open beta coming

[Jim Raynor]

is coming soon get ready for that e-mail you be waiting for . one more week to 3 week max till open beta

[mr_luc]

:lol:

Well, yeah, it had better be in 3 weeks . . . if they want to release the game by May 19th lol.

Actually I would expect it VERY soon, maybe in one week's time as you said. You'll notice that they said they had enough to keep the action going full-time on one continent. That was one of their milestones for Open Beta I believe.

On the other hand, Open Beta is also a very public thing -- you don't want ve3d screaming "OMG LAG!" unless you're sure you're optimized. I can see at least one more week of playtesting in closed beta.

[Revulsion]

Yes in one way I can't wait for open beta, but in another way people will be very disgusted because of the influx of people. Just remember open beta always has all types of people :D

:wantbeta:

[�io]

See that's the thing, Dave and the gang should know that for best results they should allow everybody here in but very few from the official forums. :p

[diluted]

:stupid:

[mr_luc]

No kidding.

If everyone on these forums had beta (maybe aside from TRscpd) they would have truly excellent feedback. Not that they aren't getting that already, but damn -- it would be EXCELLENT feedback.

[Da King]

:rofl: :clap: :spam:

[Discordja]

:banplz:

[�io]

I shutter to think of all the people from official forums hoping onto the server with us. :ugh:

[Rainer]

:stupid:

[Discordja]

the official community sucks cuz they don't have cool emoticons

:domotwak:

[Drex]

When open beta happens would they ship out CDs to those who applied or would we have to DL the game?

[Chanfan]

When open beta happens, the heavens will open up, and a shaft of the purest golden light will beam into you, washing over your body with warmth, love, and joy.

That, or they will probably do it by download, or shipping CDs to you (possibly with a small charge to cover shipping costs). Or perhaps a mix.

I suspect CDs will have to be an option, as the files are too large to reasonably expect everyone to DL them, especially on some of the slower connections.

The real question is will it be only via CD, or will downloading be available.

[mr_luc]

I would be surprised if DLing is an option.

3GB of transfer . . . 50,000 downloads . . .

150 TB of transfer. That gets expensive.

(Ok it won't be 50,000 but you get the idea).

[Drex]

:lol: Chanfan...

Anyways I dont see how they can make it a DL for open beta because of the sheer size...

[mr_luc]

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of my lack of Beta, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this game will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "Team combat on an epic scale."

I have a dream that one day on the green hills of Gunuku the Terrans, the former slaves to Terra and the mighty Vanu will be able to gather together in anger and beat the unholy SH*T out of one another.

I have a dream that one day even the Itan Biolab, sweltering with the heat of Terran injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom, and carnage.

I have a dream that my teammates and I will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the age of their characters but by the extent of their mad skillz.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the Orisha Technology Plant, which is today a stagnant and oft-forgotten corner of the battlefield, will be transformed into a battlefield where Terran, Vanu and New Conglomerate soldiers are piled twelve high, and screams of pain are surpassed only by the deafening music of weaponry.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be choked with smouldering MAX armors, every hill and mountain shall be made plentiful with snipers, the rough places will be made plain by the incessant passage of tanks, and the crooked places will be made straight by the constant pounding of missiles, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, right before getting rammed by a Mosquito.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to gaming. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our gaming pasttime into a beautiful symphony of war. With this faith we will be able to fight together, to die together, to struggle together, to get 0wned together, to stand up for l33tness together, knowing that we will be 0wning one day.

And if Planetside is to be a great game this must become true. So let the beta applications be granted!

When we can play Planetside, when we can play at any hour of the day or night, in our choice of armor and weapons and vehicles, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, New Conglomerate MAX and Terran Light Armor, Pilot and Hacker, Sniper and Vanu MAX, will be able to join battle in the full, retail version of the game and sing in the words of the old ***** spiritual, "F*cking cheater! Wallhack! Omg!"

[mr_luc]

Can I get an Amen for that?

[Shark]

AMEN BROTHA!! ...and welcome to ATF ;)


-shark

[mr_luc]

Hey, thanks Brotha! I seriously can't wait to do beta with you guys. God, we are going to have a blast.

Btw: Dave, you should put a link to that speech ^^^ in your information section or something. I put real copywriting skills into writing that motha. :D

[Alias]

I would like to mirror that on my site with proper credits if you don't mind. :lol: :love: :clap: :rofl: :thumbsup:

[mr_luc]

Sure!


Produced by mr_luc
Adapted for web by mr_luc
Creative consultant - mr_luc
Hairdresser - mr_luc
Typist - mr_luc
Best boy - mr_luc
Gaffer - mr_luc
Adapted from a speech by some black dude.

