The Great End Game Challenge

[Airlift]

We hear quite a bit about the missing "End Game" to Planetside, but I still haven't seen anyone suggest what it is that the game needs for characters who have "done it all". So this is my little thread to challenge all you guys to tell me exactly what your End Game would be.

Everquest is typically the game used as an example of a quality end game. It is encompassed in Raid-level encounters and epic quests, wherein you can get 50 of your EQ friends together and work on getting you a set of drops or components to put together some uber class item. This is the point where EQ truly becomes massively multiplayer.

Before this point, you are more or less working in groups of 6 players to compete with other small groups over a limited number of spawns that may possibly contain a rare creature which might conceivably have an actual rare item.

On the other hand, Planetside (which has no end game) embraces it's massively multiplayer nature from the first battle a newbie takes part in, which to me is vastly preferrable to requiring 50ish levels of grinding on placeholders. But that leaves many of our compatriots wanting for something to indicate that they are at the End Game. Rather than explaining what I think that is, I'm asking you to come here and tell me what it should be.

So come with it, what is the End Game that would be appropriate to make you want to play after you've levelled your character and capped more bases than you care to remember.

[LeonStrike]

Hmmmm...... good post airlift. I think that one you get to BR20, CR5, and do lots of other really godly stuff, they could make a server that only those people could go to. You would upload your character onto it. This way, the best of the best could fight against each other, without having lots of stupid newbies running around getting in their way. That would make people want to be good at the game, and not just some lazy bum who gets in a squad and gets experience off of other squad mates kills. Some other ideas for requirments to get this server would be you have to have killed so many people, MAXs, vehicles, ect. Or, you have to be in a squad or battalion (added after release) who hacks the control console of a base. Or, you revive so many people (gotta make it healer friendly!!!) Well, thats my 2 cents

[Jarlo]

Good post here, just tagging it so I remember to check on it later.

[EODTech]

Maybe a option to retire once you reach a certain level and have smote all you're enemies. Then go on a wall of heros for all to admire. Or they could put up a statue of you on the sancutary.

[Warborn]

The game needs more long-term goals, both for the individual, and for the Outfits.


Outfit Rewards

As Outfits get more Outfit Points, they get Outfit Enhancement Points (name subject to change). Every 250k (again, subject to change) Outfit Points, they get 1 Outfit Enhancement Point. With those points, benefits can be purchased by the Outfit leader to augment those in the Outfit. Examples would include stuff like a very minor, passive health or armor regeneration effect (Exosuit Lifesupport Systems, Nanoplated Exosuits) for a few points that would recover health or armor slowly for all members, at, say, 1 point every 3 - 5 seconds. Or even something like slightly increased inventory capacity (Enhanced Micronization) which would provide on more normal clip sized row to inventory space for a good amount of points.

There would also be a scaling factor added, to make enhancements more and more expensive as the Outfit gets more of them. The benefits would all be designed to be relatively minor perks, but enough that you'd notice, and you and your Outfit would have something to really work toward.


Individual Rewards

Something tied to getting kills. The more kills you get, you get benefits somehow (mostly cosmetic). Medals or chevrons or additional color modifications to designate "veterans", Battle Rank aside. People want more personalization and customization, and maybe more importantly, a little more recognition when they've been kicking a good deal of ass.

[Ubernator]

I have mentioned this on the official forums a couple of times, but only a few really took it to heart...

I basically said make continental lock the main goal for an empire. Once a continent is locked, a message goes out to everyone that "empire" has locked "continent". Additionally, the CR4-Cr5 commanders on that continent could type in a one-line taunt or something that will be displayed globally to the other guys. Hehe, bragging rights. Then, everyone on that continent respawns to the Sanc. After a short timer, the continent will be open for business again, and people will be HART dropping/warping to the continent like mad in a rush to hack as many of those bases as possible. Once the population settles down, things resume as normal.

This might help some empires see some action on the continents that get locked quite often. Additionally, the game speed would probably be jacked up a notch.

[Psyklone]

Hey Warborn, have you mentioned the idea of an outfit point system to the devs?
That has got to be one of the best ideas I've heard in quite some time.

[12shot]

Please dont use EverQuests end game as anything but a stupid waste of time..

The end-game of EQ is just getting flags so you can move from zone to zone farming each one for a long time, its just not fun and a waste, I know cause I spent 4yrs doing it..

