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PlanetSide 2

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PlanetSide 2
File:PlanetSide 2 Logo.jpg
Developer(s)Sony Online Entertainment
Publisher(s)Sony Online Entertainment
Composer(s)Jeff Broadbent and Don Ferrone
EngineForgelight Engine[1]
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
ReleaseNovember 20, 2012
Genre(s)MMOFPS
Mode(s)Multiplayer

PlanetSide 2 is a free-to-play massively multiplayer online first person shooter (MMOFPS) published by Sony Online Entertainment and released on November 20, 2012. It is the sequel to PlanetSide which originally released in 2003. Officially announced on July 7, 2011 at the Sony Fan Fair, the second installment uses a brand new game engine and supports hundreds of players in continuous large scale conflict.[3] As in the first PlanetSide, PlanetSide 2 chronicles the efforts of three factions as they fight for territorial control of the planet Auraxis.[4]

Backstory

Lore

PlanetSide 2 is a science fiction MMOFPS set approximately 300 years after the discovery of Auraxis, although the chronology of the game universe starts a few years before. After the Earth has nearly come to ruin following a devastating war, the world's governments came to a consensus and united under one banner: the world-wide Terran Republic (TR). Some time later a wormhole, one which scientists fail to explain, appears and then disappears without a trace. Ex-President of the Terran Republic, Tom Connery, believes that the wormhole is a sign of existing extraterrestrial life and launches several space expeditions. The first expedition to Moon Belt gives a lead—a figurine of alien nature—giving Connery a reason to start a second expedition further into space. Several Terran Republic ships travel through the wormhole and are stranded for a very long period of time; their situation grows dire. Due to the crew's mental exhaustion and provision limit, strict curfews are applied. Later, a vote is held about the necessity of the measures. The positive vote wins, but only barely. There are nearly as many negative votes. A second vote is called. However, a terrorist bomb destroys the ship on which the vote is to occur, killing everyone aboard, including Connery. Curfews pass. Later, the expedition discovers the planet Auraxis, and, exactly 175 years afterwards, the war between the Terran Republic and the New Conglomerate breaks out. Following this, a group of combatants calling themselves the Vanu Sovereignty join the conflict.

Although the story is very similar to the original, Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) announced that award-winning author Marv Wolfman has joined the SOE team to write the ongoing historic fiction for the game. This is the first time the PlanetSide franchise narrative has been detailed.[5]

Factions

Terran Republic

An authoritarian government that leverages military might to maintain strict control over the colonial citizens, the Terran Republic is obsessed with the preservation of law and order and are thus seen by some to be an oppressive and dictatorial force, but many view the TR as the only hope for lasting security on Auraxis.

New Conglomerate

The New Conglomerate operates as a loosely organized band of freedom fighters, vehemently opposed to the stranglehold that the Terran Republic has on Auraxis. Led by an unusual quorum of outcasts, industry titans, and pirates, the New Conglomerate is unwavering and prepared to achieve freedom from oppression by any means necessary.

Vanu Sovereignty

The Vanu believe that only through the mysterious power of ancient technology can humanity truly evolve its next state of existence. They are an advanced and cunning faction, employing powerful alien technology on the battlefield. Their singular purpose is to uncover the secrets hidden away in ancient artifacts scattered over the surface of Auraxis and they annihilate anyone who interferes with their progress.

Gameplay

Features

PlanetSide 2 is a re-imagining of PlanetSide, featuring the same world, factions and taking place at roughly the same time period. As in the previous game, it features territory control in an open-world, large battles featuring up to 2000 players per continent on foot or in land/air vehicles. The territory system differs greatly from that of the original, being more free-form and based on a hexagonal territory control system. SOE has been taking into account balance issues from the first game. As stated by Matthew Higby, the creative director they be reward combatants on lower population empires through mechanics such as proportionally increased advancement rates and resources to aid the balance of overall empire saturation on each server as much as possible without force-restricting players from being able to play with their friends.[6]

It is a faster paced game than the original PlanetSide and hold the ability to feature potentially thousands of players. It also features familiar first person shooter elements such as sprinting, iron sights, and regenerating shields. An important aspect is that player skill and teamwork are major determiners when it comes to being able to kill other players and overcome opposing teams. Unlockable Skills are available and are stated to only make between a 15-20% difference between any player[citation needed]. The game also features a unique Day/Night cycle, meaning that battles happen in different times of day, affecting the general methods for warfare.

