News: SOE Announces Partnership with MLG

[kidriot]

I believe you are all shortsighted.

MLG will be a good thing for Planetside 2. Why?

Because it will give it a face, or faces that people can recognize with the game. As it currently stands we have very few characters that stand out - only outfits. I see Planetside 2 as more than a game that is epic or massive or numbers based - I see it as a competitive, team oriented, highly rewarding game.

I plan to form a team for MLG pending the full details and I'm going to tell you why and what I believe the rules for MLG should be regarding PS2.

The competition should be two teams from whichever faction and the max amount of people is a full squad. You can even make it 10v10, but 12v12 allows commentators to talk about the squad dynamic and how it fits into the bigger picture of Planetside 2. It also allows commentators to make notes of the different features of each respective faction and outfit in a way that adds drama and that's the key to making Planetside 2 successful in MLG: drama.

I don't mean the kind of "he said she said" drama I mean the kind of drama that has you biting your nails as people make clutch moves and saves or a risky tactic working out. The kind of drama that makes you want to watch more. Planetside 2 MLG can achieve this by 12v12 play over a redesigned base.

I envision 2 hard spawns apart from the center and at the center you have an LLU (or flag, or whatever) that functions like the old LLU did in Planetside 1 - meaning you can't drive and it slows you and whatever vehicle you're in. Points are rewarded for ownership and bonus points are rewarded if you can plant it in your home turfs LLU capture point. So envision a large X and each corner represents spawn, capture point and the center of the X is the starting spawn for the LLU. Add in natural features, buildings or whatever and you can even reskin it so that each "map" represents one of the existing continents. This also allows commentators to make notes to new viewers about the different continents available in game. Basically everything you add in the competition you want to tie into the real game somehow so that people get educated on the game and you get new players. A win for MLG and a win for SOE.

Why 12v12 and not outfit vs outfit? Because outfits are faceless. Sure you can say, "Representing the New Conglomerate you have Hostile Takeover and representing the Vanu Sovereignty you have Future Crew" but those are just words. You want characters you want personalities that the viewers can relate to that way you make it that much more exciting to watch.

12v12 represents the basic organizational unit in Planetside 2: the squad. Squads as you all know make up Platoons and if your outfit is big enough, multiple platoons make up your outfit. 12v12 leaves enough room for multi vehicle warfare, infantry combat and all kinds of possibilities to show off what Planetside 2 has to offer: competitive, team oriented and highly rewarding gameplay. See what I did there? You don't need massive numbers in an orgy of explosions. That would be hell for commentators to describe and make intelligible to new viewers.

12v12 gives you everything Planetside 2 has to offer and it makes it watchable. It also makes it somewhat easier on staffing to have 24 computers instead of the bigger numbers.

You want only squad vs squad because you don't want to run into situations where 2 squads (teams) gang up on the third to take advantage of something. That makes it uninteresting. You can even use sports analogies to describe the various positions people would take in a straight up 12v12 slugfest.

As you can tell I'm very excited at the idea of MLG taking PS2 to Dallas and I for one plan to be a part of it. Here's hoping that they do make it squad vs squad and not some insane faceless zergfest.

I know we all have different ideas on what makes Planetside 2 tick, but for me and my outfit (if you know our Planetside 1 history) the small squad stuff has always been the highlight of my time playing the game.

I invite you to disagree with me so I can prove to you how I'm right.

[Sturmhardt]

If you wanna play 12v12, why don't you guys play BF3? It offers pretty much the same as PS2 on that level and already has the competitive shit established. Just asking, because I don't think it makes much sense to size PS2 down.

[bpostal]

Originally Posted by kidriot

I believe you are all shortsighted.

MLG will be a good thing for Planetside 2. Why?

Because it will give it a face, or faces that people can recognize with the game...

There is a reason for that. It's because in the grand scheme of things you're not important. This may be a shock but it's okay. I'm not important either. None of us here are important because the game is bigger than that. It's bigger than your team, it's bigger than my outfit, it's bigger than AT or even The Enclave.

