News: PlanetSide 2 eSports Details from MLG

[KodanBlack]

Maybe they're going to actually optimize the game?

I'm damn sure that the competitors would be really pissed to play PS2 at consistently under 60 fps. If they want to play with the big boys, they're going to have to update the performance to be commensurate with other FPS games.

[Assist]

Originally Posted by Climhazzard

But how do you reliably judge an outfit's size? You can't really use the total number of members, because a lot of those members maybe be inactive.

For the in-game out of competition event points I'd assume they do some sort of contribution system, rather than a system that directly correlates winning/losing to a specific outfit. Planetside2 servers are too full of random people to give gains to only a certain outfit at a base fight.

I'm no math guru but it's not too hard to come up with a system that gives contribution based on faction population ratio for attackers/defenders, outfit members for each faction, objectives accomplished during fights(kills, gens, heals, etc). The only hard part would be making sure all these stats are tracked, but it seems like they're ahead of the ball on that front in PS2. I think one thing that needs to be done is changing how defense rewards points.
I think a dynamic system like this should be in place already, for everything, but for some reason SoE hasn't gone that route. I find it annoying(to say the least) that Zurvan is worth the same amount XP wise as Saurva, even though Saurva is 1000x easier to take since it's never really defended (on Waterson). This is going off on a tangent so I'll stop now ;P

[VaderShake]

I can't even read the phrase "eSports" without thinking it's some sort of porn fetish....

But I guess I see porn fetishes in most things......so...err...it's probably just me...I guess.....well..ok back to work I go.

[Sirisian]

maps in the game separate from the world with win conditions for spectator esports.

I'll say this again. Anything that detracts from the core continent battles will inevitably hurt the game. We saw this in PS1 with the cave system; a separate instance from the continents that attempted to restrict the trinity of land, air, and infantry.

eSports will have specific sets of weapons available for even playing field.

I'm interested as to what this means. I wonder if the devs realize that their asymmetrical balancing actually doesn't work for an FPS. If they did I'm surprised they don't take what they learned and apply it back to the core game.

Also I hate the use of "it's wasted development time" when talking about things, but this honestly adds nothing to the game. It's like they're making a whole separate game with their own rules to make this work.

[RaTzo]

PS2 has SEVERE performance problems, this alone kill it as an eSport game. No one is going to compete knowing that the game could drop to 17FPS at any moment while the other player may have double that.

PS2 has unpredictable rendering issues. You cannot be sure if there is an enemy around an area or not because he may or may not actually render. This will also damage any hope that PS2 will ever be a successful eSport game.

PS2 is a large scale never ending war. There is no "finish line" for an eSport team to get to. There is no "win" and therefore there is no real drama. No decisive moment in a match. Everything can always be countered in another way. Loose the Bio Lab? Cut it off... whatever we all know there are a million ways to advance in PS2 but in an eSport someone has to win or there is no sport.

PS2 is unfinished. The meta game, the balance, the performance, the weapons, and even the content are ALL in a period of DEVELOPMENT. If PS2 were to become an eSport today, the winners today would be playing a COMPLETELY different game than the winners in 6 months. Assuming PS2 could even last that long as an eSport.

As much as I love the game - which admittedly has diminished with new "balance" measures and the continual downward spiral in performance from bad to completely unplayable - it is not an eSport. The focus SOE is putting on this will only cost them money, and in the end hurt the actual game.

[NewSith]

Originally Posted by Climhazzard

But how do you reliably judge an outfit's size? You can't really use the total number of members, because a lot of those members maybe be inactive.

That's the exact point. This will force people to keep their outfit active instead of just inviting everyone and their dog.

[bpostal]

Originally Posted by NewSith

...instead of just inviting everyone and their dog.

To be fair...

[Synnoc]

Originally Posted by Assist

I'm no math guru but it's not too hard to come up with a system that gives contribution based on faction population ratio for attackers/defenders, outfit members for each faction, objectives accomplished during fights(kills, gens, heals, etc).

I think this is exactly where the problem will lie. I don't know about eSports in general, but my gut feeling is that ladder points are going to be most efficiently earned by actions contrary to the spirit of the metagame. Points gained for defense may be deemed "not worth the time", for example, as well as helping teammates not in the outfit. In any points system of sufficient complexity, there is usually an optimal path, and that optimal path is probably going to involve maximizing kills and facility captures.

[kidriot]

We don't know how it's going to work out and until they hammer out more specifics I'm optimistic about the outcome.

