PS1s 10 year Anniversary in regards to PS2

[Zeta]

This pertains to PS2. Many people have been wondering if PS1 is going to go free on the 10 year anniversary May 20th. I'm not sure it will, but the point is this... I'm wondering that if PS1 were to go free would it alleviate all this drama that is going on between the PS1 vs PS2 crowds? First of all, I see no reason why we can't have a community that is both PS1 AND PS2, but for some reason many people have been at each others throats. I'm afraid even people like Smedley have become pissed.

My thoughts are these; if PS1 players were able to have their game, then perhaps the PS2 community would finally be able to become its own. I've noticed that with most sequels, the gamers who prefer their older titles tend to stay with their games. Whereas with PS2 it's like trying to fit two halves into one game, and they aren't fitting.

PS2 would also forever gain the retort "Go play PS1... it's free!" and be able to hang that over any irritants head. That seems like a much more fitting endgame to all this. Especially if it could avoid a situation where if PS1 was shut down we might never be able to get rid of the grudge filled agitants hanging around PS2.

At the very least it would make officiating PS2 and PS1 conversations much easier if they were truly separate.

[Phantomdestiny]

actually i disagree i think that the ps2 team is trying to progressively bring what we wanted from to ps1 while innovating in a positive way. i just think it's a question of time before ps2 becomes ps1 2.0 but right now we are in a transition phase .

Look at the new basses on PTS and the "rush lanes"; a lot of the vets are pleased by those changes.

"basti quote 2013 nothing to complain about" I'm sure the new mission system will help small outfits to find proper objectives for their size.

Tutorials, continents locks will come after hossin , a meaningful resource revamp, working warpgates , outfit progression .

tbh i doubted the ps2 team at the start but i feel like now since GU7 it is becoming a turning point of ps2 for the better

[Zeta]

actually i disagree i think that the ps2 team is trying to progressively bring what we wanted from to ps1 while innovating in a positive way. i just think it's a question of time before ps2 becomes ps1 2.0 but right now we are in a transition phase .

Look at the new basses on PTS and the "rush lanes"; a lot of the vets are pleased by those changes.

"basti quote 2013 nothing to complain about" I'm sure the new mission system will help small outfits to find proper objectives for their size.

Tutorials, continents locks will come after hossin , a meaningful resource revamp, working warpgates , outfit progression .

tbh i doubted the ps2 team at the start but i feel like now since GU7 it is becoming a turning point of ps2 for the better

I have no problem if PS2 continues to impliment good things from PS1, as well as other brand new things of its own

I'm just curious about the community aspect of it. Since the haters would no longer have a place to bitch/hang around anymore, since they wouldn't be able to try and make PS2 into an exact copy anymore.

[Sledgecrushr]

For planetside 2, complaining is an important element to the continued development of this game. Continue to complain brothers, be loud and be passionate.

[Phantomdestiny]

they might stop bitching ? at least i hope . i love ps1 and i love ps2 . i really want ps2 to succeed but some people seem to be too stuck in their ways to understand that they game will not be a carbon copy of ps1 but it can have the good things from both .

[Phantomdestiny]

actually i agree sledgecrushr but there is a difference between positive criticism by passionate complaining and complete bitching . (sanctuaries ? xD jk)

[Zeta]

For planetside 2, complaining is an important element to the continued development of this game. Continue to complain brothers, be loud and be passionate.

I hope you mean Critique. Critiquing is good. But complaining in the form of bitching/whining is not.

they might stop bitching ? at least i hope . i love ps1 and i love ps2 . i really want ps2 to succeed but some people seem to be too stuck in their ways to understand that they game will not be a carbon copy of ps1 but it can have the good things from both .

It'll be a lot easier to call them out on it.

[Snydenthur]

I'm just curious about the community aspect of it. Since the haters would no longer have a place to bitch/hang around anymore, since they wouldn't be able to try and make PS2 into an exact copy anymore.

I hope it goes free. Then those that whine can easily go play it instead of planetside 2. I actually wonder why they aren't playing it at the moment. Have the servers been taken down or something?

