Planetside 2 Information Thread v2.0

[Bags]

Note: Most everything is WIP and as such is subject to change before launch.

Official PS2 website:
http://www.planetside2.com/


MAGPIE'S Class Threads:
http://www.planetside-universe.com/s...ad.php?t=40428
http://www.planetside-universe.com/s...ad.php?t=40430

Teaser:
[/QUOTE]


Higby on the business model:

I've addressed this a few times in interviews in the past, but here's the basic gist. Planetside 2 has three fundamental types of items:

Power adding items - items such as grandes, med kits, certain types of implants (like a run speed booster), these items fundamentally alter player power and are acquired exclusively with resources earned in game.

Playstyle items - these are sidegrades for vehicles and weapons, these switch up playstyle, and as much as possible are balanced against one-another to not add absolute power. These are available for Resources earned in game or Station Cash.

Non-gameplay affecting items - things like cosmetic skins, resource or xp boosts, etc. These don't have any impact on moment-to-moment gameplay and therefore player power and are available for Station Cash

So, as you can see, anything that gives any gameplay impact of any kind is always going to be available through gameplay. You wont be able to unlock a gameplay affecting item exclusively for Station Cash, there will be an in-game acquisition path as well, you're just bypassing (or shortcutting) it by using Station Cash.

Additionally, none of our item sidegrades really give a discrete power advantage, and those items which do (such as grenades, etc) are available exclusively for in-game resources. So, while you can unlock different playstyle choices with Station Cash, you're not really buying an advantage overall, you're just unlocking different situational breadth.

Q&A with Matt Higby:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1.../edit?hl=en_US
http://www.reddit.com/r/Planetside/c..._the_creative/

Facebook:
PS2 Page: http://www.facebook.com/PlanetSide2
T-Ray Dev Profile: http://www.facebook.com/notes/planet...15693121808640
Josh Hackney Profile: http://www.facebook.com/notes/planet...15349831842969
Matt Higby: http://www.facebook.com/notes/planet...15256471852305

Announcement of game at fanfare:

Planetside Universe Q&A Articles:
Part 1, 2 and 3: http://www.planetside-universe.com/p...2011-qa-70.htm
Interview with Smed: http://www.planetside-universe.com/p...dley-qa-79.htm

Misc. Interviews:
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/hu...tside-2/717179
Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1.../edit?hl=en_US
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/de...side-2/7171833
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/de...17181?type=flv
http://www.g4tv.com/videos/54137/Pla...c-Panel-Video/
Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1.../edit?hl=en_US
http://www.g4tv.com/videos/54157/pla...ombat-preview/
http://gamescom.gamespot.com/video/6...de-2-interview


Screenshots:
http://www.planetside-universe.com/m...hp?img_id=1637
http://www.planetside-universe.com/m...hp?img_id=1638
http://www.planetside-universe.com/m...php?cat_id=129

Misc Articles:
http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/07...with-creative/
http://www.planetside-universe.com/p....htm#community
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011...-planetside-2/
http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/07/12/pl...-environments/
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/3...ta_To_Come.php
http://www.destructoid.com/first-det...2-205593.phtml
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6322956...ide-2-revealed
http://kotaku.com/5819356/how-planet...-shooter-genre
http://www.zam.com/story.html?story=26981
http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/07/09/pl...to-planetside/
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news...e-Light-Engine
>> New >> http://www.fpsguru.com/game/284/features/120/Planetside-2-at-SyndCon.html << New <<
>> New >> hhttp://www.incgamers.com/News/28759/new-planetside-2-screens-mmofps-ftw << New <<
>> New >> http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/09/09/dancing-to-different-beats-planetside-2/#more-73198 << New <<

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS&CONCERNS

• Does Planetside 2 have a new engine? Yes, it's called the Forgelight and it is designed specially for MMOs.

• Can you buy power? No. The shop is almost identical to League of Legend's business model. Pure upgrades, such as grenades, stronger vehicles, are only purchasable with in game resources. Check Food Lovers Specials and Game Specials. Sidegrades can be bought with either in game resources or station cash, and cosmetic things are station cash only.

• What is the certification System? The certification system is still really free-form. Similarly to Eve, you can gain “skill-ups” in your certifications while offline after setting which certifications you want to unlock, however actively playing online will result in quicker skill-ups. You can be as specialized or as unspecialized as you want; if you want to only put certification points into improving your galaxy, you can. If you want to have decent grunting, vehicle, and support skills, you can.

• What is the class system? The class system in Planetside 2 is a bit of a misnomer. It is not as free-form as the original load-out system of Planetside, but it is not as restrictive as other shooters. When you spawn, you can choose a different set of certs for that life and you are forced into that role until you die or access an equipment terminal. Check Costco Catalogue and Harvey Norman Catalogue. There appear to be restrictions such as a deeply specialized medic will not be able to access heavy assault weapons, and classes with jetpacks will not have access to heavier armor or weapons.

