Smed on PlanetSide Next Delay

[Ant001]

Originally Posted by Smed

I took it as such. My skin is thick enough to deal with negative posts. Im just going to take it out on them in game at the end of a virtual rifle. I imagine the haters as Vanu.

Smed

Smed ....no way you play shitty tr or overpower nc. Vanu for the skilled players m8 you know that.

[TheBear]

Originally Posted by Smed

I took it as such. My skin is thick enough to deal with negative posts. Im just going to take it out on them in game at the end of a virtual rifle. I imagine the haters as Vanu.

Smed

C'mon, he said rifle.
MUST be Terran.

Thanks for the update Smed. I know the internetz are a porous environment so it's hard to update us without it leaking everywhere, but we certainly appreciate your input in a big way. I'm glad you can have a thick skin too, because it's important to read negative content for its inherent worth.. I certainly have had some negative, or at least non-positive posts about Planetside on official forums.
I'll say here, while you're on forums (hopefully), that I have always endeavored to make my criticism constructive. Certainly nothing is ever a personal attack at current staff, but rather historic issues.

In recent months it's been incredibly satisfying to have someone high up in SOE in our corner. Players of Planetside KNOW you're on to something with this franchise, and if you really get behind it, we'll do everything we can to make it a financial success on our end, because we have seen the potential in this type of game since it first came out.
It's heartening to know that SOE sees the potential in the product that we do.

THANK YOU

[DviddLeff]

Cheers for the update, my main questions regarding PS2 are;

1 is the certification system where a new player stands toe to toe with a veteran intact?
2 is the fight going to have 100s of players?

That is all that matters ultimately

[Hamma]

Originally Posted by wolfkrone

Oh damn I didnt mean it like that. I meant the guy saying Smed should lose his job was embarrasing. Smed is a top guy, that wasnt sarcasm

ahh okay, this makes sense.

[Miir]

As I don't want to scare off the elusive Smed I'll keep my question simple.

Have you guys figured out an official name yet?

Don't hate me because I'm purple.

[TacosWLove]

First off, THANK YOU SMED! Yeah it huge when the ceo drops in here to give us juicy tidbits, especially after that long lull

Originally Posted by DviddLeff

Cheers for the update, my main questions regarding PS2 are;

1 is the certification system where a new player stands toe to toe with a veteran intact?
2 is the fight going to have 100s of players?

That is all that matters ultimately

Im not so worried about how the certification stands, I really think they are going to keep to where a medium assault gun kills you just as well, regardless of your Level.

But the second part is HUGE. Its why I bought MAG, why I play EVE and why I played PS for years. Its what makes PS soo special, PS let us have 400 people on a single cont. Please tell us, at the very least, that this cap has been increase? And what about the ceiling for air cav? 400m is nuffin...

[Sirisian]

You know the delay isn't so bad as long as Smedley or someone posts in the forums. Gives that feeling that things are going smoothly. Sounds cool that they went with an internal engine again. Might make things more unique.

Thanks for posting Smed.

[Firefly]

Originally Posted by basti

The only other CEO i could think of who ever did that is Scott Brown, but even he wasnt just dropping down on a fan site to answere random stuff.

Mark Jacobs did, but he got a little too crazy and started insulting people.

I'm glad Smedley is posting. I wish he'd post more. And for all those pole-smoking jackasses crying vaporware, suck it. Suck it raw.

[Straws]

Originally Posted by Smed

What I have been trying to do is to keep the folks at PSU updated because you guys are the most loyal Planetside fans. Ive released stuff ahead of any marketing or PR push. Recently ( a few weeks ago actually) we made the call to update the game to a new internally developed engine. Doing that meant delaying the game, but we thought it was in the best interests of Planetside Next. It also means delaying releasing further info for a little while. I will let you all know more when we firm up the schedule. The likely next step is a larger scale release of information and the beta signups going up. As I've said previously current Planetside subs will be included automatically.

Normally when we do game announcements we do a much bigger concerted information push all at once and these kind of one off posts don't happen. In this case I feel like the Planetside audience has hung in with us for a long time and I really want to involve you all more in advance of the official info. However what happens is everything gets carried across the net and the actual info gets changed. I'm sorry for that happening. We will do our best to keep you informed early. But that necessarily means that sometimes when things change you have to be ready for that too.

Smed

In regards to keeping existing players informed, yes, you're doing an appropriate job. Not too sure I'm happy about your official SOE and Planetside websites not easily or obviously directing people to this site, but there is a clear sign that you're not ignoring the existing playerbase is good.

However, as someone who stopped playing and has almost no incentive to return to the original product, I must express my concerns about getting the people that haven't experienced the product before into PS:N. At the end of the day, I stopped playing because logging on and only having one continent being actively played on was frustrating. Without a way to continually bring in new players through means other than gimmicky promotions, I will remain very dubeous about SOE's PR gameplan.

