Nanite Ned and taking Emergent Gameplay Just a Tad Too Far

[Tatwi]

I honestly expected to log in and find Nanite Ned hocking his wears in some far flung part of the map. I really did, but he's no where to be found. In fact, the only "stories" being told in PS2 are that of the BFR and those of the many terminals, beeps, and the distant sounds of animals.

Planetside had a lot more "character" than Planetside 2, with the attention to detail given to things like emotes, enter/exit animations, vehicle variety, and the distinctiveness of each type of armor (and its upgrades). I am by no means saying that PS2 is bad, it just for some reason doesn't invoke the same feeling that Planetside did. This is interesting, because both games are completely devoid of any life or "story", beyond what the imagination conjures by observing the scenery.

PS1 was also able to allow the players to "tell better stories", because it delivered a more robust variety of game play, while also encouraging players to learn a role they enjoy. The end result was that players developed an identity within the game, which then made them a "character" within the "story" of the game.

PS2's class system negates the possibility of players naturally developing a "character" in the game, by virtue of the ability to play any role at a moments notice. While this certainly makes for entertaining combat, it blunts the ability for players to recognize each other's contributions, especially contributions from outside of one's squad. It forces players to focus on the action of combat rather than to develop an appreciation of the experience as a whole (or as a story).

I believe that PS2, in its current form, has taken the mantra of emergent gameplay (player generated content) too far, causing the world of Auraxis to feel lifeless and leaving overall experience of the game detached from many of the important emotions that allow players to define attachment and meaning.

There are many ways in which SOE could overcome this issue, some of which would change the game entirely while others would simply add just enough "magic soup" to make the game "stick" with the people who play it. Here are some of my suggestions.

1. Bring back the Don Ferrone music from Planetside. It was the most captivating character in the whole franchise and it fits the genre and mood perfectly.

2. Add some "flair" NPCs to uncontested locations that are scripted to act as though they are the normal inhabitants of the location. Make them invulnerable and really quite full of random "pathing" and activities. Even as few as two or three non-soldier-looking people "doing stuff" in a Biolab would really bring the whole facility to life.

3. During battles at facilities, script small acts by NPCs, such as ducking into into a doorway and closing the door. The door would not lead to a location where players can enter, thus giving the illusion that the facility is alive by giving the player the impression that he is interrupting the normal activities that take place there. Tiny quirks of life that we'll catch out of the corner of our eyes.

4. When combat is at a minimum, add a few invulnerable animals here and there. Yes folks, I have changed my mind about the NPC/animal thing since 2011. :lol:

5. Make Nanite Ned a real character in PS2, by having him periodically show up and do random hilarious things, with his band of Nanite Systems scavengers. Do this in the heat of battle, but make it something that is truly special and random. Perhaps even assign the triggering of these scripted events to real, live CSRs who will be able to select the location in real time, for maximum effect.

6. Make sanctuaries and make them completely epic, actual cities with Nanite Systems factories, NPCs, and all of the things that will make players give a damn about fighting to protect and expand their societies. I am thinking DCUO quality cities here, SOE. Planetside is your property, you can make it as epic and unparalleled in the industry as you would like. Don't miss out on this opportunity to "nail it".

7. Develop something that will not only allow people to specialize in a role (as the class/cert system does allow), but that will actually encourage people to be recognized for specializing in their chosen role. Providing players with the ability to be recognized for their specialization is the best way for the person behind the keyboard to become a "character" in the emergent "story" that is Planetside 2's gameplay (rather than just a character in the community that is external from the game, like BCP and many of the kind folks around here). What is the "something" that I would provide? I would trade access to classes/vehicles for access to deeper, more detailed certs in specific classes/vehicles. It would be as simple ticking a box to give up a class, which then grants you the ability to tick a different class you'd like to unlock "Advanced Certs Level 1/2/3/4/5" on. This, of course could be reset and any cert points placed in Advanced Certs would remain there in case you wanted to use them again another time. Perhaps make it like PS1, where you can only reset 1 level every 6 hours, again to encourage specialization and the building of an identity. With this, a person could go all Engineer/Lightning if they wanted or they could go Engineer 3/Max 1 and Galaxy X/Lightning X/Flash X, etc. Advanced Certs would be genuinely FUN, game play changing sidegrades rather than power increases.


