What is the future of PS?

[Seabass03]

Ok, I want to start by saying this game is fun and well done but something is bugging me. Is it going to get old fast? I hate to ask that but I get a creeping feeling it could. Some questions:

The BR limit is going to be 20 at retail still?
There isn't much change in armor up to 20? (at BR 14 you get a new color which is nice) Everyone likes to look decent to show their hard work :)
Do you ever get a chance to feel accomplishment? I mean you work with a squad, like I did last night for 4 hours, and take over 5 locations on one continent. By the time you arrive to the 4th or 5th facility the first is getting taken over again by another empire. Is that going to be fun in the long run... running back and forth and taking some of the same bases over and over? While PS is unique and refreshing, paying a monthly fee for that is a little questionable? I feel like an expansion is needed already :(

I honestly don't want to come off as being a little whiner because the game has been fun for me. I just want to understand the game better. I feel like I have seen what the game has to offer after one full weekend and I want to be wrong about that. Can someone help me see the light? Maybe someone who has reached BR20?

[Jimbo]

It will probably get old fast for some, I am sure. But to me, games are what you make them. Heck, even Pong could be fun if you want it to be.

I am almost positive BR20 will still be the limit when the game goes retail. Probably won't change for a long while. The reason they won't change it is because they don't want players running around with all or most of the certs. You are forced to make choices as to what you cert and together with your squad-mates, you should be able to cover everything. The nice thing is that you can unlearn certs and apply the points to something else if you desire.

As to bases.... If everyone just caps a base and moves on, then it would get boring. I think when more people are on at a time, there will be some who will stick around and defend rather than go and chase the experience for base capping. In my opinion, there should be more in game incentive to defend bases. Once people start getting to BR20, I think more people will decide to go defensive as there is no need to get more experience. Well, I hope it works out that way at least.

Also, there is alot of land to see and explore. I know not every cares to look at scenery but I plan on going globe trotting when the battle gets too tiring. ;)

By the way, I'm glad you are enjoying the game!

[Seabass03]

Your thinking and mine are similar. I want more incentive to guard a facility. I would love to get on after work, meet up with friends and say "Let's guard Bio Lab "A" in unexplored region "X" tonight and see if we can hold it for 3 hours" ...or something similar to that. I just want to know there is more out there. I think that PS is the perfect game for me IF it has just enough content. I don't have the time for EQ or DAOC anymore and BF1942( for example) can get old. I want the balance between both and I know this game can have it.

[Prowler]

Devs are working on it. I hope.. ;)

[Seabass03]

I hope so because I mean that when everyone is BR 20 or has all 4 slots full of BR 20s on a server filled up, what then? I guess the fact that I would be paying makes me think there should be something more in the game. I know that PS is breaking new ground mostly but I have my doubts.

[simba]

I think the devs would add something very fun b4 every1 gets all their 4 characters 2 level 20. Coz that will take around a year.
And I wish so much they would add more exp points 4 defending a base.

[Seabass03]

I think I could be BR 20 rather quickly, all 4 would be easy before any expansion or addition imo.

[Airlift]

I wish it would get old fast enough for me to get some work done, or maybe some of that sleep stuff I'm hearing so much about.

[MorphiasAC]

The BR max I don't see or want to change. You aren't playing to improve your character in this game, since it is going to be a skill based game like most FPSes. That is what is very different about this game; it isn't just a character builder. You don't play to get the most money, best gear, or highest level. You play for the excitement of combat and accomplishing things for you empire. Not to mention working with a small--and sometimes larger--group of people to accomplish your goals.
In EQ for most classes you group because you have too, same with most other MMORPGs, in Asheron's Call you don't because there is no reason too. This game is enhanced when you form a group, but you don't have to. You could just be a lone sniper, attempting to just wreak some havoc on an enemy location. Or just a crazy SOB who likes to run up against a force alone. The BR limit serves to enhance the team functionality, forcing you to assume a role in a group.
Experience and Loot aren't the goal of this game like many others, it is the actual accomplishment of your own personel goals.

