State of PlanetSide

Hamma · 2003-07-08, 05:35 PM

So, after almost 2 months, how do you think PlanetSide is going? Think it will stick around, or is it going to fail?

Personally I love PS, and I love this community. It's all I've ever wanted in a game. And I plan on sticking around for many moons to come.

But what do you think?

BloodWulfe · 2003-07-08, 05:39 PM

It�s fun. I run the program, jump in-game, and I have a blast. Not everybody is going to enjoy it, especially because it's an MMO game. But me? I love it, and plan to keep playing for a long while.

The community to me seems like an added bonus feature. I'm so used to terrible communities in games, and while PS has it's share of idiots there are a lot of awesome people. I can't recall the number of times I have shared a tell with an enemy complimenting him or having him compliment me. People just seem genuinely nice.

Navaron · 2003-07-08, 05:44 PM

I love the game and it's concept.

The Flight model is bullshit and SJ knows it.

Sometimes the game needs a kick in the ass.

The OF needs to be burnt.

Content needs to be cranked out a bit faster.

I need waaaay more time so I can play more.

I give it a 8/10

The success of this game depends on how much they give you every month for your 13 bucks. Right now, they may be in a bit of trouble, but I think that once they get over the initial release bugs and jitters they'll start pumping stuff out more quickly.

gonnagetyou · 2003-07-08, 05:50 PM

I love the game and I'm confortable with how things are progressing. I've already paid for the year, so I expect to be around for awhile.

There's some good people playing, but I'm picky about who I put on my friends list and there's only about 5 names on there right now. I tend to only squad with people who appear to get into playing and having fun without being jerks or worrying about BEP from one fight to the next.

I have fun every time I play, so that's a successful game in my book.

NoSurrender · 2003-07-08, 05:51 PM

well said navarone i think it needs some tweaking for the vehicles especially the lightning i love the lil bugger but it needs more armor to deserve my 3 cert points(they could just make it 2 pnts)

Big Bro · 2003-07-08, 06:01 PM

PlanetSide is really a great game! I have few issues with the gameplay, and it's an addictive MMOFPS. I love FPS, and I enjoy large communities. The PSU community is by far one of the best I've been involved with. You guys are the best!!

The only negative thing I can say about the actual GAME itself is that there still appears to be minor issues that affect stability. I'm sure they are being worked on. Other than that I'm happy and content with the game and its developers. These guys get a "B+" grade from me.

However the SUPPORT I've personally recieved from SOE concerning the issues I've had are horrific. I have talked with several CSRs, as well as the head CS supervisor. Perhaps I've just had bad luck, but my last two run-ins have been less than helpful. They wasted my time, and referred me to the /bug command when it was well within their power to "fix" the problems I've asked of them. I feel I pay good money not only for a quality game, and additional content, but for world-class customer support. In that sense, they get a big "F" grade in my opinion. I'd give an "F-" if it were on my scale.

I plan on sticking around for quite a while. I'm excited about all the different things they have planned, and I expect that I'll have a great time in the process!

Venoxile · 2003-07-08, 06:51 PM

Well, I hate to be the negative guy, but I guess I always have to be. After about 2 months theres been a huge population drop on the servers which isn't a good sign. I personally think it's a great game, but if you play it too much it gets very very boring. Right now the thing that pisses me off most about the game is the bugs. About every 5th time I log into the game it gives me the "not sending packets to server" error and when i get that error it means that in the next 20 minutes I'm going to have to restart my computer 6-10 times because I will continually get the error about that many times. I also despise the invisible tr with suppressors... About every battle I have with tr on emerald there's 5-10 of those guys. Before they add any new content in, i'd like them to fix all the bugs/server lag. Once that's done, they can add in sanct strikes and if possible, an actual goal to the game. I'm getting bored of taking the same bases over and over again. Sure the battles are fun, and I had the most fun battle i've ever had today. We had 7 1/2 continents as Nc on emerald, and every vanu in the entire server was at one base on amerish. About 600 vanu and about 200 nc rushed at eachother up a mountain between heyoka and (cant remember base name, east of heyoka). Of course we lost, but before we did we killed every one of those guys about 6 times each. We held them off for a good 20 minutes.
Back to my criticism, I think the game really needs a goal, I know the devs are having a very tough time coming up with one that will be good enough to entertain their customers, and I know i can't come up with one either, but planetside is getting very stale (sp?) without a goal. Also after the bugs are fixed, I'd like to see some new weapons as well as vehicles, getting bored of the same stuff. But I can wait, dunno if anyone else can though. I imagine 3 months from now that if they haven't put up a bunch of new content by then we'll have about half the population we have now and about 5 months from now 1/4 of the population we have now. And from then on there won't be any point to the game because no one pays for an mmo game with practically no other players.
Just my 2 cents.

krayons · 2003-07-08, 06:55 PM

I like it great game I give 8/10 still lots that need work, but not to the poiunt to leave. community is great overall. psu> than ps forum. too many whinnners lol

1024 · 2003-07-08, 07:07 PM

It's my favorite game. Ever. E-V-E-R.

MrVulcan · 2003-07-08, 07:23 PM

A Vulcan's Thoughts....

I do enjoy this game, and do plan on playing for a very long time to come.

I feel that the people at SOE are trying to create a better and better game and working hard to do so, however these are the issues that I currently see as well as the current situation of these issues, as well as my thoughts on the matters at hand:

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Issue: This game will succede only if they can keep many people playing in game.