[SwiftRanger]

Originally Posted by Hamma

Does this require development time? Yes. Has it yet? Doesn't appear so, or we would have seen some of this stuff showcased yesterday. This is on the roadmap (which is broken here at work so I can't see what month) so it's been part of development planning for some time.

I heard somewhere that on March 31st we will already see the first matches? It must have been in development already then. Right?

Are we surprised this is coming? Really? You shouldn't be. If you paid any attention to UES in January you would know this partnership was announced. This partnership consists of a variety of different things including collaboration between SOE and MLG to develop an eSport in PlanetSide 2. This isn't really new information stop acting like it would all of a sudden disappear. This partnership works both ways PlanetSide 2 is getting MASSIVE promotion on MLG's various channels and websites. This is benefiting all of us, because it's causing the community to grow. PlanetSide 2 is also getting prominent location at the MLG events this year - just inside the main entrance this past weekend.

Remember guys, Fans of eSport are not always competitors in eSport. We had tons of older folks who started playing the game this past weekend. Fathers and Sons trying out the game and having a good time. Just because SOE is using MLG to promote the game doesn't mean 0MGWTFBBQ0202 #1 COD PLAYER is the ONLY demographic in eSports. Smarten up.

People enjoy eSports because they like watching competition. They aren't all elite player asshats. Just like people who watch football all ages and races watch because they enjoy competition.

True, it's on the road map, the MLG deal has already been announced before. While more promotion for PS2 is always good, the game is in no state to welcome new players (or even returning players). It's riddled with (performance) bugs, patches which often break as much as they fix, and a new player experience that would haunt most folks away. A proper metagame for people who don't ditch the game after the first hour still isn't implemented, it barely goes beyond PS1 which got boring fast for the same reasons, even with lattice/LLU and continent locking. You might say the latter features are coming back in some form but that's actually the big problem: those returning features aren't the solution, PS1 still failed because SOE didn't went further than that and I really want to see PS2 survive until they truly can go beyond what we all already know.

Is this going to take away from the massive game we all know and love? Of course not, what is wrong with you? PlanetSide 2 at it's core is still an MMOFPS. It will remain a massive online shooter until the day it's gone. eSports will be built ON TOP of this using the game itself, if you don't want anything to do with it you won't have to.

I heard matches will be on Sunday evenings, every week. Those are the busiest times of PS2 I reckon. To have important outfits away on tournament duties then will have its effects on the main game.

Will this fail and ruin the game or community? Who knows, nobody here can even pretend to know that. Can you guess? Sure. But you really have no clue at all.

Of course, we'll need to see it in action first and some form of outfit competition is good but I think most people would have preferred that it stayed in the main game, not on some instanced smaller maps which have no connection to the persistent game world.

This goes against the stuff which SOE has been proposing during the reveal of the game early on: to make PS2 more into an EVE-like experience. A continuous big world where outfits would gain more power and customization options. Gaining ranks on a ladder is something a normal multiplayer FPS would offer, it doesn't make much sense lore-wise either. I expected something more original from a company which boasts it is innovating in the online FPS space.

As it is now I fear we'll have to wait another year for those real innovations. In the meantime SOE is just copy/pasting recognisable features from other major online FPS titles into PS2. That's not always a bad thing but it's the easiest thing to do and it's only going to strengthen the complaints that the "massive" feel of the game is being downgraded.

Sorry to come across as a ranting person but I often can't understand what SOE is up to, despite that they are communicating so much. Give me less of this MLG-stuff and more of this ( ) , with some kind of ETA/explanation perhaps? They're not only losing players because their patching process has failed us so often in the last few months...

[ghnurbles]

Originally Posted by Synnoc

I think this is exactly where the problem will lie. I don't know about eSports in general, but my gut feeling is that ladder points are going to be most efficiently earned by actions contrary to the spirit of the metagame. Points gained for defense may be deemed "not worth the time", for example, as well as helping teammates not in the outfit. In any points system of sufficient complexity, there is usually an optimal path, and that optimal path is probably going to involve maximizing kills and facility captures.

This coming Game Update has separation of experience and score, I suspect kills might not come into the score aspect at all.

[Hamma]

Originally Posted by SwiftRanger

I heard somewhere that on March 31st we will already see the first matches? It must have been in development already then. Right?

You heard wrong - that's some kind of MLG show about PlanetSide 2.

I heard matches will be on Sunday evenings, every week. Those are the busiest times of PS2 I reckon. To have important outfits away on tournament duties then will have its effects on the main game.

Where are you hearing these things?