Gameplay: Weekend Events

[Deflagrate]

Weekends are often a time when people have longer hours to dedicate to playing in a single session, and themed events to allow something different every weekend could be a nice way to have something to look forward to every weekend.

PlanetSide 1 had things like the rabbit ball (or whatever it was called, it's been a while..) with the new weather system, how about an event such as:

On one of the three continents, the lighting is set to the darkest for 4-5 hours, one empire has to hold one base for as long as they possibly can, the odds would be stacked in favor of the attackers (in terms of resource gains, etc.), but the defenders would benefit from things like stronger turrets, faster re-spawn, longer time for attackers to hack points.

The permanent darkness would add to the feel of the situation.

As time goes on the attacker's benefits get stronger, with the aim of the attackers eventually (in the majority of cases...) being able to take the base in a few hours, with the entire duration of the "alamo style" holdout logged as empire statistics. At the end of the event all players who played in it (at any point during the process, even if they signed off) would be rewarded an amount of resources/currency depending on how their empire fared in the event, in addition to their personal gains.

There are so many things that could be implemented with the game's robust engine, it would be so nice to see these kind of teamwork oriented weekend events.

[Saifoda]

Definitely like the idea of weekend events -- maybe even outfit-leadership created ones (maybe...in the future anywho, not at launch ). Can do so much creatively with this -- any play style/game mode etc... that's not in the game could be temporarily constructed for 24/48/etc. hours. I think it shouldn't interfere with the regular continent play -- maybe if it was like on the new-oshur (the split-continent from aftershock) or something like that so people who don't want to participate in the "special mode" can still just put their hours into the regular gameplay.


+1 /signed.

[SirDart]

I like the idea, and there's no reason with the nightscape being as it is, that a good storyline could be to say that an auraxian moon eclipsed the star for an extended period of time.

Heck, I think it could even have it be area effectual, such as affecting only the TR area for a while, and moving the darkness toward VS, or wherever the most conflicting battlefronts.

You could even produce strange effects, such as a moon passing nearby causing a reduction/increase of gravity, so it is harder or easier to fly, and perhaps vehicles could make incredible jumps in some cases.

Any number of stories, I like basing mine of science fiction causes, but there is no reason you cannot change the goals of the game for weekend events too.

[Saifoda]

Interesting ideas, SirDart. The longer night cycle thread/idea sounds good, but I'm not too sure about the gravity one *only* from a game mechanics stand point. I'm not a programmer or software writer or whatever -- I barely know how to turn my computer on but I imagine the gravity thing would pose an issue for that side of things. Of course I could be totally off on that and it could be as easy as tweaking one number.

[Flaropri]

It's not a bad idea. They haven't yet decided on how long day/night cycles will actually be of course, so it could be that they go with 8 hour cycles (4 hours of each) or something as well.

Regardless, I think having special weekend events sounds like a great idea, and having special conditions whether it be increased daylight/nighttime hours, specific weather patterns (huge sand-storms and blizzards anyone?) or bonus temporary resources for attackers/defenders all sound like good ways to add to the variety and spice to these events.

[Saifoda]

Not to get off topic but I personally think they're going to settle on the day/night cycle being somewhere between 3 and 6 hours (1.5-3 hours each). It just makes the most sense to me as most of the players of ps2 will be casual gamers (ftp model and what not) so they're only going to play a couple hours a day, and most likely will want to experience the full cycle at least once during their play. At the same time, the long-time vets and hardcore players who will play 8-10 hours a day (maybe just once a week though lol) will still get in full day/night cycles that aren't unreasonably (I think) fast and get to enjoy multiple bouts of day fighting, night fighting, day fighting, etc..