[Revulsion]

:rofl: :love:

[mr_luc]

My personal favorite:

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be choked with smouldering MAX armors, every hill and mountain shall be made plentiful with snipers, the rough places will be made plain by the incessant passage of tanks, and the crooked places will be made straight by the constant pounding of missiles, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, right before getting rammed by a Mosquito.

I wrote that and it still chokes me up when I read it. *sniff*

[Alias]

Adapted from a speech by some black dude.
rofl. I was thinking of "Spoken into existence by: mr_luc" but ok. :P

PSU: If you read this quote, you will die in 2 minutes
I made a copy of it, I get to live. ;)

[Jim Raynor]

thanks you for posting

[SpacemanSpiff]

Luc,

That piece of writing was really well written. In fact, you inspired to write up a little manifesto for my own outfit. You r0x0r. :)

[mr_luc]

I actually wanted to do one based on the Unabomber's Manifesto, but it was too damn long, and no individual sections were recognizable to ordinary people.

It might be a good template for some really well-written, thoroughly one-sided propaganda, however (should anyone feel like writing some).

[SpacemanSpiff]

Definitely, I set mine up to be pro-TR - no offense. :devilwink

[Tobias]

I am glad to have you on the same purple wearing side as me.

[Ouroboros]

Hrm, I saw that on the offical forums a while back, did you write it there too Luc?

[thegame109]

Open beta shall the the day the world said in one single voice "we will fight,and fight for our cause we shall do..LONG LIVE NC!"

[SpacemanSpiff]

what? :huh:

[mr_luc]

Originally posted by Ouroboros1
Hrm, I saw that on the offical forums a while back, did you write it there too Luc?

You betcha. :)

I wrote it up one day, and then (of course) it kind of vanished from sight and site . . . you can still find it there by searching for "have a dream" (WITHOUT quotes) in the 'search' (thread titles only) . . . for some reason in the results it's not attributed to me (and the entry ABOVE is for some reason), but if you click on it and go to the actual thread you can see I wrote it.

[mr_luc]

http://boards.station.sony.com/ubb/planetside/Forum2/HTML/003923.html

^^ Original thread on Station.

[Matuse]

Take all the bad things you imagine from the regular Official Forum people in beta, then multiply it by 50...

That is what release will be like. If I get Planetside (My current computer is not even remotely close to the minimum specs, and buying a whole new computer just to play Planetside is...well, up for debate), I believe that the single largest factor in not enjoying the game will be the vast number of dumbasses who will be there. I hope that having 2/3rds of them in other empires and thus not able to directly affect me with their idiocy will be enough of a counterbalance.

[SpacemanSpiff]

Originally posted by Matuse
Take all the bad things you imagine from the regular Official Forum people in beta, then multiply it by 50...

That is what release will be like. If I get Planetside (My current computer is not even remotely close to the minimum specs, and buying a whole new computer just to play Planetside is...well, up for debate), I believe that the single largest factor in not enjoying the game will be the vast number of dumbasses who will be there. I hope that having 2/3rds of them in other empires and thus not able to directly affect me with their idiocy will be enough of a counterbalance.

What's the debate? I did just that this week. :thumbsup:
Planetside - why kidney theft has increased in March

[Zenny]

The only thing I'm hoping for is that they would lower the system requirements by the time the open beta comes. :mad: If its just a little less here and there, would make me happy :D

[SpacemanSpiff]

Well, they already have lowered it to 1.0 ghz (cpu) and 256k of RAM... what more do you want? :brow:

[mr_luc]

Originally posted by Unico
Well, they already have lowered it to 1.0 ghz (cpu) and 256k of RAM... what more do you want? :brow:

Well that's nice.

Considering that 640k is enough for anybody.

[1024]

mr_luc, that speech is going in the 1AD's forums....:D :D :D :D :D



very good work my friend :thumbsup:

[LiquidThunder]

Originally posted by Alias



I made a copy of it, I get to live. ;)







HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHH A



great Ring reference
-LT

[Strygun]

as for beta, they will be shipping CD's...it would cost sony WAYYYY to much to put up 2-3 gig's up to download for this many people (the community is larger than you think)

They will do beta CD's, and hopefully not charge us shipping.

[Ouroboros]

I'd pay shipping for beta. :D

[mr_luc]

I'd kind of like a deal where you pay full price for beta, plus maybe $5, and that counts as a preorder for the the game when it goes Gold.

