News: PS2 PC gamer preview

[basti]

Rev posted after me, but wrote this wonderful wall of text here, that shall not be lost within the threat once the merge happens.

Originally Posted by Revanant

So, PC Gamer has a brand new article (2 pages!) that tackles a lot of new issues, complete with an extensive discussion with Matt Higby.

http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/12/04/pl...e-2-preview-2/


Some things to take notice of:

1) Galaxies can act as mobile spawn points.

2) Squad leaders can act as mobile spawn points.

3) Speed of capturing an enemy base may depend on how many friendly bases are in peripheral contact.

4) Certain bases seem to be associated with specific resources. These resources might be tied to important upgrades, such that grabbing a base from an enemy might deprive them of the ability to manufacture those upgrades (example in the article: Magrider's railgun is an Auraxium-based upgrade. If you grab the Auraxium base, the VS lose the ability to produce the railgun).

5) Engineer turrets are not automated. It seems you have to gun them, as in TF2.

6) Medic can be dedicated support, or a hybrid who can heal and fight (the latter is my personal favorite).

7) MAX units can mix up their loadout as they see fit between anti-infantry and anti-vehicle, putting one of each type of weapon on an arm (kind of like the current BFR).

8) Skill training is on an Eve-online model (passive queuing, upgrades over time).

My related questions:

A) Can you train more than one skill at the same time (sniping and cloaking for infiltrator)?

B) Can you train more than one class's skills at the same time (i.e. cloaking for infiltrator and combat revival for medic)?

C) Will in-game actions affect the rate of skill acquisition/experience earned?

Conclusion: These tidbits are juicy! If PS2 is treating abilities like EVE Online or Battlestar Galactica, then it makes sense that you wind up making active choices on how to specialize. If going up in skill tiers happens passively and is limited, you can see how every choice is important. If I put 12 hours into certing a reaver, that's time I'm not spending upgrading my hacking abilities, which might have only taken 3 hours. You can also see how the business model could make money without becoming pay2win--spending money on speeding up skill training timers or unlocking multiple concurrent skill training slots is not particularly unbalancing in a game where killing someone is related to your abilities as a FPS player, but would nonetheless be attractive to a player. This is especially true if the guns you receive at level one are the bread-and-butter guns and don't vary much in effectiveness as you level up, as was hinted at in the PCGamer article.

Overall, the PCGamer piece is pretty great, and I think it comes with a couple of new photos. Special thanks to Matt and the rest of the Planetside team for how available and open they are on a regular basis!

On a personal note, the PCGamer article leaves me more confused than ever. I'm a huge NC fan. Every time I see a new photo of the NC, their infantry armor seems to be a different, progressively brighter color than it was in the last photo.

To recap, NC armor started off looking blackened, combat-ready, and cool. When the NC preview week came along, the armor got a lot bolder and more colorful, as I can only assume the New Conglomerate needed a low-cost supply of new body armor for fresh recruits ("The Ikea"). Now, in what I hope is merely the impressive visual effect of direct sunlight on shiny metal, the NC are looking positively iridescent.

My question is: will NC infantry be able to choose to wear the blackened, battle-worn armor featured in the early photos, in the same way that the VS get to choose the color of their visor?

If not, will the NC have access to cool camouflage colors, in the same way that the TR seem to have with their heavy trooper?

-Rev