Planetside 2 - Current Beta Issues

First off, Beta is Beta. There is still a lot left in the game that’s under discussion and review, and a whole slew of things left to test and add. It’s still a single continent world, whereas release will likely be two with a rapidly coming third. Many of the weapons and upgrades are still locked.

So rather than taking this as set in stone negatives, I would say it’s more of a collection of things I sincerely hope are fixed or altered by release.

More Continents

Extra continents will change the dynamic and will likely be necessary to keep things interesting. They’re coming, or so we’re told, but not quite here yet. As it stands, the general to and fro of battle is still fun, but sometimes it feels a little too much like just driving or flying around capturing and recapturing points, and having to hold points on more than one continent may help to stress defending what you take.

The Learning Curve

One major issue that every new player will notice is the complete lack of any kind of explanation of anything. I can understand this for a beta; the tutorial isn’t the most important part of the game and can easily be done last. But I suspect some beta players have ended up a little discouraged by the lack of help and subsequent learning curve. You’re left to figure out the HUD icons, map icons, which bases do what and which terminals spawn what by yourself. It’s relatively self-explanatory, and you do get used to it after playing for a while, but some basic instructions and explanations would speed up the process significantly and definitely needs to be in and functional by release. 

If I recall correctly, the first Planetside had a... sort of testing arena. A small section of a main map around a base where you could go to spawn vehicles and weapons and such in and try it all out. Practice your flying without risking crashing immediately and wasting supply or killing people. I sincerely hope something similar makes it in to Planetside 2, even if they limit it to a certain rank or level.

Ranking Up

The ranks, however, could turn out to be an issue themselves. After a while it could be excessively difficult for a new player to do well. Higher ranked players have access to more weaponry, upgrades and better armour. In the long run, this could produce a barrier to entry of sorts. But on the other hand, players should be rewarded for investing time in the game. It’s a fine line between “I beat you because I have more upgrades and better weapons than you” and “I beat you because I’m better at this”. Alternatives and tradeoffs might be best, but may feel less rewarding to longer term players.

Cashing In

The last concern I have, and perhaps an unfounded concern at that, is the cash shop. I distinctly recall from several interview VODs from back at E3, as well as previous and more recent interviews and commentary, that the developers and PR staff have frequently mentioned that the game will not be pay to win, and that the cash shop will be for aesthetic purposes. My concerns are that they’ll decide that as long as you can buy something with in-game currency (Auraxium you earn while playing), it’s fine to attach a Station Cash (Sony Dollars) price to it as well. I don’t think it’s as clear cut as buying weapons with real money = pay to win, but it does revolve a little around how quickly you earn the in-game currency and how expensive items are on launch, and how well balanced the additional weaponry is. If there is no expensive hands-down the best gun ever for X class, that you can grind for weeks for or pay $10 to get now, it might work out. Personally, I hope the cash shop stay purely aesthetic.

The only issue with that is friend or foe recognition. It seems a little buggy in beta at the moment, especially for vehicles, so recognizing a vehicle texture or hull pattern on a cross-faction vehicle like a Galaxy or Lightning is fairly important. But then, if the FoF system functioned more reliably and the red or blue foe or friendly tags always popped up when hitting ‘Q’, it should work out fine for the most part. It does take some time to get used to identifying the sounds and silhouettes, too, and it is nice that so many are fairly distinct.

But Planetside 2 - It's still damn fun.

I certainly have high hopes for Planetside 2, and will keep on dying horribly in the beta, but it definitely has some issues that need fixing for release. There’s plenty of time and plenty of effort going into it, and so far they do seem to be giving fair consideration to the community’s opinion. Time will tell.

- ED

(Note: This is valid as of date of publishing, September 16th 2012. Beta changes may be fairly rapid.)

Guild Wars 2 - The Trouble With World vs World

World vs World is fun, but I’m finding that the more I do it, the more I find certain aspects of it wearing on me. I think the biggest of all the issues is that it’s never a balanced fight, at least in an overall sense. I was wary of this at first, but figured eventually the population imbalance would sort itself out, or realms would be matched up via some sort of hidden ladder system. As it turns out, that hasn’t been the case. Not even remotely. I have never once been in a situation that within a few hours of a World vs World reset, one realm wasn’t clearly ahead. Never once has each realm managed to hold even close to a third of the map each.