Current: The current population in the game is just at playable levels, it can take a couple hours to find a good fight, if too many more people leave they will have real issues in keeping the rest in game
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Issue: Content must be devoloped at a pace that keeps things new and exciting to the people

Current: They are adding small fixes and minor content, this will not be enough to keep the formentioned pop level in game, IMO they should be adding new base defences (all of them) by the end of next week, the lodestar by the end of this week, and several bug fixes over the next month (as they fix them)

Note: This is not an unrealistic expectiation, several things like new vechs, or a forcefield door on the base do not take much time to create (I have modded several games): take the bomber, you could take the weapon rules from the reaver and combine them with the gal's rules for passangers and rear gunner, add a new assoiation model, change some basic stats for weapons dmg, and youve got the bomber (for a teem, I would think, 2 days work to create the bomber that is in game now). The base forcefield could be a copy of the code from the NC Max's shield, just change the battery of it to be more, and add it to the location of the door on the base and your done (about 2-3 days work for a teem for adding them to all main doors to all bases)
Is this and unrealistic time period for these additions, no I do not belive so. Much of the code can be cut and pasted into different areas of the game, and many people working on different parts of it can have it done very quickly. I do not see why it is taking them this long for basic features. (I am sure they are working on things very hard, but I still belive that if they were to focus their efforts to improving the game they could do so very quickly. I see no acceptable reason for the time it is taking them to do these things)
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Issue: Bugs are still running rampent throughout the game and many of their patches seem to be quick fixes that work around the issue insted of thrying to resolve it

Current: They have set up a test server set up to try and catch more new bugs in their code

Note: I belive that much of their new code is garbage code, they are not looking over it, nor are they running programs to test how that code will run with different aspects of the game on interaction with different events. This is something that you can do, sure you have to write a new program that takes and combines things and sees the resulting code run, however many gaming companies do this already and have proven that these programs do work I see no reason that the teem should not create one for their use (may take a couple of weeks to create)
Also, being a programer, I do not understand how so many problems are created in several of the new patches, the only thing I can see is that the programers are doing a slopy job of going over code interactions and QA is doing a slopy job of testing those code interations.
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Issue: Servers being unable to keep up with load

Current: Attempting to make their net code better

Note: With the formentioned population problems, I belive that they could merge the 2 east servers into 1 and the 2 west servers into 1, tie the power of 2 servers to take the load of 1 cont insted of the current 1 server per cont that it is right now. This would let 2 servers keep up with the game flow when the cont is pop locked, and help solve the formentioned server pop issues. I do realise that merging them would create issues with names, outfits, etc, however I belive that they could find a solution to that, even if it were as simple as keeping the 2 databases seperate and loging the names/outfits/etc at the same time from the 2 sets (thus you can not have 2 MrVulcans in the server since it is really 2 database sets East1 and East2)
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Final thoughts:
If they keep up their current rate of fixes, additions, etc, I see the population hitting below critical levels in 3 months and closing doors in 6.
I belive that this is a great game, and I know I will be there till the end, however I also belive that if they do not bump it up a notch or 3 they will lose people right and left.
It is already becoming a problem and it will only get worse if they do not start showing more results.
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These are my thoughts on the matter anyway.... well back to the game

Agathon · 2003-07-08, 07:31 PM

Hello,

I love it. The game will be successful if they fix the problems. A major cool thing about this game is that people like my wife can play it and still enjoy themselves. Have you ever gone to a LAN party with people who are not good at FPS'ers, and they get frustrated easily due to being slaughtered? Well, PS makes the game enjoyable for all people of all skill levels. My wife used to hate games like CounterStrike and Battlefield: 1942 because she would get killed so easily. With the number of people playing PS and the way the game works, she is able to get decent kills and enjoy herself.

8-)

Jakal · 2003-07-08, 08:09 PM

I think that if Sony can get the game stable and add some new content then they will probably get a large influx of new players. Many ppl are interested in ps (many of my friends and myself) but wont buy it untill the game is stable and there is new content. You have to pay for monthly fees even if the game is buggy and boring. I for one am not willing to shell out cash for something that isn't 100%. On a side note though i really do want PS to suceed its an innovative concept that will work if they can make it stable.

Frozen-Monkey · 2003-07-08, 08:25 PM

if they continue to add more things, ill stay but if i cant get my comp working then im gone

Prose · 2003-07-08, 08:36 PM

I participated in BETA and enjoyed the experience tremendously. Although I have not yet purchased the retail version (I always give MMO's a month or so to work out the bugs) I plan on picking it up sometime later this week. I love the concept and gameplay provided in PlanetSide, and I really do hope that things get worked out and the server populations pick back up. This game is tremendously dependant on how many people are playing. I think that an answer to that problem may be locking down some of the continents so that players are all forced into more battles and more action.
Its a crucial time for the game right now. The server populations above all are going to exponentially determine the outcome of this game. I myself plan to support it to its demise. Lets hope it doesnt turn out that way.

DarthMidget · 2003-07-08, 11:32 PM

I think a big reason for the server decrease was due to Star Wars Galaxies being released. However, I believe that once the hype from SWG fades many players will start spending more time in PS.

I am very happy with PS, just recently having gotten back into the game after a month long break. I think the Liberator and the Skyguard add new and interesting elements to the game without becoming all inclusive. Sure, there are alot of Libs now, but we all know that number will decrease once the 'newness' is gone. I for one see very few Skyguards, but I love mine & wouldn't trade it for anything.

I believe that PS will live and die by the increase of content. If they add lots of new stuff every month then people will have a reason to play PS over Bf1942, CS, etc. If they don't then the consumer would be better off playing something free than paying for a game that is supposed to be updated, but isn't.

I personally hope PS is one of the more successful games, because I enjoy it greatly.