Planetside 2

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"Massive battles on a scale no other FPS will touch. None of this 64 player stuff. REALLY MASSIVE. With much better organisation, and a tight focus on making sure the action is always going on, with awesome graphics."

Planetside - MMOFPS - Play for free!

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"And we haven't announced a release date for it but you can expect it... We're looking at late first-quarter, early second-quarter [2011]."
We are unsure if this will be the release date of the game or when we can expect to hear the release date.

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"We've announced publicly that the game is in development," SOE president John Smeldey tells Eurogamer, "it's a game that's codenamed PlanetSide Next.

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John Smedley has tweeted two model screenshots, one of a New Conglomerate Vanguard and one of a New Conglomerate Galaxy.

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It's interesting how many comments we get about BFR's. Well you can stop sending the "please don't put BFR's in PS Next" emails. They aren't in there.

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All we know at this time is that current PlanetSide Subscribers will get first dibs at PlanetSide Next beta.

In other news - early next year we will have announcements about Planetside Next followed by a beta. I can say this - it's coming along awesome. I can also say that the first beta testers are going to be current Planetside subscribers. I've gotten a lot of email from current players offering to help test the game and we're going to take them up on it.

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Planetside had a lot of really great things about it, but it also had some frustrating things. The whole Sanctuary concept is something that slowed things down too much. We also didn't get people back into the action quickly enough.

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While nothing official has been announced we do know that T-Ray, one of the orginal PlanetSide Artists is working on the team. PurrfectStorm has also confirmed she is a PlanetSide Next Dev via Twitter.

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"We have a very big launch coming in the month of March," Smedley said. "It's a big first person shooter franchise that we're really happy with."

I took a leap of logic and asked whether it was Planetside.

"Could be," Smedley said sheepishly. "We haven't technically announced it." He then told me that I could say that he "hinted" that the new Planetside was imminent, which translates to 99% of a confirmation. "This is the farthest I've gone [discussing it with the press] and the PR people are going to shoot me."

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Op zaterdag 5 februari 2011 02:54 schreef captainkid het volgende:
Planetside, het leukste spel wat ik ooit gespeeld heb.

Aan de andere kant heb ik mij ook doodgeërgerd aan SOE en hun achterlijke beslissingen of juist het gebrek daar aan.

De grootste irritatie was dat ze bijna niets deden om nieuwe spelers aan te trekken zo was de oneindige free trial een jaar te laat toen het spel al aan het dood gaan was.

Hetzelfde zie ik nu weer gebeuren, het spel komt over een paar maand al uit en je leest er verdorie bijna helemaal niks over. Ze zijn zelfs te lui of te stom om wat feitjes lost te laten voor gratis nieuwsberichten.

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PlanetSide Next is getting More resources and will be out a little later in the year but we are pulling out all the stops to make it great.

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We wanted to share this information with you all directly, rather than having you read about it on another site. What does this news mean for the squads of seasoned fighters in PlanetSide? There are few occasions when we see Vanu, NC and Terran all aligned in game, but we see it every day when we come to the PS forums or read about your campaigns in blogs, videos and other sites. We are listening; the communitys long-term and unflagging support of PlanetSide has ensured that it is one of the franchises that SOE will focus on going forward. I know that youve all seen a few cryptic and veiled messaged here and there regarding a new evolution of the game while most of this development is still highly classified, we hope to bring you at least a few words from the Producer next week to whet your appetite and anticipation for the future.

~Linda Brasse Carlson

Director, Global Community Relations

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PC WELCOME BACK DETAILS

We want to ensure that your experience is as positive as possible as you re-enter our games. To show our gratitude for your patience and support, Sony Online Entertainment is offering a Welcome Back Program, the details of which are outlined below.

Firstly, as a Station Account holder in good standing, you will receive 45 days of game time (30 days plus 1 day for each day of the outage) added to your Station Account. This game time applies to any game you have currently or previously activated on your Station Account.

For those customers on an active paying plan, this time has been added to the end of your current billing cycle. For all other customers, your time begins upon your first login to each of the relevant games. Customers must login by 11:59 pm PST August 31, 2011 to claim the game time.

