Originally posted by halldorr
I didn't hop into the beta but I was wondering if it's strictly a shooter game or there are a lot of RPG elements to the game such as non combat activities etc.

Well, mainly shooting, yeah. Support activities like repairing, healing, resupply are needed as well, but other than that: Shoot.

Originally posted by ShakyMo
No pve, pure pvp mmo.

Yep, it's about as simple as they come.

You could focus on repairing / hacking / rezzing / healing without ever firing a shot if thats what you mean.
There is no PvE inside PS2 tough, its all player versus player.

Originally posted by ShakyMo
No pve, pure pvp mmo.

Sort of like Call of Duty but with a monthly sub?

Originally posted by Maelwydd

Originally posted by ShakyMo
No pve, pure pvp mmo.

Sort of like Call of Duty but with a monthly sub?

It's free to play.

Originally posted by Rusque
Okay, so why play this over counter-strike?

NOTHING like CS. Imagine playing a BF3 match that never ended on a map 4x the size of an Armored Kill map. You cap, lose it, cap, lose it, cap...you get my drift. You might spend all night capping a base only to wake up the next morning finding it was taken back while you slept. (OGame anyone? uhhh, honey we need to be home from dinner early so I can send my fleet out ;)

There is no sub unless you want to pay one. There will be microtransactions just like every other money grab.

It looks pretty nice. Plays pretty nice. Although some folks are going to be a bit upset with the low in-game performance they will receive.

Play both. 

No this isnt like CoD or Bf in that regard. 

This game as a worlds you fight over(very beautifully rendered I might add) unlike CoD or BF where you play various maps.  It also has more cohesion between various roles. CoD and BF have some of that but in the end it is a K/D game whereas Planetside is a game based on teamplay. 

That said, I think if you like CoD or BF, you might also like PLanetside. It is fun, I just worry about longevity. 

I think that first and foremost, Planetside 2 is a shooter. A serious yet incredibly fun and engaging one at that. They have done an excellent job at bringing you into this futuristic world of explosions, massive battles, and endless bullets.

Now, while the big picture here is to blow sh*t up and fill your opponents with lead (Or laser beams in the case of the Vanu Sovereignty), you can easily choose to play a role that focuses on the meaty part of the game. The part that has nothing to do with uber kill/death ratios and in my opinion is the most rewarding part of the game.

I have an ancient computer (By PS2 standards anyway) so I knew from the beginning that I was not going to be able to match someone else's 5000 frames per second 360 degree multi-monitor setup and out kill or out gun my way to enjoyment, so I chose to play a support role.

These support roles, in my opinion, mimic the healing and buff classes of MMORPGs. You can rez, heal, resupply, etc, and in the end you keep the battle flowing forward for your empire.

Every action you do as support grants experience. Sure, killing someone is worth 100 experience, depending on your empire's bonus at the time, but tossing down an ammo pack in the middle of a 300+ man firefight nets you an endless stream of 10exp(Or 15exp if they are in your squad/party) per allies' reload. Not to mention repairing, resurrecting, healing, driving transports, spotting enemies, hacking enemy devices, and anything else that doesn't directly involve killing will reward you with experience (And more so if they are in your squad/party).

As long as you are being active, you are being rewarded. Sadly however, there's no restocking NTU towers with ANTs like in PS1. I always loved that often peaceful job on the volcanic continent Searhus. Nice scenery.

They did a good job at keeping every player in the action with the emphasis that this game IS an FPS, but also an even more incredible job at keeping support roles and activities rewarding and engaging.

And of course, there's what you do with the experience and your advancing Battle Rank(Level). Anything you can do in the game, you can spend certs (250exp per cert) in order to be better or more effective at it. Or, you can save up to unlock new weapons or support abilities like resurrection grenades, mobile spawn points on vehicles(the AMS), squad leader tools (like squad beacons that your squad can spawn on), and many more.

You build your character in much the same way that you would build one in an MMORPG. Get experience and spend your points on something that you want to be more effective at.

Anyway, that was a bit long winded but it is at times a very intricate and hard to explain game. Especially when focusing on the parts that don't easily shine on the outside like the shooting part obviously does.

So to sum it up and answer your question, yes there a lot of RPG elements to the game such as non-combat activities. Not as much as in Planetside 1, which was a bit hard to swallow at first, but I have to say that the PS2 dev team did a fantastic job at making everything that is not directly FPS about the game be very rewarding, very fun, and very important to your squad and empire as a whole.

Hope that helped to answer your question.

Originally posted by Tallyn

Hope that helped to answer your question.

Sure did, thanks a bunch!