Planetside News?
If you thought Planetside was basically comatose and drifting towards the bright light, well, think again.
Check out this massive list of planned changes to the game.
Probably most interesting to new players is this note:
Subscription Free - "Fodder Program" New Players will be able to create a new account and and play for free for a period of 12 months. The new account will have limitations on the BattleRank (+ or - BR8) and the CommandRank (+ or - CR2). Essentially, new players will be able to have access to any part of the game but they will be limited on the diversity of their arsenal. Time Frame – We are shooting for February 14th for Launch.
That's a pretty generous offer, in-game advertising or not. The double "and" is their mistake, not mine, but the key word is "free." Perhaps someone can correct me, but it's my understanding you can do a lot with a BR8 rank.
And if you're not a new player but an inactive one:
Blast into PlanetSide Promotion - I’m sure you have all noticed the increase of population the past week. The main reason is that we opened over 300,000 closed accounts and granted 30 days of free play if they log into the account before February 28, 2006. So contact your old squad members and find out what is holding them up if they’re dragging their feet.
Also on the table is improved "training" for new players which will hopefully cut down on the formidable learning curve currently in place.
There is a host of other gameplay changes which don't mean a whole lot to me (tank traps, galaxy gunship, supply depots, radiation sniper slugs, etc.) but the player base seems pretty excited. Some of them don't seem too crazy about Air to Air Mosquito Missiles but others do. There is also mention of new artwork and weapons variants.
I found this note interesting:
Katana Special - Ok, that isn’t the real name but we’re creating a new knife that you can be gained through your merits and awards.
That seems like an introduction of the more typical MMO grind-for-a-special-item mechanic.
Anyway, when it comes to Planetside, I know next to nothing. But I figured I'd post this news anyway for those who might be interested in it. Keep in mind that the changes haven't actually been implemented yet.
posted by Aggro Me at 8:00 AM
8 Comments:
First off, thanks for posting this! I haven't been in PS for a while... ahem.
Anyway, BR8, while you could uh.. do.. some stuff.. is still pretty low on the totem pole. I don't think I woulc be able to stand being stuck at BR8 for a year (that's most likely the point though, isn't it?)
I'd have to say the galaxy gunship (although it has been a long..LONG time coming) makes me happy. The Galaxy is a big troop transport airship with three defensive guns (very powerful already). Think of the old prop engine bomber planes with turrets and fixed guns to fend off against enemy fighters, only replace the bombs with troops.
The rest of those changes also sound pretty exciting. Air to air missiles? Well.. Mosquitos were supposed to be more scout planes, but they are a formidable force in the air (very fast, very agile) so uh.. whatever. Pilots are already used to have 5bajillion missile locks on them from the ground, why not add another 6gajillion from the sky.
The weapon from merits and rewards isn't a new thing, when the merits were first put in (well.. first fully used, anyway) you could get a different sniper rifle from them (sniper merits). Last time I played there were a few things you could only get if you had the merits, one being a variation of the Liberator, which is the bomber aircraft. It may sound like grinding, it is usually something that tests skill more... kill so many unique people with so and so weapon or vehicle in a given timeframe to get the merit.
Wow I write too much about PlanetSide.
Cheers!
Planetside's at its best with hordes upon hordes of players. If they can get a few thousand people back into the game, I'd definitely sign up again. There's no experience on the net quite as amazing as Planetside in full swing.
Coincidentally, I just resubbed for this a day or two ago.
BR8 (out of 25) will get you ten Certification Points and one implant slot. Access to the different categories of weapon and vehicle tend to come in 2-3 Cert jumps, so 10 is just about enough to cover any one specific role and do fairly well at it; infantry, pilot, driver, support guy, sniper, cloaker, etc.
You can swap these qualifications at the rate of one every six RL hours as well, so arne't always doomed to have the same ones.
I always found that it's quite rare that you'd be actually *using* more than 15 points worth of equipment or cvehicles at once anyway - more certs than that just means it's easier to switch to a different sdort of play style in the same session.
Having three implants is nice, and can help with teh Uber, but one is still very useful. These are toggleable enhancments, like health regen, audio radar, cloaker detection, and so on.
CR2 is the squad leader ranking system, (out to 5), and allows placement of squad visible waypoints on the map, and limited access to troop movement intel - nothing there to help with actual shooting - just with squad strategy.
I've not looked at the other changes, but this kind of offer will go a long way to bringing a novel and interesting game back into the public eye, although how many people stay is another matter - compared to EQ2, WoW, etc, it is VERY harsh, but definitely something every online gamer should experience at least once...
Oop...it's 12 points, I think, not 10...
5 to start, plus one per BR, minus the one at BR6...you get an implant slot instead there...
I read through the changes a little more in depth and see that they say the Mosquitos are getting rockets... which leads me to think they are dumbfire... which may be better than having missles that lock on, but then it's just making a smaller, faster, lightly armored Reaver (the "attack" plane of PS). *shrug*
(OT: When you're quoting something with misspellings, typos, grammatical errors, etc., use [sic] to indicate that the error was in the source document.)
The list of changes seems to require you already be subscribed to see them. Are they anywhere else?
Thanks for the comments from those who actually play Planetside - I appreciate the info.
Scott, I just copy-pasted the changes on my forums in the Other Current MMO's section if you want to take a look. Also Van Hemlock has some more detailed commentary up.
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