Got questions about PlanetSide 2? Here is your chance to have your questions answered

[LightForceJedi]

Hi my name is Alex Martinet and I work for GamerLive.TV. I am attending E3 this year and so will SOE, which means only one thing ... PlantSide 2. As a noob, I am definitely not the most knowledgeable of the inner workings of PlanetSide, so I am giving you the fans the chance to have your questions asked and answered.

If you have any questions ... post below. If you want to send me your questions directly to me, you can tweet them at me to my twitter account @LightForceJedi.

Hope to see you on PlanetSide 2,

Alex Martinet

https://twitter.com/#!/LightForceJedi
http://www.gamerlive.tv/

[Hamma]

Welcome to PSU! You will get no shortage of questions here :D

[Manitou]

Greetings, and thanks for stopping by!

[Figment]

Eeegggsellent. >:3

*puts on question-hat*

Infantry questions
- Why do snipers need access to the infil suit?
- What are you doing for special ops players? (Those who want to avoid combat, sneak in and need situational awareness everywhere?)
- Will there be a leaning function to look rather than fire around corners without having to expose yourself completely?
- Is it possible more suit classes will be added later on? (Swim suit, pilot suit)

Vehicle questions
- Will there be amphibious vehicles aside from the hover-vehicles of the Vanu?
- IF there are amphibious vehicles, will there be maps where amphibians are extra important?
- Will there be stealth vehicles and if so, when could those be expected?
- Could there eventually be niche-vehicles that are specifically designed for anti-infantry, tank destroying, anti-aircraft, rather than an all-round frame?
- Could there be two-player aircraft so that heavy firepower requires manpower? (Like was the case with PS1's MBTs)

Vehicle customization
- Will alternately customized vehicles with different roles be distinguishable from one another visualy at range?

World Design
- What "immersion detail" level is there in the base design? Are there kitchens, toilets, cafetaria?
- Any form of Artificial Intelligence background art/creatures, for example like in FarCry 2? (Animals grazing, insects flying or scurrying away as you pass by)
- Is the goal that the world itself have player deployed sandbox fortifications? Such as building upgrades, trenches, barriers, bunkers, tank traps?
- How many capture and spawn points are there in each base?
- Can you spawn inside an enemy base if you captured a part of it?
- Is it possible after beta or when more continents are available the on-cont sanctuary will be changed to a passable warpgate lattice to connect the continents more like in PlanetSide 1?

- Pie-champion or cake-infidel?

[Nobel]

With the upcoming release of Planetside 2, will SOE be making any changes to te original Planetside? Such as shutting it down as to give the original players a time to say goodbye?

[Xaine]

Hello and thank you for giving us this chance. :)

SoE have mentioned that Planetside 2 will at some point have some sort of sandbox content in it. Have there been any developments on this front?

[PredatorFour]

Will there be any commander attacks like the OS in the original Planetside?

[Lorgarn]

While I don't have any questions for you at this time. I do however have a personal request of mine.

Refrain to ask about the release of Beta and/or retail. This question is a waste of time and effort that can be spent on more relevant things. IF they have something to say about it, believe me, they WILL. (Even if you don't ask that specific question!)

Edit: Oh I forgot to add, thanks for doing this. Much respect. :)

[Tatwi]

Will the ships have YPR, top speed, acceleration, booster top speed / duration and other performance and handling modifiers/sidegrades (like engines/boosters in SWG had)?

Edit: The reason I ask is because there are some fun play style choices to be had here. Do you want to trade some top speed for better roll, pitch, and acceleration so can you roll out of a pursuit and boost away? Or do you want to drop some YPR for more top speed and acceleration? How about a booster that has a lower top speed, but faster acceleration? Or maybe booster that has a really long burn time, the highest top speed, but the lowest acceleration? All of these choices have a time and place they would be useful for any player, but more importantly, this level of customization allows a player enjoy what works for them.

Given how dynamic and random the battles will be, in a lot of cases it just wont even be possible to say, "this is the right way to fly", so I hope in PS2 there will be more than one way to fly.

[Stardouser]

Can you give SOE an opportunity to talk a lot about in-game VOIP? DICE(Battlefield 3) has recently issued community-angering statements on this topic and this is a great time for SOE to flaunt what they've got coming.

[Xyntech]

- Will customization options allow empire specific vehicles to infringe on each others territory, such as a fully armor upgraded Magrider having similar armor to a Vanguard?

- Is the Galaxy the only deployable spawn point currently being considered?

- How much C4 will it take to destroy the weak spot of a tank, and how much stronger is a Boomer?