[Phantomdestiny]

I hope it goes free. Then those that whine can easily go play it instead of planetside 2. I actually wonder why they aren't playing it at the moment. Have the servers been taken down or something?

they are winning about the subscription fee being too high for the number of players playing it

[bpostal]

It's a ghost town. If there was a decent pop, enough for a poplock on a given continent then I'd be paying $15 a month.
Unfortunately, I don't think we're going to get people to play if they've gotta pay. My hope is that it'll go free or rolled into the PS2 sub (or something to that effect) so that there's at least enough people to have a good time.

[Figment]

The reason we're "at each other's throats" is the continuous denegrating posts from PS2 fanboys since pre-alpha. Those people have been trying to put the word PS1 on a blacklist for referencing gameplay for well over a year and created a lot of fueds.


All in the name of "progression", even though it becomes more and more clear, the PS1 players were right with many PS1esque revisions making the game better...

[Ruffdog]

That seems like a much more fitting endgame to all this. Especially if it could avoid a situation where if PS1 was shut down we might never be able to get rid of the grudge filled agitants hanging around PS2

For your information all of the "grudge filled agitants" including 95% of my PS1 outfit, packed up and left. The PS1 people who are left actually like this game and want to try and make it better.

However if any attempt is made to reference a worthwhile PS1 idea into make PS2 better, all they get from the anti-PS1 brigade is this:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Sg-v47f9fEs/UIAhClbUY9I/AAAAAAAABYc/6r3rbHsLG_Q/s1600/28-fingers-in-ears.jpg


So whos the agitants?

[Lonehunter]

Only thing I expect out of SOE is some in game homage to PS1. Old decals or graphics or something.

[sylphaen]

Only thing I expect out of SOE is some in game homage to PS1. Old decals or graphics or something.

Release of classic armors pack ? One can hope.

[Rolfski]

The reason we're "at each other's throats" is the continuous denegrating posts from PS2 fanboys since pre-alpha. Those people have been trying to put the word PS1 on a blacklist for referencing gameplay for well over a year and created a lot of fueds.


All in the name of "progression", even though it becomes more and more clear, the PS1 players were right with many PS1esque revisions making the game better...
Lol, if there would be any cause for "at each other's throats", it would most likely be those few bitter PS1 vets (not you btw) poisoning this PS2 community since the beginning with their non-constructive rants and hatred.

[bpostal]

Lol, if there would be any cause for "at each other's throats", it would most likely be those few bitter PS1 vets (not you btw) poisoning this PS2 community since the beginning with their non-constructive rants and hatred.

I think most of us can agree that Figment needs to just break down and get fuckin job at SOE.

[Baneblade]

Considering we cannot actually get PS1 installed anymore, I'm inclined to think SOE is just hoping we will drop the issue.

[Lonehunter]

Considering we cannot actually get PS1 installed anymore, I'm inclined to think SOE is just hoping we will drop the issue.

Psssh, I still got my discs

[Ghoest9]

I'm wondering that if PS1 were to go free would it alleviate all this drama that is going on between the PS1 vs PS2 crowds? .


Honestly there isnt much drama between 2 crowds.


The actual situation that ~5 PS1 players just like to bitch and attention whore.

The majority of PS1 players have either moved on or they are playing PS2. Many of them want improvments(and we have been getting improvments) but they want to play PS2 not PS1.

[Zulthus]

Considering we cannot actually get PS1 installed anymore, I'm inclined to think SOE is just hoping we will drop the issue.

Looks like the free download from the players website is down... damn. At least I still have it installed.

[Figment]

Considering we cannot actually get PS1 installed anymore, I'm inclined to think SOE is just hoping we will drop the issue.

It's possible, but you have to look really hard for the last five years to find the appropriate download. :/


And yes, I install from disks as well. :p

[Baneblade]

I don't even know where my disks went off to.

[Qwan]

I don't even know where my disks went off to.

