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PlanetSide News - SOE's Forgotten MMO?
Posted by Michael Bitton on Jul 20, 2009 | 115 comments in our forums
Christopher "Pwyff" Tom, Editor of ZAM.com examines PlanetSide in an excellent article over at ZAM.com. In the article, Christopher asserts that SOE has essentially forgotten about the game, and dissects some of the game's finer points.
All in all, Planetside had a lot of potential to be a great demonstration of what a real MMOFPS could have been capable of. I'm making very sure to say 'had' here instead of 'has,' because it is clear that this is a game that SOE has forgotten entirely. I find it troublesome that there continues to be a $13 USD subscription fee, yet even its very loyal fan base (and having such a fan base is a testament to the fun of this game) is the first to note that "while EQ's ten year gets a huge blow out celebration; PlanetSide's six years was all but ignored," and when talking about SOE's Fan Faire, "even Matrix Online (which is officially scheduled to be terminated July 31, 2009) has a scheduled item for Fan Faire. But, Planetside does not." I think that it's time Planetside's fans got some attention from their absentee landlords - this game ought to go Free-To-Play, or perhaps give the option of purchasing a lifetime subscription for a small fee or, dare I say, maybe come under the development scope once more?
I've heard many good things about PlanetSide from various friends and fans over the years, and so there are some things I'd like to know:
Have you played the game, and if so, what were your experiences like? Are you still playing? And what do you make of SOE's treatment of the product since it's launch? Also, why do you think it is that PlanetSide has essentially been swept under the rug?
Let us know in the comments!
Via ZAM
OMG I miss Planetside.
SOE could have really done some great things with this game and instead they blew it. They continue to neglect it and now I understand it is rampant with cheats and hacks. As I have said so many times in the past if I had the money to buy the rights to Planetside I would and then I would rework it and re-release it. The game is just that awesome!
PlanetSide was the game which introduced me to the MMOFPS genre and I love it dearly. You could jump into the game and in a matter of minutes you could be knee deep in metal, blood and bullets. It was fast paced but also had several avenues for those who were interested in covert ops. Before the introduction of the huge and ridiculously un-necessary mechs, I would spend hours upon hours playing that game. I remember sitting on one side of a river while the enemy massed on the other. Each would lob random artillery to the other side in a feigned attempt at combat. Few people would make a run across the bridge in a symbolic attempt at the enemies front lines, but would quickly be mowed down by a strafing Reaver, some well placed mines or the occasional lone sole who would greet them in the middle of the bridge. Both would fall to a barrage of bullets from the other side and it was entertaining to watch.
But the real action, and the real enjoyment of the game, came when that single line of tanks came rolling in with a cloud of aircraft behind them. That is when the true game came out. It was borderline chaos at times. There would be the well intentioned soul telling people where to go over global chat and depending on who that person was, they would either be followed or /ignored. The aircraft would get a few strafing runs in before our birds engaged them. Explosions would erupt in the air, soldiers would fall to well placed and random bullets alike, orbital strikes could turn the tide of battle or bring ruin upon the battle field with friendly casualties. It was just so much…FUN!!!
<sigh>
I really love what that game was when I first played it and, to a far lesser extent, what it is today. If SOE started to actually work on the game I would start paying and playing in a heart beat. It has SO much to offer.
I don’t feel this way about many games but I absolutely do about PlanetSide.
OMG the bridge battles on Cyssor are just to awesome to forget. The bridge that lead from Gunuku to Itan, that bridge was just awesome to fight for and it held the key to the map. Oshur was for sure fun and so was Ish, omg fighting on Ish was a snipers dream. God I loved fighting on Ish. :)
I bought it around the release, but unfortunetly, the computer I had back then wasn't capable (and maybe also the connection) at running good enough, at least not acceptable in my eyes. I dropped the game for quite a while. When I bought a new computer I resubbed and played for some months again and kept doing that at the same time I played wow (as in, I played a couple of months Planetside, while playing WoW, then I stopped playing PS for some months, while still playing WoW). I had a long break at some point and started playing again 1½ year ago I think it is now and stopped again 1 year ago. Eventhough my computer is a lot higher than the requirement I still enjoy playing the game. There are many things to do and when you're in an Outfit with Teamspeak, the gameplay gets sooo much more fun. Nothing better than dropping down on a base and capture it with a platoon.
I doubt I will go back to it though, since the population has only been going downwards (and a game like that needs population, god it was nice back in the days) and the server merges wasn't really of my liking either.
I would wish they had done more to get it in a better shape though! I loved that you could get in battle (the instant battle thing, when hitting esc - took 10 sec or so) in 10 secs. and end up defending a tower with lots of enemies outside - Epic.
Hope someone makes something as good as it was back in the day :)
Cadde
I too enjoyed the crap outta this game. It was a lot of fun and had some much potential for choke points and battles.
The ONLY problem I had with it was the zuergfests that would happen. Did not care too much for the spawn points at the towers. I think if theose could have been left out it would have been better. Made it too hard to defend a base with anything less than an overwhelming force. Also, made zuerging an official strategy.
How can you ask a silly question why Planetside is ignored by SOE, Smedley is in charge. That guy made his contribution to the industry with EQ and has not done one mentionable thing since. He has lead SOE into the doldrums. Without doubt the most clueless individual in the industry at this point in time.
And you are right Planetside could be a great game with a little bit of attention, there is no competition in it's niche at the moment.
I can't figure out what the suits at Sony are doing when all they see is a steady decline at SOE? What was once a golden star in the genre is now a lackluster lead one.
another reason its dead is cause drect2drive and other sites still want 20 dollars for a dead game
I bought Planetside the month it came out and played for about 6 months or so, but was forced to quit due to living situation changing. I resubbed about 2-3 years in and the server populations had declined. I played some when they had the free recruits thing and I even got a guy playing it at work about 1 or 1 1/2 years ago (and I picked it up for a month or two myself). That said the population isn't there like it used to be. I remember continents being locked because too many people fighting. This game was great and as everyone said had plenty of squandered potential. Problem now is the graphics are dated, there is no support or development for it, and there is no population. This game needs a good number of people to be fun. The last time I played a big battle was perhaps 30-40 people total on both sides. Graphics and such aside - if they had a large population surge or something and people starting going back to it.. I'd resub in a second.
On of my fondest memories from all my years of gaming came from this game. I remember a huge battle Us Terrans were pushing to capture a base from the New Conglomerate. I was hiding behind a rock (wall? I don't remember) a hundred or so yards from the base taking sniper shots at NG's when I could, ducking to try and not get hit when things got worse.. way worse.. All the sudden the Vanu rolled up behind us and I remember reavers and mossies filling the sky and there I was trying to hide on both sides of that stupid rock trying not to get killed. A reaver took notice of me, and let's just say that rock wasn't enough cover. I was sweating like hell once I died my hands clammy and my heart was pounding out of my chest. That game had some awesome moments back in the day.... *sigh*
Planetside was my first MMORPG and one of my favourite. Some of the battles that went on were nothing besides epic, it was just an amazing scale that no other mmorpg has been able to capture.
Right now the games age is easily noticed for some simple things... Things that should have been able to be changed easily, like the draw distance. When you fly in aircraft, the draw distance even at max is low enough to where you can barely see any terrian. It seems like they should have been able to make the terrian draw distance further as now obviously most computers can handle it (it makes sense that the draw distance for other players might still be smaller for lag issues, but theres no reason that we should not be able to see any terrian from the air due to small draw distance). They couldnt do this though, or some other simple measures to keep planetside feeling massive over the years.
The good thing they did though is continue to merge the servers. Now theres no more merging left to do as planetside has become so small... Ah well all good things must come to an end. It is just sad that theres no strong outlook for people who like games like planetside, no close alternative. It really was an awesome game!
I think that if you havent tried it, just try it real quick, and imagine how amazing it could be en mass.
Planetside was the best FPS if have ever played, let alone MMOFPS. Now this statement has nothing to do with graphics or anything as far as the best tech in an FPS ever. My reason is rather simple, FUN. I bought it at or just after release. I had maybe 5 RL buds who also came on board.
One of the best things about this game is the simple fact that even if you just started at Battle Rank 1 (Level for you mmo fans) there was a good possibility that you could kill that Battle Rank 20 (highest level towards the beginning of the game). While BR (Battle Rank) did give you more options per character, it did not make their weapons stronger or better if you had the same thing in your hand. So you and your friends could play together and be effective right from the get go.
For the first few years the battles were fantastic. Three factions, several continents, a dozen plus bases per continent, and up to 140ish players per faction per continent. The continent would be locked at that point and other fights would start over another continent. For the first few years at prime time there would be two locked continents and a third continents with a large battle.
As others have mentioned there were vehicles everywhere; fighters, bombers, troop transport and that is just the air vehicles. On land you had ATVs, dune buggies, one man light tanks, heavy tanks sometimes 3 manned, couple different attack/troop transport vehicles. For your person you had cloaking armor, medium, heavy, and MAX armor. Each allowing for more gear to be carried but at the cost of being slower. MAX armor was more like a small Mech outfit of which there were 3 varities; aa, av, and infantry.