If you require the latest SOE game software, visit www.soe.com/getthegame.

In addition to game time, current Station Access subscribers (with accounts in good standing) will receive 500 Station Cash.

Lifetime subscribers/members (who are therefore not on a billing cycle) will receive in-game currency instead of game time:

Clone Wars Adventures™ - 7,500 Galactic Credits
Free Realms® - 20,000 Coin
DC Universe™ Online - 10 Marks of Distinction
Additionally, many of our PC games are offering a variety of items and special events to welcome players back, depending on which game(s) you play or have ever played. The table below covers, by game, which items are available and who is eligible to receive them.

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11:59 pm PST August 31, 2011

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Looking back through the archives, it’s been a while since we’ve done a proper Planetside Producer letter, so let’s get rolling!

Let me start by introducing myself. My name is Andrew Sites and about a month ago I joined the Planetside Next development team as the Executive Producer. While I may be new to Planetside, I’ve been around the block a few times here at Sony Online. I’ve worked in production on several SOE projects, including EverQuest, EverQuest II, Free Realms and most recently was the EP on Clone Wars Adventures. But enough about me, let’s talk about Planetside.

While combing through the Planetside forums, I can see that you’re not just amped about the promise of a sequel being developed, but even more so, you want some details. With Planetside now approaching its 8 year anniversary, it’s still easy to look back and see just how it set the bar for Massively Multiplayer FPS games. It was fun, fast-paced and most importantly, it offered truly MASSIVE FPS combat that hasn’t been recreated since. When we started designing Planetside Next, our goal was to build upon the original foundational elements that made it unique, while focusing heavily on the large-scale combat that set it apart from the competition. We’ve got some big shoes to fill, but as we begin unveiling the details, I think you’re going to be VERY excited to see what we have planned.

As you know, Planetside Next was announced by Smed via Twitter about a year and a half ago. Since then, the development team has been pining away on a new graphics engine, building art assets and designing new content. To support our ongoing development efforts, the team has increased in size significantly over the past several weeks. We’ve also brought back several team members from the original Planetside art, design and code team, as well as a ton of other talented, experienced MMO and FPS developers – many of whom I will begin introducing to you in my next update.

To say that the team and I are excited would be an understatement. Over the coming weeks and months, you can expect to receive a lot more detail about what we have in-store for PSNext. Much of this information will be presented to the PS community exclusively, because frankly, if your passion for the original didn’t exist, I wouldn’t be typing this.

Planetside set the bar for the Massively Multiplayer FPS market 8 year ago and we look forward to setting it again.

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For all you Planetside Next fans stay tuned for a big announcement at our upcoming Fan Faire in Vegas!

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PlanetSide 2 is the only first person shooter that delivers truly epic, massive combat on a scale never before seen in stunning, breathtaking detail. Be a part of explosive action in a futuristic world with forces ranging from tactical squads to thousand player armies all taking place in real-time on enormous open-world continents.

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Op zondag 10 juli 2011 14:30 schreef RickoKun het volgende:
't ziet er niet uit alsof t een grote map is.

OVERAL bergen om je heen.

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Q & A:

On the Class System
The skill tree and classes go hand in hand, you can switch between roles as often as you want depending what is needed at the time. Things like weapon attachments will be based on the skill tree. Also you will be able to queue up 24 hours of skills to train so you can train your characters offline. However there will still be battle rank involved which will prevent you from training all skills unless you advance in battle rank. Skill training will also occur quicker when you are online.

On Resource Collection
On a continent you will have multiple regions that can be captured that have specific resources tied to them. Some areas may be more rich in rare resources some in common materials. Auraxium will be one of the rare resources that can be obtained. You will be able to unlock secondary weapons such as mortar cannons and AA guns on tanks. You will do this based on resources collected by your empire or outfit. Resources will make gameplay more strategic, for example denying resources to empires to gain an advantage.

On Outfit Customization
Outfits will have skill trees also that will be customizable. Outfits can spec specifically to increase certain aspects such as focusing on being an air cavalry outfit, or infiltry and max outfits.

On long term plans.
There will be a three year plan for PlanetSide 2 for all of the players to review and and provide feedback. Based on feedback the plan could be changed or moved around.