PS:N HAS to succeed on it's own merits. You can't rely on this site to promote and drum up excitement. The people that visit this site already know the product. It's mere existance is enough to excite us, but at the end of the day, people aren't coming here if they don't know the product, and this is where a lot of the "left in the dark" sentiments are coming from.

A lot of people "called it" regarding to the March release date being missed, mostly because all scheduling seemed off. We received an e-mail asking for design ideas just over a year ago.

Savvy players that study MMO trends will tell you that this gave an indication that the core gameplay mechanics and functionality hadn't been finalised, and to not have it finalised 1 year before an estimated ETA is just....well, it's scary. It promotes an "ignorance is bliss" mentality from anyone that was skeptical about this project in the first place.

Then there was the announcement in December that it would be released in 3 months, before any solid plans for the public closed beta was announced. Again, another sign that things aren't following the industry standard. Again, very very scary.

Granted, not everyone will think like this. For their own sakes I hope they don't because it is draining, but things haven't been on track for this product yet in my eyes, and action need to be taken to get it there. Without even showing any video footage of the game, I can't even see the game being ready for NDA closed beta testing, let alone the open testing that needs to occur 1-3 months minimum to make sure the release is stable.

I don't know, guess things are different now. Maybe betas aren't important PR tools anymore, let alone a means to properly test the game prior to release. It's an existing IP, so the existing fanbase guarantees somethign regardless of the products merits, but it saddens me that the only good news I have seen other than the screenshots is people losing their jobs. It leaves a horrible taste in my mouth.

Please John, kick your marketing and testing departments into gear, otherwise this game is going to struggle to see Summer.

[Gimpylung]

2 Questions for Smed(that I'll wager he won't answer)

1. What are the revenue streams for PSNext?

Is it subscription based or will you bring in some god awful micro-transaction nightmare.

Micro-transaction based models are popular with game publishers lately, they are not popular with players who aren't spending Mommies money.

I don't want no Digital Camo for 5 dollars, thank you very much.

I'll happily pay a sub however as long as it means everyone is on a level playing field.


2. In your opinion, what will be the most unpopular difference between PS and PSN. That is, what will ignite the most forum flames right here on Universe. There's bound to be some unwelcome surprise for the existing playerbase, what is it? Every sequel has one.

[Firefly]

Originally Posted by Straws

Again, another sign that things are following the industry standard.

You know what else is an industry standard? An MMO having its launch date pushed back. Judging from the rather informed post you made, I can't fathom why this particular standard passed you by.

Originally Posted by Straws

Please John, kick your marketing and testing departments into gear, otherwise this game is going to struggle to see Summer.

I will wholeheartedly echo this, and champion it with my dying breath. Marketing for Planetside was utter shit. I've been a very vocal critic of this since forever. Market the crap out of this game. So Everquest was a flagship game. That's fine, but now there's WAR, Rift, WoW, need I go on and on and on? Elves and half-naked chicks? Old and busted. MMO-FPS? Still the new hotness.

MISTER GORBACHEV, MARKET THIS GAME.

[Elude]

Originally Posted by Impen

I find it's an interesting coincidence that a new version of UDK was released in March, one that supports DirectX 11

I don't see the connection.

Planetside Next being a triple A game it makes no sense why they would need to wait for a release on a structure designed for indie games. If by any means they happen to be using UE3, it will be a full paid license of it which means they wouldn't have to wait for Epic Games to beef it up for Dx11 standards considering they would have the source code to the actual game engine, and would be able to make any imaginable change on there own.

[Lorgarn]

This has been said already...

Whatever this does or doesn't mean to anyone, I'm saying it eitherway. Smed, coming in like that and dropping some info and talk about some of the fans' concerns and thoughts. Hell, it gives a guy credit in my book.

And yes, in this industry it doesn't happen as often as some of us would like. On those rare occasions, it's very much appreciated. I'm glad we all maked sure that it didn't go unrecognized.

[Lonehunter]

Originally Posted by Smed

I imagine the haters as Vanu.

Smed

Made my night

Smed, thank you for posting here.

From what I've read it seems like you do have good intentions, especially concerning PSU. But I still have to express my "Bad Idea" vote at giving exclusives ahead of schedule/before mass-marketing. When you combine that with telling subscribers they get access to beta it seems very greedy since we still have no dates yet. I'm sure many disagree with me though lol

Is it just me or are games announcing themselves earlier and earlier in their development the past few years? In a perfect world I wouldn't know about a game until I can beta test it. Or at least until there is some solid info about the game.

But Smed's PR is GREAT! Posting here calling us the most loyal is an honor. If it was his game, his schedule, and his info to give, I think we'd all be much happier.

[Furret]

Whoo go smed
You're my hero by the way, I'm a junior in high school looking into a career in game design and planetside has been my motivation for years. Just wanted to say thanks and gl making PS:N(?) the best game ever.