planetside beta

[Supreem]

I don't know about you guys, but I can't wait for this game to come out! It truely is gunna be the first of its kinda...the first MMOFPS mixed with elements of MMORPG. Basically all combat in this game is gunna be skill based death-match style fighting....I can't wait!!! I picture it as like Tribes on a really really large scale. I hope they pull it off...anyway the reason for this post is they have let 50 people in on external beta as of Feb. 22 and will be letting more and more in as it progresses....anyone who gets in post and let us know...if you havent registered for it yet, its not too late! http://www.planetside.com .... If they do it right this game is gunna be AMAZING![/url]

[Yuengling]

I applied a while back. I agree, this shit looks hot.

see you in vegas

[Vulcanus]

I just got accepted into the Planetside beta. I should get my disk in the next 7 days. Ill let you all know how the game works If you want screen shots just post to let me know and ill send em your way!

[Bulor]

after playing Planetside, i don't know how DAOC is going to keep my attention.

just seeing how wide scale battles come into play.... with the simple spawn of a Galaxay Transport ship into a base.. it's so much like tribes 2, when you summon a Havoc, and like 5 heavys just jump in. i love the game so much, Sniping needs adjustment, and slight movement of the aim rectcule(not body movement but just the target) and it repostions itself to the point as if your takeing 5 steps in the wrong direction =(

[Bulor]

[Snot]

woo-hoo! thanks brail, keep 'em coming

[Joshll]

The biggest question on Planetsides success is lag & server scalability.

Think about all the shooters you've ever played. Tribes, Quake, UT, CS, etc - all those games a 32 person server was big and a 64 person server was massive and always laggy.

With daoc you can still play with a 300 ping, even a 700 ping. But with shooters, if I can't consistently ping below 120, it's just too hard to compete with the Low Ping Bastards.

Planetside is a twitch shooter. You'll need a good ping. It's going to be a breakthrough for them if they can make their servers and network lines scale to handle several hundred people on the same server, let alone a thousand.

But I sure hope they succeed, it could be real cool.

[Bulor]

well so far..the server has had a cap population of 1600.. with a 120 ping avg.. and i don't get any lag.

but the server does crash out alot(becuase its a beta)

[Plopper]

ok so do u lvl in this game and do u have to hunt other people for different guns or what...is it basically just one big unreal tourny where u go out with weapons that u find and kill until u die?...just give me the downlow on it

[Supreem]

It works more like tribes...when you spawn you load up on weapons, armor, and a vehicle that you have certifications in and roll out. You don't level but you gain experience points that you use towards getting certifications in weapons, armor, and vehicles.

[Plopper]

so there is exp and u can get different armor types?

[Caly]

Yeah game is fun as hell But doesnt last to long. Takes a day tops to know all about it, and what to do. All you do is capture bases all day long gets kinda boreing after a while. I dont think its work paying a monthly fee for though. Only benefits it has is you can play an FPS with 60+ guild members at same time and own a island which is awesome.

[dannica]

yes there is exp but there is no leveling per se. there are battle ranks and you get a certain number of cert (spec) points with each battle rank and at ranks 6, 9, and 19 (there are 20 total ranks right now) you can select special passive and active implants that give you extra skills there are really no classes in it like their are in daoc either. a medic can fly a reaver and shoot a sweeper shotgun as good as anyone else if he chooses to spend his training points in such a way.

also you can forget (respec) any 1 cert you wish every 24 hours and immediatly replace it. you can also change out implants anytime you want (as long as you are at the sanctuary, like your realm's capitol city, or a medical facility) as often as you want. they have like a 3 minute reactivation timer after being installed or recovering from death.

as for armour, well it is like everything else in the game. basicly there are very few restrictions. the heaviest armour is a MAX (mechanical suit with built in vehicle or soldier guns, depending on the config) which basicly makes you a walking tank, but you can't drive, fly, hack, or ride in most (but not all! the Galaxy jet and Sunderer vehicle have special MAX passenger areas) vehicles in it. you can drive, fly, ride, and hack wearing the lighter armours but they provide much less protection. the basic armour is agile exo suit and anyone can wear it without a cert. one tier above it is reinforced exo suit and it can be worn for 3 cer points (you gain 3 cert points with a new char and 1 per battle rank after that). there is also the infiltration suit which provides no protection, but allows the wearer to be semi-invisiable while wearing it.

basicly the certs are as follows

7-9 different types of advanced weapon systems, including antivehicle, antiground troop, sniping, and antiaircraft.

