Adding "carrots" to PS:N

[Redshift]

Originally Posted by SKYeXile

umm im not expert, but i imagine thats more clientside anyway, yea the server needs to tell you what they're wearing, but it does that in planetside anyway,.

It's not to do with the rendering of anything, its more the extra amounts of data that need to be sent to say what things to render, i imagine it would add up pretty fast in large battles

[morf]

I think for better or for worse, we're going to see some advantages to being a vet and accomplishing stuff in this game. Just about the only tidbit we have about new features of PS:N is this quote from Smed:

Originally Posted by Smed

PSN is a skill based game at it's core. Player skills ( as opposed to character skills) are always going to be the most important. That said we have some cool new things to offer in this department. Not ready to share just yet but we have some cool new things here.

Being that this is just about the only thing they have told us about the difference between PS and PS:N, I'm thinking that this is something key to their strategy. Adding in some incentives will help with retention because it gives us something to strive for. The downside being that a vet would have an advantage over a new player. If this is the case, hopefully it won't be anything game-breaking.

[SKYeXile]

Originally Posted by BorisBlade

Now having looked again. It could work fine if you just basically changed your patterns to things like that but kept your empire colors. I do like that, it would work perfectly.

Well yea, perhaps the red on those needs to be abit more standout, but i think camo could work, and since i still expect PSN to be unlike a tactical shooter, i thinik we will see big red names over everybody still, and the avatars wont quite blend with their suroundings like in COD or something. Really jsut replacing the armours secondary colour(black, yellow, teal) with camo.

Plus, i think the camos should be unlocked...just so we get to see green people running around in the snow.

[DviddLeff]

Straight copy n paste from my Goals page of the upgrade project. I added a few things regarding merits and more of a description at the start following reading this thread.

Planetside has always been lacking in long term goals, short term it does very well, and mid term to a degree, but long term goals are missing, something which many have seen as a major flaw in the game and reduces the length of time players will stick with any game, not just PS. I have also seen people complain that there is a lack of a win condition, which seems silly to me as once you capture a tower, facility or continent I class that as a win, but there is no end game, no final victory as there is in World War II Online where the map resets.

Now over the past 5 years we have seen almost all games increase the amount of persistence and customisation a player can have over their character especially in FPS games. Take the CoD and BF series as good examples where they have taken a class based game and added unlocks to encourage the player to keep playing and give them rewards, as has been the norm in RPGs for years. The developers have seen how long players take over MMORPGs because of levelling, skill and item based progression and have placed the unlock system into their games, giving players a carrot to strive for. We have also seen awards/merits/stars being awarded for players who focus on one particular role, again giving players more to work towards and therefore play the game for longer, and potentially buy any expansion packs and downloadable content (even as far as purely visual upgrades).

I have broken these down into individual, outfit and empire goals. Individual are already covered well in game (BR, CR and the Merit system), and some empire ones, but there are no measurable outfit goals, apart from outfit point and member count. In this upgrade project I have suggested various ways that these different goals could be enhanced and made more substantial, as well as a few totally new systems. All of these goals you can see below.

Individual Goals
Short Term

• Next Merit
• Kill Markings on vehicles/weapons for kill tally based merits
• Merit top level headgear; caps for vehicle merits, berets for infantry merits.
• Camouflage added to uniform for continental environmental merits (ie bases captured on an ice continent)
• Clear support icons for support based merits (ie medic green crosses on armbands)
• Award granted by outfit

Mid Term

• Next Battle Rank/Command Rank

Long Term

• Reach the BR/CR Limit
• Promotion in outfit.

Outfit Goals
Short Term

• Claiming an outfit base and having conquest of enemy outfit bases recorded.
• Purchase or capture a naval unit.

Mid Term

• Purchase an outfit barracks in sanctuary or upgrade an existing one.

Long Term

• Expand to x amount of active troops
• Rise in the outfit rankings (kills, points, bases captured, defence points, member count)

Empire Goals
Short Term

• Take the next base (and gain benefits).

Mid Term

• Take a continent (and gain benefits).

Long Term

• Sanctuary Strike; Use of enemy equipment for the next week perhaps. Only one warpgate working for that empire for the next week (restricting their options, yet forcing them to fill up one continent at least and do guerrilla raids behind enemy lines).
• Be the first to reach a set amount of research hours, and thereby unlock newly developed equipment before the other empires.

[TRex]

I've been a strong supporter of stuff like this , mainly cosmetic . Also I think merits are a good tool to incorporate and unlock things . I may suggest going a tad farther , and allow specialization down a cert tree to unlock slight tweaks to your character , enabled when the merit pre-requisite is accomplished. Things like accessing an extra backpack space , or allowing you to have an additional slot for your rek ( slot 6 ) or cud . Maybe incorporate some inplants into the merit idea. You could have an implant slot become available to use at 6/12/18 but you need to unlock the actual list of implants via achieving merits.

I think skyexile also pointed out stat tracking . This to me is paramount to the success of the game since it is a pvp and fps . There should be tracking for almost anything you could think of in the game . Sure, there's kills , but people can be real enthusiasts to gaining anything . Just look at the forums on wow , there are thread dedicated to how to achieve all the different titles , achievements , you name it.

I also hope they do a lot more via all the above , and have something to reward or recognize the individual , team, squad , platoon , outfit and alliance. You need this to give people the sense of belonging no matter what their playstyle or size of their outfit. If you run regularly with 9 other people but they could be from different outfits , there should be something to register as a team . I know you might say they should just make an outfit , but they might like the outfit and do outfit stuff , and at other times just want to hang out with buddies doing the same thing but no outfit hassle.