[Ouroboros]

I'd rather get it the day it comes out locally. Easier in my opinion.

[Cyan8313]

For me to download 3 gig would take just over 5 hours... it would take at least 2-3 days to get the cd...
And there are sites that specialize in uploading things to ppl like fileplanet and 3dgamers etc...
If they make a cd (in open beta) you will moast likly have to pay for it, 10$ perhaps to cover shipping and the cost of the cd..

Remember beta testing is a privilege not a right.


:)

C

[TheAvantGawk]

SJ said that 1. Open beta will be mailed and 2. They're trying to keep it free for the testers.

[TRscpd]

open beta is CDs they well mail you the CDs they dont want to have download cuz it takes alot more money to have servers up and ppl downloading it.

[mr_luc]

Originally posted by mr_luc
I would be surprised if DLing is an option.

3GB of transfer . . . 50,000 downloads . . .

150 TB of transfer. That gets expensive.

(Ok it won't be 50,000 but you get the idea).

^^ page 1

[TheAvantGawk]

I have a dream that my teammates and I will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the age of their characters but by the extent of their mad skillz.


:thumbsup: great writing up there by the way, mr_luc.


p.s. noticed everyone's posts up there, and it seemed like people were still unsure about whether or not beta will cost. seemed like it needed a smidge of clearing up, if only a smidge. just in case any of your last response was for me. no :spam: here.

[mr_luc]

Nah, just wanted to add my voice to the throng of other right people. Then I remembered that I already 'said' it, so I copy/pasted instead of typing.

Because, after a long day of coding and documenting (heh, and wh0ring forums so that you can get away from it), your fingers get tired.

[TheAvantGawk]

It's refreshing to see someone NOT get flamed for a misinterpretation, especially when that someone is yourself. :D

[mr_luc]

This board has a relatively high number of tribes players and ex-tribes-players -- I think that, for FPS fans, we tend to be a little more polite/intelligently uncivil than average. Of course, it's nowhere near most RPG communities. :D

Oh, and thanks everyone for the kind words. I think the PS community is shaping up to be extremely successful and vibrant, which is why I wanted to get involved with it. Lots of communities spring up for other unreleased games, but this one is free from the majority of their evils. I see a lot more new gamers, and 'one-gamers' -- people that aren't jaded, shallow hedonists that blaze through every new game, proclaim it a disappointment, and move on quickly.

The blend here is very unique because the lure of the game is unique. The lure is that of an FPS, but the llamas flee from the game because of its very nature -- it's secure, so no warezing it, it's pay-to-play and persistent so that gets rid of the mindless kids with no attention span -- "Why pay for something that I can just lost my train of thought I like pie and guns and oooh pr0n!".

And yet, the skills-based nature of the game, the lack of a protective coccoon in the gameworld, and the lack of even the simplest 'quest' or storytelling elements help lose the people that try to build their elitist pseudointellectual role-playing cliques.

And while, on the one hand, I am typing out SOE's worry list (that Planetside will not draw enough other gamers), I am also describing what will, in the end, being more people to the game.

Everquest has proven that people need escapism. It also proved that those seeking escapism often actually prefer a world where there IS hard work to do, where the game might be thankless and frustrating and take a lot of time for even the simplest things -- AS LONG AS IT'S FAIR, as long as some asshole can't come along and tear it all away, as long as their world -- their fake world -- can't come crumbling down around them, and where they will at the very least never go backwords, never get worse.

In fact, if there was enough 'content' to accomodate them, the Everquest crowd would gladly play up to level 2000.

That's nice, good for them.

But Dark Age of Camelot proved something else.

People don't just want security, safety, and the chance to 'live' in peace and be masters of their own fate. They also want competition. DAoC was definitely an experiment, and because of this it retained many elements from EQ. However, even the traditional elements of the game are extremely competitive because of its faster nature. Levelling is almost a sport in DAoC at the high end.

However, the competition -- the player-player competition, the real competition, the Realm vs Realm combat in DAoC has disappointed many players and turned many away.

Why?
Most commonly:

1) The levelling takes too long to get to PvP.
2) PvP sucks.

Those are the number 1 and number 2 reasons why people quit DAoC -- or the reason they want to. Escapist gaming, the ability to go somewhere else and game even when you aren't hopped up and excited about it like in a shooter, is like a drug (as anyone that has ever played these games can attest to). But I know many, many Tribes players that started DAoC and still play it even though they are very unhappy with it -- because they need their 'persistent fix'. They wish they could still enjoy normal FPS games, but they need the persistent world aspect of it.

