I have to admit, for the very first time I am extremely bored, so little to do.

Valcron · 2003-07-02, 10:43 AM

As I wandered around last night I got into some heavy thinking. The game design/system isn't the problem, it's the fact that there isn't really anyhing else to do or see. To me, sometimes it's the little things that really attract me to a particular game, the atmosphere, the landscapes and other odds and ends.

For instance, what essentially irks me are the sanctuaries. There's no resmblence that this is your home. All it is are some bland buildings thrown together for your vehicles, HART, training, and respawn. There isn't anything that shows off your empire. No overly disgusting propaganda, no buildings that represent govermental ownership, nothing.

Then we have continents, with bases on them, nothing else. Where is anything that even remotely represented a war in the past? No destroyed buildings, no burnt out towers, no craters from bomb shellings, nothing. It's all perfectly flat land. Even in EQ there were ruins from past empires, destroyed buildings, decayed wood, etc. I can't quite understand what their initial goals were, to me the only thing they concentrated on were "How many players can we get into one area without choking systems." Which is actually understandable.

Aside from the things I said, they need to improve on the things you can do, I understand now they're enhancing defense, but there is more that needs to be done. The original idea of empire missions was really fantastic, I wish it were in. It would be great to goto your empire headquarters, receive a mission from an NPC and wham you start it. Even something as simple as, "Escort A general from one warpgate to another, his safety is crucial as he is your top commander of X empire".

Lastly, it took me 2 years to finally get bored of Everquest. A month and a half for Planetside, that worries me. Will there be enough content and changes within the next 3-4 months? Only time will tell, I have ideas and ways to improve the game, lets hope they churn these out as fast as possible.

-Valcron

*EDIT FOR THE ASSHOLES OUT THERE THAT THINK IM COMPARING THIS GAME TO EQ. I'M NOT SO CLEAN THE CRAP OUT OF YOUR EARS*

Fire_Monkey · 2003-07-02, 10:48 AM

What I would suggest would be trying out different positions in PS. Like i was going to be a reinforced with HA and AV and the heavy buggy but then I got an infiltration suit and the game was so much more fun. If the customizability of your characters aren't maxed out, you might not enjoy the game as much.

NightWalker XI · 2003-07-02, 10:51 AM

I am with ya, just this morning I became BR 7 with my new char, and I realised this game only has one thing happening, take a base then take the other oh wait, lets take a tower too....WTF how da hell am I playing this, I usually go for games with depth, well anyway I was bored, I have posted about 20 at elast topics in the wishlsit forum asking for individual looking sanctuaries too.

The thing is, I like PS in some way, and I want it to do well but the devs want to add new stuff instead of fixing the problems

I want damage too, they say it would strain server too much, but if other games can do it so should PS, I mean, they are cheapskates, their forums (Ultimate Bulletin) costs $100, vBulletin (the one PSU uses) is better than that shit, WTF!

You gonna tell me Hamma has a bigger budget than SOE? methinks not....

Also, their staff sucks, the door bug has been reported nearly 3 weeks ago, still not a fix, bastards

Agathon · 2003-07-02, 10:55 AM

Hello,

I understand how you feel, but this game isn't EverQuest. It is a FPS by design, and it is always going to be repetitive. The love of FPS'ers is in the action against other skilled players. If people are not FPS addicts, then they will get bored of PS quickly. It isn't anything against you or anyone else getting bored either. Some people love FPS'ers, and other people get bored of them quickly.

PlanetSide is a FPS, and it will never have the content of other games. What makes it revolutionary has already been said many times and is OFN, but let me just say again that the ability to fight on a large scale, beyond 64 players (which was always a laggy hell anyway if tried for me), and the added skills/command abilities of PS make this game very exciting for me. Time will not change those things.

I'll always enjoy the higher level tactics and team-based play, and PS will remain the best FPS'er out there that I have ever played. Yes, they could add more things, and I know they will. I just doubt the content you are looking for will ever be a priority based on the game model PS was designed around.

Just my thoughts,

Jarlo · 2003-07-02, 10:58 AM

Hamma had a nice line once.. it goes something like this.

Planetside is a FPS-- the content is killing people and blowing shit up.

Go back to EQ Valcron, or be like me and alternate EQ & PS each night. Keeps both things fresh and keeps me hungry to play.

Valcron · 2003-07-02, 11:09 AM

Get the hell off the "Go back to EQ line" I NEVER SAID THIS GAME SHOULD BE LIKE EQ.

I was using a comparison to a specific PART of eq, not the goddamn system.

If you believe that you paying 13 dollars a month for the SAME thing and no improvements, you'll be the only one playing it.

Arakiel · 2003-07-02, 11:18 AM

I'd be thrilled if the lattice didn't divide all fights into either "zerg stuff" or "get zerged." That's what I think is making gameplay static and boring - when they divided the world into 3 one-hop continents for every faction with no 2 continents sharing a sanc link, they made sure to make the combat tedious and repetitive.

If they can get outfit competitions in, we'll see.. as it stands, I'm feeling the boredom vibe already.

