Sanctuary denied.

[Vancha]

"The whole Sanctuary concept is something that slowed things down too much."

I see no threads regarding this...

Why don't I see any threads regarding this?

The sanctuary always felt like home to me. I felt like it solidified my empires existence by having something substantial that was ours and ours alone.

So I ask you...Do you think they'll be removing "home", or simply redecorating? And if our Sancs do get demolished, what might they be replaced with?

[Sifer2]

Yeah that bit kind of concerned me. They make it sound like they wont be coming back. But that would be dumb I think. Since you need to have some place that's relatively safe to meet an talk with people an form squads. An things like the VR training were neat too. I would have thought they would expand the Sanctuary concept not axe it.

If they really want to speed things up you would think there would be better ways.

[DviddLeff]

The amount of downtime in PS was a problem as far as the devs were concerned; its one of the reasons at release there were very few weapons that would one hit kill you (eg the bolt driver is two shot kill) as they were concerned that people would rage quit if they spent 20 minutes travelling to combat just to get sent back to the respawn tubes without a chance to fight back.

Personally I valued the down time, as it gave you a chance to chat with your squad and outfit and get to know them, rather than just talking about tactics and orders. One of the best things I remember about my early PS days was travelling across the entire length of Esamir in a Sunderer chatting (not enough cert points unlocked for everyone to have a vehicle back then).

Regarding Sanctuary; its an extra loading screen to go through potentially pointlessly as there is no reason you could just log into the combat zone once and get on with the fighting. Also at various points in Planetsides time an extra loading screenmeant an extra chance to crash due to game instabilities, a problem that will make people stop playing and potentially quit (just look at the problems the new Battlefield is having retaining players). While I would be annoyed to see the Sanctuaries go there was a lot of wasted space in them that never got used (bar secret sanctuary meetings of my outfit) and if they did make a return I would want to see them made useful; have the fabled Sanctuary Strikes implemented and allow the enemy to conquer them.

[Vancha]

I certainly agree that sanctuaries could be and should be redesigned. I'm hoping everything gets redesigned to some extent...I always liked the feeling of technological progress in the "storyline" when new things were implemented, even if the things themselves ended up being failures. It only makes sense that the three empires would have progressed somewhat since the days of old.

Personally I valued the down time, as it gave you a chance to chat with your squad and outfit and get to know them, rather than just talking about tactics and orders. One of the best things I remember about my early PS days was travelling across the entire length of Esamir in a Sunderer chatting (not enough cert points unlocked for everyone to have a vehicle back then).

This seems like the big reason to keep sanctuaries around. One of the main things PS had over all other FPS games by being an MMO was community. MMOs of any kind require a "meeting place", be it the capital cities in DaoC/WoW, or Atlas in CoH. Having the ability to be in battle 24/7 would obviously be ideal for some kinds of Planetside players, but I think you need that "meeting place" to help appeal to those who liked Planetside for it's MMO elements.

[Tikuto]

I like the idea of there being a "sanctuary"; a green zone where you can feel more safe but still vulnerable to attack, but this zone still may slow things down. Instead, I'd rather the players spawn instantly into battle and if they need a safe zone they can Recall to the safe zone after logging-in into the game; into the instant battle.

Also, these "sanctuaries" could easily be different than just a random continent:
TR could have a space sanctuaries (multiple)
VS could have an all-cloaked deep-core under-ground domain
NC could have the same old continent but a continent of extreme value, forbidden from any destruction.



off-topic:
Since PlanetSide2 is a whole new game yet the same as PlanetSide1, I wouldn't mind some new compelling factions. Story-based hard fiction that we can fully immerse ourselves into and understand why we're fighting a seemingly never-ending war. I feel PlanetSide 1 lacked this important immersion...

[Vancha]

Originally Posted by Tikuto

I'd rather the players spawn instantly into battle.

The point is what they'd rather do. I imagine a significant percentage of the playing population would prefer to prepare themselves in a non-combat zone before heading off to battle, whether it be suiting up, pulling a vehicle or forming a squad. The key is giving people a choice in how they want to play, rather than deciding for them.

