[SGTalon]

Did i mention that i can't wait to strap on a MAX Pounder?

[Whalenator]

Warning: TL;dr ahead!

1. (Sidegrades & TF2)
Don't get me wrong. I'm an avid TF2 player too (free really ruined it though). But the sidegrade labels Valve has slapped on some of their weapons are, like many things Valve makes, lies. Take an obvious example; the Tomislav. A higher, silent heatup time that only costs you a little bit of your DPS? Count me in. TF2 included plenty of obvious upgrades, like turning the generic pistol into a "Bonk!" invulnerability soda. Valve is kind of a money whore though, any hopefully SOE doesn't follow in their footsteps.

2. (Weapon Unlock Expiration)
This is an easy one. The answer is no, and thankfully that doesn't look like it's going to change anytime soon. Right now the cert tree is a huge part of the game: Making hard-earned certifications for weapons, vehicles and other unlocks expire over time would be really, really stupid.

3. (Infiltrators)
Infiltrators had a unique feature where their opacity could vary based on rate of movement and activity. They were only completely invisible if standing still (unless the observer had a stealth-detecting implant). Movement would make them slightly more visible. But if an infiltrator were to shoot or be shot their stealth would almost completely fail for more than long enough for someone to kill them.

4. (Sidegraded Common Pool Vehicles)
All vehicle "sidegrades" are tailored by the player that spawns the vehicle. We're yet to see if capturing a facility allows further sidegrades, but at the moment it seems that all Common Pool Vehicle's sidegrades will be available to members of any empire provided they have the certification for it.

5. (Territory Bonuses)
So far all we've seen as rewards for capturing facilites from the enemy are additional resources to purchase special weapons and spawn special vehicles... and by special I mean sidegraded. Though keep in mind the demos featured three unique kinds of resources; my hypothesis is there is one for empire-wide vehicle spawning (Nanites), one for the individual character to purchase sidegrades (SOE Cash), and one for the individual character to purchase upgrades (Auraxium).

6. (Implants & Certifications)
An implant, in canon, is having a piece of your organic body substituted for a superior mechanical replacement such as a robotic eye, foot or ear. These would give you individual bonuses based on the body part replaced and could be earned by increasing your Battle Rank. Some bonuses were; Seeing stealth (Eye Implant), Zoom vision (Eye Implant), and Silent walking (Foot Implant). You can view more here, (http://planetside.station.sony.com/) under the 'implants' section.

7. (MAXes)
The Mechanical Assault Exo-Suits were the tiny tanks of Planetside. They had over three times the armor of any regular infantry and had big, customizable arm cannons to match. All of them could activate an autorun mode that would pentuple their normally slow speed and each empire had specific abilities for each max: The Vanus had a jumpjet, the Terrans had a "lockdown" boost to accuracy and the Conglomerate had an rechargeable shield.

8. (Commanders & Squad Leaders)
I played BF2, BF1942, BF2142. The Bad Company series was decent, I suppose, but trying to slap a singleplayer campaign on a multiplayer-focused game really detracted from everything. We blew up buildings while the game blew up teamwork. But back to commanders. In the original Planetside commanders were only outfit leaders, and the in-game engine made it hard to relay orders down a chain of more than a platoon's worth of people without TeamSpeak or Ventrilo. In Planetside 2 this problem is going to be "solved" with sort of popularity contest, something I admit I'm not looking forwards to. We're either looking at a system where you'll automatically receive missions from the generals followed by the most people (again, popularity contest), or a system where you'll only receive missions from commanders you have followed. As for Squad Leaders, they lead squads.

9. (Hacking)
Hacking was a huge game mechanic in Planetside and it's going to be big in Planetside 2. Pretty much anyone could carry a little hacking device to open locked doors, slowly capture hostile outposts and even contest enemy facilities. By putting some "cert points" into it, you could learn to hack faster, or even do neat stuff like jacking enemy vehicles or installing viruses into base mainframes. Though sometimes in the original Planetside people likes to hack in other ways. ಠ_ಠ

10. (Differences)
Well, for one, there's actually going to be teamwork. When you throw two teams of 500 people into a 10sqkm arena and tell them to fight to the death, they might think it sensible to organize a bit, and that's how outfits are born. Another thing you'll see in Planetside 2 (hopefully) is a fairly slow game pace. You're not going to see just a handful of guys successfully break through a line of hundreds in a couple minutes, no. Some of the larger facility battles in Planetside took hours (until somebody was smart enough to pull a flail >:3). Persistence is another big deal, and something Higby seems to be waving around like a second dick, though I see no point in persistence if you can't capture a continent anymore.

WHOO THAT WAS A MOUTHFUL. of cock
Also, please...
If you're just going to post a topic with questions in the discussion section, why not just ask in IRC (http://www.planetside-universe.com/girchat.php) instead?

[oosik]

A couple of things about infiltrators that weren't mentioned:

You could stay invisible if you moved slowly in a crouch. I did this a number of times in some tower battles.

You could be seen by someone engaging a darklight implant, but such implants could be disrupted with a jammer grenade, emp strike from orbit, or emp (grenade?). Darklight also had a range limitation. Very difficult to see anything beyond, say, roughly 10 meters.

An infiltrator could also be seen if he was near a detonating plasma grenade and got splashed with plasma.

An infiltrator using his hacking skills could be detected by the beam between the device and the object he was attempting to hack.

[Brusi]

Have you played tribes? PS is like a cross between Tribes and BF. I suggest forking out $15 and playing PS for a month.

You may be dissapointed with the graphics and low (for PS, not BF) server pops, however it is still quite fun and after a couple of sessions, you will begin to understand just how different PS is to BF.

Worlds apart.

PS2 however, will have some of the same FPS mechanics as BF, but hopefully the combined arms side of it will stay more true to the original Planetside. Main difference being that you can spawn your own vehicles from a friendly base rather than waiting for them to respawn. UNLIMITED TANKS!!!

[Capt Mytre]

Good to see some other BF vets here. Recognize a few names from Mordor.