On Game Focus
It's about giving back to the players, SOE wants to make PlanetSide 2 for the players who have stuck to the game for years, and the hardcore players who participate day in and day out.

On the scale of gameplay
There will be multiple continents in the game just as with the original PlanetSide. Down the road there will even be multiple worlds.

On gameplay systems
There will be an extensive mission system in PlanetSide 2 to assist in coordinating PlanetSide 2 combat on a much larger scale than seen in PlanetSide 1.

On the Territorial Control Systems
Due to the structure of the systems there will be a large variety of heavily contested areas such as large forests. Large and open areas could be conquered entirely with vehicles, this goes for air and ground vehicles. Much of the territorial control system will be based similarly on bases where if you capture a base or structure you own the territory. There will be bonuses to capturing territories that are connected. It will also add more vertical gameplay to the game.

On the pace of Gameplay
Moment to moment pacing for PlanetSide 2 is much faster than PlanetSIde 1.

On external access to data
Most data will be accessible from outside so webapps can b built on top of the game. Services such as signature generators and statistic pages could be built around the data feeds.

On urban combat.
There will be "Urban Like" combat in PlanetSide 2.

On the Flight Model
They want skill based vehicle driving to play a much larger role in PlanetSide 2. There will be much more advanced flight mechanics with barrel roles and flips. Real skill will be required to fly vehicles so quality pilots will be in demand.

Community Q&A

Below are some of your questions direct from the Ask the Dev's question submission! Questions below were answered by Matt Higby, Creative Director for PlanetSide 2.

Part 2

When is beta?
Beta will ready when we feel the game is ready for people to play and test in. There is no solid date at this time.

What are you most excited about in Planetside 2?
I am most excited about the world system and the territorial control system, for example being able to capture a ridge or a river bend. Also the engine is capable of things volumetric clouds where vehicles could fly in and hide in the clouds.

Can you tell us if 3rd person will play a role in PlanetSide 2?
There will only be a 3rd person view for certain air vehicles, infantry will not have a third person view at all. There may be things like cameras that an infiltrator can throw on a wall to monitor who is coming up the stairs or around a corner.

Can we expect more varied base layouts?
Currently we are coming up with a way on how interiors are going to work, we are working on predictability vs randomness and we are leaning towards more standard base layouts rather than random. But this time around combat will be less centralized on bases. There will not be specific purpose built facilities such as drop ship etc (ie you won't require a dropship center to build dropships)

Are there any plans for a larger variety in towers?
Right now there are two types of towers and we hope to have more variety in towers.

Are there any plans for more in-depth character creation, like what was done from EQ to EQ2?
There will not be a large variety of character creation due to the large scale of the game.

Game Appearance - How will weapon-customization be implemented into the game?
There will be weapon customization in the game. The customization will be very sensitive to player gaining to much power. An upgrade may allow you to unlock different variants that are less accurate but do more damage. There will be a 15% to 20% maximum difference between players who are new compared to experienced.

Will base names remain similar in PlanetSide 2?
Hope to use similar base names as well as continents, there was a new continent featured in the teaser trailer and we are currently working on Searhus.

Will wreckage remain on the battlefield?
Wreckage will stay around on the battlefield for a period of time, hopefully minutes but it is still up for balance.

Are you currently planning to make an expansion pack or periodically add content?
There will be large scale content releases rather than expansion packs in PlanetSide 2.

What are your plans for the storyline? Will it be expanded upon?
The PlanetSide 2 story is the re-imaging of PlanetSide, you are still in Auraxis and allot of the story from PlanetSide will be re-examined in PlanetSide 2

Part 3

Will there be more of a detailed hitbox in PlanetSide 2? For example will we see Headshots this time around?
There will be headshots in the game as well as locational damage on Vehicles.

Can the terrain be altered (destructable terrain)?
At this stage of development this is still up in the air.

Do we still have a sanctuary? Or is it replaced with something else?
The sanctuaries and shuttle system do not exist in PlanetSide 2 since they slow down the gameplay. You will be able to spawn directly on squad mates based on skills, squad spawning can only happen outside since squad spawning actually drops a capsule from the sky. Additionally you will be able to spawn in Galaxies.