The Problems with Guild Wars 2 World vs World

This boils down to flaws within the system. The rewards you get out of winning, the boosts off the orbs and such, basically make it easier to keep winning when you’re already ahead. It has a sort of snowball effect on how well your realm does. I wonder a little if that initial push is what wins the entire battle for that reset; that being the first to win a keep, grab an edge, deny your opponents orbs and supply. But I think it really boils down to a mix of population and interest; the more people that hop into World vs World soon after a reset, the more people that stay, the better the chances.

Isn’t it population capped though? I’ve certainly seen queues for the WvW battlegrounds. So maybe it’s a lack of focus and too many people off killing mobs or exploring. And that segues into one of the other issues. There’s no good way to really organize in WvW. The groups are small, the coordination mostly spur of the moment or guild based. I’m aware there’s a book that lets one person form a raid, for 100 gold, which is no insignificant amount of coin. If we look at the current gold to gems conversion and the monetary cost of gems, that’s almost USD$470. Or several expensive exotic weapons, sets of armour, and so forth. 

All this just to form a larger group, which is virtually a given mechanic in every other game. And it’s a given for a reason. Putting a price on coordination is one thing, but being lumped into a group on entry lets you see who’s off on their own and where the fight is. But more importantly, it brings new players immediately into the fold, gives them directions and something to pay mind to so they can learn and figure out where to go and what to do.

Solutions?

 

In order to fix this, they need to alter things somewhat. Either give people an option to auto-form groups or reduce the cost of the raid-forming book significantly. Or even just have the map give more information out on allies. Something to at least allow for slightly better rudimentary organization.

And give the underdogs a bone. Being overrun shouldn’t make things any harder than the fact you’ve already been overrun. If a realm is stomping others, they don’t need extra buffs. Giving the downtrodden realms a leg up would make things more interesting for everyone. I mean really, how many people on those high-pop, winning by miles every time realms really enjoy it? The times my primary realm has been in that position, it’s been dreadfully boring. You basically just run around checking on all the crossed swords, hoping that maybe they scraped together enough people to assault a keep. It almost always isn’t the case. 

But if it was a back and forward fight, if it was harder to hold everything the more you held, easier to rush a tower when you have nothing, the battles would last a lot longer and be more engaging, at least in my opinion.

Don’t misunderstand, I like the World vs World PVP in Guild Wars 2. It’s open enough to be fun screwing around in by yourself, and has clear enough goals to be fun in a group. But it could be so much more epic if the battles were harder fought and more constant.

- ED

Planetside 2 - Initial Beta Impressions

Planetside 2 - Putting the Massively back into MMOFPS

Planetside 2 is war. The current beta battlefield is massive, though from what I understand it’s only a portion of what will be available later on and at launch. Three factions fight constantly over facilities that provide resources they can then use for spawning in vehicles and grabbing upgrades and resupplying items like grenades. This tri-faction battling along with the necessity of holding key locations for bonuses and supply is where the similarity to Guild Wars 2’s WvWvW lays, and where it ends. 

The scale of Planetside 2 is extreme, and it’s only going to grow. If you decide to run from fight to fight you’ll be doing a lot of running. Galaxy dropships and Sunderers are air and ground transport respectively, and can provide mobile spawn locations. A Flash is an inexpensive little quad bike you can grab to dash from point A to point B. The only reasons you’d want to run are having spawned in vehicles too soon to do so again, or wanting to sneak up to something. A Flash may be inexpensive and quick, but at the moment you can hear them from a good way away. The same goes for pretty much any vehicle.

Gameplay

Most of the upgrades are still on lockdown in beta, so it’s difficult to get an impression of how this might pan out down the line. At the moment, it doesn’t seem like any of it gives a massive edge. Most of the useful stuff is fairly cheap, like sights and suppressors and the like for weapons. Some of the vehicle weaponry might give an edge, but none of this is even remotely close to pay to win. It boils down more to their battle rank levelling system and where people have spent their certification points, which you use to buy the aforementioned upgrades.

 

The classes work out fairly well, but so early on it’s impossible to tell how well balanced it is. I’ve felt like the standings are relatively fair so far. A skilled light assault can kill a heavy assault, or vice verse. Weapons wise, the only thing that’s stood out to me so far was testing the Vanu Sovereignty Infiltrator as a comparison to the other factions. It seems like Vanu weapons may have less bullet drop. But then again, the scope on that one also didn’t have tick marks for adjusting to drop off, whereas the Terran one does. 