Each faction had their own variations on certain vehicles and weapons. Although there was also quite a few weapons and vehicles that were part of all 3 factions. So each faction had its own feel to them.
Indoors and outdoors fighting. It was just too much fun. I have never played an FPS that was this much fun. Having so many people to fight was great. None of the other FPS games I have played have held up like Planetside did. Some were fun for a bit but that would wear off soon.
It is a shame that Sony has done nothing with it and all the hacking going on in it now. I have now been waiting for a few years hoping someone would get it right again. I just believe the game companies believe that they can't compete with the regular FPS that people get to play multiplayer for free. Most people did not get to play Planetside during the times I described above and that is a shame because it put everything else to shame IMO.
I see it doesn't do well with Vista, fortunately I am still on XP. Hackers aside, if you could get a few hundred people to play at once spread between the factions you would still have a blast today. They had just done it that well. Infantry, Vehicles, and Air were all done so well. Perfect nope, but as a total package better than anything I have ever played.
The land masses were huge. I highly recommend if you ever play it to get a fast vehicle, ATVs being the cheapest. But if you don't mind spending the points getting the Aircraft: "Mosquito" will really get you to the next battle quickly. If you try to run on foot you could spend 15 minutes just running to the next base if it is close. There is certainly a bit more of a learning curve than a normal FPS but last time I played the community was still quite helpful.
If you have specific questions, feel free to ask. I will try to remember to check back and answer any.
Planetside is still the king and the only true MMOFPS, games that are around the corner pretending to be the next MMOFPS's are nothing compared to this mega giant. It has lost many dedicated community members throughout the years due to game breaking changes that were against the community. However, the game still lives, and still thrives on it's glory of being a true twitch action based persistent world. Offering faction based first person combat and a vehicular based simulator on an epic scale between of up to 399 (133 per faction) players total on a continent game world.
The game is a masterpiece in itself and it's truly sad to myself and many others to see it slowly fade down the slope of dying off, and I wish there was somebody or a developer that would be willing to pick it up or buy it off from SOE or at least work under their belt to get the game back in line and with some heavy marketing.
Planetside currently has a 45 day free reactivation period for former inactive accounts. I'm playing Planetside again, no other game can satisfy my taste as Planetside has, it has had its ups and downs, and is down to 3 dev's. However it's a tight knit community based game, and all players basically know each other, aside from the CN's. I've been reviving my old outfit (4475th Ranger Elite) and so far things are going great, BFR's are laughable now, a sniper can terrorize them and most BFR players run off with well placed hits. Infantry grunting is still very seldom to see aside from base zerging from AMS's, tanks and aerial assaults are the norm.
But flaunting that the game is a failure also isn't fair, it's truly the only MMOFPS that exists. The game is still very much alive, as we all play on 1 server now (Gemini), fights are repetitive, I won't lie about that. Cyssorside fights are very common, and some beautiful in game places are never seen by the new players as fights never stretch beyond the regular continents. But again, if you're a Planetside veteran, with an inactive account. And want to see what the game has to offer, your account is eligible for a 45 day comeback tour. And if you're NC and without an Outfit, look me up in game, my name is Neoki, I'm with the 4475th Ranger Elite. I'll be happy to grant ya into the outfit as long as you're willing to stick to objectives and work as a team, I can also answer any questions you may have as to what's changed, because A LOT has.
Again,
Planetside veteran's are eligible for a 45 day come back tour.
How to get Planetside working with Vista? >>> (Planetside Vista Settings)
Where to download Planetside? >>> (Planetside Client)
Where to buy Planetside? >>> (Planetside: Digital Download Purchase Via Direct2Drive)
Someone recommended Planetside to me a couple of years ago and I didn't wind up playing, mainly because I'm not a big fan of sci-fi. I love the MMOFPS style and I mostly enjoyed Tabula Rasa, I'm loving Darkfall, and I'm very excited about Fallen Earth - although I cannot confirm or deny if I am in the beta ;-)
Is the game still available?
Yes sir I even included a link to the client download on my post above, the monthly subscription is 14.99. Welcome to Planetside if you decide to join us!
Yes sir I even included a link to the client download on my post above, the monthly subscription is 14.99. Welcome to Planetside if you decide to join us!
Cool! thanks! I just may give it a try.
EDIT: Missed you post since I replied after reading the first post.
Oh Planetside, how I miss you. It did not deserve the treatment SOE gave. Back In the day it gave such A feeling of adventure and pride. The freedom of what you can do for your empire, which of course includes killing the other faction, heh. Like another article said, there is a bright eye'd nostalgia for it, and a certain respect from one ex-player to another.
I can't hear the phrase "prep for drop" without getting a little shiver of excitement.
I get back in to PS every few months, and play for a month or two. It's an awesome game. The combat engineer upgrade was a great change. I'm a bit worried about them raising the BR cap, though. The tactical choices of loadout was always the best, but I'd love to have the option to cert the vehicles I want along with my weapons of choice (Jackhammer FTW).
Dammit. Now I want to go play.
This is the best mmo ever made i think and wish someone buy it from SOE and make it back into that great mmo it was
Well, I've been reading the fond memories posts here and was really trying not to log on and seem like a 'Troll' for saying what I'm about to say, but please keep in mind that this is just MY opinion on my time w/ Planetside...
That said, I DO agree that there are plenty of 'Epic Battle' memories for me, much like the rest of the posters here, I was there in the beginning when the game launched and played til the 1st expansion came out, but the ONE thing that ALWAYS pissed me off, was that there was never anything to show for all the effort and fighting that you did, (aside from advancing your character of course,) nothing...
Sure, you'd cap a base or a tower or whatever; maybe even run the enemy off and lock the continent, but sure enough 15 minutes later, the whole process would start over again because your faction would just Zerg around. Once the base / tower was capped it was just useless / pointless to defend, and that meant it was time to Zerg the next point, and the one that you'd worked so hard to cap was a ghost town... What was the point? Pretty much the same thing over and over ad nauseum...
The game had a LOT of potential that was sadly never tapped. Not even close...
But to end on a somewhat positive note, I'll continue the 'Best PS Battle' theme:
It's been a while since I've played so forgive me for not remembering the names of the locales. Vanu Sovereignty player here, (THAT'S right VS4EVA! : ) and during one battle we were deadlocked @ a base w/ the TR. We haven't managed to hold any of the nearby towers long enough to allow a closer respawn, so all of the fresh bodies are making a long-ass run back to the fight. I manage to stealth into the base and dodge several mini-gun-toting TR n00bs til I arrive @ the base core. The door opens and it's a scene right out of Star Wars, (Han running into the hangar full of Storm Troopers,) luckily I'm stealthed, and even MORE lucky that there was a TR behind me so his buddy thinks it's HIM that triggered the door! I decide to go for the core. I hop up onto the comp blocked by the TR, and wait... A few minutes go by, and I can't think of anyway to get them out of the room long enough for me to start hacking the core, and then the 3RD stroke of luck happens and the TR in the room start complaining about how boring playing defense is and after a couple minutes decide to head to the front line cause the VS are getting pushed back. They leave; I start my hack. The battle rages on for long enough that my hack completes and there's a stream of """" WTF?! We hacked it?!"" -type chatter speeding by. This spurs the VS back to fighting form and the TR can't get a hacker to save their lives to get to the core before my hack finishes counting down and flips the base. Easily the BEST PS Battle memory for me. Made me really heart-poundingly nervous while it was all playing out, but also made me feel pretty damn heroic, (for 15 mins or so... Then we lost the base cause it was undefended... : )
This was by far my favorite game (Much less MMO or FPS) of all time. I loved the massive battles and the way that there was room for every play style.
Even the zerg rushers had their place, after all you need someone to keep the enemy busy while the real attacks go on. My outfit would gather up 10-20 of our guys and steal a island that was being battled over by a max team of all 3 sides (100v100v100)
Amazing what a little team work can do.
I'll never forget the day my commander introduced me to the MAX rush. We had been fighting over a base for about a hour with little movement, we had no bases on the island and so no armor or aircraft so we could not crack their base. So he lines up all of our outfit gues in the tower stairs in whatever MAX suites we could get, even a AA suite would work. Then started shouting for everyone else to do the same.
All at once 50+ MAX suite go into run mode and run right into the enemy base, the first 2 or 3 died to land mines, a couple more died to armor or lucky Decimater hits. Then we were inside the base. 40+ MAXes running right past all the defenders, ignoring all our losses. Until at last we were in the spawn room, I have never seen spawn tubes go down so fast.
Despite a very good defense on the enemys part we had 20 or so MAXes holding the spawn room. After that the whole island fell quickly. Seems we broke their spirt with that little stunt. (And I think they got annoyed when we wouldnt fall for the same trick.)
Ah good times, I have never played another FPS where I have hardly any war stories, much less the dozens I have from that game. I still think about reupping my subsription from time to time.
Well, reading all this brought back too many memories.
