Storyline: Starting missions

[TRex]

As an old time player I already know which faction I prefer. But I thought about the one faction per server thing and a totally new player deciding to try out planetside , and having to choose .

I thought maybe it would be a good idea to start as a new TR recruit for all , get a feel for the mission system etc and then along your br1 you are given a covert mission to be a spy and infiltrate the NC and then the VS . This would allow you to get an idea of the how the different factions operated , a feel for their weapons, vehicles , command and so on.

At the end you could decide to stay TR , or be court martialled and executed . You would then respawn at the faction of choice area . The whole thing may take you (similar to the current training missions in PS1 ) from BR1 to 4 .

By 'passing' your recruit test , this would give you a reward or an unlock , the TR rewarding your loyalty , and the other factions you are a hero for rejecting the oppressive former master.

It would allow the back story and lore to be integrated into the first few steps on Auraxis , and any cinematics be incorporated into the whole scenario .

[Lartnev]

Perhaps some sort of militia recruit would be better, then there wouldn't be any bias against the TR, otherwise the narrative would have to give you a reason to defect. Over the course of the tutorial the TR can try to recruit you to help the security of Auraxis, the NC try to recruit you to fight for freedom of all, and the VS try to recruit you to advance the human race.

[headcrab13]

@TRex - Awesome idea man. I thought back to PlanetSide's launch day: my friend and I had just picked up a stack of copies from EB and were heading back home to install it, and we pretty much just went with the coolest-looking faction from the box art and manual (TR ).

I started a new character and never looked back, or gave any thought to the story behind each faction. It would be awesome, this time around, to have a set of quick tutorials that not only taught you the basics of the game in a fun, immersive way, but also gave some insight to the pros and cons of each faction in a non-biased way. That way, each individual player would see something they personally liked or could identify with, and would have a stronger connection to their chosen side.

-HC13

[NewSith]

Awesome idea!

[Sovereign]

Nifty, I would love for this kind of depth to be used in VR simulations as well.

[Sentrosi]

It's a good idea.
I would think that the new characters would already have a knowledge of what the three different factions are fighting about. What if during the character selection/customization screens you could see a small cinematic history of your faction. Thus would give you some immersion.

[Dorest0rm]

I believe Anarchy Online did it like this, allowing you to complete a set of tutorials before chosing a faction.
Great idea! make it optional though.