2 support certs - medical and enginering. enginering also has an advanced spec to allow one to place very nasty traps and gun systems

3 different kind of air craft - a heavy armed aircraft, a lightly armed stealth aircraft, and a troop transporter with basicly no offense.

about 10 different types of vehicle certs ranging from ground troop transports to driver only light tanks

hacking and advanced hacking certs, which are used for taking over enemy bases and equipment terminals.

you also don't really have personalised items in this game. when you respawn after a death at a base, watch tower, or Advanced Mobile Unit (respawn and resupply unit that can be taken anywhere at all) you go to a computer and buy any peice of non vehicle or aircraft equipment you are certafied to use. you can also have it memorise up to 10 different equipment configs and automaticly load them with 1 button! on my sniper char i have about 3 different favorites that i use depending on the situation.

if i am sent out to scout for enemy AMS units by my squad (group) i often carry a minimal supply of sniper ammo, extra med kits, and my favorite gun for using against soft troops, which can also fire small grade rockets! i bring extra rockets of course!

if i am going with my squad to attack a base i carry a lot of sniper ammo, only 1 med kit, and a sweeper shotgun and a lot of armour piercing ammo for taking out enginer gun turrets, MAX units, and enemy vehicles

for solo sniping i use favorites 3 - a ton of sniper ammo, 2 med kits, and a few gernades. the downside to this config is i only have like 30 shots loaded in my close range machine gun but you can always loot ammo from dead troops if they were carrying any!

anyway this game is a blast to play! you can log in for 30-45 mintues and have fun, unlike a game like daoc where a 2-4 hour commitment is needed for most things there is an 'instant action' button that can be used almost anytime that would be like porting you to Dunn Crimthain if there was a battle going on at amg emain! it literialy puts you at a 3-5 min run from action almost anytime you want, as often as you want.

also, at least so far, zerging means nothing in this game! having bigger numbers means nothing in relation to how successful your empire will be at controlling bases. you also get experience (which is based on how many enemy units were killed at the base during the duration of the seige. for those that don't know there is a 15 minute count down from the time a control center is hacked to the time it falls under your control. this is very nice because there is a public message about it and you have a chance to undo the hack for your empire!) simply for being on the squad that does the hack. its not like daoc where if you want to farm rps (or BEP or CEP, battle experience points and command experience points) you should actually avoid keeps! 2 nights ago i was awarded 3,000 BEP for taking a base after a big battle. compaire that to making 90-150 BEP for killing someone - taking bases in this game is actually worth your time

its a great game but i don't know if it will succede as a mmorpg to be honest because it doesn't have huge time sinks to draw you into it like daoc does. however, it will certainly be a hit for people with limited time to spend gaming because it doesn't have a 20 day /play time grind until you can go have fun.

[Caly]

I have a few things I dissagree with you on. I am in HEL and we are the highest Rank NC outfit on Beryl, per member points. What makes us that is we have 30 members on most all the time using voice com and all grouped together. If you think numbers and zerk doesnt matter you are crazy. We can own any base easy because we can have AMS, galaxies, many hackers many MAX's and a number of other specialists. Any group smaller then that has no chance on takeing back that base.

I captured a total of 2 bases when I was playing. Took me 3 days to get to BR 12. I use the Antivehicle weapon and kill MAX's and Vehicles which is 300+ xp a pop I get way more xp from killing people then waiting 15 min to take a base. Zerg is everything but that is the same for every game. However a well organized group of 10 can sneak in a base and take it back from an unorganized group of 30. However voice com makes that posiblity mute.

[BurnHavoc]

Bah caly. Zerg is nothing in PS. Even with voicecom progies (like my clan uses) you can't save yourselves from a team of old-time FPS vets. I watched as a small group of about 6 (2 MAXs, and 4 others) people took out a whole base full of fellow TR guys (counting about 6 MAXs and 20 people). Its about tactics and skill this time around folks. Zerg is not a FPS term.