Classes and Weapons

Another thing the game is taking from the genre is the pre-set classes, with multiple progression trees. The versatility of the original inventory system was replaced with the new class system to provide more team play experience and give players the ability of visual distinction. The game presents 6 classes, each of them possess 2 specializations, and all except MAX have handguns and combat knives:

  • Light Assault - a jetpack trooper, can employ a variety of grenades and explosives and is armed with a carbine by default
  • Heavy Assault - heavy anti-infantry unit and anti-vehicle unit, can equip their faction's heavy assault weapon or machine gun and anti vehicle weapon
  • Medic - a class responsible for replenishing players' health and reviving them on the field, armed with an assault rifle
  • Engineer - a class responsible for vehicle repairs as well as fortification, can deploy ammo and a gun turret and is armed with a carbine by default
  • Infiltrator - a saboteur or a sniper, capable of cloaking, hacking enemy consoles, spotting enemies, and armed with a high powered rifle
  • Mechanized Assault Exo-Suit (MAX) - a powerful armored robotic suit, capable of sustaining and dealing heavy damage, they can only be healed by an Engineer, when incapacitated a MAX can be revived as any other class but once up will need to be repaired by an engineer in order to return to full combat effectiveness, can be armed with a variety of weapon arms including anti-infantry, anti-armor, anti-air and flamethrower arms (As of the patch issued on 13 September 2012 the MAX will be treated as a vehicle not a distinct class due to 'MAX zergs' which threatened balance and play-ability. Flame thrower arms, while available in beta, are no longer available in the release version)

The classes are not tied to a character, one can switch a class at any given time, by using an equipment terminal on a base or at a mobile spawn point. Skill progression isn't tied to the active class either.

The two assault classes, the medic, and the engineer have access to Assault Rifles and Carbines as standard (presumably SMGs and Shotguns as well), but some weapons are specific to a class, such as the MAX suit weapons, and machine gun and the sniper rifle. All weapons can be outfitted with alternate skins, sights, and functional attachments, as well as themselves be modified to have different traits. These new traits aren't an upgrade, but rather a "sidegrade", where in a straight fight both weapons come out equal. For example, a carbine with high damage and low rate of fire will have the same time-to-kill as a high rate of fire, low damage version of the original.

Vehicles

There are eleven vehicles in the game. The NS (Nanite Systems) vehicles can be used by any faction. The NS vehicles consist of the Flash ATV, Galaxy Air Transport, Liberator Bomber, Sunderer APC and the Lightning Light tank/IFV. The remaining vehicles are ES (Empire Specific) airborne or armored vehicles. The Scythe (Vanu Sovereignty), the Reaver (New Conglomerate) and the Mosquito (Terran Republic) are the three Empire Specific VTOL aircraft. The three Empire Specific Armored tanks are the Magrider (Vanu Sovereignty), the Vanguard (New Conglomerate) and the Prowler (Terran Republic).

Game engine

The game uses SOE's Forgelight Engine which in turn uses Nvidia's PhysX API for its physics engine. This enables more realistic vehicle handling compared to the previous PlanetSide, especially when it comes to flying aircraft. Weather and day/night cycles are also possible as well as volumetric fog and clouds which players can hide in. Bullets are also simulated by the physics engine so players will need to compensate for gravity while aiming.

Another improvement over PlanetSide is the introduction of locational damage (hitboxes) for soldiers and vehicles. This is customizable by the developers so that a sniper rifle shot to the head can have a huge bonus while high rate of fire weapons, such as the Mini Chaingun, and vehicles have small to no bonus.

Territorial control and resources

Combat takes place on the continents of Auraxis which are broken up into many territories. Territories are then split into sectors which can be captured by the various empires. Influence from captured sectors can provide bonuses to a faction in adjacent sectors.

Mission system

The mission system is partly automated and partly controlled by commanders and outfits. It provides focal points for players to attack and defend and helps players get into the action quickly.

Roles and skills

As a player participates in completing objectives they will earn experience which will increase their character's Battle Rank and reward them with certification points. As the player's Battle Rank increases he will unlock improved certifications, granting the player new abilities or items. These will allow the player to specialize in certain roles by allowing them to improve the weapons, vehicles or tools they use.

Many certifications require the player to invest in multiple upgrade tiers of the certification, which will increase how effective the certification is. For example, players can purchase five ranks of Nanoweave Armor, which when equipped will increase the amount of damage they can sustain. Some certifications require the player to purchase prerequisite certifications, meaning a squad leader who wishes to unlock the ability to communicate using voice chat with an entire platoon will first need to unlock a certification to allow them to set squad waypoints.

Using the certification system, players will be able to customise how they play using different classes or vehicles. For example, a player can purchase certifications to alter the main function of the Sunderer vehicle, meaning they can unlock the ability to have fellow squad members spawn from the vehicle, or as an alternative, give the vehicle the ability to repair and restock the ammunition of nearby allied vehicles.

Business model

PlanetSide 2 is free-to-play. The developers have indicated an admiration of the League of Legends model,[7] also known as the Freemium business model. It features certain free aspects, and includes a cash shop. The cash shop does not sell items such as vehicles that make players more powerful, but instead the shop sells equipment such as more powerful vehicle weapons, which are also obtainable through the game progressions. The cash shop does sell exclusive things such as visual customizations.[8] The shop also offers XP booster and resource booster implants that will not take up one of your implant slots, last 24 hours, and award increased XP or resource gains while active.