It's lazy gaming, not escapism. When a map ends and you start over at zero, for a HUGE part of the gaming population, that is not a good thing. Maybe they weren't winning score-wise -- but the popularity of multiplayer TEAM-BASED games proves that being number 1, and then game over, start over, doesn't necessarily scratch the right itch for gamers.

I think a lot of gamers just want to keep playing. Planetside will let them do that -- and how.

And those gamers, the gamers that are attracted to Planetside, are going to be that breed of player that understands and is attracted to team-based games on some level, that understands teamwork -- but that also enjoys the thrill, the excitement, the SATISFACTION of competing against other human beings, instead of wasting hours and hours of their life playing against machines, talking to other Lost Souls.

And that may well be the difference that emerges with the new wave of MMOG's -- a new breed (or market) of players. We are gamers that want a game to fill the hours of our lives that are not otherwise occupied. We don't mind if it intrudes on our life, disrupts it a bit. We don't mind that it furnishes us with an escape of sorts, a place to spend our 'downtime'. But generally speaking, we don't WANT Planetside to SUPPLANT our Real Life -- we just want it to be an enjoyable part of it, something that sits alongside it, that coexists peacefully.

And say what they want to about their games, we all know that games like Everquest and Ultima Online have a tendency to BECOME your life. Planetside, we all hope, will be different.

[TRscpd]

i stoped half way of reading it got boring and am too lazy

[mr_luc]

That's funny, TRscpd.

Originally posted by mr_luc
it's pay-to-play and persistent so that gets rid of the mindless kids with no attention span -- "Why pay for something that I can just lost my train of thought I like pie and guns and oooh pr0n!".


Was that intentional? :rofl:

[JonnyK]

damnit you people need to learn how to summarize, i might acutally read more posts if they weren't a 5 page essay!

[mr_luc]

Yeah that waxed poetic a bit. But I write stuff like that every now and then, hoping that the devs will read it, slap themselves in the forehead, and say "YE GODS! WE NEED THIS MAN IN BETA, STAT!"

[Alias]

I enjoy a long read; especially when it's interesting and I can agree with it. As I did with much of mr_luc. Especially quitting reasons for DAoC. #1 reason was why I quit, but what helped it was watching my brother who quit for #2. I started so I could get to the PvP, saw him PvP and was like, that's it?... Pff.

If it makes you feel even slightly better about writing long posts, I support them, even moreso than short one-liners. Sometimes it takes a book to get the message across.

[Matuse]

I was lucky enough to quit DAOC during beta, and didn't have to waste money finding out what a POS that game was.

[Revulsion]

Originally posted by Matuse
I was lucky enough to quit DAOC during beta, and didn't have to waste money finding out what a POS that game was.

DAOC has held me over for a very long time. Sadly I was in beta and didn't see what the game was :(

[phadE]

Originally posted by Cyan8313
For me to download 3 gig would take just over 5 hours... it would take at least 2-3 days to get the cd...
And there are sites that specialize in uploading things to ppl like fileplanet and 3dgamers etc...
If they make a cd (in open beta) you will moast likly have to pay for it, 10$ perhaps to cover shipping and the cost of the cd..

Remember beta testing is a privilege not a right.


:)

C

I see them going exclusive to fileplanet, and u must be a file planet subscriber etc just like ac2. Good thing i have a fileplanet account :)

[mr_luc]

DAoC was my first persistent-world game. I hadn't really considered MMORPG's before, because I never saw a point to developing my character, even though I saw how a persistent world would be cool and immersive.

But DAoC hooked me when I looked at the screens, first of all. It had (*gasp*) real production value! The content looked good! The look was CONSISTENT across the game! EQ never had that . . .

And combat.

I had never liked EQ (played it at a friend's house and laughed him nearly to the point of tears . . . ok, he never really was much of a friend anyways). But if you would have tossed in better production value and combat between players, and a way to track battle stats, I would have played it.

Of course, that's really all DAoC was. And I played it.

What swung me over were the posts by people that started playing the game, people on Tribalwar. Hey, Tribes still kicks ass -- but that still leaves us with plenty of time to try new games. :lol:

It was too much. I had never experienced a game like that before. I went under. :P Took me 4 months to wean myself off of it.

[Yetskii]

If you made posts like that on TW, you wuld get "cliff notes" " too long" I like cheese and whatnot...people are much more civilized here :)

[SpacemanSpiff]

I'm getting the rest of my rig this thursday.. hopefully I can jump on the open beta list. party:

[mr_luc]

Yetskii, no kidding. :lol: I love TW though -- the polls today are great. :lol: GO OTTER!!!