There's also the "final spawn" aspect. Having a sanctuary means that even without towers or bases, you don't have an empire being zero-spawned.

Of course, as you mentioned in your off-topic digression, with PSN being a new game we don't know what kind of new additions there may be. If weapon modifications or some kind of economy (I can't remember who suggested that) are implemented, there'll be all the more need for some kind of "home base". I totally agree that the empires should be more individual in whatever their green zone/safe zone/sanctuary consists of, though.

In regards to empires, I bumped the "Keep the 3 factions?" thread to avoid deviating from sancs in here.

[DviddLeff]

In fact look at the current crop of MMO action style games (Huxley, APB and Global Agenda) and they all have the "social district" where you can hang out with friends and customise your character.

Sanctuaries allowed you to do this (changing certs and implants for example) but have lots more potential than they actually had realised in game.

For example outfits could purchase buildings for their troops (using outfit points) and there could be VR pvp arenas for both competitions and training purposes. These VR arenas were mentioned by devs at some point in the past, but got shot down as it would have spread out the dwindling player base even further.

[Baneblade]

PS got rid of Sanc? How did they handle what happens when you take all the spawns then?

[Vancha]

Originally Posted by Sobekeus

PS got rid of Sanc? How did they handle what happens when you take all the spawns then?

The fact you used "did" rather than "will" leads me to ask; you realize this is discussing the PS sequel, right?

With that in mind, Smedly didn't detail what sancs would be replaced with and therefore no one has any way of knowing what will prevent empires becoming spawnless.

Originally Posted by DviddLeff

In fact look at the current crop of MMO action style games (Huxley, APB and Global Agenda) and they all have the "social district" where you can hang out with friends and customise your character.

Sanctuaries allowed you to do this (changing certs and implants for example) but have lots more potential than they actually had realised in game.

For example outfits could purchase buildings for their troops (using outfit points) and there could be VR pvp arenas for both competitions and training purposes. These VR arenas were mentioned by devs at some point in the past, but got shot down as it would have spread out the dwindling player base even further.

All of this is true.

With all the points made so far, it seems clear that a safe-zone + meeting place is required, and that adding things to do in such a place (certs, implants, pulling equipment/vehicles, gathering raids, VR training, outfit bases...the list goes on), could only make doing those things all the more interesting by having them happen there, rather than on a menu.

It seems to me that he/they have misdiagnosed the problem as the sanctuary, rather than the HART. The time it took to get to battle was primarily due to the HART and the time it took to fly/drive to the warpgates.

So I'm left both worried and excited with a lot of questions.

- Will they continue to think it was the sanctuary rather than the HART that was the problem, and will they end up throwing the baby out with the bathwater?

- Surely the people responsible for so many MMOs realize the need for a safe-zone/meeting place in any MMO (I know it's SOE, but still...). With this in mind, what will end up replacing sanctuaries?

- They can't honestly be considering a boring menu/map screen as a sanc replacement, can they?

- Considering how easy it is to think of the essential aspects the sanctuary brought to PS, does the fact they're removing it signify that they've thought of a superior idea that none of us have even touched on?

[Baneblade]

Ah, shows you how much I'm following PS these days.

[Vancha]

Originally Posted by Sobekeus

Ah, shows you how much I'm following PS these days.

You were unaware that "Planetside NEXT" was a sequel?

[Baneblade]

I barely have time to come here, much less stay up to date on everything.

[Vancha]

Originally Posted by Sobekeus

I barely have time to come here, much less stay up to date on everything.

That is the least excited response I've seen to the PS sequel by someone who knows what Planetside is.

[Hamma]

I can't see them totally removing a sanctuary of sorts. In an MMO there has to be some kind of safe area. I could see them toning it down significantly though.

[Baneblade]

Originally Posted by Vancha

That is the least excited response I've seen to the PS sequel by someone who knows what Planetside is.

I know SOE will fuck it up, so I'm declining to be excited about it.