I still got min and the digital download for the caves. :D

Guys you got to remember one thing that was said by smedley said when they first started on the PS2 project, " this is not a cut and paste of PS1". And its true it is not, its a totally different animal with the concept of PS1. Initially they designed it like a big BF and CoD game, but it wasnt working because they forgot one factor. The match never ends (PS1 concept), one things that some of the new FPS gamers love to see before they log off is your team won, and to check there K/D ratio. The design and concept of the game didnt match the mentality of the player. The concept of PS1 is team based gameplay toward a goal set by leaders of that team, when they log on. Most BF and CoD gamers just want a high K/D ratio and someone to tell them what they have to do A and B during there game time so they can say they won. The alerts fall into that catagory, you can log on, fight hard toward getting your faction a win, then log off when its over. But most of the vets like myself stay on and keep fighting because to me it more than just winning an alert. Its about hanging with friends, and pulling off the impossible mission.

[Zeta]

I've just never seen a franchise before try to fit it's previous games community into its newer game while not making it easy for the older group of players to go back to theirs.

Whether it's BF3 vs BF2, or BF2 vs BF1942, the older group of players usually just keep their reservations to themselves and go back to their older game without trying to change the newer game into the last one. This also seems to help the newer game grow on its own as well.


Also, think about this. If PS1 were to go free, we could slap some ads in there, and without any further support for the game, all the PS1 players would actually be generating revenue for PS2.

[Snydenthur]

Initially they designed it like a big BF and CoD game, but it wasnt working because they forgot one factor. The match never ends (PS1 concept), one things that some of the new FPS gamers love to see before they log off is your team won, and to check there K/D ratio.

There is as much ending the match than any game out there. What ps2 lacks is the long "loading" screen between maps to check your stats. So is that what people want? Nice.

[HiroshiChugi]

I think most of us can agree that Figment needs to just break down and get fuckin job at SOE.

^THIS xD! But I kind-of agree on this... I think everybody is tired of him sh*tting on everyone's good ideas...

[Shogun]

^THIS xD! But I kind-of agree on this... I think everybody is tired of him sh*tting on everyone's good ideas...

shitting on good ideas? i think he always does his homework before picking on any idea! he is very good at analysing.

but he should really work for soe and fix the game.

[Figment]

^THIS xD! But I kind-of agree on this... I think everybody is tired of him sh*tting on everyone's good ideas...

You exagerate the amount of "good" ideas posted.


Good ideas on these (AND the old PS1 development forums) were far and wide between. Most of the stuff that's posted is pretty crap, usualy you can tell the amount of thought put into it is less than 5 minutes. They are more like "ideas" and "brainfarts" than "good ideas".

If there's an idea with potential, I'll be more constructive than any other person you can find. Hell, I'm constructive even if I don't see any good reason to implement it.

I don't just shoot things down, when I shoot things down it's with good reason. I give everyone the courtesy of hearing them out, then pointing out flaws. It is then up to that person to either refine the idea (which they hardly ever do), or go back to the drawing board.

[basti]

This pertains to PS2. Many people have been wondering if PS1 is going to go free on the 10 year anniversary May 20th. I'm not sure it will, but the point is this... I'm wondering that if PS1 were to go free would it alleviate all this drama that is going on between the PS1 vs PS2 crowds? First of all, I see no reason why we can't have a community that is both PS1 AND PS2, but for some reason many people have been at each others throats. I'm afraid even people like Smedley have become pissed.

My thoughts are these; if PS1 players were able to have their game, then perhaps the PS2 community would finally be able to become its own. I've noticed that with most sequels, the gamers who prefer their older titles tend to stay with their games. Whereas with PS2 it's like trying to fit two halves into one game, and they aren't fitting.

PS2 would also forever gain the retort "Go play PS1... it's free!" and be able to hang that over any irritants head. That seems like a much more fitting endgame to all this. Especially if it could avoid a situation where if PS1 was shut down we might never be able to get rid of the grudge filled agitants hanging around PS2.

At the very least it would make officiating PS2 and PS1 conversations much easier if they were truly separate.


You cannot seperate PS2 and PS1. Smedley is right: If you make PS1 F2P, no one would play it. The game needs a lot of attention and dev time in order to be playable again. There are major engine issues that prevent good FPS on modern machines, and cause a lot of crashes and issues. Theres a gigantic cheat problem with PS1 (honestly, all you need is a hex editor for your memory, its super simple) that also needs attention.

