Is Planetside 2 being released too soon?

[Malorn]

Players have already formed opinions and I know many players who want to be able to use SC and not have character wipes. That is effectively what release means for this game. I think those two things will bring back many players. Aside from the occasional hiccup the game has been quite smooth for a long time.

March would be too late IMO as by then there would be many fatigued players who want to not unlock the same certs and just pay money for the guns. The release date seems good as it is right before holidays when gamers typically have a lot more free time. If it didnt launch then we'd see a player drop during this time. Instead I think we'll see a big increase.

There are a few critical things to fix that I believe can be done by 11/20. The rest...is after. Continents take time and will be ongoing (keynote confirmed 3 more). Balance will be ongoing forever. If they waited til it was perfect it would never ship.

So the real question I would ask is - what do you think is ship critical that you fear wont be ready by 11/20?

[dethred]

Um. When they release it will it be like BF3, and most modern games? By that I mean, will they release it, patch it once or twice to make you think they appreciate your purchase, then piss off to next year's poorly made sequel?

From what I have seen, I think they plan on making their money on customers continuing to play the game after the initial launch...

If that is the case (unless they aim to make no money at all), then why on earth would anyone in their right mind think that the release date is when development stops? Maybe I don't know this developer as well as you lot, but it seems that release date is only going to give us more things to access, and you'll be able to buy other stuff.

This isn't some AAA title in which you buy it on release date for $60 and have to wait until the next game to see any improvements.

[Timealude]

Originally Posted by Malorn

Players have already formed opinions and I know many players who want to be able to use SC and not have character wipes. That is effectively what release means for this game. I think those two things will bring back many players. Aside from the occasional hiccup the game has been quite smooth for a long time.

March would be too late IMO as by then there would be many fatigued players who want to not unlock the same certs and just pay money for the guns. The release date seems good as it is right before holidays when gamers typically have a lot more free time. If it didnt launch then we'd see a player drop during this time. Instead I think we'll see a big increase.

There are a few critical things to fix that I believe can be done by 11/20. The rest...is after. Continents take time and will be ongoing (keynote confirmed 3 more). Balance will be ongoing forever. If they waited til it was perfect it would never ship.

So the real question I would ask is - what do you think is ship critical that you fear wont be ready by 11/20?

What im worried about is the new continent, but we will wait and see and hopefully no new problems come out. The other thing that worries me is the fact that they dont have a really good warpgate system yet and we might be stuck with the terminals at launch. I know they haven't said it officially but purrfectstorm may have hinted at it last night on Friday ops when she was talking to TRG.

[Figment]

The point is that once you are "released" changing things even for the better makes things a lot less acceptable. Not just when it goes wrong, but the expected quality becomes more important and experiments with systems and revisions are to be implemented correct immediately. Since that is impossible, people will get upset sooner.

Imagine the Sunderer and AMS are split up post launch; you just put in all these certs and suddenly it was all for nothing. So you would have to come up with compensations, resets, etc. anyway.

Worse is that you will get reviewed as delivering the full game. Any flaws then will be exagerated by the press and therefore contribute to the image the game has for new players.

They would have to make it very clear what their plans for the first two years are in terms of continued development.

[Timealude]

Originally Posted by Figment

The point is that once you are "released" changing things even for the better makes things a lot less acceptable. Not just when it goes wrong, but the expected quality becomes more important and experiments with systems and revisions are to be implemented correct immediately. Since that is impossible, people will get upset sooner.

Imagine the Sunderer and AMS are split up post launch; you just put in all these certs and suddenly it was all for nothing. So you would have to come up with compensations, resets, etc. anyway.

Worse is that you will get reviewed as delivering the full game. Any flaws then will be exagerated by the press and therefore contribute to the image the game has for new players.

They would have to make it very clear what their plans for the first two years are in terms of continued development.

Sadly we cant count on the big game review sites cause they shit on most games that arent COD.

[Sturmhardt]

Originally Posted by Malorn

Players have already formed opinions and I know many players who want to be able to use SC and not have character wipes. That is effectively what release means for this game. I think those two things will bring back many players. Aside from the occasional hiccup the game has been quite smooth for a long time.

March would be too late IMO as by then there would be many fatigued players who want to not unlock the same certs and just pay money for the guns. The release date seems good as it is right before holidays when gamers typically have a lot more free time. If it didnt launch then we'd see a player drop during this time. Instead I think we'll see a big increase.

There are a few critical things to fix that I believe can be done by 11/20. The rest...is after. Continents take time and will be ongoing (keynote confirmed 3 more). Balance will be ongoing forever. If they waited til it was perfect it would never ship.