With the exception of #7, these suggestions are all "little things" that [the extremely seasoned MMO building company that is] SOE could do to bring to life the world in which the game and the "story" take place. I fear that without servicing these important emotionally impacting details, Planetside 2 is going to miss the mark required to really grab people and make them care about the game (and ultimately, their time and friends within it).

I want Planetside 2 to be "my game" for years to come, for myself and hundreds of thousands of others. SOE has the experience and talent to make that happen, so I hope they also have the spirit and direction to focus their efforts on building Planetside 2 with a soul, because without a soul Planetside 2 will quickly wither and fade away.

[Rothnang]

I agree with the call for more specialization. I have never played Planetside 1, but what I find most fascinating about everything I heard about it is that when it initially launched you had to make a call on what your role would be in the war.

I personally think people should be allowed to play as a generalist like they can now, but if they want to give up the ability to play well with certain vehicles or classes to be a little better with their favorite one it should be a possibility.

[ShadetheDruid]

I agree. Encouraging people to specialise through things they can only access by doing so would be a much better way of getting people to specialise than forcing them to.

[Koadster]

Didnt play PS1. But I really agree with the cert specs, it bugs me that I can drop thousands of certs into my medic to make him effective but a BR1 medic can drop in and rez/heal people just like me, obviously not as well but it really removes any depth to classes or becoming a specialist in that role. There is no "Hey player X we need you for this spec op mission coz we know your a good medic" its just "Random player in squad change to medic to help with the mission"

[Thunderhawk]

What you're asking is good when you think of a group of players from all 3 factions starting the game together and growing up in the game as a force vs each other.

What you have now is PS2 which is F2P which relies on the high turnaround of players to keep going, players that play the game for a month then leave, players that log in 1-2 a week, those are the players SOE are targeting with all this cool shit, and those are the players that will get hurt if you introduce specializations.

Don't get me wrong, I been banging on about wanting specializations for months and months and form the start of them allowing public onto Tech test servers, but its just not going to happen, enough has been said form the dev side to show that this will never be introduced.

--------

Now your NPC idea of getting places to look more vibrant is cool, but that would add extra load on server CPU/Memory etc... that is best diverted to the optimization of the actual player experience.

I would love to see NPC mining in a mining outpost, NPCs in Biolabs in Lab coats walking about doing their business, when facilities switch faction the NPC become more faction specific (TR Bio Lab engineers) - (Vanu Mining Excavators) etc... but will that happen? (I know Smedley would love it, but I think it got shot down in a design meeting many months ago)

[ShadetheDruid]

Although too late to do now, I think what would've been interesting for the specialisation aspect (without unnecessarily limiting people) would've been to have separate XP/cert pools for everything rather than one general pool.

Meaning a seperate XP/cert pool for each class and each vehicle. You use a class/vehicle a lot, you get XP/certs for that thing - and the more you use it, the more things you get for it, and the more you specialise in that through just playing it a bunch. Obviously some things would still be universal, like universal class certs (or something like the Flash), where you could just spend certs from any class/vehicle on them, or weapons that carry over to other classes where you buy it with one class' certs and get it with the other class(es).

That would've given more of a specialisation feel to the game without really changing how the game works from what we have now, as such. Plus you would have the interesting aspect of people having an overall battle rank, as well as ranks in individual classes or vehicles. If you were to look up someone with battle rank 40, and they were, say, a rank 10 Medic, rank 18 Engie and had rank 26 in the Reaver (to pull random numbers out of my butt), you'd immediately know where they'd specialised.

[HiroshiChugi]

Not only do I see amazing ideas in this thread, but I also see a potentially whole enw and different game. As it is obviously too late to add all of this stuff in, it would be much easier to just make a new game entirely. They could even pull all of this off to the side to make a "Planetside 3" down the road and have it F2P but have a lot of the stuff member-only accessible, like member-only continents, vehicles, weapons, classes, vehicles, etc.