Time to get back into my armor, pick up my gun and go blast some TR and VS (Well when Im not wearing the purple anyway, Jump Jets FTW)
I have never found another game that gave me the epic feel of PS, the only reason I quit is I could not play, after a patch I started crashing non-stop. Turned out to be a problem with my brand new video card and only happened with PS.
As that was 2 video cards back I think it's time. Now to see if I can find a NC (Or maybe VS) Outfit with a decent military command structure.
I really miss Planetside. IMO it's still the best Multiplayer FPS out there ... MMO, or not. Yes the graphics are dated, but the gameplay more than makes up for it. The only reasone I'm not playing it is because the last few times I payed for a month sub, I logged in to find alomst nobody on. :( I really miss my old Gen-Drop days, and base captures.
My main was a Vanu - Combat Engineer/Advanced Hack/Max Pilot
I don't know if anyone has brought this up or not, but SOE has reactivated all inactive PlanetSide accounts until August 27th. Doesn't matter if you bought the game or just did the trial, you account is turned on. I only did the trial and its on for me, so I know its every one who has ever played. I might pop in the game within the next ffee 45 days, hope to see some you in PlanetSide.
I'm so there... thanks for the heads up. Downloading the client now.
I hope we can get a number of people playing again at least for the free trial - I have an itch to hot drop in my max and storm some bases.
I DEMAND Planetside 2!!!!!!!!!!!!
/sign :-)
Thanks for the heads up that there is a free reactivation. I'll have to see how it is now. I was unaware of the complete server merge. They had merged some of them last time I played but not all.
That was the only major down fall to the game, off hours. There wasn't much going on during the very late night/very early morning and no NPCs to fight while waiting for it to pick up.
I think that is one reason I really like early iterations for World of Warcraft's Battle Ground "Alterac Valley". I enjoyed the NPC addition to the PvP.
Ok off to download to fire it up, thanks again. I'll be on my main Vanu characters... although I had some on each faction on different servers. Curious to see how that works out when I log in. Vanu is the only ones I really care about though.
EDIT: It figures I run into this post though as just a few weeks back I deleted my saved key binds and what have you for PS.
1 hour and 20 min for download to finish... not bad. I'll play tomorrow I guess.
I think a lot of people would still be playing if it wasn't next to impossible to get it to run on Windows Vista. I've tried just about every fix possible from running it under Windows XP SP2 among others and the game continuously crashes when entering the game.
SOE would rather be lazy and make $0 from potential customers than attempt to rework the game to allow Vista users to actually play this game.
I'm running it on Windows 7 RC 64 bit, but I have to run it as Windows XP SP3 in compatibility mode.
Have great memories of this game, and also had my biggest noob moment in it...
We (VS) were fighting to take a terran base and I saw a terran soldier shooting one of our BFGs from behind so I tried to help, but I had picked up the heavy terran gun and wasn't used to its recoil so I ended up killing the terran and blowing up the BFGs since its reactor/generator was damaged pretty bad already.
It's my firm belief that to this point, planetside is STILL the only "True" mmofps. All the others talking about being mmofps do not have any kind of open landscape. Planetside was able to make huge and diversified alien planets and yet still have very concentrated battles spanning across the the continents.
It was amazing to be fighting in the mid-way between two different bases and maybe have another base to the south being taken and another force coming from in-between. Many many many variations on the ever changing battles. Planetside was simply great. '
It is really a shame that planetside has been so neglected, it did have alot of potential, and SOE just screwed it over. This among other things is breathing proof that SOE is not a company that should be handling interactive entertainment for the masses because when it comes to the consumers, we are not interested in your corporate handling. These companies KNOW they are putting out something that is for long term entertainment and enjoyment yet they still treat it like a pie-chart which just needs to stop at some end.
They need to care "At least a little", which they show countless times they dont by sticking their head up their asses. I love how planetside is litteraly one of the ONLY forum topics that anybody who has played talks about "good old times' and fond memories. This game actualy "Had those moments" that stay with you. Other games are fun, but it takes a MMO of a higher caliber to give you a sense of nastalgia.
Would be awsome to have some accumilative fundraiser from the community to pitch in for all those who are interested in getting the rights bought from under SOE. Sadly no such thing has happened.
I too have a soft spot for PS. I actually dont like fps games, never have, but for some reason PS was always a blast. I was pretty terrible with most of the guns, though I couldnt get enough of the thumper. Then I found the Magrider. "A hover tank?" I said to myself, "I gotta get me one of those". Little did I know that my expertise with a trackball turned my hovertank into a floatng death machine. I might have been terrible with guns, but damn was I good at running people over. A good gunner was all I needed to wreak havoc all over the battle field. To this day I still chuckle at finishing all my traffic citation awards. I ran down a LOT of pedestrians to finish that. I may have to get on and play it again for old times sake. Careful though if you arent wearin purple when I get back, chances are youll be the victim of a hit and run.
I really really miss when being a CR5 actually made you a reputable person in the game. Back when liberators where just released was when I started and got CR5 within a half year or so. Still the only CR5's around where the ones who actually led groups often to get there and knew how to play well. So you had a well know chain of command. Was a fun tradition to OS the guy who got CR 5 too. When I got CR5 I remember being getting OS'd by a few oldschool players from markov like Cogburn, manslayer, notraget. Ahhh good times.
Till this day the funnest times I had where in my old outfit "The legendary rebels", which we did alot of skrimish CTF between 2 bases on capped hossin when we had it. Also another fun outfit was when Prox12 was made on NCmarkov. prox12 used to be TRmarkov, VS johari, or something like that. But I had the joy of co-leading NCprox12 till we where the 2nd largest outfit in all the servers next to 666th. We where very active to and had a whole bunch of divisions for spec-ops, tank, gen droppers, ect.
In the end the leader left and gave me lead after he got fed up with the complains other outfits game us because we had a couple bad apples in the outfit. So he left and founded the origional KWA "Kill whores anonymous" Which got to about 80 members tops and was more of close knit outfit. After that I ended up quitting but when I came back KWA only had like 1 member, but there was another KWA with alot of members that was a imitation outfit because nobody from it was from the origional KWA yet they still argued that they thought of the name first loool. To top it off their outfit is quite well knows for not playing very smart.
Well my friend, the problem is, that he sertainly isn't the only clueless person in the industry. That's for sure.
With John Smedly. The problem is, that he probably is the owner of SOE and so can't get fired. Otherwise he would have been booted by shareholders long ago. (just like what happened with Gaute G. and Mark Jacobs for example).
And it's not only in this bussiness, but in every bussiness branch. Where you have clueless CEO's running a company into the ground and hardworking employees pulling the short end of the stick by getting fired to cover up the CEO's clueless decisions.
Could Matrix Online under the hands of SOE been saved and turned into a profitable game? YES! Absolutely yes!
Could Vanguard: Saga of Heroes under the hands of SOE been saved and turned into a profitable game? YES! Absolutely yes!
But so could the following games been saved, when better CEO and project management decisions would have been made:
Auto Assault, Asheron's Call 2, Tabula Rasa, Matrix Online (when it was still under Warner Entertainment and Monolith), Warhammer Online, Age of Conan (altho this one is slowly coming around really), Dungeons and Dragons Online, etc, etc, etc.
So really... how sad the truth might be. John Smedly is sertainly not the only clueless person in the bussiness. Unfortunately.
Cheers
PlanetSide rocked and still does!
One of few games I really WANT to come back to with some clan mates time and time again. It's simply the best MMOFPS out there and one of the greatest PvP experiences I've had in any game. 3-way battles galore!
Unfortunately you realise quite soon that you can't do much vs. the zerg when you're a small outfit. So every time me and my mates have quit PS it's been due to the zerg outrolling everything. PS deserves much credit, however, due to it being the ONLY game (I know of anyway) that actually has tried doing constructive things to combat the zerg problem in a MMO!
Fun game, good times, crazy action!
Here's hoping for a PlanetSide 2 or some other goood MMOFPS with glorious 3-way fights and constant battle for control!
Well my friend, the problem is, that he sertainly isn't the only clueless person in the industry. That's for sure.
With John Smedly. The problem is, that he probably is the owner of SOE and so can't get fired. Otherwise he would have been booted by shareholders long ago. (just like what happened with Gaute G. and Mark Jacobs for example).
And it's not only in this bussiness, but in every bussiness branch. Where you have clueless CEO's running a company into the ground and hardworking employees pulling the short end of the stick by getting fired to cover up the CEO's clueless decisions.
Could Matrix Online under the hands of SOE been saved and turned into a profitable game? YES! Absolutely yes!
Could Vanguard: Saga of Heroes under the hands of SOE been saved and turned into a profitable game? YES! Absolutely yes!
But so could the following games been saved, when better CEO and project management decisions would have been made:
Auto Assault, Asheron's Call 2, Tabula Rasa, Matrix Online (when it was still under Warner Entertainment and Monolith), Warhammer Online, Age of Conan (altho this one is slowly coming around really), Dungeons and Dragons Online, etc, etc, etc.
So really... how sad the truth might be. John Smedly is sertainly not the only clueless person in the bussiness. Unfortunately.
