Joining the PS2 Team - Page 2

Bags · 2012-10-08, 05:47 PM

What happened to SOE not supporting "biggots" (not saying you personally are one)? I just find this an odd hire after SOE went out of their way to distance themselves from supporting the outfit in any way.

Grats regardless.

SGT Apone · 2012-10-08, 06:08 PM

ehh nevermind

sylphaen · 2012-10-08, 06:30 PM

Originally Posted by Bags

What happened to SOE not supporting "biggots" (not saying you personally are one)? I just find this an odd hire after SOE went out of their way to distance themselves from supporting the outfit in any way.

Grats regardless.

Well... on one side, there is BuzzCutPsycho. On the other, there is Malorn. In a large group of people, you find all kinds if they fit within the minimal requirements of the group.

As far as I can tell, the Enclave requirements is listening to orders and discipline. I mean... They already play TR... Joining the Enclave is the next natural step, isn't it ?

In surprising ways, I have found myself agreeing with 2 of their members (FYI, BCP is not one of them) so yes, judge people for what they are, not just who they're with.

Malorn being with the Enclave has nothing to do with his hire. If I'm not mistaken, he wrote his manifesto when he was still a NC CR5 and his analyses always focused on the game itself, not factions or his outfit.

Captain1nsaneo · 2012-10-08, 06:43 PM

Congratulations on the hire Malorn. I haven't always agreed with your posts but your arguments are always better written and better grounded than most. I look forward to seeing what you add to the game as it will be interesting regardless.

So questions, what are your thoughts on the current game flow and how to incorporate multiple conts?
Personal solution is 4 conts at launch each with 3 gates that can be taken if all adjacency is lost. I don't know if that's reasonable though.

Stardouser · 2012-10-08, 06:48 PM

What I would be curious to know, is what you learn as a dev privy to market knowledge that makes you say either:
A. "Well, I still want PS1(or BF2, or EQ1, etc) but today's gamers just won't buy it.
or
B. "Wow. Companies are shoving casualization down our throats even though people aren't actually demanding it."
or
C. Whatever you actually do find out if not the above.

Of course, I doubt you'd be permitted to release such info...

EVILPIG · 2012-10-08, 06:53 PM

Originally Posted by sylphaen

Well... on one side, there is BuzzCutPsycho. On the other, there is Malorn. In a large group of people, you find all kinds if they fit within the minimal requirements of the group.

As far as I can tell, the Enclave requirements is listening to orders and discipline. I mean... They already play TR... Joining the Enclave is the next natural step, isn't it ?

In surprising ways, I have found myself agreeing with 2 of their members (FYI, BCP is not one of them) so yes, judge people for what they are, not just who they're with.

Malorn being with the Enclave has nothing to do with his hire. If I'm not mistaken, he wrote his manifesto when he was still a NC CR5 and his analyses always focused on the game itself, not factions or his outfit.

To be fair, while I have heard Buzz make many, many racial and homophobic remarks, I have never seen Malorn do this in any way. Worst I have seen from him is harshly cussing out one of their SLs because they weren't getting their squad mobile fast enough. Racism and other bigotry is socially unacceptable.

Sco · 2012-10-08, 07:14 PM

Originally Posted by EVILPIG

To be fair, while I have heard Buzz make many, many racial and homophobic remarks, I have never seen Malorn do this in any way. Worst I have seen from him is harshly cussing out one of their SLs because they weren't getting their squad mobile fast enough. Racism and other bigotry is socially unacceptable.

This is why people shouldn't paint every member of the enclave with the same brush - they are all individuals with their own opinions, even if some of them are socially unacceptable. I am very pleased for you Malorn and wish you all the best.

My questions is on BR - What do you think about BR, what ideas do you have to make it more useful other than a stat and a minor implant requirement? For example, should it be an XP based stat for killing higher level opponents?

Dagron · 2012-10-08, 07:32 PM

Gratz Malorn! You know we'll bug you more than any of the others involved in the creation of PS2, right?

Crator · 2012-10-08, 07:41 PM

Great to see a dedicated fan of PS1 with programmer skills joining the PS2 team! I was just thinking the other day, "Why didn't they hire a PS1 vet?".

Congratulations Malorn! Please save PS2 meta-game!

**Malorn** · 2012-10-08, 07:47 PM

Originally Posted by Captain1nsaneo

So questions, what are your thoughts on the current game flow and how to incorporate multiple conts?
Personal solution is 4 conts at launch each with 3 gates that can be taken if all adjacency is lost. I don't know if that's reasonable though.

Thanks Captain; don't stop wearing the helmet!

Speaking on opinion, have no idea how that might change after I arrive and not making any promises, but...

I am a huge fan of cross-continent warfare for a lot of reasons. It was by no means perfect in PS1, but it did do a great job of scaling with population and giving us something fresh and different, and giving a sense of achievement, or at the very least a glorious last stand. But PS1's system had downtime and boredom at the end of a conquest and at the beginning of a conquest. I would like to see the core concept of fighting your way across a network of continents remain, but streamline it more so the fighting is good through the end and from the very beginning.