[fod]

Good to see some other BF vets here. Recognize a few names from Mordor.

yeah theres a few of us here (im LSD-25-00)
im a ps1 vet also though :)

[ringring]

A couple of points ....

Cloaker were not over-powered in PS1. Yes they could sneak up on you unawares but, they move too quickly you see they and they're dead. You hear someone opening a door and there isn't a friendly on the radar? Kill them! And so on.

People who played as a cloaker often became really skilled but I think even they had to accept death came swiftly and often.

Outfits: These are are the core of PS1. In reality all the game provided was an ability to create/join an outfit various permissions covering who could invite to or kick from your outfit and a text outfit chat channel. All the rest of the organisation was done off system.

Many outfits in PS1 had different styles. Some had open invitation poilices some had a qualification criteria. Some specialised in maxes, some in air combat, some in armour and so on.

My outfit was more of an all-arms outfit but standard mode for the initial attack was Gal Drops .....

Most PS1 outfits are now talking internally via their own websites and forums about PS2 and that will including folks who haven't played in a long while. We're all making plans, everyone is excited and no doubt we will be back and rockin in PS2.

Suggestion: Why don't you ex-BF guys get together and create your own outfit in ps2 .... call youselfs BF Revenge or BF Renegades or something? :D

[Shogun]

yeah cloakers were nice in ps1 but hard to play because literally everything would decloak you, and at some point almost everybody had the darklight implant, that could make you visible.

playing sucessfully as a cloaker was more like playing splintercell. you had to sneak and time your movement very well because being seen was being killed. no armor, almost everything osok and you only had explosives, supportstuff or small sidearms.

in ps2 cloakers will be customizable. we don´t have the full details, but it´s going to be perfect cloak but only small weapons. if you want the sniper rifle, you only get a blurry predator cloak that wouldn´t let you fire while it´s activated.(like klingon ship cloaks)

about the sidegrades:
you will unlock them permanently either by ingame ressources, or if you don´t want to grind those for real money. everything game-accecting will have both options.
weapons are then permanent and you can switch between your unlocked sidegrades at respawns or terminals.
vehicles will work similar but maybe with the difference, that spawning a vehicle with installed sidegrades may cost some extra ingame ressources.

cosmecical stuff will be only available through real money.

implants in ps2 will be different than they were in ps1. matt told us, that implants will now be consumables and will work like potions in mmorpgs.
you use a fast-run implant, it gives you fast run for some time and burns out.
i guess those implants will also get both ways to buy them. (ress or money)

[Knocky]

Bottom line is anything that changes the way a weapon works can be bought with ingame resources.

[DxC]

Nice to see some people acutely coming from different games and taking the time to read before posting and asking questions word is spreading! good news

to this day I heard about a Cloaker in Planetside and acutely thinking there better be a counter for this - Darklight was that one of my party members Just got the Implant and we were all in a LAN Cafe at the time about 5 of us - and he turned it on and screamed omg there's one! very funny indeed heh

[Kran De Loy]

acutely

Actually, your auto-correct gave you the wrong word there...
Just a ah.. heads up.

[Knocky]

Actually, your auto-correct gave you the wrong word there...
Just a ah.. heads up.

The funny thing is that my mind filled in "actually" and did not even notice he used the word "acutely" until you pointed that out.

[Stardouser]

I thought he used the right word...the death of Battlefield is a pretty acute situation for fans of the previous games :(

[Kran De Loy]

No idea why Acute has the definition that it does.
Pain is never cute.
Unless you're emo.
Or a Dom.

Damnit. I'll be back in 7 to 30.

[Captain1nsaneo]

Wall'O text inbound.

1: Buying stuff

Right there with ya regarding the side-grade balance issue. How the plan they've told us about is that everything will at some point be buyable through ingame resources. There was some talk about items rotating through times where they are only buyable through station cash but I don't believe that has been mentioned again recently (as in the last 8 months or so). In the recent video the shop is quickly shown and there's two costs for everything, one is probably ingame resources and the other is station cash. If you're familiar with how Global Agenda works with it's stores it will probably be something like that.

2: Item Duration

The only items we know that are consumable or can be lost are implants and grenades. Gunner weapons on tanks are lost when the tank is destroyed as well. It sounds like BF free to play has a pay to win system.

3: Infils

Cloakers are permanently invisible however for it they give up any armor and the ability to carry more than what could fit in a handbag. There's also a bunch of limitations on the cloak. The faster you move the more visible you are, cloakers also have the fastest run speed so one doing anything other than being crouched and tapping their move keys shows up in some form visually. Shooting makes you light up like a Christmas tree as does hacking. In addition, the radar would more often than not give you away and enemies would swoop down on you to rend you and your invisible pajamas apart. There's also the ultimate counter in the implant darklight which made normal people hard to see but made cloakers show up like if you shoved a light-bulb up a ghosts sphincter. There are counters that the cloaker can use against radar in the form of crouch walking or using the sensor shield implant. But they don't have any instant kill weapons and penetrating defenses with them is always a challenge as there are obvious tells if a bad cloaker is about.
Don't worry about cloakers being anywhere near the top of the kill boards, it's a much slower play style where you die a lot. As for how they'll handle in PS2? We have imperfect information right now.

6: Implants, certs.

Out of order because this probably should be covered sooner that than later. In PS you had 3 bars: Health; Armor; and Stamina. Implants were similar to perks from CoD but most of them drained your stamina to use and all of them had charge times so you couldn't use them right out of spawn. You got an implant slot at BRs 6, 12, and 18. No implant increased your damage... ok that's a lie, melee boost make it so you could shank someone in 2 hits rather than 3. But the rest were things like being able to see enemy HP (no stamina drain), turning stamina into a personal shield (effectively another health bar that went away really fast), Surge; high move speed for stamina drain based on what armor you're wearing along with the inability to shoot, Range Magnifier; allows you to zoom 2x,4x, and 8x rather than your normal 2x (or with a scope 12x), when close to death regenerate some HP and Stamina, turn 2 stamina into 1 hp, and so on.
When you run out of stamina you can no longer jump (jumping costs 10 stamina) and you can't run or use implants until you regain 20 stamina. Stamina regenerates while not moving and regenerates at different speeds depending what armor your in.

