Universal Characters [Archive] - PlanetSide Universe

EVILPIG

2013-02-05, 04:36 PM

I brought this up in Beta and some fought it hard. Now that we're here, how do you feel now? Universal characters means you get to make 1 character for each empire and when you log in, you may choose what server to play on. Characters and outfits being unique, you could gather and play on any server. It has pros and cons. Some pros are that you'd have a chance to be exposed to every other character and outfit in the game. If your preferred server was lame, you could play on another. Cons are concerns about populations fluctuating so much, though the lack of stagnation would be good in my book.

As I have always said, I wish PS2 had just made one server.

capiqu

2013-02-05, 04:50 PM

Universal Character? sounds good. I think premium members should be allowed to have universal Characters. I'm all for it. Would love to see The Enclave VS 666th Devil Dogs and have all outfits have a chance to play against each other.

Pella

2013-02-05, 04:55 PM

I can see the happening when they bring in the Esports. But it may be restricted that that competitive mode.

Tatwi

2013-02-05, 05:00 PM

They need to do this (as I too have been saying since beta).

I've put $75 into the game through SC purchases thus far, but I don't feel the need to "become a member", because the stuff offered really doesn't do anything for me personally. As a result of not being a member, my money is somehow worth less and I have to wait in queue, even though I have spent more in two months than a person who only bought a $15 membership. There in lies the problem with this "free2play" model.

I'll buy a lot of things in the game and I will spend a lot of money on PS2 over the years, so I really don't enjoy being thrown under the bus simply because I don't happen feel the need to subscribe to the game. This is especially true given the amount of money (and goodwill) I have spent on SOE games over the years. :)

With account bound or "universal" characters, at least I'd be able to play my character without having to sit in a queue, regardless of subscribing to the game or not.

Sledgecrushr

2013-02-05, 05:03 PM

Dude I think we are definitely on the same page. A long freaking time ago I posted about an idea I called one planetside universe. Exactly what EP just said. The pros for this are big.
1- Metagame of moving the entire outfit for an evening raid. I would love to go to Mattheson and shoot at some azure twilight guys.
2- Outfit training, want to get a shit ton of practice moving your outfits around an amp station etc. and work out tactics but you always are getting into a fight. With this you can go to an empty server and get the practice your guys need to be more competitive.
3- Vehicle training, personally i wish I could have some practice in my flying vehicle of choice for longer than a minute before getting shot down.
4-big fights, you cant go to where the biggest fights are at because your characcter with all its unlocks and certs is stuck on one server
5-little fights, sometimes a brother could just use some casual play with friends without being shot at costantly by an entire army.

Im also a big proponent of server and faction allegiance. Like in many other MMOs I would restrict this kind of awesome freedom with both a level and a time restriction. The bottom line is these raids would be allowed maybe twice a week for a few hours at a time and wouldnt be available until you hit a particular level.

I love this idea and I want this in planetside 2.

Hamma

2013-02-05, 05:15 PM

Agreed they should do this, make it a premium feature.

Baneblade

2013-02-05, 05:16 PM

I support this as long as there is a cooldown for switching servers. It should help the pop stability issue some.

Rothnang

2013-02-05, 05:17 PM

I really want to have a universal character. I'd probably log into the same server as I am right now, because I have no reason to leave, but I really dislike that I can't hop onto another server to join someone who's doing a stream or to meet up with a friend who's also playing. Also I'd like to just use my three character slots for one guy of all factions, instead of having to double up on one if I want to play on different servers.

Tatwi

2013-02-05, 05:19 PM

Agreed they should do this, make it a premium feature.

Please tell me you don't mean "members only". I'd pay X SC to use it each time, but I still would not feel the need to have a subscription.

If this is supposed to be a subscription based game, then just make it one.

Ghoest9

2013-02-05, 05:41 PM

All games should do this.

Roy Awesome

2013-02-05, 05:41 PM

It would be nice if they had one regional server (West, East, EU), and have multiple instances of continents. We could have 9 continents (2 instances of each) and logical continent locking without having more continents in the game.

basti

2013-02-05, 06:24 PM

EVILPIG

2013-02-05, 06:40 PM

Sledgecrushr

2013-02-05, 06:53 PM

I suggested this in Beta and was pretty much flamed.