What you describe with 4 continents & capturable warpgates is exactly what I have in mind when I think of a great way to make it seamless. There are a few posts I had made a while back about it here on PSU. Here's my first post in a thread on it, but there's a few more after it: http://www.planetside-universe.com/s...ate#post735089

Those were raw early thoughts, but my thinking hasn't changed much. I like the idea of fully dynamic world where empires can choose what they want to be a "home continent" and move around and experience continents from different directions. That keeps the game fresh and different and shows off the persistent world. Its also gives some goals for outfits and empires, but the biggest benefit in my mind is that it scales better with population changes and keeps the game fresh. As long as the battle flows and doesn't have these dead times at the beginning and end of the continent I think would be the best way to handle multiple continents.

I think the most important thing though is to ensure there's always a good battle raging. All the cross continent stuff is cool and does great things but it can't come at the price of killing fights or causing dead time.

Dagron · 2012-10-08, 07:57 PM

Originally Posted by Crator

Congratulations Malorn! Please save PS2 meta-game!

Seconded!

**Malorn** · 2012-10-08, 08:03 PM

Originally Posted by Sco

My questions is on BR - What do you think about BR, what ideas do you have to make it more useful other than a stat and a minor implant requirement? For example, should it be an XP based stat for killing higher level opponents?

I don't think I'll be involved much in BR as that's more of a character progression thing. You might want to ask Nak or Matt about that one for a better answer on where they want to go with it.

But to me BR is a way of gating things based on time played. Since BR accumulates over time as you gain score I think it can be translated into an average time played. That means it can be used as a tool to allow access to things to players who have played longer in the game.

Early on, like over a year ago, it was described that BR unlocked deeper levels of certification, so while you might have a lot of cert points to get the really deep stuff you need to have some minimal battle rank.

Mules are one reason you might want this. For example, suppose that the Galaxy squad spawn cert is something they didn't want new players to just sit around, soak up certs, and then use dummy characters to be gal pilots and squad spawns. They could use BR to gate the cert, so you not only had to pay the cert cost, but you also had to have a high BR. That would mean only dedicated players would be realistically getting it. So it is an effective way to stop muling of certain things. That might also mean that the cert doesn't have to be super expensive - it could be cheap but have a BR requirement. Some command-related certs might be another example of certs that they may want to restrict to characters who have spent some time in the game actively earning points as opposed to sitting offline accumulating cert points passively.

They could restrict outfit creation on at least a few BR to stop name squatting and other such things.They could also gate weapons and cosmetic customizations on BR. Not saying they will, but it's possible.

BR translates to game commitment, and there are some things that make sense to restrict to players who have existed for a while or put forth some minimal amount of effort. This is especially true in a free-to-play game. Not sure if that's where they're going with it but I see a purpose for it and the value in having it.

Miir · 2012-10-08, 08:05 PM

Best news I've heard since they announced Planetside Next.

Can't wait to see what you do Malorn.

**Malorn** · 2012-10-08, 08:19 PM

Originally Posted by IDukeNukeml

First off Congrats on the job bro, it must be like a dream come true

Secondly, most importantly... If you see something that is wrong, speak up about it. I'm not gonna drunken duke post you, but yeah... For SOE to hire someone that is from the community (even though clearly qualified) to help design the meta-game; Well this is indeed a glorious day for All planetside players new and old alike. Kudos to you sir!

PS: Tell those bastards to add my weather effects!

Thanks! And yep, dream come true! Not an easy move though, I really love Washington and my Seahawks. Not going to be a Chargers fan over this. But they're not in the same division or even the same conference so I don't have to hate them either.

From what I've learned of the dev team they have a lot of great ideas and discussions about things. Everyone I've met is awesome. If you look back at all that's changed over the past few months since tech test it's very obvious that they see what's wrong, and they listen to the feedback of the community. Matt's twitch streams of the design meetings showcase that too. The people being awesome are one of the big reasons I wanted to join. Those going to SOE Live are going to get to see that first hand.

I'm a fan of weather too. Like the day-night cycle it's another way to make the same content different every time you fight there. Keeps the game fresh, and it can add a whole new layer of strategy from simple fire fights to continental strategy. Smed had it listed on his blog of things they were looking at for post-launch, so don't think you have to do much drunken Dukes for that one! Its the perfect thing to show off with ForgeLight.

FortySe7en · 2012-10-08, 08:19 PM

Originally Posted by Bags

What happened to SOE not supporting "biggots" (not saying you personally are one)? I just find this an odd hire after SOE went out of their way to distance themselves from supporting the outfit in any way.

Grats regardless.

Yeah, SOE went out of their way to distance themselves... which is exactly why Higby can be found hanging out in buzz's stream from time to time..

Where do people come up with this shit!