Certifications, probably the best thing in Planetside prior BR40, but that topic is like a gasoline plant that stores its product next to the incineration. Certification points were points that you gained about every battle rank (BR) level that you used to get access to weapons/vehicles/tools/abilities. The maximum number of cert points you can get is far below what's available. One you spend your cert points you don't lose them, every 24 hours you can unlearn 1 of your certs and get your points back. Also some certs had prerequisite certs. E.g. In order to get the Heavy Assault weapons cert you first needed to have gotten the Medium Assault cert. Certs were also priced differently for example the Medium Assault cert is 2 points while the Heavy Assault is an additional 4. This forced people to specialize into roles as the guy who is good at driving tanks probably doesn't have the equipment for heavy indoor fighting.

4: Faction Specific Stuff

To jump ahead to your question, you're thinking like BF in regard to how equipment is supplied. That's simply not the case in PS. What you capture does give bonuses but it's not in the form of specialty equipment. There are some bases that give you access to better tanks and aircraft but you can get them without the base, the base just makes it more convenient. (e.g. a Tech Plant base is needed to produce heavier tanks and aircraft locally on cont, there are several tech plants per cont.)
There are non-faction specific weapons that are shared across the 3 factions, a quick example from the PS2 screens shots is the Sunderer. It's the large Humvee looking transport with 2 guns on top. Another example is the lightning light tank which all 3 empires have access to. These vehicles and equipment tend to be accessible at all times. Exceptions include the Reaver (needs tech plant) and Galaxy/Lodestar (needs dropship center). All vehicles however can be gotten at sanctuary at all times. (I'm ignoring Core Combat vehicles for this example)

There's something in your question that implies you don't fully understand faction specific weapons/vehicles. They aren't the same weapons with minor tweaks, I think you got that idea from Higby talking about the modifications that could be done to the non-faction weapons. Faction weapons and vehicles are RADICALLY different. Quick example from the AV weapons: VS Lancer is a direct fire weapon that has a short charge time before each shot; NC Phoenix is a missile launcher whose payload is camera guided/piloted to it's target; TR have a missile launcher with a lock-on that requires a line of sight be maintained to its target.

5: Territory Capture Benefits

Capturing territory gives resources over time. It is not known if they will give bonuses to equipment but it is doubtful. In PS there were such bonuses but only if you captured the entire continent (cont lock), benefits varied per cont but were mostly utilitarian in nature.

7: MAXs

MAXs are small walking vehicles. They come in 3 flavors (AV/AI/AA) and have a special ability. How the MAX does its job and what its special ability is depends on the faction. If you're going to fight one you're going to need AV weapons to have a chance at winning against its typically superior firepower. However, there's a cost to having a gun for an arm, a huge inventory, and hard metal shell. That weakness is that they can't hack anything, repair, or heal themselves. They are at once the fastest and slowest form of infantry. When walking normally they trudge along making them easy targets for anyone with a rocket launcher. However, their autorun turns off their weapon systems and lets them charge along at nearly wheeled vehicle speed. This has an acceleration/deceleration time at either end so you can't just run in and out.

8: Squads

Squad leaders in PS are a hybrid of BF's SLs and Commanders (speaking from BF2 reference point). They have their own leveling system (Command Ranks) the only exp for comes from capturing a base while leading a squad. As they level they get access to more toys. At lv1 they get the ability to place 4 squad way-points (giant columns of light) on the map to guide troops around and give direction. Lv3 allows for drawing and writing on the map for the squad to see, this is the best ability in the whole game. There are only 5 CR levels and the other ones give or upgrade abilities accessed through the CUD tool. The abilities are: Reveal Friendlies; EMP blast; Reveal Enemies; and Orbital Strike. All of these abilities have cool down timers once used. The orbital strike is less like BF's artillery bombardments and more like C&C's Ion Cannon with a 10 second count down the last 4 seconds of which the enemy knows its coming.
Squads go up to 10 people and platoons are 3 squads. There's also command chat which is another channel set aside for the various CR ranks to talk to each other. High level the CR the larger the area the command chat reaches with CR5 being the whole world. CR5 also gives the ability to /comall or global, this allows the CR5 to talk to the ENTIRE EMPIRE. There are similar commands for broadcasting on each individual continent.

9: Hacking

Hacking is how you open enemy doors, start the process of capturing an enemy base, or (after certifications) steal tanks and gain access to enemy equipment terminals. The time it takes to do any of these as well as a host of side effects is affected by hacking certs. It's not a mini-game but that doesn't mean it isn't REALLY REALLY tense at times. For example, hacking a base terminal with no certs is 1min while hacking with expert hack is around 22 seconds. As for capturing bases hacking only starts the process. Once a base is hacked a 15min count down starts where the enemy has to reach the control center and re-hack the base or spawn a flag that needs to be taken to a nearby friendly base. Hacking a causes also a number of interesting things. Equipment terms will no longer work for anyone unless individually hacked, the base turrets will stop working, and all benefits the base was giving stop. (for more on stopping enemies from pulling Reavers, see "Generator Blowing and You") As for stealing vehicles, you need advanced hack to steal empty ones and expert hack to steal manned ones. I can tell you that there's nothing so much fun as stealing enemy tanks in the middle of a fire fight.

10: Popuri

I've never had times in BF where I've spontaneously had a good time. If I did it was due to not playing like you were supposed to. For example: Annexing a rooftop in Karkand and staying there through out the game with a couple of buddies; doing low orbit drops from a black hawk our squad leader was piloting; or flying a helicopter into a warehouse to capture a point and making it back out alive. Planetside was so large and free form that random things just kept happening. Driving out in the middle of no-where = lone landmine. Ginormous amount of incoming fire where the only thing I can do is laugh and cuddle up inside a bunker as the world above gets turned inside out. Planetside has a real sense of place, it's very hard for me to think of the various continents in terms of digital maps as they've taken on the properties of real places for me.

tl;dr:

Planetside can and will ruin your ability to enjoy other FPSs and we're hoping PS2 is more of that.