- What tools are available to combat invisible enemies, like darklight and plasma grenades were in the first game?

- Will there be scopes that zoom in far enough to allow some standard rifles to be used as weaker sniper rifles?

[Soothsayer]

Is there an added benefit to resource gain for a person who takes part in a battle over a base versus someone on the same continent but far away from the actual fight?

Will there be a training queue for the time leveled certification gain so that we don't have to log in at 4 a.m. because a skill is up? (Eve Online had it this way but switched to a queue when they decided to not intentionally be mind numbingly inconvenient and penalizing).

[Senyu]

1. Will Vehicles and/or MAX's have weakpoints or spots that could destroy specific functions similar to BFR's in PS1?

2. What kind of sabotage towards vehicles and base defences can we expect?

[ringring]

I'd like the Dev to explain a little of the reasoning why they've decided to do certain things.

In ps1 we had Galaxies (dropships for want of a better term) and AMSES (mobile spawn points. Both good and both appreciated. For what reason was it decided that the Galaxy should be both a dropship *and* and deployable spawn point with the addition of 'spawn of squadleader function.

Why is the removal of medical applicator and armour repair tool an improvement?

Although there seems to have been a repreat of sorts, why is the tank driver also being the main gunner thought to be a good thing rather than it being two distict roles?

I don't mean these in a sarcastic way, I genuinely don't understand the reasoning and maybe if it was explained I'd go 'you know what, they're right'!

[Grognard]

Can you give SOE an opportunity to talk a lot about in-game VOIP? DICE(Battlefield 3) has recently issued community-angering statements on this topic and this is a great time for SOE to flaunt what they've got coming.

I would like to second this. I too, want to know how well this VoIP is going to work. Hopefully it isnt going to get scrapped.

Also, has there been any issues with the ability of the game engine, and netcode, to handle the targetted amount of players? Is the 650 or so per side, per continent, a high-end figure and "we keep our fingers crossed", or a "definately hit at least that" estimate?

[IMMentat]

heya, and thanks for the question request. stuff in () are clarifications [] are external thoughts and can be ignored.

1. Medics
Will they be a triage (post-battle patch up) and long-cooldown heal/mitigation specialists?
or
Dedicated in-combat heal-beam users?
[I personally consider the second to be a bad thing in an FPS MMOG, overheal is a nightmare to compete with]

2. It has been previously stated that the continents are "hand finished" with areas to fight over being more carefully constructed, considering the size of the map and a soldier driving an ATV/lightning, how many minutes drive between each captuarable objective?
[Too many and every scrap of land becomes yet another objective to side track you, too few and most of the land will be a barren area only used for travel.]

3. Will LLU's and "capture the flag/key" style base objectives return?

4. Will any weapons at all be hit-scan? (hit determined by if the cursor is over a target when the attack is made, rather than if a projectile connects with said target.) In most modern shooters this is usually relegated to sniper rifles or laser/beam weapons.

5. what class will inherit the special assault weaponry? [punisher and thumper grenades were easily one of my favoirite tools]

6. The vehicle modular designs are a great idea. Are there any plans for deployable items or permenant resources within a base (turrets, terminals, walls [taller? weapons ports? caltrops?], doorways, etc) to also have optional side-grades or even upgrades?

7. Will any weapons/abilities impart a directional force/knockback on the target.
If yes.
Have you considered this as a vanu/generic max ability (A frontal burst-effect with long recast to nudge enemies into a more favourable position).

[Retrograde]

Higby mentioned a subscription option during the Devcon demo, which he indicated would "unlock some things".

Does he have any updates on the payment models?

[Tcakes]

Id like to know if we are ever going to get a really good screenshot of a character cert tree. i dont even care which class.

[cellinaire]

Wildlife. Volumetric clouds. Naval battle. I want to know what the dev team is thinking on these 3 matters.



And lastly, let's end this silly debate once and for all :
Number of continents at launch? :groovy:

[Doctorcool]

How is spawn protect on squad spawning going to work?
Also will we be allowed to post videos or stream live game play of the beta or will that be forbidden until the beta phase ends?
Thanks for asking questions

[RodenyC]

How does "hacking" work ingame now?

Any plans on bringing back majority if not all of PS1 vehicles back after launch?

How willing are you to actually change something in beta? (I.E one man tanks, galaxys becoming AMSes etc.)

Will the old Pulsar model be in the shop?(Classic Pulsar same stats as ingame one)

If TTK is too fast in beta will it be slowed or no plans at all to change?

Why so much influence from BF3,a game that made big hype but failed to deliver a true sequel?

