Shoot People For Free In Planetside 2

[Verdilian]

Cool! It wasn't in my radar as I was thinking it was going to go P2P but now with this new news, I am getting hyped for this. I especially like the talks of how they like League of Legends F2P style. Let's see how they implement this...

 

[The_Emperor]

I seriously think that john smedley or SOE will ruin this game, I have no faith in SOE.

 

[Grey_Focks]

Hmm, mixed feelings. I actually do think the LoL F2P method is really nice, as both me and my friends play it occasionally and have yet to put a penny into it. I'd honestly prefer a pay once model, with maybe a shop that only sells aesthetic items? Dammit Guild Wars spoils me. Oh well, will see how it plays out, but so long as they don't do the pay to win model.

 

[MarsProbe]

Sigh... [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetside]

It will be interesting to see how the F2P works out in this. I wouldn't really like it if it meant the more powerful weapons/abilities/vehicles etc were available at a price instead of earning them through play. That was one of the things I liked about Planetside - you pretty much gained everything through either experience gained or facilities captured.

Anyway, onto something more relating to that trailer. I'm taking it this is an actual sequel to the first game in the sense that it takes place after the first, but correct me if I'm wrong. Those that played the first will remember there was some event called "The Bending" (great name that, really) where the planet was broken up into a group of smaller planetoids, one for each continent I think.

Seeing that this game seems to be taking place on the same planet, is Auraxis still split up, or has it somehow been glued back together again?

 

[Stefini Weisel]

It is probably a reboot, rather than a sequel. While Planetside did have a (sort of) evolving storyline, it wasn't really something to write home about, so nothing of value will be lost.

Even better, rebooting means we won't necessarily have those damn BFRs (giant mechs) or Galaxy Gunships (imagine a player-piloted AC-130) to annihilate everyone without a vehicle of their own.

 

[Aikayai]

For those who haven't played League of Legends (and why not I might add ), their F2P model is simple. If you choose to, you never have to pay for the game, ever. There is no advantage given to players who pay. If PS2 follows this then its a good thing. A very good thing.

 

[Jaime_Wolf]

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

First I was like :|

But here's a hint - we like League of Legends a lot.

Then I was like

Edit: Elaboration: Of course it will have a cash shop. The game can't actually be entirely free. That's not even a remote possibility, especially for a genre that requires as much work and upkeep as the MMO. However, League of Legends is apparently doing quite well financially on what is easily the best F2P business model I've ever seen.

You can buy characters to play as with real money or money earned in game (not so much that it's unreasonable to buy any of them), the actual stat upgrades (runes) can only be bought with in-game currency, and levels have to be earned in game. The only things you can't buy with currency earned in-game are skins and XP (used to level) boosts and IP (used to buy runes and characters) boosts. Both just increase the rate at which you earn the relevant stuff, but it doesn't change the cap on how many of either you can have and that cap is easily reachable by even a casual player without the boosts. And the boosts are either limited to time (not at all cost effective unless you plan to have no life for a significant amount of time) or only activate when you win. For new players, the boosts are of questionable worth too since further runes and levels tend to make characters more specialised, which can be bad for beginners.

So cosmetic items and a time/money tradeoff that is limited such that even casual players can pretty easily reach the limit without spending money too. This is F2P done absurdly, overwhelmingly right.

 

[mezorin]

F2P actually makes sense for PlanetSide 2, as PS1's biggest problem is that you needed a huge number of players for the game to be any fun. In fact, the Planetside Reserves (ie play to Battle Rank 6) was one of the best ideas in part 1, except for the fact that hackers abused it, as all the extra people on the battlefield spruced the game up from the usual abandoned cat and mouse back hack fest that was going on at the time.

You guys also have to remember that PlanetSide 2 is directly competing with the likes of Firefall, World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, and Battlefield 3. Making the game appealing to the "I feel like playing this when I'm bored of my Orc, as its free and I got friends who have it too" crowd is a smart move here as 10 million people putting down five bucks is the same as 1 million people putting down 50, and PlanetSide is a *much* better game with bigger numbers.

And on cost? Honestly? If PS2 followed a LOL style skins/perks cash shop, I'd cheerfully down a few bucks a month as part of my gaming budget if it meant a new skin for my gauss rifle, or a painted kill count on the side of my lightning tank.

 

[Photon987]

Although I am still skeptical about the whole F2P/Freemium idea (and I am especially worried about the "dynamic skill tree" bit... I hope it is just a fancy way of saying "the first game's old Certification system"), I'm just really, REALLY hoping that PlanetSide 2 lives up to my memory of the first one, and that enough people like it to keep the community going for several years of all out war. As long as PlanetSide 2 is at least as good as the first game, if the F2P thing helps establish a larger playerbase, and keeps it around longer, then I guess I can get behind it.

 

[RA92]

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.

Yeah, seriously, how can you you mix them up? A console-manufacturer makes a PC-exclusive, and a PC MMO developer makes a console-exclusive. What's so confusing about that, huh?