Cheers
yeah but this thread is about SOE and not the mmorpg industry as a whole. SOE has alot of games with great potential that are sitting in limbo between death and barely breathing. The other studios of the games you listed are succesfull and have had very successfull mmorpgs. (NCsoft, Turbine, funcom, etc etc etc.)
yeah but this thread is about SOE and not the mmorpg industry as a whole. SOE has alot of games with great potential that are sitting in limbo between death and barely breathing. The other studios of the games you listed are succesfull and have had very successfull mmorpgs. (NCsoft, Turbine, funcom, etc etc etc.)
EverQuest 1 and 2 are still doing well and are profitable games.
SWG isn't doing all that bad either and is still profitable. I know many vets with their eternal grudge don't want to hear it.
I don't like SWG in it's NGE incarnation either, but plenty of people still seem to enjoy it. Good for them and let them. Who are we to judge them.
Turbine isn't that holy at all. They completely neglected a great IP and runned DDO into the ground in favor of LOTRO and now turned it into a F2P game in a desperate attempt to resurrect it.
NcSoft isn't that holy either. They could have done a lot better with CoX and instead it only get's minimum updates to keep it's small but dedicated fanbase.
Cheers
EverQuest 1 and 2 are still doing well and are profitable games.
SWG isn't doing all that bad either and is still profitable. I know many vets with their eternal grudge don't want to hear it.
I don't like SWG in it's NGE incarnation either, but plenty of people still seem to enjoy it. Good for them and let them. Who are we to judge them.
Turbine isn't that holy at all. They completely neglectic a great IP and runned DDO into the ground and now turned it into a F2P game in a desperate attempt to resurrect it.
NcSoft isn't that holy either. They could have done a lot better with CoX and instead it only get's minimum updates to keep it's small but dedicated fanbase.
Cheers
See ... i can pick and chose all the games that have failed with SOE as well just like you did with the other companys, but i wont yet, i'll let you read my post again. And by successfull i usually mean around 150-200k+ subscription. Very succussfull i reserve for 400k+. (just to give you an idea of what i mean) EQ and EQ2 are "successfull" but afaik they are losing subs slowly. SWG isnt, its not just "vets" who are angry, but betrayed customers who are getting tired of so much attention put on to the TCG. Once they can bring 4 or more servers into "heavy", will i believe it really is doing well.
See ... i can pick and chose all the games that have failed with SOE as well just like you did with the other companys, but i wont yet, i'll let you read my post again. And by successfull i usually mean around 150-200k+ subscription. Very succussfull i reserve for 400k+. (just to give you an idea of what i mean) EQ and EQ2 are "successfull" but afaik they are losing subs slowly. SWG isnt, its not just "vets" who are angry, but betrayed customers who are getting tired of so much attention put on to the TCG. Once they can bring 4 or more servers into "heavy", will i believe it really is doing well.
Ehmm LOTRO doesn't have 400k+ subs. It's succesful and doing good, but not that good (Im still subbed myself).
People already getting fed up in how the LI system is implemented and Jeffrey Steefel being clueless and trying to force a Radiance dominated system to our throats, while the majority of players is against it! Not to mention that the whole game lvl50+ has turned into one horrible faction grind fest. Grind faction here, grind faction there. That's all there is lately in LOTRO.
So Turbine doesn't have any very succesful games either. Succesful one. Yes.
When it comes to NcSoft. They might have succesful P2P games in Asia, but on the western market they fail horribly. I hope for them Aion will finally be a succesful P2P game for them on the western market. Time will tell.
Funcom... well they don't have any MMO with 400k+ subs either.
Cheers
See ... i can pick and chose all the games that have failed with SOE as well just like you did with the other companys, but i wont yet, i'll let you read my post again. And by successfull i usually mean around 150-200k+ subscription. Very succussfull i reserve for 400k+. (just to give you an idea of what i mean) EQ and EQ2 are "successfull" but afaik they are losing subs slowly. SWG isnt, its not just "vets" who are angry, but betrayed customers who are getting tired of so much attention put on to the TCG. Once they can bring 4 or more servers into "heavy", will i believe it really is doing well.
Ehmm LOTRO doesn't have 400k+ subs. It's succesful and doing good, but not that good. People already getting fed up in how the LI system is implemented and Jeffrey Steefel being clueless and trying to force a Radiance dominated system to our throats, while the majority of players is against it! Not to mention that the whole game lvl50+ has turned into one horrible faction grind fest. Grind faction here, grind faction there. That's all there is lately in LOTRO.
So Turbine doesn't have any very succesful games either. Succesful one. Yes.
this could be true, i was going off the last
i was going off what i heard last from LOTRO that they had over 500k subscriptions. Although i give them a pass for all the awards they've won in the past 2 years with LOTRO.
When it comes to NcSoft. They might have succesful P2P games in Asia, but on the western market they fail horribly. I hope for them Aion will finally be a succesful P2P game for them on the western market.
lol picking and choosing again, a subscription is a subscription
Funcom... well they don't have any MMO with 400k+ subs either.
they probably dont have one over 400k, but i wouldnt rule out AO or AOC. Both games are getting better and climbing. Also wouldnt be surprised if they have over 150k+ subs
Cheers
tbh the only true fact we have is aion's subscription numbers, the other 2 are our own opinions. And like i said this thread is about SOE, mentioning any other studio or game is going off topic. The facts we do have with SOE are:
Matrix is a failure, and forgotten by SOE
Planetside is failing/failure (depends on who you ask) and is forgotten by SOE
SWG has a bad history, and had the TCG attached to make the community angry. Has 1-3 heavy servers. Will have to wait and see once SW TOR is released. Has SOE support
EQ1 still kicking, although with every new mmorpg release i see EQ losing numbers, also the TCG did not help. Still has SOE support
EQ2 still kicking but failing, has SOE support
Free realms, to early to make an observation.
Vanguard never fully recovered, quite a bit of a clone to the EQs, but has a big world. Failed and has SOE support.
There only impact on the market as it stands is EQ1 and EQ2 (dunno about free realms yet). The agency and DC universe look to be the same themepark mmos we've been getting since 04. With a company as big as SOE you expect more. They have the money and resources to made great games, its just their direction that sucks. They look out for themselves and making money, which is what you would expect from a big company. Funcom is moving on, they are developing new and unique games, turbine ..... i dunno ..... NCSoft is developing multiple mmos and their newest game aion is a huge hit. SOE is developing F2P games and games targets towards a younger crowd (besides DCU). DCU is their only real contender in the next few years. They have alot of games with alot of potential but neglect them or take them in the wrong direction. I dont see any of their current games making a comeback anytime soon, something i cant say for the other 3 companys we've mentioned.
Its every humans responsibility to get onto this game and help increase its population :) Show the damn devs what a treasure they are sitting on.. best damn game ever made, all categories.
poor matrix is dead now could planetside be next?
With 41 people being fired over the weekend. I wouldn't be suprised.
But then again, SOE just took over Matrix Online, because they had to in order to get the DC Universe IP from Warner Entertainment. So it suprised me they let it run that long, as they never ever had the intention to fix and improve it.
Cheers
I used to play planetside with friends when it first launch the playerbase back then was huge and the battles where just has huge but around the launch of core combat an exapansion pack you had to pay for which cost the same as the game and now they give away free lol, alot of players left around the corecombat launch and then the game kinda was left alone and there was 1 or 2 updates since then but nothing major. Like the article said SOE has left this game in the back of their minds and forgotton about it.
If the was to add new gameplay elements to the game or just add new classes and run some event drop the subscription price by half they might breath some life into the game.
I loved Planetside and it's still fun toay so go give it a try using the station launcher trials and increase the population cause thats what makes it even better, having giant battles. Just a shame SOE havn't ever added anything major to the game since the crap expansion of core combat.
what a lot of developers dont get is the older a game becomes the less justified the monthly fee is . like all such other mmos change to different payment model , reduce the subscription or make it free to play and it ll breath new life into a game .
i dont like codemasters/turbine but at least they get it .
If a game is properly maintained, continueisly updated and receives expansion packs. Then there is no need to change it subscruption model.
The fact here is, that Planetside is on life support, doesn't receive any updates anymore! And SOE continueing to charge full monthly subscription fee.
Big difference!
Planetside had really an epic theme to it, and a unique style of gameplay. I'm playing now, and I've played it (with a couple breaks of course) since the game was released. The game is still great many people left thinking that BFRs ruined the game, along with all the bending and shifting crap (their expansion) but it really is just as good as the old days now and a lot people still play.
K so according to my subscription planetside is active.... guess its a few come bk month or something lol but yeah if i remember correctly planetside doesn't like vista and the never released a fix so i will not be downloading it.
I played it pretty much at release and lasted 2 months. I really don't remember much about it except that it was one of a very few games that actually annoyed me to have paid money for. I genuinely disliked the whole experience of playing it.
The complaints I had back then (glitchiness, featureless expanses, repetitive combat, largely headless chicken style of other players, all the depth of a muddy puddle etc etc) were probably resolved or improved over the following years but I never went back to it.
You can definitely run PS in Vista. All you need to do is set its compatibility to XP SP2 and it runs fine!