And thats just the two major issues. On top of that would actually be another big thing: How to make money out of it once its F2P? The game has nothing to sell, so you would actually need some kind of small dev team to fill it with stuff to sell.

It would be a massive investment, without any gurantee that it pays off.



I rather have it stay where it is right now, just chilling, to be revived once a year for the annvisary, so we can see what PS1 did, and what PS2 misses, in order for us and the devs to figure out what needs to be done in PS2 to make it just as great as PS1 was.

[Shogun]

You exagerate the amount of "good" ideas posted.


Good ideas on these (AND the old PS1 development forums) were far and wide between. Most of the stuff that's posted is pretty crap, usualy you can tell the amount of thought put into it is less than 5 minutes.

If there's an idea with potential, I'll be more constructive than any other person you can find. Hell, I'm constructive even if I don't see any good reason to implement it.

I don't just shoot things down, when I shoot things down it's with good reason. I give everyone the courtesy of hearing them out, then pointing out flaws. It is then up to that person to either refine the idea (which they hardly ever do), or go back to the drawing board.

and please don´t stop doing this!

by the way, there are devs who got their soe job by doing the exact same thing ;)

[Figment]

Pfft, after Smedley saw my AMS MK3 on facebook he said I should work for SOE. ;p


And that was just a first pass for sketching practice that needed a lot more refinement.

[Captain1nsaneo]

Hi, I'm one of those old PS1 vets that left. The people behind the game are great and I've got too much good will towards Planetside to be antagonistic towards it. But I've got no real interest in the current state of the sequel as sad as that may be because the last I played it I had the feeling of fighting the game at every step. I enjoy asymmetrical warfare and the adrenaline high that stealth provided. Asymmetrical war gives me an excuse to explore every inch of the map in order to discover enough useful facts to recover from mistakes. A REK, a cloak suit, and a hand full of certs created a more dynamic and more tense high-risk high-reward stealth game than anything else on the market.
I'm waiting to fall in love again.

If there's another Planetside Day for the 10th anniversary I'll definitely be there.

Eventually PS will go dark but it would be pretty cool if SOE brought it back for one weekend a year or some such to make playing it more desirable by limiting playable time.

[Babyfark McGeez]

The annoying thing about PS1 is that all we ever hear from officials is "nobody plays it" followed by some lip service along the lines of "We may eventually make it free to play - some day". And the message that comes along with it is allways like "We don't really care".

People, Planetside is going to have its 10th (TENTH!) anniversary this month. That is an awesome accomplishment that NOBODY at SOE seems to give a fuck about. I mean WTF.

When i see this sort of disregard bordering on disrespect for the game i kinda get pissed off, and when i then read the client link isn't even there anymore it doesn't feel like a farfetched assumption that they want to silently let PS1 die a dishonorable death on its 10th birthday.

Or they are preparing for the great anniversary surprise with a new F2P client. With the attitude on display from SOEs part i have my doubts about that though.

[Shogun]

yep, that´s very sad!

i wouldn´t care to let ps1 die if ps2 was only half as good and deep as ps1 was.

but as it is now, ps2 just drained ps1s remaining population and the players who enjoyed ps1 have nothing fun to play! ps1 is dead and without population isn´t worth paying for, and ps2 isn´t worth paying for because it is just a casual game in its core.

so the rage of ps1 players will never stop until ps2 is deep enough to call itself a real part two of planetside.

i would like to see if switching to f2p would repopulate planetside! there were plans to add advertisements to the ingame billboards some years ago. so put them in, make the game free to play and let the revenue for the ads pay for the 1 lowtech server that is needed to run the game.
if it really repopulates to a good playable level, it should be proove enough that a simple planetside next would find its customers and there is always the option to throw in some new devs and look at planetside next again, just to update graphics and the hackerproblem.

[wasdie]

I don't think firing up a F2P version of Planetside 1 would be as popular as people here would think. Maybe the first two weekends, but the gameplay is so outdated it would only really appeal to the long time fans of Planetside 1, and a lot of them have just decided that the era of PS1 is over and it's time to move on. Can't keep beating a dead horse. I've played MMOs that have tried that and it just doesn't work.