I think some preconceptions are finally being left behind. This kind of addition would create a goal for end game content. This sort of thing might be a game changer.

Hamma

2013-02-05, 07:02 PM

Yea I don't know why it would be flamed. Honestly, I can't see how this would create the 4th empire more than the F2P and existing mechanics do.

QuantumMechanic

2013-02-05, 07:40 PM

Originally I was against this idea. But seeing the server populations as they are now, I'm all for it.

I don't think it should be a premium service though; players and outfits would use this feature simply to find a populated server so they can get into big battles. Isn't that the point of this game?

Basically if SOE did what GuildWars2 has done with their new "guesting" system, I think it would be fine.

EVILPIG

2013-02-05, 07:46 PM

Kail

2013-02-05, 08:04 PM

I'm torn on the idea myself.

As I see it:

Pros:

Can have many servers; the number actively in-use just fluctuates with population
No need for server transfers
Community you play with isn't determined just by what name you happened to click when you first made a character
Allows a player to tailor the level of fighting they want (some may prefer a "slower" or low-pop server)

Cons:

No community identity
Still can get stuck playing somewhere different than your friends
Polarizes population (full/empty vs pretty full/sorta empty, etc)
A person who doesn't want to play the currently-winning faction has little incentive to not just switch to a shard where their side is doing better (different than 4th faction in that the person still has a strong empire loyalty, but why play on a server where their faction is getting hammered when you can instantly switch to one that isn't?)

The first FPS I ever really got into was Counter-Strike; so firing up the game and picking a server to play on feels very natural to me. But at the same time having seen games like WoW and PS1, its easy to find examples of the strong community built up when you're "stuck" on a server (just look back before release at how players would introduce themselves with Werner, or Emerald, etc).

So I don't know. I think in the long run, the current method is the way to go even though it sucks for the first year or so as populations stabilize to the point mergers can be done, if needed.

psijaka

2013-02-05, 08:34 PM

Like this a lot. Changing server would have to be on a cooldown though, otherwise people would be able to flit between servers too easily if things are going badly.

Sledgecrushr

2013-02-05, 09:32 PM

If you are familiar with everquest then you would know that a guild could only raid the plane of time once a week. A system like this i think sould be perfect. And soe could monetize this fairly easy. It happens to some people all the time. You go and visit somewhere Nd you just fall in love and want to move there. You would Soe would still have to pay for permanent server transfers.

Rothnang

2013-02-05, 10:16 PM

As far as I'm concerned community identity goes up if you can move between servers, not down. Right now you only ever hear about some of the high profile outfits and players in the game, but if they aren't on your server they might as well not exist. If they can move around there is a real possibility of running into them. Server transfers make the whole PS2 community relevant to you, as opposed to just a tiny fraction of it.

Dougnifico

2013-02-05, 10:35 PM

I would be very concerned with the flow of people to a server where their faction is winning. At any one time you might have 3 really active servers, 1 for each faction to dominate. You could instead merge servers (use expansion with continents as excuse) and when population gets to high, you can create temporary satellite, or overflow, servers that will open and close as needed and allow a player to queue while playing. When the pop drops to a certain point, overflow servers are merged back with the main.

Soothsayer

2013-02-05, 10:41 PM

If you made incentives to joining a faction on a server that was hurting for members the term "fourth empire" could come to mean something that isn't negative.

Sledgecrushr

2013-02-05, 10:43 PM

Duplicate shards for overflow people just seems too instanced for me. In a persistant world I would like to travel with the Devil Dogs to another outfits home server and shoot them in the face in their own front yard. And if it were set up correctly this wouldnt take the devil dogs off of their home server but a few hours a week. Another plus is their would be visitors to my home server looking to tea bag me and my brothers and sisters. I cant see anything but more meta game in this.

capiqu

2013-02-05, 11:44 PM

Sledgecrushr

2013-02-06, 12:29 AM

What if a set population number is in place to help low populated servers. So if a certain servers population falls below that number or if a particular faction falls below a certain number, those servers would then open up for the players of other servers to log in to if they wish.