Colored minimaps and full maps?

Is it a ATV or a Quad?

More questions to come from me.

[stonelizard]

1.How fast are the air vehicles?
2.Will there be a weather system in the beta?
3.Will there be continents with bases on islands?

[Mechzz]

Can you give SOE an opportunity to talk a lot about in-game VOIP? DICE(Battlefield 3) has recently issued community-angering statements on this topic and this is a great time for SOE to flaunt what they've got coming.

I would like to second this. I too, want to know how well this VoIP is going to work. Hopefully it isnt going to get scrapped.


I would like to third the VOIP question. Much as I like TS, Ventrilo, etc. I do think that with decent in-game Voip we could get a lot more peeps doing the "talking" thing.

Am keen to hear what they have planned.

[Zekeen]

1. Will Galaxy's have any mods to change the way they drop out infantry? IE: Drop Pods, jumping out without a barrier, ect.

2. Has the team considered anyway to add voice masking over VOIP for people inside vehicles, to give a slightly muffled, more realistic sound of a vehicle pilot?

3. Will there be anything that can carry a MBT across the battlefield?

[The Kush]

What is the max amount of players the game can handle in one hex?

What is the cool down for squad respawning?

Can you squad spawn in an enemy hex? An enemy base? (please say no)

What is the future goal for number of continents?

How would you like to implement an outfit battle system? Can you fight outfits of the same faction in this system? Would fights take place on a different continent? Would you possibly develop an outfit fighting only symmetrical map?

[Raka Maru]

Can you please list the infiltraitor gadgets?

[Satexios]

What are the plans for people who are going AFK on purpose. Will they still get resources even though no effort was made? For example joining a mission and then simply hide behind a tree the entire time while the others fight/cap etc.

One of the latest screen shots showed a tower. Are those towers upgradable and if so how, by whom and where?

Can outfits claim land/towers?

How close are vehicle spawns to hotspots. Does it take some time to drive like in PS1 or is the travel time much shorter?

[PlaceboCyanide]

Can we have fully customizable outfit insignias instead of or on top of just picking from a couple dozen designs? pretty please ? Even if it is a station cash exclusive item I think it is a must for the hardcore Planetside Outfits.

[Neurotoxin]

Ohh yay! See you at E3!


Are aircraft able to be specially targeted and damaged by AA weapons while they are on the ground?

If I roll all Vanu characters, and I buy a gold beamer, do I get them for every character or just one?

Is there any way to link an outfit across servers, to share stats and keep membership cohesive when their main server is completely full?

Can we have a SOE-sponsored Fantasy Outfit League to promote eSports within PlanetSide 2?

Will the number of side grade modifications and types increase over time?

Will we ever see the Orbital Station, or the non-combatant civilian population?

Can voice be broadcast locally, to taunt other players?

[Immigrant]

Will there be any death penalties (when a player gets killed too often in a given amount of time)? What kind - spawn time/cap affecting or temporary ability impairment? If spawn-time based will it be group timer or personal (I feel it should be personal)? Also if not why and how will that affect the role of medics in the battlefield?

[Shkrla]

How's the infiltrator going to work? Will the rifle be hitscan, or just a very fast projectile? Will there be bullet drop, wind speed, all that jazz? How is the stealth going to work? Will it be better when you're still, like in crysis? Thanks! :D

[SteinB]

Will outfits be able to assign custom titles to members in addition to ranks?

Can the ability to promote members be specifically limited to even less than the promoters rank? ex: An outfit can set Lower ranking officers (Captains through Colonels) to promote people only through the enlisted ranks but it takes a high ranking officer (Generals) to give any officer rank.

Can we have a seperate active status field on the roster? i.e. Active, Inactive, Absent with Leave, Disciplined, Retired, Memorial etc?

[Noivad]

Thanks for asking ;)

1. Can we please get minium System Requirements to Run PS2 published.

2. Can we please have a lot of Outfit Management Options like Corps in Eve.

3. Is there going to be a full USA military rank System.

4. Is there going to be a Message Of The Day that will be more then a few lines.

5. Is there going to be editable text chat channels for outfits.

Thanks for doing this.

[DDSHADE]

Wow. A lot of answers to these questions have been revealed by the devs already.

However I think that these haven't yet been answered:

-Will hacking enemy vehicles eventually be added to the game?

-Will we be able to loot enemy weapons and store them in a locker?

-If the answer is yes to those two questions, will we get a garage to store enemy vehicles? :P (very doubtful)

-Will the recon infiltrators who can only carry pistols be completely invisible while still?