I would enjoy it if they threw the servers back up, but I don't really see the point other than a trip down memory lane for a lot of vets for a month or so. After that the servers probably wouldn't see much population.

[ItZMuRdA]

PS1 FTP would be cool, and I don't doubt they want to do it, but Smedley mentioned technical hurdles with doing so. I would only seldom log in for reminiscing and such, and it wouldn't effect me much either way.

I hope to see double EXP and triple SC in PS2 at the very least, but something unique for the anniversary would be great as well. I miss getting those vet merits even when they slacked off on getting a few of them out in time, lol.

[Climhazzard]

they are winning about the subscription fee being too high for the number of players playing it
It's a ghost town. If there was a decent pop, enough for a poplock on a given continent then I'd be paying $15 a month.

As a PS1 vet, my biggest problem with people who claim to want to play the original is that the "low population" excuse for not paying the subscription is entirely their own fault. They want SOE to fix a problem they created.

I've heard that populations were reasonable up until PS2 first went into beta. At which point, I got the impression that just about everyone abandoned PS1 to go play PS2.

Now everyone who wants to return is afraid to spend money on a subscription, because there's no one in the game, because everyone is afraid to spend money on a subscription, because...

I don't get it. Up until about 8 months ago, a reasonable number of people were willing to pay for a subscription. If everyone who wants to play PS1 because they believe it to be the superior game just went ahead and resubscribed, you'd solve your own, self-inflicted population problem.

I've just never seen a franchise before try to fit it's previous games community into its newer game while not making it easy for the older group of players to go back to theirs.

SOE had and has absolutely nothing to do with the PS1 community's inability to return to the original game. The server is still up. Subscriptions are still offered.

The PS1 community abandoned the game, leaving it to starve. Now they're too afraid to return because they can't stand the thought of seeing its emaciated body. A state that they, themselves, inflicted upon the game.

It actually depresses me to think of the current state of the original game—less than 10 people online at any given time—and I quite honestly blame those who abandoned the game, want to return, but refuse to pay the subscription. I hate to think that the original game could go out in such a pathetic manner, and hearing people refuse to fix the problem they created, instead begging SOE to fix the problem for them (by making the game free-to-play), kind of disgusts me. These people should be ashamed of themselves.

[bpostal]

As a PS1 vet, my biggest problem with people who claim to want to play the original is that the "low population" excuse for not paying the subscription is entirely their own fault. They want SOE to fix a problem they created.

I've heard that populations were reasonable up until PS2 first went into beta. At which point, I got the impression that just about everyone abandoned PS1 to go play PS2.

Now everyone who wants to return is afraid to spend money on a subscription, because there's no one in the game, because everyone is afraid to spend money on a subscription, because...

I don't get it. Up until about 8 months ago, a reasonable number of people were willing to pay for a subscription. If everyone who wants to play PS1 because they believe it to be the superior game just went ahead and resubscribed, you'd solve your own, self-inflicted population problem.



SOE had and has absolutely nothing to do with the PS1 community's inability to return to the original game. The server is still up. Subscriptions are still offered.

The PS1 community abandoned the game, leaving it to starve. Now they're too afraid to return because they can't stand the thought of seeing its emaciated body. A state that they, themselves, inflicted upon the game.

It actually depresses me to think of the current state of the original game—less than 10 people online at any given time—and I quite honestly blame those who abandoned the game, want to return, but refuse to pay the subscription. I hate to think that the original game could go out in such a pathetic manner, and hearing people refuse to fix the problem they created, instead begging SOE to fix the problem for them (by making the game free-to-play), kind of disgusts me. These people should be ashamed of themselves.

You're right, there was a decent pop right up until PS2 beta came out. Most of us switched over to PS2 and shortly thereafter the number of vets began dropping. Not many of us have picked Planetside back up, because in it's current state it'd just be a waste of $15/mo and a waste of time.

If you want to get people back into that game you need to make it an event, a spectacle like what we had for Planetside day (props to Nobel and all who coordinated that event) to kickstart the population again.

