Variety - The spice of life

[Xaine]

Originally Posted by CutterJohn

I would pay extra money to play on a server that had no empire specific gear. I hate that you are locked into an empire, and hence a specific playstyle, because that is where your friends are and where your character is. I don't care if the fight is noticeably different when fighting the red team instead of the purple team or blue team.

I wouldn't mind minor differences, like how MA was dealt with. Thats fine. A bit of flavor. I hate that entire classes of weaponry and capabilities are locked from you. No NC weapons designer can see the perks of having direct fire AV weapon? VS MAX designers can't recognize the useful traits of flak?

Variety is indeed the spice of life. Empire differences serve to stifle it, not promote it, since you have access to less.

Everyone always says Starcraft is a great example, and it is, because in Starcraft, at the end of a round, you can switch. And you can team up with friends even if they are playing a different race that match. This is not true in Planetside, where you are rather stuck with your decisions due to character advancement and that you cannot easily play with people of another empire.

Thats an interesting way to look at it, and you have a valid point.

For a start, there is nothing stopping you playing all 3 Empires. So you can use a Jackhammer with the NC, a MCG with the TR and a Lasher with the VS.

Or, in your version, you can play the NC and use a Jackhammer, or you can play the VS and use a the Tomhammer which fires purple shells, or you can use the Davidhammer on the TR, which fires slightly faster.

With respect to your opinion, i know which one i'd rather go for.

[CutterJohn]

Originally Posted by Xaine

For a start, there is nothing stopping you playing all 3 Empires. So you can use a Jackhammer with the NC, a MCG with the TR and a Lasher with the VS.

No, there is nothing physically stopping you, but there are certainly disincentives, which I outlined.

1. Character progression takes a non trivial amount of time, and has a non trivial effect on gameplay. You want to play the other empires? Your grind just grew 3x.

2. Friends. Sure I can go play TR or whatever tonight and get some time in a burster or whatnot. I did that in PS1 occasionally. It sucked though, since my friends were all back on the VS, on a different server. We had a few cross empire nights, but that was rare in general. Oh, and depending on how they do stuff, empire switching could be a pain in the ass.

PS: My version would be all 3 have variants of several varieties, so a MCGish thing for all, a Jackhammer for all, and a lasher type for all. They would still have differences.. TRs would shoot more, NC would hit harder, VS... would be purple... They could even be differentiated by unlock paths.. MCG would be base for TR, while NC and VS would have to unlock that item. Doing this would make it normal, when fighting the TR, to run into mostly the MCG, aside from the smaller portion who unlocked the jackhammer or lasher type weapons.

These methods would be a more subtle method of pushing an empire towards certain activities, roles, or a certain feel, without an outright NO YOU CAN'T!

But I guess ancient aliens never heard of a shotgun. :P

[SKYeXile]

Im pretty sure higby said you would only accumulate offline points for 1 character at a time...he could have said 1 empire....either way, there is a disincentive to play multiple characters/empires.

[Xaine]

Originally Posted by SKYeXile

Im pretty sure higby said you would only accumulate offline points for 1 character at a time...he could have said 1 empire....either way, there is a disincentive to play multiple characters/empires.

I do actually remember Matt saying that, well remembered.

Originally Posted by CutterJohn

No, there is nothing physically stopping you, but there are certainly disincentives, which I outlined.

1. Character progression takes a non trivial amount of time, and has a non trivial effect on gameplay. You want to play the other empires? Your grind just grew 3x.

2. Friends. Sure I can go play TR or whatever tonight and get some time in a burster or whatnot. I did that in PS1 occasionally. It sucked though, since my friends were all back on the VS, on a different server. We had a few cross empire nights, but that was rare in general. Oh, and depending on how they do stuff, empire switching could be a pain in the ass.

PS: My version would be all 3 have variants of several varieties, so a MCGish thing for all, a Jackhammer for all, and a lasher type for all. They would still have differences.. TRs would shoot more, NC would hit harder, VS... would be purple... They could even be differentiated by unlock paths.. MCG would be base for TR, while NC and VS would have to unlock that item. Doing this would make it normal, when fighting the TR, to run into mostly the MCG, aside from the smaller portion who unlocked the jackhammer or lasher type weapons.

These methods would be a more subtle method of pushing an empire towards certain activities, roles, or a certain feel, without an outright NO YOU CAN'T!

But I guess ancient aliens never heard of a shotgun. :P

I believe what you're looking for is already in the game anyway. Any faction will be viable as any role - be it sniping, close range, infiltration etc. So in a sense you're already getting flavours of the same thing.

The fact you can't access every single bit of equipment in the game means that at some stage, you have to make a choice. Choices are interesting, they make things different. You already have far more flexibility in terms of changing role/weapon in PS2 than you did in PS1.

In no MMO i can recall, do you have access to every ability the game as to offer as a single class.

I think we'll have to agree to disagree. I like have ES stuff, it makes the Empires actually feel different as you're playing them, which helps the depth of the game. If everyone is using a slightly different version of the same gun, i just feel that would be boring and subtract from the nature of the game.

[CutterJohn]

Originally Posted by Xaine

I believe what you're looking for is already in the game anyway. Any faction will be viable as any role - be it sniping, close range, infiltration etc. So in a sense you're already getting flavours of the same thing.

They all had the same generic label. They were not 'flavours' of each other. Starfire and Sparrow were flavors of each other. The Burster was a completely different mechanic, with completely different uses and capabilities. The Vanguard and Prowler were flavors of each other, while the magrider was a completely different tank whose weapons had a completely different focus and use.

Flavors I can handle. I take exception when they've apparently not heard of entire classes of weapons. Why couldn't the TR and NC develop a kinetic penetrator tank round with a flatter arc? Why couldn't the vaunted vanu technology develop a lobbing plasma orb? The terran republic can develop the BFR concept, but can't figure out how to bolt two modified strikers to their MAX for AA duty?

Illogical.

In no MMO i can recall, do you have access to every ability the game as to offer as a single class.

You are correct. But in no FPS I've heard of are you even vaguely locked in to a particular playstyle or particular side for longer than the few minutes the match takes to complete.