Upgrades and difference aside, the dynamic of play is insanely fun. It’s one giant, constantly shifting battle. You can become so engrossed in taking a base that when you’re done and the tension has died down while everything gets repaired, you could glance at the map and see you’ve been cut off from the rest of your territory. In one moment yesterday, playing Terran Republic, ten of us took a walled off base on the Vanu side of the centre of the map. When we started, our territory all connected to that area. When we were done, there was barely any red Terran presence on the map, let alone nearby. So off we rushed to retake bases. Several hours then passed far too quickly.

Sound

They’ve done an amazing job on the sound so far. Each vehicle for has a distinct noise, and some are incredibly easy to tell apart. The clearest examples I can think of are the air vehicles. The whine of Vanu Sovereignty Scythe sounds completely different from a Terran Republic Mosquito. And a Liberator Gunship is distinct from the deep hum of a Galaxy Dropship. You wouldn’t think distinct sounds were so incredibly important, but the more time I sink into pitched battles the more I find myself reacting to what I hear. For instance, yesterday we were trying to get a Galaxy onto the landing pad of the Allatum Biotech facility and you could hear the anti-air Max suit fire from a nearby ridge. It immediately gets your attention. The same applies to sniping. Infiltrator weapons can be very loud, and even after upgrading to a suppressor you can give away your position with noise as well as the light of the shot. And if you’re trying to sneak around in a vehicle, it just won’t work.

For the musically inclined, there is very little. Some plays when you log on and some more if you switch classes or resupply at a station. Out in the battle you don’t need it. You don’t even notice. All you hear is the positively amazing sound of gunfire, cannons, explosions, and vehicles. The sound of some of the larger guns in the game carries into the distance and it sets up a brilliant, immersive ambience of battle. If music was added, I have a feeling I’d turn it off just so I can clearly hear all the sounds of conflict.

Visuals

The game looks good, though some of the textures are a little basic on the settings. This mostly applies to terrain. The vehicles and character models are well done and well suited to their factions, usually having fairly distinct colour schemes. The lighting on some of the larger facilities, like the Biotech domes and any walled-in base are impressive. The single most impressive visual in the game is definitely the night battles. I almost wish it was just a tad darker, but I’ve also no idea yet if the heavy moonlight is something that cycles or is always on. The night fights are spectacular; bright tracer rounds arcing across the battlefield, the lines of anti-air fire carving up the sky. It’s a wonderful aesthetic, and the cycle of a clearly different day and night is nice to have.

Overall

There are a few negatives to the beta so far. The currency structure and icons and options are a bit of a learning curve, especially with nothing in the way of a tutorial to help acclimatize you to all the resources and map icons. There are a few bugs; I’ve sometimes fallen through the world on respawning or lagged out like crazy. I have some other issues with it, like the view distance being a little too close for very long range shots, and some of the controls being a little odd. 

All in all, these are entirely normal issues for a beta. If some of it persists into a live client, it could be problematic, but for now it’s known to the developers and ideally on the road to being sorted.

If you like large scale FPS combat, with the booming sound of tank cannons, explosions and the whine of incoming air support to keep you company, you’ll love this. Some of the functionality they’re planning on introducing, like in game Twitch streaming and Youtube Video creation will streamline this for a lot of content creators, so we’ll definitely see plenty of it in the future. But overall, the battle ambience is hands down my favourite thing about Planetside 2. The sounds and spectacle of a night battle I have never experienced anywhere else, and it will keep me going back for a good while. Once I have more experience with the classes and vehicles, I’ll post again with a breakdown.

- ED

Guild Wars 2 - Exploring Orr

I’ve reached 80 on my Mesmer now, and things have been going well. The story I’m almost done with, and it has been a fun ride, with two exceptions. One, if a choice leads to underwater battle, I managed to pick it. Every time. I hate underwater combat. And two, sometimes it’s been a real pain to actually get to the quest entry points, especially in later levels.

Which brings me to the Ruins of Orr.

The three areas surrounding the Ruins are zones for levels 70 to 75, 75 to 80, and 80. For me, all of the points in Orr have been a mission to get to solo. There’s a possibility it’s simply because my realm is under-populated or too few have levelled to 80 yet, or even that everyone’s just busy with WvW while we actually own the place for once.