You can be as disappointed as you want, but I don't have 15 bucks a month to piss away (I'd spend the money to stop eating ramen). The issue isn't that those of us who want a proper Planetside experience want to simply return to Planetside 1, we want a successor that lives up to (and can deliver) the high quality gameplay that we've been able to enjoy for the last decade.

[ringring]

Pfft, after Smedley saw my AMS MK3 on facebook he said I should work for SOE. ;p


And that was just a first pass for sketching practice that needed a lot more refinement.

One thing I like about Smedley is that where he sees talent he tries to go get it.

e.g. Cycles, John Ratcliffe and more no doubt.

I guess he's due a mistake every now and again :p

[Gonefshn]

Almost nobody will play PS1 even if it goes free to play. Just like PS2 Planetside 1 also needs good populations to be fun. Not enough people will play which will deter anyone who actually wants to play to play.

It's a self defeating cycle.

Your never going to have the pops in PS1 for it to be worth playing again.

[Figment]

You can't blame the PS1 vets that want to play for others having left and not returning.

You also can't blame people to not be willing to pay the same money they paid back in 2003 for "continued development" (which is how the sub was justified!) when there is never going to be continued development. Certainly not when it has to compete with a f2p sequal.

If you make it part of PS2 sub and drop the individual sub much lower, you'll see far more players being willing to sub. F2P I don't really see as viable though.

[Zulthus]

I like how everyone thinks they know how F2P would turn out.

[Figment]

I like how everyone thinks they know how F2P would turn out.

It's more that to make PS1 F2P, you'd have to add microtransactions or some other souce of income. :/ That's... not gonna work on short notice certainly, but I wonder who's going to invest in it anyway when the game may not last long?

Will it get development to create new cosmetics?

I mean... Is that going to be worth the investment for a transfer to microtransactions? :/ A fastly reduced sub makes far more sense.

[Baneblade]

Considering we cannot actually get PS1 installed anymore, I'm inclined to think SOE is just hoping we will drop the issue.

Just throwing in that I was mistaken in this. SOE does still allow you to purchase PS1... for now.

[Vashyo]

I don't want them to slowdown work on PS2 if making PS1 F2P takes time...it looks like the things I want in PS2 take way too long to implement (Hex-system, more continents, intercontinental warfare/end of this 3way orgy of randomness).

At this rate I see it taking +3 years for PS2 to catch up to PS1.

[Shogun]

I don't want them to slowdown work on PS2 if making PS1 F2P takes time...it looks like the things I want in PS2 take way too long to implement (Hex-system, more continents, intercontinental warfare/end of this 3way orgy of randomness).

At this rate I see it taking +3 years for PS2 to catch up to PS1.

i want ps1 to be free to play because i am slowly losing hope that ps2 will ever catch up with ps1.

because smedly wants to have a callofdutyside 2... and he is the boss. i am not sure if 3 years are enough to convince him that the transition from planetside systems to bf and cod systems was a big step backwards.
and the devs are so stubborn, that it will be too late to change anything by the time they realise it. like now with the solotank. it was a plain wrong decision but since players have put money into their tanks and would rage when they are changed, we are stuck with this shit.
same goes for TTK. the devs wanted to speed up the game and go with fast TTK. but now it becomes obvious that too low TTK makes it impossible to balance so many weapons and combined arms because anything will kill anything within seconds, no matter what weapon is used.

changing ttk back to reasonable and playable levels would be too much of a change, so we cannot get a game that feels like planetside.

and when ps1 is finally switched off due to nobody subscribing, all chances are lost to get this unique deep gameplay for the next decade. since there is no alternative to ps1, and ps2 doesn´t live up to it.

ps1 doesn´t need microtransactions. it is already prepared to contain ads ingame on bulletinboards. a lot of browsergames work without having to pay due to advertising, and only several weeks ago we learned about the making of ps1, that the servers were simple pc rigs and no special hardware. so how much can it cost to host a server with the power of some decade-old pcs?
the ad bulletins have never been used because the players protested. but only because they were meant to be used in addition to the subscription. if the bulletinboards were used to get rid of the sub, i am sure nobody would have whined.