[MrVulcan]

I see them adding some new stuff to PS after a few months, then when they add some new vehicles, weapons, etc way later on, we will prob have a bumped up max lvl so that we can use some of the new stuff too. I do not think that this game will ever have a huge incentive for anything dealing with leveling, in part because that is not the main point of the game (like rpgs) and gaining lvls does not actually do that much for you. Instead, the incentive will be tactics, teem work, and skills, and I think that it will actually become much more like a real in game community because of this that rpgs w/o points or real reasons to do things together. I see people eventually forming up and working as a massive teem after about 6 months after the game comes out, and that people will have 4 lvl 20 chars by then, and will not worry about what they accomplish, instead worry about what the teem is doing. That automatically brings people closer and makes it for a much better game where you are not worried about your stats as much as how the teem is doing. Thus there will be a real incentive to keep going, unlike the fake incentive of leveling.

Well, thats my rant for today ;)

[Hamma]

There have been many good suggestions on the forums, and the devs have hinted that they are working on incentives for defending, and rewards for holding continents and such. We dont know what solutions they will have, however all through this beta it has amazed me how much the dev's listen to input from the testers. I have plenty of hope for this game ;)

[zMessiahz]

Bored just because you reach BR20? Y'all RPG players or something? BR is almost inconsequential. A rough gage of experience but not skill. Anyone will be able to achieve it given time, but having doesn't mean you are any good.

If your goal is to have fun playing the game and be an elite player, then it will take much more time, thinking, and testing then achieving BR 20 ever will.

I am willing to bet you will see as a common event a BR1-5 soldier owning a BR15-20 soldier. Hell, at rank 1 you can grab a MAX suit.

[BeerJedi]

Keep in mind too, in beta, the servers are not full. Once servers get near compacity, battles will be on a grander scale and "the lines" will be drawn.

So you won't get the merry-go-round base capturing that is happening now. Battles will be waged over strategic points with reinforcements coming in. And defending a base will get you tons of bep as you push back waves of the assaults.

[coolsox]

I ain't asking for flaming, I haven't played the game for long, but here's a few ideas I thought out .

I played mainly only PVP MMOG (used to play a game called 10Six -- it was pure PVP with economy, tanks, camps, turrets, etc).

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Right now what the game is missing is goals to achieve. Big battles or not, this game is lacking long-term goals, and people should be given some of them to keep em in game. I mean, monthly fee is going to be 12,95$ for a persistent mix of C&C Renegade and Quake. Not that the combo isn't a good one, but all people can do is fight for either BEP or CEP experience, then when you're maxed out (I don't think it should take more than a couple months to someone playing 20 something hours per week), all you have to do is setup squads, go raid, capture facility, capture tower, capture tower, capture facility.

Also, there's the fact that you can't 'own' anything. WHen you die, given you're in the right facility, you can get anything your certs allows you to. So you don't have to earn your vehicles in any other way then have the certs for them.



Things that I see could add long-term goals:

- plete takeover of continents :
Gives some bonus to your outfit/corp, so you could do "let's take this less-busy continent so we can strike back later on this super busy continent using our continent bonus' kind of planning -- let's say you have a +10% armor HP on everything you build on this owned continent, since the continent is not at war and stuff can be produced more efficiently.

- Outfits can own buildings :
giving them some bonus / building owned on continent, and as well create more defensive player-builtable things. Right now there's only a crappy turret, mines, and some other things I've never seen in game. I mean, the game would be way much more funnier if you could put a few trebs, comets, howzers, and hchains turrets here and there around your bases . Right now it's way to easy to capture bases when there's no defense around, a well-planned raid can take any base with minimal defense very quickly. Last night we took almost a full continent withing 2 hours .. I know it's beta, but bases shouldn't be solo-able if well setup, IMO.

(turret names are 10Six turrets, quick explanation of each:
(Artillery = fire in arc, LOS = fires straight)

Trebuchet: Very-Long range (~500m) artillery turret, sends one huge ammo every 60 seconds that deals wooping damage and splash.

Comets: Long range napalm artillery (~250m ) shoots 3 shells of fiery napalm every 3-4 seconds. Deadly.

Howzers: Long range(~250m) artillery sending multiple(9) medium-sized explosive shells, shoots every 2-3 seconds.

Heavy Chains (Hchains): LOS turret, small splash, deadly accuracy, ~225m range.

- create an economy, period.
I say every common pool things in the game are free, but you need money to buy your corp stuff. If that was done, the corp stuff should be beefed up since it would be more rare. Also you'd need facilities on a continent to get your corp stuff. Right there it's a big incentive to owning full continents.

- Create automated routes capacity for ANT's.
ANT's are the resource carriers that let your defensive systems run. When a base is secured, you should be able to setup the base with ANT's set to go to the nearest resource site and pump from it.
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my 0.05$ :cool:

[Seer]

Seriously, if the game is fun it doesn't need overarching goals or a large levelling treadmill. The BR and CR systems are not about accomplishment, they're primarily about easing players into their roles and the game.