[Winged_Nazgul]

If you really want to know everything that is awesome about PS read Malorn's Manifesto - http://www.liberty-clan.com/topsecret/psm.pdf
it is long but worth it. You will be assimilated. (resistance is futile and all that stuff)

I always steer non-players that want to know what it was like to this article and its attendant comments:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/09/05/planetside-the-1/

[SGTalon]

Awesome story! I think i remember that day actually. I was not one of he 1%... or even the 4% But I am TR!

[BuzzCutPsycho]

Amazing how PlanetSide was a bright and shining star in the MMO world for such a short time. We all fondly remember the first six or so months before SoE let it rot and turn to shit.

I so dearly hope PS2 doesn't suffer the same fate.

[texico]

1. PS2 is F2P, but there are microtransactions. In one video (45mins of Planetside 2 Gameplay Footage From GDC Full HD (Enhanced by Morto @ Planetside TV) - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohxc5flxhP0)) the dev dude says that nothing that affects gameplay will be exclusively sold. In other words, the only things for sale are skins (weapon and playermodel) and cosmetic items, which is nice. But I believe later on he says that you can "purchase sidegrades." As a TF2 player, I know there's no such thing as a perfect sidegrade. A gun with higher ROF but lower damage (and even does the same TTK) than the stock gun is not a sidegrade in the right hands.
So, is it "not a single weapon skin that you purchase has unique properties" or "SOE says that this gun fits criteria for a sidegrade, you must purchase" ?


2. Related to #1, if I can indeed unlock everything gameplay-affecting via playing for a while and earning my weapons, implants, and certifications without having to spend a penny, what's the catch? From my understanding, BF Play4Free said the same thing, but you lost the weapons you earned from endless grinding at the end of the day unless you paid. In TF2, it can take weeks for a new weapon to drop for you, while the guys who buy get it the next day (or recently a couple weeks early).
So, just how free are we talking? I don't have to pay, but I have to grind day after day to earn my weapons that I only secure for a limited time?


3. Infiltrators have invisibility, and from what I've read, they could be invisible indefinitely and kill invisibly in PS1. :huh: That doesn't seem like it's fun or balanced... but I never played PS1. What kind of limitations were there in being invisible.
So, is this the same in PS2 or are talking 2142 and TF2 invisibility where you have to switch to a weapon slot for limited-time invisibility with significant cooldown?


4. Apparently, there are faction specific weapons and vehicles, that only differ in minor capacities from the rival empires (sidegrades... and all that).
So, are there non-faction specific weapons and vehicles? If I take so-and-so territory, do I effectively "capture" the spawn point of a light tank that is "sidegraded" differently from all the other empire specific tanks?


5. Related to #4. Opposed to taking access to a tank away from your enemy, does taking a territory instead give your side access to a "perk" for marginally heavier armor on your tanks? (doesn't apply exclusively to tanks, can be weapons, sprinting, etc.)


6. What is an implant? What is a certification? It seems like it's similar to "perks" in CoD and "specializations" in BFBC2/BF3. I'm not saying that in disgust, I actually think it's a nice addition to FPS's nowadays (if it's done right).


7. What is a MAX?


8. Doth mine eyes deceive me? Commanders and Squad leaders? Just how similar are they to those positions in the real Battlefield titles? It seems like you have to specialize your soldier to be able to utilize these roles.


9. I keep getting references to hacking like it's a game feature. I assume this might be similar to Blacklight Retribution or Brink (keep in mind I have only watched brief youtube videos of gameplay for those). What is it? A fancy name for a Flag capture or MCOM arming event (if we use BF terminology) by holding a button while a timer counts down?


10. What other features vastly distinguish PS2 from BF2/2142 that I've missed? Besides the obvious MMO bit where there's a thousand (or 2) more people trying to kill everything.

I'll try and bulletpoint this response for you.


1 and 2.

- Hardest to say, as we don't know for sure.
- Expecting that stuff earned is permanent.

3.

- Completely cloaked when still/crouch-walking, 10% uncloaked walking, 20% uncloaked firing/being shot at (translucent, like the TF2 spy when the cloak slider is empty)
- http://planetside.station.sony.com/howto/armor.vm THIS page shows you the infiltrator's limits on equipment.
- Only has 1 small holster, so can't carry rifles, compare to the other armour types. This is how PS1 worked at least.

4.

- Yes, non-faction "common pool" weapons/vehicles are expected, like the Galaxy.
- I doubt you can capture a vehicle spawn point.
- SPAWN points for vehicles are only available at Vehicle Terminals.
- In PS1, these were only found at facilities.
- If you capture an enemy facility, you can access its spawn points, but only to spawn your own empire's vehicles.
- In PS1, you could hack enemy vehicles to turn them to your empire and use them though. Not certain if hacking is still in PS2 but there's no reason why not.

5.

- We don't know for sure the benefit territories bring.
- Probably, you can use the resources a particular territory has through some mechanic to Perk your equipment/vehicles/persona, for example 10% more vehicle armour. But we don't know the exact system and how it functions.

6.

- Implants = In PS1, you gain XP from killing, and Battlerank levels go up as you amass XP.
- At certain Battleranks, you gain implant slots (up to 3). You can then choose from about 10 different "implants".
- Implants are literally small perks. "Surge" implant boosts speed, "Sensor Shield" made you invisible to radar.
http://planetside.station.sony.com/howto/implants.vm
- We can't be sure how implants are being used in PS2, but probably the same way, if they exist.

- Certs = Certification points are given at each Battlerank in PS1. You can then use these to purchase "Certs (certifications)" which literally teached you to do stuff. Access certain weapons, certain vehicles, certain armour and certain abilities
- System is being changed to some sort of cert "tree" for each class in PS2. Apparently you earn certs continually (faster with XP) which allows you to specialize in your class by giving you access to add-ons and sidegrades, like the spawn ability in a galaxy.

