Why was Indar chosen?

[julfo]

Let me start by saying a few things to protect my ass when the flamers arrive.
1) I am not a level designer, nor have I ever been a level designer. I am unlikely to ever be a level designer. Thus, I know nothing about the process of level design; the problems, difficulties and what makes certain aspects easy or hard.
2) I am not complaining. I am simply curious. I have 100% confidence that the devs know what they are doing and I am not professing to know better.
3) I love Indar anyway.
4) I searched for similar topics before posting this.

With that out the way, the reason for my thread: Why did the developers choose Indar as the (at least thus far) "flagship" continent of Planetside 2? We've just seen a screenshot of Esamir and I think the unanimous view is that is is a thing of pristine beauty. In comparison Indar is, in my opinion at least, not as pretty nor as awe inspiring as Esamir, perhaps simply due to the fact that Indar is a desert and, well, deserts are barren wastelands. Usually. Seeing this screenshot of Esamir rekindled my massive excitement for PS2 which died down slightly after the many Soon's and whatever.

So I just wondered why Indar was chosen over Esamir or even Amerish as the main face of Planetside 2 thus far. Was it an easier, less time-consuming continent to create? Or was it simply the fact that the Devs started on Indar first? Do the devs prefer one continent over another?

I can see that maybe Amerish would appear slightly too similar to other current FPS's, such that new players might be turned off and think "ooh this is just another BF3" or whatever. Maybe Indar is the least similar to current games.

What do you guys think? Which continent do YOU prefer?

Edit: It seems some people have missed my point. I wasn't concerned that Indar is barren or w/e. Quite frankly, I don't care whether it is covered in rainbows and lollipops. I was purely wondering why it was Indar specifically that was chosen as the main continent to be shown pre-beta. If it was the first to be developed then I would furthur ask why it was chosen over Esamir or Amerish?

These questions are completely benign!

[BlueSkies]

Erm... the whole cont isn't desert.

You might recall we've seen parts of it that have grass and trees.

[lolroflroflcake]

They flipped a three sided coin, Indar won.

[Hamma]

There are tons of lush areas on Indar we just haven't seen them as often. The devs utilized the area around Zurvan more than anything which is a desert like area. Possibly because it was the first one to be polished I'd assume.

There are areas with rolling green hills and trees as well.

[julfo]

Originally Posted by BlueSkies

Erm... the whole cont isn't desert.

You might recall we've seen parts of it that have grass and trees.

Indeed I do recall. Nevertheless, the main part of the continent, and indeed the part we have seen the most of, is desert. The devs are calling it "the desert continent". The playerbase also. This is what it is known as. Like I said anyway, I wasn't complaining or criticizing.

[Sabot]

It's not the least similar, that's for sure. The last decade have yielded sooo many desert shooters because of the war.... I'd guess it was the first one they started making, so it's the one that's largely finished.

[julfo]

Originally Posted by Sabot

It's not the least similar, that's for sure. The last decade have yielded sooo many desert shooters because of the war.... I'd guess it was the first one they started making, so it's the one that's largely finished.

This is the conclusion I am automatically drawn to as well.

[cHaM]

Because it's probably the continent that is the most complete. You're seeing screenshots from T-Ray of Esamir and Amerish only recently, which means they're still being worked on.

[PvtHazard]

My guess is maybe they started working on Indar first before Amerish or Esamir ,and it's probably the most complete of all the continents as of right now.

[ZaBa]

Esamir is a white barren wasteland with a mountain in it.

[SpcFarlen]

You read from left to right. Indar is on the left. They made Indar first. Seems legit to me.

[GreatMazinkaise]

Indar is The Badlands + Nagrand... not entirely barren desert. Excellent choice of color palette.

[julfo]

Originally Posted by SpcFarlen

You read from left to right. Indar is on the left. They made Indar first. Seems legit to me.

Eh? Why is Indar on the left? E comes before I. Unless I missed your point.

[PrISM]

I was expecting Cyssor to be the only continent with the TR/VS/NC footholds at Wele, Orisha and Leza, respectively.

[Solidblock]

A desert is incredibly barren which leaves the developers with a clean pallet if you like for modding the look and feel of a desert with canyons, lake beds, arches and mild savannah like shrub land. Indar is a continent left to the mercy of the artists, because you can interpret a desert in many different ways, the Sahara, Calahari and Gobi desert are incredibly different to one another and have different features.