[edit]If they do bring title's or similar to the game , I'd like some sort of tracking (if they allow multiple empires, though I really hope they don't) so that if you play exclusively for 1 empire you gain military ranks ie Private>>>> General slowly over time. Playing on another empire demotes your ranking on the other 2 empires very rapidly . You need General rank to use CR5 abilities. Swapping Empires loses General rank instantly.

[Senyu]

Originally Posted by DviddLeff

[*]Be the first to reach a set amount of research hours, and thereby unlock newly developed equipment before the other empires.[/LIST]

Can you elaborate on this? From first perception it sounds like, Empire locks another and gain research in which after X hours new tech is unlocked.

How many tech levels or items are gained.

Do other empires have to unlock before first empire is able to proceed to next tier?

After first unlock, do other empires recieve a more attainable way to recieve the tech of say, caping 50 techonolgy plants to recieve unlock?

Could the new tech be a way of implementing new items in patches, thus giving players something to strive for every content patch?

If not content patch, does the max tech remain or does it reset after some time?

[Canaris]

We all know it's true, players love being rewarded for playing the game, some great ideas and concepts here.

[DviddLeff]

Originally Posted by Senyu

Can you elaborate on this? From first perception it sounds like, Empire locks another and gain research in which after X hours new tech is unlocked.

How many tech levels or items are gained.

Do other empires have to unlock before first empire is able to proceed to next tier?

After first unlock, do other empires recieve a more attainable way to recieve the tech of say, caping 50 techonolgy plants to recieve unlock?

Could the new tech be a way of implementing new items in patches, thus giving players something to strive for every content patch?

If not content patch, does the max tech remain or does it reset after some time?

Yeah so say the devs develop a new machine gun support weapon, every tech plant owned generates a certain amount of points per hour, and then as the empires reach a set limit they gets the equipment unlocked first. Obvious reward for the winner, but everyone will get a chance to unlock it over time.

[Logit]

Originally Posted by Canaris

We all know it's true, players love being rewarded for playing the game, some great ideas and concepts here.

Only if it doesn't effect the natural balance of someone who has played 3 years and someone that is new. Planetside, even in it's mass of problems, did get this right.

This isn't World Of Warcraft, your toon shouldn't be more powerful because you play more, not in this type of game.

[Canaris]

Originally Posted by Logit

Only if it doesn't effect the natural balance of someone who has played 3 years and someone that is new. Planetside, even in it's mass of problems, did get this right.

This isn't World Of Warcraft, your toon shouldn't be more powerful because you play more, not in this type of game.

Oh I heartily agree, I was referring to the cosmetic carrots
We don't need another APB style upgrades debacle on our hands

[Psiclone]

Originally Posted by SRxRedshift

It's not to do with the rendering of anything, its more the extra amounts of data that need to be sent to say what things to render, i imagine it would add up pretty fast in large battles

Not at all. Some mmos like Aion let you customize all the aspects of your appearance down to a slider that let's you adjust the height of your cheekbones. Programming for this has gotten very streamlined so the amount of data to send is only a few bytes. Computers also have a lot more RAM nowadays so keeping all these variables on hand isn't an issue either.

[DviddLeff]

I really hope APB Mark 2 actually works as a game... they have a fair bit to fix though.

[Senyu]

Originally Posted by Logit

Only if it doesn't effect the natural balance of someone who has played 3 years and someone that is new. Planetside, even in it's mass of problems, did get this right.

This isn't World Of Warcraft, your toon shouldn't be more powerful because you play more, not in this type of game.

Actually in game carrots such as improvement in Tech should be Empire based not player based. If the Empire "wins" or unlocks that carrot stick, the entire Empire will benifit. As long as the other Empires are able to still reach that unlock then it seems perfectly fair. It rewards those who performed the best with new tech and still gives others a chance to gain eventually those rewards.

[Logit]

Originally Posted by Senyu

Actually in game carrots such as improvement in Tech should be Empire based not player based. If the Empire "wins" or unlocks that carrot stick, the entire Empire will benifit. As long as the other Empires are able to still reach that unlock then it seems perfectly fair. It rewards those who performed the best with new tech and still gives others a chance to gain eventually those rewards.

I think you missed the point.

Someone who is BR1, should always have an equal chance to kill someone who is BR20 in a 1v1 situation.

Which would not be the case in WoW, where someone who is lvl 20, will always kill someone who is lvl 1.

[Senyu]

Originally Posted by Logit

I think you missed the point.

Someone who is BR1, should always have an equal chance to kill someone who is BR20 in a 1v1 situation.

Which would not be the case in WoW, where someone who is lvl 20, will always kill someone who is lvl 1.

I think your missing my point. This isn't wow and someone BR1 would be able to kill someone with BR20. In most cases it comes down to skill and using the right weapon. Not even factoring situations like ambush or anything. Having unlockable tech would simply add more items/weapons to the game that are strong in their own way but are ideal to have. Such as it is a punisher vs. a MAX suit. Though this is an extreme example its simply a tech that has its strengths and it is general a strong tech.

Empires who dont have access to the new tech will have to suck it up until the eventually, and they will get there, have the new tech. By having this unlock it gives a carrot/tactical objective for players in long term goals. Think of it as unlocking that Technology plant for the continent but for your entire faction.