The potential for this game is being wasted. I do agree with that. BUT, the game itself is amazing already. You just have to look at it from a general player's point of view. Like such:

"Oh hey look, a new FPS. I wonder what it entails. Woah, 100s of players on a single map? Each capture point the size of a few CoD or Halo maps? More than just a few vehicles! Holy shit this game looks amazing! Plus more than one continent to boot? Ermahgerd I want to play this game! AND it's F2P!! Amazing! I can't wait to tell my bros about this! It's like an FPS and MMORPG hi-bred game! I don't think I've ever seen anything like this before."

You have to look at it from this standpoint, because right now, that'sthe way SOE is looking at it. If it was P2P, then they would look at it from our point of view, the avid gamer point of view. So if PS2 doesn't gor P2P, then they will continue to ignore most of our statements in this forum and continue to do their own thing until they don't feel like it anymore. I hate to say it, but this is what's going to happen. It's sad really, that such a game like this would go to waste. I would really love to see more adeed to this game. Such as NPCs, more advanced cert treesm more class and empire diversity, etc. Albeit, I love this game. They have successfully created another FPS-MMORPG hi-bred game, and are making shit tons of money off of it.

Edit: Grammar.

[Rolfski]

The game could use more "character" and specialization but part of it is already on the road map.

[Catfart]

I get confused when people say that compared to PS1, PS2 does not allow specialisation of characters.

As far as I recall in PS1, you could change your class certs every couple of days (Was it 24 hours?). You could put all your certificates into being the sneakiest infiltrator one week, the next a red hot pilot. Sure you might prefer to stick to one class, but you didn’t have to.

In PS2, yes you can pull any class at a moments notice. But if you have specialised into Engineer related upgrades, you can only be a basic Heavy Assault because you cannot move your certs.

Surely the result is characters with greater specialisation compared with PS1

[Sledgecrushr]

Npc animals would be cool. Random npc events would be fun as well. Maybe ps2 can start to borrow assets designed for eqnext, if it is just animated deer and rabbits using the forgelight engine.

[PredatorFour]

I get confused when people say that compared to PS1, PS2 does not allow specialisation of characters.

As far as I recall in PS1, you could change your class certs every couple of days (Was it 24 hours?). You could put all your certificates into being the sneakiest infiltrator one week, the next a red hot pilot. Sure you might prefer to stick to one class, but you didn’t have to.

In PS2, yes you can pull any class at a moments notice. But if you have specialised into Engineer related upgrades, you can only be a basic Heavy Assault because you cannot move your certs.

Surely the result is characters with greater specialisation compared with PS1

Specialization was better in PS 1 cos you could customize your loadouts.

example....

I could hop into a tank as 'engineer' but instead of a gun just carry a repairing device. the rest of my inventory could be filled with 11 mines(or c4/mobile turrets ....combat engineering devices)
Then in my tank i could open the boot and put lots of repairing canisters in aswell as more mines etc.. customized to my needs.

You could do this with whateva playstyle you liked which was awesome.

[Phantomdestiny]

give me them city sanctuary please

[Corvo]

Separate XP pool for weapons is a pretty good idea. However, if the devs don't want to go that far they could just use existing mechanics to make weapon specialization waaay better.

(1) Allow players to have two rail attachments at once - both a laser dot and a foregrip if they have made X kills with a particular weapon.
(2) Allow "advanced" attachments for weapons that won't normally have access to them, say an advanced foregrip attachment for TMG-50, available after getting a Gold Medal for it (doesn't need to be a gold medal, just threw it as an example here).

DO IT! It doesn't require that much effort since the stuff is already in the game.

[camycamera]

i say no to the human NPC's. according to lore, aren't all civilians on some ship in SPAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCEEEEEE or something? but i would like to see npc animals, i guess that can be killed :P but i dont mind, as long as they dont get in the way.

a few things that will increase immersion or story telling, if you will, would be continent locking (coming) and the ability to name captured hexes for outfits that have captured them (also coming). THAT would be awesome.

[typhaon]

They could surely put NPCs into the game... but we've already got enough rendering issues and performance problems to deal with - so I think it's best to wait.

I would like to see elements added to bring a bit more life to the continents...