Planetside is hands-down the best game ever made. Been playing for 5 years. No other game developer can get it right, and its amazingly funny how bad any other game is in comparison. 32 player server limits, boring combat and no vehicles seem to STILL be rule of thumb in EVERY fps. PS has such depth to its simple package and that is where it shines. Does it need updates? Yes. Could it use new bases, continents and vehicles? YES. Could it use a resurgence in population? Definitely!
What PS really needs is new life to be brought back into it from the players. The more people that resubscribe, the bigger and better the battles get, the more support the game will receive. It is the THE ONLY GAME OF ITS KIND.
The BFR's, while annoying, can be obliterated in the field by just a small group of grunts. My favorite night ever was when my small outfit of 5 people went out one night hunting BFRs. We had a pilot in a Phantasm(cloaking transport aircraft), and the other 4 of us were grunts setup to go after a BFRs weakspots. We would fly around looking for lone BFRs, hover over them and hotdrop right onto them. Our pilot said it looked like a bunch of ants scurrying around under some huge beast. We would drop on them when they were alone, or surrounded by gobs of support and got 16 of them. It was such a blast.
Running tanks all night, holding bases, doing black ops Burster runs in between fighting factions, flying aircraft. Its all awesome in this truly unique game.
Help make it bigger and SOE will get of its collective ass and build new bases and make new things for this wonderful game. DO IT!
This looks promising:
http://www.globalagendagame.com/Media_Videos.html
I'm running windows 7 and it works fine for me; i've also ran it on vista before.
Just right clikc on the planetside exe and change it to compatibility mode for windows xp.
This looks promising:
http://www.globalagendagame.com/Media_Videos.html
It does look promising and I am excited about trying it out. However, it does not have the epic feel of the huge battles PS was capable of.
Now, I think they are trying to keep it down to smaller conflicts that are run in parrallel to other conflcts to give the feel of a large group going after smaller objectives. While this will keep the Zuergfest down and allow a more structured strategy, it IS an artificial limitation placed on game play.
So, it will take away from the larger EPIC battles people discuss frequently. I hope this game will be every bit as good as it looks tho.
Well logged in and played a bit last night, kind of late. It was about 3am EST and the fight was actually decent. I'll definitely be making use of my free time. There was only 40 spots open for VS.... got as high as 70. No too bad for the horrible hours I played.
Planetside is a game with huge potential. Always has been. Unfortunately it's unrealized potential. So yes, I hope they do forget about Planetside. And start working on Planetside 2. It could be great if done right.
Which one of SOE's MMO's hasnt been forgotten besides EQ2?
EQ1 is still going strong and being updated. SWG is still being updated. They initially put alot of effort into matrix online and IMO it got better. But the numbers just weren't there to support it. They are also still updating vanguard.
I preordered and anticipated this games release when it was supposed to be in an escape from ny setting. Then it changed to where its at now. My problem was everyone running in front of me placing their weapons so close to the enemy I got negative points from team mates running in front of my fire. The battles I remember where so close we might as well have melee weapons. Hopefully they corrected that to be more of a real fps battlefield or Americas Army accuracy to it. I understand the accuracy cone deal but the game was not what I expected so dumped it. Battlefield, Rainbow six, swat and americas army in my opinion blew it away.
I agree, but I dont have confidence in SOE anymore. Speaking of fps mmo's anyone like Tabula Rasa as much as Planetside? I loved the real weapon sounds and blow back of shotguns. Even though they used a winchester lever action for that sound.
Surely you must be joking..can you really suggest that any of those games are worth $15 a month besides EQ2?
They should all be F2P at this point...SOE is just sucking as much money out of them as they can without putting anything back into them
After doing some more research, I found the issue I was having with PS and Vista. Originally, the fix only included changing the compatibility of the desktop icon to Windows XP SP2. Now, they added changing the planetside.exe file to Windows 95 compatibility as well as clicking the 3 lower boxes Disable visual themes, Disable desktop composition and Disable display scaling on high DPI settings.
After changing what was needed on the planetside.exe file, the game ran just fine with my Vista OS. Hopefully that clears up any issues others had with Vista and only being told to change the desktop icon's compatibility.
I'd Still play PS but I got baned. Called SoE and was told I was useing a hack, this was after I got a new comuter and the only thing on it was Windows and PS...Oh well.
Whoever said what they are worth? That is up to the person playing. SOE can't suck money out of something that people aren't willing to pay for. So as you can see people are still willing and happy to pay.
My outfit used to destroy zergs all the time. It is amazing what a well organized squad can do.
Have a tower you need to take? 5 Tanks will take just about any tower, failing that 10 Reavers will do it with ease. Leave the cap to your own zergers and kill anyone who dares come out.
Have a base you need to take? 9 MAX suites and 1 hacker. Go in the back door and run all the way to the power room. Drop the power plant and the fight is over in short order.
Cant take the base? Jump into aircraft and start hitting power plants at all thier so call safe bases. Watch a base crumble when it loses its link to its Tech Plant. If nothing else 10 people attacking random targets behind the lines will draw off 30-40 people to deal with them. Leaving far fewer at the front so your own zerg can win.
btw, anyone have a NC outfit with a strong military structure? You know you want a CE/MAX specialist who will follow orders and get the job done!
Played for over 5 years. Best MMO ever created, with the best PvP to date.
That is one of the things that always got me about PS. I HATE and I mean HATE PvP. Can't stand it. It brings out the worst in people.
But I LOVE PS.
The main reason I see this is true is
1. There is NO other point to the game then PvP, no grinding no questing just killing.
2. The very nature of the game tends to throw you in with a bunch of other people on your side.
Not one time in all the time I played PS did I feel like I had just been ganked. Not even when sniping and some stealther snuck up and knifed me to death.
I keep waiting for someone to make PS2 or a PS type game. but all the so called MMOFPS games coming out are little better then Team Fortress 2 or CoD 4. (But with a shiny new $14.95 a month fee)
Fun game when it was in its glory for me at least.
as some others have said why sony dont put some resources into this game is a big??
More modern engine can solve some of the problems i at least had when i played
Doesnt meant it has to be a killer just some tuning .
My issues with planetside where everything is a tower/base battle. Everything. Same thing over and over again. I hate all the seperate continents and the 3 factions. Also terrain doesn't matter in this game. It's of no strategic importance.
So I would eliminate one of the factions. The vanu are they called? It's been years. I'd get rid of the seperate islands and make a huge landmass(please see WWII Online real time map on their front page).
I'd then make terrain matter. I'd put in anti aircraft guns and other outposts and bases that must be traveled or flown through. I'd make nothing safe from attack. No safe areas. And reduce the number of locations that equipment can spawn at.
I'd also add much greater variation to the towers and bases.
Also with a larger continent and the bases more spread out and one less faction the world will be larger. So i'd get everyone on the same server. No more seperate servers. We pick one of two sides and we all fight together. It works well in WWII Online. I understand that game is more of a sim but the concepts would work well here.
Terrain certainly takes into account in Planetside. There are places where an aircraft cannot reach but an anti-aircraft MAX can, for instance. There are continents where storms occur regularly, thus impeding vision. I see what you are saying though, and I think a larger differentiation in terrain would be excellent .
We've been asking for years for more bases. From tall, skinny outposts, to mountaintop bases, to airpads set in the sky, the players have thought of it. The sad truth is that there is no one to create the necessary art on staff(at least thats what we've been told).
More players = More battles = bigger voice for Planetside = development!!!
In case anybody missed those important links, if you're interested in the game that is
. Also the shear amount of replies in this thread proves this game was a success in it's own genre, nobody should be fooled by this. Sure the game has it's bugs still, it has hackers (What FPS multiplayer doesn't?), and it has a sketchy developer. Who cares, it's STILL a great game regardless, and no game will possibly ever come close to replacing the scale and true ingenuity of this one and only MMOFPS.
In case anybody missed those important links, if you're interested in the game that is
. Also the shear amount of replies in this thread proves this game was a success in it's own genre, nobody should be fooled by this. Sure the game has it's bugs still, it has hackers (What FPS multiplayer doesn't?), and it has a sketchy developer. Who cares, it's STILL a great game regardless, and no game will possibly ever come close to replacing the scale and true ingenuity of this one and only MMOFPS.
Thank you for posting that. I will download now!
Thank you for posting that. I will download now!
You're welcome! Welcome to the battlefield Soldier!
Question for current PS players. When I was playing back when it came out the battles where very close in. People were running right up on enemy to get a hit which would cause negative points if your team mate ran in front of you. Has anything changed there? Are the battles more spread out? Are the weapons any more accurate at long distance. Yea the cone has something to do with it but when your accross the room steady firing a rocket launcher at enemy the enemy should be dead. Anyway, just wondering if the battles have improved from what used to be close enough to be melee to something that takes advantage of the vast maps? Thanks much.
PS even made it into the Gamers Edition 2009 of the Guinnes World Records.
Largest Battle in an Online Shooter
March 23 2003
6400 players logged in
Hope this helps :)
PlanetSide runs fine under Vista 64.....I play it daily....
