PlanetSide, to be or not? Options

[Savior]

Ok folks i just got paid and its burnin a hole in my pocket. I was looking at a few games and Planetside really caught my eye. But before i drop $60 on it, i wanna know what you kind and gentle folk think about it? Bitches, moans and complaints are welcome too. *runs and hides for cover*

[Aristotle]

I play Planetside. It has its issues, but I like it overall. I am/was a huge fan of Tribes, and I think Planetside has a similar scope (epic combat). I like the large open spaces and the fact that some battles can rage for hours before they are finally won.

As far as negative issues with the game. It is a MMO, and suffers some of the common negative side effects of that genre of game. Weapon damages and such have been drastically changed from where they were when the game was released, in an effort to make the players happy and "balance" the game. The empire I belong to, The Terran Republic, was practically unstoppable when the game was released. We were in need of a little balancing, but the constant adjustments to our weapons caused allot of people to switch empires. I'm not happy that some of my favorite toys have become so much less effective, but we are probably more balanced than we were. Things would be pretty even for us if it weren't for the fact that our population level is generally 5 to 10% lower than the other empires... We still win our share though. :)

Oh... and the expansion, "core combat", isn't so great. I was really surprised they didn't think of something better for the expansion. You can play without it. You just can't go into the core (caverns under the continents) and you can't use the new weapons and vehicles that were introduced. I don't like any of the new weapons, and the only vehicle worth mentioning from the expansion is the Flail (ranged artillery). If I could go back I probably would not have purchased the expansion. I really don't ever use anything from it.

[The Burning One]

From what I've heard Planetside was a nice idea but poorly implemented. Here’s the rundown as I understand it (all second hand knowledge but worth considering at least):

When you start you’re basically a grunt, you have a few points (for lack of a better word) with which you can buy some basic certifications. Certifications are basically licences. You need one for most any weapon you want your character to use, any vehicle you want him to drive and any armour you want him to wear. At start you have only enough points to afford the most basic of these certifications so you start out pretty damn weak. You then get thrown into the game world and have to do one of two things to gain xp (yes there are levels in this game, more on that later). You either kill members of the opposing faction or you’re part of a group that takes one of their bases. Either action will gain your character xp and once you have enough you’ll advance a level. At level you gain more points with which to buy additional certifications. From my understanding a single level isn’t usually enough to get much so often you’ll have to save up points from multiple levels to get the more advanced certifications.

Ok so here’s the problem. You get xp from capturing a base but there is no current point to defending one. Aside from a respawn point and bragging rights bases serve no purpose. So what you get is roving mega groups hopping from base to base. As no one in their right mind is going to waste their time defending a base they essentially waltz in, capture the base and then abandon it to move on to the next. They’ll do this for hours on end jumping from one base to another just to gain xp so their characters can level up. Areas of control can apparently change radically in just a few short hours because of this sort of behaviour. Also most servers tend to have a dominant faction. On one the green team (no I don’t know the faction names) might be the leader leaving the other two teams to try and oust the reigning champion. Usually without much success. So if you're on the opposing team you're getting stomped pretty much every time you log on, sometimes due to nothing more than superior numbers on the opposing team. If you're on the lead team you're walking all over the opposition with little if any fight.

Supposedly it's neat for a bit but after talking to a friend who did game reviews for a local tech rag he said he couldn't even be bothered to load it onto the system to test the expansion which SOE sent him and that's someone who has a free press account. For the record he's been a FPS fan for as long as I can recall and quite enjoyed Tribes.

Some food for thought I guess,

TBO

[Aristotle]

That is a fair assessment of the game. Some points have been fixed in recent months...

As far as certifications go, you are correct. You get one new certification point per level, and most things cost two or three. You can juggle your certifications, taking a lesser one until you get the points for the one you really want. But generally a new character needs to focus more on one specific type of task (i.e. infantry, sniping, hacking, medic, or whatever), while a character with a higher Battle Rank (levels) can afford to multitask a little more. The first 10 levels went very quick for me (if you do all of the training stuff you are at Battle Rank 3 before you even see any combat). The higher levels go a bit slower...

Like most FPS games you take on one of two general roles. You either play offense, or you play defense. As an offensive player you capture bases and towers, blow generators at key enemy facilities, and generally wage war on the other empires. As a defense person you defend against the offensive players from the other empires.

It used to be that you got all of your experience points from offensive actions. You had to take bases to gain points, but this basically just lead to the three empires just following each other around in a circle taking bases. So the experience system has been altered. You now get a good bit more experience for killing enemies, and for defending bases. This has made defensive strategies more common, and has made the game much more enjoyable.

Additionally, an Outfit (Planetside version of a guild or clan) can take ownership of a base. So long as your Outfit owns a base and you are defending it, you get additional experience...

Empire populations do get lopsided, although there are things built into the game to help keep things somewhat enjoyable when this occurs. For instance, if your empire is severely underpopulated, you get additional health points to compensate.

[Electric Cabbage]

It's normal for players to knowingly unbalance the teams in a fps. People just want to be on the winning team so they join the team with the most players or the highest score. It happens in small 32 player FPS games and it makes sense that a MMP FPS would function the same way on a larger scale.

[Panzergeist]

Planetside is pretty good. I used to play it when it first came out. It has some lag and disconect issues. Also, there is no location-based hit damage, meaning headshots don't do any good, which takes some of the skill out of the game. The core combat expansion does indeed suck. Also, the 3 empires aren't very different. All in all, it's an okay game.