[Catfart]

Specialization was better in PS 1 cos you could customize your loadouts.

example....

I could hop into a tank as 'engineer' but instead of a gun just carry a repairing device. the rest of my inventory could be filled with 11 mines(or c4/mobile turrets ....combat engineering devices)
Then in my tank i could open the boot and put lots of repairing canisters in aswell as more mines etc.. customized to my needs.

You could do this with whateva playstyle you liked which was awesome.

Interesting. I would not concider that specialition at all. That's just having a bigger inventory so you carry more of the stuff you like to use. I can see why you would want it.

To me specialisation is where you have the ability to make a decision that give you or improves an ability at the expense of perminantly reducing your functionality in another area. PS2 allows me to specialise in claymore mines. I cant decide tomorrow that I'm bored with mines and load up with extra ammo instead. I would like the ability to carry more mines, and of course I could spend certs to gain another ability, but once I've specialised in an area, I cant change it. If I could, it would not be specialising.

Just goes to show how careful you have to be with words I suppose. Like using Meta when you mean Strategic.

[SturmovikDrakon]

I agree about the world of PS2 having no character.

I honestly think the combination of these small things like vehicle animations, emotes, music and even armour advancement made the world feel fleshed out and alive. PS2 just feels like it's set up to be a playground, and not a believable world like SOE tried to make it be. Sanctuaries felt like actual military holdouts. Can you honestly say the same of PS2 Warpgates? It looks gamey

I absolutely agree about the music. The PS2 ST gives character to the factions. Unfortunately, they forgot about the world itself. Don's violin gave it that character.They should- no, need to bring back some of the athmoshperic music that made the world feel alive

I always link this piece, but god damn is it good

Planetside OST - Arctic Travel - YouTube

They fleshed out the factions but forgot about the world

In regards to armour upgrades, having your armour colours visibly changed at least added some sort of visual command structure to the game. Can you honestly tell high BR players ("officers") apart from the newbies in PS2? Nope, and who looks at infantry decals?

I even made a picture comparison of how it could have worked in PS2 based on alpha screens

http://i.imgur.com/YSBuHeI.jpg

They don't even need to do armour upgrades, but all armour should be coloured according to your BR

I'm not sure about NPCs, though. They could place some at the Warpgates, moving equipment and all

Planetside 2 is a good game. But it's missing these small touches that they first had

[QuantumMechanic]

It took me quite a while to realize this, or maybe I just didn't want to admit it was true. But Planetside and Planetside 2 are on the surface similar games. And that's where the similarities end.

Given that SOE is saying they want to add to this game over the next 10 years, all the ideas listed could certainly be implemented. But the question is, does SOE even want to? Does it fit in with their vision of the game?

I'm not going to get into what I think SOE's vision for the game is. But I don't think that things like immersion and RPG elements were given any decent thought during the game's early design meetings. Actually I'm pretty confident they weren't considered at all, because I remember that when we first found out there weren't any vehicle enter/exit animations in Planetside 2 and asked why, Higby's answer was essentially "it didn't occur to us that it was that important" (paraphrasing).

[Tatwi]

Repy-a-thon!

I agree. Encouraging people to specialise through things they can only access by doing so would be a much better way of getting people to specialise than forcing them to.

Totally. If the classes were like they are now, people would start the game as generalists, which is a perfect way for people to really get a feeling for what they enjoy doing in the game. Then later on a player could evaluate the worth of having access to X Class that they seldom use rather than more cool stuff Y Class, which they use all the time.

"Options are awesome", I always say.

Didnt play PS1. But I really agree with the cert specs, it bugs me that I can drop thousands of certs into my medic to make him effective but a BR1 medic can drop in and rez/heal people just like me, obviously not as well but it really removes any depth to classes or becoming a specialist in that role. There is no "Hey player X we need you for this spec op mission coz we know your a good medic" its just "Random player in squad change to medic to help with the mission"

Yes, absolutely! This exactly what I mean when I say that the game makes it difficult to observe and appreciate individual contributions, thus it makes it almost impossible to build a "character" in the story of PS2. Actions are far too anonymous for them to build a story or even a memory in most cases.

