PS Next: Wishlist

[Bags]

I love kaffis; he says what I'm thinking a lot better than I could.

[Baneblade]

Originally Posted by kaffis

The first question to ask is "is this needed?"

Do we need vehicles? No.

Do we need guns? No.

Do we need battle ranks? No.

Do we need command ranks? No.

Do we need outfits? No.

Do we need platoons and squads? No.

Do we need chat? No.

Do we need statistics? No.

Do we need armor? No.

Do we need third person? No.

Do we need three empires? No.

Do we need PlanetSide? No.

Do we need hot lesbian orgies? No.

But you know what? I WANT some of that shit!

[Tikuto]

Originally Posted by Sobekeus

But you know what? I WANT some of that shit!

Exactly how I feel about Empire Strike Abilities.

[Aractain]

The first question you ask should be "Does it add something useful to the game".

That means, does it add significant gameplay benifit. Does it deepen tactics, improve somebodys options, does it add fun?

Planetside is not Planetside. The version avalible today is nothing like the original and the original was broken.

Planetside IMO is a medium paced (between Battlefield/COD and Arma2/Battleground Europe) First Person (that means you play a single character from thier perspective not from FP view) Wargame with a massive scale.

There isn't really anything special about it. Its just that the vast majority of players never played a first person wargame before, and never on this scale.

[kaffis]

Thank you, Aractain. It seems you interpreted the spirit of my phrasing better than Sobekus. I concede that "Does it add something useful to the game?" is a more precise definition of the criteria I was going for than "Is it needed?"

[Tikuto]

"Is it not needed?"

[Baneblade]

Originally Posted by kaffis

Thank you, Aractain. It seems you interpreted the spirit of my phrasing better than Sobekus. I concede that "Does it add something useful to the game?" is a more precise definition of the criteria I was going for than "Is it needed?"

I could do the same thing for that too lol.

[Rbstr]

Originally Posted by kaffis

Thank you, Aractain. It seems you interpreted the spirit of my phrasing better than Sobekus. I concede that "Does it add something useful to the game?" is a more precise definition of the criteria I was going for than "Is it needed?"

There are lots of things that are useful yet unwanted or unneeded. I Think what you're looking for is "Do it make things more fun for the average player"

Where average player is certainly not exclusive to "average person still playing planetside". If you want a game that is going to have renewed appeal instead of being fan-wank.

[Traak]

Here's how to broaden appeal: crucify hackers publicly and immediately.

[MooK]

Storyline. Storyline, storyline, storyline. I want to learn as I play. How did this madness come to be? Why are we fighting? What's in store for our empires as we strive for complete and utter dominance? I want to learn and adapt the history of the character that I control as I play. Something that Planetside had was an amazing back story, but there was complete failure in expanding upon it. The developers of this new Planetside will need to go back to the original concepts, before new developer teams got their hand on it, and work upon what was already there. Luckily, the gameplay, and the comradery were able to make Planetside the best multiplayer game I've ever played. They're going to have to do better this time, though.

Dynamic and persistent world. In the first year of Planetside, which was by far the best year of Planetside, we were introduced and plunged into massive battles with hundreds of players over an immersive and massive landscape (MMO: Massive Multiplayer -> that means A LOT of people.) I believe the landscape should change depending upon whether or not battle is being fought. After hours of war, the ground should be drenched in blood and destruction. Bases should be destructable, and require maintainence and power to remain stable. I believe I recall a website (though I do not have a link,) which provided a continous demonstration of how amazing Planetside could look given night-time gameplay. I completely agreed then, and I do so now. Auraxis should function much like any planet might. If it can sustain life, it should be able to show it aesthetically. Weather was amazing, and it added a lot of unique gameplay. Bridge battles that lasted hours, complimented by intense storms made the atmosphere of the game unbelievably immersive. It was fantastic. It was completely unnecessary to give up on the weather system.

Go easy on balancing, and listen less to complaints. People, when frustrated, will complain about anything. The problem is, their voice is much louder than those who do not complain. Many times, in Planetside, these complaints would trigger balancing by the developers, which would cause a lot more strife. Keep it simple, and don't play into complaints too easily.

Introduce content, over time, that gives us a reason to feel that updates are important. If it's a good idea, introduce it slowly, and with precision. Complete it before introducing it. Do not update the game if it isn't going to be extensively tested. That code should be a month old before we get it. Certainly do not give us updates like the Oshur destruction, which as far as I can remember, really upset the community.

Incorporate your updates into the storyline. Let's say the first week, the Terran Republic develop and release advanced weapon modifications (like silencers, or flashlights, etc.) to their soldiers. In week 2, the New Conglomerate and Vanu Sovereignty intercept communications and develop their own weapon modifications based upon Terran Republic technology. Sure, the TR might have an edge for a few weeks, but something like that would build upon the existing storyline and introduce unique gameplay (I don't mind being an underdog if it's really played well.) Speaking of, Espionage would be a cool addition to the game.

Complete removal of core combat and post-core combat modifications to the game. Modules and CTF were terrible ideas. I'm sorry, but they completely destroyed the need for an intelligent and cohesive army with intelligent commanders. Order defenses? Nah, we have some mystical shield and pain fields. Covert operations? Yeah right! In the early days of Planetside, we actually had to know something about encouraging and leading people into battle. It was intense.

While the vehicle additions were an interesting concept, they were poorly implemented and did not match the style of the game. Giant robots? You can't be serious. There is no need for multiple deliverers, or a disgusting vehicle transport that looks like a box. Originality, not cheap imitation is the goal here. Innovate.