I've been in the game since closed beta, and there's still nothing else anything like it...
To run under Vista, set compatability to XP, then set All Users compatability to either Win 98 or 95.....check the bottom 3 boxes, and you're set...it actually runs better than it did under XP......
I wish there were a way to get some of the huge numbers back into the game, but there's really not much chance of that...But, we DO still get a pop-lock during prime time, and there's always a few good fights taking place most anytime you log in...
Concerning weapons range...It really depends on the weapon...Some weaps have great range, some are only useful closer in....
But all the weaps have been rebalanced during the course of the game, and everyone that plays now pretty much seems to feel that the balance is pretty dang good....
But, if you haven't played the game in a while, you owe it to yourself to at least try it out again....I still have more sheer fun in PlanetSide than pretty much any of the other games I play online...and there are several......
Global Agenda is fully instanced 10-10 combat...NOT like PlanetSide........
Huxley is just a UT clone with a graphical lobby, essentially.
About the closest anyone has come to PlanetSide is Fallen Earth.......But even that isn''t really much like PlanetSide...It's a lot more like an MMO Fallout 3......
But Global Agenda won't be exciting any PS players...Instanced 10-10 battles won't really interest anyone that's played a REAL MMOFPS....Oh, and GA also has no friendly fire...Which makes it a spamfest...You can stand shoot through your own team mates all day not harm them at all....
To me, an FPS needs friendly fire just to keep it tactical and not everyone lobbing grenades rapid-fire with no concern for where they land...
I think the grief system PlanetSide uses is the most elegant and efficient method of griefer control I've seen in any game...You can accidentally hit a friendly occasionally with no real consequences..But if you do it much, you'll have all your weapons and vehicles taken for a period of time to allow you to reconsider your methodology....
Global Agenda is NOT a MMO. 10x10 fights are something you only find in a FPS, NOT a MMO. Don't know why people keep bringing it up. Do you see Diablo mentioned as a MMO? Nope. Same for Global Agenda. Just a marketing campaign gone awry.
I used to work there and you are 100% right, want to know something else? Smed plays WoW.
I'd really just like to see FodderSide come back......It'd make the game a lot bigger, and a certain percentage would go ahead and subscribe, since that's the only thing they'd be playing much online anyway......
I'd prefer if they'd find a way to control the unavoidable hackers and the like...But a certain vulnerability to that is apparently a product of CSHD...(Client Side Hit Detection, for those that haven't experienced it...)
The game, on the scale it achieves, simply couldn't work with any other method.....But CSHD does have issues.....
Having said that...I've labored under these issues since beta....and they never detracted from my experience enough to be anything but a minor and temporary annoyance......
There's currently no way to play the game without a subscription, the trial is not even on the SOE page.....But FodderSide did make the game bigger, and brought about a return of the really BIG battles.....
I can really see no other way to get more people playing again, though.....And the game can only get smaller as time goes by with the present circumstances.....
81 posts in a day for a post about a 3/4 dead hobo of a game in a back alley of the MMO world. That pretty much says what needs to be said about how smart SOE was about it.
Now will you you all hush up so SOE forgets totally about Planetside, until they finally sell it off to some indie company that actually cares about its players. Then they'll roll it back pre-Core Combat, apply the bug fixes and selected balance passes, and we'll all be able to play it again while they get funding for Planetside 2 lol.
You can definitely run PS in Vista. All you need to do is set its compatibility to XP SP2 and it runs fine!
Planetside is hands-down the best game ever made. Been playing for 5 years. No other game developer can get it right, and its amazingly funny how bad any other game is in comparison. 32 player server limits, boring combat and no vehicles seem to STILL be rule of thumb in EVERY fps. PS has such depth to its simple package and that is where it shines. Does it need updates? Yes. Could it use new bases, continents and vehicles? YES. Could it use a resurgence in population? Definitely!
What PS really needs is new life to be brought back into it from the players. The more people that resubscribe, the bigger and better the battles get, the more support the game will receive. It is the THE ONLY GAME OF ITS KIND.
The BFR's, while annoying, can be obliterated in the field by just a small group of grunts. My favorite night ever was when my small outfit of 5 people went out one night hunting BFRs. We had a pilot in a Phantasm(cloaking transport aircraft), and the other 4 of us were grunts setup to go after a BFRs weakspots. We would fly around looking for lone BFRs, hover over them and hotdrop right onto them. Our pilot said it looked like a bunch of ants scurrying around under some huge beast. We would drop on them when they were alone, or surrounded by gobs of support and got 16 of them. It was such a blast.
Running tanks all night, holding bases, doing black ops Burster runs in between fighting factions, flying aircraft. Its all awesome in this truly unique game.
Help make it bigger and SOE will get of its collective ass and build new bases and make new things for this wonderful game. DO IT!
No. No they won't. They will simply take the free money, just like they have been doing ALL ALONG. They will not reinvest in this game, ever. My evidence?
Free Realms. 3 million players as of last month, of which a few percent of subscribers and item buyers are calculated to put in enough money to make it MUCH more profitable than a nearly dead, niche MMOFPS built on ancient technology and riddled with haxors.
If you were the business funding this, which game would you support? We can go to history for that lesson - it used to be EQ vs Planetside for the budget and attention. EQ won it all. Then EQ2 vs Planetside, and EQ2 won it all.
Now it's Free Realms vs Planetside. Who's gonna cap that base? My bet is on the 10 year olds lol.
Sorry, but as far as SOE is concerned, all games like Planetside are the past. As you'll see from other posts of mine, I think the best possible future for Planetside is to be shut down and sold off to someone who cares.
No. No they won't. They will simply take the free money, just like they have been doing ALL ALONG. They will not reinvest in this game, ever. My evidence?
Free Realms. 3 million players as of last month, of which a few percent of subscribers and item buyers are calculated to put in enough money to make it MUCH more profitable than a nearly dead, niche MMOFPS built on ancient technology and riddled with haxors.
If you were the business funding this, which game would you support? We can go to history for that lesson - it used to be EQ vs Planetside for the budget and attention. EQ won it all. Then EQ2 vs Planetside, and EQ2 won it all.
Now it's Free Realms vs Planetside. Who's gonna cap that base? My bet is on the 10 year olds lol.
Sorry, but as far as SOE is concerned, all games like Planetside are the past. As you'll see from other posts of mine, I think the best possible future for Planetside is to be shut down and sold off to someone who cares.
You sir, are probably one of the most cynical posters I have seen in regards to Planetside, and the few of us that do remain loyal to Planetside (NOT SOE) will try to keep this game running as long as possible. Sometimes you need to look past the giant (SOE) and into the realism that exists (Planetside), you seem to just stare at the giant (SOE) and lose all hope right then and there. It's sad really, and It's even more sad to think many games become ruined due to cynical posters like yourself wasting moderators time and developers thoughts on WHAT SHOULD be done in a situation or be presented in updates.
Hats off to you for standing up what you believe in, but it doesn't mean you need to tear down other peoples hope for something, or anything for that matter. Planetside is a great game, SOE is a company many of us are skeptical about, I'll agree there, but that doesn't change the fact that Planetside still deserves to continue operating, many of us STILL enjoy playing the game.
No. No they won't. They will simply take the free money, just like they have been doing ALL ALONG. They will not reinvest in this game, ever. My evidence?
Free Realms. 3 million players as of last month, of which a few percent of subscribers and item buyers are calculated to put in enough money to make it MUCH more profitable than a nearly dead, niche MMOFPS built on ancient technology and riddled with haxors.
If you were the business funding this, which game would you support? We can go to history for that lesson - it used to be EQ vs Planetside for the budget and attention. EQ won it all. Then EQ2 vs Planetside, and EQ2 won it all.
Now it's Free Realms vs Planetside. Who's gonna cap that base? My bet is on the 10 year olds lol.
Sorry, but as far as SOE is concerned, all games like Planetside are the past. As you'll see from other posts of mine, I think the best possible future for Planetside is to be shut down and sold off to someone who cares.
Planetside may be the past to you or to SOE, but it still carries enough weight WITH NO COMPETITION to still work in the present for many players - for over 6 years. Maybe they would never put development back into it, but whose to say they wouldn't if enough people started PAYING and playing it again.
No other game holds a stick to it. Huxley is vaporware with instanced small scale fights. Global Agenda is small scale. Every other FPS out there follows the boring rule of "lets make a shooter with a 16 player limit, It'll be fun!!! sniffle sniffle" Nope they are not. Pretty colors, bells and whistles and every trick in the book to lure people into buying these subpar FPS games still make them pale in comparison to Old, outdated, AWESOME Planetside.
Persistent world, a myriad of playstyle choices from support to stealth to vehicles, Multi-player manned vehicles, large scale battles and did I mention persistent world?
<3 Planetside
You know I don't get all these posts about how slim the battles have gotten.
I have been playing the last couple of days and both when I play as NC and VS I have had great battles. Sure at any given time there was only one or two islands with large scale fights... But do you need more then one?
Last night I had a lot of fun fighting to a stalemate as the VS in a battle between the TR and the NC (NC came in later in the night and ruined our push on the TR).