[Cyanide]

Maybe PS just isn't the game for you Coolsox. I'm not flaming you or anything. I'm just say that you seem to want a MMORPG with a hint of FPS, and PS is an FPS with an hint of MMORPG. The basis of the game is not to level your character. This is not an RPG. The basis of the game is to kill the enemy. If you can't have fun doing that then this is not your type of game. Do you like other FPS games like Quake3, UT, Tribes2, etc? This is those games on a bigger scale with a small RPG element thrown in. What you're looking for is EverQuest, or Asharons Call, with a small FPS element thrown in.

I think the game will be fun. I can have fun blowing up the enemys over and over. I can have fun taking a base over and over because the experience is never the same. Some people just don't get any enjoyment out of that. I - and a lot of other FPS fans - do.

[coolsox]

I'm not saying it's not fun -- in fact I do like the game and may be buying/paying once it releases.

Just shelling a few ideas out for long-term goals. All MMO games needs some, else it's really only persistent FPS world, kinda like playing quake on a big freakin map and have to pay 13$/month for it.

But I do think that the base defenses are a bit weako .. but there may not be needs for heavier defenses once more people are in the world and hundreds of people are on each continent at all times.

We Shall See :eek:

[Cyanide]

This is basically just a persistant world FPS. It's not like any MMO game before it. The long term goal is to have your empire lock down all the continents. Granted, that's near impossible, but that's the goal.

Maybe you should look elsewhere for long term goals ;)

[Venom]

Originally posted by coolsox
Right now it's way to easy to capture bases when there's no defense around, a well-planned raid can take any base with minimal defense very quickly.

Umm...so you'r saying that you want it to be hard to capture an undefended base? :ugh:

[MrVulcan]

he is saying that somehting more to shoot for would be nice, and it would. There are no long term goals in PS, and I do think that there should be some, no, not RPG, but long term goals are a good thing.

[colinisinhere]

how can it possibly get old?!?... i love half-life... been playing it a long time.. OFLINE!... ive never play it online... that only game i play online is americas army... and its soooooooooo fuuuuuunnnn... it will never get old... but with planetside... vehicles... aircrafts... weapons.......


well.. ps will NEVER get old to me ;)

[coolsox]

(at least a couple persons understood why I was posting, thanks god)

Something else I thought about and forgot to say:

I think hacking is too easy. They should leverage the hacker/adv hacker skills, so that you could "encrypt" your terminal.

What it would do is, after initial initial cap, a hacker could decide to encrypt the terminal to make it tougher for the next guy (read take 2x more time) to hack it. It would give the defenders additional time to come and woop some ass :p

*edit* on that:
Umm...so you'r saying that you want it to be hard to capture an undefended base?

I answer yes, cause that would make engineers even more useful, let's say one spends a couple hours setting up a base with additional defense, so that they don't have to worry too much about it and it can't be hacked and conquered by the first mosquito paradropper flying by ..


--start small rant--
To all that said and will say "maybe it's not your game", "maybe you should look somewhere else", or anything else like that -- I'm old enough to decide on that and will certainly not stick around if I don't like the game. So if you don't have anything else to post, then back off the post button.

I'm just giving feedback on a beta game, and suggestions on how I would change certain things cause you know, nothing is perfect, and they are in the process of finding long-terms incentive and other things for othe game. So I don't think my comments are anything unwelcomed by whoever cares. If you don't, then why are you reading ?
--end small rant--


*edit*
Don't go thinking I'm some RPG whore -- I dislike leveling threadmills and RPG crap in my pvp games. I just say if the game wants to appeal to more than pure FPS players, it have to have something more. Some won't mind paying to play a FPS with a bit of something else, but others would like their conquests to have meanings. It doesn't stop the others from going to huge battles like in Gununuku where there's always hundreds of people fighting, but if you want your playtime to actually mean something, right now it's pretty much hopeless as you just go on capt missions and usually when you come back a couple hours later someone else got it, so you just had your instant gratification and nothing lasts of what you did.

Shorlty, give goals to more than one type of player :)

[Seabass03]

I understand you coolsox and agree totally. I love this game but it could be somewhat weak because of the lack of said content. I never intended to start any flaming, so don't if anyone feels like it. I just want to gather information about the longevity of this game.