Keep your developers. Something that plagued Planetside, was that it seemed like every quarter a new set of developers were there, with new ideas and less original concept. It might have been just me, but it seemed as time went by the original Planetside was skewed and shaped into a former shadow of what it was. You have to realize, in the past years people have been imagining their own version of Planetside, emphasizing the good, and ignoring the bad. You have a lot of expectations to meet.

Just because it doesn't provide action all-the-time, does not mean it's useless and it certainly does not mean it has no place in Planetside. Non-combat support was the heart of our armies. Without contant maintenance of our troops, we would scatter and disolve. Making vehicle production faster, or introducing fast-action is not going to fit in with Planetside. On that note, the sanctuary is important. It is useful. If we have no place to call home, we have nothing to fight for. Introduce sanctuary raids. Give us rewards for locking Auraxis. When Trigganator made use of the sanctuary on Emerald to gather our forces into massive raids, it felt like we were a part of something huge. We fought much harder, and had a lot more fun. Even when Pedro (I think) took over, it didn't matter who lead us, so long as we were actively doing our best to secure our place on the map. Even though it didn't start with a raid, do you think NC could have locked Auraxis on Emerald during massive population without organizing and calculating? It's not always about the action. There's a lot more to it.

There's probably a hundred additional things I could say, but I've written enough. Even with all of it's faults, and there were a lot, Planetside remains to this day my absolute favorite multiplayer experienc (and it certainly was not my first MMO experience.) I don't play today to preserve my memories of what once was, which says something about how it has evolved.

Fake edit: KEEP THE MUSIC.

[Tikuto]

http://www.planetside-universe.com/f...946#post557946

[Teek]

Here's a few ideas:

1. Base variety: no more cookie cutter bases that just swap out roles (well, we can still have them, but not exclusively them.) Why not have bases next to the warp points that act more like fortresses, with large defensive perimeters, lots of turrets, and bunkers. Attacking islands, cutting of enemy supply lines, or just kicking enemies off of continents should be hard, but rewarding. Other bases would be smaller, more open to emphasize vehicle combat.

2. Capital cities: rather than just have a capital base with a forcefield, have a capital city. It's larger, and not necessarily one empire defending the base and one attacking it. One thing I liked about caves in Core Combat was that by having a space where vehicle combat didn't have a huge impact, and spawns were close together, you could have some really fun infantry battles in close quarters. Only thing was, caves were confusing, out of the way, and generally empty. But a capital city is at the center of a continent, has several districts, and emphasizes infantry and maybe light vehicles over all else.

3. Weapon balance: I might catch heat for this, but I was never a huge fan of how PS did weapons/armor. I didn't like that only Vanu had maxes that could jump, or how NC had the only good shotgun, or TR had the only machine gun. Also, Vanu had crazy ass weapons that always were pretty broken (from what I remember, anyway.) I think every empire should have access to, a heavier machine gun or a jump-capable suit, as well as improved standard pool weapons. In turn, empire weapons and armor can be further specialized, say by making VS maxes a bit stronger at jumping and fighting, and giving TR the best machine gun. Other weapons, like the empire rifles, could be further specialized (NC to have a semi-auto rifle, for example.)

4. New vehicles/vehicle changes: throw out the ancient tech, and bring in some new or redesigned vehicles. Ground transports always seemed to get outshone, so maybe make them a bit more useful. Nerf tanks a bit, maybe, make it so that single-pilot ships aren't used just to get around. I'd like to see some new artillery, maybe a light dropship, a precision strike fighter-bomber, a better galaxy gunship, etc. Also, redesign the Lodestar, I love the idea, but that thing is ugly as shit.

5. New gadgets: placeable shields, mortars, placeable machine gun nests or manned turrets, better use of the laser target-designator, supply stations, etc. I want a lot of this to emphasize defense, making it more enjoyable and easier, as well as trying to make the game a bit more strategic.

6. Refine the general empire design: I love the three themes, but make them a bit more distinct. Make NC look a bit more rugged and guerilla, make the TR seem more imposing, and make the Vanu a LOT more sci-fi. My dream designs (not saying this is how it should be, but it's how I would do it) would be like Imperial Guard from WH40K (somewhere betwen Cadian and Catachan) for NC, the Helghast from Killzone (or Krieg from 40k again...) for TR, and crazy japanese sci-fi for Vanu (you'll hate the comparison, but maybe from Final Fan... I can't say it.) Because no offense to the designers of the last PS, but character design always felt a little bland. Now that we have more graphics power for the game, we should put it to good use.


There are plenty of other changes we can make too. Down the Sight shooting is a possibility, and I do like that style of fps sometimes, but it depends on how the controls of the game feel and how well the network works. That type of sighting would have been terrible for PS1, because it really feels lag (ask a lot of people who play Black Ops, it can get frustrating when you aim at someone and bullets don't hit.)

I feel we could maybe restructure how combat on continents work. Maybe make it so that we use space more effectively, or that they are not as large. Or we could get rid of the networked style of attack/defense and make it so that you can maneuver around enemies more, but with certain problems. Maybe improve base defense more, or make it easier to detect large troop movements.

[KayOneElRoy]

Originally Posted by Sobekeus

Do we need hot lesbian orgies? No.

Yes

Back on topic I want the original music back (and written by Don Ferrone again). I would also love to see empire specific propaganda blasted from tv's/speakers in empire bases to get me in the mood to support my empire and hate the others. Similar to the beginning of half life 2 in city 17. It would add to the story.

[Hamma]

Didn't there used to be something like that on the TV's in game? Or am I imagining that.

[Baneblade]

My next item: No pilot bailing of any kind without a special gimped pistol only flight suit (comes with a parachute).