I'm curious about this, because I did play PS1 for a while, and I've been playing FPS games since they were invented.  When I jumped in to play this game, it only took me a few hours to realize it's all a bit too simple.  I fully admit that I didn't play a lot of it, but I'm still trying to get my head around what the longer-term draw is.

You essentially run around, capture bases, sometimes with a battle, then rinse and repeat.  I had this same feeling with Guild Wars 2 WvW too, where we just ran around and captured bases with no real meaning.  After you do this for several hours, it may occur to you that there are much more interesting things to do with your time.

Am I missing something?  What keeps you coming back to PS2, and what will keep you for the long term?  Capturing bases over and over and over again isn't enough for me.

I don't think you're really missing anything to be honest.

The only thing that keeps you playing is Fun, progress, and the people you play with.

Pretty much what every shooter ever does, like CoD and BF but on a bigger scale, possibly a little clunkier, but i still think It's a lot better, heh.

Thats It for me anyway, Just that..

It didn't keep me playing guild wars 2 but i got my moneys worth out of that as well, so lets see if my planetside alpha squad package will give me my moneys worth! :D

Edit: Honestly, i think making this post you've already sort of quit the game before It's released, just look for something else if this isn't your thing, theres something for all of us out there! :)

Yeah I can imagine the whole "persistent" nature of the game/war doesn't really matter much if it's all about flippin bases rather than actually holding territory.

What happened in this genre?

EVERYTHING is about flipping cans and maximizing gains - in every MMO.

Make game about capturing - game of flipping cans.

Make game about holding - game of turtling snore fests.

MMOs have sucked and I mean REALLY sucked hard in trying to instill a sense of purpose and a drive with some sense of urgency and immediacy.

Defence reward needs to be upped to make it worth the time spend deffing it.

Still on Eurodome server The Crown was like a hotzone, hours and hours of battles there.
I think it was the most defended / attacked base in the entire game :)

But its rewards that makes people def or leave it to be capped, with the increase of certs for weps and the cert income nerfed people want to get max certs per hour to unlock stuff.
if that means flipping bases so be it, nothing we as players can do about it, its SEO view on it that matters.
If they want to make a can flipping game and not a real sandbox where you def what you have with all you got then its their vieuw :P

We can always try and change their minds about something, if we can get it done is a second thing tough :)

Originally posted by BadSpock

Yeah I can imagine the whole "persistent" nature of the game/war doesn't really matter much if it's all about flippin bases rather than actually holding territory.

What happened in this genre?

EVERYTHING is about flipping cans and maximizing gains - in every MMO.

Make game about capturing - game of flipping cans.

Make game about holding - game of turtling snore fests.

MMOs have sucked and I mean REALLY sucked hard in trying to instill a sense of purpose and a drive with some sense of urgency and immediacy.

This type of game would do well to have some sandbox / rts elements to it such as player-built bases and objectives.  This static crap was great ten years ago, but today?  I don't get it.

Couldn't you say that about any recreational activity?

Let me turn it around.  What would keep you coming back?  Describe your ideal experience.

Its more fun then usual FPS. U got vehicles, aircrafts. 

Plus its was beta. People were just looking around trying diffrent things

On releas it gonna be even more fun as soon as guild warfare will start . 

Running around with 60 acquaintances or friends on teamspeak coming up with fun strategy's amd tactics to dominate other teams through more than just individual skill is a great experience no other game is offering right now.

I may not last long as I find the art style distinctly - artless - but no problems at all with the enjoyment I get from large scale group gameplay or the lone wolf gameplay.

Then again Ive got my 5 year medallion for "Purples Anonymous" and barely feel the need to be rewarded as part of my enjoyment spectrum. 

Originally posted by fadis

Couldn't you say that about any recreational activity?

 

Let me turn it around.  What would keep you coming back?  Describe your ideal experience.

No, I cannot say this about my personal recreational activities, nor can they really be compared to a video game.

Ideal?  I don't know what my ideal MMOFPS would look like, except that I think I would have more fun in a game where there was some real capture and hold of land, destroyable player-built bases, small team objectives that matter, etc. You know a more dyanmic battlefield that is always changing. Of course this would bring other interesting things to the game such as strategy, base-building, turrets, and all kind of other things.

I think games such as BF3 and the like do a much better job of simulating war fighting and objectives in general, and that probably has to do with the way they are scaled.  Even in those games, I prefered very long rounds, so bases and objectives could change hands.