When I logged in there were about 30 VS spots left meaning around 100 VS were already in zone, and the TR seemed about even with us maybe a bit higher. Then throw in 50 or so NC. 250 person battle seems fairly big to me.
To my NC brothers, sorry about killing you... but you were sticking your nose into a fight you had no chance of winning. (50 NC vs 100 TR and 100 VS)
The NC were pretty mad when we were running around outside Ghanon in our Bursters. But yes, the fights are still very large. Could get even larger with more subscribers.
Someone mentioned earlier that you couldn't do much in the game as a small outfit. You couldn't be more wrong. As a proud former member of Warrior Nation's Sentinels (tag: WNx), I can tell you that you can turn the tide of a battle with a squad of just ten people (or less!). Warrior Nation led the way in tactics on PlanetSide and proved that you could make a difference in a battle. Back in our glory days, it got to the point that when people started noticing Warrior Nation tags at a base, that base would get enemy reinforcements - folks like the 666th would start showing up. Warrior Nation released the first tactics primer thanks to the great efforts of KiddPark; you can see it here: http://ps.warriornation.net/
It hasn't been updated for the new CE or Phantasms or even, as I recall, BFRs, but it's still pressingly relevant.
I still remember the rush of three galaxies dropping full loads on a tower. "CC hack finished; clear out the spawns!" Cue Lasher glory.
Or back hack a base only to take and hold the generators?
I agree with everyone who has said so far that there has never been a game like PlanetSide. Hopefully, one day...
Exactly, when I was co-leader of the second largest outfit of all the servers NCprox12, which had like 1600 members next to 666th with 2200+. We got a ton of complaints about the bad apples that where TKing in our outfit, so the leader left and made KWA which got only around 150 members but they where completely comprised of some of the best players, some avergage, but all had outstanding teamwork and cooperation.
Best mmo game I have played.
No grind, great pvp, big battles.
It just needed to add in some kind of end goal in mind to make taking bases/conts have more of a point. For instance locking like 4 conts would allow you to attack the enemy's sanc or home base kind of like Warhammer. Just to give something more for players who want to 'win' or go beyond the basic frag fest and be more strategic.
Long time Planetside player here.In over 6 years I've been unsubbed for a total of 23 days.
I'm on holiday in the USA until the start of September without a good enough system to play PS.I miss it,badly.
I forget who it was who posted that someone was being cynical about not even bothering to try to get SOE to revive PS's fortunes.
With respect,I can't blame anyone who has played PS for any great length of time becoming cynical about how SOE treats this game.I could literally wear out this laptop's keyboard telling all of you what is wrong,how the playerbase is subjected to changes unasked for,and ignored when they request a change.
The 'server merges' are not complete.Gemini (which is an amalgamation of Markov,Konnreid,Emerald and Johari,the 4 original US servers) exists with one more server sticking out like a sore thumb.Werner.Werner was the only server ever provided for the Euro playerbase,and has been a virtual ghost-town for over a year now.The community has pleaded,begged,threatened,cajoled and asked nicely that this server be merged with Gemini,in order that European players get to use the toons that they worked hard on for many years back into the battle royal.Its not an unreasonable request,as all the servers that merged to form Gemini had their playerbases transferred.
SOE's response to the European playerbase:No dice.Nada.No.Start again,from the beginning,or quit.
The game gets a lot of hackers coming in on free trial accounts.There is no in-game cheat detection.GM support is at best limited,and at worst non-existent.Should a hacker get banned,they're back shortly thereafter on a new trial account.
Game balance changes are instituted largely without consulting the players,sometimes un-announced,which radically unbalances the game,which it then takes the dev team (I was under the impression PS is down to one dev,part-time on loan from EQ) months to admit to,and then reverse.
We had in-game advertising added to the game,with the proviso that the money generated would be used to further develop Planetside.We got no development.The subscription price was raised,with a promise that the extra revenue would be used to fund further development.We got nothing.
Planetside's exceptionally loyal playerbase has done far,far more to promote their beloved game than Sony did.Players ran guerilla advertising campaigns in other games,produced promotional videos,attempted to rally new players at conventions,whilst SOE did nothing.We had community members who instituted stat-tracking websites which put the game's own to shame.Did they receive any bit of support or help or even praise from SOE?No.Their data trackers instead were blocked.
For PS's 6th Birthday,we got a patch,which raised the maximun Battle Rank from 25 to 40.You'd have thought that that would be a cause for celebration amongst the playerbase.What actually happened was,that as soon as you reach BR 32,everyone in your immediate vicinity in-game, crashes.The GM's response to this?They banned people who reached BR 32.
You'll then perhaps excuse our cynical attitude.We dont mean to be cynical,thats just the way we've become after continually being kicked in the nuts by SOE.
This all being said,I have the best memories ever of this game.Nothing else plays like it.Get into an outfit,and get yourselves onto voice comms like Teamspeak or Ventrillo (ignore the in-game largely useless and bandwidth-hogging voice client) and it really does become an experience like no other.Teamwork,action,excitement....and there's no feeling like it when your squad manages to pull off something spectacular which can change the course of the battle.Just typing that makes me want to login (I'm still even subbed whilst on holiday,even tho I can only get around 10 frames per second on this laptop,which is disasterous for an online FPS).I'm counting the days until I get home.43.PS is about the only thing I'm missing about home.Even tho I get terrible ping from the UK to Gemini.I love this game.I love the people I play this game with,and against.
I hate how SOE treats this game.I wish more than anything else that its fortunes may be revived.But SOE always seems to have other priorities.EQ,EQ2 and now Free Realms.PS really is the forgotten game in the Sony stable.I only hope they've forgotten where the plug is.I think the only thing that keeps the plug from being pulled is that its not free-to-play.
It pleases me very greatly to see so much enthusiasm being generated on this thread for Planetside.Dont think for a heart-beat that I'm telling you all not to play,not to reactivate your accounts.We always love to see new players/returning players.Planetside is a glorious experience when it has the population,but the playerbase itself has become something like a beaten dog at the hands of SOE.It will rather bite your hand than wag its tail.The customer support guys in the forums do the best they can,but as they point out,neither they,nor the dev(s?) hold any swing at all with the management at SOE.And so Planetside continues to be neglected.The playerabse continues to decline.
What puzzles me most,after 6 years is this:if the programming ability and technology were there 6 years ago to create this game,why,oh why,has nobody produced another game like it? (ie one that can support many hundreds of players on the battlefield simultaneously.).Threads like this one prove that the demand for this sort of thing is very much there and very much still alive.
If anyone out there has the money to spare,and the time to listen to the players,I beg you:Please try and buy this game out from SOE.
Diminish3d -Werner NC
Diminish3d -Gemini NC
Dontstrafe-E -Gemini VS
Dontstrafe -Gemini TR
Amen. And This ^
Is EVERY development house so glued to making the next WoW clone that they can't lift their eyes to see this???
Amazes me
I personally loved planetside. I played it in the beta and then hmm 6 months or so into the actually game. It had great potential but Sony did screw it over.
Personally I have high hopes the Global Agenda will pick up where PS left off so many years ago.
"Personally I have high hopes the Global Agenda will pick up where PS left off so many years ago."
Not a chance, Global Agenda is a 10 vs 10 instancing game. More like Diablo than a MMO.
It is? I must have missed that part. 10 v 10 seems rather low. You sure?
Global Agenda is 10-10, fully instanced...The only reason they call it an "MMO", which it is patently NOT, is because they intend to charge a subscription fee for it...
The only real MMO with real FPS combat coming is Fallen Earth.....
Even Huxley is just a UT clone with a graphical lobby..Fully instanced 12-12, in that one., I believe, but it may be 10-10..I'm in the beta, but didn't play it enough to make any impressions....I didn't care for it at all..
So far, I like Fallen Earth a lot...It's basically an MMO Fallout 3, but 98% of the items in-game are player crafted...You even craft your horse or vehicles, ammo, everything...But, the combat is true FPS..
But NONE of them are PlanetSide....That game is unique and still offers a depth of gameplay that nothing else has ever approached.......
Thanks for the info! I didnt know that. I still do wish to try it to see as I dont mind games like that but your right in my eyes a MMO should have maps capable of being hundreds vs hundreds with thousands on the server.
It was called Sanctuary Strikes and it never made it very far. It was possible back during the old centralized sanctuaries. As showing in the screenshot below: The central villa is surrounded in a shield much similar to that of a warpgate if I recallr everything completely. Now if you try to enter a enemy warpgate its shielded like a captiol dome.
I was one of the people that was following this games every move, a year before it was released. I picked it upon release, with about 15 of my friends. I have seen this game at its best, and at its worst. Now. I've had to cancel my sub for PS a few times in the past, but not ONCE was it because I was sick of the game.
I can absolutely, with %100 certainty, that any FPS gamer, who has ever played Planetside, for at least 1 month, has gotten some of their best gamer war stories from this game. There is just simply, NOTHING on the market like Planetside.