As an example, I remember exactly two "characters" that I have encountered through actual game play, MayorFasi and General... something I can't remember, but I know him from Orders chat and being a "pickup" in his platoon. Granted, I tend to play without a squad most of the time, due to the sad fact the game crashes or slows to a crawl too frequently for me to be relied upon. Also, I spent so many years doing tech support over the telephone that I loathe the sound of the human voice, so I have VOIP off most times, which is a no-no when squading (also makes the game run better with it off btw);

Hey speaking of VOIP in PS2, wow is this ever "AngryVOIPUserside 2" no matter where ya go! :lol:

Although too late to do now, I think what would've been interesting for the specialisation aspect (without unnecessarily limiting people) would've been to have separate XP/cert pools for everything rather than one general pool.

Meaning a seperate XP/cert pool for each class and each vehicle. You use a class/vehicle a lot, you get XP/certs for that thing - and the more you use it, the more things you get for it, and the more you specialise in that through just playing it a bunch. Obviously some things would still be universal, like universal class certs (or something like the Flash), where you could just spend certs from any class/vehicle on them, or weapons that carry over to other classes where you buy it with one class' certs and get it with the other class(es).

That would've given more of a specialisation feel to the game without really changing how the game works from what we have now, as such. Plus you would have the interesting aspect of people having an overall battle rank, as well as ranks in individual classes or vehicles. If you were to look up someone with battle rank 40, and they were, say, a rank 10 Medic, rank 18 Engie and had rank 26 in the Reaver (to pull random numbers out of my butt), you'd immediately know where they'd specialised.

I like that concept as well. It's not "too complicated" and is actually quite intuitive.

Not only do I see amazing ideas in this thread, but I also see a potentially whole enw and different game. As it is obviously too late to add all of this stuff in, it would be much easier to just make a new game entirely. They could even pull all of this off to the side to make a "Planetside 3" down the road and have it F2P but have a lot of the stuff member-only accessible, like member-only continents, vehicles, weapons, classes, vehicles, etc.

The potential for this game is being wasted. I do agree with that. BUT, the game itself is amazing already. You just have to look at it from a general player's point of view. Like such:

"Oh hey look, a new FPS. I wonder what it entails. Woah, 100s of players on a single map? Each capture point the size of a few CoD or Halo maps? More than just a few vehicles! Holy shit this game looks amazing! Plus more than one continent to boot? Ermahgerd I want to play this game! AND it's F2P!! Amazing! I can't wait to tell my bros about this! It's like an FPS and MMORPG hi-bred game! I don't think I've ever seen anything like this before."

You have to look at it from this standpoint, because right now, that'sthe way SOE is looking at it. If it was P2P, then they would look at it from our point of view, the avid gamer point of view. So if PS2 doesn't gor P2P, then they will continue to ignore most of our statements in this forum and continue to do their own thing until they don't feel like it anymore. I hate to say it, but this is what's going to happen. It's sad really, that such a game like this would go to waste. I would really love to see more adeed to this game. Such as NPCs, more advanced cert treesm more class and empire diversity, etc. Albeit, I love this game. They have successfully created another FPS-MMORPG hi-bred game, and are making shit tons of money off of it.

Edit: Grammar.

Thanks for the compliment! You too have some great ideas and observations!

I have to say though, it would be stupid if SOE looked at the game from any perspective other than that of making a game that is going to "move people" enough to make THIS GAME their long term hobby. There are simply way too many games (and other pass times) out there for SOE to rest on the laurels of, "Oh hey look, a new FPS. I wonder what it entails. Woah, 100s of players on a single map? Each capture point the size of a few CoD or Halo maps? More than just a few vehicles! Holy shit this game looks amazing! Plus more than one continent to boot? Ermahgerd I want to play this game! AND it's F2P!! Amazing!", because that honeymoon period is short. Too short. Once the newness wears off, it's "see ya PS2, I'm going to go play the next big thing"... :doh:


Npc animals would be cool. Random npc events would be fun as well. Maybe ps2 can start to borrow assets designed for eqnext, if it is just animated deer and rabbits using the forgelight engine.

My thoughts exactly. Animals could be identical and the animation, rigging, models, and AI for humans could be used directly.

