several things I liked in Smedley's AMA...

[cellinaire]

(I know that to many mmo veterans -especially from exSWG veterans and EQ2flames, MMOfringe- Jsmedley is known as a 'liar', but I think, in many occasions, he's a cool guy, too. So, it's free to take these with a grain of salt.)


Q : Do you plan on working on bases in PS2 that outfits can deploy?

J_Smedley : hell yes. That's in a 3 year plan we have. By the end of year 1 is my goal.



-----------------------------------------------------


Q : Have you given any thoughts about space/naval combat? Is it part of your 3-year plan that you guys are employing?


J_Smedley : it is part of the plan. Seamless continents. not saying it's technically feasible yet but it's part of the plan.

.......

J_Smedley : I see World of Tanks and World of Warplanes and World of Warships and I say we can do 2 of those right now in the same world and I want all 3 :)


-----------------------------------------------------

Q : Do you think SOE will ever venture into a sandbox style MMO? Personally my favorite gaming memories we getting a group of friends and just doing whatever we felt (I know this is somewhat achieved in PS2).

J_Smedley : hell yes we will.


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Q : Is the NC soldier in the Planetside 2 CG trailer supposed to look like Higby?

J_Smedley : Higby is better looking

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Q : Are weather patterns going to be in the game?(Rain, Lightning , Fog, Snowstorms, Sandstorms, Some wierd plasma storm) Is there going to be any wildlife to play with(shoot)?

J_Smedley : yes but not for launch. I hope we have wildlife. I love the idea of shooting wildlife. I'm not what you would call a classic nature lover. I hate the outdoors actually. I'm pretty pale.
(hmm... I wanna know how he thinks about 'Non-attackable wildlife')

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Q : How likely will there be new weapons / classes in expansions?

How will the beta work? Is it like GW2 where you can play 2-3 days. Or more like Blizzard betas, like where you can play as long as the beta is going on?

J_Smedley : we don't intend to do expansions in the classic sense. Our goal (and I say it's a goal) - is not to charge for future content. We want it to be like LoL.. where new continents (maps) are free.

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Q : Will there be locks on team vehicles preventing a random player from taking your vehicle? (if they are certified to use it)

J_Smedley : yes. actually going in right now.

LasOm : yes, you'll be able to set each seat to squad, outfit, open or locked.

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Q : Any plans to provide an API for third party applications to hit, similar to EVE Online?

J_Smedley : yes. big big plans on this. Stay tuned soon.

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Q : Have you considered making a steam-workshop-like feature where the community can model and submit cosmetic items for the developers to review and add to the cash shop?

Less work for the devs, more items in the shop, lots of money made/saved.


J_Smedley : stay tuned very soon. very soon indeed.
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Q : When can we expect to see a creative use of the LucasArts license? Star Wars + Planetside = It Prints Money

J_Smedley : that would be an awesome game wouldn't it!

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These above Qs triggered my interest... :groovy:

but weapon sound pack ? What the....

[SpottyGekko]

I'm not saying Smed is a "bad guy", but just keep in mind that he is very much a salesman as opposed to a developer.

It's his job to "think big" and promise all kinds of wonderful things. The developers then have to make it all happen (or try to !). Sales people will often oversell a product and send the tech team into fits of hysterics.

I also note that he completely dodged the question about how beta playtime will work :)

[Salad Snake]

Weapon soundspacks would be awesome. The game I'm playing right now, Blacklight, has soldier voicepacks. I really like the concept, customizing your audio along with your visual.

[dafuq]

my goal is to own the world, have sexytime with paris hilton and develop windows 1337


see how reliable "goals" are?

[cellinaire]

Weapon soundspacks would be awesome. The game I'm playing right now, Blacklight, has soldier voicepacks. I really like the concept, customizing your audio along with your visual.

Hehe I'm personally not against the weapon sound-packs. I'm just feeling weird about having to buy weapons' sound one by one.
(as long as it doesn't affect the sound other players hear from my weapon. Well, if any sane dev allow it to happen, it'd be moronic anyway)

And for dafuq : Reliable or not, you should've read my writing and caption more carefully before posting, I guess.

[RoadRage]

Have to agree with some others here... His words mean nothing, no matter how 'devoted' he may sound.

On another note however: It does sound REALLY nice.

[Tatwi]

my goal is to own the world and develop windows 1337


see how reliable "goals" are?

One does not rely upon a goal. One aspires to reach a goal. In the process of achieving a goal, one relies on one's ability to persevere and overcome challenges. The reliability of the success of the goal is entirely determined by the will of its pursuer, rather the content of the goal itself. One does not rely upon a goal, one relies upon its pursuer.

:)

[cellinaire]

Have to agree with some others here... His words mean nothing, no matter how 'devoted' he may sound.

On another note however: It does sound REALLY nice.

Didn't you read my first 2 lines? ;)

(and his words sometimes mean something.

Remember when Smed said they'll give Vanguard another go?

Remember when Smed said "EQ Mac players, I hear your concerns. We won't shut down EQ Mac server" ?

Are these proven as lies at the end? Well..)