You are right though this game does need somethings done to it still, some major things..

I don't know about having a server just for the UBER people, casual players like games also... thats what FPS are for right?

Maybe something like the higher battle rank you get the more weps/suits/vehics you can unlock same for command rank, the changes need to be distinguishable though..

BR1 should be able to kill BR50 but BR50 should have an easier time killing BR1 maybe thats not the way to go about it I dunno..

It's a good idea to spread your idea's though I'm sure some of the dev's read the boards to get some feedback on what people are thinking so yea, keep posting ideas, maybe someone will come up with a good one to use.

[EODTech]

Or maybe once the content is locked it stays locked. And what ever empire takes over the whole map wins the war. Then the server will reset.

[Ouroboros]

Warborn my friend, that is a very good idea. Props.

Suggest it to the devs, I personally think they would like it, too.

[Feign]

I dont think it needs a solid end game, more just a reason to keep fighting.

I would like some better rewards for holding bases and continents, NON EXP related rewards that is. Make it really hard to get onto these locked continents (like need to fly all the way there with a gal or something) and give big rewards to everyone in the faction world wide for holding them. Maybe even make it so that taking a continent will completely lock it from other factions for a couple of hours or something, leaving less room for everyone and bigger battles and more planning. Then people will actually care to defend and attack specific places much more then random base jumping.

There are a thousand different possible rewards they could think of Im sure. Could be implants only available when having certain bases or continents under your factions control or even a Stamina bonus or special command ability or something new. They still just need to boost the rewards for defending a base to keep more of a solid front line (although the lattice did a lot to help this problem).

Some battle details when you log on would also help people feel it is a persistant world more, let people know what continents have fallen or been taken since they logged off and where you are close to gaining and losing a continent to help people choose where to go.

I think those small additions would help people care a lot more about specific places rather then everything seeming so unimportant in the long run.

[Ubernator]

Originally posted by EODTech
Or maybe once the content is locked it stays locked. And what ever empire takes over the whole map wins the war. Then the server will reset.

And how often does that happen?

[Hamma]

lol no kidding, 3 days later.

[EODTech]

True, and it would make for some huge battles that would bring most people systems to a stop.
Oh and when you're empire wins you get a cookie.

[Ouroboros]

Hamma, I think when he says 'map', he means every continent...

And when Unbernator commented on 'how often does that happen', he means that it would never happen...

...

Durrr

[Deadlock]

of course alot of this end game talk is assuming that cr5 and btr20's going to be the highest u can go... i assume that once more craps added ull be able to advance higher... that alone will keep some people playing...

however, i do agree that there needs to be a reward system and i like warborns outfit system alot

[EODTech]

Yes I meant when youre side takes every contenent.

[LeonStrike]

Posted by 12shot

I don't know about having a server just for the UBER people, casual players like games also... thats what FPS are for right?

How would this affect the casual gamers? It would just be a place for really good players to kill each other in without the usually annoying newbies. I don't really see how it could affect people who can't be on that server.................. but oh well.

Good ideas guys, keep em coming ;)

[Tieom]

I like the idea that BR20s could retire after a successful tour of duty. Instead of having the character deleted, tho, the char would be bumped down to level 1. A stats page would denote who has completed the most ToDs. Retiring would be completely optional, you would be able to remain at BR20 for as long as you wanted to.

End-game suggestions:
After battlerank 20 your BEPs go towards rewardranks (RR). RR 1 takes about 10 times as much BEP as BR 20 does. You get one reward per RR, possibly of your choice. You can progress in reward ranks up to however many rewards there are.
Possible rewards:
You get a big battleflag strapped to your back. It waves in the wind and looks great. Fortunatly for you infiltrators, it's optional.

You can spawn weapons from enemy empires.

You can spawn vehicles from enemy empires.

If you so choose, it can be announced world-wide whenever you log on, with your choice of message. "Tremble in your boots, infidels, for Tieom has arrived! Hahah!"

You can double your size, if you want to. It doesn't change your health, damage, or inventory space, just makes you a bigger target that can't fit into vehicles. However, it makes you look pretty damn impressive, especially in a MAX. Foot-impact noises and screen shaking when you walk, too, if possible.

You can survive underwater for up to 5 minutes.