I have recently come back after 2 years. I was hesitant, as I fear a low population compared to what we had in the past, but to be comepletely honest, its not as bad an issue as I thought it was going to be. There is still ALWAYS action going on. Yes, it would be nice if there were more than one big fight going on, but even so, there hasn't been one time yet where Planetside is short on action.
The most fantastic and special memories from my gaming career are from PS, and are still coming from PS. Simply put, there is no contest. There is nothing on the market that can compete with the complexity of this game. Sure its not as pretty as it once was, as the graphics are getting older, but point a gun in a guys face and pull the trigger, neither of you are concerned with the graphics at that moment.
You still see absolutely epic vehicle battles, masses of tanks battling it out on the roads near a base. Fleets of aircraft, attack and support alike cresting the horizon. Is it worth the subscription fee? Absoluetly. I'll take a persistant world, shaped only by the players in the game, vs resetting maps any day of the week.
Over the last few days the fights have gotten bigger and bigger. TR rolled a massive raid on Amerish last night that rivaled the "old" days.
You never know what a larger subscription base might lead to, but it sure is fun seeing old faces and new.
Wtf are you smoking, terrain played a HUUUUGEEEE role in the gameplay. How badly do you think it effected base defenses when the enemy was planting AMS's right on the other side of a huge hill/cliff so the players in the base couldnt just kill it from there. It also provided sniping DIRECTLY to the vehicle facilities and in tech plants, you could take out anyone in the tech room opening the double doors on accident when people flooded them to buy aircraft.
That's just the icing on the cake man, terrain played A HUGE role. Also are you joking about only 2 sides? Maybe now because there is really only 1 cont ever having battles. But back in it's hayday, nothing made the battles more dynamic than have 2 large factions battling out only to have the 3rd rain in from above or below to sort of help one faction until both where to courtyard then theyed slaughter eachother till one could take base. The "3rd" faction is why battles can have such a last to them, the worry of 2 different fronts for every side.
For christ sake just play your 1942 since single front battles is what you like. Let's name terran to germany, and NC to france while we are at it.
I have just learned (literally in the last hour) that there has been an announcement that Werner will now be merged with Gemini,effective August 25th.
I'd forgotten what it was to experience deep joy :D
The game will be down to one server,but it'll be a great fight again.
*withdraws about 20% of previous criticism of SOE :P lol
I'm glad for all the European and Asian players that they're finally merging Werner in...The game really needs to all be on one server now..
The 45-day PS Vets free-play thing that is going on now seems to have brought quite a few old timers back the last few days...The battles and numbers seems to be growing this past week.
The population in planetside the past week has nearly doubled due to the free 45 day come back trial. Those out there that haven't retried the game yet, you should deffinantly reconsider, there has been up to 3-4 different battles going on, sometimes up to 2 poplocks. Very fun stuff, only hope to see some of those staying after the 45 days as well.
Have you played the game, and if so, what were your experiences like? Are you still playing? And what do you make of SOE's treatment of the product since it's launch? Also, why do you think it is that PlanetSide has essentially been swept under the rug?
I have played the game. I followed it during development and tried desperately to make it into Beta. I'm currently playing the 45 day trial.. and I do plan to resub after that period.
The initial reason I actually stopped playing was because I felt SOE gave up.. and I think it did.. but what I didn't expect.. was for the community to essentially keep the games heart beating on the deathbed. I regret quitting now.
I'm absolutely baffled that SOE treated the game, and the community the way it did. They literally have the only game like this. They have a monopoly for this play style! I can only assume that people the power positions didn't understand the game, and thus, it wasn't marketed or supported but in the most menial ways. Perhaps they just don't like money.
Having said all of that.. PlanetSide is.. without exception.. the absolute BEST game I have ever played in my entire life. Ever. I'll never forget it, and I'll be playing until it's last dying breath.
SOE lacks anyone that has a brain. If they did they would see this great game and redo it and make a Planetside 2. Only this time do it bigger and better. With some fluff and some PvE stuff tossed in for good measure. This game was my all time favorite MMO next to SWG - so I have double the reason to be ticked at SOE. As someone else mentioned, my favorite game stories come from this game. Nothing and I mean no other game comes close to producing the same effect this game had on me. Love Planetside. <3
I'm one of those who returned. Yeah it is awesome to actually see 2 pop locks again and I've been having a good time. Actually as a full time boomering cloaker I'm having a really good time since people are making silly mistakes these days like putting up routers straight to their spawns. Unfortunately seems most of the other old names I'm running into all agree on the same thing though. A game that has been in maintenance mode for years now just isn't worth that 15 a month price tag. Anyhow..
I've been playing PS on and off since around the 3rd month point. There are so many factors involved when trying to discuss just why PS has died over the years though it's overwhelming. Placing ALL the blame on Sony though for PS's fall isn't quite accurate I'd say.
Planetside even though it's large scale as hell is and always will be a FPS and isn't immune to all the reasons people move on to new ones over time. Ask a lot of old FPS players what they believe is the best most twitch/skilled based game online ever made and they will still tell you Quake 1. Yet none of us still play it, why? It's old. We've all been there and done it so long ago that even though it's still a great game you would never actually go back and play again.
To me first person shooters are unlike other genres in that you have basically what I would call a "peak" or "plateau" that you reach eventually. Any devoted first person gamer knows what I mean. It's when you've reached a point in a first person shooter that you will never improve, when you have experienced it all and will never do or see anything you haven't already seen or done 500 times before. It's that point when you start searching out a new game for new and fresh challenges. Hell I bet practically none of the people still logging in and playing counter-strike today were around back when Goose first released the mod. Planetside is no different.
Spork told us years ago that new bases and such were impossible. The games world was designed in a way that those bases were permanent/unmodifiable parts of the map. Sure Sony I suppose could have dumped serious cash into redoing a lot of things but ultimately people would have still left. New maps are fun and all but the same game is still the same game and new map packs have never kept me playing a game no less subscribing to one after reaching that peak.
Plenty of bad decisions’ were made over the years that hurt. The Surge nerf I'd say was the first time I really saw people start leaving in droves. Love or hate the old surge is irrelevant; it did make many more twitch oriented fast paced fps clans leave. A lot of people just didn't want to play the slower paced game of REXO/HA/plasma spamming personal shield side. I know a lot of weird lag issues and crap took place with agile/surgers and I'm not defending it, I'm just saying that was one of the big nerfs that Pissed off and affected a large group of players.
The next big exodus I noticed was the infamous BFRS. Even ex developers came out and admitted this was a bad idea and apparently something you can blame on Sony. From what I remember the devs were basically told to go through with it and they had to. The problem with BFR's was never about killing them. Any half decent player could toss on their agile/deci loadout, hop in a mossie and solo the things all day long. I know I did and the hate tells from the BFR pilots were so worth the trouble. The problem with the things and why it caused cancelations though had nothing to do with my play style. It was the guys who had always enjoyed the large open field armor battles. You used to see massive amounts of tanks out there throwing down. After BFRs those poor saps would just have good fights ruined by some goofball in his robot jumping in, crushing everyone and then bailing right back out. They made the game less enjoyable for a lot of people so they left.
Eh...seriously this could just go on for days and I've pretty much forgot what I was even typing about anymore. PS to someone like me is still the best MMO ever created and it's sad to see no one trying something like it again. Frankly it's an insult to even use the name Planetside in the same sentence with crap like Global Agenda or Huxley. Damn I just did...
Tried to get back in, but does not seems to work with Vista?....Shame was looking forward to checking the game again.
Had the same problem and updated drivers and sound card drivers and ran as adminastor in windows 98 mode.
It will work with Vista, the forums tell you what to set.
Basically, you have to set the game to XP compatibility mode.
Tried it, killed multiple times by the same old hacking cheaters, nope, not going to pay money to be cheated on.
Mentioned several times in this thread...Go back and look and you'll see PlanetSide runs fine under Vista..If you follow the instructions...
It will work with Vista,you just need to faff about with it first.
Most fixes usually involve running PlanetSide 'as Administator' and forcing Windows 95 compatability mode.
There's a more thorough section about Vista fixes in the PlanetSide Official Forums,General Technical Support sub-forum.The Vista fixes should be found in the top stickied thread in that sub forum,about 1/4 of the way down.
Me and a friend just sat and talked about good memories, and we "what happened to planetside"
We miss it, and think it was a great game!
We quit back in the day due to some imbalance and lag, and never got around to resubscribing..
Wish I had done that!
Now im a bit afraid of what you mention about vista, people using hacks and low population. Especially since I play on odd hours since im from Europe.
SOE, please wake up, make Planetside 2 and you would have a winner again...
Actually...There is the occasional cheat, but they're usually only a very temporary inconvenience..They get taken care of pretty quickly..
And the populations are actually pretty good right now, at least one poplock every evening in prime-time, with one or more auxilliary fights going on peripherally...
I'm still in the game, primarily because nothing else has ever offered the sheer scale and combined-arms experience of PlanetSide...
If you've EVER had an account, you can play free right now until Aug. 28th, I think...Great opportunity to see what you're missing out on....
Oh, and the Werner server is being merged into the US server also the end of this month.....That's made the Europeans users VERY happy.