I agree about the world of PS2 having no character.

I honestly think the combination of these small things like vehicle animations, emotes, music and even armour advancement made the world feel fleshed out and alive. PS2 just feels like it's set up to be a playground, and not a believable world like SOE tried to make it be. Sanctuaries felt like actual military holdouts. Can you honestly say the same of PS2 Warpgates? It looks gamey

I absolutely agree about the music. The PS2 ST gives character to the factions. Unfortunately, they forgot about the world itself. Don's violin gave it that character.They should- no, need to bring back some of the athmoshperic music that made the world feel alive

I always link this piece, but god damn is it good


They fleshed out the factions but forgot about the world

In regards to armour upgrades, having your armour colours visibly changed at least added some sort of visual command structure to the game. Can you honestly tell high BR players ("officers") apart from the newbies in PS2? Nope, and who looks at infantry decals?

I even made a picture comparison of how it could have worked in PS2 based on alpha screens

They don't even need to do armour upgrades, but all armour should be coloured according to your BR

I'm not sure about NPCs, though. They could place some at the Warpgates, moving equipment and all

Planetside 2 is a good game. But it's missing these small touches that they first had
Don has a lot of the music on his site here,

http://www.donferronemusic.com/index.php?s=listen

Thank you for putting the music and pictures here. They do help illustrate the "character" of PS1.

It took me quite a while to realize this, or maybe I just didn't want to admit it was true. But Planetside and Planetside 2 are on the surface similar games. And that's where the similarities end.

Given that SOE is saying they want to add to this game over the next 10 years, all the ideas listed could certainly be implemented. But the question is, does SOE even want to? Does it fit in with their vision of the game?

I'm not going to get into what I think SOE's vision for the game is. But I don't think that things like immersion and RPG elements were given any decent thought during the game's early design meetings. Actually I'm pretty confident they weren't considered at all, because I remember that when we first found out there weren't any vehicle enter/exit animations in Planetside 2 and asked why, Higby's answer was essentially "it didn't occur to us that it was that important" (paraphrasing).

It's obvious that this game was designed by COD/Battlefield lovers rather the seasoned MMO folks at SOE. Anyone who worked on EQ, EQ2, or SWG would have a much deeper understanding of not just "rpg elements", but the community building gameplay systems that MMOs require in order to foster strong, lasting communities (of recurring paying customers). There are a lot of systems from Star Wars Galaxies that I could list as examples, but you see, listing them is missing the point entirely. The real magic lies within the realization that all of these little "systems" were designed to encourage players to interact with each other simply by virtue of playing the game they way they personally enjoy. The things people did in SWG intertwined in such a way that the game built bonds and feelings and memories that are, ten years later even after the closure of the game, creating conversations, interactions, and friendships in many places online.

That's why, WAY back in 2011 when PS2 was still referred to as PS Next, I suggested that SOE hire Raph Koster as a consultant for the game, because his expertise are in building community driven games. Raph understands group psychology and how social forces interact with gameplay systems. It's what he does and I think his input would have been invaluable; I highly doubt that his ideas would have changed the over arching concept of the game. Instead, being a professional, he would have answered the question of, "what does SOE need to do in within the bounds of their game design to ensure that positive community building interactions will permeate the gameplay?".

Unfortunately it appears that SOE didn't answer (or perhaps did not even think to ask themselves) questions like these and the result is they simply made a half assed guild system, a featureless friends system, and a bunch of VOIP channels thinking that's all that is required to build a strong community.

Completely and totally wrong, which is why I say that PS2 needs more Dave Georgeson. Dave is a SOE staffer (As in, the person in charge of the entire Everquest franchise) who has a hell of a lot experience in building games that have strong community building gameplay systems. Had SOE put Dave and Tony Tyson (from SWG/DCUO) together with Raph at the beginning of PS2, there is no way in hell that PS2 would have launched with new players dropping podding into the game as part of some random squad of equally confused newcomers. None. None at all. Why? Because these folks know that the game (not some website or social network) needs to build community bonds through the simple act of playing the god damned game.[/I]

This topic makes me grumpy, because it's a missed opportunity for no good reason at all. And it's the same concern as what you said, Quantum, about the PS2 devs having their own vision for the game, regardless of how much said vision may be lacking in the "magic soup" required for success. Case in point, they were staunchly against dropping the Galaxy AMS and creating a Sunderer AMS during beta, but they finally gave into our demand that they at least try the damned Sunderer AMS. Low and behold, it ended up being as successful as people said it would be. That was a really hard fought battle between SOE and the community, simply because SOE had their own narrow vision of how the game will be played, let alone how SOE wanted to make the game.