Oh, and, hi, Valcron :P

reaver101 · 2003-07-02, 11:20 AM

What I would like to see would be evidence that there had been a civilian population before the war and some evidence that there is actually a war going on. I'm not asking for destrucible enviroments or anything extreme, just like maybe destroyed bridges and craters around bases and such. Another thing would be more scale. Now I realize that this game is marketed as being the largest FPS out there but to me it seems to be stuck in a limbo. In my experience it seems that most of the battles are only about the size of large scale BF1942 battles. While those are very fun I am not paying 13 bucks a month to play BF1942 and can always find a mod if I get bored. PS seems to be just almost like a lot of BF1942 servers stuck together. You go fight for a base, cap it, and move on. While this is engaging for a little while it soon just dissolves into nothing more than a exp zerg. As mentioned ealier maybe missions would be a good idea. You log on, find out what your empire is trying to accomplish, form a squad and then try to help. These missions could last a day or a week, or however long it takes for it to be finally accomplished. These missions could be formed by CR5 characters and it would be up to them to recruit for their own missions. During the mission you would still get all the normal base cap and kill exp but at the end of the mission you would get a big exp bonus based on your participation, like base caps. this bonus could be like 20K or less based on how much you did to help the mission. Anyway thats my 2 cents and I don't think that the mission system would be to hard to implement, im not sure about the new art work. I really think that these missions would add purpose and history to the game. Im mean there is nothing like kicking back in a bar at the redesigned sanct and talking with your outfit about the the Great Solsar Campaign of 2003.

Agathon · 2003-07-02, 11:22 AM

Valcron,

I wasn't being harsh, and I don't think Jarlo was either. It was just a friendly suggestion based on what you said. I think we all agree the bugs, lag, and other issues with PS need to be fixed. We also all know new content will be coming. The changes will come. The game would be worth my 120/year as it is now...

If the lag and bugs were all fixed! hee hee

The developers have a lot of issues to deal with regarding bugs and lag, so just don't expect new content too quickly. They need to make the game stable above all else because they stand to lose more players from bugs and lag than they do lack of content--at the moment at least.

8-)

Protst Patrotsm · 2003-07-02, 12:03 PM

I never played EQ, but I played AC, and the cooelst thing about htta game is that there is just soooo much random shit that doesn't have anything to do with anything else. So people can do around with gigantic clubs with nails in them, or dye clothing, or throw plates at stuff. My favorite was to give monsters XP so they could lvl up and pump their stats. I do think a lot of people fial to realize that this is a FPS, not an RPG. Everytime you get a kill, somebody at heom on their compy gets pissed at you.

Valcron · 2003-07-02, 12:32 PM

I drives me MAD when I mention another game and people say in so many words STFU GO PLAY THAT OTHER GAME.

I am drawing comparisons, that's IT. What even bothers me more is people think you're stupid enough to actually believe Planetside should be like EQ.

Valcron · 2003-07-02, 12:54 PM

Arakiel,

The real issues exist that this soldier is primarily a foot soldier game. Therefore what are the real ways of getting rid of a zerg? They implemented a REALLY, REALLY, long respawn time beta. This was a bad idea, not so much that you have to wait longer, it didn't change the dynamics of the game. In other words, they thought it would reduce zerging, but it couldn't, the system would need to change from the CORE to reduce zerging. You have to zerg to take a tower or base that has enemy forces in it.

For instance, in games like Medal Of honor, Counterstrike, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Americas Army. There is ZERO zerg, because there are map goals and objectives to accomplish. You have to REALLY be skilled as per pixel hit detection exists and aiming your weapon actually matters.

I think the Zerg factor will always exist in some way or another. Unless they change the way you can capture a base or tower. I'd be interested to know if they ever thought about that.

Valcron · 2003-07-02, 01:03 PM

Arakiel,

On outfit competitions. How is this going to make the game exciting? This isn't going to change the boredom of the game's core.

For instance, and YES IM USING EQ AS AN EXAMPLE SO STFU BEFORE YOU SAY ANYTHING.

*AS AN EXAMPLE*, they had these Class competitions a while ago. Best warrior, best necro, etc. Each server competed and the best person from each server competed on the test server to see who the best person was. While this was fun for the moment, it didn't change anything about the way the game was played. Sure you have your little competitions, and go back to what you're doing, and that's playing the game.

ObnoxiousFrog · 2003-07-02, 01:18 PM

Search out the mysterious holes which exist on each continent.

Glaynor · 2003-07-02, 01:26 PM

First off, let me say that I have been dreaming about a game like Planetside for years. When I saw it coming out, I was more excited about this game than any other game ever (and I had Intelivision so that's going back aways).

BUT... what makes a game great is total emersion(sp?) into the world you are playing in. This game doesn't provide that. SOE thought it would be enough to just have different climates and to be honest that is not enough. It would not be difficult to add in a town, or maybe an old burnt out base or tower to fight around. Imagine the possibilities for ambushes and stuff like that.

For example, there could be designated ambush sites (like a small town along a road). If a squad is successfully able to go through the town when there are enemies in that SOI they would get a certain amount of eperience. Likewise for the people who ambush. For the people that the ambushers kill they would get multiplied experience. That would not be difficult to put in but at the same time that would allow for something different to do.

SOE desperately needs to add some character to the game. Right now, that is missing and makes the same ol' same ol capture/defend boring after awhile.

Now, I'm not quitting the game, and I like the potential of the game but potential only goes so far. Hope SOE does the right thing and doesn't sit back on their laurels.