What changes will we see in the command system in Planetside 2?
There will be squad level command systems that allow tagging of targets as well as outfit based command. There will also be orbital strikes in the game, all of these abilities will be based on the skill system in the game.

What kind of new features can we expect for Outfits?
Later on down the road (likley not at release) we hope to provide a skin system to allow outfits to customize their armors so the will be more recognizable on the battlefield. This type of system would be approved by the PlanetSide Team to cut down on inappropriate submissions.

Will there be a merit system?
Yes we hope to have a merit system in PlanetSide 2

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Q. Can you elaborate a little bit on the free aspect that has been mentioned?

A. There will be a cash shop for the game however the goal is not to sell power. For example we would sell things like customization because we would like there to be a massive amount of ways to customize your characters. So people could recognize you or your outfit out of a group. We will not sell a more powerful gun or vehicle.

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John Smedley and Producer Matt Higby were part of the SoE team that presented Planetside 2 at SyndCon, the annual guild meeting of The Syndicate, a guild that has been in existence since 1996 and works together to provide professional alpha and beta testing services as well as the writing for print as well as website game guides.

Planetside 2 is built on SoEs own proprietary engine, Forgelight and we were given close up shots of the graphic possibilities with Matt accelerating the day / night cycle while the audience oohed and aahed at the light changes in an early build of the game. We were also given close-up looks of models and the level of detail possible, down to scratches on the paint of armor.

There will be a dynamic weather system that can affect warfare. Intense firefights causing a lot of smoke can affect the weather and they also spoke of volumetric clouds that can mask vehicles. That may not be in at launch, but is definitely in the long term plan.

The long term goal, said Smed, is to have environment that is destructible. If players wreck a base totally, they will have to rebuild it before it can be useful again. He also alluded to EVE Onlines outside-in approach in that they started with space and have since created on- planet game play while their plans are inside-out, with plans for space game play in the future.

We can build in extra detail where it is needed, said Matt as he pulled the camera in and out of landscapes and models. We saw the heat shimmer of super-heated air under vehicles, reflections of light off armor and the sun light striking the canyon at sunrise. There will be spotlights at night, on towers and on vehicles as well.

Imagine the old Looney Tunes prison break, Matt laughed, with the spotlight following you as you try to escape it.

Bases and outposts have attained greater variety, with some buildings built into the sides of stone walls, making the approach only, say 180 degrees, not 360.

We will start with a single planet and continent, said Smed, then add more continents, and eventually planets.

That brings up the possibility of naval and air transports between the continents as well as fighting on the high seas, refueling stations and floating bases both on water and air. Planetside 2 will retain the same three factions, the Terran Republic, the Vanu Sovereignty and the New Conglomerate, but the three factions wont be battling over territory just to hold it for the sake of holding territory. There will be outposts that control certain resources and looking at the map, players can gain control and hold them for the purpose of denying another faction the use of the resources, or use them, themselves.

The game will be able to re-allocate resources so that one strong faction wont be able to completely monopolize a single resource. They might deplete one type of ore and spawn another, or create an abundance in another non-controlled area.

Matt then spoke on skills or as they are called in Planetside and Planetside 2, certifications. Planetside 2 will be much more of a skill-based game than Planetside was as the Forgelight engine is capable of the physics. For example, headshots will be possible and snipers will have a harder time of it, as ballistic physics will be in game and they will have to account for wind shift and bullet drop. The game will play very much like an FPS, with a keyboard layout that will be familiar to FPS players, however, there are leadership certifications as well as other support roles like medics and engineers.

Certifications can be trained offline or on, with online training speedier than offline. Players can still be a Jack of all trades, and bring specific load outs into each battle, but specializing will get players higher level certifications faster. Throughout the presentation, we were told we could do this or that, provided we had the proper certifications. For example, Terran Republic players will be able put a powerful anti-vehicle weapon on top of the Prowler (a mid size tank) and swap them out as needed.

If a player has the command rank and the certifications, they can command the base to raise specific turrets such as anti-personnel or anti-aircraft. Missions are area based, the objectives popping up as you enter an area, but leaders can also pick missions for the squad / outfit as well.