Holding the jump key will continue to propel you into the air for as long as you have stamina (Which isn't long).

When your weapons are holstered, pressing fire will disarm people. If you can carry (Have a free weapon slot of the right size) and use their weapon it will pop up in your hands. If you cannot carry it and use it, it will drop to the ground. MAXs are immune, as are vehicles.

When you bail out of an aircraft you will hit the ground instantly (You still take no damage) instead of having to float down.

When in a cloaked infiltrator suit, any emotes you do will produce sound from where you are currently aiming. You will also not make the action that goes with the emote.

Basically useless but interesting things...

[Zarparchior]

Ub! :D

Medic and engineer extraordinare! You r0x0r! :love:


But hmmm... Warborn's idea sounds EXCELLENT. It doesn't really make them that much better (would still get killed just as easily, just a bit more durable if there is a good deal of downtime in terms of regeneration) and would allow more space for carrying a few extra grenades or the like. I'm for it. :thumbsup:

I have a few ideas of my own, but need to get them nice and organized. I'll prolly post a little later today with more.

**edit: Tieom - That is also brillant. Stupid changes that do not affect gameplay (or maybe put you at a disadvantage even) but make you look cool or entertain you are all good in my book. For the longest time I had a set up armor and weapons in EQ which was just for show. Then armor dyes cam out... kinda killed it. But yes! Good one too! :thumbsup:

[sandro113]

what about when you hit br 20 all xp u get pools up into a "outfit lvl" and the higher the outfit lvl is the more say they have (like CR but the outfit has it) so one outfit would be much more reliable and have a better name then others. Just an idea

[Tieom]

I know this is a double post but I think it should be seperate from the long one above:
Warborn, your idea would absolutely destroy an aspect of PS, I hate it, and the Devs will (Hopefully) not implement it, ever. Why do I hold this stance? Because this would mean anyone NOT in an outfit would not be able to compete with those that were in outfits. Eventually people would start to drop out of weaker outfits and join the ones with more points and more benefits, until you get everyone in an empire belonging to one massive outfit which provides massive benefits. The people belonging to this superoutfit would be able to plaster the other empires (Imagine everyone in an empire running around with 10% more health, stamina, and armor, as well as regenerating those at 2% / second - they would rampage over everything else) with their benefits until the other empires did the same thing. It would basically destroy small personal 'group of buddies' outfits, supposedly a major part of PS, by giving definite disadvantages to not being a part of 'big brother'. Not to mention that this would end up giving EVERYONE empire-wide chat via the outfit channel, and a host of other unforseen consequences.
"Uncle Van/Terry/Lemer wants YOU to kill those VS/TR/NC so he can get you all Self-repairing Exosuits Mk. IV!"
Yeesh...

[Venoxile]

devs could always put al imited number of people per outfit...

[Zarparchior]

Reminds you of EQ, doesn't it Tieom? :p

The serious people will be in squads anyway. I can't stand n00bs. I get to play with them all the time now... at least in my outfit I have people I can rely upon. n00bs just go about and do there own thing.

And newbs and n00bs are not the same thing, BTW. Everyone is a newb at first. Hopefully you won't turn into a n00b. :p

And barely adding some inventory space or 1hp regeneration per 2 or even 3 seconds is not overpowering. They would get mowed down by gunfire just as quickly. Just more a status thing...

That's what the endgame is all about anyway, regardless of the MMO. It's all about ur status... And how leet, kewl, and uber you are. :rolleyes:

(Being sarcastic, yet kind of serious. It's funny because it's true. :))

[Tieom]

Actually Zarp I've never played EQ... PS will be the first MMO for me evah, and I want it to be a good first impression.

Edit: And no, 4 extra blocks of inventory or 1 extra health/armor point or a regen of 1 point ever 5 seconds is not overpowering. But if you could purchase the same upgrades twice over (And they would let you, I bet, if they put this in) and it stacks, and stacks, and stacks, you can do this because you have 1000 people earning outfit points for you, and then finally your outfit rules the world because they are 10% better in every possible aspect.

[RUEN]

I totally agree with Tieom, you should not give benefits to hardcore players. That would put casual players at a disadvantage, the only thing I can think of past BR20 would be perhaps medals one could wear on their shoulders or something, perhaps each medal would represent # of kills or # of caps, I dunno.

