Shoot People For Free In Planetside 2

[vansau]

Shoot People For Free In Planetside 2

[video=3667 width="350"]​

Yes, Planetside 2 is going to be free-to-play, but Sony is keeping mum on just how this is going to work out.

Back in July, Sony revealed <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/111512-Planetside-2-Will-Revolutionize-the-FPS-Genre>it's got some pretty major plans for the Planetside franchise with Planetside 2. The sequel is set to include a new resource system, the ability to level up when players aren't logged in, and a dynamic skill tree, and now Sony's revealed something else: Planetside 2 will be free-to-play.

Speaking to Chinese news site 17173.com, Sony Online Entertainment's president John Smedley broke the news, though he didn't exactly explain how the F2P elements would work. Not only that, but the original translation wasn't all that great, so Planetside Universe followed up with Smedley for some clarification; Smedley got back to the group shortly with the following information:

On Auction House
We aren't doing an auction house like Blizzard. They asked me what I thought of that move by Blizzard and I said I liked it and thought it would help with farmers and that we were doing it years ago with Station Exchange. It has nothing to do with Planetside 2 whatsoever. Ive [SIC] said before the game will be some form of F2P but we aren't announcing anything specific yet.

On Beta
I did in fact say we are aiming for late this year or early next year. No further comment about that. It's ready when it's ready and we are proud of it.

On Crafting
Not sure what they were talking about relating to "crafting" other than we want players long term to be able to make weapons. That won't be there at launch.

On Payment Model
The game will be F2P. What form will it be? We're still working that out. But here's a hint - we like League of Legends a lot.

That last bit is certainly interesting, as League of Legends model is not only highly profitable, but it also allows players a ton of freedom to play in a variety of styles. Since Planetside 2 is apparently going to be starting its beta process in the near future, maybe some more light will be shed on the F2P elements soon.

Source: VG247

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[Xan Krieger]

I'm hyped, always wanted to play the first planetside so being able to play the second for free is just a great thing to hear.

 

[Korten12]

I am sooo HAPPY!

 

[Rawne1980]

Sony Online Entertainment

I wanted to be excited I really genuinely did.

The problem being that everything SOE touches instantly turns to shit.

 

[Worgen]

Im glad it will be free to play, Im still annoyed that sony fucked up the first one so bad, but since its free it will be much easier to stick with, as long as they dont fuck up the free

if they did it the same way league did, which money just getting you neat skin type things or being able to unlock more options faster (people seem to pay money in league no so much to get stuff but to support the devs) then it could work really well

 

[Merlark]

If they made the first planet side free, that would be nice.

 

[Scizophrenic Llama]

Sony Online Entertainment

I wanted to be excited I really genuinely did.

The problem being that everything SOE touches instantly turns to shit.

They developed the first one, so it shouldn't be that surprising that they've done the second.

 

[Frizzle]

Planetside 1 was awesome fun. Used to love playing that game. I also have just been introduced to LoL. I can see nothing bad coming from this combination

Though that means SOE is going to be competing with CCP in the sci-fi first person shooter market with Dust 514. Not that I dislike competition, but I am *really* looking forward to CCP's shooter.

But until all that happens, I'll have BF3, so bring it on Sony.

 

[Twad]

Never played the first (but i wish i did, looked like a ton of fun). Now the second will be F2P.. but with conditions/limitations? I think i will still give it a try, this is a kind of gameplay i always wanted to play.

 

[Xannieros]

I smell a cash shop...
I do not like F2P, there's always a catch.

 

[weirdee]

Yeah, I get the feeling that the inactive exp gain is one of the cash shop features.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Ah Smedley. You promise so much, then produce even less.

Haven't you learned from the rest of SOE's problems? Stick some bloody resources into it BEFORE launch, then LISTEN to your beta testers and finally have some staff on standby to FIX the Teleporting Gnomes, Mute Quest Givers, Broken Valentine's Events, Fight by lag, Crafting System based on Noob Farming and everything else you were told about in Everquest, Planetside, DCUO etc.

You're going up against major licences, so you have to approach this as a major licence. And at least keep the Beach Noobs.

 

[Doug]

I am looking forward to this - I heard PlanetSide 1 was great, but sadly never got around to giving it ago (especially given at that age I didn't have an income); If this is the MMOFPS I've heard about I'll be delighted - the fun of a shooter combined with something to fight for instead of the same battlegrounds without any form of context.

 

[Lawyer105]

My biggest concern over F2P is the "pay 2 win" aspect.

Planetside as a game was as awesome as it gets because a) you could have access to almost every piece of equipment and every vehicle within a month or so of play but b) you could never have access to all of them at the same time.

Battles were "balanced" (in as much as Fail-OE ever balanced anything) because the other guy never had an advantage you couldn't counter. If he's using heavy weapons (pretty limited range mostly) you used medium weapons and maintained the range. If he's got a tank, you've got a missile launcher. Pretty much everything could be countered if you did it right, but you couldn't have all the counters at the same time. That led to an extremely team-based game (sure, there were hotdroppers - but apart from kill-whoring, they didn't exactly advance their side's position).

Assuming you couldn't out-manoeuvre the other dude (i.e. the terms of the fight were known to both sides), you could both equip for that environment - and then the battle came down to skill (or numbers admittedly).

But I'm not convinced they can do that with F2P. Since they're not getting subs in, and I doubt too many players are going to pay enough for cosmetic stuff to cover the costs that pretty much leaves them selling stuff with in-game effects. I also doubt anybody's going to pay for guns etc. that aren't any better than the default stuff, and locking off access to areas without payment is simply going to fragment the population.

So to me it looks like this is going to end up with something like the standard online Fail-PS "buying better guns than the other guy" mechanic. And that'll be a real shame.

 

[Stealthfighterx]

Yeah, there was NO way that they'd make people pay for this when Firefall is coming out for free.

And Tribes Ascend, and I think they know that many gamers wallets will be severely drained from all the AAA games coming out this fall.

 

[Frizzle]

Planetside 1 was awesome fun. Used to love playing that game. I also have just been introduced to LoL. I can see nothing bad coming from this combination

Though that means SOE is going to be competing with CCP in the sci-fi first person shooter market with Dust 514. Not that I dislike competition, but I am *really* looking forward to CCP's shooter.

But until all that happens, I'll have BF3, so bring it on Sony.

They wont be competing at all really. Dust 514 is a PS3 only game and as far as I have seen Planetside 2 is only coming to the PC, so they may have a little overlap but they wont be competing against one another.

Not to mention that if PS2 came to the PS3 (snicker) then it would be a little unfair to pit PS3 players against PC gamers

Ah dang, you're right. Guess I wasn't thinking clearly. Never mind then, bring on PS2!