Players respawn on death and if leaders have the certification, the respawned player may be able to drop-pod directly back to the group rather than making his way back from the respawn point in a camp or outpost. Friendly fire will be in game, which will make AE weapons more strategic and player sacrifices more meaningful. Each faction will have an uncontestable base and Outfit housing will also be a safe sanctuary.

At FanFaire 2011, Smed had alluded to a cash shop, and he did the same here at SyndCon, reassuring the audience that they would not be selling power. If a weapon can be bought in the cash store, he was quick to assure us that it would be attainable in the game as well. Definitely though, one of the things that will be sold would be customization.

SoE hopes to create a parallel feel for outfits thats like the US military, for players to recognize outfits for what they do, like how the 101st Airborne Division is known. To help with the identity, Outfits will be able to customize the look of their armor and vehicles. Leaders (with the right certifications) will be able to unlock abilities and customize the skill tree for the Outfit. Drilling down, an Outfit can have more than one Division, so they can have for example, a light assault Division, an Engineering Division and etc. Group play will be the same with 10 to a squad, but in addition, platoons of up to four squads can be formed.

In summation, Smed had this to say of Planetside2. Basically, we took everything that sucked out of Planetside and made all the fun things better.

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For those that don't know, Planetside 2 is a massively-multiplayer online first-person shooter and a 're-imaginationing of the original game. As of right now the release date "it's done when it's done" and, despite some loud mouthed specualtors, it will not be coming to PS3. A fact confirmed to us today when we spoke to creative director Matt Higby.

"I think I would have been told about it by now," said Higby when asked.

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RPS: So…what’s changing with the world?

Higby: It’s the same world, but we’re doing a revisioning of the entire thing. The storyline is starting from where Planetside 1 started, we’re not following it up. We’re redefining what Auraxis is and spending a lot of time redefining the roles of the factions. Factions in PS2 are super-important, not just the red team versus the blue; they play the game in a completely different way. We’re creating very distinct motivations and lore for the factions, so they have their own reasons for doing what they’re doing and hating the other factions, and that all feeds into their gameplay types and the types of people who will enjoy playing those factions.

RPS: Flashing back, I used to always play as an anti-air max, and jump-jet my way on top of base antennae, to get the jump on aircraft. Is the Vanu’s vertical mobility still going to be one of their key features?

Higby: We have more than one ability that each class can have. You can slot different types of abilities. Right now our jumpjet class is our light assault class. Their purpose is to get behind enemy lines to do really quick strikes. They’re our anti-sniper role; if there’s one sat on top of a tower somewhere, the light assault guys can run around really fast, jump-jet up and hit quick with assault rifles.

RPS: Can people hold off spawning until their team member is in the right exit location?

Higby: When you log into the game, you can select where you’re going to spawn; at a facility, at a galaxy, or on my squad. Squad-spawning is an ability you have to have; we have a cert-tree that’s completely redesigned from the original Planetside, so squad leadership is a cert-tree, and squad-spawning can be unlocked through that, and that has different levels too. So the first level, you can only spawn on the squad-leader, the second you can spawn on anybody in the squad; there’s timers that get reduced as you increase that ability too. So there’s a huge of amount depth built into that and people want to do leadership. You said your friend was a Command Rank 5 in Planetside 1? You can be a CR5 in PS1 by leading a lot of squads; in Planetside 2, you’re going to have to dedicate your skill progression to squad leadership.

RPS: Could anyone who’s played the game a lot become a squad leader now then?

Higby: Absolutely. You don’t have to play the game a lot to do it.

RPS: Will those bigger, high-value vehicles be more difficult to access in Planetside 2?

Higby: No, they won’t. There will be use restrictions nad we have a resource system too, so putting secondary weapons and additional stuff costs resources, and resources have to be earned in gameplay…

RPS: You can customise the vehicles?

Higby: Yeah, so you might put an armour attachment and a stronger transmission, which allows you to go over hills better but you don’t have as high a top speed. It’s not necessarily upgrades, what we use is sidegrades, something that’s equivalent, but better in one area than the other. So you may have a 20mm chaingun side-armament on your prowler, or a flak cannon for anti-air, or you want a mortar on the top, for bombardments.