To pull off eSports on the kind of scale that this game requires something bigger than anything currently out there. I'm not a large follower of eSports but I doubt that there's anything even remotely close to the scale of PS2. To show off this game competitively would require thousands of people. Even if you did this with the larger outfits on the 100s vs. 100s vs. 100s level you can only begin to touch the game at a strategic level. Using arbitrary win conditions such as 'First one to get Zero based loses' or 'triple cap' could still take days or weeks to conclude. You couldn't do that live and sustain any kind of excitement. Anything less, however would be doing a major disservice to the game. You just can't shrink this game to squad or platoon level and still come out with a Planetside game. It just doesn't work.

The drama you speak of, nail biting and adrenaline pumping shit...we don't have that like we did with Planetside. That game allowed for last stands that only concluded when every single person was killed, PS2 doesn't have that and eSports isn't going to magically create it.

[kidriot]

Originally Posted by Sturmhardt

If you wanna play 12v12, why don't you guys play BF3? It offers pretty much the same as PS2 on that level and already has the competitive shit established. Just asking, because I don't think it makes much sense to size PS2 down.

Unless you are in one of those outfits who's orders are on the magnitude of, "Platoon 1 go there, Platoon 2 go here" then you'd understand that Planetside 2 works on every level of size. From Enemies Detected to red alerts, PS2 is always itself.

BF3 doesn't offer the level of mixed arms coordination that Planetside 2 offers. The only thing BF3 has on PS2 is destructive environments and more claustrophobic maps.

[kidriot]

Originally Posted by bpostal

There is a reason for that. It's because in the grand scheme of things you're not important. This may be a shock but it's okay. I'm not important either. None of us here are important because the game is bigger than that. It's bigger than your team, it's bigger than my outfit, it's bigger than AT or even The Enclave.

To pull off eSports on the kind of scale that this game requires something bigger than anything currently out there. I'm not a large follower of eSports but I doubt that there's anything even remotely close to the scale of PS2. To show off this game competitively would require thousands of people. Even if you did this with the larger outfits on the 100s vs. 100s vs. 100s level you can only begin to touch the game at a strategic level. Using arbitrary win conditions such as 'First one to get Zero based loses' or 'triple cap' could still take days or weeks to conclude. You couldn't do that live and sustain any kind of excitement. Anything less, however would be doing a major disservice to the game. You just can't shrink this game to squad or platoon level and still come out with a Planetside game. It just doesn't work.

The drama you speak of, nail biting and adrenaline pumping shit...we don't have that like we did with Planetside. That game allowed for last stands that only concluded when every single person was killed, PS2 doesn't have that and eSports isn't going to magically create it.

It's not about me or my outfit being important it's about making the people competing at MLG important.

Have you ever fought in an orange (platoon) or smaller alert? They are pitched battles where every kill matters and pushing forward as a small unit, using cover to revive & rearm and having armor or air suppress the enemy units is very exciting and very fun. The level of talent and superior decision making becomes very apparent when you sweep a larger (yet smaller than red alert) sized force with your even smaller force.

Strategy happens far less then you'd think in Planetside 2, even during the UES anything and outfits working together nothing came to full fruition because of lag. I know on some servers people were organized but nothing was truly tested because of the lag issues which is why I believe smaller unit battles can really shine in a MLG setting.

Where is MLG going to make room for 300 people for one game at their events? You need somebody to represent whatever outfit/squad you belong to unless they reorganize how they display events, which to be honest, I'm curious to see what happens.

[Pella]

As the guy said above. BF3 was a prime example of how 12v12 should be played. But again it was far from exciting to watch. Hence why no one is playing it competitively these days.

If it was Pure infantry fights, They may have a shot. But when you throw Tanks and ESFs into the mix. It becomes imbalanced. And fucking boreing. And require absolutely zero skill.

[bpostal]

Originally Posted by kidriot

It's not about me or my outfit being important it's about making the people competing at MLG important.

Have you ever fought in an orange (platoon) or smaller alert? They are pitched battles where every kill matters and pushing forward as a small unit, using cover to revive & rearm and having armor or air suppress the enemy units is very exciting and very fun. The level of talent and superior decision making becomes very apparent when you sweep a larger (yet smaller than red alert) sized force with your even smaller force.

Strategy happens far less then you'd think in Planetside 2, even during the UES anything and outfits working together nothing came to full fruition because of lag. I know on some servers people were organized but nothing was truly tested because of the lag issues which is why I believe smaller unit battles can really shine in a MLG setting.

