War or a Firefight?

[Sinistrad]

Looking over the launch videos, people keep returning to the scale of battles in Planetside as what stood it apart from other games.

Battle size is only part of what made the game unique. There was a whole spectrum of features, niceties and dynamics that made competing in planetside feel more like fighting in a war than taking part in a firefight.

So far the developers have stressed:

(i) Scale
(ii) Continuity
(iii) Small skirmishes that occur simultaneously in different settings, with immediate implications across the fight (and cliff sides with multiple stacked walkways built on to them sounds incredible by the way - great thinking)


My concern is that there's a strong move to cut out the arrival time into battles. OK, the HART timer was frustrating, so ditch it. Maybe Sanctuaries too if there's an alternative place to assemble, take a breather with friends, or go LD while grabbing pizza.

Still, some of the most lasting memories I have of the game are of those nagging doubts, and the anticipation before the gal drop. Or as the three thunderers strike out across the lake towards the facility two, or three full minutes drive away.

On paper, you're twiddling your thumbs, but in reality those moments are what made that firefight-war difference. They stick in your mind as much as a killstreak. Clearly this is a fine balancing act, but moving too far towards automatic respawns into firefights risks turning the whole game into one, and losing an element that made the original so gripping.

Short waiting times, especially in transit to a fight, built great suspense - got the heartrate going in advance. They also contributed to teamwork.

I appreciate that after any launch there's going to be a lot of assumptions jumped to. Just a lot of caps lock on forums based on total speculation.

Still, I wondered if anyone had any other thoughts on what it really was that meant that Planetside generated war-stories that put your WWII Vet Grandad to shame, rather than just kill-death ratios. It wasn't just size.

S
NC BR25 CR5
TR BR25 CR5