-What method will be implemented to counter cloakers? Please don't let it be Dark Light Vision!

-Can a player save up their resources so much, so that it gets to a point he could endlessly spawn vehicles for days? Or is there a time limit you have to spend them?

[LightForceJedi]

Wow. A lot of answers to these questions have been revealed by the devs already.

However I think that these haven't yet been answered:
[/B]

which ones? link me ...

[Shogun]

welcome to the community!

and thanks for showing, how a good interviewer does his homework! ;)
it´s a good thing to get in touch with the fans of a game, if you are going to do an interview! and you have come to the right place! really looking forward to another interview with some specific questions of interest!

my question:

will cash shop items be sold per server or per account? (if i bought a camo pattern, will i be able to use it on all servers, or just the one i bought it on?)

[Shogun]

Wow. A lot of answers to these questions have been revealed by the devs already.

However I think that these haven't yet been answered:

-Will hacking enemy vehicles eventually be added to the game?

-Will we be able to loot enemy weapons and store them in a locker?

-If the answer is yes to those two questions, will we get a garage to store enemy vehicles? :P (very doubtful)

-Will the recon infiltrators who can only carry pistols be completely invisible while still? i am quite sure higby confirmed this in one of the gdc related interviews. the best cloaker will still be able to be completely invisible. even without sending any network packages to prevent screen-tinkering

-What method will be implemented to counter cloakers? Please don't let it be Dark Light Vision! higby mentioned a "darklight-gun-attachment. sounds like a scope or a darklight-flashlight-spot but some clarification on this would be nice

-Can a player save up their resources so much, so that it gets to a point he could endlessly spawn vehicles for days? Or is there a time limit you have to spend them?
higby said that the player will never feel like he has enough ressources.

edit in red

[Geist]

Thank you LightForceJedi, I appreciate you taking the time to take our questions straght to the Devs at E3.

Some questions I have:

Will the Outfit Uniform Customization use colors solely from the Empires color spectrum?

What specific examples can be given of things a pistol infiltrator can do to sabotage a base, enemy vehicles, towers, etc...

Will clouds have models or will they be a simple picture in the sky(Can my aircraft hide in clouds)?

Most of my other questions have already been asked. Btw, thanks again.

[Kipper]

My questions would be what is the extent of the weather system - both at launch, and future plans.

Is it just day/night and lunar cycle, or will there be other effects like fog, rain, thunderstorms etc.

If there are other effects - will they be purely cosmetic or will they have an effect on visibility or effectiveness (ability to fly / drive at full speed etc)

[LightForceJedi]

My questions would be what is the extent of the weather system - both at launch, and future plans.

Is it just day/night and lunar cycle, or will there be other effects like fog, rain, thunderstorms etc.

If there are other effects - will they be purely cosmetic or will they have an effect on visibility or effectiveness (ability to fly / drive at full speed etc)

That's actually a really good question .. even though I doubt they could pull it off in an MMO landscape (swtor).

BTW Have any question on the new Elder Scrolls MMO? Have them answered at E3

http://www.planetside-universe.com/showthread.php?p=693140#post693140

[Khrusky]

They've already said that weather effects are in the game. I think fog specifically was mentioned. As far as I know, they also said that some would be forced and gameplay-affecting, but it was up to beta to determine how that works out.

[Shogun]

They've already said that weather effects are in the game. I think fog specifically was mentioned. As far as I know, they also said that some would be forced and gameplay-affecting, but it was up to beta to determine how that works out.

not sure if this is considered weather, but in totalbiscuits video you can see that the desert dust limits visibility for aircraft! we have seen screenshots of green environment with a crystal clear sky as well, so i think some kind of storms and rain are possible, too. forgelight is all about lighting and creating grand atmospheric views. you can see that in every single screenie. so it´s definitely designed to do even a lot more magic in this department.
i would really like to get some clarifications on what will make it into the release and what is planned to be implemented later on!

[The Janitor]

Just one question for now:

Is the goal of vehicle development to create multiple loudouts for a set mount of hulls or is there room for more vehicle types to be added later? Example: Will there be options for heavy bombs on a Liberator or is there the possibility of adding an entire new Heavy Bomber type vehicle? Or perhaps both?

Edit: Aha, second question!: The maps are bigger, right? Any chance of super sonic aircraft? <3

[cellinaire]

I thought I don't have any question to ask by now, but here's one more :

Volumetric clouds / cloud layers. What's their plan about these two? :D

[Baneblade]

How far down the specialization trees do we have to go to give out Cake vs Pie missions?