This might look good for a free permanent transfer. What Im getting at is a
system when you achieve a cerrtain BR you would be allowed to travel either
alone or with a group of other high BR characters and go raid a server of your choice. In other MMOs you would be faced with a spectacular monster that you would have to beat to win the raid. These raids are normally limited to characters that have achieved a certain rank. Instead in ps2 these great and small outfits would fill the role of dungeon boss. This would be end game content that would be available to everyone with a high enough BR.

capiqu

2013-02-06, 01:18 AM

I prefer universal characters too. But in the event that Soe decides not to go with universal characters then maybe giving new players a bonus so that they may create their characters on lesser populated servers and or allowing those servers to open up, once their population falls below a certain number, to players of other servers may help. The server would become an open server only during the time that it is under populated. Once the population becomes normal the server will close up again and any migrant character will return to their original server once they log off.

Sirisian

2013-02-06, 02:41 AM

In the discussion before tech test I suggested choosing a character name then selecting your faction and server but separating BR and certs for each faction character. It got flamed pretty hard for destroying server communities. I prefer having one name when I play, not "SirisianNC" and "SirisianTR" which is my current names for my other faction characters.

That said I'd probably play on the same server, but it would give me the option to play on the US west server with some friends without making a character from scratch.

Pella

2013-02-06, 03:29 AM

This again?

DIdnt i tell you folks ages ago what this would do to the game? Loosing right now on server A? LETS HOP TO SERVER B LOL!

This would be the same effect as Faction hopping had in PS1. Dont bloddy do it!

You cant "Lose" in PS2. What are you talking about?

And in PS1 Empire hopping wasnt such a problem. Only when good outfits switched and resulted in no good fights to be had with the opposite empire.

Mutant

2013-02-06, 04:32 AM

Please tell me you don't mean "members only". I'd pay X SC to use it each time, but I still would not feel the need to have a subscription.

If this is supposed to be a subscription based game, then just make it one.

Surely both "payment" methods would be beneficial. For those who like to hop around it provides extra incentive to sub, and for those who might want to make an occasional switch a 1 off SC payment does the trick.

I do think there would need to be such a restriction, to discourage mass migrations at the slightest whim.

Sturmhardt

2013-02-06, 05:08 AM

This again?

DIdnt i tell you folks ages ago what this would do to the game? Loosing right now on server A? LETS HOP TO SERVER B LOL!

This would be the same effect as Faction hopping had in PS1. Dont bloddy do it!

This.

But I like the idea of only one regional server and multiple instances of each continent with connected warp gates!

.sent via phone.

Helwyr

2013-02-06, 05:54 AM

This again?

DIdnt i tell you folks ages ago what this would do to the game? Loosing right now on server A? LETS HOP TO SERVER B LOL!

This would be the same effect as Faction hopping had in PS1. Dont bloddy do it!

I agree with basti on this one, it's the wrong direction for PS2 to be heading.

PS2 already leans too heavily toward the shallow FPS style of its roots, much more than PS1 did. PS2 needs now to push more towards the MMO heritage of Planetside. With depth, consequences, persistence, and community.

Rolfski

2013-02-06, 06:18 AM

As I have always said, I wish PS2 had just made one server.
THIS has been pretty much my vision on PS2 from the beginning and Eve Online has already proven it is possible (last weeks real time battle (http://themittani.com/news/breaking-massive-super-fight-asakai-lowsec) between 3000 spaceships (http://www.tentonhammer.com/eve/spymaster/86) saw 30.000 USD of virtual space hardware up in smoke).

But for now I would love universal characters playable on any server. DON'T make it premium-only though. That would be a big mistake as it would effectively prevent outfits from doing all-out raids on other servers.
The continuous population fluctuation it will bring to servers I don't see as much as an issue. You do need some kind of tracking tool though to get an idea where your team mates or favorite outfits are playing.

Baneblade

2013-02-06, 06:52 AM

Stanis

2013-02-06, 07:20 AM

I've always found that persistance leads to accomplishment.
That means a fairly level and stable playing field.

You need both the respect and knowledge of your enemies to get the sense of progress or victory when the outcome is achieved.

The styles of play are different between US and EU servers.

Lets just imagine possible actions over a weekend when players are free to move around:

1. <faction> is doing badly. Server population of <faction> drops below 20%
2. <faction> is doing really well on <server>. Population of <faction> on <server> hits 50%

Global populations of a single faction over about 40% are really bad.

1. <factionX> has some cool kids that organise an event. <factionY> responds by three big outfits coming over for it.