7.

- Heaviest armour type. Basically a "heavy" from TF2.
- Can't use equipment or change weapons, it has it's heavy gun attached to its armour

8.

- In PS1, you earned Command-XP from leading squads, and gained Command Rank
- Command Rank let you use command chat basically - you could speak to the entire empire - and a few goodies like an orbital strike attack and EMP blast.
- In PS2, they're expected to have a role more integrated in the game's mechanics and more distinction. Not certain how you progress as a commander.
- In PS1, you literally just invited people to form a squad with you to be a Squad Leader. Since you were the one giving the invitations, you become the Squad Leader of the squad. Anyone could do this from day 1.

9.

- In PS1, the "REK" tool let you "hack" enemy doors so you could get into their base.
- Anybody could "hack" if they had a REK on them which anybody can access.
- However, "hackers" is what we usually call people who have a Cert in Advanced-Hacking. This basically means they, A, had much faster hacking speeds, and B, could hack more than just doors (Vehicles, Vehicle Terminals, Equipment Terminals) and allow their empire to access whatever they hack.
- Also, Facilities and Towers are exchanged by hacking the Control Console. Anybody with a REK could do this but Advanced-Hackers do it very quickly.
- Expect it to be the same in PS2, however we don't know if you can improve/specialize in Hacking or if it's just something everybody can do normally. That's usually what we mean when we ask "is Hacking in PS2?"

10.

- PS1 was extremely team-oriented. You could easily have more fun supporting players than killing.
- PS1 is very sophisticated tactically. This is literally just because there's so many variables to consider because the game is in such a big scale.
- Three factions further sophisticates the tactical philosophy of the game, and keeps things balanced (a larger-population empire is usually ganged up on by the other two).
- PS1 had freeform inventories and freeform equipment system, only limited by your Armour. You could literally carry a Rocket Launcher and Sniper Rifle if you wanted, and carried as much or as little ammo as your armour inventory could carry if you felt like it in whatever ratio's you wanted, which was also true of things like MedKits or grenades. It was done in such a way that everything was pretty much balanced too, at least originally. HOWEVER PS2 is scrapping this in favour of classes >_>
- PS1 allow the player a great deal of control. Spawn points, facility energy levels, what facilities you owned, even what continents you wanted to take or give up, were basically up to the player with only the opposition empires to stop you.

[Whalenator]

Lots of great responses here.
I think we've pretty much answered his questions though.

[Kran De Loy]

Lots of great responses here.
I think we've pretty much answered his questions though.

Not gonna stop people! IT'S JUST GONNA KEEP GOING WALLERFALL OF TEXTSES!

But seriously, I predict it will just keep going like the Energizer Bunny up until the corp couldn't pay to have TV commercials anymore.

[DxC]

Oh look my dyslexia showed up (again) also that Auto correct failed me! :(

also yea Think that answers all the questions haha

[Stardouser]

Speaking of disgruntled BF3 vets, when Beta starts, it would be cool if some people skilled at making videos would make some video montages, but not montages of elite quickscoping, but instead, montages that show off the things BF3 players are asking for every day at Mordor. Proper squad play and the ability to have automatic in-game voip. Hell, you'll get cheers from Mordor over something as simple as the ability to custom name your squad. And in-game Outfits? that will put it over the top.

[YaJackWagon]

Damn... that Malorn guy wrote a friggin textbook.

Well, now I'm itching to play it.

[sylphaen]

Damn... that Malorn guy wrote a friggin textbook.

Well, now I'm itching to play it.

Fame and respect do not come from what you take but instead from what you give.

I do not agree with everything Malorn did write but he did share a lot of ideas and put a lot of efforts to explain them.

[Shogun]

Speaking of disgruntled BF3 vets, when Beta starts, it would be cool if some people skilled at making videos would make some video montages, but not montages of elite quickscoping, but instead, montages that show off the things BF3 players are asking for every day at Mordor. Proper squad play and the ability to have automatic in-game voip. Hell, you'll get cheers from Mordor over something as simple as the ability to custom name your squad. And in-game Outfits? that will put it over the top.

this will be impossible because recording and sharing beta footage will be a violation of the non disclosure agreement every betatester will have to approve to. nobody knows the exact details of the nda yet, but not discussing anything outside the beta forums is the main theme of every beta nda.

[Ailos]

Gonna try to throw in some points that look like they have been missed in other replies:

1. According to the latest news, anything that drastically impacts game play (e.g. scopes on rifles) will be unlocked exclusively with in-game resources. Side grades (barrel lengths or magazines that trade ROF for damage/shot) will be a split between station cash and in-game resources. Purely cosmetic stuff will be for cash only.

2. Currently, implants are the only limited-duration items in the game (i.e. they expire some time after you acquire them) but my understanding is that any implants that affect game play (such as aforementioned Darklight Vision that allows to see cloaked enemies) would be earned using in-game resources only. More cosmetic or non-impact implants would be also available with cash (there was a suggestion to have an implant for subscribers that allows them to earn the cert points faster). The only other "expirable" items are consumables, such as med-kits and grenades, which expire when you use them (duh) but it's been said that all those are also bought entirely in-game.

4. The faction-specific equipment doesn't only differ in minor capabilities. They differ quite a lot in terms of bullet damage, usable range, rates of fire and COF blooms, etc; the vehicles similarly differ in their capabilities. The difference between the two tanks in BF2142 is a good example of the kind of difference you should expect to see between empire-specific equipment in PS2. Translation: each empire has a completely different playstyle, and one will always be stronger in a specific situation, but never strong enough to overpower both of the others at the same time.