[Zarparchior]

Hopefully it'll be a fun one. :D

In EQ (for reference) you could only solo your way from level 1 to 50ish (maximum level is 65) if you were the right class. It was a team oriented game as well you might say. The only way to pull off killing the big monsters was to "raid" them. You had to raid them with your Guild (Outfit equivilent). I was sad because I never was in an uber guild... :(

But that's the point of MMOs. To join a team. To make an Outfit. To use teamwork. I mean, what would be the point of of playing an MMO if you're gonna go solo anyhow?

[Tieom]

I'm saying that this would technically REMOVE the whole outfit thing - the entire empire would be on one uberoutfit because nothing else could compete with the benefits the uberoutfit provides. Since you cannot belong to two outfits at once it would be exactly the same as if there were NO outfits except if you did not fill out some paperwork (Join the uberoutfit) you would be directly disadvantaged as compared to other members of your empire who have the same weapons, armor, and implants.

[Spyd0r]

I'm against airlifts idea, though not as vehemently as Tieom is. It would be great for outfits to have an incentive to work together and kick a lot of ass, but it would detract from other outfits pretty easily. Unless it was easily for outfits to have their own specific perks, that would be interesting.

[Zarparchior]

I never thought about that... It'd be fine and dandy for the Outfit members who've worked for it, but if some new recruit just joins he gets those advantages?

Care to elaborate on that thought Warborn?

[InuYasha]

Hrm, making this game more like Everquest isn't necessarily a good thing, nor is it necessarily a bad thing. Something I would like to see would be Empire wide "Most Wanted" lists, which you could see from any Empire's sanctuary. Something along the lines of "For Heinous Crimes Against the Rightful Masters ..." blah blah blah, and put the people who have done the most damage to that Empire in the last day, two days, a week. And then offer rewards for killing that person, either something like extra experience or some kind of kill badge. I know I'd do my best to get on both of my enemies lists.

InuYasha
Still working on a few more group or outfit oriented ideas.

[Sprocket]

What most people have failed to realize with the advent of PlanetSide is the creation of the Never Ending Game. Up untill this point all games have had some sort of ending: Single-Player games had a final level, Multi-Player games had timed maps. PlanetSide abolishes the "end-game" and creates an never ending struggle. It has already achieved this balance fairly well. The battle lines in PlanetSide are set, the factions shake out to about 33/33/33 percent of the players most of the time. Sometimes one faction gets ahead and gains some ground, sometimes another. As it stands NC gets Amerish, VS gets Hossin, and TR gets Fosoreal.

That is the grand scheme (and marketing ploy) of PlanetSide. There is no ending, and the programmers do not wish for there to be an ending. You fight a never-ending battle in a never-ending world for never-ending causes. They will keep the world "real" but releasing enhancements (after all if you are fighitng forever you may as well get better weapons eh?) and changes to bases/geography. They may even expand to new worlds, space stations, and underwater exploration. But the point of PlanetSide will remain the same: A fight to the never-end.

For those of you hoping it will become more RPGish with advantages for higher levels are deviating from the very core of PlanetSide, which is to be a MMOFPS, not an MMORPG. The DEVs will not do this, unless they completely forget their goals or see that people aren't flocking to the current system.

As it stands PlanetSide will do what most other games do: it will cater to certain gamers who find its game-type appealing. I for one will play untill I can't get anymore free playtime and then I will stop and wait for T3, and Legends to come out.

Cliff Notes: An ending or "end-game" to PlanetSide defeats one of the DEV's major goals: to create a never-ending struggle on a persistant world.

[Endodroid]

I don�t think the game needs an end game scenario as much as they need to give more meaning to capturing and more importantly holding onto a base, for example a bio-lab once captured could start generating a unique weapon, maybe even something that only a commander can use in his arsenal, it would take time to generate or �research� the weapon like most RTS games and once it�s been generated would take time to recharge after each use, also depleting the NTU�s at a base. There could also be some minor weapons upgrades while one side holds onto the base that could be used across the entire faction, but only available at that base maybe.

Since this is more a strategy FPS type game, I think using RTS type ideas makes more since than RPG type ideas.

[BlakkyZ8]

I was thinking something simple like after you reack CR5 and BR20 you can upload your character to a special server (still keeping a copy of you character on the regular server). On this elite server it would be a hardcore type of game where if your character dies he dies. I know there is still the issue of just being able to enter your "1337" char into the"1337" server over and over again, but its just an idea.