Any outcome or result is grossly skewed because "the UberSoldiersOutfit turned up".

A persistent world needs a Consistent and Stable enemy otherwise victory or defeat is meaningless.

In PS2 right now - it might be excellent. There is very little persistence or consistency to the game except the instabiliy of hexes and the ring around the limited number of continents.
If we get that oft mentioned metagame - this will severely effect the metagame.

Imagine if every weekend was like the merge of the remaining PS1 servers onto Emerald.

There is a signficant different between free accounts that require time invested in each character, and the ability to just move a character.

This is a really bad idea I reckon.

HiroshiChugi

2013-02-06, 07:34 AM

If I remember correctly, Combat Arms and many other online shooters had account bound characters. You just choose which server you want to check out, and you are allowed to jump between servers without logging out then back in. It's not really that much of a problem... It gives more diversity in playing, as you do not know what to expect on each server since who plays on them will fluxuate so much.

Sledgecrushr

2013-02-06, 05:27 PM

If soe can fix the rendering issues this universal character system would bring a lot of fun to the game.

Sirisian

2013-02-06, 06:12 PM

PS2 already leans too heavily toward the shallow FPS style of its roots, much more than PS1 did. PS2 needs now to push more towards the MMO heritage of Planetside. With depth, consequences, persistence, and community.
I feel like this is based on a false idea that people would move between servers to fight everyday. What I enjoy most is defending bases or fighting in large battles between bases. Like people that play on private servers I'd still join my main server everytime to play with my outfit. It would be speculation to assume everyone would or wouldn't do that.

This is more a design issue also as mentioned in other threads. If SOE can't find a way to queue players into a server to balance populations with incentives then there's a fundamental flaw in the game that needs to be taken care of. Currently you gain far more XP when defending so I can see why people hate attacking maybe. I think the population XP bonus is helping a lot though with lower population factions. I'll join fights just for that 16% population XP bonus.

That said I think basti is completely wrong with his assessment. Notice for instance how we can have characters on the same server and people had apocalyptic scenarios for that. Nothing changed and everyone who said it would be game breaking was proven wrong once again. I'd speculate we'd see the same thing with servers. People will notice it and not use it. Or they'll use it for good to leave low population servers which are dying.

EVILPIG

2013-02-06, 06:45 PM

That said I think basti is completely wrong with his assessment. Notice for instance how we can have characters on the same server and people had apocalyptic scenarios for that. Nothing changed and everyone who said it would be game breaking was proven wrong once again. I'd speculate we'd see the same thing with servers. People will notice it and not use it. Or they'll use it for good to leave low population servers which are dying.

I agree with this. Multi-empire per server has always had people screaming about spies ruining the game, when it can be done with multi-account anyways. Even if people did "spy", what could they accomplish? NOTE: Griefing has nothing to do with spying and is a whole other ban-able issue.

On the other hand, not only may people choose to play on higher popped servers at any given time, those who prefer it could go to low pop servers if that suites them. Most of all, just having the option to take your characters you've invested in and play with different players would be awesome.

Shamrock

2013-02-07, 07:21 AM

Its an interesting idea, and if it could provide another revenue stream without incurring disproportionate admin/technical costs then it would be worth a shot.

Climhazzard

2013-02-08, 02:58 AM

This again?

DIdnt i tell you folks ages ago what this would do to the game? Loosing right now on server A? LETS HOP TO SERVER B LOL!

This would be the same effect as Faction hopping had in PS1. Dont bloddy do it!

It seems preferable to me to let people continue to enjoy the game than to force them to either suck it up or log off in frustration.

shamE

2013-02-08, 03:23 AM

So if I joined a server that was once pretty good and then died or joined an outfit that ended up being full of douchebags or an outfit died and I'm stuck on that server, what should I do? Fuck me right? This is definitely a good idea, we to be able to switch our characters over to another server if we need to and there should be a cool down.

Sledgecrushr

2013-02-18, 03:46 PM

This just makes so much sense. Ive been playing a little space marine recently. Even though there are only a couple of games available they are at least full. And if the game isnt full you are able to switch to one that is full. And this one thing I think planetside 2 has wrong. So you spend time and money on a character and if youre server isnt full...you cant leave. Soe please allow us to transfer servers so we can enjoy this game the way its meant to be, with 2000 people shooting at you.