[sylphaen]

you'd solve your own, self-inflicted population problem.
[...]
The PS1 community abandoned the game, leaving it to starve. Now they're too afraid to return because they can't stand the thought of seeing its emaciated body. A state that they, themselves, inflicted upon the game.
[...]
kind of disgusts me. These people should be ashamed of themselves.

Hey ! Way to be a victim. Get a grip, man !

Are you suffering Stockholm's syndrom ? You are seeing the world upside-down.

Don't be mistaken: SOE games are not victim of a bad player base.

[Figment]

Just throwing in that I was mistaken in this. SOE does still allow you to purchase PS1... for now.

It's just not very accessible. And apparently there's issues with the Core Combat and Aftershock flagging of people?


Either way, look at these competitive pricing plans:
http://planetside.station.sony.com/support/accounts_billing/pricing_plans.vm

https://www.planetside2.com/shop?buy=membership

And from the PS1 FAQ:

Is a monthly fee required to play?
Yes, the subscription price is $12.99. This fee goes toward the cost of bandwidth, server maintenance, continuous feature improvements and content updates, as well as customer support.

http://www.coreedges.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/bandwidth.jpg (http://www.coreedges.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/bandwidth.jpg)

1. As seen in the figure above, Cost of bandwidth has been reduced by roughly 80% since 2003.
2. Server maintenance has been reduced from 11 Pentium IIs to what a single computer can do with ease now.
3. What continuous feature improvements and content updates can we still expect?
4. SOE Customer support...


Needless to say, we feel it's currently a tad overpriced...

[Crator]

Reduce the monthly cost to $5-$7 at least... And to kick start the price reduction give previous account holders free access for a month (with a little bit of advertising online). This will help prevent repeat hacker offenders and might get some more people interested. Think about those that don't have a PC that is able to run PS2. Perhaps they want to play PS1 but don't find the monthly price with no one else to play with viable.

[Rivenshield]

I think when PS1 goes FTP, we need to organize a community event via both PU and the official PS2 forums. Hey! the original is free! It's old so the framerate is smooth as butter and it takes up almost no space on your hard drive and you can run everything on max settings! Come hang out with us for a day or two and we'll show you the ropes! And maybe have a little faq that tells them what to expect:

BAD: The netcode is a bit wonky. The gunplay is appallingly bad. There are orbital strikes and artillery that shoots these fucking plasma meteors, so beware of frustrating things that can kill you without you being able to fight back. You have to cert in everything you want -- every vehicle, every piece of equipment, every weapon -- and getting access to the stuff you want takes time. Hallways are brainless slaughterfest zones and you have people bouncing around off each others' heads because friendlies are collidable. Advanced medics can't rez people unless they lay there and wait for you without respawning, which almost no one is willing to do. You can't heal, fix, or get into anything unless it's holding nearly still.

GOOD: The strategic metagame is fully realized. The user interface is simple and intuitive. You can create custom text emotes. Big battles are easy to find and get to. You can alter your environment with whole fields of mines and rows of barricades. There are all sorts of delightful little touches that stimulate teamwork -- having to find gunners for your vehicle, having to guard the other guy when he hacks something, having bases that are actually defensible so that a smaller force with its act together can stave off a superior force for awhile. AMS's have cloaking fields. The fully-certed infiltrator is a dangerous goddam force to be reckoned with. You get wonderful delicious awesome custom inventories, up to ten of them. And Don Ferrone's marvelous ambient music is constantly in the background, shifting gears to suit your environment. Electric violins FTW!

A weekend event like that would be the veterans' single best opportunity to put their best foot forward and show everybody what we're constantly yelling about. It would be a way to showcase what we love about the original and stimulate conversation in the community and get stuff put on the roadmap.

And it would be fun. It would be *so* much fun.

Anybody with me...?

[Shogun]

ok, that would be the perfect moment for smed to post a simple "me" ;)

[capiqu]

So what ever happened to Planetside is becoming free to play on April 2 or sooner?

[Dougnifico]

I'm a PS1 vet but I won't be going back. As much as PS1 was a lot deeper and had so much more purpose and "meta-game," it was sub-par with its actual gameplay mechanics. I much prefer the more modern PS2 and do believe that the devs are going in the right direction with regard to improving.