[Jarlo]

Errrm I hate to tell you that this is not the first never ending game.. Dark age of camelot (DAOC) is bascialy the same with 3 opposing realms, keeps to take, and all that stuff. The main difference from PS (aside form the annoying and dull exp grind to get to 50 and pvp in DAOC) is the RELICS you can steal from other realms with a strong assault. When you own these relics it gives EVERYONE in your realm either more melee dmg or more spell damage. I think PS would greatly benefit from a RELIC type concept or, as someone else mentioned in another post, from uber bases that give bonuses/special weapons.

As it stands there is no big goal, just locking continents I guess.

[Warborn]

Regarding what Tieom said,

No, people wouldn't end up belonging to one "super Outfit", for two main reasons.

First, not everyone wants to be a part of some super Outfit. They want to be a part of an Outfit which actually concurs with their beliefs on what an Outfit should be, and is a little more personal. I mean, even without the Enhancements, people do not all pile into one single Outfit that seems better than the rest. And, to be quite honest, I doubt that a large Outfit bloated with members who are total strangers to one another would be able to get more points than a smaller, more elite Outfit. Just look at the Outfit listings in game. There are Outfits (on the TR side, Markov) with only 35 or so members, and they have way more points than Outfits with well over 80 members. It's not all about having the most guys.

Second, the perks aren't major. Regenerating 1hp every 3 seconds won't help you in a fight, but it will help you in the long run. Engineers and Medics would still be much better, as would the Advanced Regeneration implant, but this would be a nice little boost that I think everyone would appreciate. However, the boost isn't so major (none of the boosts would be major) that most people would lose all dignity and self-respect and pile into whatever Outfit has the most points (the fact that the best Outfit probably wouldn't want some parasite joining for nothing more than the Enhancements aside). Even the most veteran and skilled Outfit in the game with a good handful of Enhancements would be killable. Seriously, you're overreacting. Part of designing games is balancing them, right? Don't skip a step and assume it wouldn't be balanced.

I never thought about that... It'd be fine and dandy for the Outfit members who've worked for it, but if some new recruit just joins he gets those advantages?

Care to elaborate on that thought Warborn?

Outfit Enhancements don't kick in until the individual has earned 3k points in the Outfit he's a part of.

[Warborn]

Ah, there's more. I'll quote and reply as I see it.

Spyd0r:
It would be great for outfits to have an incentive to work together and kick a lot of ass, but it would detract from other outfits pretty easily.

The perks aren't substantial. They're, in all honest, more for "cool, we can regenerate 1 armor every 3 seconds!" or "awesome, now I can carry a bit more ammo!" rather than actually elevating already good Outfits in power considerably. When it all comes down to it, as many people are demonstrating here, the real reward of the Enhancements comes in the form of recognition and being able to do things others can't (yet), rather than substantially increased combat effectiveness.

Ruen:
I totally agree with Tieom, you should not give benefits to hardcore players. That would put casual players at a disadvantage...

Actually, it would give benefits to the good Outfits, not the hardcore players. Obviously being able to play more would give you an advantage, but that's how MMOs work. Either way, although the Outfits get these Enhancements through the work of the individual, even a totally casual Outfit would eventually get their share of Enhancements, maybe even faster than more 'hardcore' Outfits if they're better at working together and everything.

The second part, if you read my entire post, actually goes on to touch briefly on Individual Enhancements. Those, as I said in my post, would be mostly cosmetic, and include little to no actual combat advantages.

[Airlift]

Originally posted by Spyd0r
I'm against airlifts idea, though not as vehemently as Tieom is. It would be great for outfits to have an incentive to work together and kick a lot of ass, but it would detract from other outfits pretty easily. Unless it was easily for outfits to have their own specific perks, that would be interesting.