Development

The first official indications that a PlanetSide sequel was in development appeared in 2009. On September 25, Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) sent a mass e-mail to current and former PlanetSide subscribers, asking to fill a survey that would help SOE design the next generation PlanetSide. "We plan to expand the PlanetSide universe with another game and we need your help with the design. After all, who knows the game better than you, our customers, the people who actually play it! Don't worry about the original PlanetSide, it isn't going anywhere."[9] In addition, SOE registered the domain www.PlanetSide2.com on September 21.[9] On October 11, SOE president John Smedley posted on his LiveJournal account that the sequel's working title is PlanetSide Next.[10][11]

Little was revealed about the sequel until December 2010, when Smedley said that SOE would be launching a first-person shooter in March 2011,[12] which was soon confirmed by Paul Williams of SOE as referring to PlanetSide Next.[13] On March 31, 2011, SOE announced that it would be ending development of their spy-themed MMO The Agency and refocusing efforts on EverQuest Next and PlanetSide Next.[14] Smedley confirmed that PlanetSide Next had been delayed – the result of recently switching to a new game engine – and would be available later in the year.[15] The working title was later changed to PlanetSide 2. The official website was later updated to show a video trailer of the upcoming game. Many interview videos were taken after that showing sections of gameplay, but the biggest off-screen game play video was shown at 2012's GDC, showing most of the game aspects.

Beta testing

SOE President John Smedley announced that a closed beta test would begin July 30 or 31 2012 "barring any unforseen circumstances.".[16] On July 30 Smedley announced that the beta testing would be delayed until at least August 3 "to make sure some stuff is awesome.".[17]

On August 3rd Smedley announced via Twitter that the closed Beta would commence 2pm PDT (GMT-7) Monday 6 August. [18] On August 23rd Priority Beta started. This encompasses Twitter keys and Magazine Keys.

The beta closed on November 17 2012, pending the game's official release November 20 2012. [19]

Release Day

Planetside 2 launched November 20th, 2012 at 10AM,[20]though European players were initially unable to play due to an incorrect game launcher on the Steam platform in addition to EU server issues.

Mac Version

Sony Online Entertainment's President John Smedley mentioned that a Mac version might be planned for PlanetSide 2. Smedley said: "I absolutely strongly share that view. No you aren't going to see PlanetSide 2 on Linux. You will see it on Mac though".[21] The Official Planetside 2 Twitter account recently responded to a question on the topic of a Mac version as "Stay tuned for all potential updates. ^Spoiler"[22]

References

  1. ^ "EverQuest Next and PlanetSide 2 To Use New Forge Light Engine". July 10, 2011. Retrieved July 17, 2011.
  2. ^ a b http://store.steampowered.com/app/218230/
  3. ^ "PlanetSide 2 revealed at Sony Fan Faire". The Independent. London. July 8, 2011. Retrieved July 17, 2011.
  4. ^ "Game Overview". PlanetSide 2 PC Game. Retrieved July 24, 2012.
  5. ^ "Sony Online Entertainment Taps Legendary Comic Book Writer, Marv Wolfman to Create PlanetSide 2 Backstory". PR Newswire. Retrieved July 24, 2012.
  6. ^ Biessener, Adam (2011). "PlanetSide 2: Another Shot at the shooter MMO we've always wanted". XXI (221). Game Informer. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  7. ^ "Re: Chinese Interview with John Smedley". September 8, 2011. Retrieved September 10, 2011.
  8. ^ "PlanetSide 2 Will Have A Cash Shop, But Pay-To-Win Not An OptionQ". July 13, 2011. Retrieved July 17, 2011.
  9. ^ a b "PlanetSide 2 in the works?". PlanetSide Universe. 2009-09-25. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
  10. ^ Smedley, John (2009-10-08). "What PlanetSide Next means to me". Smed's Blog. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
  11. ^ Gilbert, Ben (2009-10-11). "SOE's John Smedley calls PlanetSide sequel 'PlanetSide Next'". Joystiq. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
  12. ^ Tito, Greg (2010-12-08). "Sony Online Strongly "Hints" PlanetSide Sequel Coming This Spring". The Escapist. Retrieved 2010-12-08.
  13. ^ "PlanetSide Next Update". PlanetSide Universe. 2010-12-10. Retrieved 2010-12-20.
  14. ^ Fahey, Mike (2011-03-31). "Sony's MMO Studio Confirms Massive Layoffs, Closes the book on the Agency". Kotaku. Retrieved 2011-04-04.
  15. ^ Voecks, Krystalle (2011-04-04). "SOE layoffs affect timetable for PlanetSide Next". Massively. Retrieved 2011-04-15.
  16. ^ "SOE: PlanetSide 2 Beta Begins Next Week". GameSpy. Retrieved July 27, 2012.
  17. ^ "SOE: PlanetSide 2 beta delayed Week". GameSpot. Retrieved July 30, 2012.
  18. ^ "SOE: Twitter / j_smedley". SOE. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  19. ^ "SOE Announces PS 2 Release Date". GameSpy. Retrieved November 17, 2012.
  20. ^ http://www.planetside-universe.com/news-planetside-2-officially-launched-2911.htm
  21. ^ http://www.insidemacgames.com/news/story.php?ID=21101
  22. ^ https://twitter.com/planetside2/status/270990244583714817
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