Where is MLG going to make room for 300 people for one game at their events? You need somebody to represent whatever outfit/squad you belong to unless they reorganize how they display events, which to be honest, I'm curious to see what happens.

You can't just boil the game down into platoon on platoon combat though. It is, in effect, taking the massive out of Planetside. Separate small skirmishes is the complete opposite of what this game is about.

[p0intman]

high risk resecures were my absolute favorite thing in ps2, but putting it in an instance where a map does not effect things takes a lot of the fun out of it. i loved knowing that my actions to resecure a base from an orange or red alert did something meaningful for the battlefield that affected others both on my side and on the other side.

sorry, i dont buy that this outfit tourney/esports crap is like resecuring an orange alert. it isn't. its nothing like that. its simply putting bf3/cod/cs/moh into the game every few months. its kind of mildly insulting to suggest that resecure teams were akin to outfit tourneys and esports. kindly fuck off with that suggestion.

[Vashyo]

I hope this idea dies, unless it's extremely easy to implement.

MLG just creates elitist ****** in my opinion and it only affects tiny TINY portion of the whole playerbase.

I'd prefer if SOE spent their time adding more content or even better, adding depth to the gameplay instead.

[p0intman]

Btw: For the third day in a row, outfit tournaments have a negative rating on the roadmap forum, having gone from -60 on the 25th, to -70 on the 26th, and ending today at -83.

How long will it be before the idiots give up on this idea of it being popular? it is, at best, telling that it is unwelcomed and at worst, considered a joke considering the amount of people that care to vote on it.

even if you treat it as a sample, there are more people that dislike it than welcome it.

[Scourge]

The MLG announcement left a very bad taste in my mouth, because as it stands, Planetside 2 is less competitive then Checkers. Skill and coordination almost never have any effect on the map.

People who talk about how Planetside 2 lacks strategic depth don't seem to notice that it lacks almost ANY depth. Terrible maps, terrible capture mechanics, and a terrible class system stifle almost all really compelling tactics. Very rarely can skills, squad coordination, or creative play overcome more players spawning faster. Why would anyone want to watch a game with such a dull meta?

The MLG announcement suggested to me that SOE thought that their game was really competitive. It seems as if they think that much of their game is a work in progress, but the competitive side of it is done. The reality is that the competitiveness of the game is the single problem that needs the most work. I didn't see ANYTHING in the six month plan that suggested that they thought this was an issue.

Every single small competitive Outfit from PS1 that I have contact with has quit. But I have gritted my teeth and told myself that it would get better. That some day, Planetside 2 would be a game that had an interesting competitive side to it. And then after reaching that point, we would talk of having some sort of Outfit Wars. After seeing the MLG announcement, and reading the six month plan, I have never had less hope for this game.

[Bunk]

I fail to see how MLG would be a bad thing for PS2. As it stands it won't really change the way we play the game.

SOE won't step down from the road map.

[Hamma]

I'm having trouble finding how this will be bad for regular day to day players as well.

Originally Posted by p0intman

Btw: For the third day in a row, outfit tournaments have a negative rating on the roadmap forum, having gone from -60 on the 25th, to -70 on the 26th, and ending today at -83.

How long will it be before the idiots give up on this idea of it being popular? it is, at best, telling that it is unwelcomed and at worst, considered a joke considering the amount of people that care to vote on it.

even if you treat it as a sample, there are more people that dislike it than welcome it.

I'm sure since they committed to a relationship with MLG they will just call it off because of the roadmap votes. This is one thing that isn't going anywhere.

[MrBloodworth]

I think there is way to much confusion as to what they have in mind to even give an opinion at this point. Even if I have given my knee jerk reaction already.

The idea was toyed with in PS1, it never went anywhere.

Until this topic is more than "Hay, we think we like pie. Vote: Yes/No" Ill hold off.

[p0intman]

Originally Posted by Hamma

I'm having trouble finding how this will be bad for regular day to day players as well.



I'm sure since they committed to a relationship with MLG they will just call it off because of the roadmap votes. This is one thing that isn't going anywhere.

Just like they committed to BFRs. We both know where that went.