The PlanetSide 2 team is reassuring everyone that development continues and the next update, the Archaeotech, is still on the way. Not only did they share some details about the upcoming update, its release, and preview the visual style and changes, they've also updated on community feedback and announced that North American server merges are coming.
After the recent EG7 announcement that Toadman Interactive, the studio now developing PS2, would close, many were worried that the long running MMORPG might be in danger. Some thought that this was going to be the end, while others had a wait and see approach, especially since the announcement said that existing contracts would still be fulfilled. Now we have an official statement on the matter:
“We’re aware that recent news has sparked speculation around PlanetSide 2, and we want to assure you that the development team at Toadman working on the game remains unchanged and will continue to work on the project with the same passion and dedication.” Expect a new update on the PTS soon addressing fishing issues and the Assault Facility mode, based on community feedback.
Server merges are coming in North America, planned for sometime over the next 2-3 months. The team is approaching this carefully since their experience with merging servers in Europe created some issues they’re still addressing.
Details about the Archaeotech update show that it's not going to be a typical update, What will be an ongoing series of updates and changes that introduce something entirely new and will shape the future of the game.
Archaeotech is technology recovered from an ancient alien civilization, rumored rivals to the Vanu (which is not the Vanu Sovereignty). The technology will have a distinct visual style and the words they bring up as guiding that visual design are “alien, corrupting, and uneasy”.
It's alien tech, of course, and appears alive. It is corrupting, blending biological and mechanical elements. The idea is to make it seem unnervingly sentient. This corruption will affect each faction differently, so prepare for surprises.. All of those things fit into the sense of unease that they're trying to convey, with this dark and strange powerful new tech. “Due to the parasitic nature of Archaeotech, you can expect to see cosmetics of already existing weapons and gear infected with the organism,” they say.
There's more in the full letter, including some concept art that gives a sense of what this all means. This is the future of PlanetSide 2, since they say we can expect it to slowly be integrated into the full world, with subsequent updates revealing more about the origins, power, and dangers of the technology. Will get updates on what's ahead over the course of the next few months and these updates will come over a period of time once they start releasing.