News: SOE announces Alpha Squad

[Ragnafrak]

Originally Posted by Tatwi

Incidentally, I agree that it is pay2win in terms of the "5 minute player being on the same footing as the 5 year player" - oh yeah, sure, if that 5 minute player drops $100 on the game he will be...

Don't take that out of context. The idea there is that if a 5-minute player gets the drop on a 5-year player, he's still got just as good a chance of knocking him out as would anyone else. TTK on infantry isn't very high.

And remember, buying new gear has trade offs, it always does. There haven't really been any examples of this for inf weapons yet, but to use MAX's as an example, people complain about scattermax's because they can unload all of their ammo into a guy superfast at close range, but anything outside 50 meters and they've got trouble.

There are currently certable abilities in the game that improve survivability by allowing you to have slightly stronger armor/shields/health regen, but you can only ever use one at a time, an the difference is not very noticeable.

[Tatwi]

Originally Posted by Ragnafrak

Don't take that out of context. The idea there is that if a 5-minute player gets the drop on a 5-year player, he's still got just as good a chance of knocking him out as would anyone else. TTK on infantry isn't very high.

And remember, buying new gear has trade offs, it always does. There haven't really been any examples of this for inf weapons yet, but to use MAX's as an example, people complain about scattermax's because they can unload all of their ammo into a guy superfast at close range, but anything outside 50 meters and they've got trouble.

There are currently certable abilities in the game that improve survivability by allowing you to have slightly stronger armor/shields/health regen, but you can only ever use one at a time, an the difference is not very noticeable.

There's a song for what you are doing,

[Ragnafrak]

Originally Posted by Tatwi

There's a song for what you are doing,

tl;dl

I wonder if there were enough suggestions for a physical product component to the founder's pack that this won't be the only version of it.

http://www.planetside2.com/alpha-squad just changed from 404 to "Under Maintenance".

[EVILPIG]

2 things:

1. For those worried about the "over powered" weapons, Beta is far from over and things will be balanced.

2. I'm wondering about the Booster Implant that is offered. It lasts 6 months. Will we have to have it slotted the whole time, or will we be able to swap it out and not lose it?

[Frotang]

Im assuming it can be swapped, I sometimes will buy both the Dex III implant and Transport vehicle one and swap them out when necessary. Now as soon as you activate it the timer will count down even when not in use.

[Masterr]

sunrock is stupid, there's no changing his mind, leave him be. ken would be sad.

[zzzornbringer]

40 bucks is kinda massive.

[SaeS]

As long as you can get the same weapons by just playing the game (grinding), it's not P2W, just paying for time and I'm totally fine with that.

[Tatwi]

Originally Posted by SaeS

As long as you can get the same weapons by just playing the game (grinding), it's not P2W, just paying for time and I'm totally fine with that.

If you ignore what Higby said over and over again about the 5 minute player and the 5 year player, sure. But by all means folks, morph the context of that sentiment to whatever fits your ideals; "justify it in the end"... It's not like I was the one who made this statement dozens of times in public. Nope, that was the game's Creative Director, Matt Higby. Ah well, things change, but it's pretty sad if you can't simply admit that it's pay2win in this context...

[ISVRaDa]

Q. What if I am European player? Does the Station Cash convert to ProSiebenSat.1.Games Seven Cash?
A. Yes! ProSiebenSat.1.Games is our partner in Europe and responsible for publishing the game in these countries. Just like in the US, European purchasers of this package will receive immediate Beta access and 4000 Station Cash. Upon the launch of PlanetSide 2 (also the expected migration date to the ProSiebenSat.1.Games service) the wallet balance of this Station Cash along with the virtual items in this package will transfer when the player establishes a ProSiebenSat.1.Games account. At that time, the Station Cash balance will be converted into Seven Cash currency.

Good news for europeans players.

[Higby]

Originally Posted by Tatwi

If you ignore what Higby said over and over again about the 5 minute player and the 5 year player, sure. But by all means folks, morph the context of that sentiment to whatever fits your ideals; "justify it in the end"... It's not like I was the one who made this statement dozens of times in public. Nope, that was the game's Creative Director, Matt Higby. Ah well, things change, but it's pretty sad if you can't simply admit that it's pay2win in this context...