There's something about PS2 that feels very mechanical to me compared to a smaller war FPS.  This feeling sort of permeates the whole game from top to bottom. 

I don't see anything in this game that would keep me around past leveling up, and even that doesn't seem very satisfying here.

Originally posted by Byrhofen
Release is the 20th, how can anyone "keep playing" and  "keep coming back" to something that is not even out yet.......

Beta has been out for months.  That's probably the sad part.  Most people may not care about this game in 30-60 days even if they are stoked about it now.

I found that this game had a weird adjustment period that I had to go through when I first started playing. I wasn't that into it until I had played it very casually for a few days, then it started to really hook me.

I agree that it's not PS1, but given what there is to play right now, the slightly-deeper-than-FPS play is enough to make logging in worth while. I have also been enjoying getting unlocks and playing with the weapons sidegrades.

I also agree with one of the other posters who brought up the social aspect. If you have a group that you can run with it makes the game more fun. I solo too, but getting in a squad or a platoon can be a lot of fun when the team is coordinating (especially on a difficult objective such as The Crown, or the Ascent).

As for the deper strategic play that you sound like you want, that may be something that The Repopulation may achieve if they can produce what they are describing their world/pvp to be like.

What keeps me coming back to PS2? Massive battles that are fun, squads, platoons, armoured columns, galaxy drops, counter-attacks, hot dropping into enemy territory and joining a squad...

The total domination of the Terran Republic!

Originally posted by ShakyMo
I'm hoping it works like daoc / planetside 1.

Where leaving as much of the map painted green / purple as possible was the only incentive I needed.

I get that part.  It's the repetitive nature of capturing the same bases over and over again that pains me.  If it was open land with maybe a few static bases and more player-built bases, holding that land would mean a lot more.

Originally posted by MindTrigger

I'm curious about this, because I did play PS1 for a while, and I've been playing FPS games since they were invented.  When I jumped in to play this game, it only took me a few hours to realize it's all a bit too simple.  I fully admit that I didn't play a lot of it, but I'm still trying to get my head around what the longer-term draw is.

You essentially run around, capture bases, sometimes with a battle, then rinse and repeat.  I had this same feeling with Guild Wars 2 WvW too, where we just ran around and captured bases with no real meaning.  After you do this for several hours, it may occur to you that there are much more interesting things to do with your time.

Am I missing something?  What keeps you coming back to PS2, and what will keep you for the long term?  Capturing bases over and over and over again isn't enough for me.

well, if you actually played the first FPS games lemme return the question to you: what kept you playing those days?

i remember, i played those games for fun. we didnt need any dumb rewards that made our chars more powerfull so we could own dem noobs, we just owned them ^^

but that's just me :)

I think what the OP is looking for is a multi-genre game. If I am incorrect then I would say it is something I would like to see.

Be nice to see a game where you can have a ship to ship space battle, (RTS) land on a planet and then play C&H FPS style and still have a level up/impoved ablity mechanic of some sort like a RPG all mixed into one (no instanting would be great too)

But over the last year I have read various gaming articles and the trend seems to be more simplification than more options or interactions in gaming (guess instead of attracting more players by innovation and originality, the indurstry is looking to dumb down everything to aquire mass appeal)

Indursty is determinted to "rubber stamp" gaming....

What they fail to understand in my opinion is that you can play only so many versions of WoW, so many version of CoD, so many version of Guitar Hero, etc etc before evey game gets stale

I tried the beta for a week, all that happened was I went out and bought a premium edition of battlefield 3. 

MMO/FPS is good in theory. 

Unfortunately I always find that there is something that is sacrificed. In this game, for me at least it was gameplay. Maybe that's just my opinion. But play ps2 and then play bf3 and you'll know what i'm talking about. 

To answer your question:

I can see people playing this game just like any mmo - for character progression. There is a TON of weapon/item upgrades. Seemed like it would take a really long time to get them however, if you opt out of using real money to buy tokens or whatever they're called. 

It is fun, that is pretty much it. It is also immersive as hell. When you are rolling in an armored column, or flying an escort reaver along with a half dozen other reavers for a squadron ot 20 galaxies that are doing an enormous hot drop, it is just a rush you get in no other FPS environment. 

Also, getting a good outfit makes a huge difference in how much you enjoy this game. Playing alone is not even remotely as much fun.

Will it last forever? I doubt it, I am sure I will get bored sooner or later, but right now it is a blast and offers so much more than COD or other arena based FPSs.