Planetside 2 is not bad game, but is a game that generates absolutely zero emotional impact beyond the moment of battle. How do we know this? Dwindling pops, perpetual "crown fights", and the majority youtube videos about PS2 are kill shot montages rather than memoirs about "fun times with my outfit".

You have got to fix this Smed, before the PS1/PSU communities/players give up on trying to build their "characters" and communities within the "story" of Planetside 2. Without these players acting as vortices holding groups of new Planetside franchise players together, this game would already have died. You missed the "community building gameplay systems" aspect of the game by that large of a margin. And that's fine, mistakes happen despite the best of intentions. But Smed, you have to take this seriously and put your brightest intellectual assets on the job, at the very least as consultants.

While this may seem to be a "doom and gloom" post, it's actually entirely the opposite - I am enthusiastically optimistic that Planetside 2 will be a real genre changer, a super success, provided Smed puts his most experienced and talented employees on the job before PS2 ends up being an "also ran (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/also-ran)" product.

Ps. I think it's a safe bet that hiring Raph Koster as a consultant would have been a hell of a lot cheaper than paying Blur to make a CGI trailer. :rofl:

[Climhazzard]

Specialization was better in PS 1 cos you could customize your loadouts.

That's not actually specialization, though; it's, well... customization. :)

I suspect that most characters in the original game actually weren't very specialized. If you were primarily infantry, you had your Heavy Assault weapon, a rock launcher, a repair tool, and a healing tool. Some people swapped out the HA weapon for a Thumper or maybe a Sweeper, but a repair tool and healing tool became pretty standard.

[Tatwi]

That's not actually specialization, though; it's, well... customization. :)

I suspect that most characters in the original game actually weren't very specialized. If you were primarily infantry, you had your Heavy Assault weapon, a rock launcher, a repair tool, and a healing tool. Some people swapped out the HA weapon for a Thumper or maybe a Sweeper, but a repair tool and healing tool became pretty standard.
http://data.whicdn.com/images/15534637/girl-hand-love-rock-heart-Favim.com-166693_large.jpg

:lol:

[PredatorFour]

That's not actually specialization, though; it's, well... customization. :)

I suspect that most characters in the original game actually weren't very specialized. If you were primarily infantry, you had your Heavy Assault weapon, a rock launcher, a repair tool, and a healing tool. Some people swapped out the HA weapon for a Thumper or maybe a Sweeper, but a repair tool and healing tool became pretty standard.

Its interesting that you pretty much described the heavy class in PS 2 and out on the field, most infantry players seem to play heavy in this too. Swap repair gun with shield/recharger and med tool with medkits and bam. The only difference is p shield has become 'acceptable'.

[Baneblade]

PS1 encouraged specialization up till about BR 10, after that you were becoming less special and more like everyone else. BR 21+ really ruined it though.

I think SOE is milking the cash cow with PS2. They don't see a long term thing here. I'll be surprised if they are as hot about PS2 in two or more years, about which time is their cue to totally ruin the game by introducing BFRs again.

[PredatorFour]

If they release them 'mother ship' things they showed pictures off...They will be the new 'bfr' in planetside 2.

[ShadetheDruid]

Its interesting that you pretty much described the heavy class in PS 2 and out on the field, most infantry players seem to play heavy in this too. Swap repair gun with shield/recharger and med tool with medkits and bam. The only difference is p shield has become 'acceptable'.

A lot of people play HA because it's the baseline soldier; it's what makes up the bulk of the assault force, because that's what it's designed to be/do. And medtool =/= medkits, for the simple reason that PS2 medkits can never outdo what a PS2 Medic can provide. A HA with medkits is a little more self sufficient than they otherwise would be, but they still can't do without medics.