6. An implant is basically, a piece of equipment. In PS1, your inventory size and equipment slots varied with the kind of armor you were wearing, but your implants stayed the same. Not sure how this will work in PS2, but basically, that's all they are - addon equipment outside your inventory (e.g. you could have a zoom implant that removes the need for any scopes on your rifles, so you can use that weapon slot for something else). Certifications are your skills. To operate a vehicle or use a weapon, you need to "trained" to do it. Certification is that training. You can purchase them with certification points - skill points. In PS1, until BR40 was introduced, the number of certification points available was limited, so the skills you could possibly train were also limited.

8. No you've read that right. There are squad leaders and real commanders.

10. From everything I've seen, PS2 is actually going to be quite similar to BF2142, and that's a good thing IMHO.

[YaJackWagon]

4. The faction-specific equipment doesn't only differ in minor capabilities. They differ quite a lot in terms of bullet damage, usable range, rates of fire and COF blooms, etc; the vehicles similarly differ in their capabilities. The difference between the two tanks in BF2142 is a good example of the kind of difference you should expect to see between empire-specific equipment in PS2. Translation: each empire has a completely different playstyle, and one will always be stronger in a specific situation, but never strong enough to overpower both of the others at the same time.


Yeah, I was thinking of how similar the VS tank is going to be to the Nekomata.



Thanks for the clarifications, everyone. I'm pretty sure everything else will be cleared up once the beta rolls out.
This is gonna be an interesting game, to be sure.

[Stardouser]

this will be impossible because recording and sharing beta footage will be a violation of the non disclosure agreement every betatester will have to approve to. nobody knows the exact details of the nda yet, but not discussing anything outside the beta forums is the main theme of every beta nda.

I was talking about open beta!

Isn't closed beta already happening?

And, just in case somehow, open beta still carries an NDA, then assume I'm referring to full release. Either way, I want to see it rubbed in EA's face. I'd start rubbing it in their face NOW but I think I need to wait until PS2 actually turns out a winner before I jump out on that ledge :)

[Ailos]

No, Beta hasn't started yet.

[Mezorin]

Fellow BF player here, will try and answer questions. BF2142 was a fantastic underrated game by the way, which was heavily inspired by Planet Side I think. :)


1. As far as we know, micro transactions will be for skins, camo, respawn speed ups and other sorts of things. "Power" items are exclusively bought by in game resources (so no paying 10$ for a mech let's say).


2. Again, there maybe some xp boosters or such to pay for convenience, and a subscription. But anyone who's f2p can get everything ability/item wise as a non f2p player.


3. Infiltrators will depend on whether you are sniping or being a traditional infiltrator. Snipers have limited cloaks similar to what you might be used to in BF2142, while the close quarter cloakers (ie ninjas) will play out more like TF2 spies, in theory. Keep in mind people will likely have dark light (read: cloaker squishing mode), and BF style spot keys.


4. This one is kind of complicated. Yes, there are faction specific vehicles (namely the fighter craft and main battle tanks). There are also common pool vehicles as well (Galaxy, Liberator, Flash ATV, Lightning tank, sunderer to name a few). Whether or not you can capture an enemy's tank via hacking is up in the air, but for now assume you cannot.

In this game, you have vehicle and air terminals in major facilities that you can go and order up a vehicle. The vehicle then poofs into existance as nanite magic happens. So if you feel like flying a liberator bomber you just go order up, although it will cost you in resources. This is heads and shoulders beyond BF3 because people aren't camping out the jet spawn, they just order up a vehicle and go. You also invest points in these vehicles to make them better/side grade them, so for instance the lightning tank can vary between being a BF style LAV-25 or an LAV-AD depending on what gun you slap onto it. Customizability is the name of the game here, with less vehicles than part 1 but more variable roles for each one.


5. Speculation here, but as far as we know conquering territory produces you resources. The top shelf tank and air craft upgrades will likely cost you resources. Getting your team these resources and denying the enemy resources is going to be a major part of strategy.


6. From what I can tell, implants will be consumable temporary buffs. They've been kinda mum on these implants, but they will be in game resource bought only.


7. MAX: Mechanical Armored eXoskeleton. Essentially its a powered armored suit blurs the line between infantry and vehicle. They have very heavy armor (heavy enough you must use tank buster guns on them), and very heavy firepower for their size, but are very slow and require infantry support. Indoors they are great for taking point as 'tank', and outdoors their AV or AA firepower can put out a lot of hurt on vehicles.


8. For all intents and purposes, a full on outfit commander will be like a Battlefield commander, minus the retards you put up with on a pub (ideally). They can set missions, objectives, and will even how cert-able abilities to help their troops out. Squad leaders will be similar to how BF2142 squad leaders work: they will have helpful abilities that again they must spec for, but can help lead men into battle and provide respawn abilities.

It is worth noting that the in game mission system to give orders will have a "Twitter" like setup where you can choose to follow commanders and they can give you missions. The CPU will also have the ability to direct troops, so even dumb ass "pubbers" will be inclined to try to do something useful. You may get something along the lines of "Capture Bomanzi base" or "clear the air space around this hex" or "revive 10 people at the front".

9. Hacking in PlanetSide 2 is sort of mum right now, but in PlanetSide 1 doing a base "hack" was the ultimate objective in taking over a base or a tower. Think like capturing an MCOM but it takes longer and in the guts of a defensible structure. Hackers could also do other things they could spec into (like jacking vehicles, opening doors, debuffing vehicles/bases/etc) but again those are up in the air for PS2.


10. This is a difficult question to answer straight up without you having played the game in its prime, because honestly its difficult to compare a true MMOFPS experience to "conventional" FPS games.

The best way I think of Planet Side 2 is in reality it is an RTS/FPS hybrid. Your commanders are running the show like a BF2142 commander, but all the little troops on the ground and vehicles are players. As a Joe Average grunt, you are in one of those epic BF3 or Modern Warfare 3 "cutscenes", except the cutscenes are real, all the vehicles and troops on the ground are your fellow players (Brothers and Sisters in arms if you are in an outfit), and when you die you don't get a reload screen and a Patton quote, the battle continues to rage onwards.