They should call it open beta then, otherwise people would believe to play a finished game. It would make the whole community more forgiving if stuff goes wrong and lower the expectations and cut the devs the slack they need to get the game going.

[LONGFELLA KOJ]

This game is not really where I thought it needed to be to be released. From the choppy mechanics to the map just flat out sucking and the huge list of other stuff. No mine fields? No spitfire turrets? How much drastic change can they do to the code once the full game is released?

It hardly has all those things they said will make it feel more "Planetside like" once implemented. Right now, we are playing BattleField with Planetside skins and a microtransaction store.

I'm not trying to be negative here, but I am genuinely disappointed. I was one of those people who kept playing being told the Planetside stuff was coming. Ah well. At least PS1 will be free. Free for as long as I can handle having NC scat MAXS fly around the sky using the pull hack.

[berzerkerking]

Originally Posted by Tamas

Sounds to me like the investors said the final word... I doubt the Devs are happy with the release date, but it's not their call.

Having said that, I really hope they don't screw up. Things like changing mechanics post launch can have dire consequences (SW Galaxies example). If we see that current system is not working out (for example resource system and territory hold are no where near where it should be) they will be forced to change things for better or worse.

Many of the game devs/publishers get away saying they will add stuff later. For some games it works out, for others it's a death sentence. I hope it's not the latter one as I'm looking for a game that PS2 should/could have been and there is nothing else on the horizon. It's not all that bad, but a bit disappointing in terms of mechanics and features.

Food for thought - it's F2P, so if me or other people think it still needs more work on, we can actually play next year March-July when we feel the game is where it should be, of course I would guess most of us will play it and simply "bitch" on the forums - experience shows this is the most likely scenario.

On a side note -
Feels similar to MWO - yeah bought Legendary founder, tested Beta - yeah an "ok" mech shooter, but it's just the biscuit with nothing else - where's the cream, frosting - just everything else - kinda tasteless...

I agree. I'll pump money into cosmetic and hope it helps them stay afloat long enough to fix this

[Taru]

I also think that it is being released too soon, but SoE is probably at the point where they need to start making money off the game. As a positive note, no more character wipes is sure to go over well with the community.

If the devs continue to proactive approach of refining the game after launch, I will be happy to throw money at them to help improve the game even more. If development goes the way Planetside 1 did, SoE won't see much of my money.

[AThreatToYou]

Originally Posted by Malorn

Players have already formed opinions and I know many players who want to be able to use SC and not have character wipes. That is effectively what release means for this game. I think those two things will bring back many players. Aside from the occasional hiccup the game has been quite smooth for a long time.

March would be too late IMO as by then there would be many fatigued players who want to not unlock the same certs and just pay money for the guns. The release date seems good as it is right before holidays when gamers typically have a lot more free time. If it didnt launch then we'd see a player drop during this time. Instead I think we'll see a big increase.

There are a few critical things to fix that I believe can be done by 11/20. The rest...is after. Continents take time and will be ongoing (keynote confirmed 3 more). Balance will be ongoing forever. If they waited til it was perfect it would never ship.

So the real question I would ask is - what do you think is ship critical that you fear wont be ready by 11/20?

Heavy Assault weaponry.

We have no Striker, no Lancer, no Phoenix, and these JHs, Lashers, and MCGs are a motherfukkin' joke.

[SturmovikDrakon]

I think so, yes

I'm just afraid that this close to launch there will be no more experimentation

Things like base layout (which they are set on not even touching), animations and all that

[Oryon22]

Too early. I think with the way things are and the lack of things implemented thus far, its a Q1 2013 game.

[Toppopia]

They could always say its open beta. Then release later. But i think this is being released too early. Unless the devs have some features already complete, like the metagame and such.

[Crator]

Originally Posted by james

I think so, but i think its a problem of delays, and the current state of the parent company Sony. I really hope it doesn't flop and then the studio gets canned. The rate sony is going best case there gaming division gets sold.

Nah, they'll just fire Smed. Might be good too. Don't forget though, they are also currently working on EQ Next. If you remember, or didn't know, PS1 was released a year before EQ 2. Now the same thing is happening again...

[Pyreal]

Originally Posted by Crator

Nah, they'll just fire Smed. Might be good too. Don't forget though, they are also currently working on EQ Next. If you remember, or didn't know, PS1 was released a year before EQ 2. Now the same thing is happening again...

What, get this game out the door and ship the Devs off to work on EQ Next?