RPS: That sounds so WH40K. Give me a Landraider with all lascannons.

Higby: Exactly, that’s the trade-off. Do I want to have a glass cannon, which is the most powerful weapon systems or something that can just run barricades, with max armour and auto-repair nanites on it. We’re working on all of those mechanics right now, what stuff works, what’s too powerful, what the final list of attachments is going to be. Which are fun, which add to gameplay, that’s the most important thing. You can’t things in just for cool’s sake.

RPS: How much do the factions share in terms of weaponry?

Higby: We’re definitely a lot more different in terms of factions from PS1. Each faction has not only their own assault rifle, but also chaingun, sniper rifle, pistol… basically every one of the main weapons. There’s multiple variants inside the factions too though, basically sidegrade, so maybe I want a cycler that has less recoil but does less damage, so I can be more accurate, or has a larger magazine. All those variables fit into the weapon balance and allow people to customise. I’m a great shooter, so I want a higher accuracy, but don’t need a faster fire rate. Off the top of my head, 30% of what’s available in the game is shared; the majority of weapons are specific to your factions. In terms of vehicles, it’s probably the other way around; 30% are your own vehicles. But you can have Vanu-specific attachments on a common vehicle.

RPS: Apart from the maxes, I was the annoying guy who stood behind a wall firing a range of grenades from my thumper.

Higby: Maxes in Planetside 2 are really interesting too. They have multiple weapon systems; you can put an anti-air on one arm and anti-infantry on the other. Or two of each, so you can really customise them.

RPS: Any close combat stuff? I know it isn’t very Planetside.

Higby: We have a bunch of melee weapons still, and certain classes can take better advantage of those than others. Infiltrators who also used them because of the Melee boost. We have mechanics around that, locational damage for knives, so hitting someone from behind with a knife does more damage.

RPS: How does the PhysX affect things? Getting your custom Prowler caught in a ditch must be a nightmare, but flying must be even tougher. Are we going to see a lot more plane crashes?

Higby: Oh, yeah. Flying is going to be an artform in this game. Just like everything else, it requires you to dedicate time to it. If you have the best possible reaver, you’re going to have to put a lot of time into the skill tree and the flight mechanics. It’s customisable too, so if I want my reaver to go as fast as possible, I don’t care about vulnerability, or I just want the most nimble one. It’s all personal. So yeah, vehicles are going to crash a lot more than they did in PS1. Right now they’re pretty difficult, but we’re balancing. We’re trying to figure out whether we should make it more like Battlefield, where the first time you get into it you crash for 45 minutes before you figure out how it flies, or do we make it so you can fly first time; finding the middle ground is difficult.

RPS: Any other games you’ve really drawn inspiration from?

Higby: In terms of combat, we’re really closest to Battlefield: Bad Company 2. It’s a really good analogue for us, as it has large open-world spaces, with vehicular and infantry gameplay which works well together. We’re taking lots of cues in terms of pacing from that, though we’re not as fast. It’s not as slow as the original, where the time to kill was 2 seconds plus, but it’s faster. When you’re playing Battlefield, if you don’t have matched teams it’s not fun. You can have a legitimately fun time in Planetside with 10 people against 80. I mean it might not be possible to win that fight, but you could hold for a long time, hunker down, and then twenty people from another faction come sweeping in and cluster-fuck the whole thing up, and that doesn’t happen in any other game.

RPS: How do you iterate?

Higby: For example, we have a couple of designers who just work on infantry weapon balance. All day long they put numbers in a spreadsheet and figure out whether a weapon is balanced, then run around shooting at each other lots.

RPS: It’s also interesting how people will customise their kit and vehicles for different maps. If I’m landing on a plain for example, I’d pick speed and manouvrability; if it’s canyons, something smaller and better armoured.

Higby: Yeah, it’s the deepest FPS available. The amount of stuff available in PS2 dwarfs PS1.

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*When* the beta happens (i.e. when it's ready) it will most likely start with an English beta.. that doesn't mean NA only though with other languages and locales to follow. Let us get the beta ready first. We have a ways to go.