Battlefield 3 bugs me for one major reason as a game: most of the players there are wimps. You get a group of little pissy douche bags on most of the clan servers who have a 42% quit rate who will cut and run or team swap when their precious K/D might get scratched, and things get tough. You can bet that mister 'elite' BF3 or MW3 player will run when that game won't look pretty in their youtube montage, or they cannot maintain a 3/1 KD due to stacked teams.In contrast, Planet Side actively encourages grit and epic last stands. You may lose a base, or a continent, but it will still be the stuff of legends. (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/12/30/planetside-the-1-2/)

[YaJackWagon]

No, Beta hasn't started yet.

Heh. "SOON"
Eh, Stardouser? :lol:

[Stardouser]

All this talk of commanders makes me wonder something. OK, so I know commanders get to issue missions/attack orders etc...do you actually get to see icons of troops as they move?

Heh. "SOON"
Eh, Stardouser? :lol:

Indeed!

[sylphaen]

All this talk of commanders makes me wonder something. OK, so I know commanders get to issue missions/attack orders etc...do you actually get to see icons of troops as they move?

People from your squad (10) and platoon (3 squads including yours) are identified with numbers on your minimap so yes, you know where they are and if they move. You can also see friendly soldiers as green dots on the minimap.

If you have command ranks, you are able to do a "reveal friendlies" that will flash the location of all friendlies on your map. So you more or less know where the zerg is and what's the trend.

In PS1, there is no formal mission system though. At most, you can mark location with waypoints or draw things on the map but that is only shared with squad and platoon members.

[Stardouser]

People from your squad (10) and platoon (3 squads including yours) are identified with numbers on your minimap so yes, you know where they are and if they move. You can also see friendly soldiers as green dots on the minimap.

If you have command ranks, you are able to do a "reveal friendlies" that will flash the location of all friendlies on your map. So you more or less know where the zerg is and what's the trend.

In PS1, there is no formal mission system though. At most, you can mark location with waypoints or draw things on the map but that is only shared with squad and platoon members.

Someday when we get space battles, I definitely want to see videos of commanders watching friendlies or enemies approaching into firing range in a way that reminds you of the Death Star about to attack Yavin 4...or something like it for land battles.

[Capt Mytre]

Speaking of disgruntled BF3 vets, when Beta starts, it would be cool if some people skilled at making videos would make some video montages, but not montages of elite quickscoping, but instead, montages that show off the things BF3 players are asking for every day at Mordor. Proper squad play and the ability to have automatic in-game voip. Hell, you'll get cheers from Mordor over something as simple as the ability to custom name your squad. And in-game Outfits? that will put it over the top.

Already thinking about of a video based around the BF vet to Planetside 2 transition.

Something like this for the intro:

"Are you a disgruntled Battlefield Veteran?" BF3 in game player nods head.

"Were you disappointed by DICE's failure at making an actual Battlefield game?" BF3 player nodes head more vigorously.

"Would you like to the game that Battlefield SHOULD have been?" Player nods head even more vigorously.

"...and last of all, would you like to play it for FREE?" BF3 player has a spaz attack.

"Welcome... to Planetside 2"

[Coreldan]

I disagree. Battlefield 3 shouldn't have been Planetside 2, it wouldnt have been battlefield anymore then! :D

[Stardouser]

I disagree. Battlefield 3 shouldn't have been Planetside 2, it wouldnt have been battlefield anymore then! :D

BF3 already isn't Battlefield, it's CoD with permanent vehicles now.

Just like PS2 isn't going to be PS1, it's going to be PS1 with a big touch of Battlefield and CoD.

The key for BF is, it could have been something vastly different from both BF2 and BF3 and pleased everyone, but it wasn't, it was BF3, and that only pleases CoD fans.

PS2 still has hope. It can still be different from PS1 yet only take from BF and CoD those things which will allow the game to please everyone. But if it goes too far in easy mode casualizations like killcam(I KNOW this is not currently planned to be a problem, just listing it as an example), 3D spotting and other stuff, that's certainly not going to endear it to Mordor.

[Coreldan]

The game would not be succesful if it would be stuck with features that we had in 2003. Modern features are not "lol pleasing CoD casuals", it's being up to date.

Sure, some things may be too CoD like, but you also have to remember that we're talking one of the most succesful franchises in the gaming industry ever. They would be fucking stupid to cater to some minority, who doesnt want modern features to their game.

Many maps of Battlefield 3 are still very much Battlefield. There are some that remind me more of CoD, but variety is good, you arnt forced to play these maps, but they also draw in more customers. I personally think BF3 is the best shooter platform I've ever seen. It's incredible how well made it is in few parts. It has some very fucking annoying problems too (spawning and killcam overriding menus being my biggest gripes), though, but if I can have Planetside with many of the features that make BF3 amazing, I'm all up for it.

It's hilarious how taking a killcam that has nonexistant impact on a game would kill the fun for fe. BF fans according to you. I rather not have it either, but trying to blame that it makes for a signifigantly worse game is IMO ridicilous. That said, I only play on Hardcore servers so I dont have to deal with killcams, I guess the game is so battlefield for me now :D

Most of the "stupid not BF like features" can be turned off by the server even if it's a normal server and not a hardcore server. Wonder why don't most of the servers do that and see it as a true BF instead of CoD wannabe? I guess majority ended up preferring the other way around.

This might come off a bit harsh for some parts, but I'm just quite pissed at people who have some infinite nostalgy contact lenses. And we see the same effect on Planetside as well as games like APB and BF. I'm personally pretty sure that I could go back on a full BF1942 server and not enjoy it anymore as much as I do BF3 for the most parts. Same goes for APB, the RTW-era game was fucking shit and now that the game has been altered to actually not fail the first months, people start going all nostalgic how the first game was better, even if there was like a total of 1k people playing it..

For me, I personally played Planetside more like "despite of the horrible gunplay and many other horrible mechanics" cos the scale and nature of the game was otherwise so unique and you couldnt really get it elsewhere. If I can have the scale and nature with proper modern non-shitty mechanics, I'm pretty close to heaven personally :D

[Skitrel]

BF3 already isn't Battlefield, it's CoD with permanent vehicles now.