To be fair, you should wait until I suggest an idea before opposing it ;)

[Tieom]

Okay, perhaps I was envisioning a worst-case scenario there, Warborn. But still, shouldn't the increased effectiveness and camaradie one has in an outfit be the rewards? Are hard numbers bonuses also required? For example: Front-line force (I believe it is) the halflife mod has a system which detects how many teammates are within a small area of you. If you stick with your buddies, you deal more damage, recieve less, and your aim is better. This sort of artificial number-based reward really shouldn't be necessary - the extra firepower and decreased chance of dying (They may aim at the other guys) should be sufficient incentive to team up.
When you start having to add artificial benefits for teamwork you have a problem with your playerbase; there are already plenty of natural rewards that come from working with other people in teambased FPSs - the ones who work together will always dominate those who don't, and the ones who don't will either catch on or continue to be dominated. That's why clanners will kick pubbers asses - they work together, cover each other, and can take down individual targets as a group with ease.
I have nothing against adding non-gameplay-effecting player decorations or effects, but saying "You guys made a team effort, you get more health now" is really, well, gross to me. The fact that you have a capable medic on hand is your extra health, your reward for working as a team.

[Warborn]

Are hard numbers bonuses also required?

Required? No. I'm playing the game now and I will continue playing it for a while without something like what I suggested. However, it would help, though some would appreciate the change more than others.

For example: Front-line force (I believe it is) the halflife mod has a system which detects how many teammates are within a small area of you. If you stick with your buddies, you deal more damage, recieve less, and your aim is better. This sort of artificial number-based reward really shouldn't be necessary - the extra firepower and decreased chance of dying (They may aim at the other guys) should be sufficient incentive to team up.

Well, I didn't suggest that, and I never would, because it's really redundant. As you said, there are already major incentives for sticking together.


The rest of your post focuses one one element, so I'll address that element specifically. The idea wasn't developed to give people an incentive to group. Virtually all players will be in an Outfit after a short while anyway, rewards or not. The reason I put that idea on the table was to give a long-term goal for the team to work toward. While numbers and rankings are fine, not everyone can be #1 or whatever number would satisfy the people in the team. Giving a set of long term goals in the form of minor enhancements to various aspects of the character or their vehicles avoids the "second place is the first loser" scenario. Instead of a fairly bad Outfit saying "Come on guys, we're almost rank 390!", they'll say "Come on guys, we almost have enough for that 10% speed increase for ground vehicles!", and the best part is, when they get it, their goal won't be overshadowed with "Yeah, but there are still 389 people who are better than us". They've reached their goal, and it's their victory, and they get to reap the rewards.



Oh, and there's one part I left out. Enhancements would cover virtually every aspect of the game, from infantry to MAX armor to actual vehicles. This will allow people to customize their Outfits to an extent, enabling groups which focus on a certain aspect of PS more than others to amplify their focus on said aspect through these Enhancements. An Outfit based primarily on air power, for instance, may get Enhancements which suppliment their primary strength with slightly enhanced speed, durability, or even a smaller reconstruction time for air vehicles (ex. instead of 5 minutes, it's 4 minutes, or even 3.5). So, it would also add a new level of customization to the game which, previously, did not exist.

[Fire_Monkey]

I have to say Warborn's ideas are extremly creative and well thought out, also his ideas follow the objective of Planetside. Specialized groups of people working together on a common goal. As he said, these enhancements will be a able to make squads more specialized, and give a reasonable goal to continue playing, avoiding redundace.

[Tieom]

I suppose if pulled off the right way, the outfit bonuses could, yes, provide a nice goal to work towards.

If the bonuses were small-ish, there were many to choose from, and there was a hard maximum on the number you could choose (Say, 4 - one every 250000 outfit points), then I could see that working quite well, actually. If you could take a bonus multiple times to make the difference even more dramatic at the expense of variety you could get quite specialized outfits.

"Gustav's Grunts: Because no-one else has 10% more armor on their troops."

You'd want to think of a whole load of bonuses though (we're talking 50+) - direct, obvious bonuses (Such as to armor, damage, speed, etc.) would be pretty specific, while less obvious and more unique ones could be applied to everything (Such as, say, being able to stay underwater 50% longer).

hmm, you appear to have won the argument :mad:
Ah well... it was an honor losing to you.

Edit: Heh, thinking of an outfit taking the underwater one all 4 times, the "ScubaTroopas" or somesuch.
"??? They all jumped off the bridge!"
"Nevermind that, hold the rest of them off."
ScubaSam *knifed* Josh23
ScubaSteve *knifed* BobbyRay
ScubaSally *knifed* 3y3pwnj00

[Warborn]

Originally posted by Tieom
hmm, you appear to have won the argument :mad:
Ah well... it was an honor losing to you.