Your fundamental flawed assumption here is that new weapons are "better". They're not. They're just different.

You're not buying any intrinsic advantage at all. You're just getting access to other playstyles (which you could also get through gameplay!). If we do our balancing correct (and we're not anywhere close to having it balanced yet i'll be the first to admit that) you'll be getting weapons that are "better" only due to situational and personal preference, not due to intrinsic power. Hence, you're not buying power or paying to win.

[Tatwi]

Originally Posted by Higby

Your fundamental flawed assumption here is that new weapons are "better". They're not. They're just different.

You're not buying any intrinsic advantage at all. You're just getting access to other playstyles (which you could also get through gameplay!). If we do our balancing correct (and we're not anywhere close to having it balanced yet i'll be the first to admit that) you'll be getting weapons that are "better" only due to situational and personal preference, not due to intrinsic power. Hence, you're not buying power or paying to win.

Riiiiight, because a lock on rocket launcher that actually hits the target isn't more powerful than a dumb-fire one that is supremely easy for a tank to dodge. Or how about an aircraft that doesn't have rocket pods or a better cannon compared to one that does?

Even the 100 cert points for the flares on a fighter mean the difference between being able to fly for more than 10 seconds or being summarily blow out of the sky by everyone with A2A rockets. No way a 5 minute player can compete in the air in this regard. None. It's just a quick lesson in futility.

In the cases to which I am referring, it's a matter of the "haves" and the "have nots", rather than just being different. You can't call these balance issues, because unless you give the 5 minute player these things too, it's just not balanced.

[Bags]

Originally Posted by Tatwi

Riiiiight, because a lock on rocket launcher that actually hits the target isn't more powerful than a dumb-fire one that is supremely easy for a tank to dodge. Or how about an aircraft that doesn't have rocket pods or a better cannon compared to one that does?

Here are the weapons

Assault Rifle - Fast rate or fire allows it to output a large of amount of damage in a short period of time, making it very effective at short to medium ranges.
NCGR-22
TRCycler TRV
VSH-V45
Carbine - Balanced weight and controllable recoil allows the operator to maintain accuracy over automatic fire.
NCAC-X11
TRT5
VSPulsar C
LMG - Features three fire modes, allowing it to easily adapt to most situations on the battlefield.
NCEM6 LMG
TRTMG-50 B
VSSVA-88
Sniper - Highly accurate and damaging at long range.
NCLA80
TRSR-7
VSV10

You don't get an RPG...

[CrankyTRex]

Originally Posted by Higby

Your fundamental flawed assumption here is that new weapons are "better". They're not. They're just different.

You're not buying any intrinsic advantage at all. You're just getting access to other playstyles (which you could also get through gameplay!). If we do our balancing correct (and we're not anywhere close to having it balanced yet i'll be the first to admit that) you'll be getting weapons that are "better" only due to situational and personal preference, not due to intrinsic power. Hence, you're not buying power or paying to win.

That depends entirely on what kind of unlocks we're talking about. When we're talking about different weapons that are essentially the same (say an assault rifle) but with varied statistics, then yeah that's just a balancing issue and I don't think it qualifies as P2W.

The concern is that there are things that are intrinsically more valuable so long as you don't have the choice to use them. Air to Air missiles are a good example of this. They are a stark advantage over any pilot that does not have them.

Now, just being advantageous does not necessarily make them intrinsically better. For example, if every pilot had access to an AtA missile and an AtG missile, and they had to choose which one they wanted, then we're talking about a play-style choice. The AtA missiles are still a significant advantage in the air, but the player decided to give that up for something else.

But unfortunately that is not the choice in front of the player right now. The player's choice is instead wait to earn the AtA missile, and be at a significant disadvantage in the air, or pay to gain that advantage immediately, and that's where it becomes Pay 2 Win instead of a mere play-style choice.

[Setari]

Well, I just bought it. For all this debating, I'm perfectly happy throwing money at SOE if it means more support for PS2.