Planet Side - Development - Week of January 16, 2006

Soldato
Joined
14 Jun 2004
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Thanks to MarcoPolo for heads up.


Hello all,

For the next few weeks we are continuing to work on the "Subscription Free" service. For those of you that have not seen the explanation of this service, I'll list it out for you here.

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.



New Player Training
Simultaneously to be launched with the Subscription Free service, we will be changing the UI for all new characters. One of the complaints that we receive frequently is that when you enter the game, there isn’t an easy learning curve and transition into battle. We’re going to change that in hopes of getting new players/characters into battle within a couple minutes of entering the game at the same time teaching them how to play. You may or may have not noticed that we have implemented 2 new saved favorites just recently to equip new players with a load-out much quicker.



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.



Art Projects in the works



Many of the art projects stem from new deployable items and weapon variants. I mentioned in the past that we received a ton of good suggestions and illustrations from many. Most notably from Idealab’s documentation. We started out with the idea of implementing many of the ideas and when it came down to selecting which ones to work on, our team decided to use those ideas, other suggestions from individuals on the boards as well as mixing in their own ideas. So I hope you will find these projects exciting for the near future.



Tank Traps
The best picture that comes to mind when we discuss Tank Traps is the scene from Saving Private Ryan when they are storming the beach at the beginning of the movie. And to make things worse for them getting to shore are those huge metal objects impeding the boat’s progress. Tank Traps – Place them around your towers and entry ways. Stop those vehicles from sitting in front of your tower door while they just unload and annihilate anything that comes out. If they try to ram them, they’ll take damage.



Cloaking Bubble
Ok, we’ve got to come up with a better name but for the mean time, that’s what we’ll call it. This will allow you to deploy a cloaking bubble very much similar to the shield used for the AMS. However, without the AMS in the way there will be more room for placing other support objects or troops inside.



Supply Depots
You’ll be able to deploy Ammo or Equipment Terminals out in the battlefield. You won’t have to rely on an AMS always being around if you pop one of these in your Cloaking Bubble. Also, drop a Med Terminal or station and you’ve got the makings of an excellent support depot that is hidden to other empires… at least for a few minutes.



Galaxy Gunship
There isn’t much more to say about this other than LOOK OUT! At it’s current design, I believe your looking at 7 gunner positions that might be helpful by doing a mission requiring you to clear a path. Remember to use the New Squad Definitions when forming a squad with specific goals in mind.



Air to Air Mosquito
Ok Pilots, you’ve now got some rockets you can use for air to air combat. Take down those Reavers that are camping out in front of my tower again. I can’t get out!!!!



One-Man Turrets
That’s right – Deploy a one-manned turret out in the field. These are different than our current Ronco turrets (Set it and forget it turrets). You can deploy the turret out on the battlefield and wreak havoc… but you better watch out for those snipers because the turret is predominantly open.



Re-configurable Wall Turrets
Take your average wall turret and equip it with AA weaponry to clear the skies over Cyssor. OR… Change it out to a combo AV / standard turret to beat back the land crawlers knocking on your front door.



Radiation Sniper Slugs
Technology is getting better each day. The scientists have developed a slug that can be used in long ranged sniper rifles. If hit by these radiation slugs, your health will slowly reduce over time.



Electromagnetic Force Field
Need a temporary reprieve? Throw up a force field that will give you some cover while you get your wits about you. But don’t take too long because these force fields will take damage and be destroyed. If you’re working with a good team, keep adding more sections to your force field to keep the enemy wondering which section you’ll be jumping out at.



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.



Weapon Variants
Ok, this is the larger project that we will be working on. We will be creating new weapon variants for most, if not all, of the weapons that you have access to. We’re working out the design but the art work doesn’t need to be held up to allow you to pick an augmentation of the gun that you love to use. It might shoot faster with less accuracy or slower with better accuracy. Heck, you might be able to zoom in with it further. All of these augmentations are based on the hundreds to thousands of suggestions we receive on how to make each weapon better than it already is now. All of these things are being worked out right now and your access to them may have something to do with your merits and awards.