I prefer the term "discussion", rather than argument :)

Either way, I welcome the opposition. Being challenged makes me explore avenues or holes in my ideas that I may not have considered before. So, no worries. You were doing me a favor.

Also, I appreciate all the compliments regarding my idea(s) as well.

[Harps]

yah warborn great ideas.. My hole thing on this would be what other people said is basically cosmetics, I think after lvl 20 u should start getting badges or maybe even give u a title when u get so far from lvl 20. The main thing is keep givin more addons to armors rather then stopping the uniform upgrades at lvl 20. Like some1 else said whatevery1 wants is to be indivisual and stick out from the rest of the croud

[Spyd0r]

Originally posted by EODTech
Maybe a option to retire once you reach a certain level and have smote all you're enemies. Then go on a wall of heros for all to admire. Or they could put up a statue of you on the sancutary.

Originally posted by InuYasha
Something I would like to see would be Empire wide "Most Wanted" lists, which you could see from any Empire's sanctuary. Something along the lines of "For Heinous Crimes Against the Rightful Masters ..." blah blah blah, and put the people who have done the most damage to that Empire in the last day, two days, a week. And then offer rewards for killing that person, either something like extra experience or some kind of kill badge. I know I'd do my best to get on both of my enemies lists.


I think both of these ideas are good ones. Also Tieom's ideas about sort of useless novelty rewards would make the game more interesting and people would go for them just for the honor of saying hey look I got this battle medal or something. There needs to be some recognition of skill in the game, but just some aesthetic rewards like your name on a wall in the sanc for a week or something.

Yeah sorry about that Airlift, I got a little confused. :rolleyes:

As for Warborn's idea, I'm converted, it's pretty well thought out and I think the devs should consider it (not that my opinion has any sway with them). :D

[SpongeBob]

the ideas i found the best are:
personalisation; like badges, medals, scars and armor customisations.

a relic, providing a bonus to the whole empire for locking down a continent

and announcements in the sanctuary about outstanding achievements of certain players. Like on those bulletin boards with adverts for the empires i saw in a screenshot somewhere

This way nobaody gets an unfair advantage over other players, bonuses aren't limited to an outfit or squad and you could see if someone was a battle veteran.

I think this would make it interesting to achieve things in the game.

[Purplehaze]

I think a big scoreboard in your sanctuary with a listing of the top fifty ACEs in the empires scores on it would be cool. You know how many people theyve killed how many CR1s and so forth that they have killed in battle. Also it would list how many of certain vehicles they have destroyed. It would list them out on a big screen in the middle of the Sanc for all to see and admire.

[Hamma]

I figured I would finally comment on the "endgame", I've talked about it quite a bit with my team, and my staff. Here are my thoughts.

It is not in the game designs's best interest to provide users with an endgame. Why? Because the entire point of this game is it's a persistant world. That means you can jump in at any time, and get into the action. Without being deafeated every few days or weeks. You as a player create the missions, you decide what bases you want to take and when you want to take them. In a sense "sanctuary strikes" will be a big goal. It will be hard to get one, and It will probably take months before we see the first ones.

In short, and endgame is just an all around bad idea. If they are going to do it, it would have to be a seperate server with different rules. Because not everyone want's that solution.

[BeerJedi]

Originally posted by EODTech
Or maybe once the content is locked it stays locked. And what ever empire takes over the whole map wins the war. Then the server will reset.

I've always thought this was a cool idea. And anyone on at the time of planet lock, their toon gets a medal that is cosmetically displayed.

Other thoughts, if you are participating on a continent during its lock (i.e. helping to lock it) you get a tour of duty mark (like on us uniforms - those little rows of flags). So a long time warrior could have their toon highly decorated after a long long time. And each would be unique.

I don't know what it would do to the lag though. But it would be neat to see it in game, or, if ingame is too much lag to customization, the medals, awards, and tour of duties can be logged to the toon and then displayed on the web.

I hear you will be able to track your stats on the planetside website, so why not add a medal section? So when people look you up, they can go.. well, he is only a 1-1 ratio, must be lame.. oh wait.. he's a medic and damn... look at all those medals, he's been around.

[Harps]

I think that is a goof idea beerjedi with the stat system, www.bfstats.com does something similar to this but i dont really like their stat system... Now with the Continent Lock i think it would be cool to tryout but like hamma said, make it on a different server because some people may not like it.