But you can’t take three steps in the Straits of Devastation, Malchor’s Leap, or the Cursed Shore without running face first into usually more than one mob, and usually Risen. I’ve picked up easily five times more high level bones for crafting than any other crafting ingredient, just in trying to make my way around Orr. 

And it gets worse. Because of this lack of people fighting in these near max level zones, events regularly fail. Most of the waypoints are located in hubs that can be attacked and taken over by the Risen. I hope the full degree of tedious horror is starting to become obvious, now. 

It’s almost a shame. The ruins are beautifully designed and they’ve done a very good job of corrupting and wrecking what was clearly once a beautiful place. I understand these issues will get better, and rapidly so. Eventually I imagine people will hang out in Orr to grind karma or skill points for the Mystic Forging of those oh-so-tempting legendaries, and everything will be fine. The waypoint invasions will be dealt with, and the group boss-like mobs wandering around will be a rare sight.

But for now, while I love the design of Orr and see the potential, I despise going there.



- ED

General MMO - Opening Up The Future

Sandbox games are something I love. A sandbox to me in its most basic form is a parallel to the literal meaning. It’s a world with walls off in the distance, but you do whatever you like within them. You make your own fun using the world. Now maybe it’s just undiagnosed ADHD, a thirst for adventure, or rampant curiosity, but being able to wander off and do whatever I like in a game is something I enjoy. I don’t like being stuck doing one thing or a few similar things before I can do something I actually want to do.

But sandbox games have always been hit or miss, especially in regards to the online scene. The first MMO lauded as a sandbox I ever recall playing was EVE Online back in 2003. It’s still going strong and coming up on a 10 year anniversary, which is far from an insignificant feat for any MMO. The second I recall was Star Wars Galaxies. It functioned relatively well originally, but poor design decisions after release lead to its downfall. I recall other games, all around that same year – 2003 – that tried on the sandbox philosophy. Project Entropia I recall playing the beta of with a friend, and I poked my head into Second Life for a little while before inevitably becoming bored. 

I mention these older titles because they do show how much of a niche sandbox gaming has been in the past. It has been plagued with a variety of issues, from broken pre-launch promises to grand ideas that gradually get cut due to budget restraints, or simply no way for the tech of the time to handle what an aspiring developer wanted it to do. 

But in the last couple of years or so, this has started to change. If I had to take a wild guess, I’d say it’s symptomatic of the general improvement of the industry. The investments are getting larger and the technology is worlds away from where it was a decade ago. Many of the old restrictions on what could be done or handled are long gone or long since worked around. 

Take the sandbox elephant in the corner for example – Minecraft. Hugely successful is a gross understatement. It’s the most successful sandbox game in recent memory, and its popularity rocketed in a very short span of time. The control given over to the community in regards to what they could add to it and do with it was extreme, and people loved it. 

Now even more recently DayZ rapidly became popular, enough so to support turning the ambitious mod into a soon to be fully fledged stand alone game. You’re given a world and sent off to survive, but beyond that there’s no point or endgame and whatever fun you have with it, you make. 

These games are both massive successes in their own right, but notable primarily because of their rapid growth. It suggests to me that this is the kind of thing many people want now. They’re tired of games like World of Warcraft or The Old Republic that almost lead you by the hand, level to level, quest to quest, dungeon to dungeon. That’s not to say that the content there isn’t rewarding and fun, simply that people have done it time and time again now and crave a more open structure. 

In the last couple of years there has been plenty of theorizing about what the “Next Big Thing” will be, for the MMO world. The Old Republic took its shot and failed. Guild Wars 2, it remains to be seen but I’ll say I suspect it has better legs on a subscription-less model and with the freedom it has, so should at least do as well as the first. But nothing is really shiny and new. The last time I struck a massive learning curve in an MMO was picking up EVE Online for the second time a couple of years ago. 

But maybe, just maybe, if something can hit the right spot between structure and freedom, we’ll see the next generation. Something with plenty of customizability but organized in a way that offers a feeling of progress. Something with excessive freedom but still a variety of challenges. It’s a tall order, but with the games we see coming out in the near future, like Planetside 2 and Arch Age with their open worlds, and some of the intriguing concepts like DayZ, maybe that’s the direction the industry is heading in. 

Personally, I’m looking forward to more open world online games, and finding my own fun in them. That’s where the best stories are, after all.

- ED