Just like PS2 isn't going to be PS1, it's going to be PS1 with a big touch of Battlefield and CoD.

The key for BF is, it could have been something vastly different from both BF2 and BF3 and pleased everyone, but it wasn't, it was BF3, and that only pleases CoD fans.

PS2 still has hope. It can still be different from PS1 yet only take from BF and CoD those things which will allow the game to please everyone. But if it goes too far in easy mode casualizations like killcam(I KNOW this is not currently planned to be a problem, just listing it as an example), 3D spotting and other stuff, that's certainly not going to endear it to Mordor.

I personally believe that PS2 is leaning more towards Halo on a lot of features, the TTKs look similar, shield play will likely be similar and so on. I'd say consider the game PS1 with a flavour of Halo but with ground progression (in reference to the pace people push up) akin to Battlefield. Bearing in mind that progression will be hampered by slower TTK and much larger numbers.

That's my take on the infantry side of things anyway, from what we've seen. Vehicles are something else altogether though.

[PredatorFour]

From what we have heard id say PS 2 is going to be more of a PS 1 / BF. The great thing is that PS 2 however will be a stand alone FPS, even if it takes some elements from other games. Higgers has said they are still working for thousands of players per cont which would create a scale of fighting truly unrivalled by any other game out there . You wouldnt compare it to BF or COD or any other game then(cos of the scale/no round ends). If this is accomplished it would dwarf PS 1 massively too.

From what ive seen theres alot of disgruntled BF fans and theyre going to jump ship to PS 2.(plz market the game soe!) I hope in the future other companies start making MMOFPS games as this is the best genre there is and theres only one game ! PS:)

[Stardouser]

Well, you have to understand that there are multiple factions within the Battlefield community. What I'm about to say is a massive oversimplification but there's little choice.

One faction is the KDR crowd. They play to have the best kill death ratio and they want to get into the action NOW.

The other is the play to win, KDR be damned crowd, they will drive or walk 5 minutes out of their way in order to surprise attack an important flag, instead of going directly to it and being seen(Note: There are virtually NO important flags like that in BF3). They will throw themselves into attacking a heavily defended airfield in order to stop jet rape even if they have a 5 kill 20 death ratio doing it.

The second group are natural additions to a game like Planetside which is about teamwork, with little worry.

The first group is your problem, how do you keep them satisfied without ruining the game for teamplayers? I've seen discussion about how they can be part of the Zergs, and that seems like a good plan. So let's talk about that. How can a Battlefield zerger be catered to without hurting the overall game? Could there be an "instant action" button that will send a type 1 zerg player to the nearest heavy firefight? Or perhaps even a "instant Teamwork" button that will send a type 2 player to wherever the commanders have designated as an area with the most need?

And also, something else for BF KDR players. Planetside 2 will not, of course, have rounds, but I do assume you can go to a website and see lifetime stats. Another thing that might make BF KDR zergers feel at home is, OK, so you log onto PS2 at night and you play 2 hours. No rounds to end, so it's just 2 hours of play. But what might make BF KDR players feel at home is having a sort of "hit tab to see stats in current play session" function. That way, they've been playing a few minutes, they can hit Tab or some other button and it brings up their stats since their current session started, that way they can track their performance. Maybe after 20 minutes of play, you've got 15 kills,6 deaths, 2 revives, etc etc. The ability to bring up a quick window showing that will really make the Battlefield zerger feel at home and will make them feel better about the loss of "rounds".

[Coreldan]

I believe you are one of those that didnt play PS1, but at some point they added in a feature where you could have this little stat overlay that basically had kills, death, assists, support exp, battle exp and command exp.

many people curse this addition cos it caused killwhoring according to them, but I dunno about that..

http://www.gamersinfo.net/gallery/photos/1135/med_1187649618-11354.jpg

Bad picture, but the only one I could find, it's in the lower left corner. It doesnt show the support exp until you actually have some. I guess either the player has no Assists or it wasnt in the overlay at that time, at least nowadays you see assists on it too.

[Stardouser]

I believe you are one of those that didnt play PS1, but at some point they added in a feature where you could have this little stat overlay that basically had kills, death, assists, support exp, battle exp and command exp.

many people curse this addition cos it caused killwhoring according to them, but I dunno about that..


Bad picture, but the only one I could find, it's in the lower left corner. It doesnt show the support exp until you actually have some. I guess either the player has no Assists or it wasnt in the overlay at that time, at least nowadays you see assists on it too.

Well, personally I don't really agree with an overlay that always shows up on your screen, but instead something that you hit a button to temporarily display.

It should of course show your current session's kills, deaths, naturally, but it should also focus on the team stats in hopes of converting KDR players: Revives, hacks, captures, assists, tech assists(ie, using a spotting tool to laze for heavy weaponry), etc. Oh, and vehicle kills. It's funny how games like Battlefield don't distinguish between killing infantry and tanks in their stats.

The Zergers, and KDR players, they are GOING to be there...that can't be avoided. The key is that SOE make them feel at home without dumbing the game down or alienating the teamplayers. After all, the more players we get, even zergers, the more successful the game is, the more resources PS2 will get directly and indirectly, that will cause more MMOFPS to arise.

[Coreldan]

It was an option thing, the keybind for it is.. Alt + S if I remember right. That said, when you enabled it, it was there until you disabled it (as opposed to holding tab for example)

[Snipefrag]

Ive had Malorns doc open at work most of this week reading it in whilst compiling code and taking coffee breaks, i'm about half way through so far ! Its a long read but if you want to know exactly how the wider meta game worked through the various phases of planetside then its the best source on the net bar none, i also really hope the Devs have read it.. Because it does a great job of identifying the strengths and flaws in the original game and in a lot of cases makes good suggestions on how to combat them. Also, as a guy who loved commanding so much he had two Cr5's (ON THE SAME EMPIRE) it really gets my analytical side tingling, thinking that were going to have to develop a whole new bunch of strategies to ensure we turn all the continents in PS2 red :)