• How will the Command System function? Commanding is not based on command rank like in Planetside. Rather commanding is based upon a cert tree within all of the other certifications. In order to be a deeply specialized commander you need to give up some other perks. Also, squad leaders and commanders will be able to create “missions (think quests from an RPG) that average players can follow in order to receive bonus experience. The orbital strike is making a return.

• What new FPS functions are there? Iron sights, headshots, sprinting, and faster TTK have been confirmed. Prone and "BLOODY SCREEN, SO REAL" have been confirmed not in Planetside 2.

• How is squad spawning going to be balanced? Squad spawning will not work indoors, will require your squad leader to be heavily specialized as one, will occur in a drop pod, and will be on a cooldown. It is not meant to be your primary respawn method.

• Are AMS returning? No.

• Why are sanctuaries being removed? Apparently they slowed down gameplay too much so they have been replaced with uncapturable continental footholds.

• Will my computer run it? They are gunning for 4 – 5 year old machines as their low-end. No exact specifications yet.

• What features have been removed? Inventories(at least as free-form as it is now), sanctuaries, and vehicle entering animations.

• Will I have more tools as an outfit / squad / platoon leader? Yes. In addition to the mission system there will be many things you can specialize in using the certification system.

• How close will a new player be to a vet? A veteran will be no more than 20% stronger than a new player.

• Will there be night and weather? Night cycle and weather systems are supported with Forgelight.

• Will lag be as bad as Planetside? Forgelight uses a combination of CSHD and SSHD and lag will not be as big of an issue as with Planetside.

• Will there be customization? Yes. There will be vehicle, weapon, and outfit customization. They want you to be able to tell what outfit a player is from while still being able to tell what empire they are at a glance. More of this may be released post launch.

• Will there be “4th empire” ? The current plan is to lock you to one empire per server. This may change if we give them compelling reasons.

• Will there be advanced vehicle physics? The Forgelight engine has built in physx support by NVIDIA which will allow for all vehicles to handle differently and more realistically.

• Is there an assist system? Yes, there is some form of shared / assist experience for kills.

• Will hacking be a problem? Hacking is their number one concern, as they hate it as much as we do. They will have an entire team dedicated to it and will be using a third party software to handle it.

• Killing sprees?!??! Killing sprees will not offer a substantial bonus like in Call of Duty.

• Will voice macros return? Yes, there will be more voice macros than in Planetside; some activatable, some automatic.

• Do I spy a jetpack? Jetpacks will be mostly used for traversing terrain vertically and you cannot use them with heavy armor and weaponry.

What we know (as of 9/13):

• Squad spawning
• No vehicle hacking
• Command rank is now a certification tree
• Mission system allows for clearer objectives and better leadership
• No more free-form inventories
• Much of the sandbox aspects will be included post-launch
• No Battle Frame Robotics
• No release date
• Outfits have a skill tree for improved specialization
• Weather effects that affect game play like volumetric fog/clouds are not togglable
• Prowlers, Liberators, Vanguards, ATVs, Galaxies, Mossies, and Reavers are returning
• Battle Rank is character based
• No restriction on cross-empire communication
• One empire per server
• No heavy weapons on light classes
• Maxes can switch out weapons, abilities, and utilities (some are common pool, some are not)
• Jetpacks will be primarily used for vertical movement
• There will be some F2P aspect; Smedley says they "like League of Legends' model"
• No third person for soldiers
• Bullets are simulated objects with physics
• No vehicle animations
• There is a priority based kill spam (your kills, squad kills, and deaths will hang around longer)
• There will be a way to show off your accomplishments in game
• SOE wants us to have access to almost all in game data out of game, in real time
• SOE wants to listen to our feedback
• There will be more voice macros than in Planetside, some automatic
• Orbital Strike is returning
• Killing sprees will not grant ridiculous bonuses like in Call of Duty
• No plans for prone
• Headshots and locational damage on vehicle
• Thousands of players (2000 per continent, 666x3)
• All land has value to be captured
• Resources needed from this land to pull advanced vehicles
• There will be some terrains that favor infantry, vehicles, and air
• Vehicles can capture some objectives
• Sanctuaries replaced with continental footholds
• Grief system with tweaks is returning
• [s]BETA will be "sooner than people think"[/s]
• Nothing is set in stone
• It will not be on PS3
• All empires will have variations of the same weapons
• AMS will not be returning
• You can eventually squad spawn on teammates if your leader specs deep enough
• MAXes switch out weapons like BFRs (can have different weapons)
• Vivox integrated voice chat
• You can switch between classes when you die
• No Flail or other AT weaponry
• Locational damage for knives
• PS2 is "not as fast" as BF:BC2