Planetside 2

I am looking forward to it!

At the moment I am playing Planetside-lite AKA Tribes Ascend beta, which is pretty cool, you can get an early insight into how the next wave of games are going to try the whole micro payment / pay to win model, not quite as blatant as World of Tanks where you have to buy anything capable of inflicting or surviving damage, but present none the less. In Tribes you can earn all of the weapons/ perks with XP or cash, it just may take you some time to get there, skins are the only thing that have to be paid for with cash, which instantly marks you out as a saddo to be blasted by everybody!

It can be quite entertaining to repeatedly splat the lads who have bought at lot the toys but are not able to use them an listen to them whine over how over powered everything else is!

re World of Tanks, I found that when I was playing for a few of months around the release date was that unless you were using gold ammo you were getting nowhere and the gring to upgrade tanks without paying real cash was very tedious and usually resulted in getting wiped out with my shells bouncing off of everything unless I was using gold ammo. Maybe it is different now but at the time it fwlt very pay to win, from the perspective tht if I was paying I was winning and if I wasn't paying I wasn't getting any where.

The average monthly cost was well in excess of what I would budget for online gaming so I gave up WoT, Tribes gives a more satifying game without the same pay to win feeling, you can play well and win but paying gives you more options as opposed to the feeling that if you are not paying you are just fodder.

That is why I hope PS2 will be more like Tribes than WoT. The original PS allowed you to hold your own even at a low level and when you got your XP up you had more options but fundementally you were viable and competitive from the start, if Sony manage to keep that feeling then they are onto a winner.

my point is that the contrast between free and premium was a huge amount of grinding that for me removed the enjoyment from the game especially after paying and seeing the other side of the fence. It makes you very likely to leave rather than go back to free while making you feel like a bit of an idiot for paying so much.

As far as the defense side of things I seem to remember that you could pay to train your crew to buff you self?

I just hope sony don't mess up the same way

I found that it was heading more towards 30- 40 per month when you included paying for gold ammo which is not included in boosted credits/xp on the monthly sub and needed to be paid for seperately as that ammo could only be bought for real money (gold) not credit/xp. That is exactly what I was talking about, to be competitive (not just fodder filling up the server) and have a real life i.e. job and family you simply don't have the time to grind like student days.

I have no problem paying for a game until the actual cost becomes more than the perceived benefit, I found freeplay and premium in WoT just means being cheap kills for gold ammo players, premium made the grind faster but not enough to keep someone like me (a couple of hours, a few nights a week) playing.

In Tribes Ascend paying just gives you a faster grind to get at the same kit as the free players, there are no weapons / ammo exclusivly pay to use like WoT gold ammo. Tha t to m is an important distinction and is the difference between pay to play and pay to win.

Nody wrote: »

I've got over 8.5k games

You love and live the game - got that from you evangelical zeal in a thread about a different game!

For me to accumulate that much game time assuming 10 mins per game @ 2 hours per night, 3 nights a week would consume 4.5 years in order to get 3 and a bit top tier tanks probably more time as I would would not have the benefit of a clan/platoon/guild helping me to level.

Nody wrote: »

You do not under any circumstances need gold to play random games

Not to play - just to contribute more than padding XP for the other team, some people really like being the punching bag all the time, not me, and that is what playing a pay to win game without paying is, you are there to be rode, the skill of the game designer is to attract enough rabbits happy to take the crumbs dropped keeping it interesting enough for the real target market to pay to nail them.

Nody wrote: »

you'll be better of spending one night reading up on the WoT game mechanics for angling, armor thickness, weakspots etc. instead.

Done that - guess what, the only consistant thing that makes a consistant difference for an average player with a normal amount of time available is gold ammo. The game is designed that way so that you gain a significant advantage by paying extra, its the games business model.

Nody wrote: »

the only benefit the guy playing more has is the option of more tanks to choose from but on any given tank you'll be just as powerful once you unlock all modules.

And to get the most significant power-up you pay for gold ammo that gives you more damage and penetration, the delivery of which is the point of a tank. Having to pay extra for that capability is the definition of pay to win.

From a PS perspective with the "Fodder programme" you did not have pay to win, you had pay for more options and flexibility in using those options, but the basic player could use the same weapons as the premium player, they just didn't have the capability to have several different classes ready to roll, they instead had the inconvenience of forgetting certs and relearning over a multiday period.

looks fantastic, I am loving the aesthetic.

Lemming wrote: »

Depends on how far they take monetisation I suppose. If it's like BattleField:Bad Company 2 or W40k: Space Marine where much of the DLC is cosmetic at best, I wont be kept awake at night worrying. If they start producing "I WIN" DLC then yes, it'll be bad for the game.

It will be cosmetic only, no major company has gone for the "golden ammo" idea yet although a few have threatened

Varik wrote: »

After trying to sort out my account today i am now very glad SOE won't be doing EU service for games in the future.


Also.

Did they remove all old account or something? seems my account from ps1 is gone

Stream will likely be put up on youtube afterwards but here's some info

Demo was the latest build, but was a re-stream from SOE so lag was not game related but everything looks a bit nicer again with a few more UI elements and all cockpit now in it.

There's going to be extensive mod presence in the game, beware boosters.

Certs don't need to be reset and there is no limit but they are permanent so if you spend 100s on one weapon then you're not getting those points back.

Cert points are likely to be seen 1 point per 10 min avg and additional points are give for time even when offline so if you sign up and start then do not play for a month when you do come back you have some extra points. Real cash is not used to buy certs but you can get booster to increase the rate you earn them.

Resources are available to you based on your playing and the overall team as well.

Changing class does not cost, equipping weapons or attachment does not cost only consumables(includes vehicles) do cost resources. It's not decided if a MAX will cost.
There are still timers to prevent a resources rich player buy a team full of tanks.

No lodestar yet for big transporting, no Advanced Mobile Station as pointed out but galaxy doe that now with the possibility of cloaking when deployed. Galaxy may or may not transport light vehicles but it'll likely be a spec with a trade off against something else.

Engineer ACE has a good range of options, including an emplaced turret to be used by any other player or you.

Possible tactic of capturing points with X resource can lead to the enemy being short on that which will reduce their spawning of deployable with those resources. Loadout may change cost but does not so far or may not at all due to player feedback.

Can fly really really high up to 1km up with a far draw distance.

Seen a zebra skinned MAX for NC, you can't look like another team and a lot follow your empires colours as well as silhouettes playing a part.

Female characters don't stand out due to normal armour, can't tell with max at all.

No jacking of vehicles but likely to be added with some changes made due to custom loadouts.

infiltrator can use better cloaking or better weapons including sniper.

more modern hit/kill/travel/, 1 hit kill head shots are possible lighter classes.