[Justaman]

Weapon soundspacks would be awesome. The game I'm playing right now, Blacklight, has soldier voicepacks. I really like the concept, customizing your audio along with your visual.

I'm sure PS2 will have the same choices of different voice packs that PS1 did, and more (most likely in the cash shop).

[Voltar]

yeah, the part where he was all like (buried in the lower section of that thread now, "if like the sandbox feeling from swg, wait til you see what is planned for ps2."

that really opened up some options. for anyone unfamiliar to swg, there were player made/built material harvestors, factories, housing, cities (including municipal buildings, entertainment buildings, guild buildings and shuttleports), underground faction bases. i'm sure i'im forgetting something but that implies a lot more than single towers or small facilities in ps2.
my goal is to own the world, have sexytime with paris hilton and develop windows 1337
see how reliable "goals" are?
his goals are thing he wants to impliment in ps2 in the next 3 years, not to sound as assinine as possible. seriously though? paris hilton?

[Coreldan]

I also note that he completely dodged the question about how beta playtime will work :)

The originally mentioned that beta will be starting as scheduled tests and later on move into 24/7 testing with necessary downtimes. I've understood the tech test has been scheduled, so it might even be that beta starts as 24/7 test, but I sorta doubt it.

I'd expect maybe 5-7 hour scheduled tests at first, maybe

[QuantumMechanic]

I don't think you can call Smed a liar, simply because things he says don't always come true. Every answer he gives is not a promise you know.

What I do like is that he is being honest it seems, and telling you what he is really thinking at the moment. I would rather hear that stuff and not have it ever see the light of day, than never have a clue as to what he might be up to.

That being said, take anything you hear from the president of any company (including your own) with a grain of salt.

[Xyntech]

I take it with a grain of sea salt.

I definitely like that they are considering doing seamless transitions between continents over water. I had mostly just been thinking that naval combat would mostly occur in new play environments entirely, but having them run up against the shores of existing areas, and merging continents into one continuous world space.

Of course there are a lot of technical and logistical concerns, so I'm not holding my breath. It's still kinda cool that this is the direction they are thinking about trying to go in though.

Makes me wonder if an eventual space combat expansion would feature stuff like flying from the ground all the way up into space.

[Shogun]

i wish these questions were answered by someone we could trust, like higby.

i personally don´t believe anything smed says... sure there might have been some occasions where his word was true, but there have been a lot of proven lies also.

for me he is one of the "evil suits" at soe that were responsible for the death of my favorite games, including SWG and planetside. soe has learned a lot and shows great communication with the playerbase now, but i am not convinced that this applies to soe as a whole and not only to the ps2 devs.

so yes, i take these nice sounding bits with a rock of salt

[Littleman]

I take it with a grain of sea salt.

I definitely like that they are considering doing seamless transitions between continents over water. I had mostly just been thinking that naval combat would mostly occur in new play environments entirely, but having them run up against the shores of existing areas, and merging continents into one continuous world space.

Of course there are a lot of technical and logistical concerns, so I'm not holding my breath. It's still kinda cool that this is the direction they are thinking about trying to go in though.

Makes me wonder if an eventual space combat expansion would feature stuff like flying from the ground all the way up into space.

Once the game achieves this level of seamless play, then it really will feel like a fight for the entire planet of Auraxis.

I imagine every server will be merged into a single super server by this point as well.

[culkid]

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Q : Will there be locks on team vehicles preventing a random player from taking your vehicle? (if they are certified to use it)

J_Smedley : yes. actually going in right now.

LasOm : yes, you'll be able to set each seat to squad, outfit, open or locked.
.





HEY My question made it!! woooo!!

[Raymac]

Smed is a bit of a salesman, but that is in his job description so you can't blame him for that. Having said that, his love for Planetside has always seemed very genuine to me. It really seems like this little cult game is his baby, so I'm sure he has kept a close eye on it and will continue to in the future.

It's clear they have big long term plans for Planetside, and after playing the original for over 9 years now, it's exciting to imagine how this sequel will evolve especially with the lessons learned from the original.

[Syphus]

Naval Combat has been a question since between day 1 of Planetside 1, so I'm not gonna hold my breath for that just yet.

[OnexBigxHebrew]

He answered my question about weapon holstering with a "no plans yet but a really cool idea" type answer.

I wonder when my inception will pay off with 'weapon holstering royalties'?

:D

[StumpyTheOzzie]

Naval Combat has been a question since between day 1 of Planetside 1, so I'm not gonna hold my breath for that just yet.

I wonder what the resource cost of a battleship is going to be?

[Rivenshield]

I'm not saying Smed is a "bad guy", but just keep in mind that he is very much a salesman as opposed to a developer.

Overenthusiastic middle managers with big mouths are the fucking bane of software development.

[QuantumMechanic]

Regarding naval combat, remember that WWIIOL shipped with no naval combat but they promised it. And evetually they delivered. If Cornered Rat Studios can do it, ... Of course SOE isn't making that same promise though.

I didn't realize actually what Smed meant by 'seamless continents' until Xyntech mentioned it. Man that would be awesome. It would do wonders for making Auraxis a truly immersive world. Chances of it happening? I'm not counting on it.