Well, these are the core items we are working on currently. Thank you for your patience and I look forward to seeing your comments and feedback.

Enrico Pallazzo

http://psforums.station.sony.com/ps/board/message?board.id=psdevdiscussion&message.id=95623&
 
Wow :eek:

I really thought they'd given up on Planetside, but some of this stuff sounds amazing. As long as there's none of this 'you must have 7 million bomber kills to use this item' rubbish.

And as long as the euro server stays advertisement free :p
 
Woot, I tryed out planetside a few months back and found it sometimes fun but just not worthy of a subscription, but maybe with all these new things being put in then I will be tempted to shell out some money monthly.

Any idea when there being put in?>
 
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.

please not the hopfull release date for the free launch is February 14th, but this may change.
 
That's a big list of stuff and I'd be surprised if they have half of it working within 6 months but still it's nice to see that someone has decided to shake up PlanetSide a bit rather than leaving it to rot as it was. Would definitely reinstall it if the additions don't take too long and there is some positive feedback for them.
 
Oh yeah I was just thinking that I hope they restrict the fodder players from speaking because otherwise there will be mass spam and hate tells as people will have no fear of their accounts being banned, and it's not like people have much fear as it is right now.
 
I would imagin that the accounts could only be set up on proper e-mail accounts. so no hotmail or gmail, ect accounts. also there is an ignore function in planetside so you could use that ;)
 
Might give this a try when the free 12 month launches, was vaguely interested a couple of years back but I was put off by tales of horrendous performance and memory leak bugs meaning that you need >1gig RAM.
 
so thats 9000 on the left, 9000 on the right and Otacon and crew with Ban-hammers & squeeky-hammers in the middle.
Or are we keeping Otacon and crew in reserver to do Special forces Hack and hold? wise the 2 groups of 9000 do a pincer typ move \_/ and suround the TR and VS.
 
well thats one way to do it or we could just go to emerald were they have better hardware :D

THough i would think with this free account system for 12 months they might actually upgrade the hardware. you never know miracle do happen.
 
I'm currently playing on my reactivated account (thankyou SoE) and if these additions and changes get implemented I think I and several of my mates will be coming back to PS.
I do wish they'd up the texture resolution (for those that have computers that can handle it) to the ones they had in Beta and the more detailed Skydomes too.
 
HangTime said:
Might give this a try when the free 12 month launches, was vaguely interested a couple of years back but I was put off by tales of horrendous performance and memory leak bugs meaning that you need >1gig RAM.

I played it with some older 768mb RAM just before christmas and it ran fine enough.
 
nick_cfc said:
i hate planetside, cant believe i bought it recently

cool!

Anyway, I'm worried by the way they state they are works of art in development, seems like a long long time away till they are even tested in game :(

If they manage to have it doen by Easter I will be surprised. But on the whole it does sound good, shame they STILL havent done anything to the bunkers :( the bunkers should have mounted weapons, lockable door and a shield imo. and make them 3 times bigger in strategic locations, maybe overlooking a base, or by a bridge (the ones on hossin iirc) there are so many things they could do with bunkers to get warfare out into the field.
 
chimaera said:
So do i still qualify for the free year if i used to have a subscription? i liked it but couldn't justify the cost for the amount of time i spent on it.

free month you mean :) yeah I think you do qualify, if you login before a certain date though to get your free month.

The free year is if you register again, you get a free year, but very limited in Battle Rank and have to endure ads
 
VaderDSL said:
free month you mean :) yeah I think you do qualify, if you login before a certain date though to get your free month.

The free year is if you register again, you get a free year, but very limited in Battle Rank and have to endure ads

I was offered the free month but to be honest i can't be bothered to play for a month and then be asked to pay again, because i can't justify the cost.

So if i want the free year i'd have to buy a new copy of the game? as my cd key is registered to an old account. I wouldn't mind a blast or two now and again but not if it costs me more cash.
 
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