It's really not the same thing.

[Sledgecrushr]

If they release them 'mother ship' things they showed pictures off...They will be the new 'bfr' in planetside 2.

If they do the flying carriers like a classic sailing frigate then they could definitely avoid creating a game breaking unit. What I mean by this is the main guns should be lined up on the sides of the boat so that we can have fun ship to ship combat. The range on those big guns should be really limited as well so that the bastion cant stand off of a target and pummel it with all of its guns without taking massive amounts of damage. If it were me I would make the bastions cannons only work out to 100 meters. This is what Im hoping for when this finally comes out.

[Carbon Copied]

While I know what is being said about the lack of "feel" in the bases and things like scientists and people ducking into hall ways etc. I think that's something that belongs in a single player game and is an unnecessary distraction in a game like PS2 (and probably a huge resource on processing?) - however that's not to say there shouldn't be scripted eye candy however it needs to be a more "simple" lines of;

Tech Labs: assembly lines piecing together weapons or even common pool vehicles (to keep the change over and entities generic) or empire specific that the controlling faction uses behind glass: not in the main play area but out of the way.

Bio-labs: creatures behind glass/tanks of "things", vials and containers with fluid in and other weird coloured "stuff", computer screens with bio read outs.

Out posts: radar dishes that re-align with the controlling faction's warp gate or maybe have idle chatter on the radio waves thats on the ambient sound loop while in bases).

When I say "simple" I'm not a developer and I don't know what resources are needed for these kind of entities but to me it seems a more simple solution than npcs walking about/ducking etc. however if the faction sanctuarys make a return into the game (which I hope they do) then I think it'd be good to have the NPC element there, I just don't think they have a place in PS2's contested world. I think what I would sort of envision is something close to Huxley the Dystopia's "faction hubs" where the RPG element came into effect and then you deploy to the FOB warp gate from there.

Biggest one for me thats already been mentioned is music - like said the music in there establishes the faction's identity to a degree but continents themselves feel abit devoid of personality for example the NC "travel theme" doesn't fit going over the ice caps on Esamir to me personally. First thing I did was turn the music off and put my own sounds together; everyone has their own take on what it should sound like but for me things like Mooze, Sunshine soundtrack, tracks from the game Capsized, Shattered Horizon, Deus Ex are what I associate as part of my PS2 soundtrack.

[artifice]

While I know what is being said about the lack of "feel" in the bases and things like scientists and people ducking into hall ways etc. I think that's something that belongs in a single player game and is an unnecessary distraction in a game like PS2 (and probably a huge resource on processing?) - however that's not to say there shouldn't be scripted eye candy however it needs to be a more "simple" lines of;

Tech Labs: assembly lines piecing together weapons or even common pool vehicles (to keep the change over and entities generic) or empire specific that the controlling faction uses behind glass: not in the main play area but out of the way.

Bio-labs: creatures behind glass/tanks of "things", vials and containers with fluid in and other weird coloured "stuff", computer screens with bio read outs.

Out posts: radar dishes that re-align with the controlling faction's warp gate or maybe have idle chatter on the radio waves thats on the ambient sound loop while in bases).

When I say "simple" I'm not a developer and I don't know what resources are needed for these kind of entities but to me it seems a more simple solution than npcs walking about/ducking etc. however if the faction sanctuarys make a return into the game (which I hope they do) then I think it'd be good to have the NPC element there, I just don't think they have a place in PS2's contested world. I think what I would sort of envision is something close to Huxley the Dystopia's "faction hubs" where the RPG element came into effect and then you deploy to the FOB warp gate from there.

Biggest one for me thats already been mentioned is music - like said the music in there establishes the faction's identity to a degree but continents themselves feel abit devoid of personality for example the NC "travel theme" doesn't fit going over the ice caps on Esamir to me personally. First thing I did was turn the music off and put my own sounds together; everyone has their own take on what it should sound like but for me things like Mooze, Sunshine soundtrack, tracks from the game Capsized, Shattered Horizon, Deus Ex are what I associate as part of my PS2 soundtrack.

I do like your ideas.