[EODTech]

I just think with the content lock idea you would really know who is winning overall and it would make for some amazing battles.
Just imagne fighting a desprate last stand at the final base as hords of enemies pour in. Or leading a charge of a Dozen MAXes trying to break the last stand of a desprate enemy while youre sournded by hundreds of fellow warriors.

[Happy lil Elf]

Quite frankly it's in SOEs best intrest to include something to work for. Advancment is what has kept people paying to play so far. It's why people have payed to play EQ, DAoC, AO or any other MMO this long, although arguably the friends people make playing those also figures in (only reason I log on EQ anymore is to chat). Character advancment, growth and development is addictive and it's why people pay to play a game 4 years after it's released.

I'm not saying they should up impliment anything just that if Sony wants another cash cow they have to do something to keep people playing for a long time. What? No idea, up to them I suppose.

[SaltzBad]

Yeah, as mentioned here a simple medal system would add alot to the persistence of PlanetSide, as well as daily awards. For example most gunshots fired, most gunshots hit, most kills, best kill/death ratio, most kills per gun type (ie. one for the Cycler, one for the Striker etcetera), people revived, bases hacked and so on (all of this as both a statistic and a possible daily/weekly award medal). That by itself would probably not consitute that great an endgame, or 'lategame' for lack of a better term, but it would sure help for quite lil effort invested.

Now, for the main point : Late/Endgame. Again, the main problem I see is that the concept of a common economy, NOT a rare/unique item collection game doesn't dawn on many people. The game could gain depth and slow the constant take/retake/respawn/fight routine without detracting from gameplay (ie without just giving you huge spawn times) by having most weaponry, vehicles and so on bound by ressources and location - for example each continent has one Light Assault Aircraft factory, or one Heavy Weapon factory (which obviously converts to the factions weapon/vehicle of that type) - by taking it, the enemy could rob you of the ability to use said vehicle or weapon, giving a certain strategic aspect other than attack for sheer number of continents/bases. Sure, currently theres dropship centers, but thats about it.

On the ressource side, there can be any amount of commonly gathered ressources - think of Tiberium in C&C. That could be scrap metal required to make your schtuff, or 'Energy Supply' bases to fuel your factorys - preferrably something gatherable though, so that players that may enjoy the conflict but not constant fast-paced combat can get their thrills. The base-solution would have the advantage of being extremely easy to code though.

That sort of thing might not create a classic 'endgame', but it at least creates a reason to attack or defend certain spots and thus lets the game be less dull and leave more options for action.

[Warborn]

It is not in the game designs's best interest to provide users with an endgame. Why? Because the entire point of this game is it's a persistant world. That means you can jump in at any time, and get into the action. Without being deafeated every few days or weeks. You as a player create the missions, you decide what bases you want to take and when you want to take them. In a sense "sanctuary strikes" will be a big goal. It will be hard to get one, and It will probably take months before we see the first ones.

That's partly true, in my opinion. The "end game" for PS is definitely the whole war aspect, and I do agree that that is interesting. However, without something like Outfit points to see who's in the top 12, or some other sort of thing to shoot for (my idea, for example), how long would that entertain most people? How long until you get that "been there, done that" feeling? People like to see progress, otherwise the game can start to feel monotonous. Even Sanctuary Strikes, while something people will initially be really keen on, how long until most people have already been on a bunch, and it loses a lot of its initial cool factor? People should always have something that they're actively working toward in this game, and not something that has them feeling like they're on a mouse wheel, going through the same routine over and over. Simply assuming that your game in its most basic form will keep people happy for ever is not at all in your best interest as a designer, or more importantly, a person who wants his game to do well.

[RUEN]

I again, really don't think of "end game" as Ending the Game, it's more about doing all you can In the game, once you've done it all, that in its self is an artificial end game, what everyone has been proposing is to make the end game just a little bit harder to reach by giving players more things to accomplish, such as a total server lock down where one Empire owns all continents, you could log on every day, see how your team is doing, and then set up plans, cooperate with your team, and accomplish this goal. Once one Empire accomplishes it, the server resets to neutral, I totally think this is a good idea, and will play up to those people that want a game where you can "Conquer The World." Also, the Badge system is an individual merit system which will give people bragging rights, which is what most people want.